Clap, clap, clap. Hearing the sound, Chuiyizi, who was holding the iron railings, murmured in astonishment: “How could he suddenly lose his cultivation? Are human minds really this fragile? Can’t even maintain a pleasant conversation…”
Such a sound would occur both when breaking through and failing in the Golden Bell Cover technique. The only difference was that the former’s dark golden glow would become increasingly bright, while the latter would gradually dim until it disappeared.
Chuiyizi clearly knew that Meng Qi had only mastered the third level of Golden Bell Cover yesterday, so he didn’t even consider the possibility of a breakthrough, instinctively assuming that Meng Qi had been unable to withstand the torment, yet stubbornly refused to stop, thus losing his cultivation.
Before his words had even finished, he was astonished to see a dark golden figure dart in front of him, grabbing him by surprise.
He struggled desperately, but under the suppression of the prison cell, he could barely exert one-tenth of his tenfold strength, and his demonic power was completely sealed. Eventually, he failed to escape Meng Qi’s grasp, was stripped of his sash, and tightly bound to the iron railings.
“You better let us go right now! Don’t you know to respect the elderly and virtuous!” Chuiyizi shouted loudly. Suddenly, his gaze sharpened as he saw a strange white piece of “fabric” appear in Meng Qi’s hand. “What is this?”
Meng Qi unexpectedly mastered the fourth level of the Golden Bell Cover in a single day and unexpectedly captured this talkative nuisance. Feeling particularly pleased and relaxed, he said smugly, “It’s my sock! I’m going to stuff it into your mouth!”
“No, no, mmm…” Chuiyizi shook his head painfully but was still gagged tightly by Meng Qi.
Huff, the world finally became quiet… Meng Qi closed his eyes, savoring the hard-won tranquility. What a wonderful enjoyment it was!
He sat cross-legged again. The dispersing cold and heat could no longer bring him the previous torment. A bit of pain merely reminded him that the mundane world was full of suffering, and heaven and earth were like a furnace.
“Unexpectedly, the blade intent of ‘Ananda’s Precept-Breaking Blade Technique’ can not only cut others but also strangely be used on oneself, harmonizing very well with the cultivation of Golden Bell Cover,” Meng Qi thought about his sudden breakthrough in a single day, deepening his understanding of Ananda’s Precept-Breaking Blade Technique. Breaking precepts was to temper one’s heart.
“Hmm, it seems that the Buddhist divine techniques all emphasize a Zen heart and sudden enlightenment. If one can achieve a clear and enlightened Zen heart, comprehending the true meaning, then cultivation would bring about incredible effects, perhaps progressing rapidly. However, if one fails to achieve sudden enlightenment and the Zen heart becomes clouded, then one must cultivate step by step, gradually advancing.”
Through this incident, Meng Qi gained new insights into the concept of sudden enlightenment in Buddhism.
“It’s not just about saying you’ve achieved sudden enlightenment; it’s about having your body and mind in harmony, truly understanding the principle and being able to practice it in the future. Only then can it be called sudden enlightenment.”
“Next, I should quickly use the ‘Lingzhi Qi-Replenishing Pill’ to complete my qi accumulation, then attempt to refine the acupoints related to the eye gateway…” Meng Qi pondered his next plan.
Successfully breaking through to the fourth level of Golden Bell Cover before the beginning of the Reincarnation Task was indeed an unexpected joy. However, this did not mean he could relax or become complacent. The fourth level’s perfection signified the completion of qi accumulation, and he still lacked the accumulation of true qi, which he needed to generate and absorb as soon as possible. However, the environment here was harsh, and Meng Qi worried that the ‘Lingzhi Qi-Replenishing Pill’ might lose its effectiveness, so he did not carry it with him.
Hu Gu looked at Meng Qi for a moment, then slowly turned around, presenting his back to him, while Han Gui’s cold breath during its meditation became even more intense.
At this moment, Meng Qi was not bothered by this. He continued to run the fourth-level cultivation technique, stabilizing his foundation, while contemplating the blade intent he had just further understood, as well as the moves demonstrated by his master the day before.
