Stranger Danger

Chapter 565: What Is My Aim?

Xiong Kuohai hadn’t been idle while Ji Donglei, Huo Ruyu and more champions were attacking Joy Bodhisattva. He wasn’t part of the attacking group though. No, he was singlehandedly keeping Joy Bodhisattva’s four champions—Worriless, Wisdom Queen, White-faced God and Black-faced Buddha—at bay.

Worriless and Wisdom Queen were the only Half-Step Grandmasters out of the four. White-faced God and Black-faced Buddha were both late-stage Spirit Masters.

If their opponent was anyone else below the Grandmaster-stage, then they would have broken through already. But Xiong Kuohai wasn’t just strong enough to stop them all by himself, he was intentionally drawing out the battle. His aim was obvious: he wanted to save his strength so he could play the fisherman later.

The group of four weren’t the only champions of the Buddhist Hall of Joy, but the Wisdom King of Joy, the Lampholding Protector and the Joy Arhat had been executed for their troubles, and Joy Bodhisattva excised the rest of the corruption after returning to her sect. She successfully subdued the foxes in her backyard but lost a lot of quality warriors as a result.

Normally, this wouldn't be a problem. After all, Joy Bodhisattva had become a Grandmaster. She alone could protect the entire Buddhist Hall of Joy from harm, and no one dared to draw her ire so soon after she won her previous conflict.

But now, the flaw in the arrangement was bared for all to see. With Xiong Kuohai pinning down Worriless, Wisdom Queen, White-faced God and Black-faced Buddha, there was no one else in the sect who was capable of helping Joy Bodhisattva. The ordinary disciples couldn’t even get up the floor without getting annihilated by all sorts of attacks.

To say that the Bodhisattva was caught between a rock and a hard place would be an understatement. A Grandmaster she might be, there was only so much she could do when she was outnumbered many times to one. A moment later, Ji Donglei managed to seize an opening and destroy her Dharma in one slash. While her energies were scattered, Huo Ruyu landed a palm strike against her back and flooded her veins with fire poison, shattering her body as a result.

Gold Ingot’s corpse puppet endured a finger strike from Joy Bodhisattva in exchange for a punch to the stomach. Even as she staggered backward, Mistress Ruyi, Wei Changhe, and Five Poison Boy’s attacks arrived right on time and injured her even more.

Unable to weather the barrage of attacks any longer, Joy Bodhisattva fell from the sky and hit the ground with a loud thud. She was bleeding from all orifices and looking as pale as a sheet.

“Hahaha! She’s hurt!”

“Kekeke... I’m going to kill her...”

“Kill her...”

“KILL!”

Smelling the kill, countless people rushed toward Joy Bodhisattva with crazed, bloodshot eyes.

“ENOUGH!”

It was at this moment a sword beam cut through the air. Some of the attackers charging toward Joy Bodhisattva abruptly stopped in their tracks. Their heads flew into the air like balls, and blood splattered everywhere.

“What are you doing, Elder Ji?” Wei Changhe stared at Ji Donglei as spots of blood slid down his forehead.

Everyone else was staring at him with unfriendly eyes as well.

“Joy Bodhisattva cannot die. If she dies, we all die. Just look at those people.”

Ji Donglei glanced at a group of combatants, and they followed their gaze. By now, the entire Blissful Peak was wet with blood. Nearly everyone’s eyes were bloodshot with madness and bloodthirst, and they weren’t just attacking the disciples of the Buddhist Hall of Joy. They had been killing everyone who entered their sights since a while ago.

Not only that, tiny wisps of flames could be seen seeping out of their pores, and yet not a single one of them could feel the heat. They kept fighting until they eventually burned down into a pile of ash.

“I’m sure you already noticed it, but the poison affects our mind as well. If we don’t cure it as soon as possible, their downfall will become our future.”

Ji Donglei kept a tight lid on the negative emotions raging inside his heart as he ended his explanation, “That is why we cannot kill Joy Bodhisattva until she gives us the antidote.”

“Elder Ji is right...” Huo Ruyu’s expression was contorted into a vicious snarl, and the flickering light in her eyes made it clear that she was struggling to control herself. “Joy Bodhisattva, give... give us the antidote now.”

Joy Bodhisattva coughed. “Cough... I told you that I’m not the poisoner. Naturally, I don’t have the antidote.”

