The young waiter at Guipeng Inn had been dozing and having several bizarre dreams, but he never imagined that the esteemed red-robed high priest of the Daoist sect would appear before him. Since the beginning of his reign, the current emperor had been promoting the Daoist sect, and eleven years later, the Daoist sect was accepted by every citizen as the leading sect of the Sui Dynasty.
Because of this, the red-robed high priest of the Daoist sect, holding a revered position, was undoubtedly synonymous with a deity in the minds of the people.
The young waiter had seen Master Xiao of Qingyue Mountain enter the city that day, standing on a stool by the roadside, so he vaguely remembered the red-robed high priest who had suddenly appeared in the inn. He remembered that this was said to be Master Xiao's second disciple, the Crane Cry Daoist, the second disciple in charge of punishments and laws in the Daoist sect.
"Go back to your room."
The Crane Cry Daoist said to a room on the second floor, "I've arrived," and then waved for the young waiter to leave. Some of the dazed young waiters didn't react for a moment, letting out a confused "Ah!" and looking at him. Crane Cry Daoist, too lazy to speak further, gently flicked his wide robe sleeve, and the waiter was pushed out the door with a soft force.
Even as he made his move, Crane Cry Daoist's eyes remained fixed on the room on the second floor.
With a creak, the door to that room was gently pushed open from the inside. A stunningly beautiful woman dressed in light green walked out slowly, her hair flowing freely down her back. Even the most discerning person couldn't find a single flaw on her face; her features were exquisitely beautiful.
Bright eyes and white teeth, a small, high-bridged nose, and slightly full lips that were incredibly sensual. Especially her eyes, which were full of yearning.
After stepping out of the room, she leaned against the second-floor railing, looking down at Crane Cry Daoist, her brows furrowing slightly before she suddenly smiled softly.
"So there are still masters within the Daoist sect."
She raised a hand to brush a stray strand of hair from her forehead, her expression alluring and passionate.
"A few days ago, a chubby little Daoist kept looking for me. If I weren't busy with other matters, I really wanted to spar with him and see if your Daoist sect's so-called Great and Small Heavenly Cycles were truly as unparalleled as you claim. But he's an idiot; he didn't recognize me just because I changed my appearance. I remember once brushing past him on the street, he glanced at me and actually blushed."
The woman spoke with a soft laugh, her sensual lips pursed, a captivating sight.
"Even the most beautiful poppy is poisonous; even the most stunning beauty is a demon."
The Crane Cry Daoist scoffed, "You can fool others, but you can't fool me."
"Indeed."
The woman's demeanor was incredibly graceful, but in an instant, her voice deepened: "I heard long ago that the Daoist Sect has a high-ranking official in red robes named Crane Cry Daoist. His most powerful ability is his innate divine eyes, capable of seeing through all illusions and delusion. I didn't believe it at first, but it seems I underestimated your Daoist Sect. You… you must be that Crane Cry Daoist?"
She… was actually the wondrous monk Chenya!
Clad in women's clothing, she was so graceful and alluring! Crane Cry Daoist looked at Chenya with a cold and arrogant tone and said, "I'm just a little surprised. Don't you Buddhists always look down on women? What, now you're willing to disguise yourself as a man to escape? If your Great Wheel King knew about this, wouldn't he be furious?"
"It's just a physical form, why care? Whether it's a human form or a self-form, it's all part of the cycle of existence. The Great Wheel King can transform all beings in the world with a single thought, so the forms of all beings are also forms of Dharma."
Chenya smiled, pointed to the surrounding houses, and asked with a smile, "What, you plan to make your move here? Aren't you afraid of hurting so many innocent people of the Great Sui Dynasty in these houses? Don't the people of Qing Le Mountain's One Qi Temple always proclaim themselves as the protectors of the people of the Great Sui Dynasty?"
"Capturing you won't hurt anyone else."
Crane Cry Daoist glanced at Chenya contemptuously and took a step forward.
With that step, a crack suddenly appeared on his forehead. A faint, eerie red light seeped from the crack, looking strangely terrifying. The crack was about the size and length of a human eye. So it appeared as if another eye had suddenly sprouted on his forehead, only this time it was vertically open.
