Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“Someone with total mastery of the Impenetrable Armor technique did this?” The other temple court heads were shocked when they heard that.
The Impenetrable Armor technique was an essential martial art technique. Everyone at the Shaolin temple had to learn it. However, the technique was easy to learn but almost impossible to master.
In other words, for someone to have achieved complete mastery of the technique would have been akin to more than ten times the effort it would have taken a ninth-rank martial artist to have a breakthrough into the Upper Realms.
Of course, once a martial artist had total control of the Impenetrable Armor technique, they could have challenged a martial artist of the Upper Realms with nothing else but only the ability of their own physical body. The strength they possessed was incomparably terrifying.
However, if one mastered the technique, would it not have been better to spend the time and effort training to be a true martial artist of the Upper Realms?
Hence, the Impenetrable Armor technique became a less popular martial arts training style within the Shaolin temple sect. Everyone was aware of the immense potential of the Impenetrable Armor technique but no disciple was willing to spend that much time and energy on it. That was because the rewards did not match the required effort. The disciples of the Shaolin temple may not have been geniuses but none of them were idiots.
A thought crossed the Martial Arts Court head and he turned to ask the Luohan Court Head. “The Luohan Court keeps many secrets but I never imagined that it would’ve produced a martial artist who mastered Impenetrable Armor technique.”
Among all the courts within the Shaolin temple, the Luohan Court was the one that had the greatest understanding of the Impenetrable Armor martial art style. If any disciple had truly mastered the technique, it was most likely a disciple of the Luohan Court. After all, even the Figure Bronze formation was located in the Luohan Court. That was the answer to the Martial Arts Court head’s question.
The Martial Arts Court head finished asking his question when the other temple court heads and abbot Hui Wen similarly turned around to look at the Luohan Court Head.
“Namo Amitabha,” replied the Luohan Court head. He quickly responded. “I’m very familiar with all the disciples of the Luohan Court and none of them gained mastery over the Impenetrable Armor.”
As soon as they heard his words, everyone else looked even more confused. If it was not one of the Luohan Court disciples, which disciple managed to achieve that feat?
After a short while, the Precepts Court head asked, “Does this have something to do with what happened five years ago?”
Five years ago, a golden Buddha appeared in the sky above the Great Palace Hall and there was a heavenly light that illuminated the entire Shaolin temple. Then, abbot Hui Wen and all the other temple court heads thought that the strange occurrence happened because Buddha decided to favor one of their disciples.
After that, they found nothing out of the ordinary despite investigating all the disciples of the Great Palace Hall. The matter had always weighed upon Hui Wen’s mind and he had been secretly investigating it.
It was a shame that even though the Shaolin temple managed to produce some outstanding disciples over the past five years, none of them came close to the level that attracted the favor of Buddha.
“Oh well, the person who managed to master the Impenetrable Armor technique is still a disciple of the Shaolin temple. Since he’s unwilling to reveal himself, who are we to force it…” abbot Hui Wen sighed softly.
The Impenetrable Armor technique focused on training the physical body. Once it was mastered, the effect it had on the disciple’s body would have been terrifyingly strong. If the person decided to conceal their aura, no one would have been able to detect it unless they attained the position of a Luohan.
“Let’s not talk about it for a while,” Abbot Hui Wen was deep in thought for a moment before he continued in a solemn tone, “The Centennial Period is approaching soon. I hope that each Court is preparing for it.”
The Centennial Period…All of the temple court heads froze when they heard those words. They stared into the direction of the restricted area behind the mountains with serious expressions on their faces.
“That’s close! If I was a tad bit slower, I would’ve been caught at the scene!” Su Qin let out a breath of relief once he returned to the Miscellaneous Court.
With Su Qin’s current prowess, he could have stopped the alarm bell from ringing after he defeated the One-Hundred-And-Eight Figure Bronze formation. However, in the heat of the moment, Su Qin completely forgot to do so.
“I didn’t know that would happen once I mastered the Impenetrable Armor technique…” mumbled Su Qin to himself.
At that moment, Su Qin hid his aura so he would have appeared just like an ordinary person. Even abbot Hui Wen would not have been able to detect Su Qin if he tried. Only Su Qin knew the terrifying extent of the power he wielded.
