White-Robed Chief

Chu Li circulated the Omniscient Mirror to identify the two masked men in black and saw that they were merely planning to toy around with him and that they had no intention of killing him.

In the neighboring courtyard, Miss Ruolan was quietly sipping tea while listening in on the situation.

However, he could not detect the Saint.

The Omniscient Mirror was incapable of observing the Saint beyond his field of vision. The Divine Light Body she had cultivated was indeed very mysterious. It allowed her to blend into her surroundings and the light around her, such that he could not detect her wherever there was light.

Nonetheless, he believed that the Saint was secretly observing the situation as well.

“You are very bold!” Chu Li grit his teeth and glared at the two men in anger as he said resentfully, “This place belongs to the Holy Church of Light!”

“Hehe…” The man with the long sword snickered and replied, “You two haven’t become disciples of the Holy Church of Light, have you?”

“We will be — soon!” Chu Li retorted. “Brother Bai was going to become a disciple of the Holy Church of Light in a few more days. Now that you’ve killed him, the Holy Church of Light will surely hunt you down. If I were you, I’d run away this instant!”

“It’s okay, We’re not in a hurry.” The man in black waved the sword about as he shook his head. “It won’t be too late to get out of here after we’ve killed you.”

“You don’t have to kill me,” Chu Li said. “I haven’t seen your faces anyway. You came to kill Brother Bai, and he’s dead now. What’s the use of killing me too, right?”

“Well, someone’s scared now, isn’t he?”

“Yes, yes, I’m afraid of dying.” Chu Li anxiously nodded.

“How about this?” The other masked man suggested, “If you kowtow to us three times and call us grandpa twice, we’ll spare your life!”

“Really?” Chu Li feigned surprise.

The second masked man replied, “It makes no difference to us whether or not we kill you anyway.”

“Kowtowing three times isn’t too much to ask for, right?” The man wielding the sword prompted, “Hurry up then. Otherwise, we’ll kill you too!”

Chu Li tried his best to move from a sitting position to a kneeling position. As both his knees touched the ground, he let out a few violent coughs, which caused a trail of blood to splurt out from the corner of his mouth. “Alright then. I’ll kowtow three times!”

He bent his waist and lowered his head as he spoke.

“Tsh!” In a flash, he swung his blade at them and used the River Razing Form.

“Ding…” His long blade collided with the tip of a sword and nearly slipped out of his hand as a surge of inner energy simultaneously rushed into his body.

Chu Li spat out a mouthful of blood and continued to wave his blade at them while screaming, “As if I would kowtow to you. Go to hell!”

His ugly face became even more hideous and terrifying as the veins in his neck bulged like earthworms that were wriggling about underneath his skin.

“Ding…” The blade and the sword tip collided again.

As another bout of inner energy surged into his body, Chu Li sprayed out a mouthful of blood and momentarily lost his balance. Then, with the little strength left in his knees, he pushed himself up and charged at the man with the sword, paying no heed to the incoming blade as he intended to bring the man down with him.

“Bang!” Just as his long blade was about to strike the man, he was hit in the chest by a huge force. The other man in black had landed a punch on him and had sent him flying.

He crashed into the wall and remained stuck on it like a painting. It seemed there was still a force pressing against him.

Chu Li struggled with all his might and ignored the blood that was trickling down from the corner of his mouth. He looked as if he had gone crazy.

“Bang!” As another punch was launched at him, he turned his head to dodge it before screaming furiously, “I will kill you both!”

“Haha…” The two men laughed and simultaneously struck him with their fists.

Chu Li’s vision instantly went dark as he slowly fell unconscious.

He visualized the Tree of Life and Death in his mind and transformed the Omniscient Mirror into a round mirror before hanging it on a tree branch. Then, as the Tree of Life and Death faded from his view, the Omniscient Mirror disappeared along with it too.

“This young fellow is so stubborn.” The two masked men shook their heads before the man wielding the sword tossed his weapon aside.

Miss Ruolan glided over.

“Junior Sister Ruolan.” The two men gave a fist salute and removed the cloth covering their faces. They turned out to be the two men who had been guarding the front door of the residence.

Miss Ruolan nodded at them. “You guys were too fast.”

“We had no choice. The young fellow was getting too crazy. If we were to let the situation drag on, he might grow to bear a deep hatred toward us,” one of the young men replied with a laugh. “Judging by his temperament, he might actually be able to enter the mountain!”

