Chapter 238: The Human Heart is Unfathomable, There Are Hidden Mysteries
The voice of reality, the smell of dust, continuously stimulated Yang Kang. Behind him were ancient trees with lush, evergreen foliage, and the sunlight fell on the ground, forming a curtain of light and floating dust.
Through this curtain, Yang Kang looked at Zhou Yan, Hong Qigong, Huang Yaoshi, Huo Gong Toutuo, and others on the other side of his vision, his heart deeply shaken.
Ouyang Ke rejoiced in power, while Yang Kang rejoiced in power. He was intelligent and his martial arts talent was not much inferior to Zhou Yan’s. Although his cultivation had advanced by leaps and bounds after being guided by Ouyang Feng, the effort he had put in was far less than Zhou Yan’s.
Yang Kang always believed that there was nothing that power could not solve.
With great power in hand, the world is mine.
However, at this moment, Yang Kang’s belief was shaken.
Hong Qigong, Huang Yaoshi, Zhang Sanqiang, Huo Gong Toutuo, and even Zhou Yan, did not take him, the Crown Prince, seriously. After leaving the Imperial Palace and without his guards, he was no different from Helian Chuncheng and others.
It was as easy as lifting a hand for Hong Qigong and the others to kill him.
Baoxiang was his honored guest, and he treated him with great courtesy, yet Zhou Yan had just carried him like a dead dog and smashed him to the ground.
He had to cautiously smile when he saw Huo Gong Toutuo, but Zhou Yan could glare at him with defiance.
Yang Kang let out a slight sigh. Qiu Qianren and Ouyang Feng were both top-tier experts. If he could put in the effort, he might be able to catch up to Zhou Yan.
“I want to practice martial arts. With both power and martial arts, I will be the true strong person in this world.” This voice grew stronger and stronger in Yang Kang’s mind.
Huo Du’s eyes flickered. He also thought that if he wanted to achieve something in the Jianghu, it all came down to martial arts. If he had Hong Qigong’s realm, how could that ignorant Zhang Sanqiang say “get lost”? Zhang Sanqiang and the person named Zhou could talk, and in the end, it was all because their martial arts were outstanding.
Ouyang Feng’s expression was uncertain. Upon arriving at Shaoshi Mountain, the Vajra Sect had mobilized over a hundred monks and laity. He had also instructed his Snake Slave to bring the poisonous snakes cultivated in the Snake Valley of White Camel Mountain.
If he released the snakes now, with the assistance of Qiu Qianren and Huo Gong Toutuo, he had a considerable chance of killing Huang Yaoshi, Hong Qigong, Zhou Yan, Master Ku Cheng, Zhang Sanqiang, and others.
Should he act?
“Uncle, the one who just spoke was Huang Rong.” Ouyang Ke’s voice suddenly sounded in the Western Venom’s ear.
Ouyang Feng looked again at the scale-like buildings within the yellow-walled temple. He felt that with the lightness skill of Huang Yaoshi and others, if he made a move and could not stop them, their chances of escape were still very high. Forget it, the risk was not small. Ouyang Feng thought this way and said, “Don’t worry, wait until this matter is settled, and then we will talk to Huang Yaoshi.”
“Thank you, Uncle.”
“Ke’er still needs to practice martial arts diligently. That Zhou Yan is vicious and has methods.”
“Rest assured, Uncle.” Ouyang Ke vowed.
Ouyang Feng nodded and looked towards the arena.
Huang Yaoshi watched with cold eyes, his arrogance evident. How could the violent Huo Gong Toutuo say something like “let’s compare after resolving the grudges with Shaolin Temple”?
He sneered arrogantly, “Since Island Lord Huang is protecting Shaolin Temple and deliberately provoking me, this old monk will come to learn the peerless skills of Peach Blossom Island.”
“Make your move.”
Baoshu, Bao Xian, Bao Lei, Bao Yin, and others quickly retreated.
Zhou Yan walked to Master Ku Cheng’s side: “How is Abbot Master?”
“Amitabha, this old monk’s old bones can endure it. Why is Island Lord Huang doing this?”
Zhou Yan guessed it must be because of Huang Rong, but it was not convenient to say. So he said, “Since Island Lord Huang said he wants to settle accounts, there must be some grudges that cannot be told to outsiders. Abbot Master, please observe quietly.”
“Goodness, goodness.” Master Ku Cheng clasped his hands together, but sighed inwardly. In the past, due to the incident with Huo Gong Toutuo, a group of his fellow disciples in the temple had a great dispute, blaming and accusing each other. After Junior Brother Ku Hui left Shaolin, many talented disciples followed. Although a long time had passed, Shaolin Temple had never recovered its vitality, nor had any martial arts prodigies emerged. The Vajra Sect, however, had produced talents generation after generation. This calamity today could be overcome, but future disasters would be difficult to avoid.
Zhou Yan could roughly guess some of Master Ku Cheng’s thoughts from his expression. He also sighed inwardly. After Master Ku Cheng, Shaolin Temple would have few people capable of shouldering great responsibility. At the beginning of the Heaven Sword world, the Abbot of Shaolin was the current Head of the Dharma Hall, Tianming Chan Master. However, looking at it now, his cultivation was far inferior to that of the three monks Baoshu, Bao Xian, and Bao Shou.
The Vajra Sect’s southward movement was caused by the Changfeng Escort Agency, a variable that deviated from the Legend of the Condor Heroes world. For Shaolin Temple to resist, unless Ku Hui of Shaolin of the Western Regions returned to his roots, the two temples would have to merge.
