I will be stronger after the remake

"But why did he eat people? Was it to heal his wounds?"

"No, eating people to heal injuries is beyond human comprehension. Although Cao Poshi is a traitor to the country, he is not so depraved as to be this insane. If I am not mistaken, he has been maintaining a state of deep spiritual resonance for too long, completely losing his humanity and turning into the monster Garuda."

"But Peach Blossom Village has the effect of altering memories, so why wasn't he affected? Does this effect not work on monsters?"

“One of his psionic powers can protect him from having his memories altered, just like yours.”

Tang Ping recalled the information she had gleaned using the "Three-Eyed True Radiance": Cao Poshi possessed the spiritual power "Perfect and Wishful Thinking," which kept the mind in a state of perfection, protected from external evils, and increased the chances of generating inspiration.

"Memory alteration" is undoubtedly a form of external evil.

Thinking of this, he suddenly felt an indescribable sense of absurdity.

The altered memories of Peach Blossom Village are always based on a human perspective, and in order to make people stay voluntarily, the altered memories tend to be peaceful and stable.

If Cao Poshi hadn't possessed the spiritual power "Perfect and Wishful Thinking," he might have broken free from the spiritual resonance due to the alteration of his memories and regained his human form. However, he did have this spiritual power, which blocked the invasion of external evils, causing him to completely fall into the trap and miss his last glimmer of hope.

"What a twist of fate..."

Chapter 237 Luring the Enemy into the Enemy's Formation

Tang Ping stepped forward, pushing through the crowd, and asked the boy, "Did you see which direction that big bird flew in the end?"

However, the other party was too frightened to answer, and just kept repeating what he had just said, his eyes empty and lifeless.

Seeing this, Tang Ping didn't care about being exposed. He secretly activated his spiritual energy "Miraculous Dew" to bestow a blessing effect. He reached out and touched the boy's forehead, casually using the simplest meditation technique.

The boy's body stiffened, then his eyes regained their focus, and the look of terror on his face faded, leaving only a lingering fear.

Tang Ping knelt down, grasped the boy's trembling shoulders, and repeated the question.

The boy sobbed and pointed towards the back mountain, his voice trembling with tears: "They went towards the back mountain over there, and the fire on their wings even turned the clouds red!"

The villagers all turned their heads in unison, looking in horror at the misty back mountain, where the village's medicinal herb fields and orchards now resembled an abyss lurking with a giant beast.

"Do not--"

A heart-wrenching cry suddenly rang out, and a peasant woman was seen slumped on the ground, her hair disheveled, tears mixed with mud leaving streaks on her face.

Her body trembled, and she cried out in a shrill voice, "My husband went to gather herbs in the back mountain this morning and hasn't come back yet... Could that monster... could it already be..."

Finally, she was sobbing uncontrollably and dared not say any more. Several women with red eyes came forward to help her up, but she herself could not help but shed tears as well.

For a moment, everyone's face showed fear and helplessness. After all, according to the setting of "The Peach Blossom Spring", they were just a group of refugees who fled from war. They were kind-hearted and had no supernatural powers.

"Calm down! Everyone, calm down!"

The village chief, leaning on his peachwood cane, tried desperately to calm the crowd, but even his voice trembled and was quickly drowned out by the panic; no one paid him any attention.

Tang Ping thought for a moment, then stepped forward and said, "Village Chief, gather everyone together at the ancestral hall and try to stay together and not run around. As for this big bird, let the two of us deal with it."

"According to Little Stone, it was a huge monster that easily killed Afu. Are you two really confident?"

The village chief looked at the two of them with a worried expression.

"Don't worry, we are experts at dealing with monsters in the outside world. Leave this to us."

Yu Shujiang also said, "We are so grateful for everyone's care these past few days. Otherwise, we wouldn't even have any food. Now it's our turn to repay them."

"Well... alright, I'll leave everything to you two."

The village chief couldn't think of a better solution, so he had no choice but to try anything. He turned to the other villagers and said, "Let's all go to the ancestral hall! No one can be left behind; those who are alone are more likely to be targeted by monsters."

