Chapter 121

The sun set, and in the blink of an eye, it was dark, and the time reached the second watch.

Li Miao climbed over the courtyard wall, entered Shaolin, and walked toward the place agreed upon with Yong Jie.

After a while, he entered a courtyard; Yong Jie was standing in the courtyard, head bowed, shoulders slumped.

"Master," Li Miao greeted.

Yong Jie looked up, his eyes covered with bloodshot veins, and there were undried tear stains on his face. Seeing Li Miao, he forced a smile: "My lord."

Li Miao looked him up and down and said: "Is there any misfortune with Master Xingchi?"

"Master was seriously injured and has three days of life left," Yong Jie said.

"Is that so... please accept my condolences."

Li Miao sighed in his heart; Xingchi was one of the few people in this Jianghu whom he truly respected. He had always been thinking about when his work was done, he must meet him.

Who knew that this first meeting would also become the last.

"My lord, I have already asked Master. Master said that right now he is... dying, and doesn't want to sleep, just wanting to talk more with people."

"I told Master about you saving the entire city of Tai'an, and Master said he must see you."

"I will take you to see him now," Yong Jie said.

Li Miao bowed: "Thank you."

Yong Jie nodded and turned to lead Li Miao toward the depths of the temple.

Walking to a small courtyard, Yong Jie knocked on the door: "Master, Lord Li is here."

He heard a hearty old man's voice from inside, saying with a smile: "Come in quickly, I've been waiting until I'm sleepy!"

Yong Jie pushed open the courtyard gate and saw a straw mat placed under a tree in the courtyard.

An old monk sat cross-legged on it, holding a little girl; the little girl was clutching the old monk's beard with one hand and holding the other in her mouth, being gently patted on the back by the old monk, already too sleepy to open her eyes.

Looking at the old monk, he had crane hair and a child's face, and two eyebrows fully a foot long, hanging on his shoulders.

His sitting posture was also casual, one leg bent and one leg straight, his cassock wrapped around the little girl, and he himself only wore an inner garment. At this moment, he looked at Li Miao with a smile, not having the demeanor of a high monk at all, but rather like a hearty old man coaxing his granddaughter to sleep.

Yong Jie stepped forward quickly, hugged the little girl, and apologized to the old monk: "Master, Ling'er is disturbing you again, I will definitely..."

"Hey!" The old monk waved his hand: "Yong Jie, you are talking nonsense again."

"You are my disciple, Ling'er is my grand-disciple; what disturbance is there for a grandfather to coax his granddaughter to sleep!"

"If you say these distant words again, don't think I can't beat you just because I'm about to die!"

Li Miao couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.

How could he not know that this old monk was the Shaolin abbot, Xingchi. It was just that looking at this behavior and this way of speaking, it was really far from the image of a high monk in his imagination.

However, Li Miao could clearly feel the old monk's bones, which were as firm as a rock—"Jin Gang."

Although Li Miao could see that his heart pulse was damaged, his whole body was full of hidden injuries, and the statement that he had three days to live was not false. But he could also see that the "Jin Gang" on this old monk was stronger than the completed "Jin Gang" he had on Mount Tai that day.

This was even more unreasonable than Li Miao retreating from "Jin Gang" to practice "Sumeru" that day.

What is completion? One more part is too much, one less part is not enough. The so-called completion is not having more than others, but being "just right." After completion, there is no path to walk; Li Miao was absolutely sure of this.

It seems that this is Shaolin's foundation, and also the reason why Xingchi could survive under Ji Tianrui.

Li Miao stepped forward and bowed: "Late-comer Li Miao, meets Master Xingchi."

The old monk laughed heartily: "Lord Li, greetings!"

"I heard from my inferior disciple that you did a great good deed in Tai'an City!"

"Saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda; with your merit, it should be the monk bowing to you!"

After saying this, Xingchi actually stood up and bowed to Li Miao.