“Ha!” A sudden angry roar sounded. Zhou Yan withdrew his thoughts and looked at the arena.
Huo Gong Toutuo’s body seemed to swell with his breath, like thunder. In a few steps, he transformed into a bright yellow line. The fist wind whistled towards Huang Yaoshi in an instant. In Zhou Yan’s sight, the fist wind formed a vortex.
“This is ‘Vajra Fist’,” Master Ku Cheng suddenly said.
“A thunderous fist technique.” Zhou Yan replied to Master Ku Cheng and looked at the two in the arena.
The next moment, Huang Yaoshi disappeared from everyone’s sight and appeared on Huo Gong Toutuo’s flank. Huo Gong Toutuo spun his body, his fists and legs a blur, like a heaven and earth net, with the might of a mountain collapsing and a sea surging, enveloping Huang Yaoshi.
Huang Yaoshi let out a clear whistle. His palms came like falling flowers in a riot of color, sharp as a sword. Palm shadows from all directions covered Huo Gong Toutuo, precisely using the “Falling Ying Divine Sword Palm.”
Huang Yaoshi did not know that Zhou Yan had entered the Ancient Tomb and learned this cultivation technique. Therefore, in Zhou Yan’s perception, the Eastern Heretic was like he was teaching, with his mind focused, observing and comprehending. Unknowingly, the subtle points in many palm techniques that he had not understood suddenly became clear.
Huo Gong Toutuo’s offensive was astonishing. After a set of “Vajra Fist,” he used the Shaolin peerless skill “Eight Strikes of the Divine Palm.” Huang Yaoshi’s palm technique also changed suddenly. His palm momentum was like waves, advancing layer by layer. Zhou Yan recognized several moves within it as “Azure Wave Palm Technique.”
After more than ten moves, Huo Gong Toutuo’s cultivation technique changed again. He dodged Huang Yaoshi’s spinning palm and fingers, pushed out with both palms. The moves were ordinary, but the power contained within was extremely powerful. Huang Yaoshi’s body retreated sharply. Huo Gong Toutuo pounced forward again, his palms slashing from left to right. The palm force was like a surging flood, flowing east to the sea.
Zhou Yan learned from Master Ku Cheng that the Tou Tuo was using “Vajra Palm.”
Huang Yaoshi stepped on Bagua and walked Liuhe. His body was like a colorful butterfly, traceless. He clasped his thumb and index finger, with the other three fingers slightly spread. His fingers extended like an orchid, pointing at acupoints and blocking moves.
The exchange between the two moved everyone present. Ouyang Feng, Hong Qigong, Qiu Qianren, Golden Wheel Law King, Zhang Sanqiang, and others watched intently. While admiring, many also gained insights into martial arts.
After a hundred moves, Zhou Yan roughly guessed Huang Yaoshi’s intentions. Every time Huo Gong Toutuo changed a cultivation technique, Huang Yaoshi also changed one.
The Island Lord of Peach Blossom Island was observing the Vajra Sect’s martial arts through combat.
Zhou Yan frowned again. Huo Gong Toutuo was using Shaolin Temple’s peerless skills. It was not a problem for him to steal martial arts from Shaolin Temple and remember these moves. However, many martial arts involved complex qi guiding methods between meridians. How did he know them? Could it be that, like him, he had integrated the qi guiding methods of Quanzhen Swordplay, Jade Maiden Swordplay, and Three Steps Eighteen Spears with the swordplay of the Hengshan Sect, and comprehended all the qi guiding methods of martial arts on his own? This talent was simply too astonishing.
“Abbot,” Zhou Yan suddenly asked.
“Please speak freely, Benefactor Zhou.”
“Are these cultivation techniques of the Vajra Sect’s sect leader truly mastered?”
Master Ku Cheng sighed, “Yes, even more skillfully than the senior monks in the temple have studied them.”
There was a hidden mystery in this. Taking “Vajra Palm” as an example, Huo Gong Toutuo, having converted later in life, should have been inferior to the Shaolin monks who had meticulously studied this peerless skill. Yet, not only did he surpass them, but he did so with every technique. It was unlikely that Huo Gong Toutuo possessed a cultivation technique like the minor formless skill.
Thinking this, Zhou Yan even had the idea of trying his luck at Tianshan after submitting his resignation, to see if the martial arts of the Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils world existed in the Legend of the Condor Heroes Jianghu.
Thinking this, he withdrew his thoughts and focused on the arena.
Huo Gong Toutuo and Huang Yaoshi had already exchanged over four hundred moves. The Tou Tuo’s body suddenly changed, and moves like “Seamless,” “Subduing Heretics,” and “Bell of Lu, Echo of Dong” from the Vajra Prajna Palm were unleashed.
Zhou Yan guessed that Huo Gong Toutuo had used all the cultivation techniques he could muster. The situation should be at the point of determining a winner.
Under everyone’s gaze, Huang Yaoshi simultaneously circled his palms and rapidly exhaled, an invisible palm force as heavy as a mountain, accompanied by the sound of wind and thunder, descending like a tidal wave towards Huo Gong Toutuo, who was at a distance.
Empty Force Palm! Zhou Yan exclaimed in surprise, then couldn’t help but chuckle. Li Mochou had once mocked the martial arts of Peach Blossom Island in the Divine Condor Jianghu, saying, “Every palm of the Empty Force Palm strikes out, and every palm misses.” She was truly audacious.
