Chapter 52: We Invented the [Bubble Netherworld Dimension]!

Sealing the bloody kasaya within his chest cavity, the Buddha-Eggplant Giant chose to sit cross-legged.

By this time, the vines behind him had grown all the way up into the sky, drawing in starlight energy to flood back into the earth, providing himself with an inexhaustible source of power to suppress the Kasaya Ghost.

At the same time, the tip of that vine, which had now reached the heavens, began to split symmetrically into twelve directions, crawling across the sky in different ways in an attempt to weave a rudimentary 'grid' to intercept more starlight (photosynthesis); it also looked as though it intended to weave a filtering net high above the firmament, fulfilling its pledge to [Patch the Heavens].

As the vines in the sky began to wind and grow against gravity, the Buddha-Eggplant Giant sitting upon the earth struck a classic Buddhist pose: one finger pointing to the heavens, the other pointing to the earth.

This was both a hint that throughout the heavens and the earth, he alone was the honored one, and proof that he intended not only to patch the heavens but also to pacify the earth.

Consequently, the vine roots beneath the earth also began to grow and spread rapidly, hurtling quickly toward the direction of the Vajra Temple, following the scent of the [Underworld Springs].

Upon witnessing this scene, the 'Buddha-Corpse Ghost'—which had chosen to look on coldly as the bloody kasaya and the Buddha-Eggplant fought—could no longer restrain itself. It dismissed its underlings to attack and mutate civilians, while striding forward in a rapid sprint toward the Buddha-Eggplant.

With every step it took, space twisted, and upon landing, it appeared a dozen meters away. Utilizing the divine foot-walking supernatural power to shorten distances, it arrived before the Buddha-Eggplant in just two or three steps. Its chest-mounted dharma-palm had long since completed hand seals and gathered power, blasting forth with a death-imbued Underworld Dharma Seal, only to be swatted directly away by a palm of the Buddha-Eggplant that was larger than two small buildings.

The instant the Buddha-Eggplant's palm touched the Buddha-Corpse Ghost, it was assaulted by a violent surge of death energy and instantly exploded, countless splashes of bright red eggplant juices and flesh spraying and scattering into the air, blanketing a small half of Naye City.

The mutilated, severed wrist was also entwined and covered by the Underworld Buddha rhythm, emitting a sizzling sound of flesh corrosion that refused to heal for a long time.

Meanwhile, the batted-away Buddha-Corpse Ghost was transformed at that moment into a shooting star, hurtling at high speed in the direction of the Vajra Temple. It remained unclear whether this was an unintentional act by the Buddha-Eggplant or done entirely on purpose.

Yet this outcome clearly aligned with the Buddha-Corpse Ghost's intentions, for the Vajra Temple was its home turf.

Since it could not stop the Buddha-Eggplant from achieving enlightenment, it would return to the Vajra Temple and use the Nether Springs pond to confront and maneuver against it. At the very least, this would establish a dynamic where one dominated the starry sky and the other occupied the netherworld, holding each other in a stalemate that divided the bubble world in two.

Its calculations were sound, but while the corpse-body shooting star was still in the ascending phase of its parabola, the upward growth of the vines sprawling across the sky suddenly halted. The specific vine positioned directly over the Vajra Temple began frantically draining nutrients from the vines in all other directions, rapidly producing a fruit that hung suspended in the sky.

Not only were the nutrients of the vines in other directions plundered, but even upon the torso (right arm) of the Buddha-Eggplant Giant, one of the serene-faced, human-faced ruby gems suddenly shriveled.

The Many-Ears Buddha-Eggplant opened its eyes and sighed, as though mourning the self-sacrifice of this eggplant-head compatriot.

High in the sky, as the Buddha-Corpse Ghost soared to its highest point, the gigantic tomato fruit hanging aloft suddenly ruptured. From within it protruded a blood-red, five-fingered giant seal that absorbed countless stars, descending with immense weight straight from the heavens and slamming heavily into the Buddha-Corpse Ghost.

