10 A Single Punch

"Who am I?" Su Qin sized up Zhen Xing in a glance and casually replied, "I'm Zhen Guan from the Miscellaneous Court. Can't you recognize me?" 

"That's impossible!" Zhen Xing cautiously eyed Su Qin and said, "Zhen Guan's a mere temple sweeper in the Shaolin temple. His ability's weak but you…"

Zhen Xing wanted to ask what Su Qin meant, but his sense of danger overtook all other thoughts. 

'Run!'

'Run quickly!'

'Otherwise, you're going to die!'

Zhen Xing knew that these thoughts were warnings from the evil intent in his mind.

"Were you the one who attacked me before?" Zhen Xing could not help but ask after he steeled himself.

"If you're asking about the dried leaf, then yes. That's my doing!" admitted Su Qin.

As soon as Su Qin uttered those words, Zhen Xing's face revealed the extent of his disbelief and shock. He knew that any person who could use a single withered leaf to kill him must at the very least have been a first-rank grandmaster!

What did it mean to be a first-rank grandmaster? Well, in the entire world, there were only a handful of grandmasters, and each of them was peerless and globally recognized as extremely powerful martial artists. 

The Shaolin temple was one of the greatest martial arts sects in the world and its foundations were unfathomably deep. If a first-rank grandmaster presided over the Shaolin temple in secret, Zhen Xing would have been furious. However, it was a loss that he would have been able to accept. 

However, to have lost to Su Qin…

How could Su Qin have been a first-rank grandmaster? 

Zhen Xing pondered. If it were not for the Demon Buddha martial arts that he inherited and without the evil intent transforming his body, he would only be a seventh-rank martial artist. That would also have been the result of training hard in the Shaolin temple with unlimited resources. 

Yet, someone who was about the same age as him had already become a first-rank martial artist?

How could he have accepted that there was such an enormous gap between their abilities?

"It's impossible! No way! That impossible!" Zhen Xing muttered to himself. The evil energy within his body surged and threatened to explode.

The Demon Buddha successor was only a result of the transformative powers of the evil intent. That meant that the control of his own body was extremely crude. As he was being triggered by the outside world, the evil intent instantly began to react.

"Hey…I won't mind if you secretly escaped from the Shaolin temple. Whether you practice Demon Buddha martial arts or Buddhist martial arts, it's nothing to do with me. I mean, you're just a temple sweeper." 

Su Qin sighed softly and his tone became somber, "Yet, why are you so set on destroying the Shaolin temple? If the Shaolin temple's destroyed, where am I going to sweep?" Su Qin wore an expression of utmost discontent and annoyance.

It was difficult for him to find such an amazing location where he could sign into the system. So, how could Su Qin be willing to leave it?

"Swee…sweep?" Zhen Xing looked extremely confused and it took him a long while before he could react. 

He hatched various theories at that time. He even thought that Su Qin might have been the master genius that the Shaolin temple was training in secret but was worried that he would attract the jealousy of others. Hence, they decided to place him in the Miscellaneous Court as a temple sweeper.

All that still did not explain how Su Qin became the first-rank grandmaster at such a young age! However, that idea gave Zhen Xing a little comfort. 

Yet, Su Qin's words sounded like he was truly just a temple sweeper!? The reason he stopped Zhen Xing from destroying the Shaolin temple was that he would have had no other place to sweep? 

Zhen Xing was so overwhelmed with emotions that he felt his throat catch. He was so angry that he nearly spat blood!

"How dare you humiliate me this way!" Zhen Xing's eyes were bloodshot. Endless clouds of evil energy once again started to appear and enveloped the sky.

The jet-black evil energy grew thick. It was like a great inescapable net had appeared in the sky and tried to trap Su Qin.

"I don't believe you! I don't believe that you're a first-rank grandmaster!" The faint silhouette of a half-black and half-gold Demon Buddha appeared behind Zhen Xing.

Zhen Xing was extremely aware that if Su Qin was truly the first-rank grandmaster that attacked him back in the Shaolin temple, even if he did manage to flee to the ends of the earth, he would still have met death. 

However, if Su Qin was not a first-rank grandmaster, there was no chance that he would have been able to survive Zhen Xing's furious attack

Boom! A terrifying gush of evil energy rushed toward them. 

