The Secret of the Marrow Cleansing Classic

Mo Wenjian was not a native of the National Martial Arts World [nineteenth century], but a transmigrator from Earth [twenty-first century].

In the year 1800 of the National Martial Arts World, Mo Wenjian was born in a remote village.

Before Mo Wenjian was born, fierce winds howled across the sky amid flashes of lightning and peals of thunder. The midwife said this was a sign of heaven and earth responding to an immortal descending into the mortal world.

When Mo Wenjian was born, he was visibly jaundiced. The midwife said this was a sign that the Yellow Heaven blessed him and that he was of inexpressibly noble standing.

After Mo Wenjian was born, a torrential downpour came with his cries. The midwife said this was a sign that he bore heaven's writings in his mouth and could summon wind and rain.

With those three pronouncements, the midwife returned home laden with three times her usual pay.

Though Mo Wenjian was still in swaddling clothes, he retained the wisdom of an adult and consequently seemed exceptionally bright and clever.

The ignorant villagers, steeped in feudal superstition, grew increasingly convinced of the midwife's guesses and regarded Mo Wenjian with awe.

In the year 1801 of the National Martial Arts World, Master Xingku, a wandering monk from Shaolin Temple, happened to hear the rumors about Mo Wenjian.

Master Xingku recalled stories from the Buddhist scriptures: Bodhisattva Guanyin had been reborn as Miaoshan, and the Dragon-Subduing Arhat had been reborn as Jigong...

After considering the matter, Master Xingku concluded that Mo Wenjian must be a reincarnated Buddha and had therefore naturally awakened the Suhui of his previous life.

Master Xingku spent three hundred taels of gold and, after three days and nights of threats and enticements, finally severed Mo Wenjian's worldly ties.

Master Xingku took Mo Wenjian back to Shaolin Temple and explained his special circumstances to the eminent monks.

Abbot Xingshan and the heads of the six halls summoned Mo Wenjian to the Mahavira Hall.

Drawing on knowledge beyond his era, Mo Wenjian easily won the unanimous approval of the eminent monks.

Mo Wenjian became Shaolin Temple's publicly acknowledged reincarnated Buddha child and was granted unrestricted access to the Scripture Repository.

In the year 1803 of the National Martial Arts World, Mo Wenjian began cultivating the Muscle-Tendon Changing Classic, one of the temple's ultimate arts.

One medicinal bath every day.

Three medicinal meals every day.

Personal instruction from the abbot.

The heads of the six halls were at his beck and call.

Whenever Mo Wenjian had a question, the eminent monks scrambled to answer it.

By normal logic, with Shaolin Temple pouring its thousand-year foundation into nurturing Mo Wenjian regardless of cost, his cultivation should have advanced a thousand miles a day.

Yet the way things unfolded caught the eminent monks completely off guard.

Mo Wenjian's cultivation aptitude was simply too poor.

In the year 1816 of the National Martial Arts World, sixteen-year-old Mo Wenjian still had not even reached the entry level of the Muscle-Tendon Changing Classic.

Instead, the cheat exclusive to transmigrators finally arrived, long overdue.

Mo Wenjian returned to his meditation room and opened the All-Heavens Dao Fruit Simulator.

[Age 16: Your cultivation progress remains slow!]

[Age 18: Abbot Xingshan and the heads of the six halls believe you have no talent for cultivation and advise you to devote yourself to studying Buddhist scriptures. You refuse without hesitation!]

[Age 24: You finally realize you are a good-for-nothing and decide to stop wasting Shaolin Temple's Cultivation Resources. From then on, you change paths to become a scholarly monk and study Buddhist scriptures!]

[Age 30: Steeped in Buddhist scriptures, you gradually deepen your understanding of the Dharma and inadvertently attune yourself to the essence of the Muscle-Tendon Changing Classic. You finally break through to Early Ming Jin!]

[Age 36: Your Qi and Blood begin to decline, and your strength begins to wane!]

[Age 40: The First Opium War breaks out. The Great Qing Dynasty dispatches three Gang Force National Martial Arts grandmasters, who easily drive off Britain's ocean-going fleet!]

[Age 51: The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom rises in rebellion. Thirteen Gang Force National Martial Arts grandmasters loyal to the Manchu Qing court and eight Gang Force National Martial Arts grandmasters hostile to the Manchu Qing engage in an earth-shaking battle. Since both sides have reservations, they ultimately choose to stop fighting and make peace!]

[Age 56: The Second Opium War breaks out. The Great Qing Dynasty dispatches six Gang Force National Martial Arts grandmasters, who easily drive off the ocean-going fleet of the British and French allied forces!]

[Age 60: You discover that the original texts of the Seventy-Two Supreme Skills, written by Patriarch Bodhidharma himself, seem to have some obscure connection!]

[Age 69: You finally unravel the secret and obtain the obscure and cryptic Marrow Cleansing Classic!]

[Age 78: You uncover the secret of the Marrow Cleansing Classic, and your cultivation aptitude slowly improves!]

