Chapter 208: Monks and Taoists Merge at Longhu Temple

The small courtyard fell silent.

Whoo~

The night wind blew past, and Linghu Linghu Baiwan felt a chill run down his spine; he had never imagined that this so-called Li Yuan would actually be connected to Longhu Temple and Master Master Fulong.

How on earth did that kid get in touch with Long Xi Xiang, who was tens of thousands of miles away and had long since withdrawn from the martial world for decades?

'I even took the bounty mission to assassinate him…'

Just thinking about it made Linghu Linghu Baiwan's heart palpitate.

If he killed that kid, wouldn't that offend Master Master Fulong?

"Has your Hall Master come to Dechang Prefecture?"

An San Yuan Wu swept a cold glance; he suspected Meng Zhan had very likely also come to Dechang Prefecture, and had sent this kid to test him.

Linghu Linghu Baiwan hurriedly shook his head: "That, I truly do not know."

"This concerns Longhu Temple; we absolutely cannot act rashly."

An San Yuan Wu's eyelids drooped:

"No matter what method you use, you must contact your Hall Master. Without Hall Master Brother Shentu's permission, you are not to act on your own!"

"Yes!"

Linghu Linghu Baiwan responded solemnly, a chill rising in his heart.

There was only one Hall Master Brother Shentu in Huizhou — the Grand Hall Master who commanded Huizhou's Wutang, Shen Tu Hong…

"Go."

An San Yuan Wu waved his hand, and Linghu Linghu Baiwan bowed and took his leave, striding away quickly.

……

"That kid actually got in touch with Master Master Fulong? This…"

Thinking that he had actually wanted to assassinate Li Yuan, Linghu Linghu Baiwan, once out of the alley, felt his legs go weak, secretly cursing the Star-Plucking Tower's intelligence as inaccurate, nearly getting himself killed.

"Master Master Fulong…"

Linghu Linghu Baiwan was both shocked and envious in his heart, completely giving up on completing the mission, preparing to stay far away from Dechang Prefecture; when it came to Longhu Temple, he was truly afraid…

"If I can't afford to provoke them, can't I still afford to hide?"

Linghu Linghu Baiwan's heart settled, when suddenly he heard the wind howl and felt a chill on his back.

"Who?"

Without thinking, he lunged forward; a sweep of his peripheral vision caught only a black shadow clinging to his back like a ghost.

Boom!

The next instant, a blast of air burst forth.

Li Yuan reached out, grabbed the unconscious Linghu Linghu Baiwan, tapped his foot, and vanished into the shadows.

Whoo whoo~

In the night, Li Yuan moved with the wind, rising and falling, his footsteps silent, his speed extreme.

After the Body Shift, his lightness skill had greatly increased; combined with the boost of two pairs of third-tier boots, even following Linghu Linghu Baiwan around that courtyard, no one had noticed.

"So this is the weight Longhu Temple carries?"

Li Yuan's heart gave a slight chill.

Even after raising his estimate again and again, he seemed to still have underestimated the weight of a top-tier sect's leader under heaven.

Just a rumored, unconfirmed piece of news about taking on a disciple was enough to intimidate a state branch of the Xieshen Sect, a state-level sect like the Huailong Palace.

"Grandmaster."

Various thoughts turning in his mind, Li Yuan's feet did not stop as he carried Linghu Linghu Baiwan to find an empty alley.

"Bam!"

Slamming him hard onto the ground, the feigning-unconscious Linghu Linghu Baiwan saw stars and nearly passed out again.

"Who are you, sir?"

Linghu Linghu Baiwan struggled to prop himself up, his heart filled with terror.

He had already woken up along the way, but had been awed by this person's lightness skill — this caliber of lightness skill was the first he had ever seen.

This person's Wu Gong was far above his own, yet still chose to launch a sneak attack…

From the shadows, Li Yuan stepped out slowly, glanced at the terrified Linghu Linghu Baiwan; the sheer mix of elements in the Star-Plucking Tower still surprised him somewhat.

