The Making of a General
The blue light in the main hall vanished.
Miaofan collapsed to the ground, his face as white as paper, blood gushing from his mouth and nose. He hurriedly circulated his internal energy to regulate his breathing.
Xiahou Feishan's face also turned a little pale, his long sword pointing diagonally, bracing himself against the ground.
Although Miaoyin and Miaoguo were unharmed, their eyes Zhongdu with shock.
Wudang Taiji Fist is the world's top method of using the opponent's force against them, but that means redirecting the force when weapons or limbs come into contact, not waiting for the opponent to hit you.
Moreover, Shaolin Wudang are equally famous, having existed for two hundred years, and have conducted extensive research on each other.
Even if the Wudang leader were here, if attacked by Miaoyin, Miaoguo, and Xiahou, he could at most simply spin around and deflect the attack.
It would never be like this, with the force of the three of them used to attack and kill the abbot.
"You're praising my internal strength, but my internal strength didn't harm you at all just now."
Chu Tianshu took a deep breath, his eyes shining, "You, very good!"
The act of setting fire to the mountain after the imperial envoy arrived was merely a feint.
The goal is to raise everyone's vigilance and make them suspicious of everything that might be questionable.
But when you have too many doubts, and every doubt turns out to be false, you inevitably develop a psychological inertia.
They didn't mingle among the monks outside the main hall, nor did they hide in the rafters or rooftops, nor did they attempt to divide and conquer the group...
After everyone left the temple, Chen Zuqi slipped into the main hall, made a large hole behind the Alms-Bowl-Holding Arhat, corroded the contents inside into ash, gathered it into a ball, and sent it into the incense burner, which was already full of ash.
Then, he hid himself inside the empty shell of the Arhat, covering his back with the outer shell, making sure it was completely sealed, and his aura was completely concealed.
The only thing that might have been miscalculated was Miaofan's familiarity with incense ash.
Under these circumstances, Miaofan still had the intention to offer incense to Buddha, and instinctively sensed something was amiss the moment her hand touched the ashes.
However, Chen Zuqi still managed to gain an advantage by taking advantage of the presence of top players, choosing the right angle and route.
"I only recently mastered this Divine Intent in the last few months."
Chen Zuqi laughed, "Now, the more ordinary top-tier experts come to me, the easier it is for me to kill them."
Years ago, he had already comprehended his own Martial Dao Divine Intent, which he named "One General's Success is Built on the Bones of Ten Thousand".
Treading on countless white bones, climbing higher and higher, plundering the essence of the bones to strengthen oneself.
At that time, he used this method to devour the enemy's internal energy, refine and digest it, and felt quite pleased with himself.
But he later discovered that everyone's inner strength carries their own desires.
Or rather, inner strength is something that is condensed from desire.
Even if one practices diligently, it won't affect their physical lifespan, but it will affect their hobbies.
After devouring many martial arts masters, he developed a host of quirks. Combined with his original hobbies, he began to show signs of neglecting his duties, spending less time practicing martial arts and often forgetting to discipline his subordinates.
Several years ago, the government troops in the southeast mobilized in large numbers to fight against the Japanese pirates. Although they were defeated by the pirates, some people within the pirate ranks took advantage of the situation and tried to rise to power.
After Chen Zuqi became alert and began to eliminate some of the external internal energy foundations and re-excavate the power of Divine Intent will.
The old usage, once it reaches a certain point, actually hinders his skill and quality.
Now he no longer tries to absorb the power of others, skipping many refining processes, but only uses his dantian as the axis and his own power as one end, circulating with the external power.
It can be a rotation of two forces, or a rotational balance of three, four, or five directions.
Even if the quality and quantity of the various internal forces differ, he need not worry, because as long as he adjusts his speed, he can release them all after completing a brief rotation.
One general's success is built on the bones of ten thousand.
Does this mean that all the bones beneath the feet of famous generals, rebel kings, and conquerors throughout history were killed by themselves?
Of course not, but rather it drives others to kill, fight, and control each other.
This is how those in high positions maintain their status, which aligns with the ideals pursued by Chen Zuqi.
Therefore, in recent years, Chen Zuqi has rarely taken action himself.
This change in circumstances forced him to come to the Southern Shaolin in person, which gave him the perfect opportunity to verify the secret techniques.
True superb skills and techniques should not only be used for handling big situations and mobilizing personnel, but also for close-quarters combat and fierce confrontations.
