The Great Martial Arts World: Hot Topics and Great Heroes

What does this have to do with Xie Yanke?

Nonsense! If it were Chu Luren, and he had experienced something like that, with his face constantly emitting a bluish aura due to his internal energy, he would definitely find a mask to cover it up...

Seeing Chu Luren staring at his face, Xie Yanke felt that this guy was up to no good, and said to the little beggar in an annoyed tone, "The person is already dead, how can you save him?"

"Ah? The old man... sigh." The little beggar then noticed that the old man had curled up into a ball and was no longer breathing.

This is also a characteristic of external martial arts hard skills reaching a certain level. Because the muscle strength is different from that of ordinary people, after death, without being deliberately stretched, it will curl up like a centipede or other insect.

"What did he say before he died?" Xie Yanke asked another question.

This old man of great sorrow had some "connections" with him. Many years ago, Xie Yanke had a contest with him. After all, one was the master of White Whale Island and the other was Peach... cough cough, I, Xie Yanke, live on Sky Cliff and have never lived on an island!

In short, the two had sparred before, but Xie Yanke was still young at that time. He started learning martial arts relatively late and was a scholar in his early years. The White Whale Island Master, the Great Compassionate Elder, was obviously much older than Xie Yanke.

Back then, the old man of Great Compassion could fight him to a standstill. In the end, Xie Yanke used his "Crane Control Skill" to disrupt the White Whale Island Master's power, which allowed him to narrowly win by half a move.

However, over the years, Xie Yanke's martial arts skills have soared, while the White Whale Island Master, the Great Compassionate Elder, has been unable to cultivate his internal strength due to an injury he sustained in his early years. Therefore, he mainly practices external martial arts and has naturally been overtaken.

"The old man said... he wanted to give me the clay figurine in his arms," ​​the little beggar said without any suspicion.

"He's mastered external martial arts to such an extent that he's quite a figure in the martial arts world. Look at what he gave you." Xie Yanke said, turning around as if he didn't want to see it.

However... Xie Yanke turned around, but Chu Luren did not. Even when Xie Yanke glared at him, it was in vain. Moreover, Xie Yanke didn't really want to pay attention to him.

After all, his "stage name" has now been completely exposed!

In his early years, when Huang Yaoshi was at his most rebellious, he was full of cynicism and disdain for the imperial court and etiquette, yet secretly craved recognition from others. At that time, the Heroic Deeds List was first established, and in order to generate buzz and create a persona, "Xie Yanke" was born...

As long as you obtain the "Mysterious Iron Token", you can make Xie Yanke, who was considered a top expert at the time, do something. The topic was incredibly popular, and indeed, after the hype was generated, Xie Yanke was on the list.

However, Xie Yanke soon regretted the empty promise he made, but did not want to break his oath directly. Fortunately, it was just a "stage name". So... Xie Yanke began to appear once every three years!

Moreover, after so many years, only the last Xuan Tie Token remained unclaimed, and coincidentally, it fell into the hands of this little beggar...

Although Xie Yanke's true identity was not entirely a secret, those who knew it were all veterans of the martial arts world who valued their status.

As long as Xie Yanke doesn't admit it, there's no need to expose him. For example, the number one manor in the world definitely knows, but it didn't write it down in the booklet, did it? But... this time, a junior actually found out, which really bothered Xie Yanke!

Chu Luren glanced at the little beggar, then at Xie Yanke—he was naturally familiar with this "plot".

If I'm not mistaken, this little beggar is indeed the protagonist of "Ode to Gallantry," with an exceptionally low starting point in his life, yet he will become one of the strongest contenders for the title of the greatest martial arts novelist in Jin Yong's works, ultimately becoming the male protagonist with the strongest martial arts skills...

"What is your name, young man?" Chu Luren asked, just to be on the safe side.

"My name is Dog Bastard... uh, but the uncle won't let me say it. He said it's an unpleasant name and nobody calls me that, but that's what my mother calls me." After the little beggar finished speaking, he looked at Xie Yanke somewhat embarrassedly.