A man from the Wutang, actually moonlighting inside the Tower?

"An assassin from the Star-Plucking Tower?"

Seeing the ghost-face mask worn by the newcomer, Linghu Linghu Baiwan's heart tightened; he nearly mistook him for Han Han Chuijun, but quickly realized his mistake.

This person was actually an assassin from the Star-Plucking Tower?

Seeing the newcomer say nothing, merely staring at him coldly, Linghu Linghu Baiwan's heart clenched: "Sir, please don't act; I am willing to buy my life!"

Wang Lao was indeed steady in his work — was that Soul-Disrupting Pill really this effective?

Seeing that Linghu Linghu Baiwan did not recognize him at all, Li Yuan turned thoughts over in his mind and altered his voice:

"How do you plan to buy your life?"

A Body-Shift martial artist had extremely strong control over his body; bone-shrinking was beyond him, but tweaking his vocal register was naturally no problem.

"What does sir want?"

Seeing that he had not struck, Linghu Linghu Baiwan's heart eased slightly, and he spun his thoughts frantically.

He had never walked about with his true face; this person could not have taken a mission to assassinate him, so it was very likely that after bumping into him at the safehouse, he had tracked him all the way here.

Robbing him for money?

"What else do you have?"

Li Yuan flipped his palm, holding a wad of silver notes and pills—exactly what he'd picked off Linghu Baimai, roughly two thousand three hundred taels of silver.

"I…"

Linghu Baimai felt his sleeve, the corner of his eye twitching, but could only grit his teeth and say:

"I still have two thousand three hundred taels in gold notes deposited at the Tongda Money House. If you don't mind, I'm willing to buy my life with it."

"That's all?"

Li Yuan stuffed the silver notes and pills into his robe and walked over slowly. Along the way he had already sealed this man's qi and blood, the circulation of his internal force.

"T-that's all?"

Linghu Baimai was a little dumbfounded: "Did you mishear? It's two thousand three hundred taels in gold notes…"

"Not enough."

Li Yuan flicked a finger, knocking the curved blade from the man's waist, and with one grab had it pinched in his hand.

"I still have a thousand taels of gold at the Shunyuan Exchange…"

Linghu Baimai's face went wooden, his heart twisted like a knife—this was already most of his fortune.

Damn beast, too greedy!

A silver-rank assassin of the Star-Plucking Tower, and he was one who valued his life too. Li Yuan applied just a little pressure, and had already wrung out most of his fortune.

However…

"What position do you hold in the Wutang?"

"Steward."

"Below the Hall Master and Vice Hall Master comes the Steward, right? Mm, not a low position."

Li Yuan paced a few steps, then suddenly turned his head:

"What's the use of the divine statue?"

"Eh? D-divine statue?"

Linghu Baimai started, only now noticing the brightly lit place not far away—the Thousand-Eye Bodhisattva Temple, of all things.

"Mm, the divine statue."

Li Yuan nodded.

He had always been curious about how the imperial court actually used incense offerings; privately he had inquired, but gained nothing.

At least, there was no such record in the inner or outer chambers of the library.

"This…"

The moment Linghu Baimai hesitated, a curved blade was already at his neck.

"The divine statues of every prefecture are all uniformly forged and transported by the Ministry of Works, and replaced every dozen or several dozen years…"

Linghu Baimai didn't even stumble over his words, pouring out everything he knew.

"I've heard that a divine statue that has received incense can be used to forge weapons, forge armor, temper bows, refine pills… but exactly how it's done, only the Ministry of Works knows."

"Only this much?"

Li Yuan frowned slightly—this intelligence, he already knew.

"The divine statue is a great secret of the imperial court; even the Hall Master doesn't know. How would I?"

Linghu Baimai forced a bitter smile again and again.

He didn't know how many people were interested in the divine statue; he had inquired back in the day too, but not only gained nothing, he got a face full of blood for his trouble.

"Anyone who investigates the divine statue ends up disappearing without a trace…"

"Is that so?"

Li Yuan fell into thought.

"Thud!"

