The Villain's Counterattack

Chapter 491: Those who lie to children will be hung up and spanked

"As the saying goes, courtesy is the most important thing. You and I should exchange gifts and write poems each, but the monk cannot cheat." The little Taoist boy stared at the monk fiercely, and the monk could not help but feel embarrassed. If you ask me to recite scriptures, I can recite a few paragraphs, and I am also professional in fighting. But asking me to recite poems and compose couplets will make it difficult for me, the monk.

But as someone from a prestigious temple, he'd seen pigs run even if he hadn't eaten pork. He resorted to his usual trickery: "Though the little Taoist's poem is beautiful, it's not yours, but the guest's, and it doesn't quite fit the scene. This is Sichuan. Looking around, there are endless bamboo forests and dense ancient trees, but no pines or cypresses. It doesn't count. And you haven't directly answered my question, Great Monk. Who is your master?"

The little Taoist boy curled his lips and said, "I know that you adults love to cheat. If I answer you, you can't cheat this time, otherwise I will ignore you again."

He cleared his throat twice, put down the bamboo basket on his back, placed one hand on his chest and the other behind his back, looked up at the sky, and pretended to recite, "My master, Yue Buqun, rises from the cliffs of Huashan. His sword rises from the rising sun, and the sky is filled with purple clouds. I've said enough. Now it's your turn, Master. Master, you're not really trying to cheat, are you? Master said it's wrong to lie to children. You'll be hung up and spanked."

The big monk was embarrassed when he heard this. He chanted a Buddhist mantra, but after struggling for a long time, he couldn't utter a single word. Finally, he had no choice but to give up and admit defeat. The little Taoist child was overjoyed and said with a grin, "I won, I won. It's worth it that I cooked for that sloppy Taoist for three days."

"Young donor, you're not a Taoist child. Your master is a Confucian master, right?" Although he asked a question, his tone was full of certainty. The little Taoist child didn't intend to refute it at all. He nodded and said, "That's right, but there are always common grounds in all knowledge. My Confucianism is inclusive and does not exclude Taoism. My master once said that Confucius also studied under Laozi, let alone younger students like us."

"Your master was born in Huashan, a place where Taoism flourished. Learning some Taoist skills wouldn't be difficult, but you..."

Upon hearing this, the little Taoist boy turned around and let the elder monk take a closer look at his robe. He chuckled and said, "How is it? Does the robe I made look good? My master once said that if a boy walks around in public wearing ordinary clothes, he's easy to be taken advantage of. He'll either be raped or made into meat patties. But no one will touch a monk, no matter if he's a monk or a Taoist priest. But monks need to shave their heads, and it's not beautiful to have long hair damaged, so I can only wear Taoist clothes when I go out alone."

It turned out to be a fake Taoist priest. The great monk then understood why he had never seen this little boy when he had investigated the secluded monks and Taoists around him. It turned out that the boy was not a Taoist priest, but a Confucian disciple. It was his own negligence.

Later, he saw him digging bamboo shoots and picking mushrooms to make soup for himself, which was unexpectedly delicious. He couldn't help but be very curious about what kind of person could teach such a smart disciple. He became more and more curious about the Confucian scholar Yue Buqun.

"Although my master is a Confucian scholar, half of the martial arts he practices are Confucian and half are Taoist. After all, Taoism is still respected on Mount Hua. I am still young, so I only learned half of the 'Huashan Sword Technique' and the basic lifting and flying techniques. I didn't learn the other martial arts such as the Golden Goose Kung Fu, the Hunyuan Kung Fu, the Chaoyang Yiqi Sword, the Three Immortal Sword, and the Yangwu Sword Technique. However, my master's most powerful martial art is still the 'Purple Cloud Divine Art'."

The great monk suddenly realized, "So that's how it is. The line in your poem just now, 'The sword rises from the morning sun, and the sky is filled with purple clouds,' is referring to the martial arts of the Morning Sun Sword and the Purple Cloud Divine Art."

The little Taoist boy nodded as he drank his soup, saying, "My master is proficient in many martial arts. Among his sword techniques, the Yangwu Sword Technique emphasizes defense and cultivating righteousness, but it lacks in flamboyance. Speaking of flashiness, only the majestic Chaoyang Yiqi Sword Technique and the purple clouds-filled purple magic are the most astonishing and easily attract attention. It's a pity that both of these magical skills require extremely powerful internal energy to practice and perform. As a little Taoist boy, I'm too young to have received the master's true teachings."

