The Villain's Counterattack

Southern Shaolin Temple is located in the middle of the Jiulian Mountains, nestled in a rugged basin, making it an ideal location for military strategists to cultivate their skills. Within the temple, hundreds of monks, all trained in martial arts, live on a small plain in the mountain basin, cultivating their own land. Despite their mountainous location, they possess considerable wealth and power.

"Lin Pingzhi, the young leader of the Fujian Fuwei Escort Agency, has come to pay homage to the temple." Lin Pingzhi brought a bunch of chickens, ducks, cows and sheep, and came to the front of the temple in a swaggering manner while gnawing on pig's trotters. The fat monk in charge of receiving guests put his hands together, bowed and asked questions.

Lin Pingzhi threw the half-gnawed bone in front of the door, took the wet towel handed to him, wiped his hands and mouth, and immediately turned from a dandy boy into a noble son.

"My name is Lin Pingzhi. I have heard that your temple has many eminent monks with profound Buddhist knowledge. My mother is pregnant, so I am willing to donate one thousand taels of silver and one hundred kilograms of incense oil to ask for a handwritten Buddhist scripture from the eminent monks in your temple." Lin Pingzhi's generosity made the monk in charge of reception forget his previous dandy behavior, and he politely invited him into the temple.

The Great Hall was majestic and imposing, and the martial arts training ground was bustling with activity. Lin Pingzhi, dressed in student attire, wielded a folding fan and pointed out the situation. "This Taizu Long Fist is performed quite well, with quite a military spirit. Very good, very good! I'd like to obtain a set like this for our troopers to practice. What do you think, Master?"

The abbot who came upon hearing the news twitched his lips slightly. This is my Shaolin's Luohan Fist, not the common Taizu Changquan. This kid is only eight years old. It is said that he practices martial arts every day, but he has a bad temper and often makes trouble. Seeing him today, he is indeed worthy of his name, a real playboy.

"Taizu Changquan is a military fighting method written by Emperor Taizu of Song Dynasty. It is widely circulated among the people. Our Shaolin also has a complete version. Mr. Lin is devoted to Buddhism and is willing to learn martial arts. I will help him." The abbot went with the flow and returned the favor.

"Hey, you're so easy to talk to. Since Master already knows that I'm devoted to learning martial arts, I wonder if you could accept me as your disciple?" Lin Pingzhi took the opportunity and didn't want to miss any chance.

"Amitabha, although Mr. Lin has a heart for Buddhism, he has no affinity with Buddhism and cannot enter our Buddhist sect." The abbot remained calm and walked without stopping. He sent Lin Pingzhi away with just one word of affinity with Buddhism.

Lin Pingzhi curled his lips in disdain. It's up to you to decide whether you have a connection with Buddhism or not. Well, today's two tasks have been completed. One is to discard bones at the temple gate, and the other is to tease the abbot. However, there seems to be room for improvement in the second task. Let's see.

"This must be the Powerful Demon Subduing Fist, it's so powerful and unstoppable, it's really amazing. What should I do if I really want to learn it?" Lin Pingzhi saw a master practicing the Powerful Vajra Palm. With one palm strike, the stone slab shattered, and the stone chips almost hit his face. He was completely unaware that he had disturbed the other person, and was still talking nonsense, praising the "Powerful Demon Subduing Fist" to the sky.

The abbot's mouth twitched. "My Shaolin only has the Great Vajra Palm and the Great Vajra Fist, but not the Great Vajra Subduing Demon Fist that the donor mentioned."

"Oh, maybe I remembered it wrong. This Vajra Fist is really good. Hmm, it is very suitable for me to learn. How about I become his disciple?" Lin Pingzhi's starry eyes were full of admiration.

"My junior fellow apprentice is very fond of martial arts, but before his death, our master appointed him to be in charge of disciplines and not to accept disciples. I'm afraid your wish will not be fulfilled." The abbot looked regretful.

"But I really want to learn it. This claw can make mountains collapse and the earth crack. It's so powerful that it can scare people to death without even hitting them." Lin Pingzhi's words made the big monk who was practicing the Vajra Palm frown. His palm should be able to lift up dust and leave a clear palm print to be considered a master. If he hadn't been disturbed by you just now, how could he have made such a fool of himself. What kind of master are you? Get out of here right now.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" Lin Pingzhi was even more outrageous. He kowtowed three times and shouted crisply, "Master!"

Then he stood up, dusted himself off, and said to the abbot with a smile, "I've kowtowed, and Master has called me. Can I learn the Great Vajra Fist now?"

"Donor, you, you are really..." The abbot had never seen a child with such a thick skin. He said that the child was innocent and had a simple mind, but it didn't seem so. However, the other person brought one thousand taels of silver, so it didn't seem appropriate to make him cry.

"Due to the master's order, I really cannot accept you as my disciple. However, since I have accepted your three kneelings, I would rather not show any appreciation. Junior brother, please practice the Vajra Palm completely. How much you can learn depends on your luck." The abbot was very cunning. The Vajra Palm without the internal skills and the roadmap for practicing the skills was only an external skill. Unless one was truly gifted and could generate internal strength from the outside, otherwise it would be flashy and not worth mentioning.

What's more, there are subtle differences in the training and fighting methods of the Vajra Palm. Besides the routes of exercising, there are some other tricks that cannot be told to outsiders. It is extremely difficult to learn it secretly through this method.

"Deal!" Lin Pingzhi stared at the master's every move, gesturing with his hands. The master seemed to be deliberately making things difficult for him. This time, his palms were raised and fell cleanly, and the speed was three times faster than before, leaving the other escorts and porters around him stunned.

"Did Mr. Lin gain anything?" The abbot looked at Lin Pingzhi with a smile.

Lin Pingzhi bit his finger, frowning as he pondered deeply. After a moment, he shook his head gently: "Probably, possibly, almost. I forgot half of it. Let me type it again and ask the two masters to help take a look."

As he spoke, he started to prepare, but the first move was half wrong. The palm technique that followed was ambiguous and the movements were seriously distorted. The abbot and the big monk looked distorted, but they couldn't help but applaud Lin Pingzhi. Is this Shaolin's powerful Vajra Palm? Why is it similar to the duck step cat punch?

But there is one thing worth praising, the number of moves is just right, not too many and not too few, and the appearance really does have a little bit of shadow in it. This child does have some ability to imitate.

Lin Pingzhi proudly said, I don’t want you to be my master anymore, I have already learned your martial arts, and declared to the abbot that it was you who allowed me to learn, but you can’t accuse me of stealing Shaolin’s unique skills in the future.

The abbot nodded repeatedly, indicating that he would definitely not do that. He just asked him not to reveal this shameless method in the future, so that others would not learn it. He also could not say that it was taught by his junior fellow apprentice.

Lin Pingzhi expressed his understanding, and then used the same method to "learn" the Arhat Fist, Weituo Palm, and Demon-Subduing Sword. He did not learn until everyone had finished their lessons. Then he worshipped the Buddha, asked for scriptures, and quietly pulled the abbot aside.

He looked around furtively, then with a guilty conscience, he pulled out a small booklet from his bosom and presented it to the abbot with both hands: "This is the 'Evil-Defeating Sword Technique', a unique skill passed down from our Lin family ancestors. I copied it myself, and it is absolutely identical to the one my father used. I would like to entrust this technique to Southern Shaolin in exchange for an internal martial arts technique of the same level."

"I'm not picky. Any of the Yi Jin Jing, Xi Sui Jing, or whatever is fine with me."

Abbot of Southern Shaolin Temple: ...