Chapter 27: Black Tortoise Cannon

Zhang Xiao's Divine Bi Fang Flame was hardly something that could be resisted by a mere physical golden body alone. If Chen Kong had not been overly arrogant and had summoned his magical treasure, although he still would have suffered defeat, he would have at least retained a sliver of a chance of survival. But now, it was far too late.

Right at that moment, Chen Kong's entire body was being scorched and deformed by the Divine Bi Fang Flame unleashed by Zhang Xiao. No matter how he struggled or attempted to deploy his magical treasures, he was completely unable to extinguish the golden flames clinging to his body. Seeing this, the surrounding Shaolin disciples hurriedly formed hand seals, causing a gigantic Buddha's hand to descend with a mighty crash. It lunged downward toward Chen Kong, attempting to drag him out from the sea of fire.

"Hmph!" Zhang Xiao let out a cold snort. With a spread of his wings, countless strands of golden Divine Bi Fang Flame erupted with a roar, surging forth from his body to transform into a roaring fire dragon. As the massive dragon swept past, the surrounding space was scorched and distorted into twisted shapes.

"Roar!"

A dragon's roar carrying a unique primordial aura—one that could only be formed in the ancient primeval eras—emanated from within the fire dragon. Before the colossal Buddha's hand in the sky could even draw close to the fire dragon, Buddhist incantations flickered across the giant palm, once again condensing into a whirling swastika symbol. However, this swastika radiated an aura capable of destroying the heavens and the earth.

"Obliterate!"

Realizing they could no longer rescue Chen Kong, the surrounding disciples simply united all their Buddhist cultivation power into a single stream, executing a supreme technique powerful enough to annihilate cultivators in the Integration Stage. It was said that the Shaolin Golden Lotus Demon-Extermination Array possessed three ultimate techniques: Suppression, Annihilation, and Confinement. Rumored to be at its peak in ancient times, this array could even confine and destroy Mahayana Stage cultivators on the spot.

However, their current strength was still far from capable of bringing out the true might of this array. Even so, as the giant hand plummeted from the sky, the surrounding space instantly shattered into countless fragments like fragile glass. The golden dragon exhaled by Zhang Xiao was shattered into scattered pieces in an instant.

A flicker of surprise crossed Zhang Xiao's face. He had not anticipated that the array's power would be so extraordinary, shattering even space itself into nothingness. When it came to comprehension of spatial laws, very few people present could surpass Zhang Xiao. Tearing through space was something anyone could naturally accomplish provided they possessed powerful methods and decent cultivation.

Yet, merely the oppressive pressure alone was enough to compress and shatter space—such terrifying might meant that even with his own formidable strength, he had to give it everything he had. Otherwise, Chen Kong's fate would inevitably become his own.

With this thought in mind, Zhang Xiao's figure abruptly transformed once again. In the blink of an eye, he morphed into a Black Tortoise with a dragon's head and a turtle's body. As his first transformation, the Black Tortoise at this moment was vastly different from the one he had manifested in the past. Inscribed upon the back of the Black Tortoise were five ancient runic characters representing metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. As these runes flashed, the five-element spiritual qi between heaven and earth rushed overwhelmingly toward Zhang Xiao's back, funneling directly into his body.

Zhang Xiao opened his mouth and exhaled a five-colored cloud—none other than the Five-Color Cloud Flag, which he had not used in a long time. The flag transformed into a banner of five-colored clouds that guarded his entire body. Combined with the five-element runes on his back, they unexpectedly achieved a state of mutual reinforcement and generation, something that took Zhang Xiao by surprise.

However, he had no time to dwell on it now. Zhang Xiao raised his dragon-like head and opened his massive jaws. The five-element runes on his back operated like a vacuum cleaner as five streaks of colorful light forcefully pierced through the blockade of the outer Golden Lotus Demon-Extermination Array, shooting separately into the five ancient runic characters on his back.

These five streaks of colorful light were not ordinary illumination, but rather concentrated, materialized five-element spiritual qi. This spiritual qi poured endlessly from his back into his body. If he had not already cultivated the Seven Transformations Mystic Heaven Scripture to the twenty-first layer, possessed a physical body of peerless firmness after transforming into the Black Tortoise, and relied on the mutual generation of the five elements to barely absorb and contain all this spiritual qi within his body, he would have long since been bloated and ruptured by the sheer volume of energy.

