Chapter 118: The Bringer of All Calamities

Crimson veins began to spread from the tips of Zhou Bai’s fingers, crawling across his entire body. The intense pain was so severe that he nearly fainted.

These veins gradually formed countless runes. Even an ordinary person would lose their composure upon a mere glance, let alone a divine statue cultivated in the same sect.

If the blood-red veins were connected, they vaguely resembled the shape of a beast’s head, though it was impossible to discern exactly what kind.

The statue stared at the markings on Zhou Bai’s body with a trance-like fixation, muttering repeatedly, “Impossible,” as if a traveler had walked hundreds of kilometers only to find his destination was in the opposite direction—a despairing realization.

The Buddha’s affinity was indeed right in front of the statue, but it also symbolized an endless abyss. To start anew by taking the opposite path—there was no easy choice to be made.

Zhou Bai felt the searing pain throughout his body gradually subside. On the system panel, a new divine ability appeared.

Its name was: "Harbinger of All Calamities."

He was taken aback. This was not a Buddhist divine ability—could it be a demonic one?

Before Zhou Bai could react, the moment the ability formed, the blood-red, demonic runes merged into his skin, coalescing into a beast-head talisman, seeking a place to settle.

It first approached the lower dantian, attempting to violently tear through the defense lines against foreign divine abilities, but the Ghost Tree and the Dead Fish resisted fiercely. Even the human-path divine abilities joined the defense.

Unable to break in, the blood-red talisman shifted toward the middle dantian. But before it could get close, two Buddhist divine abilities unleashed their power.

Buddha light struck the talisman like a sword. The blood-red glow dimmed immediately, and Zhou Bai was hit by the aftershock, coughing up a mouthful of fresh blood.

Seeing their host injured, the Buddhist divine abilities withdrew.

The talisman wobbled away from the middle dantian, heading for the upper dantian, the Mud Pill Palace.

The aura emitted by the celestial divine ability and the ghost-path true body was no less formidable, always ready to strike. After two failed attempts, the talisman dared not approach further.

Just as Zhou Bai was puzzled, the talisman flowed to his chest, settling in a spot opposite the middle dantian—the heart—and merged into the flesh.

Zhou Bai felt all his vital energy converge there. His face paled as he clutched his left chest.

From the flesh, a new organ sprouted, soon taking the form of a heart, but it was pitch black and bizarrely grotesque.

Countless blood vessels stretched toward this heart, connecting with it and influencing the blood supply throughout Zhou Bai’s body—but positively.

With two hearts, his strength, endurance, and burst power all improved significantly, and his heart was no longer a fatal weak point.

As the second heart began to beat, a brand-new dantian opened within it. The blood-red talisman, having entered this dantian, transformed into a fierce-looking head resembling Zhou Bai’s, with strange, pig-like features etched between its eyebrows.

Like the celestial body and Buddhist divine abilities, Zhou Bai had yet to discern the full effect of the "Harbinger of All Calamities." He only sensed it was fraught with great risk and dared not use it lightly.

But the goal was achieved—he had fully regained his ability to move and broke free from the Buddha light.

Zhou Bai looked up. The statue seemed to have descended into madness, its expression shifting constantly as it muttered to itself.

“What is Buddha?”

“Buddha is me, I am Buddha, so why can I not become Buddha?”

“How to become Buddha?”

“How to cultivate the Fifth Life?”

In near-extreme self-interrogation, the statue exhaled breath after breath, and a fierce wind swept through Hangdu City.

With a manic tone, it demanded, “Boy, tell me quickly—what have you comprehended from the Supreme Great Annihilation Sutra?”

Zhou Bai stared unflinchingly, then placed his right hand on the dark jade embedded in his chest.

Awakening the demonic divine ability had only temporarily restored his mobility; his life still hung on the opponent’s control.

A thought flickered in Zhou Bai’s mind: “I have comprehended much from the scriptures. Want to hear it? I’ll recite it for you.”

“Good!!!”

He began to babble incoherently, mostly a mixture of the Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva’s Original Vows Sutra and the Supreme Great Demon Sutra, with fragments of the Medicine Master Sutra entwined.

The statue found each phrase profoundly deep yet could not grasp their connection.

Only then did it realize that, whether willing or not, the scriptures were drilling deep into its mind.

Zhou Bai knew time was of the essence. He immediately took out the dark jade and began to communicate continuously with the Ghost Realm.

His only chance was to use the jade to enter the Ghost Realm himself and then find a way to escape. This was the only reliable plan.

Yet, it felt as if an unseen giant hand was pushing events toward a predetermined direction.

As the aura within the jade fused with Zhou Bai, strange whispers gradually appeared near his ears.

Visions still haunted his sight—dense mist enveloping him completely.

Unconsciously, the scriptures spilling from Zhou Bai’s mouth grew increasingly strange, soon no longer resembling human speech, instilling a chilling terror deep in the heart.

The statue quickly realized this. Assuming Zhou Bai was scheming, it snorted coldly and extended a finger to press down on him.

The finger, like a small mountain, gradually approached Zhou Bai, but he was already engulfed in an inexplicable trance, oblivious to everything else, chanting the bizarre words louder and louder.

Within Hangdu City, nothing seemed amiss, but outside, wrapped in Buddha light, the statue’s expression grew uneasy.

From all directions, dense mist surged forth, and the world dimmed as if someone had snuffed out a candle.

The statue’s outstretched finger froze mid-air—not because it gave up attacking Zhou Bai, but its body stiffened instinctively.

A crack appeared on the dark jade in Zhou Bai’s palm, quickly spreading until, with a crisp sound, the jade shattered into ash and vanished.

Zhou Bai’s consciousness, affected by the jade, cleared. Confused, he instinctively looked up at the statue.

Behind the statue, an impenetrable blackness rolled forth like a thick fog.

Suddenly, a thousand glowing eyes lit up in the darkness, faintly forming a human figure.

A towering giant, a thousand zhang tall, appeared behind the statue—it was Long Bo.

Long Bo’s face had no mouth, but its eyes blinked in unison. Then it stretched out an arm and grasped toward the statue.

“No!!!!”

A deafening roar erupted. The suspended Hangdu City suddenly sank dozens of meters, slowly falling toward the ground.

After a brief moment, the floating city settled back onto the earth. Only Zhou Bai’s consciousness remained clear within.

He gazed upon the silent night. Neither the statue nor Long Bo made any further moves.

After about the time it takes to finish a cup of tea, a colossal head fell from the sky, landing in the outskirts beyond Hangdu City.