DEMI GODS AND SEMI DEVILS BOOK 4 OF 5 (SONG OF THE CAVE IMMORTAL) by Jin Yong

Unable To Withdraw, The Post Of Authority Is Linked To Greed And Wrath Part 4

Master XuanDu stood up and said: "Martial brother abbot dispatched junior monk to investigate at Mount Tiantai. Master ZhiGuang certainly died due to arsenic poisoning. Junior monk questioned that monk PiaoPu, he weep endlessly and said he was unaware that his master wanted to commit suicide using arsenic, if he had prior knowledge he would have substituted arsenic with licorice powder. He said a man surnamed Qiao and a lady Ruan came by to visit his master. His master was extremely courteous towards them, they chat for a long time, after leaving he discovered his master had died. Only until night time did the body start to bleed in the eyes and nose. Unexpectedly on the next day, his master's eyes protruded, the back of his head shattered, he did not know which wicked person secretly came by in the middle of the night to desecrate his master's body. He felt he was unworthy as he failed to protect his master's body and slap himself heavily. I told him, the person who violated his master's body had exceptional martial arts, the person used an extremely violent finger technique to seal the acupoints on the left and right temple, even if he stake everything he had he won't be able to stop him. Unexpectedly this monk PuZhe blame himself fully, he commit suicide by hanging." as he finish speaking he gave a long sigh.

ShenShan Elder said: "When Qiao Feng came to vist Master ZhiGuang, he must have demanded information for the name of the leader of the incident at YanMen Pass. Master ZhiGuang refuse to reveal the name, thus Qiao Feng use [Mohe Finger] to injure him. Hence his eyes protrude out and the back of his head shattered, aren't all these due to the effects of [Mohe Finger]?" XuanCi said: "It is not Qiao Feng." ShenShan Elder said: "I invite martial brother abbot to elaborate the underlying reason."

XuanCi said unhurriedly: "Senior martial brother ShenShan wish to know why Master ZhiGuang did not die due to Qiao Feng's [Mohe Finger]. It is because Qiao Feng learnt [Demon Subduing Palm] at Shaolin, hence he cannot learn [Mohe Finger]. These two martial arts are opposites of each other, they cannot coexist in the same body." ShenShan Elder shakes his head slowly and said: "Is the martial arts of Shaolin truly so subtle and profound to such level?" XuanCi said: "Originally all these differences are documented. [Demon Subduing Palm] and [Mohe Finger], both of them are listed among the 72 supreme consummate skills of Shaolin, one is soft and gentle, the other is fierce and violent, it is extremely difficult to learn and train together. Junior martial brother XuanSheng, please go to the Scripture-Depository Pavilion and fetch the manuals for these two skills here to let ShenShan Elder and the rest have a look."

ShenShan Elder was just 17 years old when he came to Shaolin to seek tutelage. Shaolin's abbot LingMen converse with him, LingMen found him eager to show off, he also exudes an aura of arrogance, narrow-minded and self-complacent, he was unsuitable to inherit his skills, if he remain at Shaolin and become a common monk he will definitely be unwilling to be under someone else, he will certainly be a huge disaster in the future, thus LingMen tactfully refused to grant tutelage. Hence ShenShan Elder seek refuge at Refreshing Temple, he was remarkable and established himself as abbot of Refreshing Temple at the age of 30. ShenShan Elder is very intelligent, he can be considered a rare talent in the martial arts fraternity, however the martial arts of Refreshing Temple is greatly inferior to those of Shaolin, all the fist manual, sword manual, internal energy manual, etc, not only are they limited in quantity but their contents are coarse and crude, it is not first-class martial arts. He cultivated his internal energy for over forty years, he long surpassed the martial arts pass down by former leaders of Refreshing Temple, however his fist and sword technique is still inadequate, as he thought about the 72 supreme consummate skills of Shaolin he can only endure his envy and restrain his anger.

