What exactly wasn’t right here?

Su Yi calmed his heart and focused. His divine sense swept forth, spreading across the vast first-floor hall of the tower inch by inch.

The hall was extremely spacious; over a thousand monks could sit in meditation or chant sutras within. The thirty-six towering stone pillars were each carved with obscure and mysterious Sanskrit text.

Hm? When Su Yi’s divine sense got about two hundred feet in, he suddenly felt a strange sensation, and the image of a grand formation appeared within his mental sea.

“So, it’s a formation for obscuring one’s presence…..” Su Yi instantly understood why something felt a bit off.

“All of you, be careful. This place is covered by a formation, and if my deductions are on the mark, it was placed here by Shanglin Temple’s Buddhist cultivators,” ordered Su Yi. As he spoke, he used his divine sense to silently observe the obscurement formation’s subtleties.

Ning Sihua, Mu Xi, and Lan Suo were instantly grave. Without any prior discussion, they each drew their weapons.

Ning Sihua carried the Waning Blueflame Moon Halberd in her right hand, while a little, translucent red flying sword appeared in her left. It was shaped like a fish.

Mu Xi hefted his golden spear and readied himself for battle.

The most exaggerated was Lan Suo. She took out a talisman and hung it in front of her chest, and she put her fully-spiritual golden throwing knife in her waistband and a glittering purple jade sword in her hair. She even took out a pair of bracers carved with complex runes and cloud markings…

She paused to think, then, as if she weren’t quite assured, she took out two thick stacks of Origin talismans and held one in each hand. Finally, she exhaled, seemingly in relief. Her eyes shone with eagerness.

Just watching this, Mu Xi felt as if he were going blind. I’ve seen full-body armor before, but not like this! Every single thing on her is a spiritual treasure!

Even Ning Sihua’s expression changed. If this were a style of combat, would it be called…. The ‘money-burning’ style?

It seemed their gazes left her a bit uncomfortable, as Lan Suo said sheepishly, “When I left, my seniors insisted on giving me this stuff. They said that when girls go out, they have to protect themselves. Hm…. You don’t need to make such a fuss over nothing…”

Ning Sihua and Mu Xi both looked away. In their hearts, they sighed. Humans really aren’t born equal!

It was then that Su Yi waved the Abstruse God Sword. Clang!

A streak of blue sword qi swept through the air, carrying the inscrutable charm of the Dao. It cleaved into the air two hundred feet away.

Boom!

Flecks of light scattered like rain. Countless glyphs surged into being, and a grand formation permeated with Buddhist light appeared in their field of vision.

And when Su Yi’s slash landed, it struck just the right spot; the grand golden formation split like paper mache and burst into nothingness.

“This….”

“Who could be so brazen as to meddle in our affairs?” 

A clamor of shocked, angry voices rang out.

They then saw a group of monks deep within the hall. All of them were glaring furiously at Su Yi and company.

A grave voice suddenly rang out. “So you made it here alive, benefactors. That is indeed beyond my expectations.”

This was none other than Awakening Balance. 

There were seventeen other monks alongside him. Without exception, they emanated the characteristic energy fluctuations of a Xiantian Martial Ancestor. 

Their leader was a white-eyebrowed, white-bearded old monk. His presence was obscure and unreadable; he was far more terrifying than his seventeen companions.

Looking past this group, there was a fierce battle raging further inside the hall.

One combatant was a handsome young monk in coarse Buddhist robes. He looked as solemn as a Buddhist statue.

He carried a purple and gold alms bowl in one hand. In the other, he carried a monk’s knife. His entire body shone with searing Buddhist light, and his radiance stretched far and wide. He was imposing and intimidating to the extreme. 

But the most shocking thing about him was his opponent: a several-dozen-foot-long golden dragon! Its entire body emanated a terrifying aura!

One draconic roar after another boomed like thunder, and a terrifying prestige spread out around it, like a landslide or tidal wave.

