Chapter 83: Cultivating in the Three-Star Cave, Sun Yuan Plots to Seize the Heart of Thunder

  Master Longxuzi was an extraordinary swordsman before he became a monk at Bodhi. His rod skills were so impressive that they could be described as magical, earning him the title of "White-haired Rod God" in the martial arts world, with quite a reputation to boot.

  But by chance, Long Xuzi learned of a world vastly different from that of ordinary people. He thus developed an aspiration to seek the Way and after going through countless hardships finally arrived at Lingtai Fangcun Mountain and Xieyue Sanxing Cave. At that time, Bodhi Patriarch had not yet been suppressed by Zhunti Daoren. Long Xuzi became Bodhi's first disciple after he established his mountain, i.e., his eldest disciple.

  For this great disciple, Bodhi Old Ancestor liked him from the bottom of his heart. The more he passed on the Golden Elixir Great Tao's technique, the more he couldn't help but feel that although this disciple had a high level of enlightenment, he was exceptionally dull when it came to the Taoist methods. No matter what, he just couldn't comprehend the Golden Elixir Great Tao. Having no other choice, Bodhi Old Ancestor could only pass on to him a body-refining method that he had obtained from an ancient witch tribe, allowing him to take the path of using martial arts to enter the Tao.

  But it's extremely difficult to master the ancient tribe's palm technique, and after hundreds of years of effort, Longxuzi has only barely grasped it. As for his cultivation level, I estimate that even Sun Yuan, who has just achieved a small success with the demon pill, is not as good as him. In fact, it's not that Longxuzi's martial arts talent is low, but rather that this palm technique requires an extremely abnormal amount of practice. If someone else were to try it, they would probably explode and die instantly.

  This set of palm techniques is not well-known in the Journey to the West, but it shines brightly in The Lotus Lantern after the Journey to the West. This set of palm techniques is called "Heavenly Splitting Palm", which was created by a powerful sorcerer from the Wu tribe specifically to deal with the heavenly demon tribe. It is said that this set of palm techniques was created by imitating Pangu's creation of the world, and in theory, when practiced to the extreme, one can split the sky and earth with just one strike.

  Of course, this is theoretically impossible to achieve in practice, because this theory has a prerequisite condition, that is, the person who exercises this set of palm techniques must reach the level of Pangu, so this set of palm techniques has become a useless thing in the witch tribe, because the combat power of the witch tribe lies entirely in the physical body, as long as the physical body is strong and powerful, what need is there for the heavenly god palm, which has become an unnecessary skill, gradually buried in the history of the witch tribe.

  Even after hundreds of years of rigorous training, Long Xuzi's physical body was barely able to execute this palm technique. Although the requirements for this palm technique were stringent, its combat effectiveness was exceptionally poor. In short, executing this palm technique was extremely slow, and anyone with even a slight talent for battle would be able to dodge it easily. Therefore, Long Xuzi had not put his heart into mastering this technique; instead, he had spent the past hundred years cultivating his own fighting skills.

  The disciples of Bodhi's ancestors, each with their own characteristics, can be considered masters in a certain professional field. However, when it comes to combat power, they are far inferior. It is estimated that the reason they can survive safely here is because of the secret protection of Bodhi's ancestors. If not for their strength, they would have been swallowed alive by the surrounding mountain monsters long ago.

  In Sun Yuan's view, these disciples are just like the apprentices of the Eight Trigrams in Journey to the West. They are too specialized and one-sided. Bodhi Old Ancestor seems to be the same as the Patriarch of the Eight Trigrams, emphasizing quality education and not strictly requiring his students on some issues, but rather letting them develop according to their own interests. This has resulted in each of these disciples having a unique skill, but being rubbish in other aspects. However, for Sun Yuan, who is diligent in studying, this is not a bad thing. The existence of these people has provided him with good opportunities for learning.

  "Sun Yuan, you're not bad at all! A battle like this is truly satisfying. With a fight like this, I, Long Xuzi, can finally get a good night's sleep!" On the high mountain cliff, a burly man let out a loud roar, striking Sun Yuan and sending him flying, then retreated back, laughing loudly. This was none other than Long Xuzi, the battle-crazed master of the Slant Moon Three Star Cave.

  "Big Brother, I've told you before that I'm not interested in your Split Heaven Palm. Next time you try this again, I won't be accompanying you." Sun Yuan withdrew his stance and calmed the turbulent blood energy within him, saying with a bitter smile.

