They were in this realm, and although they could sense what was happening outside, firstly, such actions were extrely draining and not to be done at will; secondly, within Wind Character Tower, there was always a profound and unfathomable elder seated, whose cultivation had reached at least the Upper Third Rank, being in the Martial Art Mysterious Passage Realm. They dared not spy, lest they invite trouble upon themselves.
It was only after Wang Anfeng returned to the Shaolin Temple that they beca aware of the change in his mindset, suspecting that he had experienced an epiphany.
Yuan Ci, who also ca from the Buddhist community and practiced Horizontal Training Divine Skill, was undoubtedly the clearest about this matter. In response to the scholar’s inquiry, the monk nodded slightly and said,
"Indeed, it’s just as you’ve said."
Then frowning again, he looked at his friend and asked,
"What are you planning to do?"
The scholar caught the elixir that was tossed to him, looked at the faint luster on it, and replied casually,
"Just give him so dicine."
"And by the way, test him..."
........................
Wang Anfeng was quite shaken as he looked at the writing from Gongsun Jing in his hands.
In the past, he had never imagined that within those seemingly prosperous and stable great cities, all manner of secret organizations’ mbers lurked, sotis wary of each other, sotis cooperating, forming an unknown layer within Jianghu.
The youth’s gaze uncontrollably fell upon the last line of characters on the paper in his hands, and he silently read to himself.
"Traces of White Tiger Hall found in North Martial City."
"One of them is the shopkeeper of the Stoneware Pavilion in the ancient jade shop, who is on good terms with another trade association, suspected to be in league."
White Tiger Hall.
Wang Anfeng stood still for a mont before retracting his thoughts.
Since learning Martial Arts, what he had seen was far beyond what he could have imagined back in Great Liang Village. White Tiger Hall, Danfeng Valley, and the various secret organizations and heroes of Jianghu—he had never been once removed from them, and he was also gradually becoming accustod to this kind of world.
Jianghu.
Where is not Jianghu?
After a brief mont, Gongsun Jing, who had found his breakthrough opportunity, bowed in gratitude multiple tis before returning to his Giant Peng Gang. The surroundings that were once familiar to him now revealed many aspects he had not noticed before, as if the dust that had always shrouded Heaven and Earth had been swept away to reveal its true form.
A thousand years in darkness, a single lamp illuminates all.
The man closed his eyes slightly, feeling the increasingly clear and vibrant Heaven and Earth around him and could hardly suppress the joy in his heart, eventually bursting into a long laugh.
Inside the Shaolin Temple.
After seeing off Gongsun Jing, Wang Anfeng stretched his muscles and rembered Mr. Ying’s words—that he must co here once a month. He felt a slight headache at the thought, but as his gaze fell upon the white paper full of inked characters in his hand, he also felt that if he could gain such rewards every ti, it might not be so unacceptable.
.....................…
Into the night.
Midway through the night, Wang Anfeng went out and swept through Wind Character Tower before returning to the temple. He practiced Pupil Skill as usual, watching clouds and gauging Qi, then went to Copper Man Lane to refine his swordsmanship and palm techniques.
Previously, his mindset had been unbalanced due to the autumn rain, but he didn’t wallow in confusion. Instead, he took the opportunity to reflect on himself, suppress inner demons, and gained a deeper understanding of the subtle truths within the Prajna Palm. His progress in palm techniques advanced rapidly.
The growth in his palm techniques also benefited his swordsmanship. His Martial Arts had long surpassed what they were when he had broken through the Ninth Grade.
However, because of his nature, he often found himself in perilous situations, facing enemies whose cultivation far surpassed his own, gaining no advantage in combat, usually. Thus, although his Martial Arts skills beca increasingly mature, he was unaware of his own progress.
Inside the Shaolin Temple.
The youth sat cross-legged on a greenstone, having finished his day’s Internal Strength Cultivation. He slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air and opened his eyes. Owing to his increasingly profound Internal Strength Cultivation and Pupil Skill, a layer of luminescent glow appeared in his eyes, which, after a few breaths, dissipated and returned to their mild black once more.
