Chapter 1012

Just as Zhu Wushi was letting his thoughts run wild, a Buddhist chant rang out from the gloom of the inner hall.

Then a voice, thin as a withered branch, slowly spoke these two lines.

Though this voice was like dead branches and rotten cotton, hoarse and unpleasant to hear,

its inner breath was full and strong, the lingering sound endless and unbroken — clearly displaying this person's extraordinary cultivation and attainment.

Zhu Wushi realized to himself that this man's cultivation was probably no less than his own at full strength.

If he did not draw on the cultivation of his eight hundred experts, he might not even be able to match him.

Yunzhou Shaolin truly is a thousand-year-old ancient temple, the righteous leader of the Central Plains Wu Lin!

What was even more troubling was that Shaolin had this secret Heart Chan Hall.

Then what about the other Qidamen Sect?

Mount Emei, for instance?

After all, they were equally famed with Shaolin — surely they too had hidden strength, no?

Eight hundred, Zhuge Shenhou, this old monk has come.

"Amitabha, Zhuge Shenhou, forgive the offense!"

While Zhu Wushi was lost in countless thoughts without realizing it, those several old monks of the Heart Chan Hall had already walked up close to him.

The old monk at their head, after chanting a Buddhist invocation, casually extended a finger brimming with true qi and tapped it onto the Shanzhong acupoint on Zhu Wushi's chest.

The place where a martial artist stores true qi is the dantian acupoint.

The place where spirit is nurtured is the Niwan Palace in the mind.

This Shanzhong acupoint lies between the dantian and the Niwan Palace, and is also called the middle dantian.

It is the essential passage through which true qi and essence, qi, and spirit must communicate.

It can be said to be one of the martial artist's great vital meridians.

Many crucial channels also pass through this acupoint.

When this old monk tapped toward him, Zhu Wushi instinctively panicked.

He raised his only remaining hand, preparing to block.

Who would have expected that the old monk's finger technique, though it seemed to attack from the left, suddenly shifted and came from the right.

Zhu Wushi, gravely wounded as he was, failed to notice that this move was a feint.

He was poked squarely in the Shanzhong acupoint by the old monk's finger.

"You…"

Zhu Wushi flared up in rage, immediately preparing to circulate his own true qi, even calling upon the cultivation of his eight hundred experts.

After all, the Shanzhong acupoint was truly too important.

"Amitabha, Zhuge Shenhou, please calm yourself."

The old monk, neither sad nor pleased, spoke as his true qi had already passed through Zhu Wushi's Shanzhong acupoint and entered his body.

This old monk's true qi, within its gentleness, hid a trace of fierce and overbearing force.

Clearly the cultivation method practiced was indeed a Shaolin divine art.

Just as Zhu Wushi was preparing to resist, he felt that after the old monk's true qi entered through his Shanzhong acupoint, it swiftly began repairing his internal injuries.

In just a brief instant, Zhu Wushi felt his wounds ease somewhat.

"This…"

The true qi entering through the Shanzhong acupoint was actually for healing.

Such a healing technique was truly something Zhu Wushi had never heard of, never seen before.

For a moment, he could not help but freeze in a daze.

At this time, an old monk on the left also said, "Zhuge Shenhou, forgive the offense."

Then, just like the previous old monk, he thrust out a finger swift as lightning, aiming straight for a major acupoint on Zhu Wushi's left arm.

If this acupoint were sealed, this only remaining left arm would probably be unable to move.

Even mobilizing true qi would become several times harder.

By common sense, this was absolutely not a healing technique.

But with the old monk who had tapped the Shanzhong acupoint setting the precedent, though Zhu Wushi was suspicious in his heart, he now also patiently composed himself.

This was after all Shaolin's Heart Chan Hall, and he himself was the Imperial Uncle of the court, the Iron-Bold Zhuge Shenhou.

Since he began learning martial arts and entering the world, he had never had any entanglement or grudge with Shaolin.

Therefore he gradually calmed down, allowing this old monk to tap the vital acupoint on his left arm.