Just seeing it, even from a distance, felt suffocating.

“Do dragons really exist in this world?” exclaimed Mu Xi. His scalp numbed, and his hair stood on end.

Ning Sihua and Lan Suo were stunned too. The monks of Shanglin Temple were really out there trying to subdue a dragon!

Without seeing it for themselves, who would dare believe such a thing?

“There are indeed dragons in this world,” said Su Yi, lights flashing in the depths of his inscrutable gaze. “But what we’re seeing isn’t a true dragon. Rather, it’s the manifestation of the power of a single drop of a true dragon’s blood essence.”

A true dragon!

True dragons were the loftiest, most terrifying, and most ancient of the True Spirit Divine Beasts. Their power was unfathomable; they were existences akin to deities, with unbelievable abilities. 

Even to Imperial Realm cultivators, true dragons were unparalleled harbingers of disaster. They were strong beyond imagination.

However, they were extremely rare and mysterious. They existed primarily in myths and legends.

Although Su Yi was once called the supreme ruler of the Nine Provinces of the Wilds, all he’d seen of true dragons was the lair one left behind. In it, he found nothing but a few cast-off scales.

He’d never once seen a living true dragon.

Yet now, here, deep in the ruins on Treasure Temple Yao Mountain, in the nine-story tower on the “head” of the dragon-shaped ridge, he saw a dragon formed from a drop of a true dragon’s blood!

Even Su Yi was stunned; he hadn’t expected anything like this.

After all, this was a mundane realm!

As Su Yi pondered, the eighteen monks of Shanglin Temple gathered around them, all of them forceful and imposing.

“This place is extremely dangerous. Dear benefactors, please return from when you came. Do not risk your lives in vain,” said the leader, the old monk with white eyebrows and facial hair. He was solemn and imposing, and his voice boomed like a temple’s morning bell. It seemed he wouldn’t take “no” for an answer.

Su Yi laughed. “Monk, how about we help you resolve this ‘extreme danger?’”

The elderly monk said expressionlessly, “Since you reached this place, you’re naturally extraordinary people. However, if you refuse to heed our advice and stubbornly refuse to see the light, you’ll bring fatal disaster upon yourselves.”

It was then that Lan Suo turned to the young monk fighting in the distance and called out, “Elder Sutra Crane, I’m an inheritor of the Donghua Sword Sect, Lan Suo. My master is the Cloudstone Venerate. Conflict will only hurt us both. How about we work together to suppress the dragon, then split our good fortune evenly?”

The monks’ expressions shifted slightly.

The Cloudstone Venerate!

He was the strongest of the Donghua Sword Sect’s high elders! One of the three strongest masters of the sword in the Great Qin, an expert whose name shook the nation!

Now, the Cloudstone Venerate’s disciple was here in person. Who’d dare overlook her?

One look at their expressions and Mu Xi knew Lan Suo’s master’s name and prestige were quite intimidating. 

However, against all expectations, the young monk currently engaged in fierce combat, Sutra Crane, snorted coldly and said, “You’re just the Cloudstone Venerate’s disciple. Never mind you; even if your master came here in person, he could forget about seizing this grand stroke of fortune from our Shanglin Temple!”

Every word was forceful, resounding, and utterly decisive.

Lan Suo’s expression froze. Then, anger and embarrassment rose on her pretty face. It seemed she hadn’t guessed that Sutra Crane of the Taming Dragon Hall would be so blatantly disrespectful.

The other monks’ expressions frosted over as well. 

“Everyone, please leave!” The elderly, white-eyebrowed monk said gravely, his eyes crackling with electricity and imposing to the extreme. 

The other monks’ expressions were unfriendly too.

“You’re Buddhist cultivations, yet your greed and murderous intent are this intense? You’re no different from heretical and demonic cultivators.” Su Yi shook his head.

