Wang Hao had long been planning how to completely deceive these Shaomu Temple, but he had never been able to find the right balance.
Because he had fooled the old Puyin before, he was still unsure how much of the result of that Puyin had been relayed back to him. Fangzheng's question finally confirmed this for him.
It's certain that Puyin old monk Puyin only transmitted back the cultivation method of that knock-off version of the Hong Kong comic's Golden Bell Shield Divine Art. As for the others, he either didn't have the opportunity or there were other reasons, so he didn't transmit them back.
This is like a blank sheet of paper, allowing him to deceive us at will.
"That's true. Hundreds of years ago, a Grandmaster Fahai emerged from your ancestral Central Plains, who stole the heart of Bai Suzhen, the Holy Maiden of our overseas Demon Sect. For Grandmaster Fahai, Bai Suzhen even went so far as to cripple her martial arts and betray the Demon Sect. Their love story still has many versions that are widely circulated in our overseas martial arts world!"
Wang Hao smiled brightly, but it left Fangzheng and the others completely dumbfounded, their faces turning ashen.
" Amitabha Buddha! Benefactor, please be careful with your words. The precept against sexual misconduct is one of the eight major precepts of Buddhist Order. It is absolutely impossible for anyone to break this precept, let alone with a Demon Sect woman."
After chanting a Buddhist prayer, Fangzheng immediately denied it, saying that such a mess could not possibly fall on their Buddhist Order, otherwise, they would be in big trouble.
Their Buddhist Order sect's vast wealth and influence had already aroused resentment and covetousness from many people. Even the Confucian School and Taoist School, and even the imperial court, harbored ill intentions and were looking for an opportunity to suppress them!
If this gets out, those people will definitely seize on it.
"Isn't that right? That's not right! Grandmaster Fahai uses the Great God that are inherited from Damo, and the Yan Household, Grandmaster Fahai's descendants, are still practicing them!"
Wang Hao feigned confusion, as if he didn't understand why Fangzheng and the others would deny it.
Wang Hao was feigning confusion, but Fangzheng and the others were genuinely confused.
Their target this time is the Great God of Shaomu Temple. The information they obtained from the Peerless Sword Saint last time also indicated that the Great God are the inheritance of Damo, in other words, they belong to Shaomu Temple.
But how come there's another Fahai?
Just as the group was wondering what was going on, Wang Hao pretended to understand something, slapped his thigh, and exclaimed, "I know! It must be the Shaomu Temple's secret technique that Grandmaster Fahai stole!"
Fangzheng and the others exchanged glances, and finally Fangzheng could only force a dry laugh and say, "Perhaps we have misunderstood. Although Shaomu Temple is a sacred Buddhist Order site, sometimes one or two enlightened monks accidentally break their vows. That Grandmaster Fahai should be one of the eminent monks of Shaomu Temple."
There was no other way; their ultimate goal was to obtain the Damo's Four Great Divine Arts, and it seemed that only the Yan Household, descendants of Grandmaster Fahai, possessed this kind of inheritance in the overseas martial arts world. Therefore, they had to cultivate a good relationship with the Yan Household.
If we were to accuse someone's ancestor of stealing martial arts skills now, we would definitely fight to the death whenever we met again.
"Huh? Did I guess wrong?"
Wang Hao pretended to be confused again, while secretly sending Xie Feng message to Xie Feng, who was making a guest appearance, to take the stage.
After all, there are some things that can't be said by him alone, and his current persona as Ximen Chuixue is that of a sword fanatic who doesn't seem very interested in anything other than swords.
Therefore, it's really not appropriate for him to talk about this kind of thing, so it's more appropriate for Xie Feng, who once followed the Peerless Sword Saint, to speak on it.
" Mr. Ximen, gentlemen, I learned some things about this from the Peerless Sword Saint."
Having received Wang Hao's telepathic message, Xie Feng readily stepped forward, interrupting everyone's contemplation and confusion.
How could you possibly know?
Wang Hao feigned a puzzled expression, seemingly unable to understand why a person from the Central Plains would know these secrets.
