Chapter 27 Rewards and "Punishment"

The cold wind blew through the cliff like a steel knife scraping bones. Even though he changed into a thick monk robe and undershirt, Meng Qi was still shivering with cold. He had to use the Shaolin Heart Method to let the internal force flow slowly in his body to dispel the severe cold.

The road leading to the back mountain has a guard every three steps and a sentry every five steps. Even those cliff edges that seem to be impassable are guarded by monks. Meng Qi, Zhenhui, and Zhending were arranged in front of a narrow road leading directly to the back mountain, with cliffs on both sides and dense forests in front of them.

"Brother, are there white bone spirits and spider spirits in the back mountain?" Zhenhui has not yet opened up his Dantian, and his internal strength is growing slowly. He jumped slightly on the spot because of the cold, and was looking at the darkness at the end of the narrow road with a sharp gaze. That place belongs to the back mountain.

"White bone spirit? Spider spirit?" Zhenyong was stunned for a moment, then cast his eyes on Meng Qi, and looked at what strange story you told your junior brother again.

Meng Qi laughed. Besides practicing martial arts to cope with the pressure of life and death in the reincarnation world, this was his only pleasure: "Since Senior Brother Zhen Miao said it was demons and ghosts, there must be fairies."

He didn't know much about this, so he deliberately raised it to see if Zhen Yong could answer one or two.

Zhen Yong also looked at the end of the narrow road in a trance, and said to himself: "Real demons and ghosts...how many people have seen them? Since the era of 'demons in chaos', the demons have disappeared, at least ordinary people like us rarely see them. There are only occasional rumors about scholars encountering fox demons and masters suppressing snake spirits. Haha, anyway, I haven't seen them."

Meng Qi nodded and didn't ask more questions, because Zhen Yong didn't seem to know much.

The night was long and the north wind was getting colder. Zhen Hui had found a stone to sit cross-legged and meditate, and Zhen Yong also walked back and forth to dispel the cold.

Because it was quiet all the time, and there were high monks from the Dharma and Bodhi temples guarding behind him, Meng Qi gradually focused on figuring out the last step of the Eight Steps of Divine Movement. Suddenly, a biting cold wind blew, and Meng Qi shivered. His mind became clear, and a flash of inspiration came to him. All the obstacles were figured out.

After figuring out the key to the last step of the Eight Steps of Divine Movement, Meng Qi was eager to practice.

Although Zhenyong "knew" that he had family martial arts, Meng Qi was still not used to practicing the footwork directly, unless he used sword skills to cover it up, but that would make too much noise and would be easily discovered by Zhenmiao and others who were patrolling everywhere, and he would be scolded.

Looking around, Meng Qi covered his stomach and said to Zhen Yong: "Brother, my stomach hurts, I need to go to the bathroom, sorry to bother you here."

Zhen Yong had this experience several times in the Sutra Library, so he was not surprised. He said with a smile: "Go quickly. If Brother Zhen Miao and the others come, I will help you explain."

Meng Qi took the sword and rushed into the forest in front of him in three or two steps. He did not dare to go too far. He started to practice his footwork around the giant trees on the side of the cliff.

The "Eight Steps of Divine Movement" is exquisite and strange. At this time, it was dark at night, making Meng Qi like a ghost, appearing and disappearing from time to time.

"Yes, it is true!" After practicing a few rounds, Meng Qi nodded with satisfaction and decided to return.

Just as he was about to take a step, he suddenly heard a slight rustling sound coming from the cliff. He immediately tensed up, and his heart and feet moved in unison. He quietly slid and hid behind a big tree.

"Isn't my luck so bad? Aren't there uncles and brothers guarding the inner layer? And there's a thick cliff in between!" Meng Qi's first instinct was that it was a demon.

He stole a glance and saw a big hole in the cliff next to a slightly red boulder, and a figure jumped out vigilantly.

The figure groped for a while at a certain position behind the boulder, and the sound of rustling started again, and the stone wall slowly closed.

"The escape passage secretly dug by demons and ghosts?" Meng Qi guessed bitterly, regretting why he entered the forest!

