Reborn Ouyang Ke: From The Condor Heroes to the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 8, Nine Yang True Scripture, the Marrow Cleansing of the Book of Changes.

The text of the Nine Yang Manual is divided into four volumes.

Zhang Wuji, a later generation, secluded himself in the Kunlun Mountains for five years, practicing day and night, before finally mastering the Nine Yang Divine Skill up to the third volume. He was still just a hair's breadth away from the legendary state of mastery. This shows how profound and difficult this skill is to cultivate.

Ouyang Ke's gaze slowly swept over the tiny characters between the lines of the Lankavatara Sutra, a smile unconsciously creeping onto his lips. The smile grew wider and wider, almost bursting into laughter—"What I've been searching for has come to me without any effort!"

This peerless martial art, comparable to the Nine Yin Manual, now lies quietly before my eyes, within easy reach!

However, the next moment, he glanced around and his heart skipped a beat.

Bamboo shadows sway outside the window, and faint breathing sounds seem to drift from not far away.

He immediately realized that he was still inside the Shaolin Temple, under the watchful eyes of those seemingly indifferent but actually meticulous old monks.

He immediately suppressed his smile, took a deep breath, and calmed the turmoil in his heart.

He picked up his pen and, without arrogance or impatience, began to carefully copy the text of the Lankavatara Sutra before him. Since he had entered the temple under the pretext of copying Buddhist scriptures, he naturally had to play his part convincingly to avoid arousing suspicion.

Shaolin Temple may seem isolated from the world, with its ancient temples and Buddhist scriptures, detached from worldly affairs. But the minds of these monks are anything but dull.

Especially after experiencing the incident a hundred years ago where Kumārajīva, Murong Bo, Xiao Yuanshan and others secretly learned Shaolin's unique skills in the Sutra Pavilion, and the internal strife twenty years ago when the Fire-Worker Monk secretly learned martial arts and rebelled against Shaolin—nowadays, Shaolin is extremely wary of the outside world spreading its martial arts, and sees danger everywhere.

Fortunately, what he asked for was merely to borrow Buddhist scriptures. If he had dared to demand martial arts manuals, he probably wouldn't have even been allowed to enter the Shaolin Temple.

……

In the following days, Ouyang Ke kept to himself and stayed in the meditation room used to entertain distinguished guests, hardly ever leaving the room.

During the day, he would hunch over his desk, meticulously copying scriptures, word by word. He copied down one after another the Lotus Sutra, the Avatamsaka Sutra, and the Lankavatara Sutra. When the night was still and quiet, he would put down his pen, close his eyes, and concentrate, silently reciting the text of the Nine Yang Manual between the lines in his mind, again and again, until it was thoroughly memorized.

Twelve days passed in this manner.

That morning, Ouyang Ke finally finished his last stroke, put down his pen, and stood up. He looked at the thick stack of copied scriptures on the table and smiled slightly—he had done his part in worshipping Buddha.

A short while later, a soft knock came from the door.

"Esteemed benefactor, breakfast is ready." A slightly immature voice rang out.

Ouyang Ke said, "Come in."

The door was gently pushed open, and the young novice monk Jueyuan entered. He carried a tray with a bowl of congee, two plates of vegetables, and several steamed buns. He placed the tray on the table, his gaze sweeping over the thick stack of scriptures, a hint of admiration in his eyes.

"You have been copying scriptures every day these past few days, which must have been very tiring," Jueyuan said sincerely.

Ouyang Ke smiled slightly and said, "Little Master, I will be descending the mountain today."

Jueyuan was taken aback upon hearing this, a look of surprise on his face: "Are you leaving already, benefactor? Have you finished copying all the Buddhist scriptures?"

Ouyang Ke shook his head and laughed, "There are no fewer than a thousand Buddhist scriptures in the Shaolin Temple's Sutra Repository. If we were to copy every single one of them, even staying here for half a year wouldn't be enough."

Jueyuan listened and fell silent.

Although he was young, he had spent many years cleaning and tidying up the library and knew how abundant the books were. If he were to actually copy all the Buddhist scriptures, it would take at least three to five years, let alone half a year.

