The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, becoming a disciple of Yue Buqun.

After Bu Huo sat down, Zen Master Lingxuan asked, "What is it?"

With a serious expression, Bu Huo asked, "Master, have the people from the Huashan Sect arrived today?"

Master Lingxuan laughed.

"You're quite well-informed."

"I heard it from other people in the temple."

"不惑" is an explanation.

Master Lingxuan smiled and said, "Indeed, two young heroes from the Huashan Sect have arrived at the temple today."

Bu Huo frowned.

“Master, please forgive my rudeness. I heard that the Huashan Sect came to visit my Shaolin Temple this time with a man named Linghu Chong and another man named Jiang Ning, who is also known as Ning Yanwang in the martial arts world.”

Bu Huo asked seriously, "Master, Linghu Chong is Headmaster Yue's eldest disciple, and Jiang Ning is Headmaster Yue's favorite disciple. Now that Headmaster Yue has sent the two of them here, is there any other meaning behind this move?"

"What do you mean?"

Zen Master Lingxuan smiled.

"If the Huashan Sect wants to visit my Shaolin Temple to strengthen our relationship, it's natural that they would send their best disciples. What's so strange about that?"

"That is precisely what I'm wondering about."

The monk frowned and said, "Our Southern Shaolin Temple did indeed have a friendly relationship with the Huashan Sect in the past, but that was many years ago. In the past few decades, the Huashan Sect and our Southern Shaolin Temple have had no interaction whatsoever. Now, they have suddenly sent these two people. I am worried that the Huashan Sect is coveting our Southern Shaolin Temple's martial arts again, and that they are using this visit as a pretext to spy on our temple's martial arts. After all, the Huashan Sect once..."

"Not confused".

Before he could finish speaking, Zen Master Lingxuan stopped Bu Huo from saying anything more.

"Let's not bring up the past. Back then, Yue and Cai from the Huashan Sect only saw the Sunflower Manual by chance when they came to my Shaolin Temple. The Sunflower Manual is indeed an extremely profound secret manual. We martial artists see a peerless secret manual as ordinary people see gold. If we don't see it, we don't care. But if we do see it, we must thoroughly understand it. This is just the obsession of us martial arts fanatics. Besides, so much time has passed. Let's not bring it up again. It will only increase the rift between my temple and the Huashan Sect."

Hearing his master's words, Bu Huo lowered his head.

"Yes, disciple is superficial."

When Bu Huo brought up the past, Zen Master Ling Xuan's eyes glazed over, as if he were lost in memories. It took him a long time to come back to his senses and look at Bu Huo.

"Is there anything else?"

Seeing that his master had come back to his senses, Bu Huo lowered his head and said, "Master, there is already news about Bu Jie's whereabouts."

Zen Master Lingxuan asked, "What news?"

Bu Huo said, "According to the reply from the lay disciples who were sent out, it was discovered that Bu Jie, who had defected from the temple many years ago, had appeared in Shanxi and seemed to have some connection with the Hengshan Sect."

"Not abstaining..."

Upon hearing these two words, Zen Master Lingxuan was startled again and fell into his memories once more.

Bu Huo continued, "Master, should we send a monk to Shanxi to capture Bu Jie and bring him back?"

Master Lingxuan glanced at him and shook his head.

"No."

Confused was taken aback and asked, "Why?"

Zen Master Lingxuan smiled and asked in return, "Why arrest them?"

Bu Huo's expression was serious: "Bu Jie was originally a butcher. He wanted to join our Southern Shaolin Temple, but he killed countless people. Naturally, our temple could not accept him. Master was grateful for his determination to lay down his butcher's knife and made an exception to let him enter the monastery and teach him martial arts. However, he not only did not appreciate Master's great kindness, but also broke the rules of the temple countless times. He ran to the Sutra Pavilion several times to spy on the temple's martial arts. In the end, he could not get rid of his worldly desires and betrayed the temple. If we do not capture him and bring him back to be punished as a warning to others, how can we face Master and let other monks take this as a warning?"

Upon hearing these words from Bu Huo, Zen Master Ling Xuan's expression remained unchanged; he simply smiled.

“He has been staying in my temple for many years and still breaks the precepts, which shows that he has no affinity with the Buddha. Even if we bring him back, it will not help. Since he has no affinity with the Buddha, we should not force him. Let him go.”

Master Lingxuan spoke lightly, but only he himself knew his true feelings.

"Can……"

At this moment, Bu Huo still had some lingering resentment and wanted to say something, but Zen Master Ling Xuan was already exhausted and closed his eyes to begin meditating.

Seeing this, Bu Huo knew that Zen Master Lingxuan had made up his mind, and he put his hands together in a gesture of respect.

"The disciple retire."

Just as Bu Huo was about to step out of the room, Zen Master Lingxuan suddenly opened his eyes.

"My days are numbered, and I will now entrust the Southern Shaolin Temple to you."

Master Lingxuan looked at Bu Huo with a smile in his eyes, yet also with other emotions.

“You have a compassionate heart, but you are impatient, unable to see things clearly, and unable to let go. You have two of the three vices: greed, anger, and ignorance. If you do not correct these vices, you will take many detours and will not be able to transcend them. The Diamond Sutra says: ‘One should abide nowhere, and yet give rise to the mind.’ I hope you will remember this.”

Upon hearing this, Bu Huo paused for a moment, then bowed his head and clasped his hands together.

"Yes, Master."

Zen Master Lingxuan smiled and waved his hand.

