Both start in hell: but their talents are multiplied a hundredfold.

Shen Jue glanced down, his gaze lingering on Yan Chixia for a moment, then on Ning Caichen, who was being held captive by four female ghosts in the side room, and a slight smile appeared on his lips.

"Hey little brother," he sighed, looking in Ning Caichen's direction.

"The internal energy I imparted to you is for you to use for fishing."

"But what do you mean by using it to burn a female ghost?"

Ning Caichen, filled with grief and indignation, cried out: "I wasn't playing!"

Shen Jue smiled, ignored him, withdrew her gaze, and nodded slightly to the Arhats behind her.

Before he finished speaking, the eight Arhats of Jinshan Temple clasped their hands together, and a deep chant came from their mouths at the same time, like the sound of an ancient bell.

The next moment, their skin burst forth with dazzling golden light from within, and their flesh and blood bodies transformed in an instant into golden Arhat statues cast in pure gold, shining brightly and illuminating the entire Lanruo Temple as if it were daytime.

Eight grandmaster martial artists, each possessing the Vajra internal energy characteristic, attacked simultaneously.

The martial arts masters with this Vajra internal force characteristic are more than ten times stronger than those martial arts masters who have cultivated the Vajra Indestructible Divine Art in the world where Shen Jue of Zongwu is located!

Eight golden beams of light plummeted straight down from the night sky!

The tree demon's overwhelming roots, which had been surging toward the west wing like a black tide, retreated frantically the moment the eight golden lights landed, as if they had encountered their nemesis!

But is it too late?

Eight golden-bodied Arhats simultaneously threw punches.

This pure, violent punch sent chills down Yan Chixia's spine!

The golden fist slammed out, each punch carrying the force of a collapsing mountain, creating visible golden ripples in the air!

Wherever the fist passed, those roots, as thick as pythons and as hard as steel, crumbled into dust as if they were made of paper!

In the blink of an eye, the hundreds of roots that had been surrounding the west wing were reduced to ashes by this round of internal force.

The courtyard, which had been completely clogged with roots, was suddenly empty.

The moonlight shone down again, illuminating the dark purple slag scattered on the ground.

Yan Chixia's sword light was still suspended in mid-air, and he was frozen in place.

He looked down at the sword in his hand, then looked up at the eight golden Arhats. He opened his mouth, but no words came out.

Deep in the dense forest, the voice of the Tree Demon Granny rang out again, but this time, for the first time, her androgynous voice trembled slightly.

"Buddha...how could it possibly be Buddha?!"

"You're still far from it," Shen Jue replied to the old demon. "But you're a demon of your caliber."

"It's normal not to understand."

As soon as Shen Jue finished speaking, he stopped looking at the thousand-year-old tree spirit deep in the dense forest that was still contemplating life.

He rose and left the palanquin, standing with his hands behind his back in the night wind, and said, "Surrounded."

The eight golden Arhats transformed into eight streams of light, shooting out in all directions.

Golden afterimages trailed across the night sky, like eight shooting stars flying in reverse, and in an instant landed in eight different locations in the dense forest surrounding Lanruo Temple.

"You filthy monks! Leave now! And Grandma might forgive you for hurting my child!"

"Otherwise! We'll fight to the death!"

The tree demon's roar carried a hint of weakness and lack of conviction.

Shen Jue turned around and slowly walked down.

The Buddha's chariot was more than three zhang off the ground, yet he walked as if on flat ground. With each step he took in the void, a golden lotus flower bloomed beneath his feet and then vanished.

This was a special effect that Shen Jue deliberately added to himself using his internal energy.

Below, Yan Chixia finally snapped out of his shock, looked up at the scene, his Adam's apple bobbing, and muttered, "Damn it."

"And who is this person?"

Shen Jue stretched out his right hand, and the wide sleeves of his robe unfurled in the night wind.

He slightly spread his five fingers and gently beckoned towards the side room.

The west wing room turned to dust and crumbled, revealing Ning Caichen and the four female ghosts.

The four female ghosts let out a short, low cry in unison, their bodies went limp, and they were about to collapse to the ground.

But they did not give up.

Suddenly, a gentle yet irresistible suction force emanated from Shen Jue's sleeve.

