Chapter 405: Li Ling Has Grown Up

A figure suddenly burst forth, its skin radiating golden Buddha light. It shattered Li Wei-yi's outer manifestation of his Dao Heart and struck his back with a palm. Though seemingly tall and corpulent, its speed was astonishingly quick. Its spiritual energy, both in purity and density, far exceeded Li Wei-yi's. It was a top-tier expert who had condensed a Dao Fruit.

“Forward!”

Li Wei-yi pressed his finger to his forehead.

His body became scorching hot and bright, flickering twenty zhang away and narrowly dodging the palm strike.

With a thunderous boom, the palm strike exploded the air, flattening a patch of graves in front of them.

Li Wei-yi's figure flickered, quickly widening the distance from his opponent. He landed on a tombstone and observed.

It was a martial cultivator with a pure immortal body, dressed in a purple kasaya. Standing about 2.5 meters tall, it had a string of Buddha beads, polished from golden bones, hanging around its neck. Its head was round, plump, and fair, and its belly was as large as a water tank.

After its palm strike hit nothing but air, the Buddhist cultivator showed a look of surprise. It peered at Li Wei-yi, who had retreated dozens of zhang away. “You’re the one who committed that heinous slaughter last night in Nanhua Market, aren’t you?”

“I only killed those who deserved to die,” Li Wei-yi said.

The large-bellied Buddhist cultivator said, “Killing my Coffin Mountain disciples is a capital crime; not even the Buddha will spare you.”

Li Wei-yi recognized the opponent's extraordinary power; he couldn't possibly be in the Inferior Root Dao Seed Realm.

Which perfected being with a pure immortal body wasn't already widely renowned?

Therefore, he asked, “Which of the three Grand Zen Masters of Coffin Mountain are you?”

“I am Grand Zen Master Xinku!”

Grand Zen Master Xinku took a single stride, leaving a large footprint behind him. Spanning dozens of zhang, he formed the Demon Subduing Mudra with his palm and unleashed a golden palm-print Daoist spell several zhang in size.

Even before the palm-print Daoist spell fully descended, the ground beneath Li Wei-yi's feet had already caved in.

“Fight!”

A Golden Crow flame armor appeared on Li Wei-yi. It was bright and resplendent, making his body resemble a scorching sun.

He circulated spiritual energy within his body and augmented it with external mental power.

Combining the power of spiritual energy and mental power, his arm lashed out like a whip, unleashing a heaven-overturning palm strike.

“Boom!”

Beneath Li Wei-yi's feet, rings of spiritual light and energy spread out, flattening the ground and preventing him from sinking into it.

Grand Zen Master Xinku’s palm force was completely expended. He immediately lifted his body, flew backward, and landed dozens of zhang away. He looked at his palm, greatly surprised. “What a strange young man. Are you a mental cultivator or a martial artist?”

Li Wei-yi summoned the Myriad Things Staff-Spear. His figure was tall and straight, his eyes cold as frost. “You killed these common people, didn’t you? What wrong did they commit? As a powerful expert of the seventh heaven of the Dao Seed Realm, why did you torment them? You should have come for me; I killed the cult members.”

The three Grand Zen Masters of Coffin Mountain represented the three most talented individuals in the Dao Seed Realm and were specially cultivated.

The Grand Zen Master Xinku before him was a disciple of Xu Fodu. Like his master, he relished cannibalism, and his notoriety was widespread in the southern regions, with too many evil deeds to recount. His name, once it appeared in a city, would immediately cause widespread panic.

Li Wei-yi, his entire body ablaze with flames, suddenly charged forward. Propelling the spear with mental power, he slashed down, leaving a bright trail of light.

“So fast.”

Grand Zen Master Xinku raised a golden bell with both hands, casting a defensive Daoist spell.

The golden bell was three zhang tall, with scriptures flickering on its surface. Each rotation released powerful golden energy waves.

“Clang!”

Li Wei-yi struck the golden bell with his spear, and its sound roared like thunder.

A blinding beam of light surged from the spear tip, forcing Grand Zen Master Xinku to rapidly retreat ten zhang. He quickly checked his body and breathed a sigh of relief, seeing that his purple kasaya had blocked the beam.

“Who exactly are you? At your age, to possess such combat power, you should have been renowned throughout the world long ago.”

Grand Zen Master Xinku dared not underestimate his opponent. He took the prayer beads from his neck and began spinning them on his wrist.

As the prayer beads were activated, a powerful storm swept across the surrounding ground, even lifting some tombstones into the air.

Li Wei-yi’s killing intent was potent. Too disinclined to speak further with his opponent, he raised his spear and charged.

“Boom! Boom…”

The outer manifestations of their Dao Hearts and mental power fields continuously collided. Amplified by the spear, the heat waves from the Golden Crow flames seared Grand Zen Master Xinku’s skin, causing him pain. His purple kasaya was utterly unable to fully block them.

The more Grand Zen Master Xinku fought, the more alarmed he became. He felt that his opponent was fighting effortlessly, while he himself was nearly unable to hold on.

Just as he began to contemplate retreat, Li Wei-yi released the light and shadow of the Fuso Divine Tree. As the spear swung, the divine tree's branches pierced through Grand Zen Master Xinku’s protective spiritual energy and scriptures.

The spear tip landed on his left shoulder and sliced downwards.

“Pfft!”

Grand Zen Master Xinku spat out blood and was sent flying. A long, horrifying wound was torn open across his chest.

Flames entered his body, causing excruciating burning pain.

Li Wei-yi gave him no chance to catch his breath. Simultaneously, he mobilized his mental power and spiritual energy, unleashing the Cinder Extinguishing Finger Art.

