First Entry into Lingkong 134: Beating a Dog in the Water

Gao Yunxiang realized the situation was turning unfavorable, so he hurriedly withdrew his moves, shifted his stance, leaped into the air, and delivered a descending strike titled "Divine Descends to Conquer Demons."

Luo Mingyuan stood firm as a mountain and thrust out a finger with the technique "A Single Breath Pierces the Firmament," unleashing a stream of finger force straight at Gao Yunxiang's chest.

Tumbling to the ground, Gao Yunxiang spun his body and slashed out with the palm technique "Revolving Cosmos," aiming his blow directly at Luo Mingyuan's legs.

Luo Mingyuan lifted his leg, retracted it, and whipped it forward with the move "Kicking the Big Dipper." The trip-cord attached to his leg almost swept across Gao Yunxiang's chin.

Startled for a moment, Gao Yunxiang flipped over to evade, then immediately launched the palm strike "Human Will Overcomes Heaven," pushing forward with both palms. The generated force was astonishingly fierce and surged straight ahead.

Luo Mingyuan countered with the dual-palm technique "You Come, I Go." Their internal energies collided midway with a loud "bang," immediately revealing the disparity in their strength. Gao Yunxiang was jolted back two steps, whereas Luo Mingyuan stood rooted to the spot without moving an inch.

Though the victor had not won a total victory, the loser was not entirely defeated either. Young and robust with an inexhaustible reservoir of stamina, Gao Yunxiang took a deep breath, stepped forward once more, and unleashed a rapid flurry of aggressive attacks.

Luo Mingyuan let out a deep shout and said, " brat, your trump card is nothing special after all. Now watch this old monk! If you can withstand ten of my moves, I will gift you my precious human-skin treasure robe right here and now."

Ceasing his attack, Gao Yunxiang replied, "A gentleman's word is as good as gold."

Luo Mingyuan immediately launched a relentless offensive combining palms and kicks. While every strike and blow he delivered possessed peerless might, Gao Yunxiang was well-versed in the subtle maneuvering of the Eight Trigrams. Not to mention ten moves, even twenty moves would not be enough to harm a single hair on Gao Yunxiang's head.

Luo Mingyuan was exceptionally knowledgeable and a formidable figure in his own right. In his early years, he had even dabbled in the Study of Changes, but he had found it overly profound and all-encompassing. Being a hedonistic monk obsessed with wine and women, he naturally could not settle his mind to study it deeply, and thus he had given it up.

Seeing that he had launched six or seven consecutive attacks, all of which Gao Yunxiang had effortlessly evaded, he thought to himself: If I cannot subdue this brat, my lifelong reputation will be completely ruined. Not only will I have to go into hiding from the martial arts world, but I am afraid even retreating to Mount Tongbai will grant me no peace.

The art of the Eight Trigrams boils down to nothing more than shifting left and right, side-stepping, and advancing at angles. Its deepest meaning is simply to remain calm and composed. I shall unleash a flurry of wild and chaotic attacks to disrupt his composure.

Luo Mingyuan immediately unleashed a lightning-fast assault, striking with a left palm, kicking with a right leg, thrusting a fist straight ahead, and sweeping with a horizontal blow.

Consequently, Gao Yunxiang was forced into a state of panic, surrounded by perilous situations on all sides. Had he engaged in a direct palm-to-palm clash, neither Gao Yunxiang's internal energy nor his mastery could match those of the debauched monk. Flustered and frantic, Gao Yunxiang shouted loudly, "Damn monk, you said ten palms, but you've already exceeded that number!"

Luo Mingyuan retorted, "Didn't you already take the human-skin treasure robe? Our continued fight now is a life-or-death battle to the bitter end."

Gao Yunxiang complained, "You damn monk are completely unreasonable."

Luo Mingyuan sneered, "What reason? What laws? They are merely self-comfort for the weak. Throughout history, has there ever been a righteous and reasonable war?" With these words, he leaped forward and struck with a palm carrying eighty percent of his full power, enveloping Gao Yunxiang within his majestic and ferocious palm force.

Trapped within this overwhelming and formidable pressure, Gao Yunxiang found himself with nowhere to retreat and no room to dodge. He had no choice but to pour all his remaining strength into a desperate clash of palms. Needless to say, after such a direct collision, even if his body were not shattered on the spot, his martial arts life would effectively be over forever.

At this very moment of life and death, a sudden "whoosh" echoed through the air. A looped rope flew like lightning through the sky, catching Luo Mingyuan around the neck. With a fierce yank backwards, Luo Mingyuan's formidable palm force instantly vanished into thin air.

Luo Mingyuan glanced back and saw that this was the handiwork of the two black and white children. He immediately turned around and gave chase.

The black and white children also turned and fled at full speed.

These two little imps were extraordinarily clever and full of tricks. They had previously tied one end of the noose to a tree trunk, and as they turned to run, they simply discarded the rope.

