Cultivation is just so scientific!

Chapter 1414: Chapter 753: Pursuit (Part 2)

The formation of the Little Lei Yin Temple blocked the attacking Xingyi Sword, and seeing this, Li Yuanba waved his hand, and the Xingyi Sword flew back to his side.

In the battle with Grand Monk Hongfa, it was obvious that Hongfa had suffered a significant disadvantage, retreating into the protective formation of the Little Lei Yin Temple, which equated to an admission of defeat.

In reality, if Grand Monk Hongfa truly had the resolve to fight, he could have brought out his magical treasures to counter, rather than retreating.

“You are Li Yuanba!” At this moment, Grand Monk Hongfa’s face turned extremely unsightly, which took away some of his monkly poise and added a tinge of regular human emotion.

At this point, how could Grand Monk Hongfa not recognize the young Sword Cultivator standing in front of him?

In recent years, Li Yuanba’s reputation had been exceptionally high, especially with the feat of slaying Master Ge Guang, solidifying his status as the number one in the Nascent Soul Middle Stage.

This was the number one in the Cultivation World for the Nascent Soul Middle Stage, a reputation acknowledged by all the major superpowers.

Since Grand Monk Hongfa resided at this Little Lei Yin Temple, he clearly wasn’t an important Great Venerable.

In fact, his battle prowess wasn’t particularly strong, nor was he especially skilled in battle; his elevation to Venerable was largely due to luck.

Such occurrences are frequent in the Cultivation World; most Great Cultivators among the Loose Cultivators are those with exceptional luck.

Opportunities for promotion to Great Cultivator are one in several dozen, and achieving it in a single attempt is considered unreasonable luck, which often appears given the large number of cultivators.

Meanwhile, those core cultivators, with a large amount of precious resources, raised their promotion rate to one in ten, or even one in five, yet they still failed, which leaves no room for reasoning.

After Grand Monk Hongfa’s promotion to Venerable, his battle prowess remained ordinary, even after hundreds of years of cultivation, only reaching the level of a regular Great Cultivator.

The so-called regular Great Cultivators here refer to those not affiliated with superpowers, lacking resources.

But in reality, Grand Monk Hongfa could obtain a fair amount of resources; Da Leiyin Temple wouldn’t withhold resources due to his weakness.

He knew himself well, voluntarily applying to oversee this Little Lei Yin Temple, becoming responsible for a region far from Da Leiyin Temple.

This place, distant from the troubles of Da Leiyin Temple, allowed him to quietly cultivate and practice Buddhism.

Although not adept at fighting, he hailed from Da Leiyin Temple, and still had some discerning insights.

The terrifying power of a single strike from Li Yuanba made him want to retreat, especially after recognizing Li Yuanba’s identity, prompting an immediate withdrawal from the battlefield.

“Could it be that the Venerable Master plans to utilize the formation of this Little Lei Yin Temple to battle against me?” Li Yuanba hadn’t expected Grand Monk Hongfa to act this way, hesitating before asking in a low voice.

With one strike, Li Yuanba realized something was wrong with Grand Monk Hongfa.

Grand Monk Hongfa’s battle prowess was indeed somewhat lacking, only slightly stronger than Great Cultivator Luo Pei, and that was without Luo Pei using the Spiritual Treasure Black Water Sword.

He was curious how Da Leiyin Temple could have such a Venerable, thinking that even with resources piled on, one should be able to cultivate stronger battle prowess.

“Benefactor Li Yuanba, do not bully too much; you are provoking Da Leiyin Temple!” Grand Monk Hongfa shouted furiously, seething.

Yet standing within the formation of Little Lei Yin Temple, his words lacked some confidence.

Li Yuanba felt a bit of a headache; what kind of Venerable was this? Had the other agreed to fight, perhaps he could use the might of ‘Chaos Sword Intent’ to seriously wound Grand Monk Hongfa.

But with Grand Monk Hongfa hiding within the formation, even if he could break through it, he would also have to guard against Hongfa’s attacks while doing so, which posed a dilemma for him.

Despite Hongfa’s apparent weakness, it did not mean his attacks held no threat.

