Desperate Situation

That deep, resonant voice carried a comforting strength that pierced the blood and killing intent hanging heavy in the air, clearly reaching the ears of everyone present.

Soon after, a faint clacking sound followed. Although quiet, it was exceptionally distinct in the tense atmosphere.

Everyone instinctively turned back to look, their eyes filled with doubt and vigilance.

An old monk draped in a dark brown kasaya was seen slowly walking over the bluestone pavement outside the estate.

His pace appeared somewhat sluggish, but every step seemed to contain formidable power.

The kasaya was patched one piece after another, looming indistinctly in the sunlight.

In his hand, the old monk held a string of jujube-wood prayer beads; they were smooth and round, radiating a rustic luster.

As he walked, he gently twitched the beads while muttering softly, seemingly chanting some sort of scripture.

As the old monk drew closer, people realized that while his pace looked sluggish, each step actually spanned a distance of over a zhang.

Within a few breaths, he slipped into the estate's front courtyard like a phantom, stepping onto this battlefield reeking of blood.

The old monk's gaze swept over the corpses strewn across the ground, and a trace of compassion welled up in his initially murky eyes.

He stopped, sat cross-legged right where he stood, pressed his palms together, and began chanting scriptures in a low voice.

The sound of that scripture reverberated in the air, echoing back and forth.

Right at that moment, a blood-soaked henchman of the Langya Family suddenly surged up, brandishing his saber to slash at the crown of the old monk's head: "Where did this bald donkey come from!"

The sound of the old monk chanting scriptures stopped instantly, and at the same time, his lowered eyes snapped wide open. In a split second, the air within a radius of ten zhang seemed to freeze.

The henchman's blade was blocked three inches above the old monk's head, unable to advance an inch, as a mountain-like pressure erupted from around the old monk.

In a trance, the crowd actually saw thousands of golden lotus pedestals emerge in the void, every single lotus petal engraved with ancient Sanskrit characters, while the old monk sat cross-legged in the center, resembling a Buddha descended to the mortal realm.

"Thud!" The henchman hemorrhaged from all seven orifices and collapsed to the ground, the long saber in his hand clattering down.

This scene shocked the scalp of everyone present into numbness, and even the three masters behind the Carefree Prince subconsciously retreated half a step.

"Master Dehua! You've finally come!" Two men in martial attire from the Langya Family cried out in pleasant surprise.

As the active party in this operation, they naturally had known long ago that Master Dehua might come; after all, Young Master Xing of the Langya Family having visited Tianlong Temple was no secret to them.

Although they did not know what kind of benefits Young Master Xing had actually promised to successfully coax one of the peerless powerhouses among the four Great Grandmasters of Great Yan out of seclusion to help, today Master Dehua's appearance was clearly to honor that promise.

The Carefree Prince's pupils constricted slightly, his hands beneath his brocade robes clenched tightly into fists.

Who in the Jianghu of Great Yan did not know that thirty years ago, Master Dehua had shaken the world with the Dragon Elephant Divine Skill and the Indestructible Vajra Body, and had even fought the Sword Saint—already the number one person in Great Yan at the time—to a standstill ten years ago?

Now this reclusive powerhouse had suddenly intervened, clearly coming fully prepared.

"Benefactor Mu, the sea of bitterness is boundless, turn back and find the shore."

Master Dehua formed hand seals, his kasaya fluttering without wind. "Since this old monk has accepted the invitation, today I must take Benefactor to see His Majesty and settle your crimes of secretly hoarding weaponry and plotting rebellion."

"But Benefactor may rest assured, this old monk will certainly preserve Benefactor's life; this old monk is willing to vouch for it with the reputation of Tianlong Temple, Amitabha."

Before his voice faded, a black-robed master behind the Carefree Prince suddenly surged forward, the long sword in his hand turning into a cold flash to directly target the old monk's face.

Yet Master Dehua was not the least bit flustered. With a slight flip of his palm, golden light flashed across his kasaya, and his left hand swept out horizontally in an instant like an elephant's trunk. The black-robed master flew backward like a snapped kite, plowing a three-zhang-long bloody trail into the brick floor.