Tang Ping and Yu Shujiang paid no attention to how the village chief summoned the villagers. The two quickly returned to their room to discuss countermeasures.

“Under normal circumstances, when a psychic becomes a monster, their physique and spiritual power will be enhanced, and their strength will become stronger. However, Cao Poshi was seriously injured and was forced to eat people to heal. It is clear that his injuries have not yet recovered. Therefore, instead of dragging it out, we should go and deal with him now. The longer it drags on, the more disadvantageous it will be for us.”

Tang Ping formulated her plan on the way.

Yu Shujiang hesitated and said, "Didn't you say you were about to advance to the third level? Why don't we just wait until you advance to the third level before fighting? Even if the opponent takes the opportunity to heal their injuries, the increase in strength you gain from advancing to the third level will definitely be greater than the little bit of strength the opponent recovers."

Tang Ping shook his head and said, "Theoretically speaking, I do have a better chance of winning after I advance to the third level. But the premise is that I can advance safely. It's not as easy as advancing to the second level. Advancing to the third level will generate huge spiritual energy fluctuations, and the process may last from tens of minutes to several hours. If the other party has any sense, they will definitely come to stop me, and then it will be dangerous."

"Of course, there is an advantage to advancing here, which is that we will not encounter other monsters to stop us. This place is isolated from the outside world and does not belong to the Illusionary Realm. I originally thought that even if someone from the outside world came to rescue us, we would have to advance here first before leaving."

Yu Shujiang said, "Shall we head to the back mountain now and fight him?"

Tang Ping still shook his head: "He hasn't shown up for the past few days, so he probably figured out the environment of the back mountain. We can't play along with our opponent's wishes and fight in his familiar environment. We have to do the opposite and create a fighting environment that is favorable to us as much as possible."

Yu Shujiang gave up thinking completely and asked directly, "How exactly should we do it?"

Tang Ping said, "Let's leave Peach Blossom Village first and head to the other side of the cave. We'll choose a good spot to set up a trap. Then I'll pretend to advance and release spiritual energy fluctuations to lure Cao Poshi over to fight. This way, we can have the advantage of terrain and protect the safety of the villagers. Of course, if Cao Poshi is completely out of his mind or too badly injured to sense the spiritual energy fluctuations, I'll make it real and advance to the third level directly. Then I'll calmly deal with him."

The two men had just finished planning and were about to leave when a peasant woman ran into the courtyard, knelt down upon seeing them, and cried, "Two heroes, please save my husband!"

Tang Ping quickly stepped aside and looked closely, only to find that the other person was the woman who had been crying and shouting that her husband was still on the mountain.

His mind raced, and he realized that the village chief had likely revealed their plan to fight the monster. So, while pulling the peasant woman up, he said, "We'll go and deal with that monster next. If we have the chance, we'll do our best to save your man."

"Thank you, thank you so much!"

The peasant woman wanted to kneel down, but Tang Ping forcibly held her up, preventing her from doing so. She could only express her gratitude repeatedly.

After she left, Tang Ping immediately said, "Let's leave quickly. If we stay any longer, other people will definitely come begging to us."

"Oh."

Yu Shujiang followed them out of the courtyard and saw Tang Ping walking towards the village entrance. She asked, "Aren't we going to the back mountain to rescue people?"

"Of course I'm not going. The plan has already been made. How can I change it just because someone said a few words? Besides, I only promised him that I would try my best to save him if there was an opportunity. If there is no opportunity, then there is nothing I can do," Tang Ping said coldly.

“...That’s true. In the end, they are not real people, but beings derived from mythological relics,” Yu Shujiang comforted her.

"No, even if it were a real person, I would never go to the back mountain. That's something only protagonists in movies and TV shows would do. Anyway, the screenwriter has already written the script, and it will definitely end happily. It doesn't matter how much they mess around. But you can't do that in reality. If you try to save everything, you'll end up saving nothing."