Ouyang Ke put down his pen, his gaze falling on Jueyuan's still somewhat immature face. He suddenly said, "Little Master, from observing your words and actions these past few days, I feel that you are of pure heart and possess great perseverance. In the future, when you have some free time, you might as well read more of the Buddhist scriptures in this library, cultivate your mind, and comprehend their principles. Perhaps in ten or twenty years, you will gain something different."

Upon hearing this, Jueyuan hesitated and said, "But... the master of the Sutra Repository said that I am too young to delve into profound scriptures too early..."

Ouyang Ke shook his head and smiled, "A person's life is but a few decades. If one truly waits until old age to begin to comprehend, how can one possibly understand all the Buddhist scriptures? The Dharma is vast, not limited by age, but by the direction of one's heart. Since young master has this heart for Buddhism, why be bound by age?"

Jueyuan fell into deep thought after hearing these words. After a long while, he raised his head, his eyes now clear, clasped his hands together, and said sincerely, "Thank you for your guidance, benefactor. This humble monk... has learned a great deal."

Seeing this, Ouyang Ke couldn't help but smile with satisfaction.

He could have followed his uncle's nature and erased all the text of the Nine Yang Manual from the Lankavatara Sutra before leaving, to prevent it from being discovered later. But he did not do so in the end.

This "Nine Yang Manual" is the culmination of the life's work of our predecessors. To erase it would be a terrible waste. Moreover, if that were to happen, the world would likely lose a martial arts master—Master Jueyuan, who passed on the Nine Yang Divine Skill to Zhang Junbao and Guo Xiang in "The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber," would probably never appear again.

Although he was not a virtuous person, he was unwilling to do such a thing as passing on an unparalleled lineage.

After bidding farewell to Jueyuan, Ouyang Ke was escorted out of Shaolin Temple by the respectful monks. He got into the carriage, lowered the curtain, and let out a long breath.

The carriage rumbled along, descending the mountain and heading straight for Luoyang.

……

After seeing Ouyang Ke and his party off, the monk did not immediately return to his meditation room, but went straight to the abbot's courtyard.

In a quiet meditation room, Abbot Kucheng was chanting sutras with his eyes closed. The guest monk bowed and whispered, "Abbot, that benefactor Qu has already gone down the mountain and left."

Abbot Kucheng slowly opened his eyes, his gaze as calm as the water of an ancient well, and said indifferently, "In the past ten days or so, has that benefactor been behaving according to the rules in the temple?"

The monk respectfully replied, "Reporting to the abbot, this benefactor has not left his meditation room without permission in the twelve days since he checked in. His daily meals and lodgings have been taken care of by the temple's disciples, and he has never overstepped any boundaries. The scriptures he has borrowed are all ordinary Buddhist texts, and he has never asked for any martial arts manuals."

Abbot Kucheng nodded slightly, pondered for a moment, and said, "He copies Buddhist scriptures every day?"

The monk in charge of receiving guests said, "As instructed by the abbot, I have been assigned to serve him every day, ostensibly to attend to him, but in reality to keep a close watch on him. That benefactor was indeed only copying Buddhist scriptures and did nothing else."

Upon hearing this, Abbot Kucheng nodded slowly, gazing thoughtfully out the window.

With his keen eye, he could naturally tell that the benefactor from the Qu family possessed profound martial arts skills and was no ordinary person. As for the surname "Qu," although he had not been active in the martial arts world for a long time, he had never heard of any powerful or influential families with such a surname. He was afraid that this name was mostly a false one.

But even so, what can be done?

They presented generous gifts, sincerely worshipped Buddha, and only asked to borrow a few ordinary Buddhist scriptures to copy and take back. If we were to pursue this matter, then Shaolin Temple would be far too petty.

Moreover… Abbot Kucheng’s gaze dimmed slightly.

His caution was not an overreaction, but rather stemmed from genuine difficulties.

A century ago, the Sutra Pavilion was infiltrated by Kumārajīva, Murong Bo, Xiao Yuanshan and others who stole the Seventy-Two Arts, causing the Shaolin secrets to be leaked and leaving endless troubles.

The internal strife twenty years ago was something he witnessed and experienced firsthand—on the Mid-Autumn Festival night that year, during the grand competition at the Damo Hall, Huogong Toutuo suddenly launched an attack, questioning the unfairness of the judgment of the Damo Hall's head monk, Kuzhi Zen Master, and then launched a sneak attack, killing Kuzhi Zen Master on the spot!