"You!" The Carefree Prince's complexion turned ashen; he knew deeply that the situation today had completely spiraled out of control.

One of the three masters had been crippled, and the other side had a Grandmaster presiding over the field. If they continued fighting, it would only end in a total defeat.

The Carefree Prince gazed at Master Dehua before him, his heart filled with bitterness and helplessness.

The appearance of this Grandmaster of Martial Arts made him understand that today's affairs were no longer feasible.

The other party did not know what heavy bribes they had promised to actually be able to invite this kind of otherworldly Buddhist powerhouse.

He slowly shook his head, as if he had already made a difficult decision in his heart.

Then, he resolutely stepped out of the guard's protection zone. Every step looked exceptionally heavy, as though he were bearing the fate of the entire Carefree Prince's Estate.

His gaze was filled with resignation; in order to protect the safety of the Carefree Prince's Estate, he was willing to forsake his own freedom and even his life.

Seeing this, the men sent by the Langya Aristocratic Family immediately ordered those two burly, fierce-looking men to take out the iron chains they had prepared in advance, getting ready to shackle Mu Rongyi.

Those two men wore ferocious expressions, grasping the chains as they closed in on Mu Rongyi step by step.

Watching as they were about to lock Mu Rongyi's hands with the iron chains, right at this critical moment, a crisp sound suddenly pierced through the tense air.

"Clang!"

Before everyone even had time to react, those originally rock-hard iron chains actually burst forth with dazzling sparks.

Immediately following that, a terrifying to the extreme power swept over like a surging wave. Under the impact of this force, the iron chains were instantly beaten away, slamming viciously into a nearby tree like an out-of-control poisonous snake.

Only a crack was heard as the trunk of that large tree was actually smashed out with a deep indentation, having suffered a heavy blow.

Meanwhile, those two men holding the iron chains were sent flying backward by this force, tumbling heavily to the ground in a sorry state like kites with snapped strings.

A mouthful of fresh blood spewed from their mouths, and they had clearly suffered not-insignificant internal injuries.

Everyone's gaze involuntarily focused on the distorted and deformed iron chains, their hearts filled with shock and dismay.

Yet, even more shocking was that the thing which had knocked away the iron chains was merely a tiny pebble!

Only then did the crowd snap out of their daze, successively looking toward the direction from which the pebble had flown.

A tall ancient tree came into view, upon which a youthful figure was leisurely swinging his legs, a pebble tossing up and down flexibly between his fingertips as though he were toying with an ordinary, trivial object.

This person was none other than Mu Bai, the good-for-nothing Young Master in the eyes of everyone at the Carefree Prince's Estate.

"Young Master?!" The guards of the Carefree Prince's Estate widened their eyes, full of disbelief.

That Young Master who on ordinary days only knew how to eat, drink, make merry, and idle about had unexpectedly tossed out a pebble just now and displayed such terrifying martial arts strength, swatting away two ferocious men. This simply completely subverted their previous understanding.

The Carefree Prince was even more frantic with anxiety, his face filled with an anxious expression as he shouted loudly: "Bairu! What are you still doing here? Why aren't you hurrying to get away from me!"

In his heart, Mu Bai was the last hope for the continuation of the Carefree Prince's Estate's bloodline. Now that they were in a desperate situation, he only hoped his son could quickly flee this place of right and wrong.

In his agitation, he even forgot that the scene which had just astonished everyone had precisely come from the hands of his own son.

Meanwhile, Master Dehua at the side pressed his palms together, reciting a Buddhist chant from his mouth: "Amitabha, Benefactor, we meet again."

His voice was calm and serene, yet it stirred up crashing waves in everyone's hearts.

The crowd couldn't help wondering: this Buddhist Grandmaster and the Young Master of the Carefree Prince's Estate actually knew each other?

Mu Bai chuckled softly, his toes tapping against a tree branch as he executed a sparrow hawk's flip to leap down from the tree.

The moment he landed, his toes lightly brushed the ground and his figure flickered, instantly appearing not far in front of Master Dehua.

A hint of a bitter smile carried on his face as he sighed softly: "Master, I really didn't want to see you here."