I am Jinshan Youxia

The Northern Wei and Northern Qi dynasties practiced Buddhism and built more than 200 temples on Mount Wutai. Subsequent dynasties continued to build temples in this area, and there was a saying that there were "three temples within a mile and a nunnery every ten steps," which shows how strong the Buddhist atmosphere was here.

The area around Shaolin Temple, which Zhang Chengyi visited, has no Buddhist culture whatsoever compared to Mount Wutai.

With a history spanning over a thousand years, countless emperors have ordered the construction of temples here. In terms of Buddhism alone, it is undoubtedly the foremost Buddhist mountain.

The Shaolin Temple, a temple that only knows how to fight and kill, wouldn't even be worthy of carrying the shoes of many Buddhist temples on Mount Wutai more than 30 years ago.

At that time, Qingliang Temple was not as good as Shaolin Temple.

In particular, Abbot Shenshan was clearly a master of Buddhism, yet he was obsessed with martial arts. More than thirty years ago, he was simply an anomaly among the eminent monks of Wutai Mountain.

But now, the situation has completely reversed.

"What is this benefactor's name? What brings you here?" The monk soldier at the city gate asked, pointing to Zhang Chengyi, who was sitting in the carriage and acting quite eccentrically.

Wutai County used to be on the border with the Liao Dynasty. It was said to be surrounded by mountains and rivers and to be a strategically important city. There were watchtowers on the city walls for observation and a moat outside the city, making it a military stronghold on the border.

There was a time when Xiao Feng pacified the Liao Dynasty, and the troops stationed in Wutai County were withdrawn. After Xiao Feng turned against the court and mysteriously disappeared, the court was unable to control the area.

Because Qingliang Temple, which was once looked down upon by the other temples in Wutai Mountain, rose to prominence and directly took over the entire county and even the entire area surrounding Wutai Mountain.

As they traveled north, when they passed through Xinzhou, they experienced firsthand what it meant to be in a region controlled by Buddhism. Every city had a Dharma Hall where eminent monks preached, every town had a temple, and every village had a temple built by monks for the villagers to worship.

All residents near Mount Wutai are Buddhists.

Zhang Chengyi thought for a moment, then jumped off the carriage and said, "Zhang Chengyi, come visit a friend."

The soldier monk stuffed the silver he had just received into his waistband, nodded to the monk sitting next to him, and the monk wrote his name on a piece of paper, handed him two pieces of paper, and said, "Please keep these tokens on your person and show them to the patrolling monks in time."

Buddhist holy sites are also bought with money, huh.

Zhang Chengyi smiled wryly and followed Su Xinghe leisurely into the city.

As for that so-called token, he couldn't be bothered with it. If he hadn't gone up the mountain to Qingliang Temple this morning to ask around and found out that the Venerable Shenshan was giving a sermon at the Fahua Hall in Wutai County, he would never have come to the county town.

Rumor had it that the Golden Body Arhat Manual was kept in the library of Qingliang Temple for anyone to read. When he went there, there was nothing there. The Golden Body Arhat Manual? There were hardly any proper martial arts manuals; they were all Buddhist scriptures that he had no interest in.

It's old and worn, and it's written in Sanskrit.

It's a shame they treated it like a treasure and kept it on a high shelf. If Zhang Chengyi had known it was this kind of trash, he wouldn't have barged in and wasted his time.

Once inside the city gate, after walking through a long passageway and passing two streets guarded by monk soldiers, you arrive at the bustling market inside.

"Top-quality Taishan yellow millet!"

"Longquan vinegar, Longquan vinegar!"

Shop assistants along the street called out their wares, and every now and then, merchants dressed in silk clothes would come in to browse and make purchases.

Incense shops, rice shops, vinegar shops, blacksmith shops, lacquerware shops, taverns, inns... everything you could want was there.

Every now and then, groups of three or five highly skilled monks would pass by on the roadside. The monks and soldiers in Wutai County were mostly from Qingliang Temple. It was said that there were 100,000 monks and a million believers. I don't know if it's true or not, but the math of the ancients is a bit hard to verify.

Zhang Chengyi looked around curiously, like a curious child. This was a real Buddhist city, a place he had never been to before.

The city's architecture features towering platforms and flying eaves and brackets, primarily designed to withstand mountain winds. The walls, like city walls, are very thick, and the windows are quite narrow. Some shops on both sides even display banners with phrases such as "Sacred Treasures of Wutai Mountain" or "Treasured Offerings from Famous Mountains."

The more upscale incense shops and inns have various Buddhist ornaments hanging from their eaves, tinkling in the wind and scattering light when the sun shines on them.

Su Xinghe led the carriage, carrying Zhang Chengyi, through the city in a ostentatious display. Soon they arrived at the entrance of a medical clinic with four large characters: "Huimin Medical Clinic". He tied up the carriage, whispered a few words to the monk at the entrance, and then returned.

