The Serpentine Wanderer

After a moment had passed, Su Qin opened his eyes and exclaimed in amazement, "I never knew that the Truth-Seeing Eye was so powerful!"

According to the description in the system, the Truth-Seeing Eye was not a combat-style magical ability. It was geared toward more of an assistive and supplementary role. With the Truth-Seeing Eye, Su Qin could have easily seen through illusions and falsehoods to escape dangerous situations.

Also, the Truth-Seeing Eye had a terrifying grasp of Qi Activity. As soon as Su Qin locked his sight on a target, he would have been able to use the Qi Activity to lock down on the person's location, even if they were more than a hundred or even a thousand miles away.

Of course, the most attractive part of the Truth-Seeing Eye to Su Qin was the fact that it was a magical ability.

What was a magical ability?

It did not matter which martial arts style it was, each of them required Internal Force or Qi Vitality1 to use it. Even a first-rank grandmaster did not have unlimited Internal Force and would not have been able to carry on non-stop without exhausting his supply.

That was the same principle for Qi Vitality. Once Qi Vitality was lost, even a first-rank grandmaster would have drastically become weaker. 

However, it was different for magical abilities. Magical abilities were like a normal bodily function. It was as easy as breathing and it barely used any energy at all.

That also meant that if Su Qin wanted to, he could have constantly activated the Truth-Seeing Eye anytime. That feat would have been as simple as eating and drinking for Su Qin. He did not need to focus too hard to do so.

'I've heard that once a person has trained to the peak of the Buddhist sect martial arts styles, various types of magical abilities can be attained, such as telepathy or the Divine Eye…'

Su Qin thought, 'Let's try this Truth-Seeing Eye out and see what it can do.' He focused his mind and chanted in his mind.

Instantly, Su Qin felt his eyes go cold and discovered that everything that he looked at laid uncovered before him. Nothing was hidden from his sight. Even blind spots did not exist in his eyes.

Apart from that, Su Qin could also faintly sense countless Qi Vitality floating all around him. Nothing escaped his sight, whether these QI vitalities were strong or weak, far or near.

'Not bad, not bad at all.' 

Su Qin's glance turned to land on the corpse of the first-rank grandmaster. At that moment, with the Truth-Seeing Eye, Su Qin could tell instantly that the body was truly that of a first-rank grandmaster who had died. Also, he knew that there were no traps set out on the corpse.

It was then that Su Qin discovered that the first-rank grandmaster was gripping tightly onto a roll of animal skin parchment. Su Qin merely poked it with his finger and it dropped out of his hand. 

Su Qin picked it up and saw something written on it. 'I began my martial arts training when I was eight. As I traveled the world, I advanced to the Upper Realms by the time I was 38 years old. I achieved the first-rank when I was 79 years of age. Since then, I've remained stuck at first-rank. I regret that I wasn't able to break through the bottleneck2 and enter the realm of the Legends…' 

The words recorded on the animal skin parchment must have been the life story of that first-rank grandmaster. It contained records of the experiences of his youth, his great joy after becoming a martial artist, and also how lonely it felt to be at the top.

That first-rank grandmaster was called the Serpentine Wanderer. Even though he was an orphan, he had immense talent and aptitude for martial arts. On his travels, he managed to pick up several incomplete books on different martial arts styles and managed to bitterly build up his Internal Force.

From then on, his power grew in leaps and bounds. In mere seventy-odd years, he managed to advance directly into the level of a first-rank grandmaster. When he had just become a first-rank grandmaster, the Serpentine Wanderer was extremely pleased with his position at the peak. He frequently compared notes with other first-rank grandmasters and lived his life at leisure. It was a happy life. 

Once he reached a hundred years of age, the Serpentine Wanderer started to feel a little frantic. A first-rank grandmaster's lifespan was far longer than that of an ordinary person, but even then, it had a limit of 200 years. 

If he wanted to live beyond that, he would have needed to advance to the next stage and step into the realm of the Martial Arts Legends.

