,
At the words "White-Clad Buddhist," Xuancheng and the others immediately furrowed their brows, a cold glint flashing in their eyes.
The mountain visit to Putian had ended with Shaolin Temple victorious.
But Xuancheng and the others had never been able to accept the outcome.
Eight of them had attacked together, yet they hadn't even forced their opponent to reveal his full strength. For several young men who considered themselves talented, it had been an unbearable blow.
Xuancheng in particular had never lost a fight since he began practicing martial arts. After that encounter, he had been miserable for a long time.
"Huh?"
But when their eyes met, Xuanci was the first to freeze. "Why did your hair grow out? Can monks grow their hair?"
The White-Clad Buddhist had been wearing a faint smile, ready to say something, but the corners of his mouth twitched. After taking a deep breath, he replied with a rueful smile, "Young Master Xuanci, after the battle at Shaolin Temple, I left Putian."
"I know."
Xuanci looked puzzled. "You left Putian. But what does that have to do with your hair? You're a monk!"
The White-Clad Buddhist froze, standing there in a daze. After a long moment, he murmured, "Is that so? Is that how it is?"
So Master had told him to return to secular life because he'd already seen that there was no Buddhist heart in him. Looking back on the past two years, he had sometimes missed his days as a monk, but far more often he had felt free and unrestrained. And back when he had lived in the temple, he had, in truth, liked practicing martial arts more than chanting sutras. His travels after leaving the mountain had undoubtedly been the happiest time of his life.
Having grasped the crux of it, the White-Clad Buddhist shook his head, mocking himself for the genuine regret that had plagued him over the past two years. When he saw Xuanci and the others, an intense emotion had surged through him, but now that he thought about it, it really was ridiculous.
He was no Buddha. Why pretend to be one?
"After leaving Mount Song, I returned to secular life."
Xuanci froze, a giant question mark appearing over his head. Return to secular life? He understood the phrase. It meant no longer being a monk.
But wait. What did it mean to return to secular life after leaving Mount Song?
"Heh, Brother Li, are these the astonishingly talented disciples of the Xuan generation at Songshan Shaolin Temple you've always talked about?"
Another voice rang out. A young man dressed in white came down from the second floor, elegant and handsome, with a pair of sharp, star-bright eyes and an almost imperceptible air of arrogance between his brows.
He was just as dashing, but entirely different from the White-Clad Buddhist.
Beside the young man were two women.
One wore blue and was as lovely as a lotus rising from clear water. A pure-white jade pendant hung at her waist, and she held a Han sword in her sleeve-covered hand.
The other was younger, sweet and adorable, with her hair tied up in two buns. Her eyes were especially big, giving her a bright, quirky look.
"I've heard Master talk about the Shaolin Dragon Capturing Skill for ages. This is my first time seeing it in person!"
"Hey, Brother Murong, Shaolin Temple's finger techniques and the Gusu Clan's finger techniques are both renowned throughout the world, ranked among the top three. I wonder which is stronger?"
The young man called Murong smiled slightly. "Miss Yulong, Shaolin Temple's martial arts are profound and vast. The Buddhist Sect stands at the pinnacle, and few in the martial world can rival it. The Murong family's finger techniques are famous only in name. Even the Taiyin Profound Finger you use, Miss Yulong, is beyond Murong's reach."
Taiyin Profound Finger.
Li Su raised an eyebrow. It was undoubtedly a finger technique he had never even heard of during the era of Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils. However, the monk Tianming had told him about it on the way here. It was the Shangqing Sect's exclusive martial art, extraordinarily difficult to master, but immensely powerful once learned. It was no weaker than the Six Meridians Divine Sword, Formless Calamity Finger, or Canhe Finger.
And why had he brought up the Shangqing Sect? Simple.
Among the orthodox schools under heaven, Shaolin led the Buddhist Sect, while Shangqing led the Daoist schools.
"Really?"
The little girl smiled. Then her eyes darted around, and she said, "I wonder which of you little monks knows the Formless Calamity Finger? Brother Li keeps talking about it, but I don't know who he means."
At her words, Xuancheng and the others' gazes shifted slightly, turning toward Li Su.
"So it's you!"
The little girl's eyes lit up. She bounced over to Li Su, stopping so close that there was barely a centimeter between them as she stared into his eyes.
Li Su's mouth twitched. For a moment, he felt as if thunder were rolling overhead, and he immediately retreated two steps.
Damn it, he'd been standing in the corner, not saying a word, playing the role of a wooden post from beginning to end, and she'd still found him?
Damn it.
Xuanci, you jinx. Nothing good ever happens when I'm with you.
It was the same two years ago, and it was the same now.
You were the one who started the trouble. Why the hell am I always the one who draws the fire?
Wasn't Xuancheng standing right there? How had she not noticed him?
If she was interested, shouldn't she have gone to him first? Just look at that presence—he was obviously strong, and among them, unquestionably the strongest.