Xie Yanke pretended not to hear, and Chu Luren breathed a sigh of relief.

After all, Xie Yanke has become a "stage name." Considering Huang Yaoshi's identity and the fact that he met him at Luzhuang not long ago... Chu Luren was just hesitating whether this little beggar was actually Yang Potian, Shi Guo, or someone like that!

"Huh? Your mother is Sect Leader Mei?" Li Mochou immediately realized.

"No sect leader? My mother is indeed not a sect leader..." The bastard himself didn't know what his mother's name was; a mother is a mother.

"Did you grow up in Xiong'er Mountain?" Li Mochou asked, seeing the child's naivety, after all, Mei Fanggu had helped her before.

"That's right! That's her name. Have you seen my mother?" The bastard immediately perked up, not even bothering to open the wooden box he had taken from the old man's arms, which made Chu Luren a little anxious.

“Your mother went to Jiangnan before, and now… I don’t know where she is.” Li Mochou said helplessly after thinking for a moment.

After all, Mei Fanggu hadn't said where she was going before, but judging from her words, it seemed she didn't intend to go back immediately.

Xie Yanke, who was standing to the side, was terrified. He had also recognized who the bastard's mother was and thought to himself: If that woman finds out that her son has obtained my Xuan Tie Token, she will definitely make things difficult for me!

He thought to himself, "I absolutely cannot see his mother before that bastard uses the Mystic Iron Token..."

Well, since we met Mei Fanggu in Jiaxing, we can't take him back to Peach Blossom Island. Otherwise, we'll have to pass through Jiangnan. So, we'll take him to my own Sky Cliff Villa instead!

Just then, Wang Yuyan and Hong Lingbo arrived as well.

"Huh? You are..." Wang Yuyan looked at Xie Yanke and was also startled.

"This is Xie Yanke, the Hermit of the Sky, not surnamed Huang!" Chu Luren quickly reminded him, lest Wang Yuyan get into trouble.

However, Chu Luren always felt... like someone was glaring at him from behind!

Chapter 113 Clay Figure

"Hmph, why don't you take a look at the clay figurine your 'old friend' gave you?" Xie Yanke interrupted.

The little beggar and the old man of great sorrow had just met; the "old friend" here means someone who is of advanced age.

Although she didn't know what was going on, Wang Yuyan could tell that Xie Yanke didn't want to be recognized, so she didn't say anything more.

Li Mochou seemed to have discovered something. When Xie Yanke glared at Chu Luren, Li Mochou also narrowed her eyes at his back with ill intent—she had just sensed that Xie Yanke was a little guilty when she asked Mei Fanggu about her adopted son!

However, since both Xie Yanke and Huang Yaoshi possessed formidable martial arts skills, Li Mochou naturally didn't dare to act recklessly. In fact, she followed Xie Yanke's advice and didn't continue the previous conversation with the little beggar.

However, Li Mochou was still looking for an opportunity. If she found out what Xie Yanke was wary of, she would never let go of the opportunity to make this happen—did she really think that the Red Serpent Fairy had forgotten the previous grudge?

The little beggar then opened the wooden box, and inside were three rows of six clay figurines each, surrounded by shock-absorbing padding, indicating that they had been carefully preserved.

As for the rest, the old man with great compassion had some silver coins, hidden weapons, letters, and the like in his arms, but he didn't mention giving them to the little beggar, and he would never touch them.

Seeing these clay figurines, the little beggar, being still young and... childlike, quite liked these little trinkets.

However, upon closer inspection, one will find that these clay figurines are painted with lines, and some places are even marked with black dots!

"Huh? This seems to be a diagram of an internal martial arts technique." Wang Yuyan recognized it and said it directly without trying to hide it.

Xie Yanke, who was standing to the side, merely glanced at it—he had never thought much of the old man Da Bei, and being proud of his status, he wouldn't stoop to "peeking" at his things.

"Brother Dog, may I take a look?" Chu Luren was very polite to the little beggar.

"Thanks to Brother Chu's intervention earlier, those bad guys were scared away. Otherwise, the old man would have been cremated. Giving these things to Brother Chu is no big deal..."

