Beijing, the Great Hall.
The elevator on the fourth basement level lit up. A refined-looking, tall young man, wearing a D&G shirt and matching trousers, a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, and with his hands in his pockets, walked out.
He walked familiarly down the corridor to an office at the end. A young man in a black suit with a gun stood at the guard post. Seeing him, he immediately smiled, “Team Leader Situ, are you here to see our boss?”
“Mm, is he still inside?”
“He’s been guarding the formation for a week now. Is it urgent?”
Situ Yingzhi waved his hand to signal that he didn’t need to be busy, pushed the door open himself, and said, “I’m just going in to get something.”
Although Zhou Hui’s office was in a strange location, it was no different from a normal government official’s office, with mahogany furniture and landscape paintings, and a thick gray carpet on the floor. What was unusual was that at this moment, there were many threads hanging in his office, crisscrossing in the air. On each thread, a small, finger-sized, crystal-clear, and sparkling red dzi bead slid back and forth. Although the threads were as dense as a spider’s web, the hundreds of red beads moved like the orbits of stars in the universe, never intersecting.
Zhou Hui sat motionless in the center of the bead net with his back to him.
“Yo, why is it so quiet in here? Old Two said you were hiding in your office eating beer and fried chicken and watching football.” Situ Yingzhi bent down and ducked under the bead net, casually patted his shoulder, and said, “Boss, quickly write me a peace talisman. I’m going back to Guangdong in the afternoon. A few rich old men in Hong Kong are begging me to sell them one… F*ck, what’s wrong with you?!”
Zhou Hui’s head was lolling to one side. On his arm, which was resting on his lap, was a wound so deep the bone was visible. Blood dripped down his wrist to the floor, where it had already formed a small puddle.
“Fck! Boss! Did you fcking slit your wrist?!” Situ Yingzhi straightened his head and suddenly found several half-chi-long silver needles stuck in Zhou Hui’s head. With his movement, a needle stuck in his temple silently slipped out.
“…” The corner of Situ Yingzhi’s mouth twitched. He picked up the silver needle and looked at it, then said cautiously, “Boss? Boss Zhou?”
No response.
“Team Leader Zhou? Boss Zhou? Idiot Zhou?”
Still no response.
“…He really fainted.” Only then could Situ Yingzhi be sure. He looked at the silver needle in his hand again, his facial expression twisted for a long moment, and then he decided to reinsert it—but the original needle hole was extremely small, and his needlework was not very good. He searched for a long time but couldn’t find the original position. While he was trying with the needle, the tip was suddenly attracted by the flesh and blood and naturally slid into the skin of his temple.
Situ Yingzhi breathed a sigh of relief and took two satisfactory steps back, intending to call a few people for help, but suddenly found Zhou Hui’s mouth open, and with a pfft, he spat out a mouthful of blood!
Situ Yingzhi: “…”
Situ Yingzhi went crazy. “What’s going on!”
He took out his phone from his pocket, opened the WeChat group, and typed out a message: “Our boss committed suicide by slitting his wrist. I put a soul-fixing needle back in his head, but he’s spitting blood at me. What’s going on? Urgent, waiting online!”
Underground in H-City, in the stone grotto.
A mouthful of blood came out of Zhou Hui’s mouth. The short knife fell to the ground with a clang, and his whole body slumped back several steps.
With a ding-dong, his phone rang. The nine-tailed fox stretched out a paw from one of its fluffy tails, took out its phone, opened WeChat, and went crazy.
“You inserted it wrong, you idiot!” the nine-tailed fox shrieked. “Old Three, do you even know how to insert! If you don’t know how, then don’t! Don’t you feel ashamed that you’ve grown so big and still don’t know how to insert!”
“F*ck, how was I supposed to know he was so easy to insert?! It just went in, is that my fault?! What do I do now? Do I take him to the hospital?!”
The nine-tailed fox said angrily, “The boss has a clone in H-City! His eldest son is about to commit patricide! You’re done for. Wait until Feng Si skins you alive when you get back!”
“…” There was a strange silence on the other end of the phone for a long moment, then Situ Yingzhi said politely, “Sorry, I’m from Guangdong. I don’t understand your Mandarin. Bye!”
[Hou San has left the WeChat group].
The nine-tailed fox angrily threw its phone. “What are you pretending for, you Cantonese! When were you ever human!”
Zhou Hui fell to the ground, his vision went black, and for a moment, he even lost feeling in his body. In a daze, he saw Maha grit his teeth and clutch the blood on his heart, walking over with a sword. However, the next second, he was pulled up by Chu He’s powerful hand and thrown directly at the nine-tailed fox.
The nine-tailed fox leaped into the air, caught Zhou Hui in its mouth, and landed steadily, shouting, “Feng Si, be careful!”
