Flower Stealing Master

Jiumozhi knew that Song Qingshu was telling him to step down. Although in the eyes of Kangxi and others, he and Dongfang Bubai were still fighting on equal grounds, but for the three top experts in the scene, they knew that his defeat was all but certain.

Rather than to drag on to decide the outcome, and lose in an awkward manner, it was preferable to generously surrender and save face in front of Kangxi.

"The martial arts of cult leader Dongfang is superb, and this poor monk is inferior." Jiumozhi's tone was full of unwillingness. In his opinion, if the two stood still and slapped each other, Dongfang Bubai would definitely be injured heavier than him. It's a pity that his opponent's speed was too fast, and his moves simply couldn't hit him.

"Great monk, your martial arts is also pretty good." Seeing that the other party admitted defeat, there was no need to continue the fight anymore. A red shadow flashed and he stood a few meters away. “I’m sure there are no more than ten people in the wulin that are your equal.”

"I hope that cult leader Dongfang will give instructions. Which ten people can clearly beat this poor monk?" Jiumozhi asked. It was enough to lose to Dongfang Bubai. But, when he heard that there were as many as ten people who clearly surpassed him, he immediately faced him, showing clear disbelief.

Dongfang Bubai smiled faintly, "Zhang Sanfeng of Wudang Sect has reached the Demi-god realm, and his Taiji Skill is best at performing both slow and fast. Even if it’s me, I may not be his opponent, and you naturally can't beat him."

"This poor monk has also admired master Zhang for a long time." Jiumozhi nodded, wondering in his heart that who in all of wulin did not know that the strongest martial arts master was Zhang Sanfeng?

"Shaolin and Wudang Sect have always been the two giants in the wulin. Although this seat does look down on those stinky monks in red robes, but I admire their martial arts very much." Dongfang Bubai fell into contemplation,"I wanted to get my hands on the Seventy Two Forms of Shaolin in the past, so I sneaked into the Shaolin Temple’s Buddhist Scripture Pavilion. Along the way, I noticed at least three auras that are not weaker than me. I only know that one of them should be the number one martial artist in the Shaolin Temple in the past two hundred years. One of the thirteen holy monk’s, Xuanci." After speaking, he couldn't help but glance at Jiumozhi.

Jiumozhi's expression was a little embarrassed. Although he claimed to be proficient in Seventy Two Forms of Shaolin, he actually only had some minor accomplishments. The divine monk Xuanci had actually mastered all the Seventy Two Forms of Shaolin.

"Who are the other two?" Song Qingshu was very interested.

At the beginning, Dongfang Bubai was a little surprised by the martial arts vision of this young man. When he asked him a question, Dongfang Bubai smiled faintly, and then said, "I don't know too much. Even though I knew that there were three people in the Shaolin Temple who were not weaker than me, I didn’t meet them. And I didn’t care to know. As long as I want to escape, there is no one in the world who can get in my way." When Dongfang Bubai said this, there was a kind of self-confidence that looked down upon the heroes of the world.

"However.” Dongfang Bubai suddenly became a little puzzled. "Later when I was reading the Shaolin Temple scriptures in the Buddhist Scriptures Pavilion, I always felt as if someone was observing me from the dark. After thinking it through, I decided to leave. That feeling was too sinister."

"I'm afraid that the cult leader Dongfang came across the Unknown Monk in the Buddhist Scripture Pavilion." Song Qingshu immediately understood, so he described his appearance in detail.

"The monk who sweeps the floor in the room?" Dongfang Bubai was shocked. No wonder he had searched around and failed to find the source of the gaze. It turned out to be the old monk who was ignored by him at the beginning! Realizing that the other party could conceal his presence from his eyes and ears, Dongfang Bubai’s expression suddenly looked a little ugly.

"I also hope that the cult leader Dongfang will inform us about the rest of the masters in the Central Plains." Jiumozhi had no experience of meeting the Unknown Holy Monk, and was not interested in him at the moment.

Dongfang Bubai came back to his senses and continued, "Wang Chongyang of the Quanzhen Sect was also known as the number one in the world. Although this reputation of ‘number one in the world' is probably false, it should not be a big problem if he wanted to defeat this monk."

"That's not necessarily." Jiumozhi snorted.

Dongfang Bubai didn't care, and continued, "I have always admired the swordsmanship of Feng Qingyang of the Mount Hua Sect. According to legend, he has reached the realm of no sword to defeat a sword. This seat really wants to see it." He spoke with fascination.

"This little friend of this poor monk has also learned Feng Qingyang's sword art, why not ask him?" Jiumozhi said with a smile.

"Oh? I felt weird just now when I saw the wooden sword on your back. Could it be that you are a descendant of Master Feng?" As soon as Dongfang Bubai’s voice fell, he suddenly appeared before Song Qingshu.

Song Qingshu was shocked. Fortunately, he had known the ghostly speed of Dongfang Bubai, and his unpredictable ways, so he had been secretly keeping his guard up.

Seeing him suddenly launching a frontal attack, Song Qingshu hurriedly used the ‘The Fish Frolics in the Depths' from the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms, and quickly dodged. His wooden sword came out of its sheath, and a surge of sword qi shot out.

"Interesting and very interesting… today I not only saw the flame sword aura, but also saw the invisible sword qi." Dongfang Bubai spoke up, and continued to attack.

In the midst of this situation, Song Qingshu realized the helplessness Jiumozhi would have felt just now, and also understood the gap between himself and Jiumozhi.

His opponent's speed was too fast, Song Qingshu had no idea from which position he would attack from. Jiumozhi could use his rich combat experience to speculate where Dongfang Bubai’s next attack would come from, and take precautions in advance.

