The founding master of Great Dharma Temple, it is said, was named Bodhi. And this Bodhi, "it is rumored, had another name"—Bodhidharma. Simultaneously, this Bodhidharma "is said to be an incarnation of the great powerhouse of the Buddhist realm, the Patriarch Subhuti." Saints have endless incarnations; although this Bodhidharma was merely one such emanation, his divine powers were limitless.

Before his ascension, he forged seventy-three ultimate techniques. During his time on earth, he left behind various maxims: "He who inherits my Dharma and grasps my Way, possessing forty-nine of the seventy-seven methods, shall achieve the fruit of ascension." In Taoism, forty-nine is an exceptionally mystical number. The Great Dao is fifty, and its derivative, forty-nine, is inherently shrouded in mystery.

Bodhidharma belonged to the Buddhist path, even being a mere avatar of a supreme being, so he naturally did not employ Taoist doctrines. In Buddhism, there are the Seven Treasures, Seven Injuries, Seven Retributions, Seven Buddhas, Seven Methods, and the Seven Stages of Enlightenment. To attain seven sets of seven—forty-nine—it is not difficult to achieve the "White Earth Ascension, Shattering the Void, and Attaining the Great Dao." Bodhidharma further proclaimed: "He who inherits my Dharma and grasps my Way, possessing seventy-three techniques, may sit on the ground and transform into the fruition of a Bodhisattva." The Bodhisattva fruition is no small feat.

In Buddhism, below the rank of a Buddha comes the Great Bodhisattva, and below the Great Bodhisattva is the Bodhisattva—a station higher than an Arhat or a Vajra. This shows just how potent his seventy-three ultimate techniques must have been. And now, the Abbot of Great Dharma Temple is rumored to have mastered forty-five of these ultimate techniques, needing only four more to achieve sitting ascension—a true Grand Master of the current age.

However, while mastering one or two of the Great Dharma Temple's ultimate techniques is not difficult, the more one attempts, the harder it becomes. It requires the immense ballast of Buddhist Law and an extremely high level of enlightenment to succeed. This Master Jifa has actually mastered thirteen of these ultimate techniques—truly terrifying.

Describing Master Jifa as a genius among geniuses is absolutely fitting. It can be said that for such a figure, reaching the Great Dao Realm in another two or three centuries would be effortless. Facing such a paragon of genius, Lu Yuan, this man from Jin, could only anticipate failure.

As soon as the engagement began, Master Jifa utilized the Dragon Claw Hand. This Dragon Claw Hand, when practiced to its apex, is said to manifest like the emergence of a true dragon's claw. In the current world, achieving a serpentine form in one's technique signifies the highest level of cultivation; for instance, the Cloud Dragon Ten Transformations can manifest a cloud dragon alongside the user—a display of infinite divine power.

The Dragon Claw Hand emerging like a living dragon's claw—what incredible might. Master Jifa’s Dragon Claw Hand was naturally not that formidable, but as soon as he unleashed it, Lu Yuan felt an overwhelming terror, dodging frantically. Where the Dragon Claw Hand struck the ground, it carved deep fissures of unknown length.

Such an attack, one suspected, might even be more fearsome than a flying sword strike. The Dragon Claw Hand arrived like a torrent, one claw following another. Lu Yuan evaded ceaselessly, but the areas available for evasion under Master Jifa's onslaught were shrinking rapidly.

I’ll risk it all! Lu Yuan stopped holding back. If he was to fight, he would fight with everything he had.

The Five-Colored Sword Dao gathered above his head, manifesting the Five-Colored Canopy. Once this Canopy was raised, it might not be completely indestructible, but it was terrifyingly potent. The Yangwu Sword in Lu Yuan’s hand moved with incredible speed, slicing out one sword shadow after another.

Such swift swordsmanship. Such sharp claws. The Dragon Claw Hand and the long sword clashed fiercely.

Lu Yuan fought with desperation, no longer releasing just one sword intent but five in rapid succession: the Metal Sword Intent, the Wood Sword Intent, the Water Sword Intent, the Fire Sword Intent, and the Earth Sword Intent. These five intents were unleashed sequentially, forming a continuous cycle aimed at Master Jifa. No matter how fierce your Dragon Claw Hand, my Water Sword Intent will soften it, my Wood Sword Intent will entangle it, and finally, my Metal Sword Intent will shatter it head-on—you will break.

Master Jifa’s Dragon Claw Hand was thwarted, but he remained unperturbed, launching the Annoyance Removal Finger, hoping to momentarily stall Lu Yuan. This finger technique could banish mental vexations, temporarily robbing a person of their ability to think. The Annoyance Removal Finger possessed immense power, yet it was forcefully intercepted and torn to shreds amidst the five converging sword intents.

Broken again! Master Jifa furrowed his troubled brow and flicked his finger again, this time executing the Flower Plucking Finger. The Buddha's gentle smile while plucking a flower—this technique appeared crude but was exquisitely subtle, embodying all impossibilities.

He aimed it at Lu Yuan, unwilling to believe that Lu Yuan's strange swordsmanship could break this attack. However, just as the finger approached, the sword arts surged forward, pulverizing the finger’s force into dust. Broken yet again!

Master Jifa finally lost his composure. In that moment, he unleashed several techniques in quick succession, including the hard-to-defend-against Prajna Palm, designed to strike vital points, and the formless, intangible Calamity Finger of Formlessness. This latter technique was indeed without form, bearing some similarity to the Formless Sword Qi.

