“You...” Saint Suhavis was now seething through his teeth. As a monk, it has been ages since he’d been this worked up. The Black Masks they… were serious about killing him.

They knew that the Holy Abbot would never abandon the Sacred Peak of Buddha and would do everything in his power to protect it from harm. So, they brought the Death Laser to keep Saint Suhavis in locked in place. Then, to distract the Spirit Saint, they had brought over Murasaki, the Arachne Queen, to massacre all of the innocents on the mountain. To make matters worse, Ao would rain thunder and lightning from the heavens, while Kuro led the charge from the ground. Everything was set in stone for Saint Suhavis to fall to the Black Masks on this day.

The Holy Abbot was appalled, but the anxiety on his face was quickly curbed down. Sighing, the wizened old man put both his palms together and said a silent prayer: “Amitabha...”

“Have you resigned to your fate?” Kuro belittled the Spirit Saint with a mocking sneer.

“I’ve lived for three-hundred and fifty-seven years, what adventures haven’t I been on? What else can I offer to my fellow brothers and sisters? Even if I die today, humanity’s greatest heroes would soon take you down. So what’s there to fear?” Saint Suhavis’ voice turned peaceful, like a spring’s breeze through a verdant forest. “However, I’m not one to just give my life away just because you want me to…”

Keeping a pure and harmonious heart… That was the Buddhist way. For Saint Suhavis to show the full extent of his powers, he had to keep his emotions in check, no matter how hard it was. Entering his prayer stage, the old man bent his two index fingers and made a distinct hand sign. Mana overflowed from every pore, and the lotus bed beneath him started to shed Guanyin tears.

‘Is he trying to rebuild the Great Arhat Formation? No, that can’t be… I confirmed its total annihilation...’ Kuro tried to guess Saint Suhavis’ next move. Before the attack on the Sacred Peak of Buddha, the Black Masks had devised a comprehensive plan to take down the Buddhist Saint as quickly as possible. By using the Death Ray, they were able to melt his greatest auxiliary support, the Great Arhat Formation. By using Murasaki’s dominion over spiders, they were able to tie him down. And finally, the two Primordial Beasts of the Black Masks would attempt to claim his life in whichever way possible.

Theoretically, it was the perfect plan. The Black Masks had even used the Allfather’s vast information network to find out all of the Spirit Saint’s powers to draw up counters. However, the Black Masks had experienced a series of failures just ten years prior. There was no guarantee that the old Spirit Saint couldn’t reverse this insurmountable state of his.

“Om ji ka ho bod hi om ji ro wa...” Saint Suhavis continued to chant while golden light continued to flow outwards. Waving his hands erratically, the Holy Abbot moved the particles he summoned and congregated them into a humanoid shape behind him. Starting from his fingers, the Spirit Saint’s body started to turn golden, and his arms quickly followed suit. In no time at all, the gold colour of his enhanced body was transferred over to the ethereal humanoid figure and finally…

“Buddha’s Incarnation...” Kuro finally muttered out the ability’s name. The Holy Abbot of the Shaolin Temple was known for his versatility, but two signature abilities stood heads and shoulders above the rest. And the first one was… The ability to create an incarnation of Buddha himself.

The incarnation was rich in gold, just like the Golden Immortal himself. Elongated ears with holy symbols drawn all over the lotus bed that held it in place. Each time it moved, a suppressive radiance forced all mortals to bow in reverence. Just like Shin’s Celestial Dragon’s Avatar, Saint Suhavis could use the Buddha’s Incarnation to strengthen all of his existing moves. Offence, defence, mental attacks, illusions… All of the Shaolin martial arts that Saint Suhavis had perfected, were boosted to the next level. And that was what he was going to do...

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!” The Buddha’s Incarnation opened its mouth, sending out a thunderous roar of laughter. Unable to resist the sonorous soundwaves, many of the Umbras quickly exploded into pieces, leaving behind nothing but ash. Murasaki’s spiders were likewise under an intense heat, and many of them dropped dead instantly.

‘The Bellow of the Laughing Buddha… What an annoyance...’ Kuro spat. The Shaolin Sect had many infamous abilities, and in general, a monk could only learn a handful. However, Saint Suhavis had mastered almost all of the Shaolin arts, which made him completely unpredictable in battle.

Case in point...