And you lot, why are you looking at me? Shouldn't you all be working together to look anywhere but at me, so she can't find a target?
"Hee-hee!"
The girl stared at Li Su for a while. Then her little face bloomed into a smile, and she raised a hand as white as jade.
"Little monk, take this!!!"
At her shout, Li Su's face turned green.
She hadn't used her full strength, but that finger strike was extraordinary. The instant she thrust it forward, the air around them turned heavy, and it felt as though he had fallen into an ice cellar.
More importantly, she had attacked with startling suddenness. Her strength was formidable, and the people around them had no time to react.
Nearby, Wang Jiantong's face changed dramatically.
Holy crap, this is bad!
Taiyin Profound Finger—this girl had no sense of restraint!
So what if she hadn't used her full strength? It was a profound finger technique, far more powerful than ordinary martial arts.
Why had Wang Er been scared into a cold sweat just from seeing the Dragon-Capturing Skill? Because the gap between the martial arts he knew and his opponent's was so vast that no amount of age could make up for it.
Although he had heard the White-Clad Buddhist mention that a little monk at Shaolin Temple knew the Formless Calamity Finger, he didn't know how things actually stood.
With an attack this sudden, even if the little monk really knew the technique, how much experience could he have? If he failed to react in time, it would be a catastrophe.
That was right. A catastrophe.
These eight little monks were clearly the future backbone of Shaolin Temple. Could Shaolin Temple accept anything happening to them?
"Junior Sister Yulong, don't—"
Standing where he was, Li Su felt helpless, frustrated, and deeply aggrieved.
Damn it, why was Xuanci the one who went out to fight, while he was the one who had to clean up afterward?
And on top of that, the elegant-looking fellow standing on the stairs—Murong? The Gusu Clan? Who else could it be but Murong Bo?
That old schemer had ruined Xuanci's entire life and his own son's entire life. The lunatic had wanted to rebel, and after learning that Xiao Feng was the Liao Kingdom's Southern Bureau Great King, he had actually been willing to surrender. This fellow clearly meant no good either, deliberately claiming that his Canhe Finger was inferior.
He drew a breath, raised his hand, and extended a finger.
Two-Finger Formless!
Compared with two years ago, Li Su's Formless Calamity Finger had naturally improved as well.
Boom!
Their fingers met, and the collision erupted with a roar.
One was icy cold to the heart, the other scorching like fire.
Two utterly different forces, like water and fire that could never blend, clashed with tremendous fury.
The two streams of finger energy burst outward, their immense force surging in every direction.
The little girl's eyes lit up. With a sidestep, she floated back to Murong's side, entirely untouched by the force.
She was fast, but Li Su was faster. Just as in his duel with the White-Clad Buddhist, the instant he released his finger force, he bolted, retreating all the way to the foot of the stairs.
Clearly, the two combatants had acted in perfect accord.
Wang Jiantong and the others were out of luck.
They were too close, and they hadn't expected the two finger strikes to be so domineering. The force that burst apart was beyond all imagination, and one stream was cold while the other was scorching.
In an instant, the entire stairwell shook. Unable to withstand the clash of those two opposing forces, it shattered with a crash.
"Hah!"
With a low shout, Wang Jiantong barely seemed to move, yet a flash of swordlight appeared. He swept his sword several times in quick succession, breaking through the force before leaping backward and landing in the hall.
As for Xuancheng and the others, they circulated their inner energy. Vajra True Qi reinforced their Iron Cloth Shirt, wrapping around their bodies as the force shoved them down into the hall.
With the outcome laid bare, Wang Jiantong and the other martial artists in the hall couldn't help crying out in shock.
Damn!
Xuanci's entrance had already stunned the entire crowd.
The Dragon-Capturing King's strike and the former White-Clad Buddhist's Demon-Subduing Sleeve had left most of them speechless.
They had thought Xuanci was the leading figure of this generation at Shaolin Temple.
But then an even fiercer one appeared.
The Shangqing Mystic Maiden, Ming Yulong!
She had been active for barely a year, yet her name had already resounded far and wide. She was an unparalleled genius, the likes of whom the Shangqing Sect saw only once in a century. At sixteen, she had already reached the upper ranks of the second-rate realm, and before turning thirty, she could enter the first-rate realm.
But then?
A little monk who looked even younger than her—never mind that he had reached the Circulation Realm. That Formless Calamity Finger, damn, just looking at it was enough to make a person worry.
Wasn't Shaolin Temple an upright, honorable sect? How could its Formless Calamity Finger be so underhanded?
The little monk's strike had made no sound at all. You couldn't even see the force of his finger, yet only when the explosion erupted did you realize what terrifying heat it contained.
At that moment, upstairs, the little girl looked at Li Su, her big eyes shining with delight.
"You actually ran faster than I did? Little monk, Yulong's interested in you now."
Li Su pressed his palms together and drew a deep breath. Amitabha, monks were supposed to be compassionate, and he himself had even less interest in women. Couldn't she go find someone else?