Chapter 43 - Ruyi Shapeshifting

Sand and stones were flying all around, and Ling Chongxiao's shining bald head turned grey. He walked out from a pile of mud that used to be a sand wall. "What kind of Kung Fu were you using, to think that even I could not dodge it!" He cursed.

"Ruyi shapeshifting, always be acting in accordance to my will. Luck was on this young monk's side, who managed to pick up a thing or two about Ruyi shapeshifting," Ku Hui smiled contently. There were five supernatural powers in Buddhism, and each of them could be attained through thinking and meditating. Each of these supernatural powers afforded its users inconceivable powers.

Ruyi shapeshifting was one of it. Ku Hui had been cultivating for ten over years and was barely scratching its surface. Through the skill, he managed to have the upper hand during his battle with someone as seasoned as Ling Chongxiao.

"At your age, what's there to be proud of for knowing such a simple skill? I can teach some skills to just any of my disciples, and you bet they would be able to beat you within a couple of years," Ling Chongxiao was annoyed by Ku Hui's gloating and had replied grudgingly.

"In this huge world, besides the those Celestialisms that only pass down their secret texts to their selected disciples, most people searched for martial art skills. Even though we don't have much hope to be immortal, but our martial art attainment could be considered as unrivaled. Besides Ye Liuyun from Mingjian Peak, I don't think any of these younglings in Jianghu could overpower me and have me covered in rock and dust," Ku Hui replied in a gentle tone.

When he was done with his sentence, he could not help but to laugh at Ling Chongxiao's current predicament – he was covered in rock and dust.

Ling Chongxiao was angry. He pointed his finger at Ku Hui chest as if his finger was a spear. Ku Hui dodged from his attack effortlessly.

There were not many who could do what Ku Hui just did; to only move after the opponent did, yet managing to dodge away in just a matter of seconds without overexerting oneself.

However, Ku Hui did not have it too easy either – beads of sweat were covering his forehead.

Ling Chongxiao having reached the state of "taming the white tiger" had a huge reserve of physical energy within him. His inner Qi was ever-flowing, and if he were to be persistence, he could probably wear his opponent out by dragging out the fight.

"Let's call it a day. This is getting boring. Indeed, Ye Liuyun form Mingjian Peak is a genius, but the young child that I know of was still better." Ling Chongxiao was genuinely bored, at his age, he had gotten most things that he wanted; those that he had not gotten yet, he probably would never be able to get them.

"Shizhu Ling, who are you talking about? To be fair, if we were to meet Ye Liuyun at his age, we would probably be at disadvantaged, and would not achieve the greatness that he has," Ku Hui replied curiously. Ling Chongxiao himself was a martial art genius. The reason why he was not part of Celestialism was due to the lack of affinity and opportunity. Otherwise, he would have been immortal by now.

Regardless of how smart you were, there was no way of deducing you way into Celestialism. Even if you managed to do so without any techniques, by the time that you solved most of the puzzles, you would be dying soon. The best of techniques would always be found within the books written in remote antiquity. However, cultivation was not a castle in the air. Without prior experience and a good foundation, one would never be able to attain much in Daoism.

"His name is Shen Lian. If he really has Celestial affinity, perhaps he could find his way into Celestialism this time around," Ling Chongxiao replied. He decided long ago that he would not speak to Shen Lian about Qing Xuan Celestialism.

Geniuses were indeed, one in a million. However, when viewed together with the many lives in this world, the notion of genius lost its novelty.

In fact, a great number of them would not even have the chance to train their Qi; their talent would never be discovered in their lifetime.

In this sense, affinity and fate were important factors.

"If he is as talented as you have described him to be, you must be really heartless to not lend him a helping hand," Ku Hui sighed.

"I had nothing to do with him to begin with. Even if I were to pour my heart and soul in, what good would it do? Just look at how things ended up between my Master and my Junior Apprentice-Brother. I have done my part by teaching him the martial arts from my sect. As for his future and where he ends up at, that is entirely out of my hands," Ling Chongxiao said coldly.

"No. Now that you have piqued my interest, I must meet with him and see what kind of character he is," Ku Hui could not suppress his curiosity. Unlike Ling Chongxiao, he had not faced great tragedy within his sect and was not exposed to the devastation of such scale. If Shen Lian was indeed as good as Ling Chongxiao said he was, and did not have a master yet. There might just be a chance that he could be his heir.

Buddhists subscribed to the belief of reincarnation, and Ku Hui was a firm believer of the karmic cycle. Perhaps if Shen Lian was successful in his cultivation of Daoism, he could extract him from the karmic cycle out of consideration for their past relationship.

Even if Ling Chongxiao was just bluffing, he would not lose anything besides his time by visiting.

Despite all he had was the name "Shen Lian", given Ku Hui's standing as the Emperor's favorite and the relationsh.i.p.s that he fostered with the concubines during his visit to the palace to lecture about Buddhism, it would not be hard for him to locate Shen Lian.

...

Hundreds of kilometers away, Shen Lian did not know that a monk had taken interest in him. His spirit was drifting high up in the sky without a care in the world.

He swooped down like a flying Celestial.

His spirit was indistinct, with a definite shape and face.

The sword tucked within his sleeve slashed out naturally, a stream of white gust followed from within his sleeve. It was swirling around like a spiritual snake, and the exact trail could not be seen from mid-air.

Only with an endless loop of inner Qi, one could master martial art skills such as "Catching the Dragon, and Controlling the Crane". One could even control the sword without being in physical contact with it.

The white light rushed towards Shen Lian's spirit.

To take things one step further, one could even use oneself as a scabbard and nurture Taibai Gengjin Qi within the body, right at the lungs. That was how the master celestials of the sword kill at a distance.

Techniques like these were usually kept secret, and would not be taught to the common folks. If a normal person were to insist on trying, he would be hurt by the indestructible Qi and ended up with various injuries.

"Sir, watch out!" Jian Shisi could not hold back his exclamation.

The spirit turned into fine strands of green smoke, and the white light missed it by the mark and did not manage to make contact.

The green smoke vibrated along the wind and shot ahead like an arrow, hitting right in the middle of Ye Liuyun's brows.

Ye Liu Yun felt the world was spinning around him and was gradually losing consciousness.

Out of a sudden, Ye Liuyun was emanating a reddish glow from within. There were runes flowing in the middle, and the green smoke that was Shen Lian's spirit was ejected. Shen Lian's spirit was sent back into his body.

Shen Lian opened his eyes and found himself unharmed. However, Ye Liuyun had fainted.

It was not his intention to hurt someone with his spirit, but Ye Liuyun was too strong and he had no other choice.

By doing that, both of them would be injured. However, Ye Liuyun would be having it worse. He might turn into an idiot.

Also, he never tried hurting someone like Ye Liuyun, who was strong-willed and had unblocked both of the Conception and Governor Vessels. He was not sure how bad would the side-effect be.

After all, the Wutong gods had strong-willed spirit, but they were unfocused and unkempt.

The will of Ye Liuyun's spirit was stronger than most people, and his thoughts were firmly rooted and were almost indestructible.

As compared to the Wutong gods, he was a lot harder to deal with.

The red light was an astonishing technique that prevented their spirits from clashing directly. It was hard to say who benefited more from it.

"You little kiddo, you have not even attained the inextinguishable divine aura yet, how dare you astral project in such a cavalier manner. What more, you were attacking his mind and even tried to attack his spirit directly. Do you have a death wish?" The red glow removed itself from Ye Liuyun's body and Shen Lian could hear its voice directly in his ears.