He originally thought that there were only some wild beasts here, and the winter was so cold that the wild beasts would not come out to move around. It was a safe place without any mistakes, but who knew that he encountered such a mess!

The figure turned around and was about to run to the other side of the forest.

At this time, with the dim moonlight, Meng Qi saw the face of the figure clearly.

Him? Meng Qi was shocked and almost cried out, and finally bit his lips tightly to hold it back.

The person coming out of the back mountain turned out to be Zhenguan!

The Zhenguan who attacked me and suffered from the hopelessness of revenge!

"Hasn't he been expelled from the mountain gate a long time ago?" Meng Qi wondered doubtfully. He believed Xuanxin was not lying to him on this point, because Zhenyan, who was on good terms with him in the servants' courtyard, said that he had not seen Zhenguan since that day.

Meng Qi did not make a move, watching Zhenguan go away, because he thought that his own strength was far from enough to get involved in the affairs of demons and ghosts.

"People need to have some self-knowledge, not everyone is the protagonist..." Meng Qi complained in his heart.

If I rashly open the secret passage, I am afraid that after entering, I will not get the inner elixir of the monster beast, the magic power of the monster clan, and other adventures, but will be killed directly, devoured, or turned into a puppet. After all, the former is the treatment of the "protagonist", and I don't seem to have such a "halo of luck" at present.

He quietly left the forest and decided to find someone who could handle the matter. Although he had already decided to return to secular life, he was still in Shaolin Temple. If Shaolin Temple became chaotic, he might be caught in the crossfire.

"Brother Zhending, did you have a stomachache?" Zhenyong saw Meng Qi coming back late and joked.

Meng Qi said seriously, "Brother Zhending, I had a strange experience when I had diarrhea. I'm afraid I have to report it to the uncles and uncles in the inner circle!"

"Ah? Then set off the fireworks!" Zhenyong was startled, rolled his eyes, and asked Meng Qi to send an emergency signal without asking what was going on.

The corner of Meng Qi's mouth twitched. This senior brother Zhenyong, who is usually enthusiastic and cheerful, generous and loyal, is still quite cunning at critical moments. He actually didn't ask anything and tried to stay out of the matter.

He didn't care about Zhenyong's little thoughts, but decided to be wary of him secretly. At this time, Zhenhui got in front of him, took out a small bamboo tube from his arms, pointed it at the sky, and opened the lid.

With a whoosh, a red light shot into the sky and exploded into a brilliant scene in mid-air.

"Junior brother is indeed a man of action. He sent out the signal without asking anything..." Meng Qi wiped away cold sweat and stood in front of Zhenhui with a knife in hand, guarding against possible attacks.

After two or three breaths, Meng Qi's eyes blurred, and he saw a handsome but extremely melancholy middle-aged monk. He was wearing a yellow monk's robe and a red cassock. In his right hand, he held a string of black beads engraved with a Buddha statue. .

"Yellow monk's robe, red cassock...Which monastery leader or elder is this?" Meng Qi opened his mouth to address him, but when he reached his mouth, he was stunned. Should he call him uncle, uncle, or uncle? I don’t even know the other person, so this generation is very troublesome.

However, seeing an eminent monk of this level coming over, Meng Qi felt a little calmer.

The middle-aged monk had a solemn look on his face when he arrived, but after seeing the calmness here, his expression softened. Seeing Meng Qi's hesitation, he guessed what he was struggling with and smiled slightly: "The old monk's name is Xuanbei, why just now?" Send out emergency fireworks?”

Is the Xuan generation already the chief or the elder? Meng Qi was shocked, but he still suppressed the fluctuation in his heart and said what he had just thought about repeatedly: "Uncle Xuanbei, just now my disciple went to relieve himself in the forest over there and saw a secret door appearing on the cliff... "

Xuanbei listened to Meng Qi's story with a calm expression, nodded slightly and said, "You did a good job, neither being rash nor concealing anything. Are you sure that figure is the Zhen Guan who was expelled from the mountain gate before?"

"Disciple recognizes his appearance, but I don't know if he transformed into a monster." Meng Qi answered honestly.

After Xuan Bei inquired about the location of the secret door and nearby features, he gave an order: "You will follow Xuan Chi back to the Wu Monk Academy later, and you can leave the matters here to me."