"No matter what, you were a disciple of the Luohan Court. So, you must probably remember the Luohan Fist technique of the Luohan Court?" Su Qin casually raised his right hand and with the flow of his aura, he started moving to the steps of the Luohan Fist technique.

"The Luohan Fist technique?"

Zhen Xing thought that Su Qin was being absurd. The Luohan Fist technique was the most basic technique of the Luohan Court. Even brand new novice monks could have executed the move easily. Yet, Su Qin decided to abandon the idea of using all the various super techniques or killer moves of the Shaolin temple in favor of the basic martial arts technique against him?

"Hahahahaha. You must have a death wish!" Zhen Xing's eyes glowed with black light as his evil power grew stronger and stronger. 

Su Qin gently raised a fist toward Zhen Xing. No one could have expected what happened next. That single punch was like a real-life Luohan descending as it destroyed the clouds of evil energy before it finally landed on Zhen Xing's chest.

Crack!

The glow from within Zhen Xing's eyes dimmed rapidly and that black light burned out. "So this is the true Luohan Fist…" Zhen Xing's voice trailed off as he slumped down and knelt on the ground.

Whoosh.

A stream of black smoke emerged from Zhen Xing's body. When it came into contact with sunlight, that black smoke rapidly disintegrated. 

'So, that's the evil intent?' wondered Su Qin aloud. He waited until all the black smoke completely disappeared before he turned around and left. 

*****

Countless hours later. At the Shaolin temple.

Once the Demon Buddha successor left the temple, the evil energy dissipated and all the temple court heads slowly woke up from their coma. Since all the temple court heads were third-rank martial artists, they recovered very quickly.

"Abbot, what happened to that evil disciple?" asked the Luohan Court head as he struggled to contain his rage. 

As soon as he uttered those words, everyone suddenly snapped to attention. Over the past 900 years, each generation of the Demon Buddha successors was heinously wicked and all of them set their hearts on destroying the Shaolin temple.

Today, the abbot suffered deadly injuries while all the temple court heads laid in comas. Yet, the temple seemed to be untouched and safe. The temple court heads could not comprehend what happened.

"A mighty warrior from our Shaolin temple appeared just now and used a single withered leaf to scare the Demon Buddha successor into fleeing!" Abbot Hui Wen explained slowly as he turned to face all the temple heads.

"A mighty warrior?"

"A single withered leaf scared the Demon Buddha successor?"

"How's that possible?"

"That Demon Buddha successor achieved second-rank." 

"How could he be frightened off by a single dried leaf?"

All the various court heads were shocked and they could not believe what they just heard.

Abbot Hui Wen brought all the temple court heads to the thousand-year ancient bell outside the Dharma Court and pointed out the single withered leaf that pierced through the bell. "It truly happened the way I described it."

"So, it's a withered leaf?"

"Even from such a distance, I can sense the powerful positive aura emanating from the leaf."

"A first-rank Divine Master Abbot, only a first-rank Divine Master Abbot can use a single withered leaf to achieve such a feat right?"

All the temple court heads were overjoyed. 

"Let's not celebrate prematurely!" Abbot Hui Wen shook his head gently, "The Demon Buddha successor has escaped! From our experience, any Demon Buddha successor will be able to advance to the second-rank or even the first-rank in a couple of years."

"Even though we managed to force the Demon Buddha successor to retreat, however, in the future when he returns to the Shaolin temple, I fear that he'll return as a true first-rank grandmaster."

Abbot Hui Wen's words caused all the temple court heads to quiet down. It was true. What good was it even if the Shaolin temple had a first-rank Divine Master Abbot? They knew what great potential a Demon Buddha successor possessed. When the Demon Buddha successor returned wielding at his peak, the Shaolin temple might not be able to withstand his attack.

Abbot Hui Wen and the temple court heads discussed how to face the Demon Buddha successor when he returned. They had grave expressions. Suddenly, a disciple rushed toward them.

"Abbot! Temple court heads! We've discovered Brother Zhen Xing's corpse outside the Shaolin temple!"

"What did you say?!"

"The Demon Buddha successor's dead!?"

 Abbot Hui Wen's eyes widened in shock. He found that hard to believe.