Meanwhile, back at the Central Courtyard, the vast temporary wooden platform was littered with unconscious and battered Wudang disciples lying motionless after the intense sparring match. Their bruised bodies and tattered robes told the story of a fierce battle. Murong Yu, still groaning in pain from his injuries, was among them - his face contorted as he clutched his ribs.
Standing amidst the chaos was Shao Mu. His bald head gleamed under the bright rays of the midday sun as beads of sweat glistened on his furrowed brow.
Despite the devastation around him, Shao Mu's thick, bold eyebrows framed an expression of unshakable calm and determination. With both hands cupped before him in a gesture of peace, he showed no sign of hostility or aggression. He didn't even carry his usual staff, even though a fight with the man before him seemed inevitable.
"The Buddha's teachings preach compassion and mercy," Shao Mu said, his deep voice steady and composed. "I implore you, benefactor, let him go. Allow the cosmic scales of karma to judge the severity of their transgressions, while you reap the rewards of restraint through good karma."
The man before him, Ji Wuye, stopped and coolly observed Shao Mu from a close distance, his piercing gaze scrutinizing the monk. Returning the polite cupped-hand gesture, Ji Wuye greeted him courteously, "Greetings, Venerable One."
Contrary to Shao Mu's expectations, Ji Wuye remained composed and courteous, showing no outward signs of the rage that had erupted in bloody battle moments before. Yet, as Ji Wuye raised his head, his crimson eyes flickered between the monk and the crumpled figure behind him—Murong Yu, who was still coughing up thick globs of blood and glaring at Ji Wuye with a look of pure, unbridled hatred etched on his bruised face.
A brief silence fell over the courtyard, punctuated only by Murong Yu's ragged breaths. Then, Ji Wuye's deep voice broke the tension as a philosophical question emerged from his lips.
"Tell me, Venerable, why should I let the Buddha and karma decide judgment if I am willing to bear the full brunt of bad karma for my actions here today?" His tone remained measured and even.
Shao Mu listened intently, not a flicker of emotion crossing his serene expression as Ji Wuye spoke.
"Benefactor, it is clear you are a man who understands the profound essence of the law of karma - a rarity in this tumultuous jianghu realm," Shao Mu replied, his words unhurried and deliberate. "But..."
He trailed off, letting the weight of that single word hang in the air. Then, in one fluid motion, Shao Mu rolled up the wide sleeves of his orange kasaya robe, revealing a pair of sinewy, well-trained arms whose musculature belied his monk's garments.
Shao Mu bent down slowly, his robes whispering against the wooden planks as he pinched a thin wooden splinter between his calloused fingers.
He rose back up smoothly and placed the splinter on his outstretched palm. For a silent moment, the courtyard seemed to hold its breath as Shao Mu's eyes drifted shut in concentration.
Then, a faint bluish-white glow began to emanate from the monk's body, a manifestation of his cultivated Qi.
The aura enveloped and infused the wooden splinter resting on his hand. Slowly at first, then more rapidly, the splinter began to blacken and rot away as if being consumed from the inside out by an unseen force.
Within seconds, it had disintegrated completely into a fine grey dust that scattered from Shao Mu's palm on an imperceptible breeze.
"Revenge is an insidious poison, benefactor," Shao Mu said, his tone solemn yet firm as the blue glow faded from his body.
He gestured down to the remnants of ash, using the visual metaphor to illustrate his point. "It corrodes the soul more deeply than any physical wound inflicted on the body. The path of vengeance you now contemplate leads only to an endless, self-perpetuating cycle of suffering."
Ji Wuye watched the mystical display intently, his crimson eyes glinting with a sharp, attentive light as he processed the monk's words and actions.
Narrowing his piercing gaze, he retorted, "If revenge is such an evil poison as you claim, Venerable One, then what of justice? Where lies the justice for the humiliation my Senior Brother and Sisters suffered?"
Shao Mu met Ji Wuye's fiery gaze with a centered, unshaken calm. "True justice," he replied, his deep voice little more than a whisper yet carrying profound weight, "is not found through reciprocated violence, but rather by breaking the cycle of pain and hatred that fuels such conflicts."
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He paused briefly, seeming to study Ji Wuye's expression as Ji Wuye remained in stoic silence. A fleeting, serene smile touched the young monk's smooth complexion as he chose his next words carefully.
"Karma, benefactor, is a supremely patient teacher. Have faith that the universal laws will ultimately balance the scales without your hand forcing their course by means of brute force." His voice trailed off as he glanced around at the chaotic scene, taking in the scattered bodies of the defeated disciples.
Shao Mu walked over to one of the unconscious disciples, his robes billowing behind him. Kneeling with surprising grace at the disciple's side, he gently grasped the disciple's wrist, pressing two fingers to the pulse point as he assessed the extent of his injuries. Seemingly satisfied after a moment, the monk rose back to his full height in one fluid motion and turned his gaze back towards Ji Wuye.
"True strength of spirit, benefactor, is not measured by one's ability to deliver devastating blows..." Shao Mu's eyes bored into Ji Wuye's with an intensity that belied the serenity of his tone. "But rather by the compassion and restraint one can maintain even in the face of the gravest provocations."
Finished speaking his piece, Shao Mu once again stood resolute, his hands calmly returning to formerlycupped gesture of peaceful greeting.
Ji Wuye remained outwardly impassive as he listened to Shao Mu's profound words, his arms folded across his chest in a skeptical stance.
His piercing crimson eyes flickered around the Central Courtyard, taking in the scene. In the raised guest viewing areas, many observers continued watching the confrontation unfold without intervention. Below on the vast wooden platform, it was nearly deserted, with only a few daring onlookers lingering to bear witness.
