Chapter 78: The Bodhisattva Temple Becomes an Asura Field

【Green Snake Spear Fundamental Diagram (First Tier)】

【Spear Art Great Perfection martial artist drawn on 'Bai Tan spirit sheepskin' Fundamental Diagram of Internal Strength; those who have achieved Great Success in spear art's qi and blood may meditate upon it to comprehend the mysteries of internal strength……】

【Mastery Condition: Green Snake Spear Art at Great Success】

【Mastery Effect: Green Snake Spear Art Great Perfection, Snake Waist Python Tendons, Green Snake Strength】

The Green Snake Spear's fundamental diagram was nearly identical to Bai Yuan Hammer's, and the effects were almost the same as well.

"Spear art, python tendons, Green Snake Strength!"

Having tasted the benefits of root bone alteration, Li Yuan was eager to give it a try.

The importance of root bone went without saying; under equal Wu Gong and equal cultivation, those with better root bone would be far superior in blood qi quality, blood qi recovery, and total blood qi.

This advantage did not diminish after advancing to internal strength—in fact, it was widening.

The foundation of internal strength was blood qi; vigorous blood qi could nurture purer internal strength, and after internal strength was expended in a burst, its recovery speed would also quicken.

"The original intent of root bone alteration is that practicing specific Wu Gong over years would gradually change one's own root bone……"

Li Yuan felt that root bone alteration was roughly for this reason.

In his previous life, because he sat with incorrect posture for years, he got spinal disease and a herniated lumbar disc—didn't that count as root bone alteration too?

Li Yuan felt his guess was correct, and he also knew why he so rarely heard of anyone altering their root bone.

For any Wu Gong, the time from Great Success to Great Perfection far exceeded that from beginner to Great Success.

Zhang Ben was nearly seventy, and his hammer art was only at Perfection—already quite diligent.

"By mastering the fundamental diagram, I can instantly skip the long bitter grind; I only need enough pills to succeed in the alteration!"

Li Yuan's heart stirred with restlessness; whether it worked or not, he was determined to try.

"The mastery condition is a bit high; I need to find a few Green Snake spears in the shop, pair them up, and forcibly meet the requirement……"

A spear with no threshold, mastery condition none, that boosts spear art proficiency; then using that as a base, master a spear that boosts Great Success,

after which, naturally, one can master the Green Snake fundamental diagram.

This condition, Li Yuan felt, was not difficult; the Weapon Forging Shop was not short on spears, and he remembered Wang Gong had one.

The hard part was……

"Third-tier Weapon Register…… Red gold, not easy to get."

Calculating in his heart, Li Yuan looked toward 【Thousand-Eye Bodhisattva Wooden Tablet (First Tier)】.

On this wooden tablet was carved the Thousand-Eye Bodhisattva; on the other side were some fine, pinhole-sized dense characters, with three slightly larger characters at the opening:

"Bai Shen Fa!"

The Bai Shen Fa on the wooden tablet was even more fragmentary than the fragmentary text; Li Yuan hadn't even seen a true method for practicing the art.

"Seek a place where incense offerings flourish, recite the Bai Shen Fa, and in meditative stillness, you may perhaps perceive the mysteries of worship……"

After reading just this one sentence, Li Yuan could not help but furrow his brow.

There was no stance work, no practice method or combat method—only a method of sitting in meditation and adjusting breathing. It looked quite strange, unlike any Wu Gong he knew.

"A bit sinister, and it insists on seeking a place where incense offerings flourish, sitting in meditation—is this even a Wu Gong?"

Li Yuan was very cautious.

Not only because of this fragmentary text, but even more because of the final sight of Yu Zhen—his frenzied and twisted appearance.

He strongly suspected that the reason Yu Zhen had become like that was related to this incomplete Bai Shen Fa.

"Can't touch it for now."

Li Yuan cautiously tossed the wooden tablet into the incense burner, his mind turning over calculations as he gradually fell asleep.

……

……

Thousand-Eye Bodhisattva Temple.