“Mmm.” Miss Ruolan’s bright eyes swept over them before she turned her gaze to Chu Li. “Get rid of the dead body.”

“Okay,” the two men answered in unison.

They soon cleared out the scene. Then, Miss Ruolan hit Chu Li’s body with her palm twice before giving him a pill to revitalize him. Afterward, she picked him up and glided to the backyard.

In the deepest corner of the flowerbed in the backyard, the Saint stood motionless while dressed in white.

“My Saint.” Miss Ruolan greeted in a low voice as she placed Chu Li down. “That Bai Qian seemed like a good talent too. It was truly a pity.”

“His heart was filled with evil intentions. He would’ve caused great harm to us.” The Saint’s clear and soul-stirring voice rang out as she replied.

Miss Ruolan was stunned. “Evil intentions?”

She had only noticed Bai Qian’s boldness and unruly behavior. These could have been either good or bad traits depending on how they were to use him.

The Saint explained, “He was already thinking of harming Zhao Dahe during their first meeting, and he feared, but had no respect for, the Holy Church. Such a person cannot be allowed to become a disciple of the Church!”

“Understood.” Miss Ruolan nodded.

She knew that the Saint could see through a person’s heart.

“What about Zhao Dahe then?” Miss Ruolan asked. “He seems quite pure in mind and heart, although he looks rather unattractive.”

“Yes, he has great potential, but he’ll have to be properly polished. Training him will be a lot harder compared to the other disciples.” The Saint nodded. “Search him and see if there’s anything on him.”

Miss Ruolan bent over to search his inner pocket but found nothing, so she continued her search. Since the Saint said there would be something on him, she knew she had to keep looking.

Soon, she found a small pouch around Chu Li’s neck with a sarira inside it. This was the sarira Kong Fa had given to him.

“My Saint, is this it?” Miss Ruolan handed it to her.

The Saint stretched out a fair jade-like hand and picked up the sarira with her delicate fingers before studying it with a thoughtful look.

A few moments later, she scoffed and said, “Maha-Vairocana’s Immobility Scripture! The person he encountered was indeed a senior monk from the Titanium Temple.”

“How dare the Titanium Temple monks come to the Li Dynasty?” Miss Ruolan frowned. “Aren’t they being too outrageous?”

“They’re aloof and detached from the world. They regard not only the Li Dynasty, but also the Fu Dynasty, the Zheng Dynasty, and the Qiu Dynasty as nothing,” the Saint said with a huff.

It just so happened that Maha-Vairocana’s Immobility Scripture could block the effects of the Mind Illumination Scripture. Now, it made sense why there had been a strange force stopping her from peering into Zhao Dahe’s thoughts, it was because of the sarira. It made sense since this was the sarira of a senior monk who had been devoted to cultivating Maha-Vairocana’s Immobility Scripture.

It had occurred to her before that Zhao Dahe might possess some special technique and harbor hidden intentions. Later, when she learned of his fortuitous encounter, she guessed that he might have received a sarira instead. When senior monks achieved a rainbow body attainment, they would normally leave behind their sariras.

“I will keep this sarira with me for now and return it to him after some time,” the Saint calmly said.

“Understood.” Miss Ruolan did not know the reason behind this but decided not to prompt further.

“You may wake him up now,” the Saint said.

Miss Ruolan took a deep breath and pressed her palm lightly against Chu Li’s precordium.

“Puff!” Chu Li spat out a mouthful of blood.

As Miss Ruolan waved her sleeve, the blood he had spat out was swept up and sent swirling in the air. It came together to form a huge drop of blood, which then fell upon the soil and vanished into the depths of the flowering shrubs.

Chu Li slowed regained consciousness.

When he saw Miss Ruolan, he smiled bitterly and asked, “Another test?”

“This wasn’t a test.” Miss Ruolan shook her head.

Chu Li urgently replied, “Then Brother Bai is really dead?”

“He’s dead,” Miss Ruolan confirmed.

Chu Li became indignant. “Brother Bai seemed like a good person though. Did those people really break into this place?”

“His heart was filled with evil intentions. He deserved to die,” Miss Ruolan stated simply. “Zhao Dahe, where are you from?”

“Peace Town.” Chu Li blinked at her. “Didn’t Miss Ruolan know?”

“Stop talking nonsense. Just answer my questions.” Miss Ruolan huffed.

Then, as Chu Li turned his head and saw the Saint, he sat up abruptly with his eyes wide open.