The votive lamps glowed dimly, their light and shadows flickering over the statue of Guanyin. In the great hall of Changqiu Temple, Duanchen, Cao Hong, and Yao Jiangzhen sat in meditation on cushions before the Buddha statue, each burdened with their own thoughts. The silence around them was so complete that only their breathing could be heard.
Suddenly, a great blue bird flashed across the sky and descended without a sound. The blue-robed man landed like a phantom between Abbess Duanchen and Cao Hong. Spreading his arms, he unleashed Stone Sinks into the Sea from the Sunset Mist-Waves Palm, bringing a palm down toward each of their shoulders in a motion that looked exceedingly gentle.
Before Duanchen and Cao Hong could make out their attacker, they felt the silent force of his palms bearing down as heavily as mountains, like enormous boulders crushing down on their heads. Both were accomplished fighters of the Rivers and Lakes and reacted with lightning speed. They turned sideways and sank their shoulders, narrowly avoiding the surprise attack, then each struck at the blue-robed man with a palm, the force of their blows howling through the air.
Wei Xun immediately switched to Twofold Severance of Sound and Message, meeting their attacks with one palm apiece and contesting both of them at once.
Duanchen and Cao Hong were horrified. Every school and sect of the Rivers and Lakes followed different masters, and each person's wrist strength, arm strength, and internal energy methods could be as different as heaven and earth. For him to dare meet two opponents palm to palm at once meant he had to contend with two entirely different kinds of force. The danger was immense: the slightest mistake could reverse the flow through his meridians, leaving him gravely injured or dead. This man