The 50 Wolf Soldiers were all holding sabers half the length of a man as they charged ahead on their horses. With a clean wave of their hands, bodies were split into two halves and blood spilled.
Although those knights were trained in the Lightness Skill, it was still impossible for them to catch up with the galloping horses on the ground and actively fight back under Duo Ercha's overwhelming pressure. A series of screams rang through the air for a moment, with heavy casualties on their side.
If not for the fact that there were too many of them for the Wolf Soldiers to kill, it was likely the knights would all be wiped out.
The slaughter not only terrified them but also alarmed them enough to rush toward the rugged foot of the mountain. They tried to rely on the terrain to escape.
The Wolf Soldiers chased after them separately in different directions.
Around 10 soldiers tracked them to the inn and just so happened to run into Meng Qi and the others, who were planning on following them to the temple.
Meng Qi found himself face-to-face with the gleaming saber of a Wolf Soldier. With the abnormally fierce soldiers coupled with their horses, Meng Qi thought that his Iron Shirt was too unreliable.
Even if he would not be cut into two halves like everyone else, he would not escape unscathed either!
While he was from escaping the inn, he had been paying close attention to the Wolf Soldiers' attacks and trying to figure out a way to counterattack. But there was no longer any time to think. Before his mind could come up with anything, his body was already reacting.
Stooping and rolling, Meng Qi nimbly escaped the saber and took the chance to cut the horse's fore hoofs with his Buddhist Commandment Blade.
The horse screamed in pain and dumped the soldier off its back. Meng Qi threw himself totally on the soldier, attempting to split his head with a long blade.
"Clunk!"
With a crisp sound, Meng Qi's blade hit the soldier's helmet. As the soldier was armored from head to toe, seemingly made of refined steel, his Buddhist Commandment Blade was not the best weapon. Even with a full-powered hit, the blade could only make a crack in the helmet.
Though dazzled by the attack, the soldier showed no reaction in his crimson eyes. He stepped up and mechanically waved his saber.
Meng Qi flashed to the right of the soldier using the Eight Divine Steps and plunged his blade right into the chest of the slow-moving soldier. What burst out was still a clunk.
Failing to hurt the soldier's flesh, Meng Qi unfortunately received a gash on his left shoulder.
"It seems like he has mastered Iron Shirt better than me!" Meng Qi murmured. The strategy he used against Zhen Miao occurred to him and he gave the current situation a quick analysis. He confidently used the Eight Divine Steps to try and create a chance to attack the soldier's only exposed part—his eyes.
In doing so, the soldier was unable to touch Meng Qi. He roared angrily to summon up his nearby soldiers to form a battle array.
The Wolf Soldiers were trained at birth to be outstanding killing tools, which was based on their power to wear a heavy suit of armor made of refined steel after secret training and the absence of pain and fear. However, being slow to move was a fatal defect. But they could make up for their defect by working together. That was why Duo Ercha came up with a battle array of three to five members.
Unfortunately, his fellow soldiers nearby were kicked down one by one before they could gather together. That was because Jiang Zhiwei used her sword to stab the soldiers' eyes as she gracefully stepped past them. As for Zhang Yuanshan, he upheld the defense work perfectly and knocked down some soldiers each time he counterattacked.
Qi Zhengyan fully utilized the advantage of 13 Moves of Infinitely Changing Mist. With magically flashing swordsmanship, he stabbed the eyes of the soldiers. The soldiers fell and rolled onto the ground, clutching their eyes.
The eyes were also one of the Wolf Soldiers' weaknesses!
Meng Qi knew this well. But compared to his opponents' long swords, his short Buddhist Commandment Blade was really quite lacking.
A sudden idea occurred to him. Using the back of his blade, he repeatedly bashed the soldier's helmet.
A dozen chops later, the soldier froze and no longer had the strength to hold his saber. A stream of blood spilled from his eyes and other crevices in his helmet. He then weakly fell to the ground.
Meng Qi thought proudly that he could give the soldier a concussion, even though he could not use his blade to stab him.
"The squad of four men" easily killed all the Wolf Soldiers.
"Hey, where's Little Zi? Wang Jin?" Meng Qi realized that Wang Jin and Little Zi had been missing from the chaos earlier.
"I saw Wang Jin enter the gate just now, but have no idea where Little Zi went," Jiang Zhiwei answered.