The thick stench of blood; even the heavy rain had not fully washed it away.

More than a dozen Monks were collecting corpses in the rainy night—some furious, some weeping—when suddenly someone screamed and collapsed from poison.

"Five-Step Snake venom! No time to save him!"

A great Monk with a face full of fierce flesh shouted: "Everyone

must not touch the corpses with bare hands—use monk's staves to lift them!"

Tragic!

The great Monk's face was ashen.

That night, they had lost fifteen martial brothers, most killed by that poison expert—and to make matters worse, he had escaped!

"Damned thief!"

His face twitching, he glared viciously at Wang Ding, whose life or death was uncertain in the rain.

"Senior Brother Baoyuan! The incense burner—the incense burner is gone?"

The great Monk turned, glanced at the empty space before the great hall, and rubbed his eyes: "Where—where did it go?!"

"Where's the incense burner?!"

"Still another thief?!"

The Monks erupted in fury and scattered to search.

A moment later, several great Monks hurried in from outside the courtyard gate, hauled Wang Ding up, and dragged him toward the rear courtyard.

"That thief was beaten to death on the street by an extremely vicious hammer art—flesh pounded into mud?"

The old Monk Kong Ding shuddered in fright, and a thought surged into his mind:

"Han Han Chuijun?!"

In the rainy night, he had exchanged dozens of blows with that poison expert; even holding the upper hand, he had still lost several disciples.

That person had already achieved success in body tempering; lacking only a mid-grade martial art, they were likely not far from Internal Strength.

A single hammer blow to crush this man dead?

In Gao Liu County, there was absolutely no such hammer-wielding expert!

"Go down!"

The old monk Kong Ding frowned and waved his hand, then lifted Wang Ding and walked into the back courtyard.

Under the eaves, Lu Lu Yunqing stood with his hands behind his back, gazing into the curtain of rain. Slowly lowering his eyes, his gaze turned cold and fierce:

"There truly is an expert spying from outside."

"It—is it really Han Han Chuijun?"

Thinking of that person's rumored savagery, even the old monk Kong Ding felt a chill of dread.

"Good, very good…"

Lu Lu Yunqing's expression gradually darkened:

"I've avoided him again and again, yet he presses so aggressively, spying on my secrets. Since that's the case…"

The old monk Kong Ding's spirit trembled: "That is Han Han Chuijun, and behind him stands Divine Weapon Valley…"

"What of Han Han Chuijun?"

Lu Lu Yunqing paced back and forth, then suddenly turned his head, his expression grim and murderous:

"If he doesn't die, the Thousand Infant Feast shall never be held!"

"This…"

The old monk Kong Ding hesitated.

Lu Lu Yunqing slowly closed his eyes:

"So what if his martial skill is high? Flesh and blood—when he should die, he must die! As for Divine Weapon Valley… their reach exceeds their grasp, what's there to fear?"

"Then?"

The old monk Kong Ding's furrowed brow smoothed out:

"Then, what should this old monk do?"

Lu Lu Yunqing's breathing was long and drawn, yet it made even the old monk Kong Ding feel his body turn cold:

"In my residence, there is a disciple of Divine Weapon Valley. Later, capture her…"

……

……

"These wounds…"

In the rainy night, a man in black lay dead across the street. Han Han Chuijun slowly circled, stroking the sparse beard on his chin, muttering to himself:

"White Ape Hammer Strike? Seems not quite right…"

Han Han Chuijun seemed to have made some discovery. He carefully examined the wounds on the corpse, clicking his tongue in wonder:

"This really does look like my own handiwork…"

Soldier's Path Combat Killing Hammer!

First form of the striking method—Soldier Strike!

Crack!

In the night, a sudden thunderclap exploded.

"How long has it been since that year when Jiu died? Seems like only a few months?"

Beneath the bamboo hat, ghost fire seemed to flicker, and then an eerie laughter like a night owl rose within the wind and rain.

"Good, good!"

On the long street, a sudden gale seemed to rise, scattering the curtain of rain.

