Chapter 398 - 222: Beating Up the Riddler (5)

Chapter 398: Chapter 222: Beating Up the Riddler (5)

After sending Xie Yuan flying with a punch, Huie Jue stood his ground. He held one hand in a vertical palm gesture and chanted a Buddhist mantra, his voice booming like a great bell:

"Amitabha! Patron Xie, did you truly believe I couldn’t keep up with your Body Technique? A mere parlor trick."

Xie Yuan caught his breath and gazed grimly at Huie Jue’s glittering golden form, asking:

"Monk Huie Jue, what is this Cultivation Technique?"

"This is the Golden Body Arhat Manifestation, the Great Success Realm of the Golden Body Arhat Demon-Subduing Fist. Its power is beyond what any mortal can withstand. As for this Body Technique... Patron Xie, since you know of the five Divine Powers, did it not occur to you that I might possess others?"

"Divine Swiftness."

Xie Yuan nodded, swallowing the blood that had risen to his throat. His expression remained unchanged.

Huie Jue smiled faintly. Paired with his brilliant golden pupils, the pure smile made him seem so holy one could not look at him directly.

"Patron Xie, I have only just begun to show my true strength, and you’re already failing? This ’guidance’ of yours is truly disappointing. If you cannot match me, you might as well surrender and return with me to the Precepts Hall at Prajna Temple! It would save us both the trouble. The Buddha is merciful; just shave your head and take refuge in him, and you may even keep your cultivation. We could be fellow disciples."

Xie Yuan chuckled.

"Monk Huie Jue, your strength is profound, as I have now experienced. But as for joining Prajna Temple, I’m afraid not. My worldly ties are not yet severed, and I have no desire to do so."

Huie Jue shook his head in regret.

"Beauty is but a skeleton dressed in flesh. The world is but a grand dream. Patron Xie, why can you not see through it?"

"Besides, Patron Xie, whether or not you go to Prajna Temple is not your decision to make. It’s mine."

He raised his fist slightly and, in a flash, vanished from his spot.

Xie Yuan watched him transform into a ball of golden light and rush forward, then suddenly said in a low voice:

"Monk Huie Jue, my skills may be unrefined because I am a dull student, not because the techniques themselves are lacking. The arts that were taught to me are peerless in this generation. They are not mere parlor tricks and should not be disdained."

"Then prove it to me!"

Huie Jue reappeared almost face-to-face with Xie Yuan, his fist smashing forward.

Watching the massive fist approach, Xie Yuan’s internal energy surged. With a light tap of his feet, he suddenly retreated at an unprecedented speed.

Huie Jue’s punch met nothing but air. He paused for a fraction of a second, a smile spreading across his face.

"So, Patron Xie, you were holding back some of your strength."

Xie Yuan stopped dozens of feet away from Huie Jue. A faint breeze seemed to swirl around him, helping him ride the wind.

Even a novice Martial Artist knows to never use their full strength at once. Facing a formidable enemy like Huie Jue, how could Xie Yuan not hold back while testing the waters?

He had already fully unleashed the power of his Sword Intent Scripture during the recent frantic assault, giving Huie Jue a clear measure of it. However, Xie Yuan possessed more than just one Inner Power. Unlike other Martial Artists, his cultivation of the Cloud Mountain Sword Intent Scripture didn’t conflict with his separate body-nourishing technique. Though the latter was still at a low level, in the chaos of battle it served as a trump card, allowing him to unleash a burst of power that took Huie Jue by surprise.

The Cloud Dragon Step was the only Body Technique Xie Yuan had dedicated himself to mastering. He had long ago reached the Minor Success stage, and it was already impressive. Now, with the boost from his Inner Power, he could exhibit a shadow of the grace the legendary Flying General had when he dominated the Western Regions.

Huie Jue cracked his knuckles, rolled his shoulders, and said with a grin:

"But if all you do is run, where can you possibly go?"

The moment he finished speaking, he stomped a foot into the ground, leaving a deep crater, and instantly flashed toward Xie Yuan again.

This time, Xie Yuan held nothing back. He merged his two sources of Inner Power with his Blood Qi and channeled it all into the Cloud Dragon Step. Weaving and circling, just as he had at the start, he once again made it impossible for Huie Jue’s heavy fists to touch him.

However, this evasion was incredibly dangerous, like dancing on the tip of a blade. Huie Jue’s fists were devastatingly powerful. Empowered by the Golden Body Arhat Manifestation, their sheer force was almost comparable to a sword strike from a Celestial Tier Assassin! If a single punch connected and he couldn’t defend in time, he would be severely wounded.

But Xie Yuan’s Cloud Dragon Step unfolded with the speed of lightning, yet its intricate movements were as graceful as a dance as he orbited Huie Jue. Huie Jue’s Divine Swiftness was by no means slow, but it lacked a trace of that same fluid agility. When trying to land a precise blow on someone using the signature Cultivation Technique of a Flying Dragon List Master, that slight difference was all that separated a hit from a miss.

But this cat-and-mouse game couldn’t last forever. As Huie Jue’s fists rained down, his taunts didn’t stop either:

"Patron Xie, if you only know how to flee, how can you offer me your ’guidance’?"

"Your Body Technique is fast. You might as well use it to run all the way back to Peng Mountain and straight into Prajna Temple. It would save me a lot of trouble."

"Run? Can you possibly outrun the Five-Finger Mountain of my temple?"

"Slippery as a rat! Slippery as a rat!"

"Patron Xie, if you only know how to run, how can you ever be entrusted with great responsibility? With skills like these, how could anyone place their faith in you!"

Huie Jue bellowed, his golden light flaring. He stood his ground and stopped his pursuit.

He drew a deep breath into his core as he slowly pulled back his fist, as if condensing the weight of an entire mountain into it.

Xie Yuan felt an immense and oppressive pressure wash over him from behind. Turning his head, he saw the tall, imposing, golden-glinting Arhat slowly pushing a punch forward.

In a daze, Xie Yuan seemed to see a Five-Finger Mountain flying toward him. The five fingers then clenched into a fist, a fist that blotted out the sky as it descended, its shadow completely engulfing him.

’This is an attack someone in the Qi and Blood Metamorphosis Realm can unleash?’

’This bald donkey is definitely cheating,’ Xie Yuan couldn’t help but curse inwardly.

But accusations and curses were pointless now. The fist was crashing down. Xie Yuan felt a pressure like a mountain range pressing down on him, and his very bones seemed to be cracking under the strain.

The fist hadn’t even landed, and the effects were already this severe; he didn’t dare to imagine what a direct hit would do. He feared that even the protective Magical Artifact Situ Qin had given him might not be enough to save his life.

Xie Yuan exhaled. A faint, mysterious light flashed in his eyes as he finally played his last card.

His figure, as if wiped away by an eraser, abruptly vanished from the alley. It was as if he had never been there at all, as if Huie Jue had never been fighting him. The Golden Body Arhat froze, stunned into a momentary daze.