Chapter 124: Miaohua's Death
Chen Chang'an laughed: "Since you can't answer, you've lost. A bet is a bet, shall we?"
Monk Miaohua clutched his throbbing head but still maintained that compassionate facade: "Amitabha, this poor monk cannot answer, but it does not mean he has lost." He solemnly put his hands together, "The benefactor may ask a question this poor monk can answer."
"Ha!" Chen Chang'an laughed in anger, "So you're trying to welch on the bet, are you?"
The monk's expression remained unchanged: "How can a monk's affairs be called welshing? This is called transforming according to conditions."
Chen Chang'an stared at him for two seconds, suddenly understanding something, and slowly stood up: "After all this, it still comes down to fists in the end."
Before the words faded, he threw a punch straight at the monk's face!
"Bang!"
The monk's left eye instantly turned purple and swollen, like a panda struck by lightning. But unexpectedly, instead of anger, he threw his head back and laughed: "Hahaha! The Lotus Pure Land is a pure place of Buddhism. Since the debate ended inconclusively, your attack now means you concede!"
As he spoke, his hands formed a seal, wearing an expression of utter certainty that said "you're finished."
Chen Chang'an warily stepped back half a step, ready to abandon this avatar—but after waiting for a moment, nothing happened.
"...?"
The monk's smile froze on his face: "How... how can this be?"
Chen Chang'an blinked, then realized what was happening, and threw another punch over!
"Bang!"
Now it was symmetrical—the monk's right eye also turned purple.
"In the Lotus Pure Land, higher realms absolutely suppress lower realms..." the monk covered his eyes, muttering in disbelief, "You're clearly only at the Returning Origin Realm, why am I the one getting beaten?!"
Chen Chang'an suddenly understood: "Oh—so after all that, your flashy tricks were all fake? When it comes down to it, isn't it just the strong preying on the weak?"
He grinned, pointing at himself: "But now—" then pointed at the monk, "I'm the strong one, you're the weak."
With that, he raised his fist and rained down a furious beating!
"W-wait! Benefactor! We can talk—Ouch!"
The monk finally couldn't take it anymore, frantically forming seals—with a "pop," the Lotus Pure Land shattered, and the two returned to the dilapidated temple.
Chen Chang'an, who had been happily beating Miaohua while straddling him, froze. He looked up and saw a pair of cold, clear eyes.
"Miss Ah Li! Why are you here?"
...
Time rewinds to a quarter-hour ago—
After Ji Hongli made her decision, her consciousness immediately returned to her main body.
Inside the cave dwelling in the valley, a fine crack suddenly appeared on the Cold Jade Bed.
Ji Hongli's eyes snapped open as a fishy sweetness surged up her throat.
The moment she forcibly interrupted her seclusion, the Heavenly Dao laws that had surrounded her moments ago crashed into her meridians like thunder. The bones throughout her body made unbearable crisp sounds.
Her originally jade-like skin cracked inch by inch, oozing fine beads of blood that bloomed like specks of red plum blossoms on her plain white Daoist robe.
"Cough—"
A mouthful of heart's blood spurted out.
The wisp of Dao rhyme condensed from eighty years of arduous cultivation violently trembled. Inside her Purple Mansion, the Nine Revolutions Green Lotus, which had been about to bloom, actually withered three petals.
She wiped the blood from her lips, her blood-stained fingers forming a seal to tear through the void.
The aftermath of Heaven's Dao backlash still rampaged through her organs. Every flow of spiritual power felt like being scraped by blades.
But the woman's cold brows and eyes didn't furrow in the slightest. With a turn, she had already transformed into 'Ah Li's appearance, then streaked out of the cave dwelling as a cyan rainbow.
Behind her, the Cold Jade Bed collapsed with a roar. In the dust and smoke, only half a sigh scattered:
"Damn bald donkey..."
She gritted her teeth, suppressing her injuries. Having no time to regulate her breathing, her figure flashed as she sped toward the dilapidated temple.
When she arrived, she saw only the 'Endless Lotus Prison' barrier like a transparent glass dome, enveloping the dilapidated temple.
Ji Hongli's eyes turned cold. A sharp cyan light condensed in her palm, about to forcibly break the barrier—
"Crack!"
A crisp sound suddenly rang out. The barrier actually shattered on its own!
Ji Hongli froze, then saw a scene that left her dumbfounded—
Chen Chang'an was straddling Monk Miaohua, raining punches left and right like falling raindrops, muttering: "Physical salvation, is it? Karma reincarnation, is it? Come, let me show you what true 'salvation' means!"
The monk was already bruised and swollen, his kasaya disheveled. Where was any trace of a high monk's demeanor? He futilely protected his head, wailing: "Benefactor! Benefactor! We can talk... Ouch!"
Ji Hongli: "..."
She silently retracted the cyan light in her hand, watching this scene expressionlessly.
Though eighty years of arduous cultivation were mostly destroyed, seeing this scene, her heart inexplicably relaxed.
She had worried for nothing.
Chen Chang'an seemed to sense something. Looking up, he met Ji Hongli's pair of cold eyes.
He grinned, waving his fist at her: "Yo, Miss Ah Li, perfect timing! Want to throw a few punches too? This bald donkey has a nice feel to it!"
Ji Hongli took a deep breath, suppressing the inexplicable irritation in her heart, and said coldly: "...Having fun?"
"Quite fun," Chen Chang'an climbed off the monk, clapping his hands, "Just this bald donkey can't take a beating. Not satisfying yet."
Ji Hongli glanced at the monk collapsed on the ground, already breathing more out than in, then looked at the lively Chen Chang'an, and finally couldn't help asking: "...How did you break the Endless Lotus Prison?"
Chen Chang'an shrugged: "Oh, that. Actually, I didn't expect it either—"
He pointed at his fist, smiling brightly:
"I thought he was a master, but turned out he's at elementary school level."
As Chen Chang'an spoke, he couldn't help but examine Ji Hongli before him. For some reason, Miss Ah Li before him gave him a feeling both familiar and distant.
However, he then recalled she seemed to have said the four words 'Endless Lotus Prison' earlier, which differed from the monk's 'Lotus Pure Land', so he asked: "Miss Ah Li knows his origins?"
Ji Hongli nodded slightly. Suddenly, her wide sleeves lightly brushed. The monk's body abruptly stiffened, his aura rapidly dissipating like an ebbing tide.
Her expression was indifferent, as if merely brushing a speck of dust from her sleeve.
First, she would avenge the destruction of decades of cultivation! A coldness flashed in her eyes.
Chen Chang'an's eyebrows slightly raised—for an instant just now, he hadn't seen through how she made her move.
This seemingly cold neighbor who ran the fortune-telling stall was truly a sly old fox hiding deep!
But on second thought, even if she hadn't acted, he would never have let this monk full of twisted reasoning go, so he said no more.
"If I'm not mistaken," Ji Hongli stared at the monk's gradually cooling corpse, her voice carrying a hint of solemnity, "this monk came from the Upper Realm."
"The Upper Realm? What place is that?"
...
Hey readers! If you're eager to dive into advanced chapters, consider joining our Patreon. By joining, you'll get access to 20 chapters ahead and enjoy 8 new chapters per week. Plus, we have 2 more exciting fics with the same chapter release rate, giving you a total of 32 chapters per week! Join now and keep the adventure going!
Patreon: https://patreon.com/Alex_Cruise