The fifth volume is full of awe and martial arts legends Chapter 229: Peerless Evil Monk
Yanfeng Temple, the temple gate is wide open.
Perhaps because no one has taken care of it for a long time, the temple is covered with fallen leaves, and there are few pilgrims burning incense and worshiping Buddha, so it looks particularly desolate and deserted.
Li Muchan stepped in.
As he stepped in, the temple door behind him closed by itself without any wind.
The other party was indeed waiting for him.
Li Muchan had also seen this person.
His eyes flew across the front yard and looked at the hall not far away. In the shadow of the hall, a skinny figure sat facing Buddha. He was wearing a yellow monk's robe, and there was an indescribable aura from his whole body. He looked like an old man who was about to die, or like a piece of dead wood, with little vitality, emitting a strong smell of decay, which was chilling.
In a trance, this person seemed like a corpse buried deep in the ground that was dug out again.
Li Muchan shook his clothes and raised his sleeves, walking as if he was sightseeing. He walked through the front yard, through the scorching sun, and finally stood inside the main hall.
He stood with his arms folded, looked at the dusty Guanyin statue, smiled, and asked calmly, "Haven't you asked for advice yet?"
The old monk, who had been sitting as still as a stone, spoke in a dull voice, "This old monk is spreading the Dharma."
"Hongfa?" Li Muchan closed his eyes and murmured, "Why do I feel like I've seen this name somewhere before?"
The old monk clasped his hands together, lowered his brows and gaze, and softly explained, "Decades ago, in the battle at Huiyan Peak, Shen Tianjun and I both crashed into the wall and died."
Li Muchan opened his eyes and smiled faintly, "I remember now. It turned out to be Master Hongfa from back then."
The old monk Hongfa glanced at him and asked, "May I ask who is this great figure in the world?"
Li Muchan casually brushed off the dust on his shoulders and said with his hands behind his back, "I am Li Muchan."
"Amitabha!" Monk Hongfa murmured the Buddha's name, and said without sadness or joy, "So it's the leader of the World Alliance who's here in person. I'm honored to meet you."
Li Muchan was already looking at the other person carefully. If what this person said was true, then he must be a martial arts celebrity and a master of the same era as Shen Tianjun.
But the more he looked at him, the more surprised he became. Logically speaking, this man should be over a hundred years old, but looking at his face, although looks old, he is only in his sixties.
How strange and bizarre.
Monk Hongfa said calmly, "Donor, you've misunderstood. I became famous very early, and I was born with wisdom and intelligence. Furthermore, I possess Buddha nature, so a high Buddhist monk bestowed upon me the name Hongfa, which means to enlighten the world, promote Buddhism, and save the world with compassion... Actually, I'm a little younger than Zhu Si."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, what a bold spirit!" Li Muchan smiled. "Well, since ancient times, those who have spread Buddhism have all been great Buddhist virtues, extraordinary monks throughout the ages. It seems that you, monk, were also an extraordinary person who did not degenerate into worldly affairs."
The old monk was silent for a moment, then sighed, "What if I fell into the worldly world? What if I was extraordinary? A monk is still a monk. I can strike the wooden fish and ring the bell every day, and recite the Heart Sutra for my whole life. In the end, I will waste my years on that cushion, accompanied only by this clay statue and green lamp, but no one will hear my words."
Hongfa raised his eyelids and looked at the mud-mottled statue of Guanyin. The Buddha's eyes were dim, and it seemed that he was also looking at him.
Li Muchan raised his eyebrows and smiled. Just from these words, it was clear that the monk was full of heresy and evil spirit.
"Could it be that you are also aware of what happened back then?" he asked.
The old monk nodded, "Not only am I aware of this, I'm also a participant..."
He paused, his eyes changed quietly, and a stiff and strange smile appeared on his face, "He is also a close friend of Shen Tianjun."
"Are you from the Qinglong Society?" Li Muchan frowned slightly.
Hongfa remained silent for a long time before he spoke, "Being a monk is truly boring. At the age of five, I could debate with senior monks. By the age of nine, I had read all the Buddhist scriptures collected by Shaolin. Later, I traveled the world, visiting 127 thousand-year-old temples and poring over 5,000 volumes of Buddhist scriptures. By the age of seventeen, I was already a master in the Zen world, unrivaled in any field, and was hailed as the greatest Buddhist master of the past two hundred years."
"But I'm lonely... hehehe..." The old monk chuckled softly, the sound like a ghost crying, squeezing out from his throat. "And the more I understand, the more stupid and hopeless I think others are. Especially those who don't understand the meaning of the scriptures and can't discern the meaning of Zen. They are all so stupid, and yet I have to save them."