When he was battling the One-Hundred-And-Eight Figure Bronze formation, all he did was release a small amount of energy within his body. For that tiny force to have caused all 108 bronze figures to disintegrate…
How powerful! How much destruction could he have caused if he completely unleashed the power that he possessed?
Su Qin anticipated that moment gleefully. “I’ll have to prepare for a next breakthrough!”
Su Qin gathered his thoughts and set his mind on his goal. Ever since he achieved the fourth-rank a year ago, Su Qin held back when he trained. It was not because he tried to delay the moment to achieve a breakthrough.
Also, it was not because he did not want to advance to the next rank. Instead, it was because advancing to the Upper Realms from the Middle Realms carried great risks.
The great risk had nothing to do with him. Instead, they had to do with the outer realms of heaven and earth. If a martial artist wanted to enter the Upper Realms and become a third-rank martial artist, he would have first needed to completely surrender his body to the channels of the outer realms and endure the purification of heaven and earth vitality.
Only then was he able to be a martial artist of the Upper Realms. How intense would the heaven and earth vitality have been? If a person allowed it to seep into their body in an uncontrolled manner, the destruction would have been unthinkable!
Numerous forth-rank martial artists died the moment they had their breakthrough because of that. Even if they managed to survive, they were either crippled or they lived the rest of their lives in despair. That was the reason there were only a few martial artists of the Upper Realms.
On average, if 50 fourth-rank martial artists succeeded, that was considered good odds. For a great martial art sect such as the Shaolin temple sect, breaking through to the Upper Realms was taken extremely seriously. They required temple court heads and the abbot to be present to watch over the disciple attempting to do so.
Hence, Su Qin was extremely cautious when he attempted to advance to the Upper Realms.
‘The greatest danger in breaking through to the Upper Realms is that even a minor mistake when the heaven and earth vitality of the outer realms enters the body could destroy the body and result in death. The reason for that is because the body’s too weak.’
‘If the body was strong enough, to the extent that the heaven and earth vitality was not a threat to it, the aforementioned risk would be insignificant.’
Su Qin continued to ponder. ‘I’ve now successfully mastered the Impenetrable Armor technique. With my current state, I could even challenge the Upper Realms with just my physical body. A body like this should be sufficient to withstand the heaven and earth vitality.’
That was Su Qin’s guess. Even though he thought that his complete mastery of the Impenetrable Armor was sufficient to overcome the risks of a breakthrough, he decided to wait a few months just in case.
He wanted to use the time to obtain a couple more Essence Cleansing Pills and other similar pills and tonics that strengthened the body. After all, he already waited for a full year. A few months was nothing compared to that.
For the time being, he would also have momentarily reverted from signing-in at the Scripture Pavilion and instead sign-in at the Bodhi Court every opportunity he got. During that time, Su Qin sensed that the entire Shaolin temple seemed to have been on high alert.
The sense of high alert seemed to grow stronger and stronger to the extent that even a lowly temple sweeper like Su Qin sensed that something was wrong.
While he was sweeping, Su Qin heard a couple of disciples discussing in low voices using terms like “The Centennial Period” or “The Rear Mountain restricted area”.
‘The Rear Mountain restricted area?’ thought Su Qin. His expression seemed to show that he formed some meaning out of those words.
For five years, Su Qin managed to explore nearly every corner of the Shaolin temple. There were only a few restricted areas left unexplored. Among them was the Rear Mountain.
In the last four years, Su Qin’s ability was still too weak. Hence, he did not dare enter restricted areas such as the Rear Mountain. Once he advanced to the fourth-rank, he occasionally sensed an even more powerful aura that came faintly from that area.
‘No matter what happens, they’ll think that it’s nothing to do with me because I’m just a lowly temple sweeper,” thought Su Qin. Once he thought that, he stopped worrying too much about it.
If anything bad happened, someone else should have been able to handle it. After all, he was at the Shaolin temple which was one of the greatest martial arts sects in the world. Its foundations were unfathomably formidable. All Su Qin had to do was to look out for himself and focus on sweeping.