Longevity by Grinding Skills-Chapter 63: The Grim Hall

Slivers of moonlight fell through the gaps between the tiles, shattered by the countless figures hidden on the eaves, beams, and rooftops.

Xu Yunfan lay prone on the back of the roof, his ears twitching at the sound of rhythmic breathing rising and falling in the distance.

The place was practically overflowing with people.

’This is utterly ridiculous!’

He knew that with such a large group pouring into the Thousand Buddha Temple, even if the rumors were baseless, there were bound to be some unsavory characters with sticky fingers.

No, there would *definitely* be some.

However...

On second thought, Xu Yunfan decided he couldn’t leave. If he missed this opportunity, the Thousand Buddha Temple would heighten its security. The only way in next time would be to fight his way in.

Suddenly, he turned his head to see Su Shiyu inching her way along the eaves on the other side of the roof.

"My good man, aren’t you going down?"

Su Shiyu, her face masked, approached with a raspy voice, cupping her hands in a passable imitation of a formal greeting.

’This girl hasn’t even grasped the basics of circulating her qi and blood. She hasn’t even entered the Martial Dao, yet she dares to wade into these muddy waters with a bunch of thieves.’

Her deliberately lowered voice carried the scent of osmanthus rouge. Xu Yunfan narrowed his eyes, looking at the silver-threaded Cloud Pattern embroidered on her mask.

’She really is the young lady of the Su Family. Even her night-crawling clothes are tailored from Central State’s cloud-patterned brocade, a stark contrast to the coarse linen shirts of the others around them.’

Xu Yunfan was speechless internally, but his face remained cold as he said, "With your shoddy third-rate Kung Fu? You haven’t even entered the Martial Dao, yet you dare come here looking for excitement. Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

Su Shiyu was so taken aback she stumbled half a step back, the curved roof tile cracking sharply under her boot.

A graceful black shadow suddenly flashed out from the side. Her figure, wrapped in a tight-fitting black outfit, traced a breathtaking curve under the moonlight.

"That won’t be necessary for you to worry about. We’re leaving."

The woman’s voice was like it had been steeped in an Ice Spring. As she pulled Su Shiyu and leaped off the eaves, the rhythm of her twisting waist oddly matched the molting of a snake.

Hearing this, Su Shiyu let the woman pull her away, but she turned back to glance at Xu Yunfan. Her eyes lingered on the long pestle on his back. After a moment’s hesitation, she quickly followed the black-clad woman off the eaves.

Although he seemed somewhat familiar, she doubted someone with Xu Yunfan’s personality would join in on this kind of commotion.

Su Shiyu dismissed the idea of calling out to him. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Watching Su Shiyu disappear around a corner with the black-clad woman, Xu Yunfan shook his head slightly and put it out of his mind.

"Who goes there, you scoundrels!"

A thunderous roar erupted in the distance. The Martial Monks inside the temple had clearly reacted.

Eighteen torches shot up like red serpents, and the dull thuds of the Martial Monks’ copper rods striking the ground startled all the "rats" in the temple.

’With this many people, it’d be a miracle if they *weren’t* discovered.’

’A perfect opportunity!’

Xu Yunfan’s arches suddenly tensed. His 230-jin body shot toward the back courtyard of the Thousand Buddha Temple like an arrow released from a bowstring.

The immense force erupting from his shins could have easily shattered the curved tiles into a spiderweb of cracks. Yet, the instant his foot touched a tile, he pivoted on the ball of his foot to disperse the force. The entire motion was like a great python turning over, not even disturbing the bronze bells on the corners of the eaves.

As swift as a pouncing rabbit and a swooping falcon, Xu Yunfan crossed from roof to roof, his landings completely silent, causing no disturbance whatsoever.

With every landing, Xu Yunfan would make contact with the entire surface of his sole, then crouch like a great cat to increase the contact area between his body and the roof, thereby dispersing the sound and minimizing noise.

His Flying Leg’s Wall-Climbing and Roof-Jumping, the Spiritual Ape Vertical Leap, and the Silent Landing effect from his Hunting Skill all combined to elevate his Body Technique to an astonishing level.

Especially when dashing across eaves like this, his body, weighing over two hundred jin, felt utterly weightless.

