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Chapter 226 Dragon King (4000-word medium chapter)
Right before Zhou You's eyes, a gigantic creature emerged from the ground and shot straight into the sky.

It has scales, claws, whiskers, horns, is protected by a halo of light, and has the sound of a dragon's roar.

From any angle, it resembles a legendary guardian deity of Buddhism, specifically a celestial dragon among the eight classes of beings.

however.

A closer look reveals that this thing only resembles the object in appearance.

It had scales, but most of them had fallen off, and the remaining ones were covered in mold. It had claws, but all of them had been split open, exposing only the pale bones.

Its enormous body was covered in pustules and ulcers, its eyes had been gouged out, leaving only bloody holes exposed. Countless fungi crawled and took root in the exposed flesh, and every now and then they would burst open and release a clump of foul-smelling and highly poisonous spores.

—The dragon is still alive, living in pain and despair.

The dragon's roar rose again, but the compassion and majesty of the guardian deities were no longer present in it; listening closely, only one emotion remained.

—That is endless, desperate madness.

Zhou You craned his neck, looking at the dragon, which was hundreds or thousands of times larger than himself. After holding his breath for a long time, he could only utter one word.

"Damn it!"
-
the other side.

Beyond the Dharma realm.

Cai Yuankui mechanically drew his bow, nocked an arrow, and then shot it.

One wax figure was shot through the head on the spot, but another one immediately took its place. Looking around, the vast number of monsters were like an ant colony, about to overwhelm these insignificant acts of resistance.

Several soldiers silently thrust out their spears, instantly turning a monster into a sieve. But then, a yaksha swung down his giant hand, smashing them into a pulp.

Before the yaksha could even raise its hand, another sword talisman floated up, moving without wind, and instantly pierced through its eye, creating a hole the size of a washbasin at the back of its head.

The Taoist priest, struggling to catch his breath, had just raised his hand, intending to cast a spell—when a piercing sound of something cutting through the air rang out, a vajra fell from the sky, piercing him through like a string of candied hawthorns.

...This is their current situation.

Every moment, someone is dying.

Cai Yuankui remained expressionless, merely tilting his hand slightly, and shot an arrow that killed the Buddha who had thrown the vajra.

The peasant woman beside him, carrying the black box, threw out the last few fire bombs, creating an explosion in the sea of ​​monsters. Then, taking advantage of the opening, she said with a grim expression.

“Tiqi, ever since the Taoist priest jumped in, all the things in this city have been swarming over here like flies that smelled carrion. Now, most of the remaining people are dead or wounded. If this continues, we probably won’t be able to hold out for much longer. What should we do now?”

Cai Yuankui replied irritably.

"What do we do? We'll just have to accept it! Even if most of them are dead or wounded, even if only one person is left, we have to hold on. We have to give our lives to buy time for the Taoist priest! Tell them this: if the Taoist priest successfully kills that monk, everyone will be saved. But if the Taoist priest dies, everyone, including me, will have to be buried with him!"

Upon hearing the order, the peasant woman didn't say a word, turned around and left, passing on the command.

Cai Yuankui, however, raised his head, his expression suddenly becoming serious.

The hungry ghosts in the sky and the power of Maitreya Bodhisattva were still locked in a stalemate, seemingly evenly matched. However, he knew perfectly well that although Maitreya was only a Bodhisattva who had not yet attained the status of a future Buddha, he had at least descended in his true form, while Zhengde's side was merely a Dharma image incarnation. The reason he had been able to hold on until now was entirely due to his master's complete relics and his own entire foundation of life.

Once these two things are completely worn away, there is no doubt that everyone present, whether inside or outside, will die a miserable death here.

so.

—It's all about speed now. We'll see if Zhengde can hold out first, or if Master Zhou can kill the old monk first and stop the Longhua Three Assemblies ceremony!
However, even as Cai Yuankui frowned, several screams suddenly rang out from within the ranks.

He looked up and saw a huge Arhat taking advantage of a brief gap to tear a hole in the defensive line. Several soldiers around him saw that things were not going well and tried to turn around and run away, but in the blink of an eye they were tackled to the ground and torn into a pile of bloody and mangled pieces.

—Damn, something's happened!

Cai Yuankui took a deep breath, enduring the excruciating pain of tearing muscles in his arm, and drew his bow again, aiming the arrow at the head of the deformed Arhat.

But in the blink of an eye...

A cold blade suddenly sprang out from the shadows, its sharp edge leaping among the surrounding buildings before piercing deeply into the Arhat's temple.

