“Little monk, can I ask you a question?” asked the little princess after she had managed to compose herself.
“Go ahead,” replied Su Qin. He had no interest in the Tang Dynasty princess. She was only ten years old and Su Qin was not a coppersmith[1], hence Su Qin would normally ignore her.
“Do you think that the Tang Dynasty can be saved?” asked the little princess in a low voice after looking all around them.
“You want to know whether the Tang Dynasty can be saved?” Su Qin gave the little princess another look.
Su Qin never expected the little princess to ask a question like that. He could understand if the little princess asked if the Tang emperor could be saved. However, she asked if the Tang Dynasty could be saved?
“It depends on the death of the Tang emperor.”
Su Qin thought for a moment and then answered, “If the Tang emperor appoints his successor then exiles or executes the rest of the princes and stabilizes the court situation, the Tang Dynasty would be able to last another couple hundred years.”
Su Qin’s voice was calm and indifferent as though executing a couple of princes was a matter as simple as eating a couple of bowls of rice for lunch. If anyone else heard Su Qin’s words, even abbot Hui Wen himself would be shocked out of their minds.
Even a typical first-rank grandmaster would not dare to speak of a couple of princes in that manner.
Despite that, the princess continued to be deep in thought for a moment. She shook her head and said, “That’s impossible. Even I know that all my prince brothers have the support of ministers and noblemen.”
“If the emperor executes one of the princes, it’ll incur the wrath of the ministers who’d then launch an attack on the palace.”
“In that case, execute the ministers. Cleanse the palace court!” said Su Qin slowly.
As soon as the little princess heard his words, her expression changed. The ministers established themselves apart from the court and had their armies. If the Tang Dynasty could rid themselves of the ministers, it would have been extremely advantageous for the administration of the Tang Dynasty.
“Little monk, you have great insight,” said the little princess as she gave him a deep look.
One month later, Consort Li and her people informed abbot Hui Wen that they would take their leave. When abbot Hui Wen heard the news, he immediately went with the temple court heads to send them off from the Shaolin temple.
“Did something bad happen at the palace for Consort Li to leave at this point?” wondered abbot Hui Wen as he watched the retreating jade palanquin. He frowned.
“I’ve heard the news that Eunuch Zhao who’s the emperor’s trusted aide used some method to extend the emperor’s life by a couple of years,” said the Precepts Court head in a low voice.
When the Luohan Court head heard the news, he looked very surprised and said, “Eunuch Zhao’s an extremely learned man. He managed to become a top first rank despite being crippled. A truly admirable feat!”
“That’s enough, there’s no need to discuss matters of the outside world,” said abbot Hui Wen in a deep voice.
Since Consort Li and her people left, the Shaolin temple could once again resume its normal routine. Su Qin’s life also returned to its normal peacefulness.
However, many moons later on a certain night, Su Qin suddenly sensed a flash of a figure that appeared outside the room of the Miscellaneous Court head. His Spiritual Sense permeated the air. Even though they were separated by a door, Su Qin was aware of what was happening.
Through his Spiritual Sense, Su Qin sensed that the life force of the Miscellaneous Court head was becoming weaker. Su Qin remained silent. The condition that the Miscellaneous Court was in likely meant that the end of his life was approaching. He was about to die.
The Miscellaneous Court head was the one who personally brought Su Qin into the Miscellaneous Court. If it was not for him, Su Qin might not have even become a disciple of the Shaolin temple.
“Court head…”
Su Qin sighed softly. He pushed open the door and slowly walked in.
“Zhen Guan, it’s you…” The Miscellaneous Court head opened his eyes and looked at Su Qin. He smiled and said, “I didn’t think that it’ll be you by my side at the very end.”
“Court head, do you have any desires?” asked Su Qin after he assessed the condition of the Miscellaneous Court head.
