Suddenly, a punch struck the empty space, causing Li Xiu to stop in surprise and sweep away the stone dust in front of him with a wave of his sleeve.
When he saw the scene in front of him, he couldn't help but stare for a few moments before returning to his senses. In shock, he quickly smashed and moved away the remaining stones.
The Nine Yang True Qi rolled out and the area immediately became clean. In front of him, faint writing appeared.
It was only after breaking open the Damo Shadow Stone and scraping away two feet of stone along its outline that he saw thousands of small characters etched there.
It was a martial arts technique, and a message.
I am Bodhidharma (Damo). If someone in the future can see this sutra, it means they have a connection with me.
....
It turned out that after the age of forty, Bodhidharma's qi and blood began to decline, and he became increasingly sensitive to his body's control.
The feeling became increasingly disturbing!
But he had already reached the peak of martial arts, and he knew that there was no way to prolong life in the world, so Bodhidharma made a vow to create an unparalleled martial art that could greatly enhance the body and extend his lifespan by a hundred years!
After that, Bodhidharma created the Vajra Body, which made the body as hard as iron and was very strange!
Unfortunately, it had no effect on extending lifespan.
Later, he also created the Nine Yang Sutra, which balanced yin and yang and allowed the body's internal energy to flow continuously like a river.
Each punch and kick generated great force and the body was also protected by the self-generating true qi of the Vajra Body.
There were all sorts of benefits, and it could even extend lifespan, but unfortunately it still couldn't reach the level of prolonging life for a hundred years.
Finally, Bodhidharma no longer focused on internal energy, but began to pay attention to the human body itself and tap into its hidden potential.
There was a small butterfly breaking out of its cocoon and a great phoenix undergoing nirvana. If the body could be constantly cleansed and shed its mortal body, could it break through the limit of human lifespan?
In the following decade, Bodhidharma continued to delve into this direction.
One day, feeling that the time was right, Bodhidharma searched for a cave on Mount Song's Wuru Peak and entered into seclusion for nine years, forgetting everything and dedicating all his efforts to the martial arts in his mind.
In the first year, he created the Muscle/Tendon Changing Classic, but he felt it was not enough, feeling that he had not yet broken free from the shackles of worldly martial arts.
In the following two years, he created the Marrow/Washing Classic, which had even more extraordinary effects and had already transcended worldly martial arts, but had not yet glimpsed the realm of the heavens and the people.
In the final six years, he was consumed by his obsession and almost became madly immersed in his thoughts. Finally, he had an enlightenment and glimpsed the Great Way, creating a sutra called the "Transforming the Mortal".
Bodhidharma felt that he had almost exhausted his life's blood and effort on this sutra, and he was not satisfied!
Since he could no longer treat it like the previous two sutras, he named this sutra the "Azure Jade Sutra".
There was once a Buddha who said: "May I, in my next life, attain enlightenment and have a body like jade, with inner and outer clarity, pure and without defects."
Attaining enlightenment refers to achieving Buddhahood, and jade is a treasure in Buddhist legends, being the hardest and most flawless thing in the world.
Bodhidharma believed that this martial arts sutra had transcended the mortal world and glimpsed the realm of the heavens and the people, so why not name it after jade?
In this small cave in the Wuru Peak of Mount Song, Bodhidharma sat in seclusion for nine years and created the martial arts of his lifetime, how could he not have special feelings about it.
The Azure Jade Sutra cleanses the body to reach the realm of the heavens and the people, so Bodhidharma also hid it within the "human body".
Using the already developed Azure True Qi, Bodhidharma was able to shake the two-foot-thick stone wall, pressing his shadow onto the surface and making a gap inside, where he inscribed the complete text of the Azure Jade Sutra and the story of its creation for the benefit of future seekers.
Li Xiu's heart shook upon seeing this and he felt a sense of admiration.
Below that was the complete text of the Azure Jade Sutra.
He glanced through it, but was slightly surprised.
The language of this sutra was not particularly obscure or difficult to understand.
The countless subtleties and wonders contained within it were explained by Bodhidharma in a clear and popular manner!
