"What the hell are you doing here?" Xia Longwei demanded, shock etched across his face.
"We killed you!" Ling Xuan echoed, equally astonished.
The Maitreya sighed, narrowing their eyes. "Yeah, I died. But now I'm back. Accept it," they said with a casual wave of their hand.
"What? Accept it? We literally destroyed your existence and trapped you in the Mythical Era!" Ling Xuan refuted, incredulous. Even if they survived the Dragons, which is impossible in itself, they shouldn't have been able to escape after Xia Longwei annihilated the Mythical Beasts!
"Are you going to keep shouting? I just saved you, you know," the Maitreya retorted, lunging at Xia Longwei without hesitation. "Continue the construction!" they shouted as they began to pummel Xia Longwei with a flurry of blows.
Ling Xuan, though taken aback, forced himself to refocus. He knew the urgency of the situation and turned his complete attention to constructing the remaining meridians.
Watching Ling Xuan continuing to forge his meridians, Xia Longwei felt a rising sense of panic. According to his calculations, each newly formed meridian exponentially increased Ling Xuan's strength. If Ling Xuan reached 300 meridians, he would be able to match Xia Longwei. And if the count went beyond that, Ling Xuan could eventually surpass him.
"I won't allow this!" Xia Longwei roared, only to be cut off as the Maitreya grabbed his throat.
"You dare!" Xia Longwei bellowed, ripping The Maitreya's arm clean off. "You are nothing but an insect born from a corpse, and you dare to challenge me!" His form began to distort, a grotesque face appearing on his abdomen as a massive wolf erupted from his body, lunging at the Maitreya.
"You're right," the Maitreya admitted, their voice calm despite the chaos. "I was no match for you, but—" They pointed at the wolf, which immediately combusted into crimson flames. "My Lord has granted me life once more, and with it, a gift." A wisp of fire materialised on the Maitreya's regrown hand.
"This is the Samadhi Fire, Xia Longwei!" they declared, flinging the wisp toward him. Xia Longwei dodged instinctively, but in the next moment—
"Bind!" The Maitreya roared as fiery ropes sprouted from the wisp, latching onto Xia Longwei.
"How is this binding me?!" Xia Longwei thought, disbelief flashing in his eyes. Realisation dawned as he glanced toward Ling Xuan.
"Only something greater than me can bind me! This is not enough!" he shouted, tearing through the flaming ropes and lunging at The Maitreya.
The Maitreya snorted at the sight of the approaching Xia Longwei and, with a fist engulfed in Samadhi Fire, struck him directly. However, Xia Longwei remained unfazed as he caught the fist and pulled The Maitreya closer.
"That Samadhi Fire—it requires fuel for someone as weak as you! If I exhaust your supply, what can you do against me?" Xia Longwei roared. The Maitreya, visibly irritated, sneered in response.
"Is all you can do is roar like a wild beast? Besides, my job isn't to kill you—it's just to delay you." The Maitreya retorted. As he spoke, an additional pair of arms sprouted from his body, pulling Xia Longwei closer.
"Take a smooch." The Maitreya grinned, forcing open Xia Longwei's mouth and spewing Samadhi Fire down his throat.
Xia Longwei's body began to burn uncontrollably, and he flung The Maitreya away in rage.
"YOU FUCKER!!!" Xia Longwei cursed, his blazing form disintegrating into ash. Desperate, he threw a drop of his blood onto the ground, which quickly expanded, forming a new body. But as Xia Longwei's form reconstituted, black veins snaked across his skin, causing it to decay and crumble once more.
"This is the second gift my Savior granted me—Mara!" The Maitreya proclaimed, his eyes momentarily flashing with a demonic gleam.
Xia Longwei gritted his teeth, his desperation mounting. Suddenly, his body began to contort and shift. He transformed into a monstrous three-headed beast: one head human, one resembling a grotesque humanoid, and the last, that of a dragon. His torso bulged with the faces of hundreds of beasts, while enormous wings erupted from his back, blazing with flames and riddled with black veins.
GRAOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!
With an ear-splitting roar, the creature tore off its own wings, shattering them into fragments that scattered across the void.
The Beast glared at The Maitreya and flung one of its scales with incredible force. The Maitreya narrowed their eyes, conjuring a barrier of Samadhi Fire to shield themselves. Yet, the scale splintered into countless fragments, each fragment darting in a different direction before rearranging themselves in mid-air and embedding into The Maitreya's torso.
The Maitreya's expression turned grim as their body began to rot and decay from the inside out.
"You are no match for me!" The Beast roared, advancing menacingly. But The Maitreya only chuckled in response.
"Hahahaha. How many times do I have to say it? I was just here to delay you! And now, my job is done." With that, The Maitreya suddenly vanished, leaving The Beast stunned.
Jing-Jing
"Oi, you've played around long enough. Now let's get back to business." A voice spoke from behind, sending chills through The Beast's very soul.
It had completely forgotten about Ling Xuan. As it turned to face him, terror reflected in all six of its eyes.
Ling Xuan stood there, seemingly unchanged, save for his robe, which now had more prominent purple hues, covering half of the original white with purple streaks. But what truly mattered was hidden within.
Ling Xuan now possessed 330 meridians.