The long saber cleaved through the air, but Puxin neither dodged nor retreated. A dark, heavy Vajra was already in his palm, and he knocked Hu Yan's slash aside by brute force.
Before the clang of metal had faded, Zhao Bo, another Azure Mystic disciple who had reached late embryonic breath, closed in. His short spear swept forward on a fierce gust, driving straight at Puxin!
He, too, was among the finest Azure Mystic disciples. Though not as strong as Hu Yan, his cultivation at late embryonic breath and full aperture was genuine.
Of everyone present, only those two could fight the Evil Monk Puxin.
Yet against their joint assault, Puxin remained calm and composed, never falling behind!
As they fought, Jiang Che could see traces of Buddhist Path techniques in the fellow's moves, but an uncanny, sinister quality ran through them, jarringly out of place.
The three fought in a tangled melee, barely maintaining a deadlock, none able to overcome the others. That alone showed how strong the Evil Monk Puxin was.
The people in the courtyard who had been kneeling and chanting evil scriptures also seized weapons and engaged the Azure Mystic disciples.
Though every one of them possessed the strength and aura of embryonic breath, their moves were clumsy, their advances and retreats disordered. At a glance, it was clear they had little combat experience and had barely learned any fighting techniques. Compared with military cultivators and Azure Mystic disciples, their actual fighting ability was far inferior.
But there were too many of them.
Though the Azure Mystic disciples fought better, this group consisted mainly of people from the Ailin Outer Gate. They had no clear advantage in cultivation and were badly outnumbered. Even with greater individual strength, they could only fight their opponents to a standstill.