Linghu Baimai dropped to his knees, tears and snot streaming down his face:

"Spare my life, I—I have elders above and children below… When the Ministry of Works transports the divine statue, they hand it over to the Wutang. I—I can inquire and keep an eye out on your behalf…"

"Oh?"

Li Yuan's wrist paused slightly; the blade's edge cut Linghu Baimai's neck. He thought for a moment, then tossed the curved blade back to him:

"Tomorrow night, bring the gold notes here… mm, you may also try to run."

He gave Linghu Baimai one deep look, then tapped lightly with his foot. Qi and blood and internal breath erupted together; in an instant he had vanished into the alley,

swift as a ghost.

"Lightness skill this high—who on earth is this man?"

Linghu Baimai dropped onto his backside, secretly cursing his bad luck. Lightness skill of this caliber, he had never even seen.

After quite a while, he finally recovered, wiping the cold sweat from his face, painfully picking up the curved blade, and staggering away.

……

Whoo~

Coming with the wind, going with the wind.

He startled no one. Apart from a little mouse crouching in the corner of the wall, Li Yuan's leaving and returning startled no one.

"Boots are too important."

Inside the room, Li Yuan swiftly changed clothes and removed his mask.

Every time he went out, he could truly feel the benefits of wielding boots. Two pairs of third-grade boots had already made his lightness skill unrivaled within a prefecture, even across several prefectures.

"Among all Wu Gong, lightness skill and horizontal training are the rarest, and the hardest to practice and master. But once you achieve something, the benefits are obvious."

Li Yuan swallowed a pill and pushed the Xu Tui Soldier Body Stance.

Among the martial artists he had seen, the best at lightness skill was Han Han Chuijun. Old Han was versed in Yi Bai Xing, mastering ten or more—even more—types of lightness skill.

Yet even he, when exerting his full strength, differed only slightly.

"Lightness skills are rare, but boots are even rarer; high-grade boots are rarer still."

Li Yuan shook his head inwardly.

People of the Jianghu chase divine weapons and sharp blades, yet no one has ever heard of anyone chasing high-grade boots; among the legendary twelve Daoist Tianyun Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing, boots do not exist.

Grade Three is already the best pair of boots he has ever seen; as for Name-Grade boots, he has not only never seen them, he has never even heard of them.

"I possess the Divine Fire Weapon-Combining Furnace; as long as there is sufficient incense, boots whether they have entered a grade or not can be combined into high-grade boots!"

Li Yuan sensed the incense and boots on the gray Dingxin Dingxin Shitai and felt relatively satisfied.

With an extra pair of Grade Three boots, his speed would surge by a huge margin; even someone as formidable as Old Han would not be able to catch up to him.

"Hoo!"

After completing several sets of the Weapon-Body Postures, Li Yuan rested briefly, then began altering his bone structure, transforming Jin into Qi, and cultivating the Thousand-Quintal Qi Art.

After collapsing in exhaustion, he began cultivating the Visualization Method.

The matchstick man he visualized had become much fuller compared to the beginning; raising his hands and kicking his legs flowed much more smoothly, gradually taking on a hint of human quality.

The Yunshu Lou is widely distributed; there is also a branch within Dechang Prefecture.

Early the next morning, Li Yuan went to the Yunshu Lou, spent over five hundred taels of silver, and bought over a dozen various rankings, as well as some other intelligence.

"Li Yuan, true disciple of the Divine Weapon Valley, a genius of weapon forging, Liu Liu Jingshan in hammer techniques, has mastered the Weapon Dao Combat Hammer, suspected to have mastered Inner Fortification..."

On a 'Huizhou Talents Ranking', Li Yuan saw his own name and his rank.

"The eight prefectures of Huizhou, ranked three hundred and twenty-third... Hmm, this ranking also has a lag; yes, intelligence collection and integration also require time."

Li Yuan flipped through it with interest.

This ranking is not that accurate; at least the records concerning himself have many omissions, but generally speaking, it still holds some credibility.