Within the second barrier of the Golden Bell Shield, there are Eight Lineage Barriers.
He had diligently practiced without rest and had an epiphany in the rain, leading to a slight understanding of the Buddhist principles that form is no different from emptiness. Thus far in his cultivation of the second barrier of the Golden Bell Shield in Shaolin Temple and Fufeng County combined, only seven to eight months had passed, yet he had made successive breakthroughs, leaving only three Barriers lying before him.
Yet, these three Barriers, perhaps due to the insufficient overall amount of Inner Strength, stood immovably before the youth like Mount Tai and the northern seas, unaffected by his vigorous efforts.
Due to a long period of sitting and resting, Wang Anfeng’s stomach began to rumble with hunger, overpowering him like a surging tide. The youth, clutching his deflated belly, almost instinctively turned his head towards the adjacent house.
When he saw the white-haired old man already smiling and beckoning to him, his eyes brightened, and he sprang to his feet, approaching the elder after a few steps, first giving a bow before looking up with eager anticipation,
"Second Master…"
The old man couldn’t help but chuckle, patting the youth on the head and said,
"Hungry, I see? You little glutton..."
"You did well today, so Second Master has made you a new dish… co, co in and try."
Wang Anfeng’s eyes shone with delight, following the elder to the dining table, and as he drew closer, he was slightly startled.
Before his eyes, all were dishes made with plenty of fire and oil, full of color, aroma, and taste, yet starkly different from the light food the elder used to prepare on regular days.
But at this mont, he was extrely hungry and had utter trust in his Master, just assuming that the elder wanted to change his cooking style today, so he thought nothing more of it and strode over.
Behind him, Wu Changqing barely perceptibly heaved a sigh of relief, glanced at the Scholar next to him holding a scroll with a detached expression, and then at Ci Yuan, who seed to be reciting Buddhist scriptures, before speaking through a voice transmission technique:
"Mr. Ying, Master Ci Yuan, putting dicine into the food… Is this truly alright?"
The monk raised his eyes to look at him and likewise replied through a voice transmission:
"Amitabha… Be at ease, Elder Wu."
"Our Shaolin inheritance, coming from Zen Buddhism, is a unique transmission beyond the Dharma, not established in written words, but with Heart Imprint Technique as its core, focusing on enlightennt and breakthroughs in cultivation techniques. The best approach is to let things take their natural course until the water flows into the channel, unlike the deliberate efforts typically seen in breakthroughs, which in fact are less ideal."
His voice paused for a mont, before he continued:
"However, precisely for this reason, how much Anfeng can break through this ti will depend on his own nature and comprehension. With sufficient comprehension, his advancent will be as unstoppable as a bamboo splitting apart."
"Take the second patriarch of our Zen sect as an example. He initially knew nothing of martial arts, yet after obtaining the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic, he pondered it with deep ditation for twenty years. Further, he spent forty-nine days on Ei Mountain in Sichuan discussing Buddhist Law with the Brahman Monk Pancamriddhi, still without enlightennt."
"Twelve years later, on a road in Chang’an, he encountered a young man proficient in martial arts, and discussed with him for three days and nights. Finally, one morning at sunrise, enlightened by the illumination covering the whole world, he comprehended all the martial arts mysteries within the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic, achieving a level of martial arts unmatched in all the land."
"That young man later traversed battlefields with unwavering success, aiding Taizong in pacifying the Tujue, transitioning from general to minister, and being ennobled as the Duke of Wei, which likely had to do with this fateful encounter."
Having finished recounting the historical case of the sect, Wu Changqing felt a light of understanding in his heart. Watching Wang Anfeng, Ci Yuan’s voice, transmitted telepathically, also carried a sigh:
"If Anfeng has already gained so comprehension in martial and Buddhist principles, with the aid of this pure force to break through the current barriers, it will naturally be no difficult task, and if his ntal fortitude is sufficient, it’s not impossible for him to break through multiple barriers in succession."
