Chapter 154: Abundant Supreme Arts

The mist grew thinner, the sky brighter.

The forest was damp and fresh, every green leaf still hung with dewdrops.

When sunlight fell at just the right angle, Master Miao Fan saw a faint rainbow shimmer on the surface of a single dewdrop ahead.

“Old monk should last beyond ten strikes, but fall within twenty.”

Master Miao Fan’s reply was serious.

Chu Tianshu’s expression was serene: “Then let me try. Master, be careful.”

The corners of Master Miao Fan’s robes and his beard suddenly stiffened—a sign that his profound internal energy had surged through every part of his body, raising his guard to the utmost.

Chu Tianshu deliberately waited a moment before striking.

They stood two zhang apart; as Chu Tianshu raised his hand to grasp, his body followed instantly, closing the distance in a flash.

The air before his palm was disturbed by his internal force, gradually taking shape like a membrane of energy enveloping his hand.

Master Miao Fan’s body suddenly dropped low.

Facing this grasp, the old monk nearly crouched to the ground.

Chu Tianshu didn’t hesitate—he clenched his five fingers, his long arm driving his fist downward.

The energy membrane surrounding his palm shattered under the clench.

As the fist struck, a shockwave radiated outward, moving faster than the fist itself.

Chu Tianshu’s internal energy was of extremely high quality; even using old fist techniques, his energy flowed automatically, producing effects.

If one’s mental force were too insubstantial, directly disturbing the air would require using emptiness to control solidity—and that would waste much.

If one’s physical force were too solid, disturbing the air would also waste much.

Only internal energy interferes with air with the highest efficiency.

The air shockwave created by crushing the membrane faintly glowed blue.

Before the fist reached, the shockwave had already warped and distorted the monk’s shadow below.

It was merely a lingering afterimage.

The old monk’s true body had already shot sideways at incredible speed, leaving behind a trail of afterimages.

Some crouched, some supported themselves with one hand, some touched the ground with their bald heads, others balanced on one foot with the other leg resting on the knee.

These movements were bizarre and absurd—nothing one would expect in combat.

Because none of them allowed effective limb-powered force, making rapid movement difficult.

Yet this was in fact an advanced internal energy body technique, called the “Nine Diagrams, Six Seated Forms.” Once mastered, it was astonishingly swift.

It contained fifty-four seated meditation postures; when perfected, any posture could be held motionless for twelve hours.

In meditation, internal energy grows refined.

This was the finest evasion technique of Southern Shaolin, but because its foundation rested in the meditative stillness of seated Zen, no counterattack could be made while using it.

Master Miao Fan was a shrewd man.

The moment Chu Tianshu raised his hand, he felt the pressure radiating from him—startled by the sheer brutality of the aura.

A man with such an aura must have unparalleled combat experience.

If Master Miao Fan tried to counter, he would surely fall into the other’s trap.

Even with guidance from the Zongheng heir, he could not weaken his own sect’s prestige.

Master Miao Fan intended to rely solely on the “Nine Diagrams, Six Seated Forms” to evade beyond twenty strikes.

Those twenty strikes would let him witness Chu Tianshu’s strength—and showcase Southern Shaolin’s mastery to the fullest.

Chu Tianshu’s downward punch missed, yet he rallied instantly, his hands moving in rapid succession.

His figure advanced step by step, grasping three times in succession.

The serpentine afterimages of the monk scattered along the path were all shattered by his collisions.

Master Miao Fan was about to assume a seated posture, palms joined before his chest, when his face suddenly twisted in shock.

CRACK!!

The old monk shot away at top speed, yet his back robes still bore five distinct slashes.

The “Nine Diagrams, Six Seated Forms” moved like seeing a Buddha in a dream—suddenly left, suddenly right, unpredictable.

At first, Chu Tianshu clearly couldn’t anticipate the monk’s movements, relying purely on his lightning reflexes to pursue.

But after just a few pursuits, he seemed to already guess part of the “Nine Diagrams” trajectory.

After his robe tore, Master Miao Fan dared not keep evading blindly.

As he leapt away, he spread his arms like a great bird, feet leaving the ground, spinning around a massive tree.

His connection to the tree relied solely on internal energy adhering to its bark—pulling, yet not fully touching, with minimal friction.

He had converted all his forward momentum into this sudden circular motion around the tree.

Anyone behind him could never match his speed on the ground.

Chu Tianshu arrived, didn’t circle the tree—he slammed one palm straight into it.

BOOM!!!

The entire tree shuddered; every dewdrop on its leaves shattered, as if a ring of mist exploded from its canopy, mixed with broken leaves.

This palm strike did not break the tree.

But in an instant, it severed the old monk’s internal energy link to the trunk.