Before long, a bald man dressed in a plain monk's robe strode out and said in a low voice, "Master, Mr. Su, please come with me."

Su Xinghe nodded without saying anything. He glanced to the side, intending to call Grandpa Zhang to join him, but found that Grandpa Zhang had already run off to the tavern across the street to watch the commotion.

"Hey……"

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"I heard that there will be a martial arts competition at Mount Hua next year to determine the best in the world."

"Yes, the invitation has been sent to Qingliang Temple. My neighbor's aunt's aunt's daughter's younger brother is a monk at Qingliang Temple. I saw it clearly."

"Is there any need for a martial arts contest? In my opinion, the Venerable Master Shenshan is an Arhat incarnate. How can he be compared to an ordinary martial artist!"

"Nonsense! If he were a real Arhat, would he be unable to defeat Lu Zhishen of Liangshan Marsh, and would he be forced to leave the mountain to become a bandit?"

"He's almost a hundred years old."

"What did you say!"

In the tavern where the argument raged, the martial arts heroes, their faces flushed from drinking, stood up abruptly, glaring at each other and shouting, but none of them dared to lay a hand on each other.

Similar to Qingcheng County, these are orderly counties, guarded by martial arts masters, making them much safer than during the Song Dynasty. While a bloody fight on the spot might feel satisfying, it could lead to serious trouble afterward.

"Fight! Fight! Start fighting!"

"Damn it, it was you who was secretly stirring things up just now!" The man who boasted about the people of the sacred mountain shouted angrily, pointing at the tall man who was still stirring up the fire at the door.

The tavern fell silent.

The tall man—Zhang Chengyi—spread his hands with a grin and said, "Oh dear, how can you be sure it's me?"

The man insisted, "I'm famous for my super hearing, it must be you! Say it again if you dare!"

"Cough cough~"

Zhang Chengyi cleared his throat, about to use a female voice to tease the fanatical fan of the man from the sacred mountain.

"Uncle Zhang, stop playing around." Su Xinghe walked over looking exhausted. He wondered why Uncle Zhang, who had been in seclusion for over thirty years, was becoming more and more eccentric.

"We should go."

Chapter 129 There are two trees in the courtyard

"Who is this little bald guy, I mean, this little bald head?"

Zhang Chengyi walked in the middle and asked the young monk leading the way.

They didn't try to avoid people, but fortunately the young monk didn't seem to care much, probably because he had been reminded of what kind of person Grandpa Zhang was.

Su Xinghe simply replied, "He is indeed a member of the Nu tribe."

Then there's no problem.

It seems that after the Nu people were taken over by the Valley of Immortality, not all of them stayed in the mountains as laborers.

Zhang Chengyi suddenly realized why Old Su's intelligence gathering was so smooth; he probably started planning many years ago, just waiting for him to return and activate the intelligence network.

However, is Old Su so certain that his return will solve the problems of the Everlasting Spring Valley?

Or was it simply that the intelligence network was set up and left for him to use?

Whichever the possibility, it represents a level of trust and loyalty that goes beyond the norm.

Zhang Chengyi glanced back at Su Xinghe, whose expression remained unchanged and whose emotions showed no alteration. This kind of relationship, which was different from that between normal friends, made him feel a little awkward.

Before becoming master and servant, they had only known each other for two or three days, and the idea of ​​becoming master and servant seemed like child's play to him.

The process of getting along was quite pleasant, but the fruit that came out was so sour and astringent.

"Old Su." Zhang Chengyi called out inexplicably, and seeing that the two people in front and behind him had stopped, he said in a muffled voice, "It's nothing, let's keep going."

Su Xinghe assumed that Grandpa Zhang had some troublesome idea again, so he didn't pay much attention and explained the matter of Monk Zhenru using telepathy.

It wasn't that he intentionally sent someone into the Buddhist community as an undercover agent. Rather, Zhenru left Dali to travel, and during his journey, he became very interested in Buddhism. After reading many Buddhist scriptures, he voluntarily came to Wutai Mountain to become a monk.

He wasn't originally a monk of Qingliang Temple. It was just that the small temple he had entered into had been annexed by Qingliang Temple ten years ago. As the monk Zhenru, who was the strongest in the temple, he did not reveal the martial arts he had inherited from the Xiaoyao Sect. He simply and quietly became an ordinary monk who knew some medical skills.

The Huimin Medical Clinic is a free medical service provided by temples in Wutai Mountain to Buddhist believers in nearby cities; it exists in almost every county.

However, all the monks and doctors in Huimin Medical Hall were poor in martial arts and were ostracized. Their medical skills varied greatly. Nowadays, the religious profession is completely different from the past. They no longer emphasize profound Buddhist teachings. What they need is high martial arts skills and the ability to fight.

