Subduing Evil and Upholding Justice

Tianhu’s black energy, as if it could feel his emotions, expanded its radius, wrapping around him as though it was his armour. He was a man who could look refined with a fan in hand, but his true calling was standing on a battlefield, and there was no evidence more captivating than the upward curve on his lips.

In the blink of an eye, Tianhu had a wall of various weapons from his blade energy that were all constructed better than a blacksmith could’ve forged. Despite his affiliation, and contrary to the lotus, all the weapons oozed an aberrant aura akin to that of fiends and demons that smelt blood.

Tianhu launched his weapons without creating a sound, yet the bursts of qi could’ve compared to a cannon being fired from a desolate mountain. The consecutive attacks would’ve destroyed a military formation, yet he didn’t think he could defeat the monk who managed to stop all the weapons six inches in front of him.

Venerable Monk Jiyi placed his hands into prayer, shut his eyes and started reciting a scripture. Gradually, a faint green glow covered his surroundings. Not even Enlightenment could penetrate the wall of green energy. Not only could he trap his enemies inside an illusion, but he could also barricade himself inside his energy fortress. All Tianhu’s weapons could do was circle around six inches away from the thin wall.

Tianhu could tell that the other side of the green wall was an actual world different to the one he was in since he had been in there. All human emotions existed in the world, but, putting it crudely, it sucked. It was… boring. The boring nature of the world inside the illusion disappointed him more than anything about the world. Illusions were meant to be different to reality, weren’t they? Otherwise, who’d want to stay in there? In his opinion, it’d have been more entertaining to change reality. That was the impetus for him to wake from the illusion, and nobody or anything could stop him once he chose to. Fate couldn’t bind him, and illusions weren’t going to start.

Insulted that his opponent would think he could be stopped with an illusion, Tianhu unleashed his plethora of weapons down upon the top of the green fortress.

In spite of the fortress starting to flicker and distort under the pressure, Venerable Monk Jiyi remained unshakeable. He never assumed he’d be able to destroy Tianhu in one shot; that’d have been unforgivable arrogance and stupidity. He wasn’t going to let himself be a fool, not even once. Besides, it’d have been disappointing if the notorious Tianhu only took one shot to finish.

Behind the composed and emotionless exterior of the mysterious monk were a pair of eyes that had always been monitoring the pugilistic world and a mind constantly fanning to the flames. Even though he seldom personally involved himself, he had a clear pulse on the pugilistic world and imperial court.

Venerable Monk Jiyi didn’t know the details of every elite combatant in the imperial court’s employment; however, he left no stones unturned in trying to study The Ultimate Three and their processes.

The Qilin Guards still put their disciples still put their disciples through hell to expedite their growth, and one of the disciples would be selected as the next grand commander. That was how Baima was chosen and was also how he trained his disciples.

As for Liu Shan Men, not even Venerable Monk Jiyi ever thought about opposing Shen Wuzheng for the latter genuinely respected even his enemies. That being said, there was one representative of Liu Shan Men who was always in the picture. There was never a moronic debate about who the imperial court’s strongest individual was, and the three offices never competed in an embarrassing manner. When he was still in office, everybody did their best to try to keep up with him. When the man who dedicated half of his life to combating Divine Moon Cult was still in office, the thought of opposing the imperial court never even crossed Venerable Monk Jiyi’s mind.

Venerable Monk Jiyi met Ximen Chuideng at Lawless Cliff after the latter drove off Blood Demon’s force. Blood Demon had great intellect; the army, though… Nonetheless, there was no force that could stop the combined might of Cold Mountain Temple and Mount Lu Sword Sanctuary.

Venerable Monk Jiyi wouldn’t make the mistake of displaying his true skills in the presence of elites and risk divulging the origins of his martial arts. Thus, he headed to the apex of Lawless Cliff, where he saw the man he’d never forget after one glance. That man was the true definition of a demon in Venerable Monk Jiyi’s book.