At this time, the quiet surroundings ensured that he could focus on his thoughts and contemplation, preventing distractions and impatience.
“Indeed, stuffing that ugly bird’s mouth was a wise choice. How wonderful it is to have peace and quiet!” Meng Qi secretly sighed, once again mentally reenacting the blade move “Severing Purity,” gradually becoming absorbed in it, forgetting the outside world.
Just as he slowly grasped the changes in the blade moves, a grating and unpleasant voice suddenly rang out: “Haha, do you think stuffing our mouth would stop us from speaking? Naive! Foolish!”
“Are we not a Kunpeng? What can’t we swallow? Putting something in our mouth is just asking for death?”
The rare tranquility was suddenly shattered, interrupting his quiet contemplation and breaking his state of forgetting both himself and the world.
Yet, faced with this renewed noise and clamor, Meng Qi did not feel the slightest bit of impatience. Instead, he suddenly looked up at Chuiyizi, feeling a sudden enlightenment.
The tranquility was broken… Severing Purity… So this was what it felt like…
He narrowed his eyes. Without moving his feet or body, he formed his right hand into a blade with four fingers, following the insights in his heart and the changes he had just pondered, and slashed out in a mysteriously profound manner.
Whoosh, a gust of wind suddenly rose in the corridor, as if the noise of the mundane world was rolling in.
Chuiyizi had just bitten through the sash with its mouth and was speaking happily when it suddenly felt a strange sadness, like the first time it had failed to fly and was mocked by a sparrow nearby.
Angry and filled with hatred, its mind momentarily wavered, and then it saw its hand stopped far away.
It shuddered, quickly retreating to the corner, covering its head with both wings, seemingly frightened by the blade intent of “Severing Purity.”
Behind Meng Qi, in the prison cell, Hu Gu flapped a few times and flew directly to the corner, while Han Gui silently moved many steps away from Meng Qi.
Meng Qi paid no attention to their movements, immersed instead in the emotional turmoil after delivering that single slash. Feelings of homesickness, being a stranger in a foreign land, and the pressure of life and death surged up unprecedentedly clearly.
“Severing Purity” severs others’ tranquility and also one’s own!
After a while, Meng Qi overcame these emotions, calmed his heart, and felt completely soaked, no less than having experienced a fierce battle. Then, half of him was dried by heat, and the other half was frozen into icy fragments.
“Each slash tempers one’s character. This is the ‘Ananda’s Precept-Breaking Blade Technique’…” Meng Qi exhaled. If it weren’t for directly receiving the true intent inheritance, he would have had to endure countless trials and temptations to understand the blade intent and master the true essence of the blade technique. That’s why very few monks in Shaolin, who only had the manual, could truly master the ‘Ananda’s Precept-Breaking Blade Technique.’
Of course, Meng Qi was well aware that he had only just begun to grasp the true essence of the ‘Ananda’s Precept-Breaking Blade Technique’ and was still far from mastering it.
“I wonder what the last four moves are like, so profound and mysterious…” Meng Qi’s thoughts wandered, thinking about the four moves he had yet to understand: “Descending into the Mundane World,” “Accumulating Karma,” “Invoking External Demons,” and “Sticking to Causality.”
After pondering for a while, he refocused his thoughts and continued cultivating the Golden Bell Cover without any slack. However, after mastering the fourth level, he could now open his eyes freely and interrupt the cultivation at any time.
While concentrating, Meng Qi suddenly heard faint footsteps and cautiously stopped his cultivation, turning his gaze toward the source of the sound.
He saw Xuan Ku, the monk of discipline, and another monk he was familiar with, leading two men dressed in wide robes toward him.
The monk was tall and thin, with a handsome and delicate appearance, exuding a scholarly air, just like a living Tang Monk. It was clearly “Senior Brother” Zhen Chang, who had passed through the corridor of the copper men and descended the mountain more than two months ago.
“So soon back from the pilgrimage?” Meng Qi felt a bit strange but also thought it understandable. After all, it was his first time descending the mountain. There were many discomforts and unfamiliarities, so he probably just wandered around nearby, then returned to the mountain to digest his gains. The second pilgrimage would truly enter the martial arts world.