After a long, deep look at the corpse on the ground, Han Han Chuijun's eyes were icy, his feelings unreadable.

"No one would really think it was me who killed him, would they?"

Reaching up to remove the bamboo hat from his head, in the night rain, a cold light gleamed on the ghost-face mask as Han Han Chuijun muttere

d in vexation:

"Then won't they be thinking of dealing with me?"

"Won't they call on their friends and allies?"

"Won't they set an ambush?"

"Won't they seize Fang Fang Yunxiu to threaten me?"

"Won't they…"

Boom!

As if thunder struck the long street, Han Han Chuijun's figure vanished like a phantom, lunging straight into the night rain toward the Thousand-Eyed Bodhisattva Temple, where the lamps had already dimmed:

"Anyone who wants to kill me must die!"

……

……

Dawn had just broken, the drizzle had not ceased.

"Hah!"

"Hah!"

In the small courtyard, Li Li Yuanzhong, bare-handed and barefoot, felt the wind and rain.

The pattering drizzle, thin and dense, blew with the wind and soaked him through—his shorts, his long hair, all wet.

Slap!

Suddenly, Li Yuan's right shoulder trembled; the falling rain in that area seemed to strike an invisible wall of Qi, exploding into mist.

Snap!

Borrowing the momentum, Li Yuan's left shoulder trembled as well, and a patch of rain exploded into mist.

Right shoulder, left shoulder, elbow, neck, back, thigh, instep...

Crisp explosions like popping beans rose and fell in succession, forming a loose expanse; from a distance, Li Yuan was almost shrouded in mist.

"Huff!"

In a short while, the mist dispersed. Li Yuan's face was slightly pale, as if he had lost too much blood, yet his eyes were very bright.

"The Great Circulation of Blood and Qi is truly too important for an Inner Force martial artist!"

Carrying the hammer back under the eaves, Li Yuan was still savoring the sensation of Inner Force exploding.

The single wisp of Inner Force cultivated moves with the transport of Blood and Qi, and can only explode within the area covered by Blood and Qi.

Having already achieved the Great Circulation of Blood and Qi, his Inner Force can explode from anywhere except the head, following the Blood and Qi!

But if it were the Small Circulation, it would only cover the four limbs and the waist and abdomen.

"Inner Force travels with the Blood and Qi, nourishing the body; the greater the area the Blood and Qi traverses, the better the body-refining effect!"

Swallowing a Zeng Xue Dan, Li Yuan's face finally regained a trace of blood color.

He could feel his stamina increasing—slowly, but perceptibly, as if he had taken the Leopard Fetus Sinew-Changing Pill.

"The explosion of Inner Force has a lag, but if Inner Force pervades the Great Circulation of Blood and Qi, that lag becomes almost negligible..."

After resting a while, as his Blood and Qi and Inner Force recovered slightly, Li Yuan reached out to touch the rain line flowing down from the eaves.

Bang!

The fine raindrops had not yet touched his fingers when they exploded into mist.

"If Inner Force pervades the entire body, then even if I walk naked in heavy rain, wouldn't not a single drop be able to land on me?

No, I'd still need to wear a bamboo hat..."

Li Yuan rubbed his face; while the Blood and Qi did surge to the face when activated, the Great Circulation of Blood and Qi truly did not cover the head and face.

Even if it did cover them, he dared not try.

"Once the Bai Yuan Force is established, I have already practiced this hammer technique to its limit. Although the Soldier Dao Battle-Killing Hammer can still be practiced, it is too slow..."

Li Yuan pondered.

For over half a year, he had practiced this Battle-Killing Hammer almost every day, but after entering the initial stage, progress slowed more and more; it was truly twice the effort for half the result.

"The Battle-Killing Hammer is divided into three parts: 'Soldier,' 'Battle,' and 'Kill.' I have obtained two parts. Is this high-level Wu Gong inherently difficult to practice, or is it because the 'Soldier' part is missing?"

Li Yuan, whose knowledge of the Martial Dao was shallow, could not judge, but with no other Wu Gong to practice at present, he could only grit his teeth and continue.

