Chapter 22: To Live Through Death, a Fierce Tug-of-War

Crunch…

A bite was taken out of his cheek.

Gulp…

A strong foreign body sensation came from his esophagus…

Crunch…

His belly was opened…

His large and small intestines were all dragged out…

Ning Xuan’s constitution was strong. Even if his organs were ruptured, he would not die so quickly.

He could actually keep mobilizing his remaining strength. Although this strength was not enough to cause any harm, it was enough to make him faint and thus reduce the pain of being eaten.

This demon was different from the previous bear demon. It didn’t seem to be a picky eater, nor did it need its food to be alive.

He should let himself faint as soon as possible.

But, he didn’t.

He was still laughing, laughing until his tears turned into blood, laughing like a broken sack.

He didn’t faint because he was trying his best to analyze what the demon was through the way it was gnawing at him.

A Bodhisattva definitely did not have such a small mouth.

Even a human didn’t.

The feeling of being gnawed at, one small bite at a time, was like some kind of very small wild beast.

His cheek felt a stinging pain, as if a hard-bristled toothbrush had brushed over it. A long tail pierced his eardrum and drilled into his brain…

‘A mouse! It’s a mouse!!’

Countless “super-intimate contacts” gave Ning Xuan a flash of inspiration, and he suddenly had a judgment.

But the next moment, the slender tail stirred slightly, and he felt an unimaginable sharp pain in his mind.

He… lost all consciousness.

The veins on his arms bulged like earthworms. His fingers were still trembling, along with his toes, legs, neck, and teeth…

Ning Xuan’s teeth were chattering “de de de,” constantly clenching. It was an instinctive twitch after the nerve pain had reached its extreme.

Finally, after the last “de” fell, he panted heavily and slowly opened his eyes.

The forest was dense.

He slowly raised his head.

The black moon hung in the sky.

The towering mountain was like a hunched, strange creature staring at him.

The night wind blew, and the strange creature breathed on him, cold and bone-chilling.

‘A mouse! Even if… it’s not a mouse, it’s something similar to a mouse.’

‘That thing is hidden in the Bodhisattva’s golden body! But it’s not the Bodhisattva that’s eating people, it’s that thing!’

‘What I have to deal with is not the Bodhisattva, but the thing inside the Bodhisattva.’

Ning Xuan endured the pain of being eaten, but he also gained the benefit of information.

He sat for a full half an incense stick’s time before he recovered and then stood up.

[Two of Nine]…

He familiarly took out “Four Generations Under One Roof,” put “Many Children and Grandchildren” on his back, and then began to continue the unfinished work from before – measuring.

He wanted to measure the size of this nightmare area.

Four li…

Five li…

Six li…

As he ran, he became more and more surprised.

Because, even though he had left the original camp far behind, he had not been teleported back.

He ran at full speed. When he had run nearly fifty li, the “boundary” still had not appeared.

But, the sky was about to brighten.

Ning Xuan was now in Manfeng Mountain, surrounded by mountains.

He scanned his surroundings, quickly climbed a mountain, sat on a cliff, and squinted at the distance.

The sky… brightened.

The pale sunlight “ignited” the jungle and the mountains in an instant, making everything white.

This time, Ning Xuan did not immediately welcome the demon.

It was not until a full incense stick’s time later that he saw a huge, walking golden-bodied Bodhisattva among the mountains.

The Bodhisattva’s eyes were greedy, and its lips were drooling. But its golden light was shining, and its holy body and strange face formed a strong visual impact, making people feel their hair stand on end.

After meeting Ning Xuan’s gaze from a distance, the Bodhisattva opened its mouth and let out a rumbling thunderous sound, “Little fellow, I finally found you.”

Without saying a word, Ning Xuan carried “Many Children and Grandchildren” on his back, turned and ran, running with all his might.

The Bodhisattva chased after him.

However, in these mountains, the Bodhisattva’s walking movements were actually hindered quite a bit.

One person and one demon, one fleeing and one chasing, actually maintained a distance, and neither could get any closer.

Ning Xuan’s daily training had paid off.

He had sprinted at full speed for a full half an hour before he felt tired. And just then, he found a mountain gap, and a waterfall was rushing down from the mountain gap.

His figure moved violently, turning into a gust of wind and rushing into the mountain gap, hiding in it…

He was extremely surprised in his heart, because just now, he was still running towards the depths of Manfeng Mountain.

He had already run at least a few hundred li, but he had not yet run out of the “boundary.”

Could it be that this time, the “nightmare area” covered the entire Manfeng Mountain?

As his thoughts drifted, he felt a shadow approaching him as expected.

Bang!

Bang!

Two hands pressed against the two sides of the mountain gap.

The sunlight coming from outside the waterfall in the mountain gap was completely blocked.

A large face slowly approached, gradually occupying Ning Xuan’s entire line of sight. A mocking expression appeared on the Bodhisattva’s face.

