Chapter 1380: Rakshasa Tide

Wu Chang's voice seemed to be speaking from every direction at once.

The Holy Rakshasa looked around again but still saw no one. In the end, it chose to trust only what its own eyes could see. Beating its wings, it flew straight toward that enormous, godlike manifestation of Wu Chang.

Yet no matter how fast it flew, it could not draw any closer.

The giant manifestation suddenly released one hand and reached toward the Holy Rakshasa from afar.

The black mist around it immediately began churning.

Like countless vines, strands of darkness twisted in from every direction.

Each individual coil shattered easily when the Holy Rakshasa struggled, but their endless entanglement still slowed its movements until it could no longer fly quickly.

"Heh-heh!"

Granny Xue's sinister laughter drifted from somewhere inside the darkness.

The Holy Rakshasa became alert.

It stopped flying and continually swept its wings and arms through the surrounding mist, scattering strands infused with spiritual power as it turned rapidly and watched every direction.

Granny Xue never appeared.

Instead, dozens of identical Mu Lianzes emerged from the black fog all around it.

Dozens of Mu Lianze manifestations smiled as they slowly closed in.

The strange silver patterns across the Holy Rakshasa's face shimmered with flowing light.

It grew angry.

It struck without warning.

The illusory manifestations could not withstand even a single blow.

It shattered one group and rushed another, yet new figures simply rose again from the black fog where the previous ones had been destroyed.

No matter how many it killed, the manifestations seemed endless.

No matter what it did, it could never touch Mu Lianze's true body.

Meanwhile, the encircling figures drew closer and closer.

As the endlessly reborn manifestations reached it, the Holy Rakshasa suddenly spun at high speed, its wings sweeping horizontally in an attempt to keep them away.

But the black mist seemed deliberately coordinated with Mu Lianze's movements.

Under its constant entanglement, the Holy Rakshasa could no longer spin as quickly as before.

Suddenly, one manifestation seized its opportunity.

It shot forward and caught one of the Holy Rakshasa's wings, then grabbed the other wing as it swept past.

Every other manifestation vanished.

Mu Lianze appeared behind the Holy Rakshasa, both hands locked tightly around the wing bones.

The Holy Rakshasa thrashed in alarm.

Its claws raked backward but could not reach the man behind it. No matter how violently it twisted, it could not shake him loose.

Mu Lianze bared his teeth in a savage grin as he held both wings.

"Let's see how fast those extra wings make you now!"

He kicked viciously into the Holy Rakshasa's back.

Blood burst from its mouth.

Bracing one foot against its back, Mu Lianze gripped both wings and poured his cultivation into a full-strength wrench.

Crack!

The joints of both wings snapped.

"Ah!"

The Holy Rakshasa threw back its head and let out a mournful scream.

The strange silver patterns across its face dimmed visibly.

The pain it suffered was something no outsider could imagine.

Yet precisely because both wings had been broken, the Holy Rakshasa's struggling body suddenly gained a new angle.

It twisted sideways and lashed out with a clawed foot.

Mu Lianze had wanted to tear the wings off completely, only to discover that the flesh binding them was too tough to rip apart easily. When the savage counterattack came, he had no choice but to release his grip and flash backward.

The Holy Rakshasa turned to pursue him.

Suddenly Yuan Se burst out of the black mist behind it.

Both palms thundered forward.

Layer upon layer of palm shadows from Move Mountains, Overturn Seas came crashing in.

The black mist was still slowing the Holy Rakshasa with infused spiritual power. Its demonic strength was already sluggish from its heavy injuries. Though it forced its body around and crossed both arms to defend, the torrent of palm shadows still blasted it away in a spray of blood.

Before it could steady itself, a cane shot out of the darkness with thunderous force.

Bang!

The Holy Rakshasa was struck flying again, blood pouring from its mouth.

As it tumbled chaotically through the air, it threw both arms wide.

Silver radiance blazed across its body.

It stabilized itself and quickly scanned the surroundings.

"Heh-heh!" Granny Xue laughed after the strike. "Good heavens! Those bones really are hard. Even that still can't kill it!"

Her deathly pale face slowly receded into the black fog again.

Yuan Se also grinned and disappeared into the darkness.

Then Mu Lianze appeared once more.

Dozens of manifestations formed at the same time, repeating the same pattern as they slowly advanced toward the Holy Rakshasa.

With both wings hanging uselessly behind it, the Holy Rakshasa bared its fangs and twisted violently, yet it still could not escape the endless entanglement of the black mist.

