The ancient trees grew so high that the pagoda had also been built tall, straight through the clouds. Green lamps had illuminated the place for a long time, and the occasional sound from the use-up clock was quite loud. The Shaolin Temple was worthy of being called an ancient millennium temple. Standing at the entrance and looking up at the golden signboard that was several zhang high, causing people to be filled with deep respect.
"This is a significant place of Buddhism, so women are not allowed to enter. Please go back, patroness."
Murong Yunshu just stepped on the steps when a little monk who was sweeping the floor at the door stopped her. She chuckled and asked, "How did Little Master so sure that I'm a woman?"
The little monk scratched the back of his head and asked with a simple smile, "With patroness looking like this, it shows you are a woman. How can you be a man?"
"What if I'm really a man?"
"Impossible. Men don't dress up like this," said the young monk while shaking his head.
Murong Yunshu smiled as she said, "Little Master is a devoted person, so Little Master should have known that when there is something false, there will also be something true. Sometimes, what the eyes see is not necessarily true."
"You mean you are not actually a woman?" The young monk asked with a confused face.
Murong Yunshu didn't say anything. She just smiled.
"But you are obviously a woman. How can you not be a woman?"
"There is still a lot of hard work and a long way to go for one to practise Buddhism properly. As long as Little Master devotes himself to Buddhism, I believe Little Master will understand this truth one day. Amitabha, indeed, this is an excellent lesson for Little Master!" Murong Yunshu leisurely said as she walked into the temple’s interior, with her deep and indifferent tone sounded relatively superior to the young monk.
Lu-er followed suit as she ran in while bowing her head and snickered. She left behind the young monk alone as he leaned on his broom, pondering over Buddha's principles.
As soon as Lu-er walked quite far away, she burst out laughing. "Ha, ha, ha, ha...Miss, that young monk looked so stupid just now."
"That is called having a pure mind."
Lu-er was stunned speechless, wasn't that the same as being called stupid? He was indeed foolish since Miss could easily trick him. However, he was not entirely to blame for his stupidity. It could only be said that Miss' deception skills were on a much higher level, where the moment she started talking, thirty per cent of it would be the truth, while the other seventy per cent would be false. Those who heard it couldn't help but seriously take the false parts as the truth, while the truth was false.
＊
The ground in Shaolin Temple was made of huge blue-grey marble, which was clean and tidy, without any stain left behind. Murong Yunshu stood in the centre of an open circular Buddhist platform and looked around the solemn temple. She was wondering where to find Chu Changge when she suddenly heard a loud fighting sound. The sound was getting closer and closer. Before she could pinpoint the direction of the sound, she saw Chu Changge flying towards her side, followed by a dozen monks holding staff behind him.
"Guye!" Lu-er loudly cried out, "Miss, look, it's Guye, it's Guye!"
When Chu Changge heard these loud cry, he chuckled as he turned around, hit the eighteen arhats with his palms, and then landed beside Murong Yunshu. "Is Madam here to save her husband?" he asked in a delightful tone while he broadly smiled. [+]
"Do you need my help?" Murong Yunshu lightly asked as his beautiful eyes reflected a beautiful and angry face. When she saw that his face was not red and he was not gasping for breath, she was sure that he could handle the situation easily. Her heart that had been feeling troubled settled down. She should have known, as arrogant as she was, if she tried to help him without any skills, it wouldn't be long before she laid dead on the street.
Chu Changge smiled and replied, "Of course. They are so many of them that this husband of yours is currently unable to withstand them with just his bare hands."
The dialogue between the two acted as a gap for the eighteen arhats to tightly surround them. It was also unknown to both of them that Great Master Xuankong, Shaolin Temple abbot, had arrived on the Buddha platform. He loudly said, "Patron Chu, you have been found guilty of trespassing into the scriptures depository and burning the scriptures. Today, I will lift the ban of killing other humans to get rid of you for the jianghu. Eighteen arhats, arrange yourself into formation!"
As soon as the voice died down, the eighteen arhats were already in their formation and ready to attack Chu Changge.
Chu Changge laughed cynically and shouted, "When I kill people, I kill them indiscriminately. While you people, kill people to get rid of evil people. Wonderful, really wonderful! " Once he had done saying those words, with his face immediately turned solemn, he growled ferociously, "Qinglong, unsheath!"
In an instant, a streak of light flashed in the air. Just as a dragon swooped down, Chu Changge leapt up in the air to hold a handle. With a roar of the dragon, the sword trembled, and when the light finally faded, it revealed that a long sword had appeared in Chu Changge's hand.
"Qinglong Sword!" Great Master XuanKong was so surprised that he accidentally broke the Buddha beads in his hand. With a face of disbelief, he exclaimed, "Qinglong Sword had been made of the bone and blood of an ancient spirit beast. It can’t take orders from people with a bad mind. How is this possible...how is this possible..."