Therefore, Xu Zhu was given the title of "Divine Monk" by the emperor only after he single-handedly repelled the Jin army; in the past, it would have been unthinkable.

Of course, it was precisely because the doctors at Huimin Medical Clinic—no, the medical monks—had varying and unstable skill levels that, for many years, the clinic was located in one of the poorer areas of the city. Only the poor would go to see a doctor who was free, unreliable, and could potentially kill them.

It's a bit of a darkly humorous situation.

In short, Zhenru's martial arts skills are not enough to Zhang Chengyi, but they are not weak in the entire martial arts world, or even in Qingliang Temple. He is about to encounter the inner demon tribulation. If he learns the Beiming Liangyi Gong, he can enter the inner demon tribulation on the spot. If he had the secret method of skipping class like Lu Zhishen or Deng Yuanjue, his strength should have already started to increase rapidly.

Despite their selective approach to accepting disciples, Su Xinghe and Wu Yazi possess truly remarkable abilities in training and teaching. While the Nu people generally have average talent, their strength is exceptional.

Getting back to the main point, the area near Huimin Medical Clinic is a relatively remote slum, which is also a gathering place for various taverns and wandering martial artists. These martial artists, who live on the edge, don't care about the level of medical skills. After all, being injured is not the same as being sick. Applying wound medicine, bandaging the wound, and treating a severed limb are not issues of skill level.

Most importantly, it's free.

The gathering of wandering swordsmen brought more chaos, and taverns came into being.

Don't misunderstand, it's not just about doing business. All the taverns near Wutai Mountain are run by believers and funded by temples. The most important rule is that they cannot sell alcohol to monks. At the same time, they also serve to collect intelligence and observe the whereabouts and public opinion of wandering travelers.

This did not happen in the last thirty years; it existed even when the Song Dynasty was still under its jurisdiction. This matter is recorded in the Shao Family Records.

Incidentally, the "Shao Family Records" in the normal history next door was written by Shao Bowen after the Jingkang Incident. It mainly records some interesting anecdotes and changes in Northern Song society. The world of Tianlong, on the other hand, has gone from martial arts being confined to a small circle to influencing the entire world. Xiao Feng, the Great King Xiao, started writing it earlier after his rise to power.

Many literati who experienced the peaceful times of the Northern Song Dynasty could empathize with it. For example, Huang Shang would often read it to reminisce about the past.

The believers who run taverns on Mount Wutai probably miss the past. In the past, those who disobeyed the temples were at most charged with losing their money and expelled from the country. Now, the punishment is so severe that it is almost inhumane. They are usually taken away by the monks and their whereabouts are unknown.

He's probably dead.

"This is it, Mr. Su, Mr. Zhang, please." Zhenru led the two to a courtyard house and pushed open the door to enter.

The courtyard wasn't large, but it was very nicely decorated. There were some flowers and plants, and two trees had been transplanted. The floor was paved with white stone slabs, which were spotless and kept very clean.

Although the house is small, it has everything you need. The master bedroom, side rooms, main hall, and side hall are all furnished with handmade wooden furniture.

Su Xinghe's usually expressionless face broke into a rare smile as he said, "You put your heart into it." He recognized that all the objects in this place were made by his grand-disciple, and even the house was built using the architectural techniques commonly used by the Xiaoyao Sect.

It's maintained very frequently, but no one has ever lived there; it's just for elders to come and stay.

As a monk, Zhenru was not wealthy and was also a charitable medical monk. He couldn't afford to hire others or buy things for what he wanted to do. The fact that he could prepare so much shows how much effort he put into it.

Apart from Ding Chunqiu and Li Qiushui, the Xiaoyao Sect members, from top to bottom, all share a common characteristic: they are loyal, righteous, and keep their promises.

Zhenru clasped his hands together and bowed, revealing a shameful expression. If it were his fellow clansmen in other cities or regions, they could probably provide better conditions. But he was penniless, and it was too shabby to entertain his elders and benefactors.

Zhang Chengyi didn't think much of it. Seeing Su Xinghe smile, he patted Su Xinghe's shoulder and said with a carefree laugh, "Old Su, your wrinkles are so deep when you smile that they're practically trapping mosquitoes. You should hurry up and practice the Northern Darkness Yin-Yang Technique. It can make you look younger."

The Beiming Liangyi Gong (Northern Darkness Yin-Yang Technique) incorporates the characteristics of all the internal energy cultivation methods of the Xiaoyao Sect. Once the sixty-four acupoints are condensed, the body can be transformed. As long as one overcomes the inner demon tribulation, one can mold the body into whatever shape one desires. Not to mention becoming younger, one can even become a woman.

That's why it's said that Wu Yazi created this technique for Tianshan Tonglao; a lover with a childlike physique is too much to handle.

Chapter 130 Heavenly Rain