Its demonic eyes, seething with killing intent, suddenly fixed on Wu Chang's vast manifestation.

Wu Chang still loomed like an enormous heavenly god, palms pressed together, looking down upon everything below as though watching children at play.

He did not attack.

At this moment, he had to maintain the technique controlling the Boundless Demon Domain.

It was enough simply to keep the Holy Rakshasa trapped inside.

Even with his cultivation, he could not both control the Demon Domain and move freely within it to attack.

As Mu Lianze's manifestations drew near again, the Holy Rakshasa suddenly spread both arms, threw back its head, and released a strange, rhythmic shriek.

"Ya! Ya! Ya...!"

...

Niu Youdao and the others were hiding in a room within the half-ruined palace city, watching the rolling black clouds overhead.

The sounds of battle that occasionally erupted from inside made their hearts pound.

They had no idea what was happening.

"Wu Chang obviously lured the Holy Rakshasa into that fog. I'm afraid its life may be in danger!" Niu Youdao murmured, eyes fixed on the sky.

Xi Haitang did not understand why Niu Youdao cared so deeply whether the Holy Rakshasa lived or died.

Yun Ji, however, knew the relationship between Niu Youdao and the Holy Rakshasa.

She consoled him, "Wu Chang's technique is still active. That means the Holy Rakshasa is still alive."

No sooner had she spoken than a piercing, bizarre "ya-ya" cry came from within the black clouds.

Niu Youdao frowned.

He recognized the Holy Rakshasa's voice immediately.

He had heard it before.

"Look around us!" Xi Haitang suddenly exclaimed.

Niu Youdao and Yun Ji tore their gazes away from the sky and looked across the sloping roof tiles toward the distant Fantastical Forest.

Streams of colored light were rising everywhere.

Countless red lights.

Countless blue lights.

Countless white lights.

The white lights were White-Wing Rakshasas beating their wings toward them.

The blue lights were Blue-Wing Rakshasas.

The red lights were Blood Rakshasas, the strongest kind beneath the Holy Rakshasa itself.

Everywhere their eyes could reach, more and more White-Wing Rakshasas, Blue-Wing Rakshasas, and Blood Rakshasas were taking flight.

Countless Butterfly Rakshasas surged in from every direction, blotting out sky and earth.

The three looked up.

Dense masses of Butterfly Rakshasas swept over the rooftops with a roar of wind, as though their passing alone might tear the roof away.

Then the swarms shot toward the rolling black cloud overhead and poured into it without end.

Even Xi Haitang, Sect Leader of Myriad Beasts Sect, who had entered the Butterfly Dream Illusory Realm countless times, had never seen a Rakshasa formation on this scale.

This was far more spectacular than any ordinary Rakshasa Tide.

Most shocking of all, countless Blood Rakshasas had appeared.

The three stared, dumbfounded.

Niu Youdao understood.

The Holy Rakshasa's piercing cry must have been a summons to the Butterfly Rakshasas.

And if it had been forced to call for help, then it had clearly encountered trouble it could not resolve on its own.

His worry deepened.

"The Rakshasa Tide is here. Be careful!" Wu Chang's voice suddenly echoed from inside the rolling black clouds.

The warning had barely fallen when thunderous blasts erupted.

Yuan Se and Granny Xue were forced out of hiding within the mist.

Both attacked again and again, bombarding the Butterfly Rakshasas surging toward them like a flood.

But the creatures had gone completely mad.

They charged without fear of death.

Sweep away one mass and another instantly filled the gap.

They could not be killed fast enough.

They could not be slaughtered to exhaustion.

The Blood Rakshasas in particular were formidable. Under their unending attacks, even Yuan Se and Granny Xue could not completely ignore the damage they caused.

"Little Brother, hurry up and use your Demon Domain to restrain the Rakshasa Tide!" Yuan Se shouted.

Wu Chang nearly rolled his eyes.

He was speechless.

Had that damned fatty's brain filled with water?

If Wu Chang's cultivation were powerful enough to restrain this many Butterfly Rakshasas at once, would trapping one Holy Rakshasa require so much trouble?

Forget the Holy Rakshasa.

He could simply sweep all eight of those old bastards into his domain at once and deal with them there.

Restraining a Rakshasa Tide of this size was impossible.

More than that, with a swarm this enormous pouring in, his Demon Domain itself had already become useless.

With his cultivation, the Demon Domain could envelop only a limited region.

