Chapter 36: The Great Thunderclap Monastery
“Mu’er, temple fairs are actually a great place to broaden your horizons.”
Master Ma placed a pair of finished crutches in front of the furniture and said to Qin Mu with deep meaning, “There are many villages in the Great Wasteland, and quite a few are experts who couldn’t make it in the outside world, forced to enter the Great Wasteland. They settle here, take on disciples, and only during temple fairs can you gather these people and their disciples together. Here, you can see the techniques and skills of almost every school in the world!”
Qin Mu seemed to understand but not fully, pondering, “I haven’t been tempered by real combat, so my cultivation can’t easily turn into real strength. That’s why Master Ma wants me to seize this opportunity, during the temple fair, to spar with warriors from various schools?”
Master Ma showed an expectant look. “That’s the idea.”
“But what’s with selling crutches?”
Qin Mu asked in confusion, “And why did Blind Grandpa set up a gambling game? Also, the exotic beast Uncle Tu is selling is clearly not a flood dragon, so why does he shout that he’s selling flood dragon precious blood? And why did Uncle Medicine prepare injury medicine in advance?”
Master Ma coughed dryly twice. “Adult business, kids shouldn’t ask too many questions. Why don’t you go up?”
Qin Mu had no choice but to step onto the arena and stick the scroll Deafy had written onto the arena’s pillar.
Not long after, more and more villagers from various villages gathered below the arena, the noise of the crowd rising. Qin Mu also felt that what Deafy wrote was somewhat inappropriate, but the fact that it attracted so many people in such a short time still stunned him.
“Kicking down the Eternal River with no rivals, sweeping through eight hundred villages in the Great Wasteland! Such big talk! Kid, you look no more than eleven or twelve. Even if you started cultivating from your mother’s womb, your cultivation is nothing special!”
A voice said with great righteousness, “Hanging such an arrogant scroll—are you challenging the villages of the Great Wasteland? Who gave you such nerve?”
Qin Mu’s face flushed slightly, feeling ashamed inside, then he reacted and glared angrily at Blind. That voice was very familiar—wasn’t it exactly from Blind?
Blind became even more righteous, his voice very persuasive, saying, “Is there no real man left in our Great Wasteland, letting this brat act arrogant up there? A little kid of eleven or twelve—can you all stand it? Where’s the blood of the men of the Great Wasteland?”
As soon as these words were spoken, it was no small matter. Immediately, a dozen or so young men jumped onto the arena, and Qin Mu’s face turned green.
“But the heroes of our Great Wasteland shouldn’t look down on him either.”
Blind’s voice was like a great bell, making everyone’s eardrums buzz: “Since he’s set up an arena, we have to follow the rules. He’s here to challenge, not to start a brawl, so we’ll go one by one. This kid is at the Spirit Embryo stage. Those who go up to challenge must also be at the Spirit Embryo stage, so as not to disgrace their own villages.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the dozen or so young men each stepped down from the arena, leaving only one young man on it.
Qin Mu breathed a sigh of relief and said, “Senior brother, how should I address you…”
“If we’re fighting, then fight! Who’s trying to get chummy with you?”
The young man suddenly crouched down, his primal energy bursting forth, forming tiger stripes on his body’s surface, like a colorful fierce tiger! His palms and soles transformed into sharp claws of primal energy, and with a sudden leap, his speed was like a fleeting shadow as he pounced at Qin Mu!
With that pounce, Qin Mu felt as if he were being targeted by an extremely ferocious exotic beast, a fierce wind rushing at his face like a tiger roaring on the mountain. This kind of momentum was something he lacked—it must have been a secret learned through life-and-death experience!
“Warriors from other villages really do have their unique points!”
Qin Mu revealed dragon patterns on his back, dragon patterns coiling around his body. His steps moved like a great river cascading down, flowing into the sea, with thunderous sounds like waves. He used the water-attributed Black Tortoise primal energy to drive the first form of the Thunderclap Eight Forms. Although he couldn’t achieve palm thunder, he vividly unleashed the momentum of river water cascading from a high mountain into the sea!
The moment they collided, Qin Mu’s fist met the opponent’s, and the water-attributed power of the Black Tortoise primal energy erupted, forming a dragon head shape around his fist, riding the water and surging forward!
The young man immediately felt the opponent’s immense power, crushing his primal energy like a storm, and was startled. Then Qin Mu’s move sent him flying.
Just as he was sent flying, this man kicked his feet toward Qin Mu’s chest while airborne. His soles were like tiger claws, extremely sharp, tearing Qin Mu’s clothes with a ripping sound, nearly disemboweling him!