"To be honest, I was quite curious about the Damo's Four Great Divine Arts back then, so I asked the Peerless Sword Saint about some things in this regard."
Following Wang Hao's instructions, Xie Feng began to fabricate a story, and Wang Hao, feigning thoughtfulness, also joined in the fabrication.
"That's true. I've heard that Peerless City and the Yan Household are very close, and even have intermarriages. If it were the Peerless Sword Saint, Dugu Jian, he would certainly know more."
" Xie Feng, please enlighten us, we would be eternally grateful!"
Fangzheng quickly gestured for Xie Feng to continue, saying that they had also realized that the Yan Household was a key factor in whether or not they could obtain the Damo's Four Great Divine Arts.
The news of the Great God first came from the Peerless Sword Saint. Since Xie Feng was serving this person at the time, it makes perfect sense that he knew some of it.
"Don't just stand there, come on, let's go to the pavilion over there to talk. You're Xie Feng, right? You'd better tell me all about this!"
As Wang Hao spoke, he patted Xie Feng on the shoulder and, incidentally, transmitted a fragment of memory to him through his Innate Divine Sense.
Although he could use the secret technique of Sound Transmission into the Ear to provide on-site guidance, these old monks in front of him were all experts at the Innate Realm. It was hard to guarantee that they wouldn't see through him at close range, so it was better to be cautious. He directly transmitted the prepared deceptive rhetoric through his Innate Divine Sense.
"Yes, yes, let's go to the pavilion to talk!"
Fangzheng and the others readily agreed and followed him into a pavilion not far away.
A dozen or so people crowded the small pavilion, but the monks of Shaomu Temple didn't mind at all. They huddled together like primary school students in class, staring intently at Xie Feng and Wang Hao with eager eyes.
"The story goes like this: according to the Peerless Sword Saint, Grandmaster Fahai was once the Fangzhang of Shaomu Temple..."
As soon as he sat down, Xie Feng didn't waste any words and immediately started to deceive people, but he was interrupted by Fangzheng as soon as he opened his mouth.
" Amitabha Buddha! Xie Feng, please be careful with your words. The Fangzhang of Shaomu Temple throughout the ages have all been highly accomplished monks who have strictly adhered to the precepts. There is absolutely no way they would do anything to violate the precepts, let alone such a serious precept as the prohibition against sexual misconduct."
The other old monks also looked grim. They had reluctantly compromised earlier, but only by characterizing Grandmaster Fahai as a highly accomplished monk from Shaomu Temple, so that they could gloss over the matter.
But now this person has directly promoted Grandmaster Fahai to Fangzhang Shaomu Temple, which is not funny.
"Is that really the case? What about that Fangzhang of your Shaomu Temple during the Northern Song Dynasty, whose Dharma name Xuanci? Is there any record in our Beggars' Sect ' Sect's records that he broke both the precepts against killing and lust?"
The woman he had an affair with eventually became a villain who specialized in killing infants. She also betrayed her country and joined the Western Xia First Rank Hall. Her son, Xuzhu, eventually became the leader of the Carefree Sect.
Don't try to deny it. That Xuzhuzi was sworn brothers with our Beggars' Sect' Sect leader back then, and these things are all recorded."
With a cold laugh, Xie Feng gave Fangzheng and the others a disdainful look.
These things could not possibly be recorded in the Beggars' Sect, after all, the Beggars' Sect is the most special in the entire Central Plains martial arts world, with its headquarters location constantly changing, and sometimes there is no headquarters at all.
It's important to know that during the late Song Dynasty and the late Yuan and early Ming Dynasties, the Beggars' Sect was involved in the dynastic changes, but failed to succeed and was inevitably besieged and killed by the new dynasties afterward.
If the Beggars' Sect' Sect members weren't so special, they would have been wiped out long ago.
In this way, the concept of inheritance becomes meaningless, just like how their Beggars' Sect's strongest martial arts, the Dog-Beating Dog-Beating Staff Technique and the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms, were almost completely lost.
Therefore, these things were naturally just passed on to him by Wang Hao, who specifically instructed that this part was all true.
Given his absolute loyalty to this Lord, he would naturally have no doubt whatsoever.
