68: Chapter 68 Battle Against the Three Shaolin Monks, Unveiling the Conspiracy

At this moment, Lu Chen's heart was perfectly clear.

After a few moves, he already understood everything.

He realized that he could break the formation at any time.

Not to mention that killing these three would be as easy as taking something from a bag; even if he just grabbed the black ropes and gave them a casual tug, his raw physical strength alone would be enough to easily crush the Three Crossing.

Furthermore, he possessed vast and unparalleled Internal Energy within him!

But he did not act immediately.

The reason was simple—absorbing Internal Energy!

During the fight just now, Lu Chen had been secretly absorbing the Internal Energy of the Mount Sumeru Palm from the black ropes of the three.

In just a short moment, he had actually absorbed nearly ten years of pure Internal Energy.

This saved him quite a bit of time in arduous cultivation!

Instead of finishing the fight quickly, it was better to turn waste into treasure.

The act had been performed enough.

He no longer hid his true ability.

Just as the three black ropes struck again, Lu Chen suddenly made his move!

His figure flickered like a ghost, instantly appearing before the three black ropes.

He stretched out his right hand, lightning-fast, and grabbed the ends of the three black ropes!

Then, with just a light flick!

"Crack!"

Three crisp sounds.

The black ropes, which were originally exceptionally tough and made of an unknown material, were actually snatched away by Lu Chen!

Du E, Du Jie, and Du Nan's expressions changed drastically.

They sat in the tree hollow, motionless, as if struck by lightning, dumbfounded.

"This... how is this possible?" Du E muttered to himself, his voice trembling.

The three of them had cultivated for ten years and had long since regarded these black ropes as part of their own bodies. They had never imagined that someone could so easily snatch away their weapons.

"So... you have been hiding your true ability all along!" Du Jie widened his eyes, staring fixedly at Lu Chen, as if wanting to see right through him.

"You... you didn't use your real strength at all!" Du Nan also realized, his voice hoarse.

Lu Chen flicked his wrist, and the three black ropes fell to the ground like three dead snakes.

He brushed off his sleeves and smiled faintly: "It's not that I intended to hide my ability; I simply found the Great Masters' Vajra Subduing Demon Circle truly impressive and was momentarily moved to test my skills against yours."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the three of them. His tone was calm but carried an undeniable confidence: "In this world, besides myself, I fear there is no second person capable of breaking the Great Masters' Vajra Subduing Demon Circle head-on with their own strength!"

"Even Yang Dingtian... cannot do it?" Du E raised his head, staring intensely at Lu Chen.

"Yang Dingtian?" Lu Chen's lips curled slightly: "That is naturally the case. Even if he could break it, he no longer has the chance."

Upon hearing this, the Three Crossing were shocked: "What does the benefactor mean by this?"

Lu Chen shrugged and said casually: "Yang Dingtian... passed away long ago."

As soon as these words were spoken, it was like a thunderclap in a clear sky, exploding in the ears of the Three Crossing.

"What?!"

"Yang Dingtian... is dead?"

"This... this is impossible!" Du E, Du Jie, and Du Nan all exclaimed at the same time, their faces filled with disbelief.

The Three Crossing looked at each other, as if their backbones had been pulled out, and they seemed to age ten years in an instant.

"Amitabha..." Du E was the first to react, chanting a Buddhist name, but his voice was filled with confusion: "Is what you say true, benefactor? Is Yang Dingtian... really no longer in this world?"

Seeing this, Lu Chen pressed his advantage: "To tell you the truth, Yang Dingtian was murdered by the one you call Yuan Zhen, who is now Cheng Kun."

Upon hearing this, the Three Crossing were shocked again, even more so than before.

"What?!"

"Yuan Zhen?!"

"This... this is impossible!"

The Three Crossing exclaimed simultaneously, their faces full of disbelief: "With Yuan Zhen's amateur martial arts, how could he kill Yang Dingtian? There must be something fishy about this."

"Something fishy? Of course there is."

