Li Yuanliang picked Mo Luojia as his opponent and the remaining ten disciples also each picked a sub-leader of the Defenders of the Dharma to fight against. Perhaps it was Shen Lian’s presence that spurred them to fight harder. They were generous with their swordcraft and were evidently more murderous.

　　Li Yuanliang, in particular, was the most outstanding among all. The groaning of his sword could be heard but the shadow of his sword could not be seen. He indeed lived up to his nickname of ‘The Shadowless Sword’.

　　If Mo Luojia’s Dharma was not deep enough, he would not be able to protect himself.

　　Daoist Sanwen lightly caressed his horsetail whisk and said, “Junior-Apprentice Brother, what do you think of the boys?”

　　Shen Lian laughed, “They look the part.”

　　Daoist Sanwen sighed, “You, you set the bar too high.”

　　Shen Lian laughed and said nothing. Sanwen was right. These apprentice-nephews may be first class sword celestials in the eyes of cultivators, especially when the eleven of them combined. Even people of the levels of a Dixian would prefer to avoid their interconnecting divine Qi. However, their lust to kill was too strong and lacked the pure and elegant style of Qing Xuan. It would be great for them if they completed the Dao of the Killing Sword and lived up to Chen Jianmei’s philosophy of ‘one sword one man’. But unfortunately, they have attained the form and not the true meaning of it.

　　Qing Xuan highly emphasized on the cultivation of the heart before the cultivation of the behavior. Those words of Dao were simple yet deep. If one was extremely powerful and yet his heart was not at the right place, he could only be a craftsman and not a Master.

　　However, there were not many accomplished Daoist around and it was also not an easy feat to be a craftsman. That was why Shen Lian commented that they looked the part and he was not being sarcastic.

　　Daoist Sanwen enjoyed a good relationship with Shen Lian but he stepped into reincarnation too soon and mostly heard about Shen Lian from his apprentice-nephews. He knew nothing about the things that took place after Chen Jianmei’s departure and that was why he did not know Shen Lian was recognized as a creme de la creme figure in the history of Qing Xuan. A ‘they looked the part’ comment from Shen Lian actually carried a lot of weight and would have made them famous.

　　The fight between the two parties was quite intense. There were a couple of valiant attempts to ambush Sanwen and Shen Lian. But Sanwen’s horsetail whisk was an extraordinary talisman that was capable of entangling the dragon incarnated by the monk. The idiotic Defenders of the Dharma were effortlessly tied up by the white silk of the horsetail whisk and tossed into the Blood Sea. The Dharma and the force of the Blood Sea were inter-restraining and they sure did not end well.

　　Shen Lian looked at the scene and asked, “Senior-Apprentice Brother, may I know the origins of this horsetail whisk?”

　　Daoist Sanwen revealed a proud expression and said, “This horsetail whisk is known as the ‘Taiyi Horsetail Whisk’. I found it deep in the Blood Sea. To be honest, if I was powerful enough, heavenly immortals would not be able to escape from the white silk of my horsetail whisk.”

　　Shen Lian looked at the horsetail whisk, the handle was shining like jade and it had no Dao grains on it. His divine thoughts went closer to it and a gentle force bounced out. It was a familiar feeling but he could not recall what was it. This factor itself was good enough to suprise Shen Lian. He was so close to the state of Taiyi. His heart knew Dao and Dao knew his heart. Every experience that he went through would be clearly etched in his mind and there should not be any sense of unknown familiarity unless there were other reasons behind it.

　　Moreover, the gentle force was capable of blocking his divine thoughts. That made him even more amazed by it.

　　But after all, the horsetail whisk belonged to Daoist Sanwen. Daoist Sanwen would not receive it well if Shen Lian was overly curious about it. Shen Lian laughed and said, “Even Qing Xuan has never had anything so precious. I need to congratulate you for your profound blessings.”

　　Daoist Sanwen shook his head. He said, “Speaking of profound blessings, I think none of us can compete with Junior-Apprentice Brother Chen. A Level Nine Blood Lotus actually came to him and recognized him as its owner. Although I have never seen him use the Blood Lotus, every time when I see him, it was as if I have seen the incarnation of Dao. The deeper the cultivation, the more one would fathom it. I think Junior-Apprentice Brother Chen’s speedy improvement was related to the Blood Lotus.”

　　Shen Lian was familiar with the classics of Buddhism and knew that the lotus flower represented Dharma. There were twelve levels of it, three levels were categorized into one grade and the twelfth level was the supreme level. However, a level twelfth lotus flower only appeared in legends and no one had ever seen it. Rumour has it that even the lotus flower that Amida, the Buddha of Immeasurable Light and Life sat on was a level nine lotus.

　　Chen Jianmei’s Blood lotus may not be able to match Amida’s lotus seat but it was still a level nine lotus and was probably extraordinary. Looks like it was true that Senior-Apprentice Brother Chen was blessed profoundly as Sanwen mentioned.

　　Shen Lian was genuinely happy for Chen Jianmei. He was an open-hearted person and never felt jealous of his senior-apprentice brother.

　　The wind chimes on the pagoda started ringing again. It was as if the Defenders of the Dharma that were fighting against Li Yuanliang and the others heard the command to retreat. In less than three thousand seconds, they have hidden themselves in the void. But Mo Luojia was careless and his shoulder was stabbed by Li Yuanliang’s Shadowless Sword. Gold colored blood oozed out of his shoulder as he left with regrets.

　　Li Yuanliang and the others were happy to see the Defenders of the Dharma retreat. They had a good fight today and did not lose much.

　　They walked towards Shen Lian. Among them, Yuan Xuefeng and Pi Yushan had a skull each on their hand respectively. They stood in front of Shen Lian and said, “Headmaster, this two were the sub-tribe of the Asura royalties. You can use the head bone as dominoes and it would be useful. We would like to gift it to you.”

　　Shen Lian looked at the skulls and it was indeed different from other Asura clan. Although the head was separated from the body, there was no Qi of death towards it and it was still hanging on to spiritual vigor of the heaven and earth. If it was not for the duo’s Qi of sword that suppressed it, the skulls might have rejuvenated and be reborn.

　　But Shen Lian rejected their kindness. With a gentle voice, he said, “Thank you for your generosity. But you should keep it for yourself.”

　　As Shen Lian was speaking, he was working his fingers behind his back. Two traceless Qi of sword appeared out of nowhere and pierce through to make a hole at the glabella of the two skulls. Apparently, there were lingering divine thoughts in the skulls and it was about to explode. Unfortunately for them, they were not able to hide from Shen Lian’s eyes.

　　Shen Lian did not want to embarrass his two apprentice-nephews and thus secretly cast a spell to annihilate the divine thoughts.

　　They would eventually realize the microhole in the skull and would be able to find out what really happened and it would also serve as a reminder for them.

　　The duo did not force Shen Lian to accept the gift. They have been following Chen Jianmei for so long and have always been very straightforward. On the other hand, it was Li Yuanliang and the others that were envious of the duo’s luck. They could use the head bone to make dominoes and absorb the essence of the Blood Sea to supplement their cultivations. This would definitely be more effective than elixirs.