After he achieved mastery of the Impenetrable Armor technique countless years ago, Su Qin never felt any improvement in his physical body ever since. Besides, ever since he advanced to the realm of a first-rank grandmaster, only his Internal Force continued to grow stronger and it only managed to slightly strengthen his physical body.
The tiny change was insignificant and barely noticeable to Su Qin. However, with the combination of the Impenetrable Armor and the Yin Refinement technique, Su Qin sensed the transformation of his physical body.
Whoosh!
His blood flowed rapidly. The Yang and Yin energy constantly collided against each other to create multiple strands of faint, gray aura which speedily rushed into every part of Su Qin’s body.
That made Su Qin’s Internal Force which was at the level of a first-rank grandmaster to become even purer. Somewhere in the depths of his brow, that golden buddha started to glow faintly with heavenly light in response to his body.
Internal force and the physical body combined to form one being. A strong physical body was able to cultivate Internal Force. Pure Internal Force similarly invigorated the physical body.
After countless hours, Su Qin began to stand up slowly.
Creak!
The sound of his bones creaking was heard.
“It’s a shame that the Yin Refinement technique needs to be used during a full moon to get the best results.” Su Qin lifted his head slightly to gaze at the moon that was slowly beginning to set. He sighed.
“I’ll come again tomorrow night.”
Su Qin returned to the Miscellaneous Court. Despite spending the whole night training, Su Qin did not feel tired at all; he felt invigorated.
A first-rank grandmaster would have begun to set foot in the realm of ‘Spirit’ cultivation. Even if he did not sleep for a month, Su Qin was absolutely fine. After all, what Su Qin experienced was not the ‘lack of sleep’ but rather the replenishment of his ‘Spirit’ during his training.
In the Scripture Pavilion. Su Qin muttered inwardly, ‘System, sign-in.’
[Congratulations, host! Your sign-in is successful. You have obtained the Zen Palm technique.]
“The Zen Palm technique?” A smile appeared on Su Qin’s face.
The Zen Palm technique was one of the great martial arts styles of the Shaolin temple. Only the temple court heads of the abbot had qualifications to train in the martial arts style. It was only of the secret techniques of the Shaolin temple.
According to rumors, there was a Divine Master abbot of the Shaolin temple hundreds of years ago who used to Zen Palm technique to suppress the most famous first-rank grandmaster of the time, sending shockwaves around the world.
Part of the reason that happened was because of the terrifying strength and power of that Divine Master Abbot. However, the role of the Zen Palm could not be overlooked here.
At the moment, all the intricacies behind the Zen Palm flooded into Su Qin’s mind. In the blink of an eye, Su Qin’s grasp of the technique was equal to the level he attained if he had trained for decades.
After he signed in, Su Qin swept the entire area before he went to the first floor of the Scripture Pavilion. He began flipping through several records of weird and strange happenings kept by the Shaolin temple.
There were four floors in the Scripture Pavilion. The second to the fourth floors were where various manuals of the Shaolin temple martial art styles. Disciples who wanted to enter the second to the fourth floor needed to get the permission of the abbot or one of the temple court heads.
As for the first floor, that was where the senior monks stored the records of weird and wondering happenings they encountered on their travels. None of it had anything to do with martial arts or Buddhist scriptures.
Hence, any disciple was free to browse through the books kept on the first floor of the Scripture Pavilion. Even though Su Qin was merely a temple sweeper, he was still a Shaolin temple disciple. So naturally, he was also allowed to read the books there.
Su Qin was in the middle of enjoying an unofficial biography when a surprised voice sounded beside him.
“Brother Zhen Guan, you’re here as well?”
Su Qin put down the book and raised his head to see who it was. “Brother Zhen Zhi.”
The person turned out to be Zhen Zhi, who was one of the warrior monks stationed at the Mystical Village Tower. A few other warrior monks stood beside Zhen Zhi.
“My Qi Vitality’s weak, so the court head said that I can’t train for this period. Hence, I decided to take a look around here,” explained Zhen Zhi
“I see,” replied Su Qin with a gentle nod of his head.
Su Qin sensed that even though the Blood-Sucking Devil managed to consume some of Zhen Zhi’s Qi Vitality. Thanks to Su Qin’s intervention, Zhen Zhi was not badly injured.
