Chapter 529: Black-Robed Monk! White-Robed Elder! Street Clash! Young Married Woman!

Although he no longer had the intent to continue testing, Li Yanchu didn’t immediately remove the Golden Radiance Crown.

If he took it off, he’d appear in the inn during broad daylight as a fully visible person, which would be terrifying for anyone witnessing it and could disrupt his own business.

“This invisibility granted by your crown is impressive; no one will be able to see you, so don’t worry,” the innkeeper said with understanding.

“You sure know a lot,” Li Yanchu said dryly.

The innkeeper suddenly blushed and spat at him, “What nonsense are you talking about?”

Li Yanchu froze. He felt that just now, the innkeeper’s mind had been wandering... inappropriately.

The inn bustled with people coming and going, yet no one noticed him, nor did anyone hear the innkeeper muttering to herself.

“Demonic monk, today is your death day!” a cold shout suddenly rang out on the street.

A white-robed elder monk slammed his staff into the ground with tremendous force, exuding a powerful aura.

“Yuanjue, don’t push me too far. Be careful, or I’ll turn this entire Wei City into a living hell, then you’ll face the consequences of your sins!” a black-robed monk said grimly.

The white-robed elder frowned. He was fairly confident he could defeat this demon monk, but his opponent was a cruel practitioner of the Demonic Dao, and innocents could easily get hurt.

Already, the aura from the two monks chilled everyone nearby on the street.

At this time, the black-robed monk felt frustrated. His disciple, Fa Neng, had been killed. Following the last trace of Fa Neng’s soul, he had tracked it to Wei City, determined to exact revenge.

But the journey had been far from smooth. Sometimes he made mistakes while practicing, damaging his meridians. Other times, righteous cultivators recognized him and attacked. Even entering the city, he was struck by a horse-drawn carriage!

These incidents had consumed a lot of his internal power and left him injured. Still, he arrived in Wei City, suppressed his aura, and prepared to quietly assess what powerful cultivators were present.

Yet, upon entering, he immediately encountered a white-robed elder who also recognized him. The black-robed monk used a skill akin to the Buddhist divine stride to weave through the streets, but Yuanjue blocked him in front of the inn.

He had come for revenge, carrying a fragment of Fa Neng’s soul. When facing the killer, he would naturally sense it.

Before that, he had no intention of dueling with Yuanjue. So he resorted to using innocent civilians as leverage.

Clang!

A flash of light from a blade cut through the air, followed by a heavy chop. Although the black-robed monk looked like an elderly man half in the grave, and his face covered with spots of decay, his movements were lightning-fast. He inhaled deeply, and a golden ancient bell suddenly appeared before him.

Clang clang clang clang clang!

The dense flashes of blade struck the golden ancient bell, producing a heavy, resonant clang with sparks flying in all directions, as if someone were hammering a blazing-hot iron block with a sledgehammer.

A defiant young man wielding twin sabers showed a flicker of surprise in his eyes. Yet he moved like the wind, and the sabers flashed fast as lightning as he struck heavily at the black-robed monk.

Whoosh!

From the crowd, a sword light shot forward, instantly splitting into thousands of sword flashes, raining down heavily upon the monk.

Then, a cold and composed female Daoist emerged from the crowd; her fingers formed precise hand seals, her expression icy. She was extraordinarily beautiful, radiating a sense of austere elegance.

Despite the ambush, the black-robed monk remained completely unharmed. He stepped forward, and the green bricks underfoot cracked, spreading outward like a web.

“Buddha’s Light Illuminates All!”

The white-robed elder tossed his gold alms bowl into the air; it expanded in the wind, enveloping the black-robed monk, his overwhelming aura coming to a halt. Even so, the surrounding civilians were terrified, scattering in every direction.

“Patron Xiao, you’re far too impatient!” the white-robed monk said calmly.

The defiant young man said nothing; his twin sabers moved like storm lightning, energy erupting with every cun, and he forcibly shattered the black-robed monk’s golden bell shield. His twin sabers seemed to grow stronger the faster he swung them.

“Demonic monk! So this golden bell shield is all you’ve got?!” Xiao Ce sneered.

The black-robed monk’s cold face betrayed no emotion, only a faint twitch at the corner of his mouth.