"This is precisely the concept known as ’instantaneous enlightennt and Buddhahood.’
"But if his ntal state is unstable, those elixirs will only cause his Inner Qi to swell temporarily, inflaming his tendons and veins, at most slightly expanding his ridians, and will offer no help whatsoever in breaking through the barriers, but rather inflict so pain."
In the Quiet Room, Wang Anfeng looked at his silently standing Master, who seed as lifeless as a wooden stake, and felt discomfort all over his body, which led to so doubt, and he asked:
"Master, second Master, and Mr., why aren’t you eating today?"
Wu Changqing managed to squeeze a smile onto his face and reassured:
"It’s alright, we Masters have already eaten earlier."
The young man suddenly understood, nodding his head, reasoning that he had been so absorbed in his Inner Strength cultivation earlier that he hadn’t noticed the ti passing. He did not hesitate any longer and took a soup spoon to ladle so broth. It was warm and soft, and every kind of flavor rushed up all at once, extraordinarily delectable, causing his eyebrows to rise in contentnt.
Seeing him like this, Wu Changqing breathed a little easier and asked:
"How does it taste?"
The young man’s eyes shimred, and with food still in his mouth, his reply was a bit muffled:
"The soup is rich and delicious… Mmm, mmm, mmm, the als prepared by second Master are as exceptionally tasty as ever."
"There’s just an additional dicinal fragrance today, which adds a unique flavor."
The elder broke out in a sweat and forced a laugh:
"Is that so? Then have so more…"
"Mmm, mmm, okay."
As the three n in the room watched the young man relish his al, thanks to Wu Changqing’s concoction, the Elixir began to work slowly, so Wang Anfeng did not notice anything odd. While he felt a bit warm, he simply attributed it to having just completed his Inner Strength cultivation and eaten rather hastily, not thinking much of it.
Until at last, there remained only a bowl of thick soup.
Its color was golden, and the innate bloody and dicinal sll had been ticulously buried by Wu Changqing, leaving only a delicious and fragrant allure. After the young man took a sip, the remaining spirituality combined, producing a high-pitched scream that was utterly impossible, making Wang Anfeng’s scalp tingle, and he montarily paused in his soup drinking.
Startled by the screan, even though he quickly suppressed any fluctuation in his state of mind, the power of the dicine he had ingested, like a volcano on the brink of eruption, began to rage. An expression of bewildernt appeared on Wang Anfeng’s face, and the Scholar, throwing his ancient book aside, beca a blur of motion and was the first to reach the young man.
He raised his left hand and pressed it against Wang Anfeng’s throat, sending a ripple of Internal Strength through it.
With a swift motion of his right hand, he snatched the bowl of soup, which concentrated the power of three-thousand-year-old Blood Ginseng, and forcefully poured it into Wang Anfeng’s stomach without leaving a single drop, then carelessly tossed the porcelain bowl onto the floor.
Looking again at the young man before him, his skin was already bright red from the surging dicinal power, instinctively entering a state of ditative cultivation to dissipate the strength of the dicine.
In an instant, the surroundings completely transford. The monk’s cell with its single flickering lamplight turned into the summit of a great do, surrounded by mountains, with the starscape above and a mighty river rushing below—a natural place of Formation power.
The Scholar in green looked at the young man before him and said with a cold laugh:
"If you fail to break through, you know the consequences."
Casually flicking his sleeve, a gentle but firm force straightened Wang Anfeng’s body into a seated ditation posture. At that mont, the young man’s Inner Strength was highly sensitive; such an action did not trigger the slightest disturbance within him, a testant to the subtlety and care with which it was done.
The Scholar adjusted his robe and sat down cross-legged. Wu Changqing and Ci Yuan likewise sat in the ’earth’ and the ’human’ positions, forming the three talents’ array around the young man, protecting him while he practiced.
PS: First post
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