MTL - Asking About Longevity-Chapter 656 Fireball Forbidden Technique (Added update for leader Mu Baijinyu)

Chapter 656: Forbidden Fireball Technique (Added update for the leader of the alliance, Mr. Mu Baijinyu~)

Mo Hua’s scalp was numb, but he still smiled and said:

"Sir, you are too polite. I can just go back to the sect by myself. You can send me off without bothering me. Daotingsi is arresting you, so you'd better run away for your life..."

Fire Buddha's eyes narrowed slightly, with a smile on his lips, "The person who pretended to be 'Master Yuan' and talked to me that day was indeed you!"

"no!"

Mo Hua denied it.

 But the Fire Buddha has recognized him.

“In the altar, you must have been the one who stole my magic way to turn evil spirits, and the secret method of the Forbidden Technique of Falling Fire.”

Mo Hua looked confused, "What are you talking about, Sir? Why can't I understand..."

 The fire Buddha’s eyelids trembled.

Only then did Fire Buddha realize that when he was talking to this kid, he was not idle. Instead, he silently drew so many formations on the ground to delay himself.

 Can’t beat it!

 Escape quickly!

Fire Buddha sneered and continued to catch up, but just after taking a few steps, another formation was activated under his feet, hindering his figure.

Fire Buddha took a deep breath and said coldly:

Fire Buddha's eyes were sharp, "Gu Changhuai is far inferior to you..."

 At his feet, formations formed, forming the Genshan Formation, trapping him in place.

“Do you think you can leave?”

When the Fire Buddha saw this, his pupils shrank.

 The Fire Buddha took a breath of cold air.

The moment Fire Buddha stretched out his hand, Mo Hua also raised his hand a little to manifest the formation.

“You have strong spiritual consciousness, strong concealment, strong formations, unpredictable movements, strange methods, and many scheming thoughts...”

The Fire Buddha has a murderous intention.

 But in just a moment, the flames suddenly rose and completely destroyed the Genshan Formation.

 He walked slowly towards Mo Hua, with an indifferent smile on his compassionate face.

 “But you are different…”

Fire Buddha stared at the ink painting:

"I can't kill Gu Changhuai today, but I can still kill him tomorrow..."

 “I will teach you now…”

 The formation was destroyed, Mo Hua turned around and ran away.

“Sir, if you don’t want to leave, let me go…”

 Then his body was like a blazing fire, and he suddenly chased the ink painting.

This time he saw it clearly.

Seeing that the Fire Buddha would not let him go, Mo Hua sighed and said helplessly:

"If you don't cause trouble for me, Uncle Gu, what's the point of quarreling with me as a child?"

Mo Hua’s eyelids twitched and he forced a smile:

“Your Majesty, you think too highly of me. I have very poor qualifications and am not worthy of your attention...”

 Spiritual consciousness controls ink, points the ground to form a formation? !

"No!"

He boosted the evil power to the extreme, and dense rain of fire swept around. After an explosion, all the formations under the nearby ink canvas were destroyed.

Fire Buddha has already determined his intention to kill.

 In his long life, he has never seen such a shameless "little benefactor".

The Fire Buddha slowly stretched his hand forward, the evil power surged from his body, and the flames rose.

Mo Hua was startled.

 This son must die!

 Otherwise, once his cultivation is higher and his formation is stronger, he will definitely become an incredibly powerful enemy!

 “He is really an insidious little devil...”

Not to mention Master Yuan, among all the formation masters he has seen or even heard of in his life, no one has ever been able to lay out formations so easily and without any restrictions.

Mo Hua smiled shyly and said:

“Little benefactor, you stole my Fire Meteor Technique, I’m afraid you still don’t know how to use it…”

There is a cold murderous intent in Fire Buddha’s eyes:

"The Sa family always has a premonition. If I don't kill you today, I'm afraid I will die in your hands sooner or later!"

 With a single click of the ink painting finger, the spiritual ink breaks through the air, winds rapidly on the ground, condenses into patterns, and forms a formation.

Fire Buddha snorted coldly.

What kind of incredible formation method is this?

Mo Hua was startled and immediately sent a message to Gu Changhuai:

 “Uncle Gu, save me!”

"And you are only in the initial stage of building the foundation. If time goes by, you will become a big trouble..."

 “Fire Buddha wants to kill me!!”

