Chapter 4: Chapter 3: A Martial Tao Prodigy Seen Once in a Thousand Years?
For Abbot Huiwen, an Innate Realm Peak martial artist,
there was hardly anything that could stir his emotions.
The Buddha Gate’s martial arts inherently possessed the effect of calming the mind and qi.
Having been immersed in the Buddha’s teachings for seventy to eighty years, it wasn’t to say that he wouldn’t bat an eyelid if Mount Tai were to collapse in front of him,
but it wouldn’t be too far off.
Yet now,
his heart was tumultuous with shock and amazement.
“Is this the Arhat Fist? No, this isn’t the Arhat Fist!!”
Abbot Huiwen carefully observed the young novice practicing the fist technique.
Compared to the hundreds of adult martial monks executing the Arhat Fist, bursting forth with vast vital energy,
this young novice’s practice didn’t create any disturbance.
However, in Huiwen’s eyes, there was something…
like an antelope hanging by its horns.
A natural masterpiece.
Every punch and kick from the young novice carried an inexplicable meaning.
“How is this possible?!”
“How can a mere child grasp such a profound technique?”
Huiwen was incredulous.
Any martial art, including those from Buddha Gate, would require a great deal of time and comprehension to master.
The Arhat Fist wasn’t overly complex martial arts, but a normal person would still need six to seven years of arduous training to achieve proficiency.
And yet, the fist technique practiced by the young novice clearly exceeded the Arhat Fist by several levels,
and he had already mastered it to perfection, which was utterly inconceivable.
What astounded Huiwen the most was that he had never seen the fist technique the novice was practicing before.
It had traces of the Arhat Fist, but was incomparably more sophisticated.
Almost reaching the level of the seventy-two supreme skills of the Great Zen Temple.
Such a superior Buddha Gate martial art, and Huiwen, the nearly hundred-year-old monk, had never heard of it.
“Abbot.”
The other novices also noticed Huiwen’s gaze.
Each one of them turned pale and stood obediently in their places.
Only Lin Yuan continued to practice the newly comprehended ‘Great Arhat Buddha Fist’.
“Mmm…”
Huiwen at that moment wasn’t concerned about these novices who had sneaked out.
He waved his hand, signaling all the novices to leave,
while he himself stared intently at Lin Yuan, who was practicing his fists.
…
“Great Arhat Buddha Fist!!”
Lin Yuan, while practicing this newly realized martial technique,
felt a tingling sensation radiating from his limbs and bones.
It was as comfortable as soaking in a hot spring.
Unsure of how much time had passed,
a strand of Qi silently condensed inside the Dantian located below Lin Yuan’s abdomen.
“Could this be Inner Qi?”
“The Innate Qi that only Innate Realm martial artists can wield?”
Lin Yuan pondered to himself.
Being only three or four years old, his knowledge was limited.
He only knew that Innate Inner Qi was a power wielded by Innate Martial Tao experts.
Once the Inner Qi formed, Lin Yuan suddenly felt hungry.
So he instinctively stopped practicing his fists,
as continuing would probably starve him to death.
However, when Lin Yuan looked around,
he noticed that the hundreds of martial monks, as well as the dozen or so novices nearby,
had all vanished without a trace.
In their place stood seven elderly monks,
and the old monk in the middle with the long eyebrows had a piercing gaze that made Lin Yuan’s scalp tingle.
“Abbot? Head monk?”
Lin Yuan ventured to ask.
Among the seven monks, Lin Yuan had met three of them.
They were the heads of the Martial Monk Institute, the Discipline Academy, and the current abbot of the Great Zen Temple.
As for the remaining four, he did not recognize them.
However, given that they stood alongside the abbot and the institute heads, their status was certainly not low.
Especially Elder Long Eyebrow, even the abbot only dared to stand half a step behind him.
“Little fellow,”
the current abbot of the Great Zen Temple, Huiwen, revealed a gentle smile and asked, “Where did you learn the boxing technique you just practiced?”
After Abbot Huiwen sent the other novice monks away, he immediately contacted the abbot of the Great Zen Temple and the other institute heads.
