Urban Martial Saint

Rushing to the outside of the last five caves, thankfully there were no Devouring Demon Flowers.

Shijia exhaled deeply, finally letting go of Ye Qing’s hand this time.

As soon as he released it, Ye Qing immediately cursed, ”You baldy, how dare you trick me!”

”Shush, shush, shush...” Shijia quickly made a series of quiet gestures towards Ye Qing, awkwardly saying, ”Keep your voice down, keep your voice down, let me explain to you!”

”Explain what?” Ye Qing glared, ”You clearly used me as a shield, what more explanation do you have?”

”Aren’t you unharmed, not even losing a strand of hair?” Shijia said, ”I had my reasons for doing so. If I didn’t know the Devouring Demon Flowers wouldn’t hurt you, I wouldn’t have treated you like this. I knew you would be fine, that’s why I did it. I certainly wouldn’t use you to take risks.”

Shijia’s words somewhat diminished Ye Qing’s anger, and he glared at Shijia, saying, ”Who said the Devouring Demon Flowers wouldn’t hurt me? The situation was dangerous; if those flowers swallowed me, what would happen? Would I be able to get out? Do you have a way to save me from them?”

”Oh come on, you definitely won’t be swallowed by the Devouring Demon Flowers,” Shijia waved his hand, saying, ”I did it as a last resort. You saw it earlier; as soon as I appeared in that cave, the flowers went crazy and attacked me. Without your help, I couldn’t have reached this place.”

Thinking about this, Ye Qing felt curious, saying, ”By the way, I haven’t asked you yet, how did you provoke those Devouring Demon Flowers? Why do they attack you like you’re their enemy, and so quickly at that, when this has never happened before!”

”Nonsense, they are just flowers; how could I have provoked them?” Shijia replied, ”The only reason is that I’m from the Buddhist Sect!”

”What kind of nonsense reason is that?” Ye Qingqi said.

”I’m the legitimate heir of Xiaolin Temple, also the most authentic heir of the Buddhist Sect. What I learned, the Vajra Indestructible Body, is a unique skill passed down by Buddha, belonging to the lineage of Buddha.” Shijia pointed to the caves behind them and said, ”What are the Devouring Demon Flowers? You should know, they’re born from the Great Demon King’s coffin, meaning they are manifestations of the Demon King’s power. What’s the relationship between Buddha and demon? I don’t need to explain that, right? Years ago it was the collaboration between Buddhist and Taoist that defeated the Great Demon King. With such a relationship, do you think these flowers inheriting the demon’s power would be kindly towards the authentic heirs of Buddha? It’s no wonder they go berserk when they see a Buddhist heir!”

”I see,” Ye Qing realized, increasingly amazed. So these Devouring Demon Flowers, could they have some consciousness, knowing to attack the heirs of Buddha?

Shijia seemed to see what Ye Qing was thinking, saying, ”Don’t think these flowers have their own consciousness; it’s actually the demon’s power dominating, an instinctive reaction of this power.”

Ye Qingqi said, ”According to you, the heirs of Buddhist and Taoist entering the Demon Hideout Cave will be attacked by these flowers. But why could Patriarch Bodhidharma and Ancestor Chen Tuan enter smoothly before, leaving words at the cave’s end?”

Shijia replied, ”What’s so impossible about that? Their strength was surely above mine. Just in that previous cave, they could come in much easier than me without needing help.”

”But the key issue lies in these last five caves,” Ye Qing pointed at the final five caves, saying, ”Inside these caves, the number of Devouring Demon Flowers is dozens of times greater than before. How did they reach the end among such a siege, and even leave a mark inside?”

”That’s where you’re mistaken,” Shijia said, ”In fact, the Devouring Demon Flowers in these last five caves will no longer attack us.”

”Why?” Ye Qing was stunned again; the previous caves’ flowers were desperately attacking, but the ones behind won’t. What kind of nonsense is this?

”In fact, in these last five caves, unless you provoke the Devouring Demon Flowers, they won’t rashly attack you. This was left by the Great Demon King before his demise,” Shijia said, ”I don’t know the exact reason, but it seems to be a result of fate. Those who reach these last five caves mostly do so by chance. Since it’s fate, it means those who enter are connected to the Great Demon King, why would he still attack them?”

”Is that so?” Ye Qing looked at the last five caves. For some reason, he always felt that Shijia’s words were untrustworthy. This old guy was notoriously unreliable, and on this matter, he might be lying.

”Nonsense, why would I lie to you about this?” Shijia waved his hand, looked at the five caves at the back, and said, ”By the way, which of these caves did Patriarch Bodhidharma enter? And which one did Ancestor Chen Tuan enter?”

