The black Buddha that was formed by Demon Monk Mingfa's martial dao intent was now covered with blood-red cracks. Subsequently, it shattered and turned into dust. Mingfa's body also had dark red lines that appeared, and they intersected with each other.
Mingfa's eyes widened while he was staring blankly. The black-clothed monk was bleeding from all seven apertures and was having a hard time lifting his head. He looked at Chen Luoyang who was in the sky and said, "You… isn't… this…?"
The incomplete Absolution Demon Palm that came from the Sinful Friar only had a total of four moves: Demon Within All Life, Nipped Flower Turned Demon, Overturned Enlightenment, and Steps of Hell.
Be it the incomplete divine technique preserved in the Demon Cult or in the Demon Monk lineage, there wasn't anything other than the four moves.
Demon Monk Mingfa knew the three moves — Demon Within All Life, Nipped Flower Turned Demon, and Steps of Hell. He might not know the third move, Overturned Enlightenment, but he would at least recognize it. However, when Chen Luoyang executed that palm move earlier, Mingfa squeezed all his brain juices and still didn't have any impression. He couldn't recognize Chen Luoyang's palm move at all, but it was definitely a move from the Absolution Demon Palm. After all, the pitch-black Buddha above Chen Luoyang's head was manifested by the Absolution Demon Palm Intent.
Demon Monk Mingfa's heart was at a complete loss. It wasn't just him, Shi Jing, Nie Hua, and Li Tai were also astonished.
The fourth move of the Absolution Demon Palm, Steps of Hell, was reputed for its aggressive power. If one disregarded the consequences of using it and purely looked at the power, it was definitely one of the strongest absolute arts in the Grand Divine Province in terms of attack strength.
Demon Monk Mingfa who was at the 11th stage had used this move to forcefully increase his combat strength by two stages. Furthermore, he was crossing the immense bridge that connected the martial king and martial emperor levels.
It was an all-out attack, and even a 13th stage martial emperor would need to pay attention. Under the situation where the outcome would be decided in a single move, if one was careless, it was possible that one might be instantly defeated.
Previously, Shi Jing and the others had a trace of hope because the strength that Chen Luoyang revealed wasn't the strength at his prime, and it was only at the 13th True Form Stage. If Chen Luoyang couldn't increase his strength further, then Mingfa's Steps of Hell would definitely result in victory.
However, the ultimate outcome had shocked them. The Demon Monk Mingfa's Steps of Hell had been defeated by Chen Luoyang without any suspense at all! Furthermore, Chen Luoyang didn't use any additional strength, and it was just a casual move.
A simple move that made Demon Monk Mingfa forget all of his grievances.
"This move of yours… is very similar to the Great Vajra Temple's Vajra Karma Severance Saber, but yet entirely opposite…"
Perhaps it was a final moment of lucidity. Mingfa suddenly felt a blessing to his spirit as he comprehended something.
With Mingfa's reminder, Shi Jing, Nie Hua, and Li Tai instantly reacted.
"Back when the Demon Cult eradicated the Great Vajra Temple and collected the absolute arts of the Great Vajra Temple. After sorting it out and comprehending the Buddhist teachings, they half created and half restored a new move of the Absolution Demon Palm…" Shi Jing took a deep breath.
Xiao Yuntian was enveloped in wind as he said, "Karma Splitting Three Realms. It is the fifth move of the Demon Palm."
Demon Monk Mingfa burst out with hearty laughter. "Vajra Karma Severance… Karma Severance… Karma Splitting Three Realms… If you have divine strength, why would you need to contest with karma? What a move! This move is specially used to counter the other Absolution Demon Palm's moves!"
The laughter came to a spontaneous end. The blood-red lines on Mingfa flickered with radiance before it extinguished.
His entire body lost all color, as though he was covered in dust and cobwebs. Finally, he turned into a pile of dust and was blown away by the wind. An 11th Apotheosis Stage martial king vanished just like that. As though he had never existed in this world.
The pitch-black Buddha above Chen Luoyang's head had also vanished. His expression was indifferent as though he had done nothing. He stood with his hands behind his back while looking down at Shi Jing and the others nonchalantly.