Maha clearly didn’t care about Chu He’s human form and leaped directly over him, wanting to rush towards Zhou Hui. However, the moment they brushed past each other, Chu He pressed a palm on his heart, and the pain instantly made Maha flinch and retreat—a black burn mark was imprinted on his chest, and silver-white blood continuously seeped out from the wound.
Maha looked at the wound and panted through gritted teeth, “…Wisdom King’s true fire?”
But Chu He shook his head and didn’t answer. He picked up the short knife Zhou Hui had dropped, and with a flick of his arm, a stream of fire suddenly extended from the blade to a length of more than three chi. “You can’t go out, at least not now.”
“Because I’ll attract heavenly thunder if I go out?”
“That’s one reason, but I can’t tell you why now,” Chu He said. “If you go out, you’ll know my reason, but by then it will be too late.”
Maha took a deep breath, gripped his long sword tightly, and stood up straight to look at Chu He.
This was actually a very strange scene. If one ignored the strong evil nature inherent in Maha’s face, his image of standing with a sword was actually no different from the Phoenix of the past. But Chu He, who was facing him, although his expression was calm and his face was ordinary, his calm and composed posture was more like the King of Phoenix who resided high in the Thirty-Three Heavens back then.
“Mom, has anyone ever told you,” Maha said coldly, “that your attitude of having everything under control but not saying a word is actually very hateful?”
Chu He raised an eyebrow slightly in a subtle way, but the next second, Maha appeared in the air, and a sword strike, as if splitting heaven and earth, came down before his eyes!
“Get Zhou Hui out of here! Seal the top of the cave!” Chu He’s and Maha’s blades clashed with a loud clang. He shouted in a low voice, “Tell the people above to retreat!”
The nine-tailed fox didn’t hesitate at all and called for the weasel and the others to run out. Zhang Shun wanted to stay, but was knocked over by a claw from the nine-tailed fox as it passed by. “Don’t dawdle, kid! Get up there!”
Zhang Shun said angrily, “I still don’t understand. What the hell is going on?!”
The nine-tailed fox roared in his ear, “Life is already so hard! Some things are better left unknown!”
The path outside the cave was a crevice created by the earthquake, and because of the groundwater flooding in, it was extremely slippery and muddy. The group couldn’t walk side by side. The nine-tailed fox and the weasel had to be at the back, and Zhou Hui gritted his teeth and led the way—this man was indeed tough. He had been burned by the Peacock Golden Fire for a long time and was also tragically pitted by his pig teammate from a long distance. Cold sweat mixed with blood flowed down his face, yet he could still clear the way for the main force while quickly writing the Great Prohibition Curse on the stone walls on both sides with his blood—as a puppet-like clone, he was quite impressive.
The nine-tailed fox asked while running, “Hey, boss—! Did you carve those ninety million curses in the stone grotto?”
Zhou Hui panted, “Nonsense. Was it you?”
“Hey, boss—! How long did it take to carve?”
“Over a hundred years!”
“Boss—! Do you really have a father’s love for your eldest son, or do you really wish he were dead?”
Zhou Hui reached back and grabbed the nine-tailed fox by the back of its neck, shouting, “I don’t know either!—If you have time to chat, why don’t you come and clear the way?!”
The nine-tailed fox hastily retreated. At that moment, a deafening boom suddenly came from the entrance of the cave behind them, followed by Chu He flying out horizontally in a collapse of rubble and earth!
Maha followed closely behind. The moment he came out, his whole body was as if covered by a large red glowing net. If one looked closely, the large net was composed of countless flowing Sanskrit prohibition curses. In the short moment he was bound by this net, Chu He twisted his body in mid-air, stepped on the stone wall, and, as if walking on walls, rushed back, piercing Maha’s chest with one strike!
Blood gushed out. Maha’s teeth were full of blood, but the next second, his hand passed through the curse net and grabbed Chu He’s wrist.
His sharp nails, like blades, instantly pierced Chu He’s radial artery. Because the blood vessel was completely severed, blood spurted out and quickly vaporized in the scorching heat around them—then, just like how the Phoenix’s blood had melted the sword into molten iron just now, the Sanskrit curse net was also burned through layer by layer in the blink of an eye!
Chu He’s pupils constricted. He wanted to pull his hand back, but it was too late.
The crack in the curse net rapidly expanded. The next second, Maha broke free and rushed out amidst the earth-shattering collapse of the ninety million Great Prohibition Curses!
Chu He shouted sharply, “Zhou Hui—”
The coordination in this thousandth of a second was exquisite. Zhou Hui’s figure rose from the ground, transformed into his Dharma form in mid-air, and with a “roar—,” he knocked Maha back into the air!