 Then he looked back and saw that the Fire Buddha was getting closer and closer to him.

 He is at the early stage of foundation building, and Fire Buddha is at the peak of foundation building.

 The gap in cultivation is too big.

Although his Water Step is superb, he is only good at evading within a few inches, and is not particularly good at chasing and escaping over long distances.

Seeing that he was about to be overtaken by the Fire Buddha, Mo Hua's body was like flowing water. He immediately turned sharply, dodged away from the Fire Buddha, turned around and ran towards the forest on the left.

 The Fire Buddha threw it away and frowned.

 What is the origin of this body technique?

When they met for the first time, Mo Hua relied on his body skills to escape from the hands of the six woodcutter men.

At that time, the Fire Buddha did not take action.

 He thought it was because Qiao Laoliu and the others were not good at body skills that Mo Hua got away.

 But now he came to catch people with his own hands and experienced it for himself, and then he realized that this water-based movement technique was much more difficult than he had expected...

 Like a "little loach", it is slippery and does not hold back.

 Looks very weak, but extremely difficult to kill...

 “Then we can’t keep him even more…”

Fire Buddha said coldly.

Mo Hua used Water Step and entered the forest, and the Fire Buddha also followed.

With the obstacles of mountains, rocks and trees, it is easier for Mo Hua to use his body skills. Although Fire Buddha can catch up with Mo Hua, he cannot catch him in a short period of time, let alone kill him.

 The spells he cast either failed to hit or were blocked by mountains and forests.

Fire Buddha's eyes were evil, and his murderous intent became even stronger.

Ink Hua used his body skills for a while, and suddenly found the right opportunity. The figure flashed, blending into the surrounding environment, and the figure gradually disappeared...

 “It is indeed...the Five Elements Concealment Technique..."

Fire Buddha's eyes narrowed, and then he sneered and took out a mercury mirror from his arms.

 Above the spiritual realm, silver light overflows.

The Fire Buddha used his spiritual mirror to look around and saw a small, faint shadow in the forest.

He stretched out his hand and flicked it, counting the fire rain, and then took the meteor fire and shot it straight away like a dart.

The little figure disappeared in a flash, avoiding the rain of fire.

The fire rain made a "bang" sound and fell on the rocks, melting several deep holes and emitting charred white smoke.

Having missed a hit, the Fire Buddha snorted coldly and continued to test with his spiritual realm, looking for the hidden figure in the ink painting.

Mo Hua was speechless in his heart.

 The Great Fire Buddha, in order to arrest a little monk like himself, did he target him like this?

 An ambush again.

 It’s another road blockage.

He also prepared special spiritual weapons to restrain his concealment.

He destroyed the whole Xie family, maybe it would just be a fire, and he would kill everyone in all directions, so he wouldn't necessarily have to put so much thought into it...

But now, there is nothing we can do about ink painting.

 He could only hope that Uncle Gu would come to save him soon.

 This way he has room to escape or fight back.

 Before that, we can only try our best to think of ways to deal with the Fire Buddha and delay time.

 At this time, on another road.

Gu Changhuai was riding a horse, returning from Bishan City to the border of Qianxue Prefecture.

He felt a little uneasy in his heart. He always felt that Fire Buddha's escape route was too straightforward without concealing it.

 It's a bit like confusing things.

Gu Changhuai thought about Mo Hua again, returning to the sect alone, and unconsciously felt a little worried.

 So he was alone and wanted to go back to Qianxue Prefecture to have a look.

Halfway through the journey, there was sudden movement in the messenger. Gu Changhuai took it out and took a look, and saw the messages sent by Mo Hua:

 “Fire Buddha wants to kill me!”

Gu Changhuai was so shocked that he could hardly breathe.

 Fire Buddha!

 He is chasing Mo Hua!

 At the end of the order, a location in Qingcheng Mountain was also attached.

Gu Changhuai took a deep breath and immediately galloped towards the place where the ink painting was.

 At the same time, he also began to mobilize all the nearby magistrates and asked them to rush to Qingcheng Mountain.

 Search the mountain with all your strength to surround and kill the Fire Buddha!

The sun sets in the west and the night gradually darkens.

 The spirit horse ran faster and faster, and the scenery on both sides was almost like an afterimage.