"let's go."

After leaving the meditation room, Bu Huo then left the monastery.

Jiang Ning glanced at Bu Huo's departing figure from the shadows, then at the figure inside the meditation room.

The figure remained motionless and made no sound.

Seeing this, Jiang Ning left, keeping the conversation between Bu Huo and Zen Master Ling Xuan in mind.

This nighttime expedition yielded little result; instead, they overheard monks from the Southern Shaolin Temple talking about the Huashan Sect behind their backs.

Chapter 504: Exploring Martial Arts

After leaving Master Lingxuan's monastery, Jiang Ning returned to the guest courtyard, where he discovered that Linghu Chong was still awake.

Jiang Ning asked in surprise, "Senior brother, are you still awake?"

Linghu Chong shook his head and explained, "No, I just practiced a sword routine in the courtyard."

After saying that, Linghu Chong asked again, "Junior brother, where did you go just now?"

"Take a walk around."

Jiang Ning smiled.

Linghu Chong didn't suspect anything, got up, yawned, and went back to his room. This time, he was really ready to sleep.

Jiang Ning didn't stay long and went back to his room to sleep.

Early the next morning.

The young novice monk came to greet them and led the two to Master Lingxuan's meditation room.

At this time, there was another person in the meditation room besides Zen Master Lingxuan.

"Did you two young heroes sleep well last night?"

Master Lingxuan said with a smile.

"Thank you for your concern, Master Lao. My fellow disciple and I slept very soundly last night."

Jiang Ning smiled.

Master Lingxuan nodded slightly; he seemed to have aged more today than when Jiang Ning had seen him.

Only then did Zen Master Lingxuan begin to introduce another monk to Jiang Ning and the other man.

"This is my disciple."

The monk rose and bowed to Jiang Ning and the other man: "Amitabha, my Buddhist name is Bu Huo, I greet you two young heroes."

Linghu Chong quickly stood up to return the greeting.

"Junior Linghu Chong greets Master Bu Huo."

Upon hearing his voice, Jiang Ning recognized the monk as the Huashan Sect member who had been cricketing behind his back the previous night.

Jiang Ning also stood up and said, "Junior Jiang Ning greets Master Bu Huo."

Bu Huo was of medium build and appeared to be around sixty years old, roughly the same age as Yue Buqun now.

Bu Huo smiled slightly, showing none of the hostility he had shown towards the Huashan Sect when he spoke with Zen Master Lingxuan the previous night.

At this moment, Zen Master Lingxuan said, "When Headmaster Yue wrote to me before, he wrote that our two sects have not been in contact for many years. Now that Headmaster Yue intends to befriend my Southern Shaolin, my Southern Shaolin feels the same way."

With a smile on his face, Zen Master Lingxuan said, "In the past, my Southern Shaolin Temple and your esteemed sect were already on good terms, but we have neglected our interactions over the years. If it weren't for this letter from Sect Leader Yue, I would have also been planning to write to your esteemed sect to re-establish contact between our two sects."

Upon hearing this, Linghu Chong couldn't help but smile.

Before they even left the mountain, Yue Buqun said that their mission was to establish diplomatic relations with the Southern Shaolin Temple. Now, the abbot of the Southern Shaolin Temple, Zen Master Lingxuan, had shown them positive goodwill, which meant that they were able to complete the task given to them by Yue Buqun. Linghu Chong was overjoyed.

"Speaking of discussing martial arts, our temple also greatly admires your sect's exquisite swordsmanship and would like to learn from and discuss with your sect."

"Not confused," Bu Huo said at this moment.

While it's called a discussion, it's actually an exchange of martial arts theories between oneself and the other party, hoping to gain inspiration from different ideas and thus take a further step on the path of martial arts. This often happens in the martial arts world, but in the end, the discussion always leads to a sparring match.

"All right."

Master Lingxuan laughed and said, "This old monk is old. I am willing but unable to discuss martial arts. You and your junior brothers can accompany the two young heroes to discuss it."

Bu Huo respectfully replied, "Yes, Master."

After saying this, Bu Huo turned to Jiang Ning and the other two and said, "Young heroes, you must not have had breakfast this morning. Our temple has prepared breakfast for you. Please follow me."

Jiang Ning stood up and said, "Thank you for your trouble, Master."

Linghu Chong also got up and left with Bu Huo.

The food at Shaolin Temple was all vegetarian. After the meal, Bu Huo personally led Jiang Ning and the other person to tour the Southern Shaolin Temple.

Shaolin Temple has one courtyard and four halls: Bodhidharma Courtyard, Arhat Hall, Precepts Hall, Guest Hall, and Prajna Hall.

This courtyard and four halls are very important places in Shaolin Temple, and are the core institutions. There is also a Sutra Repository. In addition to these, there are other courtyards and halls, such as the Medicine King Courtyard, which is where Shaolin Temple's martial arts monks are treated for injuries, as well as the Proof of the Way Courtyard, the Relic Courtyard, and other places.

However, Bu Huo did not take Jiang Ning and the other two to these places. Instead, he took them to visit some buildings of the Southern Shaolin Temple, where they saw many monks along the way.

For the next few days, Bu Huo hosted Jiang Ning and his companion, mainly to discuss martial arts and exchange martial arts theories with them.

The Huashan Sect is a Taoist sect, while the Southern Shaolin Sect is a Buddhist sect. The two sects, one Taoist and one Buddhist, have different martial arts philosophies, and they have many insights to share when they exchange ideas.