Witnessing this spectacle, the remaining monks were utterly dumbfounded. Thick streams of materialized five-element spiritual qi were pouring endlessly into Zhang Xiao's body. If it were them, a single blink of an eye would be more than enough for this terrifying amount of spiritual qi to reduce them to a state of eternal damnation. Realizing this, the monks let out a furious roar, and the giant Buddha's hand in the sky flashed with cascading scriptures, accelerating its descent.

"Roar!! Black Tortoise Cannon!"

Accompanied by a furious roar from Zhang Xiao, a brilliant beam of five-colored light erupted from his jaws. Unlike the cannonball-like projectiles of his past Black Tortoise Cannons, this took the shape of a colossal laser beam. Wherever the beam of light passed, the surrounding space did not generate even the slightest ripple, devoid of even the whistling sound of tearing winds.

Yet, had there been any Mahayana Stage masters present, they would have undoubtedly been astounded. The spatial domain covered by this beam of light had been completely and silently sliced away. The magnitude of its destructive power was so immense that even Mahayana Stage experts might not possess such a horrifying capability. The five-colored beam spewed from Zhang Xiao's mouth fiercely collided with the descending Buddha's hand in the sky.

"Crack, crack..." Sounds resembling shattering glass rang out like a succession of heavy hammers relentlessly striking the monks' heartstrings. The scriptures inscribed upon the Buddha's hand were instantly blown away by a gentle breeze like wisps of smoke. Meanwhile, the golden swastika symbol at the center of the Buddha's palm began to fracture, developing hideous cracks.

With a crisp "snap," the golden swastika shattered into countless fragments instantly. The five-colored beam of light retained its residual momentum as it continued to strike the Buddha's palm dead-on.

"BOOM!!"

A deafening explosion erupted violently within the northern sector, followed immediately by a pillar of five-colored light shooting straight up into the firmament. Ever since the Shaolin Zen Sect had designated the northern sector as a restricted zone, it had attracted the attention of countless individuals. Seeing this scene unfolding before them, shock filled the onlookers' eyes as they frantically speculated on the identity of this five-colored light pillar.

Some disciples from other sects could no longer heed the prohibitions of the Shaolin Zen Sect; transforming into streaks of rainbow light, they rushed frantically toward the source of the brilliance.

"Bang!" The original ambient Buddhist light abruptly dimmed as the hundreds of monks present collapsed to the ground. Not only had the giant Buddha's hand been destroyed, but a gaping hole had also been punched straight through the Golden Lotus Demon-Extermination Array by Zhang Xiao. Although the resulting backlash force was evenly distributed among the hundreds of monks in the array, it was still sufficient to shatter every bone and meridian in their bodies into pieces.

Merely managing to barely cling to their lives was already a testament to the profound nature of their Buddhist cultivation techniques; maintaining the Golden Lotus Demon-Extermination Array was completely out of the question. In fact, a few disciples were directly killed instantly by the backlash the very moment the array was broken.

Only after expelling all the excess spiritual qi from his body did Zhang Xiao halt the Black Tortoise Cannon. Though the abundance of spiritual qi was vast, it remained unrefined; absorbing such a massive quantity without processing it could only bring harm rather than benefit. Glancing down at the fallen monks scattered across the ground, a cold sneer appeared at the corner of Zhang Xiao's lips.

At that moment, Blacky scurried over hurriedly, raising its dual pincers high in a gesture of worship toward Zhang Xiao. "Master's divine martial arts are peerless, majestic..."

"Alright, clean up these bald donkeys for me. Someone is going to arrive very soon." Hearing Blacky start up its flattery yet again, Zhang Xiao interrupted him unceremoniously, shifting his figure forward as he walked toward the ancient cavern dwelling ahead.

Blacky grinned broadly at this, feeling inwardly fortunate that when it had fought against the master in the past, the master's Black Tortoise Cannon had not been as ridiculously overpowered as it was today; otherwise, it would have long since been blasted into dust and ashes.

As it turned out, Blacky had regained consciousness quite some time ago. However, even though it had recovered its sanity, the severe internal injuries it sustained could not be healed overnight. Furthermore, with the Golden Lotus Demon-Extermination Array already fully formed, there was nothing it could do, leaving it no choice but to watch helplessly from the sidelines.

