Hearing Zhu Shi speak thus, I roughly understood why Ming Zhuo was able to summon this anomalous and ridiculous space-time storm.

Ming Zhuo is the Great Impermanence with the most believers in Luo Mountain, and even though he has now defected from Luo Mountain, there are still countless believers who piously believe in him secretly. All this is not due to power, nor is it due to prestige, it's simply because Ming Zhuo is the currently existing only Great Impermanence who has signed a contract with Naraku's Will, and is seen by countless demon hunters as the embodiment of Naraku's Will.

Throughout Luo Mountain's history, the number of Great Impermanences able to achieve this could be counted on one's fingers. Before Ming Zhuo, it was the Great Impermanence Ksitigarbha of old, a powerful contender for the title of "Luo Mountain's Strongest Great Impermanence."

So, the biggest power of Ming Zhuo comes from communicating with the will of the post-mortem world.

Being isolated in the real world like Ming Zhuo, is akin to Weichi without arrays or Yinyue without illusion techniques. Not to mention that a well-prepared Ming Zhuo and a Ming Zhuo caught off guard in battle are completely different concepts. The ones who were repeatedly defeated under Xuanming and me can be called "the weakest state of Ming Zhuo."

Whereas the current Ming Zhuo is entirely different; he is in the post-mortem world and has done extensive preparation. Seeing his current state, he probably successfully borrowed the Naraku Gospel's power. The Ming Zhuo we see before us now is "the strongest state of Ming Zhuo."

Communicating with Naraku's Will as a collective unconscious of humans and communicating with Naraku Gospel as the planetary natural will obviously have tremendous differences. Even for Ming Zhuo, who has deeply understood the post-mortem world, directly borrowing the power of Naraku Gospel must have faced quite a few obstacles. Possibly, he achieved this by leveraging the line of Great Demon God T.

There's a chance this undertaking inherited some legacy of Huang Quan. According to my memory, Huang Quan in the past repeatedly contacted many Great Demons to explore methods of controlling them and even researched ways to make Great Demons ignore himself. The Evangelical Institute implanted part of Great Unpredictable God T's intelligence into Great Demon God T through a resurrection ritual, which upon scrutiny, probably was also Huang Quan's doing. Combining this result with Ming Zhuo's research into the post-mortem world, who knows what kind of chemical reaction it might erupt.

The current space-time storm is likely a product of this.

Great Demon God T summoned yet another Great Demon, making a total of six Great Demons, including himself, besieging Zhu Shi. Now Zhu Shi can no longer spare a word, only struggling to escape. Even utilizing the Power of Buzhou Mountain to find flaws in the encirclement and blockade, he is increasingly strained.

In the Great Impermanence Domain, even a superpower as strong as "Buzhou Mountain" is just an exceptionally fine-tuned perception ability. Both Great Impermanence and Great Demon can simulate it to some degree. Although Zhu Shi might be able to observe more due to his innate advantage, the difference in advantage formed in battle is certainly not one that can't be offset.

Meanwhile, the mana fluctuations around Mazao are becoming increasingly intense. Originally approaching the threshold of the Great Success Rank's limits, the power further advances now, breaking through the bottleneck at once. The Power of Destiny Vortex converges on her, propelling her rapidly into the domain of Great Impermanence as if equipped with rockets.

Tenfold, twentyfold, thirtyfold—her power ascends to a realm between Great Success Rank and Great Impermanence, seemingly about to evolve into Great Impermanence.

Her conscious processing speed gradually aligns with our battlefield, her gaze landing on the fast-moving Zhu Shi in the distance.

Since the space-time storm is powered by Naraku Gospel, Mazao, who can also utilize Naraku Gospel Power, might be able to dismantle the space-time storm with the Power of Return, thereby rescuing the embattled Zhu Shi, given her power reaches the standard.

"Zhu Shi... I'm coming to rescue you!" she murmured.

Of course, Ming Zhuo in the distance noticed the changes here as well, his expression becoming very grave.

"Were you somewhat underestimating me?" he said in a deep voice, "Considering the old fellow Huang Quan, I shall address you once as 'Junior Sister,' but... like your weak Great Success Rank, a girl who is always protected, inexplicably brought here on this battlefield by Zhuang Cheng... do you think I would have no thoughts whatsoever?"

Saying this, while dangerously evading Jian Feixian's attack, he swiftly formed a hand sign with his left hand.

On the other side of the battlefield, amidst besieging Zhu Shi with other Great Demons, Great Demon God T seemed to receive some kind of signal, suddenly undergoing terrifying transformations. On its body, which composed of dark earth-like material, countless mouths with white teeth and red tongues opened up, erupting with high-pitched screams.

