Chapter Eleven: Initial Acquisition of Divine Power

  Since that day when Zhang Ping heard the news of Xuan Tie Command in the inn, he has been rushing towards Bianliang without stopping.

  On that day, Zhang Ping was traveling to a small town when he suddenly heard that a mysterious case had occurred in Hou Jian Cun, a small town east of Bian Liang City. The accounts were varied and conflicting, but there was one point on which everyone agreed: many martial artists had been seen coming and going from Hou Jian Cun that day.

  Zhang Ping suspected that it was probably the appearance of Xuan Tie Command. Therefore, Zhang Ping decided to eat something and then go to Hou Jian Cui to investigate.

  Zhang Ping tied the little donkey to a manger post at the entrance of the restaurant and then walked into the restaurant.

  There weren't many people in the restaurant, Zhang Ping found a small table by the window and sat down. He ordered a vegetarian dish and three steamed buns from the waiter and began to observe the restaurant while sipping his tea.

  Suddenly, a strange combination caught Zhang Ping's attention. A fifty-year-old man in a green robe with a lean face and a twelve or thirteen-year-old beggar boy covered in dirt walked into the restaurant together.

  But what happened next was even more unexpected. The little beggar actually started ordering dishes after sitting down with the old man in the green robe.

  "Yes, it's the little beggar who ordered food and treated us. The little beggar took out a few pieces of silver and some copper coins from his pocket and put them on the table, saying to the restaurant staff: 'I and the old man want to eat meat and fish, take all the money.'"

  Zhang Ping saw that the silver was more than three taels, enough to set a big banquet. The shopkeeper naturally took the money with joy and went to order dishes. Later, the old man in green robe also asked for two catties of white wine.

  Before long, Zhang Ping and their dishes arrived. While eating, Zhang Ping casually observed the pair with interest. When they were about to eat, the old man in green put a package on the table. Perhaps unintentionally, two sword handles protruded from the package.

  He saw two sword handles, Zhang Ping's heart shook. Just thinking of going over to ask the outcome, he restrained himself. Because his adoptive father and mother, Hei Bai Double Swords, had an astonishing combat power under their combined might, even surpassing his own master Tian Xu by a slight margin. Although his martial arts progress was rapid, he didn't dare say that he could defeat his own master Tian Xu. This person must have obtained the Hei Bai Double Swords from his adoptive father and mother, so his martial arts skills were definitely above his own. It's better for him to remain still for now and wait until nightfall when his soul leaves his body to go investigate.

  After finishing the meal, in order to continue staying here without arousing suspicion, Zhang Ping ordered another pot of wine and a cold dish to drink by himself. (The alcohol content of ancient wines was very low, coupled with Zhang Ping's deep internal strength, drinking a little would not have any effect.)

  After the old man in green robe and the little beggar left after eating and drinking enough, Zhang Pingfang got up to settle the bill. He also negotiated a price with the restaurant, stored the small donkey in this restaurant, and then he himself used his lightness skill to quietly follow them.

  Because he knew his own experience in the martial arts world was insufficient, Zhang Ping didn't dare to follow too closely. Fortunately, that little beggar seemed to have no martial skills on him and walked very slowly. As they headed east, it actually allowed Zhang Ping to keep a safe distance while following.

  After walking for about an hour, Zhang Ping heard the faint sound of swords clashing coming from a forest to his left front. To avoid exposing himself, Zhang Ping did not dare to go and investigate.

  After about half an hour, Zhang Ping suddenly found that the old man in green robe suddenly exerted his light skill and took the little beggar to fly eastward.

  Zhang Ping hurriedly displayed his lightness skill and quietly followed up, all the way Zhang Ping was even more delighted with his decision. Because that green-robed old man pulled someone to fly at full speed, unexpectedly not having to slow down much, it seemed that this person's martial arts were indeed extremely exquisite.

  Thus, Zhang Ping followed to a deep mountain, the sky had already darkened. Zhang Ping decisively released his soul from his body and flew up to follow, while his physical body slowly floated behind.

  Before long, the two men in front stopped and began to rest in the woods, while Zhang Ping's body was hidden about three miles away. After making sure that the two would not continue to move, Zhang Ping's soul returned to his body, ate some biscuits, and then went out again to scout out the enemy situation.

  Zhang Ping's soul flew over the two people in front, and saw that the little beggar seemed to be tired and had fallen asleep leaning against a tree. The old man in green robe was sitting cross-legged not far away, meditating and regulating his breath. A package was placed beside the old man in green robe, Zhang Ping's soul entered and took a look, and it was indeed the black and white twin swords of his foster parents. Seeing that the old man in green robe was extremely vigilant, Zhang Ping gave up his plan to launch a surprise attack.

  Just as Zhang Ping was about to leave, he suddenly noticed a box in the small beggar's arms. He hadn't seen this box before, and out of curiosity, Zhang Ping went inside to investigate.

  Only eighteen small clay men in the box were painted with meridian acupoint roads, Zhang Ping roughly looked at it and found that the method was relatively simple, but the years seemed to be very long. Out of curiosity, Zhang Ping wanted to see the age of these clay men, but found that there was a Qiankun inside. It turned out that each of these clay men hid a wooden man wrapped in tung oil, and each wooden man's body was painted with this kind of exquisite internal force running method using black thread. Overjoyed, Zhang Ping immediately began to memorize these running methods.