So, Fangzheng and the others were now in an awkward position.
" Amitabha Buddha!"
After chanting a Buddhist prayer, Fangzheng and the others fell silent, clearly acquiescing.
After leaving the Heavenly Demon Sacred Cult and the overseas martial arts world, these two major external forces, like the Confucian School, had already thoroughly searched through all their own classic texts, especially those recording miscellaneous events in the martial arts world, hoping to find clues to their own lineage.
Therefore, they were all very familiar with what happened to Fangzhang Xuanci back then, and they understood that Xie Feng said was true, so there was no way to refute it.
"Snort!"
Fangzheng and the others seemed to tacitly agree, Xie Feng snorted coldly, but inwardly he was quite surprised and realized that the information his master had given him was indeed true.
"Keep going!"
Wang Hao urged, his Bagua manner causing the Fangzhang and the others to darken their faces, realizing that their Shaomu Temple's reputation was about to be humiliated again.
"Yes, Mr. Ximen!"
Not daring to be negligent, Xie Feng hurriedly continued to deceive... no, to explain, "According to Sword Saint Dugu, Bai Suzhen, the contemporary saintess of the overseas Demon Sect, came to my ancestral land in the Central Plains to travel. She met and became acquainted with Grandmaster Fahai, who was also traveling the world. Unknowingly, a trace of affection was born between them."
At this time, for some unknown reason, the overseas Demon Sect learned of this and sent people to capture Senior Bai Suzhen. However, they were repelled by the combined efforts of Grandmaster Fahai and Senior Bai Suzhen, and Senior Bai Suzhen revealed her true identity to Grandmaster Fahai.
Grandmaster Fahai, concerned about the reputation of Shaomu Temple, used his wisdom to sever all ties with Bai Suzhen and became the next Fangzhang of Shaomu Temple.
However, this matter was accidentally discovered by Grandmaster Fahai's junior brother, who was ambitious and wanted to bring down Grandmaster Fahai. He lured Bai Suzhen to Shaomu Temple and falsely accused her of stealing the Great God of Bai Suzhen Shaomu Temple, which caused the high monks of Shaomu Temple to fight against him.
Although Bai Suzhen's Thirteen Deadly Swords were powerful, they were no match for the combined attack of the many high monks of Shaomu Temple. Just as she was about to perish, Grandmaster Fahai couldn't help but intervene to save her...
Watching Jie Xie Feng, spitting as he talked and getting more and more excited, Wang Hao couldn't help but feel a little strange. He really hadn't realized that this guy had such a talent for conning people; he was almost as good as him.
He had simply sent over the basic information and then let the guy do whatever he wanted.
He was all prepared to cooperate, but who would have thought this guy was so talented that he single-handedly carried the entire show.
It seems this is yet another sales genius whose talents were wasted on being a beggar!
Leaving aside Wang Hao's inner thoughts, Fang Fangzheng and the others on the other side were completely bewildered. Although they found it unbelievable, upon closer examination, it wasn't entirely impossible.
Although the Shaomu Temple Buddhist Order claims to be detached from worldly desires, they are still human at heart. As long as they are human, they will have desires. The struggle for the position of Fangzhang in each generation is particularly fierce, and some scheming is inevitable.
They've even started to imagine what this might mean.
This was, after all, a major scandal. Although we learned from Xie Feng that Grandmaster Fahai's junior brother ultimately won, drove Grandmaster Fahai away, and succeeded him Fangzhang, it was a Pyrrhic victory that severely damaged Shaomu Temple at the time. Furthermore, the Great God Skills were lost, and the temple was forced to close its doors for a hundred years.
Such a scandal would surely have been covered up by the Fangzhang and his predecessors to prevent it from being recorded.
For example, the records of Xuanci Fangzhang during Shaomu Temple Northern Song Dynasty are vague and not as detailed as what Xie Feng just said.
Furthermore, their Shaomu Temple has suffered many calamities, and even the current Seventy-Two Supreme Skills are not perfect, so it is very possible that the records of these arts have been lost.
Therefore, what Xie Feng said must be true.