120 – Come and go like a shadow!The man seemed around thirty-years-old, dressed in a robe and a square cap with a green jade ta.s.sel attached to the centre. He looked like a rich jewel businessman from Jiangnan city.
As he pushed out his palm, a golden ball of light descended from the sky.
The ball of light instantly incinerated everything it touched, the water of Xishi Lake and the water spirits on the surface all disappeared.
The rise and fall of water is undetectable, this commonly used phrase was evidently incorrect in this scenario.
Because he pushed down with his palms out, a ma.s.sive black hole emerged in the center of the surface of Xishi Lake. The black hole was of unfathomable depths as if leading to the eighteen levels of h.e.l.l. The surrounding water was rippled by the wind, but no water flowed into the hole.
It looked as if the lake was enclosed by a transparent cover and the location of the black hole was an absolute forbidden s.p.a.ce.
It wasn"t until the power of the ball of light disappeared and the aftermath of the essential qi dissipated, that the surrounding lake water came crashing into the black hole.
Crash——
The force of the water was fierce. The terrifying crashing noises continued on without any hint of stopping.
From this it was evident that the black hole was abnormally deep, that could not be filled in a short amount of time.
“I did not expect Zhao Caishen to be here.” Taoist priest Zhiji sent a spirit flying with his palm before he raised his head, looked at landlord Zhao hovering in mid-air and said with a smile: “Zhao Caishen has many properties and businesses, who has the honour of inviting you here in person? However, that move "nine palace palm" you used back then, is that not wasting such a great technique? Is there a need to exert yourself like that when dealing with those little evil spirits?”
As if without any respect to Taoist priest Zhiji, Zhao Caishen retorted: “You also made it seem like your "shrinking into inches" technique is worthless—Only you Mount Lung Fu sect are allowed to set fires but others are not allowed to light candles?”
“Sounds of Heaven Temple has an abundant collection of books, its techniques are well known all over the world. Even if you kept it a secret, do you think other people dare to look down on it?”
“Are you implying I"m showing off?”
“I did not say that, you were thinking it yourself—-See through but not reveal, is this not the supreme state in Buddhism?”
Zhao Caishen was enraged, snarled: “When did us Buddhists say "see through but not reveal"?”
“Oh, really? You didn"t?” Zhiji shook his head as he flung his sleeves, deflecting the spears lunging at him with ease: “I do not understand your Sounds of Heaven Temple. I thought all the obscure and ambiguous phrases in the world, pretending to be mysterious, came from you monks since you have nothing better to do——”
“Old Taoist Zhiji, you want to fight?”
“Let"s battle, see who"s afraid of who?” Zhiji looked fearless, his finger pointing to the water spirits in front of them: “However, I"m sick of the sight of these evil spirits, why don"t we get rid of them first? We have to do our best in what was entrusted to us, to maintain our honour.”
“You wait here.” As Zhao Caishen spoke, his body raced over to a group of water spirits.
He consecutively threw out his palm, over ten b.a.l.l.s of light darted over to the water spirits.
The booming noises lingered on until a number of water spirits were wiped out in the explosion. Of course, the fishes inside the lake and the lotus roots also suffered along with them.
Not willing to be outdone, Taoist Zhiji treaded across the water surface, his shoes looked as if they did not made contact with the water surface at all. With each step he took, he magically appeared in front of a water spirit, no matter how far or how fast the water spirits were. Then, he pushed out his palm, water spirits were instantly incinerated, disappearing into thin air.
Just as Zhao Caishen and Toist Zhiji were competing to see who kills more water spirits, the skilled archer clad in hemp clothing was still standing on the top of the pavilion, he still had that wooden look on his face, his hand clasping a specially-made crossbow, every time he fired an arrow, a group of water spirits were skewered like dried fish—-
Finally, the burly black-robed man guarding in front of Li Shinian with a large shield also felt the unnecessity of him being here, he did not even had the chance to show his moves.
So, he specifically focused on shielding Li Shinian, like a responsible and diligent imperial bodyguard.
“Are you cold?” The burly man asked aloud.
“I"m cold.” Li Shinian said in a timid voice.
Thus, the burly man wrapped her in his clothes; he also felt a little cold.
No one could bear all these methods of killing, the water spirits were on the verge of a breakdown.
They came here to kill. They never thought it would turn out to be a one-sided ma.s.sacre.
This was too much!
Even if your numbers and force are greater, you don"t need to humiliate us like this?
Spirits also have dignity.
The expression on their face looked more and more frightened, the more terrified they were, the more ghostly their face was.
Water spirit, water spirit, this name is indeed appropriate for them.
Their leader"s voice became hurried and anxious, its "hiss hiss" noise also became much louder. It stared at everything in disbelief and then all of a sudden drilled into the lake, escaping far away.
