I Can See Your Combat Power

Chapter 751: Chapter Forty-Five: Morning Palace

Tang Luo, who had left from the 27th arena, was wandering around the main peak platform of Bifang Mountain, watching the progress of the three members from Longxi. On passing by the 51st arena, he happened to see Li Xuanba, grinning from ear to ear, receiving the Arena Seal from the referee and then happily stepping down from the arena.

He slapped the man on the back, watched his large frame jump away like a startled cat while clutching the Arena Seal vigilantly, and asked in a voice full of both humor and annoyance, “How did it go? How many Arena Seals did you get?”

On recognizing that it was the team leader, Tang Luo, Li Xuanba immediately let down his guard. Carefully pocketing his arena seal, he held up four fingers in response.

Glancing around and seeing that no one was paying attention to them, he went on to praise Tang Luo in a low voice: “The data you provided was really accurate! This guy, despite possessing high-grade blood lineage, had mediocre Spirit Art and physical techniques and could not break my Xuanhuang Body. I’ve already got three Arena Seals this morning!”

“Not bad.” Tang Luo laughed and nodded, patting Li Xuanba on the shoulder. “Keep going.”

“Will do, Captain!” encouraged, Li Xuanba cheerfully rushed off to the next arena, ready to collect his fifth Arena Seal.

Tang Luo watched the new challenger in the 51st arena for a moment, shook his head, and left. Before long, the new challenger was flung off the arena, seriously injured.

The reason why the three from Longxi were unbeaten wasn’t that Tang Luo had marked the weakest ones. Instead, they were the best for the three teammates to battle.

The thing with martial arts is that the same martial artist will perform differently against different styles of martial art techniques.

Those proficient in soft techniques may underestimate those skilled in strong techniques. Those skilled in Spirit Art might think that those skilled in the soft techniques are not powerful, and those good at strong techniques may consider Spirit Art to be flashy but useless. That’s because every martial artist has their own comfortable battle distance and opponent.

The ranking of the outer disciples of Martial Saint Mountain is naturally based on comprehensive strength. However, the strength and weakness are not necessarily all suggested according to the ranking. That is exactly why Tang Luo’s flexible data provision is pointed out.

Cui Haoran, who had a keen understanding, could handle various Spirit Arts. He was free-spirited and wild. However, if he encountered a physically strong person who was also good at strength techniques, he would be lucky to demonstrate 30% of his abilities. It would inevitably be a hard fight.

Now, Cui Haoran cleverly avoids some arena masters with special displacement skills according to the data, and he is flourishing. He has taken six arena seals in one morning and become a new dark horse.

Xiao Ziyu, on the other hand, was different. After getting Tang Luo’s information, he did not rush to score points. Instead, he went against the grain and kept challenging the stronger opponents. He only fought in two arenas in the entire morning. Although he won, he was recuperating and re-energizing the Monument Dragon Diagram.

Tang Luo admired Cui Haoran and Li Xuanba’s targeted point scoring. He also appreciated Xiao Ziyu’s challenge against the stronger opponents. As he said at the beginning of the martial arts conference, although he was the leader of this expedition, he would still respect each team member’s choices.

Tang Luo had long realized that the grand Longzhou Youth Martial Arts Exchange Conference was just the first stage, gathering all the excellent young martial artists from all over Longzhou for Martial Saint Mountain to select inner sect disciples through an exercise.

Using all the aristocratic children across Longzhou to select the Inner Sect Disciples, the Martial Saint Mountain had a grand plan!

…

Main Peak of Bifang Mountain, Noble Garden in the Back Mountain

After the Buddhist Son Yankong preached in the inner hall, the Wuxiang Zen Temple gained many devotees from various sects.

After seeing the corner of the other shore that Yankong revealed, they admired the Zen Sect more and more, bowing to this young man known as the “Young Saint King”.

If initially some people still had rivalry instincts, after listening to the sermon, they were left with only admiration.

The Noble Garden was the accommodation prepared by Martial Saint Mountain for Yankong. Despite being called a Noble Garden, it was just a thatched cottage built within a bamboo grove on a barren mountain, very humble.

That was not because the Martial Saint Mountain was neglecting the Buddha Son, but because the way the Zen Sect practiced was different from the other sacred lands. If the world could be described as turbulent for Xu Laoying, the Buddha Son Yankong’s path was ascetic practice.

Eating the wind, drinking the dew, and laying on the ground under the sky were part of the ascetic daily life. Even the thatched hut of the Noble Garden was provided at Bu Xiao’s insistence, and Yankong agreed to stay.

As disciples of the Zen Sect, they have five classes a day: morning temple, morning meal, noon meal, noon temple, and evening temple.

The practice of a Zen disciple lies within these five classes a day, which is also called homework.

Yankong, one of the most outstanding disciples of the Wuxiang Zen Temple, had been devoted to his homework every day for over twenty years since he entered the Zen Sect. After practicing the Sutra of No Suffering and Extinction, he came to understand the morning temple differently.

“Closing the door and chanting prayers is a kind of practice, practicing law, power, self-awareness, and the other bank. Opening the door and chanting in the valley, under the trees, and beside flowing water, practicing virtue, zen, other awareness, as well as universal salvation.”

Therefore, after achieving enlightenment, Buddha Son Yankong no longer recites morning prayers after closing the door. After moving into the Noble Garden, he held his morning prayers in the bamboo grove next to the cottage.

Every time at that moment, all the living creatures in the mountains, snakes, insects, rats, ants, would come out and surround Buddha Son, as if they understood Sanskrit.

Birds would not eat insects, snakes would not swallow rats, and little rabbits were not afraid of mountain foxes. Even the agitated wild boars stopped grunting.

In the time of Yankong’s morning prayers, the trajectories of life of all the thousands of creatures seemed to change. Even the bamboo leaves, which were turning yellow as autumn was approaching, turned green again. It was a true miracle.

And today, in this ascetic site full of snakes, bugs, rats, and ants, there were many new members, who were the disciples of the Heaven Sect that had listened to Yankong preaching in the inner hall. n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

They sat piously in front of the Buddha Son’s bed, respecting every tiny thing around them, and quietly listened to the class…

Although, at times, the desire to speak up could be seen in the eyes of each Heaven Sect disciple who came to accompany them, they never asked Buddha Son a single question, nor made a single noise. They listened quietly till the end of class, and then respectfully bowed before retreating with the rest of the creatures on the mountain.

Yankong would bow back at each of them, then silently depart without a word.

The disciples of Heaven Sect were still disciples of Heaven Sect, after all. Even if they longed for Zen practice, they could not let go of the attachments of the mundane world. Even if they desired it, they had to suppress themselves.

But Yankong knew that a spark could start a prairie fire. Once the concept of Zen takes root in the heart, it’s hard to get rid of for a lifetime.

As usual, after finishing morning prayers, Buddha Son Yankong returned to the Noble Garden. There he found a thin guest waiting quietly outside the secluded thatched hut. Even though the bamboo door was ajar, the visitor didn’t enter the yard. Instead, he stood just outside the fence, hands behind him, facing the road he came from.

Yankong entered, put his two hands together, and then gave the guest a polite bow, “Mr. Duan, thank you for waiting.”

“I have not waited long,” the guest responded.