Chapter 116: Stalemate

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

“Amitabha Buddha!” Fa Yuan stood ten steps away from him, his gray robe flapping in the wind and his face somber.

Chu Li grinned. “Monk Fa Yuan, you still did not give up your evil intention!”

Fa Yuan did the Anjali Mudra again. “Almsgiver Chu Li, your martial arts has improved, congratulations!”

Chu Li waved his hand. “Hypocrite! My martial arts has improved, are you really thrilled? Your Tempest Temple can’t wait to see me have my martial arts dispelled and get rid of me straight away!”

“Almsgiver Chu Li, you are wrong.” Fa Yuan shook his head and said seriously, “I’m under the abbot’s decree to subdue Almsgiver Chu Li but if Almsgiver Chu Li converts to my temple, the whole Tempest Temple will be overjoyed!”

Chu Li waved his hand. “Monk, forget it, we are not birds of a feather. I have not enjoyed enough of wealth and glory nor have I seen through the emptiness of the material world!”

In the first place, Chu Li had left the temple and joined the Public House because he wanted to experience the secular world, to enjoy wealth and glory. The Buddhist austerity was full of subtleties and esoteric, if he did not experience the secular world, no matter how intelligent he was, Chu Li would still not be able to comprehend the uniqueness of the dharmic base thoroughly even if he could manage to see through the emptiness of the material world.

It was just like telling someone who had not eaten meat before that eating meat in excess would make you get tired of it so eating it would not be enjoyable. If that person had not eaten enough meat, no matter how much one explained or how good that person’s understanding was, that person would never experience the feeling of getting bored of eating meat.

“Amitabha Buddha…” Fa Yuan sighed. “That’s a pity!”

Chu Li smiled. “Why must you kill me?”

“To subdue demons, it is my duty!” Fa Yuan shook his head and said, “Almsgiver Chu Li, this can be easily avoided!”

Chu Li replied, “Monk if that is the case, I won’t go easy on you!”

Fa Yuan pointed out a finger, a soundless and traceless force shot out.

Chu Li dodged to the side by taking one step. “Monk, you really are sinister, what is this finger force!?”

“Formless Finger,” Fa Yuan replied blandly, “Almsgiver Chu Li, please!”

Chu Li disappeared in a flash.

Fa Yuan’s figure also moved, his appearance blurry like a mist, sometimes appearing in front and sometimes behind, preventing Chu Li from getting behind him and at the same time, he shot out rays after rays of finger force, forming a large net to shield his surrounding, not letting Chu Li get close to him silently.

Chu Li appeared a hundred feet away and laughed. “You really are afraid to die, a monk who has not seen through life and death, your boundary is still lacking!”

Fa Yuan was unperturbed, he performed the Anjali Mudra and muttered the Buddha’s name. He sighed. “Almsgiver Chu Li, your Light-body Technique is impressive!”

Chu Li said, “Fa Yuan, you can’t keep following me. You can’t break my Light-body Technique, nor can you take someone else’s life to threaten me. Why don’t we just stop fighting?”

“I will continue to follow Almsgiver Chu Li and look for openings,” replied Fa Yuan plainly.

“How long do you intend to follow me?”

“If I’m not successful in one month, I will follow you for one year. If I’m not successful in one year, I will follow you for 10 years,” Fa Yuan said. “Almsgiver Chu Li is my inner demon, you must be eliminated!”

Chu Li roared out in laughter. “I became your inner demon, that’s interesting. This means only I can get rid of you!”

He disappeared in a flash again.

Fa Yuan moved too and his figure became cloudy like smoke. Chu Li did not reappear.

Fa Yuan did not dare to stop moving but after about a quarter of an hour, there was still nothing.

His dashing eyebrows moved slightly and he suddenly stopped. After concentrating his mind, Fa Yuan had gathered his finger force, ready to strike and ready to evade the other party’s surprise attack.

The cool breeze blew gently through the treetops and it felt warm against his face. The forest seemed empty and quiet, he could not detect any movements.

Fa Yuan did not dare to relax and stayed wary.

Chu Li suddenly reappeared in front of Fa Yuan. Fa Yuan had been paying attention to his rear, in case of a surprise attack, he had never thought that Chu Li would appear right before him.

“Chi!” a ray of cold glint light shot at Fa Yuan’s throat.

Fa Yuan desperately traversed, relying on his last-gasp foretelling and intuition, he had evaded it narrowly. The left side of his neck was raked by the blade, if not for his Sentient Menace, Fa Yuan would have been injured by this.

Chu Li shook his head. With Sentient Menace shielding his body, it would not be easy to kill Fa Yuan.

“Monk, again!” Chu Li chuckled once and disappeared again.