Chu Luren had just introduced himself, and the little beggar knew his surname was "Chu." At the same time, he said somewhat shyly, "But Brother Chu, please don't call me 'Brother Dog,' it sounds awkward. Just call me Dog Bastard." The little beggar said this with an innocent and cheerful laugh.

Chu Luren opened his mouth...

I didn't dare to call out.

However, "Dog Bastard" did not have a name at this time. The name "Shi Potian" was a pseudonym given to his good-for-nothing brother Shi Zhongyu by the Chang Le Gang later.

In the original work, Shi Zhongyu and Shi Potian are brothers, but not twins; Shi Zhongyu is a year or two older...

Shi Zhongyu should not have caused any trouble yet and is still a disciple of the Snow Mountain Sect. Naturally, the pseudonym "Shi Potian" has not been created yet.

As for the name "Shi Zhongjian" that Shi Qing and Min Rou gave their youngest son, it's not something they can say out loud right now...

Chu Luren didn't care what it was called for a moment. Instead, he took out a clay figurine and turned it over and over, examining it carefully.

"This is... a meridian chart? Wait, if there are eighteen in total, could this be the set of eighteen Arhat puppets from Shaolin Temple?" Wang Yuyan was very familiar with many martial arts records.

Many people have heard the legends about the origin of these eighteen Arhat puppets.

About a hundred years ago, a high-ranking monk from Shaolin Temple created a set of unparalleled martial arts called "Luohan Fumo Shen Gong" (Arhat Subduing Demon Divine Skill), which was said to be no less than the "Yi Jin Jing" (Muscle/Tendon Changing Classic) and "Xi Sui Jing" (Marrow Washing Classic) written by Bodhidharma.

It is said that after mastering this skill, all obstacles in other martial arts will be resolved, and it will also combine the functions of yin and yang, hardness and softness, with inexhaustible internal strength. It can be said that the body can move with the mind, and there is nothing that can be done. It can move left, right, high, or low at will!

In short... it's incredibly awesome.

However, Xie Yanke scoffed upon seeing it, saying, "Perhaps those thieving monks were just making a fuss. Since that eminent monk, no one in Shaolin Temple has mastered this skill for decades. Later, this set of clay figurines circulated in the martial arts world for decades, passing through the hands of countless heroes and talented individuals, but none of them were able to reproduce this divine skill."

Indeed, there are rumors that this "Arhat Subduing Demons Divine Skill" is an external martial art. Perhaps that's why the Great Compassionate Old Man treasures this clay figurine so much, hoping to unravel its mysteries?

"The meridian diagram is already drawn, isn't it? What's there to miss?" Hong Lingbo's eyes lit up, looking eager to try it out.

Xie Yanke naturally ignored her, a junior. It was Wang Yuyan who explained, "This clay puppet has changed hands many times. The meridian diagram on the clay puppet has long been thoroughly studied. It is just a common internal skill in Shaolin. Although it is considered a top-notch internal skill in the martial arts world, most of the people who get the clay puppet are already famous figures in the martial arts world, so naturally they would not specifically practice the skills on the clay puppet."

Chu Luren ignored what others were saying and examined all eighteen clay figures on his own, first discerning the true nature of the technique and then fully mastering it!

Seeing Chu Luren's curiosity, the little beggar said, "Brother Chu, do you also find these naked clay figurines interesting? Then we can share them. I believe the old man will be grateful to Brother Chu before he dies."

Chu Luren: ...

Although I know the little beggar didn't mean it that way, the phrase "clothesless clay doll" is really misleading!

"No, this is a set of techniques. I have already memorized it. You can study it on your own later. But... the 'Arhat Subduing Demon Divine Skill' shouldn't be that simple, right? Could there be some other mechanism in this clay puppet?" Chu Luren didn't want to crush it right away, so he decided to pretend for a while first.

"Many people who obtain this clay figurine are like you, blindly believing in the kung fu of those thieving monks. As a result, they all neglect the cultivation of their own kung fu and end up falling into inferior positions!" Xie Yanke spoke much more vulgarly when using this stage name, probably because he let loose when using a pseudonym.

