The Great Martial Arts World: Hot Topics and Great Heroes

“You, Benefactor Chu, stop spouting nonsense!” Yuan Yin, with thick eyebrows, immediately said.

Shaolin Temple can't afford to take the blame for this...

Normally, converting the former leader of the Demonic Sect and the Holy Maiden would be a prestigious thing for Shaolin, but using it as an excuse to trick them into coming to the temple to murder them would be an enormous blunder!

If word gets out, what will Shaolin be called?

"I'm making baseless accusations? Where is Yingying? I need to see her right now!" Chu Luren said immediately.

Yuan Yin trembled her lips but did not say anything. Chu Luren became even more anxious. At this moment, Fang Zheng put his hands together and said, "Amitabha, this matter is indeed the cause and effect of our temple, causing Mr. Ren and the Holy Maiden to suffer an undeserved disaster! The Holy Maiden is only unconscious now, and for the time being... her life is not in danger, but Mr. Ren has disappeared."

Upon hearing this, Chu Luren's face darkened as he asked, "Where is Yingying?"

"Please come with me, Benefactor Chu..." Fang Zheng led Chu Luren towards the back mountain.

It went much more smoothly than Chu Luren had originally imagined. Chu Luren thought that Shaolin wouldn't stop him from taking Ren Yingying away now, but Chu Luren couldn't be happy!

Instead of going to the Bodhidharma Cave, they arrived at a Zen temple. This place was no longer the Shaolin Temple. There was an old woman in the temple, who seemed to be the caretaker. She quickly bowed to Fangzheng upon seeing him.

Upon entering the room, Chu Luren saw Ren Yingying lying unconscious on the bed. At this moment, Ren Yingying's face was almost covered with a layer of black mist, and she looked pale and gloomy.

"How could this be? Is this Shaolin's 'Zen meditation'?" Chu Luren said angrily upon seeing this.

Fang Zheng also felt guilty and was worried that Chu Luren would use this as an excuse to make trouble later, so he quickly explained.

He previously said that this was Shaolin's "cause and effect," and that Ren Yingying suffered an undeserved disaster, rather than Shaolin's "fault," which is indeed somewhat different.

To put it simply, Ren Yingying's current state is that she is being impacted by demonic energy at the entrance of the Bodhidharma Cave!

“Three days ago, Guihai Yidao came to the temple, claiming he wanted to seek revenge on Uncle Kongzhi. I stopped him... To my shame, Guihai Yidao had already mastered the ‘Dominating the World’ sword technique, and his swordsmanship was even better than his father’s. I was also injured.”

Unexpectedly, after Guihai Yidao retreated, he went to the Bodhidharma Cave. In a fit of demonic rage, he triggered the Buddha image left behind by Bodhidharma!

For a thousand years, this Buddha image has cleansed the inner demons of countless eminent monks. However, once it was touched, it amplified the inner demons of Guihai Yidao himself, Mr. Ren, and a Tibetan monk who were in the cave at the time. The Tibetan monk was suspected to be the Tibetan national teacher, the Great Wheel King Kumārajīva. Now, all three of them have disappeared without a trace…”

Fang Zheng spoke with a tone full of regret. After explaining the cause of the incident, he added, "Later, we found the Holy Maiden at the cave entrance. She should not have been inside the cave at that time, but even so, she was still affected by the demonic influence and suffered severe damage to her mind. She had been unconscious for three days and had taken the Lesser Rejuvenation Pill to keep her alive."

"You didn't even catch Guihai Yidao? Damo Cave is usually unguarded?" Chu Luren almost wanted to curse.

“Alas, even the most vicious people in the past would not have dared to lay a hand on the Buddha’s image when they entered the Bodhidharma Cave. Moreover, there was also that highly skilled Tibetan monk there at the time. I… I was negligent.”

Fang Zheng had already guessed Kumārajīva's identity—after all, it wasn't just any random Tibetan monk who possessed such high martial arts skills and profound Buddhist knowledge.

"As for Guihai Yidao... it was Uncle Kongzhi who first discovered this matter and wanted to offer himself to the demon to awaken his conscience, but unexpectedly he was killed by the demon outside the Damo Cave. Afterwards, Guihai Yidao came to the temple to talk about this matter. This old monk and many fellow disciples joined forces to try to keep him, but after he became possessed by the demon, his swordsmanship became even more evil and cruel, which instead caused many disciples in the temple to be injured or killed." Fang Zheng was even more distressed.

"What? Quite a few casualties?" Chu Luren frowned upon hearing this. "Aren't there any experts in the temple?"

"At that time, my two senior uncles, Kongwen and Kongxing, were also checking the back mountain. When the two senior uncles returned, Guihai Yidao had already been taken away by Shangguan Haitang..." Fang Zheng thought that Chu Luren was talking about Kongwen and Kongxing.

Little did they know, Chu Luren was actually curious about where the sweeper had gone!

Guihai killed and injured many Shaolin disciples with a single slash, and was also injured himself, but was rescued by Shangguan Haitang.

