The great Lama Namtso, who had just regained his composure, quickly offered a seat and asked the terrified young monk to leave before beginning to question Mu Lin.
Mu Lin told him that one of his language teachers, Master Huke, had sent him here. Lama Namtso assumed that Huke had already deciphered the Phags-pa script and asked, “Why didn’t Master Hu come himself?” Pretending to be clueless, Mu Lin replied that he didn’t know where his teacher was either, but that the teacher had instructed him to come here for help. He added that he could learn martial arts and medicine here.
Namtso thought for a moment and said, “Layperson, to learn our profound martial arts, you must take refuge in the Buddha, and we can perform the empowerment ritual for you. If you refuse to take refuge, you can only learn basic skills. As for Tibetan medicine, we can find someone to teach you. What do you think?”
Mu Lin thought this was a joke and refused to take refuge in Buddhism. He even threatened, saying that if they didn’t teach him, he wouldn’t share the Phags-pa script.
After some consideration, Namtso said, “We can teach you medicine, but only the most basic martial arts.”
After thinking for a while, Mu Lin asked, “Then, can I study martial arts by reading your books on my own?”
Namtso thought for a moment and finally agreed, saying that since he was a Han Chinese child who had only learned Tibetan for a few days, he could choose from the martial arts and medical texts in the temple. However, he could only study three martial arts books but unlimited medical texts, and he could stay until next May.
In fact, Mu Lin’s language teacher knew some Phags-pa script and had mentioned that some Phags-pa materials were stored in the Potala Palace. Although the teacher didn’t know exactly what they were, Mu Lin was certain they were related to martial arts or medicine. Otherwise, the lamas wouldn’t be seeking someone who could read this script, which is why he dared to ask for so much.
The Xuanqing Temple itself had some martial arts texts written in Phags-pa, which the old Taoist Xuanqing could read. Considering that the Yuan Dynasty had conquered such a vast territory, it was unimaginable without top martial arts. Moreover, Mu Lin had used his spiritual awareness to observe the cultivation processes of other cultivators, so how could he not be proficient in Phags-pa script? He just remained low-key out of habit.
Mu Lin spent the remaining time in the Potala Palace, thoroughly going through its entire collection of books. He followed his agreement with the old lama, carefully reviewing each book from beginning to end, memorizing it after a single read-through. The rest was just understanding and internalizing the knowledge.
He didn’t need the lama’s empowerment ritual. The so-called empowerment was simply the lama imprinting his knowledge and experience into the practitioner’s memory through spiritual penetration, reducing the need for personal trial and error. However, even with this, the most advanced techniques still required individual cultivation.
Since they were still cultivators and not yet masters, their spiritual awareness wasn’t strong enough to empower many people. Otherwise, Tibetan martial arts would have already dominated the world.
The Xuanqing sect had already encountered the top Tibetan martial arts techniques but couldn’t fully grasp their principles. Now that Mu Lin had this opportunity, he seized it to study extensively. If the lamas had known he was a master, they would never have let a wolf into their fold. Three months later, Mu Lin had basically finished studying all their books.
He pretended to choose three basic martial arts books for practice and asked the lamas for guidance. After watching Mu Lin’s clumsy attempts, the lamas chuckled but still gave him serious instructions. He also requested some basic medicinal herbs available in the market, translated the medical texts, and then announced his departure, saying he needed to go up the mountains to collect herbs. He declined the lamas’ offer of a guide out of gratitude and left the Potala Palace alone, heading out to search for Tibetan medicinal herbs and musk.
Three months later, Mu Lin stood on a sidewalk in Kashgar, watching a street performer with monkeys.
The climax of the performance was the old trainer shouting, “Attention!” The male monkey immediately stood up, perfectly still, while the female monkey sat down, scratching herself, causing the audience to burst into laughter.
The trainer scolded the female monkey, “Look at your old man!” and hit her with a whip.
The female monkey tried to escape by running in circles, controlled by the trainer’s rope, shrieking and bowing in a pitiful and comical manner. The male monkey, enraged, jumped onto the trainer, tearing at his clothes, scratching him, pulling his hair, and even accidentally injuring his face.
The trainer screamed in pain, his skin peeled back, blood gushing from his face, and he raised his hands in surrender, “Okay, you’ve avenged your old man. Get down, we can talk.”
Whether out of embarrassment or for dramatic effect, the monkey struggled to dodge, shrieked, negotiated with the trainer, and begged the audience for money—this repeated several times before the show finally ended.
The monkey ate corn while the trainer treated his wounds. After the show, Mu Lin stayed behind to help the old man, watching the monkey help him pack up his props, behaving more obediently than a child, completely unlike its wild performance earlier, which greatly surprised him.
Looking closer, he realized the old man wasn’t even injured. So he decided to travel with the old man for a few days, and they gradually became familiar with each other. When the old man learned that Mu Lin was an orphan wandering alone, and considering he himself was also a lonely old man, he began to see Mu Lin as his grandson. He taught Mu Lin everything he knew, including some minor skills in disguise and animal training. A few days later, Mu Lin secretly improved the old man’s health and left him some money before continuing his journey alone.
