Chapter 366: An Arrow of Golden Light in the Ancient City

Chapter 366: Chapter 366: An Arrow of Golden Light in the Ancient City

With the exception of Zen Master Jingyun, whose focus was fixed on Hui Ke, all eyes were on the Zen Master himself.

Therefore, no one noticed the blood from the dozen or so Sunset Valley disciples Gui Fan had killed. It was now spreading across the ground, seeping into the cracks like a vast spiderweb.

Furthermore, the flow defied the contours of the terrain. It followed only the cracks, even coursing from low ground to high without the slightest pause.

It was a complete violation of natural law.

Hui Ke knew a battle with Jingyun was inevitable, but he needed to create more options for retreat. As his mind raced, he played for time with his words. "You’re going to kill us based solely on their side of the story?"

"Those who are not our people are bound to have different allegiances. You are not from our Southern Domain to begin with, so of course I believe them."

"We are both Buddhist disciples. As the saying goes, a monk does not lie. Can you not trust my words?"

Jingyun shook his head. He knew Hui Ke was stalling for time, but as the one with the highest cultivation in the vicinity, he was confident that everything was well within his control.

"Though we are both of the Buddhist Sect, are you not aware of the centuries-long ideological dispute between the Zen Sect and Esoteric Buddhism? Besides, while the Buddhist Sect is a place of pure cultivation, how many monks over the millennia have been led astray? You and I are strangers. How could I possibly know anything of your character?"

Jingyun paused before continuing, "Besides, seeing is believing. The fact is, when I arrived, you were the ones doing the killing. I gave a warning, and you were the ones who ignored it."

Hui Ke chuckled. "Then allow me to spell it out for you. You, Jingyun, are the true disgrace to the Buddhist Sect. First, you betrayed Bodhi Hall, even leading outsiders to ambush and slaughter your own sect brothers. You then fled deep into the mountains of the Southern Domain, only to murder the monks of the very temple that gave you shelter. In the past two hundred-plus years, who knows how many innocents have died by your hand? No matter how self-righteously you speak, it doesn’t change the fact that you have long since fallen to the Demon Dao."

"Jingyun? He’s *the* Zen Master Jingyun?" Qiu Changkong and Ba Manzi both cried out in alarm.

They had hoped that as a fellow native of the Southern Domain, the old monk would save them from peril. Who could have imagined he was actually the Evil Monk, Zen Master Jingyun—a true Demon who killed without blinking an eye.

Now, both Qiu Changkong and Ba Manzi were desperate to retreat.

Getting killed by the Little Monk and that young man would have been one thing. But to die at the hands of Zen Master Jingyun... they wouldn’t even be able to rest in peace. Their corpses would be drained into withered husks and used for his cultivation.

Jingyun hadn’t expected to be identified by this Little Monk, who looked to be less than twenty years old. For a moment, he was taken aback.

But a malevolent smile soon returned to his face. "Correct. I am indeed Jingyun. And since you know my name, you have even more reason to die."

"Namo Amitābhāya, Tathāgatāya, Tadyathā, Am?todbhave..."

As Jingyun chanted the Rebirth Spell, he raised his Zen Staff. He launched himself into the air, and the Nine-Eared Golden Ring on his staff crackled with blue arcs of electricity.

Instantly, dark clouds gathered over the entire ancient city, and countless bolts of blue lightning rained down from the heavens.

Qiu Changkong and his group wanted to fly away, but one look at the lightning convinced them otherwise. They scrambled for cover in the nearby buildings.

But they quickly discovered that the faster they ran, the faster the lightning pursued them.

Within a few breaths, a dozen or so Sunset Valley disciples were struck by lightning, leaving them either dead or grievously wounded.

Wielding his Profound Iron Staff, Hui Ke weaved and dodged through the storm of lightning. He was a Void Realm cultivator, after all; while the bolts were dense, they weren’t impossible for him to evade.

Although Gui Fan was already at the Integration Realm, even he could not escape unscathed from such a dense barrage of lightning.

Several bolts of lightning slammed into him. Gui Fan’s hair stood on end, his face was a mottled patchwork of bruises, and his once-fine robes were now burned and tattered.