“Little fellow, following…”

Boom!

Before the Bodhisattva could finish its words, a earth-shaking explosion was heard. Ning Xuan used the Swallow’s Cry Power, used all his strength, and with “Many Children and Grandchildren” on his back, he turned into a ray of light at his fastest speed and rushed into the Bodhisattva’s mouth.

Ning Xuan’s eyes were cold and sharp, mixed with absolute calmness and madness.

As soon as he entered the Bodhisattva’s large mouth, he pulled out the Beast-Slaying Saber, used the Swallow’s Cry Power with both hands, and with a Flying Swallow Crushing the Mountain Peak, he went down the Bodhisattva’s esophagus…

After the previous battle and this chase, he had roughly measured the Bodhisattva’s power.

The Bodhisattva’s power was unfathomable, but its speed was not very fast, and it was even a bit strangely slow.

In addition to its “talkative” habit…

What “little fellow, are you looking for me,” what “what are you doing,” what was this if not talkative?

Thus, the current scene came to be.

To live through death!

A foreign object entered the esophagus, and the airflow from the strong cough came out.

But Ning Xuan’s saber cut through this airflow.

He continued downwards.

“Cough!!”

“Cough cough cough!!!”

The Bodhisattva’s cough became more and more violent.

Ning Xuan’s hair was blown straight up, fluttering in the wind.

He squinted his eyes, stopped halfway down the esophagus, changed from slashing to spinning, and a strong collapsing force landed on the esophagus, creating a few specks and an incomplete wound.

There was no blood, but it was a wound.

In this moment of dozing off, Ning Xuan was pushed up a little by the airflow again.

But he had keenly perceived one thing: the inside of the Bodhisattva’s body was not as hard as its surface!!

He fiercely stabbed the Beast-Slaying Saber into the wound, used all his strength, stood against the esophagus, and then, taking advantage of the gap in the Bodhisattva’s cough, he shot “Four Generations Under One Roof” from his bosom downwards.

Ding ding ding ding!!

Four Generations Under One Roof quickly bounced and split along the esophagus.

Ning Xuan then pressed the mechanism of “Many Children and Grandchildren,” and the whole thing was aimed at the bottom of the esophagus.

Thousands of hidden weapons shot out, and all of them rushed into the depths of the Bodhisattva’s body.

Ning Xuan saw that these hidden weapons were like a sudden downpour, and the inside of the Bodhisattva’s body was like a muddy ground. Soon, one after another, pitted wounds appeared.

He felt that the Bodhisattva was obviously getting weaker, and even the airflow from its cough was much weaker.

He stomped on “Many Children and Grandchildren” with one foot.

Clang!!

The large black box fell down like a black meteor.

He also fell down with it.

Following him was his saber.

The Beast-Slaying Saber!

His figure twisted slightly, and he gathered all his strength at the tip of the saber, and fell towards the bottom without hesitation.

He wanted to take advantage of the Bodhisattva’s weakest moment, drill into the depths of its body, and then find the demon inside its body.

Relying on the Bodhisattva’s body to put on a show, but having no other divine powers, its own body should be very weak!

Just then, a ball of light suddenly exploded in front of Ning Xuan’s eyes.

A pale white light.

When the light passed, he saw that the wounds caused by the saber and hidden weapons had been repaired in an instant, and they were repaired even better than before. He even felt that the Bodhisattva was stronger than before it was injured!

‘How is this possible?!!’

Ning Xuan couldn’t believe it.

Then, he heard a strange exhalation, as if it was brewing.

“Hmph~~~”

The next moment, an unimaginable loud noise rang in Ning Xuan’s ears.

He felt that he was shaken by this loud noise until blood flowed from his seven orifices. Streams of blood flowed from his eyes, ears, nostrils, and mouth.

Vaguely, he heard a sound.

“Ha!!!”

His whole body suddenly went limp.

He felt that he was sprayed into the air by a terrifying airflow and landed on a soft place.

The Bodhisattva’s hands were palms up, placed on its abdomen, with the right hand on the left hand, and the tips of the two thumbs touching. This was the Buddhist meditation mudra.

And Ning Xuan was lying in the middle of that meditation mudra.

The Bodhisattva suddenly changed its hand mudra again.

Ning Xuan felt his body passively follow the rotation of the palm, and soon he was heavily pressed to the ground.

He fainted.

The Bodhisattva’s right hand covered its right knee, and its fingers touched the ground, crushing the small youth to death on the ground.

And this was the Buddhist demon-subduing mudra.

Seeing that Ning Xuan had fainted, the Bodhisattva picked him up, shook him, then threw him into its palm, and then fiddled with him a few more times. Only then did it lower its head, slowly approach, like a hungry wild beast, slowly approaching the prey in its palm.

When it was completely close, its tongue rolled, and it rolled the defenseless Ning Xuan into its mouth and swallowed him…