I am Jinshan Youxia

Before the emergence of "qi" in the environment, everyone used their own strength, which had limited impact on the people and things around them. Even when there were occasional battles within Qingliang Temple, they rarely harmed others. Now that "qi" is rampant, everyone can use external forces, and the power of each move has become extremely strong.

A few days ago, Shenshan forbade the monks of Qingliang Temple from fighting at will. He himself did not want to fight with anyone, especially not with Grandpa Zhang, who was stronger than him.

If we can avoid fighting, we should avoid it. Even if we have to fight, we shouldn't fight in a densely populated town like Wutai County. We should postpone it to next year's Mount Hua Martial Arts Tournament, and then postpone it further. We should delay it for as long as possible.

"It's not your place to make suggestions." Zhang Chengyi regained control of the spiritual energy in the next second. As the former master of all spiritual energy in the world, his will took much higher priority.

The divine mountain fought again, using its own true energy to interfere. Although it did not gain control, it still caused the spiritual energy in the sky to constantly drift, dissipate, and solidify, making it impossible to gather as before. It was trying its best to reduce the opponent's wide-range destructive power.

Seeing this, Zhang Chengyi simply abandoned the spiritual energy in the sky, controlled the nearby spiritual energy to condense into an invisible armor around his body to isolate himself from the harassment of his inner demons, and then rushed towards the golden man opposite him.

If he continued to fight, constantly releasing his true energy to increase the intensity, he would surely exhaust the divine mountain to death in no time. But that would be pointless; it would be better to use fists and feet to test the quality of the golden body.

"boom!"

After Zhang Chengyi rushed over, he threw a punch. Shenshan neither dodged nor evaded, and even its skin changed from golden to its original state. It crashed to the ground with a thud, smashing through the city wall.

"Master! Master!"

The old monks who were watching quickly smashed the ruins of the city wall and dug out the scarred sacred mountain inside.

"You and Huang Shang were taught by the same master?" Zhang Chengyi showed a slightly annoyed expression, as if he had punched cotton. "You have no temper at all, what's the difference between you and a dead person?"

Wu Yazi, Huang Shang, and Shen Shan, who have overcome their inner demons, seem to have better tempers than the rest of them, almost like saints.

The surrounding monks immediately glared at him angrily.

"Step back." Shenshan coughed, spitting out a mouthful of blood. He sat on the ground, dismissing the monks. Thin strands of pale golden blood hung from his chin and the corners of his mouth, but his expression was much more relaxed. He could tell that the old man in front of him would no longer try to destroy Wutai County to force him to take action. He said, "Old man Zhang, the matter of Leigu Mountain back then was my fault alone. I am willing to accept the punishment."

"It's good that you admitted it." Zhang Chengyi was too lazy to continue. He was clearly another pushover like Huang Shang, no fun at all. He said, "Hand over your martial arts skills first. I'll think about how to punish you later..."

He didn't really care about the fire at Leigu Mountain. The fact that someone stole the Beiming Liangyi Gong led to the emergence of so many masters who had broken through the original limits of martial arts. To him, it was a pretty good change.

But the sacred mountain before him needed to be thoroughly dealt with, which really annoyed him. As for Huang Shang, who also annoyed him—

Hey, let's talk about it when he goes to the capital.

Chapter 134 As long as you're happy losing

Half an hour later, in Zhenru's courtyard.

"Back then, someone in the Song court found you through connections at the Great Huayan Temple, and was even able to keep Li Qingluo and Wang Yuyan in check..."

Zhang Chengyi stroked the Arhat Golden Body Manual on the table. He originally thought it was just something that Shenshan had done in collusion with a few scoundrels in the Suzhou Ten Thousand People Transmission of Skills.

Now it sounds like things aren't so ordinary.

The Huayan Temple on Mount Wutai has a long history and is one of the earliest temples in China. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, it was called Dafu Lingjiu Temple. It was built by monks from other places to occupy Mount Wutai. Although it was not as influential as the Xiangguo Temple in the Northern Song Dynasty, it can still be ranked among the top three Buddhist temples in China.

Moreover, there is a small but important point: the Huayan Temple has always had close ties with the government throughout history, and the events of that year were very likely related to the government.

Among the thousands who were passing on their skills back then, were there any who defected to the Song court?

It seems like nothing is impossible.

Zhang Chengyi collected his thoughts. He seemed to have another reason to go to the Song capital. No rush, take it slow.

"Old Su, send someone to find Wu Yazi and tell him to come back to see me." He said, turning his head to the side. Since leaving the Valley of Immortality and coming into contact with this martial arts world, he has gradually discovered that Wu Yazi's martial arts strength is not yet at its absolute peak in the current version.

If Wu Yazi had dug up the insane Xiao Feng and caused another conflict, he might have died quietly somewhere.

"Yes." Su Xinghe responded and left.

Zhang Chengyi hesitated for a moment, looked at the composed and unperturbed Shenshan standing opposite him, and said, "As for you..."

He thought for a moment, then gave a strange smile: "Didn't you used to like challenging masters? I want you to win the title of the world's number one martial arts competition at Mount Hua, and then hold it every five years until I come back next time."