  "Brother, this is not your fault, my Heaven Splitting Palm can't compare to that Labor Yanzi's Palm Thunder? Don't look at how beautifully he displays his Palm Thunder, but it's useless. Don't believe me? Let him try and hit me with one strike, I guarantee I won't change a bit." Long Xuzi wiped the sweat off his brow and began his daily persuasion routine, "With your physical body, not practicing this set of palm techniques is truly a waste. It's not that I'm boasting, but if I had your physical body and your combat talent, my Heaven Splitting Palm would have long been perfected!"

  "Alright, alright, big brother, admit I'm stronger, won't you? You lost again this time. Do you still remember what you said before the fight? Don't dawdle, come on! Today I still have to help Labor Brother with his flower garden!" Sun Yuan grabbed a bamboo stick leaning against a tree and pointed it at Long Xuzi.

  "Tsk, tsk, you're bullying me! I don't know how someone as terrible at staff techniques as you can be so strong in close combat. With my hundreds of years of diligent practice as a dragon-whiskered master, I couldn't even touch you. Are you really the 'simple-minded but physically gifted' person that Master spoke of?"

  The dragon-whiskered master grumbled and pulled out a bamboo staff from behind him, saying "It's not that Master said it about you, your staff techniques are far inferior to your close combat skills. Let's not even mention how much worse they are than that stone monkey's. I think you should just give up on practicing this stuff, what's the point?"

  "This doesn't require your effort, senior brother, please advise!" Sun Yuan's expressionless face swung his bamboo staff, ready to launch a fierce attack. It was already unknown how many times the two had clashed, since discovering the profundity of Long Xuzi's staff technique, Sun Yuan, who wasn't skilled in using long-range weapons, set his sights on Long Xuzi.

  But Long Xuzi's stick method had already reached the point of returning to simplicity and truth, so he didn't think much of Sun Yuan, an elementary practitioner. Therefore, at first, he refused without hesitation. As for Sun Yuan, he did not lose confidence, but instead searched for Long Xuzi's hobby every day.

  This Long Xuzi has reached a peak level in long-range combat (at least for now), and then shifted his focus to close combat. For hundreds of years, he has been practicing the Split Heaven Palm, and at the same time, tempering his close combat skills. This Long Xuzi is a battle maniac, if he doesn't fight for a few days, he feels uncomfortable all over, for which he hasn't received fewer scoldings from Bodhi, but it's just his nature, can't change it.

  Against this characteristic, Sun Yuan had a plan. In his previous life, his combat skills were not weak to begin with. Moreover, during the time he spent in the Tongue Hell, Sun Yuan fought for countless years, and most of his battles were close-range fights. After all, those ghost tribesmen were body cultivators. Through countless years of tempering, Sun Yuan's close combat skills reached an extremely high level. In the words of martial arts, it was "no move wins over having a move".

  With a plan in mind, Sun Yuan immediately took action and invited Long Xuzi to battle. As expected, after hearing that Sun Yuan had initiated the challenge, Long Xuzi reacted.

  At first, Long Xuzi was still somewhat skeptical. He had seen Sun Yuan's stick method before, and it was rubbish. So Long Xuzi didn't think much of Sun Yuan's close combat ability. However, seeing Sun Yuan's confident appearance, Long Xuzi, who hadn't fought in several days, naturally wouldn't let him off.

  But as the battle unfolded, Long Xuzi's eyes were opened wide. With his skills, he couldn't gain any advantage over Sun Yuan, and the two of them fought with increasing ferocity. After a hundred rounds, Long Xuzi was finally knocked to the ground by Sun Yuan, unable to get up for a while, having exhausted all his strength.

  From then on, Long Xuzi can be said to have pestered Sun Yuan, and whenever he had time, he would come to find Sun Yuan to discuss and study together. Seeing that the opportunity was ripe and his plan had succeeded, Sun Yuan immediately made a request, and the battle-crazy Long Xuzi naturally agreed without hesitation. From then on, there was this agreement between the two parties.

  But after being knocked down by Sun Yuan countless times, and then easily defeating Sun Yuan with his stick technique, Long Xuzi really couldn't help it anymore. He started to persuade Sun Yuan to stop practicing his stick technique, and even offered to teach Sun Yuan the Split Heaven God Palm, because compared to his close combat skills, Sun Yuan's stick technique was just a piece of trash, really pitiful.

  But having his own plans, Sun Yuan naturally knew that not using long-range weapons was a huge problem in this Journey to the West world and would not agree, so there was a battle every day, as well as Long Xuzi's tireless persuasion.

  After a dozen or so rounds, the bamboo stick in Sun Yuan's hand was suddenly knocked flying out. Long Xuzi swung his bamboo stick with a look of dissatisfaction and revealed an expression that was still somewhat pleased. "Not bad," he said, "this time you managed to hold on for several more moves, but compared to that monkey, you're still far inferior. He's someone who can exchange over a hundred moves with me without being defeated. If you want to reach his level, I estimate it'll take you at least a few years of practice."

