Chapter 3: Transcendence

When the first sound rang out, everyone in the room didn't react. The second sound. Bang! Seeing that man, his eye slits cracked, his pupils burst out, as if a colorful cloth shop had opened, reds, blacks, purples all blooming out. The entire head had exploded. Then the third and fourth sounds. Bang! Bang! Two more pools of liquid splashed out, the headless corpse softly collapsing. "Amitabha..." Yong Jie sighed. The Seven Ghosts of Meishan, now only the one who had taken the knife remained. He was frightened by this bizarre scene, wanting to escape but not daring. After a long while, he trembled and said, "Mysterious Heaven Finger... but it's a high-level expert from the Mani Cult..." He recognized the martial arts with which Li Miao had killed. It was something that shouldn't be said but wasn't, although Li Miao basically held a see-one-kill-one attitude toward the Ming Cult, this "Mysterious Heaven Finger" was really effective, and in recent years, Li Miao had used it more than the Iron Punishment Battle Post. Li Miao didn't look at him but turned to Yong Jie and said, "Master, do you have anything to say to him?" Yong Jie closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. "Benefactor Li, the monk has nothing to say." "Yesterday's cause, today's fruit. They deserve to die, and the monk deserves to die too." "It's just that anyone in the world can kill them, but the monk has no such qualification." "Benefactor, using martial arts to stop evil, the monk won't have any grudge because of that. Benefactor, please do as you wish." "Big Brother!!!" That man had been timidly looking at Li Miao. Now, hearing Yong Jie's words, he was a mix of shock and anger. He turned his head to look at Yong Jie, tears streaming down. "You—" Bang!!! The headless body fell. "Master knows how to hide." Li Miao rose, walked around the corpse, and sat down beside Yong Jie. "Just now, I saw clearly. When he turned around, your true qi was running along the hand Shaoyang meridian. Clearly preparing to use the 'Great Strength Vajra Palm'." "If I hadn't made a move, you probably wouldn't have let these few people walk out this door." Yong Jie was silent for a moment, then gave a bitter smile. "Benefactor has good eyesight. I wonder which high expert from the Mani Cult?" He had also mistaken Li Miao for a member of the Ming Cult because of the "Mysterious Heaven Finger" and not shown hostility, only secretly making some precautions. Here I should explain the "Ming Cult" in its positioning in this great Shuo. On the imperial side, it's simply a word "kill"—see one, kill one, nothing more to say. But in the jianghu and among the people, there is no consensus formed against the Ming Cult. The Ming Cult's main business is rebellion, which everyone understands, and they know to stay away from the Ming Cult to avoid being rounded up by the Jinyiwei and killed together. However, whether rebellion is good or bad depends on how the people's lives are going. In chaotic times, when the emperor is not acting like a human and making the people unable to live, everyone wants to rebel. At that time, the Ming Cult was an organization with many years of experience and the support of the masses. It's said that the founding emperor of Shuo received help from the Ming Cult. Many major sects in the jianghu have records of fighting against alien races in their halls, and there is some incense affinity. In prosperous times, when people live well, the Ming Cult is just a troublemaker and a lunatic. In the current Shuo, inherited for many years, the current emperor is not outstanding, and many flaws have already been exposed. Everyone is in a situation of "barely holding on." At this time, the jianghu's attitude toward the Ming Cult is ambiguous and two-faced. Therefore, Zuo Li Sangi and Liu Baiyun would collude with the Ming Cult so easily, and the leaders of Hengshan, Hengshan, and Songshan didn't show a determined refusal toward the Ming Cult, but only looked at which side—imperial court or Ming Cult—had greater power and then decided which side to lean toward. Therefore, Yong Jie mistaking Li Miao for a member of the Ming Cult also didn't show hostility for a while. Of course, the news from Tai'an City hasn't spread yet. When these heinous crimes spread throughout the jianghu, Yong Jie probably won't have this attitude toward Li Miao. Turning back to the current situation, when Li Miao heard Yong Jie's words, he laughed dryly. "Master, I have no relation with the Ming Cult." "I am a wandering man with no sect or faction. I don't fear deceiving my master and destroying my ancestors. I just use whatever martial arts are useful." Saying this, Li Miao raised his right hand and clenched it into a fist. His bronze-like skin suddenly emitted a golden metallic luster. "Golden Bell Armor!" Yong Jie exclaimed and looked at Li Miao solemnly: "Where did you learn my Shaolin's supreme skill?" Stealing the inheritance of other sects is taboo. This is the same for all jianghu sects. Li Miao smiled and said, "Master, don't be anxious. Shaolin has inherited for a thousand years, so naturally there are unworthy disciples spreading the supreme techniques." "I simply obtained one technique due to a coincidence and never spread it outside. As for other sects' martial arts, I have quite a few as well." With that, Li Miao gestured several times in the air with his palm. Yong Jie grew more and more shocked as he watched. "Taiji Entwined Hand, Taishan Sword Style, Tang Sect's Capture..." Li Miao's gestures were too fast, and Yong Jie couldn't even make out what the later martial arts were. He could only tell that Li Miao's casual gestures were all extremely high-level martial arts, not just forms but with both body and spirit, and the attainments were profound. Yong Jie was stunned for a moment, then shook his head with a bitter smile. It was the monk's shallow eyesight. He didn't ask Li Miao who he was from, since he had said he was a jianghu wanderer, so just treat him as such. But he didn't ask Li Miao's background, while Li Miao wanted to ask his. "Master." Li Miao tilted his head toward the headless corpse on the ground: "These few?" Yong Jie turned to look at the several headless bodies and sighed. "Before becoming a monk, there was a cause and effect." "Benefactor, may the monk give them a proper burial?" Li Miao waved his hand: "Master, do as you wish. Dead people, accounts settled." "Thank you." Saying this, Yong Jie stood up, walked to the back kitchen, found the hidden cook in the firewood room, and asked for some water and cloth. He wiped the blood off the several corpses roughly and tidied their clothes a bit, then carried the several corpses out the door. Li Miao followed behind. This place was an inn beside the official road, with few locals around, so there was no fear of being seen and reporting to the officials. The two walked into a mountain forest. Yong Jie put down the corpses, walked to an open space, and knelt. Then he started digging pits bare-handed, one after another. While digging, he muttered, "...All sentient beings who have not been liberated, their nature and consciousness are uncertain..." "Bad habits accumulate karma, good habits bear fruit. Doing good or evil, following the environment and being born..." "Moving through dust calamities, confused and hindered, like fish in a net, will be long streams, enter temporary exit, and again encounter the net..." "I should worry and think..." Every time he recited one sentence, he dug out a handful of soil and placed it aside. Li Miao frowned behind him. Yong Jie's martial arts, he had seen clearly—that this great monk was a top first-rate expert under the absolute top, like Liu Baiyun. But when he was digging the pits, he didn't use any martial arts at all, even deliberately concealing his true qi, and only used his flesh palms to dig. Not long after, his hands were already covered in blood.

(Chapter End)