Chapter 1788: Chapter 1815: The Proper Use of Time Stop
"Yo, Master Lingtang, it’s been a while, you’ve changed so much you don’t even say Amitabha anymore."
"Today I am escorting a high monk back to the Pure Land. The way you all are acting today, I’m afraid, goes against the teachings of the Buddha."
Li Xiaobai said calmly. There were many familiar faces among the crowd, all monks he had seen in the Buddhist Pagoda before.
"Wuhu, you demon monk, stop spreading lies. You released our Buddhist Sect’s Qilin Divine Beast and then destroyed half of the temples in the Pure Land, leaving us helpless against the demon monks from the Eastern Land. You’re the mastermind behind all of this, and today we’ll bring you before the Abbot to be executed!"
Monk Lingtang’s face turned violent as he shifted swiftly to appear in front of Li Xiaobai.
Scaly things subtly emerged on his forehead, and his hands grew much sturdier than before, hurling towards Li Xiaobai with force.
Li Xiaobai remained unfazed, beginning to narrate, "What a fierce fist technique, Master Lingtang. This punch is coming in strong, so I’ll dodge first, then cut off your head with one sword stroke."
The imagined pause in time didn’t happen; Lingtang’s large inhuman fist landed squarely on Li Xiaobai’s face.
"Bang!"
A tremendous force swept through, and Li Xiaobai fell to the ground.
[Attribute Point + ten million...]
Half of his face swelled up.
"Damn, this isn’t scientific."
Li Xiaobai clutched his face, staggering as he stood up, puzzled by why his narration time-stopping ability had failed. Though he had only used it twice before, in the Netherworld, it had operated smoothly.
"Uh, little brother, what are you doing? Why are you standing there getting hit?"
Yu Huan Shui was utterly baffled, unable to comprehend Li Xiaobai’s behavior.
"Hehe, are you that scared of seeing me? Not even daring to dodge. No, it’s just that I’m too fast, too fast for you to avoid!"
"Today I will suppress you, fellow disciples, please take the junior sister from Ci Hang Temple away, your brother will come to rid this person!"
Lingtang pressed the attack, showing unrestrained excitement on his face. The scales on his forehead grew more pronounced, and his limbs thicker, although still shrouded in Buddhist light, his body displayed indications of beastification.
Punch after punch, the sound of the exertion was deafening. Li Xiaobai again tried the time-stopping narration, being hit away dozens of meters.
Yu Huan Shui witnessed this, continuously blinking: "What are you doing? He’s a hybrid whose demonic beast side has overtaken his human side. His power has multiplied, if you don’t fight back you’ll get beaten badly."
"Heh, you’re quite knowledgeable. In light of your decision not to seek death, I might spare your life."
Lingtang growled, his body augmenting in size, reaching three meters tall, a tail emerging from his back, his head extended into a crocodile’s head, and his eyes turned into vertical pupils glowing with a demonic light.
He nonchalantly passed by Yu Huan Shui with a devilish smile, not considering him a threat at all, pouring an endless killing intent towards where Li Xiaobai had fallen. With each step, the oppressive force in the air grew stronger.
The surrounding monks were unsurprised, swiftly moving Jing Ci and the others away from Yu Huan Shui’s side.
"Little brother, this is a fight he chose, so it’s not my place to intervene, you need to handle it yourself,"
Yu Huan Shui called out toward the distant ruins.
"He has no chance now, having taken several of my punches one after another, his internal organs are already shattered. I’m afraid he doesn’t even have the strength to stand."
Lingtang coldly proclaimed, "The humiliation I suffered that day at Lingyin Temple, today, I will exact double the revenge!"
The Eastern Land’s army was pressing close. The crisis triggered the potential within the Buddhist monks, activating the demonic beast part in their bloodline. Once beastified, their power surged, but they would gradually lose their sanity.
This was the primary means of combating the Eastern monks, and it was because of this demonic beast bloodline that the Eastern Land couldn’t breach Lingyin Temple.
Originally, this was not something a Buddhist monk would do, but faced with the invasion of demon monks, they couldn’t worry about such things. Any means to survive was a good means.
"Next, I will twist off one or two of your arms, three or four leg bones, seven or eight fingers, and let you repent in endless pain."
Beastified Lingtang tossed the stones aside, grabbing Li Xiaobai’s head and lifting him up.
Li Xiaobai’s eyes surged with murderous intent, as he ceased attempting to pause time, coolly saying, "Then try; at your first move, I’ll pierce your genitalia with this longsword as thick as a log!"
"Die!"
Lingtang’s eyes turned blood-red, growing furious upon hearing this, roaring maniacally, his long tail sweeping Li Xiaobai into the air, both fists poised to strike.
But at this moment, everything suddenly halted, Lingtang’s motion froze, and even the distant monks seemed painted into stillness.
This sensation was familiar to Li Xiaobai. Time had paused. His words had triggered the time-stop, granting him one-second’s pause!
"I think I’ve grasped the trick."
Li Xiaobai smirked, Hellfire erupted from his body, instantly engulfing Lingtang, then vanishing in a blink.
A second passed, time resumed its flow. Li Xiaobai dusted off his sleeves, unscathed; Lingtang, however, vanished from the spot, burned by Hellfire to not even leave bone fragments.
"Eh?"
"What happened?"
"I didn’t even blink; how did Brother Lingtang suddenly disappear, and wasn’t Wuhu swept into the air? How did he get down?"
"Could something magical have just occurred?"
The monks couldn’t understand, looking ghostly, as there was no flash of light or movement, Lingtang suddenly vanished from sight, and then Li Xiaobai appeared before them as if a segment of time and space had been cut away.
"Time Law!"
"Just like with Ksitigarbha, part of our time vanished."
Yu Huan Shui stared at Li Xiaobai, sinking into contemplation. This was a completely unknown power, not even he could discern any clues. The force of time was too powerful, not relying on the cultivator’s level; it was the most primordial power, capable of affecting all things within the world.
"Demon Monk! What did you do?"
"Where is Brother Lingtang!"
A disciple shouted sternly, their bodies swelling larger than before, showing signs of beastification under emotional turmoil.
"Lingtang has been dealt with by me. I advise you not to rely too much on the demonic beast bloodline; dependency on it will strip you of your human nature."
Li Xiaobai stated.
"As expected of the demon monk capable of releasing a Divine Beast, even this old monk couldn’t see through your tricks just now."
"But ultimately, it’s just a small cunning trick. In the face of absolute power, you have no room to struggle. Travel well on the Yellow Springs Bridge, and in the next life, do not venture to the west!"
Master Tianxuan shook his Zen Staff, washing brilliance over, suppressing the surrounding disciples’ beastification signs.
He extended his aged hand from a distance, causing space to shatter, Void Turbulence roiled, and an enormous suction emanated.
Li Xiaobai calmly tossed out a talisman, "Exchange Charm."