Dingguang Buddha! Dwelling in the Rock! A Thousand Years on the Stone Wall Reveals the Sacred Traces!

"What!"

The scarred man's expression shifted to one of shock, and he spoke in disbelief.

"Aside from that heretic Gao Bin! Who else in Imperial Awakening Temple has the ability to kill Zhao the Left Chancellor!"

The white-robed monk did not answer.

Instead, he pressed his palms together, stood before the entrance of Mahavira Hall, bowed toward the figure at the foot of the mountain gate at the end of the mountain path, and asked.

"Fellow Daoist, have you also come to contend for that strand of True Dragon destiny?"

"..."

What kind of bullshit True Dragon destiny is that!

I see you're all just lusting after this master's body! How base!

Although Zhu Yuanzhang did not know why the other party's calculations were so precise—to the point of predicting this day sixty years later, insisting that all monks who entered the temple in the third year of Zhizheng must be killed to seize the great fortune carried by Minghe.

But clearly, the series of coincidences targeting himself and Minghe were by no means accidental.

"Zhu Chongba."

Zhu Yuanzhang gave his monk's robe a flick.

The blood energy erupting in an instant from the Mountain-Shrinking Fist, bolstered by the Great Wisdom Zen Technique, nearly solidified into substance.

The air vibrated as his robe snapped with a sharp, whistling sound!

Zhu Yuanzhang's gaze was calm as water, staring straight into the white-robed monk's eyes, making the other party instinctively shudder.

The white-robed monk drew a sharp breath, and upon feeling that surging, salty, humid aura rushing toward him like a tidal wave, cold sweat instantly streamed down his forehead.

He spoke through gritted teeth.

"Mountain-Shrinking Fist! To think it is this divine technique that perfectly counters the Dingguang Demon-Subduing True Technique."

"Chancellor Zhao did not die in vain."

"?"

What the hell?

So the Mountain-Shrinking Fist perfectly counters the Dingguang Demon-Subduing True Technique?

Mingshan, you son of a bitch, you set me up!

Zhu Yuanzhang's face darkened.

Making me cultivate two mutually destructive techniques—how is this any different from raising gu-insects inside my own stomach?

"..."

Zhu Yuanzhang said nothing, but he silently made a note of this against Mingshan in his heart.

You old monk who loves carrying an umbrella, just you wait!

See if I don't scrub you clean later.

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't waste any more words.

The reason he hadn't left immediately was entirely because, compared to the original history, he was still missing one thing.

"The ordination certificate of Imperial Awakening Temple."

Although Zhu Yuanzhang had found quite a few ordination certificates on Zhao Zhen, the contents on them had not yet been filled out.

They required the personal signature of the Imperial Awakening Temple's abbot, Gao Bin, to take effect.

For the sake of caution.

Before he could figure out the true strength of the Great Yuan imperial court.

Zhu Yuanzhang did not intend to openly clash head-on with the Great Yuan authorities.

He tapped his toes against the stone steps, and the bluestone beneath his feet instantly shattered into pieces due to the monstrous force of the Mountain-Shrinking Fist.

To the white-robed monk.

Zhu Yuanzhang's punch looked like a sudden gale! It whipped up a giant wave that crashed down like a mountain.

There was nowhere to run! Nowhere to hide!

The salty, humid scent of the sea breeze blew into their faces, causing everyone to fall into a hallucination.

It was as if, in an instant, they had appeared upon a strange reef.

The sky was overcast, a precursor to an incoming storm.

Thunderous, drum-like sounds echoed from beneath the sea, and people saw a massive shadow flash by.

Though they could not see its full form, it still filled them with a bone-deep terror.

And now, the shadow beneath the sea was rapidly closing in on everyone trapped on the reef!

"Wake up!"

The white-robed monk let out a thunderous shout.

He bit his finger, and as the blood dripped down, golden-red flames erupted from his entire body in an instant.

It was none other than the Dingguang Demon-Subduing True Technique!

This was the very reason Zhu Yuanzhang dared to charge in without a second word.

"I said it before! No one understands the Dingguang Demon-Subduing True Technique better than I do!"

Compared to the tsunami-like force of Zhu Yuanzhang's Mountain-Shrinking Fist, the Dingguang Demon-Subduing True Fire of the white-robed monk was like a flickering flame so weak it was nearly extinct.

It was extinguished with almost no resistance.

However, something was wrong.

Accompanied by a strange incantation echoing from the white-robed monk's mouth, a terrifying sense of crisis suddenly descended.

"Dingguang Buddha! Dwell within the rock! The stone wall manifests a holy trace for a thousand years!"