This matter could have been easily dismissed, but after thinking it over, Tang Ping solemnly reminded him: "If you are alone, then you can do whatever you want, as long as you take responsibility for your own affairs. But if you have companions with you, then you must protect your companions first, and then take care of others. As the saying goes, 'He who does not love his own family but loves others is immoral.' To disregard the safety of your family and companions in order to save strangers is neither a person with a brain nor a conscience; he is just a fool who cannot distinguish right from wrong."

Yu Shujiang had just been nodding, but then she suddenly realized what she meant and said, "Brother, do you mean that you didn't choose to go to the back mountain in order to protect me?"

Tang Ping said with a straight face, "If you feel that thinking like this is a moral burden, then consider it as me doing it for myself. After all, I have to ensure my own safety first before thinking about others."

"I have no moral burden!" Yu Shujiang chuckled and took Tang Ping's arm. "I don't care. Anyway, you only gave up saving people because you were thinking about my safety. Haha, I didn't expect I to be so important to you."

"...We're in a hurry, don't stick close, it's inconvenient for us to move around."

"How could a master of internal energy be unable to move because of such a small restriction?"

Tang Ping sighed helplessly, feeling that this girl was becoming more and more unrestrained. Where did the serious and earnest class monitor from before go?

The two passed through the cave and arrived on the other side of the mountain.

Tang Ping looked around and pointed to the peach grove, saying, "Let's go over there and try to avoid places with water. Garuda may look like a fire-type monster, but it actually has water-type divine powers. Southeast Asians worship it to pray for flood control."

He remembered that Cao Poshi had a spiritual ability called "Suppressing Waves and Calming the Tide". Although the effect was only defensive and it did not say that it could control water to fight, the description of the effect of spiritual ability may not be complete. Some hidden abilities will not be clearly expressed and only the spiritual user himself knows about them.

"Furthermore, Garuda seems to be immune to poison and is said to feed on poisonous dragons, namely Naga. In reality, it does not have the ability to be immune to poison. In mythology, its fate is to accumulate too much poison gas, eventually explode, and die from spontaneous combustion. So we can start from this point. Can the toad you summon make poison?"

"Well, every medicine has some degree of toxicity. Theoretically, it should be possible, but I haven't studied it."

Yu Shujiang felt a little ashamed, but then said, "However, I learned some formations from my father, although it was the most basic Two Elements Trapping and Killing Formation."

Tang Ping had some knowledge in this area and had created a unique set of nested formations in China. For example, the Five Elements Trapping Formation was set up first. Once it was broken, it was downgraded to the Four Symbols Trapping Formation. Once the Four Symbols were broken, it was transformed into the Three Powers Formation. Once it was broken again, it was transformed into the Two Forms Formation.

The Two Elements Trapping and Killing Formation is the lowest level of formation. Once it is broken, it is truly gone. But having a formation is better than having no formation at all.

Tang Ping thought that she could learn about this knowledge in her spare time. In the past, she thought that as long as someone in the team knew it, it would be fine, and she didn't need to be proficient in everything. But she didn't expect to encounter this situation of being trapped in another world. It seems that she doesn't expect to become an all-rounder in the future, but at least she should know some basic knowledge so that she won't be trapped by some low-level formations when she acts alone one day.

Yu Shujiang immediately began setting up the formation. She carried several talismans made by her father, which could serve as the core of the formation.

With each level up, the complexity of the formation increases exponentially. Conversely, the basic Yin-Yang Trapping and Killing Formation is very simple, and Yu Shujiang quickly completed its setup.

Tang Ping immediately said, "Find a place to hide and focus on presiding over the formation. Don't worry about the battle. Even if I'm in danger, don't come out."

Yu Shujiang nodded and said, "I know. It may seem like we're in danger, but that doesn't necessarily mean we're actually in danger. If we rashly intervene, we'll only make things worse and could easily become hostages to the enemy."

Seeing that the boy was teachable, Tang Ping said with satisfaction, "That makes sense. Anyway, let's get ready. I'll pretend to be promoted now to lure him over."

After Yu Shujiang hid, Tang Ping came to the center of the formation, sat down cross-legged, took out a medicine bottle, poured out the third pill and swallowed it.