After settling the bill, Li Yuan went out, found a restaurant by the road, ordered a table of wine and dishes, and while waiting for Liu Zheng and Wang Wang Peiyao, he began flipping through the various intelligence he had just bought.

In these times, transportation is inconvenient, information transmission is even more inconvenient, so intelligence naturally appears very precious.

For the vast majority of Jianghu people, the Yunshu Lou is already the only place where intelligence can be obtained.

"The eight prefectures of Huizhou, a thousand talents under sixty years old; hmm, I reckon my ranking has something to do with my high talent in weapon forging; Inner Fortification mastery cannot even get into the top five hundred."

Li Yuan flipped through it.

The eight prefectures of Huizhou, a population of hundreds of millions, martial artists beyond counting; Inner Fortification mastery martial artists under sixty years old are certainly far more than a thousand in number.

This ranking considers Wu Gong, but it is not only Wu Gong.

"Hmm, it seems it does not include disciples of the Huailong Palace? Is the Yunshu Lou avoiding taboo, or is there another ranking?"

Li Yuan read with great relish; those who made the list often had great events they had done, giving him the feeling of reading Jianghu unofficial history.

He doubted how credible this ranking was, but it counted as intelligence to some extent.

After flipping through for a while, Li Yuan put it down, looked through all the various rankings he had bought, and finally picked up the 'Dragon-Tiger Miscellaneous Records'.

This was intelligence concerning the Longhu Temple; just this one book was priced at one hundred and eighty taels of silver; this was after bargaining; the original price was two hundred and thirty taels.

"Longhu Temple, the head of Mount Hengshan Dao, a temple where monks and Taoists merge, founded two thousand and three hundred years ago... The founders were the Dragon Seal Holy Monk and the Pure Yang Taoist..."

"Two thousand and three hundred years ago, one monk and one Taoist, two Earth Immortal-level giants, debated the Dao by the seaside; one rode a dragon, one rode a tiger; the two giants debated the Dao for seven years, then founded the Longhu Temple."

"For two thousand years, it has always been the Diyi Sect of Mount Hengshan Dao... One thousand and four hundred years ago, it once participated in the Fu Long Court; the Great Fortune Founding Emperor deeply felt its grace, thus enfeoffed it with Mount Hengshan..."

The records in this miscellaneous book overlap considerably with the legends about the Longhu Temple in the marketplace; many places are said or handed down; its credibility is not even as good as that Talents Ranking.

But looking at a leopard through a tube, one can still see a corner.

The Longhu Temple is located at the center of the four Sizhou of Mount Hengshan; within the temple there are a thousand temples, palaces connected into one vast expanse; every morning and dusk when incense is lit and lamps are extinguished, they must ride dragon-horses.

Such a scale is truly somewhat unbelievable.

"Longhu Temple, a temple where monks and Taoists merge, has the Dragon and Tiger Gates, has the Transmission, Prajna, Subdue Dragon, and Subdue Tiger Halls, has six true disciples, seventy thousand disciples, the Dragon and Tiger Armies, totaling one hundred and ten thousand, the elite of the world."

Dragons hidden, tigers crouching; experts like clouds.

Although it was just a miscellaneous book, Li Yuan flipped through it and already had a relatively clear understanding of this huge entity dominating Mount Hengshan Dao.

"Both monks and Taoists; for them to coexist harmoniously, that would be seeing ghosts!"

Li Yuan inwardly criticized.

Sects that have had Earth Immortals in every generation are, for any power, huge entities of decisive importance.

But the larger the power, the more factions there are; let alone a temple where monks and Taoists merge.

"Long Xi Xiang is the Great Dragon Gate Master; does that count as a monk?"

Regarding that Subdue Long Chan Master, Li Yuan did not have much understanding either; he only heard that the person liked Taoist robes, yet was oddly called a 'Chan Master'.

Just for himself, it was truly hard to imagine what a Monk wearing a Taoist robe would look like.

Thinking of his own appearance with a shaved head and wearing a Taoist robe, Li Yuan could not help but shiver; this was too bizarre.