Chen Hu rubbed his bald head and chuckled. "Daoist Yunbao, since you and he are fellow practitioners, I'd say you'd better stay out of this."
Daoist Yunbao's brows furrowed slightly in displeasure. "What do you mean, fellow practitioners?"
"He's just a brat who picked up a few crooked tricks somewhere."
The reason the two of them were so eager to get there first was simple. Xiao Jingyuan, the future Prince Su, had promised them a generous reward.
Whoever killed Jiang Yun would be richly rewarded.
Listening to their conversation, Lu Wanyu said nothing.
Lu Wanyu had fought Jiang Yun before. He knew perfectly well that the kid wouldn't be so easy to deal with.
As the two argued, Chen Hu suddenly took off running toward Nanmanju Inn.
Unwilling to be outdone, Daoist Yunbao instantly drew the long sword from his back and followed close behind.
Watching the two rush inside, Lu Wanyu glanced back.
Xiao Jingyuan was staring at him from not far away.
Seeing this, Lu Wanyu took a deep breath and could only grit his teeth and follow.
At the same time, in a guest room at Nanmanju Inn.
Jiang Yun had already pinched five talismans between his fingers.
From the corridor came the sound of Daoist Yunbao and Chen Hu arguing.
Xu Suwen narrowed her eyes slightly as she stood in the room. "Are you sure you can handle all three of them?"
"Miss Xu, you'd better leave this room," Jiang Yun said gravely.
Xu Suwen glanced curiously at the talisman in Jiang Yun's hand.
Jiang Yun was only at the eighth-grade realm.
Could he really handle three seventh-grade experts?
But she didn't hesitate for long. She knew Jiang Yun was a very levelheaded person.
If he weren't confident, he would certainly ask her to step in.
Xu Suwen leapt out of the third-floor room and landed on the roof across the street.
After Xu Suwen left, Chen Hu and Daoist Yunbao arrived and kicked the door open.
Chen Hu held a string of Prayer Beads, a strange grin tugging at his lips. "Benefactor, I'm here."
"Once I've killed you, I'll give you a proper send-off!"
Beside him, Daoist Yunbao held a long sword and snorted. "Monk, let's make this clear first: fair competition. Whoever kills this kid gets the Heir Apparent's reward."
At that, Chen Hu could hardly wait and charged into the guest room.
Daoist Yunbao's eyes sharpened. That bastard's jumping the gun!
Jiang Yun stood in the middle of the room, a talisman pinched in his right hand.
At that moment, the talisman shimmered with a red glow.
Jiang Yun began to chant: "Samadhi True Fire, flowing light across ten thousand li. Illumine heaven and earth, blaze in all eight directions. Rivers and seas boil, demons and phantoms hide. May the Southern Dipper send down its breath, may Samadhi's light stream forth."
"Refine the womb and change the flesh, temper the soul and restore the spirit. Let ten thousand demons fall, borne aloft on smoke. By the urgent decree of the Law!"
Daoist Yunbao stopped dead in his tracks, his pupils contracting slightly. He had never heard the incantation Jiang Yun was chanting, but he had heard the words "Samadhi True Fire."
Samadhi True Fire was the Daoist School's Extreme Yang Fire...
This kid knew Samadhi True Fire?
The instant he finished the incantation, flames roared to life in Jiang Yun's eyes.
He opened his mouth, and a blazing torrent of fire surged out.
"Dodge!" Daoist Yunbao roared, hurriedly darting to the side.
Chen Hu hadn't had time to react before the Samadhi True Fire was already upon him.
He hurriedly chanted, "Homage to the Buddha. Homage to the Dharma. Homage to the Sangha. Homage to Śrī. Mahādevi. Tadyathā..."
The Prayer Beads in his hand instantly blazed with Buddhist light, enveloping him.
The Samadhi True Fire engulfed him in an instant.
Sweat streamed down his forehead as cracks spread visibly across the barrier of Buddhist light.
He couldn't hold on.
He hurriedly threw himself to the ground and rolled to the side, barely escaping the flames. "Daoist Yunbao, what is this fire—"
He turned his head and saw that Daoist Yunbao had already fled.
Daoist Yunbao shouted, "That guy knows Samadhi True Fire! If we don't run, we'll die!"