These real Martial Tao experts of the Great Zen Temple immediately realized the seriousness of the matter and rushed over, setting aside what they were doing.
Everyone’s judgment was the same as Huiwen’s—
The boxing technique Lin Yuan practiced held profound intentions and was not inferior to any superior martial arts.
Moreover, this technique was an unheard-of fist technique of the Buddha Gate.
If they had not seen it with their own eyes, they would not have believed…
that there existed superior Buddhist martial arts that they had never even heard of in this world.
“Where I learned it from…”
Upon hearing this, Lin Yuan internally breathed a sigh of relief.
Performing the ‘Great Arhat Buddha Fist’ on the spot was, in part, to showcase his talent.
Through his attempts just now, Lin Yuan understood that to maximize the effect of his Against-Heaven’s Understanding, he needed to expose himself to as many of the world’s profound martial arts as possible.
By observing sparrows and earthworms, he could only comprehend ordinary martial techniques like ‘Divine Sparrow Sky-Crossing Skill’ and ‘Earth Dragon Rolling Skill.’
But by watching the martial monks practice the Arhat Fist, he was able to directly comprehend the superior martial art ‘Great Arhat Buddha Fist.’
If he could observe a superior martial art, the technique he would comprehend…
Although Lin Yuan did not know the status of superior martial arts,
the fact that it allowed him to ascend to heaven in one step and condense Innate Qi was certainly not simple.
To gain access to the kind of superior martial arts of the Great Zen Temple, or even more profound ones,
his status as a mere novice monk would definitely not suffice.
“Replying to the abbot, I saw the brothers practicing their boxing and wanted to join in. As I was practicing, I came to understand this technique, though I’m not sure if I should have…”
Lin Yuan timely showed a hint of trepidation.
The words he spoke were not false.
In the Cosmic Human Alliance, if Lin Yuan were this candid, he might be observed or even studied.
But in this world, which resembled the martial world of an ancient feudal dynasty,
especially in a place full of Buddhist atmosphere like the Great Zen Temple,
even if Lin Yuan showed extraordinary talents, he would only be regarded as a true Buddha reincarnated or a living Buddha child.
“To watch the martial monks practice the Arhat Fist and then comprehend a superior martial art that far surpasses the Arhat Fist…”
The abbot of the Great Zen Temple and the other institute heads fell silent.
Elder Long Eyebrow, who scrutinized Lin Yuan with sharp eyes, also fell silent.
If anyone else dared to say such things, they naturally wouldn’t believe it.
What a joke.
Do they really think superior martial arts are as common as cabbages?
Most superior martial arts in the world are created through the painstaking efforts of Grand Master Realm Martial Tao experts.
The Great Zen Temple, as a sacred Buddha Gate and one of the Great Martial Sects,
mainly relies on seventy-two unique skills to continuously cultivate Innate Realm Martial Tao experts.
The seventy-two unique skills are precisely seventy-two superior martial arts.
You, a mere child of three or four, claim to have comprehended a superior martial art?
However, upon closer consideration, the abbot and others found it bizarrely possible that what Lin Yuan said could be true.
Firstly, the Great Arhat Buddha Fist is a superior martial art of the Buddha Gate.
In the current world, apart from the Great Zen Temple, there indeed are some other Buddhist sects.
But without a doubt, the Great Zen Temple is at the forefront.
There are superior Buddhist martial arts beyond the seventy-two unique skills.
But the abbot and the institute heads certainly would have heard of them.
The superior martial art practiced by Lin Yuan, however, was the first time anyone had seen it.
Secondly, it is not difficult to see that the Great Arhat Buddha Fist is deeply connected to the Arhat Fist.
This is consistent with Lin Yuan’s claim that he comprehended the ‘Great Arhat Buddha Fist’ by observing the Arhat Fist.
In a flash, the abbot of the Great Zen Temple and several institute heads exchanged glances.
A thought simultaneously emerged in their minds.
Could it be that among the new disciples recently accepted by the Great Zen Temple, there truly appeared a Martial Tao prodigy that comes once in a millennium?