The remaining few water spirits blinked their eyes nervously, also wanting to flee the scene; however, just at that moment Zhao Caishen smashed a ball of light over— they really turned into "water spirits".
The wind stopped and the water became calm again.
A faint, delicate scent crept into the air from the few remaining loti, everything resumed its previous state—-just like nothing happened.
Zhao Caishen descended onto the broken bridge, quickly followed by the confident Taoist priest Zhiji.
The skilled archer on the pavilion had already left. He had no intention to greet Li Shinian at all.
“You—-my brother asked you to come here?” Li Shinian watched everything happening i3n front of her with wide eyes, even until now she could not react.
“We were indeed asked by master Muyang.” The burly man in black answered honestly. He is a man of few words, he never says more than is necessary.
“May I ask your name, later I"ll tell brother——”
“No need.” The burly man refused: “We shall see each other again someday.”
“——”
Zhao Caishen chuckled aloud, looking at Li Shinian: “Miss Shinian, no need to keep it on your mind, someone will repay this favour.”
“This is the karma you Buddhism talk of? After doing someone a favor, you expect them to repay you?” Old Taoist Zhiji said with a grin. “Our Mount Lung Fu do not have such nonsense, we help voluntarilyy, we do not seek reason and more importantly do not ask for return.”
Zhao Caishen sneered out loud: “If you were not asked by someone, and also it"s someone you Zhiji could not refuse, I don"t believe you would travel thousands of miles down Mount Lung Fu to Jiangnan city, and by a lucky coincidence arrived at Xishi Lake to save a young girl——Do you Taoists not have a sense of shame.”
“What about you guys, where were you going?”
“It seems like this can"t be settled without a fight.”
“Let"s begin now then.”
“Miss Shinian, we shall meet again someday.”
“Miss Shinian, we will meet again——-”
——
Zhao Caishen disappeared, old Taoist Zhiji was also gone.
Li Shinian twisted around to look at the burly man who defended her from the danger of the thousands of spears with his large shield, only to find that he also left without her knowing.
“You—-” Li Shinian has a tinge of regret that she never had the chance to thank them properly. “Do not know much about etiquette.”
——–
Li Shinian"s cla.s.smates finally were responsive to their surroundings, trotted over to where Li Shinian was situated on the broken bridge.
“Shinian, are you alright? Are you hurt?” Liu Caicai grabbed Li Shinian"s hand, her eyes welled up with tears. That scene back then was indeed too tense and too terrifying, it"s no surprise that ordinary people could not react or know what they should do.
Now that the crisis is over, water spirits have fled, and the heroes have dispersed, they finally regained consciousness.
“Yes Shinian, who were those ugly monsters? Why did they look for you?”
“Who were those people? That Taoist priest was so handsome—-priests can marry, right?”
——
Xu Huawei bowed deeply at Li Shinian. “I have the heart of a hero, but I do not have the power of a hero—-I feel ashamed.”
Zhu Jian"s face was red with embarra.s.sment: “Shinian, I"m sorry, I—-am also too weak.”
They turned around to find Zhao Fu and discovered that this rich young master had already fled the scene to some unknown place.
“Thank you.” Li Shinian looked at them sincerely. “It was dangerous back then, but you guys did not run away, instead stood there waiting for me, I"m really thankful—–actually you should have left immediately.”
Zhu Jian sneered: “if we ran away, then will we not be the same as that young master Zhao?”
“Exactly.” The girls nodded in agreement that Zhao Dafu"s personality is a disgrace.
“Shinian, those people just now—- they were entrusted by Master Muyang to come protect you. That Master Muyang is not your brother, right?”
“Fanghua, isn"t that nonsense? How many Master Muyangs are there in this world?”
“I knew it was him, I just couldn"t believe that Li Muyang——big brother left a couple of days ago, but had made friends with so many strong people. It"s so impressive. It seems Starry Sky Academy really is amazing.”
“Ahh, back then I never really talked to him, I should have asked for his signature—–”
——–
Li Shinian could no longer refuse her cla.s.smates" kind intention to walk her back to her house at Hubu lane.
After parting at the entrance of Hubu Lane, Li Shinian hurried back home, eager to tell her parents of the horrifying incident today. Although this would make them worry even more about her safety, but some situations are better if antic.i.p.ated.
Although Li Shinian is intelligent, she is just a student; she did not think she would be better than her parents in dealing with this kind of dangerous affairs.
At the entrance to the small courtyard, several black carriages were parked outside.
Before Li Shinian came near, two youngsters in black clothing immediately approached, obstructing her path.
“Who are you looking for?” A man clad in all black asked in a cold voice.