To successfully deceive someone, one must act convincingly enough, thus requiring the awareness to make the act real. Moreover, from his perspective, he would prefer Cao Poshi not to come. Once he advances to the third level, he can take the initiative to attack, instead of adopting a passive stance as he is now.

As the medicine was absorbed, Tang Ping's aura suddenly surged, and his powerful spiritual energy soared into the sky, stirring up the clouds above the peach forest and causing the primordial energy between heaven and earth to converge wildly—he deliberately released his aura to simulate the phenomenon of breaking through to the third stage.

In an instant, golden Buddhist light burst forth, and a phantom of a lotus platform floated in the air, slowly rotating. Ancient Sanskrit characters flickered on each lotus petal, and ethereal Sanskrit sounds echoed all around, as if thousands of monks were chanting scriptures in unison, causing the peach grove to rustle and even the peach blossoms to be tinged with a faint golden light.

The primordial energy between heaven and earth converged wildly, forming a huge golden vortex above Tang Ping's head. Within it, one could vaguely see the solemn and majestic image of an Arhat sitting cross-legged. He didn't know what his third-stage spiritual rank was, so he chose the Arhat image that he was most familiar with.

Hidden in the shadows, Yu Shujiang stared intently at the cave. Seeing no movement whatsoever, she wondered if the other party hadn't noticed.

Just as a thought of smug satisfaction arose, a sickening sound of bones grinding came from above. She immediately realized something: the other party could fly, so there was no need for them to go through a cave like they did!

Cao Poshi, in his Garuda form, soared over the mountaintop, his enormous wings sweeping across the sky, creating scorching waves of air, and the flame runes on his wings shone brightly.

Sensing the powerful aura emanating from Tang Ping, greed and killing intent flashed in his eyes: "Someone actually broke through here? Perfect, I'll use your flesh and blood to help me recover my strength!"

He immediately let out a deafening roar, and like a burning meteorite, he hurtled down toward the peach grove.

"You took the bait so easily. It seems your IQ has dropped quite a bit since you became a monster."

Tang Ping suddenly opened his eyes, sneered, and struck upwards with the Tathagata's Great Compassion Palm. The powerful palm force clashed with the downward momentum, and with a loud bang, Cao Poshi's movements were momentarily halted, and the flames on his body were scattered in all directions.

Yu Shujiang sensed this was a good opportunity and immediately circulated her spiritual power, shouting, "Rise!"

In an instant, the peach trees in the formation shook violently, and the originally fluttering peach blossoms transformed into sharp flying knives, carrying yin and yang energies, shooting towards Cao Poshi. At the same time, black and white light pillars surged from the ground, intertwining with each other and transforming into a huge tai chi diagram that covered the surrounding area.

"Array?"

Cao Poshi realized he had fallen into a trap and angrily swung his claws, which were wreathed in flames. With one strike, he made the Taiji diagram shake violently.

Tang Ping immediately realized that the formation set up by Yu Shujiang was still too weak and could not have a decent effect against a third-level demon. He decisively attacked to stop Cao Poshi from destroying the formation.

Chapter 238 A Furious Slash

At this moment, Cao Poshi was no longer in human form, so Tang Ping naturally wouldn't use her fist techniques. Instead, the Ruyi Iron transformed into a long sword, which she thrust out with, spiritual energy condensing into a sword beam at the tip.

Despite his enormous size, Cao Poshi was exceptionally agile. He dodged the attack with a quick turn, while his claws tore through the void as he reached for Tang Ping, who was in mid-air. His arm had grown back, whether it was a perk of becoming a monster or a healing effect from eating people was unknown.

Leaping into the air is a major taboo for martial artists, because it is not easy to move around when in mid-air. Generally, people only leap into the air when performing or when unleashing a sure-kill move. If the move misses, they will be met with a fierce counterattack.

But this taboo only applies to ordinary people with mortal eyes. Tang Ping's back muscles twitched, and his spiritual power surged, as if he had grown a bunch of wings. He easily dodged the sharp claws. Then he turned around and thrust his sword back. The black and white fish patterns on the sword flowed, outlining a Tai Chi pattern, drawing on the power of the formation and enhancing his own power. This was the reason why Tang Ping chose to use a sword instead of a knife. The Zen Sea Knife Technique of Buddhism could not be adapted to the Yin-Yang Trapping Kill Formation.