The old monk’s spinning body suddenly lost control, flung outward to the right front.

His face nearly slammed into a massive boulder; in desperation, he twisted and rolled his body.

In midair, Master Miao Fan adjusted himself into a posture: both legs touching the boulder, facing backward.

This adjustment came just in time.

As he finished adjusting, Chu Tianshu arrived.

Had he continued colliding with the boulder as before, the moment he braced his hands against it, Chu Tianshu would have seized his leg.

Now, though the old monk’s body was nearly parallel to the ground and unstable, he was perfectly positioned to strike downward—both hands shooting out toward Chu Tianshu.

As his hands shot out, the air around them cracked sharply.

It sounded as if tiny thunderclaps exploded around his palms.

The Indra Grab was among the earliest martial arts to emerge from Shaolin.

When Bodhidharma came to Shaolin to teach, he carried some Indian sutras, among which was this technique.

Indra was the name of an Indian divine king and god of thunder and rain; this art was originally created by an Indian sect, later refined over centuries at Shaolin by blending with Chinese martial principles.

To this day, among the Seventy-Two Supreme Arts, this technique ranks among the top three.

Within Southern Shaolin, its ferocity makes it unquestionably the number one supreme art.

Chu Tianshu raised both fists, meeting the monk’s palms head-on.

At Master Miao Fan’s level, the Indra Grab could crush stone to powder and grip iron like mud.

But as he gripped Chu Tianshu’s fists, he felt as if he had seized two bolts of lightning.

The violent vibration made him unable to tell whether his hands even gripped solid matter.

All ten fingers performing the Indra Grab trembled into afterimages.

Yet the old monk’s internal energy was far thicker than that of the Whale Gang boss and others.

Though his fingers trembled, the rest of his body remained fully under his control.

In the instant of contact, he retracted both arms sharply, then thrust his right hand forward again.

This time, only one palm emerged—his internal energy fully concentrated in that single hand.

The motion of extending his hand resembled a heavy instrument swinging through the air.

The tone was low and steady, yet the speed of propagation was equally swift.

This was no longer a technique shared by Northern and Southern Shaolin—it was unique to Southern Shaolin: the “Tide Sound Palm Method.”

Listening to the tide’s chime, Zen resonance fills the chest.

This palm method had few variations, consumed immense energy, and lacked the ferocity of the Indra Grab.

But this palm force excelled at penetrating internal defenses, stirring the heart’s blood and unsettling the spirit.

Thus, though not the deadliest supreme art, it was the most effective at forcing retreat.

Yet Chu Tianshu, seeing this technique, unhesitatingly countered with a palm of his own.

THUD!!

The two sounds rang like temple bells striking together, perfectly overlapping.

The sound from Chu Tianshu’s palm was even deeper than the Tide Sound Palm Method.

Master Miao Fan’s blood surged violently, his face flushed crimson.

A blue tint spread from his arms up his neck, making thin, elongated blue veins stand out along his neck, stretching straight to his ears.

‘How can this man’s internal energy be so high?!’

Master Miao Fan’s heart shook—he had trained Shaolin supreme arts for years; though he lacked the Yi Jin Jing, his internal energy was among the purest.

Yet now, in quality, it fell far short of his opponent’s.

He seemed to need three parts of his own energy to counter just one part of Chu Tianshu’s.

Chu Tianshu suddenly withdrew his hands, stepping back one pace.

Master Miao Fan’s body dropped downward, executing a forward somersault to land, then drew a deep breath.

“Master, I yield.”

Chu Tianshu’s expression was calm, though inwardly he thought: I nearly made it past ten strikes.

Even though he had already pieced together various rumors from the martial world and inspected the sites where Miao Fan had fought, making prior preparations,

when they actually clashed, unexpected circumstances still arose.

Even this abbot of the Southern Shaolin, long trapped in hardship, is like this.

Other top experts in this world are likely even stronger than the legends circulating in the martial world.

Abbot Miao Fan turned around and sighed, “Just now, I concentrated all my inner strength into my right palm, yet you responded with only one palm—your left hand clearly still had power to spare.”

“Truly worthy of being a descendant of Zongheng!”

Miao Fan paused, unable to suppress a smile.

“With your help, our Southern Shaolin truly has a chance. Please enter the temple, so I may gather a few of my fellow monks for a detailed discussion.”

Chu Tianshu smiled and said, “No rush. You can discuss among yourselves today; I will return tomorrow.”

“Moreover, what I’ve brought is more than just my personal martial arts.”

Having laid the groundwork this far, upon hearing yet more good news,

Miao Fan’s joy had largely overwhelmed all other emotions.

Unconsciously, his decisions and inclinations had already begun to be easily swayed by Chu Tianshu.

(End of Chapter)