Legend Management Bureau Chapter 359

[ … words ]

White Impermanence gritted his teeth, forcibly withstanding over a dozen strikes from Sariputra.

He had absolutely no power to fight back and was forced to retreat step by step.

‘But why haven’t I perished yet?’

‘A Great Luo Golden Immortal chased after a True Immortal, launching over a dozen strikes, yet every single one was blocked?’

White Impermanence knew that if the dark monk before him were replaced by any other Great Luo Golden Immortal—whether it be the Eastern Emperor, the Northern Emperor, the Jade Emperor, or even any of the Dragon Kings of the Four Seas—half of his Three Hun and Seven Po would have been shattered by now.

‘So why am I still alive and kicking?’

“How truly bizarre…” White Impermanence muttered to himself, taking a moment to glance into the distance between blocking strikes. “Could it be that the Ten Great Disciples all possess such abysmal cultivation?”

Sariputra stared at Xie Bi’an in confusion. He couldn’t fathom why this man was glancing around during a life-and-death struggle.

“White Impermanence, if you don’t focus, you’ll be dead in a second!”

With a flick of his pristine white robes, a pure white wooden staff materialized in Xie Bi’an’s grasp.

He swung the staff fiercely, as if swinging a bat, clashing directly against Sariputra’s palm.

The intense impact of the collision forced both of them three steps back.

White Impermanence gave the Ghost Wailing Stick a casual twirl, rolling his aching wrist as he chuckled. “If you could kill me, you would have done so already. How could I have possibly survived until now?”

Sariputra trembled with anger at those words, but he quickly snapped back to his senses. Calming his mind, his hands began to slowly expand in size. It was clear this monk specialized in palm techniques.

White Impermanence watched the dark monk with keen interest, remaining completely silent.

“White Impermanence, do you have any suffering?” Sariputra asked.

“I do,” White Impermanence nodded. “I often agonize over my own striking beauty. Could you perhaps enlighten me on this matter, Grandmaster?”

“B-Beauty?” Sariputra faltered, realizing that Xie Bi’an was entirely different from what he had imagined.

“Yes, Grandmaster. Is that so hard to understand?” Xie Bi’an traced a long, slender finger across his flawless skin, his voice soft. “Then again, I suppose that makes sense. How could a dried-up old man like you possibly understand the burden of being too beautiful?”

“I’ll tear that face of yours to shreds!” Infuriated, Sariputra charged forward, swinging his massive palms.

Xie Bi’an’s gaze turned icy. With a sweep of his arm, clusters of souls flew out from his sleeves.

These souls seemed almost alive. Upon touching the ground, they vaguely shifted into human forms and swarmed Sariputra, tangling him up.

Knowing that his opponent excelled in palm techniques, Xie Bi’an understood he couldn’t engage in close-quarters combat. Thus, his immediate response was to release the souls to create distance between them.

Taking advantage of this opening, White Impermanence reached into his robes and whipped out a white banner.

“Soul-Summoning Banner!”

Countless souls began drifting over from all corners of the Battlefield. In just a short span of time, a shocking number of lives had already been lost.

But in this moment, those fallen souls became White Impermanence’s greatest weapon.

As he brandished the Soul-Summoning Banner, it swelled in size, growing larger and larger.

A myriad of white souls swirled across its surface, emitting a terrifying chorus of ghostly wails.

Although Sariputra knew White Impermanence was preparing a lethal move, the phantoms clinging to him were incredibly stubborn, making it impossible for him to break free.

Seizing the moment, White Impermanence hurled the Soul-Summoning Banner forward. The banner twisted in the air as if it were alive, transforming into a massive shroud that shot straight toward Sariputra.

White Impermanence rapidly formed hand seals and chanted incantations. The banner writhed mid-air before tightly wrapping itself around Sariputra’s body.

“White Impermanence, have you lost your mind? Trying to trap me with this ragged piece of cloth…” Sariputra struggled violently for a moment, only to realize the Soul-Summoning Banner felt like solid iron, refusing to budge an inch.

“Grandmaster, it’s not me trying to trap you. It’s every fallen soul on this Battlefield working together to hold you down,” White Impermanence said, sneering at Sariputra. “Who knows? Maybe your dead buddy Mahakasyapa is in there right now, hugging your thighs for dear life.”

“Buddy?! What a joke!” Sariputra spat through gritted teeth. “I wish the rest of the Ten Great Disciples would just die!”

“Oh?” White Impermanence raised an eyebrow. “You claim to be a Buddha, yet your temperament is this atrocious?”

Realizing he had made a slip of the tongue, Sariputra instantly shut his mouth and struggled even more frantically.

Seeing this, White Impermanence’s interest was piqued. “Grandmaster, do you have any suffering?” he asked.

“What do you mean?”

“If you do, make sure you don’t dwell on it,” White Impermanence warned. “What surrounds you isn’t just a piece of cloth; it’s an amalgamation of souls. Freshly deceased souls lose their seven emotions and six desires. Unaccustomed to this void, they subconsciously devour the emotions and desires of the living.”

“W-What?”

“Oh, I forgot.” White Impermanence chuckled coldly. “You’re a Grandmaster. How could you possibly have any worldly desires or emotions?”

Sariputra didn’t dare speak another word. Pursing his lips tight, he kept writhing in his bindings.

“So you’d better not feel any hatred, fear, or anger. As long as you remain completely detached from worldly cares, my Soul-Summoning Banner won’t be able to hurt you at all,” White Impermanence continued to mock him.

However, the problem lay precisely in this piece of advice.

If he hadn’t mentioned those feelings, Sariputra wouldn’t have felt anything amiss. But the more White Impermanence spoke, the more panic bubbled up in the monk’s heart.

Before long, the monstrous monk felt something inside the Soul-Summoning Banner gnawing at his very flesh.

“W-What’s going on?” In a brief moment of distraction, Sariputra’s fear spilled over.

In a split second, the monk let out a bloodcurdling scream.

“Xie Bi’an! Didn’t you say these souls only devour emotions and desires?! Why are they eating my flesh and blood too… Ahh!!!”

“Oh? Did they eat the wrong thing? The souls in this batch really are hard to manage,” Xie Bi’an said with a cold laugh, stepping closer. “Grandmaster, I have a few questions for you. If your answers satisfy me, I’ll stop making things difficult for you.”

Sariputra gritted his teeth, staring at the white-clad man before him. He realized that Xie Bi’an was far more terrifying than he had imagined.

It seemed he had formulated a plan from the very beginning. His goal wasn’t to kill him, but to capture him alive.

That was why he hadn’t used any lethal moves from the start, opting instead to focus on stalling and restraining.

“What do you want to ask…?”

Xie Bi’an narrowed his eyes. He indeed had many questions, but he wondered just how much the monk before him actually knew.

“Grandmaster, what exactly is the purpose of your attack this time?” Xie Bi’an asked coldly, his gaze sweeping across the Battlefield.

Sariputra pondered for a moment before replying, “We are going to purge the Immortal Realm and plunge the entire universe into Ultimate Darkness! Mahakala is our one and only God! He is the sovereign over all!”

Xie Bi’an scratched his head. “I don’t want to hear empty slogans; I want the truth. If you dare give me another unsatisfactory answer like that, I’ll tear you apart on the spot. Understand?”