Volume One, Chapter Seventy-Three: The Sage Falls

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Chapter Seventy-Three: The Fall of the Sage

Mara, that old scoundrel, had grown addicted to his role as commentator and continued to show off.

"Lamo—
Behold, the mighty and invincible Goddess of Love and Desire, Trishna, is about to bring us a miracle—a miracle to be inscribed in the annals of the Three Realms and all the heavens! For today, the Naga race, who have dominated the Great Saline Sea for millennia, shall be utterly annihilated by our demoness—single-handedly!"

"Annihilated! Annihilated! Annihilated!"
The Three Realms and all the heavens went mad.

Indra was nearly driven to fury by Mara.
Damn it, annihilated? Can’t you say anything without boasting? Even if tens of millions, or a billion, Nagas die, would the Naga race truly perish?
As long as the Great Naga Dragon King stands, as long as the twenty-four Great Saints and the eighteen hundred Sages remain, even if all others fall, the Naga would only be superficially wounded.
Annihilated? You’re celebrating far too soon!

At this moment, the little dog clamped its paw over Tu Zhe’s eyes, shrieking, “Rogue brother, don’t look! That shameless demoness is being utterly indecent!”
Tu Zhe brushed the paw aside, but the dog stubbornly covered his eyes again, cursing endlessly.
Tu Zhe had no choice but to let it be and extended his spiritual sense to watch instead.

Now, the twenty-four Great Saints led by Long Yi were also under indiscriminate assault. Yet their spiritual power was formidable, their magic profound, their cultivation on par with—or surpassing—Trishna herself. They merely circulated their power and withstood the seduction unscathed.
However, constant resistance meant they could do nothing for the chaos unfolding among the Naga ranks; the foot soldiers were thrown into madness, some collapsing under the psychic assault, powerless to intervene.

For those a level below the Great Saints—the eighteen hundred Sages—the situation was dire. Their resistance was feeble; some, newly ascended to Sagehood, were already bleeding from their noses, eyes glazed, spirits wavering.

Mara’s irksome voice echoed once more throughout the heavens of the Desire Realm.

"Oh lotus leaf—
What do you all see?
Nearly all Naga foot soldiers have lost their fighting power—tens of millions! And before they even truly raised their blades, they have fallen. This reminds me of something the Blessed One once said:
'Great compassion for all without cause; profound sorrow for all as oneself.' I can feel their grief, their fury, their despair—and my compassion is with the Naga..."

The assembled gods burst into laughter. Our Lord of Mahā’s Realm, it seems, is not lacking in humor.

But—

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What fails to arouse my compassion is—damn it—among the thousands of Sages, there are some who cannot resist.
See, that one Sage—is he having a nosebleed?
With such meager will, you call yourself a Sage? You sully the title, don’t you? Ha-ha!

Lamo, let’s wait and see—when the Sage pitches his tent, will it be more magnificent than the average Naga’s? Lotus leaf—

Indra was about to explode with rage.
Never had he seen a Lord of the Celestial Realm so shameless.

Maitreya rubbed his belly and laughed, “If you don’t descend into the demonic path, who will?”
Hulu could only sob, slinking over to the Great Elephant King and clutching Ilopona’s leg. “Master, what should I do?”
Ilopona sighed expressionlessly. “What can you do? Just let it be cold...”
Beside them, Kupoka bowed his head in silent shock. Only now did he realize that, for all his self-regard, he was but an ant...

"Lotus leaf—"
Mara exclaimed in feigned astonishment:
"Ladies and gentlemen, what’s this?
I can hardly believe it—a Sage has fallen! A Sage! A being who, in the Three Realms, can walk where he wishes—has fallen just like that?
Lotus leaf, look—another falls—"

For the Naga race, the situation was truly dire.

The first Sage, unable to resist Trishna’s world-upending seductive magic, suffered a backlash—though it wasn’t dramatic, he coughed blood, became paralyzed, unable to speak, his spirit in turmoil, all fighting power lost.

Worse, other Sages of similar cultivation began succumbing, one after another, collapsing in waves.

At this, Long Yi’s anger flared. He had led such a vast army to crush a few insignificant ants, expecting an effortless victory—only to be struck a devastating blow.

Anger was inevitable, as was fear.
Who would have imagined the demoness of the Heaven of Self-Existence was right at Tu Zhe’s side? The old emperor had truly set them up.
To know neither oneself nor one’s foe is to lose every battle. With intelligence like this, what more can be said?

But now was not the time for blame. With Sages falling one after another, if Trishna were allowed to continue, a true annihilation could occur.

Long Yi decided to act, at any cost, to break the seduction magic of the Goddess of Desire—otherwise, the consequences would be unthinkable.

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Suddenly, Long Yi let out a roar that split the heavens, his body reverting to its true form—a black dragon a hundred fathoms long, writhing and twisting in the sky, a terrifying sight. Masses of great clouds surged with his appearance, rolling like waves around him.

As he finished an incantation, the vast clouds formed a wall several stories thick, shielding the remaining Sages and Great Saints from Trishna’s assault.

Then, his mountain-sized dragon claw shot out like lightning, rending the very fabric of space, and, with the weight of a collapsing mountain, descended upon Trishna, aiming to crush the Goddess of Desire in one blow.

Just as Long Yi struck, Mara’s mocking voice rang out through the heavens once more:

"Lotus leaf—
If I recall correctly, wasn’t it agreed that only those below the rank of Great Saint would participate in this brawl? And as I remember, Great Saint Long Yi did not object at the time?
Lotus leaf! Behold, a peak Great Saint has unilaterally broken the agreement, brazenly reneged, intervening in what, though uneven, was a fair duel. Lamo—
Can our Goddess of Desire withstand this earth-shaking blow?
Can Long Yi’s intervention change his side’s downward spiral?

Everyone, keep your eyes wide open and continue watching!"

Billions of celestial beings craned their necks to see.

On the screen above the heavens, the image was clear as day—a dragon’s claw, shattering the void and shaking the ages, struck toward Trishna’s head.

Trishna raised her eyes, her beautiful gaze flashing with electricity. With a sweep of her hands, a vast volume of seawater surged skyward, transforming midair into something as hard as steel, rising to meet the dragon’s claw.

In the eyes of billions, the titanic waves collided with the dragon claw, and the screen erupted in an explosion of shattered waters, as if divine weapons burst and scattered, piercing Long Yi’s cloud barrier forged of spiritual power. Some Sages failed to dodge and were struck, with about a hundred wounded. The remaining waves were seized and dispersed by the twenty-three other Great Saints, causing no further harm.

However, Long Yi’s cloud barrier dissolved in the aftermath.

Trishna’s mighty wave had been broken by the dragon’s claw—
but in the process, the razor-sharp waters had also cut into the claw, dragon’s blood spraying out and dyeing the falling sea crimson.

Long Yi was wounded.

But Trishna’s seductive spell was completely shattered.
Not only was it interrupted, but the force contained in Long Yi’s claw wounded Trishna as well—the demoness spat blood and staggered back, clearly hurt far more severely than Long Yi.

Long Yi invoked a secret technique—the wounds on his claw vanished in an instant, the limb restored as if nothing had happened. Such was the resilience of the dragon’s body.

Long Yi snorted coldly: “That’s enough!”