However, it lacked the capacity to pierce magic treasures, making the Calamity Finger vastly inferior to the Formless Sword Qi. Still, if one of the Unarmed Sword Sect's signature moves, the Formless Sword Qi, were to be matched by a technique from the Great Dharma Temple’s seventy-three, the Unarmed Sword Sect would scarcely rank among the Four Great Immortal Sects, its fame only slightly trailing that of Great Dharma Temple. It was shredded again.

By this time, the Five Elements Sword Dao was fighting savagely. Both the Prajna Palm and the Calamity Finger of Formlessness were unhesitatingly torn apart. Stare!

Dumb! Stunned! What manner of bizarre and ferocious swordsmanship was this?

Everyone watching was speechless. Initially, they all assumed that the genius among geniuses from Great Dharma Temple, possessing thirteen of the seventy-three ultimate techniques, would find it trivially simple to deal with a mere man from Jin. Who could have foreseen that Lu Yuan would unleash such a fierce and strange set of sword arts?

In that brief span, five of Great Dharma Temple’s seventy-three ultimate techniques had been shredded: the Dragon Claw Hand, the Annoyance Removal Finger, the Flower Plucking Finger, the Calamity Finger of Formlessness, and the Prajna Palm. These were five out of seventy-three ultimate techniques, by no means ordinary skills. Master Jifa rapidly retreated to gain distance while simultaneously unleashing other techniques.

The seventy-three ultimate techniques of Great Dharma Temple were famous across the entire Southern Territory. Even the Sect Master of Great Kunlun, the supreme Immortal Sect on the whole continent, had once praised the seventy-three techniques of Great Dharma Temple as exceptional. Based on the prestige accumulated by Great Dharma Temple over nearly ten thousand years, Master Jifa held absolute confidence.

At this moment, he executed the Great Stele Slam Hand, a technique imbued with infinite, inexhaustible power. Such a strike was capable of tearing reality apart; the sheer force threatened to burst the very fabric of space. Upon the appearance of the Great Stele Slam Hand, Zhong Qiu and Ye Hou, who had sparred with Master Jifa before, realized that the Master had not revealed his true strength when fighting them.

This Great Stele Slam Hand carried such immense force that it could shatter any sword art based on sheer power alone—it was a move designed to crush finesse with brute strength. As they thought that the man from Jin could not possibly prevail this time, they watched as the Great Stele Slam Hand was carved away by endless sword light, weakened, and then utterly pulverized. That too was broken!

It was almost impossible! Master Jifa himself found it unbelievable—his Great Stele Slam Hand had been broken. At this juncture, he was nearly paralyzed with shock, while Lu Yuan’s Five Elements Reincarnation Sword Dao, its light circling like lightning, swept toward him.

He could hardly believe the reality before him: "Amitābha... Impossible!" In a single instant, Master Jifa unleashed his final offensive skills: the Veda Palm, the Great Vajra Palm, and others. These striking arts each had their specific merits.

The Veda Palm struck like the reappearance of Veda himself, subduing demons and slaying evil with infinite divine might. The Great Vajra Palm struck like a diamond, possessing the force of raging fire; fire and immense strength danced together as they were launched. These palm techniques were all members of the Great Dharma Temple’s seventy-three ultimate skills.

Each one held great renown; fortunes could be spilled in rivers merely to contend for one of these techniques. But now, they were all shattered by the Five Elements Sword Dao. If an ultimate technique operated within the realm of the Five Elements, it had to obediently submit to the Five Elements Reincarnation.

Lu Yuan now truly understood the profound power of the Five Emperors and Five Sovereigns Reincarnation Sword Dao created by Ancestor Yan: within the Five Elements, nothing can remain unbroken. Had he not learned the Five Elements Reincarnation Sword Dao, even with his six existing sword intents, facing so many terrifying techniques from Great Dharma Temple, victory would have been exceedingly difficult. But now, having mastered the Five Elements Reincarnation Sword Dao, the cycle of five elements directly overwhelmed and crushed these numerous ultimate arts.

Wave after wave of sword energy shattered not only the various ultimate skills but also the very foundation of Master Jifa's confidence in the seventy-three ultimate techniques, which he had held since childhood. Since he was small, all he had ever heard was: "Great Dharma Temple, First in the Southern Territory." Even the Carefree Immortal Sect, the Unarmed Sword Sect, and the Imperial lineage of the Crimson Dragon Immortal Sect—all immensely powerful sects possessing world-shaking arts—still deferred to Great Dharma Temple's supremacy. To be a member of Great Dharma Temple meant pride and unwavering self-assurance.

This entire lifetime of instilled belief was now being pulverized by the Five Elements Reincarnation Sword Dao. His conviction! Utterly collapsed!

Amitābha! Amitābha Buddha! Master Jifa found that he could barely utter the four syllables of Amitābha.

In a final desperate attempt, he summoned the Vajra Indestructible Body. Lu Yuan’s Five Elements Reincarnation Sword Dao struck heavily upon him. His outer robe ripped, and his entire body's musculature began to emit a golden glow.

This was almost a reflexive action, an attempt to use his physical form to endure the attack. Could that possibly work? Master Jifa's Vajra Indestructible Body was certainly not perfected.

If it had been truly complete, he could have endured Lu Yuan's current assault without strain, but clearly, this technique was only partially mastered. In a mere moment, with a sharp snap, the vermilion-gold hue vanished from his body, replaced by normal flesh tone, and his long sword rested against his throat. "...You have lost." "Wudang Immortal Sect's Lu Liusheng," the referee announced the final victor.

Upon this declaration, Lu Yao moved, returning the Yangwu Sword to its sheath, pulling out his wine gourd, and taking a deep drink. His mood was excellent; the wine tasted even better. Instantly, the atmosphere turned cold, silent, and utterly dead.