Boom!

With a single palm strike, it blasted the entity to pieces mid-air, scattering it into a mass of shattered flesh that plummeted at accelerated speed toward the Vajra Temple.

During the descent, the countless fragments of flesh attracted one another, coalescing back into a single mass. The closer they got to the Vajra Temple, the more abundant the absorbed Underworld power became.

Before this clump of minced meat could even land within the Vajra Temple, it had already drawn upon endless Underworld death energy, reshaping its original human form into a corpse-hand that stood in defiant opposition to the descending blood-colored Buddha palm.

At that moment, a mouth split open across the palm of the corpse-hand, emitting a booming laugh: "AHAHAHA... Little Many-Ears, taste my Underworld Vajra Great Hand Seal!"

The crimson palm descended from the heavens, growing larger and larger until its shadow enveloped the Vajra Temple. The corpse-hand showed not a shred of fear, drawing vast amounts of Underworld death energy from the pond and meeting the blow head-on.

At this moment, Yuan Zhu, utilizing the [Shadow Mouse] left behind inside the Vajra Temple, hid within a corner's mouse hole to observe the duel from a first-person perspective.

Because it had likewise been thoroughly saturated with shadow pollution infusions, the little mouse was even capable of a faint resonance with those 'shadow pre-prepared dishes', making it effectively Yuan Zhu's sleeper agent left within the temple.

Thus, the stealthily peeping mouse perceived that one or two of those 'shadow pre-prepared embryos' were dragged upward into the sky together amidst the corpse-hand's ferocious, frenzied gulping, transformed into nourishment that nurtured the Underworld corpse-hand as it traded blows with the starry Buddha-Eggplant palm in the sky.

"Oh?" A sound of puzzlement echoed in the air.

At the center of the palm where the mouse could not see, a speck of ink the size of a mole suddenly manifested, disrupting the original death-energy circulation of the corpse-hand's palm and creating a flaw.

"Who is it?!"

An angry roar resounded within the palm of the corpse-hand, followed immediately by a 'Ptui!' sound as another shadow embryo was spat out by the mouth, colliding head-on with the blood-red Buddha hand.

"Dammit..."

Before it could finish cursing, the corpse-hand collided with the Buddha-Eggplant palm, which was a dozen times its size.

Pulp explosion! Pulp explosion!! Pulp explosion!!!

The blood-red giant tomato hand was blasted apart mid-air, spraying a massive quantity of tomato juices and pulp that covered and submerged the Vajra Temple like a torrential downpour. This dilapidated temple was instantly dyed red by the fresh eggplant juices, exuding a rich, fruity-vegetable fragrance that made it look full of vitality for a moment.

At that instant, a second red Buddha hand condensed in the sky, grew, matured, and plummeted downward.

Down on the ground, the cross-legged Many-Ears Buddha-Eggplant sighed once more and closed its eyes.

No sooner had the corpse-hand organized its second round of counterattacks than it clashed precipitously in mid-air once again, blasting the second blood-red Buddha hand to pieces mid-flight.

Yet another round of eggplant-juice blood-ocean poured down from the heavens, splashing across every inch of land in the Vajra Temple. Masses of viscous flesh and eggplant juice flowed into the pond, beginning to contaminate the Underworld death energy with vitality.

"Damn it! Damned things, ptui, ptui, ptui!"

The more death energy the corpse-hand absorbed, the wronger it felt. All sorts of bizarre pollutions were being drawn up by it from the pond—mouse-flavored, candle-flavored, wild boar, crows... every single one of them was an unfamiliar contamination it had never encountered in its entire life. The flavors were utterly wretched, the quality exceptionally poor, and all of them were fermented and polluted by a black, oil-like mucus that threw the pure Underworld death energy into total chaos.

Now, the Underworld death energy it absorbed was further tainted with an even denser tomato-flavored life force, a vibrant vitality intermingled with toxic and foul stenches (foul blood). It was practically going insane!

