After he finished carrying water and eating his breakfast, Meng Qi hurriedly walked towards the Meditation Yard with his broom. He wanted to ask Jiang Zhiwei and Zhang Yuanshan why the bells had rung so urgently in the morning.
"Was it because Qing Jing's death has been discovered?"
"Did the Dharmakaya-level master find any clues? What was the reaction of the other sects?"
Carrying these questions, Meng Qi walked into the Meditation Yard and pretended that he came to sweep the thin layer of snow that had accumulated last night.
While he was sweeping, he quietly observed the disciples from different sects who walked in and out of the yard. Even though most of them seemed very shocked and confused, very few of them had serious expressions, rather appearing to have something important on their minds.
"Hey, the junior fellow apprentice over there."
Suddenly, Meng Qi heard Zhang Yuanshan's voice, which he was very familiar with.
Meng Qi turned his head around and saw Zhang Yuanshan standing in front of a guest room and waving at him. "Please come in and clean the room for me. I'm feeling very uneasy and accidentally made the floor dirty."
"Okay."
Meng Qi knew Zhang Yuanshan was making up an excuse for him to enter the room, so he immediately walked towards the room with his broom and dustpan.
Zhang Yuanshan waited for Meng Qi politely and made way for him to enter first. He then looked around and checked the surroundings, pretending that it was just a casual look.
As soon as Meng Qi entered the room, he saw a bright yellow color. Jiang Zhiwei was here, too.
Meng Qi wanted to be as careful as possible so he lowered his head and began to sweep the stains and garbage on the floor.
Jiang Zhiwei smiled. "Little monk, it's you again?"
"Yes, benefactor Jiang, I'm responsible for cleaning the Meditation Yard these two days."
Meng Qi noticed that Jiang Zhiwei was pretending that she had only met him once yesterday, so he decided to co-operate.
Hearing "benefactor Jiang", Jiang Zhiwei raised her right hand and covered her mouth. She then put on a serious expression and said to Zhang Yuanshan, who returned into the room, "Big brother Zhang, big sister Qi and I had established a kind of friendship through the fight we had yesterday. I never expected that she would be involved in such an unfortunate happening today. My anger cannot be appeased. Since you know her very well, do you remember any clues? I certainly will use the sword in my hand to take revenge for her!"
She had defeated Qi Xia yesterday in the kungfu contest.
"What? Qi Xia is dead? The shock and fright Meng Qi felt were like a violent storm which he couldn't restrain. How could Qi Xia die? How could the smart and beautiful southern girl who loved the art of traps and concealed weapons die so suddenly?"
Pah!
In the midst of shock, although he tried his best to control himself, Meng Qi still wasn't able to hold his broom well. What he had just heard was far beyond his imagination.
The sound of the collision between the broom and the ground pulled Meng Qi back to reality. He hurriedly bent down, picked the broom up, and pretended to be terrified. "So sorry for my, my impoliteness!"
His stammer was not fake, though. He was too astounded.
"No worries. When I heard this news, I was as shocked as you are. This is way too horrifying," Zhang Yuanshan comforted Meng Qi in the way he talked to other unfamiliar Shaolin disciples.
Then, he turned to Jiang Zhiwei and said, "Before the New Year, I've met little sister Qi once at Mao Ling. Even though we didn't know each other for long, we chatted like old friends. Yet I didn't notice anything weird. Perhaps what great master Kong Wen has said is right. She has died because she wanted to reveal that secret and was killed by the curse buried in her body. Sigh, little sister was still so young. Who would imagine that she would die at such a young age? This is truly unfortunate and sorrowful."
The grief and regret in his voice were real.
Although they couldn't discuss the two mysterious organizations in public, Qi Xia and Qing Jing's death would come to light sooner or later, and eventually everyone would know about it. Therefore, Zhang Yuanshan and Jiang Zhiwei decided to tell Meng Qi about it beforehand so that he wouldn't look suspicious in front of the other monks when he heard about it later.
"So Qi Xia has died because she tried to tell other people about the 'Samsara World'… At the time, she must have been in front of a Dharmakaya-level master. And yet she still died? Is the "Owner of Samsara" really so omnipotent?"
Meng Qi understood the reason behind Qi Xia's death, yet his shock and fright did not alleviate at all.
"When there is a chance to escape, who would prefer to be controlled? Who would prefer to risk their lives and be forced to complete all sorts of quests in exchange for 'ultimate kungfu and magical pills'?"
"Is it true that even a Dharmkaya-level master, the 'Dragon-subduing Arhat', can't stop the 'Owner of Samsara'?"
