14 The Worldly Situation

In the darkness of the large hall, all the warriors of the Evil sect were filled with great fear. They never expected that a first-rank grandmaster would have sent them a message.

"Didn't you say that there wasn't a first-rank grandmaster presiding in the Shaolin temple?" asked an old man. A moment ago, he was among the crowd cheering loudly to destroy the Shaolin temple. However, he dared not speak up.

The difference between the Shaolin temple having and not having a first-rank grandmaster were vastly different things. 

"Sect Master, are you okay?" the plump woman could not help but ask when she saw the purple-robed man. 

"I'm fine," The purple-robed man's breathing returned to normal, "A first-rank grandmaster may be strong but it's not enough to use just this pointing power to kill me across hundreds of miles. No way could happen!"

The purple-robed man's words were filled with great confidence. He was a peak second-rank martial artist. If it was not because of his impatience or rushing through his training in an attempt to break through and achieve first-rank sooner, he would not have suffered a Qi Deviation and needed the Muscle Strengthening Manual of the Shaolin temple to heal his injuries.

Even though he had a Qi Deviation, the purple-robed man was still no weaker than a typical second-rank martial artist. 

"Since the Shaolin temple has a first-rank grandmaster and they sent a message through one of our men, we need to change our plans!" The purple-robed man said as he returned to his seat.

As the rest of the martial artists of the Evil sect heard his words, they all let out a collective breath of relief.

Ever since the head of the Evil sect died during his Closed Door Training1 50 years ago, the Evil sect had not had a first-rank presiding over it and its power drastically weakened. The Evil sect head went into Closed Door Training in an attempt to break through the mystical level of a Martial Arts Legend.

If it were not for the Sect Master of that current generation who possessed an outstanding ability and immense talent, the Evil sect would have become as pitiful as street rats that were picked on by everyone. However, no one among them was willing to face a first-rank grandmaster because of that.

"What's your plan, Sect Master?" asked the plump woman.

"Since it's impossible to defeat the Shaolin temple, we should pick the Juyang Mountain sect!" said the purple-robed man after a moment's thought.

"Juyang Mountain sect?" All the Evil sect martial artists exchanged looks. Compared to the Shaolin temple that was one of the great martial arts sects under the heavens and had a heritage of more than a thousand years, the Juyang Mountain sect had a far weaker foundation.

The Juyang Mountain sect did not have the power of a first-rank grandmaster backing them either. Even though that generation was weaker without a first-rank grandmaster, there was still no shortage of good things within the Juyang Mountain sect.

"I'll use the blood of thousands of Juyang Mountain sect disciples to heal my injuries!" declared the purple-robed man as a wicked glint flashed across his eyes.

At the Shaolin temple. 

Su Qin did not know that his casual gesture would have caused the pending doom of the Juyang Mountain sect. 

He returned to the Miscellaneous Court and when the energy of the Peerless Life-Snatcher exploded, all Su Qin did was raise his head.

The Peerless Life-Snatcher is shapeless and formless but it can change at your will. It truly was one of the great arts of the Shaolin temple. Su Qin then nodded his head slightly. 

Over the past ten years, Su Qin managed to sign-in all over the Shaolin temple. He obtained countless great arts but none of them were as unique as the Peerless Life-Snatcher technique.

Merely based on that aspect, the Peerless Life-Snatcher technique could be ranked among the top 800 among all the great martial arts styles that Su Qin had obtained.

"I'm already a first-rank martial artist, why can't I unleash the Buddha Palm technique?" Su Qin rubbed his brow and felt a little helpless. When he obtained the Shaolin temple's strongest magical arts technique at his first-ever sign-in, Su Qin carried huge hopes for the Buddha Palm technique. 

When he was in the Lower Realms and the Middle Realms, Su Qin thought that his power was still too weak and that he had not achieved the minimum level to use the Buddha Palm. 

However, Su Qin was already a first-rank martial artist now. Even if he were compared to all the other martial artists under the heavens, Su Qin would have been among the top ranks. Despite that, the golden Buddha somewhere deep within Su Qin's brow that represented the teachings of the Buddha Palm technique remained motionless.