The enormous body slowly collapsed, and the surrounding cavalry and soldiers gathered together, barely managing to plug the gap.

Seeing this, Cai Yuankui breathed a sigh of relief and shouted.

"Hey kid, not bad skills. After this is over, would you be interested in joining our Evil Suppression Division?"

After fighting for so long, even Lu Ping, with his energy, was panting heavily. He supported himself on his legs, bent over, and rested for a while before replying.

"Excuse me, Uncle Cai, my master doesn't allow me to go with bad people!"

"Wait a minute, when did we become bad guys? We, the Demon Suppression Division, are..."

however.

Before the brief rest was over, the surroundings suddenly shook.

Cai Yuankui immediately shut his mouth and glanced to the side.

Then he realized that the source of the earthquake was not here, but in that Dharma realm.

—From the moment it began at Bodhi Temple, the whole world began to tremble!
A thought flashed through his mind, causing his heart to sink.

The Taoist priest is probably in big trouble!
—This is seriously messed up!

As Zhou You weaved through the collapsed bricks and stones, he cursed inwardly.

—Damn system, you're really inhuman! How am I supposed to fix this?

Zhou You glanced back amidst his busy schedule, and his expression turned even more unpleasant.

Right behind him, a giant dragon was indiscriminately sweeping through everything, the entire palace as fragile as paper, crumbling at the slightest touch of its massive body.

It's only thanks to removing the roof during the previous exhibition that we were able to avoid the bricks and stones; otherwise, we would have had to avoid several times more.

—And that's not all. As his body moved, some fungi would always be scraped off, and the moment those things hit the ground, they would immediately turn into one deformed creature after another with sharp teeth and claws, rushing towards him at an even faster speed!

Zhou You gritted his teeth and immediately swung out the sword, its momentum flowing like smoke and clouds. In the blink of an eye, he cut down several poisonous mushrooms that had climbed over the wall. But the problem was that he could kill these small monsters, but how was he going to kill the thing behind them?

Although the antidote is effective, stabbing it into that massive dragon body is about the same as stabbing it with a toothpick!

As he pondered, another severed claw swept across, and Zhou You quickly ducked down, narrowly avoiding it. Then, its momentum did not diminish, sweeping across the entire hall like autumn leaves in the wind. The pillars that took several people to encircle could not even withstand a second of its claws before turning into flying debris.

Zhou You broke out in a cold sweat, and quickened his pace again.

Unfortunately, the entire city of Chitoumo is only so big, so even if he escaped the main hall, he would have nowhere to hide.

Not to mention, time is simply not on his side!
The dragon, howling incessantly, was destroying everything in its path, and the monsters formed from the fungus were multiplying. Although they no longer possessed the overwhelming force of the wax figures, they were gradually shrinking Zhou You's range of movement.

—Damn it, in this situation, unless I can cut directly into his brain, this battle is impossible to fight!
But at this crucial moment...

Suddenly—a rough voice rang in his ears.

"—I'm calling you Daoist Master, can you hear me?" Zhou You was taken aback, then immediately realized what he meant.

Lao Cai?

He immediately made a sharp turn and disappeared into an alley, barely managing to shake off the dragon while finally finding a chance to return.

"I can hear you, where are you?"

"We're still outside. This Dharma Realm is really too troublesome. It's impossible to break through it in just a few hours of painstaking work. — Daoist, you don't need to be surprised. I'm just using some low-level magic to talk to you."

As the words fell, a paper figure slowly crawled out from the collar. The paper figure's head was casually scribbled with ink. Although it was simple, it still revealed three or four parts of Cai Yuankui's spirit.

—When did he put this thing in there?
However, before Zhou You could think it over, the paper figure opened its mouth and asked urgently.

"I ask you, Master, what exactly happened in the Dharma Realm? Why is the tremor so severe?"

Zhou You was about to speak, but he immediately sensed something, stopped abruptly, and then sprang to the side.

The next moment, half of the alley collapsed!
A rotting tail swept over with overwhelming force, destroying everything in its path with devastating force.

The paper figure possessed by Cai Yuankui also saw this scene. He was stunned for a few seconds, and then spoke in a voice that seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth.

"—Dorashiki, the Dragon King who stood guard over the Tushita Heaven Palace for Maitreya when the extraterrestrial demons corrupted the Buddhist realm. Wait, wasn't it killed in battle? How did it end up here?"

"You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask? That old monk was pulled out from underground."

"And what about the old monk?"

"It's inside this thing's belly!"

