The various head monks took turns in putting forth questions, barraging her like a storm. They launched vicious assaults and rebuked her loudly. Xiao An, on the other hand, was unfazed, replying one by one in an orderly manner.
Li Qingshan suddenly discovered that the Annihilum Light Chan Master simply stood there silently while the corner of his lips curled into a smile as if he was extremely satisfied. Then he looked around and realised that many disciples of the monastery stood quietly outside and listened along with focus, either learning something or being left at a loss.
As a result, he stopped worrying. So these monks buy into this kind of thing.
By late morning, convincing arguments were made one after another as they constantly put forward difficult questions. Xiao An answered them with composure, her voice pleasant like the jingling of pearls cascading into a jadeite plate.
The various head monks were all secretly convinced. With such wisdom and talent, she truly did deserve the most solemn of welcomes.
The Dauntless Monk who had remained silent the entire time suddenly took a step forward. He erupted with golden light, turning into a guardian king that stood over three hundred meters tall, glaring at Xiao An. He wielded a pillar-like vajra in one hand, and the entire hall suddenly fell silent.
With a clang, the hall caved inwards, becoming covered in cracks. Clearly, he had truly unleashed the wrath of a guardian king.
He swung down with the vajra violently.
“Demon subdual!”
Chapter 566: The Dauntless Guardian King | Legend of the Great Sage
Everything had happened like a clap of thunder. No one could respond in time.
The many disciples outside the hall were all shocked and dumbfounded. Even the head monks were completely taken aback, at a loss over why the abbot had become so wrathful.
The Dauntless Monk launched a powerful strike like a god splitting open a mountain. No one could stop him.
Has he been secretly observing the entire time and seen through Xiao An’s Path of White Bone and Great Beauty, which is why he’s suddenly trying to kill her?
Li Qingshan rushed into the grand hall, but it was already too late.
Boom! A wave of air gushed through the hall, producing a hollow whistle as it sent Li Qingshan flying out!
“Xiao An!”
Li Qingshan was utterly furious. The Dauntless Monk’s strike was so powerful that he could even crush a mountain. Xiao An’s Path of White Bone and Great Beauty was powerful, but her cultivation was still low after all, so how could she withstand that?
Overcome with rage, he no longer cared about anything. He was about to revert to his original form and throw his life at the Dauntless Monk.
“Don’t!”
Suddenly, a voice rang out in his head. It came from Xiao An. Li Qingshan calmed down immediately.
Even if the Dauntless Monk noticed something, he would not launch a surprise attack like this as a man of his bearing. He could easily denounce her publicly before taking action and subduing her. They were in the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga. Even if there were ten Xiao Ans and a Li Qingshan, it would be useless.
Earlier, Li Qingshan had only been mentally perturbed due to his concern. Once he calmed down, he immediately realised how strange it was.
The violent winds settled down. The colossal, pillar-like vajra stopped above Xiao An’s head, and the surging hostility vanished completely, like going from a storm to clear skies in a single instant.
It felt very abrupt, but that only demonstrated that the Dauntless Monk’s control over his power had already reached a highly intricate level, and it also showed he had not used his full strength.
Xiao An sat on the cushion, her expression as blank as ever. Her seaweed like hair drifted with the wind, and she did not even lean back. She stared ahead with a hollow gaze, completely ignoring the huge vajra. She had basically reached the epitome of being unfazed by no matter what happened before her.
“Aren’t you afraid I’ll kill you?” The three-hundred-meter-tall guardian king gazed at the tiny Xiao An. The wrath on his face vanished as he opened his lips and spoke with a booming voice, echoing through the entire grand hall.
“If you want to kill me, I can’t stop you, so fear is useless. If you don’t want to kill me, then why would I fear?” Xiao An said calmly.
“With great wisdom comes great courage. Impressive, impressive. My Dauntless Scripture of the Guardian King can only be practised by the courageous. Would you be interested in learning it?”
The Dauntless Monk asked. However, the true objective behind his strike earlier was not to test whether Xiao An possessed great courage and whether she was suitable for learning the Dauntless Scripture of the Guardian King.
The talent and ability to comprehend that Xiao An had demonstrated was unbelievably high. Even in his youth, he was nowhere close to her. As a matter of fact, it was even possible for her to be the most outstanding disciple of the monastery throughout history. However, there was something he could not make out within her hollow gaze, which caused him hints of fear and alarm.
Her entire being was like a cluster of nothingness. He was unable to tell what she desired, let alone reach her disposition. If someone like that devoted themselves to buddhism, then they would definitely become an eminent monk of buddhism, but if they possessed demonic thoughts, then no one could stop the misfortunes they could cause. As a result, he took action to test her.
Apart from purging daemons and demons, the demon-subduing vajra that the Dauntless Monk had swung possessed the power to subdue demonic thoughts. This move was called “A Blow and a Shout,” a secret technique within chan buddhism. If her demonic thoughts were weak, then they would directly collapse from the blow. If they were too powerful, then they would be triggered and revealed, allowing him to see what her disposition was like.
TL: A blow and a shout is an actual thing in Chinese buddhism. It’s basically the master of a monk using a staff to smack his disciple over the head while shouting out, serving as a sudden warning or a reminder for disciples of buddhism. The origin of this story is basically a monk called Lin Ji, who was studying under chan master Huangbo. Lin Ji asked the chan master what buddhism was about, only to be met with a blow over the head from the chan master. Lin Ji put up with the pain and asked again, only for the same thing to happen again. This happened three times before Lin Ji shut up and went to study the buddhist texts himself, becoming enlightened as a result. Of course, the meaning of the phrase has deviated from its origins, so I wouldn’t say to think too much about it.
However, the end result left the Dauntless Monk rather disappointed. He did not sense any demonic thoughts at all, as if he had just struck air. Was her heart truly without even the slightest hint of wickedness or malice? But that was completely impossible. Only recently-born infants who were not even self-conscious yet could achieve that. Once they grew a little older, greed and a combative drive would arise naturally.
Or perhaps the cultivation of her mind had reached that stage?
Even the abbot of the Chan Monastery of Deva-Nāga, the Dauntless Monk, was unable to imagine what overwhelming effect the Path of White Bone and Great Beauty had on her mentally. Even Li Qingshan still possessed influence over her only because of the impressions left behind in the past, which made her behave a little more “human”.
Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 501-Chapter 600)
Dream Teller's books
- Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 1-Chapter 100)
- Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 101-Chapter 200)
- Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 201-Chapter 300)
- Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 301-Chapter 400)
- Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 401-Chapter 500)
- Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 601-Chapter 700)
- Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 701-Chapter 833)