Notwithstanding how many adepts had gathered atop Lawless Cliff, notwithstanding how big their advantage was, everyone was tense solely because of one man, solely because of Ximen Chuideng. It should’ve been considered the greatest honour in life to fight Ximen Chuideng and the hardest fight of one’s life. Anyone who could’ve ticked off the bucket-list item and lived to tell the tale was not somebody to trifle with. If Yan Shisan was still in office, Venerable Monk Jiyi wouldn’t have been here tonight. Perhaps not even the White Princes would’ve considered opposing the imperial court. There was no worst feeling than wanting to do something but being unable to do so.

Liu Shan Men’s representative for The Ultimate Three was always their office’s internal pick. If they didn’t have someone worthy, then they wouldn’t pick someone or go out of their way to train someone as was evident during the current generation of Liu Shan Men.

Emperor’s Entourage had a rather unique way of selecting their representative. Tianhu was an alias that had been used since the first era, but the first generation Tianhu actually used the Yinglong alias. Regardless, Tianhu was present during the Yinglong era in a number of pivotal events. He was connected to a lot of events, yet there was no concrete proof that he was involved. Even in the last few eras, only His Majesty knew Tianhu’s background – or if he even existed. The current Tianhu was the most distinctive one in history due to him not having reservations about showing up in public and being easy-going. That all changed at the battle on Lawless Cliff.

The battle to end Divine Moon Cult’s expansion in the Central Plain came with a lot of sacrifice. Crimson Demon, better known as Ye Yun, lost his legs at the hands of Ximen Chuideng at Lawless Cliff. The man who could’ve pried anything out of anyone with his gaze alone replaced his usual cold gaze with one replete with bloodlust. While Ye Yun didn’t fall into a pit of depression afterwards, he did step down from his duties.

Since Ye Yun, who was Tianhu at the time, lost his legs, the next Tianhu should’ve been chosen. It was acceptable to pick a Tianhu who wasn’t part of Emperor’s Entourage; however, they needed to be someone Ye Yun and the imperial family could trust. Hence, Ye Yun brought the next Tianhu back. Not even His Majesty knew the current Tianhu’s background, but he was acknowledged, so he was qualified to inherit the post. Venerable Monk Jiyi could testify in support of that right now.

When the hail of weapons finally cracked the green fortress, Venerable Monk Jiyi finally saw a concrete picture of the mysterious young man.

So, violence is your nature?

The barrier shouldn’t have broken since it wasn’t predicated on strength but principles of the world. Therefore, the only explanation was that Tianhu had figured out how the discipline worked and identified a chink to exploit. There shouldn’t have been a chink since Venerable Monk Jiyi’s martial arts discipline derived from nature. In other words, Tianhu had to have learnt the workings of the world. No matter how smart and strong Tianhu was, working out a solution within one exchange was unbelievable, yet there was no denying he did. Perhaps it was possible if Tianhu had maximised his Karma.

Before the weapons could hack him apart, Venerable Monk Jiyi enunciated, “Second step.”

Venerable Monk Jiyi expended another field of green energy, erasing the weapons from existence. Contests of Enlightenment were rarely decided in physical exchanges. He subsequently took one step forward. His green energy rose and crashed against the black energy no differently to ocean waves. Another lotus came into existence.

Unlike the last lotus, the lotus that formerly trapped Tianhu no longer had the occasional illusionary nature anymore; it was a simple, authentic lotus.

Whilst thinking of a counter to his opponent who dialled up the intensity, Tianhu heard, “Third step,” and saw his opponent take another step forward.

Venerable Monk Jiyi’s lotus destroyed Tianhu’s weapons, and then a large Buddha that made Tianhu’s weapons resemble a child’s toys spawned from the centre of the lotus.

“It is over,” declared Venerable Monk Jiyi.

The colossal Buddha placed his hands in prayer and scowled!

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