Chu Changge's eyebrows were cold as his arm waved the long sword back. With the help of the magic sword, his deep internal power burst out. In a moment, a giant pillar situated behind him immediately collapsed and made a huge bang. "Yes, I did burn the scriptures. I will not only burn your scriptures, but I will also make blood washes the Shaolin Temple, as I kill all the evil monks who claim to be just, but make other people bear the crime of being a murderer!"
As the eighteen arhats saw this situation, they all immediately took two steps backwards. Their staffs started to become unstable in their hands. Just now, Chu Changge was unarmed. Although he did not crack open their formation, he also did not hurt them using his power, and yet now, he had Qinglong Divine Sword in his hand. The outcome of this battle would be…hazardous to them.
When the two sides were a deadlocked, dark clouds suddenly appeared on the horizon. The fierce wind swirled around wildly, blowing down bodhi tree leaves all over the place. It blew up Chu Changge's long hair, making that angular face appeared more three-dimensional and dignified, as it sent forth the arrogance of not fearing any spirits. Others didn’t tolerate him because he was acting like an evil spirit in this common world. Rather than saying that they didn’t tolerate him, he was actually being disdained by others.
Murong Yunshu quietly looked at the person, who was smiling a moment before, and now he suddenly turned into a demon covered with a murderous aura. Her heart became speechless.
When Lu-er saw her master looking grave, she tried to soothe her, "Miss, don't worry. With such great skill, Guye will surely be fine."
Murong Yunshu sighed. For him to have such a great skill was exactly the thing that made her so worried. Chu Changge was uncompromising and would do what he said. If the eighteen arhats could not subdue him, he would truly flood the Shaolin Temple with blood. It was normal for people in the jianghu to fight and kill, but to stain the Shaolin Temple with blood was different. It was not only leading in the martial arts circle, but it also represented a belief. To kill a monk was like killing Gods and Buddhas, and the public seriously condemned the act. [+]
The Martial Arts Assembly would be held there tomorrow, and if he flooded the Shaolin with blood today, wasn't this the same as forcing himself to a dead end?
When Murong Yunshu's train of thoughts was whirling around, the other side had already begun fighting, with the light of the knife and the shadow of the sword. There was a sure line between life and death between them.
"Miss, look, they are coming." Lu-er pointed to the group of 'heroes' who wanted to kill them in the inn.
Murong Yunshu's heart sank. All of these people had extraordinary skills. If they joined the battle and fought together with the eighteen arhats against Chu Changge, then he...would surely die.
After pinching her eyebrows and pondering, suddenly, a light flashed in her mind. The corner of Murong Yunshu's mouth gently hooked up as she smiled at Lu-er. "Lu-er, do you want to help your future Guye?"
"I suppose!" Lu-er nodded heavily, "but I don't know martial arts. I will only be more of a hindrance than a help, though."
"I want you to be more of a hindrance than a help." Before Lu-er could respond, Murong Yunshu gave her a hard push into the arhats formation.
Lu-er had not yet been able to stand straight when she saw a staff coming towards her head. She immediately held her head in her hands as she shrieked, "Don't kill me--"
The arhat who almost accidentally injured her quickly stopped. When that arhat stopped, the formation immediately fell into chaos. Chu Changge took the opportunity to stab the arhat with his sword, injuring his shoulder blade. The staff slipped down from the arhat’s hand, and the arhats formation broke.
"Brother Qingyuan!" The arhats stopped in succession and surrounded the injured arhat[3]Buddhist who has attained Nirvana through rigorous discipline and ascetic practices, Qingyuan, with concern.
"You don't have to worry about me. It's more important to kill that big devil," said arhat Qingyuan.
"But, the arhats formation has already broken, so, without it, we can't beat him."
Qingyuan shook his head. "He was lucky just now." After he said that, he looked at Great Master Xuankong, "Senior Brother Abbot, I will have to ask you to take my place in the formation to kill the enemy."
"Okay." Great Master Xuankong jumped into the battle circle with his law enforcement staff in his hand and instructed, "Set up the battle formation!"
"Yes." The arhats formation retook shape.
Murong Yunshu immediately pulled back the frightened Lu-er and retreated five meters away as she continued to worry. She just now had made use of Lu-er to disturb the arhats formation by catching them off guard, and yet, to use the same trick again wouldn't work. So how should she help him break the battle formation?
As she was thinking of how to deal with it, she suddenly sensed something ice-cold on her neck. Before Murong Yunshu could recover from her absent-mindedness, she heard Li Dao, who had suddenly stood beside her, shout, "Chu Changge, if you don't surrender, I'll kill Murong Yunshu!"
Noob Translator's Note
I'm sorry. I can't translate this novel from the beginning because the former translators had done an excellent job (much better than me) in translating previous chapters. I will translate from this chapter onwards (I love this story!). Please forgive and direct me if you find any mistakes in meaning, spelling and grammar for this chapter and future chapters. And sorry if my translation is not on par with what you are used to.
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Black Belly Wife