Chapter 981: Unexpected people

La Qi and Shen Shuibi were both in a desperate situation.

Shen Shuibi tried to leave, but she found that there were over ten Demonic Dao Fourth-Ranks outside, and La Qi couldn't stop everyone.

However, these Demonic Lords only blocked her and didn't harm her.

This made Shen Shuibi realize something.

The other party seemed determined to have Li Qi's Reincarnation kill her.

In other words… someone wanted Li Qi to witness all the evil he had caused when he awakened. This was probably a means to force Li Qi into the Demonic Dao, right?

How truly… malicious.

Then she absolutely couldn't let him succeed.

Shen Shuibi gave up on escaping; escaping was meaningless now. So, the chance of victory was… La Qi behind her.

She looked at La Qi.

La Qi had already folded himself in an ultra-standard way. The internal mass density was so great that it could be said to have crushed spacetime, and singularities had formed around him.

These singularities constructed many closed circuits. Within these circuits, massive, high-density matter was confined in a vibrating or circulating resonant state, interacting with strong fields.

Clearly, La Qi was using the high-frequency changes in the singularity's gravitational potential during this process to create controllable spatial distortions around himself. In other words, he continuously created a hole in front of him, and this hole plunged directly into a high-dimensional labyrinth. All attacks would be blocked unless the labyrinth itself was deciphered.

These labyrinths themselves were one-way transparent, with all sorts of things extending into the distance, suddenly vanishing on a curved geodesic.

A geodesic is defined as the locally shortest or longest path between two points in space. On a map, it's usually a straight line or line segment, but in the current situation, the geodesic is curved because the dimension has changed.

At the same time, these places were also alive, possessing the characteristics of different organisms, each with unique metabolic attributes and enzyme groups. That was also the result of La Qi's folding; different species have different enzyme groups, and the mutation process of each species is independent of each other. It's probably rare for anyone to easily walk out of here in the face of so many biological and physical characteristics.

La Qi's labyrinth was quite formidable.

So Shen Shuibi immediately returned to La Qi's side, forming hand seals and casting thunder spells.

Daoist thunder spells were a specialty. Although Shen Shuibi wasn't from the Divine Firmament sect, she still had some tricks up her sleeve.

Lightning flashed and thunder roared. Shen Shuibi performed the ritual according to the rules. In an instant, various evil-slaying methods, Three-Five techniques, and various spiritual chapters and secret formulas, along with all kinds of talismans, were unleashed. One could only see violent thunder shaking the eaves, and the clouds and mist of Mystic Radiance Mountain grew dim, filled with storms and lightning, shaking the houses and causing the river water to overflow.

La Qi glanced at her and said, "Can't escape, Master's Wife?"

"They're all blocked. The other side is well-prepared, and even your Master's Grandfather didn't come over. Someone is probably blocking him on the way," Shen Shuibi replied. "Someone wants that thing to kill you and me, so your Master will fall into the Demonic Dao directly after he awakens."

"I can see that," La Qi said.

The two fell silent. The situation was clear; there was nothing else to discuss.

Then let's fight until a victor is decided.

The battle continued. The Demonic Army was extremely arrogant. They continuously weakened La Qi and Shen Shuibi's defenses, then handed the main part of the battle back to Zhou Fang, letting him finish the fight.

Zhou Fang unleashed all his skills. Through his understanding of La Qi and Shen Shuibi, he pushed the two into desperate situations again and again. However, each time, the Demonic Qi within him would boil, causing him to expose a flaw, and La Qi and Shen Shuibi were always able to seize this opportunity to catch their breath again.

This repeated about four or five times, and ten minutes had already passed.

Ten minutes, for a close-quarters, high-intensity Fourth-Rank battle like this, was a very long time. Both sides were already exhausted, their computational power drained, and almost all their methods had been used.

Especially La Qi, as someone with few weaknesses, there was only one way to deal with him: overload him, push him to his limit of endurance, make his brain unable to process information so quickly. So, he had been fighting while constantly enduring a flood of information from the surrounding Demonic Lords.

Zhou Fang also felt the boiling. The demonic thoughts in his mind was about to erode his brain, his thoughts had stagnated, and he was fighting purely on instinct.

Kill her, kill, kill her, kill her, kill her.

Kill her, kill her, kill her, kill her, kill.

Kill, kill, kill, kill.

Countless fragments tangled in his mind, every thought urging him on.

But… the fragments weren't all of one opinion.

Different fragments had different opinions.

This fragment wanted to run, that fragment wanted to kill, some fragments wanted to forgive, or some fragments that didn't know what was going on didn't even know their situation; they just wanted to go home. Even more naive fragments just wanted to find a place to rest, not knowing why there was a war, and some fragments wanted to play games.

All the fragments seemed to have awakened.