When the corpse-hand still attempted to organize a third round of counterattacks, the third blood-red Buddha hand crashed down from the sky. This time, before it could be blasted apart mid-air, it was suppressed inside the Vajra Temple by the crimson Buddha hand a step ahead of time.

Boom!

The giant hand landed successfully, shattering the highest golden roof of the Buddha hall with a single strike, after which the Buddha palm transformed into a claw, enveloping and gripping the entire temple while releasing boundless vitality.

Dense vines sprouted from the ground, growing wildly while bathing in the tomato-Buddha juices, rapidly weaving and crisscrossing to form a massive green bird's nest that was inverted over the top of the Vajra Temple, firmly enclosing the monastery in conjunction with the Buddha palm.

At this moment, the vine suspended above the Vajra Temple began to droop and grow downward, ultimately connecting with the severed section at the wrist of the Buddha palm, receiving an endless supply of starlight from the sky to inject into the green bird's nest cage below, beginning to suppress the Underworld death energy of the Vajra Temple.

Not only that, but the countless green vines on the ground also began to spread roots underground, cooperating with the green cage above ground to weave yet another root-based cage that tightly wrapped around the Vajra Temple.

Soon, Yuan Zhu's signal connection with the mouse was severed.

The instant before the signal cut off, he perceived that the entire Vajra Temple, along with the Underworld pond, had been sealed and locked tight by the Buddha-Eggplant's vines and roots, completely plugging this particular spring.

No!

The Buddha-Eggplant had not plugged the [Underworld]; rather, it had sealed off the Vajra Temple. When the 'death energy' inside the Vajra Temple grew to a certain limit and reached an equilibrium of pressure with the spring, the Underworld would no longer continuously flood the bubble world with death energy, effectively turning off this spring.

However, Yuan Zhu, who had already fled far away, held a different opinion.

The 'Underworld invasion' of the bubble world had theoretically been blocked, but having personally visited the Vajra Temple for a field inspection, he knew that the 'Nether Springs pond' experienced minor leakage toward the shadow dimension.

Originally, the Underworld's death energy gathered in the Vajra Temple, where it was enjoyed by the corpse ghosts and dissipated within the bubble world, reviving the undead... with only a small amount of Underworld water seeping into the shadow world to cause slow transformations.

But now, the Buddha-Eggplant had suppressed the corpse ghosts, leaving the Vajra Temple entirely devoid of ghosts. With the entire temple sealed and the accumulated death energy exceeding limits with nowhere to go, it could only heavily infiltrate the shadow world, nourishing the corpse ghosts he had banished into the shadow dimension as well as the pre-prepared dishes that had not yet died out.

One could easily imagine that before the future 'Shadow Underworld dimension' was exposed, this place would become a paradise for corpse ghosts and pre-prepared dishes. Lacking the guidance of the Vajra Temple's Underworld Buddha rhythm, they would have no choice but to accept the dual pollution of the 'Underworld' and the 'Shadow', mutating and developing entirely by instinct...

Even the shadow world itself would eventually merge with the [Underworld], twisting and fusing into a brand-new 'netherworld subsidiary plane', laying bricks and tiles for the bubble world until it was discovered by the Buddha-Eggplant one day.

By then, the Underworld's power would have already deeply polluted and transformed the shadow dimension, becoming a part of the bubble world. What else could it do? It could only continue sealing it, of course...

"Tsk! Suddenly, this bubble world has started to look rather worth anticipating."

If given the opportunity, he would like to come back here in the future to witness just how delicious the 'pre-prepared dishes' he had ranched could grow to become, or whether they would turn out so utterly disgusting that he wouldn't even dare take a bite?

"Boss, did we just do something truly remarkable? Did we pre-plan and set the artistic style and primary species for the future 'Underworld netherworld' of the bubble world?"

"Uh... perhaps? Let's go, take the opportunity to catch a few little Buddha-Eggplants and turn them into pre-prepared dishes!"