Martial Arts Master

Seeing Ning Zitong use Evanescent Shadows to escape, Fa Yuan didn’t give up. He waited at his initial spot, waved the sleeves of his red kasaya, and strode in her general direction.

Bam! Bam! Bam! With every step he took, air gathered naturally below his feet and formed glowing lotus flowers.

They seemed to support and add speed for Fa Yuan as he completed shukuchi technique with ease and approached Phantom King, Ning Zitong at high-speed.

Vajra Sect, Lotus Seal, Lotus Steps!

Seeing this, Lou Cheng, who was in the changing room, found it hilarious. According to Dragon King, these people only knew how to show off. Why did they have to make the gathered air into the shape of a lotus? The most basic iron plate shape would be sufficient and the effects were similar.

Using more energy and mental strength to shape it into a lotus was simply a waste!

Lou Cheng still remembered when Empress Luo heard Dragon King’s comments and was dumbfounded. Mouth twitching, she had commented,

“I’m not going to argue with a barbarian…”

Swoosh swoosh swoosh! Fa Yuan was quick but Ning Zitong was quicker. Her directional change was more fluid, more agile, and creepier, like a shadow moving at high-speed. Although the distance between them varied from time to time, it was largely dependent on if Empress Luo tried to attack.

After failing in his pursuit, Fa Yuan stopped and remained calmly in one spot, his condition the same as when practiced Silent Zen. He wasn’t flustered at all.

The five illusory buddha statues behind his head entered his body and appeared in his eyes. His eyes were the color of glass, reflecting everything he saw.

If anyone had looked losely, they would have been surprised to see that the reflection in Fa Yuan’s eyes wasn’t just what was in front of him, but also behind him. In fact, it covered 360 degrees without any blindspots.

Vajra Sect, Wisdom Seal!

Whatever one sensed, one saw.

The Buddha’s Light that was formed when Wisdom Seal, Prajna Bodhisattva Body, and Thoughtsteal were used in conjunction took a huge toll on its user. Although Fa Yuan was a high level Divine Monk, it was the same for him, too. He couldn’t maintain it for long, at most ten seconds at a time. After which, he had to wait a while before using it again.

Thud thud thud! The illusory, yet real, footsteps signalled that Ning Zitong was approaching and intended to attack. She kept her eyes steady without blinking as she focused on keeping her thoughts in check to prevent Fa Yuan from hearing them.

Thinking that Fa Yuan was about to push out the Great Vajrapani Palm, Ning Zitong pulled her body back to escape from his Thoughtsteal boundary once again. She moved like a robot with a fixed algorithm.

However, Fa Yuan’s palms, which were glowing faintly gold, suddenly became gentle. Flicking his ten fingers at the same time, ten holy rays shot out.

Swoosh swoosh swoosh! The ten rays criss-crossed and didn’t shoot towards Empress Luo directly. Instead, they sealed her escape routes in every direction.

Following which, Fa Yuan placed his palms together, opened them up, and followed with a push. Noisy, hot, endless Buddha’s Light erupted and swept towards Ning Zitong in a deluge.

Golden Light Sutra, Buddha’s Light Illumination!

Surprisingly, Ning Zitong didn’t choose to avoid by breaching the holy rays, which only had a tenth of their original strength. Instead, she lowered her stance, executed a Force Concentration, and punched her right fist forward to take on the Buddha’s Light directly.

Her fist was as white as jade, but the surroundings became dim and faint. Darkness gathered, making her fist seem like a monster hidden in the depths of the universe that had opened its mouth to devour all light.

Zzz zzz zzz. The Buddha’s Light wasn’t as strong as it looked, and it dissipated instantly upon contact with the darkness.

Seeing this, Lou Cheng realised that Fa Yuan’s Buddha’s Light Illumination was a farce. Because he was not in the battlefield and therefore couldn’t sense the danger, he wasn’t able to tell whether or not the ten holy rays or the following attacks were Fa Yuan’s real intention. Once Empress Luo started avoiding, things would get difficult for her. If she dodged to the side, she would face at least four holy rays. However, she would also be in danger if she became passive, losing her advantage in movement technique.

This was a different variation of the Buddha’s Light Illumination that Lou Cheng had seen many times before, as it was a new application technique recently completed by Fa Yuan. He would have never expected that Ning Zitong wouldn’t fall for it.

In addition, Ning Zitong was able to discover the weakness in the Buddha’s Light as she grabbed the opportunity to counterattack.

Zzz zzz zzz!

The darkness spread rapidly as the Buddha’s Light dissipated. Ning Zitong’s figure split and attacked towards Fa Yuan like countless bats awakened in a dark mountain cave. Her figures were illusory but felt real, making their verity hard to judge.

Dark Sect’s eighth move, Disintegrate, Darkness Reunion!

This was both a big defensive move and an attack move.

Every shadow had a portion of Empress Luo’s hidden strength—they were all partially real, and not just illusions.

The Dark Sect’s techniques of Longhu Club and Guanwai League originated from the same place, which was known as the Dark Infinite Sutra. However, after generations of perfecting and modifying by Physical Invulnerability experts of both powers (and Longhu club becoming involved with the military), the style, characteristics, details, and techniques were substantially different. Most significantly, Longhu Club lacked the ninth move, Darkness Devouring the Day, Eternal Nightfall Descends.

