The Martial Unity

2906  Powerful Dominance

While the Martial Sages of the Nest of Terra faced off against golems of Central Highlands of the Beast Domain, the Bodhisattvas of the Gen Temple found themselves face to face with a nest of basilisks.

“Rghskkk…” A fusion between a roar and hiss emerged from the feathered reptiles, that slithered about with pure white eyes. They shifted about emerging from the holes in the ground and the caves in the rocky hills of the Central Highlands.

“Don’t look them in the eyes,” Bodhisattva Maitreyi remarked with a wise tone, “lest they petrify you frozen. I do not know if we who have attained Nirvana can resist their gaze, but it is not worth testing.”

The other Bodhisattvas nodded, remaining in formation as the basilisks emerged from the depths from cavities in the ground, slithering about the exotic flora of Basilisk Nest as the reptilian creatures sniffed at the air, evaluating its new prey.

“Rghssskk!” they roared and hissed with a fearsome ferocity, as the reptilian creatures shot at the Martial Sages of human civilization with ferocious power.

And yet, a single remark escaped Bodhisattva Maitreyi. “May the Boundless Light within me exorcise the beastly savagery within your hearts.”

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!!

An enormous surge of light emerged from her, scalding the basilisks with her sheer intensity as the pressure and heat blasted them away. The other Martial Sages also immediately began engaging with the basilisks with full power as each found themselves combating multiple basilisks at once.

While each individual basilisk was weaker than Inferno Serpents or Elder Dragons, they were much greater in number, forcing each Martial Sage to deal with multiple basilisks that lashed out at them with tremendous power and speed.

“Yin-Yang Shield.”

VMMM!!!

Tremendous vibrations of yin and yang converged as the Martial Sages deployed one of their signature techniques, forming powerful defensive techniques that allowed them to defend against any attack.

The original iteration in the Sage Realm was even more sophisticated than Rui’s and Ieyasu’s versions of it. The Gen Temple had been formulated as the perfect defense against not just blunt-force attacks but also against piercing attacks and any other form of offense.

It was the perfect defense, allowing them to withstand any and all of the onslaught that the basilisks unleashed against them. And yet, the basilisks’ physicality was not their greatest weapon.

FSSS…!

They hissed, unleashing purple gas of pure poison.

A powerful neurotoxin and anti-coagulant that paralyzed the victim, depriving them of the ability to move or even breathe properly, drowning them in pain, and making them bleed from every orifice inside and outside their body.

One that would have crippled even Martial Sages with enough exposure, overcoming even their Martial Soul.

“I have faced a poison infinitely more deadly than your paltry breaths.”

Bodhisattva Maitreyi’s tone grew dark as she recalled the Demon of Asmodeous who had taken her granddaughter’s life. She was not pleased to admit but he truly was worthy of the title of the most powerful Martial Sage, forcing her to use all of her immense power just to keep up with him.

In comparison, the basilisk species, lethal and perilous as they were, simply didn’t compare.

CLASP

Her palm pressed against the colorful feathers of a basilisk.

“May the Boundless Light within you shine.”

“Rghsskkk!” the creature roared and hissed in horror as its body began shifting at its very root.

One moment, it was comprised of matter.

The very next? It had become pure white light.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!!

A tremendous explosion of light and heat emerged from the creatures as Bodhisattva Maitreyi’s hands came together in a small prayer.

“Amitabha.”

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!!

The Martial Sages of the Gen Temple were fierce and disciplined, although nobody even came close to embodying it like Amare had, they too adhered to the principle of Gen Martial Philosophy that espoused everything was Martial Art.

Each of their movements were honed and rigorous.

They were movements that they has lived day in and day out, giving them a vast amount of mastery in each movement they made. Even though they didn’t have much versatility in their Martial Art, each motion, each technique, and each maneuver they made had reached the highest echelon that normal Martial Artists possibly could.

Among the many groups of Martial Sages that invaded the Central Highlands of the Beast Domain to fight the quasi-Transcendents and exterminate them, the Gen Temple displayed one of the highest degrees of cohesion, discipline, and composure. Having long been purified, they retained their tranquil dispositions much more than any of the other Martial Sages.

One thing that all Martial Sages knew they would experience was the psychological effects of being separated from human civilization, being isolated in the depths of the Beast Domain, fighting literally every waking second with minimal rest with the singeminded goal of destroying the Beast Who Roared to end the Beast Incursion.

While Martial Sages were extremely mentally resilient, they were not invincible. They had Enlightenment of Self, allowing them to understand who they were and why they were, giving them a profound sense of inner peace at the depths of their soul. However, they were capable of succumbing to prolonged mental and psychological strain, causing them to potentially, even if very unlikely, to forget who they were. It was one of the reasons that Emperor Rael that they group up with their peers in joint battles rather than many individual operations of hunting.

The Martial Sages of the Gen Temple were most unperturbed by these circumstances, able to perform much better than many of their other peers due to having a psyche that was most optimally aligned to dealing with the stresses of fighting in the Beast Domain.

They were of course, blessed with being led by one of three Transcendent candidates, unparalleled in her individual combat power. Watching her literally melt her opponents to light with an overwhelming dominance, fighting almost twenty quasi-Transcendent basilisks at once was truly a sight to behold.

“Omnilumina.”

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!!

All of heaven and earth melted away into light as it erased nearly a dozen basilisks with a single attack.

Indeed, such was the power of one who was entrusted with the mission of slaying the Beast Who Roared, among three others.

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