Su Qin originally had no intention of going to the restricted area of the Rear Mountain. After all, he sensed the faint presence of a first-rank grandmaster’s aura there.
However, since Su Qin achieved Spiritual Sense, his confidence in his abilities increased in leaps and bounds. He would not be easily discovered by a typical first-rank grandmaster.
‘I’ll just head over to have a look.’ Su Qin made up his mind after mulling over it.
The Rear Mountain’s restricted area required a large number of warrior monks to guard the area at every moment. The number there far exceeded that of the warrior monks at the Mystical Village Tower.
Under that level of defense, it was likely that even a first-rank grandmaster would find it hard to sneak into the Rear Mountain without being discovered. However, for Su Qin, it only meant that he would need to spend a little more effort when he got there.
He extended his Spiritual Sense to envelop an area of about 100 feet around his body and concealed the aura of his physical body to the maximum possible level. In an instant, Su Qin was able to sneak past the patrolling warrior monks and arrive at the Rear Mountain.
When he entered the Rear Mountain, his field of vision became emptier. Su Qin carefully got used to it before he continued deeper in.
‘What is this feeling?’ Su Qin stopped in his tracks and frowned.
He did not know why but the deeper he ventured into the restricted area of the Rear Mountain, the golden buddha that represented his inheritance of the Buddha Palm technique in the depths of his brow, slowly began to glow with a heavenly light.
‘The restricted area seems to have something related to the Buddha Palm technique,’ guessed Su Qin.
The Buddha Palm technique which was also known as Buddha’s Technique was the strongest technique of the Shaolin temple. However, the knowledge of the technique was lost 900 years ago without reason.
900 years ago, apart from losing the Buddha Palm technique, the Shaolin temple also came close to being destroyed with the attack of the Demon Buddha. At that moment, Su Qin realized that the loss of the Buddha Palm Technique may have been related to the Demon Buddha.
‘If the Buddha Palm technique’s a Divine Art technique for the Luohan status, only a true Luohan has the qualification to comprehend the Buddha Palm technique. 900 years ago, the Shaolin temple had a Luohan. However, after he imprisoned the Demon Buddha, he passed on swiftly after. That was the reason he had no time to pass on the Buddha Palm technique.’
Su Qin was deep in thought as he tried to figure out what happened 900 years ago.
‘The Luohan of the Shaolin temple then merely imprisoned the Demon Buddha, instead of killing him. This means that the Luohan couldn’t kill the Demon Buddha. That’s why he used this technique to eliminate the threat of the Demon Buddha.’
Su Qin walked deeper into the Rear Mountain area as he pondered. After a while, five faintly golden small hills appeared within Su Qin’s vision field.
‘What’s this?’ Su Qin’s eyes widened in surprise. A look of astonishment flashed across his face. If one looked at those five faintly gold small hills from a distance, it looked like five gigantic fingers.
Five fingers pointing into the heavens, repressing the earth!
‘The Buddha Palm technique. This is the Buddha Palm technique!!!’
Su Qin lifted his head to look toward the sight. Those five faintly gold small hills may not have had a visible aura but they started to call out to each other.
‘The Luohan of the Shaolin temple used the Buddha Palm technique to subdue the Demon Buddha!’ Su Qin was certain of this.
If it was anyone else or even abbot Hui Wen of the Shaolin temple, they might not have linked these five small hills with the Buddha Palm technique.
However, Su Qin inherited the Buddha Palm technique. Even though he could not use the technique, he was very familiar with the aura of the Buddha Palm technique.
In no time, Su Qin arrived before the five small hills and discovered five withered figures sitting cross-legged there. These five figures were all wearing monk robes. Their eyes were tightly shut and they were barely breathing. If it were not for the tiniest trace of aura that hovered over them, Su Qin would have thought that these five monks had died a long time ago.
‘Are these five monks Divine Master Abbots?’
Su Qin frowned. These five withered figures that seated in front of the five small hills were first-rank Divine Master Abbots. However, their auras were extremely unusual.
They were neither alive nor dead.
‘That must be a secret technique that allows them to enter a state of false death to extend their lifespan. When the appropriate time came, only then would they wake up.’
That was Su Qin’s assumption. After all, he obtained at least ten various types of false death techniques. However, once that type of secret technique was used without exception, they would all have caused the physical body to become completely rigid.
One would have lost the ability to advance into the next level. Also, in the state of false death, one would have had no thoughts or consciousness. It was like plunging into eternal darkness.
That state was an excruciating existence for any person. A first-rank grandmaster would rather have chosen death than to go through that kind of torture. Hence, the five Divine Master Abbots who were seated before the five small hills must have been forced to do it to stop the Demon Buddha from escaping the seal with their physical bodies.
The five Divine Master Abbot’s bodies alone were not enough to subdue the Demon Buddha. However, when their powers were combined with the seal left behind by the Buddha Palm technique, it was more than sufficient to imprison him.
Su Qin sighed softly. He felt sad and deeply moved.
‘The Demon Buddha…’
Su Qin’s gaze turned slightly to face the five faintly golden small hills. Su Qin sensed that even though the five small hills released an aura of total suppression, he still sensed an extremely deep and heavy evil energy in the air.
‘He’s not dead even after 900 years?’
Su Qin frowned deeply. According to the Shaolin temple records, even someone of the Luohan status or even a Martial Arts Legend would not have lived beyond 500 years of age.
Since the Demon Buddha was subdued, it meant that he did not enter the Luohan status. Based on that, since 900 years passed, there should not have even been ashes left of that Demon Buddha. So how was it possible that the aura remained?
Just as Su Qin was puzzled over that, the five faintly golden small hills began to move slightly.
Buzz!
A monk dressed in golden robes appeared. He faced Su Qin as he said, “Disciple of the Buddhist sect, you may enter the Buddhist Mountain and be taught by me. Make the Buddhist sect great.”
His voice was ear-deafeningly loud. A typical martial artist, even a first-rank grandmaster would have been scared stiff by the loud sound of the voice on the spot. Plus, to think that there was some amazing heritage deep within Buddhist Mountain.
A strange light flashed across Su Qin’s eyes. He then walked directly into the center of the Buddhist Mountain.
After a moment, Su Qin arrived somewhere in the Buddha Caves. There were countless buddha statues all around him. A strong sense of power enveloped the area.
“Since you’re a disciple of the Buddhist sect, why aren’t you kneeling!?”
The monk wearing the golden robe appeared once again. However, Su Qin did not heed his words. He continued to stand there looking directly at that golden-robed monk.
“The Buddhist sect teaches the principle of equality, why should I kneel?” responded Su Qin.
“That’s true.” The golden-robed monk nodded his head slightly and looked approvingly at Su Qin, “To be a first-rank under thirty years of age, your talent’s enough to place you within the top five in the thousands of years of Shaolin temple history.”
“Oh? Who are you?” asked Su Qin as he looked at the golden-robed monk in interest.
“My Buddhist name is Tuo A. I’m Luohan Tuo A,” said the golden-robed monk calmly with a solemn expression.
Luohan Tuo A was the Luohan who subdued the Demon Buddha all those years ago. Ever since then, the Shaolin temple has never had a disciple achieve the Luohan status.
“Tuo A?” A smile appeared on Su Qin’s face. He looked like he had just heard a joke. The golden-robed monk frowned and he was about to speak when Su Qin’s smile started to fade. Su Qin looked coldly at him and said something that made the golden-robed monk’s expression falter.
“I should call you the Demon Buddha, shouldn’t I?”