Chapter Seventy-six Again Secret

  Early in the morning, a servant came to find Su Feng. It turned out that to participate in the so-called Martial Arts Conference, they still needed to sign up a day in advance to arrange the venue.

  It wasn't until then that Kazefumi realized the Fujiwara family had reached a critical juncture. Apart from him, only two people had signed up. One was Takao Takaishi and the other was Sasaki Kanja. In Kazefumi's eyes, these two were not even among the best in Fusang. This also explained why the Fujiwara family had been trying to win him over so desperately.

  Fortunately, he didn't mind this very much, but for him, this so-called Martial Arts Conference was indeed an opportunity. If he could help the Fujiwara family win, then he would be able to gain the trust of Mr. Hakone and others, and it would be much easier to investigate the Three Sacred Treasures in the future.

  The venue of the Martial Arts Assembly was chosen at the famous Todai-ji Temple in Fusang. Among them, the most famous is the Rushana Great Buddha statue. The entire Buddha statue was built by Emperor Shomu to rely on the "power of the Three Treasures" and pray for peace and prosperity in the country. However, during the construction of Todai-ji Temple and the giant bronze Buddha statue, a huge amount of manpower and material resources were spent, mobilizing the national financial resources, and finally completed with the support of the people's voluntary efforts.

  Standing in front of the magnificent temple gate, the two people standing beside him were Sasaki and Takahashi Kazuo. They saw Fuu stop and also stopped.

  Such a worldly and noisy thing, was actually placed in the pure land of Buddhism, it's really too disrespectful. This made me think of the Shaolin Temple in the Tang Dynasty, during the chaos of the previous dynasty, didn't they send out thirteen monks to save King Li Shimin of the Tang? Although it was to protect the king and the temple, wasn't it also a destructive act that disrupted the peace? In this way, Japan and the Tang Dynasty are not much different after all.

  "Are you people from the Fujiwara family?" A voice full of malice suddenly came over.

  As the wind turned to look, there were four people with different clothes on the opposite side. The first person had a very long knife at his waist, which was half longer than the ordinary long knife. His face was gloomy, and he stared at the three of them with his triangular eyes narrowed. The voice just now came from his mouth.

  "Who is that?" Kazuki whispered to the person beside him, Sasazaki. It had been a month since he arrived, and he had had some interaction with this butler of the Fujiwara family, but Takahashi Kazuo still seemed somewhat wary of him, not openly hostile, but rather coolly distant.

  "Across from us are the Genji, Taira, Masao and Hatake families. The one at the forefront is none other than Minamoto no Kuroba, the youngest martial arts prodigy of the Minamoto family, who has only ever lost once in his life, and that was to a person from the middle lands. They are all ruthless characters, we can't afford to clash with them here." Sasakawa whispered to Kazefumi.

  A sudden clarity in his heart with the wind, but that Ping Shi Lang Ying made him take a closer look, as if he had heard this name somewhere before.

  Before Su Feng could speak, a man behind Hei Ying suddenly glanced at the sword hanging from Su Feng's waist and exclaimed: "Tian Cui Yun Jian! Oh, haha, it's just an imitation. Fujiwara family, don't be complacent, this time is not like ten years ago. Hand over Tian Cui Yun Jian properly, we must get it this time..." He didn't finish speaking, Hei Ying slightly turned his head and gave him a cold glance, and he immediately shut up.

  The speaker was unintentional, but the listener was intentional. Before he could carefully consider it, he suddenly heard Kōichi Takahashi, who had not spoken until now, say: "You're just good at boasting about your abilities, let's cut to the chase and see who's stronger on the stage."

  The four men opposite were clearly dissatisfied with Su Feng and his companions. They snorted heavily, turned their heads and entered the temple gate.

  As they entered, a tree-lined avenue led to the central main hall, with fragrant camphor trees towering on both sides. Under the radiant sunshine, it looked even more refreshing and full of life. No matter how you looked at it, it was a thriving scene, but then Sasagawa let out a soft sigh and murmured, "In these few days, I wonder how many people will be buried here."

  She cast a surreptitious glance at him and vaguely felt that this person was probably not as simple as he seemed.

  At this moment, the sky is still early, and there are not many people on the main road. In twos and threes, they are all dressed as warriors. Apart from long swords, various strange-shaped weapons can be seen, such as meteor hammers, daggers and other uncommon weapons in the Tang Dynasty, which are also present here, and their numbers are not small.

  Further ahead, there was a long table placed in front of the Great Hero Hall, with a row of earthen jars on it. Behind each jar sat a monk. Roughly counting as he walked by, there were more than thirty jars, and this long table must have been over ten zhang long.

  In front of each urn, there were some people gathered, presumably this was the draw. The rules of the Martial Arts Conference were quite strange, when signing up, they directly divided into groups, here there are thirty-two urns, with thirty-two slips in each urn, a total of one thousand and twenty-four slips, that is to say more than a thousand people signed up. Each slip had written on it which group and number, thus dividing them into thirty-two groups, each group having thirty-two people competing in an elimination tournament, then again using the same method to eliminate in cycles until the final few winners were decided.

  Of course, many times when the number of participants is insufficient, a bye will occur, and it is said that there have been cases where two byes occurred in history.

  After the tile-pot, the monks were responsible for recording and summarizing. In the competition, there were no other rules for martial arts, not even provisions that one could not kill people or use poisonous hidden weapons, which was really too simple. Xunfeng secretly despised it in his heart, after all, it was a remote corner, and it was reasonable that it was not as comprehensive as the Central Plains.