There was simply no room inside it for this many Butterfly Rakshasas.

Unless his power were truly boundless and his Demon Domain strong enough to cover the entire Butterfly Dream Illusory Realm, there was no possibility of doing such a thing.

His "Boundless Demon Domain" was only a trapping formation created through his cultivation.

Against opponents whose cultivation had reached a sufficiently high level, it possessed almost no killing power on its own.

And to trap anyone inside it, Wu Chang himself had to continually maintain the technique.

Against the other members of the Nine Saints, for example, it was useless. He could not kill them with it, and there was no point trapping them indefinitely in a war of endurance. To keep the formation under control, he would have to continue pouring in his own spiritual power. Before he exhausted anyone else, he would exhaust himself first.

If that were not the case, he would have used this technique long ago to eliminate the other Nine Saints.

In the blink of an eye, the Butterfly Rakshasas came pouring in from every direction like a vast tide.

Yuan Se and Granny Xue could no longer defend merely from the front. They had to resist attacks coming from every side at once.

Mu Lianze's manifestations surrounding the Holy Rakshasa instantly became useless as well.

One manifestation after another was crushed apart beneath the press of Butterfly Rakshasas.

Continuing to produce illusions would no longer fool anyone.

At this point he would only be fooling himself.

He too had no choice but to begin slaughtering the Butterfly Rakshasas swarming around him.

The rolling black clouds rapidly contracted.

Wu Chang's towering manifestation began shrinking at the same time.

There was nothing else he could do.

The Boundless Demon Domain could not withstand so many creatures forcing their way inside.

The influx was larger than the entire area the domain could contain.

They had effectively burst it apart from within.

Using his manifestation to conceal his true body was now meaningless as well. Butterfly Rakshasas crashing wildly through the mist forced him into the open, and he too began striking them down one after another.

The enormous manifestation vanished.

The rolling black clouds rapidly poured back into Wu Chang's body.

In a single instant, the situation had completely changed.

Freed from the trap, the Holy Rakshasa hovered in the air on the strength of its formidable demonic power.

Blood still stained the corner of its mouth.

It looked around indifferently and watched its own kind being slaughtered in wave after wave.

Its face slowly became more savage.

Its fangs gradually bared.

"The Holy Rakshasa is badly wounded! Join forces and finish it first! We can't make this trip for nothing!" Yuan Se suddenly shouted again.

The Holy Rakshasa turned at the sound of his voice.

Swish!

It went for him first.

Yuan Se whipped his head around, slightly startled.

So the one who talked the most really was the one who suffered first.

In the emergency, he thrust out one palm.

Move Mountains, Overturn Seas erupted in a raging torrent of palm shadows.

But the massed Butterfly Rakshasas rushing in absorbed the attack head-on.

Countless creatures were blasted aside, killed or mangled, some of them exploding into torn flesh.

Yet through that storm of blood and bodies, a silver claw shot out and seized Yuan Se's wrist.

In an instant, Yuan Se and the Holy Rakshasa were face-to-face at point-blank range.

Its strength was not something he could easily break free from.

Yuan Se was both alarmed and furious.

His free palm blasted forward.

Silver radiance erupted violently across the Holy Rakshasa's body.

It seemed to be staking its life on the exchange.

It did not dodge.

Its free claw stabbed straight toward Yuan Se's face.

Having suffered from the strange defense of his fat body before, it avoided his torso this time and aimed directly for his eyes.

Yuan Se's expression changed.

He jerked his head aside.

The claw missed the eyes by a fraction.

The Holy Rakshasa immediately hooked the claw back.

Yuan Se saw a blur across one eye.

Then came searing pain.

Boom!

His palm struck the Holy Rakshasa at point-blank range.

Blood burst from its mouth as it was blasted away, forcing it to release him.

The claw that had swept across Yuan Se's eye had not managed to sink fully into the socket and hook inside.

Even so—

"Ah!"

Yuan Se let out a miserable cry and clapped one hand over the eye now streaming blood.

The Butterfly Rakshasas swarmed him immediately, biting and tearing from every side until they wrapped him in layer upon layer of bodies.

But they discovered they could not bite through him.

Strange spiritual power protected Yuan Se's flesh, making every bite slip aside.

"Ah!"

Yuan Se roared.

Both arms exploded outward.

A surge of spiritual power, driven with all his strength, blasted the surrounding Butterfly Rakshasas away.

Blood ran down one side of his face.

Only one eye remained open.

[End of Chapter 1380]