Because the Crane Cry Daoist took a step first, Chen Ya's eyes instinctively followed his footsteps. But in that instant of distraction, he immediately realized that his brief lapse had given him the upper hand. He saw the Crane Cry Daoist take a step first, and then he saw the vertical eye on the Crane Cry Daoist's forehead.
In that instant, Chen Ya found himself unable to move.
He couldn't even move a single finger.
His heart trembled; for the first time since entering the Great Sui Dynasty, he felt a slight sense of fear.
"Nothing special," the Crane Cry Daoist murmured, and began walking up the stairs.
Whether the Crane Cry Daoist used some method or not, no one in the inn came out. In the room beside Chen Ya, the faint sound of someone sleeping could still be heard. The building was very quiet, so quiet that even the footsteps of the Crane Cry Daoist ascending the stairs were clearly audible. The stairs had eighteen steps, and the Crane Cry Daoist wasn't walking fast. By the time he reached the second floor, Chen Ya's forehead was covered in sweat.
But just as the Crane Cry Daoist was about to reach Chen Ya, a sharp cracking sound rang out. The Crane Cry Daoist frowned slightly, then suddenly leaped forward like an eagle, striking Chen Ya's forehead with a palm strike.
**Boom!**
The palm strike created a huge gap in the second-floor passageway, sending splinters flying everywhere!
When the dust settled, Chen Ya was nowhere to be seen.
…
…
"Illusion Binding… the Daoist sect's secret techniques are indeed quite sophisticated."
At the entrance of the Guipeng Inn, Chen Ya looked at the red-robed high priest on the second floor and sighed softly. The palm strike hadn't landed on him, but his face was deathly pale. Ironically, this only made him appear more breathtakingly beautiful. This sickly pallor gave him a delicate, almost fragile beauty.
Amidst the dripping sounds, a small patch of blood quickly dripped from his feet.
His left hand was missing a little finger.
"Unfortunately, your Illusion Binding Technique is clearly not yet at its peak. Against those with high cultivation, you can only launch sneak attacks and only control them briefly. However, this control is limited to the body; it cannot control the flow of the body's internal energy. If you weren't so overconfident and had come upstairs quickly, I might not have been able to react in time and use my internal energy to sever a finger, breaking the Illusion Binding due to the pain."
"It's nothing, you still can't leave."
The Crane Cry Daoist replied calmly, and without any visible movement, he vanished from the second floor in a flash, appearing again at the door. The monk Chenya pursed his lips slightly, turned, and flew into the night. As he flew, he flicked his right middle finger, sending a wisp of invisible energy swift as lightning towards the dumbfounded waiter standing by the door.
With a crisp clang, the energy was blocked by the Crane Cry Daoist's single palm. The waiter, unaware of what had happened, didn't even realize he'd just narrowly escaped death.
Because of that brief delay, Chenya had already vanished into the night. The Crane Cry Daoist snorted coldly, flicked his sleeve, and rose straight up, disappearing into the darkness like a cannonball. The waiter rubbed his eyes hard, still unable to believe what he had just witnessed.
A long time passed, and his mind remained in turmoil. Two things stood out amidst his chaotic thoughts: one was that the woman was breathtakingly beautiful, enough to make one lose their mind at first glance. Secondly, was that red-robed high priest truly a deity? How could he fly into the sky with a flick of his sleeve?
He stumbled back, dazed, when suddenly his foot slipped and he fell. The startled waiter scrambled to his feet, only to discover two craters in the cold, hard flagstone pavement at the inn's entrance. He racked his brains, then realized that the high priest's flick of his sleeve must have shattered the flagstones!
At this point, he couldn't help but cry out in alarm.
Then, like a wild dog unleashed, he rushed into the inn. As soon as he entered, with a deafening crash, the second-floor railings collapsed, sending dust billowing out.
Chen Ya had never imagined he could be so pathetic.
Having to sever a finger to escape the high priest's illusionary binding spell filled his arrogant heart with an overwhelming sense of humiliation. But just as the humiliation intensified, he suddenly laughed amidst his rapid leaps and bounds. His eyes shone brightly, all his previous frustration and resentment vanishing.
Dust!
This is the dust in my heart!