Gu Changhuai looked into the distance, anxious, and murmured in a low voice:

 “Boy, don’t die...”

 …

Time passed little by little, and it was midnight in a blink of an eye.

Mo Hua and Fire Buddha played "hide and seek" in the mountains for most of the night.

Mo Hua was so tired that he was panting.

Fire Buddha also looked in disbelief.

 Can’t catch…

 Can't catch it no matter what.

Even though he is at the peak of foundation building cultivation and has specially prepared a spiritual weapon to break the invisible, he cannot catch this kid in the complicated mountains.

　　It was obviously a strange and remote mountain forest, but this little devil seemed to be in his own yard.

 Have good physical skills and can hide.

 You can hide anywhere.

 Sometimes they even use monsters to drive away tigers and devour "wolves" to hinder themselves.

This made Fire Buddha, who was accustomed to being simple and crude and killing people everywhere, very uncomfortable.

This kid couldn't have turned into a "monster"...

Drilling into the mountains is like a fish swimming into the sea or a falcon flying into the sky.

 Miscalculation…

 The Fire Buddha cursed secretly in his heart.

He originally thought that after he got the message, he could just block this lonely kid and break his concealment. With his own cultivation, it would not be easy to kill a kid in the early stage of foundation building.

 But I never expected that this kid would be so troublesome.

 Where does it look like a monk in the early stage of foundation building?

 But the harder it is to kill, the harder it is to kill!

Since he can't be killed now, how can he really hide in the border of Qianxue Prefecture and cultivate until he reaches the middle stage of foundation building or even the later stage?

 It would be incredibly difficult to kill him at that time.

The Fire Buddha’s eyes are as red as fire.

 “Must kill!”

 Even if it is a waste, this kid will be wasted to death.

He is only in the early stage of foundation building, and has been using physical skills and concealment, and there will always be a time when his spiritual power is exhausted.

 When the time comes that he cannot hide or hide, he can burn him alive and burn him to ashes to vent his hatred.

 On the other side, Mo Hua is also very helpless.

This Fire Buddha has become determined after eating the weight and must hunt him down.

 I have taken him with me, and I have been going around the mountains for so many times, but he still doesn't give up.

 As if I had a grudge against him for killing his father...

 The leader of the dignified Demon Cave is too narrow-minded.

Had he not been an experienced little demon hunter, a little formation master with excellent formation skills, good body skills, good at concealment, and smart, he would have definitely been caught by him.

 This is not the way to go...

Mo Hua quickly sent a message to Gu Changhuai:

 “The cliff on the south side of Qingcheng Mountain, the mountain road on the right, Uncle Gu, come quickly...”

 There was no reply from the other party. I wonder if he was in a hurry.

Mo Hua sighed and had no choice but to bite the bullet and continue playing "hide and seek" with Fire Buddha.

 Fortunately, it’s night this time. It’s dark in the mountains and there are monsters everywhere. Ink paintings can confuse the situation and fish in troubled waters.

 He will be invisible and can blend into the darkness.

 But the Fire Buddha cannot do it.

He walks in the mountains like an open flame. It is obvious wherever he goes and easily disturbs monsters.

 This violates the taboo of monsters.

 Some second-grade high-level monsters will fight with the Fire Buddha, which actually helps Mo Hua.

 Just like this, it lasted until midnight.

Mo Hua was still caught up by Fire Buddha.

Fire Buddha looked indifferent and continued to attack Mo Hua with ruthless attacks. Mo Hua still used his body skills and concealment skills to deal with it.

 But it took too long to paint the Buddha with Fire, and the ink painting movement has slowed down a lot.

 Fire Buddha’s eyes lit up.

 “You stinky brat, you should die too…”

He flicked his sleeves, condensing into a line of fire and striking at the ink painting.

Mo Hua tried his best, but even though he managed to dodge, his spiritual power was almost exhausted and his body was unstable. He fell to the side, his figure was a little embarrassed.

 But Mo Hua gritted his teeth, got up, and ran towards another narrow valley.

 “Seek your own death.”

Fire Buddha sneered and continued to follow Mo Hua into the valley.

Seeing that Mo Hua was doomed, Fire Buddha swung another fire knife.

 In the dark night, the red fire knife is very conspicuous and full of killing intent.

Just when the fire knife was about to strike in front of Mo Hua, several wind blades suddenly flew out from both sides, completely canceling out the fire knife.

