Chapter 76: High-altitude Surveillance Satellite

Huo Yuanzhen looked around the room. It was quite spacious, and he then retrieved his rewards.

The scriptures and the construction token were directly handed to him, which he quickly put away.

The third prize appeared.

The enormous wings of a creature flapped, causing a gust of wind to sweep through the room. Huo Yuanzhen, bald as he was, felt as if his hair would have been standing on end if he had any.

After shaking its wings and showing off its might, the giant golden-eyed eagle, nearly 1.5 meters tall when standing, flew over to Huo Yuanzhen. It rubbed its curved, steel-like beak against him.

The golden-eyed eagle!

It had appeared once before, but at that time, Huo Yuanzhen had been intent on extracting martial arts skills and reluctantly passed up the chance to claim the golden-eyed eagle. He hadn't expected it to appear again this time, and even more surprisingly, he had managed to obtain it.

Excitedly, he stroked the eagle's firm feathers, and just like the white horse, the system's creatures only recognized Huo Yuanzhen as their master.

After thinking for a moment, Huo Yuanzhen stepped outside, with the golden-eyed eagle waddling behind him.

"Fly up!"

Huo Yuanzhen mentally commanded the eagle.

The golden-eyed eagle flapped its wings, and a whirlwind was immediately created, blowing Huo Yuanzhen's robe.

"Wow! My God!"

Inside the room, although the eagle was large, it hadn't been much taller than Huo Yuanzhen, so he hadn't realized its true size. But now, as the eagle spread its wings, Huo Yuanzhen was stunned.

The wingspan was about five meters, resembling a dark cloud in the sky. With a flap, the eagle soared upward and soon disappeared into the night sky.

"This... this could probably carry a person, right?!"

Huo Yuanzhen was extremely excited. It certainly seemed possible. If the eagle could carry someone, it meant he could travel like a god, covering thousands of miles in a single day.

Forget light-footed martial arts; in front of this aerial overlord, they seemed pathetic.

Traveling to Beihai in the morning and resting at Cangwu by night was no longer a dream!

A few minutes later, Huo Yuanzhen called for the golden-eyed eagle. Moments later, a shadow descended, and the eagle landed.

Waddling over, the eagle raised its head and presented something in its beak to Huo Yuanzhen.

Huo Yuanzhen took the object and was pleasantly surprised. It was a tile, but unlike the glazed tiles from Shaolin, this one could only be used by the government. The only place within a hundred miles that could use such tiles was the Zhengfeng County Magistrate's Office.

Zhengfeng County was about thirty to forty miles away from Shaolin, and the eagle had flown up only eight minutes ago.

Eight minutes, thirty miles, and the eagle had made a round trip!

This meant that the golden-eyed eagle could reach Zhengfeng County from Shaoshi Mountain in just four minutes!

In terms of kilometers, this eagle could reach speeds of 250 kilometers per hour or even higher.

The fastest bird Huo Yuanzhen knew, the swift-tailed swift, flew at speeds of around 170 kilometers per hour, with a recorded peak of 350 kilometers per hour.

But this was a small bird, and an eagle this massive could never fly that fast.

What's more, this might not even be the eagle's top speed.

Throwing the tile aside, Huo Yuanzhen mustered up his courage and approached the golden-eyed eagle. "Can you take me to the sky?"

The eagle flapped its wings again, but instead of soaring higher, it circled around Huo Yuanzhen. It was clear: it wanted him to ride on its back.

Huo Yuanzhen lightly jumped up, using a technique resembling walking on water, and landed gently on the eagle's back.

The eagle slowed its flight slightly, struggling under the weight, but after another flap of its wings, it soared higher. Although the speed wasn't very fast, it was still flying, and Huo Yuanzhen was truly airborne!

The golden-eyed eagle flapped its wings hard in the sky. It was clear that it was struggling a bit to carry Huo Yuanzhen.

After flying for some distance, Huo Yuanzhen had it stop, and he jumped off its back.

Though the golden-eyed eagle could indeed fly with him, Huo Yuanzhen wasn't eager to do so again. After all, a bird was still a bird; it wasn't meant to carry people. Despite being a system-generated creature, it was still a living being. Unless absolutely necessary, Huo Yuanzhen wasn't going to make the eagle carry him again.

Originally, Huo Yuanzhen had planned to let the golden-eyed eagle take Guan Shanyue and the princess back to Chang'an, but now it seemed the eagle might struggle with that. It could carry the princess, but Huo Yuanzhen hesitated.

