The difference between the Innate Stage and a Grandmaster is like night and day.
Especially when the Grandmaster possesses spiritual power? The most evident distinction is that those at the Innate Stage can take shortcuts.
They might ingest some natural medicine or receive complete transfer of knowledge from a Grandmaster and more, all within the repository of the Great Zen Temple.
If the price is right, the Temple could produce a few Innate Stage masters.
Yet, this seems rather pointless.
For a martial giant like the Great Zen Temple, a few more Innate Stage practitioners won’t make a difference.
It's the Grandmasters who truly hold sway.
Even more so, the Supreme Grandmasters who shape the course of the world.
However, reaching the Grandmaster level or the Supreme Grandmaster level depends very little on external aids.
To break through from Innate to Grandmaster, one needs perfect control over their power.
And transcending from Grandmaster to Supreme Grandmaster involves unravelling spiritual power, where survival is a slim chance in a hundred.
That’s why when the abbot and other monks realized there was a mysterious Grandmaster revealing spiritual power in the Scripture Pavilion—possibly being Lin Yuan—they were profoundly shocked.
A Supreme Grandmaster appearing is a once-in-centuries occurrence.
The last known was the founder of the Great Li Dynasty, about 180 years ago.
Given such timelines, seeing another Supreme Grandmaster emerge seems possible, but it would be expected from the peak ranks of well-known Grandmasters — not someone like Lin Yuan, an only eight-year-old child.
The thought was beyond reason.
In the secluded back mountain of the Great Zen Temple, the long-browed old monk too was alerted by the spiritual wave from the Scripture Pavilion.
"Spiritual power? Has my disciple Huizhen reached the Supreme Grandmaster level?" The old monk muttered to himself, his gaze blank, struggling to contain his emotions despite having foreseen this day.
As the Grandmaster of his generation in the Great Zen Temple, he had taught Lin Yuan for two months and recognized Lin’s alarming martial talent.
To the long-browed monk, Lin achieving Grandmaster status in the future seemed inevitable, with a significant chance to reach the Supreme Grandmaster realm.
But that was supposed to be decades away, not just five years.
Unlike the abbot and head monks who were at the peak of the Innate Stage, the long-browed monk was himself a Grandmaster, just a step away from the Supreme Grandmaster.
He constantly felt the chasm dividing Grandmaster and Supreme Grandmaster, despite the breakthrough techniques left by Patriarch Bodhidharma, he had no clear path forward.
Inside the Scripture Pavilion, Lin Yuan sat cross-legged, suppressing the spiritual power fluctuations.
"This spiritual force is somewhat like the 'Mental Master' path in the Universal Human Civilization?" Lin Yuan speculated within.
In that civilization, evolvers weren't uncommon, with known evolutionary paths, Mental Master being one requiring special means to stir the mind and harness mystical powers.
"Similar, but not the same," Lin Yuan thought.
Mental Masters leaned towards illusions while the Supreme Grandmaster's spiritual power was a lethal prowess, far surpassing them in pressure.
Additionally, where Mental Masters were physically weak, a Supreme Grandmaster had honed their body to its utmost potential, mastering every ounce of it.
Unaware of the Mental Master path's specifics, Lin Yuan assumed that, in terms of raw power, the Mental Masters were inferior.
"Martial path, placed in the Universal Human Civilization, could it be termed a new evolutionary path? Enhancing it to higher levels might garner great rewards from the Goddess of Wisdom," Lin Yuan mused.
Aware of the Goddess’ emphasis on new paths post the forced conscription inquiry.
"Are they all waiting outside?" Lin Yuan sensed an audience outside the Pavilion.
Reaching Supreme Grandmaster status inevitably drew attention, as his spiritual power emerged inadvertently.
Being noticed by the abbot and head monk was expected.
Outside the Pavilion, the long-browed monk, the abbot, and others awaited.
To an observer, the sight of the typically dignified abbot and head monks looking anxious would be astonishing.
As if mere students meeting an admired teacher—nervous and hopeful.
"Come in," a gentle voice echoed, easing the tension as the abbot and monks entered the Pavilion.
"Greetings, Buddha Child," they bowed before Lin Yuan on the third floor, addressing him reverently.
There was no other explanation.
If achieving Innate Stage at three could be ascribed to rare martial genius, then reaching Supreme Grandmaster by eight defied logic entirely.
Only a reincarnated true Buddha, a Living Buddha, could bridge their understanding.
Hence, they called Lin Yuan the 'Buddha Child' without hesitation.
Lin Yuan smiled softly, neither confirming nor denying.
He knew perfectly well he was no 'Buddha Child.' But without Lin Yuan revealing the truth, no one would be the wiser.
He spoke a few words with the abbott and others, subtly sharing insights from Innate to Grandmaster breakthroughs he’d occasionally realized over the years—enlightening details that left them speechless.
The Great Zen Temple, being a Supreme Grandmaster lineage, naturally kept records on breaking through to Grandmaster—treasured legacies of Patriarch Bodhidharma and past Grandmasters.
Yet, Bodhidharma’s notes contained complex matters the abbot and head monks could hardly grasp.
Simply being capable didn’t equate to comprehending or explaining everything.
The path to Grandmaster required perfect mastery of every ounce of strength.
Yet, how to achieve such mastery wasn’t clearly outlined.
It was Lin Yuan’s heaven-defying comprehension that allowed him to perfectly replicate the process from Innate to Grandmaster, presenting it in detail.
Tears welled in the eyes of the abbott and monks, as Lin Yuan's guidance gave them hope for a breakthrough into the Grandmaster realm in perhaps ten or twenty years.
In just a few words, Lin Yuan potentially nurtured future Grandmasters for the Great Zen Temple over coming decades.
Such ability couldn’t just be from any random child—only a Buddha Child could have accomplished this.
Naturally, now anyone questioning Lin Yuan’s 'Buddha Child' identity would find the abbot and head monks firmly against them.
(End of chapter)