Impenetrable Armor!

Several Shaolin temple disciples were engaged in an intense discussion in front of the Luohan Court.

"Brother Zhen Xing's a genius among the disciples in the Luohan Court. He's already achieved the eighth-rank ages ago. Defeating the Eighteen Figure Bronze formation won't be a problem for him."

"That's cool! Brother Zhen Xing's one of the favored disciples of the Luohan Court. I heard that he's been personally taught by the abbots."

'Zhen Xing?' wondered Su Qin to himself. After a moment, he finally recalled who it was. Zhen Xing was a disciple who joined the Shaolin temple at the same time as Su Qin. Both of them belonged to the disciples of the Zhen generation.

However, Zhen Xing had a superior aptitude for martial arts. He was noticed and favored by the head of the Luohan Court early on, who then personally accepted him in.

Due to that, Su Qin was dumped into the Miscellaneous Court because he had absolutely no talent for martial arts. 

It could be said that Zhen Xing and Su Qin represented the two extremes of the Shaolin disciples. The former was favored and well-known, the latter was a nobody.

"Brother Zhen Xing's only been a disciple of the Shaolin temple for five years but he already managed to attain the eighth-rank. He might even be a temple head in the future!" said a novice monk in admiration. 

That novice monk was about twelve years old and was a disciple of the Shaolin temple for almost three years. Despite all his harsh training, he was yet to achieve the ninth-rank. Reaching the eight-rank seemed sufficient for him. 

Su Qin stood to one side and did not say a word.

If the disciples next to him discovered that Su Qin had far surpassed Zhen Xing, whom they all admired, their eyeballs would have popped out. 

Zhen Xing was a martial artist of the eighth-rank, while Su Qi had already attained the fourth-rank. There was a gap of four ranks between them. It was possible that even if there were a thousand more like Zhen Xing, they would not have been able to beat Su Qi even if they worked together. 

Between the levels of martial arts, it was much more difficult to achieve a breakthrough to the next rank in the later and more advanced stages. For example, ten martial artists of the ninth-rank were able to beat a single person of the eighth-rank. However, for ten fifth-rank disciples to have defeated a single fourth-rank martial artist would have been an impossible task.

Hence, Su Qin had no interest in Zhen Xing at all. The thing that caught Su Qin's attention was the Figure Bronze formation of the Luohan Court. It could have tested the strength of the disciples. 

Su Qin trained up till then and mastered various powerful techniques of the Shaolin temple. Even when his power reached the terrifying level of a fourth-rank martial artist, he never lifted a finger against another person.

Even though he knew that he achieved a breakthrough to the fourth-rank, he had no idea what kind of destructive power he wielded. Su Qin was aware that he was extremely powerful. However, he had no grasp of how exactly powerful he was.

'I'll come here at night when there's no one,' Su Qin thought.

It was late at night. Guided by the moonlight, Su Qin arrived before the Figure Bronze formation. 

"Begin!" He then rushed to break the formation spell without saying another word.

The Figure Bronze formation was a machine in the shape of a human, but not a real one. Hence, no one stood there guarding over the Figure Bronze formation. 

Since no one was around, Su Qin wanted to test his powers. Suddenly, there were 18 figures made of bronze that surrounded him. 

"Huh? They're so weak and slow!" Su Qin shook his head.

He muttered an incantation and pointed a finger to make a twisting gesture. He used the Twisted Flower Technique! 

All the 18 bronze figures retreated abruptly and fell violently to the ground. Earlier that day, it took Zhen Xing a colossal effort before he was able to defeat the Eighteen Figure Bronze formation. However, Su Qin won in less than a second. 

"It's too weak. I can't test my ability with it!"

Su Qin continued to walk further into the hall. Then, the Eighteen Figure Bronze formation went into a Thirty-Six Figure Bronze formation. An eighth-rank martial artist would have been able to defeat an Eighteen-Figure Bronze formation but a seventh-rank martial artist at the very least would have needed to defeat the Thirty-Six Figure Bronze formation. 

As for the Seventy-Two Figure Bronze formation, no one under the sixth-rank should even have attempted to go against it. However, in general, only martial artists of the fifth-rank could have confidently defeated the Seventy-Two Figure Bronze formation.

Only a martial artist of the fourth-rank had the right to even attempt the final formation, which was the One-Hundred-And-Eighth Figure Bronze formation. The One-Hundred-And-Eight Figure Bronze formation was left behind by a previous generation of Shaolin monks. It contained the combined power of both heaven and earth. A typical fourth-rank martial artist would have not been able to withstand its power for long.

Only a fourth-rank martial artist at his peak or a third-rank martial artist could successfully have defeated the One-Hundred-And-Eight Figure Bronze formation.

Boom Boom Boom!!!

Su Qin took a step and sent out a blast of terrifying Internal Force. All 36 of the bronze figures that approached him were defeated in one swoop.