Eager to capture the two brats, Luo Mingyuan had no time to untie the rope around his neck. His vision was somewhat blurred; while he could clearly see the figures of the children, he failed to notice the rope lying on the ground.

After running some seventy or eighty feet, the black and white children stopped, turned around, and shouted, "Come on! Come on, old monk! Let's have another round with you."

Luo Mingyuan had been trying to remove the noose from his neck while running. Seeing the two children treating him with such utter contempt, he could no longer spare the time to untie the rope. He leaped forward in pursuit, but no sooner had he taken one massive stride than with a loud "thud," Luo Mingyuan flipped over and crashed face-first onto the ground, the noose tightening so severely it nearly choked him unconscious.

Seeing him tumble backward onto the ground, the black and white children burst into a fit of laughter. They scurried over and grabbed the rope, feeling as though it were still fastened to a large tree. Pulling with all their might, they found it would not budge, and shouted at the top of their lungs, "We've caught a giant pig! Come quickly and help us slaughter it!"

Luo Mingyuan struggled to remove the noose from his neck amidst the tugging and pulling of the two imps, but for a moment he could not untie it. Enraged, he bellowed, "Little demons! You truly are odious, treating this old monk like a pig. If I don't catch you and swallow you alive, I will never swallow this grievance!"

The white-robed child retorted, "You are a depraved monk obsessed with wine, women, and forcible seizure, more detestable than a venomous snake. As the saying goes, 'Seeing a snake and not striking it incurs a threefold sin.' Do you know this ancient proverb?"

Gao Yunxiang and the others rushed forward one after another, attempting to subdue the monk, but was it truly that simple? Shuang Mengwen reached out his arms to grab Luo Mingyuan's feet, but Luo Mingyuan flicked his leg and kicked Shuang Mengwen into a series of somersaults.

Shuang Ying declared, "Let's chop off his hands and feet to make him wish he were dead!"

Luo Mingyuan shouted angrily, "You dare utter such words!"

Shuang Ying leaped into the air, raised his sword, and slashed at him. With a backhanded strike, Luo Mingyuan sent Shuang Ying tumbling backward through somersaults.

Possessing supreme martial arts and standing as a renowned figure of the contemporary martial arts world, Luo Mingyuan had never considered himself inferior to anyone. Yet never in his wildest dreams had he imagined he would repeatedly stumble into the hands of these youngsters, leaving even himself alternately amused and exasperated.

Luo Mingyuan roared, "Brats! I'll let this rope stay around my neck. Whether you pull the rope, unleash hidden weapons, or brandish whatever blades you have, all of you attack me together and let's see if you can even scratch me!"

Li Hao and a dozen other youths exchanged glances, their eyes darting back and forth from one another. A shared hope flickered in each of their hearts as they wondered who could devise the best strategy to attack him.

Gao Yunxiang looked at Meng Biyu and asked, "Eldest Sister, the damned monk is testing our skills. What should we do?"

Meng Biyu replied, "Third Brother and Fourth Sister harbor a personal vendetta against him; let them attack him first. Afterward, those who use swords can combine their forces to assault him collectively, while those proficient in hidden weapons can strike him with their projectiles. This way, we will neither disrupt our formations nor accidentally injure our own people."

Gao Yunxiang smiled and said, "Very well! Third Brother, Fourth Sister, make your move first. This is a prime opportunity for you to avenge your grievances. But remain cautious and careful."

Li Hao and Feng Jiezhen immediately launched a barrage of poisonous needles and streams of fire at the debauched monk.

Gao Yunxiang pulled on the rope from the middle, attempting to tighten the running noose around the monk's neck to restrict his breathing.

However, observing Luo Mingyuan channel his internal qigong, the rope refused to tighten, leaving Gao Yunxiang utterly helpless.

Luo Mingyuan snapped off two leafy twigs and thrust them into his collar. As he shook his head, the two branches spun rapidly like propellers. The toxic mist sprayed down from above was blown away by the swirling gale long before it could reach him, while the flames hurled at him were deflected and rolled backward by his spinning wind force.

When attacked from the flanks, Luo Mingyuan's palm power was incomparably fierce, sending the toxic juices splashed toward him rebounding back through his violent palm gales.

Li Hao attempted to secure victory using the "Inductive Palm" technique, but the moment he raised his palms, his stance was instantly seen through by the debauched monk, truly making a display of playing the fool before an expert.

Having exhausted every single skill at their disposal without managing to inflict the slightest injury on their enemy, Li Hao and Feng Jiezhen felt both vexed and deeply resentful.

Seeing that Li Hao and Feng Jiezhen's assault had yielded no results, Meng Biyu, Maiden Jie, and Jiezhenzi exchanged glances, sprang forward with drawn swords, and launched coordinated attacks against Luo Mingyuan from three separate directions.

Recognizing their respective sects the moment they executed their moves, Luo Mingyuan chuckled and said, "Your sword techniques are far inferior to those of your masters. Even if your masters joined forces against me, they would find themselves outmatched. You truly overestimate your own abilities and march blindly to your deaths."

