Chapter 125: The Intricate Endgame

Just as Xian Kai was unexpectedly invited by Master Xuan Kong into the inner room to discuss Zen, the so-called “Seventeen Heroes of Yanshan” took a winding route and finally found this dilapidated small temple. To enter, they had a minor clash with Master Zhi Heng, who was trying to maintain peace in the temple.
Originally, the group didn’t dare to offend NPCs casually…
In the martial world, any NPC outside safe zones—except for shopkeepers and farmers—almost all possessed varying degrees of skills.
“Master!”
The leader, “Tiger of Yanshan,” spoke in a calm tone, trying to appear friendly, his smiling face seeming harmless: “Rest assured, we brothers have no ill intentions. We just want to borrow your place to sit inside for a while.”
“Amitabha!” Master Zhi Heng wasn’t someone easily moved. Clasping his hands, he replied, “Dear benefactors, this temple is small and prefers quiet. It likely can’t accommodate so many of you. Moreover, visiting at such late hours is very inconvenient. You’d better leave.”
“…”
The group exchanged glances silently, frowning.
The map clearly showed that the treasure box was inside the temple, just ten meters away. In other words, the person and the item they were looking for were definitely inside.
So, no matter how dangerous the temple might be, they had to try to get in.
Tiger of Yanshan gave a signal, and two people from the back of the group quickly disappeared into the darkness, heading around to the sides of the temple…
“…Sigh, why go to such lengths?”
After a deep sigh, Master Zhi Heng remained expressionless. With a gentle wave of his hand, a powerful whirlwind erupted. From the darkness on both sides of the temple came muffled groans… followed by thuds as heavy objects hit the ground, after which there was silence.
The remaining members didn’t know what had happened. They sent two people to check and discovered that their two companions who tried to climb over the walls from the sides had clear black palm prints on their chests and dried blood at the corners of their mouths—they had died on the spot.
“He killed Brother Sixteen and Brother Thirteen!”
When they returned and reported this to Tiger of Yanshan, the group was filled with rage. Swords were drawn, and the atmosphere was tense, as if they wanted to tear the killing monk to pieces right away.
“Stop.”
Tiger of Yanshan raised his hand to stop his brothers’ impulse. He observed carefully and solemnly.
Master Zhi Heng kept his eyes closed, silently reciting scriptures for the souls of the dead. Even surrounded by a group armed with swords, he remained calm, showing no emotion, as if everything around him had nothing to do with him!

“The monk is formidable; we shouldn’t confront him head-on.”
Although Yan Shanhu found it somewhat unbelievable, many things in the martial arts world were beyond imagination—such as hitting targets from afar, supernatural abilities, or hidden weapons invisible to the naked eye, all of which could silently kill his brothers from a distance. Of course, that was only possible if… the monk before them was a reclusive super expert!
If that were indeed the case…
At this thought, Yan Shanhu instinctively took a half-step back.
“Brother, are we just giving up like this?”
Someone behind him reminded him, “Dying once reduces one’s strength by 20%… It will take nearly a month for ‘Sixteen’ and ‘Thirteen’ to fully recover.”
“Third brother, do you have a better plan? Or do you want more of our brothers to die? He’s just an NPC. If we blame anyone, it’s only ourselves for not being sharp enough.” Yan Shanhu spoke gravely, casting a cold glance at the third brother, who fell silent.
Yan Shanhu’s anger remained unrelenting. He glanced past Monk Zhiheng and scanned the ruined temple walls before snorting coldly, “Find a place to hide! I don’t believe he can hold on in this ruined temple forever!”
The group quickly disappeared into the dark woods.
The moon shone like cold water.
Silence returned to the surroundings of the temple…
“Where’s Yan Shanhu, the Seventeen Heroes? Tch.”
In the even darker bushes, the two who had followed them looked down at the red dot on the map, feeling frustrated.
They had thought they could easily play the role of hunters, but Yan Shanhu and the Seventeen Heroes turned out to be so weak—scared off by the monk guarding the temple, they stopped moving. As time passed and daylight approached, their vision improved slightly, and they grew anxious.
“What if we go around to the back and see if we can get past?” one of them suggested after a moment of hesitation.
But he was quickly opposed by his companion, who replied firmly, “No.”
“That monk isn’t ordinary. Just look at his ability to hurt people from afar—his internal energy level is quite high. The temple is small; if we go that way, we won’t be able to hide from him…”
“What then?”
The one who suggested it frowned deeply, “It’ll be difficult once it gets light. Yan Shanhu has fifteen men there. With just the two of us, we definitely can’t defeat them openly.”

After a pause, he glanced in the direction of the temple and continued, “Moreover, the person who seizes the tribute must have triggered some kind of mission. If he truly wants to hide, staying in the temple all day until the emperor’s birthday, even if he comes out then, we’ll be at a loss! So, apart from forcing our way in, there’s no other option.”
“But… not to mention the Seventeen Heroes of Yanshan, just getting past that bald guy alone won’t be easy.” The latter sighed heavily, his brows furrowed in concern.
“I do have an idea.”
“Hmm?”
“I guess the people in the temple won’t come out anytime soon. How about I go down the mountain now and quietly spread the information here to a group of people…” He stopped speaking, and his companion’s eyes lit up. “Driving tigers and wolves away! Brilliant! I’m fast—I’ll go find people!”
“Go quickly and return swiftly!”
“Understood.”
A dark figure took advantage of the still-dark night to quietly leave the temple and fly downward toward the foot of the mountain.
Kai Xin naturally had no idea what was happening outside the temple. After following Master Xuan Kong into the inner room, he saw books lined up on all four walls. Everywhere he looked, martial arts techniques representing various schools of Shaolin were neatly arranged—ranging from the most common ones like “Shaolin Staff Techniques,” “Iron Head Skill,” “Flying Crossing Technique,” “Iron Broom Skill,” “Eagle Claw Skill” to the extremely expensive advanced techniques such as “Arhat True Qi,” “Golden Bell Shield,” “Flowing Cloud Sleeves,” “Powerful Vajra Fingers,” “Gecko Wall-Climbing Skill,” “Dragon Claw Hand”… there was everything.
In his past life, he had been truly awed by the books here, spending a long time immersed in them, wishing he could pack them all into his Qiankun Bag and become a black-market seller of secret manuals. This time, having been prepared, Kai Xin wasn’t too tempted…
Master Xuan Kong watched Kai Xin’s expression and reactions the whole time. Seeing that the latter merely examined everything with a calm, appreciative gaze, he tilted his head slightly, his eyes showing a hint of admiration.
“I wonder how skilled this young disciple is at chess?”
Master Xuan Kong smiled and pointed to the square table in the center of the room, where dozens of black and white pieces were already placed, clearly indicating an unfinished game…