After this old monk tapped it, sure enough, just like the previous old monk, a stream of true qi surged in and swiftly eased his injuries.

"Mm…"

As his heavy injuries were eased, Zhu Wushi could not help but let out a comfortable moan.

"Zhuge Shenhou, this old monk has come."

Another old monk struck from behind Zhu Wushi, also aiming for a vital acupoint on his back.

Simultaneously with him, three other old monks struck, aiming respectively at three vital acupoints on Zhu Wushi's two legs and the hollow of his waist.

With two old monks having acted before him, and his whole body feeling comfortable,

Zhu Wushi smiled and nodded slightly, allowing these three old monks to tap him.

Sure enough, after the three old monks tapped him, streams of warm current passed from their fingertips into Zhu Wushi's vital acupoints.

Then, just like the previous two old monks, they began repairing the injuries on Zhu Wushi's body.

With the aid of these five Heart Chan Hall old monks, Zhu Wushi's internal injuries gradually stabilized.

Zhu Wushi was quite moved in his heart, thinking only that once his injuries were healed this time, he must properly thank Shaolin in turn.

Mm!

The best thanks would naturally be to take Yunzhou Shaolin for one's own use.

A single Gao Seng of the "Zi" generation at Liaofan was already one of the few top experts under heaven.

Add to that the Five Elders of the Heart Chan Hall, and Yunzhou Shaolin's foundations were indeed not bad—more than enough to add bricks and tiles to one's great enterprise of contending for the realm.

Just as he was thinking complacently, he suddenly felt the five streams of true essence from the Five Elders slowly flow through the many acupoints and meridians of Zhu Wushi, converging together toward his heart meridian.

The heart meridian was truly the most important meridian for a martial artist; if it were damaged—

In a light case, one's cultivation would drop, one's realm would fail to advance, and one might even be stuck forever, unable to progress a single step further.

In a severe case, one would die on the spot, and even an immortal would find it hard to save.

As a first-rate martial artist of the present age, Zhu Wushi instinctively wanted to be on guard.

At this moment, the old monk who had struck first opened his mouth and said,

"Zhuge Shenhou, this is the combined healing method of us five martial brothers. After five streams of utterly different true essence converge in the heart meridian,

they will kindle the heart-fire, then by fire generating earth, heal the spleen and stomach, and then by earth generating metal, heal the lungs.

Moving in this order, using five different kinds of true essence to kindle the five elements within the body into harmony, and thereby thoroughly cure the internal injuries."

The words, upon reflection, did indeed align with the principles of medicine.

Zhu Wushi's Wu Gong was not only astonishing; because of the matter of Su Xin, he had also dabbled in some medical principles.

Thus, after hearing it, he could not help but feel both admiration and respect.

At once he slowly relaxed and said,

"For Yunzhou Shaolin to have five great masters, how fortunate—"

Before the words were finished, the true essence of the five old monks had already all entered into Zhu Wushi's heart meridian.

After the five utterly different streams of true essence converged, they truly complemented one another.

It actually made Zhu Wushi let out an involuntary moan of pleasure, and the rest of his words went unfinished.

"If we can 'help' the Marquis, then that would be for the best."

In the old monk's tone, there suddenly appeared a trace of an eerie smile.

Zhu Wushi's ability to read words and observe expressions was extremely strong; he caught at once that something was off in the old monk's tone.

Just as he was about to open his eyes to check, he did not expect the five streams of true essence that had poured into his heart meridian to suddenly run wild and churn.

Although a martial artist's body was hard as a divine weapon, the meridians and acupoints of most martial artists were still flesh and blood.

Although Zhu Wushi was a first-rate martial artist of the present age, what he cultivated was the Heaven-Swallowing Wu Gong.

Though this divine skill could absorb others' cultivation and true essence, it unfortunately did not possess the effect of strengthening meridians and acupoints.

So much so that when these five streams of true essence suddenly ran wild, the shock made Zhu Wushi wish he were dead, nearly fainting on the spot.