"."

Cai Yuankui was speechless for a moment.

He spoke again after a full three or four breaths.

"Master, to be honest, I originally thought you only needed to deal with that old monk. I really didn't expect this thing to appear out of nowhere—it was my mistake that caused you to be in such a dangerous situation. I'm truly sorry."

Zhou You didn't stop walking, only taking a moment from his busy schedule to reply.

His voice is much calmer now than it was at the beginning.

"Time is of the essence, so let's not talk about apologies. I've been watching you guys prepare something since before, so you must have some backup plan, right?"

The paper figure sighed vividly.

"...Yes, it is possible, and it should be able to deal with this Doruo Shiqi, but the problem is that it is different from Master Zhengde. To deal with it, I'm afraid we'll need your cooperation, Daoist Master."

As soon as he finished speaking, another tail slammed down, showering the sky with gold and jewels like rain. But Zhou You didn't even glance at them, quickly retreating and disappearing into another alley.

"How do I need to cooperate?"

"It's not difficult. You just need to find a way to trap this thing for five or six breaths and prevent it from escaping beyond a certain range."

Upon hearing this, Zhou You's expression suddenly became quite interesting.

...This is indeed not difficult; it's just a few steps of putting an elephant in a refrigerator.

1. Find an elephant.

2. Put the elephant in the refrigerator.

3. Close the refrigerator door.

—Are you kidding me?! The Om mantra is completely ineffective against this kind of thing, and the Ma mantra can only deprive you of the five senses, it can't make it stop moving.
Wait a moment.

Zhou You suddenly raised his head and looked in a certain direction.

"I'm saying, if I can really hold it in place for a few breaths, can you then eliminate it?"

"I'm at least 50% sure."

Okay, the odds are higher than 10%, I'm confident of winning, I'll take the gamble!
Zhou You didn't reply. Instead, he stuffed the paper figure into his collar, then abruptly turned around and, instead of running away, ran off in another direction.

Several activated fungi opened their mouths, trying to stop it, but Duan Xie simply swept them away lightly, and they were instantly decapitated.

Then, he activated the Jing Shen Feeding Bait Song Technique to its fullest extent, and his speed suddenly increased—in the blink of an eye, the distance of several dozen feet was covered.

The change was so sudden that even the celestial dragon didn't react in time.

By the time it finally came to its senses, Zhou You had already traversed the flat street and stepped once again into the nearly ruined hall!
A furious roar suddenly rang out.

The entire Dharma realm seemed to tremble with the sound. Feeling like it had been tricked, the celestial dragon turned its enormous body and chased after it without hesitation at an even faster speed.
-
The shattered hall passed in the blink of an eye.

In the midst of this chase, the two sides arrived at the place where the old monk had been before.

But this time, Zhou You did not stop. He skipped over the large hole that had collapsed when Maitreya appeared and rushed forward.

The celestial dragon followed closely behind. Due to the huge difference in size between the two, the dragon was getting closer and closer, and its claws were now less than a few feet away from him!
But at that moment, Zhou You suddenly leaped up.

Then he landed steadily on a branch.

It is the very Dragon Flower Tree that gave birth to the true form of Maitreya, and now only a shell remains!

Upon seeing this scene, even the already insane Tianlong revealed a hint of mockery.

If we escape somewhere else, we might live a little longer, but escaping here is just courting death!
Without hesitation, it swam up and climbed up the tree.

But at this moment, someone was like a stubborn monkey, specifically targeting the winding and twisting parts of the strip. It tried several times, but each time it missed biting the tiny body by the slightest margin.

This made it increasingly impatient, and in order to catch up with its opponent, it squeezed its body further and further in, until finally its entire dragon body was squeezed into the hollow of the tree bark.

However, Zhou You stopped at this moment.

Tianlong was taken aback, then overjoyed.

Its body suddenly accelerated, and its foul-smelling mouth opened wide, seemingly about to swallow the annoying monkey whole—

Otherwise.

next moment.

But what greeted it was no longer the figure fleeing in panic.

It only saw a pair of extremely indifferent eyes.

Then came the sudden burst of malevolent energy, and that sword light, condensed to its extreme and as cold as winter!
　I'm so sorry, my tooth has been hurting badly these past two days. I was thinking of taking a day off, but then I remembered that it was almost time to finish, so I endured the pain and rushed to finish this. There might be a lot of typos, but I'll fix them in half an hour or an hour. I apologize very much.

　　The final chapter of "Buddha's Heart" will be released tomorrow.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)