'I heard that the Shaolin temple taught many generations and even produced true Luohans. Hence, to achieve my goal of a breakthrough, I concealed myself within the Thousand Buddha Hall and spent my days in harsh training.'

'I thought that at a hundred-and-seventy years of age, my Internal Force and physical body were at the peak of its ability. Even so, there was no way that I could have broken through the bottleneck into the realm of the Legends.'

'The road to becoming a Martial Art Legend. How could one achieve a breakthrough into that realm? How did our ancestors overcome this bottleneck?'

*****

The writing at the back of the animal skin parchment became more messy and illegible, revealing a deep sense of hopelessness and regret. Hence, it made Su Qin take pause and become somber.

'Serpentine Wanderer must've infiltrated the temple almost 60 years ago right when the last Divine Master Abbot of the Shaolin temple passed away. He must've been able to remain hidden till now because there's not been another first-rank monk presiding over the temple,' thought Su Qin

He sighed. First-rank grandmasters were rare but each generation would usually have produced a couple. However, countless generations could pass before a Martial Art Legend or a Luohan of the Buddhist sect would appear.

Su Qin did not know what it was like in other places but in the Shaolin temple, there was no other person who achieved the Luohan status even since the last Luohan patriarch that subdued the Demon Buddha away more than 900 years ago.

Even though the appearance of the Demon Buddha successor once every hundred years contributed to that by weakening the foundations and resources of the Shaolin temple, that always proved how difficult it was to attain the Luohan status.

'Will I be like the Serpentine Wanderer in the future? Grow old alone and wait for death?' Su Qin frowned as the thought appeared in his mind. 

However, as soon as the thought appeared, he tossed it aside. That was because there was no way the Serpentine Wanderer could have been compared to him. Su Qin possessed the system and could obtain various treasures by signing in. Even if he needed a massive pile of treasure to achieve it, he would have done so to push himself into the realm of the Martial Arts Legends.

After all, the Serpentine Wanderer did not understand how to break through the bottleneck even up to the point of his death. In Su Qin's eyes, the Serpentine Wanderer chose the wrong path.

The Serpentine Wanderer spent more than a hundred years training his physical body. However, to step into the realm of the Martial Arts Legends, apart from requiring the physical body and Internal Force to be trained to the utmost peak, one also required a perfect spirit.

Spirit, physical body, and Internal Force. The combination of all three was required for any hope at all of breaking through the bottleneck. Apart from that, the other thing that encouraged Su Qin was the fact that he just obtained the Truth-Seeing Eye. Not only could it fully expose things in the outer world, but it also allowed Su Qin to observe himself.

Under his observation through the Truth-Seeing Eye, Su Qin could see that his QI Vitality, Internal Force, and his spirit reached quite an unbelievable level. Su Qin could feel no aspect that was lacking within him. 

The Truth-Seeing Eye was not able to directly help Su Qin fix the areas he lacked. However, it pointed out where Su Qin should focus on. That was more valuable than any treasure that Su Qin could have obtained from signing into the system. 

'I made the right decision to come to the Thousand Buddha Hall to sign into the system. Even though I'm confident that I'd be able to achieve that rank without the Truth-Seeing Eye, with it I'd be able to avoid going down the wrong path.'

Su Qin smiled. He turned to look toward the corpse of the Serpentine Wanderer and said, "Don't worry. All the roads that you didn't take and all the sights that you didn't see, I'll do it all on your behalf."

As soon as Su Qin finished speaking, he turned around to leave. As for the corpse of the Serpentine Wanderer, Su Qin did not stop to deal with it. As the Thousand Buddha Hall was a restricted area in the Shaolin temple. After a while, some designated disciples would have entered to clean the area.

While the Serpentine Wanderer was alive, the disciples would not have been able to see him when they came in to clean. However, he was dead. The next time a disciple came in to tidy up, they would discover his body. When that happened, someone in the Shaolin temple would have dealt with the Serpentine Wanderer.