Xu Qi An wanted to joke around, shouting: “Wife, come out and see the Buddha!”
However, he had no wife, and the heavy pressure emanating from that dharma image made him unable to muster any emotion, instinctively wanting to kneel and worship.
“Observatory Master, why do you dare not meet me…”
With this thunderous question, Xu Ping Zhi, who had been struggling to stand, fell to his knees.
Feeling both fear and humiliation, Second Uncle Xu supported himself with his hands on the ground, gritting his teeth: “Ning Yan, Ci Jiu, don’t kneel, stand up, stand up!!”
The last three words were shouted.
After shouting, Xu Ping Zhi received no response from his nephew and son. He looked up… his son was leaning against a pillar, veins bulging on his forehead, seemingly struggling to stay upright.
His nephew was leaning against the door, both hands on his sword, stubbornly looking up at the towering dharma image in the night sky.
Then, both his son and nephew looked over at him.
The atmosphere froze for a moment, but fortunately, Xu Ci Jiu and Xu Ning Yan discreetly averted their gazes.
Phew… These two brats still know to save face for me! Xu Ping Zhi’s embarrassment eased.
Pfft, look at Second Uncle’s cowardly appearance, he must have spent all his energy on Aunt! Xu Qi An inwardly mocked.
Father is so embarrassed, that he knelt himself and still had to shout about it. Luckily there are no outsiders here! Xu Ci Jiu secretly despised his embarrassing old father.
“Big Brother, what… what does this Buddhist monk intend to do? You… you work at the Night Watchmen’s Office, do you know any inside information?” Xu Ci Jiu stammered.
He tried his best to keep his voice from trembling.
He believed that there must have been some disagreement between the Western Regions and Great Feng, which led to the Western envoy entering the capital. Judging from the Buddhist monk’s actions tonight, the Western Regions’ attitude was clear—anger!
If not handled well, the alliance between the Western Regions and Great Feng might break, or even lead to war between nations.
As a scholar, Xu Xin Nian had an instinctive thirst for knowledge about such major events.
Xu Qi An chose his words carefully: “There is some conflict, but it’s not as serious as you imagine… I don’t know the details. In…”
Halfway through, he changed his words, because the Buddhist monk’s reaction was also beyond Xu Qi An’s expectations.
He suddenly realized something: when Monk Shen Shu was sealed in Great Feng years ago, it might not have been just mutual assistance between allies. There might be hidden truths.
If it were merely mutual assistance between allies, how could the Buddhist sect be so angry, how could they make such a big fuss?
…
At Haoqi Tower!
Wei Yuan, wearing a cyan robe, stood on the observation deck, looking up at the Buddha face that covered half the capital. Its body was infinitely large, hidden in the rolling dark clouds.
“Arhat the Killer!”
His gaze was calm, his back straight, his cyan robe fluttering fiercely in the wind as if staring down the dharma image.
In the tea room behind him, Yang Yan and Nangong Qian Rou sat cross-legged, heads lowered, struggling against the pressure of the dharma image.
The higher the cultivation, the greater the pressure felt.
“The Buddhist sect is still as powerful as ever,” Wei Yuan sighed.
As he spoke, he looked back at his two adopted children and said flatly: “If Xu Qi An were here, I guarantee he would be standing, no matter what method he used, he would be standing.”
Yang Yan and Nangong Qian Rou looked ashamed.
…
In the Imperial Palace, Emperor Yuanjing, wearing his dragon robe, walked out of the sleeping palace accompanied by the old eunuch. He looked up, and that Buddha face with furrowed brows seemed to be suspended right above the palace.
Those naturally imposing Buddha’s eyes seemed to be staring at Emperor Yuanjing.
Inside the palace, the imperial guards held their weapons, on high alert. Not one had knelt, nor showed any sign of fear or panic.
The entire palace seemed to be isolated from the majesty of the dharma image.
“Hmph!”
Emperor Yuanjing snorted coldly and turned back to the sleeping palace.
…
Among the millions of people in the capital, countless martial artists, including the jianghu people who had recently flooded into the capital, were trembling in fear tonight, as if facing the end of the world.
