One person: Orochi, starting with Feng Baobao's Eight Heroes.

He opened his eyes, his fingers gripping the wrist that was shaking his shoulder, and immediately heard a howl in his ear.

"Let go! Chen Qi, are you fucking insane?"

Wugensheng grimaced and swung his bright red wrist, pinching five distinct creases into the cuffs of his Taoist robe.

Chen Qi loosened his fingers, and the afterimage of cause and effect he had seen in the inner vision still lingered in his pupils.

He subconsciously touched his chest, where the burning pain from the massive fireball that appeared during the Hong Yang Rebellion still seemed to linger.

The causal backlash of that scale far surpasses the magnitude of the turmoil of sixty years ago...

“You just became completely blurred, and all that’s left is a shadow sticking out here 々‖ .”

Wugensheng rubbed his wrist and squinted at him.

“If I hadn’t reached out and grabbed you, you would probably have been swallowed whole by the inner world, leaving not even bones behind.”

He suddenly grabbed Chen Qi by the collar and whispered.

"Heaven and earth hold great secrets that are not revealed. Do you insist on trying to peek into the secrets of heaven like Li Bai? Be careful not to end up going mad with evil spirits!"

From afar came Lu Ci's wild roar, and Lu Jin's lightning magic exploded in the night with dazzling blue light.

Chen Qi looked towards the Zhen position, where the Qi was as chaotic as boiling water.

He shook off Wugensheng's hand and said in a deep voice.

"I just retaliated against the Japanese pirates' attack, and I don't have time to waste here now."

The energy gathered at his fingertips gleamed with a metallic sheen.

"The Zhen position formation has changed; we must break the deadlock immediately."

Wugensheng stared at the golden light dancing on his fingertips and suddenly laughed.

"That monkey in your interior is about to cause chaos."

Chen Qi paused.

"I don't know what you saw..."

Wugensheng dusted off non-existent dust from his Taoist robe.

"But just now, in the instant you became intangible, I sensed something unspeakable."

He looked up at the sky, where the moonlight was being swallowed by rolling dark clouds.

"It's like a mischievous monkey trying to poke a hole in the sky."

In the inner world, Tsuchimikado Gekko's body is slowly reconstructing.

The severed body transformed into black and white streams of Qi, which were then pieced back together, frame by frame.

But tiny golden sparks would fly out at each junction of the lines.

That was an unhealable wound left by the restless mind.

"What kind of monster is this!"

Tsuchimikado Moonlight's voice lost its usual elegance, sounding intermittent like a radio with a poor signal.

He tried to summon a shikigami, but found that all his Onmyo magic was malfunctioning in the inner world.

Shanqi was too busy to answer.

He was frantically making hand seals, and the jeweled court beads were shaking violently in front of his chest.

The earth's energy, originating from the dragon vein, rose from beneath his feet, forming nine flowing, bluish-gray dragons around his body.

"A hundred ghosts move the mountain!"

He roared, and the nine Qi dragons suddenly exploded, transforming into hundreds of twisted ghostly shadows that pounced on Xin Yuan.

The monkey grinned, revealing its gleaming white fangs.

It didn't dodge at all, letting the ghostly figures crash into it.

With each impact, its golden fur darkened a little, while its body swelled up a bit.

When the last ghostly figure pierced his chest, it had grown to the height of a three-story building, its entire body shrouded in a black and red aura of malevolence.

"(Li Nuo's) Grand Preceptor..."

The monkey spoke, its voice like the screams of a million monkeys all at once.

"I was tired of that trick of yours eighty years ago!"

With a sweep of its giant claw, five Manchu bannermen who were forming a battle formation were sent flying.

Two of them were caught in mid-air by its outstretched neck, chewed up and swallowed with a few crunches.

Golden eyes turned to Tsuchimikado Moonlight, the fragmented figure of the other reflected in the pupils.

"Japanese snacks..."

The restless monkey licked its lips.

"That female ghost from last time tasted pretty good."

Tsuchimikado Gekko finally completed the reconstruction, his face ashen white.

Chapter 236 A Helping Hand

He trembled as he pulled a bronze mirror from his sleeve; the mirror's surface was already covered in cracks.

"Shanqi! How much longer will your Returning Origin Formation last!"

The wise elder turned a deaf ear.

He was staring at the feet of the monkey-like mind—where a Bagua diagram had appeared out of nowhere, and the light in the Zhen position was rapidly dimming.