That voice did not sound like it was spoken by the white-robed monk; it sounded as if some terrifying entity was "flowing" out through the monk's body.

And that voice was not the Mandarin of the northerners from north of the Yangtze River.

Nor was it the soft dialect of the Jiangnan region.

It sounded more like the Nuo opera sung by shamans during ancestral sacrifices in the primitive, Han-Hu mixed tribes of the wild Minyue lands.

Zhu Yuanzhang felt an inexplicable panic.

This was the first time he had ever seen someone use the Dingguang Demon-Subduing True Technique accompanied by a chant.

But Zhu Yuanzhang paid no mind to the eerie cadence of the monk's words.

The Mountain-Shrinking Fist was still delivered with steady, powerful force.

The phantom of Dagon manifested behind Zhu Yuanzhang.

"Break!"

But the feeling he imagined—the crushing, unstoppable sensation he felt when beating Zhao Zhen, like smashing a rotten tomato—did not occur.

Zhu Yuanzhang felt as if he had punched a solid rock.

Although he had cracked the rock deeply, it was not enough to completely shatter the statue of the Dingguang Buddha on the stone wall!

[Holy Wish-Fulfillment]

Great Wisdom Zen Technique activated!

As patches of water-blue scales began to grow on the exposed parts of Zhu Yuanzhang's body, astonishing blood energy suddenly surged through his limbs and bones!

The power of the Mountain-Shrinking Fist intensified abruptly.

The white-robed monk, who had previously been holding his own, suddenly turned pale.

As the dark hair at his temples turned white in an instant, a look of despair appeared in his eyes.

"Kill!"

The clash between Zhu Yuanzhang and the white-robed monk lasted only a heartbeat.

In the blink of an eye, following the white-robed monk's shout, the surrounding Incense Army reacted as well.

The scarred man pulled a cowhide bag from his bosom, pierced it with a sharp knife, and splashed the black-red, semi-coagulated blood onto his waist saber, before roaring and hacking toward Zhu Yuanzhang's head.

"Pig blood mixed with garlic water."

Smelling the pungent odor permeating the air, Zhu Yuanzhang realized the truth.

There was danger!

Not only did the momentum of the Mountain-Shrinking Fist weaken slightly.

Even the Dingguang Demon-Subduing True Fire surging around the white-robed monk began to flicker.

"No need to retreat! Compared to the Mountain-Shrinking Fist, the Dingguang Demon-Subduing Art is affected even more!"

Zhu Yuanzhang extended an arm.

He grabbed the blade in the scarred man's hand head-on.

Clang!

The sound of metal clashing against metal rang out between Zhu Yuanzhang's arm and the blade.

A violent burning sensation struck Zhu Yuanzhang's palm.

The waist saber in the scarred man's hand snapped in two!

"Fool!"

Seeing the saber break, the scarred man spat out a mouthful of blood, the webbing between his thumb and forefinger splitting inch by inch, yet he was not angry—he was delighted.

"A practitioner of the Dao actually dares to touch the stench of meat! You don't know death when you see it!"

"Slaughter him!"

Just as the scarred man raised his saber, preparing to sever Zhu Yuanzhang's head the moment before his wounds could heal.

Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly turned his head, his gaze brimming with cold intent as he shouted.

"Dingguang Demon-Subduing!"

The scarred man watched as golden-red flames surged from beneath his feet within the monk's pupils, swallowing him whole in an instant.

"Why... Xiang..."

Before he died, the scarred man looked at the white-robed monk in disbelief.

Clearly, he believed the white-robed monk had made a mistake and wounded him by accident.

But the white-robed monk had no time to be shocked by how Zhu Yuanzhang could simultaneously cultivate the Dingguang Demon-Subduing True Technique and the Mountain-Shrinking Fist, two completely contradictory arts.

Seizing the opportunity created by the scarred man's life, the white-robed monk tore open his monastic robe, revealing two massive characters for "Buddha" inscribed upon his chest and back.

He began to chant the sixteen-character mantra.

"Fixed-Light Manifestation! Ancient Buddha Dropping Radiance!"

"Golden Threads Adorning Afar! Stone Shadow Floating Light!"

Suddenly, a true and undeniable Buddha-shadow appeared upon the white-robed monk's chest, which had already transformed into a stone wall, radiating a hue of great compassion and great light.

He chanted the precious proclamation once more!

"Heavenly Hanging Treasure Canopy! Earth Gushing Golden Lotus!"

"Buddha Origin Painting Shadow! Liang Wu Opening Year!"