Leaving

The current of Spiritual Sense continued to roll over the pavilion until it was completely enveloped. Goosebumps appeared all over Eunuch Hong as his mind was a jumbled mess. 

As a red-robed eunuch of the palace, Eunuch Hong was naturally clear about how terrifying a top first-rank martial artist who managed to achieve Spiritual Sense was. Any top first-rank could suppress everything easily with just a slight raise of their hand. 

Why else did the Wudang sect not fear the imperial powers and ignore royal decrees? How else did the Mengyuan Dynasty occupy the endless grass plains and covet the Central Plains in the south?

A top first rank was terrifying beyond anyone's wildest imagination. Eunuch Hong never thought that the Shaolin temple that was rumored to be in decline would have had a top first-rank presiding over it. 

"Eunuch Hong, what's wrong…" Consort Li who sat behind the curtains heard Eunuch Hong's reaction but she did not know what happened. Fear began to build up within her.

Eunuch Hong was her trusted aide. Without his protection, she would have died many times over. Yet, her unshakable pillar, Eunuch Hong was filled with terror!

"Your Highness, please don't worry.." Eunuch Hong forced himself to calm down. He bowed toward space and said, "Nice to meet you, Divine Master Abbot. I'm eunuch Hong Yuan."

Eunuch Hong knew for a fact that even though the top first-rank martial artist was not there with his Spiritual Sense, every movement within the pavilion was as apparent to him as the back of his hand. Nothing was hidden from him.

After a moment, the Spiritual Sense speedily retreated, only then did Eunuch Hong let out a huge sigh of relief. 

"Eunuch Hong, what happened?" asked Consort Li as she could tell that the danger had passed by looking at Eunuch Hong's expression.

"What happened?" Eunuch Hong laughed bitterly. "Your Highness, a moment ago, one of the Divine Master Abbots of the Shaolin temple used his Spiritual Sense to check in on us…"

"Divine Master Abbot? Spiritual Sense?" Consort Li looked stunned.

Even though she was the emperor's favorite consort, she knew nothing about the martial arts world. All Consort Li knew was there were nine ranks to distinguish between the martial artists, with first-rank being the top rank and ninth-rank the lowest rank. She did not know anything apart from that.

"Your Highness…" Eunuch Hong could tell that Consort Li was curious about the matter and said helplessly, "Your Highness, you can think of this Divine Master Abbot as someone like Eunuch Zhao..."

"Eunuch Zhao…" Consort Li's heart skipped a beat. 

Eunuch Zhao's name was second to only the emperor within the palace. Even Consort Li knew that Eunuch Zhao was the only purple-robed eunuch in Tang Dynasty. His rank and position were equal to the queen.

Even so, as the Tang Dynasty emperor was aging, the court's noblemen each had their ideas and the princes were at war with each other. No matter how bad things got, as long as the Tang Dynasty emperor was still alive, the Tang Dynasty would not collapse into chaos.

How could that have been? It was because of the purple-robed eunuch at the emperor's side. The purple-robed eunuch was enough to ensure that none of the palace noblemen or the princes would revolt.

Consort Li never thought that the Divine Master Abbot mentioned by Eunuch Hong would be as strong as Eunuch Zhao. It was unbelievable.

"Eunuch Hong, if there's such a powerful person in the Shaolin temple, what about our safety?" asked Consort Li in a quiet voice.

"Your Highness, you shouldn't worry about this…" Eunuch Hong smiled bitterly, "If that Divine Master Abbot had any intent to kill us, even our bodies would've ceased to exist a long time ago. Even if His Highness the emperor was here, he wouldn't have said anything."

The expression on Eunuch Hong's face was a complicated one. Even though the emperor favored Consort Li above all others, he never angered a top first rank because of a woman. 

"Your Highness, the fact that a Divine Master Abbot's presiding in the Shaolin temple is a good thing," Eunuch Hong paused momentarily before he continued with a soft sigh, "At least, we know that we're safe here for sure…"

...

'It's truly extraordinary!' thought Su Qin as all the various sensations and feelings that he obtained through the Spiritual Sense flooded into his mind.

'However, that eunuch by Consort Li's side could detect the presence of my Spiritual Sense…'

Su Qin was slightly astonished. When he enveloped the pavilion in the bamboo grove with his Spiritual Sense, Eunuch Hong was able to recognize its presence.

Su Qin was deep in thought for a moment before he finally figured out the reason. The main reason was when he achieved the Spiritual Sense, he was unable to truly control it when he released it.

In addition to that, Eunuch Hong's natural essence force was way beyond that of a typical martial artist. That was the reason he was able to notice Su Qin's Spiritual Sense.

After a while, Su Qin was completely familiar with his Spiritual Sense. Only then could he have wielded it freely, as breezily as a cool afternoon's breeze. 

...

How time flies. In the blink of an eye, countless months had gone by. During that time, Su Qin once again returned to his normal life. As for having achieved Spiritual Sense, that did not affect Su Qin in the slightest. After all, even without the Spirit Accumulation Pill, Su Qin was confident that he would have been able to achieve Spiritual Sense. It would just have taken him a long time to do so.

What Su Qin had plenty of was time.

A typical first-rank grandmaster would not have lived beyond 200 years, yet Su Qin could live up to 400 years. Given the time of several hundred years, even a pig would be able to achieve Spiritual Sense, let alone someone like Su Qin.

'If I want to achieve the Luohan status, I need all three to be at the top of their game, my Spiritual Sense, physical body, and also Internal Force.'

Su Qin sat cross-legged as an idea occurred to him. 'Now that I've achieved Spiritual Sense, my physical body can also be refined with the combined power of Yin and Yang energy to the peak limit. All that is left is Internal Force…'

Su Qin's eyes lit up with anticipation.

If the word got out that the impossible barrier that was the bottleneck of the Martial Arts Legend realm had been solved by Su Qin, the world would be shaken. For any other first-rank grandmaster, being able to achieve two out of the three requirements was nearly impossible.

On a certain level, it could have been said that Su Qin was currently the person who was closest to reaching the bottleneck of the Martial Arts Legends among all the first-rank grandmasters.

The next day, Su Qin went accordingly to the Bodhi Court to sign in. Ever since he obtained the Spirit Accumulation Pill, the number of times that Su Qin signed in at the Bodhi temple had visibly increased.

Since he could obtain a pill like the Spirit Accumulation Pill that helped him achieve Spiritual Sense at the Bodhi Court, there might have been a pill that could help him transform his Internal Force.

With that hope in mind, Su Qin walked casually toward the Bodhi Court. 

All of a sudden, Su Qin stopped in his tracks. 

Soon after, the Tang Dynasty Princess ran bouncily toward him. Consort Li and her people were at the Shaolin temple for close to half a year. However, they would rarely leave the bamboo grove. Hence, their presence did not affect the Shaolin temple in any way. 

Since there was the existence of that royal decree, abbot Hui Wen was forced to turn a blind eye to their presence. As long as Consort Li did not leave the Shaolin temple on her own accord, they would have been allowed to continue staying in the temple.

All the Shaolin temple had to do was to provide their daily meals.

"Little monk, we might leave soon…" The little princess had puffy red eyes. It was clear that she was reluctant to leave.

Even though life at the Shaolin temple was quiet and dull, it was also nothing compared to the grandness and extravagance of the palace. Yet, the temple was the place where she felt the safest and free. 

She did not have to worry about dying in some dried-up well or drinking a cup of poisoned medicine. 

"You're leaving?" Su Qin looked surprised.

"Yup, that's what Eunuch Hong said." The princess sounded glum.