Chapter 23: The Diamond Sutra's Evil Arhat

  It's not just the Jiangnan Six Freaks who are furious, but Ling Yun also has a surge of anger in his chest. Not to mention Guo Jing's importance in completing the system task, but after more than a year of getting along, Ling Yun had long considered Guo Jing as a true friend. Now that he sees Guo Jing severely injured, how can he not be angry?

  However, amidst his anger, Ling Muyun also felt a hint of curiosity. After all, under his careful guidance, Guo Jing's martial arts skills far surpassed those of the original story at the same period. If he were to go all out, even the Six Freaks of Jiangnan might not be able to take him down one-on-one. But with such abilities, he went out for a ride and was beaten back, vomiting blood from his horse's mouth. Who could have been the one to injure him?

  Everyone looked in the direction of Guo Jing's arrival, and after a moment, they indeed saw a rider coming from behind. From a distance, it was clear that the person on horseback had disheveled hair and wore a golden hoop on his head, with an age of over 40 years old, dressed as a monk. He was tall and sturdy, with a robust build. On his hands and neck, wherever muscles were visible, they were all bulging and twisted, as if his entire body was full of energy, swollen to the point of bursting out. His face was pitch-black like iron, with thick flesh accumulated, and his eyebrows were filled with fierce and sinister air, clearly a ferocious and formidable character.

  As soon as they saw the man's appearance, the six freaks of Jiangnan secretly took a cold breath. Judging from his appearance, he was obviously a master who had practiced external martial arts to the extreme. The brothers were also masters of external martial arts, and this was something that would not be mistaken. What was strange, however, was that the Mongolian steppe had always been a barren land for martial arts, and the Mongolians here at most only knew some rough and simple fighting skills that had evolved in actual combat. How could such a master suddenly appear?

  However, to their surprise, the six freaks of Jiangnan were all strong-willed and had never been afraid of anyone after so many years of roaming the rivers and lakes. They naturally wouldn't retreat just because they saw that their opponent was a hard nut to crack. They immediately blocked the road and shouted loudly at the approaching horseback rider: "Who are you? Why did you hurt our disciples? If you don't dismount and explain yourself clearly, don't blame us brothers for being impolite!"

  "Get out of here!"

  Who would have thought that the monk was even more impolite, without stopping to explain in the slightest, and directly charged towards the Jiangnan Six Freaks who were blocking his way on horseback.

  "Looking for death!" The six freaks of Jiangnan were furious and rushed into action.

  Ma Wang's godly horse, Han Baoju, was the most urgent, and he rushed out first. With a flick of his wrist, the golden dragon whip in his hand made a "brushing" sound as it flew towards the right wrist of the monk holding the reins. The monk didn't dodge or evade, instead, he reached out with one hand and grabbed the tip of the whip. With a strong pull, he was about to snatch Han Baoju's weapon away.

  Han Baoju was busy using all his strength to retrieve it, he thought that with this effort he would definitely be able to take back the whip. Who would have thought that the power of the other monk was even greater? Not only did he fail to retrieve the whip, but he himself was pulled by the great force transmitted through the whip and flew up, directly towards the monk on horseback. Immediately afterwards, a fierce gust of wind came straight at him, making him feel like he was suffocating. It was another palm strike from the monk. Han Baoju was greatly shocked, knowing that with this palm's momentum, he would not be able to withstand it no matter what. He quickly let go of the whip and retreated, flipping backwards in a somersault.

  That monk, however, did not allow him to escape so easily. His body suddenly stretched forward, and his palm fell with a loud whoosh towards Han Baoju's back. Just as Han Baoju was about to meet his end, the sound of "whooshing" filled the air as Ke Zhen'e's poisonous darts, Nan Xi Ren's bone-piercing awl, and Quan Jinfa's sleeve arrows shot towards the monk almost simultaneously. The monk hastily withdrew his palm to defend himself, using his fingers to pop the hidden weapons out of the air one by one. However, in doing so, he allowed Han Baoju to take advantage of the opportunity to escape.

  At this moment, several others also rushed forward, each holding a sword and gesturing towards the monk's body. The Vietnamese swordswoman Han Xiaoying moved to the monk's back, leaped up and stabbed at the monk's back with her sword. Her swordsmanship was passed down from an ancient extraordinary woman, light and agile, precise and extraordinary. This move was truly like a swallow flying swiftly.

  Nan Shan Chai Zi Nan Xi Ren did not utter a word, one pure steel shoulder pole made the wind fierce and vigorous, using stick-like moves but with some variation, amidst the strong and fierce movements, there was also an unusual change.

  Mo Zhu Cong and Jin Fa, the two heroes from the bustling city, launched a pincer attack from both sides. Jin Fa wielded a large iron scale, with a rod-like handle and a hook that could be thrown to catch people like a flying claw. The scale's hammer was a chain mace, a single weapon with three uses. Zhu Cong excelled at the art of striking vital points, using the steel frame of his broken oil-paper fan as a guide to find his opponents' weak spots amidst the flurry of weapons, his accuracy and ruthless technique unparalleled.

  Only Fei Tian Bat Ke Zhen E remained in place, unmoving. He was blind and couldn't see anything, relying solely on his ears to discern the position of others during a fight. However, with several brothers surrounding the enemy, the wind sounds were chaotic and difficult to distinguish between friend and foe, so he didn't participate in the attack and instead lurked on the sidelines. Of course, it's not like he did nothing; whenever there was an opportunity, he would use his hidden weapons to strike. Although he was blind, among the six freaks of Jiangnan, he was actually the most skilled at using hidden weapons.