They felt immense fear and panic in their hearts.
At the same time, they couldn’t help but think, that this was the capital, the core city of Great Feng. Is there no one who can stop the Buddhist sect from showing off its power?
First, there was the young monk who fought in the arena for four days undefeated, and now tonight, a dharma image descends, shaking the entire capital, questioning the Observatory Master from on high.
The Observatory Master is the guardian deity of Great Feng, the only First-Grade expert.
Where does this leave the face of the court, the face of the Observatory Master, the face of millions of people in the capital?
Countless people were longing for the Observatory Master to take action.
In Sangbo, inside the newly built Yongzhen Shanhe Temple, that sword worn by the founding emperor, the brass sword, was trembling, as if waiting for its master’s call.
Amidst the eager anticipation of countless people, a clear cry rang out: “How noisy!”
The voice was pleasing to the ear, with a clear quality.
Wearing a lotus crown, and dressed in a Taiji fish robe, with a cinnabar mark between her brows, Luo Yu Heng walked out of the quiet room, her hair dancing wildly in the wind.
She looked up at the Buddha’s face, extended her fair right arm, and suddenly clenched her five fingers. From the pond, a rusty iron sword broke through the water and landed in her palm.
Luo Yu Heng lightly tossed the iron sword in her hand: “Go!”
The sword qi soared like a rainbow towards the sky.
At first, it was like a thin streak of fire, like a meteor rising against the heavens.
Soon, the sword tip supported an arc-shaped energy dome with a diameter of a hundred meters, formed by air resistance.
A moment later, the fiery red light illuminated the golden sky, shining alongside the golden dharma image. That originally thin line had grown unimaginably large.
It was like a red waterfall.
The golden dharma image snorted coldly, and two giant hands reached out from the rolling black clouds, trying to grasp the sword light.
The two golden giant hands closed, just catching the sword light that was as brilliant as the Milky Way between their palms.
The next moment, a thunderous roar exploded above the capital. The dharma image’s hands crumbled inch by inch into golden light, followed by the Buddha’s face dispersing. The red sword light mixed with the golden light, merging into a gorgeous seven-colored hue, dancing in the night sky.
This magnificent scene was probably something the common people of the capital had never seen in their lives.
“Thud…”
Xu Ping Zhi, who had just struggled to his feet, knelt again.
Xu Qi An and Xu Xin Nian once again turned their faces away, not looking at their father’s (Second Uncle’s) embarrassing scene.
Was that just now Luo Yu Heng? As expected of a Second-Grade Daoist leader. If that sword had been aimed at me… Xu Qi An’s feelings were complex at this moment.
He had dealt with Luo Yu Heng a few times, and although he knew she was a Second-Grade Daoist, he lacked a clear understanding of her strength.
It wasn’t until this moment that Xu Qi An realized how strong a Second-Grade Daoist could be.
“If I had known from the start that this woman was so fierce, I definitely wouldn’t have dared to stare at her chest before…” Xu Qi An’s spine chilled, feeling like he had been repeatedly flirting with death in the past.
Half an incense stick later, the sky returned to silence. The red and golden lights vanished, the dark clouds dispersed, and a crescent moon hung at the edge of the sky.
As if nothing had happened.
The three Xu men felt relieved. Xu Qi An sat on the doorstep, Xu Ci Jiu sat on the railing of the corridor, and Xu Ping Zhi slowly got up, saying in a deep voice:
“It’s good to be young, the body is still strong, not like me, caught off guard, can’t even stand steady.
“But your father was once a man of iron bones, charging back and forth among thousands of troops without even furrowing his brow.”
He looked up at the sky and snorted coldly: “This time I’m prepared. If it happens again, I definitely won’t lose my composure…”
As soon as he finished speaking, Buddhist chanting suddenly sounded in the night sky, and the calm clouds began to roll again.
Deep within the clouds, a golden light appeared. Accompanying the chanting, the clouds surged, and another dharma image appeared.