"You are doomed! How dare you lay your treacherous hands on me!" Murong Yu's grating voice suddenly shattered the tense silence. Having regained just enough strength to prop himself up,he shouted furious vitriol at Ji Wuye, his bloodshot eyes burning with unrestrained rage. "You shall feel the full wrath of Murong clan for this insol—"
"-Arghh!" His words were abruptly cut off by a cry of anguished pain that burst from his lips as two thin streams of blood began seeping from his thighs.
Sharp wooden splinters, seemingly materialized from nowhere, had pierced deeply into his flesh. The attack was unmistakably Ji Wuye's doing - with just a subtle flick of his fingers, he had sent the razor-sharp fragments slicing through the air past Shao Mu to find their mark in Murong Yu's legs.
After doing that, Ji Wuye turned his chilling crimson gaze back towards the monk, "Is this why you stand by idly, Venerable One?" His tone was clipped and challenging, almost accusatory as he studied Shao Mu's serene countenance.
"Does your code of non-violence only extend so far? The river sees all that unfolds in its path, yet it chooses when to rise and when to remain still. You watched the injustice play out...and did nothing to stop it," he continued.
On the ot her hand, Shao Mu met Ji Wuye's piercing stare, his expression still one of centered, imperturbable calm despite Ji Wuye's provocations.
"You are correct that the river bears witness to all in its path," the monk replied, his deep voice retaining its even keel. "But even the wisest and most ancient of currents understands the futility of fighting every single rock and obstruction it encounters. Sometimes..."
He paused briefly, seeming to weigh his next words carefully before continuing in that same unhurried cadence.
"Sometimes, what appears from the outside as unforgivable inaction is actually the highest form of wisdom in action. Like the bamboo that bends gracefully with the winds rather than shattering under their force, true wisdom knows when to yield to the circumstances around it."
Shao Mu's dark eyes, previously a tranquil pool reflecting the courtyard scene, now took on a subtle flickering light.
"Rushing impetuously against the current only depletes one's spiritual reserves in an unwinnable battle. The river understands that some rocks are immovable...at least for the present moment.
"Patience and flowing alternating paths is sometimes the answer, until the waters can eventually wear down even the most stubborn of obstacles through steady perseverance."
The monk spoke the last words while holding Ji Wuye's dangerous crimson stare.
However...
"But is a bamboo that forever bends and yields to every force not simply a crippled reed, brittle and incapable of standing firm?" Ji Wuye retorted, his deep voice taking on a razor-sharp edge.
A faint, derisive laugh escaped his lips. "When evil is allowed to flourish unchecked because good men take no action against it, their inaction becomes complicity in the crimes."
Ji Wuye's mocking laughter faded as quickly as it came, his piercing gaze locking back onto the impassive monk with an intensity that seemed to bore straight through Shao Mu's serene exterior.
"The same benevolent moon that illuminates the halls of your peaceful temple also shines its light upon the nameless graves of those who died still waiting for justice to be served," Ji Wuye continued, his words now laced with undisguised sarcasm and outright challenge to the monk's philosophies.
This time, Shao Mu did not immediately respond. Instead, he slowly folded his hands within the billowing sleeves of his kasaya robe, the very picture of unruffled poise. When he finally spoke, his voice remained measured and even.
"The sharpest blade is not the one that cuts first and without care, but the one that knows precisely when to remain sheathed," the monk intoned. "Your anger, though righteous in its origins, is like an unchecked flame. Left to burn unchecked, it will inevitably consume the very hand that holds it."
A knowing smile curved Ji Wuye's lips, as if he had anticipated and already dismissed this particular strand of Shao Mu's reasoning long ago.
"Then answer me this, Venerable One," Ji Wuye replied, his tone taking on a sharper edge. "When the sacred temple itself is enveloped in raging flames, does the truly wise master simply meditate on the ephemeral nature of fire? Or does he finally act, risking everything to rescue the precious scrolls and artifacts from being reduced to ashes?"
Ji Wuye stepped forward, closing the distance between them as his imposing height cast a looming shadow over the shorter Shao Mu. Looking down at the monk with those intense crimson eyes.
"Your philosophy of non-intervention and turning a blind eye may sound noble on the surface. But in reality, it only serves to feed and empower the very demons of injustice and oppression you claim to resist through infinite patience and stillness."
Ji Wuye paused, allowing his biting accusation to hang in the air as his eyes narrowed further, two chips of blazing crimson amid his chiseled features. When he spoke again, his tone took on a dark undercurrent of disgust.
"In your single-minded pursuit of some theorized, lofty vision of 'perfect peace'...you have allowed yourself to become willfully blind to the imperfect, but no less vital need for justice that this world still demands, no matter how unpleasant that reality may be."
Ji Wuye's accusation landed like the blade of a well-struck sword, slicing through Shao Mu's implacable defenses with surgical precision.
For the first time since their confrontation began, the normally unflappable monk opened his mouth to respond...but no words came.
Sometimes, the most profound wisdom is not found in always having a stock answer ready, but in the humility to recognize the truth in an opponent's perspective when it rings unavoidably true.
But then...
It was in that loaded silence, as both men seemed to instinctively grasp the weight of this pivotal moment, that their attention was drawn upwards by subtle movement.
Several new figures appeared at the crest of the ascending marble staircase leading up from the Central Courtyard towards the Inner Courtyard. Their arrival was heralded by an unmistakable aura of Qi energy radiating outwards like heat waves from their bodies.
A sharp voice, laced with open hostility, abruptly shattered the tense quiet.
"You again? Is this your doing?"
The accusatory tone, the suspicious sideways glances, the glaring eyes filled with open disdain and contempt - all of it was hauntingly, painfully familiar to Ji Wuye.