Meanwhile, at the Shaolin Temple on Mount Shaoshi, Xuanci and several eminent monks were discussing where to send someone to secretly slip away with the Shaolin, while others would be left behind to draw fire.
Everyone knows that since the government is going to suppress them, it is inevitable that most people will have to sacrifice themselves, and it would be fortunate if a small number of people could escape with their lives and preserve their lineage.
Most of the young monks wore expressions of fear and panic. Even the occasional remarks from older monks about how death meant returning to the Western Paradise could not dispel their fear.
The terror between life and death is something that ordinary people simply cannot comprehend.
However, just as the Shaolin Temple monks were arguing about who had taken the inheritance and escaped, several of the mountain's guard monks ran in.
"Abbot, disaster! Disaster! Those soldiers are breaking their promise; they've already started burning the mountain ahead of schedule, and the fire has already started spreading from the foot of the mountain up."
"What!!"
Even Xuanci couldn't sit still any longer. He quickly used his internal energy to jump onto the main hall and climbed up the roof ridge to the top of the building.
Looking around, sure enough, smoke and fire were rising everywhere; apart from the main road down the mountain, there was no place without smoke and fire.
It was early autumn, and the entire Mount Shaoshi had been transformed into a fiery inferno by widespread arson.
"You beast! You beast!"
"These heartless killers, do they really intend to burn down the foundation of my Shaolin Temple?"
Abbot Xuanci, unusually, swore, and he too felt anger.
Unfortunately, at this point, no amount of cursing or complaining would change anything. After surveying the fire line below, Xuanci finally gave up on the idea of letting his disciples escape.
With the mountain ablaze, let alone ordinary disciples, even seasoned veterans of the martial world might not have the ability to escape the raging inferno.
Water and fire are merciless, and that's not just a saying; they practice martial arts, not immortality cultivation.
Now that the main road down the mountain hasn't been lit yet, it seems the other side is forcing them to go down the main road.
Thinking this, Xuanci sighed, jumped off the roof, and then instructed the disciples in the temple to take the scriptures and valuables down the mountain before the main road caught fire.
Perhaps they will still have a chance to break through then; if all else fails, they will have no choice but to surrender.
The main road was indeed without fire; it was a path Xu Xiao had left for them, but it was also a dead end that forced them to descend the mountain.
After all, being burned alive is nothing compared to the shock of slaughtering a Shaolin, a titan of the martial arts world, in front of everyone in the martial arts community.
Xu Xiao gave them a chance, but they didn't cherish it, so they shouldn't blame him for being ruthless.
Besides, Xu Xiao remembered his promise to Qiao Feng to help him avenge his enemies.
Wildfires raged, and it was autumn; the thick smoke and flames painted the sky with color.
Soldiers at the foot of the mountain were on high alert, and the entire foot of Mount Song was surrounded. Although the main road was left open for people to choose from, there were also concerns that some people might try to escape quietly through some side paths.
On the main road, Qiao Feng sat imposingly in a chair, waiting for the Shaolin Temple monks to descend the mountain.
All around him were soldiers with their military equipment piled up, while Xu Xiao watched the show from a short distance away.
Throughout the entire Shaolin Temple, the only one who could interest Xu Xiao Sweeper Monk; he had absolutely no interest in fighting the others.
As the one in power, he only needs to watch from the sidelines; he will only intervene selectively if the situation spirals out of control.
Less than half an hour after the fire started, a large group of monks came down from Mount Shaoshi Mountain.
They were all covered in dust and dirt, holding sticks and weapons, and many of them were carrying large bundles on their backs.
The leaders of these people were several experts of the Xuan generation. As soon as they came down the mountain, they saw an army that was waiting in full battle.
" Amitabha Buddha, this humble monk Xuanci, may I request..."
"Release the arrows!!"
The Martial Wu 6 from the Martial Command Office on the side gave the order directly, leaving no room for discussion whatsoever.
Xu Xiao had said long ago that since the Shaolin Temple monks didn't want that opportunity, the only path left for them was death.
The only difference is whether they were silently burned to death in the Yamanaka or were wiped out by the imperial court in front of the people of the martial arts world.
At a single command, a hail of arrows rained down on the Shaolin descending the mountain. This group of martial arts practitioners had never witnessed such a display of force before.
Not to mention that the army deployed at the foot of Mount Shaoshi this time is much larger than before, numbering in the tens of thousands.
After the first volley of arrows, less than 30% of the Shaolin disciples remained standing.
This was only because some disciples were at the back of the descending group and were beyond the range of the arrows, thus escaping the disaster.
Now, the Shaolin have descended the mountain will face a dilemma: to advance or to retreat.
If they advanced, they were shot to death; if they retreated, they were burned to death.
" Amitabha Buddha, why must you be so aggressive, benefactor?"
At the critical moment, a Buddhist chant echoed all around, and an inconspicuous old monk stepped out from among the Shaolin monks.
"Fire arrows! Keep firing arrows!" Wu 6 didn't care about anything else and gave the order directly.
Another rain of arrows came, but when they got within three feet of the old monk, they seemed to hit an invisible wall and all of them deflected and broke.
"This..."
Wu 6 couldn't help but look at Xu Xiao, whose behavior reminded him of Xu Xiao's methods back then.
Both are formless and intangible, and both can withstand a rain of arrows; the only difference is that this old monk cannot fly.
"Let them use ballistae, fire volleys of ballistae, and catapults to hurle thunderbolts. I want to see just how far their martial arts can go."
Xu Xiao, standing to the side, became interested. He had fought against the palace guards before and knew that these people had ways to fight against cold weapons, but he had never tested the strength of a top martial arts master against a powerful weapon on the battlefield.
"This subordinate obeys."
Following Xu Xiao's orders, Wu 6 pulled out a small flag from his pocket and waved it.
The ballistae and catapults, which had been deployed long beforehand, all began to unleash their power upon seeing the flag signal.
'Buzz~'
A whistling sound shook the air as crossbow bolts, each as thick as an arm and over a meter long, hurtled down from the sky, carrying a power far exceeding that of arrows.
(Fun fact: The power of the Northern Song Dynasty's ballista was no less than that of the Barrett missile)
The earthenware jars, about the size of a human head, were filled with kerosene and gunpowder, resembling fireballs being poured down.
Faced with such an attack, the Sweeper Monk dared not be careless. His three-foot-high qi wall could defend against a rain of arrows and even a few scattered crossbow bolts, but it could not possibly withstand such a dense barrage.
If he had stood still, he would have been riddled with bullets after exhausting himself. However, the old monk wasn't just standing there waiting to be beaten.
He spotted Xu Xiao sitting on the dragon carriage from afar and immediately realized that the other was the leader of this army.
Shaolin Temple doesn't fight or scramble, yet it still suffered this undeserved calamity; the other party was the source of it.
Since they have come knocking on our door, even the Vajra of the Buddhist Sect shows its anger.
He unleashed his Internal Energy, creating a three-foot-high wall of energy that deflected several ballistae fired at him. Then, he reached out, grabbed a crossbow bolt, and flicked away the incoming bolt and the earthenware pot.
The Sweeper Monk moved with lightning speed, leaping from his spot as fast as lightning.
To catch the thief, first catch the king!