Chu Luren then carefully examined Yingying's condition and found that her breathing and pulse were very stable. With the Shaolin Lesser Rejuvenation Pill, her body was unharmed even after a long period of unconsciousness. However... her mind must have been greatly affected, which was why she had not woken up.

Moreover, when Chu Luren tried to awaken her using the spiritual guidance method of the "Secret Essentials of the Ninja Sect," he found that she instinctively frowned slightly and looked very painful, so he quickly stopped.

Her unconsciousness at this time may also be a form of self-protection.

Before his mind and spirit were restored, Chu Luren dared not forcibly awaken him.

"I want to go to the Bodhidharma Cave!" Chu Luren said, naturally imperiously, as if he were in the right.

Fang Zheng hesitated for a moment, then said, "Please follow me, Benefactor Chu."

Chapter 737 Vanished

Chu Luren saw a Zen-like Buddhist image in the Bodhidharma Cave, but his heart remained unmoved... Only his Dao Embryo faintly sensed the stirring of energy.

Only when Chu Luren deliberately uses the "Tathagata Mudra" can one feel the Zen meaning within it—this shows that Chu Luren's Zen state of mind is high enough and there are no signs of him going astray.

Sensing the unusual state of Chu Luren, Fang Zheng clasped his hands together and said, "I didn't expect that Layman Chu is also well-versed in Buddhism. Amitabha."

Chu Luren turned to look at him and said, "What do you mean by 'unexpected'?" Why is this abbot always so sarcastic?

Prescription: ...

Fang Zheng was feeling a bit tired, not understanding why this guy could be so in tune with Zen.

Fortunately, the only ones accompanying them at this time were Kongxing and Kongwen, who were protecting the Damo Cave. The two of them, being of higher seniority, did not say a word even though the Chu Lu people were rude—especially Kongwen, who was still practicing silent meditation.

But at that moment, the bastard suddenly chuckled stupidly...

"What are your thoughts, young man?" Fang Zheng also glanced at the bastard with curiosity.

Kongxing looked over with dissatisfaction. He had only seen this kid in the cave and felt that this silly kid not only did not seem to have any profound martial arts skills, but was also completely unaffected by Zen and had no Buddha-nature. Wasn't this just rotten wood?

On his way to the Dharma Cave, Fang Zheng had asked Gou Zazhong what his name was. When the other party frankly revealed his full name, Fang Zheng couldn't help but praise him, saying, "Benefactor, you have a good Buddhist nature and are not moved by external things." However, Fang Zheng still felt a little awkward calling someone "Gou Zazhong" and simply addressed him as "little brother."

What he didn't expect was that he originally thought this bastard had a great affinity with Buddhism, but when he arrived at the Bodhidharma Cave, this bastard seemed to have no feelings at all and did not feel any Zen at all.

Fang Zheng thought to himself, "I misjudged him." When he heard Chu Luren chuckle, Fang Zheng was also a little confused. If it was Chu Luren who was laughing like that, then there was no need to be confused. He was definitely mocking him, mocking Shaolin, or even mocking Bodhidharma!

"Ah! I'm so sorry, I just saw him laughing so happily that I couldn't help but laugh along. It wasn't that I looked down on the thousands of monks in your Shaolin Temple," Dog Bastard quickly said.

He spoke with an air of utter fear that if he offended Fang Zheng, he would be besieged by hundreds of monks and unable to leave Shaolin.

Prescription: ...

Emptiness: !!!

Fang Zheng was silent for a moment, then looked at Chu Luren—what does that kid know? This guy must have been talking nonsense in front of the child!

Kongxing, on the other hand, had already adopted the Vajra wrathful form, first glaring at the bastard, but then, seeing the child's cowardice, he realized what was happening and changed his gaze to Chu Luren.

Alright! Emptiness is strange to begin with. Lately, many people in the martial arts world have been talking about "how many monks Shaolin Temple has"... So it turns out that it was Chu Taisui spreading rumors behind the scenes?

Yes, that makes sense now—the Righteous Alliance has so many random characters, and when they spread their opinions in an organized way, it becomes a meme.

As the one who first uttered those words, Kongxing was incredibly embarrassed and wished he could immediately follow his senior brother's example and begin practicing silent meditation!

As for what Gou Zazhong said about "his happy smile," Fang Zheng and Kong Xing didn't take it to heart. Kong Wen, on the other hand, glanced at Gou Zazhong a few more times, but also didn't say anything.

"That Guihai slash didn't even destroy this Zen-like Buddhist image..." Chu Luren couldn't help but sigh.

Fang Zheng and the other two looked at him expressionlessly—what? You're disappointed?

Chu Luren didn't think too much about it, he just remembered that in the original work of "The World's Number One", the shadow of Bodhidharma was cut off by Guihai's sword.

But thinking about it, it's normal, since the Bodhidharma Zen Shadow in "The World's Number One" isn't anything special...