With these words, he executed three consecutive palm strikes. The mighty palm wind sent all three of them tumbling backward in successive somersaults.

The Shuang Mengwen brothers and sister then launched an attack on Luo Mingyuan with fire-arrows. They had barely loosed two streams of flame when a clear, stern shout rang out: "Cease your attack! Can such pitiful tricks of yours possibly harm him?" As the voice faded, a figure materialized.

Hearing the command "Cease" originate from afar and watching the speaker arrive by their side in the blink of an eye, Gao Yunxiang thought to himself: What astonishing movement technique! Who could this be?

Luo Mingyuan looked up and saw a charming, middle-aged woman standing before him. After studying her for a moment without recognizing her origin, he paused in bewilderment and uttered, "You?"

The uniquely charming woman smiled faintly and asked, "What about me?"

Luo Mingyuan continued to fixate his gaze upon her, demanding, "You! You!"

The distinctively charming middle-aged woman met the old monk's piercing gaze with her own sharp look. Maintaining her smile, she said, "I came here specifically to keep our appointment!"

Luo Mingyuan asked skeptically, "When did you ever make an appointment with this old monk?"

The charming woman smiled still and replied, "Old monk, you are about to die! I pity you."

Luo Mingyuan started in surprise and exclaimed, "You are that old hag!"

The divine nun retorted, "People of advanced years who fall victim to forgetfulness are bound to die without a doubt."

Luo Mingyuan said, "Old woman! Earlier you looked doddering and ancient, yet now you are a charming and graceful mature woman. Have you mastered some kind of fox-spirit sorcery?"

The divine nun replied, "If a thousand-year-old ginseng lacked the property of preserving youth, no one would brave life and limb to trek across mountains and rivers searching for it."

Luo Mingyuan remarked, "So you were merely in disguise earlier?"

The divine nun explained, "My face was covered in dust from the winds and frosts of the journey. After resting, dining, cleansing myself, and changing my clothes, naturally I appear radiant and full of vitality."

Luo Mingyuan admitted, "In terms of bearing and aura, this old monk has already lost a move to you, old woman."

The elderly divine nun replied, "You simply hide your true appearance behind a facade."

Luo Mingyuan inquired, "Did you bring the item I wanted?"

The elderly divine nun answered, "I arrived a step ahead, and the others will follow shortly. The outcome is yet undecided. If this old nun were to lose, would they be able to escape your clutches? I fear you would even ransack Shuangmu Fortress."

Luo Mingyuan chuckled, "You understand clearly enough in your heart, old woman."

The divine nun said, "All conditions are mutual."

Luo Mingyuan replied, "Speak your terms, old woman. Although I am the leader of the Hundred Sects and oversee nine branch altars—with myself heading one of them, which has already been dismantled—the remaining eight altars are scattered across various regions. I pay no heed to their affairs, yet they treat me as a sheltering tree."

The divine nun stated, "You need not absolve yourself of responsibility for them. Even if I defeat you, I will not hunt them down; their respective sect leaders will naturally purge the traitors. However, there is one matter you must account for."

Luo Mingyuan prompted, "State it."

The divine nun continued, "The bounty you plundered from the 'Yuanwei Escort Agency' ought to be returned to the descendants of the victims."

Luo Mingyuan nodded in agreement.

The divine nun added, "Furthermore, the Eight-Treasure Vase you looted from Jingci Nunnery five years ago must also be returned."

This monk and nun were two extraordinary figures of their era, both well over a hundred years of age, with their martial arts cultivation having reached its absolute pinnacle. Even as they conversed, they were already secretly pitting their specialized martial arts against one another, their gazes locked without so much as a single blink.

Gao Yunxiang and the dozen or so young men and women stood to one side, listening quietly to their exchange while serving as guards against any external disturbances.

The eccentric monk and divine nun simultaneously seated themselves, ceasing all conversation. Their eyes locked in a fierce, unblinking stare as each gathered their spiritual focus to pressure the other. While Luo Mingyuan had lost the vision in one eye, his eyeball remained intact.

Blessed with exceptional natural endowment since childhood, the divine nun had fortuitously unearthed a thousand-year-old ginseng. After ascending to the abbess of the nunnery, she had devoted herself single-mindedly to rigorous cultivation. With boundless vitality, concentrated spirit, and abundant internal energy, the fierce glint radiating from her eyes was enough to sap an opponent's nerve.

Although Luo Mingyuan was likewise uniquely gifted and had mastered martial arts others could never attain, his indulgence in wine and women had taken its toll. Ordinarily, someone possessed of such formidable and specialized martial arts would perceive nothing amiss in their hedonistic lifestyle. However, when matched against a peer-level opponent in a contest of internal prowess, one was forced to mobilize their deepest, latent energies—and by comparison, one would realize the difficulty of uniting body and mind.

Barely half an hour into their staring contest, Luo Mingyuan's eyelids grew heavy and blurred, fluttering uncontrollably. A moment later, tears even began to well up in his eyes.