A Scroll of Infinite Glory

Chapter 59 Deployment and Entry into Battle

Due to its climate, Nanyang is a place where plants, animals, and various snakes and insects are abundant and grow wildly, making it a treasure land that is second to none in the surrounding area.

However, every advantage has its disadvantage. Precisely because the resources are so abundant, there is no need to consider the detailed and standardized use of them. As a result, the magic developed in this place is also very complicated, and many of them carry a primitive, barbaric, and bloody connotation.

Unlike orthodox Taoist and Buddhist sects, who first undergo eight to ten years of arduous study to understand the principles before cultivating magical powers, they directly extract special herbs and poisonous insects from nature as the foundation for their magic.

Such an approach will ruin six out of ten people, and even if the rest successfully cross this threshold, they will encounter many drawbacks and fall into suffering due to their own ignorance.

People who suffer from pain and torment year after year are bound to have extreme temperaments and higher desires for external things, making them more likely to go down the path of harming others.

If outsiders come to Southeast Asia to inquire about stories of magic, the most common stories they hear are about these kinds of people. For example, in some deserted villages, there are people with illnesses or disabilities who are eccentric and will help raise ghosts and cast spells, make dolls, worship straw figures, and harm or kill others in exchange for money or women.

These sorcerers, who only know a little bit of magic, may have low skill levels, and some of them may even be unreliable, but their numbers are almost dozens of times that of orthodox sorcerers, and their influence among the common people is never to be underestimated.

Nalanda University, upholding the Buddhist principle of compassion, sought to reverse this custom, redeem these misguided sorcerers, alleviate their suffering, and guide them back to the righteous path.

Thus, three generations ago, these monks collected scattered folk methods and studied them diligently. They gained a certain understanding of any magical practices circulating in Southeast Asia and even had ideas on how to control them.

However, because they had studied too many evil spells, which conflicted with their own Buddhist practice, these forty-eight monks would be fine if they stayed at Nalanda Monastery and were nurtured by the Buddha's light and incense. But once they left the monastery and traveled far away, they were likely to suffer a backlash. At best, they would develop illnesses, and at worst, they would age prematurely.

Those sorcerers who have gone astray and those suffering from curses have no choice but to go to Nalanda Monastery to pray for help; this has been the custom for generations.

This is probably the first time that all the eminent monks of the temple have come out in full force.

Hua Mi naturally couldn't understand how someone could vaguely guess the origins of those nine-foot giants after only seeing them once during the siege.

She couldn't understand how these monks, who were afraid to leave their homes when faced with water bandits, would risk such dangers for a so-called favor when there was no real evidence whatsoever.

Therefore, the situation took a completely unexpected turn.

"Namo Ratna Trayaya, Namo Arya, Avalokiteshvara..."

Forty-eight sickly people chanted incantations, and wherever their songs reached, all the nine-foot giants were affected.

As the monks observed and changed the incantation, the nine-foot giant's movements became increasingly sluggish, to the point that some of them began to experience convulsions.

The remaining Ming soldiers have begun to seize this opportunity to launch a counterattack.

"Kill those monks."

At Hua Mi's command, his sorcerers and martial artists rushed straight towards the group of high monks!

Master Zhiyuan and Lady Aze tried to intercept the group, but they repeatedly felt alarmed and dodged with bated breath, hurriedly defending against the silent black magic that attacked from the air.

Hua Mi chanted incantations and pointed his fingers on the roof. With each change in hand gestures, countless Gu worms rose from the air, grass, and soil, launching attacks on Daoist Zhiyuan and his companions from various unpredictable angles.

The disciples of Zhenwu Temple and General Yu and others were busy resisting Huangtou Taigong and his gang, and for a time, no one was able to spare the time to help the high monks.

Among the group rushing forward, leading the way was Ma Qiang's trusted subordinate, a middle-aged man with a short, needle-like beard that ran from his chin to his ears, carrying a red-tasseled spear over three meters long.

When he ran, he was like a wolf or a tiger, always holding his gun in his hand. When he was still about twenty meters away from the group of monks, he flicked and thrust the gun.

As the red spear tassels flipped, the monks standing at the front felt their eyelids tremble slightly.

There was still such a long distance, but the spearhead seemed to be about to pierce their eyes, and the chanting suddenly dropped.

"Homage to the Yaksha King, protector of all sentient beings!"

The two monks standing next to Abbot Mujia were startled by the red-tasseled spear and could no longer restrain themselves. They simultaneously changed their hand seals, intending to cast a spell to protect themselves.

With the magical power of these monks, if they were to use protective spells and offensive incantations, they might be able to resist the onslaught of these people. However, once they were distracted, the nine-foot giant would resume his activities, and the situation would once again deteriorate to its worst state, beyond any hope of recovery.

Just then, a loud explosion came from next to the ancestral hall.

boom!!!!

The decaying wooden door, door frame, and even the surrounding earthen walls were all smashed by a figure that moved like a whirlwind.

The damaged walls on both sides of the main entrance were also pulled by the force of the impact, shaking violently, and the roof was on the verge of collapse.

