The Only Master in Heaven and on Earth
The bodies of these four foreign practitioners were largely the same as that of humans, but they gave off faint demonic auras. Upon closer inspection, Li Mu found signs of half-demons on them and thought that they should be from the Demon Coalition.
He didn’t expect that the Demon Coalition had extended its tentacles of power to foreign countries.
The four foreign practitioners from the Demon Coalition caught sight of Li Mu and the others. Their eyes suddenly lit up when they saw Tang Tian and the other disciples, who were wearing the uniforms of the Hero Martial Arts Alliance.
"Ha-ha-ha, the Silver Lizard King said that the reward for killing a member of the Hero Martial Arts Alliance would be a divine stone. We were sent here to guard the door, but I didn’t expect that we would be so lucky."
"One, two, three... eighteen. Ha-ha, there are eighteen people, which means eighteen divine stones are awaiting us."
"Kill them."
The four foreign practitioners of the Demon Coalition rushed forward in great excitement.
When they reached the halfway point, they suddenly felt that something was not right.
Upon a closer look, they were surprised to find that the young disciples of the Hero Martial Arts Alliance were holding all kinds of shining weapons in their hands... "Oh, God! Are those Buddha’s secret treasures?"
"Each of them has one. How could that be possible?
"How could there be so many Buddha’s secret treasures?"
All of a sudden, an overwhelming chill engulfed them.
Tang Tian and the others boiled with rage when they heard what the four foreign practitioners of the Demon Coalition said. They rushed toward the four foreign practitioners like a colorful tidal wave and attacked the latter savagely, using the Buddha’s secret treasures, which included sabers, swords, sticks, shields, hammers... After a while, the four foreign practitioners of the Demon Coalition were annihilated.
Li Mu didn’t even have time to take action.
Zhao Feilong, who had been following Li Mu and unwilling to leave, stood there dumbstruck, with his mouth agape, not knowing what to say.
"That’s f**king violent."
"May I ask if you... you are the God of Martial Arts?"
He asked Li Mu very respectfully.
People called Li Mu by various names.
The people of the Hero Martial Arts Alliance and the military of the Hero Country addressed Li Mu as Consultant Li, the martial arts circles in foreign countries called him the oriental God of Martial Arts, and various domestic sects and clans addressed him as Senior Li, the God of War, the God of Martial Arts, His Excellency the God of War, His Honor the God of War... These titles represented the wild imaginations of martial arts practitioners.
Foreigners were in awe and fear of Li Mu. Back then, Li Mu killed his way through the Middle East, Far West and the Great East continents. All foreigners in these continents were afraid of him.
Various sects and clans in the Hero Country greatly respected and worshipped him. It was no exaggeration to say that after he suddenly emerged, he opened the door to a whole new world and improved Hero Country’s martial arts system to a much higher level than those in other countries and regions of the world.
With official recognition and support, the civil society organizations of martial arts had developed rapidly in recent years.
Zhao Feilong was from a folk sect. He had great strength and good fortune. As a practitioner from the grassroots, he benefited from Li Mu’s influence and admired Li Mu very much. Many folk sects hung Li Mu’s tablets and portraits in their ancestral shrines together with their ancestral tablets and they regarded Li Mu as their second ancestral master.
Along the way, Zhao Feilong finally figured out something after feeling greatly shocked. He had already recognized Li Mu, but he was too shocked and excited to ask Li Mu, just like a primary school student upon seeing his idol.
While Tang Tian and the others rushed forward to kill the enemies, he finally mustered up the courage to ask.
Li Mu smiled at Zhao Feilong and said, "Yes, I am."
The look on Zhao Feilong’s face suddenly changed. He suddenly understood everything and thought it was unbelievable. A myriad of expressions flitted across his face, from being extremely excited, incoherent, greatly shocked, anxious, uneasy, and overjoyed... In the end, as if it were an instinctive reaction, he knelt in front of Li Mu and shouted loudly, "Disciple Zhao Feilong is here to pay respects to you, ancestral master..."
Li Mu was taken aback.
"When did I become his ancestral master?"
Li Mu hurriedly helped Zhao Feilong up.
Li Mu was telling the truth.
Zhao Feilong’s performance in the small world contained in the frescos in cave 220 made many practitioners in the Star River feel inferior to him. That was the reason why Li Mu was so polite to him.
Some people possessed great powers and high cultivation levels, but they were useless cowards by nature.
Some people had ordinary powers and were not well-known, but they had the true spirits of martial arts.
Zhao Feilong was undoubtedly one of the latter.
"You have done a good job."
Li Mu praised Zhao Feilong sincerely. When he came to the Earth last time, he directly imparted cultivation methods to all the promising young talents that he met. This time, he did the same thing. He gave Zhao Feilong a jade medallion containing a cultivation method that he prepared for exploring the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas.
The jade medallion contained a cultivation method that he picked for Zhao Feilong based on the latter’s natural gift and quality. The cultivation method was called "Dragon in the Field". If Zhao Feilong could practice it to an extreme extent, it would help him break through to the peak of the General Realm.
Zhao Feilong accepted the cultivation method and excitement flooded his entire being. This tough martial arts practitioner, whose face did not change at all in the face of many masters of the Demon Coalition who were several times more powerful than him, smiled from ear to ear.
"Humph, he looks like a fool." The Husky complained disdainfully.
"Li Mu’s ability to win people over has really improved."
