"No outside visitors?"
"What a coincidence. I didn't come here as a guest."
Hong Yuan kept walking. His steps seemed unhurried, but the burly monk saw only a blur before Hong Yuan swept past him and stepped into Vajra Temple's inner courtyard.
"Stop right there!"
The imposing monk, built like an iron tower, bellowed, spun around, and lunged, reaching straight for Hong Yuan's shoulder and back.
As his arm extended, its muscles bulged and knotted. Each of his five fingers seemed forged from iron, carrying a fierce rush of wind.
To serve as Vajra Temple's Guest-Receiving Monk and guard the first entrance to its inner courtyard, this burly monk naturally possessed considerable martial skill. He had already reached the level of blending hardness and softness; a grasp of his hand could crush even solid bluestone.
This strike was as swift as an eagle's talons, pouncing with fierce speed-yet it caught nothing.
Hong Yuan simply continued at his leisurely pace, looking as though even a three-year-old child could catch him. Yet just as the Guest-Receiving Monk's claw descended, his figure drifted away like the wind, narrowly evading the grasp.
Instead, the Guest-Receiving Monk's claw met empty air. Unable to arrest his momentum, he stumbled slightly.
He steadied himself, urgency crossing his face, then chased after Hong Yuan again, his hands darting out repeatedly.
Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!
His force tore through the air with short, sharp hisses. No matter how swiftly the Guest-Receiving Monk attacked or how treacherous the angle, Hong Yuan always evaded him by "the narrowest of margins."
"I told you to stop! Didn't you hear me?"
The Guest-Receiving Monk was truly enraged now. Fury filled his face as he clenched his fist and drove it forward with a thunderous blow, like thrusting a wooden beam against a bell. He