These were sharp sounds transmitted rapidly via mana fluctuations, extremely unpleasant, akin to nails scratching a blackboard, instantly enveloping this shattered region of space-time. Upon hearing this sound, I felt my consciousness waver somewhat, as if an invisible hand were shaking my brain, attempting to make me nauseous.

To be able to ignore the space-time storm's spiritual impact on this side... but it should be like the fire sea I transmitted to Zhu Shi's side; they too can only allow their power to penetrate the space-time storm in a limited way, otherwise their tactic would become a collective one-sided assault on us.

Even I, a Great Impermanence's spirit, could be lightly affected by this power, falling upon Mazao might become a tremendously lethal strike. Fortunately, I had prepared ahead, enveloping Mazao with generous flame mana. Yet flame mana isn't great at protection, Mazao nevertheless was slightly affected, showing a painful expression.

The penetrating voice undeniably shook Mazao's spirit, making it impossible for her to maintain focus. Mobilizing the Power of Destiny Vortex is an extremely difficult and dangerous task, at least she shouldn't be influenced like this before her power rises to the Great Impermanence Domain. Her enhancement process was interrupted halfway, unable to continue.

"——Is this your last trump card?" Ming Zhuo revealed an eerie expression. "But it's lost its function... You are utterly defeated."

"Utterly defeated? Nonsense!" Jian Feixian slashed again.

Ming Zhuo merely glanced sideways at Jian Feixian; this time he simply didn't dodge at all, allowing Jian Feixian's Sword Qi, which could cut through time and space, to split his body in two, even destroying his soul until it was completely obliterated.

Soon after, his body automatically merged, and he was resurrected on the spot, his face unchanged, as if nothing had ever happened.

"Don't tell me you can't see our tactical purpose. Although you are single-minded, your mind shouldn't be so dim-witted to that extent, Jian Feixian." Ming Zhuo said indifferently, "Our approach is very simple; it's just a modified version of the Tian Ji horse racing strategy. Because if it's a real melee, the situation would be very dangerous for us.

"We only have Yama as a true top-tier combat power, but you have Fa Zheng and Zhuang Cheng.

"Together with Huang Quan and Great Demon God T, I can't assure you that we'll resolve you and Zhu Shi fiercely in a short time. As Fa Zheng and Zhuang Cheng only need to spare some effort during battle to support us here and there, the stalemate on our side would be easily broken. Regarding those degraded demons summoned by Great Demon God T, they would be even more challenging to turn the situation under such circumstances.

"But now it's different; under one-on-one conditions, Yama has a great chance of defeating Fa Zheng and can later defeat Zhuang Cheng in the same way. I just need to keep you tightly held down, and you'll naturally fall into a hopeless situation. As for Zhu Shi over there, she might not even wait until that moment and be killed by Great Demon God T.

"You only have yourselves to blame for foolishly rushing into our ambush, it's you who sought your own doom."

His words were still attacking our mentality, in fact, the Post-mortem World is entirely their stronghold. The strategies they are currently using are not only applicable in this ambush but any surprise attack. Instead of passively enduring enemy surprise attacks, it's better to take the initiative, this has been our common opinion from the beginning.

The other parts are self-evident truths; I've also sensed him concentrating most of the Space-Time Storm's power in the direction of Fa Zheng and Yama's clash, which even Jian Feixian might not be able to cut a path through anymore. This is to prevent Jian Feixian from finding an opportunity to provide support to Fa Zheng.

However, there's a strange detail in Ming Zhuo's words that makes me feel uneasy.

It should be absolutely impossible.

"What do you mean 'you and Huang Quan'..." I said, "What's Huang Quan got to do with this?"

Meanwhile, I continued to manipulate the surrounding Fire Sea, trying to use the strong adaptability and parsing ability brought by Little Bowl's blessing to attempt breaking the stratification caused by the Space-Time Storm.

Ming Zhuo did not directly answer my question.

"In the Tian Ji horse racing story, each horse is matched with its opponent," he said. "Zhuang Cheng, you've been trying to unravel this Space-Time Storm, right? Although I don't think you truly have a way to break it, as long as it's Great Impermanence, there's always the ability to turn the impossible into possible."

He paused slightly, his face revealing a rare, almost solemn color, "I despise your character, disdain your youth, countless times inwardly spitting on you, insulting you, cursing you, but I genuinely fear your powerful strength, and must acknowledge the countless miracles you have created since your debut...

"So I cannot let you leisurely unravel this trap; I must find a way to hold you down as well.

"For this, I'll let my mentor be your opponent."

After saying this, there was a massive rumbling from a certain direction.

In the distance, Du Shuo Mountain underwent an absurd transformation—the mountain slowly stood up and erupted in familiar mana fluctuations.