By the time An Tuo Jia arrived, Ci Hang and several others were besieging the last three Golden Immortal Realm Asuras.
An Tuo Jia’s appearance differed from that of ordinary Asuras. Aside from the two fangs at the corners of his mouth, his head lacked the usual ferocity of Asuras and instead looked like a somewhat delicate young monk.
A red ribbon covered his eyes.
Appearance stems from the heart, and he did not share the typical mindless madness of other Asuras.
Seeing his kindred being beaten, he didn’t actually care much, but his priority was to showcase his own value.
So, his first move was to choose to rescue, targeting the relatively weaker two who composed the array—Manjusri and Puxian.
He ordered the Asuras under him to attack the array directly, not Huang Long. His own body, cloaked in black energy, went straight for the relatively weaker two within the triangle formation.
When Master Huang Long saw another group of Asuras attacking the array, he had no choice but to reveal his true form to intercept. However, the Asuras had received their orders, and Huang Long did not truly possess any rule-based divine skills.
To attack the rear formation, one must first eliminate the taunting minion.
He fought fiercely to block them but could only hold off three Asuras.
The other seven immediately began assaulting the Three Talents Formation. The Asuras inside the formation also fought desperately, thinking, "I might die, but I’ll take a chunk of you with me!" Driven to complete madness, the Asuras ferociously collided with Taiyi’s Nine Dragon Divine Fire Shield.
Manjusri and Puxian focused entirely on trying to block the Asuras outside and inside the array, completely unaware of the sneaking danger approaching them.
An Tuo Jia removed the bandage; his eyes didn’t contain normal pupils but instead were two black holes that constantly devoured.
At this moment, his eyes emitted a massive suction force, forming a huge vortex that ignored the array and directly pulled Manjusri into his eye sockets, forcing the collapse of the Three Talents Formation.
Numerous Asuras charged in. Ci Hang, having the highest cultivation and fastest reflexes, immediately attempted to rescue her remaining companion, Puxian.
Unfortunately, An Tuo Jia’s primary objective was the two of them. Puxian, a Taiyi Golden Immortal, was unable to escape An Tuo Jia’s divine skill and was also pulled into his black-hole-like eyes.
Helpless, Ci Hang quickly rescued Taiyi and Yun Zhongzi.
Taiyi didn’t even have time to retract the Nine Dragon Divine Fire Shield.
Huang Long was straightforward but not foolish. With so many Asuras, he wouldn’t really risk his life for the pitfall that was the Divine Enthronement. He transformed into his human form and fled.
The combined efforts of the Asuras pried open the Nine Dragon Divine Fire Shield, revealing three steaming, almost-cooked Asuras.
Among them was the glutton who liked chewing on dragon claws. He sniffed at the two people beside him, his eyes lighting up.
With a howl, he basically yelled, "Bro, you smell amazing!"
And was promptly slapped twice, with someone snapping back, "Smell your mother!"
The failure of the high-level battle made things even worse for Jiang Ziya. Originally planning to retake Jiepai Pass, now even Chuanyun Pass was nearly untenable.
The losses this time were enormous—it was no longer merely a matter of military strategy.
Ji Fa’s reinforcements, painstakingly summoned from the rear, were mostly wiped out in an instant.
Moreover, with Manjusri and Puxian critically endangered, Ci Hang, as the leader of the trio, was genuinely somewhat anxious.
That day, she tipped the Divine Water from the Suet Jade Flask, creating a Heavenly River to obstruct the Shang Army.
An Tuo Jia was indeed an anomaly among the Asuras. After capturing Manjusri and Puxian, he did not kill them but imprisoned them within his eyes.
His eyes were connected to a dark space, where anyone captured would be tormented and refined by unending darkness.
The reason he didn’t kill the two was simple—he sensed that something felt very off. The Asura Clan was rigidly hierarchical, and he didn’t dare defy Bodhisattva’s orders—at least, not yet.
But he was already looking for a way out. Before coming, he had contacted Da Fantian, preparing to pull out at a critical moment.
So in the Shang Camp, no matter how Shen Gongbao tried to provoke him, he only launched symbolic attacks, ordering his loyal Asuras not to partake in blood food.
When asked, his excuse was that it was all meant as tribute for the Nether River Ancestor.
The next day, on the battlefield, he slacked off again. Yes, he fought, but the battles between the sides ended up being him against Ci Hang.
This time, Ci Hang decisively went all out, though her strength lay not in slaughter. An Tuo Jia fought while pretending to gloat, saying, "Your two junior brothers are trapped in my divine skill and will be assimilated by darkness in three or so years."
To an Immortal, a few years might pass in the blink of an eye, but on the battlefield, it was more than enough time.
Ci Hang, being a wise Immortal, thought briefly and probed, "The rise of Zhou and the fall of Shang is the Heavenly Number. Your Asura Clan is mired in sin, acting against the heavens. How can this end well? Why not reconsider your choices?"
Having opened the conversation, the two soon engaged in surface-level combat, while in reality, they started chatting.
In the original timeline, Ci Hang ultimately joined the Western Sect. She must have studied its teachings beforehand; it couldn’t have been a spur-of-the-moment decision.
An Tuo Jia was also reflective. His hairstyle hinted as much. Though he hadn’t read much Buddhist scripture, resisting Luo Hou’s temptations while maintaining a sense of self revealed a flicker of Buddha Nature.
The two tacitly acted out their roles. After the fight, An Tuo Jia returned to the Shang Camp and locked himself in his tent, forbidding disturbance.
He turned his attention inward, entering the space created by his divine skill to discuss Buddhist Law with Manjusri and Puxian.
Initially, the two didn’t believe him. But after some time, they noticed that the invasive darkness around them had significantly weakened.
Furthermore, after chatting briefly with An Tuo Jia, they realized he truly had some understanding of Buddhist Law.
They weren’t too prideful either; they didn’t see captivity as a reason to panic undignifiedly.
If he wanted to chat, why not pass the time with some casual banter? "We won’t lose anything," they thought.
True or false, they decided to stabilize An Tuo Jia for the time being; their senior brother would eventually come to their rescue.
On the surface, things seemed heated between the opposing sides, but it ultimately became a Buddhist study group involving Ci Hang and her trio.
Ci Hang discreetly hinted to several senior brothers, and Yun Zhongzi and Taiyi immediately caught on.
In the next battle, An Tuo Jia "accidentally" lost the Nine Dragon Divine Fire Shield.
Yun Zhongzi took this as an opportunity to calmly repair and upgrade his armor.
With the Nine Dragon Divine Fire Shield back in Taiyi’s hands, he stopped putting in effort, merely going through the motions since there wasn’t much to do anyway.
As a result, only Huang Long was still wholeheartedly contributing, getting beaten every day during his missions.
The upper ranks were practically all pretending, while the lower ranks fought brutally.
Of course, Jiang Ziya understood what was happening, but he was powerless against his senior brothers’ antics.
No matter how proficient he was in military strategy, he stood no chance against hordes of Asuras!
An Tuo Jia, immune to Shen Gongbao’s manipulation, forced him to turn to Bodhisattva.
But facing Bodhisattva, he was no longer scared. After all, Bodhisattva was merely an arrogant, brainless monstrosity with decent cultivation.
He subtly spread rumors about An Tuo Jia, but even though Bodhisattva’s mind was clouded with tribulation energy, he still trusted An Tuo Jia’s competence.
His dominance over An Tuo Jia was based on luck and the Ancestor’s magical treasure.
If it came to a bare-handed death match, his chances of victory would only be around sixty percent.
Saying An Tuo Jia was incompetent would indirectly imply that he himself lacked ability.