Song Qingshu didn't have that capability yet. Most of the time, he was able to avoid the opponent's attack by a hair's length. Fortunately, he learned quite a lot during his travels, in addition to the Nine Yin Scripture, the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms, and the sword art from the Cogitation Cliff; he knew some of the top most techniques in the world, and could barely cope with the attacks.

However, to outsiders, Song Qingshu was in dire straits and could only fend in an awkward manner, he didn’t have the same calm and steady feeling when Jiumozhi faced his opponent just now.

Dongfang Bubai was finally done with his test, "Boy, although your style of tumbling on the ground looks a bit ugly, but its effect is quite good." He stopped attacking and retreated to the place he stood before.

Song Qingshu smiled, got up from the ground. He had used the Slithering Snake Jumping Raccoon Technique in front of a group of people. Even though he was a man with two lifetimes, his face couldn't help but heat up. 

"Although your martial arts is good, it shouldn't be enough to let you escape from Feng Qingyang." Dongfang Bubai gave him a suspisious look. Just now, when he was testing him, what the other party performed was not the Nine Swords of Dugu. If he was a follower of Feng Qingyang, then this youth was naturally an enemy and not a friend.

"A gentleman can be deceived." Song Qingshu did not reveal that he had escaped by performing his peerless movement technique. Just now, when he had been fighting with Dongfang Bubai, he had been enduring the urge to use the Traceless Sand Treading Steps.

"Not bad!" Dongfang glanced at him with admiration. "What exactly is the swordless realm like?"

"The sword qi displayed by this humble one must be condensed with the help of this wooden sword." Song Qingshu fell into recollection, "Feng Qingyang’s every gesture is full of sword qi, and the feeling is like… as if he himself is a wonderful sword."

"Oh?" Dongfang Bubai nodded thoughtfully.

"Cult leader Dongfang, who else can beat the Great Monk?" Kangxi has always been interested in these secrets about the world of wulin, and now that he was listening while sitting on the dragon throne, he felt really excited.

"The rest are some seniors who live in seclusion. But are they still alive now? This Dongfang is not sure about it." Dongfang Bubai replied.

"Then there is the famous king of Nanyuan of Liao Kingdom, Xiao Feng, who was famous in the wulin in the past few years, The Ming Cult’s Zhang Wuji, and Guo Jing; how do they fare against the Great Monk?" Kangxi asked with curiosity on his face.

"I think their level should be between first and second class masters, even if it is slightly higher, I am afraid that they will not be able to easily defeat the Great Monk." Dongfang Bubai thought for a while and came up with his own estimate.

Jiumozhi's face twitched, thinking that as expected, the Central Plains wulin, has many outstanding heroes.

"May I know if the cult leader Dongfang has heard about a person named Dugu Qiubai?" Song Qingshu suddenly remembered something and asked.

"Dugu Qiubai?" Dongfang Bubai shook his head and said that he hadn't heard of him before, but thinking of the literal meaning of the name, he couldn't help but sneer, "I'm afraid that ‘to win’ is easy, but to ‘seek defeat’ is hard."

"This name conflicts with the name of cult leader Dongfang at first glance, but in my opinion, ‘seeking defeat’ is naturally not the equal of ‘invincible’." Wei Xiaobao on the side was really surprised by the show of strength by Dongfang Bubai in the previous fight. He bowed his head to admit defeat, and subconsciously churned out a few words of flattery.

Jiumozhi and Song Qingshu glanced at each other, and secretly despised Wei Xiaobao in their hearts, ‘Judging from the name, the status of “seeking defeat” is very comparable to “invincibile”.’

Dongfang Bubai obviously had the same idea. He was thinking about the craftiness of this shameless person. Suddenly his expression moved, and a strange smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, "Great Monk, I just said that there are many senior experts hidden in this world. It seems that there is one here."

As soon as the voice fell, Dongfang Bubai raised his hands. It was so fast that Song Qingshu didn't even have time to react yet. Dozens of embroidery needles had already shot densely into the shadow of a pillar in the Imperial Study Room.

Song Qingshu and Jiumozhi looked up and saw dozens of gleaming needles, but there was no sign of any person.

"Cult leader Dongfang is really strong in martial arts, and that attack just now almost managed to make  this old man's heartbeat speed up. It has been a long time since that happened." As the obscure voice sounded, an old eunuch walked out of the shadow of a nearby pillar.

"Who are you?" Kangxi was taken aback. If he hadn't seen him in eunuch clothes, he would have thought of him as an assassin.

"Replying to the Emperor…" The old eunuch looked thoughtful, and finally shook his head, "It's been too long, this old man can't remember when, but I remember that the Emperor seemed to be surnamed Zhu when I entered the palace… "

Kangxi's expression suddenly changed, and Wei Xiaobao was also taken aback. He hurriedly shouted, "Someone…" But before he could finish his words, there was already a thin needle in his throat.

Wei Xiaobao was so frightened that he almost had a heart attack. He tried to move his body a few times, but he discovered that he was stabbed on his mute acupuncture point and couldn't make a sound. The rest of his body had no major problems.

Jiumozhi and Song Qingshu were bluffed, and quickly became fully alert. You must know that both of them were top masters, and they didn't notice that there was another person in the room till now. Listening to the tone of Dongfang Bubai, he also seems to have just discovered it.

"Why did you use "Sunflower Treasure"?" The Dongfang Bubai was obviously not at all calm in his heart, and their eyes were fixed on each other.

"You ask this old man why he knows the ‘Sunflower Treasure’?" The old eunuch chuckled, as if he had heard a big joke, and looked at the Dongfang Bubai and said, "The "Sunflower Treasure" was created by me. You say, why would I not know about it?"

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I don't know if you have noticed, but the chapters are getting longer. This particular chapter was exactly 2222 words long! (" -")