Stranger Danger

“Mm!”

Fang Muyun nodded in acknowledgement and motioned for his academy fellows to keep silent. Then, he looked at Xiahou Qi and said, “Long time no see. You are as impressive as ever, Brother Xiahou.”

“Are you planning to defend them, Fang Muyun?” Xiahou Qi replied indifferently despite Fang Muyun’s greeting.

“No, I mean to mediate things.”

Fang Muyun did not get angry despite Xiahou Qi’s attitude. While wearing a gentle smile on his face, he said, “They are just a bunch of unruly kids. Although they had offended you, you have also taught them a lesson. So why don’t we leave things here?”

“And if I say no?” Xiahou Qi asked.

“Where it is possible to let people off, one should spare them.” Fang Muyun smiled. “They’re just a bunch of kids who know little about the ways of the world. Their conscience is good despite their ill manners. Why should a senior like you split hairs over a bunch of juniors?”

Ye Qing curled his lips. “Tsk tsk… as expected of a scholar. He overturned right and wrong, black and white in just a few words!”

It was clear as day that Xia Gongyang and his group of idiots were the ones at fault here, but after the truth was filtered through Fang Muyun’s mouth, it sounded as if Xiahou Qi was the one who abused his power.

Xiahou Qi replied in a cold voice, “You are right about one thing, however. There is no need for me to split hairs over a bunch of trash who hasn’t even seen the world before; not when you are here.”

“I guess you won’t be satisfied with a peaceful resolution.”

Fang Muyun sighed helplessly. “What do you want, Brother Xiahou?”

He wasn’t so bored that he must defend his juniors from the likes of Xiahou Qi. The problem was that the juniors had parents who were either Great Confucian, wealthy people, or powerful patriarchs. On top of that, he too was a student in Jixia Academy. It was his natural duty to defend his academy fellows.

Finally, these disciples were part of the embassy who had come to Four Seas. Whatever the reason, he just could not stand by and do nothing, especially since the conflict was happening right before his eyes.

Of course, he was also confident that he could settle the matter easily.

Xiahou Qi looked into Fang Muyun’s eyes with fighting spirit. “I will unleash three attacks. Take them all, and our grudge is settled.”

“The Four Seas Summit is right around the corner. Why not wait until then to settle our differences?” Fang Muyun asked.

“The Four Seas Summit is a place to decide the winner and the loser; life or death. This battle is to settle my score with them,” Xiahou Qi said indifferently. “If you don’t like this, then get lost. No one asked you to interfere.”

“If that is your earnest wish, what can a gentleman do but oblige?” Fang Muyun replied smilingly. “I’ll be in your care, Brother Xiahou.”

“Good!” Xiahou replied simply before bending down slightly. His edge was unclear like a saber that was hidden inside its sheath.

The next moment, Xiahou Qi took a step forward. Wind and thunder erupted, and nine suns rose above nine heavens within the step.

Heaven, earth, and humanity began turning crimson as if covered in blood. There was no saber, and yet the sabers were everywhere. There was no killing intent, but humanity was obviously bleeding.

At that moment, even the spectators who had moved at least a hundred meters away from the duo felt chilled to the core.

Despite basking under nine suns, Fang Muyun’s smile remained unchanged. At the same time, a painting began unfolding in front of him.

There were meandering mountains with scrawny humans scaling its surface.

There were running rivers flowing underneath a false sky.

There were birds and beasts crying as they navigated a treacherous forest.

It was a painting of a glorious realm spanning thousands and thousands of kilometers, and the humanity that resided within.

The next moment, the nine suns fell. The mountains collapsed, the rivers ran dry, and a crimson land spread thousands and thousands of kilometers.

For a time, the force howled like a ceaseless gale that chased after the horizon, humanity seemed to meet the apocalypse, and the world itself looked like it had come to an end. ṛÄ₦ОᛒĘṠ

A dozen or so breaths later, the nine suns disappeared, and the realm too disappeared. All that was left behind was a painting that eventually burned into dust.

Everything else looked right as rain as if what happened earlier was just a daydream.