Chen Ya's laughter grew ever more radiant, his eyes practically overflowing with joy.
"I've been searching for that speck of dust in my heart, but I haven't found it. To draw out this speck of dust that affects my Buddhist heart, I didn't hesitate to kill several innocent people along the way. I thought that by transforming this murderous intent into dust and storing it in my heart, and then sweeping it away, I could achieve Buddhist perfection. But I was wrong. That murderous intent was fleeting; after that instant, the murderous intent was gone, and the dust in my heart was gone too, requiring no sweeping."
He thought as he fled. "That red-robed high priest first instilled fear in me, then anger—that's the dust in my heart, fear and anger!"
"Kill him.
Then I can sweep away the dust in my heart." At this thought, he suddenly abandoned his escape plan. He abruptly stopped in mid-air and then fell straight down. A figure, elongated by the moonlight, appeared on the empty street. The eccentric monk, who had been contemplating escape just a moment ago, now stood quietly on the street, patiently awaiting the arrival of the powerful red-robed high priest.
His face was calm, his eyes undisturbed.
He felt no fear or anger, for he now regarded the red-robed high priest as nothing more than a speck of dust.
...
...
Seeing his previously escaped opponent stop on the street, the Crane Cry Daoist was slightly taken aback. His figure, like a ball of fire hurtling through the air, also landed with a muffled thud, followed by a series of subtle cracking sounds. The bluestone slabs beneath his feet seemed to have shattered into several pieces.
Chen Ya's eyes narrowed slightly, and he couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
This Daoist has such heavy agility, such powerful internal energy! His rapid flight wasn't due to any superior lightness skill, but rather the powerful internal energy propelling him forward! At the inn's entrance, a flick of his sleeve shattered the hard stone slabs, even creating two deep craters. Upon landing, he had actually broken the pavement!
*Repulsion!*
This was the reason for the red-robed high priest's incredible speed. He propelled himself entirely by the repulsive force generated by the outward release of his internal energy.
"Not running away anymore?"
The Crane Cry Daoist asked, looking at Chen Ya.
"Both advancing and retreating are within the Dharma, both have their reasons. How can there be talk of running away?"
Chen Ya said with a smile.
The Crane Cry Daoist's expression remained unchanged, and he calmly asked again, "The one who fabricated the Martial Arts Academy's exam questions, I'm pretty sure it was you. Tell me, what exactly are you trying to do?"
"If you can guess it's me, how could you not guess what I'm going to do?"
Chen Ya's fingers formed a hand seal, like a Buddha offering a flower.
"Whatever you want to do, it's time to end this."
After saying this, Crane Cry Daoist took a slight breath, then flicked his sleeves backward. Suddenly, the air behind him emitted a piercing crackling sound. A visible ripple of air seemed to spread rapidly outward behind him. It was a speed beyond description, unbelievably fast.
Chen Ya only had time to change the hand seal he had formed once before the violent flame appeared in front of him. Under the moonlight, his flowing red robe was so domineering and awe-inspiring!
Bang!
A tremendous repulsive force slammed into the protective magic seal that Chen Ya had instantly erected. The seal only lasted a moment before being shattered by the force. Immediately afterward, the force crashed into Chen Ya's chest like a tidal wave. The next second, Chen Ya was blasted more than ten meters away, slamming heavily into a wall.
Countless shards of the hard blue bricks were shattered, and Chen Ya's entire body was almost embedded within the wall.
Amidst the flying debris, Chen Ya couldn't help but cough up a mouthful of thick blood. His eyes darted around, and for a moment, his mind went completely blank.
He struggled to free himself from the wall, raising his hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth.
"Such a powerful repulsive force... you've actually... surpassed..."
Before he could finish speaking, the ball of flame had already drifted over again.
The Crane Cry Daoist appeared before Chen Ya as if suddenly from another dimension, slowly raising his hand and gently placing it on Chen Ya's chest.
"To be able to discern my cultivation method so quickly, your insight is indeed remarkable. What a pity, what a pity."
The Crane Cry Daoist uttered two words of pity, then suddenly unleashed a repulsive force like a raging storm from his palm. With a bang, Chen Ya's body was blasted away like a cannonball.
Blood splattered everywhere.