Li Ximing's suspicions didn’t come from nowhere. At first, he hadn’t realized how formidable Fuxia was and had suppressed him using the Radiant Origin Pass. Now that Fuxia had escaped and he’d discovered he possessed the Merciful One’s Dharma Body, the doubts in his heart grew even stronger, My Radiant Origin Pass is powerful for suppression, yes, but it has its weaknesses. If he truly has the Merciful One’s Dharma Body, wouldn’t he have been able to smash my radiant pass with a single fist?
The Merciful One’s Dharma Body was not something a mere Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator could compare to. If that punch landed squarely on his Immortal Foundation, even if Li Ximing didn’t die on the spot, he would at least cough up blood, lose seventy percent of his strength, and be left with no power to fight back.
"He speaks of me with deep hatred, and my ancestor even slew the one he’s been obsessing over, the Wrathful Subduer of the Four Demon Emperors. This is a Dao of fierce demon-subduing; how could he possibly harbor goodwill?
"Even if he refrains from killing due to the deterrence of Jiangnan’s Purple Mansion Realm cultivators, he could still knock me aside with a punch. Wouldn’t that leave him in full control of the situation while I’d be running for my life? That’s not how the Merciful One should act!" transmitted Li Ximing.
The earlier flurry of spell exchanges had happened in a flash. Few were as quick-thinking as Li Xijun, but now that Li Ximing had caught his breath, he had quickly analyzed the situation and his suspicions were almost certain.
After Li Ximing voiced his concerns, Kongheng nodded in agreement and replied, "It’s fine. I’ll test him again."
He pressed his palms together before his chest, chanting without pause. Five-colored radiance surged from his hands, and colorful rain drifted down from the sky once again. Lotus flowers bloomed across the lake, releasing waves of fragrance.
"You’re still resisting?" said Fuxia. He seemed displeased, but secretly he was anything but. He simply turned the tiger back into a garment and draped it over himself, letting the multicolored rain fall upon him, causing waves of five-colored brilliance to ripple across his gold-lacquered skin.
Another orthodox binding spell? This man’s background truly isn’t ordinary! thought Fuxia.
The binding spell was powerful, but Fuxia neither dodged nor avoided it. After all, he too hailed from a prestigious sect. Just as Kongheng’s command voice had little effect on him, Kongheng’s spell arts were similarly limited in their effect.
Besides, he possessed the Merciful One’s Dharma Body!
Seeing that Fuxia allowed the multicolored light to bind him while still gazing directly at him, Kongheng’s golden chains swirled around him. The six-armed Vajra released its grip, folded all six arms before its chest, cradling Kongheng as the five-colored radiance in his hands continued to shine with solemn majesty.
The lake shimmered with multicolored light, but Li Ximing didn’t spare Kongheng a glance. His eyes were fixed on Fuxia. The old monk stood motionless amid the rainbow rain, and as heavenly light gathered in Li Ximing’s hand, he thought to himself, This bald old donkey barely used any spell arts! He’s relying entirely on that Dharma Body of his.
Seeing that Fuxia still hadn’t moved, he formed hand seals and shouted, "Heaven-Guarding Formation of Five Waters!"
As soon as the shout rang out, the great formation of Mount Qingdu rumbled to life. Dense gray mist surged from the surface of the lake, blotting out the sky. Countless serpent-like water creatures sprang forth, swift and cunning, each wielding dharma artifacts formed from lake water. Fearless and ferocious, they charged at the monk.
It was none other than Mount Qingdu’s Heaven-Guarding Formation of Five Waters!
Though this Foundation Establishment Realm formation was quite intimidating when activated, Fuxia didn’t even glance at it and simply raised his brow, thinking, Tricks no better than mosquito bites.
Sure enough, the rolling gray mist did nothing. The water serpents were laid bare under the radiance emanating from his body and were scattered into white vapor by the golden glimmers dancing over his lacquer-like skin before they could get close .