[Age 84: You take a fall and die of illness soon afterward!]

[Based on your life, please select a Dao Fruit-]

[The secret of the Marrow Cleansing Classic] [A lifetime's understanding of the Dharma] [The strength of Early Ming Jin]

Mo Wenjian's greatest limitation was his poor cultivation aptitude.

Without a moment's thought, Mo Wenjian immediately chose the secret of the Marrow Cleansing Classic.

A flood of memories appeared in Mo Wenjian's mind in an instant.

As the memories merged with his own, a smile involuntarily spread across Mo Wenjian's face.

Although the Marrow Cleansing Classic could not turn Mo Wenjian into a genius, it could free him from the ranks of the good-for-nothings.

For Mo Wenjian, that was tremendously significant.

The All-Heavens Dao Fruit Simulator could only be used once a day.

Mo Wenjian closed the All-Heavens Dao Fruit Simulator with a touch of regret, then strode into the Mahavira Hall in high spirits.

"Amitabha, excellent, excellent!"

Abbot Xingshan, who had been meditating, stood up the moment he saw Mo Wenjian.

The greatest wish of an eminent Buddhist monk was to ascend to the Land of Ultimate Bliss after death and pay his respects to Buddha Tathagata at the Great Thunderclap Temple.

In the eyes of Shaolin Temple's eminent monks, Mo Wenjian, as a reincarnated Buddha, was the best stepping stone to that end.

All these years, no matter how much of a good-for-nothing Mo Wenjian had appeared to be, no one had ever shortchanged him.

This had nothing to do with personal gain; it was a matter of faith.

"Never having suffered another's hardships, do not urge them to be virtuous. Only by personally experiencing a good-for-nothing's cultivation progress can one understand the bitterness of their journey. I thought day and night about improving my cultivation aptitude, and so the Marrow Cleansing Classic appeared in my memory!"

Of course, Mo Wenjian did not dare tell the truth. The All-Heavens Dao Fruit Simulator was a secret that absolutely could not be exposed.

Since he had decided to lie, he naturally had to choose the approach most advantageous to himself.

Mo Wenjian's privileges came from his status as a reincarnated Buddha.

Using the Marrow Cleansing Classic to reinforce the impression that he was a reincarnated Buddha naturally became his first choice.

"The Buddha child has comprehended an ultimate art! This truly calls for celebration!"

A look of delight involuntarily appeared on Abbot Xingshan's face.

When Mo Wenjian was two years old, he had expounded on great affairs in the Mahavira Hall, cementing his status as a reincarnated Buddha.

All these years, Shaolin Temple had poured its thousand-year foundation into nurturing Mo Wenjian regardless of cost, and none of the eminent monks had objected.

But as time passed and Mo Wenjian seemed increasingly ordinary, more and more people began to have doubts.

Some said Mo Wenjian was a fraud and that Shaolin Temple's eminent monks were all fools who had been taken in.

Others said Shaolin Temple was fishing for fame and deliberately fabricated the appearance of a reincarnated Buddha child to raise its standing among Buddhists.

All manner of rumors and gossip had subjected Shaolin Temple to immense public pressure.

Now Mo Wenjian had once again shown something extraordinary, allowing them to both answer people's doubts and strengthen the eminent monks' convictions.

Abbot Xingshan was beside himself with joy and was almost laughing aloud.

"The essence of the Marrow Cleansing Classic is to improve cultivation aptitude by washing the tendons and cleansing the marrow. Letting ordinary people set foot on the path of cultivation opens the gates wide for them; letting geniuses ascend to a higher level is like the Buddha's light shining everywhere, bringing blessings to all beings. I have no reason to keep it to myself. Quickly, bring brush, ink, paper, and inkstone. I will write out the Marrow Cleansing Classic for all the monks of Shaolin to study together!"

Shaolin Temple was Mo Wenjian's greatest backing.

The stronger Shaolin Temple was as a whole, the more secure Mo Wenjian's position would be.

For Mo Wenjian, making the Marrow Cleansing Classic public offered a hundred benefits and not a single drawback.

Abbot Xingshan's brows involuntarily furrowed.

In Abbot Xingshan's view, the Marrow Cleansing Classic was worthy of becoming one of the temple's ultimate arts, on equal footing with the Muscle-Tendon Changing Classic.

Making the Marrow Cleansing Classic exclusive to successive abbots was what accorded with Shaolin Temple's rules.

But in less than a second, Abbot Xingshan's brows smoothed out again.

By normal logic, someone who possessed a superior ultimate art would regard lesser manuals as trash.

Abbot Xingshan instinctively felt that the Marrow Cleansing Classic was trash to Mo Wenjian.

Abbot Xingshan was no longer satisfied with the Marrow Cleansing Classic. He was already thinking about when Mo Wenjian would bring out a higher-level Buddhist Divine Ability.

At that thought, Abbot Xingshan's attitude changed.

What was a mere Marrow Cleansing Classic worth mentioning?