Among Daoist practitioners, only those who specialized in fire-based talismans could wield Samadhi True Fire, and they had to be at least at the sixth-grade Inner Core Realm.
In the room, Jiang Yun held the talisman as Magic Power flowed through him. He began chanting again, and Samadhi True Fire surged forth.
"Is that the Daoist School's Samadhi True Fire? Wait for me, monk!"
Chen Hu hurried after him.
At the stairwell, Lu Wanyu, who had been trailing behind the others, saw things turning bad and had already turned to flee.
Meanwhile,
Xiao Jingyuan watched Xu Suwen leave the third-floor room, and his heart lifted.
Could it be that his earlier words had persuaded Miss Xu?
He felt relieved now and looked toward the third floor.
Daoist Yunbao, Lu Wanyu, and Chen Hu were all experts the Prince Su's Mansion had spent a fortune to hire.
Surely they could handle one Jiang Yun.
The Prince Su's Mansion had operated in Nanzhou Prefecture for many years, and Xiao Jingyuan had long since learned Jiang Yun's background.
He was nothing more than a poor scholar who depended on his younger sister and lived with her.
At last, commotion erupted on the third floor, with flames flashing again and again.
Xiao Jingyuan smiled faintly. It looked like they had started fighting.
But moments later, Daoist Yunbao, Chen Hu, and Lu Wanyu came stumbling out of Nanmanju Inn.
"What happened to the three of you?" Xiao Jingyuan furrowed his brows.
Before the three could explain, Jiang Yun leapt out of a third-floor window and landed heavily on the ground.
Now that he had made his move, there was no way he would let the three of them go easily.
He had taken another Thunder Talisman in his left hand.
"Lightning and fire blaze forth, Lord of Fire of the South. Flying venom stretches ten thousand zhang, shaking and sweeping the eight directions. The true talisman takes form; quickly reveal your true spirit. By the urgent decree of the Law!"
Thunder in his left hand, fire in his right.
His hands swept through the air.
He chanted, and Samadhi True Fire mingled with flashes of lightning.
The lightning and true fire roared toward Daoist Yunbao, Chen Hu, and Lu Wanyu.
Seeing no way to evade it,
Daoist Yunbao bit the tip of his tongue and spat blood onto the sword clenched in his hand. He hurriedly chanted, "I summon the lords of fire to shield my form. Let fierce flames not scorch me; let a cool breeze come."
Chen Hu hurriedly began chanting as well.
Lu Wanyu took a deep breath and hastily swung the folding fan in his hand.
This was no ordinary fan, but a magical treasure brimming with Spiritual Energy.
The three hurriedly cast their spells, but the lightning and true fire had already swept over them.
Together, the three of them barely managed to hold it back.
Jiang Yun took a deep breath and looked at Xiao Jingyuan not far away.
Then he inhaled again and spat another mouthful of true fire toward Xiao Jingyuan.
The strongest thing about Samadhi True Fire was that it could burn a person's soul directly.
"Heir Apparent, look out!" Seeing the flames turn toward Xiao Jingyuan, Lu Wanyu rushed forward with all his might and flung his folding fan.
On closer inspection, the fan bore a lifelike painting of a tiger.
As the fan flew through the air, the tiger painted in black ink on it suddenly sprang out, leaping from the fan to block the Samadhi True Fire for Xiao Jingyuan.
Seeing this, Chen Hu and Daoist Yunbao realized they had a good chance to bring Jiang Yun down.
They charged at him from the left and right.
Daoist Yunbao chanted in a low voice. In an instant, the treasured sword in his hand crackled with lightning.
Beside him, Chen Hu glowed with golden Buddhist light and raised his fist. That punch contained the fruits of his many years of Buddhist cultivation.
If it landed, Jiang Yun would surely be smashed to pieces.
Seeing them charge at him, Jiang Yun didn't panic. Instead, he took out a talisman he had prepared earlier.
He tossed it into the air.
"Heaven is round, earth is square; the edict has nine sections. I now set down my brush; may ten thousand ghosts lie hidden. Above, I invoke the Three Pure Ones; below, I answer to the heart and spirit..."
There was one more chapter.
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