The silly dog thought to himself, "I should probably get a bunch of followers after I get back to Earth. After all, I was once the king of dogs that dominated Randengsi Village and had a following of 30 or 40 domestic and feral dogs. At that time, I could pick any female dog I wanted, and there was always a group of beautiful young females waiting for my love... That’s what a dog’s life should be like."
After taking care of the four foreign practitioners of the Demon Coalition standing guard at the door, Li Mu and the others went straight into cave 158.
Cave 158 was one of the three largest caves among the Mogao Caves.
"Lu Xun and the others must be trapped in this cave. Otherwise, the Demon Coalition wouldn’t have sent people to stand guard here... We have to make good use of our time."
"Ha-ha, Lu Xun, you have come to a dead end. It would be better for you to kneel and surrender. Maybe the Demon Coalition can take you to be a dog at my feet. Only in this way can you have a better ending than your stupid grandfather. I gouged his heart out, cut off his head and used it as a football. Ha-ha-ha-ha."
Tao Yuan, the Silver Lizard King with a triangular face and a goatee, stood on the back of a dragon-like lizard hovering in mid-air and laughed wildly as he looked down.
Below them stood a gigantic Shakyamuni Buddha statue that was 108,000 meters tall. At the feet of the statue, there were various magnificent Buddhist temples, pagodas, and other buildings that looked as small as sand grains when compared to the gigantic statue.
This Buddha statue was very special. It was made of copper and shone with golden and purple lights. It had three holy halos floating behind its head. It was surrounded by Buddha’s light, and there seemed to be faint Buddhist chanting sounds coming out of its mouth.
It pointed a finger at the sky and another finger at the earth.
It was the only master in heaven and on earth.
It was said that Shakyamuni Buddha was in this posture at the time of his birth.
It was not a posture of arrogance or self-importance. The word "master" in "the only master" meant the self-confidence that everyone had.
The palm of the Buddha statue was like a huge square, on which hundreds of figures were sitting. Judging from their clothes, they were all members of the Hero Martial Arts Alliance.
A white-robed person sat cross-legged in the middle, surrounded by a pair of illusory white lotuses.
It was Lu Xun.
There was another man who looked like he was in his forties. He had a square face with angular edges and thick, dark eyebrows, which gave people the impression that he was a strong-willed and reliable man. Holding a half-a-meter wide and two-meter long broadsword in his hand and with an angry look on his face, he looked up at Tao Yuan, the Silver Lizard King, and the half-demon masters of the Demon Coalition hovering in the air.
This man was Song Youyan, the director of Dunhuang Branch of the Hero Martial Arts Alliance.
He was an upright and honest man from the Flowing Sand Broadsword Sect in the northwest martial arts circles. Later, he joined the Hero Martial Arts Alliance, became the director of Dunhuang Branch, worked diligently, and made many achievements.
"Protect Chairman Lu." Song Youyan dragged his long broadsword behind him as he walked back and forth in a very calm manner to monitor the operation of the tactical deployment set on the Buddha’s palm. He said, "When Chairman Lu finishes his meditation, the overall situation will be reversed. Brothers, no member of the Hero Martial Arts Alliance is afraid of death. Calm down."
He was boosting the team’s morale.
Up in the sky, Tao Yuan could barely maintain his composure.
He did not expect that the best Buddha’s secret treasure would fall into Lu Xun’s hands. Although the people of the Hero Martial Arts Alliance were no match for him, they had set up a tactical deployment on the Buddha’s palm, making it impossible for him to break through it. He tried to provoke Lu Xun with Lu Haoran’s death, but it was futile.
"Once Lu Xun merges with the Buddha’s secret treasure, his strength will soar... Well, things will become a little more troublesome."
"Bring them out."
He waved his hand.
The half-demons of the Demon Coalition pushed out a few people of the Hero Country who wore the uniforms of the Hero Martial Arts Alliance, including the last survivor of the battle fought at the Hero Martial Arts Alliance’s headquarters. He was an old man who fought so desperately that he passed out. Fortunately, he was not killed in the battle. Now, he was still in a coma and was shackled.
"This is what you forced me to do." Tao Yuan said, "Lu Xun, I’ll give you one last chance. You’ve always wanted to be someone like Li Mu, the God of Martial Arts, right? Would Li Mu take action to save his people if he was in the same situation? I’m going to count to three. If you refuse to walk out of the tactical deployment and fight me when I count to three, I’ll kill a member of the Hero Martial Arts Alliance. If you still don’t come out after I kill all the eight members, I’ll make you go to Dunhuang City to catch more people. I believe that the base of Dunhuang Branch of the Hero Martial Arts Alliance should have already been seized by us, so there will be countless captives for me to kill. After I kill all the members of the Hero Martial Arts Alliance, I’ll kill the civilians and soldiers. Ha-ha, I don’t believe you will always hide like a turtle."
Upon hearing those words, the expressions on all the disciples of the Hero Martial Arts Alliance on the Buddha’s palm changed and they could not contain the anger in their hearts.
Song Youyan’s hair stood on end, and he was on the verge of exploding with rage. He wanted to accuse and rebuke Tao Yuan, but he knew that scolding a bastard like Tao Yuan would only make him angrier.
"I’m starting to count now," Tao Yuan said with a faint smile, "I’m very curious about how long Lu Xun, who claims to be a hero, can bear it. One... two..."
He started his countdown.
Just then, a voice suddenly came from behind him.
"Woof... three."
Tao Yuan froze for a moment, not knowing what happened.
"Who has counted to three before I did?"
Soon, the voice rang out again. It was a little weird and sounded like a dog’s bark. "Woof, woof, woof. You’re so pretentious. Why don’t you keep counting?"