The Great Martial Arts World: Hot Topics and Great Heroes

Perhaps when the old monk dares to come, it will still be when Kong Wen is the abbot!

Kongxing then said, "Brother, you may not know this, but I also asked the guest master. That old monk has been voluntarily sweeping and cleaning the area for many years."

Chu Luren nodded and said, "There are hundreds of monks practicing martial arts in Shaolin Temple alone, so it's normal that the two abbots don't know about a wandering monk who is staying at the temple."

Kongxing didn't really want to talk to him...

"The first half of the month...is it still the first half of the month now? Master Kongxing said that the old monk is missing? And why is he only sweeping the floor for the first half of the month?" Chu Luren was also very curious. Was this sweeping monk supposed to take a break for half a month and then rest for the first half of the month?

It is now the first month of the ninth year of Tiansheng. It was not long ago that the New Year was celebrated. However, because of Yingying's matter, Chu Luren had been running around and had not paid attention to whether or not the New Year was celebrated.

"I heard from the temple that the old monk who is hard of hearing goes out to beg for alms and travels around during the second half of each month. Other monks in the temple have tried to persuade him, but he doesn't listen much."

After Kongxing finished speaking, Chu Luren looked at him for a long time before saying, "Master Kongxing knows so much... you must have asked him quite a few times, right? Do you come to the Bodhidharma Cave often?"

Emptiness: ...

"I've heard that Master Kongxing's Dragon Claw Hand is very powerful. However, the Dragon Claw Hand is an external martial art that excels at killing. Without a superior Zen state of mind, it's easy to go astray and become possessed by evil spirits?" Chu Luren asked, quite oblivious to the danger.

Emptiness completely ignored him...

Indeed, Kongxing frequently visited the Dharma Cave. After all, among the four great monks of the Kong generation, he had the worst temper and was easily angered, yet he also possessed the bloodthirsty martial art of the Dragon Claw Hand.

"Does Master Chu know something about sweeping?" Kong Wen asked Chu Luren at this moment.

"I don't know, it just doesn't look very clean. Pay more attention in the future, don't just ask some old monk who's staying at the temple to clean it." Chu Luren looked like he was inspecting something.

Kongwen and Fangzheng didn't dwell on Chu Luren's matter. After all, monks who stay at the temple are free to come and go as they please, and it's almost the end of the month, so perhaps he's gone on another journey?

Where can an old monk who is hard of hearing and has difficulty walking go on his half-month-long journey?

They can't even leave Dengfeng County, right?

After all, it would take seven and a half days to make the round trip...

In fact, the people at the guesthouse also suspected that the old monk had a family down the mountain or was having an affair with a widow. However, he was well-behaved in the temple and never broke the rules. More importantly, he was not a Shaolin disciple and was quite old. So they just treated it as a visit to comfort the widows and didn't take it too seriously.

Just then, a young monk suddenly ran over, panting as he ran, and was heard by several experts in the cave from a great distance.

"Abbot, Abbot, something terrible has happened! The courtyard where the Holy Maiden is recuperating has been attacked..."

He had barely finished shouting when Chu Luren had already dashed away like a gust of wind.

Seeing this, the bastard quickly said, "Big brother, I'll go too!"

Chu Luren's lightness skill made him appear ethereal and otherworldly. It could be said that... when Chu Luren used his lightness skill and moved with astonishing speed, his overall appearance was even more striking!

In contrast, the mongrel dog would run with its legs and arms outstretched, yet it still managed to barely catch its tail.

As for emptiness, emptiness of nature, and methods of proof, they are simply too far off to be found...

At the same time, all three of them were worried—the Holy Maiden must not have any problems, otherwise she would cause a lot of trouble!

When Chu Luren arrived at the courtyard, he found the old woman and several martial monks outside the courtyard, their pressure points sealed. At the same time, a man dressed as a monk was about to carry Ren Yingying away.

"Halt! Who are you?" Chu Luren shouted immediately upon seeing this.

"Senior brother, the thieves are still setting fire to the temple! You must hurry... Ah! Brother Chu?"

The young monk initially tried to lure Chu Luren away with his tender voice, but he was stunned when he turned around and saw Chu Luren's figure clearly.

Chu Luren recognized him at this moment. This "little monk" was none other than Qu Feiyan, who had covered his hair with a monk's hat and changed into a monk's robe!

Thinking back to the first time I met Qu Feiyan, four or five years have passed, and she is now a grown woman.

