White-Robed Chief

The elderly man did not notice anyone else hiding in the forest. Only the sound of swords and blades clashing came echoing from afar.

The other elderly man had been fighting Ji Xin and Zhou Jinchun by himself but he was able to overpower them and stop them from getting away. As they could not rescue Li Ruolan, their hearts had been burning with anxiety. They wished they could just ignore the man’s blade and rush over to her side to rescue her, even if it meant suffering a few injuries.

When they suddenly saw a flying blade appear, they heaved a sigh of relief and calmed their hearts.

Ji Xin raised his voice and shouted again, “Junior Sister Li, don’t worry. We can handle this!”

Li Ruolan stopped and looked over to him.

She had guessed that Ji Xin’s earlier shouting had been aimed at Zhao Dahe. He had been trying to force Zhao Dahe to make a move.

She secretly sighed.

No matter how bad their falling-out had been, Junior Brother Zhao would never watch her fall into a dangerous situation without doing anything. Therefore, Senior Brother Ji had made use of this to force Junior Brother Zhao to intervene. Nonetheless, Junior Brother Zhao was a very intelligent person and would certainly not turn a blind eye to Senior Brother Ji’s little scheme, so he was probably going to hold this against Senior Brother Ji.

Zhou Jinchun yelled, “Junior Brother Zhao!”

“Tsh, tsh!” Two whistling noises were heard as Chu Li launched another attack.

“Ding, ding…” The long blades were sent flying out of the two elderly men’s hands.

Seeing as the situation was turning against them, the two elderly men turned around and left immediately.

With Chu Li’s current cultivation level, it was not a difficult task for him to kill them. Although these two men’s cultivation levels were slightly higher than that of the White Tiger Sect elders, they were incapable of warding off his flying blades.

However, since he was pretending that he had not restored his cultivation level, the destructive force of his Light Blade should not be as great as before. If he killed them in one go, others might find it suspicious.

Chu Li glided over and landed in front of Li Ruolan before he held up a fist salute.

Ji Xin smiled and said, “As expected, Junior Brother Zhao has been by our side all this while.”

Chu Li stared at him intensely. “You guys have been traveling too slowly.”

He could see the petty thoughts that had been running through Ji Xin’s mind very clearly, but he was not bothered by them. A girl in love was usually blind to see the guy she liked for who he really was. If she could be slightly more clear-headed, then she would be calmer. In that case, she would not have liked the guy as much as before.

Ji Xin had a handsome face. However, no matter how good-looking he was, without a kind heart, he would gradually lose his charm.

Zhou Jinchun laughed and said, “Junior Brother Zhao, why don’t you join us? The four of us can just travel together. With your Light Blade, who would dare to come and seek their death?”

“Indeed, indeed.” Ji Xin grinned. “We can travel together.”

Chu Li turned to Li Ruolan. “Senior Sister Li?”

“It’s up to you.” Li Ruolan seemed like she was trying to keep him at arm’s length.

Chu Li nodded. “Since Senior Sister Li isn’t against it, I shall listen to Senior Brother Ji and Senior Brother Zhou!”

…

As the four of them hurried on with their journey, Zhou Jinchun treated Chu Li very warmly as he told him many fascinating stories about the Holy Church of Light. Chu Li listened to his stories with great interest.

Initially, Ji Xin had shown no interest in talking to the guys and had tried to make conversation with Li Ruolan. However, as Li Ruolan had responded to him in a rather indifferent manner, he stopped bothering her, and turned to Chu Li and Zhou Jinchun to join in their conversation.

Li Ruolan barely spoke a word to them. Since a white veil covered her face, it was hard to read her expression as well.

With Chu Li around, they soon relaxed and were not as anxious to hurry on with their journey. They rested for a night before they carried on their travels without haste the next day.

At noon, when they arrived at a mountain peak, they sat on a huge rock on the summit of the mountain. As they gazed down at the vast forest below them and stared at the distant white clouds in the clear blue sky, a sense of leisure sprang up in their hearts.

“Haha, Junior Brother Zhao, with a martial arts master like you by our side, we feel very safe and protected now.” Zhou Jinchun shook his head and sighed happily. “We don’t have to be in a constant state of anxiety anymore!”

Chu Li replied, “Senior Brother Zhou, I’m not invincible either.”

“Your Light Blade is pretty invincible,” Zhou Jinchun said while he sighed admirably. “How many people can actually withstand its power? I’ve heard that quite a few elders of White Tiger Sect have died at your hands. With your skills, you can really go anywhere you like!”

Chu Li replied, “I have yet recovered my cultivation level.”

“Don’t worry,” Zhou Jinchun said. “You’re quite powerful!”

Chu Li muttered, “I’m just afraid that we’ll encounter people from Hai Cang Mountain!”

His expression turned grave.