"Yes, Uncle Xuanbei." Meng Qi was eager to leave here. Now he was always worried that there would be monsters and ghosts coming out of the darkness nearby.

Xuanbei didn't move, and suddenly disappeared on the spot, flashing at the edge of the forest. There was a faint sound of Zen chanting around him, and a little bit of Buddha light flickered, solemn and sacred, transcendent from the world, like the arrival of Arhat Bodhisattva.

"Is this the strength that is close to the peak of outdoor scenes..." Zhenyong murmured to himself as he looked in the direction where Xuanbei disappeared.

Meng Qi looked at him in astonishment: "Senior Brother Zhenyong, do you know this uncle?"

Zhenyong came back to his senses and said with full emotion: "Except for the Uncle Xuan Chi Xuan Ku and others that I see every day, I don't recognize any other uncles, but this Uncle Xuan Bei has a very good reputation. I heard Senior Brother Zhenchang mentioned it.”

Zhenchang, the first of the three disciples of the Zhenzi generation? Meng Qi knew Zhen Chang, and it was said that he was a little more powerful than Zhen Miao and Zhen Ben.

Zhenyong continued: "Master Xuanbei was originally a top master in the world, nicknamed 'Seven Jue Shou', but later he suffered a misfortune and his whole family was wiped out. Although he finally got his revenge, the opponent had a deep background. A master-level figure came to get him. He was already disheartened, and because of this incident, he fled to Shaolin, joined Buddhism, and became the Qingdeng Ancient Buddha. "

"Because of his outstanding talent and his devotion to Buddhism, he was valued by the abbot master, who accepted him as a disciple. He made an exception and made him a direct successor. He learned the "Moko Subduing Demon Fist". He was also extraordinary and achieved a breakthrough in a short period of time. , entered the ranks of masters, and later became the first eminent monk of the Xuan generation to enter the eighth level of the outdoor scene, only one step away from the peak. "

"This kind of character is always full of legend..." Meng Qi thought quietly, while Zhen Hui listened with interest.

Afterwards, Zhenmiao and others rushed over, along with many monks in yellow clothes that Meng Qi didn't recognize. The three of them were led back to the Wu Monk Academy by Xuan Chi.

The next morning, just when Meng Qi was about to go out to practice calligraphy and inquire about the outcome of this matter (because he was guarding the back mountain the day before, he did not have to get up early to fetch water), the door was pushed open, and the rather sinister-looking disciplinary monk Xuan Kong walked in , followed by a dejected Jinyoung.

"Yesterday, your discovery failed a certain conspiracy of the demon in the back mountain. The Bodhi Courtyard will reward you, but I guess it will take a few days." Xuan Kongpi said with a smile, "But I'm sure your guard will If you leave your post without permission during Taoism, the Discipline Academy will have to punish you. Considering your achievements this time, I will punish you by facing the wall in the meditation room for three days."

Just face the wall for three days? Meng Qi groaned, not paying attention to this punishment because it was too light, just enough to calm down and polish his internal strength.

He is fully looking forward to the reward from Bodhi Court. Will it be one of the seventy-two unique skills?

Three days later, Meng Qi finished facing the wall and opened the door of the room with ease and joy after eating the dinner.

"Uh, junior brother, why aren't you happy?" Meng Qi met Zhen Hui when he went out.

Zhenhui said angrily: "Today, my uncles and uncles came to select disciples, but you, senior brother, were punished to face the wall and couldn't get out."

Meng Qi's face suddenly turned gloomy. This was the original purpose!

Is it because of the previous disrespect, or is it because of his brother who is in the Discipline Academy?

He narrowed his eyes and said to Zhenhui in a calm tone: "Let's go to the martial arts hall."

Although Meng Qi didn't really want to become a disciple, as it would be difficult for him to leave Shaolin, he still wouldn't be happy facing this situation.

As soon as he finished speaking, Meng Qi suddenly saw two lines of words on the thin snow in the courtyard:

"The second reincarnation is open!"

"Please be mentally prepared. When it opens again in the future, I will not inform you and will just pull you in."