Chapter 111

The Five Decays of Heaven and Man, in Buddhism, refers to the various strange phenomena that appear when a heavenly being's lifespan is about to end.

Filthy clothes, withered flowers on the head, sweating under the armpits, foul-smelling body, and unhappiness in one's seat.

Its appearance represents a concrete step toward death.

Once one possesses two paths of "Above Pinnacle," one will immediately fall into the "Five Decays of Heaven and Man." From the moment it appears, the remaining lifespan begins to be measured in moments. The higher the martial arts, the faster one dies.

Taking Li Miao as an example, he possessed three paths of "Above Pinnacle," but he deliberately left one step untaken on all three paths. Therefore, his three paths of "Above Pinnacle" were "fake," losing their divine strangeness, which allowed him to jump around everywhere.

In that battle on Mount Tai, in order to fight Yun Zelin, he self-perfected "Vajra." It seemed that only his hair turned white, which didn't seem serious, but if he didn't retreat from his realm, then this "Five Decays of Heaven and Man" would develop more and more severely over time.

Within a day, Li Miao would also die.

But this person who commanded Zhu Zai to bombard Shaolin, looking at this composed and leisurely attitude, didn't look like someone with less than a day of life left.

The signs of the "Five Decays of Heaven and Man" on this person, although more severe than Li Miao's on Mount Tai, seemed to be stagnated by some means and didn't show any signs of continuing to develop.

Li Miao smiled silently.

When he was in the Shuntian Prefecture, he rarely showed his martial arts. Even in front of Zhu Zai, he avoided talking about his progress, just to guard against these people and things hidden behind the scenes.

Relying on a little specialty of his own, thinking he was the favored son of heaven, and acting recklessly, would only lead to dying inexplicably like Zuo Lishan.

The essence of martial arts is a kind of violence, and all power is built on violence.

The person who eats the most might not be the most righteous, and might not be the most popular, but they must be the best fighter.

The Great Shuo imperial court has been established for nearly two hundred years and enjoys the four seas. If they hadn't mastered the secret of "Above Pinnacle," that would be the strange thing.

After that person gave the order, Zhu Zai gave the order to fire a few cannons to test it first.

Just as a few Embroidered Uniform Guards pulled the cannons over and were about to directly blow open the Shaolin gate.

They saw the gate slowly open.

An old monk came out from inside, and seeing the many Embroidered Uniform Guards outside the temple and the cannons with lit fuses, he wasn't panicked, put his hands together, and bowed to Zhu Zai.

"Lord Zhu."

Zhu Zai suddenly raised his hand and clenched his fist, signaling the Embroidered Uniform Guards preparing to fire to stop, and then bowed to the old monk: "Master Xingxiu."

"The imperial court received news that Shaolin was besieged by Ming Cult thieves and came specially to save you. Have the Ming Cult thieves retreated?"

This old monk who walked out of the door was the junior brother of the current Shaolin Abbot, Master Xingchi, and also one of the only two surviving high monks of the Xing generation in Shaolin.

Shaolin and Wudang are known as the pillars of the Jianghu, so naturally, they have to deal with the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Zhu Zai had been to Shaolin and knew him.

"Yes, we are grateful for the imperial court's concern, and our temple is deeply moved."

"Since you have come from afar, why not enter our temple to rest and have some vegetarian food and tea." Xingxiu said.

Zhu Zai turned his head and glanced at the person with the "Five Decays of Heaven and Man": "Big Brother, what do you think?"

That person chuckled: "Since Shaolin is fine, I'll go back first, I'm tired."

"Go ask about the situation that day, write a memorial and submit it, no need to come back to me."

After saying this, he turned and returned to the sedan chair, slowly leaving.

Zhu Zai gave an order, letting the many Embroidered Uniform Guards camp outside Shaolin Temple first, and picked a few trusted aides to follow Xingxiu into the Shaolin mountain gate.

Entering the temple gate, Zhu Zai saw that the ground was full of bloodstains that hadn't been cleaned up, but there were no corpses.

Looking at the surrounding buildings, most of them had collapsed, and only a few remote Buddha halls were still intact.

Zhu Zai nodded secretly.

It seems that the news received by the imperial court was true; with Shaolin's foundation, the Ming Cult must have come out in full force that day to make Shaolin look like this.

He immediately asked Xingxiu in front: "I don't know how Master Xingchi is now?"

Hearing this, Xingxiu didn't stop his steps and said lightly: "Senior brother was seriously injured and has three days to live."

Zhu Zai paused: "Is that so... with your temple's methods, who could injure Master Xingchi to such a degree?"

"The Ming Cult's Benefactor Ji."

"Impossible."

Zhu Zai said decisively: "He is already dead, died in the Miao border. I saw it clearly that day."

"To prevent the evil of the Gu-poison arts, we cut his corpse into several pieces, transported them to Shuntian in boxes made of raw iron, had people dissect them carefully, and finally I personally burned them into a pile of charcoal and scattered them into the river."

"No matter how high his martial arts are, he is still human. No matter how evil the Gu-poison arts are, it is impossible for him to be resurrected from the dead."

Xingxiu still said lightly: "I have never practiced martial arts and only focus on studying Buddhism. That day, senior brother asked me to hide, so I didn't see the situation at that time with my own eyes."

"For all matters, Lord Zhu, please ask senior brother when you see him."

After saying this, he led Zhu Zai toward the Shaolin main hall.

Seeing the temple gate slowly close, Li Miao fell lightly from the treetop, stood on the spot, twisted his fingers, and thought for a while.

Shaolin didn't seem to have any major problems, which didn't exceed Li Miao's expectations.

Shaolin has been inherited for a thousand years, how could it not have some unusual means?

Over the past thousand years, there have been many geniuses of "Above Pinnacle" in the world; if a Ji Tianrui could destroy Shaolin, then Shaolin's thousand-year inheritance would be a bit laughable.

It's just that I don't know why the Ming Cult attacked Shaolin.

Li Miao turned and left, finding Yin Minjun and Yongjie.

"Elder Yin, take my waist token and find the Battalion Commander Zhang from just now. Tell him to tell the Commander-in-Chief that I will go to see him at the third watch tonight."

"If that person is there, let him hang a lantern outside the camp. If he is not there, hang two."

"Yes, my lord." Yin Minjun took the waist token and took the order.

Li Miao turned to look at Yongjie: "Master, looking at Shaolin's situation, it should be safe."

"You can go yourself. You are Master Xingchi's disciple, the Embroidered Uniform Guard won't stop you, just don't reveal news related to me."

"If you see Master Xingchi, ask him a question for me."

"Just say, the junior Li Miao has some grievances with the Ming Cult and is willing to vent some anger for your temple. It's just that I have some questions I want to ask Master Xingchi."

"I will come to the temple to find you tonight; let's agree on a place. If Master Xingchi is willing to see me, I would trouble you to take me to see him."

Yongjie nodded, agreed on a meeting place with Li Miao, and turned to walk toward the Shaolin Temple mountain gate.

After being stopped by the Embroidered Uniform Guard and explaining, he entered the mountain gate.

Li Miao stood on the spot, looking at this thousand-year-old ancient temple of Shaolin from afar, saying nothing, not knowing what he was thinking.