Chapter Fifty-Nine: The Malevolent Buddha

In the blink of an eye, Si Konghe and Meng Xiaoli had exchanged an unknown number of blows. Meng Xiaoli, unyielding and exhausted both physically and mentally, persevered through the onslaught. As she lashed out with her blood-stained armor and spun into the air with a flying kick, Si Konghe caught her leg. Leveraging the momentum, Meng Xiaoli straightened her body and struck downward with her claws, executing the "Flying Eagle Seizes the Rabbit" technique aiming at the crown of Si Konghe's head. Si Konghe pushed off with great force, causing Meng Xiaoli to lose her balance and crash to the ground. Flipping his cloak, Si Konghe unleashed a flying kick straight at Meng Xiaoli's abdomen with such blinding speed that before she could even react, she was sent flying several yards away.

Cupping his hands together in front of his chest, Si Konghe unleashed another blast of energy. Meng Xiaoli rolled across the ground to evade the blade-like qi, leapt into the air, and lunged at Si Konghe once more. Though she dodged several consecutive palm strikes from Si Konghe, launching a counterattack proved exceedingly difficult. As they continued to trade blows, sweat streamed directly into Meng Xiaoli's eyes. When Si Konghe threw yet another palm strike, Meng Xiaoli retreated to dodge, but she was still half a beat too slow and was grazed by the sharp edge of qi. Suddenly feeling a sharp pain in her left arm, she looked down to find the sleeve of her upper garment shredded, with several long, narrow bloody gashes sliced into her arm, resembling blade wounds. Looking at Si Konghe in astonishment, Si Konghe smiled faintly and said, "This is the true power of the qi-blade technique—acting as fists, palms, or lethal weapons. Once the qi-blade is mastered to its highest realm, one can take a life without leaving a trace."

Panting heavily from exhaustion and wiping away her sweat, Meng Xiaoli refused to admit defeat. She raised her golden-scaled blood armor once again and lunged at Si Konghe. Si Konghe easily sidestepped with a graceful turn, countered with a swift backhanded palm strike, and instantly followed up with another. The two palms met; while Meng Xiaoli managed to channel her internal energy to deflect one strike, the other shattered through her defenses. Sent flying sideways, she crashed onto the platform, flipped over, and coughed up another mouthful of blood. Affording her no respite, Si Konghe flicked his wrist and unleashed his ultimate technique, "Overwhelming Qi Execution." The qi-blade formed a sharp, razor-edge weapon that hurtled straight toward Meng Xiaoli. Had this strike landed, Meng Xiaoli would have been instantly torn apart by the qi-blade, leaving not even her complete remains behind.

Grievously wounded and temporarily unable to stand, Meng Xiaoli could only feel the terrifying force of the incoming qi-blade hurtling directly toward her. Suddenly, a golden figure flashed onto the stage. A broad saber sliced through the firmament, and a monk hoisted the massive blade to block in front of Meng Xiaoli. Pressing the weapon against his chest and stepping directly into Si Konghe's path, the monk took the full brunt of the "Overwhelming Qi Execution" technique head-on.

With a crisp metallic clang of clashing weapons, the monk was forced back several steps. Gritting his teeth, he managed to plant his feet and steady himself, though a deep dent had already been gouged into the blade.

The entire crowd beneath the stage was left completely bewildered by this sudden intrusion, staring blankly at the monk and wondering if someone from the Pine Forest Temple had arrived, which would escalate the situation significantly. However, observing that the monk's defense against Si Konghe's technique did not resemble Pine Forest martial arts—nor did he appear to be a match for Si Konghe—the onlookers began whispering among themselves, trying to figure out the monk's background.

Gazing at the monk before him with profound astonishment, Meng Xiaoli, who had been helped up from the ground by Gu Youyou and Li Yaorai, stared at the monk's back with equal surprise. The figure seemed vaguely familiar, yet she dared not confirm it.

Then, Si Konghe's loud voice rang out: "Who goes there? Why interrupt the duel?" The monk simply sheathed his saber, bowed to Si Konghe with palms pressed together, and said, "Amitabha. Duels should end at the point of mastery; there is no need for relentless slaughter."

This voice was the most familiar to Meng Xiaoli. Yet, looking at the monk's attire and his gleaming, bald head, she found it impossible to believe. This? Could this person actually be Long Ye?

Long Ye continued, "This poor monk is Long Ye of the Xiuze Temple. Unable to bear the sight of slaughter, I have stepped in to intervene. I hope the Master will forgive me."

