“Thank you for your generous gift, Master Wen!”
Shen Xiuhan's eyes flickered slightly. He took it and opened it as instructed.
The space inside the bag was square, roughly three feet in each direction.
Although it was easily four or five times smaller than the storage bag he had obtained from Xiao Yan's remains, it was still spacious enough to hold his personal belongings.
Furthermore, the bag was not empty; it also contained a small, somewhat familiar porcelain bottle.
Shen Xiuhan took it out. Even through the walls of the bottle, he could smell a crisp, refreshing, and unique fragrance wafting over, penetrating straight to his lungs.
This small bottle, this fragrance...
He had already smelled it once today, and there was absolutely no way he could mistake it!
“This is...”
Shen Xiuhan raised his eyes to look at Wen Qingye and blurted out, “Century-Old Earth Stalactite Milk?”
“Oh?”
Wen Qingye's brows rose slightly, a flash of surprise in his eyes. “You recognize this?”
Shen Xiuhan quickly explained, “You might not know this, Master, but today on Thousand Pools Island, I encountered a monk who claimed to be an old friend of yours. His Buddhist name is Shouchong.
“That Master Shouchong used Century-Old Earth Stalactite Milk to trade for a copy of one of my techniques, which is why I recognize this scent...”
As he spoke, his voice unconsciously grew quieter.
This was because...
...he noticed that Wen Qingye's expression had turned somewhat odd.
Wen Qingye's cheek twitched slightly, and veins throbbed faintly at his temples. He took a deep breath, and for the first time, his tone, which had remained calm and steady all night, wavered noticeably. “Where... is that old bald donkey?”
“Uh...”
Hearing this, no matter how slow Shen Xiuhan might be, he understood!
The old monk Shouchong's claim of having “met Daoist Friend Wen in the middle of Cloudwater Lake and hit it off immediately” was probably a massive exaggeration!
Not daring to delay, he quickly recounted his encounter with Shouchong in the secluded valley, detailing the exact location of the half-collapsed ruined temple.
“Stay here and do not wander off. I will be right back!”
Boom!
Before Shen Xiuhan could even answer, Wen Qingye shot straight up into the air like a soaring dragon, his green robes whipping loudly in the fierce wind.
A dense layer of rice-sized white light particles seeped from his body, forming a continuous sheet that enveloped him in a protective barrier woven from white light.
Enveloped within that white barrier, Wen Qingye transformed into a brilliant rainbow with a loud boom, tearing through the air toward Thousand Pools Island.
He moved so fast that he left only a gradually fading white trail across the night sky!
“Riding the wind, flying through the air...”
Shen Xiuhan looked up at the rainbow cutting through the night sky. Uncontrollable shock welled up in his eyes as he murmured, “So this is... the Gangjin Rank!”
His heart surged with emotion.
Since joining the Star-Plucking Sect, under the constant influence of his surroundings, his understanding of the Gangjin Rank was no longer a complete blank slate like before.
The path of martial arts was like climbing a heavenly ladder, with the first four realms clearly demarcated:
Mingjin knocks on the Three Barriers;
Anjin opens the nine acupoints;
Huajin tempers the three refinements;
And Gangjin condenses the nine seals.
The absolute core essence of Gangjin lay entirely in that single word: “condense”!
A martial artist had to cultivate a high-grade technique to Great Perfection before they could “condense” a unique, personal divine ability seed within the nine major acupoints opened during the Anjin Rank.
Then, using this “divine seed” as a cauldron and supplementing it with a vast amount of spiritual qi, they could refine a wisp of peerlessly overbearing “True Gang Qi.”
Once this Gang Qi was cultivated, it would expand the acupoints into the shape of a grand seal, which was known as condensing a seal!
The path of condensing seals was fraught with difficulties at every step.
However, every time a Gangjin Rank martial artist successfully condensed three Gang Seals, they would experience an earth-shattering, bone-transforming leap in power.
Because of this, the Gangjin Rank was divided into three great chasms:
The initial condensation of three seals was called “Outer Gang”!
Gathering the middle three seals was called “Inner Gang”!