"Feifei? What brings you here?" Chu Luren asked in surprise.

“After Sister Yingying was trapped in Shaolin, I’ve been trying to find a way. Recently, it seems something happened at Shaolin, and I learned that Sister Yingying was in danger, so I brought them here. So… Brother Chu, let’s go quickly!” Qu Feiyan said immediately.

Upon hearing this, Chu Luren realized who was behind the arson and quickly said, "Put Yingying down quickly, she can't take any more trouble... Is there any signal to contact the Six Immortals of Peach Valley? Don't let them cause trouble."

"Oh, Brother Chu is really amazing." Qu Feiyan said obediently, without any doubt, and immediately guessed that Chu Luren had already impressed Shaolin.

Regardless of how it moved them, it did move them...

Chapter 741 The Helpless Fang Zheng

Chu Luren told Feifei and the Six Immortals of Peach Valley to wait for him in Dengfeng County at the foot of the mountain, and then...

"Outrageous! Is this how Shaolin protects the Holy Maiden? She fainted and was allowed to be attacked by villains!" Chu Luren was furious with Kong Wen and Fang Zheng who had rushed over.

That bastard... has already been sent away by Chu Luren to avoid embarrassing him.

Fang Zheng initially had a stern face and solemnly stated that he would definitely investigate thoroughly—in fact, Fang Zheng also felt very wronged, and this was most likely Ren Yingying's or Ren Woxing's enemy.

After Chu Luren left, he protected Ren Yingying in the villa. When Fang Zheng came again at dawn, he had already changed to dead fish eyes, obviously having discovered some clues.

When Fang Zheng arrived outside the villa, he could hear it from afar...

Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tick-tick-tick—

Someone is playing a high-pitched suona horn, and... it's the "Pure Heart and Universal Benevolence Mantra"!

Fang Zheng's face darkened at first, thinking that Chu Luren was deliberately humiliating Buddhism—the "Pure Heart Universal Benevolence Mantra" comes from the "Pu'an Mantra" composed by Zen Master Pu'an six hundred years ago.

Ren Yingying could play the "Pure Heart and Universal Benevolence Mantra" and had some understanding of the pure heart and universal benevolence state of mind in it. This is why Fang Zheng thought that as long as Ren Yingying stayed in Shaolin for a period of time, she would be able to attain enlightenment.

But that was a zither piece, not a suona...

kindness?

Fang Zheng suddenly realized that listening to this suona version of "Qingxin Pushan Mantra" actually brought him inner peace, and even the circulation of his internal energy had a healing effect!

Prescription: ...

Clearly, his grasp of the Zen Buddhist mindset surpasses that of ordinary "high monks," which is why he can express it so vividly through the sound of the suona...

Fang Zheng felt even more uncomfortable.

Chu Luren heard Fang Zheng approaching from afar. As soon as Fang Zheng entered the courtyard, Chu Luren looked at him with an accusatory expression.

“Amitabha, last night the monks in the temple said that the one who attacked the villa was a person disguised as a young novice monk, and the one who set the fire was a few gaunt and strange-looking old men… Does Chu Taisui have any clues?” Fang Zheng looked at Chu Luren expressionlessly.

The person disguised as a young novice monk might be unknown, but how could Fang Zheng not recognize these old men? Aren't they Ren Yingying's bodyguards, the Six Immortals of Peach Valley?

Thinking back to how they had succeeded last night but hadn't taken Ren Yingying away, and also recalling how Chu Luren had confronted them the previous night—he seemed fierce at first, but unexpectedly he was reasonable and didn't even demand compensation of several secret manuals.

Looking back now, this was incredibly reasonable for Chu Taisui, almost like the typical reckless scoundrel in the martial arts world...

Fang Zheng felt he had solved the case!

Upon hearing this, Chu Luren pondered seriously for a moment, then stood up and paced around twice before saying, "I heard that the Dragon Guard Manor recently hired a new group of experts called... the Five Elders of Snow Mountain! They look like this!"

Prescription: ...

Fang Zheng shook his head at Chu Luren, without arguing with him about the difference between five and six.

Knowing that reasoning with Chu Luren was pointless, and that no one had died last night except for a few missing Buddhist halls, Fang Zheng could only say, "The matter of the Holy Maiden is indeed a loss for Shaolin. The one who tied the knot must untie it... The Holy Maiden was knocked unconscious by demonic energy in the Bodhidharma Cave. This old monk thinks it is better to stay in this courtyard and use the pure Zen spirit of Shaolin to slowly calm her mental lapses."

