Quickly conquer the martial arts world, and let your fists dominate the heavens!

Chapter 291 Bajiquan Small Frame, Mountain Collapse Stance?

Five people sat around a bonfire inside the temple. From Chen Zhan's angle, he could only see two women.

One of them was the man in black from earlier.

She was so well disguised that Chen Zhan wouldn't have known she was a woman if he hadn't pushed her at the end.

She had shrunk to almost half her previous size and was shorter than before, clearly indicating that she possessed some ability to change her body shape; such techniques were not rare.

"Tiange, are you alright?" one of the women asked from opposite the two women.

The woman known as Tiange shook her head. She was struck by the Flower-Picking Finger, but Xuanhe's subsequent Vajra Palm attack missed her and was intercepted by Chen Zhan.

Therefore, she only suffered minor injuries.

"I should be fine. We've already found out that the relic is right next to Monk Xuankong, never leaving him day or night. Monk Xuankong is very suspicious, so there's no way he would put it in the Scripture Pavilion. Therefore, the Scripture Pavilion is just a decoy. We only need to target Xuankong."

"But the old monk Xuan Kong's skill is too high, and with the abbots of Shaolin and Huayan sects by his side, the three of them working together can even fight against someone at the peak of the Innate Realm. Moreover, the three Buddhist sects have a deep foundation, so we can't force the issue."

"It is unknown whether the one that Guangyuan Temple has now appeared is the one from Chengtian Temple back then, or one of the other four that the Holy Lord later refined."

"We need to get our hands on it first!"

After Han Tiange finished speaking, he breathed slightly out of breath.

"Left Envoy Han, did you fight with Monk Xuankong?" a man beside her asked.

"Yes, we exchanged a few blows, and I escaped using my lightness skill."

Han Tiange's breathing was a little unsteady as she spoke, and the woman in green immediately noticed: "Tiange, are you injured?"

Han Tiange nodded: "Yes, I was discovered by the old monk Xuan Kong. If it were just Xuan Kong alone, I could handle it, but with the abbots of Shaolin and Huayan sects both there, it would be difficult to escape under their combined attack. Fortunately, someone secretly helped me."

Everyone immediately became suspicious, and the man to the side said:

Who will help the evil cult?

“Our Holy Sect has long been hated by everyone. If it weren’t for the news of the Holy Sect’s treasure, the Buddha’s Relic, no one would be willing to return to the Central Plains. The imperial court and the righteous martial arts world are pursuing us at the same time. Even if our martial arts are not bad, it will be difficult to deal with us.”

"I don't know either. That person's martial arts are somewhat similar to Protector Yan's. His external skills are fierce, and his blood and qi are vigorous, like a master of external martial arts."

The burly man opposite him was taken aback, scratched his head, and looked up to ask, "Huh? No way, I practice the Holy Sect's secret techniques, which only cultivate the body, not the internal energy."

Han Tiange thought about it and felt that it was both similar and dissimilar.

The woman in green beside her suddenly sharpened her eyes and raised her hand to make a shushing gesture.

A small black bird, about the size of a palm, flew out of her sleeve, chirping anxiously.

It was her spirit bird, the "Black-winged Bird." This bird's sense of smell and hearing far surpassed that of ordinary people, and it could detect the presence of living beings within a hundred feet.

The black-winged bird circled once inside the temple, let out a sharp cry, and pointed its wings directly at the hole in the window frame, its eyes full of vigilance.

"Someone!"

The woman in green gave a low shout, and a poisoned dagger appeared in her hand, its cold light flashing.

Han Tiange reacted extremely quickly, unleashing the Spiral Nine Shadows Body Technique, his figure transforming into three afterimages as he rushed outwards.

The other three also stood up instantly. The red-faced man on the left took out a pair of judge's pens, the tips of which were glowing with a ghostly blue, clearly poisoned.

The woman in white on the right drew a soft sword, its blade covered with strange runes; it was the "Bone-Eating Sword," a secret technique of the Demonic Sect.

Finally, there was the burly man who had just spoken. He was tall, with a rugged face and wide, bulging eyes.

The three of them rushed out together.

