Chapter 24

　Huangjue Temple is located on a plain on the east side of Tianjing City. It is an ancient temple that has been around for hundreds of years. It is also the royal temple of the Jin Dynasty and is known as the "Source of Buddhism in the Jin Dynasty" together with Shaolin.

　　Huangjue Temple covers an area of ​​hundreds of acres and has dozens of courtyards. Inside the temple's mountain gate, there are two towers with bells and drums facing each other. The main buildings on the central axis are the Main Hall, the Dharma Hall, and the Moxing Pagoda. Next to the Moxing Pagoda is the "Scripture Repository" which collects millions of scriptures. Next to Huangjue Temple is an imperial farm of the Da Jin Dynasty, which was used by the royal family to escape the summer heat and relax.

　　Pang Jun disguised himself in a secluded place and transformed himself into a young man in his twenties. He arrived at Huangjue Temple at the beginning of the Si hour, but found that the gate of Huangjue Temple was guarded by the Royal Guards. The appearance of the Royal Guards meant that there were members of the royal family nearby. Curious, he asked a passerby, "Excuse me, what happened? Why are there Royal Guards here at Huangjue Temple?"

　　The passerby looked at Pang Jun and said, "Are you a foreigner? Is this your first time here?"

　　"Yes, yes."

　　"Today is the first day of the lunar month. Every first day of the lunar month, the Princess of Wei will go to Huangjue Temple to pray for the people of the world, and then go to the imperial farm at the foot of the mountain to fast and bathe for three days. But then again, the Princess is really a kind-hearted and pious living Bodhisattva. It has been almost five or six years, and she comes every month, rain or shine. Four years ago, there was a drought in Shengzhou, and many hungry people came to the gate of the capital. The Princess personally went to the porridge shed to distribute food. The year before last, there was a flood in Bozhou, and the Jin Dynasty was fighting with the Northern Hu. The treasury was empty, and the autumn tax had not been collected. The Queen paid 10,000 taels of silver at her own expense, and also mobilized the celebrities and noble ladies in the capital to raise funds for the victims to rebuild their homes. In this capital, who doesn't give the Princess of Wei a thumbs up."

　　"Oh, so that's how it is." Pang Jun looked as if he had suddenly realized something, but he sneered in his heart. This woman was nice to everyone except himself and his father.

　　About two quarters of an hour later, a group of people walked out of the gate of Huangjue Temple. Leading them was the Princess of Wei, Tang Yuxian. Walking side by side with her was an old monk, who should be the abbot of Huangjue Temple. Following behind Tang Yuxian was a beautiful woman of similar age. Although she was not as beautiful as Tang Yuxian, she was wearing a bright red training suit and had a heroic temperament. She seemed to be a martial artist.

　　The passerby next to Pang Jun said, "Look, that's the Princess of Wei. Next to her is the abbot of Huangjue Temple, Master Honghai. That lady is also from a prominent family. She is the daughter-in-law of Zhao Wuji, the leader of Huangji Sect, and the daughter of the Minister of War, Liu Hongxu. This lady is from a military family. She doesn't like red clothes but prefers military skills. I heard that she and the Princess have known each other since childhood and are as close as sisters."

　　Pang Jun looked at Liu Hongxu. She walked with clean and neat steps, and it seemed that she was more than just an embroidered pillow with flower stands. However, he was curious why the gentle and elegant Tang Yuxian could be as close as sisters with the impetuous Liu Hongxu.

　　At this time, Tang Yuxian and Liu Hongxu had already boarded the sedan chair and set off for the Huangtang Temple at the foot of the mountain, preparing to begin three days of fasting and bathing. The guards had also dispersed, and pilgrims could enter the Huangjue Temple. Pang Jun first put Tang Yuxian and the others down and finished his serious business first.

　　Huangjue Temple is very large, but there are many places open to pilgrims. Except for the monks' residences and several important buildings, other places can be visited. After two hours, Pang Jun visited all the places open to the public. The spatial layout of Huangjue Temple has been embedded in his mind. At noon, at the invitation of the monks, he had a vegetarian meal, donated ten taels of incense money, and then left Huangjue Temple.

　　He knew that Huangjue Temple, as a royal temple, was far from being as simple as it seemed. Even the abbot, Master Honghai, possessed remarkable martial arts skills, not to mention the temple's top master, Old Monk Hongzhi. So in addition to Huangjue Temple, he also had to plan how to escape from this place once he succeeded or was discovered.

　　After several hours of secret visits, Pang Jun was in a tavern in a small town at the foot of the mountain, eating dinner absentmindedly while planning the whole process in his mind. His mission career in the past few years made him not pay too much special attention to this matter. He planned before taking action for every mission. After long-term training, he could often come up with several plans just by taking a look at the environment, and would make multiple calculations in his mind to get the best plan.

　　It was late at night and the only sound around Huangjue Temple was the low chirping of summer insects. Pang Jun put on a mask that covered most of his face, entered the mountain from a small path, and using his martial arts skills, he arrived outside the backyard of Huangjue Temple in just fifteen minutes. After climbing over the wall to enter the temple, Pang Jun did not waste any time. He dodged the patrolling monks and came to the Sutra Library.

　　He gently opened the window and saw that inside the Sutra Repository was a circular high-rise building with three floors. Each floor had four escalators for people to go up and down. Except for the first floor, the other floors had no windows and even the door had only one leaf. In the center of the first floor of the attic, an old monk was sitting on a cushion in meditation.

　　Pang Jun looked around the pavilion for about a cup of tea, then slipped away and found the temple's kitchen. There was no one in the kitchen, only kitchen utensils and a pile of firewood. Pang Jun took out two flints from his arms, flicked his fingers, and the flints hit each other, creating sparks that instantly ignited the firewood in the kitchen. Then he picked up a burning piece of firewood and threw it into one of the courtyards. Boom! A fire dragon instantly ran around in the courtyard.

