After the monk left, the diners in the establishment could not help breaking into discussion.
First, Ling Yi's claim that the Buddhist School produced nothing and cut off its descendants struck a chord with most of them, who agreed with him.
Second was the news that Ling Yi intended to wipe out the Buddhist School.
But most importantly, they had never imagined that Ling Yi, the Liyang Sect leader whose name was causing such a stir throughout the Jianghu, would appear here.
In another month and a half, Liu Zhengfeng's hand-washing ceremony would take place. Ling Yi's appearance in Mount Heng City was bound to stir up enormous waves.
During this time, nearly every major event had revolved around Ling Yi, the Liyang Sect leader.
Two months ago, for instance, Old Yue had received guidance from Ling Yi and stepped into the Innate Realm.
Then there was Ling Yi taking Lin Pingzhi as a disciple, with the Bixie Sword Manual suspected to have fallen into the Liyang Sect's hands.
And in half a month, Ling Yi had swept through thirty-seven Jianghu sects and wiped out more than a dozen mountain bandit gangs.
In the Jianghu today, Ling Yi's fame was like the sun at high noon.
Afterward, someone recognized the man who had come looking for Ling Yi as none other than Master Fangsheng of Shaolin Temple. Shaolin Temple was on edge at every rustle of the wind, and had even closed its gates and turned away worshippers.
Ling Yi paid no attention to the commotion. He continued to eat and sleep as usual each day, waiting for the various categories of cultivation methods to finish merging.
Seven days later, when the last category of cultivation methods finished merging, Ling Yi's strength underwent an earth-shaking transformation.
Host: Ling Yi Life: 1000 Internal Energy (Spiritual Power): 1000 Cultivation: early Grandmaster Cultivation methods: unnamed Human Grade internal cultivation method (Great Perfection), unnamed Human Grade fist technique (Great Perfection), unnamed Human Grade palm technique (Great Perfection), unnamed Human Grade sword technique (Great Perfection), unnamed Human Grade movement technique (Great Perfection), unnamed Human Grade hidden weapon technique (Great Perfection), unnamed Human Grade Body Tempering technique (Great Perfection)... Cultivation Method Fusion progress: Earth Grade martial arts fusion progress (1%) Skills: none Points: 71. Plot progress: The Smiling, Proud Wanderer (26%). Passive Cultivation Aura lv3 (71/8000) (active): when active, all learned cultivation methods and skills enter Automatic Cultivation. Current cultivation speed bonus: 4 times. Automatically activates the Cultivation Method Fusion function. Similar cultivation methods and skills automatically fuse into higher-level forms, with no upper limit or bottlenecks. Passive Transmigration Aura lv1 (active): once participation in the current world's plot reaches 30% or more, transmigration becomes available. The destination world is random, and its timeline begins at the start of the plot.
Although the difference between a Grandmaster and a master seemed to be only one attribute point, that single point was the difference between heaven and earth. Compared to his former self, Ling Yi could now kill him in an instant.
The Grand Master Realm placed greater emphasis on rules and had already left the scope of martial arts entirely, truly stepping into another level.
By the standards of immortal cultivation, Ling Yi had now crossed from the Qi Refining Stage into the Foundation Establishment Stage.
Martial arts cultivation methods had finally been divided into grades as well.
Human Grade martial arts alone could bring a person to the Grandmaster Realm, transforming their strength as if heaven and earth had been overturned. What, then, of Earth Grade martial arts? Ling Yi looked forward to finding out.
However, the fusion progress for Earth Grade martial arts was far too slow.
Several days passed, and it was still at 1%.
Ling Yi reckoned his foundation was still somewhat shallow. To complete the fusion of Earth Grade martial arts, he would probably need to fuse a great many martial arts manuals into it.
And Ling Yi had a feeling that completing an Earth Grade martial art would be difficult in The Smiling, Proud Wanderer World.
The upper limit of martial arts in this world was insufficient to complete an Earth Grade martial art.
Now that his realm had reached the true bottleneck of this world, Ling Yi no longer felt like waiting for the fusion to progress. That day, after spending nearly half a month at the inn, he finally left and prepared to head for Mount Song.
Since he had said he would wipe out Shaolin, he would naturally do as he said.
"Interesting. I didn't expect such an interesting person to appear in the Jianghu." At a stall selling folding fans on a street corner, a woman in a blue dress, with peerless beauty and a proud bearing, murmured to herself as she waved a folding fan.
"Miss, are you buying that fan or not?" The stall owner frowned and asked when he saw that the young woman had made no move for quite some time.