All five were innate masters of the Demonic Sect. They cooperated perfectly and instantly formed an encirclement, locking onto Chen Zhan, who had been hiding behind the window frame.

Chen Zhan didn't leave either.

He was also very curious about this legendary demonic cult, and allowed them to surround him from five directions.

Han Tiange's gaze sharpened.

Before they could even speak, the judge's pen of the Dharma Protector Hong Tianshuo had already been used. The words the five had just spoken were confidential and could not be leaked. Anyone who overheard them would die.

Hong Tianshuo's judge's pen clashed, carrying a poisonous wind that pierced straight at Chen Zhan's throat.

Chen Zhan sidestepped the poisoned pen, his right hand flashing out like lightning, his fingertips precisely touching the handle of the judge's pen.

With a crisp "snap",
He managed to crack the judge's pen, which was made of fine iron, and Hong Tianshuo's red face turned even redder. He felt a tremendous force coming from him, and his tiger's mouth split open, almost causing him to drop his hand.

A sword aura suddenly attacked from behind. Chen Zhan turned around and thrust out his palm like a claw forged from refined steel.

One grab!
Explosion!

Yan Tieshi also took the opportunity to rush behind Chen Zhan, gather his qi and blood, and threw a punch with a powerful, oppressive force.

"what?"

Chen Zhan let out a soft "hmm," neither dodging nor avoiding, but his back muscles suddenly tensed up, and a lump of flesh suddenly bulged out, as hard as iron and stone. Yan Tieshi's fist struck the bulge on his back.

"Bang~!"

Yan Tieshi was instead shocked by the rebounding blood and qi, causing his arm to go numb and him to take three steps back.

"What kind of external training is this?!"

As soon as he said that, Chen Zhan turned around, grabbed his numb arm, and with a gentle shake, sent the force through the man's arm and into his whole body.

Yan Tieshi immediately became as if he were drunk, his legs swaying and he couldn't even stand up straight.

"Hey, your training is neither fish nor fowl. It's neither like an external style nor like an internal style, and you haven't developed any internal energy. It's far from perfect."

Chen Zhan sighed. The reason he had just let out a soft exclamation was because the man's punch had a bit of the Bajiquan Mountain-Carrying-Mountain stance, but the force was not pure.

He had just probed the man's body and found that he had no internal energy, but it didn't seem to be a pure external martial arts style either.

When internal and external martial arts are practiced to their highest level, like Wang Ziping, the combination of internal and external styles becomes seamless and powerful.

However, internal and external martial arts cannot be practiced simultaneously; one's energy is insufficient, and the body cannot withstand the strain. External martial arts are extremely demanding in their training of muscles and bones; if one were to simultaneously engage in stance training to strengthen internal organs, it would likely ruin one's health.

Chen Zhan's training progressed from the inside out, mastering internal skills before moving on to external training.

Wang Ziping's approach is from the outside in, which is the opposite.

This man is indeed a polymath, and the result of his polymath is a hybrid that is neither fish nor fowl.
"court death!"

Seeing Yan Tieshi suffer a loss, the woman in green turned her short dagger into a cold gleam and stabbed straight at Chen Zhan's kidney acupoint on his waist.

The white-clad woman's bone-corroding soft sword once again entangled him, its internal energy surging and aimed directly at Chen Zhan's major acupoints.

Chen Zhan dodged the two women's longswords by stepping on the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams positions.

Yan Tieshi also recovered, his face full of shame and anger. He clenched his fists, his blood and qi gathered again, and this time he did not attack recklessly. Instead, he crossed his fists and threw out a set of fierce punches. The wind from his punches howled and seemed to have the power to collapse mountains.

"Bajiquan Small Frame, Collapsing Mountain Stance?"

Chen Zhan smiled. In the Ming Dynasty, this was the first time he had ever seen the form and skills of boxing.

I'm very curious.

With one hand in a stance, it was also Bajiquan, but it was a large stance, wide and open. As Yan Tieshi crossed his fists, Chen Zhan thrust out with an elbow, and his momentum exploded.

"Oh!"

Yan Tieshi flew away in response.

Among the others, Hong Tianshuo's eyes were bloodshot as he wielded his judge's pen, focusing his attacks on Chen Zhan's lower body with ruthless moves.