  At this moment, the monk let out a loud roar and leaped off his horse. He had been surrounded by the five monsters and found it difficult to move around on horseback, so he dismounted to face his enemies. After landing, the monk unleashed all his martial arts skills, shocking everyone present. His two palms danced in the air, creating strong gusts of wind with each movement, every strike and style containing immense power, allowing him to single-handedly gain the upper hand against five of the six Southern Heroes who were attacking him.

  Suddenly, a miserable cry was heard. Nan Xiren, the strongest of the six freaks, had his arm broken by that monk's palm and fell out. Immediately after, another muffled hum was heard, and Zhan Shi Yin, the Golden Hair, was also severely injured by that monk's palm and retreated in disorder. Only three people, Zhu Cong, Han Xiaoying, and Han Baoju, continued to surround and attack. However, they knew that their opponent's palm strength was formidable, so they didn't dare to confront him head-on again. They could only rely on their agility and the advantage of their weapons to engage in a mobile battle with him.

  Fei Tian Xiang Batu heard the intense sound of fighting, and also heard that his fourth and sixth brothers were injured one after another. He was anxious in his heart, wanting to go forward and attack together, but fearing that he would mistakenly help the enemy due to his blindness. So he said to Quan Jin Fa: "Sixth brother, point out the position, I'll come and hit him."

  "Big brother, hit 'Jin' position, then hit 'Xiao Guo'!" Before the voice had even faded away, "Whoosh, whoosh", two hidden weapons flew out one after another, heading straight for the monk's brow and right hip. Ke Zhen'e heard the sound and reacted as if he had seen it with his own eyes.

  Suddenly a hidden projectile flew over, and the monk had to relax his offensive stance to dodge, but it allowed Zhu Cong and the other two, who were about to be overwhelmed, to catch their breath.

  Ke Zhen'e's unique skill with hidden weapons was something he had mastered before losing his sight. Although after going blind, he developed the ability to locate sounds and use his ears as a substitute for his eyes, it wasn't quite the same as seeing clearly. Since the six brothers of Jiangnan were accustomed to fighting together, they practiced a method where Ke Zhen'e would shoot hidden weapons based on the directions called out by his brothers, in order to assist them during battles. This time, this method proved effective once again and helped his brothers get out of a difficult situation.

  Ling Muyun was secretly amazed on the side, knowing that although the Six Freaks of Jiangnan were not top-notch masters, they were not mediocre either. In their heyday in the Jiangnan martial arts world, they had a considerable reputation. The brothers joined forces and even if they fought against Qiu Chuji, the number one martial artist among the Quanzhen Seven Sons, they could have ended up with both sides suffering heavy losses. But now, they were being suppressed by this monk, where did he come from? How was he so formidable?!

  Ling Muyun did not know that the appearance of this monk was actually closely related to him. It turned out that when he hired a group of people to pretend to be Shaolin monks and cheat him out of the Nine Suns Scripture, one of them went to do business in the Western Regions after receiving their pay. One day, while chatting with someone, he mentioned Ling Muyun's impersonation of a Shaolin monk as a topic of conversation, which was overheard by this monk, catching his attention.

  This monk was a disciple of the Golden Vajra Sect in the Western Regions, originally a ruthless bandit who killed people like flies. Later, he was subdued by the founder of the Golden Vajra Sect and became his first great disciple under the sect's mountain gate, with the Buddhist name "Zhi Tan" (Extremely Greedy). Due to his exceptional martial arts skills and merciless behavior, Western warriors gave him the nickname "Evil Arhat".

  The founder of the Golden Gate sect was originally a fire worker in the kitchen of Shaolin Temple. He was often beaten by the monk who managed the kitchen, and he secretly learned martial arts out of resentment. After more than 20 years of hard work, he became a master of extraordinary martial arts. However, his dark nature made him hide his skills until he was sure he could defeat all the monks in the temple. On the day of the annual assembly at the Damo Hall, he revealed his abilities and severely injured many disciples, even killing the abbot Suxi Chan Master. He then escaped from Shaolin Temple and fled to the Western Regions, where he founded the Golden Gate sect.

  Huǒgōngtóu's martial arts skills were learned through theft, so he didn't cultivate the authentic internal power of Shaolin. Although his external skills reached an extraordinary level, they couldn't compare to the orthodox Shaolin method that combines both internal and external cultivation. Therefore, Huǒgōngtóu always deeply regretted this. After establishing the Iron Fist Sect, he often told his disciples that if he had learned the authentic internal power training methods of Shaolin back then, his martial arts skills would have reached an even higher level, and the Iron Fist Sect's martial arts would have become more profound and easier to practice.

  Erlangshan, as the most greedy of the Golden Gate's opening mountain's great disciples, naturally also heard Huo Gongtou say such things, so he also yearned for Shaolin martial arts, and had even thought about sneaking into Shaolin to steal its ultimate skills. However, knowing that there were many masters in Shaolin Temple, even his own master had to flee to the Western Regions after causing trouble in Shaolin, Erlangshan didn't dare to take action, thinking he would gain little from it.

  However, because he had always been mindful of it, the evil monk was extremely sensitive to the three words "Shaolin Temple". As soon as he heard what the man said about Ling Mochou, he immediately realized that there must be some ulterior motive. It was unlikely that Ling Mochou would spend a large sum of money to perform a play just to copy a few Buddhist scriptures; it was more likely that he wanted to cheat Shaolin Temple out of its martial arts secrets. So the evil monk immediately captured the man and interrogated him, and after getting to the bottom of things, he set off for Central Plains to get his hands on the possible Shaolin martial arts secrets. As a result, while passing through the grasslands, he coincidentally ran into Guo Jing riding his horse, and seeing that Guo Jing's horse was good, he had the idea to steal it. A series of coincidences came together, resulting in the intense battle before them.

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