"Little Taoist boy, you're clearly not a Taoist boy, so why do you keep calling yourself that?" The big monk, knowing his true identity, couldn't help but tease him. The little Taoist boy glanced at him and said, "Although I'm not a real Taoist boy, I can still call myself that. Can't you guess why?"

The elder monk guessed several times but to no avail. Finally, the little Taoist boy solved the riddle himself, "Because my name is 'Daotong', it was given to me by my master."

The monk was speechless. How could this be possible? If I gave myself an emperor's Dharma name, could I call myself emperor?

Little Taoist Boy: You are not weak and you are not afraid of death, so you can give it a try.

Big monk: Amitabha, Big monk has not lived enough, he will not seek death like this.

"Little Taoist boy, have you ever heard of Xiaoyao Daotong?" The elder monk suddenly asked. The little Taoist boy was slightly stunned, then thought carefully and said, "I haven't heard of Xiaoyao Daotong, but Old Ancestor Xiaoyao does know of one. He, along with the Sword Demon Dugu Qiubai, the Crazy Taoist, and the Drunken Monk, are called the Four Great Hermits by my master."

The big monk was overjoyed to hear this and hurriedly asked for information from the four people. The little Taoist boy seemed to be unable to keep secrets, so he told the basic situation of the four people one by one. The ancestor Xiaoyao lived in Tianshan. He was a martial arts expert with a strange personality. He was quite handsome, and his martial arts moves were mainly elegant and handsome. The sword demon Dugu Qiubai lived in an unnamed valley outside Xiangyang City, and his sword skills were invincible.

"The Mad Taoist lives in Wudang Mountain, living in seclusion for years, oblivious to worldly affairs. The Drunken Monk is a monk who indulges in alcohol and meat, wandering around like a ghost. They are both very unique, with extremely high martial arts skills but they don't show them to others. They are also so crazy that they cannot be judged by common sense."

The monk was quite surprised to hear this, probably because he didn't know any of these four people, hadn't even heard of them. Moreover, three of them didn't use their given names. Only the Sword Demon knew it was called Dugu Qiubai. He wondered what relationship it had with the Dugu clan. But wasn't it a bit too arrogant for him to actually call himself Qiubai?

He is an expert swordsman with the surname Dugu, so it is very likely that he is from the Dugu clan. But apart from the old lady You Chuhong and the clan leader Dugu Feng, are there any other masters in the Dugu clan?

When the big monk asked about the ancestor Xiaoyao, the little Taoist boy only said that he didn't know much and had only met him twice. This man had extremely high martial arts skills and a broad vision. Ordinary mortals would not be taken seriously by him. Moreover, as a hermit, his name was often unknown to him.

"I remember now. Master once said that this Xiaoyao Patriarch possesses a martial art called 'Eternal Youth's Art'. This art can restore one's youth every thirty years. It is a peerless martial art created for the pursuit of immortality, and it allows practitioners to return to the age at which they first learned it. Initially, all martial arts skills are lost, then slowly restored until the martial arts of an adult are fully restored. Continuing to practice will continuously improve, and in another thirty years, one will be able to return to youth again. It's truly miraculous."

The monk's expression changed drastically upon hearing this. Could it be that the carefree Taoist child wasn't really a Taoist child, but rather an old monster who had regained his youth?! A hidden Taoist sect actually possessed such miraculous martial arts.

If the free and easy Taoist boy is really the Xiaoyao ancestor who has returned to youth, there is no way to know how many years this old monster has lived. His strength must be extraordinary, at least a master. The other people who are comparable to him are definitely not ordinary people. Who is the Confucian scholar who can evaluate the four of them?

The head monk looked at the little Taoist boy in front of him and was slightly startled. "This poor monk is not angry at the Pure Nian Zen Temple. If you have nothing to do, please do not approach the western valley. Besides me and my fellow monks, there are two nuns from Cihang Jingzhai and a Buddhist guardian who will be staying here for a while. If you approach rashly while dressed as a Taoist boy, you may cause unnecessary trouble."

"Is that so? I understand. Don't get close to the secluded valley in the west. Then it should be fine for me to go east. But I have been wandering around with my master, and except for Huashan, I have never stayed in other places for more than seven days. I think it should be fine. Goodbye, great monk. I have been out collecting herbs for a long time. If I don't go back, my master will probably get anxious and come looking for me." As the little Taoist boy said this, he picked up the bamboo basket and put it on his back. He waved to the monk Buchen, and skipped down the mountain.

Monk Buchen hesitated for a moment and did not stop him. The breath of this little Taoist boy was too weak and he was so innocent. It was definitely impossible that he was the cunning and treacherous Patriarch Xiaoyao who had returned to his youth.