107: Chapter 107 Second Delay

"Roar—!!"

A furious roar resounded throughout the Mountain Gate Hall.

The Great Buddha failed to find Chu Xuan and swung its Buddhist staff around, smashing everything in a frenzy. Like a violent storm, it shattered all the surrounding Buddhist statues into pieces.

With a thunderous boom, a thick stone pillar was struck by the sweeping staff; it was no stronger than a fragile stalk of straw as it snapped and collapsed.

Immediately after, several large holes appeared in the walls one after another. Rubble flew everywhere, and dust filled the air.

In the blink of an eye, the place had become a complete mess.

The "villagers" outside seemed to be terrified of the Great Buddha, retreating into the distance and not daring to approach the Mountain Gate Hall.

Chu Xuan hid in a corner, silently watching the Great Buddha's mad, indiscriminate attacks. His heart remained calm; he even hoped the entity would stay here a little longer.

If it did, Chen Yao, Fox, and the Bald Man would have enough time to destroy the glowing statues inside the Ksitigarbha Hall.

Unfortunately, not long after this thought arose, the Great Buddha vanished again. The villagers outside swarmed forward once more, blockading the hall.

"I wonder if they succeeded in destroying the statues..."

As the thought flashed through his mind, Chu Xuan was about to rush over when a System prompt appeared again—

[The time limit for your talent skill is approaching. Do you wish to spend 20 points of spirituality value to extend it by 1 hour? 10 seconds remaining...]

[10!]

[9!]

Chu Xuan's heart sank. He pulled out his phone and saw the time was exactly 4:59.

He remembered that at 3:59, the System prompt to extend the talent skill by an hour only required 10 points of spirituality value. He hadn't expected the cost for the second extension to start stacking.

Chu Xuan's expression flickered between hesitation and resolve.

His remaining spirituality value was currently 75 points. Based on his initial hypothesis about the spirituality value deduction for the [Precognitive Dream] talent, another death might require 60 points to resurrect. His current value was sufficient; even if he were accidentally killed by the Great Buddha, he would still have a chance to continue trying within the dream.

But if he spent 20 points on the extension now, he would only have 55 points left. To resurrect again, he would need to replenish 5 points as quickly as possible.

Chu Xuan faced two choices.

First, commit suicide immediately and restart the dream. With the experience he had accumulated, a second attempt would be much smoother, and he might even be able to farm more spirituality value.

Second, spend the 20 points to continue the extension.

Almost as soon as the thought arose, Chu Xuan rejected the first option.

He suddenly realized that the [Precognitive Dream] talent originally only allowed for one hour of real-time simulation. Since he was currently in an extension phase, would he really be able to restart after dying?

Furthermore, the spirituality value required for the next dream simulation stacked with every death.

According to [Future Tang Zheng], the true horror had far from arrived. Perhaps one day in the future, the spirituality value Chu Xuan would need to enter a dream would reach a terrifying amount.

Under these circumstances, it was better to die as little as possible.

Moreover, the current situation was very favorable. Judging by the progress, there was a very high hope of slaying the Great Buddha. If he restarted now, it would be a bit too timid and cowardly...

Wait!

At this point in his thoughts, Chu Xuan suddenly came up with a way to have the best of both worlds!

[5!]

[4!]

[...]

With only a few seconds left, Chu Xuan stopped overthinking and chose the extension.

[You have consumed 20 points of spirituality value.]

[Remaining spirituality value: 55]

Next, Chu Xuan quickly left with his blade, heading straight for the Heavenly Kings Hall. He arrived before Old Wu's mangled corpse and crouched down to search it.

After a moment, he found a large handful of spirit money. Most of it was shattered and its silver luster had faded, but some pieces were still intact.

This was it!

Chu Xuan's eyes sparkled. He immediately chose to absorb all the spirit money through the System.

[Absorbing for you... Absorption complete!]

[spirituality value +7]

[Current spirituality value: 62]

"Now it's the best of both worlds! Regardless of whether I can restart after dying in this dream, with this spirituality value, I'm prepared for any eventuality..."

Chu Xuan took a deep breath. With no intention of lingering, he passed through the back door of the Heavenly Kings Hall and came directly to the plaza in front of the Mahavira Hall.

Just as he arrived, he saw the Great Buddha chasing Fox. Her agility was decent, but it clearly hadn't reached 10 points. She couldn't pull away far enough and was caught in an instant.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Several booms followed as the bluestone tiles of the plaza were smashed into craters. Fox rolled continuously on the ground. Although she narrowly avoided every blow, she clearly wouldn't be able to hold out for much longer.

But at that moment, Fox suddenly vanished.

The Great Buddha swung its staff several more times, but with Fox still nowhere to be seen, it finally teleported away. When it reappeared, it was outside the Ksitigarbha Hall.

It stepped inside, and soon a series of booms echoed from within the Ksitigarbha Hall.

A second later, Fox's figure reappeared on the plaza.

Chu Xuan raised an eyebrow. "Invisibility?"

Fox was panting heavily, her eyes filled with unconcealed terror. She held two short swords in her hands, but she hadn't even had a chance to counter-attack against the Great Buddha.

Seeing Chu Xuan arrive at the plaza, Fox immediately asked, "Are the glowing statues outside the Mountain Gate Hall destroyed?"

Chu Xuan nodded slightly without speaking. Instead, he looked grimly toward the distant Ksitigarbha Hall, where two figures were being forced out.

Inside the hall, the golden body of the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, which emitted a red glow, only had a slightly shattered head. Blood flowed down its face. Although it looked frightening, it clearly wasn't enough to kill the Specter within.

The Great Buddha chased them out of the hall. Seeing Chen Yao and the Bald Man flee in different directions, it chose to pursue Chen Yao.

Seeing this, the Bald Man quickly circled around the back, clearly intending to return to the Ksitigarbha Hall.

But at that moment, the Great Buddha's figure flashed, and it returned to the hall's entrance. The Bald Man immediately retreated, not daring to approach further.

This time, the Great Buddha only chased for a few steps before stopping. It paced back and forth outside the hall's entrance, its staff dragging on the ground with a clattering sound.

"The Great Buddha has started guarding the point!"

Chu Xuan thought to himself that this was bad.

His spirituality value was sufficient now, and having just extended the dream duration by an hour, he didn't need to be overly frugal. He mentally directed his spirituality value into the black-rimmed glasses perched on his nose to check the Great Buddha's basic attributes.

[spirituality value -1]

[Current spirituality value: 61]

As the System prompt appeared, the remaining uses on the left lens of the black-rimmed glasses became "0," while several lines of small text quickly flickered onto the right transparent lens.

[stamina: 68]

[Strength: 70]

[agility: 9]

[spirit: 40]

Chu Xuan shouted "Holy shit" in his mind. He finally understood why Fox was so shocked that he wanted to kill the Great Buddha; the gap between their basic attributes was simply too massive.