Flower Stealing Master

Before the opponent’s palm strike even landed, Yue Lengchan already felt an intense, bone-chilling cold, instantly alarming him. ‘My cultivation focuses on cold True Qi, yet someone else’s inner strength can make me feel cold?’

In a hurry, he raised his palm to block in front of his chest. Unfortunately, the attack came too quickly, and he could only channel five to six-tenths of his full strength. As the two palms clashed, Yue Lengchan felt as if struck by lightning. He was sent flying backward, and when he managed to steady himself, he suddenly spat out a mouthful of fresh bl0od. To everyone’s shock, the bl0od on the grass contained tiny ice shards, emitting faint wisps of cold air.

With a furious roar, You Tanzhi lunged forward like an unrelenting shadow. Yue Lengchan’s face turned pale as he thought to himself, ‘It’s over. Who would have thought that I, Yue Lengchan, would meet my end at the hands of a nameless nobody?’

Just then, Master Fang Zheng suddenly stepped forward, exchanging several palm strikes with You Tanzhi in the blink of an eye. With a final blow, he forced You Tanzhi to retreat.

You Tanzhi staggered back over a dozen steps before steadying himself. Although Fang Zheng had taken advantage of his sudden appearance, the palm strikes they exchanged were genuine, with no tricks involved. Cautious of Fang Zheng’s profound inner strength, You Tanzhi hesitated to charge forward recklessly.

“Am!tabha!” Master Fang Zheng chanted a Buddh!st prayer.

Song Qingshu sneered. “What a righteous Master Fang Zheng! Earlier, when they ganged up on me, I didn’t see you stepping in to save me. Now that Yue Lengchan is in trouble, you rush to his aid. Truly, birds of a feather flock together.”

Master Fang Zheng replied calmly, “Your martial prowess far surpasses mine. What need is there for me to intervene on your behalf? Alliance Leader Yue, however, is a renowned leader of the righteous path. Naturally, I cannot stand idly by. Moreover, this benefactor You’s inner strength seems to share the same origin as our monastery’s ‘Marrow Cleansing Scripture’. I must investigate this matter.”

With that, he bowed toward You Tanzhi. “Benefactor, I ask that you return our monastery’s ‘Marrow Cleansing Scripture’.”

“What ‘Marrow Cleansing Scripture’? I’ve never heard of it,” You Tanzhi replied gruffly, his tone full of impatience. He wasn’t lying; he genuinely had no idea that the technique he practiced was the ‘Marrow Cleansing Scripture’.

Ah Zi scoffed. “You’re such a shameless monk! Plenty of people here have fought with my junior brother, all sensing his cold and sinister True Qi. Does that mean your Shaolin Temple’s ‘Marrow Cleansing Scripture’ is also some kind of vicious, sinister art?”

“Amitabha.” Despite Ah Zi’s taunts, Master Fang Zheng, revered in the martial world, remained unperturbed. Instead, he turned to You Tanzhi and asked, “Benefactor, were you ever bitten by a highly venomous creature, such as the millennium ice silkworm?”

You Tanzhi instinctively nodded, much to Ah Zi’s frustration.

“That explains it.” Fang Zheng sighed. “It must have been a twist of fate that led you to practice our monastery’s ‘Marrow Cleansing Scripture’, allowing you to survive the cold poison. However, the True Qi of the ‘Marrow Cleansing Scripture’ in your body has intertwined with the cold poison, transforming into this current form of extreme yin and cold.”

Fang Zheng’s kind and benevolent demeanor, coupled with his accurate deductions, left You Tanzhi in awe. Suddenly recalling a book he had stumbled upon by chance, he said, “Ah, could the master be referring to this?” He took out an old, unassuming booklet. On its cover, three curving characters were inscribed. Anyone familiar with Sanskrit would recognize them as the words “Marrow Cleansing Scripture.”

The sight of Shaolin Temple’s legendary ultimate technique, reputedly superior even to the Seventy-two Supreme Arts, left everyone present holding their breath.

As a learned monk of Shaolin, Master Fang Zheng immediately recognized the Sanskrit characters, his expression turning visibly excited. “It is indeed this book!” The booklet before him was the original Sanskrit manuscript of the ‘Marrow Cleansing Scripture’, mysteriously lost from Shaolin Temple years ago. While it held immense symbolic significance, it was nearly incomprehensible to most, even to Shaolin’s senior monks. Practitioners of the ‘Marrow Cleansing Scripture’ in Shaolin had always relied on the Chinese translation.

Fang Zheng couldn’t help but feel curious. How had this seemingly dull-witted young man mastered the profound martial arts contained in such an esoteric text?

