The tactic had worked. Yankong no longer wanted to speak.
Juekong had reversed their excellent position with just two remarks. How was that any different from surrendering?
Zhang Qingyuan looked elsewhere, wearing an expression that said this had nothing to do with him, while inwardly thinking, Big brother, why aren't you here yet?
"Martial arts." Zhang Junbao looked around and cupped his fists. "Since Master Juekong has raised the question, let me clarify something.
"The martial arts my senior brother and I use were all created by us."
"He really created them himself?"
"Impossible, surely? What kind of genius would he have to be to create his own martial arts?"
"Exactly. How old are they?"
"Big brother, even if we can't get him, we must befriend them!"
Those asking questions were ordinary people of the martial world.
Those challenging him were sect disciples whose understanding was too limited.
Those proposing friendship belonged to knowledgeable sects like the Joyous Union Sect and Mount Hua.
"Hahaha, created them yourself?" Juekong threw back his head and roared. "How could a mere child who only knows a few crude fist techniques create such powerful martial arts?"
Exactly. Wasn't creating martial arts something only sect leaders, elders, or long-renowned heroes could do?
Everyone watched Zhang Junbao like melon-munching badgers.
Zhang Junbao explained, "It's very simple. I just asked people who knew martial arts about the principles behind internal arts.
"Once I understood those principles, I summed up what I knew about the meridians and dantian, then read quite a few Daoist scriptures. Using their ideas and theories alongside my own insights, I repeatedly experimented with ways of circulating internal power. Then my senior brother told me his concepts and ingenious ideas about martial arts. Put them together, and naturally we created an internal cultivation method."
"Senior brother, what he said makes so much sense."
The two disciples from Mount Hua's Fifth Peak spoke in sudden understanding after hearing Zhang Junbao.
"Exactly. Aren't internal arts created by combining your own ideas with the sequence of meridian circulation and a cultivation method?"
"Mm, it sounds so simple. I feel like I know how now."
"Senior brother, me too."
The two disciples weren't speaking loudly, but everyone present was an expert with sharp eyes and keen ears. They heard every word.
Everyone looked at Zhong Qishan with complicated gazes.
As the master of the Huashan Sect's Fifth Peak, its fifth elder, and a respected senior expert in the martial world, Zhong Qishan desperately wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
A man in his forties, normally so stern and unsmiling, he now didn't know what to do with himself. His whole body looked busy, yet he had no idea what he was busy doing.
Bai Fulin, a ninth-generation elder of the Beggar Clan Central Province Branch, moved beside Zhong Qishan. Leaning on his cane, he asked with a smile, "Your disciples?"
"Ah!" Zhong Qishan answered awkwardly.
Never one to mind making a spectacle bigger, Bai Fulin gazed at the two disciples and said enviously, "Truly dragons and phoenixes among men."
"Heh, heh." Zhong Qishan laughed hollowly.
"If your disciples create any supreme arts in the future, remember to let this old beggar share in the joy."
"Ah, ahem..."
Chu Tianxing, master of Heaven Gate, looked up. "With such geniuses as your disciples, Brother Zhong, it seems the next leader of the Huashan Sect will come from your Fifth Peak. Congratulations, congratulations."
Zhong Qishan gritted his teeth. He couldn't understand. Why did I come here? Why doesn't Heaven send down divine punishment and strike everyone here dead?
His two disciples thought the Beggar Clan elder and Heaven Gate's master were genuinely praising them. Beside themselves with delight, they cupped their fists in return. "You flatter us, seniors. We brothers will work hard!"
Zhong Qishan's gaze met Monk Yankong's, and the two shared the exquisite understanding of fellow sufferers.
I'm tired. Let it all burn.
Juekong's anger was blazing. He laughed. "Ridiculous! If martial arts were truly so easy to create, with so many imaginative people in the world, wouldn't everyone become an expert?"
"In fact, that's exactly right. Not just our internal arts-all our martial arts were created this way.
"The Purple Firmament Thunder Ultimate Sword Technique: the purple firmament its soaring palace, thunder and lightning its cry.
