When both men received the crowd's cheers at the same time, they looked at each other with mutual appreciation in their eyes.
Hui Zhi reached out and pulled Ling Feng to his feet, then leaned close to his ear and whispered, "What are you pretending for, fellow Daoist? Your Dao heart is damaged, yet you still insist on following your own Dao?"
A shadow flashed across Ling Feng's face as Hui Zhi pulled him up, but he immediately said calmly, "Your mastery of Buddhist teachings is profound, junior brother. I cannot match even a fraction of it."
Hui Zhi looked in surprise at the sincere-faced Ling Feng. Had this Azure Cloud Sect cultivator ruined his brain through cultivation?
Even after being provoked like that, he showed no reaction?
A discarded fruit pit struck Hui Zhi's gleaming bald head, interrupting his bewilderment.
An uproar erupted at once.
A loss was a loss. How could the Azure Cloud Sect, a mighty sect ranked among the Nine Great Sacred Lands, be so petty?
They were actually throwing fruit pits at the victor?
Everyone immediately searched the surroundings, trying to find this disgrace to the sect.
"Oh, my hand slipped!" Ouyang's voice suddenly rang out.
Everyone looked over. Ouyang was sitting lazily on a large boulder with Hu Tutu in his arms. With so many people looking her way, Hu Tutu shyly covered her eyes.
Atop the boulder, the young man in blue Daoist robes wore an utterly rakish expression. Though he was not as breathtakingly handsome as the young man standing beside him with a sword in his arms, his wild, unrestrained air still drew everyone's gaze.
The young man stopped smiling and looked at Hui Zhi in the arena, saying flatly, "What are you staring at? Never seen someone's hand slip?"
Hui Zhi looked at Ouyang and casually rubbed his bald head. "Would you also like to discuss Buddhist teachings with this humble monk, fellow Daoist?"
Ouyang gave a disdainful laugh. "Discuss your fucking mother."
The profanity instantly chilled the atmosphere in the arena.
Hui Zhi tilted his head and looked at Ouyang, asking seriously, "Would you like to spar with this humble monk, fellow Daoist?"
"Spar with your fucking mother."
"Fellow Daoist, please remember that disaster comes from the mouth!" Hui Zhi said flatly, his eyes turning cold as he looked at Ouyang.
"Disaster your fucking mother!"
For a moment, Hui Zhi did not know what to say to Ouyang. Every reply Ouyang gave involved greeting his mother, leaving him no chance to find a loophole in his words.
"Is this how the illustrious Azure Cloud Sect, one of the Nine Great Sacred Lands, humiliates those who come to attend your Sect Grand Competition? You only dare bark from a distance, not face me in battle?" Hui Zhi shouted to everyone from the Azure Cloud Sect around him.
That shout turned everyone around them against Ouyang.
He was right. They had clearly come to the Azure Cloud Sect to observe the ceremony. Insulting a guest like this truly damaged the sect's reputation, especially with so many people from other sects watching nearby.
Amid all those contemptuous gazes, Ouyang slowly stood up and looked at Hui Zhi with a half-smile. "Fuck your mother!"
Boom!
An eighteen-foot Buddha appeared behind Hui Zhi. His Nascent Soul Realm cultivation instantly shocked everyone present.
This bald fellow looked no older than eighteen, yet he had reached the Nascent Soul Realm, a height others failed to attain even after centuries of bitter cultivation!
This bald fellow was terrifying indeed. Was Buddhism truly destined to flourish?
Hui Zhi looked coldly at Ouyang. "I am Hui Zhi of the Great Spirit Mountain Temple. I would like to seek some instruction from you, fellow Daoist!"
Seeing Hui Zhi summon his Eighteen-Foot Golden Body in anger, Ouyang turned to Bai Feiyu, who was pretending not to know him. "Hey, Xiao Bai, look. He's getting worked up!"
Bai Feiyu turned away and ignored Ouyang. Ouyang's words had been so vulgar that merely standing beside him made Bai Feiyu feel ashamed.