Fa Yuan abruptly sat down cross-legged, closed his eyes, did the Anjali Mudra while chanting and manifested his Sentient Menace to the extreme, his body was engulfed in golden light, his expression solemn.

Chu Li stood 20 meters away and studied him.

Fa Yuan was already at the fourth level of Sentient Menace, he was indeed an inborn prodigy, even better than Chu Li. A monk this young in the Tempest Temple was able to reach the Grandmaster’s Boundary, this made one wonder how many Grandmasters were hidden away in the temple, it was truly frightening.

Time went by slowly, Fa Yuan took out a porcelain vase, ate a pill and continued chanting.

Sentient Menace used up a lot of inner energy, each time one advanced a level, the power used increased as well. Chu Li estimated that no matter how much inner energy Fa Yuan had, he would not last long, after all, he could not use Life and Death Scripture to absorb the spiritual force of the surrounding trees for personal use.

Chu Li disappeared in a flash once more and headed back to the carriage.

Xiao Qi was talking beside Xiao Shi’s carriage, she felt Chu Li’s presence and glanced over at him, her eyes glistening like spring water.

Chu Li smiled and nodded. He flicked and swung the horsewhip lightly.

During the journey after that, Chu Li would appear, from time to time, in front of Fa Yuan for a surprise attack. Although Fa Yuan was flustered whenever he tried to cope with Chu Li’s attack, he was not injured. Sentient Menace helped him stayed undefeated, he could not do anything to Chu Li, and Chu Li could not do anything to him as well.

Kang Residence, Zhao Jing Hai Town.

Chu Li changed into a studious blue robe and grabbed a folding fan. Instantly, he had masked his grand heroic spirit and appeared to look like a scholar. Following behind Xiao Shi and Xiao Qi, he walked beside Guo Mulin and they entered the lively Kang Residence.

Grand Secretary Kang was a high-ranking official in the imperial court, although he had resigned from his post, he had students from all over the world and many were officials in the upper positions.

Those who came to celebrate his birthday were mostly officials of the imperial court, it was rare to see people attending from the martial arts world.

Everyone knew that Grand Secretary Kang detested people from the martial arts world. He felt that they committed crimes with their martial arts skill and treated the laws of the imperial court as if it was non-existent, they were unscrupulous and should be handed a lesson. It would be best if they were all wiped out, only then would it be a peaceful world.

Ever since Grand Secretary Kang was in power, he had repressed a lot of sects of the martial arts world, even wiping out two factions because their disciples had been committing crimes and violating the laws but the two factions were bent on covering it up for them. He used a firm and forceful approach to eliminate the two factions, it was a major incident that shocked the world.

Chu Li had found out about Grand Secretary Kang before he arrived. Grand Secretary Kang could be considered a benign and uncontentious person in the imperial court, he was gentle and kind but in the face of people from the martial arts world, he would change his attitude right away. However, the Grand Secretary’s articles and the poems world-famous, gaining much support from people in the intellectual circle.

Leading scholars were the common enemies of those in the martial arts world.

The doorman led the four of them to the front yard of the Secretary’s Resident. Xiao Shi and Xiao Qi were led to the main hall while Chu Li and Guo Mulin were led to the side hall, the two of them had no qualifications to see Grand Secretary Kang.

The side hall was very lively, most of them were assistants of the officials but there were also Protectors with eyes that radiated a sharp and brilliant light. The entrance of the two attracted no attention.

Chu Li and Guo Mulin sat down at the armchairs, both of them were discussing medical skills throughout the entire journey. Chu Li consulted Guo Mulin about the problems he encountered in the medical books while Guo Mulin explained them patiently, ranging from elementary to the profound. This benefited Chu Li a lot and he finally understood the basics of medical knowledge.

Chu Li was gifted with an extraordinarily retentive memory so he could memorize classic ancient prescriptions and medicinal herbs. This made Guo Mulin envious but also increased his hopes for him. Guo Mulin felt that Chu Li was a would-be genius doctor, with a little training, he would be able to conquer the medical field.

They chatted for a while and were led out again. They passed through several Moonlight Gates and reached a small, quiet courtyard. In the courtyard, there was a green bamboo forest, Xiao Qi and Xiao Shi had been sitting in the pagoda appreciating the bamboo, beside them was a pretty maid.

“Thanks to second eldest sister, we get to live here for two days,” Xiao Qi said. “Sir Guo Mulin and Chu Li will also stay.”

Chu Li smiled. “Grand Secretary Kang detests people from the martial arts world so much, and he can still enlist Grandmasters as Protectors?”

During the short trip just now, he had used the Omniscient Mirror and observed the whole Kang Residence, he discovered two Grandmasters.

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