The battle raging at the border near Cuijue Slope was felt clearly across the very heart of the Guili Plains.
Civilians stepped out of their homes, gazing toward the distant horizon—
there, faint but unmistakable, loomed the shadow of a colossal Buddha.
"Immortal Lord…"
The people of Guili Plains knelt and prayed ceaselessly for him.
Within the administrative complex, Guizhong, Ganyu, and the other immortals stood upon the rooftop, their eyes solemn and heavy.
"The tremors… they've lasted far too long."
Cloud Retainer furrowed her brows deeply.
"After all," she murmured, "Xiao Jiang Yan faces more than ten Demon Gods at once.
Even that technique of his… may not be enough to suppress them all."
Worry clouded Ganyu's gaze.
Suddenly, Guizhong's face changed. She turned sharply eastward.
Above the distant horizon, black clouds rolled in thick and fast.
A dense miasma of demonic energy spread outward like a storm.
"This is bad…"
High atop a mountain in the Guili Plains, a wooden clone who had been gathering power with his sword abruptly opened his eyes—
and vanished.
At the Cuijue Slope border—
Jiang Yan stood atop the Buddha's crown. The storm of fists from the Buddha's Top Transformation had ceased, leaving the land below pocked with countless craters.
Dust and smoke billowed, but from within the haze, a sharp glimmer of light suddenly flared.
A single beam pierced through the haze—
and through Jiang Yan's body.
Even though his Observation Haki had warned him,
how could he ever move faster than light?
"Cough… cough…"
Blood dripped from his lips.
"Wood Spirit Immortal Lord," one of the Demon Gods taunted, "that technique of yours is powerful indeed—
but we Demon Gods are not so easily slain."
Of the dozen-odd Demon Gods who had attacked, only six remained standing, each grievously wounded.
"So you used the corpses and death-bursts of your own kind to counteract my fist storm…"
Jiang Yan muttered weakly.
"How cold-blooded."
A warm white glow spread through his chest as Senzu Bean activated,
and the gaping wound on his torso began to knit shut before their eyes.
"You can only use that move once, can't you?" one Demon God sneered.
"Then tell me—how will you resist the six of us now?"
Jiang Yan's lips curved into a faint smile.
What made these fools think…
he could only unleash the Deity of the Summit once?
But before he could act, his expression shifted sharply.
He turned.
Behind him, thunderclouds churned.
From within the storm, dark silhouettes began to emerge—
and among them, one all-too-familiar presence.
Chi.
"You…"
Jiang Yan's voice came out low, laced with killing intent.
"So you've realized it, haven't you, Wood Spirit Immortal Lord?"
The surviving Demon Gods cackled madly.
"This time, it's not just us!"
"Even if you somehow escape with your life, what awaits you back home will be nothing but ruins!"
"Watch with your own eyes as your once-prosperous Guili Plains are reduced to ash and rubble!"
Jiang Yan's face darkened, but his voice was eerily calm.
"My apologies, gentlemen."
"I'm suddenly pressed for time…"
"So could I trouble you—"
"—to hurry up and die?"
The towering Buddha beneath him stirred.
Brilliant white light gathered once more around its fists.
Behind it, the Thousand-Handed Mandala began to creak and turn—
crack, crack, crack!
In mere moments, the wooden fists that had vanished before reformed upon the mandala's spinning arms.
The Demon Gods froze, a chilling sense of dread crawling into their hearts.
"Immortal Art—Buddha's Top Transformation!"
"Tremor — Great Cataclysm!"
A storm of fists surged forth once again, sweeping toward the Demon Gods like a divine judgment.
The colossal Buddha raised its arms and struck—
rending the air itself into fractured ribbons.
The unleashed energy ravaged the earth.
Mountains cracked apart, the ground split like torn parchment.
Wave after wave of raw vibration power erupted outward, crashing into the Demon Gods.
"How—how can you use that again?!"
"This is impossible!"
"Damn it! Attack—attack now!"
Eyes wide with terror, the Demon Gods unleashed their mightiest attacks.
But their strikes shattered instantly against the overwhelming seismic force.
The storm of fists swallowed them whole.
Their screams echoed as they were torn apart, one after another, by the crushing, quaking power.
"Wood Release—Wood Clone Technique!"
Jiang Yan formed a seal, summoning a wooden duplicate of himself and imbuing it with the energy needed to maintain the Deity of the Summit.
"I'll leave this to you!"
"Count on me, my true self!"
The clone nodded, standing tall atop the giant Buddha.
Without hesitation, Jiang Yan clapped his hands once more.
"Wood Release—Wood Dragon Technique!"
From the Buddha's back burst a massive wooden dragon.
Jiang Yan leapt onto its head, and in a single bound,
the dragon soared through the clouds—
racing straight toward the Guili Plains.
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