Jiang Zhiwei sighed. "Qing Jing has also died mysteriously. The true murderer behind all of this is loathsome!"
"There was something that confused me back then. Did you notice, little sister Jiang?" Zhang Yuanshan thought about it for a moment and said, "When little sister Qi's curse was triggered, although great master Kong Wen said he was late, he never used the power of his golden body. This is not reasonable at all. I asked uncle Xuan Yuanzi about this in private, but the only thing he said was that the rumor is not false."
Jiang Zhiwei said, "I noticed it too. After I returned to the Meditation Yard, I asked my teacher about it. He only said that I should research on my own and make my own guess."
"Didn't he show his golden body? So it's still too early to conclude that the "Owner of Samsara's" Power has exceeded the Dharmakaya level and has reached the level of Buddha as in legends."
Meng Qi was slightly relieved. He became more curious as to why Kong Wen hadn't shown his golden body.
"We have to blame ourselves for being too weak and not able to understand higher-level matters," Zhang Yuanshan said sincerely. The secret arrogance that he had had previously—that his kungfu was strong enough considering his age—had disappeared by now.
Only by becoming stronger, stronger, and stronger could they break away from the control of the "Owner of Samsara" and survive in the brutal missions. And the only way for them to become stronger rapidly seemed to be by relying on the "Owner of Samsara"…
Jiang Zhiwei's right hand slid to the scabbard of her sword as if she was playing a heptachord. She looked out the window at the azure sky and said with determination, "Maybe we will face similar situations someday in the future. By then, we can only use the swords in our hands to fight for our own survival. Let's strive together, big brother Zhang."
They went over what had happened in the Great Buddha's Hall in the morning as if Meng Qi was invisible, only avoiding mentioning "The Immortals" and "The Myths".
They would wait until the next "samsara mission" and talk about the two organizations then. Otherwise, if their discussion was heard by the seniors who were also in the yard, they would definitely be suspected.
Meng Qi slowly finished sweeping the floor and returned to his yard to continue his "sweeping life". All sorts of thoughts filled up his mind; he could not calm down.
After lunch, Meng Qi began to practice transferring genuine Qi, following the instructions of Iron Cloth. He wanted to turn what the "Owner of Samsara" had given him into a property he owned.
However, at this moment, Xuan Xin rang the small bell in the yard and called for an assembly.
"Be quick. Clean up the square near the main entrance and respectfully send the benefactors from each sect away." Xuan Xin looked like he had just been forcibly woken up from sleep, and was in a bad mood. After giving out this order, he mumbled in a low voice, "Did the head get his brain eaten by a monster? Since when does Shaolin have to be so respectful to other sects?"
Meng Qi roughly understood the reason. Disciples of both Xuan Tian Sect and Dajiang Gang died in the temple. Shaolin had to take some responsibility, and express their apologies.
The char monks quickly arrived at the square near the main entrance with their brooms and buckets, and began to work hard.
Since he had "learned" Iron Cloth and established some shallow internal power, sweeping was very easy for Meng Qi. Many times, he really wanted to use the spare time to practice Eight Divine Steps. However, he knew that there were many masters among the visitors from each sect and the monks that were sending them away. If someone discovered that the Qing Gong he was practicing didn't belong to Shaolin kungfu, he would definitely face a lengthy interrogation, given the current circumstances.
Suddenly, Zhen Yan pointed at somewhere far away and said, "Little brother Zhen Ding, you see that girl over there? She is benefactor Jiang Zhiwei, the successor of Xi Jian Pavilion and the winner of the kungfu contest."
Zhen Yan was pretty close with Meng Qi and Zhen Hui, so they naturally gathered together after finishing their cleaning work.
At this time, the masters and disciples from the visiting sects were walking towards the main entrance, accompanied by several Shaolin heads and elders who wore red cassocks. Zhen Yan was pointing at Jiang Zhiwei, who walked behind a young man in blue.
"Humph, do I need your introduction? We are very close, you know?" Meng Qi complained in his head.
Yet he still pretended to be very interested and said, "Oh, I know her! When I was cleaning the Meditation Yard, she helped me out once!"
"Big brother, that is not quite right."
Zhen Hui looked at Meng Qi with a dull face.
Zhen Yan asked curiously, "Little brother Zhen Ding, is benefactor Jiang Zhiwei the haughty and cold type of girl? I heard that most girls with strong kungfu and sword techniques are like that."
Meng Qi wanted to show off but refrained in the end. "I don't know. From how she helped me, she seemed like a very amiable girl. By the way, little brother, what is not quite right?"
Zhen Hui looked at Meng Qi with a frown. "Big brother, normally speaking, shouldn't boys be helping out beautiful girls instead of the other way around?"