Her injuries were quite severe. Every time she coughed, countless cracks would spread across her face almost like she was made of porcelain, not flesh.

“Quit being stubborn and give us the antidote already, bitch! Otherwise, you will wish that you were dead!” Five Poison Boy screeched as he ran up to Joy Bodhisattva and grabbed her by her throat, his face a vicious snarl no less hateful than Huo Ruyi’s.

Five Poison Boy looked anything but well right now. His right arm was missing from the shoulder, his chest was caved in, and light green blood was leaking out of his orifices. He had received these injuries while doing battle against Joy Bodhisattva earlier.

In fact, Five Poison Boy wasn’t the only one who was hurt. Ji Donglei, Huo Ruyu and everyone else who fought against Joy Bodhisattva had taken varying degrees of injuries as well.

Although Joy Bodhisattva was completely isolated, and the two Grandmasters, Ji Donglei and Huo Ruyu were bearing the brunt of the Bodhisattva’s counterattack, there were two factors that made this battle a lot closer than it should have been. One, the debilitating influence of the Burning Heart could not be understated. They had to fight while keeping the all-consuming flame at bay at all times. Two, Joy Bodhisattva was a Grandmaster herself, and a powerful one at that. Since she was fighting for her life, she was able to deal a not insignificant amount of damage against them in return.

Ji Donglei’s left arm was hanging crookedly by his side, and there was a bloody hole at the center of his stomach.

Huo Rulei’s mind was damaged since her Vermillion Bird Dharma was shattered into bits during a counterattack.

Half of Wei Changhe’s skull was crushed into bits by Joy Bodhisattva’s finger, and his Sunset River Sword was in pieces.

Mistress Ruyi looked deathly pale, and crumbs of dust were falling off her skin just like an incense stick.

Gold Ingot was fine, but one of his corpse puppets had been splattered across the ground like a smear of meat paste.

Besides that, a dozen or so corpses were sprawled across the floor as well. They were all people who joined in on the attack sometime after the battle began, but they were weak enough that Joy Bodhisattva were able to slay them all.

“Calm down, Five Poison Boy!”

Wei Changhe hurriedly stepped forward and grabbed Five Poison Boy’s shoulder tightly. He was seriously worried that the warrior would kill Joy Bodhisattva in a fit of rage.

“Get off of me! I’m killing this bitch if it’s the last thing I do!”

Five Poison Boy shook Wei Changhe off before tightening his grip. He was going to snap Joy Bodhisattva’s neck there and then.

Suddenly, a bloodcurdling scream escaped his lips. It was because Joy Bodhisattva had struck him with her sleeves and cut his left arm clean off the shoulders. The warrior was sent flying into the distance.

The retaliation wasn’t without its cost. Joy Bodhisattva’s complexion grew even whiter, and the dense cracks on her face had spread across her whole body.

“Enough, Joy Bodhisattva. Are you really planning on struggling until the last moment? Just give us the antidote, and we might consider letting you live,” Ji Donglei said. He never even looked at Five Poison Boy.

“Joy Bodhisattva, I don’t see why this has to end in death and tragedy. It’s not like our factions are hostile toward one another. Just give us the antidote already!” Gold Ingot also chimed in.

Despite her condition, Joy Bodhisattva remained fearless. “I did not poison you, so I don’t have the antidote.”

“Stubborn bitch!” Huo Ruyu snarled. She could no longer suppress her rage and killing intent at this point. As a practitioner of the Dark Ways, her martial art was powerful and swift to cultivate. Unfortunately, that also meant that her willpower and mental fortitude were weaker than most.

Already, she was on the brink of insanity as the Burning Heart burned at the final threads of her rationality. If she did not receive the antidote soon, she was going to lose her mind and perish just like the weaker warriors around her.

“Do you really think I wouldn’t dare to kill you?!”

“You can kill me, but it will be a futile endeavor. As I have told you many times, I do not have the antidote.”

Joy Bodhisattva’s expression slowly turned scornful as she met her would-be-killers’ furious gazes head on. “None of you are idiots. I beseech you to use your brain and open your eyes a little wider. If I really am the poisoner, then what is my aim for doing this? To have you slaughter my disciples to the last? Or to have you kill me?”