However, if Su Qin was just a few seconds late, Zhen Zhi would have been dead.
The several warrior monks next to Zhen Zhi were in the same position. Even though they did not have their Qi Vitality consumed by the Blood-Sucking Devil, they suffered injuries and needed to take some time off to recover.
After they exchanged pleasantries, the topic of conversation changed to what happened last night at the Mystical Village Tower.
“Oh, it was really dangerous, the Blood-Sucking Devil was so close to committing a massacre…” Zhen Zhi’s face was full of shock.
It was terrifying to have faced death in the eye. After Zhen Zhi had a close shave with death, his personality changed.
“Brother Zhen Zhi, before you lost consciousness, did you manage to get a look at what that Divine Master Abbot Patriarch looked like?” asked one of the warrior monks beside him softly.
As soon as he spoke, the eyes of the rest of the warrior monks lit up with interest. The news of the Divine Master Abbot patriarch spread across the entire temple. Abbot Hui Wen and the temple court heads did nothing to stop the news from spreading.
After all, the disciples finding out that there was a first-rank Divine Master Abbot secretly protecting the Shaolin temple would have bolstered their spirits.
“What did he look like?” Zhen Zhi shook his head. “I only saw a blurry figure before I lost consciousness…”
Su Qin smiled inwardly when he heard Zhen Zhi’s words. When he appeared at the Mystical Village Tower, he used Internal Force to conceal himself. No one was able to see him except for the Blood-Sucking Devil.
The rest of the disciples were disappointed when they heard his answer.
“However, even though I didn’t see what he looked like, I could tell that the Divine Master Abbot’s power…” Zhen Zhi suddenly turned the conversation around.
“The power of the Divine Master Abbot patriarch?” The other warrior monks blinked their eyes in confusion. “Isn’t the Divine Master Abbot patriarch a first-rank grandmaster?”
“That’s right, he is a first-rank grandmaster…” Zhen Zhi paused as soon as he said that before he lowered his voice and continued, “However, even among first-rank grandmasters, levels are distinguishing them.”
“For example Zhang Zhenren of the Wudang Sect. He’s so powerful that even the royal forces submit to him. Or that master of the Meng Dynasty who has the strength of a dragon and could subdue the entire Meng Dynasty singularly…” Zhen Zhi’s expression revealed a hint of his respect and awe.
Whether it was Zhang Zhenren of the Meng Dynasty or the master of the Meng Dynasty, they were both at the peak of the first rank in the world. They almost reached the realm of the Martial Arts Legend.
When compared to these legendary figures, a typical first-rank grandmaster paled in comparison.
“What do you mean by that Brother Zhen Zhi?” The rest of the warrior monks looked at him in anticipation.
Even though they were extremely grateful toward the Divine Master Abbot patriarch, they never stopped to think about the extent of his power. For these warrior monks, even if he was just a typical first-rank martial artist, that was impressive enough. Let alone if he turned out to be as powerful as the first-rank warriors such as Zhang Zhenren or that master of the Meng Dynasty who were the top of the world.
“I’m not too clear about the power of the Blood-Sucking Devil but he could instantly destroy the 108 Luohan formation. Even though he’s not a first-rank, he isn’t too far off from that. With his power, even if he couldn’t beat a first-rank grandmaster. There’s still a chance that he would be able to escape.”
“However, since he failed to escape, he must’ve met a terrible death.” Zhe Zhi’s voice was filled with amazement, “Last night, that Blood-Sucking Devil died so suddenly! It must mean that he met an enemy that was way out of his league!”
“I’m guessing that the Divine Master Abbot who linked the Blood-Sucking Devil must be at the level of the Meng Dynasty master and Zhang Zhenren…”
As soon as they heard Zhen Zhi’s words, the rest of the warrior monks exchanged looks. They were all shocked.
He was in the same unbeatable realm as Zhang Zhenren and the Meng Dynasty master? How could that be?
“You don’t believe me?” asked Zhen Zhi when he saw that the other warrior monks remained silent. He grew anxious and turned to look at Su Qin who went to reading his book and said, “Brother Zhen Guan, what do you say? Does my deduction sound logical to you?”