Disperse just like this? What a joke! Meng Qi secretly grumbled, then stood forward with righteous indignation: “Master Abbot, do you take us for cowards who value their lives above all?”
“Amitabha, that’s not what this old monk meant; several of you are already injured…” Xinji still tried to persuade everyone to leave, but he couldn’t openly say Shaolin had already decided to abandon this base; continuing to defend it was futile. Otherwise, if Dor Chad learned of this, he might attack despite his injuries, preventing the monks from evacuating in time.
“Master Abbot, are you suggesting we are useless because of our injuries?” Meng Qi feigned outrage, skillfully twisting Xinji’s words.
At this moment, the senior elders of Shaolin Temple had arrived behind Xinji, ready to prevent Meng Qi and others from launching a sudden attack.
Hearing Meng Qi’s words, the monks, who considered themselves defenders of orthodox martial arts, naturally couldn’t openly admit that the injured indeed were of no use. They hesitated, and no one responded.
“This old monk is gravely injured, and lay devotees Jiang and Zhang are similarly afflicted, while Dor Chad remains unscathed. This battle holds little hope of victory. You lay devotees are not Shaolin disciples; why sacrifice your lives to stay and perish together with Shaolin? Even within Shaolin, monks with such determination are extremely rare because it’s utterly meaningless. Perhaps only this old monk and others nearing the end of our lives would be willing to give up these decaying bodies.”
“Why not preserve your valuable lives for future opportunities?”
Xinji was practically saying only he himself would remain to defend Shaolin, while others might flee. Why should you strangers, who have nothing to do with this, play the hero and go mad?
Meng Qi stepped forward, clasped his hands solemnly, and recited a Buddhist chant with an air of solemnity: “Amitabha, death may be lighter than a goose feather or heavier than Mount Tai. Today, we sacrifice ourselves for righteousness!”
Including Xinji, all the monks listened in stunned disbelief; they had never encountered anyone so determined to sacrifice themselves for others’ sake!
Even more importantly, we absolutely don’t want you to save us!
After speaking, Meng Qi suddenly felt somewhat dissonant pairing “Amitabha” with his subsequent impassioned words, but immediately comforted himself: anyway, these days, mismatched styles are in vogue!
Seeing the monks stunned, Meng Qi raised his head proudly, striking a pose of noble loyalty and righteousness: “This matter today isn’t about whether Shaolin should be saved; it’s about showing all under heaven that there are still those willing to face death courageously!”
Jiang Zhiwei raised her hand to cover her mouth, suppressing laughter, her pale face flushed slightly. Qi Zhengyan twitched his lips slightly, secretly relieved he hadn’t spoken much with Meng Qi…
Xinji remained silent for a while, glancing at Zhang Yuanshan hastily sitting in meditation after taking pills to stabilize his injuries and Jiang Zhiwei standing alone, her robes fluttering in the wind. He sighed: “Lay devotee Zhang and Lay devotee Jiang are severely injured; leaving the mountain now would make it difficult to break through the armored soldiers’ blockade. Please enter the temple and wait for the right opportunity. De Kong, quickly fetch the Xiaohuan Dan for these lay devotees.”
“These lay devotees, after entering the temple, please guard the rear mountains to prevent the barbarian experts from climbing the cliffs and entering.”
He assigned Meng Qi and others to defend the quiet rear mountains, where no one would likely attack, avoiding the secret escape routes within the temple.
“Thank you, Master Abbot.” Meng Qi quietly exhaled; this was the most ideal development!
…
“Abbot, is that young novice perhaps suffering from mental issues?” Returning to the Hall of Great Heroes, Xinchan slightly irritably asked, “Why did you let them stay?”
Xinji was about to speak when suddenly his face turned as golden as paper, then snow-white, shifting several times before barely stabilizing. Yet, he looked as though he had aged twenty years in an instant.
“Master, are you alright?” His disciple asked with concern.
“Not dead yet.” Xinji said calmly, “Fortunately, we scared Dor Chad away just now, giving us a chance to recover.” His injuries seemed to worsen.
He turned his head to look at Xinchan: “Lay devotee Jiang and Lay devotee Zhang indeed fought desperately against Dor Chad, not spies. This old monk observed their firm intentions; if we hadn’t let them into the temple, they might have stubbornly guarded the mountain path to the death. Therefore, assigning them to guard the rear mountains was to repay their kindness and settle this karmic debt.”
“Except for the Stupa, the rear mountains have no important locations, so no need to worry about Dor Chad’s people sneaking in. Once the disciples have evacuated through the secret passage, we’ll inform them of the truth and let them leave through the same route. If Dor Chad attacks early, given the situation at the rear mountains, they should be able to hold out until the end. By then, things will already be beyond saving, and they probably won’t stubbornly hold on anymore…”
Xinji sounded somewhat uncertain; Meng Qi’s impassioned speech had left a deep impression.
Xinchan frowned: “Headstrong as a block of wood, seems hopeless. Abbot, the important scriptures and pills have already been packed; shall we arrange for the disciples to evacuate now?”
“Hmm.” Xinji nodded, turning to gaze at the golden Buddha statue, his expression becoming peaceful and calm.
…
“Finally got into the temple.” On the way to the rear mountains, Meng Qi sighed with relief; thank goodness his “acting” was good.
Jiang Zhiwei walked slowly, showing no sign of confusion or sadness on her face, lightly laughing: “I wonder how Master Xinji and other senior monks view you, this little monk?”
Children with mental disabilities have endless fun… Meng Qi silently mocked himself; if not for the mission pressure, would I willingly act like this?
Then, he “seriously” said: “They must have been moved by my noble loyalty and righteousness, just short of kowtowing to me.”