Otherwise, he wouldn't keep calling me a "thief monk"...

Indeed, Shaolin Temple seems to have tacitly accepted that the clay figurines were lost outside. After all, no one in the temple could master them, and judging from the high monk's last words, this skill was not something that evil people could learn. Therefore, Shaolin Temple is not too bothered by the loss of the clay figurines.

But in Xie Yanke's words, it sounded as if Shaolin Temple was deliberately framing people...

There's really nothing to ponder about external martial arts techniques. Although Chu Luren himself can't tell what kind of kung fu it is, once the badge is formed, he can naturally know its name. Chu Luren doesn't have any "system" in his consciousness, but... he seems to be able to communicate with various "martial arts" on another level!

If Zhang Zhenren of Wudang were to obtain this clay figurine, given his temperament, he would probably be somewhat displeased...

The martial arts on the outside of this clay figurine are none other than the Shaolin Nine Yang Skill, which Zhang Sanfeng used to visit Shaolin Temple to "exchange ideas" but ended up getting a rude awakening!

Chapter 114 Monks Don't Understand Men

"I heard about this when I was traveling the martial arts world. There's another version of the story... It's said that the high monk who created this divine skill had never practiced martial arts before. Instead, he was proficient in Buddhism. After he achieved great success in Zen Buddhism, he was already in his eighties, yet he comprehended superior martial arts in just a few years..." Li Mochou's tone was somewhat sarcastic when she mentioned this, so it seems she didn't believe it.

After all, the story sounds too bizarre. One moment it's all about awesome skills, the next it's about hard skills, then it's about needing profound internal strength to practice, and then it's about the founder not having practiced martial arts before.

Moreover, from beginning to end, only the monks in the temple knew the true extent of that high monk's martial arts skills.

Chu Luren did not immediately crush it to see what was inside, but first thoroughly examined the "Shaolin Nine Yang Skill" drawn on the outside!

Nearly a hundred years ago, Zhang Sanfeng, in his youth, was wrongly accused of being a traitor by Shaolin Temple and was hunted down along with Master Jueyuan. Before his death, Jueyuan murmured the mantra of the Nine Yang Divine Skill in his sleep, which was overheard and recorded by Zhang Sanfeng in his youth, the founder of Emei Temple, and Zen Master Wuse of Shaolin Temple.

However, Jueyuan was not sober at the time, and what he said was vague and even incoherent. Therefore, the "Nine Yang Divine Skill" that the three of them later restored were different from the original version.

Zen Master Wuse himself was highly skilled in martial arts, so his understanding came from a high level and a comprehensive perspective. The founder of Emei came from a prestigious school, and although his martial arts skills were not high at the time, his knowledge was extensive, so his understanding was based on mutual verification with his knowledge and was the most profound...

Zhang Sanfeng's martial arts skills and knowledge were lacking at the time, but his mind was the purest. It was precisely because of this original state that he... gained the purest understanding!

From then on, the Wudang Nine Yang Skill, the Shaolin Nine Yang Skill, and the Emei Nine Yang Skill were each passed down...

However, the Wudang Nine Yang Skill is considered a founding manual for the Wudang School. It was only in his later years that Old Zhang realized that what he had learned back then was impure, so he began to study and develop a completely new and perfect internal skill on his own.

The Emei Sect has a long history of inheritance, but it also places great importance on the Emei Nine Yang Skill.

However, Shaolin Temple, from the classics left by Bodhidharma to the martial arts created by eminent monks throughout the ages, is a treasure trove of martial arts!

It is said that Buddhism comes first and martial arts second, but Shaolin still maintains the rules for learning martial arts—all monks who leave the temple to travel the world, after returning to the temple, in addition to reporting their violations to the Disciplinary Hall, the second thing they must do is go to the Prajna Hall to report all the martial arts they have seen. The Prajna Hall records their characteristics and analyzes and studies them...

Although Shaolin Nine Yang Skill is considered quite good in the Shaolin tradition, it is not a core tradition and can only be regarded as one of the options.