Inside the room, there was a depression on the floor, more than a foot in diameter. Jiu Ying stood beside the depression, her clothes and hair fluttering wildly in the airflow, her gaze following the figure that had suddenly disappeared into the distance.

After Guan Luoyang stomped once inside the house, his body moved like a hawk gliding low in the sky, and he landed fifty meters away before stomping a second time. With a bang, he shot out again.

Among the group that went to attack the monk, someone heard the sound, turned around and saw that the shattered wooden door in the distance had not yet hit the ground when the swift shadow was already in front of them.

bang bang bang bang bang bang bang...

The bodies of seven or eight people scattered and flew everywhere, screaming and flailing their arms and legs as they fell to the ground.

Thanks to the buffer provided by these unfortunate souls, the two men wielding rattan shields and waist knives finally regained their senses. They raised their rattan shields and rammed forward, pressing down on the knees and thrusting their waist knives forward from the right side.

The two men stood side by side, one holding a knife in his left hand and the other in his right. When they stood side by side, the two shields were placed in the middle, and the outer blades of their swords stabbed forward in unison, their coordination was seamless.

But Guan Luoyang simply pushed his hands outwards, and the rattan shield crashed into the two of them. Amidst the sounds of bones breaking and tendons snapping, both men's swords went astray and flew to either side along with their bodies.

As soon as the two men were knocked away, a sharp head suddenly appeared in Guan Luoyang's eyes.

At the same time, a strange sound came from the air, as if it had been pierced by a sharp cone.

It turned out that the short-bearded middle-aged man who was at the front noticed the commotion behind him and launched a counterattack.

Before the man could even turn around, the gun had already pierced his back; this was a true counterattack.

Guan Luoyang's entire face was pressed against the gunshot, and he quickly shifted his body to the side to dodge.

The short-bearded man turned around and thrust his spear forward repeatedly, the tip of which, like waves crashing, chased after Guan Luoyang's figure.

In the "Arm Record," when discussing the method of selecting and practicing with a spear, it says: "The shaft of the spear should be as strong as iron, with a base larger than a hand's grasp. It should be shaved to fit the hand, gradually tapering to a point. Hold the spear three feet in front of the base, ensuring it is perfectly level. This allows for both heavy and light control, enabling agile and flexible use."

The short-bearded man's spear technique was so profound that he grasped only a few feet of the spear shaft with both hands, leaving the large section of the shaft empty. He relied on the spearhead to strike, like a flying venomous python with sharp spikes on its head.

A flick of the gun barrel, a tap, a sweep—all can be a way to kill.

However, after Guan Luoyang took seven steps to the side to dodge, he was able to see the length of the spear and estimate the strength of the short-bearded man's waist and the speed at which he shook the spear.

As the spear came chasing after him again, Guan Luoyang swung his hand back to catch it, and the afterimages of his hand and the spearhead collided, coming to an abrupt stop.

The hardwood spear shaft, unharmed by knife cuts, made a sharp, grating sound when struck by an axe, as if it could no longer bear the weight.

The short-bearded man's wrist ached. Looking at the bent gun barrel, he couldn't believe it. He felt as if the tip of his gun had been cast into a block of iron weighing thousands of pounds, and he couldn't move it an inch.

Guan Luoyang's fingers twisted into the red tassel, and his palm gripped the neck of the spear.

The spear is a weapon that relies on distance to overpower the opponent.

Guan Luoyang's methods are purely a matter of using one's own power to bully others.

To catch the gun barrel with his bare hands, his eyesight and speed must be at least four times faster than his opponent's; to lock the gun barrel in place without it slipping, his strength must be more than twice that of his opponent.

It also requires that the skin, flesh, metacarpals, and finger bones of his hands be able to withstand such intense force applied to them.

This is the state of mastering the three skills of skin, qi, and bone.

Guan Luoyang turned to look at the short-bearded man. His newly grown, jet-black hair swept over his shoulders, and with a twist of his hand, the middle of the gun barrel broke off due to the force from both sides.

In the blink of an eye, the broken spearhead was thrown forward and embedded in the forehead of the short-bearded man, causing him to fall to the ground with a thud, hitting the back of his head on the ground.

Among the forty-eight monks ahead, those who had clearly seen the brief exchange of blows had twitching eyelids and couldn't help but chant Buddhist mantras.

"Amitabha Buddha, Amitabha Buddha..."

Even if this young benefactor in black was there to help them, this massacre was far too efficient.

So many vigorous men were turned into a pile of corpses in just two or three breaths.

Some of the monks, with their keen sense of smell, even vaguely sensed that Guan Luoyang's clothes were not black, but rather stained with blood, which was why they looked like that.

"Amitabha Buddha..." How much blood would that take?

"Monks, keep singing, don't be afraid."

Guan Luoyang thought he was being amiable and reassured them, then turned around to face the battlefield in front of the ancestral hall.

With each step he took, more than ten meters disappeared beneath his feet.

The chanting of the mantra rose again, loud and clear, in unison.

Guan Luoyang's hair was almost straightened by the wind, his strides became faster and faster, his bright eyes were wide open, and he did not give way to the oncoming gale.

In a daze, it seemed as if an arrogant and fierce aura came against the wind and descended upon the battlefield.

(End of this chapter)