Li Yundong saw the little girl smiling innocently, but he didn’t understand Japanese, so he didn’t know that she actually said something insulting. He was even less aware of the fact that the majestic Master Cinian had also said a few insulting words.
Master Cinian smiled at Tachibana Wakako and said in Japanese with a Kyoto accent, “Tachibana Wakako, 300 or 400 years ago, there were masters in this land. At that time, no matter whether they were Buddhists or Taoists, there were so many great people in China. We couldn’t compare with them. But since the Qing dynasty, the Han people of this land have been controlled by the ethnic minorities of Manchu. Since then, their Cultivation World has been in decline. At this point, the Chinese Cultivation World has completely fallen to the bottom, and its power is far inferior to ours. Even the whole Chinese Cultivation World can’t be compared to the strength of our Rigoino Tantra.
“Furthermore, Tachibana Wakako, think about it. How powerful could that sect be? It couldn’t even protect its Zu Ting and scriptures, and even civilians were unwilling to believe in and support it. How good could the disciples taught by such a sect even be? Our Mount Kōya was appointed Master Konghai by Mikado in the seventh year of Hirohito. Grandmaster Konghai established the Zhenyan Sect after that. It hasn’t changed since 816 AD to the present, and no matter what kind of war we have endured, no matter how dynasties have changed, our Gaoye Mountain has remained unmoved! Only sects like ours can produce real masters. Chinese sects that have endured 200 years of suffering… Humph, I’d like to believe that there were masters in Xiyuan Temple. As for other sects, they only have fake masters. In front of our true masters, they are nothing!”
Tachibana Wakako nodded as if she understood, but she quickly glanced at Li Yundong again. “Is this person Shinsyu was talking about a master?”
Master Cinian also glanced at Li Yundong, then nodded slightly. “Well, this person has very strong eyesight and a wealth of energy. His Yuanqi is understood and his explosive power is very strong. What’s even more unusual is that this person is very young and will most likely become a hero. Still, I think the Qi in his body is very strange, unlike any of the cultivation Qi from the various Chinese sects that I am familiar with. As such, I don’t think he is a cultivator from any major cultivation sects in China. Guess there really is no such master in the Chinese cultivation world!”
Tachibana Wakako couldn’t help looking at Li Yundong curiously again and asking, “Which sect does this person belong to? Is he Chinese?” Then, she whispered to Shinsyu beside her, “Shinsyu, can you look into his background?”
After hearing her words, Shinsyu’s expression changed. He lowered his head and raised his eyes, and an aggressive gleam immediately shone from below his brow, aimed at Li Yundong.
His figure suddenly changed from that of an ordinary servant with lowered brows to that of an extraordinary master.
Shinsyu looked at Li Yundong, who seemed to be responsive, his eyes also turned toward Shinsyu. Their gazes met, and it immediately felt like Mars colliding with the earth, seeming to trigger countless blazing sparks in the air.
“Shinsyu!” Cinian cried out solemnly. “Stop!”
Shinsyu immediately lowered his head and bowed respectfully. “I’m sorry, Master Cinian. I was being too impulsive.”
Cinian patted Tachibana Wakako on the top of the head kindly and said softly, “Tachibana Wakako, have you forgotten our agreement? This time we are here to collect some information about the Chinese Cultivation World, not to make trouble. This person’s cultivation kung fu seems to be from a Chinese Taoist sect. If that’s correct, he should be attending the Taoist assembly next month. If he does go, you will know his background.”
Tachibana Wakako smiled. “Okay!” Then, she took the initiative to say to Li Yundong in Japanese, “Hey, you must go to the Taoist assembly!”
Li Yundong watched ignorantly from one side. All he knew was that they were talking quickly in Japanese. Finally, the little girl had said something to him with a smile, but he didn’t know what it meant.
He was about to turn around to ask Liu Xia, but he saw the old Japanese man who seemed to be the leader murmur a word to the other Japanese man who was constantly taking pictures. He respectfully put away the camera, and they turned around and left slowly.
Before leaving, Tachibana Wakako looked back at Li Yundong one final time and shouted again, “You must go!”
Shinsyu glanced at Li Yundong and then said to Tachibana Wakako, “Miss Tachibana Wakako, you don’t actually need to pay attention to this person at all.”
Tachibana Wakako looked at Shinsyu in confusion and asked, “Why?”
He smiled slightly. “Although this person’s cultivation and kung fu are strong, there is still a gap between him and me. He is far inferior even to you.”
“Ah? Not as good as you? If you compete with him, what would your odds of winning be?” she asked.
Shinsyu thought for a moment before saying proudly, “Seventy percent!”
Tachibana Wakako’s face fell. “Well, that’s boring! This is the first master I have ever seen in mainland China.”
Shinsyu laughed. “Miss Tachibana, Master Cinian just said that there are no real masters in mainland China!”
Tachibana Wakako nodded. “I know!” After that, she turned her head and shouted back at Li Yundong, “Hey, since you can’t even beat Shinsyu, you don’t have to go to the Taoist assembly. I don’t want to see you!”