The suction force was perfectly controlled, lifting the four female ghosts from beside Ning Caichen without the slightest error. They turned into four wisps of green smoke, drifting gracefully into Shen Jue's sleeve.

At the last moment, Nie Xiaoqian turned around and looked at Ning Caichen.

Ning Caichen met her gaze for a moment, and then that delicate and beautiful face, along with the other three ghosts, disappeared into Shen Jue's sleeve.

The cuffs fell down, hanging lightly beside Shen Jue, as if nothing had happened.

Ning Caichen slumped to the ground, suddenly feeling a sense of emptiness around him. The panicked feeling he had just experienced while being clung to by the four female ghosts had now transformed into a vague and indescribable sense of emptiness.

He opened his mouth as if to say something, but heard Shen Jue speak first.

"I'll keep these four female ghosts for you for now." Shen Jue put his hands back into his sleeves.

"Since you were so happy before, I'll keep these toys for you."

Ning Caichen blushed and murmured softly, "I didn't..."

"Alright, alright," Shen Jue waved his hand, not letting him explain, and turned to face the depths of the dense forest, his tone suddenly becoming meaningful.

"Now, there's something even more fun."

As soon as Shen Jue finished speaking, a deafening roar, as if the sky were falling and the earth were splitting, suddenly came from the depths of the dense forest.

The earth trembled violently, and the remaining halls of Lanruo Temple collapsed one after another.

Surrounded by eight Arhats from Jinshan Temple, a giant Bodhi tree, its trunk as black as iron and its branches gnarled like ghost claws, appeared in the moonlight.

A distorted human face, indistinguishable between male and female, was vaguely visible on the tree trunk, its mouth agape in a rage.

"Bald monks! I'll fight you to the death!"

Before the words were even finished, the ground within a radius of dozens of miles centered on the black Bodhi tree exploded simultaneously.

Countless thick, dragon-like black tree roots burst forth from the ground, blotting out the sky and the sun, like ten thousand snakes emerging from their dens, rushing towards the eight golden Arhats and Shen Jue and the others from all directions.

However, the eight Arhats didn't even blink.

Eight golden beams surged left and right in the sea of ​​black roots, each punch accompanied by a deafening roar like a mountain collapsing and the earth splitting.

The tree demon's roots couldn't get close to them at all. Instead, the eight people used the simplest and most brutal method to pull them out of the ground one by one, crush them, and trample them flat.

The dark purple liquid poured down like a torrential rain, yet it did not stain the golden body of the Arhat in the slightest.

Yan Chixia watched in disbelief, the broadsword in his hand that had accompanied him for most of his life in slaying demons and monsters now hanging limply to the ground.

Any roots that tried to get close to Shen Jue and the others were immediately pressed back to the ground by Shen Jue's gravity, unable to even break through the soil.

The spirit of the Tree Demon Granny appeared above her physical body at this moment.

At the top of that giant black Bodhi tree, which was tens of meters tall, a thick, inky black mist shot into the sky, churning and condensing in mid-air, slowly transforming into a human-shaped phantom.

The Tree Demon Granny took on a female form, her hair piled high in an elaborate courtly updo, adorned with gold and silver hairpins.

He was draped in a magnificent, almost bulky, black brocade robe with gold patterns, the collar of which was turned up high, completely covering his neck.

She spoke, her voice shifting between male and female. The first half of her sentence was a deep, husky male voice, while the second half abruptly switched to a high-pitched, shrill female voice. The two voices switched seamlessly, as if two mouths were speaking at the same time.

"Bald monk! Are you really going to exterminate us all?"

Beneath her illusory divine form, the Bodhi tree itself continued to frantically twitch its thousands of roots, locked in a fierce battle with the eight golden rays.

A sinister smile appeared on Shen Jue's face. After seeing the spirit form of the Tree Demon Granny, he nodded in satisfaction.

"I know that you, old tree spirit, enjoy consuming the essence and vital energy of strong men."

"Moreover, the spirit is neither male nor female, and can be either male or female."

"But then again..."

"In this day and age, homosexuality is no big deal."

"Even among my subordinates, I know that there are a few who are actually homosexuals deep down."

"Therefore, I specially compiled a special technique during this period that allows martial artists to absorb the demonic energy and essence of monsters to strengthen themselves!"