If you can only think about taking care of the big picture and not the small ones, then it's ultimately just an empty shell.
Chen Zuqi said with a sigh, "It must be your joining that made the Southern Shaolin feel that they could rival me among the masters."
"Hahaha, today I'll let you witness my divine skills, and you'll die a worthy death!"
He stood on the railing on the east side of the main hall, and as he spoke, his gaze swept over the crowd in turn, his eyes seemingly containing a deep, mysterious light.
Suddenly, Chen Zuqi's body leaned straight forward.
Everyone in the hall felt a sudden darkness before their eyes, and their own and those around them became translucent, their bones vaguely visible.
This caused them to subconsciously channel their internal energy, as if trying to use it to fill in the missing flesh and blood outside their skeletons.
Just then, Chu Tianshu raised both hands.
His gesture of raising his hand made his entire figure appear three times larger, transforming him from a skeleton back into his true form, with skin like yellow jade and flowing black hair.
The surrounding air was like seawater to him—easy to feel and easy to touch.
His hands glowed with a deep cyan light, causing streams of energy to surge towards his palms and pull backward.
Whoosh!!
Several monks of the Miao generation, including Xiahou Feishan, were all pulled and floated backward.
Their movement seemed to transport them out of that eerily dark environment.
It was clear that Chen Zuqi was flying through the hole in the east wall and exchanging a palm strike with Chu Tianshu.
Because everyone was pulled behind Chu Tianshu, Chen Zuqi was unable to gain any leverage when he flew over.
However, seeing that Chu Tianshu was about to change his palm strike from an inhalation palm strike to a pushing palm strike in an instant, he still felt that he could gain a slight advantage.
To everyone's surprise, in the ensuing clash, Chu Tianshu only managed to retreat half a step.
The heavy foot stomped down, and the floor of the main hall clattered loudly.
Miaokong and the others all sensed that the gaps between the thick stone bricks in the eastern half of the main hall had become larger.
Chu Tianshu's kick didn't shatter many bricks; it only made the gaps between the bricks more obvious, with the force distributed orderly along the square gaps.
What this scene reveals is an extremely profound technique of deflecting force.
"Not afraid of group battles..."
Chu Tianshu grinned, revealing his teeth, and stared at the Pirate Heavenly King before him. "But you failed to kill anyone the first time you used this trick on me."
Do you think there will be a second chance?
Chen Zuqi's expression changed slightly. He raised his palm and pushed off, his body suddenly flying out to the side.
Like a swallow piercing through the clouds, he crashed into the chest of Shakyamuni Buddha, deflected, and pounced on Miaofan and the others.
But while he was still in mid-air, Chu Tianshu shot over and struck him in the chest and abdomen with a palm.
Chen Zuqi had been waiting for the opponent to attack him so he could use the force to his advantage, but when he saw Chu Tianshu make his move, his palm contained a hidden grasping force.
His skin was like topaz, and his nails protruded like steel daggers, yet one could not sense any internal force from them.
"Wrong!"
Chen Zuqi dared not use his stomach to take the blow head-on, so he thrust out with one palm, his fingertip piercing Chu Tianshu's palm.
Chu Tianshu plummeted to the ground.
Chen Zuqi also changed from a forward lunge to a straight upward motion, his back hitting the roof beam.
He took a deep breath, pressed his back against the roof beam, and suddenly his figure moved like a python, rapidly circling the roof beam.
He used the Dongying Jujutsu to perfection, and suddenly disappeared into the complex wooden structure at the top of the hall.
As Chu Tianshu plummeted to the ground, he kept his eyes fixed on the ground, never looking away.
As soon as he disappeared into the wooden structure, Chu Tianshu immediately closed his eyes, and the entire hall space vaguely appeared in his mind.
Despair!!
Chu Tianshu touched the ground with both feet and suddenly moved quickly, brushing past Miaoyin and heading towards a pillar on the northwest side.
A figure emerged from behind the large red-lacquered wooden pillar; it was Chen Zuqi.
"You noticed that too?"
Chen Zuqi burst into laughter, and the surrounding light suddenly flickered.
This time, it wasn't someone else manifesting their skeleton, but rather his own bones appearing and disappearing, sometimes bone, sometimes person, with black and white wisps of energy emanating from his body.
"Looks like we really need to go all out today!"
(End of this chapter)