Nightfall

Tantra Ksitigarbha was the most powerful Ksitigarbha. The Pennant of Human Skulls he held in hand was the ritual implement that suppressed hell. And the Sweet Dew Emblematic Gesture contained endless compassion which was harmful for Sangsang, who was poisoned.

Ning Que’s body was torn by the innumerable skulls on the Tantra and he was covered by wounds. His clothes were ripped and stained with blood. Innumerable disgruntled souls were summoned by the chanting, flowed to him along the river, and desperately drilled into his wounds. Although these disgruntled souls were purified by the divine flame contained in his blood, the damage was left on him and the verges of the wounds suffused with gray.

His eyes were also bleeding, but he was calm and showed no fear or pain. It seemed that he was not even thinking, and looked ruthless and extremely cold. It was because his eyes represented the emotions of Sangsang.

The skeleton elephant was dozens of zhang high and had a very big head. Sangsang fell on the top of its head, as if she was falling into a very spacious house. And she looked tiny compared to the size of the skeleton elephant.

Sangsang walked toward the back of the elephant and was getting closer and closer to Ksitigarbha.

The skeleton elephant roared and raised its trunk to crack her like a whip.

Ning Que was right from the beginning. There was no bone in the trunk of the elephant, and the elephant of the Styx River was no different. The reason why the skeleton elephant had a long trunk made of white bones was that it made itself a trunk with many broken bones in the mud at the bottom of the river for it couldn’t forget the past after reaching Nirvana.

The broken bones of the trunk were all human bones. After listening to the chantings by the Styx River for tens of thousands of years, the skeleton elephant had already turned these human bones into its magical weapon which contained endless Power of Buddha. That was why it could bind Vermilion Bird and Ning Que so easily even though these two had reached Knowing Destiny Zenith.

During the roar, the bone trunk swung at Sangsang like a white shadow, which was as powerful as the Vajra in the hand of Buddha, stirring the river. One would definitely die if hit by it.

Countless disgruntled souls in the river had seen many of their companions killed by the bone trunk of the elephant. Seeing this, they were all frightened and dared not to watch any longer.

Sangsang did not look at it either. It seemed that she didn’t even know that the skeleton elephant under her was attacking her and that the trunk that was made of human bones was about to fall on her body. She just kept moving forward without any expressions.

She took a step forward and stepped on the trunk of the elephant! Her action seemed very simple, but actually it was extremely mysterious and abstruse. It seemed that the skeleton elephant stretched its trunk and waited for her to step on it!

A shrill cry rang throughout Styx River!

The skeleton elephant was in so much pain that it shook its head desperately and exhausted the strength of its whole body to pull its trunk from Sangsang’s foot. But the bone trunk was broken into halves and its white bones were flying out!

Sangsang went to the front of Ksitigarbha and reached out to hold the handle of the iron cutlass.

Ksitigarbha looked at her quietly, and the Pennant of Human Skulls in his hand suddenly became hundreds of times larger, covered the entire river and then fell on the top of her head.

The clear river was once again dark and haze, as if the night was coming. There were countless sharp and unpleasant sounds in the night, which were from the innumerable skulls roaring in anger!

One skull represented one follower of Ksitigarbha, and innumerable skulls on the Pennant of Human Skulls represented the awareness and unwillingness of the followers!

Ning Que had more wounds on his body, and his eardrums were also ruptured instantly. He would have been torn into pieces by the howling if he had not mastered Haoran Qi and possessed a body as strong as the powerhouses of Devil’s Doctrine.

The real horrible injury was not on his outer body, but in his heart. His heart was suddenly beating faster, like a rainstorm. Under the rate of a thousand beats per breath, his heart might break at any time!

Ning Que’s consciousness was very clear, and he was in a lot of pain and fear. His instinct to survive made him want to leave the horrible Pennant of Human Skulls and the skeleton elephant and go back to the sunken sink, but he couldn’t do it.

It was Sansang who controlled his body at his moment.

Sangsang simply ignored the damage that this body was suffering, and didn’t seem to care that this body might be destroyed at any time. She was still calm and indifferent.

She looked at the Pennant of Human Skulls in the hand of Ksitigarbha and shouted, “Too noisy!”

The shouting was like a thunder and echoed in the dark river bottom, ringing louder than the chanting of countless disgruntled souls. The skulls hanging on the edge of the Pennant of Human Skulls were shocked and instantly quieted down.

After a moment, these skulls woke up and screamed more and more angrily.

Suddenly, countless tiny cracks appeared on the Pennant of Human Skulls, and countless skulls were shattered into tiny bones and were drifted by the river, no longer making any noises!

These skulls were shattered by their own screaming!

Sangsang said that these skulls were making too much noise. Since they didn’t stop screaming, they had to die. This was the will of Haotian!

…

…

Sangsang took out the iron cutlass and swung at Ksitigarbha.

With a loud sound, the blade cut off the kasaya that was on Ksitigarbha, cut off countless golden lines and cut off Ksitigarbha’s body, but only left a superficial wound. The golden blood slowly oozed out but didn’t come down.

Sangsang was unhappy, so Ning Que frowned.

She stretched out her right hand and landed on the Ksitigarbha’s chest and used magical means to pull the iron arrow from the back of Ksitigarbha.

Seeing the golden blood on the iron arrow, Sangsang was somewhat disgusted. She took out the iron bow, bent the bow and put the arrow on and pointed the black and sharp arrow cluster between the eyebrows of Ksitigarbha.