“Desires?” The Miscellaneous Court head shook his head and said, “I’ve lived for almost a hundred years. When I was young, I had my fill of adventures and later I became a disciple of the Shaolin temple. I’ve experienced and enjoyed everything that there is to be enjoyed. What sort of heart’s desires could I have?”
The Miscellaneous Court head seemed to be at peace with this. As a martial artist, how could he have shown fear in the face of death?
The Miscellaneous Court Head looked at Su Qin and said, “Over the past ten or so years since you entered the Shaolin temple, I’ve always known that you were different from the other orphans.”
“The Su family begged me to let you return to the outside world and that’s when I found out that you weren’t an orphan. You entered the Shaolin Temple as a disciple to get out of harm’s way.”
Su Qin remained silent. The truth about his family was never a matter that Su Qin wanted to hide.
“I’ve spoken to the abbot. If you want to return to the outside world, he won’t stop you.”
The voice of the Miscellaneous Court head grew weaker. “That’s all, you should head back. I want to be alone for a moment.”
“Okay.” Su Qin nodded and closed the door. However, Su Qin did not leave. Instead, he waited quietly outside for a while. Only after the Miscellaneous Court head took his last breath did Su Qin finally leave.
The next day, abbot Hui Wen and the rest of the temple court heads all came to the Miscellaneous Court personally.
Countless days later, abbot Hui Wen came to see Su Qin ask him if he had any intention of returning to the outside world. It was clear that what the Miscellaneous Court head said before he passed on was true. He did speak to abbot Hui Wen about Su Qin returning to the outside world.
“Abbot, since I became a disciple of the Shaolin temple, the outside world no longer has anything to do with me.”
Su Qin rejected the offer righteously. The Shaolin temple was an endless source of magical pills and elixirs as well as secret martial arts techniques. It was a veritable treasure trove. Su Qin would not leave the Shaolin temple until he had become an unbeatable force in the world.
After the passing of the Miscellaneous Court head, his days returned to being long and leisurely.
For Su Qin, the death of the Miscellaneous Court head moved him but it also spurred on his desire. If everything stayed the way it was, he would have been in the same situation as the Miscellaneous Court head in around 370 years, coming to the end of his life and facing death all alone.
It was not something that Su Qin wanted.
A full year passed.
In the past year, Su Qin was continuously undergoing harsh training to build up his Internal Force. He wanted to advance his Internal Force to the next level to accomplish the three transformations required to breakthrough through the Luohan status. They were to complete transformations of his physical body, Spiritual Sense, and Internal Force.
‘Internal force and the physical body can be trained through cultivation. However, what does it take to achieve that final transformation?’ wondered Su Qin as he mulled over the matter unceasingly.
The transformation of the physical body was achieved by Su Qin through training with the Yang energy of the Impenetrable Armor technique combined with the Yin energy of the Yin Refinement technique for a year.
The transformation of Spiritual Sense was achieved after Su Qin consumed countless Spirit Cultivation Pills to strengthen his Spirit. Finally, he achieved Spiritual Sense after consuming the Spirit Accumulation Pill.
However, the transformation of Internal Force…
Su Qin had not made any headway in the matter. He went to the Bodhi Court countless times over the past year and even managed to obtain dozens of Spirit Accumulation Pills.
Despite that, he did not obtain any pills or elixirs that could have helped in the transformation of his Internal Force.
‘Perhaps I should pay a visit to the Rear Mountain?’ Su Qin turned to glance in the direction of the Rear Mountain of the Shaolin temple.
The Rear Mountain was a restricted area of the Shaolin temple as it was the location where the Demon Buddha who nearly destroyed the Shaolin temple 900 years ago was imprisoned.
Over these past few years, Su Qin began venturing into the other restricted areas in the Shaolin temple as his power grew exponentially. He practically explored every corner of the temple and signed in everywhere.
The only place left that Su Qin was yet to explore was the Rear Mountain.
[1] An odd thing to think, Su Qin, but okay. This translator can only imagine that maybe a coppersmith would be interested in the princess because he could sell his works to the palace.