"Well, we can't mind them anymore," Qi Zhengyan said expressionlessly.
Meng Qi did not oppose that because he neither had the time nor the ability to look for Little Zi now. His top priority was entering the gate.
When it came to helping others, Meng Qi had one principle—to help as much as it required to put his conscience at ease. But the issue here was Little Zi running around. Furthermore, nearly all of them had a tacit understanding that she should not run around and now it was time for her to stew in her own juice.
Everyone shared a tacit understanding and said nothing. Taking advantage of the soldiers killing the other knights, they flashed toward the gate and ran toward the temple up the mountain.
"You've entered the Shaolin Temple. You must safeguard it until the last moment. Stay in the confines of the area. Hide in the woods and enter the temple as soon as possible." Leaves by the road rustled and formed a series of words.
Meng Qi quietly sighed in relief when he saw that. Earlier, he really felt as if he was in the film Speed.
Along the road lay one corpse after another, some of which were the heroes and paladins of Jianghu and some were Shaolin monks. Only a few were bodies of the Wolf Soldiers.
The four did not linger and soon saw dark clouds and wind whistling on the opposing hillside. A crowd of Wolf Soldiers surrounding Duo Ercha was massacring the monks on guard. What shocked them was how few knights were left. And those who remained had gone over to the Wolf Soldiers' side. Wei Wuji was one of them!
"They must be spies..." Meng Qi whispered after a glance.
Before Jiang Zhiwei could respond, Duo Ercha abruptly turned his head and looked over with his cold eyes.
"One of them is Preternatural," he said quietly, then the howling wind fell.
Jiang Zhiwei gripped her sword even more tightly. She was filled with a mixture of fear, alertness, and unconcealed excitement.
Just when Duo Ercha was about to take a step forward, a figure descended on him. A thin hand holding a string of prayer beads slammed toward his body.
The hand was not large and was covered with subtle golden light. But in Meng Qi's eyes, it felt like his vision was obscured.
Layers of golden light emerged from the prayer beads, with faint Buddhist chants ringing out.
The dark clouds broke up and the wind weakened. The dozen Wolf Soldiers in front of Duo Ercha screeched miserably and fell on the ground.
"How can they screech without being able to sense pain?"
With a cold sneer, Duo Ercha hurled the one-legged bronze statue sitting on his right palm.
"Paa!"
A bolt of lightning crackled through the sky, illuminating the scene. Meng Qi saw that thin palm hit the bronze statue squarely.
After a dull sound, the clouds once again gathered, the wind started howling, and rain began falling rapidly.
Meng Qi sighed, wondering if such an amazing battle of powers was only possible between top-level masters who had enlightened their Apertures.
"Your Vajra Powerful Palm is extraordinary as expected," Duo Ercha said. "Too bad you've become old..."
"Amitabha. Donor, why not drop the butcher's knife and follow Buddha?" Master Xin Ji responded in a deep voice.
A heavy wind blew around the confronting ground of those two. It knocked down the nearest circle of soldiers, leaving nothing but blood and pulp in suits of armor. The soldiers standing in the outer circle were ramshackle and dared not approach anymore.
Clenching her teeth, Jiang Zhiwei summoned up her courage and said, "I'll go and lend Master Xin Ji a hand! If we can kill Duo Ercha, we'll definitely complete the main task."
This was a good chance to kill him! They could not miss it!
Otherwise, they would all be Duo Ercha's targets later!
Everyone realized this fact, so no one stopped Jiang Zhiwei. They kept up with her and helped clear the Iron Vest Army blocking her path.
After Meng Qi's ingenuity earlier, he continued fighting the soldiers by pummeling their helmets. Even if his strength was inadequate, it was enough to make the soldiers dizzy and find it difficult to fight. On the other hand, Qi Zhengyan displayed 13 Moves of Infinitely Changing Mist to wander in the crowd, leaving no trace of his presence.
After seeing Jiang Zhiwei entering the fight against Duo Ercha, Zhang Yuanshan momentarily hesitated before going near her. Though there were difficulties from all sides, he waited for a chance to make his move.
"Hey, it's Wang Jin." Meng Qi noticed him accidentally amidst all the battles. He was attempting to sneak into the temple while dealing with the soldiers.
