207: Chapter 207 Human Strength Has Its Limits

Susanoo, this deity existing in the mythology of the island nation, was the one who personally slew Yamata no Orochi.

Also known as Takehaya Susanoo-no-Mikoto, he was one of the three noble children born to Izanagi, with two older sisters, Tsukuyomi and Amaterasu.

In the mythology of the island nation, this thing swore an oath of procreation with his sister, Amaterasu, using items from each other to beget children. If a boy was born, it meant the other harbored evil intentions; if a girl, it indicated a pure heart.

In the end, Susanoo won. Susanoo then wreaked havoc in Takamagahara, ultimately infuriating Amaterasu enough to hide in the Heavenly Rock Cave. From then on, Amaterasu, who represented the sun, disappeared, and the world plunged into darkness.

Such absurd deeds of a deity, yet they are recorded.

That colossal Protector Vajra threw a punch from a distance. This punch carried extreme penetrating power, creating a near-vacuum channel Domain in the air, and continued to roar as it charged into that purple mist, until it made contact with Susanoo inside the mist.

Unfortunately, perhaps because it was too far away, the force was greatly weakened along the way, and it felt like merely scratching an itch when it hit Susanoo.

However, this punch also meant that the battle had officially begun.

The purple mist no longer advanced at the slow pace it had before; instead, it was carried by the sea breeze and rapidly entered the territorial waters of the Xia Kingdom.

The massive Protector Vajra had already charged out and entered the mist, but the Yamata no Orochi coiling around Susanoo churned the seawater into turbulent waves. Hundred-meter-high waves crashed against the Protector Vajra repeatedly, until, after the twentieth time, the Protector Vajra was finally shattered by the waves.

Although this was a Protector Vajra, it was ultimately just something sketched out by Jingxin using Buddhist Dharma.

Just at this moment, a figure wearing a nuo mask appeared beside Jingxin.

"I knew it was you, little monk."

"Did Li Xiuyuan send you?"

The moment that Protector Vajra appeared, Gu Xiao had sensed the rich Zen intent. He followed this trace of Zen intent to locate Jingxin.

"Correct," Jingxin said. He pinched a seal with his hands again, and after concentrating all his Zen intent, his fingertips traced a golden arc in the Void Realm. The moment the arc left his fingertips, it expanded rapidly, forming a massive wall that stretched between the coastline and the open sea.

The wall was composed of countless fine, golden scriptures layered upon one another. Each character emitted a gentle, warm light, and the gaps between the characters were filled with a pale golden halo, turning the entire wall into a continuous screen of light.

When the edges of the purple mist touched that golden wall, it was as if they were blocked by something.

The mist was still trying to push forward, but every time it touched the edge of the golden wall, a portion of it was dissolved by the light of the scriptures.

Gu Xiao stood beside Jingxin, his gaze passing through the gap between the golden scripture wall and the remaining purple mist, looking toward the tall, slowly moving silhouette on the distant sea surface.

He said in a deep voice, "The higher-ups have already mobilized forces from all sides. If it continues to push forward, missiles can be launched at any time."

Jingxin pressed his palms together. A faint glimmer remained on his fingertips from when he had sketched the scripture wall. He shook his head and said, "Those missiles cannot hit him for the time being."

Gu Xiao paused. "Why?"

"Susanoo's true body is not in this world," Jingxin said.

The Susanoo everyone saw at this moment was not his true body, but rather something akin to a projection. However, this projection could cause damage on a physical level; his true body was in another space.

Only by dragging Susanoo out of that space could missiles hit him.

Gu Xiao did not hesitate. The moment Jingxin finished speaking, he had already raised his communicator to his lips and reported the current situation.

As for the Jiantian Bureau, they had also analyzed this mist and the Susanoo within it. The technical team had finished analyzing the Spiritual Qi fluctuation data at the edge of the purple mist, and the conclusion was the same as what Jingxin had said.

Susanoo's state was indeed very strange, as if he were repeatedly switching between a physical entity and a spectral form.

Gu Xiao held the communicator, his gaze falling on the tall silhouette that was slowly pausing outside the golden scripture wall. "Then how do we handle this now? We can't just let it stand there and keep pushing forward, right?"

There was a silence of two seconds on the other end of the communicator, as if waiting for someone to finish their sentence. Then, the voice spoke again, "There is currently no ready-made plan. The countermeasures we pre-set were all aimed at physical entities. If it is indeed just a projection, then conventional methods will have limited effect on it."

Upon hearing this, Gu Xiao turned his head and looked at Jingxin, who was still sitting cross-legged on the reef.