This made Zhou Fang's already unclear consciousness even more muddled. He completely lost his judgment, turning into a savage beast controlled by demonic thoughts and numerous fragments.

This savage beast was unconscious because he had many consciousnesses, and each consciousness conflicted and pulled at each other.

Any force is essentially a resultant force composed of countless component forces. When the forces in various directions are similar, the resultant force is approximately 0. Other than feeling occasional pulling and incoordination, there is basically no random movement.

Zhou Fang's consciousness was also like this. Because there were too many thoughts, it was as if there were no thoughts at all. Because he was thinking about everything, he couldn't do anything.

Therefore, his actions became increasingly sluggish, and his thoughts were incredibly chaotic.

However, after all, there were dozens of Fourth-Rank Demonic Lords around him and tens of thousands of Fifth-Ranks forming a formation behind them, and interference from Third-Ranks was completely blocked.

Perhaps those Third-Ranks and Second-Ranks didn't even know about this.

No, not perhaps, but definitely.

The news couldn't get out, so of course they couldn't know. How would they know?

On the other side, Zhou Fang was no match for La Qi and Shen Shuibi anymore.

Zhou Fang had been completely devoured by demonic thoughts. Even with the assistance of the Demonic Army, Zhou Fang found it difficult to organize an offensive.

It seemed… the situation had reversed?

But the Demonic Army still guarded the surroundings, still not directly striking to kill La Qi and Shen Shuibi.

This attitude seemed to say that La Qi and Shen Shuibi could only be killed by Zhou Fang; they were not allowed to act.

At this moment, La Qi suddenly said, "Master's Wife, did you notice?"

Shen Shuibi replied, "This person is almost dead. The attitude of these Demonic Army members is that they want us to kill him?"

"He is a fragment of Master. No… all the fragments have been gathered. Now he can even be said to be Master, but I still don't understand what Reincarnation truly is," La Qi said.

As he spoke, blood dripped from Shen Shuibi's body, and La Qi's body trembled and flickered continuously, even tending towards 'Perfection'.

Perfection is completion. Perfection cannot be folded. When the Manifold Race reaches 'Perfection', it is when they lose all ability to fold and change, and they die.

"So, either he kills us, or we kill him, right?" Shen Shuibi sighed, then looked at the surrounding Demonic Army.

The Demonic Army silently hovered in the surrounding sky, Demonic Qi shrouding the area, isolating this place.

Clearly, Shen Shuibi's guess was almost spot on.

Even though Zhou Fang had become like this, he continued to attack.

And Shen Shuibi and La Qi were also almost at their limit.

Either keep defending and be beaten to death by Zhou Fang.

Or seize Zhou Fang's current flaw, as he had lost his consciousness, and kill him.

But which of the two could they choose?

It seemed neither could be chosen, or rather, it was difficult to choose.

The choices offered by the Heavenly Demon of Enjoying Others’ Emanations were always like this.

You think you're given two choices, but in reality, you have no choice at all.

No matter what, he wins.

Four directions at a crossroads, but all lead to the same destination.

Shen Shuibi sighed, "It seems there's no escaping. I'll die with him; that way, it won't fall into the trap, and you still have a future."

"You say that as if Master's Wife has no future. If Master knew I just watched you die like this, I'm afraid I'd be expelled from the sect, wouldn't I?" La Qi tried to make a joke, but it didn't sound funny.

"It's only natural for us, husband and wife, to die together. After Li Qi and I die, he shouldn't make things difficult for you. Just do as I say," Shen Shuibi commanded.

"Master's Wife, I'm afraid I cannot obey," La Qi charged forward.

He had no intention of dying with her.

The person in front of him wasn't Master, so he would kill him. There was no need to be buried with him.

For La Qi, even reminiscing about Master was far better than dying together. After all, one still had to look forward.

But Shen Shuibi immediately tried to stop La Qi at this moment.

La Qi looked back.

Could it be that this scene… was also within the Heavenly Demon of Enjoying Others’ Emanations's prediction?

That truly was terrifying…

La Qi's heart trembled.

Shen Shuibi also seemed to notice this.

Both of them simultaneously showed a bitter smile.

Would Shen Shuibi stop La Qi?

Would La Qi defy Shen Shuibi?

Heh heh, what will you do?

Fight amongst yourselves now? Or wait for death? Or not willing to wait for death, but kill Zhou Fang?

All choices are laid out before you.

No matter what you choose, the Heavenly Demon of Enjoying Others’ Emanations wins.

Heavenly Demon of Enjoying Others’ Emanations.

Dao Enemy!

Zhou Fang continued to attack. The situation seemed to have fallen into a desperate plight, a plight set by the Heavenly Demon of Enjoying Others’ Emanations, where all choices seemed to lead to the same outcome.

However, at this moment!

The surrounding Demonic Army suddenly looked up.

Like a sun descending, the Demonic Army dissipated, like water next to the sun, vanishing in a whoosh, turning into dust, and then even the dust was annihilated.