No matter what, it was far more reliable than that incomplete, headless and tailless 'Bai Shen Fa.'

"The Divine Weapon Valley will open its mountain gates next March."

Rubbing his face, Li Yuan felt even more that having a master was crucial.

Without systematic Wu Gong to learn and no one to guide him, the feeling of half-guessing and half-testing was too painful.

It was bitter.

"It's almost August; not much time left..."

Mumbling to himself, Li Yuan returned to his room to change clothes, went out, picked up a bamboo hat, and slowly walked toward the weapon forge.

The light rain did not cease; Gao Liu County was filled with water vapor, shrouded in mist.

There were few pedestrians on the road, and many breakfast stalls had closed; Li Yuan wandered through several streets before finding one.

"Twelve meat buns, five steamed buns, two bowls of porridge, twenty eggs, two plates of side dishes, and one bowl of tofu pudding!"

Inside the small shop, many people glanced over, but after just a quick look, they all lowered their heads again, seeming afraid to look longer.

"Wait a moment, honored guest; it will be ready immediately!"

Only the owner, beaming with joy, turned to urge the waiter.

"Tsk~"

Li Yuan was no longer surprised by this.

Having practiced martial arts for nearly a year, he was no longer the scrawny figure he once was; though not burly, he had become quite capable and sharp.

"Something happened in the Inner City again! When I left the city just now, I saw dozens of City Guard soldiers and government office Runners. Tsk tsk, terrible... so many corpses..."

"What? Another major case? That Year Nine is too ruthless; he's really targeting our Gao Liu County!"

"Sigh, after Commander Qiu died, both the Inner and Outer Cities have been quite chaotic. Just a few days ago, a hooligan even tried to extort me! This world..."

Li Yuan picked up a pair of chopsticks and was wiping them when he heard the table next door discussing the matter, so he couldn't help but glance over a few times.

The man speaking nodded at him before continuing:

"... I took a look from afar. Guess what? Those corpses were all bald!"

"Bald? Could it be the Thousand-Eyed Bodhisattva Temple?"

The guests in the shop all turned to look, many with expressions of surprise.

The Thousand-Eyed Bodhisattva Temple was an old temple even older than Gao Liu County, always bustling with incense; inside, there were dozens of monks, large and small, many of whom had achieved success in martial arts.

Moreover, it maintained close ties with the various powers in both the Inner and Outer Cities; ordinary people simply dared not provoke it.

"This... could Year Nine have a grudge against the monks in the temple?"

A guest approached, ordering a bowl of side dishes and several buns for the speaking man.

"I originally didn't want to get close—not out of fear, but because corpses are simply inauspicious. But as soon as I saw so many monks in trouble, I became interested..."

The man took a sip of porridge and lowered his voice:

"Guess what?"

"What about it?"

Quite a few customers crowded over.

Li Yuan, eating a steamed bun, glanced over as well.

"The Thousand-Eye Bodhisattva Temple — everyone inside was slaughtered!"

The man was both shocked and terrified, the hand holding his steamed bun trembling:

"Over fifty monks in the temple, plus more than ten dogs, all killed! The horror of it… ugh, why is this meat filling? Ugh…"

The man cursed loudly, retching again and again, the stinging stench forcing the surrounding diners to cover their noses and step back.

"That can't be right?!"

Li Yuan, who hadn't been paying much attention, was startled.

……

Li Yuan was quite shaken by the news, yet still half in doubt.

He clearly remembered Yu Zhen being chased by the monks and fleeing in a sorry state…

"Could it be that after I left, someone else attacked the Thousand-Eye Bodhisattva Temple?"

After standing dazed for a good while, Li Yuan haphazardly filled his stomach, genuinely curious, and set off toward the inner city with his bamboo hat in hand.

The rain had not yet stopped, and the inner city was already swarming with people — several streets outside the Bodhisattva Temple were completely blocked.

The weeping of many could be heard from far away.

"It really was wiped out?!"