But Jingyun had no intention of stopping the lightning. He waited until every last low-level Sunset Valley disciple was dead, leaving only Ba Manzi’s group of four, Qiu Changkong, Hui Ke, and Gui Fan on the field. Only then did Jingyun finally let the lightning cease.

However, all seven of them were now injured.

Qiu Changkong was sick with regret. ’If I hadn’t provoked that Little Monk and the young man,’ he lamented internally, ’we wouldn’t have fought. If we hadn’t fought, we wouldn’t have run into Zen Master Jingyun.’

"Little Bhikkhuni, to reach the Void Realm at such a young age is truly the mark of a generational talent. Why wouldn’t you stay in your temple to cultivate and chant scriptures, instead of running all the way to the Southern Domain?"

Jingyun said, looking at Hui Ke with a smug smile.

Hearing Jingyun’s words, Qiu Changkong’s regret deepened. ’Damn it,’ he thought, ’that Little Monk is actually at the Void Realm?’

"Jingyun, you too once studied the Buddhist Technique. You should know the law of Cause and Effect, and that the Karmic Fire is inescapable," Hui Ke said.

"I know, of course I know. But what I know even better is that if you are strong enough, even the Karmic Fire will avoid you. Otherwise, how could I have lived so wantonly for all these hundreds of years?"

"Lay down the butcher’s knife and attain Buddhahood. Jingyun, do not remain so obstinately lost."

"Heh. I have studied the scriptures for centuries. And a little Bhikkhuni like you wants to lecture me?" With that, Jingyun wasted no more words and lunged toward Hui Ke.

He brought his Zen Staff down in a Powerful Splitting Hua Mountain strike, sending a bolt of Gang Qi cascading from the sky like a roll of silk.

Hui Ke immediately gripped his staff with both hands and moved to intercept it.

The two streams of Gang Qi collided with a deafening BOOM. If not for the fact that everyone present had a cultivation at or above the Integration Realm, the shockwave alone would have ruptured their eardrums.

Their staves clashed, a flurry of strikes and counters. They fought from the sky to the ground, then from the ground up onto the rooftops.

Their movements grew faster and faster, until the onlookers below could only see two blurs of motion, separating and merging as countless ribbons of Gang Qi intertwined.

’If not now, then when?’ Seeing the two combatants locked in a stalemate, Qiu Changkong and his four companions scrambled toward the city gate.

However, they had barely taken a few steps before several bolts of lightning crashed down in front of them.

The bolts brought them to an abrupt halt.

"No one I have marked for death has ever escaped."

Jingyun’s voice boomed from the rooftop where he was still fighting Hui Ke.

Evidently, though his fight with Hui Ke looked spectacular, Jingyun wasn’t even using half of his true Power.

Hui Ke, on the other hand, was already fighting with all his might and had already sustained considerable injuries.

Gui Fan saw the dire situation, drew his Sword, and charged forward to help.

Before the Long Sword arrived, its Sword Qi was already there. Yet Jingyun didn’t even turn to block, allowing the wave of Sword Qi to slam into him.

But the moment the Sword Qi reached him, his Protective Gang Qi flared to life and repelled it.

Before Gui Fan could react, his own reflected Sword Qi struck him, even shattering the Sword in his hand.

Gui Fan was sent flying backward, a ghastly gash on his chest spraying blood into the air.

But no one could have predicted what would happen when the blood spraying from Gui Fan’s body landed on the ground, seeping into the spiderweb of blood-filled cracks.

Suddenly, the blood-filled crevices on the ground erupted in a brilliant golden light.

Gui Fan, still mid-air and not yet having hit the ground, was suddenly and uncontrollably yanked back up.

He was suspended in the air, his limbs spread-eagled.

Seeing this, Jingyun froze, his Zen Staff halting mid-swing as he stared in terror.

The source of their terror was a tyrannical, peerless pressure that had suddenly descended upon the entire city, a pressure everyone present could feel.

"What’s happening? Could something in this city be awakening?" Ba Manzi muttered to herself.

Then, everyone watched as shafts of golden light, like golden arrows, shot one after another toward Gui Fan...