Jingxin did not open his eyes and spoke, "This monk does have a method."

"I can use my own Buddhist Dharma as a foundation to temporarily condense a Sumeru World. It is an independent space composed of Buddhist Dharma, both connected to and separated from the current world. As long as Susanoo's projection steps into it, that world will temporarily trap him."

"Although it can only trap him temporarily, this is enough. If his projection wants to get out, he must reach his true body into it."

"And the moment his true body appears, that will be the time to concentrate our fire."

Gu Xiao raised the communicator again and relayed Jingxin's words verbatim.

The communicator went silent for a few minutes, seemingly evaluating the feasibility of this plan rapidly.

"If his true body will indeed be exposed within the Sumeru World at that moment, we can set the missile strike window on the internal coordinates of that space. Tell him to go ahead; we will adjust the strike plan accordingly."

Gu Xiao hung up the communicator and looked at Jingxin, asking a more practical question: "Little monk, how long will it take for you to prepare the Sumeru World?"

Jingxin opened his eyes, his gaze falling on the purple mist that was still lingering outside the scripture wall. "It is already prepared."

...

The moment the Sumeru World descended, the light by the seaside shifted in an extremely subtle way.

It was not the change in brightness caused by the sun or moon being blocked; the light, the sound of the wind, and the rhythm of the waves in that area all became slightly different, but if one did not distinguish carefully, it was almost impossible to notice.

The wall forged of golden scriptures flickered suddenly, then collapsed inward in an extremely rapid manner, pulling the edges of the purple mist that were being dissolved by the scriptures into the forming space.

After the wall disappeared, the view of the coastline became open again, but the purple mist on the sea surface did not continue to push forward, stagnating at a position several miles away from the coastline.

At the same time, the phantoms of six golden Buddhas slowly emerged above the mist.

Each phantom was tens of zhang high, with different postures—some were sitting in meditation with seals, some had lowered eyes and brows, and some held Magical Artifacts.

They hovered above the purple mist, and golden Buddhist light continuously seeped out from their bodies; those rays of Buddhist light were constantly weaving this Sumeru World.

At this moment, Jingxin sat cross-legged on the reef, his hands slightly pressed together.

His spiritual soul had already left his Physical Body the moment the Sumeru World formed, silently seeping into the interior of the Sumeru World along the edge of that golden film.

It was a world woven from gold, the ground as smooth as a mirror, with fine fragments of scriptures floating at the edges.

This world was silent and empty, with Susanoo standing in the very center.

His eyes were calmly watching the direction where Jingxin's spiritual soul had landed, from a distance of tens of zhang.

His face was clearer than what Jingxin had perceived from a distance, and the strange beast with eight heads beside him was still slowly wriggling, its eight heads each facing a different direction.

Susanoo watched him for a moment, then spoke, "I didn't expect to encounter a human approaching Buddhahood in this era."

Jingxin did not answer. He remained in the posture of pressing his palms together, chanting scriptures in a low voice, as if he had completely failed to hear Susanoo's exclamation.

Susanoo tilted his head slightly, and the leftmost snake head swayed gently with his movement, a slight curve at the corner of his mouth. "You doing this is nothing more than wanting to lure my true body in."

As the words fell, Jingxin's movements paused for a moment, then he immediately cleared all distracting thoughts and continued chanting.

Such an inconspicuous movement had already been captured by Susanoo, and thus, the smile on the rugged man's face grew a bit more intense.

"It is a decent plan, knowing that without killing my true body, anything else you do will be in vain."

"But do you know? Even without bringing my true body, I have a way to break this little trick of yours."

Before the tail end of his words had completely dissipated, the Yamata no Orochi behind Susanoo moved.

The eight heads turned in different directions at that same instant, and the mouths of each head opened simultaneously, the gaps extending from the corners of their mouths deep into their jaws, as if they were about to swallow this world.

Thick black Qi poured out from the mouths of the eight heads, surging toward the edges of the Sumeru World along eight different trajectories simultaneously.

Those golden grounds that were originally smooth and polished began to darken rapidly where the black Qi touched them, like a piece of paper dipped in ink, with the edges seeping from gold to grayish-black.

Jingxin's spiritual soul stood motionless in the Sumeru World. He did not change his posture of pressing his palms together, maintaining the rhythm of his chanting, and continuously injected his own Buddhist Dharma cultivation into the world, attempting to fill the gaps devoured by the black Qi with newly replenished golden light, but the erosion speed of the black Qi was far faster than the speed at which he replenished it.

The entire Sumeru World began to shrink inward from the edges, with Susanoo standing in the center of that collapsing world.