He didn't mind about the princess's safety, but Guan Shanyue was important to him, and he didn't want to risk her life.

After much thought, Huo Yuanzhen decided to first send the eagle to check on Guan Shanyue and their whereabouts. If possible, it could take the princess to safety and save Guan Shanyue from danger.

As for Yue Ying, sorry, he was on his own.

The system's creatures could communicate with Huo Yuanzhen's mind, and he understood their intentions clearly.

The golden-eyed eagle flapped its wings again and soared into the sky, disappearing into the moonlit night.

Unknown to anyone except Huo Yuanzhen, from this moment on, there was a new high-altitude surveillance satellite hovering above Shaoshi Mountain. Its range covered nearly a hundred miles, constantly observing the area.

After the monks at Shaolin woke up, they were surprised to find a large courtyard had appeared in the third area of the temple!

Their first reaction was that the Buddha had once again manifested a miracle, and they hurried over to see.

Inside the courtyard stood a great hall, with the plaque of the Arhat Hall hanging above it. Inside, there were statues of the Eighteen Arhats, with five hundred small statues of Arhats behind them, all vividly detailed.

There were resting places behind the hall, and the courtyard was equipped with various martial arts training tools, such as wooden dummies, stone locks, and plum blossom stakes.

"Abbot! What is this place?"

"This is the Arhat Hall, a place where the martial monks train."

Huo Yuanzhen stood among the crowd, smiling, as another building had been added to Shaolin.

"Can we practice martial arts here?"

"Of course, but we must first establish rules."

Now, in Shaolin, aside from Huo Yuanzhen, there were also Kong, Jing, Huiming, Huizhen, Huiwu, Tieniu, Su Can, and about ten other homeless lay disciples.

"From today onwards, Huiwu will serve as the head of the Arhat Hall, and we will post a notice to announce that Shaolin is officially recruiting inner disciples. Those wishing to become monks can choose between scholarly monks and martial monks. Martial monks will study martial arts, and those who pass the tests can enter the Arhat Hall!"

Everyone nodded in agreement, and Kong added, "Abbot, learning Buddhism is a good thing, but our scriptures are few. We only have a partial Diamond Sutra and a Lotus Sutra, which we have yet to fully understand."

"That's no problem. We'll start with this scripture."

Huo Yuanzhen casually pulled out the Kṣitigarbha Sutra and handed it to Kong. He had already finished reading it, and it was now a regular scripture.

Kong received it with reverence, as though the book could break at any moment.

Appointing Yue Shan as the head of the Arhat Hall was a decision Huo Yuanzhen had carefully considered. The head of the Arhat Hall needed to be courageous, and Yue Shan was just that. Having reached the completion of the acquired stage, he was on the brink of becoming a congenital expert. It was a good fit for the position.

Moreover, Yue Shan specialized in using a staff, which aligned with Shaolin's martial arts. If Huo Yuanzhen ever obtained the Arhat Staff Formation, Yue Shan would help develop it further.

Everyone got to work, making a recruitment notice for Shaolin. The announcement caused a strong reaction within the surrounding area.

At this time, becoming a monk wasn't unusual, and there were many who joined for free meals.

Furthermore, martial arts training was highly sought after, and on the first day, more than seventy people showed up to join Shaolin as monks.

After a busy screening process, eight martial monks and five scholarly monks were accepted.

Following the Abbot's directive to rapidly develop Shaolin, Kong immediately began shaving the heads of these new monks, officially inducting them.

The following days saw even more applicants. By the third day, Shaolin had recruited five martial monks and four scholarly monks.

In the evening of the third day, Abbot Yijie personally lectured to the newly inducted monks.

Although these monks had joined Shaolin, it was unrealistic to expect complete loyalty from them. Shaolin needed to develop quickly in these challenging times, and the abbot had to employ special methods.

First, some of the Shaolin precepts were announced, and then Huo Yuanzhen began lecturing with his treasured wooden fish in the Arhat Hall's main hall.

After studying two scriptures, Huo Yuanzhen's knowledge of Buddhist texts had reached a high level.

Amidst the smoke of incense and the rhythmic sound of the wooden fish, the monks, who had initially been confused about Buddhist teachings, now listened intently, as if entranced.

As they gazed at the young abbot on the stage, a sacred feeling arose in their hearts, making them want to bow in reverence. Joining Shaolin truly seemed like a wise decision.