Fire Buddha was startled, turned around and saw Gu Changhuai standing in the distance, his handsome eyes full of murderous intent.

 The ink painting used all his strength to activate the formation.

There was a rumble at the entrance, and rocks fell, completely sealing the valley. Fire Buddha understood this.

 I was tricked by this little devil again.

　　Pretend to be invincible, lead yourself here step by step, and then seal the valley.

And in the valley, there is a strong enemy waiting for him.

This valley is not impossible to escape from.

 But whether it is rock climbing or breaking through the entrance, it takes time. At least when a powerful enemy is watching, there is no time to escape.

 In other words, he and Gu Changhuai can only live together.

 As for that brat…

 The Fire Buddha looked around and his eyes darkened.

 Gone again…

 It’s **** invisibility again!

The Fire Buddha was so troubled, but he couldn't care less about ink painting.

 Next, the war is about to break out.

Gu Changhuai also knew that this might be the last chance to kill Fire Buddha.

If you can't kill him anymore, once he escapes, breaks through the realm, and advances to the golden elixir level, it will be difficult to kill him again in the future.

 After all, he practiced a terrible forbidden technique.

Even the Fire Buddha has nothing to fear.

 This place is on the edge of the Qianxue state boundary.

If Gu Changhuai enters the boundary of the fifth-level Qianxue state and uses the golden elixir magic weapon without any scruples, he will definitely not be his opponent.

  But in Qingcheng Mountain, there are still second-level restrictions.

If Gu Changhuai couldn't suppress his cultivation and rashly used the power of the golden elixir, it would be Gu Changhuai who died.

He can also take a step ahead and use his flesh and blood of Gu Changhuai to refine the forbidden technique and increase the evil spirit.

And that kid...

As long as Gu Changhuai dies and there is no one to protect him, he will definitely die!

Even if I use the Fire Meteor Technique to explode inch by inch, I still want to blow him out, crushing his bones and scattering ashes!

The Fire Buddha spread out his arms and rained fire all over the sky.

Gu Changhuai waved his folding fan, and the wind blew like a blade.

 The next moment, wind and fire swept across, like a fire peacock spreading its tail.

 Spiritual power and evil power clashed, spells continued to strangle, and explosions occurred one after another.

 The ink paintings in the distance are frightening to see.

 Fortunately, the valley is quite large, and he is hiding far away, so he will not be affected for the time being.

 He seizes the time, meditates, rests, and recovers his consciousness and spiritual power.

Mo Hua rested while watching for movement in the distance.

I don’t know how much time passed, but Mo Hua opened his eyes and found that the fierce battle was still going on, and the sky was already turning pale.

Mo Hua, whose consciousness and spiritual power had been completely restored, looked slightly cold.

　　It is the seventh day after Zi Shi.

 It is also the last day of vacation.

 Within seven days, Fire Buddha must die!

Mo Hua, who was chased by the Fire Buddha blocking the road and had to run away all night, was already feeling angry.

 “Want to give me a ride?”

 “I’ll send you on your way first!”

Mo Hua stood up slowly and looked at the Fire Buddha. His pupils were instantly dark, as if covered with a deep night.

 The Fire Buddha, who had been fighting with Gu Changhuai for a long time on the other side, instantly realized something was wrong.

He felt that the evil energy around him was showing signs of getting out of control.

"what happened?"

 The Fire Buddha felt awe-inspiring in his heart.

 After recuperating, the evil spirit has long been restored, so how could it suddenly become "out of control"?

 “Could it be that…”

 Fire Buddha looked around and found the ink painting on one side.

Mo Hua's whole person's aura was very strange, but because he was shrouded in the night and his figure was dark, he couldn't see anything at all.

The next moment, a trace of white Qi appeared in the darkness of Mo Hua's pupils.

The calculations of heavenly secrets are blessed by trick calculations, which forcibly reverse the secrets of heaven and cause and effect.

Fire Buddha felt that the energy around him was in chaos, as if there were some chains that were forcibly twisted, and the evil energy around him began to reverse uncontrollably...

 Reversal of evil spirits? !

 The fire Buddha's face was pale.

 This little brat, how could he do this?

Where did he learn this profound method of turning evil spirits into evil spirits? !

 Is he a true disciple of the Mosha Sect?