  "I naturally know these things, but I have plenty of time." Sun Yuan wiped the sweat from his forehead, not discouraged by his failure at all. He thought about what he had gained from the battle for a moment, shook his numb hands and jumped down the cliff, saying "It's getting late, let's stop here for today, Big Brother Master. I'll come to ask for your guidance again tomorrow."

  Watching Sun Yuan's disappearing figure, Long Xuzi's words of advice immediately dissipated. He shook his head and muttered to himself, "These young people nowadays are really too ambitious. I was so much more down-to-earth when I was younger. Haven't they heard the saying that it's better to specialize in one thing than to be a jack-of-all-trades? Forget it! With his martial arts talent, he'll probably do just fine with his staff techniques. I think I'll go find that stone monkey and have another match with him instead. Every time I fight this kid, I end up feeling unfulfilled - either I get beaten or I win without any sense of accomplishment."

  "Is my close combat ability really that much worse than this kid's? Every time, I'm defeated at the 100th move, it's so annoying!" Long Xuzi shook his head and walked away. After countless battles, Long Xuzi realized that Sun Yuan had completely controlled the rhythm of the fight in close combat every time, defeating him at the 100th move. It was only then that he discovered the gap between himself and Sun Yuan in close combat, which is why he wanted to teach Sun Yuan the "Pi Tian Shen Zhang" (Heavenly Splitting Palm). However, how could he understand what's on Sun Yuan's mind? So this matter has been dragging on like this.

  Long Xuzi went to find the beautiful monkey king who was running wild on the mountain to compete in stick method, after fighting with Sun Yuan, Long Xuzi still needed a battle to vent his emotions, and Sun Wukong, this monkey who was not much weaker than him in terms of stick method, became the best choice.

  Let's put aside Long Xuzi for now and talk about Sun Yuan. After leaving the mountain cliff, Sun Yuan rushed to the back cave of Xiayue Sanxing Cave, where there was a mountain valley with the flower garden of his second brother, Labor Yanzi. Now, one of Sun Yuan's daily tasks is to take care of those flowers, see which ones need watering, fertilizing, weeding or shading, in short, Sun Yuan is like a gardener from his previous life.

  There must be a reason for this, to put it simply, in one sentence, Sun Yuan took a liking to the technique passed down from Bodhi's ancestor - Palm Thunder. This Palm Thunder is not an ordinary small technique, but a powerful orthodox divine ability. When practiced to its limit, it can summon a thousand thunders and compare to heavenly punishment. It is a superlative technique in the Bodhi lineage. However, the difficulty of cultivating this Palm Thunder is also very high. Nevertheless, Sun Yuan still wants to learn it, adhering to the principle that having many skills doesn't burden one's body.

  However, no one is willing to spread the word about this powerful technique, not even their own master brothers. So Sun Yuan has never been able to get a single word out of Lao Yanzi's mouth. But the more he is rejected, the more Sun Yuan is stirred up by a competitive spirit. He believes that anyone can be defeated, and the only question is whether or not you can find their weakness. It's just like there are no couples who can't be broken apart, only lazy mistresses - it's all about effort.

  After a long period of observation and gathering information from other senior brothers, Sun Yuan gradually extracted the key points from the complex situation. He inferred that this flower garden was extremely important to Lao Yanzi, but it was clear that as the second disciple of Xie Yue San Xing Dong, Lao Yanzi did not have so much time to take care of a flower garden. So Sun Yuan took the initiative and undertook this heavy responsibility. After a three-month probationary period, Sun Yuan finally secured the position of gardener, and Lao Yanzi thoroughly acknowledged his skills in cultivating flowers.

  Actually, Sun Yuan doesn't know how to raise any flowers. In this life and the previous one, he is only proficient in killing people, nothing else. As for flowers, he avoids them even more.

  It's so thriving now, only because Sun Yuan is using his demonic energy to nurture the flowers. These flowers were originally absorbing the moon's energy to maintain their youth, and now they have Sun Yuan's actively provided, more refined and pure demonic energy than the moon's energy, so naturally they are even better off, which is why they have become more and more prosperous.

  During this time, although Labor Swallow also taught Sun Yuan a few moves, but unfortunately these were not what Sun Yuan wanted. Regarding the secret method of Palm Thunder, Labor Swallow still kept his mouth shut. Just as Sun Yuan was about to give up in despair, things suddenly took a turn for the better. By chance, Sun Yuan discovered why Labor Swallow cherished this flowerbed so much, which made it possible for him to achieve his goal of mastering Palm Thunder.