Reaching the final three seals was called “Heavenly Gang”!
Only when all nine seals reached Great Perfection...
...could one catch a glimpse of the legendary, elusive Gate of Xiantian!
‘Master Wen can project his Gang Barrier outside his body; this is precisely the sign of externalizing Gang Qi...’
‘I wonder how many layers of Gang Seals his senior self has condensed?’
While Shen Xiuhan was lost in thought,
...another sharp, booming explosion resounded in the sky.
Dust swirled in the courtyard, and pine needles rustled down.
In the blink of an eye, Wen Qingye was standing in the courtyard once more. His sleeves were still fluttering, but his face carried a look of frustration.
He let out a cold snort, brushed a few pine needles off his shoulder, and said, “That old bald donkey runs fast!”
Shen Xiuhan hesitated, asking with a hint of anxiety, “Master, this monk Shouchong...”
“It has nothing to do with you!”
Wen Qingye waved his hand, fell silent for a moment, and finally let out a soft sigh. “Since you are already my disciple, there is no harm in telling you.
“My journey this time was originally to find high-tier Precious Fish and Precious Beasts so that I could refine a few high-grade grand pills.
“I searched painstakingly in Cloudwater Lake for many days and finally managed to catch a Tier Four water monster. I exhausted all my strength to wound it heavily, but then...”
He whipped his long sleeve, his tone practically gritting with teeth. “That old bald donkey suddenly jumped out of the shadows and immediately demanded a share of the spoils.
“At that time, I had been fighting fiercely for a long while, and the Gang Qi in my body was mostly depleted! The old bald donkey picked his timing perfectly. Taking advantage of my exhaustion, he stubbornly tangled with me for three days and three nights...”
A look of oddness quickly flashed across Shen Xiuhan's eyes as he couldn't help but recall what the old monk Shouchong had said:
‘Daoist Friend Wen and I sat and discussed the Dao, talking of martial arts and Buddhism, debating for three days and three nights...’
So your “debating” was actually a physical brawl?!
Wen Qingye did not notice his expression and continued, “Fearing that things would go awry if we dragged it out too long, I had no choice but to hold my nose and agree to enter the monster's cave together to search for treasure, splitting whatever we found inside evenly.
“As for that Tier Four monster itself, he wouldn't get to touch a single hair of it!
“That old bald donkey is naturally a shameless rogue who wanders around taking advantage of others. Knowing when to stop, he happily agreed on the spot.”
At this point, he paused before snorting coldly again. “Inside that monster's cave, we obtained a total of over thirty drops of Century-Old Earth Stalactite Milk. We each took half and went our separate ways.
“Who would have thought that he would be thick-skinned enough to sneak into the territory of my Star-Plucking Sect? That bald donkey is truly detestable!”
Hearing this, Shen Xiuhan muttered to himself.
‘This Master Shouchong is truly sly to his very bones!’
‘I'll have to be extra careful if I ever encounter him in the future. Otherwise, I might end up like Master Wen, being spun around in circles!’
Having vented his anger, Wen Qingye changed the subject, asking with a frown, “By the way, what kind of nonsense did that old bald donkey feed you in that ruined temple?”
Shen Xiuhan did not hide anything and answered truthfully, “To answer Master, he claimed to be from the Mercy Dao of the Yan State, the abbot of Ci'en Temple in the Great Mercy Dharma Realm. He said he traveled all this way to...”
“Wait!”
Before he could finish, Wen Qingye knit his sword-like brows and interrupted, “That old bald donkey is indeed from the Mercy Dao of the Yan State, but he is absolutely not some abbot of Ci'en Temple!
“If I am not mistaken, he is an evil monk from the Dragon-Subduing Temple of the Great Sorrow Dharma Realm!
“When I fought that bald donkey in the middle of the lake, the moves and styles he used matched the ultimate techniques of the Dragon-Subduing Temple perfectly!”
At this point, Wen Qingye's voice came to an abrupt halt.
He sized up his newly accepted disciple, his tone turning slightly odd as he said, “You... don't tell me you were tricked by that bald thief too?”
Rate on N.U.