“Actually, when I saw you, little monk, so solemnly and seriously saying those twisted words, I just wanted to laugh, hahaha…” Jiang Zhiwei could no longer hold back and burst into laughter. But as she laughed, her voice suddenly stopped, and a trace of pain appeared on her face.
“Miss Jiang, how are your injuries?” Meng Qi asked with concern.
Jiang Zhiwei inhaled and exhaled a few times: “Even having opened four apertures, at my current cultivation level, using ‘Sword Strikes Without Self’ is still difficult. After one sword strike, though not completely drained, I have less than 30% of my power remaining. Then being injured by Dor Chad’s force, I have less than 10% left. Within half a day, I can probably only rely on sword techniques to deal with armored soldiers.”
She described it in detail because if her companions misjudged her strength, it could easily lead to strategic errors when enemies attacked.
“What about Brother Zhang?” Qi Zhengyan looked at Zhang Yuanshan, whose chest was slightly sunken.
Zhang Yuanshan smiled bitterly: “Fortunately, I brought some healing medicine this time, and with Shaolin’s Xiaohuan Dan, otherwise I might even struggle to walk. Hehe, now I can barely handle armored soldiers.”
Wang Jin followed the group but remained silent, his eyes wandering as he examined the temple halls and the path they passed.
As they walked, Meng Qi suddenly froze because the rear mountains ahead looked exactly like Shaolin’s own rear mountains! Even the stupa was the same!
Impossible, could it be this similar… Meng Qi inexplicably felt a chill.
“Same?” Jiang Zhiwei noticed Meng Qi’s oddity.
Meng Qi nodded, his tone serious: “Although I’ve only been to the rear mountains once, it truly is exactly the same here.”
Could there be demons or monsters sealed here too?
Hmm, probably not. At this world’s power level, if there were demons or monsters, they would have already conquered the world…
They spoke in hushed tones to avoid being overheard by the young monk leading them.
After walking a while, the young monk stopped and solemnly clasped his hands: “These lay devotees shall guard here. Beyond the road ahead lies the rear mountain stupa, which outsiders are not allowed to enter.”
Meng Qi suddenly felt as if dreaming because the place where they stopped was exactly where he had guarded a few days ago!
Two cliffs stood opposite each other, forming a narrow path, with dense forests on both left and right ahead.
“Is this a coincidence, or is there some hidden connection…” By now, Meng Qi didn’t even need to look to know that on either side, the seemingly endless forests actually led to cliffs after just a few steps.
He pondered with shock and suspicion, while the others listened to the young monk’s detailed explanation of the surrounding terrain for eventual evacuation.
The young monk seemed to have received instructions from above, explaining the terrain unusually thoroughly.
“Strange, he didn’t mention the secret path on the cliff? No, I’m overthinking. In this world, without demons or monsters, who would open that secret path? The Shaolins of the two worlds must differ eventually; after all, this is Mount Shaohua, not Mount Liantai…” As Meng Qi listened, a hidden path suddenly popped into his mind—the secret path where “Zhen Guan” had emerged.
“Brother Qi, little monk, I’ll leave things to you two for now.” After the young monk left, Jiang Zhiwei took out a thumb-sized white jade vial, poured out a bright red pill, swallowed it with Xiaohuan Dan, and began meditating to recover.
Zhang Yuanshan’s injuries were more severe; regardless of Wang Jin’s presence, he sat down directly to regulate his blood and qi.
Wang Jin silently watched them for a while, then looked at Meng Qi’s wary expression, walked aside, closed his eyes to meditate, seemingly recovering his energy.
Meng Qi and Qi Zhengyan took turns keeping watch. About half an hour later, distant faint noises suddenly came from afar.
“Dor Chad again?” Meng Qi looked toward the temple direction, indeed seeing dark clouds gathering, silver snakes dancing wildly, some places bursting into flames with thick smoke rising.
He instinctively tightened his saber, waiting for the final battle to begin.
At this moment, Wang Jin suddenly stood up, without greeting Meng Qi and others, directly rushing toward Shaolin.
“What is he doing?” Meng Qi exclaimed in surprise.
Qi Zhengyan expressionlessly said: “Don’t worry about him; staying would only be a thorn in our side.”
Wang Jin ran as swiftly as a galloping horse, his heart secretly excited. He came from humble origins, his martial arts skills were ordinary, and it was only after great effort that he reached the aperture-opening stage, becoming a minor expert. However, to progress further, he lacked cultivation manuals for this stage. Therefore, for him, the cycle world was an opportunity, and now was another!
Although this Shaolin was far inferior to the authentic one, judging from Abbot Xinji, their martial arts directly aimed at external scenery, without missing the steps to refine acupoints and open the nine innate apertures!
Now was the chaotic time for Shaolin; capturing a senior elder or abbot to extract secrets would go unnoticed, with everyone assuming they died at Dor Chad’s hands.
After all, the mission only required defending Shaolin, not prohibiting harming Shaolin monks!
“He probably wants to take advantage of the chaos for some gain…” Meng Qi casually guessed, watching Wang Jin’s back.
Suddenly, countless silver rays shot out from the nearby forest, unimaginably fast, directly hitting Wang Jin.
The sound of rain hitting banana leaves came, and Wang Jin’s entire body spurted small streams of blood, like a punctured water bag. Then, with a slight expression of joy still lingering, he fell backward.
“What a waste of my ‘Storm of Pear Blossoms’… But who told the general to let me not let anyone escape? Hmph, you actually dared to blind the general in one eye!” A young man with sword-like eyebrows and bright eyes walked out from the forest, smiling as he directly threw the black tube in his hand to the ground. Politely bowing his hands, he said, “My name is Tang Shun, with the nickname ‘Palm of the Universe.’ I’m here to send you to meet the Buddha in the Western Paradise. Namo Amitabha.”
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