I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, So I’ll Max Out My Defense

Atop the roof, the faces of three martial artists in the Refinement Void Realm turned livid with rage.

They were not at all comparable to the useless government officers among the martial artists; being experts in the Refinement Void Realm, each was revered within their own sect like a Great Elder Ancestor, treated almost like gods by their disciples when abroad.

With but a command from them, the male disciples within the sect would willingly offer up treasures, female disciples would eagerly climb into their beds to offer their bodies, and even the life and death of common folk was but a thought away for them. When had they ever been humiliated as Li Xiaobai had done?

Pointing directly at their noses, demanding their lives, was something they could not tolerate.

Today, they would teach him a bloody lesson.

“Amitabha, esteemed sirs, allow this humble monk to send this evil creature to its next life. I will capture him and take him back to Buddha Temple, where he will repent before the golden light of the Buddha for his entire life!”

The monk among the three, with his hands pressed together, spoke with an indifferent expression.

“Master, while you say so, you surely do not wish to use this opportunity to monopolize the Spirit Realm Technique, do you?”

The Daoist in green robes said with a faint smile.

“Hehe, the master has always been upright and just, slaying demons and eradicating evil. How could he possibly engage in such shameless behavior as wanting to hog the spoils?”

“You underestimate the master’s willpower too much, sir. Don’t you agree, master?”

The eunuch clad in brocade with dragon embroidery chuckled behind his hand, making mocking comments with a weird intonation.

“Cough cough, Amitabha, this monk’s sole purpose is for the welfare of the people, free of personal desires. You both can rest assured, I shall capture him now!”

The monk’s face turned somewhat embarrassed. He coughed lightly and then quickly formed a golden Buddha’s palm in the void, pressing it towards Li Xiaobai.

Seeing the way the others spoke with laughter, Li Xiaobai knew that they did not take him seriously and intended to toy with him as they pleased.

“Hehe, master, I see your eyes are sunken and your face faintly green, which clearly is due to a deficiency in kidney energy, you must have not abstained from women over the years, have you?”

Li Xiaobai chuckled lightly, extended one hand, and shook it a bit at the giant golden palm covering the sky; in an instant, the golden Buddha light shattered, the solid massive palm crumbled inch by inch, and finally burst apart, turning into streams of golden light that dissipated into the atmosphere.

“You see, with just one squeeze from me, your Buddha light has been crushed, master. Being so fragile, how will you ever get by in the Jianghu?”

“Ah, this…”

The monk was shocked, realizing in an instant that Li Xiaobai was no mundane foe, not someone he could capture as he had imagined.

You must know, he was a top-notch fighter in the Refinement Void Realm. Even though that golden palm had been thrown out casually, it wasn’t something an ordinary martial artist could withstand, let alone crush so easily.

The intelligence from the Imperial Court was flawed; this demon head was no simple foe!

“Everyone, be careful, this demon head has come into his power!”

“The information provided by the Imperial Court is false. This demon head is at the very least at the Great Perfection of the Spirit Refining Realm, and quite possibly at the same realm as us!”

The Monk steadied his spirit and warned, “The eunuch and the Daoist in green robes were also startled. Now they were fully alert, watching Li Xiaobai with caution. On him, they felt a hint of threat!”

“Hehe, who would have thought that you, a demon head, would also learn to play the pig to eat the tiger. However, you have forgotten one thing, ‘Even when a lion fights a rabbit, it uses all its might.’ Since you didn’t use your full strength to attack me just now, you no longer have a chance.”

“Demon head, submit to the law!”

The Monk brought his hands together in prayer, and a golden light shone from his Dantian, stretching thousands of miles. A pervasive and soft sound filled the void, and a strong inner strength, like a scorching sun, swept through, striking at Li Xiaobai like a whirlwind blowing the fallen leaves.

The golden inner strength once again transformed into two Buddha palms, one on the left and one on the right, flanking Li Xiaobai, preparing to squash him flat.

“It seems the master has not yet recognized the gap between you and me. Well then, today I shall liberate three souls physically. Master, on the Yellow Springs Bridge, you will not be alone.”

Li Xiaobai’s eyes flashed red, and without any fancy moves, he reached out and directly grabbed the two golden hands descending from the sky. Under the operation of his Spirit Realm Technique, the golden Buddha light dimmed in an instant, and the sky-covering hands formed by inner strength dissipated into nothingness in the blink of an eye.

At the same time, the Monk’s face went pale with shock, and fear flickered in his pupils. Before he could speak, his body twisted and shriveled rapidly until only a pile of bones fell in front of the other two.

The scene was neat and eerie, sending chills down the spine.

At this moment, the Daoist in green robes and the eunuch were so frightened that their hairs stood on end. Without a thought, they burst into motion, turning into lingering afterimages as they attempted to flee the battlefield. Li Xiaobai’s performance had far exceeded their expectations, instantly killing a high monk from the Buddhist Sect in the Refinement Void Realm was not something they could handle.

“Damn it, what level of strength does he have!”

“Is the Spirit Realm Technique really so miraculous? In such a short time, it has made that demon head stronger than us. Had we known this earlier, the Imperial Court should have acted sooner. Now that the demon head has grown powerful, he’s not someone who can be easily besieged. I’m afraid there will be another bloody storm in the world of martial arts!”

“Eunuch, stop talking and run for it! Life is the most important thing!”

With panic and unrest in their hearts, they summoned all their strength as if they wished they had three legs to run faster.

But unfortunately, in the next second, their expressions froze. A black figure moved faster and more ferociously between them, and they felt a chill at the back of their necks before they could react. Their bodies deflated like a punctured ball and shriveled rapidly.

In the end, they turned into skeletons and fell from the sky.

“You scum of the martial world, with the current turmoil in the Imperial Court and the invasion of the Southern Barren Lands, instead of striving to improve, you have shifted the key to turning defeat into victory onto the Spirit Realm Technique. No wonder the border defenses have fallen.”

“Such a rotten Imperial Court truly disheartens all righteous people in the world!”

Li Xiaobai’s eyes were cold, and he muttered to himself. The fact that the Imperial Court’s first reaction to its own problems was to place its hopes on an outsider showed just how weak and incompetent it was.

Turning to look at the officials shivering in fear, he casually pointed in the void. A giant hand of inner strength reached out, slowly pressing down towards where the people were.

“My lord, please spare me!”

“My lord, I was wrong; it was all that damn official who made me do it!”

“Yes, it was all orchestrated by that surname Wang; if you’re going to kill, kill us straightaway, we were only acting on orders…”

Seeing the giant inner strength hand that covered the sky above them, the officials below were scared out of their wits, kneeling and begging for mercy.

But Li Xiaobai had no sympathy, “When you were licking the boots of the Imperial Court earlier, you didn’t look like this.”

“Die for all I care!”