"Next one!" 

Su Qin continued his way.

Whoosh!

The next instant, he saw 72 bronze figures appear next to him like ghosts.

"The Seventy-Two Figure Bronze formation?"

Su Qin looked a little disappointed. Compared to the Eighteen Figure Bronze formation and the Thirty-Six Figure Bronze formation, they were much faster. However, they were still not a match for Su Qin. They did not intimidate him at all.

Crash!

All 72 bronze figures flew backward.

"There are only the 108 bronze figures left," Su Qin muttered as he continued further in.

All of a sudden, when Su Qin entered within the range of the One-Hundred-And-Eight Figure Bronze formation, a whooshing sound was heard!

108 figures silently appeared before him. With their combined power of heaven and earth multiplied 108 times, they formed a complex snare formation around Su Qin and closed in on him. At that moment, Su Qin was not battling 108 bronze figures but the forces of heaven and earth.

"Finally, something interesting!" said Su Qin as his eyes lit up in excitement.

Crash! 

In the blink of an eye, Su Qin collided with the 108 bronze figures. The 108 bronze figures crashed into everything in sight with the full force of heaven and earth. However, as Su Qin faced them, he was like an indestructible and everlasting gold Buddha.

Whoosh!

Su Qin's skin started glowing in a faint golden light. He activated the Impenetrable Armor technique.

The Impenetrable Armor was another powerful external martial arts technique of the Shaolin sect. If one mastered the technique, he would have been able to give a martial artist of the Upper Realms a run for his money by merely relying on the strength of his physical body.

Over the past 5 years, Su Qin obtained countless Essence Cleansing Pills but he never achieved mastery in the external martial art technique, despite having been quite close to it. 

Su Qin thought that he would still have required a few more years to attain complete mastery over the Impenetrable Armor technique. However, under the brutal challenge of the 108 bronze figures, his Impenetrable Armor started to level up gradually.

After half an hour, Su Qin erupted in gleeful laughter. "Hahahahahaha! This is amazing! Truly amazing!"

The depths of Su Qin's eyes flashed with a deep golden light. He raised his right hand and all the 108 bronze figures exploded instantly.

Complete mastery of the Impenetrable Armor was then achieved! Only through total mastery of the Impenetrable Armor technique could Su Qin have completely crushed the One-Hundred-And-Eight Figure Bronze formation with such ease.

However, before he had the time to celebrate, a shrill alarm bell started to ring.

Dong!

Dong!

Dong!

The sound of the ringing bell traveled far and alerted the entire Shaolin temple.

"This is bad! I defeated the One-Hundred-And-Eight Figure Bronze formation but accidentally destroyed all 108 bronze figures because I didn't know my strength! That must've triggered some sort of mechanism to set off the alarm bell!"

In the darkness, the cogs of Su Qin's brain turned and he swiftly came up with an idea. 'I have to leave right away! The abbot and the temple heads must be on their way!'

Su Qin silently muttered an incantation and he instantly disappeared.

He had not been gone for long when abbot Hui Wen and several other temple court heads arrived in a rush. 

"What happened here?!"

"Why did the alarm for the Figure Bronze formation go off?"

"Shouldn't it only ring if a disciple defeats the Eighteen Figure, Thirty-Six Figure, Seventy-Two Figure, and One-Hundred-And-Eight Figure Bronze formation all in one go?" asked the Martial Arts Court Head with a face full of confusion.

For a person to defeat all four formations in one go, they would have to be a martial artist of at least the fourth-rank. However, they knew almost every fourth-rank martial artist and none of them would have been able to challenge the Figure Bronze formation that time of the night. 

As soon as abbot Hui Wen and the other temple court heads approached the formation, their faces were instantly pale as they were shocked.

"Someone challenged the Figure Bronze formation!" said abbot Hui Wen. He ran into the distance as soon as he was done speaking.

The various temple court heads exchanged looks. Only one thought crossed all of their minds. 'Did someone defeat all four formations in one go which triggered the alarm?' 

Soon after, all the temple court heads gathered before the One-Hundred-And-Eight Figure Bronze formation. As they took in the scattered remains of the 108 destroyed bronze figures, their eyes widened in horror.

Not only did someone defeat the One-Hundred-And-Eight Figure Bronze formation, but they also managed to completely crush all the bronze figures into smithereens! How was that possible?

Defeating the One-Hundred-And-Eight Figure Bronze formation and destroying all 108 bronze figures were on two completely different levels! The latter was a much tougher feat than the former!

Abbot Hui Wen stooped down to gently touch a broken fragment of the bronze figure and detected the aura given off by it.

"Solid and impenetrable! Able to withstand even the greatest pressure! The technique used was likely the Impenetrable Armor technique!" Abbot Hui Wen's tone expressed a great surprise and disbelief.