Li Miao hurriedly stepped forward to support Xingchi's arms: "Master, no need for such courtesy; Li is eating official grain and just did his duty."

Letting a ninety-year-old, high-ranking monk who was about to die bow to him, Li Miao was afraid of losing his lifespan.

"Hahaha, then the monk won't be polite. Lord Li, please sit!"

Xingchi didn't force it, winked at Li Miao, and invited Li Miao to sit down together.

"I didn't expect that before the monk dies, I can still talk to a heroic figure like Lord Li; the monk can die without regrets!"

He didn't avoid the meaning of death at all, laughing heartily as he said.

"Lord Li, if you have anything you want to ask, just say it! The monk will tell you everything he knows!"

Li Miao knew that Xingchi was already exhausted and didn't have much time left, so it was not good to delay him for too long. Moreover, he still had to see Zhu Zai later, so he went straight to the point.

"Master, the person who injured you to this state that day, was it Ji Tianrui?"

This point, he had never figured out.

The Imperial Guard's execution of Ji Tianrui in the Miao Frontier was a full-force effort, with Zhu Zai leading the team personally.

Yun Zelin could fake his death to escape because he was originally a small fry back then and didn't attract the attention of the Imperial Guard.

But for a character like Ji Tianrui, after the Imperial Guard killed him, how could they not verify his identity? If he didn't die that day, how could the Imperial Guard let it go?

Sure enough, Xingchi said lightly: "He said he was Ji Tianrui."

"His figure is similar, his martial arts are stronger, and he is also the Ming Sect leader. But whether he is the one from back then, the monk cannot be sure."

"After all, he is like Lord Li, both in the realm of three returning to one, but I don't know how he avoided the 'Five Decays of Heaven and Man'."

"The monk only reached the peak. Relying on the legacy of predecessors, damaging my lifespan, I could barely trade a few moves with him. For anything more, the monk was powerless to investigate."

Sure enough, Xingchi also saw Li Miao's realm at a glance.

Martial arts reaching above the peak are all reaching the end on one's own path. Those who practice "Jin Gang" can see others' bones at a glance; those who practice "Sumeru" can see others' true energy at a glance; those who practice "Jiezi" can see others' moves and mental methods at a glance.

And Xingchi's martial arts should have originally only been the peak. Relying on Shaolin's secret methods, he forcibly pushed his realm higher.

He only had three days of life left, not only because of the injuries left by fighting Ji Tianrui, but more because of the price of this method.

Li Miao continued to ask: "That person who claimed to be Ji Tianrui, attacking Shaolin, what was it for?"

Xingchi said lightly: "Muscle-Changing Sutra, Marrow-Cleansing Sutra, Great Return Pill."

"The monk tried my best to protect the sect members, but these three things were all taken away by that Ji Tianrui."

Li Miao hadn't spoken yet, when Yong Jie on the side stood up suddenly and said in shock: "What!?"

"This, what should we do!?"

"What are you panicking about!" Xingchi shouted sharply: "In heaven and on earth, only 'I' am supreme; all external things are empty. Where did you practice your Buddhism?"

"Sit down, don't wake Ling'er up."

Yet he didn't expect that Yong Jie's movement didn't wake the little girl, but Xingchi's voice scared her, and she immediately cried.

Xingchi hurriedly got up, took the little girl, patted her back gently, and coaxed her for a long time before coaxing her to sleep.

He lowered his voice again and turned to say to Yong Jie: "A few external things, if they are gone, they are gone."

"Secret manuals can be rewritten, pills can be re-refined. You remember, the foundation of my Shaolin is not martial arts, but Buddhism, is the human heart."

"'The empty flower and water moon dojo, build it at every moment; if there is one person not saved, do not escape yourself.'"

"Building a dojo is to save the world, and one can build it or let it go. As long as people are still alive, what is a dojo?"

"If you are obsessed with external things, you are an outsider; don't say you are my disciple in the future!"

(End of chapter)