Chapter Forty-Three: The Final Battle at the Fortress

Under the silent night sky, the city lay empty and cold. Wu Jue walked alone across the earth, quietly reciting the Buddhist Diamond Prajna Paramita Sutra, cultivating the path through all phenomena, using his heart to affirm the sun and moon.

“Wonderful, profound Dharma, hard to encounter in hundreds of thousands of eons. I now see, hear, and accept it; may I understand the true meaning of the Tathagata…”

As he finished his recitation, his voice echoed like a great bell. Invisible true energy had gathered around him, and as he chanted the sutra, he drew together all the resentment and anger within the city. A powerful fortress formed behind him, elevating the low martial art of Golden Bell Shield to a deeper, tangible realm.

By the time he stood before the fortress, his foes had already assembled a host of monsters, prepared for battle. The formidable stronghold of the Heaven's Punishment Clan sensed his arrival, issuing a command to kill Wu Jue completely.

“Warriors, do not be afraid, seize this monk!” A mechanical, indifferent voice rang out from within the fortress. Instantly, hundreds of monsters lunged at Wu Jue, surrounding him.

Wu Jue roared in fury, the Diamond Sutra reaching its end, and the mighty force around him burst forth, scattering the monsters in all directions. He leapt into the fray, his eyes blazing like a wrathful Vajra, launching a relentless assault. Though encircled, his momentum never faltered; with fists and feet, he felled many beasts.

Silently, Wu Jue counted each fallen enemy, numbering them as he went, from one up to twenty. The monsters grew in number, seemingly endless, as new waves replaced the defeated. He felt his strength waning, but swiftly changed tactics—grabbing a mutated leopard by the head, his fingers pierced its skull, extracting the brain core.

Alas, there was no corpse nucleus.

A miscalculation allowed two vicious wolves to leap onto his back, their jaws clamping down. Fortunately, though his Golden Bell Shield's energy had weakened, it was enough to resist their bite.

He kicked aside the leopard, seized the wolves by their hind legs, tore them off, and wielded them like twin clubs, sweeping through the enemy ranks once again.

No matter how fierce the beasts, no matter how relentless the foes, Wu Jue only drove his fighting spirit higher, battling on and on. This was his path to enlightenment.

At last, he crushed another wolf’s skull, and a corpse nucleus appeared. Wu Jue seized it without hesitation, refining it with his supreme true energy.

There was no time to slowly forge a pill core; Wu Jue had another method to stimulate his battle spirit.

He tore off his upper garments, exposing his rugged muscles, then crushed the corpse nucleus to powder, scattering it in the air and smearing it over himself.

Instantly, the powder’s stimulation tightened every muscle, pushing him into a more perfect, incredible state.

Madness—entering Buddha through demon!

Wu Jue staggered, his steps erratic, his whole body flushed crimson as if drunk, his overwhelming battle spirit flooding outward, startling the mutated monsters into immobility.

He grabbed a leopard, smashed its skull without a word, and raised its corpse. Amid the monsters’ terror, he strode toward the fortress, proclaiming, “Let your true master come forth!”

With a thunderous crash, the leopard's body slammed into the fortress, shaking the earth.

Seven cannons instantly appeared atop the fortress, trained on Wu Jue. This time, the threat was real.

“Despicable human, prepare to die!” The same mechanical, cold voice ordered.

Just as the seven particle cannons were about to fire, two figures flashed in, arriving at the fortress in a blink. They acted together, turning the cannons to aim at each other, causing them to explode.

“Hey, mobilizing so many for one human? The Heaven's Punishment Clan is becoming more and more disgraceful.” Amid the explosions, the figure of Mirror Hero Tair appeared before Wu Jue, standing alongside the resurrected Huron.

“It’s been so long since I felt my body move so freely—looks like my new body is quite good.” Huron raised a thumb to Wu Jue, then faced the fortress and declared, “Huron, Martial Saint of the Divine Warrior Clan, once again challenges the Heaven's Punishment Clan. My clan’s blood debt will be repaid in full!”

With that, the two charged the fortress, flinging open its hatch and plunging inside.

“Don’t miss this chance—we’re here!” Before Wu Jue could react, Xiao Yang and Xiao Han arrived, his strongest allies.

“You…” Wu Jue felt a sudden surge of emotion—there was something in this world that transcended reincarnation and everything else.

It was the unbreakable bond of friendship among mortals.

Without another word, he sprang forward, joining Huron and Tair in their assault on the fortress, leaving Xiao Yang and Xiao Han outside to face the monsters.

Both wielded heavy machine guns, unleashing a hail of bullets that sent the beasts howling in agony.

***

Wu Jue followed Tair and Huron into the fortress, his first goal to find the witch and the townspeople who had been taken.

He had to rescue his former companions, even if they had become walking corpses—he could never abandon them.

If they were doomed, he would personally send them on their way.

He moved through the fortress, the sights shocking him. Last time, many beasts were imprisoned here, evolving and mutating, ready to serve the Heaven's Punishment Clan.

Now, there were even more humans. Wu Jue watched them suffer, mutating bit by bit; it was truly unbearable.

He grabbed a wooden stick, searching room by room to find his companions as quickly as possible. Soon, he found his old friends.

They were elderly and children who failed to mutate, reduced to food for others; zombies feasted on their own comrades in the rooms.

In this moment, he could only send them on.

He smashed the glass door, rushed in, and drove the stick through the zombies’ foreheads, blood spurting as he pulled it free to strike the next target.

By the end, Wu Jue lost count of how many comrades he had dispatched.

A small child sat on the ground, head bowed as if crying. Wu Jue approached and gently tugged at his trouser leg, prompting the child to look up.

That pale face twisted into a hideous, involuntary grimace, emitting a low growl.

“Child…” Wu Jue felt suffocated, biting his left hand hard before mercilessly striking with the stick. “Go to the world below and be reborn as a human.”

With a crack, the little zombie fell lifeless to the floor.

Wu Jue, as if drained of all strength, walked forward numbly, swinging his stick in rage, killing one mutated zombie after another.

Finally, the familiar face of the witch appeared ahead, but she had already been transformed into a controlled zombie. Huron and Tair circled her, attacking, but to no avail.

Though mutated, the witch’s magical power remained. Even as Mirror Hero tried to purge her with mirror light, she coldly dispelled it with her sorcery.

Huron retreated to Wu Jue's side. “It seems subduing the witch won't be easy. I’ll destroy the fortress’s control room; you hold her off.”

Wu Jue knew Huron was buying him time. He agreed and lunged, pinning the witch to the ground. “Enough—think of your daughter. Xun’er is still waiting for you to return.”

The witch seemed not to understand, snarling and struggling violently. Tair shot a beam of pure light from midair, passing through Wu Jue and onto the witch, trying to drive out the virus within her.

Unfortunately, halfway through, new viruses formed within her body. Her magical power was too strong; once her flesh was possessed, a powerful barrier was created.

End of Chapter 43: Final Battle at the Fortress.