Chapter 0005: A Vessel of Hot Blood

  In Qingyun Mountain's Biyuan Temple, there lived a highly accomplished monk named Master Huichong. He was renowned for his exceptional martial arts skills and was known as the "Eagle Claw King" in Jianghu. He was kind and benevolent, hated evil, understood righteousness, and loved his country with sincerity. Seeing the Japanese invaders rampaging across China's land, he had long been filled with righteous indignation and overflowing with anger.

  That afternoon, Master Hui Chong summoned his favorite disciples, known as the "Eight Vajras" of Biyuan Temple - Yuan Ren, Yuan Yi, Yuan Li, Yuan Zhi, Yuan Xin, Yuan Zhen, Geng Yuan and Xin Yuan - to the Golden Light Hall of Biyuan Temple to discuss anti-Japanese national salvation.

  Master Hui Chong sat under the clouded canopy, majestic and dignified. He swept his piercing gaze over the eight disciples standing before him, each with their own unique skills, and spoke with great enthusiasm.

  "The rise and fall of the world, every individual has a responsibility. The Japanese invaders have invaded our country, deceived our people, and every Chinese cannot sit idly by. Those who practice martial arts should stand up, eliminate violence and bring peace, and uphold justice. As your master, I am preparing to send six of you eight down the mountain to resist the Japanese, what do you think?" Master Hui Chong said with great passion.

  "Master, the disciples have long had this intention. As a Chinese, how can we allow the little Japanese to be arrogant on our land! Master, just give the order! We are willing to go through fire and water to save the Chinese nation, without hesitation!" The speaker was the eldest disciple, Yuan Ren.

  Yuan Ren is the oldest among the "Eight Vajras", with extremely high martial arts skills, and deeply inherits the true teachings of Master Hui Chong. He is a man of great virtue, with the demeanor of an elder. His fellow monks and lay disciples all respect him greatly. Everyone privately discusses that Yuan Ren may be the next candidate for abbot nominated by Master Hui Zhi (the current abbot of Biyuan Temple), who is also Master Hui Chong's master brother. However, since the "Eight Vajras" are all lay disciples, if Yuan Ren wants to become the successor, he must quickly shave his head and become a monk.

  "Master's brother is right, in the face of Japanese aggression, we can only fight back, and even if it means going through fire and water, we must save our people from the flames." Second Master Brother Yuan Yi clenched his fist and said. A few days ago, news came that Second Master Brother Yuan Yi's parents were brutally killed by the Japanese devils for leading the protest against their entry into the village.

  Second Master Yuan Yi was born with a straightforward and unyielding temperament, hating evil as if it were his personal enemy. He detested the Japanese devils who invaded China. When he heard that his parents had been brutally murdered by the Japanese devils, he cried and rushed to Master Hui Chong's chambers, requesting permission to go down the mountain and kill the devils to avenge his parents' death.

  Second Master Yuan's power is boundless, able to uproot weeping willows with ease, worthy of being called the reincarnation of Lu Zhishen from Water Margin. Especially his pair of double blades, which make him appear and disappear like a ghost, astonishing even spirits and gods.

  It was also the event of Yuan Yi's parents being brutally killed by the Japanese that solidified Master Hui Chong's determination to let his disciples go down the mountain and contribute their strength to the resistance against Japan. Looking at Yuan Yi, who had cried until he was tearful, Master Hui Chong slapped the table and stood up, helping Yuan Yi up from his knees: "Yuan Yi, remember this blood debt, we must make the Japanese pay back in blood. I promise you, I will let you go down the mountain, to become an anti-Japanese hero. Not only you, but also many of your fellow disciples, will go down the mountain. I plan to hold a meeting to discuss our plans for resisting Japan. Come, walk with me outside." The master and disciple walked out of Biyuan Temple and came to Qingyun Mountain, where the peaks were lined up like jade. Facing the great rivers and mountains of their motherland, Master Hui Chong was filled with emotion, his conviction more resolute than ever.

  Then Master Hui Chong decided: dispatch six people from the "Eight Vajras" to go down the mountain and resist Japan, saving the nation's crisis is a responsibility of Biyuan Temple.

  Yuan Renhe and Yuan Yi finished speaking, the other disciples standing in the hall also shouted out one after another: "We want to resist Japan, we want to fight against the devils, we want to defend our motherland! Master, just give the order, we can't hold it in any longer!"

  "The Eight Vajras" each fought bravely and held their fists high.

  "Master, this time going down the mountain to fight the devils is to do a shocking and earth-shaking great thing. I must follow my brothers down the mountain. Please, sir, lift your noble hand and don't leave me behind again, okay?" The speaker was Xing Yuan, the smallest of the "Eight Vajras".

  Xin Yuan has a honest face, but is clever and agile, especially with a good heart, likes to help others, does things very properly, thinks things very thoroughly, especially can respect the elderly and love the young, respect teachers, Biyuan Temple people all like him, also deeply gain Master Hui Chong's trust.

  Xin Yuan just said that, it's based on facts. Two years ago, Master Hui Chong sent seven other Vajra warriors down the mountain to punish a few villains, but left him behind to do temple chores, for which Xin Yuan was sulking and didn't speak for several days!

  Today, Xin Yuan fears that Master Hui Chong's plan to come down the mountain will leave him behind, so he hastily expresses his intention to follow his fellow disciples down the mountain to kill the devils.

  "Haha, Eighth Brother, you were born to be a strategist, only suitable for 'winning victories from behind the scenes' kind of things. Fighting and killing aren't your cup of tea. Just look at your frail body and that pale face like a big girl's! If you saw those ruthless Japanese devils who kill without blinking an eye, wouldn't you wet your pants? Why bother fighting them, just stay in the temple and serve Master!" Third Brother Yuan Li and Fourth Brother Yuan Zhi said with a chuckle, patting Xin Yuan on the shoulder.

  Xin Yuan's face suddenly turned red after hearing what his third and fourth younger brothers, Yuan Li and Yuan Zhi, had to say.

  "What? You two brothers suspect that my martial arts are weak and can't kill the devils?" Xin Yuan asked with wide eyes.

  "Eighth younger brother, who doesn't know that your comprehension is extremely high, you possess unparalleled skills, and Master values you so much. Killing the ghost child would be a trivial matter for you. However, Master has been relying on you for a long time, and if you stay behind, we older brothers can finally feel at ease." Fifth brother Yuanxin and sixth brother Yuantian also chimed in to help persuade him.

  "I'm going! I must go!" Seeing that several of his seniors wanted him to stay, Xin Yuan's mouth pouted high.

  "Alright, alright, everyone stop arguing. I hereby announce that Geng Yuan and Xin Yuan will stay behind, as I have more important tasks for them to handle. The rest of you can go down and prepare, I'll notify you when it's time to leave the mountain." Master Hui Chong slammed his hand on the table.

  "What? How can I be ignored again just because of my age?" Xinyuan muttered to himself, glancing at Master Huichong, but not daring to speak out loud, so he could only whisper.

  Geng Yuan was unwilling to go down the mountain and kill devils, seeing Master Hui Chong keeping him behind, he secretly rejoiced in his heart. Seeing Xin Yuan pouting and being unhappy, he pulled Xin Yuan's arm, leaned into Xin Yuan's ear and said: "Killing devils is not a good thing, it will cost us our lives. We haven't even properly enjoyed life yet, to die like this, how worthless! Listen to me, staying on the mountain is the right choice."

  Xin Yuan turned his head to glance at Qi Shi Xiong, and for some reason, he always felt that Qi was distant from him. Xin Yuan struggled free from Qi's grasp on his arm and dodged away from him.