Shaking his head with a smile, Si Konghe replied, "Swords and sabers have no eyes; casualties are inevitable. Besides, shouldn't the leader of the Demonic Cult also be your enemy?"

With that, Si Konghe pivoted at the waist and vanished in a blur, reappearing instantly right in front of Meng Xiaoli. Before Wuyu and Gu Youyou, who were supporting Meng Xiaoli, could even register his movement, Si Konghe had already thrown a palm strike aimed squarely at Meng Xiaoli's forehead. Both Gu Youyou and Li Yaorai behind her attempted to intercept, but they were far too slow. Wuyu, however, simply threw himself forward, determined to shield Meng Xiaoli with his own body.

Long Ye hurried forward to intervene, but a gray shadow flashed from behind, and a verdant green light traced an arc through the air, hurtling directly toward Si Konghe's back.

With no time to overthink, Long Ye drew his saber and crossed it behind Si Konghe's back. Another crisp clash rang out: it turned out that Beggar Sect Leader Liang Keyong, seeing that Si Konghe intended to kill, had stepped in to intervene. Wielding his Dog-Beating Staff, Liang Keyong aimed a warning strike at Si Konghe's back, only for his staff to land squarely on Long Ye's unsharpened Buddhist saber instead. Feeling a massive wave of internal energy crash down upon him, Long Ye used his own inner force to brace against it, yet the blade was forced downward under the irresistible pressure. Sliding across the floor, he was uncontrollably driven closer to Si Konghe, the Dog-Beating Staff and the Buddhist saber slamming into Si Konghe's spine together.

Si Konghe's palm strike was just moments away when he was suddenly struck from behind. Lunging forward, he collapsed directly onto Meng Xiaoli. In a desperate move, Meng Xiaoli shoved Wuyu aside while channeling her remaining internal energy into her palm, delivering a merciless, fully charged strike straight to Si Konghe's heart. To the astonishment of everyone present, the forward-falling Si Konghe let out a sudden cry of pain, flew upward into mid-air, and landed back-first behind Liang Keyong and Long Ye.

The sheer speed of this sequence of events left everyone present unable to follow the beginning, witnessing only the final outcome. Si Konghe collapsed to the ground, clutching his chest as he coughed up a mouthful of blood. His hat was knocked off in the process, revealing a middle-aged man in his early forties. While his features were handsome and his complexion fair, one particular detail left the entire crowd gaping in stunned, terrified silence: Si Konghe had no right eye. In its place was a hollow, pitch-black socket that horrifyingly devoured the gaze of everyone present.

One could imagine that these martial arts heroes, hardened by decades of fierce battles and countless life-or-death struggles, all bore the physical scars of combat to varying degrees. Yet Si Konghe's missing right eye—much like the severed ear of the Divine Monkey of the Northwest, the half-arm of Master Ma of the Songjiang Escort Agency, or the missing fingers of Peng Sanzhi, successor of the Xining Soul-Hook—was a bloody testament to a past too gruesome to behold.

Liang Keyong glanced at Long Ye, then down at the unsharpened broadsaber in his hand. Initially suspecting that Long Ye was an accomplice of the Demonic Yan Ghostess, Liang Keyong had not expected him to turn around and block a strike for Si Konghe. He thus concluded that Long Ye was merely a monk with an excess of misguided mercy, blindly meddling in the martial world without distinguishing good from evil or right from wrong.

Turning his gaze back to Si Konghe as the latter slowly climbed to his feet, Liang Keyong demanded, "Before the duel, I made it clear: a match is a match, and it ends at the point of mastery. Even the Demonic Yan Ghostess abides by these rules—why must you, Si Konghe, resort to murderous intent?" Re-adjusting his hat and gently wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth with a faint smile, Si Konghe replied, "On the battlefield, there is no room for sentimentality. Defeat means death, and the loser perishes. Back then, I traded my right eye for my life; whoever survives to the end is the winner." Casting a glance at Meng Xiaoli—who was also heavily wounded, drenched in cold sweat, and deathly pale—Si Konghe continued, "It seems this fight cannot continue today. We shall meet again in the martial world!" With a flash, Si Konghe leaped off the arena and vanished from sight in the blink of an eye.

Turning on Meng Xiaoli in anger, Liang Keyong rebuked, "When Si Konghe was suppressed, why did you resort to a sneak attack with that palm strike? Of all things in martial arts duels, I despise kicking a man while he's down the most." Unfazed, Meng Xiaoli retorted, "What does your hatred have to do with me? He tried to murder me; am I not allowed to strike back?" Banging his Dog-Beating Staff, Liang Keyong angrily shouted, "Had I not intervened, you likely wouldn't have had the chance to counterattack!"