His frame, tempered to the stage of Great Success, stretched out in the darkness. Every tremor of his muscles translated into precise force, perfectly distributing the weight of the long pestle on his back between his fingers and the arches of his feet.

He glanced back at the chaos. As the Thousand Buddha Temple lit up with torches, becoming bright as day, he knew most of the intruders who lacked sufficient Light Body Skill would be brutally clubbed out by the temple’s Martial Monks.

He scaled a high wall and lay prone on a roof, watching as several hundred Martial Monks holding Familiar Copper Rods rushed toward the front courtyard, led by more than a dozen Martial Masters.

They moved with the gait of dragons and tigers, their robed sleeves flying, their speed incredible.

In an instant, the back courtyard became mostly clear, leaving only the regular monks on their scheduled patrols, carrying lanterns.

Explosive shouts from the front courtyard nearly echoed through the entire Thousand Buddha Temple. The clamor of clashing weapons grew increasingly loud.

Xu Yunfan’s expression remained unchanged as he glanced at a squad of monks with worried looks passing below the roof.

He seized the opportunity. His body moving like a wild goose, he executed a mid-air somersault and landed on a row house, where he began his slow and steady search.

After dodging the lanterns of the patrolling Martial Monks for the fifth time, Xu Yunfan arrived at a corner of the monastery built against the mountain. He looked at the Buddha Hall before him, which seemed to be embedded into the rock face. It was surrounded by high walls, and only a corner of its flying eaves was visible.

A strange light flashed in Xu Yunfan’s eyes. He was certain this was most likely the place he was looking for.

Following a scent, he crossed the final courtyard wall and passed through a seven-tiered, glazed-tile treasure roof.

A thick, strange fragrance suddenly flooded his nostrils. Xu Yunfan’s nostrils flared, and a metallic, sweet taste like rust rose in his throat.

The smell was like a hundred spices that had been calcined in a Copper Furnace for a century, mixed with the cloying sweetness of some kind of animal fat.

This was definitely not ordinary Incense Smoke Qi; it was more like the pious faith of millions of worshippers, simmered down into a physical substance.

Suddenly, every muscle in Xu Yunfan’s body tensed, and his pupils trembled.

Cold sweat beaded on the hand he used to grip the roof’s drip-edge. The temple hall before him seemed like a living creature, inhaling and exhaling a mist of unknown origin.

On the crimson-lacquered lintel of the Buddha Hall, a relief carving of eight coiling arms seemed to sway with his gaze, their hand gestures constantly shifting and changing.

’It’s just a trick of the carving technique.’

After a long moment, Xu Yunfan finally relaxed his muscles slightly. He looked up and saw that his grip had left indentations three inches deep in the eave he was holding.

Xu Yunfan fell silent. ’Something is wrong,’ he thought, and the urge to retreat surfaced immediately.

’This place is too bizarre. I should leave first.’

The decision made in an instant, Xu Yunfan hooked his hand, flipped onto the eaves, and took a step. Just as he was about to cross the high wall, his vision seemed to blur for a moment.

By the time he came to his senses, he was already standing before the doors of the Buddha Hall.

The bronze lock on the main doors disintegrated into dust before his eyes, and a cold, sinister sandalwood mist billowed out from within.

Xu Yunfan’s pupils contracted violently. Inside the wide-open Buddha Hall, his gaze fell upon a three-headed Bodhisattva statue on the altar, which was slowly turning amidst the incense smoke.

The central head had a compassionate, downcast gaze; the left one had furious eyes and bared fangs; and the right one had only empty, black eye sockets. Below, its eight arms each formed a different Dharma Seal, as if it were about to step down from the altar at any moment.

Dark red stains seeped from between the gilded patterns on the offering table—clearly the dried bloodstains that had soaked through a century-old Scripture.

Both sides of the Buddha Hall were lined with various statues of Arhats and Bodhisattvas. But in this bizarre atmosphere, their originally solemn, dignified, and benevolent expressions had become sinister, eerie, and malevolent.

’You have been affected by an ominous aura. You seem to be experiencing some hallucinations.’

Xu Yunfan’s expression changed slightly. Without the slightest hesitation, he formed the Linn Character Seal with his hand and silently recited the Supreme Kindness Heart Spell in his mind.