80s Shaolin Abbot

For as long as he could remember, Huo Yuanzhen had always held a belief: in front of the common people, he was a compassionate monk; in front of his disciples, he was a kind abbot; in front of his enemies, he was a fierce bald monk; and when no one was around, he was just another young man from the '80s.

Originally, Huo Yuanzhen had planned to deal with Chen Ding, Li Xuan, and the others after the Mid-Autumn Festival, but to his surprise, these people couldn't wait any longer and decided to use the power of the officials to deal with him.

Luckily, Huo Yuanzhen had his father, Guanshan Yue, who was the governor of the region. Without that backing, he would have probably fallen into a trap.

He was no wandering swordsman who could just go anywhere at will. He was the abbot of Shaolin Temple, and as the saying went, the monk can run, but the temple cannot. With the threat of military forces, he was bound to go with the officers, even if he wouldn't be punished when brought to court, but he'd likely be thrown into a prison for a few days.

Chen Ding, Li Xuan, and the others seemed to have this plan—to lock him up, thus causing Shaolin to lose half of the upcoming competition in one move.

Now that Huo Yuanzhen had driven the officers out of the temple, he wasn't afraid of any trouble. Without the support of the military and the governor's office, the county officials were nothing more than paper tigers and posed no threat to him.

It was already the 13th of August, and in two days, the Mid-Autumn Festival would mark the beginning of the competition.

After calculating the forces at hand, Huo Yuanzhen realized that, apart from himself, there were seven others who could participate in the competition: Guanshan Yue, Yi Jing, Iron Bull, Yue Shan, and the two disciples of Puhang. Additionally, Huang Feihong and Su Can were also there to fill in the numbers. That made up enough participants.

On the opposing side, there was Li Xuan, Chen Ding, and Chai Xian, along with five or six other mid-stage experts, so getting enough people for their team wasn't a problem.

Huo Yuanzhen originally planned to use the opportunity to confront Chen Ding and the others after driving the officers away, but suddenly, he felt an unusual flow of Qi within him, as though he had reached the critical point of a breakthrough. He had to rush back to his room to meditate and cultivate.

The Pure Boy Skill was a technique that the system required him to perfect, and it had been a major obstacle to his progress. Huo Yuanzhen had spent nearly all his time on this cultivation since he arrived in this world. Finally, it seemed that his efforts were about to bear fruit.

Feeling the signs of a breakthrough, Huo Yuanzhen was ecstatic. He could no longer afford to waste time confronting Chen Ding, so he hurried back to his room.

After locking the door, Huo Yuanzhen began his new round of meditation.

Breaking through a realm was an important process, and it required complete focus. He couldn't afford any distractions; otherwise, all his efforts might go to waste.

With ordinary talent, Huo Yuanzhen had worked hard to reach this point, so he took this breakthrough very seriously.

He cultivated for two full days and nights. By the night of the 14th of August, Huo Yuanzhen felt that his internal energy was on the verge of breaking through.

With his mind completely focused, he directed his energy through his meridians.

A thin mist rose from his body as sweat soaked through his clothes. Tiny impurities began to exit his skin, a sign that the internal energy was purging his body of toxins.

Gradually, his internal energy gathered into strands, quickly circulating through his meridians, forming one loop after another that would soon flow through his whole body!

"Now is the time!"

Huo Yuanzhen opened his eyes, which had been closed for two days, and formed a hand seal, chanting a low incantation.

With a surge of energy, his internal energy solidified under his command, clearing the final obstacle in his meridians, and in an instant, he felt his mind clear, with a ringing sound in his head.

After a moment, Huo Yuanzhen exhaled a long breath.

"I did it!"

Mid-stage of Post-Heavenly!

After months of relentless practice, he had finally broken through the critical point and reached the mid-stage of Post-Heavenly. The difference between the initial stage and the mid-stage was substantial.

At the initial stage, internal energy was barely enough to strengthen the body, with no real combat capability. But in the mid-stage, internal energy could flow through the body, enhancing his combat power, and his attacks would be significantly more powerful.

Moreover, the internal energy cultivated by the Pure Boy Skill was the most refined energy in the world. At this stage, he was almost ready to enter the Innate realm.

Having already cultivated the upper half of the Dragon Elephant Prajna Skill, Huo Yuanzhen had reached the seventh level—something most people could never hope to achieve in their lifetime. With the mid-stage Post-Heavenly internal energy, his normal punches already had the force of someone at the late Post-Heavenly stage, almost rivaling someone at the Perfected stage.