After a few breaths, the entire Sumeru World was completely swallowed by darkness.

Susanoo slowly raised his right hand and reached toward the tail of the eight-headed strange beast beside him. His palm passed through the gaps between the scales and flesh of the Yamata no Orochi, and his five fingers touched a hard outline at the end of the beast's tail. Then, he gripped the edge of that outline and pulled it out from the tail of the Yamata no Orochi.

It was a long sword. The blade was pitch black. This sword was the Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi that Susanoo had obtained after killing the Yamata no Orochi. It was also one of the three Divine Artifacts of the island nation's legends.

Susanoo gripped the sword and then swung it horizontally.

The pitch-black blade traced a narrow, long arc, and the last remaining structure of the entire Sumeru World fractured simultaneously along the path where the sword mark passed.

The golden scripture wall dissipated completely, the phantoms of the six golden Buddhas dimmed at the same moment, and the figures of Susanoo and the Yamata no Orochi re-emerged from the fragments and darkness.

On the reef, Jingxin's Physical Body shuddered violently.

His spiritual soul had just been withdrawn from the collapsed Sumeru World, and before he could even adjust his breathing, a stinging heat had already surged to his throat.

"Pfft!" Jingxin opened his mouth and spat out a large pool of black blood.

Gu Xiao, who was beside him, saw this, his expression changed drastically, and he hurriedly stepped forward to support him. "What happened?"

Jingxin's face was pale, and he had become slightly weak. "This external Daoist still had a backup plan; he broke my Sumeru World from the inside."

Upon hearing this, Gu Xiao immediately reported to the higher-ups.

There were no unnecessary questions on the other end of the communicator; only a short and clear response came: "Understood, the backup plan has been activated. Let him withdraw and rest first; leave the rest to us!"

Gu Xiao did not ask any further questions and supported Jingxin as he leaned against the reef. "The higher-ups have a backup plan. You should rest for a while."

The Jiantian Bureau naturally would not place all their hopes on Jingxin. It was not that they did not trust Jingxin, but rather their consistent style was to always leave themselves multiple backup options to increase the margin for error.

The mist lost its direct obstacle after the Sumeru World collapsed. Although its speed of advancement was a bit slower than before,

just at this moment, dozens of rays of light suddenly lit up in an open area two miles behind the coastline.

Those lights rose simultaneously from different positions, each with a different color.

The interval between the appearances of the lights was extremely short; they lit up the entire area almost at the same moment, illuminating the area that had originally looked empty and dim in the night as if it were broad daylight.

Several figures were moving rapidly among those lights, each holding different Magical Artifacts or Talismans in their hands.

Some of them were wearing Daoist robes, their sleeves flapping in the night wind.

Others were wearing the standard uniforms of the Jiantian Bureau, holding a stack of already drawn Talismans in their hands.

There were also a few young faces who looked like apprentices of Formation Masters who had just been transferred from school to participate in this mission. Although their movements were slightly stiff, their positioning and the rhythm of their seals were flawless.

Over a hundred figures took their positions in the area where the lights had shone, and every node was lit up at the same moment.

Leading them were two elderly monks, with prayer beads hanging around their necks, standing at the very front of the Formation with their palms pressed together.

When the two old monks chanted the spells, behind them, dozens of Daoists and Formation Masters in uniforms pinched their seals simultaneously.

As their respective Spiritual Qi surged from their bodies, carrying different textures and colors, it converged above the light-filled area and wove into a giant net, using those who had taken their positions as nodes, covering the entire area behind the coastline.

The protective Formation took shape in less than a few minutes, concentrating the power of over a hundred Formation Masters to block those mists once again.

Inside the mist, the tall Susanoo watched this scene and could not help but let out a wild laugh. "Even if the number of ants increases, ants will always be ants."

"Human strength has its limits. How long can you hold out?"

Susanoo crossed his arms and ordered the Yamata no Orochi behind him, "Go."

That fierce giant snake with eight heads churned the waves and lunged toward the protective Formation.

'Boom!' A simple impact caused the protective Formation to shift backward by some distance.

Through the protective Formation, Yamata no Orochi saw the fear and dread on the faces of those Formation Masters and could not help but become even more excited.

All eight heads let out roaring sounds and continued to strike the protective Formation.

After several impacts, the entire protective Formation had already shifted backward by dozens of meters, and many cracks had also appeared on the surface of the Formation.

Just as Yamata no Orochi was gathering all its strength, intending to strike one more time, a figure draped in golden light appeared by the seaside.

The person was barefoot, stepping on the soft sand, humming an ancient and unknown ballad, with Zen intent surging around his body.