431: Chapter 31 Great Pudu Temple_2 431: Chapter 31 Great Pudu Temple_2 The reason for the delay of a day…
Was simply that Miao Zhen wanted to wait a while.
Last night’s battle at Moss Ridge made Miao Zhen aware of the existence of True Master Jun Shan and Xie Zhen—
For him,
Martial Sect, Qin Family, and any other forces, were actually negligible.
The only truly serious opponent had always been “True Master Jun Shan”.
But now, there was another one to consider, “Xie Zhen”.
Today was the first day of the sermon, and it was the most important one.
As the leader of the delegation, Miao Zhen would certainly keep a low profile, quietly waiting for the challenge of Great Chu’s old enemies.
If both appeared together, he could recreate last night’s scene at Moss Ridge.
Regardless of victory or defeat, as long as the fight began, word of him facing two adversaries alone would spread, naturally achieving the effect that the Fan Yin Temple delegation wanted.
This was also the reason why True Master Jun Shan did not wish to show his face.
If he were to gang up with Xie Zhen to fight a smaller number, it would only boost the morale of Fan Yin Temple.
But now it was different.
Without True Master Jun Shan making an appearance, Xie Zhen also remained absent, leaving Miao Zhen destined to wait in vain for a day.
If someone were sent to check on their whereabouts, Miao Zhen would find that these two fellows actually did not care about the sermon contest at Great Pudu Temple, but were leisurely drinking tea and chatting in a teahouse!
The sutras of Great Pudu Temple are about to echo throughout the Imperial City, and yet these two are in the mood to listen to music?
“Quite interesting.
Drinking tea on the first day, resting and biding time, seems to make some sense…”
True Master Jun Shan tapped on his teacup and asked curiously, “What will you do on the second day?”
“Continue to drink tea,”
Xie Xuanyi said calmly.
“…?”
True Master Jun Shan fell silent for a few breaths, frowned, and slowly said, “The second day is the contest between Martial Sect’s Wu Yue and Miao Zhen.
Continue drinking tea, continue resting and biding time—it makes sense too.
Then what about the third day?”
“Continue to drink tea.”
True Master Jun Shan became restless after receiving the same answer twice.
He looked at Xie Zhen with irritation.
How thirsty is this guy?
Hasn’t he ever drunk tea before?
“So when are you planning to make your move?”
True Master Jun Shan said indignantly, “The sermon is only for a few days!
After Wu Yue and Miao Zhen’s battle, there will be other young masters coming forward to challenge.
But aside from you, who can be Miao Zhen’s opponent?
All the young prodigies of the Great Chu dynasty could come to Great Pudu Temple, but they still can’t defeat this reincarnated baldy!”
“Yes,”
Xie Xuanyi remained calm, unmoved: “You’re right, no other young man is up to it.
So I must be the last to appear.”
“Each defeat would increase the momentum of Fan Yin Temple,” True Master Jun Shan reminded.
Xie Xuanyi smiled indifferently and said, “How many they lose isn’t important, what matters is if they can win the next one.
If you lose and I lose as well, then it’s all settled, isn’t it?”
“…”
True Master Jun Shan was silent.
“Rebirth and relearning are for a higher Tao,”
Xie Xuanyi slowly said: “If I’m not mistaken, the Sword Dao that True Master Jun Shan is currently practicing has changed from your past life…
The swordsmanship of Yuqing Pavilion is uncut jade, yet incomplete.
You have come to realize this, and hence, you resist advancement into the Yin God Realm at all costs.
Presumably, Miao Zhen is the same, except he has several years more of solid cultivation than you.
That time is enough for him to mend the ‘incompleteness of the Tao’ from his past life.
In other words, the Miao Zhen currently accepting challenges at Great Pudu Temple represents a Perfect Cave Heaven without any flaws.”
True Master Jun Shan’s expression became serious.
Xie Zhen was not wrong at all.
His reluctance to contend with Miao Zhen was precisely for this reason.
Cultivation is about racing to be first!
Miao Zhen had beaten him to it, seizing the advantage!
Last night, when True Master Jun Shan said he only had a thirty percent chance of winning against Miao Zhen, that was already an overestimation.
How could he, with his incomplete Tao, defeat the fully perfected Miao Zhen?
“I’m sorry.”
He sighed deeply, conveying his apology: “I have indeed been a bit too impatient.”
In the era when True Master Jun Shan achieved the status of a Yang God, the flames of war raged, the banners of the Chu fluttered, and the war between the Chu people and the Li People were fierce…
So he took the rivalry for renown between Chu and Li very seriously.
This time, with “Fan Yin Temple’s mission to the East Crossing”, True Master Jun Shan urgently hoped to find a way to suppress Miao Zhen, but after calming down, he realized his mistake.