Lu Chen sneered, "In this world, it's not just martial arts that can harm or kill people. Sometimes, stabbing someone in the back is more ruthless than open combat."

Lu Chen paused and continued: "Just like how Cheng Kun was able to kill his Disciple's entire family of thirteen, it wasn't by martial arts, but by the Disciple's trust in him."

"This..." The Three Crossing fell silent.

They were all veteran Jianghu figures who had lived for decades, so they naturally understood that what Lu Chen said was not without reason.

"But why did Yuan Zhen want to harm Yang Dingtian?" Du Jie asked, his tone full of confusion.

"Do you think Cheng Kun is just an ordinary person?" A mocking smile curled on Lu Chen's lips, "Then you are very much mistaken."

"Oh? Could it be that he has some other identity?" Du Jie frowned and asked, clearly curious about Lu Chen's words.

Lu Chen shook his head and said slowly: "Do you know who this Cheng Kun really is?"

The Three Crossing looked at each other, and Du Nan spoke first: "Cheng Kun is Cheng Kun, who else could he be?"

Lu Chen laughed and said: "You are all wrong. This Cheng Kun is not one of our Han people."

"What?!" The Three Crossing were shocked again, this time reaching their peak.

"Not a Han person? Then where is he from?" Du E asked, his voice trembling slightly.

"He is a Mongol."

Lu Chen said, word by word, "And, he is a descendant of the Mongol Prince, Huo Dou!"

"Huo Dou?!"

"This... how is this possible?!"

"Huo Dou still has descendants in this world?!"

The Three Crossing exclaimed again, their expressions even more terrifying than if they had seen a ghost.

Xie Xun, who was on the side, was also full of shock. He couldn't help but ask: "Brother Lu, how... how do you know my Master is a descendant of Huo Dou?"

Lu Chen glanced at him and said indifferently: "I have my own sources of information. However, I can tell you that this Cheng Kun has always hidden his true identity, and everything he has done is to strike at the Martial Forest people of us Han."

Lu Chen said, "As a descendant of a Mongol Prince, Cheng Kun lurked in the Central Plains to subvert the Central Plains Martial Forest and prevent the Han people from regaining their world."

"This... this is simply too absurd!" Du Nan shook his head and said, "As a Mongol descendant, he actually took a Han name and even joined the Shaolin sect; it is simply unthinkable."

"What is so unthinkable about it?" Lu Chen countered, "All is fair in war. To achieve one's goals, any means can be used. This Cheng Kun is just an unscrupulous schemer."

"But why did he want to join Shaolin? And why did he want to kill our nephew, Divine Monk Kongjian? What evidence do you have?" Du E asked, his tone full of confusion.

"Why join Shaolin?" Lu Chen sneered, "Of course, it was to steal Shaolin's ultimate arts for the Mongols to use."

Lu Chen said, "As for evidence? This Cheng Kun has received the true teachings of the Golden Wheel Dharma King's lineage and learned the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Art."

"Dragon-Elephant Prajna Art?!" Du Jie exclaimed, "This... how is this possible? The Dragon-Elephant Prajna Art is an ultimate art of the Esoteric Sect; how could it be passed to Cheng Kun?"

"What is impossible about it?" Lu Chen countered, "The Golden Wheel Dharma King was the Mongol State Preceptor, so naturally he passed the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Art to his Disciple, Huo Dou."

"And this Cheng Kun is precisely Huo Dou's descendant, who renamed the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Art to the Mixed Origin Art, so that he could gain a foothold in the Martial Forest and step by step realize his conspiracy."

"But why did he want to kill our nephew, Divine Monk Kongjian?" Du Nan asked, his tone full of confusion.

"Why kill Divine Monk Kongjian?" Lu Chen sneered, "Firstly, it was to incite conflict between Shaolin and the Ming Cult.

"Secondly, Divine Monk Kongjian was the number one expert of Shaolin and had mastered the Vajra Indestructibility, with unfathomable strength.

"If Cheng Kun wanted to subvert Shaolin, he had to first eliminate Divine Monk Kongjian."