“Nine suns in the sky, blood throughout humanity. The ‘Red Sun Above Nine Heavens’ deserves its reputation,” Fang Muyun said lightly.

“To enter art via the Dao. As expected of the disciple of the Art Buddha,” Xiahou Qi returned.

“Art Buddha? Who’s that?” Someone in the crowd asked.

“You don’t know who the Art Buddha is? He’s one of the Confucian Sages who entered the Dao via art. He is a master at painting the wind, the moon, the mountains, the rivers, the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas. That was why they called him the Art Buddha.”

Another person answered, “Fang Muyun is extraordinarily talented in many things, but his talent in the way of art is out of this world. It took him only nine years to subsume the Art Buddha’s lifelong skills into his marrow. That is why the Art Buddha praised him as a once-in-a-century genius in the way of the art.”

“Fang Muyun is the disciple of the Art Buddha? No wonder he managed to block Xiahou Qi’s ‘Red Sun Above Nine Heavens’ with a single painting.”

“If the first attack is already this strong, I wonder how the next two attacks will fare?”

“Look! He’s going again!”

Back at the battlefield, Xiahou Qi was manipulating his right arm like his hand was the blade, and his arm was the handle. He crossed his arm in front of his chest as his energies shot up, and his vigor pierced through the nine heavens.

Fang Muyun’s face turned a little more serious when he saw this. Another painting flew out of his sleeve and unfolded in front of him. Buddhist light and Buddhist chanting appeared in an instant.

Inside the Buddhist light, a hundred and eight Vajrapanis arrived on lotus flowers, followed by seventy two Arhats in seated positions, and thirty six Honored Ones chanting Buddhist mantras.

The one hundred and eight Vajrapanis wore angry and terrifying faces, the seventy two Arhats formed the Great Demon Subjugating Formation, and the thirty six Honored Ones were delivering all living creatures from suffering with their chants.

“What a painting of the Buddhas.”

Feng Qingyou praised as she looked at the Vajrapanis and Arhats, Honored Ones and Bodhisattvas, “Once upon a time, the Art Buddha was created a painting where a hundred and eight thousand Buddhas manifested, and thunder descended from the Western Paradise to suppress countless evils and demons in an instant. It was said to be one of the most impressive sights the world had ever seen.”

“Fang Muyun’s painting is no match for his master’s as a matter of course, but it is clear that he has mastered the essence of the art. You could feel that he had infused a Buddha’s Dao into his painting, giving life to all the Buddhas. It is quite extraordinary.”

“He really is quite strong.” Ye Qing nodded with a severe expression on his face.

Xiahou Qi’s expression did not change despite facing off against Fang Muyun’s army of angry Vajrapanis, demon subjugating Arhats, and aligned Honored Ones. He simply swung his arm saber horizontally.

At that moment, the sky was split into two. Murky qi sank below and turned into black, clear qi rose above and turned into white, and the middle was filled with Primal Chaos.

Heaven and earth finds yin and yang, all things return to Primal Chaos.

First, the one hundred and eight Vajrapanis dissolved into nothing.

Next, the Great Demon Subjugating Formation broke like paper, and the seventy two Arhats were bisected in half.

And finally, the thirty six Honored Ones were ground into dust as if yin and yang were a millstone.

The attack still wasn’t depleted after killing the Vajrapanis, Arhats and Honored Ones. In fact, it seemed to become greater than before as the combination of yin and yang threatened to destroy everything.

The painting was unfolded, but not fully. As the last one-third of the painting unveiled itself, low-browed twelve Bodhisattvas cast their Buddhist light across the Three Realms and every other world.

Buddhist light clashed against saber intent; Bodhisattvas entangled with yin and yang. Heaven and earth split into five lights and ten colors before shattering into smithereens.

The spectators could not bear the impact. They backed again and again, and their complexions grew whiter and whiter.

A few breaths later, when the light finally disappeared, neither the Bodhisattvas nor the yin yang saber were anywhere to be found. All that was left was a massive devastated crater over a hundred meters in radius where even space was disintegrated inch by inch.

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