“You’ve got a sharp nose,” Fang Zhiyi said with a shrug, following the young monk inside.
Though he had seen his fair share of temples, this place still managed to surprise him. For one thing, whoever built this temple clearly had some serious resources—carving a cliff face like this alone would have taken a tremendous amount of manpower.
“What the hell is the Imperial Observatory doing? How is a place like this still standing?”
Just as Fang Zhiyi was muttering to himself, the abbot slowly emerged from the main hall. He cast a glance at Fang Zhiyi, his gaze locking firmly onto the cloth-wrapped bundle strapped to his back.
Silence fell over the scene.
The abbot suddenly pressed his palms together and recited a Buddhist chant.
“Little cultivator, you’ve come from afar. Won’t you come inside for a cup of hot tea?”
But Fang Zhiyi slowly took the bundle off his back, unwrapping it layer by layer. “We’re all busy here. Why bother with these riddles? There’s no one else around.”
The abbot’s eyes narrowed into slits. “Little cultivator, what do you mean by this…”
Fang Zhiyi grabbed the hilt of the sword. “I hate people like you. You can’t just speak plainly—always dancing around the point.”
“That sword in your hand… the old monk feels he’s seen it before… Could it be that you are…”
Fang Zhiyi paused for a moment, then grinned. “Oh? So we’ve got a connection?” As he drew the blade, the dark souls sealed within it stirred restlessly, black smoke seeping out from the already pitch-black sword.
“How dare you bring such filthy, defiled things into my Buddha hall!” the abbot suddenly bellowed.
Fang Zhiyi didn’t bother with idle talk. He simply swung his sword, and several dark spirits howled as they lunged forward.
The abbot could no longer keep up the act. By all conventions, shouldn’t they talk first, and fight only if talks failed? This unknown daoist wasn’t playing by the rules at all!
Just as the dark souls were about to reach his face, Huijue pressed his palms together. Golden light radiated from his body, blocking the assault with brute force.
“You wicked demon, stop this obsession!” His voice seemed amplified, echoing from all directions.
Fang Zhiyi casually picked his ear. “Me? A wicked demon? Yeah, I guess that’s not wrong. But what makes you think you’re any better? You wear a pious face while stealing people’s fortunes.”
Huijue stared coldly at Fang Zhiyi.
“Don’t try to fool me. I’ve already figured it out. You send two lackeys out to borrow luck from people. When they refuse, you go after their parents, threatening them until they come here to beg you—offering you money and luck, and thanking you for it.” Fang Zhiyi spat on the ground as he spoke. “Pretty clever, huh?”
Huijue raised a hand, and a streak of golden light shot straight at Fang Zhiyi.
He was certain the strike would hit—if it were anyone but Fang Zhiyi.
“But then I started thinking. The Imperial Observatory already showed up in Huai River. There’s no way they missed you. So what does that mean?”
Huijue was stunned. How was this young daoist so fast? He was already squatting on the railing to his right.
Fang Zhiyi flashed his white teeth. “It means… you’re not important enough for the Imperial Observatory to bother with.”
“Demon!” Huijue reached out, and a phantom hand formed in the air, growing larger. Seeing that Fang Zhiyi didn’t dodge, didn’t even call his dark souls back to defend, a flicker of joy passed through Huijue’s eyes.
“Since you recognize this sword’s owner, that means you must know Xuan Jizi too.”
Huijue’s eyes went wide. That young daoist had blocked his dharma manifestation using nothing but a single sword.
“I’m a quick learner. After I killed him, I picked up a few of his tricks…”
“You… you killed that Old Madman?” Huijue was stunned. As if in answer, one of the lurking dark souls pressed close to his face.
Seeing Xuan Jizi’s face right in front of him sent a chill down Huijue’s spine.
He had suffered terribly at the hands of that Old Madman before. If it weren’t for Xuan Jizi’s sudden fit back then, Huijue would have died long ago.
This young man killed Xuan Jizi? How was that possible?
While he was still reeling, a voice rang in his ear: “Buddhist light can block dark forces, but it can’t stop physical attacks, can it?”
Huijue instinctively ducked and rolled, abandoning all dignity—but the sword still sliced off his ear.
“You bastard! How dare you harm me!” Huijue clutched his ear and pointed at Fang Zhiyi. “Men! Men! Kill him!”
