Monk and Confucian Scholar

"That person is Blessing Monk of Golden Buddha Temple!"

"I heard he's already passed the Seeing Truth Barrier and become a master of internal energy! I can't believe he's come to Three Talents Manor, too!"

"Hey, he's probably here to broaden his horizons or establish a branch temple! As for martial arts, Golden Buddha Temple has its own inheritance!"

"Ah, I wish I could join Golden Buddha Temple and learn one of their arts!"

"What makes you think you're worth that much? How could you join Golden Buddha Temple without a hundred taels of gold? I heard you have to pay gold to learn every single technique there!"

"Shh... Watch what you say. Blessing Monk is looking over!"

As the smoking monk walked past, Shi Feizhe heard the whispers of the people around him. Only then did he learn that this monk was rather famous and belonged to Golden Buddha Temple.

Blessing Monk merely gave the manuals below the Seeing Truth Barrier a cursory look, but he would stop and study carefully any manuals above the Escaping Mundane Realm.

Shi Feizhe took a couple of glances, then got back to his own business.

He had found a martial arts manual called the Nether Springs Divine Shadow Record. It was a manual that let its practitioner meditate on netherworld deities while tempering his blood and qi. Once both were perfected, he could cultivate internal energy and true qi, leading straight to the Escaping Mundane Realm!

The stone stele contained not only a method for the Blood Qi Barrier, but also a protective palm technique called the Senluo Palm. The deities one had to envision for the Spirit Barrier were carved on the stele as well. There were ten of them, the Ten Kings of Hell.

The only pity was that Shi Feizhe could understand barely three or four tenths of the manual, and even that was mostly guesswork. The techniques for tempering blood and qi also required many rare medicinal herbs and a large amount of food, which gave him a headache!

But no matter what, this was exactly the martial arts manual Shi Feizhe needed. Compared with the others, its concept, completeness, and difficulty of entry were all quite good.

He would first jot down the parts he couldn't understand, then study them slowly at home or come back often to discuss them with others. He would also think of a way to get the rare herbs and all that food!

His principle was still the same: a living person couldn't be suffocated by a need to pee!

So Shi Feizhe took a charcoal pencil and squatted there, slowly copying the manual. He wasn't used to charcoal pencils, but he was even less used to writing with a brush. His handwriting was ugly, but as long as he could read it, that was good enough.

He copied from morning until afternoon, and had nearly finished transcribing the text. But the illustrations of the deities took longer to draw, and turned out even uglier.

There was no helping it. He'd never learned to draw, and Three Talents Manor wouldn't let people make rubbings!

Take King Qinguang, who governed the life and death of mortals and the good and ill fortune of the netherworld. His original appearance was imposing, but under Shi Feizhe's hand, his nose and eyes slanted as if he were looking at people sideways.

"Uh... This should be fine, right?" Shi Feizhe looked at his drawing and scratched his cheek, smearing it until his face was black as soot.

"According to the visualization method, you picture the deity's appearance in your mind and imagine that you are the deity yourself. It's a method of borrowing the false to cultivate the true. I'm only making a simple record of what the deity looks like so I don't forget. When I meditate, I'll use the image in my memory. It should be fine!"

Shi Feizhe thought it over and decided there was probably no problem. Besides, he might have to draw it several more times to reinforce the image.

The first drawing of each deity was just a rough draft.

The sun was nearly setting when Shi Feizhe had almost finished drawing—truly, almost—when he heard a booming voice.

"You bald donkey from Golden Buddha Temple, smoking here again without a care for anyone else!"

People of all sorts came and went through the Stele Forest, but they all spoke in whispers and didn't dare raise their voices. This was the first time Shi Feizhe had heard anyone speak so loudly.

The speaker was a hulking man nearly two meters tall, dressed in a pale blue Confucian robe and wearing a Confucian cap. His bulging muscles strained against the robe.

