White-Robed Chief

Chu Li chuckled and said, “Fa Yuan is a benevolent person. I’m sure Brother Zhao will like him.”

Zhao Tianxing shook his head and broke into laughter. “Can any disciple of the Tempest Temple ever be described as benevolent?”

Chu Li replied, “That’s what most people believe, but in reality, Fa Yuan is very amiable. Brother Zhao will realize that once you try and get to know him… Aunt Yue Ling, since you have other matters to attend to, I shall take my leave.”

“What are you going to do?” Xiao Yueling asked.

Chu Li paused for a moment and then sighed. “I’m going to investigate the Ji Public House.”

“You’re going to investigate the Ji Public House?” Xiao Yueling sounded shocked.

Chu Li explained, “I’m now a secret guardian of the Imperial House. There’s something strange going on with the Ji Public, so I’d like to get to the bottom of it.”

Xiao Yueling laughed. “You have a promising future indeed as a secret guardian of the Imperial House. You’re even investigating a High Duke’s Public House now. You’re very brave.”

“Unfortunate circumstances have put me in this position.”

“What’s going on with the Ji Public House?”

“They’re suspected of being in contact with the Holy Church of Light, so I want to find out if they are, in fact, innocent.”

“The High Duke’s Public House would never do such a thing!”

“I don’t believe it either. That’s why I want to investigate it myself. I don’t trust anyone else with the investigation.”

“Okay, off you go then.” Xiao Yueling waved her delicate hand at him. “Be careful. High Duke Ji is no ordinary person. He’s not very easy to deal with.”

Chu Li nodded and gave them a fist salute. Then, he smiled at Zhao Tianxing before gliding away.

Xiao Yueling stared in the direction where he had vanished and shook her head while sighing to herself.

“Is Master’s Junior worried about Brother Chu?” Zhao Tianxing asked. “Brother Chu is a mature and steady person. There shouldn’t be any problem.”

“Humph, this incident itself is a huge problem!” Xiao Yueling rolled her eyes at him as she scoffed. “Do you know how the twelve Public Houses are related to the Imperial Household? Forget it. You won’t understand these matters anyway. Just hurry up and carry on with your recuperation!”

“Master’s Junior, are we still going to pursue the Asura then?” Zhao Tianxing asked with a frown. “It’s really unfair that the Asura we caught has been taken away by the Tempest Temple.”

“How are we supposed to find them?” Xiao Yueling retorted whilst shaking her head. “We were lucky to have encountered these two Asuras this time, but that may not be the case next time!”

“How about we ask the Tempest Temple to hand one over to us?” Zhao Tianxing suggested. “Brother Chu seems to have a good relationship with Fa Yuan. It might be possible if we get him to discuss it with them.”

“Tianxing, you…” Xiao Yueling sighed. “Do you think that because you’re a disciple of Green Deer Cliff, everyone else should listen and be considerate toward you?”

Zhao Tianxing laughed in embarrassment.

Xiao Yueling said, “Fa Yuan and Chu Li are both favored children of Heaven. Why should they help Green Deer Cliff? If you keep having such thoughts, it’ll be very hard for you to get along with them!”

“Actually, it’s not that bad,” Zhao Tianxing said with a smile. “I’m getting along quite well with Brother Chu.”

Xiao Yueling scoffed. “You’re such a fool. I shouldn’t have allowed you to leave the mountain in the first place!”

“Please don’t,” Zhao Tianxing suddenly pleaded. “I’ve already come this far. You can’t just ask me to go back, right?”

It had not been easy for him to leave the mountain. After waiting for many days and nights, he was finally allowed to come out into the world. If he had to return to the mountain once again, he would feel suffocated.

“Well then, you have to promise me not to reveal your identity without my permission. In the future, change your name as well. You are not to call yourself Zhao Tianxing!” Xiao Yueling said with a huff.

She looked at Zhao Tianxing with a sense of resignation.

Zhao Tianxing had an extraordinarily high aptitude for martial arts. However, there were some issues with his character, for he still behaved like an immature child. Aside from his self-centered and entitled attitude, lying was second nature to him. It was genuinely hard to tell when he was lying and when he was telling the truth.

With such a character, he had to be properly polished. He would need to suffer some losses first in order to improve.

