Ye Fan, Whose Parents Were Sacrificed to the Heavens
Upon reaching the realm of Shatter the Void and See the Indestructible Spirit, one could perceive the boundary hidden in the Unseen.
The boundary of the National Martial Arts world was weaker than Mo Wenjian had imagined.
Even a three-year-old could easily ascend in broad daylight, so long as they could perceive that boundary.
If Mo Wenjian had to describe the boundary's strength, he would probably have called it a sheet of window paper.
Once you understood it, a single poke would break through.
Two sayings surfaced unbidden in Mo Wenjian's mind-
Comprehend the Dao in a single morning, and become an immortal on the spot.
Lay down the butcher's knife, and become a Buddha on the spot.
These were probably not exaggerated figures of speech, but descriptions of reality.
It was just that the chances of such a thing happening were vanishingly small.
Now that Mo Wenjian could ascend in broad daylight whenever he wished, he was no longer in a hurry to leave the National Martial Arts world.
Mo Wenjian had lived in the Shaolin Temple all these years and had yet to see the sights of the National Martial Arts world with his own eyes.
If he ascended in broad daylight now, he would surely be left with regrets.
At that thought, Mo Wenjian immediately began to long for life outside.
Since it was already late at night, Mo Wenjian lay down and went straight to sleep.
The next morning, after waking, Mo Wenjian did not stay in the Shaolin Temple as he usually did. Instead, he walked out through its mountain gate.
All these years, Mo Wenjian had been unable to gain the strength to protect himself because his cultivation aptitude was so poor.
For safety's sake, Mo Wenjian had not dared take a single step outside the Shaolin Temple.
Now that he was invincible under heaven, he naturally had no need to continue hiding.
The moment Mo Wenjian stepped out of the Shaolin Temple, his state of mind underwent a subtle change.
Mo Wenjian's spirit seemed to have been cleansed.
The fear and unease he had felt when he was weak vanished in an instant.
Even his spiritual realm seemed to have undergone a transformation.
Mo Wenjian walked along without paying much attention, and before he knew it, he had arrived at a small village at the foot of the mountain.
In a field outside the village, an old farmer was hoeing weeds.
Beside the old farmer, a youth knelt on the ground and refused to rise.
Mo Wenjian was very curious and walked over without thinking.
"Young man, what is your name, and why are you kneeling here?" Mo Wenjian studied the youth and found that although he was thin and weak, his spirit far surpassed that of an ordinary person.
"My name is Ye Fan. Are you a master from the Shaolin Temple?" Ye Fan raised his head and looked at Mo Wenjian, his face full of expectation.
"I've lived in the Shaolin Temple since I was a child!" Rather than directly revealing his identity, Mo Wenjian gave an ambiguous answer.
"Master, please accept me as your disciple!" Facing Mo Wenjian, the youth kowtowed three times, each knock loud against the ground.
"Why do you want to take me as your master?" Mo Wenjian asked the youth without thinking.
"I come from a family of merchants. Though my family could not claim to be as rich as a nation, we could certainly say we had ten thousand strings of coins at our waists. But the prefect coveted my family's wealth and falsely accused us of conspiring with the White Lotus Sect to rebel. He sentenced my entire family to execution and confiscated our property. My poor father was kind to others and often repaired bridges and paved roads, doing countless good deeds, yet in the end his body was left in pieces. My poor mother was a devout worshipper of Buddha and always set up porridge shelters to aid refugees whenever disaster struck. Who knows how many people she saved, yet she met the terrible end of having her head cut off. A hero who had once received my family's kindness could not bear to see our family line extinguished, so he intervened and saved my life. I want to take you as my master and learn your arts, then kill the prefect and avenge my whole family once I have enough power!" The youth spoke through gritted teeth, and it was clear that his heart was full of hatred.
"Is this true?" Mo Wenjian turned his head without thinking and looked at the old farmer hoeing weeds.