That bloody scene still often appears in his dreams.

Afterwards, he had a serious disagreement with Abbot Ku Hui of the Luohan Hall regarding how to handle the matter. He advocated severely punishing the lower-ranking monks who had secretly learned martial arts as a warning to others; while Ku Hui believed that the kitchen staff should be held accountable for their oppression and to promote "equality among all monks." The two disagreed on their ideals and could not reach an agreement. In the end, Ku Hui left in anger and went to the Western Regions, where he founded the Western Region Shaolin lineage.

From then on, Shaolin suffered a great loss of strength. In addition, the war between the Mongols and the Jin Dynasty intensified, so he ordered the monks in the temple not to go down the mountain at will. As a result, Shaolin's reputation in the martial arts world became less and less prominent.

Although more than 20 years have passed, he has never let go of his caution.

"So be it." Abbot Kucheng sighed softly and waved his hand, saying, "Since he hasn't made any moves, let him be. You may go."

The monk bowed respectfully, then turned and left.

……

After leaving Shaolin Temple, Ouyang Ke's carriage headed east towards Luoyang.

In the past, Luoyang was a famous eastern capital, a prosperous and bustling city.

Unfortunately, after the Jurchens marched south, a great fire reduced this ancient capital to ruins.

It wasn't until the first year of Emperor Xuanzong's Xingding reign that the Jin people elevated Luoyang to Zhongjing and renamed Henan Prefecture to Jinchang Prefecture, at which point a new city was rebuilt near the original site.

Compared to Dadu of the Jin Dynasty and Lin'an of the Southern Song Dynasty, Luoyang, a new city that was not yet completed, was now just a slightly prosperous town.

After arriving in the town, Ouyang Ke found a decent-looking inn and asked for a superior room.

Although he had memorized the text of the Nine Yang Manual, the longer time passed, the more likely his memory would become confused. After all, not everyone in the world possessed the photographic memory of Huang Rong and her daughter, and moreover, the Nine Yang Manual was a complex text with four volumes, every word and sentence of which concerned life and death.

In martial arts training, a single word can make all the difference in internal energy cultivation, potentially leading to completely different outcomes or even the risk of qi deviation and demonic possession.

Just in case, as soon as he returned to his room, Ouyang Ke took out the paper and pen he had prepared beforehand and wrote down the scriptures he had memorized, using a mixture of simplified Chinese characters and pinyin. In this way, even if the scroll were lost in the future, those who obtained it might not be able to understand its contents.

About two hours later, he finally copied all four volumes of scriptures onto paper.

Compared to the Nine Yin Manual, which records more than a dozen martial arts techniques, the Nine Yang Manual only contains three auxiliary techniques besides the internal energy cultivation method: "Turtle Breathing Technique," "Bone Shrinking Technique," and "Gecko Wall Climbing Technique."

The two complement each other perfectly, one being "broad" and the other "refined".

The mutual corroboration of the Nine Yin and Nine Yang perfectly confirms the true meaning of the four words "profound and extensive".

Ouyang Ke put down his pen, closed his eyes, and began to cultivate according to the scriptures.

The initial method is the "Great Circulation of Qi" – focusing the mind on the dantian and guiding the true qi along the Ren and Du meridians. After one cycle, the body feels as if it has drunk sweet dew, and the true qi in the dantian is swirling, seemingly there yet not there, like the lingering smoke of incense, drifting aimlessly.

Ouyang Ke's heart skipped a beat: Could this be the "misty purple aura" mentioned in the scriptures?

Although the "Nine Yang Manual" claims to integrate the concepts of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, its foundation is actually rooted in Taoism. The four characters "氤氲紫气" (a misty purple aura) clearly describe the manifestation of a high level of Taoist martial arts cultivation.

Sensing the wondrous changes in his internal energy, Ouyang Ke dared not be negligent. Following the instructions in the scriptures, he cultivated with undivided attention. He repeated this cycle countless times, feeling completely relaxed and blissful, so much so that he lost track of time.