"This is not an oversight; this is being injured by the demonic energy of Shaolin," Chu Luren emphasized directly.

Fang Zheng, that old bastard, tried to shift the blame, but Chu Luren unscrupulously pinned it on him!

“I’m not comfortable leaving Yingying at Shaolin. I’ll take Yingying away now. If she doesn’t recover, our alliance will come back to settle accounts with Shaolin!” Chu Luren said directly.

Fang Zheng was also helpless. They were not allowed to manage the situation, but they were also forced to "settle accounts". This... sigh, who told him to bring trouble upon himself?

Fang Zheng realized that he had also been tempted by greed, wanting to further enhance Shaolin's reputation and even try to infiltrate the Sun Moon Cult, which led to the current trouble!

If Chu Luren hadn't been ranked second on the Heavenly Ranking, or even if the Righteous Alliance hadn't been established yet, Fang Zheng would have wanted to spit the words "send the guest away" in his face with the Vajra Zen Lion's Roar.

Can't beat them?

What did Master Kongxing say again?

We, the thousands of monks of Shaolin...

As for Chu Luren, he actually agrees with Fang Zheng's saying that "the one who tied the bell must untie it." However, the one who truly "tied the bell" is Damo Cave. Afterwards, he can first see if Gou Zazhong has any solutions, and secondly, he can go find the sweeper who is on strike.

Of course, even if the bastard couldn't find him and the janitor couldn't be found, Chu Luren wasn't without options—he knew quite a few martial arts secrets involving the mind, and sound techniques could also affect the mind.

Putting everything else aside, Chu Luren felt that if he kept praising Yingying every day for several months, she would recover!

"Very well, since Alliance Leader Chu has said so, he must have his own methods. If I discover anything, I will inform Alliance Leader Chu in time." Fang Zheng appeared very vulnerable because of Ren Yingying's attack and Ren Woxing's disappearance.

If it were truly a time of eliminating evil and protecting the righteous, then killing Ren Woxing and injuring Ren Yingying would be nothing to complain about; it's not like Shaolin monks haven't killed people before.

However... now Ren Yingying brought Ren Woxing to treat him, and Fang Zheng even agreed and made conditions. As a result, something happened at Shaolin Temple, which makes no sense.

Especially with the Righteous Alliance members present, if Fang Zheng had refused, it would have certainly become a case of "Shaolin luring people into the temple to kill them," "killing them right in front of Buddha," and "the old Fang Zheng laughed three times, kicking Ren Woxing to the ground in front of the Great Buddha statue. Kong Wen, Kong Zhi, and Kong Xing praised the abbot's brilliant plan, lamenting that they hadn't responded to Zhang Sanfeng back then"...

"Don't forget to send the letter to the abbot of the Southern Shaolin Temple," Chu Luren reminded them.

"Amitabha." Fang Zheng didn't want to speak.

So that very day, Chu Luren took Yingying down the mountain, and Shaolin even specially found two martial monks to carry Yingying down on a stretcher.

Back at the inn's entrance, before Chu Luren could speak, the Six Immortals of Peach Valley appeared—Chu Luren had told Feifei last night about the inn where Wang Yuyan and the others were staying.

"The Holy Maiden is back! The Holy Maiden is back!"

"Why hasn't the Holy Maiden woken up yet?"

"Young Master Chu, Feifei said you could save the Holy Maiden..."

"This unconscious person can't be saved!"

"How much effort did we put in last night? My beard is singed!"

The six immortals of Peach Valley started arguing noisily and incoherently.

The two monks looked at Chu Taisui expressionlessly...

"Yes, she will definitely feel your sincerity in lighting a bonfire every night to pray for the Holy Maiden!" Chu Luren said kindly.

"By the way, I saw that Xiao Feifei threw this away. Should we return it?" Tao Yexian said, taking out a little monk's robe.

Thank you so much! What kind of Peach Valley Six Immortals are you? When did you become so polite?

Chu Luren looked like he was about to jump out of a well, but he still managed to explain, "Why throw it away? I just love how Feifei looks in monk's robes... I bought this for Feifei for two qian of silver!"

Chapter 742 The Pioneers of the Times

Fortunately, the two martial monks who carried Ren Yingying down were all well-known honest monks in the temple, appointed by Abbot Fangzheng. So they kept the abbot's instructions in mind, ignored some "suspicious points", and left directly after delivering her to her destination—without taking the monk's robe handed over by Taoye Xian.