"It's true!" The old farmer gave a soft sigh, then looked at the youth and said, "I used to be a tenant farmer for the Ye family. They saved my life, and I witnessed many of their good deeds with my own eyes. Fifteen years ago, when the Qing soldiers were suppressing the White Lotus Sect, they plundered villages under the pretext of gathering provisions. Who knows how many families they ruined. I happened upon a Manchu Qing bannerman who was about to defile an unmarried young woman, and in my anger I killed him. I was afraid of implicating the Ye family, so I went to the Shaolin Temple and became a lay disciple. Once the trouble had blown over, I left the temple and came down the mountain to make a living farming. I've kept an eye on the Ye family all these years. When I heard disaster had befallen them, I risked my life to rescue the young master. If you're worried about implicating the Shaolin Temple, Master, I'll take the young master away at once!"
"I'm not leaving! If you won't teach me martial arts, I'll ask the master to teach me!" Burdened with a blood feud as deep as the sea, how could the youth let the matter rest so easily?
"Young Master, the Shaolin Temple forbids its martial arts from being passed on in private. The temple saved my life, so how could I break its rules and teach you the martial arts I learned there?" The old farmer reached out and patted the youth on the shoulder. "The Shaolin Temple is a place of Buddhist peace and purity, and the master is an enlightened monk of the temple. Please stop talking about fighting and killing!"
"The enemy who killed my father and wiped out my family-unless I die, I will never abandon my desire for revenge! I must go to the Shaolin Temple and find a master to teach me. Once I've learned Shaolin's divine arts, I'll go chop off the prefect's dog head!" The youth clenched his fists, his eyes filled with chilling murderous intent.
"Young Master, stop thinking about revenge, and forget about going to the Shaolin Temple. You're the Ye family's only surviving seedling. What you should do now is marry and have children as soon as possible, so the Ye family's line can continue. If anything happens to you, the Ye family will have no descendants left. That would be true unfilial behavior!" The old farmer frowned deeply, feeling utterly helpless before the youth's stubbornness.
"The prefect killed my whole family. If I don't take revenge, can I still call myself a man? I'd rather die a glorious death and reunite with my parents beneath the Nine Springs than cling to a miserable life like a dog!" Ye Fan's attitude was resolute.
"The Shaolin Temple is a place of Buddhist peace and purity. With thoughts like yours, the temple certainly won't take you in. You should listen to my advice and marry and have children soon to continue the family line!" The old farmer was motivated by his desire to repay a debt of gratitude, so he placed greater importance on preserving the Ye family line and did not really care much about whether Ye Fan had been wronged.
"If I don't avenge this grudge, I don't deserve to be human!" Ye Fan's killing intent was exceedingly chilling, and his attitude was utterly resolute.
Mo Wenjian looked at Ye Fan, and a thought suddenly occurred to him.
Ye Fan was a typical protagonist's name.
Parents sacrificed to the heavens made for a typical opening with a blood feud.
A thin and weak body was the typical trash template.
A spirit far beyond that of ordinary people was a typical golden finger.
The more Mo Wenjian thought about it, the more he felt that Ye Fan was very likely the child of destiny of the National Martial Arts world.
After a brief moment of thought, Mo Wenjian ultimately decided to use Ye Fan as a test subject.
Whether he was the child of destiny or not, a test would reveal the answer.
"I will not take you as my disciple, but I can make you a lay disciple of the Shaolin Temple and make an exception to let you choose three ultimate techniques from the Scripture Depository. However, you must agree to one condition: until your cultivation reaches the Dan Jin realm, you are not permitted to take a single step outside the Shaolin Temple!" The way Mo Wenjian looked at Ye Fan was just like someone looking at a lab rat.
"Thank you for granting my wish, Master!" The biggest problem with young people was that they did not know where they stood and always thought they were number one under heaven. Ye Fan probably thought that as long as he obtained three ultimate techniques, breaking through to Dan Jin would be as easy as eating and drinking, and that even becoming a Gang Force grandmaster of National Martial Arts would be no problem.
"In that case, come up the mountain with me!" With that, Mo Wenjian immediately turned and headed back to the Shaolin Temple.