# 1068
Chapter 1069: Buddha
Boom—!
Victorious Fighting Buddha's form crashed heavily onto the ground, and in one swift movement, he arrived at the side of the two figures. M..
He saw the cold, lifeless body before Zhu Bajie, and his entire being froze in place.
It was a Ruo Han (Arhat), its pale golden skin now devoid of any luster, dark bloodstains covering the body surface. Its divine格 (divine essence) had shattered beyond repair, fallen from the divine realm. Countless marks from being torn by giant beasts covered its form, a truly shocking sight.
Only those死不瞑目 (unclosed, staring) eyes remained wide open, glaring at the void before it, resembling a Vajra (guardian of Buddhism) in seated meditation.
Victorious Fighting Buddha witnessed this, his body shuddering violently, as if sculpted into a statue on the spot.
"Brother Monkey..." Zhu Bajie, kneeling on the ground, raised his head to look at him. A bitter smile appeared on his ashen face. "Old Sandy... has attained nirvana."
Victorious Fighting Buddha's body trembled faintly. His fists clenched tightly as he almost roared:
"What happened?"
"I rushed into the Mist to save people, and Old Sandy came to reinforce me, then got surrounded by a large group of—"
Zhu Bajie's words broke off as he began coughing violently. Each time he coughed, great amounts of blood surged from his waist and abdomen, wisps of black mist drifting from the wound, usurping his vitality.
Victorious Fighting Buddha's pupils contracted sharply. He reached out and pulled Zhu Bajie's body into his embrace. That ancient ape face, full of Buddhist sacred intent, twisted intensely with anxiety:
"Idiot!!"
He reached out, pressing against Zhu Bajie's bleeding waist and abdomen, but he still couldn't stop the fading of his life force.
"Brother Monkey... I might have to go down to keep Old Sandy company." A wretched smile挤上 (forced itself) onto Zhu Bajie's honest face.
"Shut your mouth!!" Victorious Fighting Buddha roared, the Buddhist light around him erupting violently, rushing madly into Zhu Bajie's body, keeping him alive by a thread.
However, he simply didn't know any healing or restoration techniques. Moreover, the black mist mixed into Zhu Bajie's waist and abdomen could largely suppress the flow of divine power. Besides forcibly using his cultivation to extend Zhu Bajie's life, he could do nothing else.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it!" Victorious Fighting Buddha cursed as he watched Zhu Bajie's complexion grow paler by the moment. He seemed to remember something and suddenly turned to look behind him.
He saw the figure draped in a deep crimson cloak standing not far away, and like抓住 (seizing) the last straw, he shouted loudly:
"You! You're the disciple of the Ancestor! Do you know any healing techniques?! Any technique will do! As long as you can barely stabilize his life—"
He stopped mid-sentence.
He stared blankly at the nine镇国神碑 (nation-protecting divine steles) in the distance, and the flame of hope in his eyes was rapidly extinguishing.
Now that all the gods had sacrificed themselves to become the steles, there wasn't a single great master left in all of Great Xia who could treat Zhu Bajie's injuries... They were all dead!
Yet even so, Victorious Fighting Buddha's eyes still retained the faintest trace of hope. He looked at Lin Qiye standing in the distance, a glimmer of light flickering in his gaze.
Lin Qiye stood in the howling wind and snow, facing Victorious Fighting Buddha's desperate, straw-grasping gaze. His heart twisted inexplicably, and an unprecedented sense of guilt surged through him.
He... couldn't save him.
Although he stood before Victorious Fighting Buddha, they were separated by a hundred years of time and space. They were merely illusions created by the Kunlun Mirror; they simply didn't exist.
Moreover, even if Lin Qiye were truly standing here, he had no way to heal Zhu Bajie either. At best, he could only rely on "miracles" to barely sustain Zhu Bajie's life. With the Gods of Great Xia now withered and fallen, no one could save him.
He opened his mouth, and hoarsely and bitterly, he slowly uttered three words: "I'm sorry..."
Upon hearing this, the last ember of hope in Victorious Fighting Buddha's eyes was completely extinguished. He turned his head mechanically to look at Zhu Bajie in his embrace. Two streams of clear tears slid down from the corners of his eyes.
Seeing this, Zhu Bajie managed to force a smile onto his face. His trembling hand reached out, touching Victorious Fighting Buddha's cheek:
"Brother Monkey... Don't cry... This time, this old pig saved many people. I didn't disgrace our little Western Journey team... cough cough...
I'm going down to find Old Sandy now. You and Master have to be good Buddhas... If one discards their divine格 and falls to become a demon, they can indeed avoid the Mist's stranglehold and stay in the mortal realm to protect the people, but their strength will be greatly diminished, and they'll never be able to return...
This world still needs gods to change it in the end.
Brother Monkey, you and Master are stronger than us. You好不容易 (finally) achieved correct enlightenment. You must survive to the very end, and替 (for) this old pig... take a look at... what kind of world the future holds.
Perhaps... this is this old pig's fate."
As the last word left his lips, the final ember of life force in Zhu Bajie's eyes was completely extinguished. His hand drooped weakly, and he lost all breath entirely.
Victorious Fighting Buddha held his body numbly, his mouth opening silently as if he wanted to say something more, but nothing would come out. His tear-streaked face twisted into something monstrous. He suddenly raised his head, opening his mouth toward the gloomy sky, and let out a heart-wrenching roar:
"To hell with fate!!"
The wailing wind and snow across the blood-red earth hummed with grief. This last god of Great Xia knelt helplessly on the ground, pounding the earth with his fist again and again, releasing the madness within his heart.
The pitch-black Mist churned silently beyond the Divine Boundary Wall. Shadows of "mysteries" drifted among the fog, their silhouettes flickering in and out of sight.
Victorious Fighting Buddha's right fist, still hammering the ground, suddenly froze. His eyes widened as he stared intently at the Mist before him, his expression turning monstrous.
He suddenly reached out, grabbing a corner of his golden kasaya (monk's robe). Endless fury and unwillingness blazed in his eyes.
"Buddha... BUDDHA! To hell with Buddha!! If I can't protect the mortal realm, if I can't protect you people... what's the point of this monk's robe and Buddha position?! What fucking use is it!!"
A resolute light burst forth in his eyes. His hand gripped tight, pulling at the edge of the kasaya, tearing it open piece by piece!
Golden Buddhist light surged violently. A pained scream tore from his throat. As one corner of the kasaya gradually tore away, wisps of terrifying demon-ogre energy spilled from within his body, mingling with the Buddhist light.
What he was tearing wasn't just a robe—it was the Buddhist正果 (correct enlightenment) he had cultivated through countless hardships!
Rip—!!
With a sharp sound, he ripped a corner of the kasaya clean off. He immediately vomited a large mouthful of blood. The brilliant golden Buddhist light in his right eye suddenly shifted to deep, blood-red. A violent and terrifying demon-ogre aura erupted from half of his body, soaring into the heavens.