The other monks in the temple rushed over, weapons in hand.
Fang Zhiyi swept his sword in an arc, scanning the gathered monks. He sniffed the air slightly. “Such a lovely place of cultivation—how did it end up gathering a bunch of fools like you?”
Several bare-chested martial monks charged at him with steel blades. In their eyes, Fang Zhiyi was just a frail young man. They had dealt with troublemakers before—hacked them down, no problem.
But as soon as they clashed, the monks’ faces changed in an instant.
Fang Zhiyi moved like a shadow, his sword strikes incredibly fast. In just a few breaths, the four monks surrounding him stood frozen.
The monks behind them were confused. “Brothers, what’s…”
Before they could finish, black mist burst from the four monks’ seven orifices. In the blink of an eye, all that black smoke was absorbed into the sword.
Fang Zhiyi glanced approvingly at his blade. “That old fool had such a great weapon, and he just used it to hack people…” He didn’t seem to notice the remaining monks and turned to walk into the main hall.
“You! Stop right there!” a big monk shouted.
“Are you crazy? You tell me to stop and I stop? I’m busy, you know. Besides, I was just warming up. You all don’t even need me to dirty my hands…” Without turning back, Fang Zhiyi raised his hand and made a gesture.
The restless dark souls immediately lunged at the crowd.
Fang Zhiyi stepped over the threshold, his eyes sweeping the room before fixing on the massive golden Buddha statue. “Old bald donkey, what, are you going to put on a show for me too?”
Huijue, still clutching his bleeding ear, glared at Fang Zhiyi with a twisted face. “You take your road, I’ll take mine. Why do you have to push me so hard?”
“There are so many evil people in this world—can you really kill them all? I just steal a little luck! Why are you targeting me?”
Fang Zhiyi stared at Huijue for a long moment, then suddenly laughed. “You’re overthinking it.”
“Huh?” Huijue didn’t understand.
“I’m no saint either—you know that. After all, a good guy wouldn’t be trailing black smoke, right?” Fang Zhiyi stepped closer. “It’s just that what I’m up against is a little… too tough. I figured I’d use you bastards to level up.”
Huijue didn’t know what “level up” meant, but after a moment’s thought, he roughly understood. “Since you insist on making an enemy out of me, don’t regret it!”
ap a wealthy young lady? Or else I'll be eliminated by the system? Ye Feng, who awakened the Kidnapper System, originally wanted to live a peaceful life but never imagined he would become a kidnapper of young women. However, after some time, he discovered that all the girls the system ordered him to kidnap were far from ordinary. "Big brother Ye Feng~ You've kidnapped my heart, and now you're not allowed to leave me ever again~" "Ye Feng~ You kidnapped me back then, now it's my turn to capture you♡" "Little Feng, you're mine! You can only be mine!" "Ye Feng, none of them deserve you. Only I love you the most♡" ... This is madness, they've all gone mad! Wait, what? Why are all the girls I kidnapped yanderes?!
with countless casualties. As a top-tier gamer, Liu Xuan volunteered to join the fight, intending to dominate with his skills, but instead he obtained the hidden class: [Pacifist]. Unable to attack. Unable to use active skills. Fortunately, with each level gained, he acquired a new passive skill. And so, armed with a body full of passives, Liu Xuan slaughtered his way through the battlefield of ten thousand races! [You attacked Liu Xuan] [You gained the debuffs: 'Poison', 'Fear', 'Burning', 'Bleeding', 'Freeze', 'Silence', etc.] [Your attack speed has been reduced by 99%] [Your armor and magic resistance have been reduced by 99%] Warriors of the Ten Thousand Races: How the hell am I supposed to fight this?!
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
lity and could only live as an ordinary mortal. He only wished to live a peaceful life. Yet he didn't know— The dog he adopted, because it ate his food, became a legendary demon king. The kitchen knife he casually forged became a peerless divine weapon, causing numerous experts to fight desperately for it. The young disciple he took in became an immortal lord that led an era, due to cultivating the techniques Ye Feng taught him. Even the skeletons he looked down on the most were ominous demon kings that suppressed countless worlds. Many years later, looking at the void shattered with a punch, Ye Feng murmured to himself: It turns out the peerless kings were myself all along...
