Urban Martial Saint

In the pavilion of the back garden, Ye Qing and the True Buddha sat facing each other. After a long time, Ye Qing gave a soft laugh, shook his head, and said, ”You’re looking way too highly at me, aren’t you? I don’t even have Martial Arts anymore—in fact, my Meridians don’t even exist. It’s completely impossible for me to practice Martial Arts, so how am I supposed to create a sect? Those figures of Buddhist and Taoist Magic—what kind of peerlessly brilliant people are they? I… how can I be mentioned in the same breath as them?”

”You’re losing confidence again!” The True Buddha shook his head and said, ”I said before, what you’ll have to face in the future will only make you even more despairing. If you’re still not confident, how will you face what’s to come?”

”This… this isn’t a matter of confidence or not, it’s a matter of possible or impossible!” Ye Qing said anxiously.

The True Buddha countered, ”Then what do you think counts as possible, and what counts as impossible?”

”This…” Ye Qing was instantly at a loss for words. How was he supposed to answer that? If the question were asked in a simple way, it’d be easy enough to answer. But the True Buddha always spoke with a lot of philosophy behind his words—so how was he supposed to answer this?

Seeing that Ye Qing didn’t answer, the True Buddha continued, ”In fact, everything that’s happening to you now would have been impossible to the you of the past. But since all these things have already happened, what’s left that can still be called impossible?”

”But this is different.” Ye Qing said, ”My Meridians are completely gone. It’s already impossible for me to practice Martial Arts—how am I supposed to create a sect?”

The True Buddha looked at Ye Qing and said softly, ”Or perhaps, your Meridians still exist—it’s just that you can’t find them.”

”Ah?” Ye Qing’s eyes widened in astonishment. He hadn’t expected the True Buddha to say such a thing, and subconsciously started to quietly Cultivate his Inner Strength, wanting to see whether his Meridians still existed. But he’d already tried this many times and had never been able to sense the existence of his Meridians. This time was the same—he tried for a long time, but still couldn’t sense them at all. Just as Bai Li Xi had said before, his Meridians no longer existed.

The True Buddha watched Ye Qing Cultivate and search for his Meridians by his side without stopping him. Only after Ye Qing came up empty-handed did he say calmly, ”I just said, perhaps you yourself simply can’t find them. So don’t be too hasty.”

”Then how can I find these Meridians?” Ye Qing asked in a rush. Right now he truly wanted to recover his strength. Not to mention going too far—if he could at least regain strength at the Acme realm, that would already be enough to let him protect himself in this chaotic world.

The True Buddha said, ”The time has not yet come—you need not be anxious for the moment. When the time comes, you may not even need to search for them yourself.”

”Then when exactly counts as ’when the time comes’?” Ye Qing asked again.

The True Buddha smiled faintly and shook his head. ”Unspeakable, unspeakable.”

”...”

Ye Qing was completely speechless. Last time when he’d talked with the True Buddha about the Tomb of Ghost Valley Master, he’d done the same thing—right when it got to the most crucial part, he used these three words to brush him off, and this time was the same. What did he mean ’unspeakable, unspeakable’? Just say what there is to say—what was the point of hiding and tucking everything away like this?

Although he very much wanted to know the answer in his heart, Ye Qing had no way to force the True Buddha to tell him. So he could only bottle the matter up inside.

In the days that followed, Ye Qing came by to see the True Buddha once every day. The Purple Robe Lama was always by the True Buddha’s side; as the protector of the True Buddha, he naturally had to guard the True Buddha’s safety. As for the Bloody Monk Wolf Monk, and even Helian Tiehua, they too came by the True Buddha’s place every day, mainly to listen to the True Buddha expound the scriptures.

Every time, Ye Qing would also sit in and listen to the True Buddha’s preaching, but the result was always the same. To him, the True Buddha’s lectures only had the effect of calming his mind and spirit; they had no other effect at all. On the other hand, the four of them—Bloody Monk and the others—each time seemed as if they were possessed, listening with utter fascination. Judging from the looks of it, they all had karmic ties with the Buddhist Sect.

Over these few days, Ye Qing had also tried to probe and ask the True Buddha about the matter of the Meridians in his body, but he never received any answer. He himself had tried many times as well, and even went to Bai Li Xi several times to have him examine him. But every time the result was the same: no Meridians could be found in his body. This made Ye Qing quite doubtful of the True Buddha’s words.

During these few days, Ye Qing often went to see Fu Qingping as well. Fu Qingping was relatively free every day: either sitting in the courtyard drinking tea, or standing beneath a tree in deep thought, as if comprehending something. Toward the imminent battle at Mount Tai, he didn’t seem to have much worry; instead he appeared quite relaxed, which also calmed Ye Qing’s heart a great deal.

According to Fu Qingping, the battle at Mount Tai might well let him break through the shackles of the Acme realm. Although he hadn’t yet broken through those shackles, he still had a certain chance of victory when facing the Immortal Lord. This was completely different from the situation before he obtained the Innate Nine Diagrams. Before, when facing the Immortal Lord, he hadn’t had a shred of confidence. But now, as his strength improved, he’d already gained the confidence to fight the Immortal Lord.

Even so, Ye Qing still couldn’t help feeling somewhat worried. After all, Fu Qingping had not yet broken through the shackles of the Acme realm, while the Immortal Lord had broken through for over a hundred years. With such a gap in realm, how could Fu Qingping possibly defeat the Immortal Lord?