Compared to Zhang Wuji, who was trapped in the heart of Kunlun Mountain for five years in later generations, Ouyang Ke's internal strength foundation was naturally far superior. Although the White Camel Mountain lineage was not as profound as the Nine Yang Divine Skill, it was by no means comparable to ordinary martial arts. In addition, he had diligently cultivated over the years, making his foundation extremely solid.

Before they knew it, they had already mastered the first volume of the scripture.

Ouyang Ke was overjoyed and immediately continued to cultivate according to the Qi circulation method described in the second volume.

After several more cycles of circulating energy, suddenly, in a flash, he felt a warm sensation throughout his body, with warm currents slowly flowing through his meridians and acupoints. Each time the energy reached an acupoint, that point would twitch slightly, then move to the next acupoint, and then twitch again…

In the midst of that movement and jump, after an unknown amount of time, Ouyang Ke suddenly felt something strange on his body—it felt sticky, as if something was stuck to it.

A faint, unpleasant odor wafted into my nose.

Ouyang Ke was forced to open his eyes, and when he looked down, he was immediately shocked!

He saw that his white clothes were now sticky and clinging to his body. He reeked of a foul stench, as if he hadn't bathed in half a year. He instinctively raised his hands, only to find them covered in a thick, shocking layer of greasy, blackish-yellow grime!

"this……"

Ouyang Ke was stunned for a moment, then reached out and gently peeled it off. The layer of grime fell away easily, revealing brand new skin underneath—much more delicate than before, white with a rosy glow, so smooth and delicate it seemed like a newborn baby!

Ouyang Ke stared blankly at his hands, a thought suddenly flashing through his mind.

"Could this be... the legendary 'Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing'?"

He knew that the Nine Yang Manual had the effect of changing tendons and marrow – once this was done, one could be reborn, change tendons and marrow, make the body completely new, be free from all diseases, and prolong life.

However, such a level has always been just a legend, and very few people have actually reached it.

Unexpectedly, the second volume of the Nine Yang Manual has such miraculous effects.

Overjoyed, Ouyang Ke could no longer bear the pungent stench emanating from his body. He immediately called the waiter to boil hot water overnight and took a thorough bath.

An hour later, Ouyang Ke changed into a brand new white robe, stood in front of the bronze mirror, and stared blankly at his reflection.

The person in the mirror had a face like jade, lips like cinnabar, sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes, and was exceptionally handsome.

His white robes accentuated his graceful and ethereal beauty. Even more astonishing was that his previously somewhat mature face now appeared much younger—one could easily mistake him for a sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy!

Ouyang Ke stared blankly at himself in the mirror, speechless for a long time.

He never expected that the "Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing" effect of the Nine Yang Manual would be so amazing!

The original owner was seven or eight years older than Guo Jing and Huang Rong. Although she possessed martial arts skills, her body had been weakened by years of indulging in wine and women. Before, she looked like a middle-aged person in their mid-thirties, appearing more than ten years older than her peers.

In the original story, Ouyang Ke's internal strength was clearly superior to Guo Jing and Huang Rong's. However, after leaving the East Sea, Guo Jing rose like a dragon ascending to the sky, making rapid progress and becoming unstoppable; while Ouyang Ke was like a dragon trapped in a well, with no hope of ever turning things around.

Although this was related to the broken legs, even if the legs were intact, facing Guo Jing who soared into the sky, the original body would only be a firefly vying for brilliance with the bright moon, utterly vulnerable.

Now, while cultivating the first two volumes of the Nine Yang Manual, he unexpectedly obtained the "Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing" blessing, which swept away the hidden ailments and deficiencies accumulated in his body over the years!

Such good fortune is truly a blessing from heaven!

Looking at his young face in the mirror, Ouyang Ke could no longer suppress the smile on his lips.

Of course, he didn't know that his amazing effects were not solely due to the Nine Yang Manual.

If it weren't for Hong Qigong's generous gift of the "Yi Jin Duan Gu Pian" on Mingxia Island earlier, which he practiced day and night to build a very solid foundation, he would never have achieved such miraculous results in practicing the "Nine Yang Manual".

The two, combined and complementing each other, have led to the achievements we have today.

Outside the window, the night was deep, and a bright moon hung high in the sky.

Ouyang Ke sat by the window, gazing at the bright moon, his heart filled with boundless pride.