CHAPTER 486: FIGHTING FOR LIFE

Chapter 486: Fighting for Life

The premium Celestial Jade Marrow was already in hand.

Chen Huaian saw no need to stay here any longer.

However, just as he was about to retreat, a murderous intent surged toward him like a tidal wave.

"Damn, that old bald monk has lost it!"

Chen Huaian turned to see Monk Faming with bloodshot eyes.

It made sense.

The premium Celestial Jade Marrow was gone, and it seemed he had also used a rather precious one-time-use magical artifact. Anyone in his position would be feeling the same way. But...

He couldn’t just vent his anger recklessly, right?!

Yet in the blink of an eye, Monk Faming had already appeared in front of him.

"I see a familiar face, one connected to my Buddha. Today, I shall settle the karmic debt with you!"

Chen Huaian turned and fled.

Damn it, this was going to be a life-or-death reckoning.

But Monk Faming was at the Void Shattering realm, even a weakened version was still overwhelmingly strong compared to Chen Huaian’s mid-Golden Core stage. In Chen Huaian’s vision, Monk Faming almost instantly teleported in front of him and then unleashed a palm strike.

"Do you refuse to be bound to Buddha?"

"Then die!"

Behind Monk Faming, a Wrathful Vajra Expression manifested.

The Buddha palm, once unleashed, extended like a giant door, pushing toward Chen Huaian.

Chen Huaian felt a chill on his scalp; the life-or-death crisis sent adrenaline surging wildly through his body. At the moment the palm descended, he unleashed Heavenly Demon Art Volume One and Two at full power, while the Dragon Soul possessed him, revealing a half-dragon form.

"Roar—!"

With a roar indistinguishable between a dragon’s cry or a demon’s howl, blood-red demon armor and golden dragon scales covered his body. Golden and blood-red lights enveloped him like a cocoon.

Boom!!!

The Buddha palm slammed into Chen Huaian with a muffled thud.

The ground trembled violently and suddenly sank.

"Cough..." Chen Huaian felt his internal organs shift violently and spat out a mouthful of blood. The demon armor and dragon scales he had just condensed shattered inch by inch.

"Huh?!"

Monk Faming frowned deeply.

He stared at his own palm in disbelief.

It was understandable if the old man was in the Consolidation stage and could barely withstand his attack—perhaps he had a protector or a treasure shielding him.

But why could a mid-Golden Core stage practitioner block his palm strike?

Even if it was just a casually unleashed Buddha power palm.

Could it be that after a thousand years of inactivity, his cultivation and combat strength had fallen so far?

Then how could he explain his earlier evenly matched fight with Hua Jin the True One?

"I refuse to believe it. If I, a Consolidation stage monk, can’t kill him and he escapes, then you, a mere mid-Golden Core stage, can’t kill him either?" Monk Faming's face twisted into a ferocious snarl as if possessed by a mad demon. Half of the Wrathful Vajra manifestation behind him transformed into a Rakshasa form. Black Qi mingled with the Buddha light, and his aura grew even more imposing.

"You old bald monk—" Chen Huaian rose slowly, leaning on the Black Scales Sword. Sharp sword intent surged wildly within him, itching to burst forth. A hoarse roar escaped his lips as his teeth ground together. "You’d better kill me today... or I will make sure you can neither live nor die!"

Crack crack crack—!

The sword Qi overflowing from his body sliced the surrounding ground into chaotic sword scars, even grinding the rocks into dust.

Monk Faming saw Chen Huaian raise his head.

As their eyes met, Monk Faming felt a sharp pain in his eyes and instinctively closed them.

He was suspicious and uncertain. How could a mid-Golden Core stage Ascender have such a piercing gaze?

It was like... a divine sword about to be unsheathed.

Such sword intent, such sharpness.

It was definitely not the sword technique of Kunlun Immortal Palace.

Even in countless past cycles, no one had ever seen such a terrifying sword technique.

The sword is the Dao, just like the Ascender Dao of Kunlun Immortal Palace and the Buddhist Dao of Great Thunder Temple.

The Dao forms through long years of accumulation; the current Dao of Kunlun Immortal Palace and Great Thunder Temple was built over repeated reincarnations.

Yet the sword intent on this young man carried a faint trace of Dao?

Who was he? How was this possible?!

Just as Monk Faming was bewildered, the sword intent abruptly ceased and retracted sharply.

Everything calmed as if all he had felt was an illusion.

There was no peerless swordsman, only a dying young man.

This sudden drastic change stunned Monk Faming—how could one person simultaneously hold both the aura of an ordinary man and a grandmaster?

Chen Huaian was not delusional.

He had already prepared to fight Monk Faming to the death, regardless of exposure, his priority was survival.

What made him relax?

A sword!

Buzz—!

A sword came from the west, accompanied by the sound of its singing.

The sword arrived like a gust of wind.

It floated within the air currents, thin as an autumn leaf, shining bright as a star.