Unlike the previous dharma image, this one was more vivid, more lifelike, and the Buddha’s face was more fierce.
Of course, the aura was also completely different, several times stronger than before.
“Thud…”
The iron-boned Xu Ping Zhi knelt again.
However, this time, neither Xu Xin Nian nor Xu Qi An mocked him. Xu Xin Nian collapsed directly on the ground, drenched in sweat. Xu Qi An was half-kneeling, both hands supporting himself on the ground.
In his mind, he visualized that towering giant, his heart bursting with the spirit to fight heaven and earth. Then, bit by bit, he straightened his back and stood up, leaning on his sword.
Is Du’e determined to have a magical battle with the Observatory Master? Xu Qi An’s heart sank. The capital’s millions of people can’t endure such torment.
Bang!
At this moment, the sound of a door opening came.
Xu Ling Yin rubbed her eyes and stepped out of the doorway, holding onto the door frame. “Father, it’s so noisy outside…”
“Quick, go back to your room, quick!” Xu Ping Zhi shouted.
Xu Ling Yin raised her little face, her chubby finger pointing to the sky: “There are immortals in the sky.”
She watched in fascination, completely unaffected by the pressure of the dharma image.
…
“The Wrathful Vajra Dharma Image?!”
Luo Yu Heng pouted, turned back to the quiet room, and ignored it.
Among the nine great dharma images of the Buddhist sect, one of them was the Wrathful Vajra, which only First-Grade Bodhisattvas could manifest.
It was now up to the Observatory Master; it had nothing to do with her.
At this moment, at the Star-Gazing Tower, on the Eight Trigrams Platform.
The old Observatory Master, with white clothes, white hair, and a white beard, stood at the edge of the Eight Trigrams Platform, hands behind his back, his beard dancing in the night wind.
“The agreement from back then was between you and the royal family. What does it have to do with me?” the Observatory Master said impatiently.
That infinitely vast dharma image spoke, its voice rolling like waves, but only the Observatory Master could hear: “Back then if it weren’t for our Buddhist sect’s help, could you have entered the First Grade?
“Now that Shen Shu has awakened, if you don’t give the Buddhist sect an explanation, I will come to the capital myself one day.”
“If you dare to come to the capital, this old man will send you to reincarnate,” the Observatory Master sneered, and then asked, “What does your Buddhist sect want?”
“What do you want? You should know how much disaster Shen Shu will bring to our Buddhist sect once he regains his physical body,” the Vajra dharma image roared.
“Then do you know how much disaster Shen Shu would bring to our Great Feng if he continued to be sealed in Sangbo?” the Observatory Master asked in return.
The Vajra dharma image said: “The mess your Star-Watching Department created, you want our Buddhist sect to clean up?”
“It’s come to this point, what’s the use of saying these useless things? Your dharma image can only last for half a quarter of an hour. If you have something to say, say it quickly. Don’t disturb the capital’s citizens’ sleep,” the Observatory Master said impatiently.
“Two things: First, investigate the whereabouts of the remnants of the Myriad Beasts Kingdom and find Shen Shu’s severed arm. Second, the Buddhist sect wants to borrow your Celestial Mechanism Plate for three years.”
“If you have the ability, come and take it,” the Observatory Master said calmly.
“Fine!”
The Vajra Dharma image dispersed.
…
“Huh, they didn’t fight this time?”
Xu Qi An looked at the sky. That Vajra dharma image with its godlike aura had already dispersed, without the earth-shattering battle from before.
It had just condensed in the sky for a while before dispersing.
Xu Ping Zhi and Xu Er Lang slowly exhaled, feeling as if they had been drained.
“Ling Yin, don’t just stand there stupidly, come help your father and Second Brother back to their rooms,” Xu Qi An called out.
“Get lost!”
Xu Ping Zhi spat at his nephew, cursing: “Come here yourself, what’s the use of raising you for twenty years?”
Xu Qi An hurried over to help.
After sending Second Uncle and Second Young Master back to their rooms, Xu Qi An communicated with Monk Shen Shu in his mind: “Master, Master… did you see what happened just now?”