Thus when Elder Xu died, he found an excuse to pick a fight with Shaolin and sough to invite helpers. However, once senior monks heard they are to join forces to condemn Shaolin, they made excuses and refuse to participate, ShenShan Elder persuaded for a long period of time and he manage to invite eminent monks from Daxiangguo Temple, DongLin Temple, Jingying Temple, etc.

Currently when he heard abbot XuanCi gave an order to fetch the manuals of [Demon Subduing Palm] and [Mohe Finger], he was extremely happy, he finally had the affinity to witness the power of Shaolin's supreme consummate skills. XuanSheng said: "Yes!" he turn around and exit the hall, not long after he manage to fetch the manuals and hand them over to XuanCi. The Hall of Great Strength is around 3 li away from the Scripture-Depository Pavilion, XuanSheng manage to fetch the manuals in a short period of time, clearly his lightness martial art is solid, his movements extremely quick and agile. Outsiders are unaware of this and thought nothing of it, however the crowd of Shaolin monks all gasp in admiration inwardly.

The paper quality of the two manuals are turning shades of black from yellow, obviously they are extremely ancient. XuanCi place the manuals on a square table and said: "Fellow martial brothers please take a look, these two manuals each provide detail information on the origins of their respective martial arts as well as the crucial points in training." as he finish speaking he hand over handwritten copies of <<Demon Subduing Palm>> and <<Mohe Finger>> to ShenShan Elder and Master GuanXin. Both man respectfully receive it and cautiously flip through the manuals, the preface narrated the origins in creating these two divine martial arts, [Demon Subduing Palm] was created by the 8th generation abbot of Shaolin Master YuanYuan, the palm is soft, gentle and indiscernible. [Mohe Finger] was created by a 7 finger tou tou during his stay in Shaolin for 40 years, as it was created by a foreign monk the essence of the martial art is substantially different from Shaolin's traditional martial arts, the martial art is completely hard and violent, the manual warns any practitioners, those who had trained the soft martial art style of Shaolin must not attempt to practice [Mohe Finger] or else their inner breathing will deviate easily, if they do not take care they will vomit blood and suffer serious injuries that is difficult to cure.

Abbot XuanCi wait for the two eminent monks to browse for a while before handing it to Master DaoQing and Master JiaoJue, when all six eminent monks had look through the preface, he said: "Great masters, although my humble temple possess 72 supreme consummate skills, but every skill is extremely difficult to practice, even those gifted with exceptional talent will find it difficult to even master one set of skill, moreover when you train to an extremely high level it just mean you are one notch better than your opponent, since you can achieve victory with one set of skill there is no need to train a second set of skill, as for the third set and fourth set, there is even less reason to train them. For successive generations we pass on the doctrines from master to disciple, Buddhist doctrine is of chief importance, martial art is secondary, if a monk train diligently in martial arts then his Buddhist doctrine and inner meditation will surely be hindered. Even for layman disciple, our school will not teach them more than one supreme consummate skill to avoid triggering their greed for more. Qiao Feng's [Demon Subduing Palm] was imparted by junior martial brother XuanKu, XuanKu does not know [Mohe Finger], Qiao Feng also did not learn martial arts from any other monks, old monk is fully aware of this matter, there is no mistake. All the Xuan generation monks as well as the next generation monks who possess slightly higher martial arts, everyone start from [Luohan Fist], we will learn either [Demon Subduing Palm] or [Prajna Palm] and stop there. At the age of forty, old monk was inspired to learn martial arts again and studied [Vajra Fist], my inner strength became hard and violent, since then my progress in [Prajna Palm] was obstructed, i really regret it till this day."

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Suddenly a clear and bright voice transmit from a distant place: "It is truly a grand occasion to have many eminent monks gathering at Shaolin to discuss martial arts. I wonder if junior monk have the karma to be a guest as well, sitting alongside, respectfully listening to wise opinion?" every single word and sentence was delivered clearly into everyone's ears. The voice came from outside Shaolin Temple, it is clear and distinct, moreover the voice is gentle and did not shock the eardrums, one can well imagine the pure and profound internal energy of the speaker, in addition the speaker is at a distant place, how did he manage to hear the discussion in the hall?