“Those people from Hai Cang Mountain are scary indeed,” Zhou Jinchun said. “Based on what I’ve heard, their sword technique is unimaginably destructive. We have to be very careful when we’re fighting them.”

Chu Li glanced at the mountainside.

A few silhouettes emerged from the forest and glided over the treetops as though they were treading on flat ground before they rushed up to the mountain peak.

In the blink of an eye, these six silhouettes appeared in front of Chu Li and the other three of them. All of them immediately unsheathed and stabbed their swords forward. Like lightning, the tip of the swords was in front of them.

“These are disciples of Hai Cang Mountain. Don’t fight them head-on!” Li Ruolan shouted while she waved her sword around with her left hand.

“Tsh, tsh, tsh, tsh…” Chu Li kept flicking his wrists.

“Ding, ding, ding, ding…” The sound of swords clashing with one another echoed continuously.

As Chu Li’s energy blades collided with their swords, the swords were immediately sent flying out of their hands.

They each unsheathed another sword with their left hands and together, they charged toward Chu Li. Two of them swung their swords around in front of them as though they were holding two shields while the other four followed closely behind them.

Chu Li was amazed.

He had never expected that these Hai Cang Mountain disciples would be armed with two swords, and neither had he thought that they would be taught to wield swords with both their right and left hands. Unfortunately, they had only two swords each; two swords were not enough.

He smiled coldly and continuously shot out energy blades. He had reduced the destructive force of his blades on purpose to allow them to move closer and closer to him.

He used the Omniscient Mirror to observe their thoughts. The four people at the back were waiting to reach an optimum distance to kill him in one hit. So as they moved closer to him, their urge to rush out and attack him grew increasingly stronger.

Chu Li had also been waiting for them to get closer to him.

Abruptly, he threw out two flying blades and beat them to it before they could launch their attack.

“Ding…” Two long swords were sent flying away.

As Chu Li continued to flick his wrists, energy blades shot into the chests of the two men at the front.

At that moment, the two men were sent flying into the air, and the four people behind them became exposed.

Caught off guard, the four men failed to attack him at a critical moment. When his flying blades suddenly shot towards them, they were only four steps away from him. So, they had no way to dodge his unexpected attack but were sent flying away as well.

In mid-air, they spat out a mouthful of blood.

Chu Li raised his eyebrows in surprise and said, “Hai Cang Mountain is very wealthy indeed!”

These six men were all wearing treasured armors that were impervious to weapons. Due to that, all of them had managed to block his flying blades.

With the help of the force from the flying blades, the six men coughed out a mouthful of dark-red blood in the air before they turned around to escape. Chu Li did not launch another round of attack as he watched them leave.

Li Ruolan frowned. “It’s Hai Cang Mountain again!”

Chu Li said, “Senior Sister Li, these people are leaving rather easily. Judging by how they’ve been coming one wave after another, there should be one more awaiting us. It should be their trump card!”

“It’s probably going to be some martial arts master from the Reincarnation Temple.” Li Ruolan’s frown grew deeper.

Clearly, she was very wary of the martial arts masters from the Reincarnation Temple.

Ji Xin and Zhou Jinchun both seemed to be filled with anxiety.

Li Ruolan said, “We should leave this place soon. Let’s try our best to avoid the Reincarnation Temple!”

Chu Li nodded. While he was quite curious about the monks of the Reincarnation Temple, he knew that they were very dangerous people. Now was not the right time to meet them, considering that he would always have the chance to meet them in the future.

“Namo Amitabha!” a mighty chant echoed.

A monk in a loose-fitting red cowl glided over like a leaf drifting in the wind. His loose red cowl fluttered along with the wind.

His chant continued to resound loudly through the skies and everywhere around them.

He seemed to bear no feelings of hostility as he landed soundlessly before the four of them. He joined his palms in obeisance. “I’m Zhi Shan. Greetings, almsgivers.”

Chu Li frowned as he stared at the monk.

There was a huge silhouette of a Buddha behind the head of this Monk Zhi Shan. The huge silhouette was faintly discernible as it loomed behind the monk. It seemed to be chanting the Earth Matrix and Reincarnation Scripture while Zhi Shan appeared to be shrouded in a strange force.

He knew that the others could not see this huge silhouette.

He could see it because he had achieved a certain level of cultivation in the Earth Matrix and Reincarnation Scripture. That strange force was the inner energy produced by the Earth Matrix and Reincarnation Scripture. His inner energy could never compare with this pure and refined inner energy.

Monk Zhi Shan was giving off a rather peculiar aura. At first glance, he appeared to be a fair-skinned young man with youthful features. However, upon closer observation of his aura, he seemed like a middle-aged man as well. The frown lines between his eyebrows emitted a sense of age and maturity, making it impossible to tell how old he truly was.