Sword Among Us

“Has Yuan Mie successfully returned to the temple of monks?”

The words were followed by a sigh that Happy could hear as if it was by his ears.

A thought appeared in Happy’s head at that moment. As he had expected, Mad Monk wanted to say something to him. His voice was clearly a high-tier form of private voice transmission.

“Yes. Abbot Kong Xiang will be the one personally conducting the ceremony,” Happy answered respectfully.

Elites who had reached Myth Realm were usually matchless legends. Mad Monk was someone who had reached that stage more than thirty years ago before he hid in Punishment Mount. Right now, his qi realm might have already become even greater!

“That is good. If he can successfully return to the temple of monks, that young monk will be considered to have understood the true and profound secret of Bodhidharma.” The voice in the clouds traveled clearly into Happy’s ears. “But that is all thanks to you as well.

“You persisted in challenging him day after day. If you hadn’t done that, with Young Yuan Mie’s intellect, it would have been very difficult for him to understand what he is lacking in his temperament. Then, it would have been difficult for him to understand all the hard work of Founder Bodhidharma in regards to people like him.”

Happy did not dare to take credit for this sort of thing. He bowed slightly to the clouds and said, “I only performed some hard labor in this. In the end, Master Yuan Mie is the one who had to work hard to get that epiphany.”

The person in the clouds was silent for a long time.

Just when Happy thought that the matter had come to an end, the old voice suddenly traveled into his ears again.

“I’ve watched you act as Yuan Mie’s opponent for the past twenty or so days. Boy, you have two pretty decent ultimate techniques. If my guess is correct, the palm technique you used against Young Monk Yuan Mie should be Beggar’s Sect’s ultimate technique, Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palm. It is an ultimate technique that only the sect masters of Beggar’s Sect can inherit.”

“Senior, you have great judgment. What I am currently practicing is indeed Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palm.”

Mad Monk then said, “Your other ultimate technique is slightly peculiar. It is full of profound secrets, but it is rather familiar as well. Boy, if you do not mind, execute a few moves from it so that I can take a look.”

A monk who broke his vows suddenly cried out not too far away in the distance.

Happy turned around and saw that the monk who broke his vows was being dragged by an invisible suction force to an area near the region of clouds. He fell in front of Happy with a loud bang.

“If that’s the case, I will show my respect to you by obeying!”

Even if the monk who broke his vows was already close to him, Happy continued to remain calm. He retained a relaxed demeanor.

The monk who broke his vows might have felt fearful and curious, but when he saw that Happy was standing in front of him, a fierce glare instantly shone in his eyes.

Before he got to his feet, he swung his Silver-spiked Staff madly, and fire burst forth. Layers of staff shadows appeared when he moved and went to hit Happy in the head.

“Second style, Petite Dragon…”

Happy’s expression was calm. He hummed softly and swayed like a willow along with the wind that was the monk’s crazed attacks. He moved to the left and right, evading all the monk’s attacks in a very peculiar but ingenious manner. From the start to the end, he never took a single step with his feet. He only twisted and turned his body to make all sorts of unbelievable evasive maneuvers.

The Silver-spiked Staff in the monk’s hands formed a lot of staff shadows, but they did not manage to touch Happy’s sleeves even once.

When a few seconds passed and Happy sensed that his qi had started to deplete, he no longer hesitated.

“First style, Dragon Capture.”

Right after he said that, he extended his hands toward the staff shadows in a seemingly unconcerned fashion. The staff shadows that filled the sky instantly vanished without a trace.

The pitiful monk who broke his vows had his hands empty. His Silver-spiked Staff had landed in Happy’s hand, while his neck was seized tightly by the other. Happy lifted him off the ground like a chick and threw to the side.

The monk who broke his vows was so terrified that he felt as if his soul was about to leave his body. He turned around in fear and fled.

Happy did not chase after him. He retained his composed expression and turned around calmly to bow to the region of clouds and fog. “I have only started practicing this technique recently. I’ve made a fool of myself in front of you, senior.”

“It’s pretty interesting…” The old voice traveled into Happy’s ears and asked, “Have you only learned two styles from it?”

“I’ve learned three.”

“Indeed, with your comprehension and qi, you should have one more move. Is it the Dragon Swings its Tail?”

Happy suppressed the shock in his heart and answered according to the truth. “It is. It’s a counterattack, but with the monk’s strength, he couldn’t force me to use it.”

Happy remembered that his technique should be something that his master had never shown to anyone, but Mad Monk was still able to guess the third move of Ten True Dragon Styles immediately.

“It’s very simple. More than thirty years ago, I fought against another person who knew Ten True Dragon Styles. He was a Shaolin Temple disciple, and he seemed to have modified ten moves from another technique, and while the power of those moves wasn’t enough to threaten others, its ability to protect its user was astonishing. Even I had a hard time trying to kill him.”

Mad Monk’s words left Happy in a state of shock.

He was practically certain that the person Mad Monk mentioned was his master, Xuan Kong. After all, the ten styles were created by Master Xuan Kong, and there was no one else who knew about them.

“This martial art can also be considered an ultimate technique. Your master is an amazing man. Might I know what this martial art is called?”

“Ten True Dragon Styles.”

“Ten True Dragon Styles… It is an appropriate name.” Mad Monk seemed to be implying something in his words. Then, his tone changed. “But judging by you, your master doesn’t seem to have noticed that there is a small secret to those ten styles.”

“A small secret?”

“Indeed. Over the past three decades, I have been continuously thinking about the years I lived in the world of martial artists. And hence, I have come to understand the various ultimate techniques from other sects.

“I remember most vividly two people who fought against me with moves that were amazing in the sense that they could produce the same goal using different means, but neither of them noticed it. Instead, I have gained some understanding about it over the years.”

“Senior, what do you mean?” Happy sucked in a deep breath. There was nervousness and excitement on his face.

But he did not expect that during this critical moment, Mad Monk would change the topic of conversation. “But now, I understand it. Both styles are considered to have come from the same origin. However, when they are executed, they come into conflict with each other. It is fine that you do not understand it, but your appearance has answered a question that has lingered in my mind for a long time.”

When Happy heard that, no matter how slow-witted he was, he understood what Mad Monk meant.

The two people Mad Monk mentioned were most probably Master Xuan Kong and the sect master of Beggar’s Sect!

The two ultimate techniques he mentioned were Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palm and Ten True Dragon Styles.

Both ultimate techniques contained the word “dragon”, but that similarity should not be a superficial one. There was a paragraph in the summary of Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palm that mentioned that the earliest Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palm actually carried the name of Twenty-eight Dragon Subduing Palm.

However, as the technique was passed down through the ages, ten moves failed to be passed down. The people from Beggar’s Sect did not bother to locate those ten moves or mend the technique. They just modified the remaining moves into Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palm.

When Happy linked that to what Mad Monk said, he quickly connected all the facts that he knew together.

Master Xuan Kong should have seen the other ten moves from Twenty-eight Dragon Subduing Palm, and modified them to make it evolve into the current Ten True Dragon Styles.

However, it was just as Mad Monk said, Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palm and Ten True Dragon Styles were completely different in terms of character and style!

One of them was a fierce, matchless, and strong offensive technique! It charged forward with an indomitable spirit! And when the attacks it faced were strong, the technique would become even stronger!

The three moves of Ten True Dragon Styles displayed a gentle way of fighting through evasion, technique, and counterattack. It was completely different from the profound secret Happy had understood from Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palm. In fact, they were slightly conflicting with each other, which led to them weakening each other.

Could it be that Happy had unknowingly gathered together the ancient Twenty-eight Dragon Subduing Palm?