Killing Monks

He knelt on the ground, clutching his chest, looking at Guangyuan in disbelief, then at the seemingly "spiritual" bronze mirror in his hand, and instantly understood.

This mirror was deliberately left behind by Guangyuan as bait to lure him into stealing it!

From the moment he tried to seize the camera, he had already fallen into the opponent's calculated counterattack rhythm!

This wicked monk... his mind is so cunning!

Right now, he has been hit by two heavy punches from Guangyuan. The force of the punches was vicious and strange, penetrating straight into his internal organs, and his injuries are already quite serious.

Furthermore, Huiming and Kongxing, the two main helpers, were bewitched by the strange mirror in the hands of the demonic monk, falling into a frenzied infighting and a life-or-death struggle, and the situation completely spiraled out of control.

This meticulously planned operation has clearly failed.

The head constable's mind raced, and he quickly made a decision.

As he was from Tanhua County, what he feared most was being seriously injured or showing signs of weakness.

Because he knew better than anyone that countless eyes were secretly watching from the depths of Tanhua County.

Once he reveals a weakness, his adversaries, whom he has suppressed for so long, will definitely pounce on him without hesitation and tear him to shreds.

He has blocked too many people's path to wealth.

He looked up at Huiming and Kongxing, who were locked in a fierce battle not far away.

Both were at the realm of form, and their minds were in a daze. They attacked without holding back, causing sand and stones to fly and their qi to overflow, each move deadly.

In this situation, even if he were to intervene rashly while he was already injured, it would be difficult to guarantee his safety, let alone separate the two.

Make a decisive decision!

"withdraw!"

The head constable was extremely decisive, without any hesitation or lingering, and didn't even leave behind a harsh word.

He suppressed his pain, his figure blurred, and he sped off in the opposite direction from Guangyuan. In a few leaps, he disappeared into the vast night, decisively abandoning the pursuit.

Guangyuan breathed a slight sigh of relief when he saw Constable Qi retreat.

He gripped the cold "Mirror of Karma" tightly with one hand, and with the other, he quickly scooped up Lu Fei, who was still tightly covering his eyes and muttering, "I didn't look in the mirror! I didn't see anything!"

"Stop reading it. The person is gone, and I've put the mirror away."

Guangyuan whispered, dragging the still-shaken Lu Fei along, and without hesitation sped off northward. This place was no place to linger.

Long after Guangyuan and Lu Fei's figures had completely disappeared into the northern mountains...

The fierce winds from the intense clashes gradually subsided.

Huiming and Kongxing froze almost simultaneously. The captivating crimson and madness in their eyes receded like the tide, replaced by a brief moment of confusion, which quickly returned to their clarity.

The two men each retreated several steps, panting heavily, both with injuries and torn monk robes, looking quite disheveled.

The two exchanged a glance, and an awkward silence filled the air.

The memory of being controlled by inner demons and fighting like a wild beast has not disappeared.

The feeling of having one's most vulnerable side exposed made the two usually highly respected monks feel embarrassed.

But who exactly is Huiming?

Having been in charge of the Discipline Hall of Jinjia Temple for many years, he had long since developed the ability to be impervious to fire and water, and to be thick-skinned and ruthless.

He broke the silence first, clasped his hands together, and even managed a "peaceful" smile, as if the life-or-death struggle that had just taken place had never happened:

"Amitabha."

"I have benefited greatly from today's exchange and verification with the eminent monks of Vajra Temple."

"Your temple's martial arts are profound, powerful, and refined; truly living up to its reputation, it is indeed worthy of being called the foremost Buddhist temple in our Southern Tang Dynasty!"

Upon hearing this, Kongxing's eye twitched almost imperceptibly, but he immediately understood.

He returned the greeting with his palms together, quickly straightened his disheveled monk's robe and expression, and solemnly said:

"Senior Huiming, you flatter me."

"Jinjia Temple has a long history and profound heritage. The senior's cultivation was superb, and his fist technique was like the wrath of a lion king, which broadened the horizons of the juniors and I have gained a lot."

"No wonder my master often said that stones from other mountains can be used to polish jade. After meeting you today, I know that this is no exaggeration."

The two of them started exchanging words back and forth, engaging in a tacit exchange of compliments.

Their words were full of praise for the other party's school and martial arts, as if what had just happened was truly a friendly but intense "sparring exchange".

The unspoken meaning was clear to both of them.

This shameful thing must absolutely not be told to anyone.

It not only concerns personal reputation, but also involves the prestige of the two major temples, Jinjia Temple and Jingang Temple.

Let's pretend this never happened.

If anyone asks, the answer is always, "We met by chance and exchanged ideas, and we appreciated each other's talents."

As for the traitorous monk Guangyuan and that evil mirror... we will naturally need to find another opportunity and make a long-term plan.

Speaking of which, I don't know if it was because it was dark and I couldn't see clearly, but that mirror looked a bit like the Mindfulness Mirror.

Or perhaps Mindfulness and Observation of Karma?

-----------------

Lu Fei carried Guangyuan on his back for dozens of miles in one breath. When he realized that no one was chasing him, he slowed down and rested by the roadside.

"Huff...huff...it should be...safe now..." Lu Fei wiped the sweat from his face and said intermittently.

At first, Guangyuan carried him away while he was injured, but soon, the consequences of Guangyuan's forced suppression of his internal injuries and the repeated fierce battles erupted, causing his breathing to become disordered, his meridians to ache, and his speed to drop sharply.

Seeing this, Lu Fei didn't say a word, gritted his teeth, picked him up, and ran wildly in relay.

At this moment, both of them were at their last gasp.

Guangyuan sat cross-legged, his face pale, closed his eyes and concentrated, and began to slowly circulate the "Karma Subduing Demon Technique" to regulate his internal energy.

A moment later, he exhaled a long breath of foul air, tinged with the smell of blood, opened his eyes, and said:

"This time... we really owe it to this 'mentally challenged mirror'."

Without this Mirror of Karma, he would have truly been trapped and unable to escape this time.

Lu Fei didn't respond to that. He simply frowned, looking Guangyuan up and down with worry in his eyes.

"You bald monk, every time you fight someone, are you forcibly reversing your internal energy flow?"

"Don't you realize how much strain and damage this reckless behavior is putting on your meridians and internal organs?"

He grew increasingly anxious as he spoke: "I'm truly afraid that one day you'll lose control and not be killed by the enemy, but rather suffer a qi deviation, severing all your meridians and dying!"

He genuinely cares about Guangyuan.

Having gone through life and death together multiple times, the two are practically brothers despite being from different mothers and fathers.

"It's alright, I know what I'm doing," Guangyuan said, opening his eyes. "I'm just cultivating according to my own methods."

"My own path?" Lu Fei asked urgently. "But look at those superior martial arts techniques circulating in the martial arts world. Which one wasn't refined through generations of painstaking research by predecessors and perfected through countless subsequent practitioners before it gradually took shape and became safe and effective?"

"You're playing with fire by blindly modifying and practicing based on your gut feeling!"

"You're right." Guangyuan surprisingly agreed with his point of view. "If I work alone behind closed doors, my thinking will always be limited, and I'm very likely to go astray or even create unknown hidden dangers."

Lu Fei was delighted upon hearing this, thinking that he had taken it to heart: "So you shouldn't..."

"So," Guangyuan interrupted him, "I'm going to teach this technique to others."