Long Ye abruptly interjected from the side, "If Cult Leader Meng hadn't already fought multiple grueling battles and exhausted her stamina, she wouldn't have given Si Konghe so many openings in the first place!"

"You?" Liang Keyong stared back at Long Ye in disbelief. Concluding that the monk was utterly incapable of telling right from wrong, he raged, "Do you know what is most taboo for a disciple of Buddhism? Failing to distinguish between righteousness and evil, and practicing blind benevolence. Condoning evil is committing evil itself, and the Buddha in your heart is likely not all that merciful!" With a flick of his sleeve, Liang Keyong stalked off.

Every person in the audience who witnessed this exchange between Liang Keyong and Long Ye etched it into their memory. Whenever the incident was recounted thereafter, Long Ye was dubbed the "Merciless Buddha." Later, because Long Ye both tried to stop Meng Xiaoli from killing and repeatedly aided in taking lives to protect her, some people even composed a four-line verse to evaluate him: *The monk recites no sutras, kills without blinking an eye, wields a blade without an edge, yet bows to the Buddha while sparing no demon.* Thus, the moniker "Merciless Buddha Long Ye" spread far and wide across the martial world.

Meanwhile, although Meng Xiaoli had sustained heavy injuries during the arena tournament, she had not suffered any major setbacks over the days of fighting. Aside from her defeat at the hands of Si Konghe, she remained virtually undefeated, fighting to a draw even against formidable opponents like Old Ghost Qi of the Crossing Spirit Gate and Hua Wudu of the Moon-Shooting Cult.

The arena tournament thus came to an end. As the crowd packed their belongings and trickled away, heated debates still lingered among those departing: "Ultimately, who won and who lost this fight?" One person claimed, "Si Konghe won, obviously. He wasn't even using his full strength earlier; didn't you see him unleash that qi-blade at the end? If the qi carries a blade, the Demonic Yan Ghostess would have been disemboweled by those earlier palm strikes." Another retorted, "Not necessarily. The Demonic Yan Ghostess had been fighting for two days and went another full round today—she was exhausted in both body and mind. Si Konghe clearly took advantage of her fatigue." A third argued, "In any case, it was an unfair match from the start. It's impossible to call a winner!"

Listening to the cacophony of voices and watching Long Ye's departing figure, Meng Xiaoli harbored a myriad of questions. Yet, she refrained from speaking with him to avoid drawing the attention of onlookers, knowing that generating further complications could place Long Ye in grave danger.

After settling into an inn in Yanzhou with her disciples, Gu Youyou grew deeply worried about Meng Xiaoli's injuries. Bustling about tirelessly to fetch hot water and clean towels, she refused to rest for a moment, running her subordinates ragged with endless instructions.

Only after her disciples had gradually settled down did Meng Xiaoli instruct Wuyu to locate Long Ye and invite him to a clandestine meeting at the inn. While Meng Xiaoli sat cross-legged on her bed to channel her internal energy and heal her wounds, Wuyu brushed past Long Ye on the bustling street, murmuring under his breath, "The Cult Leader requests your presence," before walking past without breaking his stride. Instantly grasping the message, Long Ye squeezed through the chaotic crowds and slipped into the inn.

Hearing a knock at her door, Meng Xiaoli watched as Long Ye slipped inside and carefully bolted the door shut before turning around. Halting her healing process, Meng Xiaoli instructed, "Every person in this entire inn is a disciple of my Crimson Cult; there are no outsiders here." Walking up to the side of the bed, Long Ye replied, "I wasn't worried about that. Yanzhou is overflowing with all sorts of people right now; my concern is that some schemer might try to ambush you."

Jumping down from the bed and standing right before Long Ye, Meng Xiaoli gazed at him in sheer disbelief. With a completely expressionless face, Long Ye asked, "How are your injuries?" Ignoring her own condition, Meng Xiaoli looked him up and down, asking in bewilderment, "You? Why are you dressed as a monk?"

Knowing even before coming here that Meng Xiaoli would inevitably demand an explanation for his clerical disguise, Long Ye answered with serene detachment, "I have taken tonsure and become a monk. I no longer wish to concern myself with the mortal world."

"Why?" Meng Xiaoli demanded with mounting urgency.

Meeting her gaze directly, Long Ye said solemnly, "For you! This heart of mine only wishes to guard you alone, but I know I am no longer worthy. A single betrayal leaves one impure for a lifetime; knowing that you live well is enough for me."