Having finished yelling, she then followed Cinian, Shinsyu, and the others and they all left.
Li Yundong watched them leave, feeling utterly confused. He turned his head and asked Liu Xia with a puzzled expression, “What did they say? Didn’t you say that you would translate for me? Why weren’t you interpreting?”
Liu Xia was dumbfounded by this point. Just now, she had heard these Japanese people seemingly talking about stuff from fantasy novels, such as Rigoino, the sect of cultivation, masters and fake masters. What were they talking about? Were they talking about a Xianxia TV series?
Liu Xia was in a daze. When Li Yundong urged her, she came to her senses. She stared at him with her onyx, orb-like eyes as if she was looking at an outsider. She thought to herself, “Is this man truly wise?”
As soon as this thought came to mind, she remembered all kinds of strange scenes she had seen involving this man before. She couldn’t help but believe it, so her shock only grew.
Li Yundong saw the woman staring at him blankly, looking as if she had seen a ghost. He couldn’t help frowning and said, “Hey, I’m talking to you. What were those Japanese people talking about just now?”
Liu Xia collected her thoughts and recalled what the Japanese had said before. She translated sentence by sentence to Li Yundong.
He listened to it all carefully. At first, he nodded repeatedly, but when he heard Liu Xia’s translation of Tachibana Wakako’s sentence ‘Are there any masters in mainland China?’, he suddenly became furious!
He muttered in an irritated tone, “Even a young girl would dare to be so proud? Does she really think that there are no real masters in our country?”
But when Liu Xia finished translating the words of Master Cinian, although Li Yundong had been growing enraged, he immediately calmed down.
The young cultivator pressed his lips together tightly, and his handsome, masculine face was clouded over in contemplation. His eyebrows were furrowed, and there was a deep, imposing pressure visible on his brow. The air around him seemed to freeze, and Liu Xia, who was beside him, felt as if there was a big stone on her chest, making it hard for her to breathe.
After a long time, Li Yundong turned to look at her and asked coldly, “That’s it? They didn’t say anything else?”
Liu Xia felt that when he spoke, the air around them began to flow again. The big stone on her heart was lifted.
She let out a sigh of relief and said, “It’s not over yet! Just before she left, the little girl said something to you.”
Li Yundong asked seriously, “What was it?”
Liu Xia glanced at him timidly and carefully translated the final conversation between Shinsyu and Tachibana Wakako.
Before she finished speaking, Lanlan, who was beside her, got annoyed even before Li Yundong did. She spat wrathfully, “These people really don’t know the immensity of heaven and earth!”
After hearing her words, Li Yundong unexpectedly did not fly into a rage as Liu Xia had imagined. Instead, he raised his head and laughed out of extreme indignation.
As he guffawed, his Qi swelled like the tide of a stormy sea, as if there was a torrential river surging.
As soon as Li Yundong began laughing, the copper bells in the entire Xiyuan Temple started ringing and making buzzing sounds. This sound mixed with Li Yundong’s loud and amazing laugh, the crescendo swelling straight to the sky.
Liu Xia, Lanlan, and the other tourists around all covered their ears with pained expressions. Some of them were weak and even squatted on the ground, their facial features contorting.
At this time, Cinian, Shinsyu, Tachibana Wakako, and the others who had already walked out of Xiyuan Temple, also heard the voice. They suddenly stopped and turned their heads to look back in unison.
They saw a straight pillar of Qi from Xiyuan Temple rushing into the sky, accompanied by a burst of laughter, which shot straight into the nine layers of clouds, stirring up the wind and clouds and changing the sky!
Tachibana Wakako looked curiously at the rolling clouds above. She gently pulled on Shinsyu’s sleeve, asking, “Shinsyu, is this man challenging you to a duel?”
Shinsyu narrowed his eyes, and his face became unusually dignified.
Cinian looked at the changing sky and listened to the proud, thunderous laughter. At first, he was still a little unconvinced. “After all, young people are young people. They can’t retain their composure.”
But he carried on listening to the ceaseless laughter for five whole minutes. It was like a wave, wave after wave, tide after tide, layer upon layer, each wave becoming stronger than the last.
Cinian finally got a little panicked. He opened his eyes slightly and remained silent for a long time, and only when the laughter finally stopped did he slowly let out a long breath of relief.
He turned his head and said to Shinsyu, “This person will be a strong opponent!”
Shinsyu did not refute him. The corners of his mouth lifted into a smile as he responded, “We just have to wait for the competition to see who’ll win and who’ll lose!”
With an innocent expression, Tachibana Wakako clapped happily and said, “Great, great. It turns out that I underestimated him. There will be a good show at the Taoist assembly after all!”
She giggled and turned to Master Cinian. “Master Cinian, I think there are masters in China too!”
Cinian didn’t even turn his head. He chuckled and said, “Oh really? Well, we’ll know when the time comes!”