Before he became mature, he should not be allowed to use Green Deer Cliff’s name. This was to ensure that Green Deer Cliff’s reputation would not be tainted.

“Understood,” Zhao Tianxing quickly agreed.

He quietly sighed at his karma. He had lied to Chu Li and refused to reveal his sect’s name, but now, with this order from Master’s Junior, it was to be the norm. What a pity it was that he could not use the great name of Green Deer Cliff!

…

After returning to Qing Yun Town, Chu Li sat in full-lotus position on the bed in his bedchamber while viewing the Omniscient Mirror in his mind to project the lection of the All-Knowing Scripture.

There were over five hundred words in total. The words flowed by very quickly, and after finishing, they would replay from the beginning, over and over.

His tough spirit allowed him to go without sleep the entire night. As the lection flowed through his mind, his consciousness and the lection slowly became intertwined until they could not be distinguished from each other. During this process, his body underwent some changes as well.

At dawn, when he slowly opened his eyes, he found his surroundings smelling exceptionally fresh and clean, like the refreshing scent of grass after a rain shower had passed.

A smile appeared on his face. It seemed like his cultivation of the All-Knowing Scripture was already beginning to show some results.

A change had occurred to his sense of smell. As the lection flowed through his mind again, the refreshing scent around him slowly became more potent. Then, he was gradually able to detect various rich scents. At that moment, he realized that what he had initially thought to be one type of smell was, in fact, a mixture of more than ten different smells, which were all very distinct from one another.

If felt as if the world had suddenly turned into a place composed of smells. Just as each object gave off a unique scent, every person had their own scent too.

He suddenly arched his eyebrows as he detected a strong scent of death and decay amidst this complex maelstrom of smells. The scent was extremely pungent and repulsive for some reason.

He vanished from his bed in a flash.

Xiao Shi had just opened the door and entered the room. When she saw him sitting on the bed, she tried to speak up. However, he suddenly disappeared from her view, which left her stupefied. However, she very quickly realized that something had happened again, and that this trip was probably coming to an end soon.

By following this bloody scent, Chu Li quickly arrived at a gazebo in a forest that was twenty miles away from his earlier location, only to find a middle-aged man there.

The man was tall and lanky like a javelin, and was staring coldly at Chu Li who was gliding over.

Chu Li frowned as he was not expecting to find an Asura so close to Qing Yun Town.

Immediately, he threw out a fist. Without any warning, the force of his Divine Light Fist reached the middle-aged man.

The man’s entire body tensed up, but as he turned his body to dodge the attack, another fist was already coming at him.

“Bang!” The man had no choice but to stretch out his palm and counter the attack.

Chu Li threw out punches at lightning speed. One after another, his flashing fists flew at the man from all directions.

“Bang, bang, bang, bang…” The man used his Shura Palm to evade the attacks while backing away. However, Chu Li was in hot pursuit and pressed on with his attacks.

As the two men fought, one kept retreating while the other continued to inch forward. Wherever they went, tree branches snapped while leaves were burnt, leaving large amounts of debris in their wake as flecks of wood and leaves clouded the air.

The force of his Divine Light Fist was so brutal that it pounded every leaf in its path into dust.

“Bang!” The man suddenly went rigid for a second and immediately received a solid blow from the Divine Light Fist.

When Chu Li swung out his left fist, he had secretly switched his attack to the Petrifying Finger.

Since the man had been too busy dealing with the Divine Light Fists, he did not manage to dodge the sudden Petrifying Finger from Chu Li.

“Bang, bang, bang, bang!” When the man became momentarily stiff and motionless, Chu Li managed to land a few successive punches on his body.

Despite having the Body of Asura, he was beaten until he spat blood. The formidable power of the Divine Light Fist had messed up his internal organs and inner energy, as its impact then sent him flying through the air before crashing to the ground.

Chu Li came closer and silently observed him. “How many people have you killed?”

The middle-aged man let out a cold laugh. Then, his body suddenly shrunk as he turned into a skeleton and prepared to throw himself forward.

Chu Li pointed out a finger and caused the man to tense over and spit out blood again. After this, the red glint in the man’s eyes grew dim.

Chu Li said, “More than three hundred people. Well done!”

He stretched out his finger once more.

The Spear Finger Strike was specially used to attack the heart meridian, with the Asuras’ weakness being their heart. After being struck twice, the man stopped moving as if he were dead.