Yan Xiaoru, a descendant of the Heavenly Machine Pavilion, is proficient in the pavilion’s Celestial Star Manipulation technique and adept at divination.
While Wei Suyi is not a direct heir to the Heavenly Machine Pavilion, he possesses his own unique Art of Divination.
The combination of Yan Xiaoru and Chou Yuyan can forcibly pry open the secret realm’s entrance, and the Immortal Artifact Masters can undoubtedly do the same.
Li Muyang looked toward Yu Chan, only to see hesitation appearing on her face.
She then said, “If they intend to force their way in, we’ll find it very hard to stop them.”
Yu Chan’s answer was roughly what Li Muyang had anticipated.
“But the good news is, those Divine Favored who bear special karmic ties to my mother and are blessed by the Ghost Moon Fox’s Divine Power have already been sent away by her.”
“Without the help of these Divine Favored, outsiders trying to force their way into the secret realm will take even longer.”
“And without the Divine Favored guiding them, finding us after entering the secret realm will be even more difficult…”
Yu Chan offered this response.
Li Muyang narrowed his eyes and said, “At least that’s some good news.”
Half a month had passed since Li Muyang led his puppets back to storm the Great Zhou imperial palace.
During this half month, Li Muyang had done nothing else, pouring all his energy into the game, fully focusing on clearing its challenges.
By now, he had grown increasingly adept at countering the attack patterns of the False Grand Enlightenment Buddha.
He could practically predict most of the Buddha’s attacks in advance, as if foreseeing them, and prepare countermeasures beforehand.
It was precisely through this cheeky method of infinite retries that Li Muyang, with his far inferior paper-thin abilities compared to the Buddha, managed to drive the Otherworldly Demon God to the brink of defeat.
As long as the Immortal Artifact Masters didn’t immediately charge into the secret realm, Li Muyang was fully confident he could clear the game before them!
Taking a deep breath, Li Muyang said, “Third Miss, find a way to notify Senior Dantai and invite her to Jiuyuan City for support.”
If the situation deteriorated, Li Muyang would need to rally any and all forces he could muster to prepare for the worst-case scenario.
Moreover, even if he successfully cleared the game, choosing a plan to rescue Yan Xiaoru would pose another significant challenge—how to break through the siege and proceed to save her.
Li Muyang offered a brief but serious explanation to the group.
Finally, he turned to Liu Lian’er and said, “If things go south, you should follow Uncle Xie back.”
He was slightly worried about what kind of mischief this little demoness might stir up when the time came; after all, she didn’t strike him as someone who obediently followed orders.
Liu Lian’er’s gaze flickered as she playfully replied with a grin, “Rest assured, Senior Brother Li. No matter what happens, Lian’er won’t hold you back.”
Li Muyang shot her an annoyed glance and said, “The best way you can help is by simply listening and behaving!”
Closing his eyes, Li Muyang reentered the game, once again retrying his assault on the False Buddha within the palace.
But this time, Li Muyang was defeated swiftly, without even coming close to cornering the False Buddha.
The real-world crisis had cast a shadow over his mindset, causing anxiety to creep in.
This anxiety, reflected in the game, hindered his performance during the intense battles, leading to multiple mistakes.
With his paper-thin abilities already weaker than the boss, coupled with several moments of distraction, Li Muyang suffered a resounding defeat in this match.
Frustrated, he let out a long exhale before gritting his teeth and retrying!
Li Muyang reloaded his save file and reentered the game.
Once again, he was defeated.
And this time, it was an even more crushing loss.
Within the imperial palace, the False Buddha, having secured consecutive victories, radiated an overwhelming aura.
When Li Muyang once again reloaded his save file and charged into the palace, the False Buddha, his body glowing with golden light, sneered and said, “I can faintly sense traces of time fluctuations on you.”
“Jiang Xiaoyu, it seems you’ve secretly altered this world numerous times?”
“It appears your resurrection process is far more complex than I initially thought.”
“But throughout history, anyone who dared tamper with time faced an exceedingly tragic fate in the end.”
“Manipulating the laws of time—you’re playing with fire!”
With cold laughter, the False Buddha mocked Li Muyang even as he ruthlessly annihilated him again.
Watching the failed cutscene unfold in his field of vision, Li Muyang’s emotions gradually settled down.
He showed no reaction to the Otherworldly Demon God’s taunts and threats.
For a True Immortal Level being like the Demon God, having a faint awareness of timeline anomalies was unsurprising.
After all, past signs had already indicated that beings at the True Immortal Level could vaguely perceive changes in the timeline, unlike ordinary people who were entirely oblivious.
Given how many times he’d reloaded save files in front of the False Buddha, it would indeed be strange if the Buddha hadn’t noticed.
As for the Buddha’s warning, Li Muyang was entirely indifferent.
First of all, he was an Ascendant, a laborer for the Heavenly Dao. Manipulating timelines wasn’t something he initiated—it was the Heavenly Dao at work.
Secondly, even if playing with timelines did have unforeseen consequences, he had no choice but to persist regardless; he had no other option.
No need to stress over the unavoidable.
The False Buddha had clearly detected that Li Muyang’s anxiety about the situation had led to his decline in combat effectiveness.
Yet the monster’s taunts, instead of further unsettling him, woke Li Muyang up.
—That’s right! Why am I even stressing about this?
The situation had already reached such a stage; there was no path of retreat. Why bother overthinking when bulldozing forward was the only option?
Remaining seated, Li Muyang took deep, steady breaths for three minutes before reloading his save file and entering the game yet again.
This time, his mindset was much calmer.
Although he didn’t manage to drive the False Buddha into a corner, his performance significantly improved.
Then came another reload, another failure.
Another reload, another failure.
And another reload…
By the time Li Muyang had lost count of how many times he’d retried, moments before he dove back into the game again, he heard Yu Chan’s urgent cries echoing beside him.
“Brother! The Immortal Artifact Masters have already entered the secret realm!”
“My mother is asking if you would like her to send us out now? She still has a bit of strength left and can barely manage to send us out of the secret realm!”
Upon hearing Yu Chan’s anxious question, Li Muyang frowned.
Yet his eyes remained closed, focused on the False Buddha ahead, multitasking in directing five puppets and Jie Zijiu to attack the boss while simultaneously controlling the elder’s body within the secret realm to speak.
“If we leave now, your mother is doomed to die.”
“Besides, it’s not safe outside either—the Evil God is still out there!”
Li Muyang said, “Try to buy more time until Senior Dantai arrives for assistance! Didn’t Third Miss say two days ago that Senior Dantai was almost here?”
“And if I’m at a critical juncture, even if we need to leave, we’ll wait for the right moment!”
Li Muyang was already feeling that he was very close to defeating the False Buddha.
After countless battles, he had forced the False Buddha into a precarious state more than ten times, only to ultimately fall short during the boss’s desperate counterattacks at the brink of defeat.
If he could sustain just a bit longer—maybe a day, or even just one more fight—maintaining his current combat rhythm, he believed he could finally overcome the False Buddha and clear the game!
At that point, he could claim his rewards and see what the system could generate to help him tackle the multiple dilemmas he now faced!
Li Muyang’s gaze turned serious, unfazed by the dire circumstances swirling around him.
In the face of imminent threats, he remained astonishingly composed.
In this state of extreme focus, the vision of victory ahead grew clearer and clearer for Li Muyang.
Reload! Fight again!
Controlling all five puppets, Li Muyang formed an intricate formation, encircling the False Buddha within the imperial palace!