Ask Wudang Chapter 178

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Two breaths later, Xuanmingzi suddenly retracted his sleeves, and the white mist instantly dissipated.

Looking again, the potted plant one zhang away, which had been washed by the white mist, was now covered with a thin layer of ice flowers.

Palm power turning into ice, this was truly miraculous. Even Kublai, with all his experience, couldn’t help but be stunned at this moment.

That Monk Chen, who prided himself on his martial arts, couldn’t help but feel a sense of dread after seeing this palm strike.

A moment later, Kublai slowly recovered his composure and immediately clapped his hands in praise, saying, “Daoist Priest’s divine skill is truly astonishing.” He paused slightly, then asked, “May I know if this skill has a name?”

Xuanmingzi replied, “To Your Highness, this humble Daoist has only recently created this skill and has not yet named it.”

Kublai said, “Daoist Priest’s Daoist title is Xuanmingzi. Xuanming means Xuanwu, and Xuanwu belongs to water, in the north. And Daoist Priest’s palm technique can turn palm power into ice, which perfectly matches Xuanming. Why not call it Xuanming Divine Palm?”

Upon hearing the name Xuanming Divine Palm, Xuanmingzi’s eyes immediately lit up, and he then said, “Thank you, Your Highness, for bestowing the name.”

Kublai laughed heartily, “Today, this King is truly blessed by heaven to have Daoist Priest Xuanming and Grandmaster Chen. We should drink to this.” With that, he shouted outside, “Come, quickly bring wine! This King wants to drink heartily with these two esteemed gentlemen.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

The guards outside the tent responded and immediately brought three large bowls, filled with Mongolian horse milk wine.

Kublai took one bowl and drank it down first.

Xuanmingzi and Monk Chen, seeing Kublai’s magnanimity, also took the large bowls and drank them down with their heads tilted back.

After drinking, Kublai, in high spirits from the wine, ordered his guards to set up a grand banquet.

Not long after, the banquet was laid out, with wine and meat filling the tables, half Mongolian and half Han cuisine.

Kublai then instructed his guards, “Go and invite a few heroes from the Hall of Seeking Talents to come and meet me.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

The guard responded and left.

A short while later, the tent door opened wide, and the guard led three people into the tent.

The first person was tall and thin, with a pale face, like a zombie. Kublai introduced him to Monk Chen and Xuanmingzi, saying that this person was Xiao Xiangzi, a famous figure from Xiangxi. The second person was a tall man, eight feet tall, with big hands and feet, a silly smile on his face, and dull eyes. The third person had a high nose and deep-set eyes, curly hair and a yellow beard, a Hu person, but he was wearing Han Chinese clothing, adorned with jewels.

The large, dark man was from Huijiang and was named Ma Guangzuo.

The Hu person was a great Persian merchant, whose family had been selling jewels in various parts of the Central Plains for three generations. He had taken a Han Chinese name, Yin Kexi.

After introducing these three, Kublai continued, “Gentlemen, in fact, I have two more esteemed masters under my command. One is the Golden Wheel Dharma King, the orthodox leader of the Tibetan Esoteric Buddhism. His power is profound and extraordinary, and he has been conferred the title of First National Protector by our Great Khan. The other is Nimoxing, a Brahman master from Tianzhu. He is skilled in Yoga and possesses the divine strength to pull nine oxen backward. His skills are truly astonishing. A few days ago, they both went to the Great Victory Pass on my orders to participate in the hero gathering of the Central Plains martial arts world. They will be back soon.”

While they were talking, a guard’s voice suddenly came from outside the tent, “Reporting to Your Highness, Bayan requests an audience.”

Kublai’s eyebrows slightly furrowed upon hearing this, and he said, “Let him in.”

This person named Bayan was one of Kublai’s most capable warriors. This time, he accompanied the Golden Wheel Dharma King on his southern journey to participate in the hero gathering organized by the Central Plains martial arts world. The southern expedition team was led by the Golden Wheel Dharma King, and Bayan was just a minor figure, but the person who came only mentioned Bayan and not the Golden Wheel Dharma King. Almost instantly, Kublai realized that something might have gone wrong.