 No, it’s impossible…

This kid is not a demon cultivator...

The Fire Buddha's mind changed rapidly and he was suddenly startled.

 The "True Secret of Turning Evil Paths into Evil" was stolen by this kid...

 He wouldn’t be... a current student, right?

 A chill came over my heart.

Fire Buddha felt that his Taoist heart was almost broken.

Before he could think about it carefully, the evil spirit that had reversed had already invaded his whole body.

These evil auras that he had killed countless people and came from practicing cultivation were now reversed by cause and effect, and they all flowed into his own consciousness.

 Hurting others will hurt yourself.

 The Fire Buddha's face suddenly turned black and gray.

His consciousness was also filled with evil spirits, full of ferocious resentment and terrifying wails.

Gu Changhuai didn’t know what happened, but when he saw that the Fire Buddha was being attacked by the evil spirit, he immediately killed him.

 The wind blades gathered together, condensed into a tornado spear, and blasted towards the Fire Buddha's chest.

At the critical moment, the Fire Buddha regained his clarity.

Seeing the wind blade coming, the Fire Buddha folded his arms, his eyes were blood red, and roared fiercely. He intertwined all the evil fire and condensed it into a fire shield, blocking it in front of him.

 The tornado spear collided with the evil fire shield.

 Spiritual power and evil power are separated, wind and fire are intertwined, and the surrounding rocks are also crushed by the spiritual power, turning into powder every inch.

 Wait until the spiritual energy fluctuations dissipate.

 The cassock on the Fire Buddha was already in tatters.

His arms were covered with fine blood marks from being cut by the wind blade. It was obvious that the injury was serious.

On the other side, Gu Changhuai's breath was also much weaker, and it was obvious that his spiritual power was greatly consumed.

 The valley suddenly became quiet.

Gu Changhuai’s eyes were a little solemn.

I don’t know how long it took, but Fire Buddha’s deep laughter sounded.

 “Okay, okay…”

 “Forcing me to do this...”

Fire Buddha’s voice was cold and gradually became less human-like.

“Now that the matter has come to this, I will give up this human skin and completely take refuge in the Lord…”

Before he finished speaking, Fire Buddha took out a blood pill as big as a dragon's eye at some unknown time.

 The blood elixir is as if it is made of flesh and blood, and is still trembling slightly.

The Fire Buddha stuffed the elixir into his mouth.

His speed was so fast that Gu Changhuai's wind blade and Mo Hua's fireball didn't have time to stop him.

As soon as the elixir enters the mouth, the Fire Buddha looks ferocious.

On his chest, two flaming hearts were pulsing suddenly, and they already had the prototype of an evil magic weapon.

 The body of the Fire Buddha also expanded rapidly, and in the blink of an eye it was two feet taller.

The fire of filthy karma burns all over the body.

His face was completely burned with flesh and skin, as if it had been disfigured by fire, making it hideous and hideous.

At the same time, his breath rose again.

 “Gu Changhuai…”

The Fire Buddha's voice is hoarse and terrifying.

“If you don’t use the power of the golden elixir today, you will die, but if you use the power of the golden elixir, you will still die…”

With a wave of Fire Buddha's palm, a scarlet ghost-faced fire knife shot out of the air with a terrifying aura, killing Gu Changhuai.

Gu Changhuai's expression was solemn. He waved his folding fan and formed a wind shield to block it, but it didn't block it at all.

 The wind shield was split by the fire knife.

Gu Changhuai took a few steps back and spat out a mouthful of blood.

 He ​​gritted his teeth and said: "You evil beast... you don't even want to be a human being..."

Fire Buddha sneered, "When you say 'human', do you mean the skin of a 'human'?"

"Are there many people in this world who are wearing this kind of skin and doing evil things?"

 “A ‘human’ in human skin can sometimes be worse than an animal…”

Gu Changhuai looked angry and activated the wind blade again to kill the Fire Buddha.

But this time, the Fire Buddha refused to dodge and allowed the wind blade to attack him, slicing his flesh and blood and breaking open his skin.

 In an instant, these flesh and blood returned to their original state.

 “Regeneration of flesh and blood?”

Gu Changhuai's face turned pale and his heart was awe-inspiring.

If so, he wouldn't be able to kill the Fire Buddha who turned into an "evil beast" at all.