"Come on!" Jiang Zhiwei spared no efforts in displaying her fogbow-like sword to attack Duo Ercha in a series of subtle moves. The giant bronze statue blocked her attacks from all directions. Each time she successfully hit the statue, she could not help swaying. This meant that her powers were far beneath the statue's. Without Master Xin Ji blocking a good portion of Duo Ercha's attacks, she would already have been crushed by his savage statue.
Most importantly, Duo Ercha's every attack was accompanied by a fierce wind. The wind disrupted Xin Ji's and Jiang Zhiwei's vision and hearing, giving them no advantage at all against the solo Duo Ercha.
Xin Ji's face became abruptly red. It seemed that he was no longer able to conceal his internal injuries. With a sigh, his Buddha beads were scattered one by one, each turning into an illusory Buddha statue.
"Nothing that appears actually shows its true colors; all humans are Buddha in their true colors."
The illusory statues started reciting Buddhist scriptures, which suppressed the growling thunder, covered the whistling wind, and seemed to create a clean atmosphere.
Xin Ji's right palm had turned completely golden as if cast in gold. With a gentle push of his palm, he pierced the one-legged bronze statue.
Duo Ercha's expression became stricken for the first time. He discarded the statue and punched Xin Ji with a fist.
"Paa!"
A lightning bolt descended from the sky and wrapped around his fist.
Xin Ji's Exterior was truly beyond the top level of ordinary Kung Fu, almost reaching the immortal level... Meng Qi was shocked. But when he thought about someday reaching the same level, his shock turned into a fierce eagerness.
The dark clouds dissipated, the storm subsided, and the rain stopped. Time seemed to have ceased because of the confrontation between the palm and the fist. Only the lightning thundered overhead.
A dragon-like gale roared in all directions. Xin Ji spewed blood and his palm burned black. He was hurled backward. Duo Ercha turned pale and took two steps back.
At this time, a sword flashed a light from the blue sky and disappeared without a trace. It was wonderful beyond words.
"Anatta Sword... " Meng Qi said in a trance. Including the Iron Vest Army, everyone was stunned by the light.
Such swordsmanship belonged to the Dharmakaya and involved all the laws of the world. Even if Jiang Zhiwei could only use a small portion of it and failed to put out its full use, she had created an earthshaking power.
When it came to skills of this level, postures and paces were non-issues. The key was the Tao and the truth!
Because of this, only people with exceptional talent like Jiang Zhiwei could easily learn some superficial knowledge and put it into practice.
"Ah!" Duo Ercha screamed with the voice like muffled thunder.
With his shriek, the wind rose from the ground and surrounded Duo Ercha. His hand holding the Sword of the Sun-Penetrating Rainbow was bloodied. But he was standing motionless like a stone because the sword had been inserted into his eyes. There was no way for him to retreat.
"Damn it!" He brandished his right palm and hit the side of the Sword of the Sun-Penetrating Rainbow. The sword suddenly bent, covered with cracks, and popped out of his eye sockets.
Jiang Zhiwei's purlicue cracked, but she kept a firm hold onto her sword. Blood spilled from her mouth and her face turned pale, revealing that she had suffered serious injuries.
Blood mixed with other strange liquids leaked from Duo Ercha's dark red eyes, making him look like a madman. He took a step forward, about to deal Jiang Zhiwei a blow of death with his powerful palm.
Though the "Anatta Sword " was impressive, Jiang Zhiwei's knowledge of its swordsmanship was superficial. Thus, she was unable to counterattack Duo Ercha, who was far superior.
All of a sudden, another sword light appeared. It was misty without leaving a trace, just like the hazy stars in the night. It still carried with it an awe-inspiring murderous momentum. Who was it? It was none other than Zhang Yuanshan, who had been waiting for his chance.
With another odd shriek, Duo Ercha was stabbed below his rib by "Shadowing the Heaven and Shrouding the Earth". Unwilling to be defeated, he brandished his long sleeve to counterattack and hurled Zhang Yuanshan into the air.
Zhang Yuanshan vomited blood, his chest caving in. He struggled to even stand up and seemed to have lost all his fighting power.
Duo Ercha despised Jiang Zhiwei and was eager to tear her to pieces. But before he could attack her, he noticed Master Xin Ji returning with his palms glittering with holy light like a Buddha.
"Humph!" Considering his current injuries, Duo Ercha turned and left without hesitation, with his soldiers receding behind him.
"His injuries aren't too heavy. He'll certainly come back later. You should all disperse soon." Xin Ji said.