The entire rock was shattered with cracks, but Maha seemed completely oblivious to the bone-chilling pain. He didn’t even pause, and the moment he was bounced back by gravity, he shot out like a cannonball.
If one looked closely, his figure, as it flew through the sky, was shedding blood like rain, but at this moment, no one could keep up with the speed of the Peacock Wisdom King’s true Dharma form. He was like a hurricane, weaving through Zhou Hui’s hands, and the next second, he had already rushed in front of everyone.
The nine-tailed fox let out a sharp and piercing cry, “Dodge—”
—If time had stopped then, it would have been a chaotic scene like boiling mud.
Maha’s face was cold, his sword held horizontally in front of him, his robe and long hair entangled like a soaring white giant bird, his face and body covered in crisscrossing bloodstains. Li Hu’s nine huge, snow-white fox tails were all spread to their fullest extent, and his fox body came down, firmly protecting everyone under him.
Chu He, entangled in the torn Sanskrit curse net, at the last moment, grabbed a string of azure prayer beads from the void and threw it to Zhou Hui with all his strength. Zhou Hui caught it in mid-air without looking back, and the moment it was in his hand, it transformed into a pure azure longbow. He nocked an arrow, drew the string, and aimed at Maha’s back.
The change happened at this moment.
—The moment Maha flew past, the weasel suddenly raised its head and stretched out its claws, grabbing his sleeve with all its strength.
This pull was actually not much of a force for a strong person like Maha. Normally, he might not even have felt it. But at this time, he was also at the end of his rope. Under the injury, it was difficult to maintain his balance, and in his haste, he stumbled, exposing his unguarded back.
Maha suddenly shook his sleeve and sent the weasel flying with a heavy blow.
—The next second, a long arrow came with a flash of light and, with a thud, pinned Maha to the stone wall!
The nine-tailed fox suddenly turned around, its voice changed. “Hey! Fatty!”
No one reacted. Chu He gritted his teeth, tore the curse net that was entangled around his wrist, and rushed over.
The weasel was smashed into the sharp rubble on the ground. Its fat body twitched a few times, and a large pool of blood slowly flowed from the back of its head.
He struggled to breathe, then began to gasp for air. Blood filled his lungs, making a hoarse and unpleasant sound like a bellows. Chu He’s trembling hands picked him up and cradled him on his lap, forcefully wiping the large gouts of blood flowing from the corner of his mouth. However, bloody foam still kept coming out of the corner of his mouth, his nasal cavity, and even his ears.
“President, President Chu,” he asked intermittently, “did I… did I do well enough?…”
For a moment, Chu He seemed to be back on that day. This round weasel, after being mocked by the Japanese, would only hide in shame, sitting on the desolate construction site, and asking sadly, “Did I not do well enough?”
It’s already very good.
“Then why does no one still treat me like a person?”
Because you didn’t do well enough.
Just… do a little more, a little more, and it will be fine.
Chu He closed his eyes and gasped for breath, but tears soon wet his entire face.
“You’ve already done very well,” his voice trembled violently, sounding very hoarse and strange. “Those who laugh at you… those high and mighty people, are actually far… far inferior to you. All of them are only fit to look up to you from a very, very low place…”
This weasel, who had been cautious and fearful all his life, seemed to want to show a smile with his last bit of strength, but ultimately failed. His face froze in a somewhat comical expression, as if he wanted to split his mouth open, but his face was wet with blood and tears, and covered in so much mud and dust, looking very comical and very wretched.
Chu He bent down and gently placed the weasel on the ground.
His shoulders, and even his entire body, began to tremble with his violent gasps. The shaking grew larger and larger, and within a few seconds, it became abnormally violent. The veins on the hand that was grabbing the stone wall bulged, and the five fingernails simultaneously turned from the pale blue of excessive force to a terrifying blood-red.
“Mo… ha…” he said, word by word.
That voice seemed to come from between his teeth. It was not like his usual voice. On the contrary, it sounded abnormally cold and sinister.
Something seemed to be moving quickly under his clothes. Then, a golden-red phoenix tattoo emerged from his collar, and as if it had a life of its own, it passed from his arm over his shoulder, all the way to the side of his face.
The next second, the King of Phoenix’s Dharma form materialized. In the void, a sea of fire bloomed like a lotus, burning the surrounding mountain rocks with a bang!
Just as the nine-tailed fox noticed the abnormality and wanted to go forward, it was pulled back by Zhou Hui—
That was not the normal Phoenix Dharma form.
That was the Acalanatha (Unshakable Wisdom King), the Vajrasattva, a form that had never appeared in the thousand-year-old scriptures, the most evil form of the ancient Phoenix.