The distance between both parties closed rapidly. Fa Yuan was no longer able to gather Wisdom Buddha’s Light in time. The muscles on his skinny, dried up body suddenly expanded little by litte, a faint golden light flowing on the surface.

His face was tinted in dull gold as he looked serious and stern. In his eyes, the light became clearer and clearer.

Then Fa Yuan executed his core technique, Prajna Bodhisattva Body and used it to accelerate Wisdom Seal to its maximum.

When Lou Cheng saw this he felt like laughing. It wasn’t because he cared about how Fa Yuan dealt with the situation, but purely because his appearance made Lou Cheng recal the “muscular Tang Sanzang” meme that was popular online for some time.

Wukong, get away. Let the master do it!

Silently, a layer of faint gold flames ignited around Fa Yuan. The flames encircled his body and made him look sacred and stern.

As Ning Zitong’s Power Shadows contacted Fa Yuan, they were ignited and disappeared without a trace.

Womb Realm Sect, Protecting Flames!

Zzz zzz zzz! After burning through countless bats, Fa Yuan’s flaming eyes seemed to have discovered something. He extended both of his arms and aimed towards the illusory black shadows in front of him.

Bam!

A loud explosion erupted. Phantom King, Ning Zitong’s figure gradually formed. She was floating in mid-air with both of her legs spinning rapidly as they shot towards Fa Yuan, only to be neutralized by Fa Yuan’s Prajna Punch.

Now, the remaining shadows re-joined Ning Zitong. Using the momentum, she straightened her back as she sat upright from her supine position. Darkness appeared on her palms as she slapped rapidly towards the temples of Fa Yuan. At the same time, he moved downwards to avoid her, ducking and bending his knees.

Everything before was just preparation for this. This was the real killer move that she had been preparing all along.

Fa Yuan formed Protecting Flames circle around him. He used both of his fists to stop the legs of his opponent. However, the momentum wasn’t with him as he seemed unable to defend against or dodge the palm strike.

At this critical moment, veins bulged on his neck as it expanded like a balloon. He looked like a giant, golden python had just swallowed a huge prey.

Pa! He lowered his head, swung his neck, and exerted his strength. Without dodging or forming a guard, he focused solely on attacking.

Dang!

After a loud metal collision sounded, Fa Yuan used his head to hammer Ning Zitong’s left palm as he knocked her back. The attack from the left missed its target.

Surprisingly, a black patch appeared on his injured, scarred head.

Daxing unique technique, Iron Head Technique!

This was a technique prevalent on the streets. Fa Yuan had picked it up casually a long time ago, but did not expect it to have such a surprisingly powerful effect today.

Without the Python Swallow’s momentum as a trigger, he wouldn’t be able to withstand Phantom King’s attack with just the Iron Head Technique.

Even so, as the golden color faded from his head, a slender, beautiful palm mark was left on the side. There were dark spots where the poison was hidden within.

Bam! Fa Yuan stepped on lotus flowers as he opened up the distance between him and his enemy. His vision was getting blurry.

Failing to connect on her attack, Ning Zitong suppressed her frustration as she went back to a guerilla strategy.

The two of them exchanged attacks and fought for another half hour. The square was filled with signs of fighting as darkness and Buddha’s Light clashed from time to time.

This was what Ning Zitong specialized in, as she slowly but resolutely exhausted Fa Yuan.

However, she was affected mentally by the relics in the four surrounding pagodas. Every movement took a bigger toll than usual. As for Fa Yuan, he was able to execute a simplified Hum Formula without saying it out loud to recover his state. The scale of victory began to tilt towards him.

Just as the situation seemed impossible to salvage, Ning Zitong, who was moving around from afar, suddenly smiled. She formed hand seals and hummed,

“Wholeness!”

Lou Cheng’s had gathered the Nine Words Formula by working together with the military to share the parts each of them lackedlacking with each other. As Ning Zitong had accumulated substantial merits, she had naturally decided to exchange some of her merit for secret techniques, as the military allowed them to do.

After using the Wholeness Formula, Ning Zitong was instantly revitalized and revealed no sign of fatigue.

She abandoned her guerilla strategy again. She closed their distance and executed overwhelming, bloody attacks consecutively.

Pa pa pa! Bam bam bam! Rumble rumble! After countless collisions, the Dark Force that Fa Yuan couldn’t expel from his body had accumulated. He began to feel breathless and found it hard to exert his strength.

Pa!

Ning Zitong grabbed the opportunity to make several directional moves. She appeared behind Fa Yuan like a phantom with her palm just behind the back of his head.

Feeling dizzy, Fa Yuan heard the clear, mature voice of his opponent,

“Big Monk, you have lost.”

Ning Zitong seemed to have returned to the past, no longer calling him “Old Monk.”

The referee raised his right hand to announce the results,

“Ning Zitong wins the first match!”

As he finished his sentence, Wisdom King, Zhi Hai, stood up and exited the home team changing room.

The core technique of Daxing Temple’s restricted region experts was Vairocana Flesh. Fa Yuan practiced a derivation of it, the Prajna Bodhisattva Body. As for Zhi Hai, he practiced the Decretal Reincarnation Body, Demon Subduing Body, and the Unshaken Body of the Wisdom King, which were all components of the Vairocana Flesh.