Chapter 656: Sparks Fly
Xuan Ci said, “If you had come to our temple alone, we would have welcomed you with due respect. However, since the three of you have arrived together with Daoist Zhang, I must remind you that when he was young, he left Shaolin Temple without permission. According to our sect’s centuries-old rules, Daoist Zhang should be aware that any disciple who betrays or abandons our sect is never allowed to step foot in this temple again. Otherwise, they will face the punishment of having their feet severed.”
Zhang Sanfeng merely smiled without speaking, but Song Qingshu was not as patient. He sneered, “When Grandmaster was young, he may have served under Master Jueyuan at Shaolin Temple, but he was merely performing menial tasks like sweeping the floors and brewing tea. He never took the tonsure nor formally acknowledged a master. How could he be considered a disciple of Shaolin?”
Xuan Ci coldly replied, “Yet Daoist Zhang secretly learned martial arts from Shaolin before leaving.”
Song Qingshu recalled Zhang Sanfeng once saying: “Although I later created the martial arts of the Wudang Sect through my own efforts, if not for Master Jueyuan passing down the ‘Nine Yang Scripture’ to me, and for Lady Guo gifting me the pair of Shaolin Iron Arhats, I would have had no foundation upon which to build. It is not unreasonable to say that my martial arts originated from Shaolin.”
However, while Zhang Sanfeng was broad-minded, Song Qingshu was not. Hearing Shaolin monks repeatedly refer to his grandmaster as a traitor, his anger surged. “You keep slandering my grandmaster, claiming he stole Shaolin’s martial arts. Yet the martial arts of Wudang are well known throughout the martial world. Tell me, which technique exactly belongs to Shaolin?”
Xuan Ci said calmly, “Daoist Zhang’s ‘Nine Yang Scripture’ belongs to our temple.”
Song Qingshu was momentarily speechless but quickly found his footing. “If Grandmaster truly knew the Nine Yang Scripture, he wouldn’t have had to bring Zhang Wuji to Shaolin and suffer your contempt back then. Besides, in this world, the only person who currently knows the Nine Yang Scripture is the leader of the Ming Cult, Zhang Wuji. His scripture was found in a valley in Kunlun, not from Shaolin. If anything, it is more likely that Shaolin managed to steal a few fragments of the Nine Yang Scripture from elsewhere and then claimed it as your own.”
Hearing his words, the monks opposite him erupted in anger, shouting accusations.
Xuan Ci frowned, but as the abbot, he had some knowledge of past events. He slowly responded, “Back then, our temple’s ‘Nine Yang Scripture’ was stolen by Yin Kexi and Xiao Xiangzi. The scripture that Zhang Wuji found in Kunlun was likely the very same text stolen by those two. Daoist Zhang is well aware of this.”