"Does being in the Nascent Soul Realm make you so damn impressive?" Ouyang asked with a crooked grin as he watched Hui Zhi, whose face shone with Buddhist light beneath the Eighteen-Foot Golden Body.
Leng Qingsong had already drawn his longsword and charged.
His entire body became a streak of sword light, moving so fast that he slammed into Hui Zhi's Eighteen-Foot Golden Body in the blink of an eye.
A metallic roar rang out from the Eighteen-Foot Golden Body.
Hui Zhi was astonished. This young man was only in the Core Formation Realm, yet he could shake the Eighteen-Foot Golden Body of someone at the ninth level of the Nascent Soul Realm?
But Core Formation is still only Core Formation. It can never shake the Nascent Soul Realm! Surprised though he was, Hui Zhi still did not take it to heart. After all, Ouyang, standing atop the boulder, had yet to make a move.
The junior brother beside him was already in the Core Formation Realm, so Ouyang surely could not be merely at the Qi Refining Stage as he appeared!
Hui Zhi could not see through Ouyang's cultivation at all. All he could see was a mere Qi Refining Stage cultivator!
Warily, Hui Zhi raised his hand to knock Leng Qingsong away. Buddhist light blazed from the Eighteen-Foot Golden Body, sending Leng Qingsong flying.
Leng Qingsong paused in midair after being repelled. Then True Essence lit up his sword, and faint sword intent wrapped around it as he flew toward Hui Zhi again.
Even Hui Zhi sensed danger from this sword strike imbued with sword intent. Beneath that seemingly ordinary thrust lay murderous intent!
There's something wrong with this Core Formation cultivator! Hui Zhi was secretly alarmed. His expression became neither joyful nor sorrowful, and the Eighteen-Foot Golden Body behind him gradually solidified into a Buddha whose features could not be discerned.
The Buddha raised its right palm. A 卍-shaped Dharma seal formed within it as the palm descended to suppress Leng Qingsong.
The instant the sword collided with the Buddha's palm, it pierced through its surface. But this was a Nascent Soul Realm Eighteen-Foot Golden Body, after all. The blade sank only half an inch before the palm clamped tightly around Leng Qingsong.
Hundreds upon thousands of Buddha palms then appeared around Leng Qingsong and instantly struck toward him as he remained trapped.
"Senior Brother Bai, will he be all right?" Xiao Feng asked with some concern. Hui Zhi was clearly much stronger than Leng Qingsong. At this rate, Leng Qingsong would undoubtedly lose.
Bai Feiyu merely waved his hand and said calmly, "It's fine. I'll step in."
Those simple words carried the most outrageously swaggering tone, leaving Xiao Feng with nothing but the silhouette of a peerless expert.
Xiao Feng silently committed the line to memory. It would be a fine phrase to use when showing off in the future.
Meanwhile, in the arena, Leng Qingsong transformed into a mass of sword light the instant those countless Buddha palms struck him.
The biting killing aura made the surrounding spectators hastily clear a vast space.
As sword intent flowed, the longsword shattered every last Buddha palm.
When Leng Qingsong retreated to Ouyang's side.
An invisible strand of Sword Qi shredded Hui Zhi's right sleeve!
Hui Zhi's expression became even more devoid of joy or sorrow as he chanted softly, "Amitabha!"
I got careless. I didn't dodge.
He had taken Leng Qingsong's sword intent head-on, hidden beneath that fierce Sword Qi and imbued with Dao Resonance!
No one could have imagined that a mere Core Formation cultivator could comprehend Dao Resonance, something even Nascent Soul Realm cultivators could not grasp!
Although he had not revealed his true strength either, he had indeed lost this exchange.
Had Leng Qingsong not held back, his sleeve would not have been the only thing shredded.
"Your swordsmanship is exceptional, fellow Daoist. This humble monk admits his inferiority!" A loss was a loss, and Hui Zhi freely admitted it.
Ouyang spoke with a crooked grin:
"You're in the Nascent Soul Realm and still lost to someone in the Core Formation Realm? What the fuck were you fighting?"
Before you continue