You Tanzhi nodded. “I’ve always intended to return this book to its rightful owner, but I didn’t know who that was. Since it belongs to Shaolin, I’ll give it back.”

Song Qingshu’s brow furrowed slightly. After all the bloodshed and heavy losses today, if Fang Zheng were allowed to reclaim the ‘Marrow Cleansing Scripture’, wouldn’t Shaolin Temple emerge as the biggest winner?

Moreover, he had been repeatedly outmaneuvered by Fang Zheng without realizing it earlier that day. How could he remain indifferent and allow Fang Zheng to obtain the divine technique without resolving the inner turmoil it caused him?

Ah Zi, having grown up in the Xingxiu Sect, had long mastered the art of reading people’s expressions and intentions. Even before Song Qingshu spoke, she had already guessed his thoughts. Intending to offer the ”Marrow Cleansing Scripture” to her master to gain his favor, she rolled her eyes mischievously and shouted, “Junior Brother, don’t let yourself be deceived by others!”

Hearing her words, You Tanzhi instinctively retracted the hand he had extended. 

Song Qingshu couldn’t help but glance at Ah Zi with approval, thinking to himself that her ability to discern her master’s intentions was almost on par with Wei Xiaobao’s.

Seeing You Tanzhi withdraw the scripture, Fang Zheng’s expression darkened slightly. “Young lady, everyone knows that the ”Marrow Cleansing Scripture” belongs to Shaolin. How could there be any talk of deceit here?”

Ah Zi snorted. “While the ”Marrow Cleansing Scripture” may be a Shaolin treasure, who can prove that this book is indeed the ”Marrow Cleansing Scripture”? For all we know, you, a venerable monk, might be setting up a trap to deceive my Junior Brother because of his extraordinary inner strength!”

“The title ‘Marrow Cleansing Scripture’ is written clearly on the cover. How much more proof is needed?” Fang Zheng snapped, unable to contain his frustration.

“Humph. Though I come from the Western Regions, I can still recognize Central Plains script. Are you sure these three characters actually spell ‘Marrow Cleansing Scripture’?” Ah Zi sneered disdainfully.

Song Qingshu felt a wave of relief wash over him. Fortunately, he had used the Soul Capture Technique to bring her under his control. Otherwise, having such a clever and unpredictable enemy would have been truly troublesome.

Fang Zheng replied, exasperated, “These three characters are written in Sanskrit, not in the shape of Chinese characters.” (G: should be something like this परिवर्तनस्नायुश

“Heh, apart from you, the esteemed monk, who else here knows Sanskrit? Whether this is the ”Marrow Cleansing Scripture” or not is entirely up to your claim, isn’t it?” Ah Zi retorted smugly.

Although everyone present knew Ah Zi was being deliberately argumentative, quite a few secretly nodded in agreement. After all, without understanding Sanskrit, no one could be certain if the book was genuinely the ”Marrow Cleansing Scripture”.

Before Fang Zheng could explain further, Ah Zi interrupted, “What a coincidence! Though I hail from the Western Regions, I just so happen to know Sanskrit as well. These three characters don’t say ‘Marrow Cleansing Scripture’ at all—they clearly spell ‘Divine Foot Scripture!’ Junior Brother, hand the scripture over to your Senior Sister at once.” (G: 易筋经

The back-and-forth between the two left You Tanzhi utterly bewildered, but his heart leaned toward trusting his goddess. Upon hearing Ah Zi’s urging, he instinctively moved to hand over the booklet in his hand.

“Hold it right there!”

A thunderous shout suddenly erupted from the woods nearby, shaking the crowd and causing many to feel their blood churn. Soon, a towering, imposing monk strode out, accompanied by a small, rather rough-looking monk with an unremarkable appearance.

The moment the two appeared, the onlookers erupted into a clamor:

“Isn’t that Master Xuan Cheng, the most accomplished Shaolin monk in 200 years?”

“And that young monk beside him—it’s Master Xu Zhu, who shone brilliantly at the Golden Serpent Assembly!”

“Yes, he’s the one who sent Young Master Murong flying with a single palm and later had a legendary duel with the Sword Immortal!”

“It looks like that person is doomed today.”

“Indeed. How dare anyone compete with Shaolin over the ”Marrow Cleansing Scripture”?”

Xuan Cheng strode forward and sneered coldly at Ah Zi. “Since you claim to understand Sanskrit, why don’t you translate this phrase into it for me? ‘If restless in the long night, with a heart adrift in thought, how does one find peace?’ How would you render this in Sanskrit?”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

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