On the contrary, Grand Monk Hongfa’s attacks were unbearable for Li Yuanba; Li Yuanba relied on two spiritual treasures and ‘Chaos Sword Intent’ as confidence in dealing with Great Cultivator-level powerhouses.

When the formation of Little Lei Yin Temple neutralized Li Yuanba’s attack, allowing Hongfa the opportunity to strike back, Li Yuanba would be in danger.

His defenses could not withstand the attack from Grand Monk Hongfa. No matter how weak a Venerable might be, his assault was still at a Great Cultivator’s level, instantly breaking through Li Yuanba’s defense under such attacks.

He excelled at skirmishing, employing various strategies to deny Great Cultivators any chance to attack.

He cast a deep glance at Grand Monk Hongfa, his figure vanishing on the spot, continually flickering into the distance under Hongfa’s watchful gaze.

Grand Monk Hongfa watched Li Yuanba leave, breathing a heavy sigh of relief.

Returning inside the temple, Grand Monk Hongfa found Bai Yong, known by his monastic name as Ming Fa, the intelligence officer who had taken a secular name.

Ming Fa dressed in ordinary cultivator garments. His monastic name was known to only a few Venerables at Da Leiyin Temple; usually, he acted under the name Bai Yong.

“Thank you, Grand Monk Hongfa!” Ming Fa clasped his hands in gratitude and performed a ceremonial bow.

Ming Fa maintained a respectful demeanor, though his thoughts differed. With the instincts of an intelligence officer, he had just witnessed the interaction between Grand Monk Hongfa and Li Yuanba.

He was astonished by Li Yuanba’s strength, forcing Hongfa back with just one sword strike, leaving Ming Fa both amazed at Li Yuanba’s power and resigned to Hongfa’s lack of might.

He was aware that Grand Monk Hongfa wasn’t skilled in battle, but he had not expected such a profound weakness.

“What do you plan to do?” Grand Monk Hongfa asked, looking at Ming Fa, the source of his trouble.

This was an attempt to drive him away, as he did not wish for Ming Fa to linger.

“I’ll rest here for one night, then I’ll leave!” Although Ming Fa understood Grand Monk Hongfa’s intention, he still wanted to stay an extra night, so he replied.

Leaving now would almost certainly mean encountering Li Yuanba.

He had used a teleportation talisman to return to the Little Lei Yin Temple, yet even with that, Li Yuanba had found this place in a short time.

He didn’t believe that Li Yuanba lacked some kind of tracking Secret Technique.

He planned to delay until tomorrow; he had already notified the main temple. If Li Yuanba did not retreat today, he would face two Venerables tomorrow.

“Very well, then!” Grand Monk Hongfa, out of propriety, refrained from directly expelling Ming Kong. After all, they were all from Da Leiyin Temple, and doing otherwise would be hard to justify to the main temple.

Ming Fa bowed and then went to rest, leaving Grand Monk Hongfa to close his eyes and chant Buddhist verses.

Li Yuanba also rested with eyes closed; during his conversation with Grand Monk Hongfa outside the Little Lei Yin Temple, he wasted no time.

He used ‘Divine Sight’ to examine the temple’s formation and connected with IBMz15 for its analysis and study.

The formation of Little Lei Yin Temple was nearly comparable to that of a great sect, only lacking a Cave Heaven Space barrier, meaning its true defensive power fell short of a great sect’s mountain gate.

It was precisely this absence of a Cave Heaven Space barrier that provided Li Yuanba with a means to cope.

Of course, he considered Grand Monk Hongfa as well; he had encountered many Great Cultivators, but few so averse to battle as Hongfa.

However, he understood that this was the real Cultivation World.

Previously, what he encountered were Great Cultivators engaged in external missions—these were battle-type Great Cultivators.

Except when his true self, Li Shiming, wandered outside and met with an Independent Cultivator, most real Independent Cultivators seldom showed themselves publicly.

These weaker Great Cultivators feared becoming targets for core cultivators at the Nascent Soul Middle Stage of superforces, potentially becoming stepping stones for the core cultivators’ rise to fame.

Honestly, if Grand Monk Hongfa hadn’t sheltered Li Yuanba’s mission target, Li Yuanba wouldn’t have been much interested in confronting him.

Of course, there was another reason as well: He wanted to examine the Space Acceptance Array there, as its research significance was immense for him.