"Basic sword moves are nothing more than thrusts, chops, lifts, upward cuts, and the like. Sword techniques merely combine those basic movements, adding True Qi and bringing sword intent together.
"My senior brother once discussed realms of swordsmanship and explained swordsmanship concepts to me.
"He said sword techniques could be activated with True Qi, issuing from the arms and transforming True Qi into formless Sword Qi. Sword Qi gathers in six meridians, and those six meridians use the fingers as guides to release six different forms of Sword Qi. Called a sword technique, it's actually a method of releasing it.
"My senior brother also said the Daoist way of Tai Chi divides into the beginnings of the two polarities, into the realms of yin and yang.
"Tai Chi encompasses all things.
"Overcoming hardness with softness, striking after the opponent yet gaining the upper hand-I thought those ideas made a lot of sense too, so I summarized the experience of our Daoist predecessors and developed half a Taiji Fist.
"My senior brother also said swordsmanship could begin by gathering the momentum of a thousand blades. With a movement of the fingers, the wind falls silent, Qi becomes still water, light becomes shadow, and the swift sword leaves no trace. I haven't found any leads for that sword technique yet. I'm still pondering it.
"My senior brother also spoke of a swordsmanship mindset where no moves defeat moves, and no sword defeats a sword.
"He talks, I summarize. Then we bring our ingenuity into play, and the martial arts are created."
Zhang Junbao made it sound extraordinarily simple-as simple as opening your mouth, putting food inside, chewing, swallowing, and becoming full.
Now everyone lost the mood to watch the show. They looked at Zhang Qingyuan and Zhang Junbao as though gazing at two peerless treasures.
Leaving aside Zhang Junbao's unintentional flexing, the martial arts concepts he had just described alone absolutely qualified him as an extraordinary talent.
Every expert present knew that what he was saying was right!
Zhang Qingyuan's ingenuity, combined with Zhang Junbao's practical ability-invincible!
Such monstrous geniuses actually existed in this world.
Gulp... gulp...
The sounds of swallowing rose one after another as they stared at Zhang Qingyuan and Zhang Junbao like hungry wolves.
Mount Hua, Heaven Gate, the Beggar Clan, the Joyous Union Sect...
They even entertained a bold idea: they would risk war with Shaolin to get them.
Juekong's eyes had turned completely red. He now realized that the rumors of Zhang Junbao creating his own martial arts were true.
He realized even more clearly that he absolutely could not let him leave today.
If he couldn't have him, he could only destroy him.
He had suffered Qi deviation. His inner demon had completely occupied his heart.
Because of me, a genius was allowed to leave.
Because of me, this genius broke with Shaolin.
Because of me, this genius turned to the Daoist schools.
And because of me, we cannot bring him back.
I have failed Shaolin, failed the abbot, failed the Buddha, failed all the Buddhist schools under heaven!
"U-utter nonsense! What you practice is Shaolin martial arts! What proof do you have that you created those arts? Those are all Shaolin martial arts! What Purple Firmament Thunder Ultimate Sword Technique? You merely stole our Shaolin sword manual and changed its name!!!" Juekong raged hysterically and impotently.
"Amitabha. Junior brother, you have succumbed to your demon."
Yankong felt utterly exhausted. Not only had they lost Zhang Junbao, but his junior brother was ruined too.
"Senior brother, I haven't succumbed! He's the one who has! Him!" He waved his arms and stamped his feet in madness.
Entirely unaffected by Juekong, Zhang Junbao took out the Purple Firmament Thunder Ultimate Sword Technique manual and the Nine Yang Palm manual, handing them to Zhong Qishan beside him.
"You are all seniors of the martial world and have read countless manuals. I'm sure you understand the principles in these manuals better than I do.
"You may pass them around and examine the moves inside, along with the annotated cultivation methods, to see whether they have anything to do with Buddhist schools."
Zhong Qishan accepted the two manuals and opened them with trembling hands. He first glanced toward Shaolin, then lowered his eyes to read.
After finishing the first manual, he passed it to Chu Tianxing and began the second.