'It's hard to say but perhaps the Buddha Palm technique's a Luohan level magical art and only someone who was a true Luohan had the qualification and status to use it?' wondered Su Qin.

According to the rumors that Su Qin heard over the past 10 years in the Shaolin temple, even if the Buddha Palm technique was not lost over 900 years ago, it was likely that none of the Shaolin Temple disciples would have been able to achieve enlightenment in the extremely powerful technique. 

'Oh well, I'll stop worrying about this!' Su Qin shook his head as though he was shrugging the thought off.

For the next half a month, Su Qin resumed his usual routine in the temple. Only sweeping and signing-in.

Ever since he became a first-rank martial artist, Su Qin's training advancement was visibly slower. However, with the help of the huge amounts of treasures that he obtained from signing in, he was slowly inching toward the status of becoming a true Luohan.

One day, just as Su Qin was about to head to sign-in at the Bodhi Court, he overhead some disciples deep in discussion quietly.

"Have you heard that the Evil sect unleashed a blood bath on the Juyang Mountain sect?"

"Sigh, the world's too unfair. All the countries are constantly logging heads and even disputes are breaking out all over Jianghu."

"According to the news, a once-in-a-lifetime genius has appeared among the descendants of the Wudang Sect. He only took three hours to master the Taiji Meditative State. Zhang Zhenren2 personally met with him to accept him as his disciple. 

"That's impressive! Zhang Zhenren's among the few first-rank grandmasters in the world. His power and greatness are overwhelming and known across the world. Out of all the disciples that he accepts, nearly all of them would be able to advance to the Upper Realms."

All the disciples of the Miscellaneous Court wore excited expressions as they discussed it. It was one of the few interests among the disciples of the Miscellaneous Courts. The Miscellaneous Court was unlike other large courts as its disciples were not required to practice martial arts. Hence, they had a lot of spare time and tended to discuss all the happenings in the world. 

"I heard that the successor of Xiao Li Flying Saber's sect has achieved nirvana!"

"What? The Xiao Li Flying Saber sect? The Xiao Li Flyer Saber sect that's known as the 'The one who never mistargeted? The one who brings death nearer when his saber appears? That Xiao Li Flying Sect?

"That's right, their successor in this generation just achieved nirvana3 and managed to kill an evil martial artist of the Upper Realms with just a flying saber. He made quite a stir."

"It's not just the Xiao Li Flying Saber sect. The other Buddhist sect of equal standing as the Shaolin temple, the Vajra temple also has produced an 'enlightened one'…"

Su Qin was enjoying himself as he eavesdropped on the discussions of the other disciples. All the countries everywhere rose and fell. The chaos never ceased. Each day, another warrior was killed or another sect was annihilated.

As one of the greatest martial arts sects under the heavens, the Shaolin temple was a peaceful and untouched place. At the very least, it would not have been frequently exposed to such troubles.

Su Qin felt that his decision was the right one. For him to stay on in the Shaolin temple and sign-in daily, biding his time until all the evils in the world were defeated before heading into the outside world was a perfect plan.

'The outside world's just too dangerous,' thought Su Qin as he walked slowly to the Bodhi Court.

It did not matter if it was the genius of the Wudang sect who achieved the Taiji meditative state or the successor of the Flying Saber sect or even the 'enlightened one' of the Vajra temple. They were all figures who deserved respect in the world.

They all received the full extent of nurturing and teaching from their sects. Plus, they also possessed the benefits passed down to them from their predecessors. Compared to them, Su Qin was merely a temple sweeper in the Shaolin temple. 

He had no access to resources even if he wanted to, and neither did he have predecessors who would give him an advantage. 

'Access to external resources is very important in martial arts training. Even if a person has outstanding natural talent and aptitude for it yet lacked resources, the likelihood of achieving success in the future was extremely low.'

'Even though I have no one, no support, and no resources I've been able to inch my way step by step to achieve first-rank with purely hard work. I'm not weak when compared to them!' thought Su Qin as he arrived at the Bodhi Court.

'System, let me sign-in.'