　　Then he went to the temple's water tank and poured the oil he had taken from the kitchen into the water tank. He then restrained his breath, hid in a place, and waited for his opportunity.

　　Soon, the fire in the courtyard and the kitchen was discovered, and the monks shouted: "The fire is coming!"

　　While looking for containers to fetch water to put out the fire, the yard was full of people carrying buckets and basins to fetch water to put out the fire. It was a mess and no order, and no one noticed that there was a thin layer of oil on the surface of the water in the tank.

　　Seeing that all the monks in the temple were focusing on putting out the fire, Pang Jun easily returned to the Sutra Library and lifted the window frame again. He found that the old monk who was meditating was also gone. He held the window frame with his left hand and raised the window with his right hand. He jumped onto the window sill and gently let it go, and the window returned to its original state.

　　According to Lu Tao, the copy of the Lankavatara Sutra was stored on a separate bookshelf on the third floor. Pang Jun tiptoed to the third floor and easily found the copy of the Lankavatara Sutra. After taking it and putting it in his arms, an old voice suddenly sounded behind him: "So the donor's target is this Lankavatara Sutra. I didn't expect this." From the shadow of another bookshelf, an old monk with a kind face walked out. He was the old monk who was sitting on the cushion in the middle hall on the first floor. He must be the number one master of Huangjue Temple, Master Hongzhi.

　　"When Huangjue Temple caught fire, Master did not go to put out the fire but hid here instead. Is he born afraid of fire?" Now that he had been discovered, Pang Jun teased Hongzhi.

　　"Amitabha," Hongzhi sang a Buddhist name and said, "My responsibility is to take care of the Huangjue Temple Sutra Pavilion. As for the fire in the temple, other monks will go to put it out. If it can be put out, there will be no need for me to come. If it cannot be put out, once Huangjue Temple is burned down, I will also accompany the Sutra Pavilion to the west. The donor set fire to Huangjue Temple for this "Lankavatara Sutra". It is too late to turn back. If the donor can return the sutra, I will let the donor leave on his own."

　　"Sea of ​​suffering? Master, I have been sinking in the sea of ​​suffering since I was young, and have been swimming forward all the time. I don't know how far I am from the shore. The only way to escape from the sea of ​​suffering is to swim forward desperately until I reach the other side. And this "Lankavatara Sutra" is one of my swims." Pang Jun said with a wry smile.

　　"Since the donor has made up his mind, please don't blame me." After saying that, a gleam of light flashed in Hongzhi's cloudy eyes, and his palms had already struck out while he was speaking. This was the world-famous Buddhist martial arts-Prajna Zen Palm. The first thing he used was the Shaolin palm method, which had a profound and powerful aura. If you hadn't seen it with your own eyes, no one would have believed that this old monk could actually use such a powerful move.

　　Pang Jun turned his body and slashed Hongzhi's right chest with his left palm. His palm seemed ordinary and could not be compared with the momentum of Hongzhi's palm. But this ordinary palm was able to dissolve the power of Hongzhi's palm.

　　Hongzhi launched more than twenty palm strikes in succession, but Pang Jun deflected them one by one, and even continued to strike back. Suddenly, Hongzhi's right palm suddenly retracted, and when it was time to strike out, with a "swish" sound, the palm turned into a finger, and rushed straight to Pang Jun's chest at lightning speed.

　　But Pang Jun tilted his body, just slightly, and the strong and sharp finger wind could only sweep his clothes. The moves used by Pang Jun were the most common and ordinary in the world. There were probably thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people in the world who could perform this kind of moves. But it was obviously the same moves, but they were different in Pang Jun's hands. These moves might seem ordinary individually, but when the two fought, each move showed its incredible power.

　　Hongzhi changed his moves again, and saw the shadow of his palm flying in the sky, as if dancing in a strong wind. It was the Dragon Spinning Palm, one of the 72 Shaolin unique skills. Seeing Hongzhi's palm hitting him, Pang Jun did not dodge again this time. Instead, he took a half step back and used all his internal strength to take the palm.

　　With a "bang", Pang Jun took three steps back and Hongzhi took two steps back. Pang Jun smiled and said, "The martial arts of Master Hongzhi of Huangjue Temple are indeed well-deserved. It is a great blessing in my life to be able to learn from the master today. Unfortunately, I have important things to do today, so I'm sorry I can't keep you company." After that, he took out two iron egg-shaped objects from his arms and smashed them on the ground. Suddenly, smoke filled the air. When Hongzhi fanned away the smoke and chased out of the Sutra Library, Pang Jun had disappeared.

　　In the forest, Pang Jun used all his strength to fly for about quarter of an hour, and finally stopped under a big tree. After relaxing, he suddenly felt the blood rushing up, and finally recovered through regulating his breathing. He thought to himself: Although this old monk Hongzhi is not famous, his martial arts are first-class in the martial arts world. Among the 72 Shaolin unique skills, he can at least use three of the "Prajna Zen Palm", "Dragon Spin Palm" and "Iron Finger Zen Power". I just fought with him and was almost knocked unconscious by his internal force. It seems that my internal strength is still not good enough. It's a pity that the "Harmony Power" can only integrate a little bit of "Heaven-Splitting Palm Power" and "Heaven-Repairing Magic Power" every day. I need to find a way to improve my internal strength.

　　When Pang Jun finished regulating his breathing and regained some vitality, he was about to return to the inn to study the "Lankavatara Sutra" carefully, when suddenly, a voice of people talking came from a distance...