Shi Jing and the others had stopped moving as they were attracted by Chen Luoyang's palm force. Xiao Yuntian, Shangguan Song, and Elder Mingjing split up to block the three remaining individuals.
Similarly at the 11th Apotheosis Stage, Xiao Yuntian blocked Intelligent Sword Shi Jing, while Shangguan Song and Elder Mingjing, who were at the 10th Intent Congealing Stage, went to block Flying Sword Nie Hua and the Great Xia Empire's Sixth Prince Li Tai.
However, the trio's attention was still on the great Cult Master Chen who was in the sky. When Demon Monk Mingfa was killed and defeated in a single move, it dealt a huge blow to the three of them.
Nie Hua let out a long turbid breath while calmly having an idle talk with the Demon Cult's Seventh Elder Shangguan Song. "If this humble Nie didn't remember it wrongly, the number two figure among your esteemed cult's Seven Elders is also called the Demon Amitabha, Elder Yan Er. As the core of the elder faction, he is most proficient in the Absolution Demon Palm, right?"
Nie Hua laughed and added, "When using this newly created Demon Palm, Karma Splitting Three Realms, to deal with other attacks, it is actually inferior to the Steps of Hell. However, it is specially used to counter the first four Demon Palms. I wonder if Senior Yan has mastered it?"
Shangguan Song said in a calm tone, "You are thinking too much. Second Brother Yan is the person that created the Karma Splitting Three Realms."
"That is great." Nie Hua smiled and nodded.
In the sky, standing on the flood dragon's head, Chen Luoyang's voice echoed. "You are stalling for time. What are you waiting for?"
When Nie Hua heard the question, his heart trembled. Chen Luoyang stood with his hands behind his back and asked in a voice so calm that it sounded cold. "Are you waiting for Wen Liu?"
His voice wasn't loud, but it was like thunder. Apart from Nie Hua and Shi Jing, Li Tai's body had also turned stiff. They might have done their best to restrain themselves so as not to show any anomaly, but their hearts had tensed up at the same time.
Chen Luoyang shouldn't have known of Wen Liu's existence! Even in that ambush team, the only person who knew of Wen Liu's true identity was Eunuch Xiao. The rest of the people merely knew that the accompanying old man wasn't simple. However, before Wen Liu made his move, no one would know where he came from. There were only a few individuals who knew of Wen Liu's existence and his whereabouts. Even the Other Tribe's Xiuzhe didn't know. How did the Demon Cult Master find out?
"Why do you look very surprised?" Chen Luoyang shook his head. "When rats hide in the ditches, they are just a little harder to find. But if you are willing to run out yourselves, the outcome is very straightforward."
Chen Luoyang was actually very happy for the opposition to stall for time. The Demon Monk Mingfa's Steps of Hell was a little outside of expectation. If Mingfa hadn't suddenly executed a move that had the strength of a martial emperor, Chen Luoyang was confident he could have made all four of them collapse on the ground in a single move.
Right now, he could only pretend that he didn't think it was worth it to bully some "juniors"… However, the overall situation was already set.
Black Emperor Xiuzhe had been enduring his severe injuries in battle; therefore, he wasn't going to last for long and would quickly collapse. Elder Shou had guaranteed that he would defeat Wen Liu. As such, once one of the two battlefields was won by the Demon Cult, the reinforcements would come over. Chen Luoyang wasn't afraid to waste time and talk nonsense with the trio in front of him. This was what he actually wanted; however, he couldn't expose such feelings on his face.
Just as Chen Luoyang was pondering, there was dust that could be seen from far away. Some mountains had collapsed, and there were huge tremors. A large group of people were escaping or chasing; they were fighting as they ran and were approaching this place.
Just as Chen Luoyang thought that the battles had ended, he observed carefully and noticed that the group was split into three. Running at the front were the members of the Sword Pavilion and Great Xia Empire. Chasing at the back were the Demon Cult members. Clamped in between was the Other Tribesmen led by Xiuzhe.
However, the Other Tribesmen weren't just purely escaping from the Demon Cult. The Black Emperor was leading the way and killing the Great Xia Empire's martial artists at the front!