An air was spreading around the surrounding area, covering the skeleton elephant. The Pennant of Human Skulls broke and drifted along the river. But it didn’t drift away, as if there was an invisible barrier.

Sangsang unfolded her world, and the Pennant of Human Skulls, the skeleton elephant and Ksitigarbha on the back of the elephant were all in this world. No one could escape and no one could resist her will.

She used the iron arrow to aim between the eyebrows of Ksitigarbha, and Ksitigarbha could not escape.

Ksitigarbha held the front end of the iron arrow with his left hand.

Sangsang quietly looked at him, and Psyche Power fell to the iron arrow.

Ksitigarbha looked solemn, announcing his own name.

Sangsang released her fingers and the iron arrow left the bow. But the arrow didn’t move. Ksitigarbha held the shaft of the iron arrow, and there were golden lights coming out of his left hand.

The skeleton elephant gave mournful cries and slowly sank down. And the bone of its right forelimb was broken!

It was so quiet, as if the iron arrow did not shoot out. In fact, the power of the iron arrow had been fully released!

Sangsang withdrew the bow, and then held the iron arrow with her right hand and sent it forward again.

She injected Psyche Power into the bow and arrow.

There was a light sound.

There was finally a wound between the eyebrows of Ksitigarbha, and a drop of golden blood oozed out.

The drop of golden blood floated away from Ksitigarbha and drifted in the river with a slow but indisputable speed. Finally, it fell between the eyebrows of Ning Que and fell on the heart of Sangsang.

The golden blood triggered the three poisons of attachment, aversion, obsession. Ning Que spat some blood, but Sangsang still held the iron arrow and continued to send it forward.

More golden blood came out between the eyebrows of Ksitigarbha, and he was further injured. But meanwhile, the Light of Buddha contained in the golden blood made Ning Que suffer more pain.

Who would die first?

Looking at Ning Que who was covered in blood and had Haotian inside his body, Ksitigarbha said with compassion, “Buddha will be happy to see the death of Haotian even though it is at the cost of my own death.”

Sangsang revealed no emotion on her face. She took another step forward and the iron arrow kept moving forward.

Ksitigarbha could no longer maintain a calm and compassionate look, and became frightened and frustrated. He roared and slapped Ning Que on the chest with his right hand.

Sangsang ignored it and continued to move forward. The iron arrow in her hand deeply pierced into the skin between the eyebrows of Ksitigarbha. The golden blood of Buddha splashed everywhere, and the Power of Buddha suddenly scattered the moment it emerged.

Before his death, the eyes of the Ksitigarbha were full of confusion, for he didn’t understand why Haotian, the most noble god who enjoyed immortality, dared to gamble her life with him?

He did not know that Sangsang and Ning Que were planning to gamble their lives with Buddha.

…

…

The skeleton elephant receded into the depths of the dark river. It walked slowly since its right forelimb was broken. And it kept swinging the half of its bone trunk that was left. The elephant looked like that it was in severe pain.

Ksitigarbha sat on the back of the skeleton elephant with his eyes closed. His breath of Buddha was already gone.

Seeing this, the disgruntled souls in the bottom of the river whispered, as if they did not believe what they had just witnessed. When they looked at the sunken ship, they became very quiet.

Ning Que’s body was shaken back to the sunken sink by the last strike of Ksitigarbha. Looking at the skeleton elephant that disappeared into the darkness, he suddenly spat blood and fell on the ship.

Sangsang surrendered the control of this body.

Ning Que opened his eyes and asked worriedly, “Is everything all right?”

Sangsang answered, “If he hadn’t retreated at the end, then we could have lost. But he retreated.”

Ning Que had been watching the battle, so he knew that Sangsang was very weak at this moment. If Ksitigarbha had maintained his state of mind until the end, he would not have been defeated. There was a chance that either Ksitigarbha or Sangsang could have been wounded and defeated.

He looked at the direction that the skeleton elephant disappeared into and said with emotions, “Everyone said that Ksitigarbha had great compassion and was firm and persistent. It turned out that he was also a monk who was afraid of death. Just another fake Bodhisattva.”

The sunken ship floated up, and the river separated a road, revealing the sky above the river. The rain clouds had dispersed, and the ship sailed on the river smoothly.

The water was very clear. One couldn’t see the fishes, but could see the disgruntled souls and skulls. The disgruntled souls were smart enough to know that they couldn’t hurt Ning Que and Sangsang, so they just looked at the ship with fear. But the skulls instinctively reached out to try to block the ship.

After Sangsang controlled his body for a period of time, Ning Que’s connection with her became tighter. Seeing the bone hands, he just waved his sleeves and the hands were instantly purified.

There were no skulls that dared to approach the ship, and the disgruntled souls only floated in the water. Ning Que remembered the time when he and Sansgang crossed the Great River, which was not as beautiful as today but was nonetheless still very strange.

The ship reached the other side of the river and ran aground on the mudflat. Ning Que held Sangsang on his back, used the iron cutlass as a crutch and walked toward the woods in the east. Approaching the woods, he looked back at the calm river and was hit by fear and pride, as a result of the battle. Ksitigarbha is dead now. Who else can stop me?

At this moment, the Light of Buddha gradually flourished in the dark sky above the west of the river. The faint sound of chanting came from the hundreds of miles of redwood forests which he used Talisman Intent to destroy. He knew that countless Buddhas in Nirvana had come again.

He shouted to the other side, “Cross the river and chase me if you dare.”