After traveling through Inner Mongolia and Northeast China, Mu Lin now stood on Mount Wuyi. Known for its cool climate with little fog in spring and summer and mild winters, Mount Wuyi is famous for its rock tea, including renowned varieties like Da Hong Pao, Tie Luo Han, Bai Ji Guan, Shui Jin Gui, and Bai Mu Dan. Mu Lin came here—well, of course, for these treasures.
After collecting many treasures in his ring during his travels, Mu Lin finally left Mount Wuyi and continued his journey of learning from various masters.
One day, at a threshing ground near the outskirts of a town, there was a makeshift stage where a mother and her two daughters were performing.
The performance wasn’t over yet, so Mu Lin casually watched the acrobatics. The mother was performing a balancing act with a large jar on her head, and the villagers said she was quite skilled.
This performance was reportedly funded by the production team, so there was no need for the audience to pay, and thus no formalities or speeches.
Next, an eleven- or twelve-year-old girl performed a high-wire act. Her hands were rough, her hair dry and yellow, and she looked severely malnourished, but her performance was precise and breathtaking.
Finally, a girl of eight or nine years old, very pretty, was about to perform. She was flexible, almost boneless, and incredibly supple.
The barrel she was to crawl into seemed custom-made for her, so narrow that it seemed impossible for anyone else to fit. She twisted and turned through it in various positions, drawing continuous applause. Before each performance, she smiled and waved at the audience, as if asking for encouragement, hoping they would be patient and not rush her, and if she failed, to be forgiving.
Mu Lin thought the performance was over and was about to leave when someone shouted, “Can she fit into this one?”
Mu Lin turned around and knew immediately that someone was trying to sabotage the show. He used his spiritual awareness to examine the barrel and realized it was specially made with elastic fabric.
The little girl’s mother looked at the barrel and said something to her daughter. The girl shook her head but walked toward the fabric barrel. She squeezed inside, and the barrel tightened around her, narrower than usual, with a slippery inner surface that made it impossible for her to push or pull herself out.
After a while, Mu Lin noticed she was almost out of breath and shouted, “Quick, save her!” He threw a knife toward the barrel. After the girl’s mother rescued her, Mu Lin quickly left.
That evening, while dining at a restaurant in the county town, Mu Lin overheard people discussing an incident where the village chief had taken a liking to a female acrobat and invited her troupe to perform in the village that afternoon. Later, someone sabotaged the performance, and the chief refused to pay, leading to a fight and the arrest of the performers.
The chatter of other diners helped Mu Lin realize this was the same performance he had witnessed earlier. He also learned that the village chief had some influence in the town and that the village was a clan-based community where everyone stuck together, so no one dared to intervene.
Just because no one else dared to act didn’t mean Mu Lin wouldn’t. He had been idle lately and had recently refined some medicine that he hadn’t yet tested. Now, there was a perfect opportunity! He checked out of his inn and wandered around the town for a while before heading toward the village as night fell.
As he approached the village, he scanned the entire area with his spiritual awareness and found about twenty or thirty people gathered in a large room inside a courtyard, drinking and celebrating.
In a smaller house nearby, two little girls were tied up and crying, while the mother’s body was wrapped in straw matting and discarded nearby.
Mu Lin felt a pang of regret. He had intervened earlier but hadn’t followed through, assuming it was just a normal disruption by ordinary people. Now, he realized that under his very eyes, this tragedy had occurred.
He learned that the mother had been killed during the chaos, so these people truly deserved their fate.
He wanted to hear how they would deal with the aftermath, but one of the men, a burly middle-aged man and the leader of the group, decided to sell the two little girls to mountain villagers as child brides. This enraged Mu Lin.
In the past two years, Mu Lin had seen the underworld operate, but never with such ruthless cruelty. He entered the village directly, went to the chief’s house, and without a word, paralyzed each person one by one, leaving them aside. Then he freed the two little girls.
The girls were so frightened they were nearly catatonic. In front of them, Mu Lin stripped each man of their martial arts skills, administering a Biyuan Pill to sever the meridians in their hands and feet, ensuring they would spend the rest of their lives confined to their beds.
Mu Lin led the two girls, carrying their belongings and their mother’s body, to Shanghang Mountain. At dawn, he found a place to bury their mother.
Only then did the two girls regain their senses and burst into tears. Helpless, Mu Lin, who had no experience comforting children, could only wait. After crying for a long time, the girls fainted. With no choice, Mu Lin channeled a bit of true energy into them to calm their spirits and waited for them to wake up.
In the afternoon, the two girls slowly regained consciousness. As soon as they awoke, they were about to cry again, but Mu Lin shouted, “Alright, cry again and I’ll leave!”
The girls were startled into silence. He handed them some food, which they devoured hungrily. After they finished eating, he asked their names. The older one was Mei Fang, and the younger was Mei Zi. When he asked where they were from, they said they came from Meijia Village. Their father had died of illness three years ago, and they had been traveling with their mother ever since, never returning home, and they no longer knew the way. With no other choice, Mu Lin decided to travel with the sisters, continuing their journey together.
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