Each word was a gem, yet concise and to the point, and could be practiced just by understanding the meridians and acupoints!
Li Xiu now felt like Zhang Wuji, who obtained the Nine-yang True Sutra, or Duan Yu, who obtained the North Mystic Divine Art, it was truly a fortunate encounter! A fortunate encounter!
Apart from that, Li Xiu could not express in words the extraordinary nature of this encounter!
After the excitement passed, Li Xiu decided to first memorize the Azure Jade Sutra before doing anything else.
For Li Xiu, who had sharp ears and clear eyes and could recite things like lightning after reaching the Nine-yang Great Accomplishment, it was not difficult to memorize a few thousand words. In just over an hour, he had remembered almost everything.
After that, to avoid mistakes, Li Xiu carefully checked and rechecked over ten times, making sure each and every word was correct before using his True Qi to completely destroy the stone wall.
Li Xiu walked to the stone platform at the entrance of the cave, bent down and respectfully performed a ritual towards the platform to express his gratitude for the transmission of the sutra.
If this Azure Jade Sutra was obtained through scheming and stealing, he would only feel pleased and self-satisfied.
However, it was passed down to him and Bodhidharma said that Li Xiu and he had a connection.
Li Xiu did not believe in fate, so the rock wall had to be destroyed, but he still felt it was appropriate to show respect for this opportunity.
Then, Li Xiu picked up the Yitian sword beside him, carried Xiaozhao, and walked down the mountain with great pleasure.
When climbing the mountain, he searched for the path and found the cave slowly and reluctantly, but when going down the mountain, he was carefree and happy!
The Azure Jade Sutra on the wall in Damo's cave shadow was all in small regular script, but Li Xiu did not find it strange.
Bodhidharma came to the Eastern Land to spread the Buddhist teachings and preach sutras.
It would not be realistic if he did not know the Eastern Land's language and script.
As for why the Muscle/Tendon Changing Classic and the Washing Marrow Classic that Bodhidharma passed on to the Shaolin Temple were written in Sanskrit, Li Xiu was also not clear on the specifics.
However, he guessed that Bodhidharma was not fond of the Shaolin Temple either.
However, during his temporary stay at the Shaolin Temple, the Shaolin Temple extracted a lot of martial arts techniques from Bodhidharma's hands.
In the end, it is estimated that the Shaolin Temple also had the idea of obtaining the results of Bodhidharma's nine years of hard work.
After living for nine years, Bodhidharma couldn't just refuse, so he just gave them a Sanskrit version of the Muscle/Tendon Changing Classic and the Washing Marrow Classic.
Without Bodhidharma's level of martial arts realm, even if someone who was proficient in Sanskrit and had high martial arts knowledge was found, they would still have to carefully translate the Muscle/Tendon Changing Classic for dozens of years because it involved life and death and couldn't afford to make any mistakes.
As for the Washing Marrow Classic, not to mention anything else, if the person translating it did not understand the meanings, how could they translate it?
Naturally, it was also lost!
Another way to see that Bodhidharma was not fond of the Shaolin Temple is that although the Shaolin Temple is known as the Zen Sect's ancestral home and the Zen Sect was born at the Shaolin Temple, after Bodhidharma founded the Zen Sect, he did not pass on the teachings to the nearby Shaolin Temple.
After returning to the Shaolin Temple and placing Xiao Zhao down, after changing and freshening up, Li Xiu couldn't wait to start cultivating the Azure Jade Sutra.
After a few days, in a tavern. Two rough-looking men were drinking and chatting.
"Hey, old brother, have you heard? Something big happened recently in the martial arts world!"
"How could I not know! I heard that the six major sects are gathering and will soon surround the Demon Sect's Bright Summit! Now, everyone in the martial arts world is eager to get involved and try to fish in troubled waters!"
"Old brother, your information is outdated. The six major sects wanting to surround the Demon Sect is no longer news."
"Then what is it? Besides this, is there anything else big?"
The other man looked at him suspiciously.
The other man lowered his voice and said,
"The Shaolin Temple was beaten a few days ago and was almost completely wiped out!"
"What? Is it true or false?"
...