This formation was Liu Changdie’s proud creation. The Morning Mist and Serpent Stream components were specifically designed to target Qi Cultivation Realm cultivators, and naturally, they were useless against the Merciful One’s Dharma Body. Li Ximing wasn’t discouraged. He watched coldly as the spell in his hands abruptly changed.
"Grounded!" exclaimed Li Ximing.
He pressed two fingers together, and a sheet of white light flared beneath their feet. Kongheng and Li Ximing were unaffected, but Fuxia paused slightly, his expression darkening as he squinted.
"Now!" shouted Li Ximing.
At almost the same time, the radiant pass rose up, built of gleaming white bricks. Its corner towers glowed, and the Heavenly Gate’s Radiant Light burst downward from the sky with a thunderous boom. The blinding light forced the nearby cultivators to shut their eyes and raise their sleeves to shield their faces.
"Master Kongheng!"
That single moment of Fuxia’s hesitation was all Li Ximing needed. The instant he saw it, he activated the Radiant Origin Pass with full force. Heavenly light surged from his eyes, and a small banner flew out with a flick of his sleeve.
The banner was only palm-sized, and was colored red and yellow with golden patterns. A vividly lifelike red sparrow was painted upon it, surrounded by five overlapping streams of crimson light, beak wide open as if spouting flames.
It was a dharma artifact of the Dongli Sect, the Yang Li Red Sparrow Banner!
This was the artifact’s first time displaying its might. Five streams of palm-sized crimson light flew out from it. They circled the ornate base of the Radiant Origin Pass, flaring up as they simultaneously unleashed five different kinds of flame.
"Heavenly Patterns Interwoven, Yang Li Punishment Flames!"
The five types of flame appeared in shades of ochre, pale yellow, canary yellow, bright red, and vermilion. They slammed downward with overwhelming momentum, sending pillars of fire soaring skyward as multicolored fire-clouds rapidly formed over the lake.
Some clouds were red, some yellow, but each one’s glow was dazzling as vital qi gathered in abundance. The Heavenly Glow in Kongheng’s hands did not fade as he continued to restrain the man. The six-armed vajra behind him extended its arms once more, but did not release the golden chains from before.
With a dharma artifact of the Dongli Sect and those raging flames, if my golden chains entered now, they’d likely be scorched and melted over time! Kongheng did some quick thinking, and he had all six arms press down on the Radiant Pass at once.
Boom!
As the flames roared, Li Ximing could see Fuxia’s expression darken beneath the Radiant Origin Pass. The young man sneered between gritted teeth, "As expected! I knew something was off with you!"
Ever since Fuxia had made his move before Mount Qingdu, he hadn’t used a single spell. Even the conjuring of the horned tiger had relied on a dharma artifact. Though he clearly had the strength to defeat two people with just his fists, he had dragged things out, avoiding movement whenever possible.
Though Li Ximing wasn’t trained in Buddhist cultivation, he had long pursued the Dao of the Purple Mansion Realm. He had a solid foundation in spell arts and had already begun to grow suspicious.
The most valuable and unique component of the Heaven-Guarding Formation of Five Waters was precisely the Grounded formation. It was constructed using a rare material known as Inferior Water, obtained by Yang Xiao’er. It was a formation of extreme rarity.
This Grounded formation is valuable because it excels at draining others' mana and disrupting flight techniques! The problem lies in his mana! Piecing together all of Fuxia’s prior behavior, Li Ximing realized the trick and said, "This man’s cultivation has already fallen to the level of a Master Monk. Though he still possesses the Merciful One’s body, all its miraculous power is gone! He cobbled this together with the teaching of others, yet has nothing of his own. Certainly, even his mana has been severely weakened. How hard must it be to control a body like that without divine abilities?!"
Such beings were not unheard of. Back then, even Li Xuanfeng had to burn through both of his Immortal Foundations to barely grasp the True Command Metal of Shenyou[1] Metal in order to fight. How could Fuxia possibly fare better?
1. 申(shen) and 酉(you) are the 9th and 10th positions in the Twelve Earthly Branches (地支 dìzhī), forming a sequential pair in the traditional Chinese calendrical, astrological, and metaphysical systems. ☜