In a hurry, Qin Mu stood on one foot, leaned back, and kicked out with his other leg like lightning, sending the man tumbling and rolling in midair, falling over ten zhang away and out of the arena.
The man flipped up, trying to steady himself, but suddenly a crisp cracking sound came from his leg—the bone had been broken by Qin Mu’s kick.
Uncle Medicine’s voice came slowly: “Fine injury medicine, broken bones healed in a day, won’t delay hunting.”
Master Ma said loudly, “A pair of crutches, made of dragon-eye wood, extremely sturdy.”
Blind announced clearly, “Bad luck? Come to me, I’ll change your fate.”
“A pair of blessings, fortune at your door,” Deafy said loudly.
Qin Mu’s face darkened as he steadied himself. The situation had been extremely dangerous, yet Uncle Medicine and Master Ma were still concerned about whether their goods could sell!
“But Master Ma and the others are right—I lack life-and-death experience. That guy’s cultivation wasn’t high, much lower than mine, and I sent him flying with one move. Yet in that instant, he used a tiger leg kick, nearly disemboweling me and turning defeat into victory!”
Qin Mu took a deep breath, his eyes flashing with light: “I have too little experience in this area. The temple fair is a rare opportunity to clash with warriors from villages within two hundred li and absorb their combat experience! I must hold this arena to the very end!”
Below the arena, the crowd grew larger, the noise swelling. The fight between Qin Mu and the young man had been witnessed by everyone, and they quickly saw that Qin Mu’s cultivation was very deep, but his experience was lacking.
To survive in the Great Wasteland, almost every village had warriors, and some even had cultivators. Because the Great Wasteland was dangerous, the villagers were martial, full of wildness, and skilled in battle.
Soon, another person jumped onto the arena—a girl. Her primal energy was a variant of the Black Tortoise primal energy, but her moves were very ruthless. As soon as they met, her primal energy coiled around Qin Mu’s legs like a great snake, tightly binding him.
After entangling his legs, this girl moved like a female python, slithering around his body, attacking from front and back, striking viciously.
Her primal energy was strange, turning into a great snake coiling around her. This primal energy was different from pure Black Tortoise primal energy—it was only a part of it. The tortoise and snake make up the Black Tortoise; her spirit embryo should be a snake, without the tortoise, belonging to a branch of the Black Tortoise spirit body category. Thus, her movements were also bizarre and unpredictable.
Qin Mu used the Thousand-Armed Buddha to block her strange attacks. Although the girl’s movements were bizarre, Qin Mu seemed to have a thousand arms, hands everywhere in front and behind. In a short time, she was hit hundreds of times and knocked unconscious.
Master Ma also successfully sold a stretcher.
This was Qin Mu’s first encounter with such strange movements, and he was slightly injured, though not seriously.
On the arena, the battle continued, while at Blind’s fortune-telling stall, many people came to bet on who would win or lose. The Great Wasteland had no unified currency; transactions were barter-based, exchanging items of similar value. Gambling was the same—jade, ore, jewelry, cattle, sheep—all directly staked.
Behind Blind, a pile of goods had already accumulated, all sorts of things, including an old hen with colorful feathers, as tall as a person, its beak full of sharp teeth, looking very fierce. It flapped its wings, raising dust and sand that shot out like arrows!
This was a hen-dragon, not an ordinary old hen, but a descendant of a dragon and a chicken. Though it had little dragon blood in it, the eggs it laid were a treasure.
“Next match, this poor monk bets on my disciple winning.”
Suddenly, a Buddhist chant came, and an old monk squeezed up to the fortune-telling stall. With a clatter, he placed his staff on the table, sinking its legs into the ground. The old monk sat opposite Blind, palms together, and said, “This is the wager! Who will bet against this poor monk?”
Blind’s heart tightened, and he spoke, “The Great Thunderclap Monastery?”
The old monk said, “The Great Thunderclap Monastery.”
Blind turned his head, looked at Master Ma, and said, “Old Ma, you handle this.”
Master Ma put down his crutches and sat opposite the old monk. The old monk looked up at Master Ma, expressionless, and said, “Junior brother.”
Master Ma, also expressionless, replied, “Senior brother.”
“You have passed on the techniques of our Great Thunderclap Monastery to outsiders, breaking our monastery’s rules.”
The old monk’s white eyebrows hung long, and he said in a low voice, “Back then, you cut off one of your own arms and sent it to the monastery, saying you were returning the Great Thunderclap Monastery’s techniques to the monastery. Your arm still exists in the Thousand Buddha Pagoda. Yet now, you have passed on our Great Thunderclap Monastery’s techniques to an outsider, to that young man on the arena, going back on your word.”