"I see..."

He suddenly realized and muttered to himself.

"Chen Qi's breaking of the formation from the outside caused an imbalance in the internal energy field..."

He suddenly grinned maliciously.

"Alright! Then I'll lend you a hand!"

The court beads shattered, and 108 agate beads floated in the air, each reflecting the image of the Monkey King.

Shanqi bit his tongue, spitting a mouthful of blood mist onto the beaded string.

"All Qi Returns to the Origin - The Zhen Position Reverses!"

The entire interior world trembled violently.

The fireballs of cause and effect floating in the distance exploded one after another, and burning fragments fell to the ground.

The monkey suddenly clutched its head and let out a painful roar. Large swaths of its golden fur began to fall off, revealing its bloody flesh underneath.

"efficient!"

Tsuchimikado Tsukiko cried out in surprise, only to see Zenki's expression suddenly change.

The shed golden hairs transformed into countless tiny monkeys in mid-air, squeaking and lunging at the Manchu bannermen.

They have no physical form, yet they can directly penetrate the seven orifices and devour souls.

In the blink of an eye, seven or eight people collapsed to the ground convulsing, with blue smoke billowing from their eyes, ears, mouths, and noses.

"It's not a matter of seismic imbalance..."

Shanqi's face was ashen.

"Chen Qi is actively drawing upon the Qi of the Zhen position... He wants to use the power of the dragon vein to feed this monster!"

As if to confirm his words, a huge crack suddenly appeared in the ground.

Crimson magma erupted and solidified in the air into chains that wrapped around Shanqi.

Taking advantage of the moment, the monkey leaped up, and a shadow that blotted out the sky descended.

"Old man, you have dragon energy on you...it's incredibly nourishing!"

In the real world, Chen Qi suddenly knelt on one knee, blood seeping from all seven orifices at the same time.

Just as Wugensheng was about to step forward, he was stopped by raising his hand.

His blood-stained fingers drew intricate runes on the ground, each stroke causing a slight tremor in the earth.

"Are you resonating with the interior scene?"

The pupils of the rootless plant contracted.

"Don't want to die?"

Chen Qi spat out a mouthful of blood froth mixed with gold dust.

"Shanqi...used the Hundred Ghosts Moving Mountains technique in the interior..."

He gave a ferocious grin.

"Perfect...to give the restless mind a treat..."

The sound of buildings collapsing could be heard from the direction of the earthquake.

Lü Ci burst out of the smoke and dust with a wild laugh, followed by seven or eight wounded Japanese pirates.

"Chen Qi! These bastards have buried three hundred explosive tags at the epicenter!"

He called out from afar.

Chen Qi's expression suddenly changed.

He tore open his shirt, revealing golden patterns on his chest that were exactly the same as those on the central ape in the interior scene.

The patterns were pulsating wildly, each flicker accompanied by a tremor in the distant ground.

"That's too late..."

Chen Qi gritted his teeth and stood up.

"The Mind Monkey has absorbed too much Yin energy; if this drags on any longer..."

Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly turned his head and looked towards the northwest Qian position—which should have been the most stable position of the formation, but now a crisp sound came from there.

Wugensheng followed his gaze and his face instantly turned paler than the moonlight.

"The Returning Origin Array... has manifested in the real world?"

In mid-air, the blurry Bagua diagram is solidifying.

The clearest point is Zhenwei—there sits a faint, enormous ape phantom, grabbing something and stuffing it into its mouth.

Every time you chew, something in the real world will inexplicably explode.

"Chen Qi!"

Wugensheng grabbed him.

"That thing you're raising is eating the causal threads!"

Chen Qi turned a deaf ear.

He stared intently at another phantom image gradually taking shape in the Qian position—that was Shanqi, who was casting a spell.

A broken string of prayer beads floated above the old man's head, each bead dripping blood.

Even more terrifying, Chen Qi clearly saw dragon-shaped Qi emerging from the ground and flowing into Shan Qi's seven orifices.

"I see..."

Chen Qi suddenly realized.

"The dragon vein that was severed during the Taiping Rebellion... was secretly reconnected by him!"

He suddenly lunged towards the Qian position, moving so fast that he left afterimages.

"Wugensheng! Hold off the restless mind for thirty breaths!"

"What the hell-"

Wu Gensheng's curses were drowned out by the explosion.