”This is the cave Patriarch Bodhidharma entered, and the one next to it is the cave Ancestor Chen Tuan entered.” Ye Qing said curiously, ”But there’s another problem. When you passed by that cave earlier, why did those Devouring Demon Flowers attack you so fiercely, yet the Heart Demon Array in that cave didn’t activate?”

”It’s not that the Heart Demon Array didn’t activate, but rather that it has no effect on me!” Shijia said, ”Didn’t I tell you before that I practice the Vajra Indestructible Body, the primary point of which is to use Karmic Fire to refine the body, burning all evil karma. To put it plainly, I am not tainted by mundane auras, and therefore have no heart demons. How can the Heart Demon Array control me?”

”Is that so?” Ye Qing looked at Shijia, always feeling that the old man’s words were unreliable. You claim to be untouched by mundane auras? Yet, you eat and drink more than anyone else. How can such a person claim to be untainted by the mundane? You’re fooling ghosts by burning paper money at graves.

”Enough with the nonsense, just tell me the specifics about these caves first.” Shijia casually pointed to the other three caves and said, ”Which one did Wu Tianchi enter, and which one did the Corpse Ghost Dragon enter?”

”Aren’t you looking for clues left by Patriarch Bodhidharma? Why bother with the caves entered by others?” Ye Qingqi asked.

”I’m just asking to clarify the situation first.” Shijia waved his hand and said, ”Alright, stop talking nonsense and quickly tell me so I can get to work.”

Ye Qing had no choice but to point out the caves that Wu Tianchi and the Corpse Ghost Dragon entered for Shijia. Shijia memorized the positions of these four caves, but his gaze remained more focused on the cave at the very back, the one containing the Great Demon King’s Coffin. However, Ye Qing did not notice this, nor did he even think that Shijia still had designs on the cave with the Great Demon King’s Coffin!

Shijia patted Ye Qing’s shoulder and said, ”Alright, let’s first go check out the cave that Patriarch Bodhidharma entered!”

”What do you mean ’first go’?” Ye Qing suddenly realized and looked at Shijia. ”Are you planning to check the other caves too?”

”Uh, well...” Shijia appeared somewhat embarrassed, scratching his head, ”I... I actually also want to see Ancestor Chen Tuan’s cave, after all, he was a Taoist master...”

Ye Qing looked at Shijia with doubt, but Shijia maintained an expression of serene indifference, revealing nothing special. Ye Qing couldn’t guess what Shijia was thinking, but recalling how the Devouring Demon Flowers attacked Shijia earlier, he reckoned Shijia wouldn’t dare cause trouble in the Demon Hideout Cave, so he said nothing and led Shijia into the cave that Patriarch Bodhidharma had entered.

Everything inside the cave was very familiar to Ye Qing. And just as Shijia had said, upon entering the cave, the Devouring Demon Flowers did not attack him, allowing him to safely and easily reach the end of the cave.

At the end of the cave, on a stone platform, the Power of Dragon Elephant Secret Manual left by Patriarch Bodhidharma was still engraved there. Ye Qing went to the stone bed to search carefully and then said to Shijia, ”You said that Patriarch Bodhidharma left other clues here? Really? How come I can’t find anything?”

”I told you, it’s left with a Buddhist Secret Technique. If you could find it, that would be odd!” Shijia went to the stone platform and stared at it for a while, suddenly reaching out to tap on it.

Ye Qing watched as Shijia’s movements were swift, his two fingers tapping on the stone platform as if performing acupoint pressing. In less than half a minute, he tapped over a hundred times on that stone platform. Just then, a soft ”bang” sound came from the stone platform. Immediately following, a small hidden compartment popped out from the side of the stone platform.

Seeing the hidden compartment, Ye Qing froze. Even if he knew of its existence, he couldn’t open it. Shijia, in less than half a minute, tapped over a hundred times on the stone platform. This speed was beyond Ye Qing’s ability. Moreover, every position Shijia tapped was different, clearly showing it depended on specific locations. No wonder Shijia said this was a Buddhist Secret Technique; probably only he knew how to open it, and no one else could.

Inside the hidden compartment was a small wooden plaque, engraved with some strange marks similar to those Shijia had shown Ye Qing before. It seemed that this was the clue left by Patriarch Bodhidharma. Pieced together with the clues Shijia had obtained before, they would be able to find the item Patriarch Bodhidharma left behind!

”Found it!” Shijia was overjoyed and quickly went over to grab the wooden plaque.