Monk Faming’s robes flapped violently in the gale.

With a crisp snap, the Buddha light in his eyes retracted, and cracks appeared on the Rakshasa manifestation.

His pupils contracted sharply.

There stood a black-robed swordsman wearing a bamboo hat, silently positioned three yards away. No fierce killing intent, no overwhelming anger—just a calm gaze. Those eyes were as still as a tranquil lake, as deep as the starry sky.

"Who are you, benefactor? Why interfere?!" Monk Faming’s eyes turned cold.

"You wouldn’t know me, and I don’t know you," the black-robed swordsman’s voice was calm yet pierced the ear like the sharpest sword Qi in the world. "But I don’t like monks. All monks in the world deserve to die!"

Chen Huaian struggled to put some distance between them, then sat cross-legged against the ruins to heal.

The newcomer was Zhang Yibai in disguise. It was Zhang Yibai who had warned him not to reveal himself earlier.

Now that Chen Huaian was hidden and Zhang Yibai was acting, the risk of exposure transferred to Zhang Yibai.

But according to Zhang Yibai, his strength gave him better confidence to minimize that risk.

Monk Faming said nothing but suddenly struck out; the Buddha light in his palm surged like a tidal wave toward the black-robed swordsman.

The swordsman merely raised a hand lightly.

The sword lying ten yards away on the ground flew into his hand without needing to be summoned.

One sword.

Just one sword.

It was as if only this sword’s trace remained in the world.

No flashy moves, no complicated changes—just a simple sword thrust forward.

Monk Faming’s Buddha palm froze midair, a blood-red crack appeared in his palm.

"Im-impossible!" Monk Faming’s eyes bulged with rage.

The second sword.

Still just a simple sword thrust, but it contained the profound truth of yin and yang’s mutual generation.

Behind Monk Faming, the Wrathful Vajra and Rakshasa manifestations shattered simultaneously, dissipating like bubbles.

"Please, benefactor, have mercy!" Monk Faming retreated while forming a Buddha seal.

The third sword.

Before the sword tip arrived, the sword intent had already reached him.

Monk Faming’s monk robe burst apart across his chest, revealing a deep wound slanting from his left shoulder to right waist, blood gushing out.

"Ah—" The monk cried out in pain, staggering backward.

He stared at the swordsman with terror and disbelief. When had such a swordmaster appeared in this world? His proud Void Shattering realm cultivation was utterly worthless before this opponent, like a child being struck down.

Clearly, now it should be him and Hua Jin the True One who were the strongest in the world...

Right, a sword cultivator.

A mysterious sword cultivator!

The mysterious group Hua Jin the True One had mentioned!

"Who exactly are you?" Monk Faming’s face turned pale, cold sweat dripping from his forehead.

"Elder Supreme of Sword Pavilion," Zhang Yibai said calmly.

So he really was from Sword Pavilion!

Monk Faming had no will to fight anymore. He suddenly took out a wooden fish-shaped magical artifact, crushed it, and it transformed into a golden light that wrapped around him.

"I take my leave!" The monk’s voice echoed from within the golden light, filled with panic.

In a flash, Monk Faming disappeared without a trace.

"Running?!" Zhang Yibai snorted coldly and slashed a sword toward the direction where the golden light vanished.

The sword light faded instantly, and suddenly a scream of pain from Monk Faming rang out in the distance, with blood spraying through the air.

Zhang Yibai’s expression shifted slightly, thinking silently that the monk’s cultivation had indeed dropped too much.

Now Zhang Yibai only had the cultivation of a perfect Consolidation stage. If Monk Faming were still Void Shattering realm, even burning his divine soul, he would have been wiped out with a single sword.

He was about to pursue when he suddenly sensed an anomaly in the nearby formation.

Hua Jin the True One inside the formation had finished and was about to come out.

He instinctively glanced at Chen Huaian, who shook his head at Zhang Yibai.

Killing Monk Faming would only bring Monk Fahui and Monk Famang next, and under the control of the unseen mastermind, these Buddhist monks would only become more cunning and harder to deal with. Monk Faming was a relatively manageable opponent.

Better to let him live and keep him under watch.

The moment Zhang Yibai’s and Chen Huaian’s eyes met, they understood each other’s meaning.

The surrounding formation vanished, and the figures of Hua Jin the True One and Wang Shouyi appeared, their gazes also turning toward them.

"Senior, why did you save me? Do you know me?" Chen Huaian coughed out some blood cooperatively.

Zhang Yibai sheathed his sword, turning his back to Chen Huaian. "You insignificant ant, why would I know you?"

He snorted coldly, his voice like the north wind in the dead of winter.

"Today is just a grudge between my Sword Pavilion and the Buddhist sect."

Chen Huaian was stunned and about to say more.

Zhang Yibai flicked his sleeve and stepped on his sword, transforming into a streak of sword light as he swiftly departed.

...