Cao Poshi, now a monster, possessed a body as solid as a rock, yet he still couldn't withstand a sword strike enhanced by the array. A hole was pierced in his thigh, and he immediately let out a shrill cry filled with anger and hatred, spitting out a stream of flames.

"A fleeting glimpse of beauty!"

Tang Ping's body was filled with spiritual energy, and the sword in his hand seemed to have a spirit. His whole body became as light as a feather, completely attached to the sword, and moved with the sword's movements.

Man and sword become one, transforming into a white crane in flight, rapidly weaving through Cao Poshi's fierce attacks, each time striking the weak points in the defenses such as the joints of the wings. Every time the sword light flashes, a Tai Chi phantom merges with the sword energy, carving sword marks of varying depths on Garuda's body.

Cao Poshi roared repeatedly, but he couldn't even touch the hem of Tang Ping's clothes. Enraged to the extreme, he let out a deafening shriek, spread his wings and let flames rise and extend for ten feet. Flame runes flowed wildly, and the scorching heat energy scattered in all directions, causing the formation to tremble violently.

In an instant, a storm of fire rose up, attacking the surroundings indiscriminately. The entire peach grove was instantly engulfed in flames, and the black and white pillars of the formation twisted and deformed under the high temperature. Just by looking at the momentum, one could tell that even if this move missed Tang Ping, it would forcibly destroy the formation.

"We've been waiting for you!"

Tang Ping remained calm and composed, raising his longsword high above his head. His spiritual energy circulated wildly, and the phantom of the Tai Chi diagram spun rapidly behind him, while countless stars formed a swirling galaxy.

"Primordial Chaos and Limitless Star Shift!"

With a flick of the sword, the power of the Yin-Yang Trapping Killing Array perfectly merged with his own spiritual power. The black and white fish-patterned array on the ground shone brightly, like an invisible force that gathered up the surging firestorm. The flames twisted and swirled in mid-air, gradually condensing into a phoenix with golden flames burning all over its body.

"go with!"

Tang Ping pointed his sword, and the fire phoenix let out a clear cry, unfurled its enormous fiery wings, and charged toward its opponent with a world-destroying momentum.

A hint of panic flashed in Cao Poshi's eyes. He wanted to dodge, but he had just unleashed his full power and was in a weakened state. He could only hurriedly flap his wings to defend himself.

The fire phoenix collided with Garuda's wings in an instant, bursting out with dazzling light and splashing flames. Cao Poshi let out a shrill scream and was thrown away by the huge impact, crashing heavily into the array's light barrier before being bounced back.

Tang Ping adjusted his breathing slightly to calm his turbulent blood and qi, while using words to undermine the other party's will: "Now that you have become a monster, I can no longer use my fist techniques to deal with you, and you can no longer use your fist techniques either. If that move had been used against you in your human form, it would have been easily broken."

To counter an opponent's moves completely, one's own skills must be far superior to the opponent's. Cao Poshi, as a master of internal energy transformation, had an extremely refined grasp of internal energy. Even if he was not as good as Tang Ping, having 40% of his internal energy borrowed would be his limit.

But now that he has become a large bird, he can no longer use any of his past skills. He can only use some crude and wide-ranging techniques. After all, martial arts techniques are based on the human body, and even spiritual arts require hand seals to assist them.

Of course, Cao Poshi has the vision and understanding to back it up. If given three to five years to adapt, he might be able to re-enter the Transformation Realm with the body of Garuda. But right now, he certainly doesn't have that much time to adapt.

Tang Ping saw that the other party was lying on the ground motionless, as if unconscious, but he sneered and did not move forward at all. He simply made a fist and threw the object forward.

"Oh!"

The impact was comparable to a grenade explosion, and Cao Poshi was instantly blown apart, his head bleeding profusely. He stood up angrily and glared fiercely at Tang Ping.

"What kind of technique is this? Is it a spiritual art or martial arts?"