Having witnessed Zhang Xiao's dazzling array of methods, Blacky already admired him to the utmost degree—or rather, considering its six legs, two pincers, one tail, and head, it was admiration ten times over. Especially after witnessing Zhang Xiao's final move, the Black Tortoise Cannon, Blacky completely swore from the bottom of its heart to follow this master loyally from then on.

Disregarding whatever thoughts were running through Blacky's mind, Zhang Xiao's gaze remained unblinkingly fixed upon the Divine Division Fruit before him. The azure-colored fruit had already transformed into a deep, vibrant blue, and the purple petals surrounding it were beginning to fall off one by one. Once all the petals had detached, the Divine Division Fruit would reach absolute maturity.

A glint of joy flashed in Zhang Xiao's eyes. He hurriedly retrieved a jade box, carefully harvesting the Divine Division Fruit using spiritual qi before placing it securely inside the container. He immediately applied several layers of seals upon the jade box to prevent any leakage of spiritual qi. Only then did he feel truly at ease. Stowing the jade box away, Zhang Xiao strode boldly out of the cavern dwelling.

Not long after Zhang Xiao departed, a seemingly ordinary stone in a nearby corner suddenly quivered. A pair of tiny steel claws burrowed out from the stone, transforming it into a miniature mechanical spider in the blink of an eye.

At the exact same moment, in a cavern dwelling tens of thousands of miles away, a middle-aged man whose entire body was plugged into various canisters let out a long sigh of relief, thinking to himself, "Fortunately, Zhang Xiao was careless and failed to thoroughly inspect every single stone in the cavern, otherwise my mechanical spider avatar would have surely been destroyed."

Mentioning this, a look of bitter resentment surfaced in the middle-aged man's eyes as he cursed angrily, "Damn those bald donkeys, a bunch of useless trash! If they had just stalled for half a moment longer, I would have successfully stolen the fully ripened Divine Division Fruit. Damnable fools."

Upon stepping out of the cavern, Zhang Xiao discovered that only half of the monks who had previously littered the ground remained, while Blacky was picking up the monks one by one with its pincers and shoving them directly into its mouth, eating with immense relish.

Seeing Zhang Xiao emerge, Blacky hastily put on a wry smile and said, "Young Master, look, I've been trying my best to eat, but there are just so many of them that I can't possibly finish them all at once." Pausing for a moment, Blacky suddenly gagged, spitting out a pile of storage bags and magical treasures from its mouth as it continued, "Young Master, some of these guys completely kicked the bucket. These are their storage bags and magical treasures."

Gazing at the drool and scraps of flesh mixed with the items, the corner of Zhang Xiao's twitching mouth tightened. Waving his hand helplessly, he said, "You can keep all these items. As for the remaining monks you can't finish eating, toss them into the Buddha's Golden Wheel to generate merit and faith for me."

With those words, a flash of golden light illuminated the center of Zhang Xiao's brow, shooting forth to envelop the monks remaining in the area. Against adversaries completely devoid of the ability to resist, Zhang Xiao didn't even need to summon the physical form of the Buddha's Golden Wheel to effortlessly gather all the monks into it.

Observing the system prompt notifications scrolling across the attribute interface on his wrist, Zhang Xiao wore a faint smile. With Blacky now reduced to a smaller form following closely behind, he took a single step forward, and a spatial rift instantly enveloped him. The next instant, when Zhang Xiao reappeared, he was already standing within a shadowed alleyway of a city street.

Meanwhile, the people who had rushed into the ancient cavern dwelling were left standing in utter astonishment, staring blankly at the pools of blood and battle scars scattered everywhere—yet, bizarrely, not a single corpse was to be found. Inside the cavern itself, nothing remained except for a withered, dead Divine Division Grass.

The author wishes to express gratitude to the four leading Daoist friends—Yinni Luoluo Lvsheng, Cangyue Chuanshuo, Tianli Ban, and others—for their support, attention, and various suggestions regarding the Third Transformation. The previous voting period has now concluded, and the next vote will run for just one week. The topic is: "If Guoshui were to travel overseas to the Little Sun Island Country, what is the event you would most desire to see? Hahaha." Everyone is welcome to offer various opinions and ideas. Thank you all once again.