Chapter 193: One Yang Finger

Inside and outside the Mahavira Hall, lights illuminated it brightly; countless novice monks held long wooden sticks, guarding the hall's gate.

Before the gate stood Master Leshi, Nun Shangrong, and Hongliang.

Before these three stood Master Xibei and Master Aibei.

Before these two stood Lei Bai.

Lei Bai had clearly noticed Master Xibei behind him, Master Leshi, Nun Shangrong, and Hongliang; his gaze was as stern as his face, letting heavy hostility sweep over them one by one.

"Master, will you hand those three over to me?" Lei Bai asked Master Xibei probing.

Master Xibei shook his head, made a palm‑together gesture toward Lei Bai, then replied, "I'm sorry, I cannot do that. If you are at the foot of Mount Song, this matter has nothing to do with our Shaolin Temple; but if you are on Mount Song, within the Shaolin Temple, I cannot avoid intervening." Really cannot do it.

"You probably have to do it; my force of a hundred thousand has surrounded Shaolin Temple three layers inside and three outside—you have no retreat." Lei Bai said with a cold smile, "I respect Shaolin as a thousand‑year ancient monastery and a pillar of the martial world, so I'll give you three points of face, but if you refuse to hand them over, I'll have to take that face back."

Lei Bai's threat was both polite and civilized—probably his usual way of dealing with people, combining soft and hard tactics.

"Hahaha! Benefactor, saying that, aren't you afraid of the Buddha? Inside the Mahavira Hall, twenty Buddha statues are watching you and your Embroidered Uniform Guard." Master Xibei said.

"Hahaha! Ahahaha! Whether the Buddha exists depends on belief." Lei Bai laughed even more extravagantly, waved his hand, and the chill of his Frost Blade rushed toward everyone: "If you don't hand them over, I'll just burn Shaolin Temple and Mount Song to the ground—let's see if your Buddha can save you!"

"Namo Amitabha, good, good, it seems we have nothing to discuss? Heh…" Master Xibei laughed and retorted, "As a holy Buddhist site, you'd better think this through."

Nun Shangrong and Hongliang stared coldly at Lei Bai and his Embroidered Uniform Guard behind him, unable to avoid worry—they could not implicate Shaolin Temple over their own affairs.

They exchanged a glance, ready to adapt, to quickly seize Lei Bai—capture the leader first; once Lei Bai was caught, what did it matter if his Embroidered Uniform Guard numbered a hundred thousand or two hundred thousand?

But did they truly have confidence they could take him down in the shortest time?

"Then don't blame me for being impolite," Lei Bai said, stepping back three steps warily, then ordered his men behind him, "Set fire."

"Whoosh!" Countless torches were hurled up the mountainside, flames filling the sky—a magnificent sight; in an instant the trees around Shaolin Temple were ignited.

In autumn, the trees are dry, extremely flammable—catch fire at a touch.

In an instant, the surroundings of Shaolin Temple were nothing but flames!

No one expected Lei Bai to be so decisive, completely disregarding the face of Shaolin's senior monks and going straight to arson.

Seeing Master Xibei chant "Namo Amitabha," he then tossed his prayer beads into the sky.

The prayer beads spun continuously in the air, growing larger; within two or three blinks they covered the sky above Shaolin Temple!

Countless "Namo Amitabha" sounds emanated from the beads, echoing and reverberating throughout Shaolin Temple and across Mount Song.

Dongfang Xing heard the Buddha's name, pushed open the door of the little wooden hut, gazed at the prayer beads in the sky and the bright moonlight, and involuntarily knelt, palms together, slowly closing her eyes, calming her mind under the moonlight and the chanting.

Immediately after, rain poured from the beads, "splash" as the water fell straight down onto the flames.

The flames filling the sky were extinguished by the rain before everyone's eyes.

Since ancient times, all things mutually restrain; water overcomes fire—no doubt about it.

Master Xibei's grand gesture—he could actually summon rain with his prayer beads.

All the torches were doused; the illuminated mountainside and foothills turned pitch black, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard soldiers instantly lost their bearings.

"Heh, Master Xibei's 'Great Buddha Hand' lives up to its name!" Lei Bai didn't take it too seriously, as if he had already predicted this outcome.

"Namo Amitabha, as a holy Buddhist ground we do not kill; benefactor, please return whence you came." Master Xibei turned and headed back toward the Mahavira Hall.

"Wait, I still have a blade to unleash," Lei Bai shouted.

Master Xibei halted his steps, reached out, and the prayer beads spinning in the sky slowly descended, shrinking as they fell, instantly fitting into his hand—just the right size.

"Take this!" Lei Bai leapt high into the air, so high that to onlookers he became a speck on the moon, then gripped his Frost Blade with both hands and slashed down toward Mount Song and Shaolin Temple, crying, "'Snow Drifts Over the World'!"

The Frost Blade instantly expanded ten thousandfold! Its snowy white blade grew as large as Mount Song, the frost upon it seeming to freeze heaven and earth.

Its blade aura became countless times stronger!

It was like midwinter arriving, snowflakes swirling everywhere, countless flakes caught in the wind! The air temperature dropped to absolute zero—"whooo…" the howl of the wind and snow.

Snow fell thick and fast, turning sky, earth, and mountain into a white expanse! The merciless snowfall was like an ancient demon beast about to swallow Mount Song whole.

This strike's power could cleave Mount Song! No one now dared doubt Lei Bai's strength.

For a moment, Mount Song and Shaolin Temple experienced ice and fire in tandem!

Master Xibei turned, extended a single finger toward the Frost Blade; his finger and the blade were wildly disproportionate in size.

He met the blade with his finger!

A Buddha light shot from his fingertip. From before the Mahavira Hall's gate it pierced the night, the moonlight, the cold, and shot straight at the Frost Blade, which was even larger than Mount Song.

"Whoosh!"

There was no expected explosive roar, nor the imagined shattering of mountains and earth; when everyone thought they would perish along with Mount Song and Shaolin Temple, that Buddha light was the miracle they could not have imagined!

The miracle occurred.

All the chill, all the snowflakes, all the gales were purified in the Buddha light, becoming part of it; that light shone in the sky with unmatched brilliance—brighter than the moon!

It illuminated the heavens like the sun! In their dazed state, they seemed to see a colossal golden Buddha statue floating among the clouds.

Master Xibei neutralized Lei Bai's ultimate move 'Snow Drifts Over the World' with a single finger.

"That…" Hongliang was so shocked he could not speak.

"It's the Nine Heavens' One Yang Finger," Master Leshi said proudly.