In this past life, he’d once discussed sutras and the Dao with the experts of the number-one Buddhist Holy Land, the Little Western Paradise. Their bearing, wisdom, and breadth of spirit made even Su Yi sigh with admiration. 

By comparison, the monks before him were unseemly; they didn’t even deserve the title of “Buddhist cultivator.”

“Scoundrel! How dare you make such wanton accusations? You deserve to go straight to hell and have your tongue cut out!” Awakening Balance roared in fury. He’d clashed with Su Yi earlier, and he already had a grudge against him. Now, hearing Su Yi insult them, he was instantly furious.

Su Yi couldn’t be bothered to waste words on him. He just raised his sword and slashed through the air.

Whoosh!

The radiant sword qi arced like a rainbow, hurtling toward Awakening Balance with a fierce, unstoppable aura.

The white-eyebrowed monk furrowed his brow and slapped the air.

Bzzz!

A palm imprint flowing with golden light condensed. Although it was only about the size of a millstone, it shone with intense light and emanated extreme power.

However, the moment it collided with Su Yi’s sword qi, the glowing golden palm split in two with an ear-splitting boom.

But the sword qi’s momentum didn’t drop in the slightest. It continued straight toward Awakening Balance, who instinctively tried to dodge.

Boom!

The sword qi struck Awakening Balance’s earlier location, missing him by a hair. Dazzling sword light scattered, then spread, stinging the monk’s skin. Despite himself, he visibly lost his composure.

It was just one attack, but its might was so imposing that even the other monks were instantly solemn; they’d only just realized Su Yi’s strength.

“You’ve brought this upon yourself! You cannot be allowed to live. Apprentice brothers, let us work together to obliterate this fiend and rid the world of this evil!” said the elderly white-eyebrowed monk gravely.

“Good!” Seventeen monks agreed as one. Then, these monks of the Great Qin’s Shanglin Temple, each of them a Xiantian Martial Ancestor, attacked in full force.

Rumble!

Their auras expanded, their robes fluttered, and they readied themselves for battle, taking out knives, rulers, staves, magic swords, canes, and even alms bowls. All were spiritual weapons.

Then, they shifted positions, and in an instant, they formed a strict, terrifying combat formation.

The look on Lan Suo’s pretty face changed dramatically, and she hurriedly transmitted, “That’s Shanglin Temple’s Tiger Fighter Arhat Formation! It takes eighteen Xiantian Martial Ancestors working together to use. They link their energies, and it’s so powerful that it can even entrap Earthly Immortals!”

This was no exaggeration; years ago, an Earthly Immortal of the Great Qin had indeed been trapped within the Tiger Fighter Arhat Formation. Although he broke free, he ultimately died of his injuries!

Boom!

As she spoke, the white-eyebrowed monk led his fellows, and they attacked together. All of them burst with radiant light, solemn, imposing, and terrifying.

They were obviously a group of eighteen, but they worked so closely together that they seemed like a single entity, without the slightest gap. Their formation seemed completely unassailable.

Ning Sihua and Mu Xi were instantly solemn. 

But Su Yi’s eyes flashed with a hint of disdain.

“You call that a ‘combat formation’? It’s nothing but an embarrassingly coarse fusion skill. I can break it in a single attack.” As his calm voice rang out, Su Yi charged ahead.

The monks use weapons that are unique to Buddhists. Or unique to fighting Buddhist monks, rather. I don't really know the proper English names, or if they even have proper English names. I'll include links for the weapons mentioned in this chapter so you can get a sense for what they look like. The sources are in Chinese to save time (sorry), but they have pictures. 

A monk's knife/saber (戒刀).

A monk's staff. (禪杖) 

A monk's ruler. (戒尺) Although the text describes them as weapons used by monks, it seems they've gained popularity as a tool with which to spank children.

An alms bowl. (鉢盂) This isn't typically a weapon. These are what monks beg for food with and eat out of. But anything can be a weapon in a Chinese fantasy novel. ;)