Shenshan was clearly taken aback; this request was obviously unexpected, yet it seemed perfectly reasonable.

Grandpa Zhang has always enjoyed finding amusement in harming others while also hurting himself. Did he gain anything from harming Xu Chongxiao back then? No, on the contrary, he offended a lot of people in the martial arts world.

As long as everyone loses together and it's fun and interesting, Grandpa Zhang doesn't care.

At this moment, does he really have the option to refuse?

"Yes." Shenshan bowed and replied. Even if Grandpa Zhang didn't massacre the city and kill innocent people, there were still plenty of ways to harm him.

Especially for someone like him who has attachments and principles, it's impossible for him to simply end his life.

Zhang Chengyi's smile vanished instantly. He frowned at the sacred mountain and said sharply, "Get out of here, don't disturb my reading."

Agreeing so quickly negated any positive feedback he might have received after his prank.

Shenshan had no idea that he had offended Grandpa Zhang again by being too obedient. He smiled helplessly, bowed again, and turned to leave.

The room fell silent again. Zhang Chengyi composed himself, opened the manual, and began to study it carefully.

-------------------------------------

If we divide top masters into three tiers: first-class, grandmaster, and peerless.

Lu Zhishen, Deng Yuanjue, Fang La and their group were top-notch masters of their time. Their bodies had been tempered to the point of mental demonic tribulation. They gained some control over their bodies in advance by skipping classes, but their mental state was not very stable and they had many strong desires.

In terms of internal strength, he is not as good as those who received the training more than 30 years ago, but his long-term physical training makes him much stronger in actual combat. Even without much familiarity with the use of spiritual energy, he can single-handedly break through enemy lines and conquer cities. If he goes all out, he can probably break through city walls.

The old monk who just turned into a pale gold skin, Tianshan Child Granny, Li Anu, and Murong Fu are all in the category of Grandmasters. Their inner demons have been mostly eliminated. Whether they skip classes or rely on time to grind it out, their strength is much stronger. Their physical fitness is better, their internal energy is more abundant, their control is stronger, and they are more familiar with spiritual energy at a faster pace.

Therefore, they can directly use and absorb spiritual energy, their internal strength and physical strength are inexhaustible, and their destructive power has greatly increased. They have reached the level of destroying a street with one move. The key is that as long as they can still absorb spiritual energy, they can continue to fight.

According to Zhang Chengyi's rough observation, since these people's breakthrough in martial arts limits was related to the Beiming Liangyi Gong, transformation was an ability that everyone had. Estimating their strength, Li Anu, whom he met first, had stronger physical qualities in her normal state, and her killing techniques were completely effortless. The others, especially the old monk and Tianshan Tonglao, who he had seen before, were weaker.

Murong Fu didn't know, but based on the state of his true energy and how he saw him fly away in Qingcheng County, it was probably pretty much the same.

In Zhang Chengyi's assessment, to be considered a peerless master, one must not escape the tribulation of inner demons. One must overcome the tribulation of inner demons, because only by overcoming the tribulation of inner demons can one's control ability interfere with his manipulation of spiritual energy. Otherwise, if one cannot interfere with his manipulation of spiritual energy, one will never be a match for him.

Among the masters he had met, Shenshan was undoubtedly unparalleled. With full control of spiritual energy, he could destroy a city in one strike.

However, the other two who overcame their inner demon tribulations were quite different. Wu Yazi wasted a lot of time on his inner demon tribulations, resulting in a serious lack of development of his own abilities and the absence of corresponding martial arts. His combat experience at this level was also extremely poor. Huang Shang was even worse, completely lacking the mentality of a martial artist and having very poor combat experience.

These two are the legendary Crouching Dragon and Phoenix Chick, the basement of the peerless masters. Apart from using their control abilities to bully those below the peerless level, they can only flee in defeat when facing opponents of the same level.

Without spiritual energy, the distinction between the three levels is very vague. Strength does not equal actual combat. With spiritual energy, one can significantly widen the gap simply by controlling spiritual energy to launch area-of-effect attacks.

That's why Zhang Chengyi made a clear distinction between the previously vague martial artists.

After spending a few days at Mount Wutai, he came up with this classification of martial artists and excitedly ran to Su Xinghe, saying, "Old Su, Old Su, you have a new job to do."

"Please give your instructions, Uncle Zhang."

Su Xinghe was pruning flowers and plants in the yard when he heard the sound and immediately put down his shears.

"Go and get a newspaper published." Zhang Chengyi handed over a few sheets of paper containing information about the classification of martial arts realms and various other random ideas, saying, "Get all those Heaven, Earth, and Man rankings up and running, and spread martial arts manuals and Jianghu secrets everywhere. I want to see the world bustling with activity, not as lifeless as it is now."

The world of Tianlong is indeed very oppressive now. The social environment has lost its stability, and powerful figures in various places are dividing up the land, making it difficult for news to circulate. Furthermore, the separatist forces, due to the once rampant martial arts, are now strictly controlling wandering martial artists and gradually gathering and controlling martial arts manuals. To say that it is lifeless would be an understatement.

