Unparalleled Duo
Chapter 71 - 71 48 Dark Horse

71: Chapter 48: Dark Horse 71: Chapter 48: Dark Horse In the sixth year of Yong Tai, there was a nineteen-year-old youth by the name of Shen Youran.

At that time, he was unknown and almost no one knew who he was, where he came from, or who taught him martial arts.

People first got to know him and remember him at that year’s Mid-Autumn Youth Hero Conference, and the person who invited him was Gu Qizong, the Tianqi Gang Leader who was in charge of organizing the conference at the time.

Undoubtedly, Gu Sect Leader also used the “special invitation at the organizer’s discretion” privilege to get Shen Youran into the conference.

But unlike the current Master Shen, Gu Sect Leader didn’t have enemies like the Cao Gang; he was very popular, whether among the righteous and villainous sects, officials, or the jianghu, Gu Qizong was known for his bold spirit and chivalrous heart.

Friends and foes alike admired him.

Therefore, no one questioned why Gu Qizong would invite such an unknown youth to participate in the conference, and Gu Qizong himself never explained to anyone.

As a result, Shen Youran became the biggest dark horse of that year’s conference.

Excelling in both literary and martial challenges, he swept to victory with overwhelming strength.

Just when everyone thought that the “sect-less and school-less” Master Shen would join the surging Tianqi Gang of that year, he chose to join the Luoyang Justice Sect, which was still relatively weak at the time.

There’s a saying, “Thirty years on the east bank of the river, thirty years on the west.”

In the blink of an eye, twelve years passed.

Today, Shen Youran has become the youngest Sect Leader in the history of Justice Sect, famous in the martial world.

The once weakest Justice Sect among the four major sects and three gangs has rapidly risen under his leadership.

However, the Tianqi Gang as a sect has disappeared from the Martial Arts world…

As for the reason behind its disappearance?

It’s not a secret, as it involves a highly sensational matter that affected the entire Martial Arts world—In the seventh year of Yong Tai, thirteen Martial Arts sects led by Tianqi Gang, under the lead of Gu Qizong, went to besiege the main hall of the Five Spirits Sect, the number one evil sect.

In that battle, nearly all of the thousands of followers of the Five Spirits Sect perished, and when Sect Hierarch Yi Shixiong saw that all was lost, he set the hall on fire, intending to perish together with the thirteen Martial Arts factions.

The main hall of the Five Spirits Sect was built by extending natural caves within the mountain belly with large quantities of bricks and wood; once the fire started, the entire cave hall filled with thick smoke and began to collapse rapidly, leaving no doubt of death for those stuck inside.

In the end, excluding the casualties from earlier fighting, less than thirty percent of the people from those thirteen sects managed to escape the fire.

Luckily, all the Sect Leaders of those sects made it out safely.

But…

Gu Qizong didn’t make it out.

At the time of the fire, Gu Qizong was engaged in a fierce battle with Yi Shixiong, and they were evenly matched, so Gu Qizong simply couldn’t get away.

Thus, a hero of his generation perished alongside the Demon Sect Hierarch in the flames, buried under the collapsed mountainside ruins, with no remains to be found.

After Gu Qizong’s death, the Tianqi Gang gradually declined.

They had already suffered the most losses in the conflict with the Five Spirits Sect, not to mention the profound impact of losing their Gang Leader.

Three years later, Tianqi Gang finally couldn’t sustain itself and, with no other option, the members dispersed like monkeys fleeing a fallen tree.

This is the way of the world, the so-called rise inevitably leads to decline, and excess can be as bad as insufficiency.

Because of Gu Qizong’s unparalleled martial skills and charismatic personality, all the cohesion of Tianqi Gang stemmed from him alone.

Once he was gone, all the issues overshadowed by his brilliance surfaced, ultimately engulfing the empire he had built.

Gu Qizong died at the age of thirty-one, the same age as Shen Youran is now; he practiced congenital virgin boy techniques, so never married or had children.

To this day, although many people still remember him, his name is seldom mentioned anymore…

The jianghu is such a place, no matter what status or achievements you once had, once you are dead, in less than ten years, people will forget you; and after you, there will always be new, ambitious, imposing generations to take the stage.

No one…

can dominate the jianghu forever.

Of course, some things do not fade with the loss of life, on the contrary, they can become more intense with the passage of time, like a fine wine.

Such as—hatred.

Shen Youran carries that hatred.

Due to certain reasons, he vowed to take revenge for Gu Qizong, and his target for revenge is…

the entire Martial Arts world.

This Youth Hero Conference is the “first step” of his grand revenge scheme.

Although complex, he’s already successfully carried out seventy percent of the plan and can say that things have progressed smoothly.

As for who ultimately wins the “Martial Examination,” Shen Youran has long since stopped paying attention to or caring about it.