The specifics are unclear to the people of Shaolin. When Kongzhi arrived at the Bodhidharma Cave, Ren Yingying fainted at the entrance, and Ren Woxing and Kumārajīva disappeared. Later, he sacrificed himself in an attempt to repent and return to the right path, but he died at the hands of Guihai Yidao.

Although Guihai Yidao promised Kongzhi that he would not seek revenge on other Shaolin disciples, he still lost his demonic nature when the Shaolin disciples surrounded him, killing and injuring many...

Chu Luren had some doubts. Could it be that the Sweeper Monk had taken some action first, which caused the delay? Otherwise, how could Guihai Yidao have remained so calm when he was slaughtering the Shaolin disciples?

Unfortunately, apart from the vanished Sweeper Monk, only Ren Woxing, Kumārajīva, Guihai Yidao, Shangguan Haitang, and the unconscious Ren Yingying knew about this.

"Yingying's mind was affected by demonic energy, so how could there be such heavy demonic energy here?" Chu Luren frowned as he looked at the image of Bodhidharma.

The "demonic energy" that Chu Luren spoke of was merely the mental power that could induce inner demons, not true energy or internal force.

Could it have reached this level simply because Ren Woxing and Kumārajīva suddenly went astray and their demonic possession intensified?

"This... Amitabha." Fang Zheng clearly didn't know either.

“The old man is unhappy sitting here, so naturally he has inner demons,” the bastard suddenly interjected.

"Bodhidharma faced the wall here for nine years, entering and exiting samadhi, eliminating all greed, anger, and ignorance. How can 'unhappiness' be summed up?" Kongxing said with dissatisfaction.

Normally, someone with the air of emptiness would not bother to refute a fool, but the "hundreds and thousands of monks" joke is too insulting, and now he is somewhat unbalanced.

The bastard dog timidly reminded him, "Master, are you harboring anger?"

Emptiness: ...

"Brother, how do you think Bodhidharma meditated facing the wall here?" Chu Luren ignored Kongxing and asked Gou Zazhong directly.

"Then it must be..."

The bastard dog seemed not to understand what Chu Luren wanted to ask. He took a few steps forward, stood in front of the Buddha's shadow, sat on the stone seat, and then... with his back to the stone wall, he sat cross-legged, his hands cupped to his abdomen in the Amitabha mudra.

Indeed, when Bodhidharma faced the wall, he was said to have formed the Amitabha Mudra, which has become the most common hand gesture for sitting cross-legged in Zen meditation. However, this dog bastard is not facing the wall, but with his back to the stone wall. And what Chu Luren is asking is not about the posture, is it?

Fang Zheng smiled wryly, intending to call down the young man who hadn't grasped their meaning...

But at that moment, an astonishing Zen-like aura suddenly surged forth. In the eyes of Kongwen, Kongxing, Fangzheng, and Chuluren, the dog bastard and the shadow behind him emitted a strong but not dazzling golden light—this light emanated from the level of the mind, so it did not damage the eyes.

In the golden light, Chu Luren vaguely saw that Gou Zazhong and Bodhidharma were sitting opposite each other. Bodhidharma seemed to be saying something, while Gou Zazhong nodded slightly to him...

The golden light gradually faded, and the shadow of Bodhidharma behind the bastard disappeared!

The other four stood frozen in place, but Chu Luren was the first to react. Taking advantage of the three monks' inattention, he quickly called out, "Brother! Are you feeling unwell? Have you been ambushed? Are you dizzy?"

It would be terrible if Shaolin demanded compensation from them later. The Chu Lu people need to make it clear first that it was a problem with the "equipment" of your Shaolin Temple!

Chapter 738 You're getting anxious, you're getting anxious

"Me? I'm fine. The old man even taught me..." The bastard looked at his older brother with a puzzled expression.

"It's good that you're alright, my brother! What if you had come with me to rescue my friend, but were also harmed? What would have happened then?" Chu Luren looked worried, but his words made Fang Zheng and the other two glare at him angrily.

What does it mean to be "harmed by someone"?

What does it mean to say that "also" was harmed by someone?

“Amitabha, young layperson, your wisdom and Buddha-nature are truly admirable…” Kongwen then spoke up.

Fang Zheng and Kong Xing both looked over in surprise, clearly also quite unexpected that Kong Wen would speak.

"Master Kongwen, have you finished your silent meditation for today?" Chu Luren asked sarcastically.

Those who don't know might think that Kongwen practices silent meditation every day from nine to five...

Kong Wen glanced at Chu Luren, then said, "This old monk practices Zen but does not observe precepts. I will accept the temple rules afterward, but..."

"Huh? I thought Master Kongwen would say, 'I have already let go, but you haven't.'" Chu Luren laughed out loud after saying that.

Kong Wen: ...

As Chu Luren continued to mock him, Kong Wen's face grew even paler—since he was already practicing the "Silent Zen" technique, he had naturally also cultivated auxiliary internal skills to complement it over the past two years.

Now that his Zen practice has been broken, Kongwen has also suffered some internal injuries.