Zhou Fang was immediately suppressed, pinned to the ground, unable to move.

Shen Shuibi also looked up, towards where it came from.

There… were the powers of several Third-Ranks.

But soon, only one remained.

Shen Shuibi and La Qi could both feel that the surrounding world was constantly changing. Their Fourth-Rank substantiality allowed them to witness the Third-Rank battle and the changes in the surrounding world-lines.

In just an instant, the Third-Rank battle had ended.

Several Third-Rank Demonic Dao cultivators, perhaps the Demonic Overlords responsible for execution behind this, were directly annihilated.

That sun was too dazzling.

Then, a man wearing a large cloak and leaning on a staff appeared here.

He wasn't wearing a mask, so one could clearly see that one of his eyes was blind. He slowly walked over, behind him countless broken timelines and possibilities.

Several Third-Rank Demonic Dao cultivators struggled within those possibilities, trying to break through the obstacles and arrive at the 'present', but ultimately they failed. The twisted timelines swallowed them, and then they vanished without a trace.

Possibility returned to zero, forever losing the 'possibility' of reaching the present.

The Demonic Qi of Mystic Radiance Mountain was swept away.

Demonic Prince Shang Fan descended upon this place, resolving the predicament.

At the same time, a piercing scream came from the sky.

The Demonic Prince looked up at the sky. Right there, a Dharma Body of the Heavenly Demon of Enjoying Others’ Emanations expanded out of the Void Realm, then quickly transformed into a human form.

The form that appeared this time was that of a thirty-something-year-old male of the Human Race. This Dharma Body quickly landed on the ground.

"Shang Fan, truly surprising. Are you still conscious? Did Shamansan call you?" the Heavenly Demon of Enjoying Others’ Emanations said in a steady voice.

"Why wouldn't I be conscious, Heavenly Demon of Enjoying Others’ Emanations?" the Demonic Prince retorted.

The current Demonic Prince was already a Third-Rank.

And looking at his cultivation…

He was no longer a demon. His body contained Buddhist cultivation. Was he now Dual Cultivating Buddhism and Demonic Dao? No, the essence of Dual Cultivating Buddhism and Demonic Dao was still demonic, and he was no longer like that now.

It was difficult to describe the Demonic Prince's exact state, but from his current appearance, he had broken free from the 'Retribution of Black Karma' and regained his consciousness.

"Oh, oh, oh!!!" the Heavenly Demon of Enjoying Others’ Emanations suddenly jumped up, then circled the Demonic Prince in surprise: "It's the World Honored One Tathagata! Did he speak to you before his Nirvana?"

"Oh, no wonder. He said two Demonic Princes, so it was you and Li Qi. How interesting. So what did you comprehend?"

The Demonic Prince replied, "The World Honored One said that after his Nirvana, I should become a Buddha, and with this pure faith and good roots, after the Buddha's demise in the future, I shall become a Pratyeka Buddha, named Merciful Merchant."

"Haha, hahaha!" The Heavenly Demon of Enjoying Others’ Emanations seemed to have been tickled, laughing so hard he couldn't straighten up.

Then, he glanced at Zhou Fang, and then at Shen Shuibi.

"How good, how good. I thought I would have nothing to do after the Buddha's demise, but now it seems he has left behind many things, hasn't he? Shang Fan, Li Qi, you two, inspired by the World Honored One, truly make me so happy," the Heavenly Demon of Enjoying Others’ Emanations seemed to wipe away tears with some relief.

"You knew all along, didn't you? Otherwise, how would you have set up this trap?" The Demonic Prince remained unmoved.

The Heavenly Demon of Enjoying Others’ Emanations's tears immediately vanished, and he continued to laugh, "Indeed. So… you two must grow well. The hope of the World Honored One Tathagata rests on you and those Buddhist disciples."

However, the Demonic Prince said, "The Tathagata has passed away, Heavenly Demon of Enjoying Others’ Emanations. You won't find him in us."

Hearing this, the Heavenly Demon of Enjoying Others’ Emanations vanished directly, without any reply.

And the Demonic Prince picked up Zhou Fang and left directly.

He didn't spare Shen Shuibi or La Qi a single glance from beginning to end.

He was so self-willed, appearing cold and unapproachable to others, and extremely stubborn. Surrounded by the boundless Demonic Qi, he seemed even more terrifying; merely approaching him required risking one's life.

But at this moment, Shen Shuibi seemed to muster some courage. She walked up and called out to the cold Demonic Prince, "Where are you… taking him?"

The Demonic Prince looked back at Shen Shuibi.

According to the Demonic Prince's usual character, he wouldn't have bothered to respond.

However, this time, he surprisingly replied, "To find Taiyi."

With that, the Demonic Prince, carrying Zhou Fang, disappeared from the spot.