A moment later, the Mongolian warrior named Bayan entered the tent and immediately prostrated himself, “This humble one, Bayan, greets Your Highness.”

Kublai asked, “Bayan, why are you the only one back? Where is the Golden Wheel National Master? Where is Mr. Nimoxing?”

Bayan dared not conceal anything and immediately recounted the entire course of events. First, Dalba was defeated by Yang Guo, then Yang Guo withstood more than a hundred moves from the Golden Wheel Dharma King, followed by the Golden Wheel Dharma King being intimidated by Guo Jing, Zhou Botong, Hong Qigong, Ye Qingfeng, and others, and finally returning without success. The more Kublai listened, the more shocked he became, feeling that the power of the Central Plains martial arts world had exceeded his imagination.

However, that was not all.

Next, Bayan recounted how they encountered Guo Fu and captured her, then Yang Guo came to rescue her, and people from the Passionless Valley intervened, taking everyone captive. Then, he spoke of how Ye Qingfeng displayed great divine power to rescue people, how he killed Nimoxing, how he prepared the antidote to save everyone, and how they finally escaped, and so on. After recounting all this, he took out the letter left by the Golden Wheel Dharma King and presented it to Kublai. The content of the letter was, of course, the Golden Wheel Dharma King’s resignation to Kublai.

After listening to Bayan’s account and then seeing the Golden Wheel Dharma King’s letter, a towering wave immediately surged in Kublai’s heart.

The Golden Wheel Dharma King told him in the letter that Ye Qingfeng’s martial arts were no longer human means and that they must never be enemies with him.

However, Kublai was a man of great ambition and profound understanding of the way of kings. Even though he was greatly shocked, he remained calm on the surface.

At that moment, he only heard him say, “Bayan, you may go down first. This defeat is not your fault, but rather the will of heaven is not with me. You have also worked hard on this trip. After the banquet, this King will have other rewards.”

Upon hearing these words, everyone present was filled with awe, feeling that Kublai’s magnanimity was like mountains and seas.

Clearly, they had messed things up, yet there was no punishment, but instead rewards. Where could one find such an enlightened ruler?

As the saying goes, “Learn literary and martial arts, and sell them to the imperial family.” This “selling” also has a lot of nuances. If one encounters an emperor who doesn’t know how to appreciate talent, then all their skills will be wasted. Everyone present was a person who sought fame and fortune. They diligently practiced and cultivated their exquisite skills, all for the sake of meeting an emperor who could appreciate their talent and, one day, make a name for themselves.

After seeing Kublai’s way of handling things, everyone present already understood that this was the enlightened ruler they were looking for.

Bayan was even more moved by Kublai and immediately prostrated himself again, “Your Highness’s magnanimity is as vast as the sea. This humble one is utterly incomparable. From this day forward, this humble one’s life is sold to Your Highness. If Your Highness tells this humble one to go east, this humble one will never go west.”

Kublai nodded slightly and smiled, “Mm, you may go down.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Bayan responded and then exited the royal tent.

At this moment, Xuanmingzi spoke, “Your Highness, this humble Daoist has something to say, but I don’t know if I should speak it or not.”

Kublai said, “Daoist Priest, please speak freely.”

Xuanmingzi said, “Your Highness’s magnanimity is truly a blessing to us. However, even if Your Highness has the eye of a Bole, you cannot recognize all the thousand-li horses in the world. Take that Golden Wheel Dharma King, for example. He can’t even handle that bunch of useless people in the martial arts world, yet he still occupies the position of the First National Master for nothing. It truly makes it difficult for us to be convinced.”

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone present felt that they made great sense, so they all echoed in agreement.

Ma Guangzuo said, “This Taoist priest is right. If the Golden Wheel Dharma King were here, I, Ma, would like to compete with him to see who is more suitable to sit in the position of the First National Master.”

Yin Kexi continued, “As the saying goes, ‘The treasures of the world belong to the capable.’ The position of the First National Master is even more a treasure among treasures. How can it be occupied by an incompetent person for nothing?”

Xiao Xiangzi echoed, “That’s right. One radish, one pit. Since that Golden Wheel Dharma King has no face to see Your Highness again, then his position as the First National Master should be vacant.”

Only Monk Chen remained silent, very low-key.

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