Chapter 297: One Incense Stick

Having made up his mind, Lu Jiangxian lightly plucked the thin thread in the void, reflecting dazzling white light. He whispered:

"Li Xuanling is in Bianyan Mountain... Li Tongya is on his way north..."

He pinched a magic seal, and Li Tongya, thousands of miles away, immediately had an epiphany. Without changing his expression, he changed direction and flew rapidly toward Bianyan Mountain. Lu Jiangxian watched this father and son silently, feeling a strange complexity in his heart.

"Li Xuanling is already a dead man. Only by killing Li Xuanling to become a Dharma Master will the Wrathful Maha fully combine with that Fa Hui body... According to the arrangements of the Zifu cultivators, after Li Xuanling dies, there should be a scene of Fa Hui heading north and Li Tongya pursuing him..."

"However, the longer it drags on, the tighter the combination between Fa Hui and the Wrathful Maha becomes, and the more powerful he will be when he strikes. The possibility of Li Tongya surviving will be lower, and the further north he goes, the more he leaves my field of vision... It would be best if Li Xuanling could hold out a little longer, so that Fa Hui is intercepted by Li Tongya just as he breaks through in Bianyan Mountain!"

He was silently pondering when the void suddenly jumped. Lu Jiangxian hurriedly raised his hand, staring straight into the void, where countless intertwined threads were reflected in his eyes. He lightly tapped his finger and whispered:

"Guard your heart and mind, and hold on for the time of one incense stick."

With that, he channeled his magic power to the fullest, staring at the thin threads in the void, calculating silently.

————

"Clang!"

Li Xuanling drew his sword to block the iron fist swung by Fa Hui, producing a harsh metallic screech. He retreated several steps, and the sword energy he released riddled the nearby pillar with holes. Li Xuanling was drenched in sweat, his internal organs feeling as if they were burning with fire, and he couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of blood.

"Sss... sss..."

The blood hadn't even hit the ground before it turned into a ball of golden mist, connecting with the golden mist drifting everywhere in the courtyard. As Fa Hui raised his beautifully lined arms, strikes of force slammed into Li Xuanling's magic shield.

With the addition of that cool energy, Li Xuanling's mind was clear, no longer deceived by Fa Hui's magic. He immediately prepared to ride the wind and rise, secretly thinking:

"Although I cannot escape, if I am high above, I can hold out for a while longer..."

But the golden mist clung to his shield like maggots on a bone. Li Xuanling felt his body sink, as if ten thousand catties of iron had been attached to his feet. He couldn't even rise a foot off the ground before he was still. Fa Hui seized the opportunity to leap up and strike him down with a palm.

"Boom!"

Li Xuanling smashed into the wall of the hall, covered in dust. Fa Hui laughed and stepped forward, sneering:

"Wait until I beat you to death, then I will break through to become a Dharma Master, and then I will seek out your father, the Heavy Sea Whale Dragon, and beat him to death as well, to attain the position of a Compassionate One and prove the Dao of Maha."

"Prove the Dao of Maha..."

Li Xuanling had been struck down, his internal organs shaken, and his gathered magic power scattered. He had no strength left to fight, but hearing these words, he gritted his teeth, and a new surge of strength emerged from nowhere. He wiped his storage bag and flicked out five talismans.

Although Fa Hui had awakened his memories, most were fragments, and he had little experience in fighting cultivators. He was caught off guard by the five talismans and hurriedly raised his golden light to block them.

The two talismans of the Qi Condensation peak were easy to block, but the Qi Condensation early-stage talisman struck him solidly, exploding against his Dharma body, which was covered in complex golden patterns, forcing him to retreat a step. Li Xuanling's face was pale, and he was shaken by the aftermath of the magic, spitting out blood again.

Fortunately, Fa Hui had retreated. Li Xuanling turned over, his face pale, and widened the distance. In the back and forth, he had bought himself dozens more breaths of time.

Fa Hui brushed off the dust, stared straight at Li Xuanling, and laughed:

"You are much stronger than that bunch of Daoists. Perhaps it is the difference between the 'Miscellaneous Qi' and 'Qi Refining' cultivators in my memories... There is also this distinction in the places of my sect. Just a rough exchange of blows is enough to know if what one has obtained is the 'Right Dharma'."

Li Xuanling didn't care at all what this mad monk was babbling about. His mind raced, thinking only of how to drag this monk out a little longer. He shouted:

"I know a thing or two. Is the 'Right Dharma' of your sect those lands of indulgence and lands of ultimate bliss? As for a murderer like you, it is certainly not any 'Right Dharma'!"

Sure enough, these words stunned the monk for several breaths. He stared at Li Xuanling with a strange smile, pinched a magic seal, and said coldly:

"You have met Murong Xia!"

Without waiting for an answer, Fa Hui nodded to himself. The complex golden patterns on his body grew increasingly dense. With just a single step forward, he instantly crossed more than ten feet, grabbed Li Xuanling by the neck, and roared:

"Meeting him is fine! I ask you, why is it that regardless of whether they are men, women, old, or young, wicked or virtuous, they can all enjoy themselves in his land of bliss! The wicked should suffer all kinds of punishments and die in misery, while only the virtuous are fit to be eaten by us. Is that so or not?! Is that so or not?!"

His eyes were shining with golden light, and his skin revealed a copper-yellow glow. Between his palms, exterminating magic power emerged, faintly carrying a sense of imprisonment. As Fa Hui spoke, golden runes appeared, locking Li Xuanling tight.

Li Xuanling's face flushed red. Fortunately, he was a Qi Refining cultivator and wouldn't suffocate to death for a while. He barely managed to open his mouth and retorted sarcastically:

"What a 'virtuous' one, fit to be eaten by you."

Fa Hui was consumed by rage. The answer he got from Li Xuanling made him feel it was unbelievable. He gritted his teeth and roared:

"You still don't know how to be grateful?!"

Fa Hui suddenly raised his hand and threw him with all his might. Li Xuanling flew out like a cannonball, smashing into the roof of the hall. The hall had already been riddled with holes and had suffered through their fight, and it finally collapsed with a roar.

"Boom—"

Gray-white smoke rose suddenly. Broken tiles and shattered wood fell like a rainstorm. The hall, which had been dim for who knows how long, finally collapsed. Everywhere were shattered bricks and wood. Li Xuanling lay on the steps in front of the hall like a pile of meat, not knowing how many bones he had broken.

One of the two majestic and solemn statues at the door was shattered to pieces, and the other had its hands and feet broken off, leaving only a head standing alone on the ground. Raindrops fell from the smooth stone face, dripping into the pale, blood-red puddles.

The plaque, which had been covered by tattered rags on the roof, finally fell down. It hit the ground with a clatter in front of him. The rags blew away with the wind, revealing several lacquer-gold characters.

"Zhenhui Temple..."

The lacquer-gold characters shone into his eyes like the sun. Li Xuanling's cheek split open, and his wind-leaking mouth curled into an extremely ugly smile as he spat out a few words.

"One... incense stick."