The beauty casually tossed down a piece of silver weighing one tael and followed in the direction Ling Yi had gone.
The beauty was none other than Dongfang Bubai, the famous leader of the Sun Moon Holy Cult in The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, originally named Dongfang Bai.
With Ling Yi causing such a stir in the Jianghu, how could Dongfang Bai not know about him?
Dongfang Bai greatly admired Ling Yi's way of doing things: following his heart and doing whatever he wanted. After all, she had the same kind of personality.
Dongfang Bai was not the only one to follow Ling Yi. After he left the inn, many people of the Jianghu also set off for Mount Song.
Ling Yi, the Liyang Sect leader, was going to challenge the Shaolin Sect single-handedly. Naturally, these people of the Jianghu did not want to miss such a momentous event, the kind that came along only once in a century.
Shaolin and the Wudang Sect had always been the foremost sects in the Jianghu, existing above worldly affairs and looking down from on high.
People wanted to know who was stronger: Ling Yi, or Shaolin, with its thousand-year legacy.
And, interestingly enough, both the Shaolin Sect and the Mount Song Sect were on Mount Song.
The Mount Song Sect had a grudge against the Liyang Sect, and nine times out of ten, it would not swallow the insult. Otherwise, if Ling Yi passed right by its gates without its members making any response, that would be far too cowardly.
Sure enough, by the time Ling Yi reached the Mount Song Sect, several hundred of its disciples had drawn up in formation, awaiting his arrival.
What the assembled people of the Jianghu found shameful was that the Shaolin Sect had actually joined forces with the Mount Song Sect.
The monks of Shaolin Temple were also standing with the Mount Song Sect. The two eminent monks Fangzheng and Fangsheng stood alongside Zuo Lengchan, watching Ling Yi approach as if facing a formidable enemy.
"Oh, looks like you're quite sensible. You even knew to band together. That saves me a lot of trouble. Were you worried I'd have a hard time climbing the mountain?" Ling Yi tapped the watermelon knife in his hand and surveyed these so-called Martial Arts Experts.
"You monks aren't as lofty and noble as you claim to be. You even knew to find yourselves some help. Sure enough, you baldies are all just putting on airs."
"Benefactor, you have fallen into demonic ways. For the peace of the Jianghu, it is our bounden duty to subdue demons and slay devils," Fangzheng said with sanctimonious dignity.
"That nonsense won't work on me. If anyone who defies you is a devil, then everyone under heaven is a devil."
Years of fighting in his previous life had taught Ling Yi that when it was time to strike, he should stop running his mouth. In the end, it came down to one side living and the other dying; nonsense was meaningless.
And so, Ling Yi struck.
"Tathagata Divine Palm!" Ling Yi deliberately shouted, then thrust a palm straight forward without any technique.
Once a martial art reached Human Grade and one's realm reached Grandmaster, there was no longer any such thing as moves.
This was what it meant for no moves to triumph over moves.
A translucent giant palm, wreathed in flames and marked with clear lines, appeared in the air in an instant and swept forward.
In its wake, people were sent tumbling. Whether they were Shaolin disciples or Mount Song Sect disciples, they were all swept flying by the palm.
"Rumble!"
With a tremendous crash, the palm blasted a perfectly shaped, enormous handprint-shaped hole through the Mount Song Sect's high wall.
Several eminent monks of the Shaolin Sect and Zuo Lengchan were unharmed.
Ling Yi's palm strike looked magnificent, but it was not fast. Anyone who paid attention, even an ordinary person, could have escaped its reach.
The only reason so many people had still been sent flying was that the palm had shaken their minds and frightened them into immobility.
"How could such terrifying martial arts exist?" Although Ling Yi's palm strike had not been fast and Fangzheng and the others had dodged it, it had still frightened them.
This had left the scope of martial arts entirely. Damn it, this was an immortal art!
But at this point, even though Fangzheng and the others knew full well they were no match for Ling Yi, they still had to steel themselves and fight. They could only hope for a miracle.
"This devil's move has more than enough power, but it lacks speed. Attack at once!" Fangzheng shouted. Whether or not it was true, he had to say it.
Otherwise, their disciples would probably lose even the courage to attack.
After shouting, Fangzheng was the first to charge forward.
Seeing how brave Fangzheng was, the others swarmed forward after him.
"Take my Ten Thousand Buddhas Pay Homage!" Ling Yi raised his right hand, then brought it down sharply.
In the sky, hundreds of translucent giant palms infused with a frosty presence instantly took shape and hurtled toward Fangzheng and the others like falling meteors...