“RULAI PALM; MAN!!!” Ignoring the Primordial Beast’s shock, the Buddha Incarnation sent forth a flying palm strike, attacking Kuro in cold blood. That moment’s lapse of judgement had cost the Black Masks’ second-in-command to be thrown off the loop. Kuro scrambled to defend himself, pushing forth a tsunami of darkness mana and raising his Immortal-Grade Spirit Armament.

Against an attack by Saint Geom, perhaps Kuro’s defence wouldn’t be enough. However, against Saint Suhavis, it should be sufficient.

It should…

However, the palm strike didn’t stop one bit. Instead of damaging the shield that Kuro had created, the palm strike phased through it like a ghost.

‘What?’

Not realising that it was fruitless, Kuro’s mana attempted to strike the palm, but it was to no avail, and the moment the palm strike damaged the Primordial Beast…

‘What’s this?’ Kuro felt that his consciousness was plunged into a different plane. The world changed, and he was no longer within the holy mountain. All around him, there was darkness. The space that the Primordial Beast was in… was so small…

At that moment, the mighty Primordial Beast felt like a mere ant. A flea that was meant to be killed with a single swat. Kuro had been in this place once before. He had seen this agonising fate once before… And he never wanted to be here ever again.

‘I see… An illusion...’ Kuro instantly deduced the reason why he’d suddenly switched positions. ‘Amazing, the Shaolin Sect is truly one of the most premier organisations that humans have. Fortunately, the Allfather was wise and told us to attack him first.’

The Primordial Beast wasn’t angered that Saint Suhavis had brought him into one of his most dreaded memories. In fact, he was quite bemused. Among all of the Spirit Saints that he’d read about, Saint Suhavis was by far the most interesting. Able to use offence, defence, and now even illusions? Even as the enemy, Kuro couldn’t help but admire the man.

‘As much as I would love to relive some memories, I have a job to do, Saint Suhavis...’

Kuro waved his hand and summoned out a torrent of mana. A tear broke through the fabric of space and time itself, and the dark box that Kuro had been kept in was torn in two. Kuro was now brought back into reality, and the first thing he saw was the Holy Abbot’s mouth agape. Smiling, the Primordial Beast mocked: “That all you got?”

‘He… Took less than a second to break free?’ Saint Suhavis gritted his teeth. Although his proficiency in the Mind-Element wasn’t that good, it wasn’t weak either. Even a Spirit Saint should take a few seconds to completely unravel his mind-bending spell!

“ROOOOOOOAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR!!!”

The Holy Abbot wasn’t given a single second to rest. The moment Kuro broke free from the illusions, Ao’s thunderbolts flashed down like intense hammer strikes. A hurricane whistled through the poor sanctuary, tearing down building after building, but most importantly… Ao’s final gift for the Spirit Saint was about to arrive.

A single rapidly spinning sphere, seemingly holding the full power of a typhoon within it, was sent flying down upon the Spirit Saint’s Buddha Incarnate. The Golden Immortal Body struggled to keep the sphere from tearing down upon the mountain like a man trying to hold up a bear’s weight. It could resist for a few seconds, but eventually… The power proved to be way too powerful…

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!!!

The Buddha’s Incarnate lost all of its colour and dissipated back to its origin… Nothingness. Saint Suhavis was now like a single bird, levitating alone amidst the grandeur of the sky. And to make matters worse…

EEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!

The familiar red light shone once again. The Black Masks’ second round of the Death Ray had been wholly completed and was just waiting to fire upon the holy mountain. Saint Suhavis, now battered and blue, could only hold his breath as he watched the light continually turn more and more powerful. Kuro’s next wave of phantoms had burst forth from the mountain peak, aiming to snipe the Spirit Saint and send him to the pits of oblivion. Ao had prepared his next attack, the very same attack that destroyed the Buddha Incarnate.

It was over…

All was lost…

Saint Suhavis… was about to perish.

‘Amitabha… So this is the end...’ Following the Buddhist way, Saint Suhavis placed both his palms together and started to pray. He’d always imagined dying on a bed, with his precious disciples surrounding him as he’d taken his final breath. Who would have guessed that he would die on the battlefields, against an enemy that no one could foresee?

‘Amitabha, Buddha… Please forgive your unfaithful disciple, for I have failed you...’ Closing his eyes, Saint Suhavis floated up high in the air. His hope? To move the Death Ray’s aim away from the holy mountain and onto his dying body. As if hearing his plea, the Black Masks sent the Death Ray flying straight at the Spirit Saint, engulfing him in a torrent of light.

And for the first time since the warring ages...

A Spirit Saint had been shot down from the sky...