Despite his worries, Ye Qing had no way out. With Fu Qingping having reached his current level of strength, Ye Qing simply couldn’t help him at all. He had thought about asking Fu Qingping to listen to the True Buddha’s lectures, but Fu Qingping refused. This was because the Martial Arts Fu Qingping practiced belonged to the Taoist Sect; moreover, after learning the Innate Nine Diagrams, he was slowly converting his power into the origin power of the Taoist Sect. This power was completely different from the power of the Buddhist Sect. So even if he went to listen to the True Buddha’s sermons, there wouldn’t be much effect—at most, it would be like for Ye Qing, merely helping him calm his mind.

Helian Tiehua, however, was different. What Helian Tiehua practiced had its origin in the Buddhist Sect. The Thirteen Protectors’ Horizontal Golden Bell Shield he cultivated was derived from the Buddhist Sect’s Vajra Indestructible Body—or perhaps one could say it was the junior level of the Vajra Indestructible Body. His power was close to that of the Buddhist Sect, so the True Buddha’s preaching had a strong effect on him. This was why he went with Bloody Monk and the others to listen to the True Buddha’s lectures every day.

Of course, the True Buddha’s preaching was only effective for them. As for whether they could truly break through the shackles of the Acme realm, as the True Buddha had said, and reach the realm Beyond The Pinnacle—that would depend on each person’s own fortune. Still, what was obvious was that their strength was soaring at a tremendous pace, especially Bloody Monk. His speed of improvement shocked even himself.

According to Bloody Monk, his previous victory over Wanyan Hongsheng had been mainly because Wanyan Hongsheng had already been close to giving up at the time, his mind unsettled, and so Bloody Monk had been able to win. If Wanyan Hongsheng had truly fought him with a calm mind, the outcome between the two would have been hard to say. But after these few days of listening to the True Buddha’s lectures, if he were to face Wanyan Hongsheng again, he was fully confident he could defeat him!

Such improvement made Ye Qing inwardly very excited as well. With the world about to fall into chaos, the faster the strength of the people around him improved, the better, of course.

In fact, not only were Bloody Monk and the others improving rapidly; even Liu Mubai and the others on Ye Qing’s side were progressing by leaps and bounds. The Cultivation Technique Ye Qing had taken out earlier and had Liu Mubai pass on to Black Bear, Ye Jun, and the others had actually produced results. Black Bear and Ye Jun had long since passed the age for practicing Martial Arts, yet when Liu Mubai taught them the Body Cultivation methods according to that Cultivation Technique, they actually cultivated Inner Strength as well. Ye Jun, in particular, even reached the realm of Internal Energy Release. This alone greatly astonished many in the Seven Great Families.

One must know, when Black Bear and Ye Jun first began to learn Martial Arts, quite a few people in the Seven Great Families had poured cold water on them. Everyone knew that after the age of eighteen, the Meridians were already fixed, and that in Cultivation of Inner Strength one could not possibly achieve anything, because Inner Strength could not be released. Yet Ye Jun had now, in living flesh, reached the realm of Internal Energy Release. How could people not be shocked?

For a time, the Seven Great Families, who had originally looked down greatly on Liu Mubai, had quite a few people quietly come to question him, wanting to see what method he was teaching. Because there were also quite a number of people within the Seven Great Families who, due to limitations of aptitude or other reasons, had not reached the realm of Internal Energy Release. They wanted to learn Liu Mubai’s method so those people could also raise their strength somewhat.

Of course, Liu Mubai would not pass these Cultivation Techniques on to them. With no other choice, the people of the Seven Great Families came to beg Ye Qing for help. Ye Qing had never been very fond of the Seven Great Families to begin with, but for the sake of raising the overall strength of the Seven Steering Committees of Hong Alliance, he had Liu Mubai teach the Cultivation Technique to Huangfu Zilong and Huangfu Ziying first, and then let them pass it on to the people of the Seven Great Families. In this way, the people of the Seven Great Families would feel especially grateful toward the Huangfu Household. Ye Qing was also helping the Huangfu Household build up its prestige.

Although Huangfu Zilong still harbored intense hostility toward the people of the Seven Great Families, he nevertheless passed on the Cultivation Techniques under Ye Qing’s persuasion. Naturally, he also trained every day along with Liu Mubai. After the last incident, he had become much more diligent in his Martial Arts training.

Over these few days, the only one around Ye Qing who hadn’t changed was Old Chen, who spent all day holed up in his room eating. Ye Qing had previously tried to take him out of the courtyard for a walk around the manor, but the moment this old fellow saw a beauty he immediately went up to harass her, and nearly got himself beaten up by a mob. Seeing this, Ye Qing had no choice but to stop taking him outside and simply kept him in his own courtyard instead—besides, the old guy couldn’t actually eat that much anyway.

Moreover, Ye Qing was still suspicious about what had happened when he killed the Young Master of Sword Saint Sect last time. That chicken leg Old Chen had thrown had been far too coincidental. Coupled with Old Chen’s obscure identity, Ye Qing couldn’t shake the feeling that he must be hiding some kind of secret. So with Old Chen staying in the manor of the Seven Steering Committees of Hong Alliance, Ye Qing wasn’t planning to chase him away for the time being. It was just that Ye Qing was somewhat wary of him—he generally wouldn’t tell him anything important.