“Then, take my palm attack!”

With that, the black-robed monk traced a mysterious arc with his palm, striking heavily.

Bang!

His single palm attack sent Xiao Ce flying! He raised his twin sabers to guard his chest, barely deflecting the blow, yet he still staggered backward, overturning a nearby street stall before collapsing to the ground with his chest soaked in blood. The black-robed monk’s strength was overwhelmingly formidable!

The white-robed elder stepped forward to intercept, his punch a standard Black Tiger Heart Strike[1], an ordinary martial move.

But bolstered by the white-robed elder’s powerful Buddhist physique, it struck with the force of an earth-shattering, unstoppable impact.

The black-robed monk lightly stomped, and the green bricks beneath shot up into the air, forming an earthen wall to block the elder’s fist. Then, he unleashed another heavy palm attack.

Boom!

Debris flew everywhere.

This time, the two of them were evenly matched. From behind, sharp sword flashes streaked toward the black-robed monk for a surprise attack.

But the black-robed monk flicked his wide sleeve, effortlessly drawing all the sword flashes into it.

“

Universe in the Sleeve

[2]

!

”

The coldly composed female Daoist, Ding Rou, gasped in surprise.

In the next moment, the black-robed monk hurled all those sword flashes toward the white-robed elder. In response, the white-robed elder brought his hands together, and a golden phantom appeared before him.

Clang clang clang clang clang!

The dense barrage of strikes rang incessantly. Then, the black-robed monk moved again, unleashing another heavy palm, the crushing force slamming against the white-robed elder.

However, the elder did not budge. Having the opportunity to break through the third realm, he was at the peak of the second realm, and he was an elite combatant.

His robust Buddhist physique provided extreme defense, and he had activated the Acala[3]’s divine skill.

Then, the black-robed monk’s movement shifted; he lunged toward an ordinary pedestrian’s neck. It was a fair-skinned young mother cradling an infant with big eyes, radiant like fertile land after a spring rain. But she turned pale in terror, desperately trying to flee.

Even the venerable Yuanjue couldn’t stop him at this speed.

Yet as a righteous cultivator, sometimes one could not hesitate. For this was a demonic and perverse practitioner, and letting him go could result in unpredictable harm. Sometimes, exorcising evil must take precedence.

Otherwise... the moment he had seen the black-robed monk in the city, he wouldn’t have dared act.

1. “黑虎掏心” (Black Tiger Heart Strike) is not an idiom, nor does it have a classical origin. It is a descriptive phrase most commonly seen in martial arts routines. As a martial arts term, it refers to a specific combat technique; in a more general sense, it is used to describe one fighter striking another’s chest with a punch, likened to a fierce tiger attacking its prey. In “黑虎,” the character “黑” conveys ferocity and savagery, rather than literally referring to a black-colored tiger.

“黑虎掏心” is essentially an animal-imitation movement, used to emphasize the move’s ruthlessness, precision, and power.

“黑虎掏心” is a signature move used by Black Heart Tiger and Black Little Tiger, father and son, in the animated series The Legend of Hongmao and Lantu: The Seven Swordsmen, produced by Hongmeng Cartoon. Its power is considered average. ☜

2. “Universe in the Sleeve” (袖里乾坤) is a magical technique used by Zhenyuan Daxian, the Patriarch of Earth Immortals, in the Ming-dynasty novel

Journey to the West.

This art allows the practitioner to draw targets into his sleeve, and it was once used to capture Tang Sanzang, his three disciples, and the White Dragon Horse. The technique is performed by unfurling one’s robe sleeve and possesses extraordinarily powerful spatial control, showcasing Zhenyuanzi’s profound cultivation and status as the foremost of the Earth Immortals. ☜

3. Acala 不动明王 is a wrathful deity and dharmapala (protector of the Dharma) prominent in Vajrayana Buddhism and East Asian Buddhism.

Originally a minor deity described as a messenger or acolyte of the buddha Vairocana, Acala later rose to prominence as an object of veneration in his own right as a remover of obstacles and destroyer of evil, eventually becoming seen as the wrathful manifestation of either Vairocana, the Buddha Akṣobhya, or the Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī. ☜