"Shut up!" Meng Qi only wanted to yell this to his silly little brother.
Zhen Yan laughed uncontrollably. He knew too that Zhen Hui was addicted to the Jianghu stories Meng Qi made up.
The char monks around them started to chat in small voices.
"Is that Zhang Yuanshan from Zhen Wu Sect? I heard from other big brothers that he is a famous young master of this generation. In the future, he might have the chance to enter the Human Ranking."
"Yes that's him. But I heard that yesterday he lost by half a move to Jiang Zhiwei from Xi Jian Pavilion."
"To a pretty girl like that?"
"Stop looking down on girls. My mom told me that the prettier girls are, the stronger they are!"
There was a reason why char monks were allocated to the Chores Yard. More or less, they had some problems, and many of them talked and behaved vulgarly.
"Does gender matter? Ten years later, she should be able to attain the Exterior Realm and become a true master. Given her appearance and identity, there must be a lot of Jianghu heroes after her who see her as a goddess," Zhen Yan suddenly said. "It's the same for Zhang Yuanshan. He is the direct successor of Zhen Wu Sect, and is very valued by the seniors. His future is so bright. In contrast, we are just char monks who sweep the floor all day. We don't even have the right to stand near them!"
"Yes, I would be satisfied if they just looked at me for a moment, not to mention standing near them. In the future, when I return to secularity, I'd be able to show off to my neighbors and friends that I once knew a famous master or fairy in Jianghu."
The other char monks expressed similar feelings.
Right then, the atmosphere was filled with admiration and jealousy.
Suddenly, Jiang Zhiwei and Zhang Yuanshan turned their heads around almost at the same time and looked at them. The two then slightly nodded to Meng Qi.
"Haha, are they looking at me?"
"Now your dream has come true!"
"Who? Who are they looking at?"
The char monks immediately became excited and immersed in their discussions.
Meng Qi took a deep breath to mollify the weird feeling he had and watched Jiang Zhiwei and Zhang Yuanshan leave.
"In the future Jianghu, they will have to be among the most powerful people!"…
Listening to this kind of chatter, Meng Qi, Zhen Hui, and Zhen Yan began to walk back to the Chores Yard after packing up their tools.
As they walked, Zhen Yan said sorrowfully, "They're climbing up a ladder that leads to heaven, yet we can't even get out of this Chores Yard. Sigh, little brother Zhen Ding, little brother Zhen Yan, don't you feel sad and desperate?"
Meng Qi secretly answered in his mind, "I need to find an opportunity to leave Shaolin, now that there is the 'samsara world'." I might be able to improve my kungfu rapidly in a short period. If I stay here, I'll certainly face many suspicions. However, I don't need to be too anxious. Currently, I need to practice with masters eagerly.
"If I leave Shaolin now, considering my current kungfu level, it would be tough for me to find a suitable opponent that will not kill me. For the moment, since I've only established the fundamentals of Iron Cloth, plus it's just an ordinary kungfu, I'm not afraid that anyone will discover my secret. There are a lot of excuses I can use."
"Furthermore, if during this time I can learn one art from the 72 Ultimate Arts, then I will have a much larger chance of survival in the 'samsara world' in the future. I'll leave Shaolin sooner or later anyways."
At this moment, Zhen Hui answered foolishly, "Why should I feel sad? I concentrate on sweeping when I sweep, on eating when I eat, listening to stories when I listen to stories, and sleeping when I sleep. Why would I feel sad?"
"Eh?"
Zhen Yan was speechless to this unexpected answer and didn't reply. The "Eh" sound was from someone else nearby.
Meng Qi didn't need to turn around and check who the person was. Due to the opening up of his Dantian and accumulation of internal power, his senses had been greatly improved. He had already noticed that it was the awesome uncle Xuan Ku and another yellow-robed monk who were approaching them.
"Uncle Xuan Ku, uncle Xuan Chi."
Zhen Yan looked to the origin of the voice and hurriedly put his palms together.
After Meng Qi and Zhen Hui also made their salutes, Xuan Ku nodded his head. "Zhen Hui, go to the Warrior-Monk Yard tomorrow."
"Huh?"
Even though Zhen Hui had no idea what had just happened, both Meng Qi and Zhen Yan were shocked.
Xuan Chi, whose skin had a golden shine and who seemed very stern and strict, looked at Meng Qi from head to toe. "Are you Zhen Ding?"
"Yes, I am," Meng Qi replied with confusion.
Xuan Chi slightly nodded. "You also go to the Warrior-Monk Yard tomorrow."
"Huh?"
Meng Qi was stupefied.