Once most of those who received the skills and learned the martial arts of Leigu Mountain have died, after one or two generations, the sects will likely become aloof and completely detached from ordinary people.

That's so boring.

"Yes." Su Xinghe knew that Grandpa Zhang was just acting on a whim again, and that he would probably lose interest once the initial enthusiasm wore off. But he still had to get things going, just in case Grandpa Zhang wanted to see the results someday.

Zhang Chengyi patted Su Xinghe on the shoulder and said sincerely, "Thank you for your hard work, Lao Su."

Before Su Xinghe could express his gratitude, he said with a grin, "By the way, I've developed a cultivation technique. Would you like to try it?"

Chapter 135: A Masterpiece

"..."

Su Xinghe paused for a moment, then said, "Okay."

It's not that I think Grandpa Zhang has a problem with his martial arts skills or that he can't create a great martial arts technique, but rather that he has no ambition in martial arts.

Whether he was strong or weak, he could practice casually. He preferred to study all sorts of miscellaneous subjects, such as music, chess, calligraphy, painting, medicine, folk arts, and opera. Even reading history, studying classics, and composing poems were much more interesting than practicing martial arts.

Therefore, he did not practice the Northern Darkness Yin-Yang Technique, nor did he rashly break into the Tribulation of Inner Demons. Whether he was crazy or driven by desires, he was unwilling to do either.

He was not much different from his eight disciples. He had made some progress in martial arts over the past thirty years due to his talent, while his eight disciples had almost stagnated, wasting most of their time on miscellaneous studies.

If it weren't for living in the Valley of Immortality and having the Northern Darkness True Qi that I acquired for nothing, how could I have maintained my past appearance?

They don't care about lifespan; they just want to live happily. Everyone is born, grows old, gets sick, and dies; there's no need to force some things.

Zhang Chengyi was well aware of this, and said with a smile, "Don't worry, once I've mastered this martial art, you don't need to worry too much. Just do what you like. Come with me."

Su Xinghe remained as calm as ever, nodding in agreement and following behind into the side room.

Papers were scattered around the room, covered in scribbles and messy handwriting—clearly the work of Grandpa Zhang.

Zhang Chengyi picked up a stack of papers from the edge of the table and handed it over, saying, "Take a look first, and ask me if you don't understand anything."

Su Xinghe patiently looked at the messy simplified Chinese characters on it, his expression gradually becoming a little strange.

He may not be very good at martial arts, but his vision is not bad. After all, he was one of the earliest people to study body tempering methods and can be considered a founder of modern martial arts. He also learned a lot of martial arts concepts from Wu Yazi and Zhang Chengyi, so he can understand them.

The simple paper in his hand did not contain a single, specific martial art, but rather a training method evolved from a concept. It was not bound by any particular internal energy cultivation method, and one could switch to it at any time.

One interesting point mentioned is that inner demons are a mixture of bodily instincts and past obsessions, so they should be able to be transformed in advance into a form that suits oneself.

Whether it's Wu Yazi's instinctive self-control or Shenshan's method of indulging and then regaining focus, both treat inner demons as invisible enemies that need to be defeated.

Ultimately, the key is for everything to return to "me," to completely eliminate inner demons, and to become "me."

But Zhang Chengyi thought that since the inner demon is a part of 'me' and will continue to grow stronger as the body gets stronger, why should he eliminate the inner demon?

By being sincere in heart and skilled in technique, choose a path and let the inner demons become the intent of swordsmanship, knife skills, and miscellaneous knowledge. Continuously nourish the inner demons with the sincerity of your main consciousness, so that the inner demons, in turn, make your body stronger.

The specific training method is not difficult. The Arhat Golden Body Technique of the Divine Mountain contains a lot of content on soul-capturing and soul-hooking to guide the inner demons to the Buddha. The Free and Unfettered Sect also has a similar method. In the novel, Ding Chunqiu almost caused Duan Yanqing to commit suicide at Leigu Mountain. Even the former Kumārajīva used internal energy combined with sound to bewitch people's hearts.

In the future, the Nine Yin Manual will also include a special martial art called the Soul Transfer Technique.

The methods of use are nothing more than using sight and hearing in combination with internal force to vibrate acupoints and interfere with the mind.

Previously, few people would incorporate acupoints and meridians that affect the mind into martial arts. If one's mental state is not strong enough, it is easy to become mentally confused. For example, if one practices the Shaolin Seventy-Two Arts and the Dragon Elephant Prajna Skill too much and cannot endure it, it is normal to go crazy.

More advanced martial arts often involve this, which is why the requirement of harmonizing mind and energy arises.

Zhang Chengyi directly incorporated some of the acupoints that affected his mind after the vibrations into his internal energy circulation, calling it the Sword Nourishing Style. He also included some methods for calming his mind, such as using specific rituals (burning incense, bathing and changing clothes), actions, and words that he designed himself when advancing on his path.

While learning and refining the 'Tao' you have chosen, practice the sword-nurturing method to artificially forge a sword that is devoted solely to the 'Tao'.

The text describes this technique in detail, clearly outlining the specific manifestations and points to note, as if someone had practiced it beforehand.

Su Xinghe couldn't help but look up.