  Watching the monks draw lots was really uninteresting, so he casually picked a tile from the pot with the fewest people and drew one. He didn't care about the whole competition, let alone the grouping. When he took it in his hand, he saw that it was group 15, number 15. He handed the paper slip to the monk behind him, reported his family background, and felt that it was really boring, so he turned around and wanted to leave.

  It just so happened that Sasaki and the others had also finished dividing into groups, and casually asked them a few questions. Sasaki was in the 21st group, while Takahashi was indeed more fortunate to be in the 1st group.

  Having made sure that he wouldn't run into any of his own people from the Fujiwara family, Ran didn't have much to worry about and casually strolled around the temple before returning to his lodgings quite early.

  Since arriving in Japan, most of the houses I've seen along the way are made of wood, and it's rare to see earthen or stone structures. However, Todai-ji Temple is an exception, with all its halls and main buildings constructed from earth and stone. It was only later that I learned that Todai-ji was modeled after the Fahua Temple in Chang'an, Tang Dynasty China, and that its construction techniques were inherited from there.

  Suī fēng this body of Tang-style clothing unknowingly attracted the attention of many people, and was even stopped halfway by an old monk who said he was a person of great good fortune and wanted to take him to cultivate and attain enlightenment. Suī fēng had never been very respectful of Buddhism, especially after discovering the secret method used by monks in Shaolin to make people convert. These sacred relics were passed down from master to disciple, and disciples worshiped them every day - how could they not be influenced by the demonic law of the relic's mind? If this continued, it was feared that their minds would become completely Buddhist, even if they still had some consciousness, they would have become Buddhist slaves. Buddhism emphasizes compassion and kindness, but has anyone ever seen a monk slay demons or exorcise evil spirits?

  At that time, the abbot of Shaolin Temple had already intended to recruit him, but instead was enlightened by a single word from Su Feng. If even the abbot of Shaolin Temple was like this, how could those so-called high monks in remote areas possibly enter Su Feng's eyes?

  Just as he was about to refuse, he saw the so-called high monk give him a wink and say: "The donor is really predestined with Buddha, no harm in following me."

  Dazed for a moment, but also naturally understood, and didn't struggle free, following the monk towards the rear hall of Tōdai-ji Temple.

  During the martial arts conference, the front hall of Todai-ji Temple and various side houses served as rest and accommodation for the participating players, while the back hall and Zen house were used by the aristocratic families and the Emperor to watch the matches. Except for monks, ordinary people are not allowed to enter at will.

  Luckily, there was a noisy crowd near the grand hall, everyone was busy registering and drawing lots, who would notice him again?

  It wasn't until after passing the grand hall that I encountered a few inquiring monks, and the so-called high-ranking monk in front of me whispered something to them. The monks fell silent for a moment, chanted a few Buddhist scriptures, and then pretended they didn't know anything and walked away.

  The monk walked with a limp, deliberately choosing secluded paths to avoid the mansions of officials and nobles, fearing being discovered. This carefree attitude seemed even stranger, what was going on?

  Before long, the two of them arrived at the thicket in the back mountain. Before entering the woods, the monk suddenly stopped and chanted a Buddhist mantra, saying: "Amitabha Buddha, benefactor please go ahead, inside there is the answer you want to know." After finishing speaking, the monk bowed his head and returned along the original path.

  It's amusing to think about it quietly, he doesn't even know what he wants to know himself, how can he dare say that there are answers I want inside?

  There was an inexplicable sense of unease in his heart, and he cautiously approached the forest. For safety's sake, he sank his breath to his dantian, suddenly mobilizing his energy, and a layer of invisible and intangible aura covered his body within three feet, which was the Taoist Iron Shirt divine skill he had learned from the Buddhist relics at that time. As soon as he entered the forest, there was a small path, with some scattered fine branches and leaves around, which seemed to have been opened not long ago. Walking lightly into the wind, it could be said that this Iron Shirt divine skill was indeed extraordinary, and those sharp thorns and twigs outside his body could all be deflected.

  Not having walked many steps, the space in front of him suddenly opened up, and a ray of sunlight filtered through the dense foliage, shining down on the back of a person standing before him. With the wind intentionally making a few crunching sounds with the fallen leaves, he heard the noise and turned his head around.

  As soon as I saw his face, I was startled at once with the wind. Later, thinking about it, I felt that it was reasonable and reasonable. This person is the master of the Fujiwara family, the current Dajō-daijin Fujiwara no Tokiaki.

  Bo Yi saw him walk in with the wind, and his face was full of smiles. "Sir has come from Datang, and it can be seen that your vision is extraordinary. I suppose you also think that this so-called Martial Arts Conference is really meaningless, laboring the people and wasting money."

  Although he was somewhat surprised in his heart, his face remained unchanged, and he replied, "That's right, it is indeed so."

  Mr. Bo Yi saw that he agreed quickly, not only did he not show any displeasure, but instead smiled brightly and said: "You think this way is very natural, when I was as old as you are now, it was also my first time participating in the Martial Arts Conference, but I was watching with the identity of Mr. Guan Bai's eldest son. At that time, I felt that such a conference was really a waste of manpower and resources, unnecessary. On that day, my father told me a secret that changed my mind, today I will also tell you this secret."

  Another secret? Listening to the wind, I didn't feel curious at all, but instead got a headache. Anything related to these two words must be extraordinary. But since he said so, there's no room for the wind to turn around.

  Boyi said: "Please proceed, Mr. Bai."

  Mr. Bo Yi smiled and said: "Actually, the most important role of the Martial Arts Conference is to decide the ownership of the three divine artifacts!"