For Hui Wen, a peak Innate martial powerhouse, few matters could stir his emotions.
The Buddhist teachings he practiced naturally brought peace and tranquility to the mind.
Immersed in Buddhism for seventy or eighty years, he might not remain as unflappable as if Mount Tai collapsed before him, but he wasn't far off.
However, at this moment, a storm raged in Hui Wen's heart.
"Is this Arhat Fist? No, this isn’t Arhat Fist!!" Hui Wen closely observed the young novice who was practicing boxing.
Compared to the torrents of blood and energy from hundreds of adult martial monks practicing Arhat Fist, this young novice's practice seemed peaceful.
Yet, in Hui Wen's eyes, there was a sense of something extraordinary, like a goat navigating through treetops, naturally perfect.
Every punch and kick the novice threw carried an inexplicable depth.
"How is it possible? Just a mere child, how could he have mastered such profound boxing?" Hui Wen found it unbelievable.
Any martial art, including those from the Buddhist sect, required a great deal of time to understand and master.
Arhat Fist wasn't a particularly advanced martial art, but one normally needed six or seven years of hard practice to reach proficiency.
Yet the boxing style the novice was practicing seemed to be several levels higher than Arhat Fist, and he had already mastered it fully—truly unthinkable.
What surprised Hui Wen the most was that he had never seen the boxing style the novice was practicing.
It bore traces of Arhat Fist but was much more advanced, almost reaching the level of the Great Zen Temple's Seventy-Two Supreme Arts.
Such an exceptional Buddhist martial art, Hui Wen, nearly a century old, had never heard of before.
"Dean."
The other young novices also noticed Hui Wen's gaze; their faces turned pale, and they stood still obediently.
Only Lin Yuan continued practicing the "Great Arhat Buddha Fist" he had just grasped.
"Hmm."
At this point, Hui Wen paid no attention to these young novices sneaking around.
He waved them away and focused his eyes on Lin Yuan, who was engrossed in practicing boxing.
"Great Arhat Buddha Fist!!" As Lin Yuan practiced the newly realized martial art, he felt a tingling sensation throughout his body as if soaking in a warm spring.
He lost track of time as he practiced.
Without a sound, a strand of breath formed in his lower abdomen's dantian.
"This should be the Inner Qi?" "Innate Inner Qi that only an Innate martial artist can wield?" Lin Yuan speculated.
Being a young novice of three or four years, his knowledge was limited.
He only knew that Innate Inner Qi was a power mastered by Innate martial experts.
As soon as Inner Qi formed, hunger hit Lin Yuan, and he instinctively stopped practicing, knowing that continuing might starve him.
But when Lin Yuan looked around, he found the hundreds of martial monks and the dozen or so young novices were gone.
Instead, there were seven elderly monks, and the long-browed old monk in the middle stared at him, making his scalp tingle.
"Dean? Abbot?" Lin Yuan asked tentatively.
Among the seven monks, Lin Yuan recognized three—the heads of the Martial Monk Academy and Discipline Hall, and the current abbot of the Great Zen Temple.
As for the other four, he didn't know them.
However, standing alongside the dean and abbot meant their status wasn't low.
Especially the long-browed monk; even the abbot stood half a step behind him.
"Little one," the current abbot of the Great Zen Temple, Hui Jue, smiled gently and asked, "Where did you learn that set of boxing techniques you were practicing?" After Hui Wen let the young novices leave, he immediately informed the abbot and other deans of the Great Zen Temple.
These true martial experts of the temple realized the gravity of the situation and rushed over, putting aside their current tasks.
Everyone agreed with Hui Wen's assessment—that the boxing Lin Yuan practiced had a depth on par with high-level martial arts.
Moreover, this form was an unheard-of Buddhist martial art.
If not seen with their own eyes, they wouldn't believe such a superior Buddhist martial art existed that they had never heard of.
"Where did you learn it?" Hearing this, Lin Yuan felt a bit relieved.
He had deliberately practiced the "Great Arhat Buddha Fist" to demonstrate his talent.
Through three attempts, Lin Yuan understood that to tap into his heaven-defying comprehension, he needed to engage with the world's profound martial arts.
Observing sparrows and earthworms, he only comprehended ordinary martial arts like "Divine Sparrow Sky Crossing Technique" and "Earth Dragon Rolling Technique."
Watching the martial monks practice Arhat Fist, he could directly glean superior martial art, "Great Arhat Buddha Fist."
If he could observe a superior martial art, what he would comprehend then...
Though Lin Yuan did not know the significance of superior martial arts, the fact that it allowed him to cultivate Innate Inner Qi implied that it was undoubtedly extraordinary.
Yet, access to such superior martial arts, or even more profound ones, in the Great Zen Temple could not be achieved with the status of a young novice alone.
"Reporting to the abbot, I saw the brothers practicing boxing earlier, and wanted to join. As I practiced, I understood this form and wondered if it was permissible..."
Lin Yuan expressed a slight unease.
What he said wasn't entirely false.
In the Universal Human Alliance, if Lin Yuan showed this much honesty, he might have been observed or even studied.
However, in this world, akin to ancient feudal kingdoms with a focus on martial arts, especially at a Buddhist sanctuary like the Great Zen Temple, exhibiting great talent would only result in people seeing him as a reincarnated Buddha or a living Bodhisattva.
"Understanding a superior martial art far surpassing Arhat Fist just by watching martial monks practice it..."
The abbot of the Great Zen Temple and several other deans fell silent.
The long-browed monk, who had been scrutinizing Lin Yuan, was also silent.
If anyone else had claimed this, they certainly wouldn’t have believed it.
Was it so easy to create a high-level martial art like picking cabbages? Most high-level martial arts were developed painstakingly by grandmasters.
The Great Zen Temple, as a sacred Buddhist ground and a revered martial sect, relied on the Seventy-Two Supreme Arts to continuously produce Innate martial experts.
These arts are their high-level martial arts.
For a three or four-year-old child to claim he comprehended a high-level martial art? However, upon reflection, the abbot and others found Lin Yuan's claim possibly true.
Firstly, the "Great Arhat Buddha Fist" was indeed a superior Buddhist martial art.
While some other Buddhist sects existed today, the Great Zen Temple was undoubtedly the foremost.
Superior Buddhist martial arts outside the seventy-two were known, yet the abbot and deans had not heard of this boxing style.
Secondly, the "Great Arhat Buddha Fist" clearly related closely to Arhat Fist, matching Lin Yuan's claim of understanding "Great Arhat Buddha Fist" through observing Arhat Fist.
In a flash, the abbot and deans exchanged glances, a common thought appearing in their minds.
Could it be that this batch of new disciples in the Great Zen Temple indeed harbored a martial prodigy unseen for a millennium?
(End of the chapter)