  Zhang Ping thought to himself, "I'm truly blessed with good fortune. I've only just come out and already obtained a divine skill, and what's even more wonderful is that it was obtained from my sworn brothers and the people who were once my enemies." How laughable that he has these clay men in his hands, yet doesn't know the true nature of things. Let him be tormented to death by his own ignorance.

  After finishing the kung fu on the wooden man, Zhang Ping returned to guard his own body with a great mood. Although he could use his mind in two ways when his soul left his body, his physical body was still slightly weaker after his soul left. Camping outdoors at night, Zhang Ping decided to be careful.

  Soul returned to Zhang Ping's body, he quickly began to recall the cultivation method that was accidentally obtained. Because it was in a remote area and the origin of the cultivation method was unknown, Zhang Ping did not dare to practice it rashly.

  Afterwards, Zhang Ping continued to follow them in the deep mountains for six days and finally arrived at a cliff. There was an iron chain hanging down from the top of the mountain. The old man in green robe picked up the little beggar with one hand and grabbed the iron chain with the other, flying upwards.

  At this time, Zhang Ping suddenly thought of who the old man was. He was the master of Xuan Tie Commandment, Mo Tian Ju Shi Xie Yan Ke. No wonder his martial arts were so powerful. However, no matter how he got the black and white double swords of his adoptive parents, Zhang Ping decided that he must take back the sword.

  However, the fact that his martial arts skills were not as good as Xie Yanke's was an insurmountable reality. Therefore, Zhang Ping decided to find a place to cultivate his newly acquired martial arts skills first, and then wait for an opportunity to make his move.

  Then, Zhang Ping wrote down the route along the way and returned to the restaurant in the small town where he started. After picking up his own little donkey, Zhang Ping bought some daily supplies and returned to a small mountain more than thirty miles away from Moyan Cliff. After asking around in the village at the foot of the mountain, Zhang Ping spent five taels of silver to buy a temporary wooden hut built by a hunter on the mountain. Zhang Ping then spent two days setting up a simple fence around the area and installing some mechanisms.

  After everything was ready, Zhang Ping started the first practice of the mysterious skill at night. Who knew that soon after starting to practice the mysterious skill, Zhang Ping's mind was filled with desires and his true energy almost went out of control. Fortunately, Zhang Ping stopped in time and didn't hurt his meridians.

  Where did the problem lie? Could it be that this technique was a trap? That didn't make sense either. After re-examining the technique, Zhang Ping still couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. So, he began to think about how to avoid being disturbed by distracting thoughts. Suddenly, he remembered that after his soul left his body and learned to cultivate internal energy on its own, his physical body was absolutely free from distractions. How could he return to that state? Zhang Ping's soul left his body and started researching, just as he wanted to remove the thoughts attached to his physical body. Those thoughts returned to his soul like obedient pets, and he regained a detached perspective on his physical body.

  Overjoyed, Zhang Ping made a decisive decision and his soul immediately returned to the body to start practicing that mysterious technique. After one cycle of operation, he gave the command to continue practicing to his body, and then his soul left again. After persisting for eighteen nights, Zhang Ping finally mastered this skill. The large amount of vital energy in the eighteen special meridians merged into Zhang Ping's internal strength, causing his internal power to surge by nearly 90%. After two months of tempering his internal power and adapting to the moves, Zhang Ping was confident that he would not be weaker than Xie Yanku at this time. It seems that this mysterious technique must have a great origin, and bringing it back to the sect will surely greatly improve the strength of his master and uncles.

  In fact, this kung fu was created by a senior monk of Shaolin Temple who had profound martial arts skills. Each wooden puppet is a Luohan. This kung fu combines the great achievements of Buddhist internal strength, and its profundity is extremely subtle. Just the first step of calming the mind and returning to the origin requires eliminating all worldly thoughts and distractions, but even among 100,000 people, there may not be one person who can achieve this. Intelligent and clever people always have many thoughts, but if they are dull and stupid, they cannot understand the various changes in the intricate relationships.

  In the year that this set of divine skills was created, the high-ranking monk deeply understood that there were few talented and pure scholars in the world. Although there were many monks with good roots who had already cultivated themselves to be uncorrupted by worldly desires, if they were to practice this divine skill, they would inevitably become completely devoted to 'martial arts' and become a major obstacle to realizing the Buddhist way. The Buddha's teachings call 'greed, anger, and ignorance' the three poisons; greed for wealth and beauty is indeed greed, but indulging in meditation and martial arts is also greed. Therefore, on the outside of the wooden arhat, mud was applied, mixed with rice flour, coated with oil paint, and painted with the authentic inner skills of Shaolin's entrance, so as to prevent later generations from seeing the wooden arhat and recklessly practicing it without self-reflection, thereby losing their lives or straying from the correct path of Buddhism.

  However, since that Shaolin monk, this set of mud people has been circulated in the hands of eleven people, and each holder is worried about protecting the eighteen mud people as a whole, thinking and pondering, all in vain. These eleven people are all ended with regret, bringing a big doubt in their hearts into the yellow soil.

  Only Zhang Ping was uniquely gifted, able to comprehend the subtleties of the technique and cultivate this divine skill with a focused mind.