And in the next round of the top eight, one of the two young contestants who will compete does not care about the outcome of the fight; his Dharma name—Chunkong.

Don’t be fooled by Chunkong’s age, just over sixteen, but his standing and reputation in Shaolin Temple are not low.

As mentioned earlier, when Sun and Huang first saw Chunkong, they saw him “dressed in monk’s robes, his head marked with scars from vows, with clear eyes and handsome features, white teeth, and red lips.” Here’s a detail…

Generally, according to the rules of the Shaolin Temple of this universe, sixteen or seventeen-year-old novice monks are not qualified to have scars from vows on their heads.

One must have achieved something in cultivation and received a certain level of recognition in Buddhist Law to earn the right to have their Master burn those scars into their heads.

So why is Chunkong different from others?

The story goes back…

Sixteen years ago, on a blustery, snow-filled night, Master Ji Chen of Shaolin Temple found an abandoned baby in a dilapidated temple.

When Ji Chen discovered the child, the baby was already weak and immobile, his face tear-streaked and frosted over; clearly, the child had been left in the temple for at least an hour or two, crying in the cold and hunger until he eventually had no strength left to cry.

At the time, Ji Chen was traveling to practice asceticism, relying on alms and lodge for food and shelter.

That night, he himself had been hungry for two days and a night when he finally managed to beg for half a bowl of plain porridge.

Braving the storm to the dilapidated temple, Ji Chen sought to warm up the porridge over a fire, only to encounter this situation.

As monks are compassionate by nature, and especially a high monk like Ji Chen, upon seeing the child barely breathing, he quickly opened his robe and tucked the baby into his arms using his body warmth to warm the child.

He then quickly started a fire, cooled the warmed porridge to a gentle warmth, and fed it patiently to the child, mouthful by mouthful.

In the end, he himself ended up not eating a single bite.

Chunkong miraculously survived in this way.

Later, Ji Chen brought him back to Shaolin, but did not name him, simply calling him “child.”

Chunkong was naturally connected with Buddhism from a young age.

Every day surrounded by teachings, he could recite scriptures as soon as he could talk, demonstrating a solid foundation of wisdom and a pure heart.

When he turned five, Ji Chen finally took him as a disciple and gave him the Dharma name “Chunkong.”

That year, Master Ji Chen was already fifty-three years old.

His junior monks, those of the same generation as Chunkong, numbered in “Chun,” and the youngest among them were nearly thirty.

Therefore, those monk peers in Shaolin Temple who were about forty years old were of the same generation as Chunkong.

Those in their sixties and seventies were Chunkong’s masters and senior monks, while those in their twenties had to address him as “Junior Master.”

In terms of Buddhism, Chunkong was like a Golden Cicada reborn.

Discussing scriptures with monks of his generation was all about exchange and learning, and with his level of cultivation, he could easily go teach at smaller temples.

As for martial arts, Shaolin has a well-known rule—the more profound the martial arts, the more Buddhist Law is required to counteract the negative Qi; in other words, the depth of one’s Buddhist Law determines the level of martial arts one can learn.

Therefore, since childhood, Chunkong has been learning one of Zen’s superior Inner Strength methods: the Lengjia Heart Method, formally known as the “Lengjia Abatuo Treasure Heart Method.”

How powerful is this Inner Strength?

Let’s put it this way…

it’s on the same level as the “Reversing Heaven and Earth” technique.

If you diligently practice for ten years, just based on Inner Strength alone, you could easily reach the level of a first-class Sect Leader.

Chunkong began training at nine and has been practicing for seven years.

Thanks to his solid foundation in Inner Strength, he learned moves quickly.

Thus, his Master “casually taught him a few moves”; Master Ji Chen was particularly skilled in palm techniques, so he passed on a set of Weituo Palm and the Great Compassion Thousand Hand Technique to Chunkong, as well as laying the groundwork for the Prajnaparamita Palm.

In summary, Chunkong’s strength may not be clear to outsiders, but according to his Master’s estimation, Chunkong can now go hand-in-hand with those who study advanced martial arts at the Dharma Institute.

It could be said that Chunkong is the biggest dark horse of this Youth Hero Conference, yet he himself has no intention of competing…

Previously, in the literary examination, Chunkong wrote a great deal on Zen studies which left Qiao Chengshu, the “iron-faced scholar” overseeing the exam, quite stunned, and thus he awarded Chunkong first place in the literary test.

And the one who got the first place in the literary examination is the only one allowed to skip the first four rounds, proceeding directly to the top eight.

That is to say, Chunkong, who is about to appear in the first match of the eight, hasn’t fought in any prior martial contest and has yet to demonstrate his formidable strength.

So, who is the unlucky one that has to fight against Chunkong in the current match?

One might recall, from the very first match of the first round, the bottom-most branch on the left of the advancement chart…

who has been fighting their way up?

Yes…

it’s Lei Buji.