The powerful and domineering flame finger strike, its might comparable to imperial arts, traversed a distance of more than ten zhang and struck Grand Zen Master Xinku. Grand Zen Master Xinku activated his prayer beads, raising dozens of Buddha statues to resist.

“Bang!”

All the Buddha statues disintegrated, and he was sent flying, his body crashing into the ground.

Upon seeing Li Wei-yi release the Fuso Divine Tree’s light and shadow, Grand Zen Master Xinku felt a sense of familiarity, as if he had an impression in his mind, something he’d heard mentioned before. When the Cinder Extinguishing Finger Art was unleashed, he suddenly had a revelation.

“So it’s you! How are you so strong? You betrayed the Divine Cult…”

Grand Zen Master Xinku saw Li Wei-yi charging like a malevolent deity and was terrified. Daring not to confront him again, he immediately performed an Earth Escape technique, diving headfirst into the soil.

He didn’t know what had transpired in Lingxiao City, having never deliberately inquired about Li Wei-yi’s whereabouts. Thus, he was utterly shocked: did that Fourth Divine Son truly possess the strength to defeat him now?

How old was this kid?

Hadn’t it been said that he struggled even when using the King Art?

Li Wei-yi’s mental power locked onto him, discovering that Grand Zen Master Xinku’s mastery of escape Daoist techniques was astonishing; he instantly appeared several li away. Li Wei-yi pursued him above ground, and only after catching up did he suddenly plunge beneath the surface.

Grand Zen Master Xinku fled along the surface of an underground river of blood. Hearing the thunderous rumble from behind him, he glanced back and was immediately terrified.

He saw Li Wei-yi, entirely enveloped in Golden Crow flames, emerge underground, walking on water with astonishing speed.

“Fuzhou is teeming with Divine Cult experts. Chasing me like this, you’re exposing your whereabouts. Do you truly believe you’re invincible?” Grand Zen Master Xinku fled with all his might, but the distance between them steadily closed.

“Whoosh!”

Li Wei-yi unleashed a finger strike from a distance.

“Boom!”

Grand Zen Master Xinku narrowly avoided it.

The rock wall of the underground river nearby was blasted, forming a deep crater with signs of melted rock.

At this moment, he was filled with deep regret. If only he had known, he wouldn’t have killed people in a fit of rage to vent his anger.

“Whoosh!”

Another finger strike came flying.

This time, Grand Zen Master Xinku couldn’t evade it. His purple kasaya shattered, and the sound of bones breaking echoed from his back.

Wincing in pain, he pulled a handful of talismans from his robes and scattered them all behind him. Then, he spat out a bead and placed it on the profusely bleeding wound on his chest.

The bead seemed like a living creature, frantically absorbing the blood from his body.

Grand Zen Master Xinku let out a miserable shriek, trembling all over. In moments, at least one-third of the blood in his body was absorbed by the bead, causing his body to shrink noticeably.

He then transformed into a streak of blood-red light and shot out at an incredible speed.

Li Wei-yi burst out from the clusters of talismanic light. He released his mental power to sense, but couldn't locate Grand Zen Master Xinku even ten li away. He sighed inwardly, “Someone like this, able to survive until now, truly possesses extraordinary escape methods.”

“If a disciple is so cruel and ruthless, how vicious must the master be?”

Li Wei-yi’s expression changed. Sensing a dangerous force rapidly approaching, he immediately retracted his mental power field, concealed his aura, and swiftly escaped the area.

This was the drawback of releasing a mental power field and the outer manifestation of one’s Dao Heart.

While searching for others, one also exposes one's own position.

Perception cannot be freely released over a large area, even for transcendent beings.

Li Wei-yi pursued Grand Zen Master Xinku for over a hundred li, then stealthily fled for half a day. By afternoon, he didn't even know his own location.

Alone, walking on a muddy road a zhang wide, he decided to head to a nearby town to inquire about the events of the past few days, then decide his next course of action.

After experiencing last night’s tragedy, Li Wei-yi profoundly realized the cost of doing things halfway.

It would have been better if he hadn't saved them at all in the first place.

That way, they wouldn’t have harbored hope or yearned for a future, nor would they have faced a second wave of despair and pain.

Wasn't what happened in Lingxiao City a case of starting something and then abandoning it midway?

In the evening, the clouds on the horizon were ablaze with color.

“Whoosh!”

A carriage slowly approached from a distant low mountain, winding along a muddy road and leaving two deep wheel tracks.

Li Wei-yi stepped aside to let it pass.

Unexpectedly, the carriage stopped.

Inside the carriage, a long-unheard melodious voice rang out: “Get in!”

Li Wei-yi’s dull eyes instantly lit up. He saw that the driver was actually a departed spirit, dressed in gray, wearing a conical hat, and devoid of any vitality.

He quickly boarded the carriage and saw Li Ling sitting inside, his expression filled with disbelief. “How did you find me?”

Li Ling was no longer the young girl she once was. Nearly nineteen, she had grown taller and her figure was more developed; she was now an exceptionally elegant beauty.

She chuckled, her voice like the ‘Zen Sea Gazing at Mist’. “You forgot, we can sense each other’s location within a certain distance.”

Li Wei-yi said, “But I didn’t sense you.”

“You were preoccupied with heavy thoughts; how could you have thought of looking for me?” Zen Sea Gazing at Mist said.

Li Wei-yi said, “I was just about to look for you, and the three masters, to discuss some matters…”

Zen Sea Gazing at Mist gently raised her arm, interrupting him. “The three of them have already returned home. Even with risks, they must go back to summon reinforcements. The situation is more critical than ever. Do you want to return to Lingxiao City with me?”

She said ‘return,’ not ‘go.’

To her, Lingxiao City was her home, the domain she had established.

“Return!”

Li Wei-yi didn’t hesitate for a moment, answering her and, in a way, himself.