All four were innate masters, and their teamwork was impeccable. Poison, sword, fist, and pen complemented each other, forming an impenetrable killing net. Even the air itself seemed to freeze under the weight of their murderous aura.

But Chen Zhan remained calm.

Hong Tianshuo wielded a cracked judge's pen, his moves ruthless. The white-clad woman's longsword was also poisoned. Chen Zhan's gaze turned slightly cold.

He spun sideways, his left arm sweeping like an iron whip, striking the white-clad woman's wrist.

There was a "click".

The woman in green had her wrist bones shattered, the short dagger flew out of her hand, and she screamed as she was sent flying backward, crashing into a pillar of the mountain god temple and spitting out a mouthful of blood.

The judge's pen, pointing from behind, surged with internal force and had already reached Chen Zhan's back, almost within reach.

Behind Chen Zhan, a thin membrane of light red blood energy suddenly surged out, causing the soil beneath his feet to churn. The Judge's Pen touched the membrane, and no matter how much internal energy Hong Tianshuo gathered, he could not penetrate it.

Chen Zhan quickly turned around, pinched the judge's pen between his right index and middle fingers, exerted force with his knuckles, and with a "clang," his wrist flicked, causing the judge's pen to break into pieces as his blood and qi surged.

Chen Zhan lightly touched the ground with his left foot, his body suddenly rising higher, and his right foot stomped down like a heavy hammer, landing right on Hong Tianshuo's shoulder.

With a loud thud, Hong Tianshuo's knees buckled, and he collapsed heavily to the ground, his shoulder blades crushed, and black blood gushed from his mouth.

"stop!"

A crisp shout rang out, and Han Tiange flashed forward, blocking the crowd. His eyes were fixed on Chen Zhan, filled with surprise and doubt.

At Guangyuan Temple, after only a brief contact, Chen Zhan suddenly appeared from the side again.

In that life-or-death moment, she didn't even see Chen Zhan's face.

So she had been observing until the light red blood membrane on Chen Zhan's body appeared, and only then did she realize it.

Chen Zhan stopped, stood with his hands behind his back, and calmly swept his gaze over Han Tiange from beneath his brown hood: "You recognized him?"

"It's you!"

Han Tiange's tone was certain, his eyes filled with even greater surprise and suspicion: "Who exactly are you? Why are you helping me, and why are you eavesdropping on my secret teachings here?"

The other four experts from the Demonic Sect were taken aback upon hearing this, and their gazes toward Chen Zhan became more complex.

In their brief exchange, it was clear that Chen Zhan was holding back.
Only Hong Tianshuo and Bai Qingyun, whose weapons were poisoned, sustained more serious injuries.

Chen Zhan nodded and said, "It's not that I was eavesdropping, I'm just a little curious about your martial arts."

"If it wasn't intentional, then how much did you hear?" Han Tiange asked calmly.

"Mostly."

Chen Zhan said honestly.

"."

"Since you've heard everything, we can't let you go. Either you join the Holy Church, or we'll fight to the death."

Chen Zhan had heard too much, and the five of them were now showing their true faces. The Demonic Sect was an absolute taboo in the Ming Dynasty. If he left, the five of them would surely suffer annihilation.

"Fight to the death? You few are probably not enough. I've heard of the Demonic Sect's power while I was in the Embroidered Uniform Guard, but I didn't expect their martial arts to be so weak."

Chen Zhan wasn't lying; he was indeed somewhat disappointed.

Of the five, only Han Tiange could contend with Xuan Kong using his lightness skill, but at best, he could neither win nor lose.

The remaining four are at most equivalent to the level of the garrison commander Zhao Lie.

This team, whose strength is far inferior to the infamous Demonic Sect, is simply delusional to think they can obtain the Buddha's Relic from Guangyuan Temple.

"You're a member of the Embroidered Uniform Guard!!!"

Everyone gasped in surprise and immediately became alert.

Chen Zhan pressed his hands down, indicating that he should remain calm.

“Chen is certainly not a member of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. If he were, he would have wiped you all out long ago.”

"There's no need to be so nervous. You could even join your so-called demonic cult."

(End of this chapter)