The two men led by Xuan Ku and Zhen Chang were one with a long beard, a refined middle-aged man, who stood with his hands behind his back, exuding a dignified aura. The other was a young man with sharp eyebrows and bright eyes, slightly immature, seemingly just coming of age, bearing a striking resemblance to the middle-aged man.
“They must be noble family members…” Meng Qi judged from their attire, accessories, and demeanor. Although many aristocratic young men were often spoiled and unruly, they generally valued appearance and image, rarely lacking in external demeanor.
The four men’s target was the gate leading to the second underground level, and they paid little attention to Meng Qi. However, as they quickly passed him, the refined middle-aged man took a keen look and asked Xuan Ku and Zhen Chang, “Is this young master here cultivating the Golden Bell Cover or the Diamond Indestructible Divine Skill in this environment?”
Xuan Ku and Zhen Chang, who had only reached the Qi Opening stage, were disturbed by the demonic aura and scattered their various qi. It was only at this moment that they noticed Meng Qi lurking in the shadows, letting out a soft “Ah” sound. Previously, few disciples cultivated here using this environment, as not everyone had the Iron Shirt Kung Fu as their foundation.
It should be known that as an external martial arts technique, Iron Shirt was mainly cultivated through external pounding. To achieve minor success required three full years. Of course, there were also quick methods, but then the Iron Shirt could never progress further. They both assumed Meng Qi was using such a method, anyway, he wouldn’t focus on Iron Shirt as his main cultivation technique.
Seeing half of Meng Qi’s body dry and the other half covered in frost, Xuan Ku was stunned for a moment, then slowly nodded, showing approval. Obviously, he hadn’t expected Meng Qi to endure such hardship here.
Zhen Chang didn’t hesitate. After seeing Meng Qi’s condition, he smiled at the guests and said, “Master Cui, that’s exactly what it is.”
“What a young age and already enduring such torment. Impressive, impressive. May I ask whose disciple is he?” The middle-aged man chuckled. The young man behind him had just tied his hair and put on a cap not long ago. Upon hearing this, he curiously looked Meng Qi up and down. After all, a small novice monk contrasted sharply with the monsters like Hu Gu and Han Gui behind him.
This isn’t a zoo tour! Meng Qi simply closed his eyes and ignored them.
Zhen Chang frowned slightly, his smile unchanged as he said, “He should be a new disciple. I went on a pilgrimage for a while and don’t know which elder’s disciple he is.”
“He is the disciple of Master Xuan Bei.” Xuan Ku withdrew his gaze.
Although Xuan Bei had extremely high martial arts skills and was a respected elder, he had become a monk later in life, so Xuan Ku could still call him “Junior Brother.”
“Master Xuan Bei…” The middle-aged man nodded thoughtfully but did not ask Meng Qi’s Dharma name, slowly walking past.
The young man accompanying him, however, continued to curiously examine the monsters like Hu Gu and Han Gui, looking very interested, as if wanting to touch them.
“Dad, who would have thought Shaolin has so many monsters imprisoned here, and they’re even in their original forms.” His family had monster servants too, but they were already tamed. Except for battles, they didn’t look like monsters at all.
After they turned the corner, Meng Qi opened his eyes and silently cursed. Who likes having others watch them cultivate? So rude!
At this time, voices echoed far away in the quiet prison.
“The Abbot’s decree permits the Pingjin Cui family to take away their runaway monsters.” This refined accent belonged to Zhen Chang.
“Amitabha Buddha, the token is genuine. Please enter.” An old voice replied, likely the elder guarding the entrance to the second level.
Pingjin Cui family? Meng Qi repeated silently, so these were the people from the Pingjin Cui clan!
The Pingjin Cui clan was the most powerful aristocratic family in the Great Jin dynasty. Especially after the family head, “Purple Qi Abundant” Cui Qinghe, achieved the “Purple Yang Dharmakaya,” they had even further suppressed the royal family, making them struggle to breathe easy.
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