Li Muchan looked strange and asked softly, "So?"
Hongfa's eyes rolled. "So, I've always wanted to try what it's like to kill someone. It wasn't until I met Zhu Si and the Azure Dragon Society that I realized that killing people can actually save lives, hehe."
The chirping of cicadas outside the temple had died down unnoticed, and apart from the old monk's laughter, there was no other sound.
"I know what you want to ask," Hongfa suddenly dropped his smile and said expressionlessly, "In the battle at Huiyan Peak, Shen Tianjun had already depleted his internal energy in the battle with me before fighting Zhu Si."
"Didn't you say that you two are close friends?" Li Muchan said.
The old monk frowned and grinned, then said in a hoarse voice, "That's right, I didn't mean to betray him. At most, I just wanted to beat him. Throughout my life, everything I did has amazed people, almost perfect, but until I met Shen Tianjun, this man looked ordinary, but he always managed to beat me, whether it was drinking, playing rock-paper-scissors, or even playing dice and Pai Gow. Haha, he was better than me, but the most amazing thing... was his hands."
At the end of his words, the man's tone was gloomy and his face was as dark as water.
"This guy has a playboy mentality. He entered the underworld at the age of thirty or so. He started later than us and became famous later than us. He's not even good-looking, and he's often sloppy in his work. He always likes to show off his smelly feet. But even such a sloppy and unrefined person managed to win against me and Zhu Si."
Li Muchan understood that this was another Zhu Si with a deep obsession, and also a demon monk with an evil heart.
Monk Hongfa stood up and said in a startling tone, "Haha, let me tell you that I was the one who gave Chai Yuguan the Invincible Treasure Mirror by some clever trick. I found it by chance in a Buddhist scripture, and it was I who secretly helped Chai Yuguan succeed in his plan."
Li Muchan was amazed and laughed faintly, "What a wicked monk! I have one last question. Are you doing this just to kill people?"
The old monk clasped his hands together, lowered his brows and said, "Not entirely. Those so-called famous and righteous sects, the great sects in the martial arts world, all of them are hypocritical, shouting that they want to protect the righteous path, but in the end, who doesn't go for the Invincible Treasure Mirror? Anyone who is tempted by it deserves to die. As for the other purpose, it is because of the Four Illuminations Divine Art."
"It's true that Shen Tianjun has acquired the Four Illuminations Divine Art, but I've also acquired a martial art that stems from it, called 'Dead Wood Zen.'" He looked at the Bodhisattva statue, his eyes filled with compassion, and spoke slowly, "The heart is like a dead body, the eyes are unused, and you're not allowed to open them to see. The stomach is empty, and you don't eat or drink, and you're not allowed to think about the length of time. This is Dead Wood Zen. 'Dead Wood Zen' is divided into two types of skills: positive and negative. The positive skills can be used to impart power to others, while the negative skills can be used to absorb power from oneself. Like a dead tree reborn in spring, you can absorb the power of others to strengthen yourself."
"Absorbing power?" Li Muchan narrowed his eyes.
Hongfa's eyelids trembled, and he rasped, "Yes, I took advantage of that catastrophe to secretly absorb the power of many people in order to fight him, but in the end I was still defeated."
Li Muchan's hands behind his back had dropped down at some point. He was also looking at the statue, his ten fingers gently stretched out, and his eyes became dim.
“How many people are there?”
Hongfa shook his head and said, "It's been too long, I can't remember exactly, but there must be about a hundred. That's why Shen Tianjun noticed it."
His eyes suddenly lit up. "I remember now. Back then, there was a woman who used corpses to practice martial arts. Her body was damaged, so she couldn't cultivate her internal energy. So she wanted to practice the Ghost Secret Manual. Shen Tianjun saved her. Maybe she accidentally saw something and understood everything... Sigh, I thought the Four Illuminations Divine Art would be lost from now on, and there would be no hope for the rest of my life. Hahaha... Is that why you came here?"
Li Muchan smiled openly and said, "Yes."
Hongfa laughed endlessly, his eyes gleaming, "Where is it?"
Li Muchan said softly, "Well, I'll tell you if you beat me."
"Amitabha, good? Evil? Hahaha."
Amidst the laughter, Hongfa's monk's robes scattered like dust, revealing another black monk's robe underneath.
The two of them exchanged glances. Suddenly, a breeze blew up from the courtyard without causing any wind to blow. All the fallen leaves on the ground were swept up and swirled around without falling.
The enemy is at hand and a fierce battle is about to begin.
