Chapter 119: I, Daoist Ten Thousand Calamities
“Not receiving outside guests?”
“What a coincidence, I am not here to be a guest either.”
Hong Yuan kept walking without pause. His steps seemed unhurried, but the burly monk only felt his vision blur as the other had already brushed past him and stepped into Vajra Temple’s Inner Courtyard.
“Stop right there!”
The monk, whose figure was burly and majestic like an iron pagoda, hurriedly let out a furious shout. He twisted his body and pounced, reaching out to grab at Hong Yuan’s shoulder and back.
As his arm extended, the muscles bulged and knotted, his five fingers like iron hooks, bringing a fierce gust of force.
To become Vajra Temple’s outward-facing welcoming monk guarding the first gate to the Inner Courtyard, this burly monk naturally possessed impressive Martial Arts, already reaching the level of Balance of Hardness and Softness. Between the grasps of his palm, even hard green stone could be crushed.
This strike was even as swift as Eagle Claw, pouncing urgently, yet it ended up grasping at empty air.
The opponent just walked on unhurriedly, seeming like even a three-year-old child could catch up. But as the welcoming monk’s claw struck down, the opponent’s figure moved like the wind, drifting away just in time to evade the grasping claw momentum.
Instead, the welcoming monk’s claw missed, and he couldn’t retract his momentum, stumbling slightly underfoot.
He steadied his body, his face urgent, and chased closely again, his palm thrusting out repeatedly.
Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!
Force tore through the air, emitting short hissing sounds. No matter how swift the welcoming monk’s strikes or how tricky the angles, they were always ‘barely’ evaded by the opponent.
“I told you to stop, didn’t you hear me?”
The welcoming monk was truly enraged, his expression furious. He clenched his fist and smashed out with a booming punch, like pushing a wooden pillar to strike a bell, channeling the force of his entire body to strike at the opponent’s back.
Hong Yuan suddenly stopped in his tracks.
The welcoming monk’s shouts alarmed the other monks, and in an instant, monks leaped out from all directions.
Bang!
The welcoming monk’s heavy and powerful punch brutally struck Hong Yuan’s back, which instead left him momentarily stunned. He had thought it would miss again, but then his face twisted.
Though this punch landed solidly, it was like striking onto hundreds and thousands of steel needles, with sharp and fierce qi energy piercing harshly into his fist.
Immediately after, his entire fist burst open in a spray of blood. As he let out an uncontrollable cry of pain, his chest felt as if hammered by an invisible fist, and he flew straight backward.
“Senior Brother Liao Fan!”
“Martial Uncle!”
The Vajra Temple monks who gathered had drastic changes in expression. Several split off to check the welcoming monk’s injury, while the rest looked hostile, staring vigilantly at Hong Yuan.
A somewhat older monk with a mature face waved his hand to block several impatient temple monks who wanted to strike, his gaze falling on Hong Yuan, squinting slightly as he sized him up.
But Hong Yuan was still in his disguise, so he naturally couldn’t see through anything.
“Your Excellency, who are you? Why did you injure my Vajra Temple Disciple?”
This mature monk’s eyes drooped low, showing no trace of emotion, his voice deep and low.
Hong Yuan spread his hands, his sleeve robe unfolding like clouds, and laughed: “In broad daylight, Monk, don’t spout nonsense. I didn’t even move a hand, so what injury?”
“You can’t just because I’m standing and he’s lying down, accuse me. Wherever you put it, it’s fully your fellow disciple’s responsibility…”
The mature monk chuckled, lifted his eyelids, and said indifferently: “Your Excellency hard-took my Senior Brother Liao Fan’s punch, not only unharmed but instead shocked and injured my Senior Brother. Martial Arts so strong, this monk admires!”
Though he said ‘admires’ in his mouth, his eyes sharpened like blades: “But if Your Excellency thinks you can rely on your Martial Arts to run amok in my Vajra Temple, you’ve got the wrong idea. Today, if you don’t give an explanation, it will be hard to end this.”
He and Liao Fan were of the same generation, knowing Liao Fan’s Martial Arts were quite high, yet the opponent could send Liao Fan flying with counter-shock force, a truly unfathomable master.
But the mature monk was not intimidated either, his words instead carrying a threatening intent.
This was Vajra Temple’s home ground, with masters as numerous as clouds in the temple. How could they be bullied by an outsider?
In this world, top-tier great sects were like Noble Families and Clans, palace Nobles, each a local overlord, ruling their territory independently.
Moreover, with the Great Yin Dynasty’s central authority weakened and nearly a hundred years of neglect, there was no restraint at all. Among these sects, there might be the occasional good ones.
But overall, none of these long-established sects and Noble Families were without rot and bloodstained hands.
Without restraint, desires could naturally be infinitely amplified.
Hong Yuan was too lazy to dig deeper.
After all, he was no moral paragon, with no need to occupy the moral high ground to take action.
This time striking at Vajra Temple was simply because he discovered True Skill promoted his own Root Bone, thus forming the idea of collecting True Skills.
“Explanation?” Hong Yuan smiled faintly. A slender, fair hand extended from his sleeve robe, hooking a finger at the mature monk: “Would this explanation do?”
“Good!” The mature monk’s face suddenly turned cold. He abruptly clawed at his chest, and a string of prayer beads was already in his palm. With a flip, the beads shot out like a gale and sudden rain, striking at Hong Yuan’s vital points all over.
At the same time, he retreated into the guard of the crowd of monks and shouted loudly: “All Disciples, listen! Form array, take down this fiend!”
Before his words finished, Hong Yuan over there lightly laughed, neither dodging nor evading. His five fingers stroked like plucking strings, virtually pressing forward.
Splash!
The air suddenly became viscous. The dozens of incoming beads were like fish trapped in mud, unable to move, then one by one fell into Hong Yuan’s palm.
“Returning them to you!”
The next moment, he flung his palm, and the beads shot out like sharp arrows, far surpassing the mature monk’s force and speed.
The group of Vajra Temple monks had no time to form the array and were pierced through their bodies by the beads, letting out shrill screams. It was only because Hong Yuan avoided vitals that there weren’t many deaths or severe injuries this time.
The mature monk slapped with both palms repeatedly, trying to block the incoming beads, but one prayer bead pierced through his palm. He grunted, without crying out in pain.
His figure retreated repeatedly, and seeing the group of fallen disciples, his face was extremely ugly.
“Amitabha!”
A Buddha’s chant suddenly rang out, then two monks around fifty or sixty years old slowly walked out from the Mahavira Hall, one tall and one short, both in gray robes and straw shoes.
The two monks stood before the Hall, ignoring the injured disciples, gazing indifferently at Hong Yuan.
The slightly taller old monk had long eyebrows and drooping eyes, sallow face, sunken cheeks, and said faintly: “Layman with such Martial Arts, why bother fighting with the juniors.”
Hong Yuan asked in return: “How should I address the two Masters?”
The sallow old monk said faintly: “This old monk is Hui Chi.”
He gestured toward the other short monk with a round face and large ears: “This is my Junior Brother Hui Zhen.”
Hong Yuan said: “So it is the esteemed Hui-generation high monks in person, my disrespect.”
“Senior Brother, why be polite with this person!” The large-eared monk Hui Zhen sneered, stepping forward: “Junior, you dare injure my Vajra Temple disciples. What backing do you have? From which sect and school? Report your name!”
“A title?” Hong Yuan had concealed his true face, so naturally wouldn’t reveal his real name now. He smiled faintly and said: “You can call me ‘Daoist Ten Thousand Calamities’, as for sect origins, heh, just a Jianghu layman.”