At this moment, Mo Hua on the side shouted:

“Uncle Gu, attack its heart!”

Gu Changhuai was startled for a moment and then understood.

 The heart of the Fire Buddha contains the embryo of the magic weapon of the evil path of destiny.

 It is not only the source of the evil magic spells of the Fire Buddha, but also the life gate of the Fire Buddha.

Fire Buddha’s expression also changed, “Little beast!”

 But when it scanned it with its consciousness, it still couldn't find the ink painting.

 After giving up the human form, the evil power is stronger and flesh and blood can be regenerated, but without "humanity", the spiritual consciousness will also degrade...

 The Fire Buddha cannot see the ink painting at all.

At this moment, Gu Changhuai also began to control the wind blade according to Mo Hua's instructions, and forcibly strangled the fire Buddha's heart.

The Fire Buddha's eyes showed anger, but he could only think of a way to cover his chest with his left arm to block the wind blade.

 The right arm casts a spell and fights with Gu Changhuai.

 After experiencing several fierce battles in a row, Gu Changhuai's spiritual power suddenly became stagnant.

It was only then that he realized that he had very little spiritual power left.

Gu Changhuai felt bitter in his heart.

 He is only a human being after all.

Even if he has strong spiritual power, he is not like the Fire Buddha, who can kill people and refine evil spirits, supplement with evil elixirs, and can give up his human body and fall into evil spirits in exchange for regenerated flesh and blood.

 “People” are sometimes exhausted.

Gu Changhuai suddenly felt a tingling sensation in his meridians.

He knew that this was a sign of excessive use of spiritual power. His meridians had been damaged due to the constant condensation of spells.

 If you continue to waste it, I'm afraid I will really be at the end of my rope...

And ink painting…

Gu Changhuai bit his lip, leaving blood behind, and felt angry in his heart:

 “Fuck it!”

“No matter what, we must kill the Fire Buddha first!”

 “Directly use the power of the golden elixir…”

 “Gamble…”

“Let’s see whether I kill the Fire Buddha first, or Heaven, kill me first…”

Gu Changhuai's eyes were filled with an indomitable killing intent. His Dantian was ignited with elixir fire, and a thin layer of light shrouded his body. A colorful peacock feather fan appeared on his right hand, which was full of brilliance and amazing spiritual power.

Fire Buddha was also stunned.

 It looked at Gu Changhuai with both fear and shock.

It didn’t expect that Gu Changhuai would really dare...

How dare you use the power of golden elixir in this second-grade realm...

 He is really not afraid of death...

 The Fire Buddha's eyes revealed a trace of playful sarcasm.

Gu Changhuai's face was as dark as water, his murderous intent was piercing his bones, his natal magic weapon had appeared, and the power of the golden elixir was working.

 At this moment, he was suddenly startled, and then his pupils suddenly trembled.

The Fire Buddha stood before him.

At this moment, Gu Changhuai saw a vague figure. While the fire Buddha's attention was on him and he was sneering, he walked around behind the fire Buddha without anyone noticing.

 Then…

 In the void, two small hands appeared out of thin air.

Hands were spread out, and a fireball condensed on each palm.

 Just an ordinary, unremarkable fireball.

 But in an instant, the fire suddenly changed.

As if being pressed by an extremely strong force, the two fireballs collided suddenly, and then each deformed.

 There seemed to be something inside the fireball, which collapsed and then forcibly came together again...

 The breath of the spell is instantly distorted and mutated.

 The inner spiritual structure changes, and even unpredictable textures appear and reconstruct each other. At the same time, they are accompanied by powerful spiritual energy.

 The two fireballs struggled, deformed, and fused together to form a smaller, but more terrifying, pale purple-black fireball, like a magma-wrapped fireball.

 Fire Buddha feels wrong.

 He felt something extremely terrifying gathering behind him.

 He wanted to turn back, but it was too late.

A familiar and crisp, but cold voice sounded in my ears:

 “You want to teach me spells?”

At that moment, an extremely burning pain came from my back.

That is the feeling of the terrifying fire spiritual power burning flesh and blood.

　　Then a violent but steady explosion sounded.

The Fire Buddha only felt that in front of his eyes, there was abnormal spiritual power and violent flames raging past.

He looked down again and saw that his chest had been blasted through by magic, revealing a dark hole.

 (End of this chapter)