An incense stick's time later, everyone of standing had read them, and all remained silent.
Chu Tianxing was still the one who dared speak. "They have nothing to do with Shaolin," he stated bluntly.
Everyone regarded Zhang Junbao with greater admiration. To prove his innocence, he had even produced his martial arts manuals as evidence.
Isn't he afraid we'll secretly learn them after reading them?
Moreover, it was now proven that the two really could create martial arts.
One supplied the theory; the other created them in practice.
And their cultivation speed was first-rate too.
What kind of goddamn divine talent is this?
Heaven, please take these two monsters away!
Of course Zhang Qingyuan and his companion weren't afraid. This was precisely what Zhang Junbao and Zhang Qingyuan had intended.
I dare to go all in. Do you?
We dare to share our martial arts, proving that their underlying approach comes from the Dao.
Do you dare bring out Shaolin's supreme arts and let everyone leaf through them too, looking for similarities between the two sets of manuals?
Never mind that Zhang Junbao's creations had nothing to do with Shaolin-even if they did, they wouldn't dare bring theirs out for everyone to compare.
Yankong was channeling internal power into Juekong, helping him suppress the evil thoughts of his demonic possession.
Yet Zhang Junbao's move of finding life by placing himself in mortal peril also plunged Juekong into complete despair.
At his fingertips, the Formless Tribulation Finger abruptly began circulating, several strands of True Qi faintly flickering there.
The last person to finish reading the manuals was Luo Binghe, leader of the Joyous Union Sect, whom the martial world called Big Brother.
He smiled as he returned the manuals to Zhang Junbao and said with feeling, "There are rumors in the martial world that if you truly could create such profound martial arts in your teens, you could only be Great Emperor Zhenwu descended into the world, or the Perfected Lord of the Wondrous Dao reborn.
"Having just read your manuals, I now think perhaps they were right."
"Enough!"
In the end, Juekong failed to suppress his inner demon.
After a thunderous shout,
True Qi erupted,
forcing everyone to retreat repeatedly under the force of that powerful Buddhist True Qi.
Formless Tribulation Finger!
Before they could react, the Formless Tribulation Finger shot from both his index fingers, its powerful force firing through the air at Zhang Qingyuan and Zhang Junbao.
Though their martial arts hadn't reached Juekong's level, the two were far from weak.
Instinctively using Roaming Body Steps, they dodged the attack.
The next second, Juekong broke free of Yankong's restraint and lunged through the air at them.
Zhang Qingyuan and Zhang Junbao cursed inwardly at the same time. That old monk Yankong really can put on an act!
The two retreated at tremendous speed, falling back several dozen zhang.
After steadying himself, Juekong struck twice through the air, sending two enormous golden palm imprints crashing toward them.
"Nine Yang Palm!"
The two unleashed powerful palm force as well. Two little suns the size of basketballs collided with the palm imprints, exploding and raising billows of thick smoke.
Zhang Qingyuan and Zhang Junbao retreated again, withdrawing beyond the smoke.
An eternal truth: where there's smoke, there's no damage.
Sure enough, Juekong charged out of the dust. Zhang Qingyuan and Zhang Junbao stood ready.
Two against one. I refuse to believe a madman can kill me!
They were just about to draw their swords when a streak of white Sword Qi tore across the sky like a meteor and landed between the two sides, carving a long line into the ground.
Immediately afterward, a figure descended from the sky.
He wore a yellow-and-white checked Daoist robe and a golden crown. The sword in his hand was three feet long, its blade entirely white as snow.
His bearing was otherworldly, like a true immortal descended to earth.
After landing, he stood inside the line carved by the Sword Qi, his back to Zhang Qingyuan and Zhang Junbao, and addressed Juekong:
"Let this humble Daoist see who dares bully my junior brothers."
Seeing the newcomer's face clearly, everyone exclaimed in shock:
"The Pure Yang Daoist Chief, Chen Xugu!"
Zhang Qingyuan and Zhang Junbao finally breathed sighs of relief, thinking, He's finally here.