However, Huo Yuanzhen still lacked combat skills, which meant that he wasn't yet a true martial arts master.

He clenched his fists tightly, feeling the surge of internal energy in his body, and he couldn't help but want to shout out in excitement.

"I did it!"

Unlike the system draws, this achievement was his own, his very own martial arts mastery. No one in his previous life could have achieved such a level of internal energy cultivation.

Although his mid-stage Post-Heavenly power wasn't particularly impressive in this world, he still had an advantage that others couldn't compare to—the Abbot System.

It was already the night of the 14th of August, and after midnight, it would be the 15th—Mid-Autumn Festival, the day of the competition.

The Abbot System offered a reward draw during the festival, and Huo Yuanzhen knew this would be his chance for another draw.

He calmed his excitement and checked the system time. It was already 11:50 PM.

Not bothering to inform Guanshan Yue that his retreat was over, Huo Yuanzhen continued meditating, stabilizing his internal energy while waiting for the time to arrive.

Ten minutes later, the mechanical voice of the system rang in his ears: "Mid-Autumn Festival, one additional draw chance. Would you like to draw now?"

"Draw!" Huo Yuanzhen replied eagerly.

Thirty-six items appeared, and Huo Yuanzhen immediately ignored the silver, books, weapons, and building tokens. He focused on the martial arts and miscellaneous items.

He was slightly disappointed. Perhaps this time, due to the lack of the Buddha's blessing like in the Wanfo Pagoda, the items that appeared were not as high-quality as before.

Among the martial arts, there were the Arhat Fist, Flicking Leg, Burning Wood Blade Technique, Drunken Eight Immortals Staff, Great Compassionate Palm, and Kasaya Subduing Demon Technique.

Although the Kasaya Subduing Demon Technique was quite profound, the rest were relatively average. There were no high-level martial arts, nor any inner cultivation manuals.

Shaolin was currently lacking in inner cultivation manuals. All the monks were still practicing external martial arts. If he could get an inner cultivation manual, and then teach the Dragon Elephant Prajna Skill to some trusted disciples in the coming days, Shaolin's overall fighting power would rise significantly.

However, Huo Yuanzhen wasn't particularly desperate for an inner cultivation manual. Having already obtained the Dragon Elephant Prajna Skill, what he urgently needed was an offensive technique. Most of the martial arts on offer today were offensive techniques.

If he could just draw one of those, his combat power would instantly rise several levels.

He sighed inwardly. It seemed that his disciples would have to wait. He would first focus on improving his own skills before worrying about them.

Looking at the miscellaneous items, nothing particularly stood out, except for the Triad of Glowing Dots Grand Prize and a manual for the Eighteen Arhat Formation.

Shaolin's formations were a form of martial arts, a type of teamwork-based combat. It was rare to see a formation manual in the miscellaneous category.

Huo Yuanzhen hesitated—should he try to draw this Eighteen Arhat Formation manual? It was certainly more valuable than most of the martial arts manuals. With the combined efforts of eighteen Arhats, it could challenge several levels of enemies, making it a treasure of the mountain.

However, at the moment, he couldn't even use this formation. He didn't have eighteen monks to form the formation, so it would be useless for now.

Ultimately, Huo Yuanzhen decided not to pursue the Eighteen Arhat Formation.

The system was not very reliable, and just because he wanted something didn't mean it would appear.

His gaze shifted to the Triad of Glowing Dots Grand Prize.

Huo Yuanzhen noticed that the quality of the items next to the grand prize was also important. Because the system wasn't precise, items next to the grand prize often had their own value. Tonight's grand prize had the Ming Wang Sutra on the left, the Great Compassionate Palm on the right, and a Heavenly Kings Hall building token.

After some careful thought, Huo Yuanzhen decided to go for the grand prize. There was no point in trying to target the other items, as there was no guarantee he would get them.

Calculating the position, Huo Yuanzhen began to guide the glowing dots.

The glowing dots moved fast, then slow, gradually approaching the grand prize.

Huo Yuanzhen's heart raced. He didn't even dare to watch, silently waiting for the final result.

After about twenty seconds, the system announced: "The draw is complete."

Huo Yuanzhen sighed softly. The draw ended so quickly, it seemed he had once again missed the grand prize.

He just hoped that whatever he drew wouldn't be too bad.

Opening his eyes, Huo Yuanzhen's eyes brightened—he had drawn something incredible!

PS: The abbot has finally broken through and is no longer a rookie. And something else is about to happen... Stay tuned!