If Xie Zhen challenged him on the first day and was defeated, the situation would have become dire.
The only path left for him to win would have been to “forcefully advance” in cultivation.
“Since Xie dares to accept the senior’s challenge, there naturally is a reason for confidence,”
Xie Xuanyi said methodically, “But before I draw my sword, I’d like to wait a bit longer, to observe a bit more.”
“I understand your meaning.”
True Master Jun Shan rubbed his brow and said with a wry smile, “You want to understand more about Miao Zhen…
But is having tea at the tea house really useful?
I can compile his dossier for you, and if you’re not willing to visit the Great Pudu Temple, I can also have the Taoist disciples bring the daily Jade Scroll recordings of Miao Zhen in confrontation.”
“No need.”
Xie Xuanyi shook his head, speaking earnestly, “I can see clearly from right here.”
…
…
True Master Jun Shan didn’t understand the meaning of Xie Zhen’s words.
He couldn’t comprehend how one could “see clearly” without inquiring about what happened at the Great Pudu Temple while merely having tea at the tea house.
Therefore, he dispatched disciples daily to deliver the Jade Scrolls and kept an eye on Xie Zhen’s activities at all times.
Xie Zhen did not look at the Jade Scrolls.
Moreover, he really was having tea every day.
After speaking with True Master Jun Shan, Xie Xuanyi lived quite leisurely.
The deserted Chen Mansion unexpectedly regained “liveliness,” with the young scions of Northern County’s noble families unusually bringing gifts one after another to apologize.
It turned out that the miscarriage of justice at the Lin Mansion was forcibly suppressed, and with a few new clues submitted, the Imperial City Department reopened the investigation.
This case seemed to have the possibility of taking a turn for the better.
In fact, since the encounter in the Northern Hunting Grounds, the misunderstanding on Yong’an Street came to light, and though these Northern County scions had the gall to call themselves “coarse folk,” they also knew to correct their mistakes.
This time, with the halt of the re-judgment of Lin Mansion’s case, Xie Xuanyi knew that it was the little Emperor silently exerting influence.
Although Chu Yin did not wield real power, behind her stood Chen Jingxuan and the entire Book Tower, and the true mastermind behind this case was Chen Jingxuan.
Recently, the little State Preceptor had many arduous matters to attend to, and the Lin Mansion case was certainly one of them.
There was no news from the Ruyi Order.
Xie Xuanyi did not initiate communication with the little State Preceptor to avoid adding to the chaos.
These past few days, besides teaching Duan Zhao how to cultivate with the heavy sword, Xie Xuanyi spent almost all his time having tea at the tea house.
True Master Jun Shan was gone, replaced by Deng Baiyi.
In truth, Deng Baiyi didn’t like drinking tea or listening to music, but she just liked to accompany Xie Zhen to the tea house, sitting there the whole day; he would listen to his music, and she would draw her talismans.
She knew the purpose of Fan Yin Temple’s mission to East Crossing and was aware of Xie Zhen’s arrangement with True Master Jun Shan, so every day before leaving, she would go to the street corner and buy a fresh copy of the hand-written newspaper.
On the second day of the Great Pudu Temple’s preaching.
Wu Yue dueled with Miao Zhen, where Miao Zhen triumphed, taking no more than a hundred moves to best Wu Yue.
The third day.
A martial expert of the Qin Family, who had been stuck in the Cave Heaven Realm for thirty years, sought teaching from Buddha’s son in pursuit of the Dao.
In terms of realm, this Qin Family elder was actually stronger than Wu Yue.
Unfortunately, he only lasted ten moves against Miao Zhen.
The fourth day, the fifth day…
Successively, many geniuses arrived at the Great Chu Imperial City, drawn by the reputation of the Fan Yin Temple’s Buddha’s son.
The mission announced that Buddha’s son would only spar with opponents above the Cave Heaven Eighth Layer Realm.
Even so, Miao Zhen faced no less than a dozen strong competitors of Great Chu daily, but he won very cleanly and swiftly, each battle concluded within ten moves.
By the seventh day, this Buddha’s son of Fan Yin Temple had managed, by his own strength, to cause several major sects and noble families of the Emperor Da Chu’s realm to hang their heads in defeat.
With consecutive triumphs, the morale of Fan Yin Temple soared.
Finally, at the end of the seventh day, as dusk fell, the Fan Yin Temple mission put forth a statement.
“Tomorrow will be the last day of preaching.
Buddha’s son will only face opponents who have achieved Perfect Cave Heaven, and this time in the duel, Buddha’s son will not strike, facing his opponent with only his ‘Golden Body.'”
“If someone can break through the Buddha’s son’s Golden Body within three moves,”
“That battle will be counted as Buddha’s son’s loss.”