"Bu Cunren! This is Wisdom Grass! It sharpens the mind and opens the intellect. It can even let us enter the Alaya Consciousness, walk through the Buddhist realm, and attain perfect purity as we comprehend the Dharma! How could a Confucian brute with muscles like yours understand?" Blessing Monk replied gently.

Huh? Smoking could do all that?

Enter the Alaya Consciousness, walk through the Buddhist realm, attain perfect purity, and comprehend the Dharma?

Shi Feizhe listened in bewilderment. Could tobacco in this world be different from the kind in his previous life?

"Hey, everyone knows you Buddhists are all a bunch of chain-smokers. You smoke until your teeth turn yellow, then claim they're gold!" Seeing Blessing Monk's reply, Bu Cunren couldn't resist mocking him.

Their Heaven's Mandate Academy had nearly reached an agreement to open a branch in Qiu Yang City, but then the monks of Golden Buddha Temple had suddenly stuck their noses in. City Lord Lan of Qiu Yang City had promptly jacked up the price and started wavering, making things quite difficult for them.

He had come to Three Talents Manor as a guest today, only to run into this bald donkey from Golden Buddha Temple. How could he pass up the chance to needle him?

"Amitabha! A monk must not lie, and must also cultivate virtue in speech! Bu Cunren, if you're looking for trouble, I'll gladly offer you my fists and feet!" Blessing Monk glanced at Bu Cunren and said with a cold laugh.

"Heh... Think I'm afraid of you, bald donkey?" Five-colored light rose around Bu Cunren as he said, "I'm a guest at Three Talents Manor today. Fighting here would be quite improper! Come! I'll wait for you out on the lake!"

With that, he leaped lightly and soared toward the lake beside Three Talents Manor like a great bird.

"Heh... The Five Virtues of Heaven and Man? I'll gladly oblige!" A faint golden light shone from Blessing Monk, making him seem almost otherworldly. He, too, soared toward the lake.

Two masters with true qi were about to clash right there! The spectacle instantly set off a frenzy among the martial artists studying manuals at Three Talents Manor!

When choosing between reading manuals and watching a fight, of course they'd watch the fight! Especially when two masters with true qi were involved!

The manuals weren't going anywhere on those steles, but you didn't get to see true-qi masters fight every day!

A great crowd surged toward the lakeside. With his skinny arms and legs, Shi Feizhe couldn't keep up, so he could only trail them from a distance. Then he saw a five-colored torrent of true qi turn into a giant sword on the lake ahead and hack at something golden!

Looking at the sheer volume of true qi those men had, then at the few wisps in his own Dantian, Shi Feizhe felt the gulf between man and dog!

He had no idea that both men were masters at the Qi Sea Barrier of the Escaping Mundane Realm. Their true qi surged through their Eight Extraordinary Meridians like an ocean. The next step was to refine the three hundred and sixty acupoints throughout the body, letting their true essence circulate through the meridians and acupoints to form the Greater Celestial Circuit!

This was another level of the Escaping Mundane Realm: the Circuit!

As the giant five-colored sword came slashing down, golden light blazed around Blessing Monk, forming the Dharma image of a Buddha. It was Amitabha, the Buddha of Immeasurable Life!

Blessing Monk raised his right hand and made a hand seal like a pair of scissors, blocking Bu Cunren's sword.

"You bald donkeys are all turtles!" Seeing that his strike had failed, Bu Cunren wasn't surprised.

The Heaven's Mandate Academy believed that everyone who came into the world had been placed there by Heaven, and each had their own heavenly mandate! The Confucian scholars of their academy naturally had to enlighten all living beings and fulfill their own mandates!

Now that the world was in chaos, it was time to restore order, find a wise ruler, take up the mandate of Heaven, and usher in a new dynasty!

So his palm strike was the "Five Virtues Reincarnation!"

Monk: Wisdom Grass is great! Stay up all night chanting sutras, and your magic power knows no bounds!