Chowbeng, Ysabel, HPC, you are welcome. DongBin, I did not mean to belittle your contribution, I am adding that information. Thanks. Sky, hopefully it's not like a shooting star: flas.h.i.+ng in the sky and immediately disappear. Here's the end of Chapter 1.

The sound of fluttering sleeve rose up.

Naturally the three could not refrain from sticking their head out to look.

All the monks downstairs, including Great Master Liao Kong, turned around to face the Copper Hall.

Of course the three realized they had just been given the opportunity. Hastily they jumped down the bell tower and ran away into the wilderness.

Back to the mountaintop they previously stopped by, still with a lot of lingering fears the three looked up at the Jing Nian Chanyuan on the distant hill, where they had just lived through nightmare.

Ba Fenghan sighed and said, "No wonder s.h.i.+ Feixuan hid the Jade Annulus of He Clan in there. Unexpectedly there is such a powerful monk in this world!”

Dejected, Kou Zhong said, "w.a.n.g s.h.i.+chong really knows how to exploit people; he went so far as to tell me to scheme breaking into the Temple. When I get back, I will definitely settle the score with him, I will at least spank his b.u.t.t three times. Ha!”

Ba Fenghan roared in laughter, "It's lucky that you are still interested in cracking jokes,” he said, "Never in my life I felt so useless like I did just now. I really wanted to burn his bird's monastery to the ground.”

Noticing a hint of smile at the corner of Xu Ziling's mouth, Kou Zhong praised, "Ling Shao's cultivation is really good. Even after fumbling down such a huge setback, he is still as happy as a strong, dry small pump.”

Laughing involuntarily, Ba Fenghan said, "You yourself have your belly full of grievances, and you are looking elsewhere to vent your anger? How could you call yourself a Xiongdi?”

Kou Zhong was laughing so hard that he gasped for breath; pointing at Xu Ziling, he said, "He looks like he is not only very happy, but he is ecstatic. Ol' Ba, don't you feel that is strange?”

Xu Ziling burst out laughing and said, "Can't laozi [I, your father] be happy? Isn't it not your, Kou Zhong's d.a.m.n business?

This time Ba Fenghan was astonished. "Why does Ziling look really happy then?” he asked.

Xu Ziling replied indifferently, "Because this ‘stealing treasure game' has just begun, so I feel very good. Do you understand?”

That last remark drew blank expression on Ba Fenghan and Kou Zhong's face; they could only stare at him with eyes open wide but could not find anything to say.

Unless he was crazy, n.o.body would dare to come back to steal the treasure.

Xu Ziling went on, "But you two must promise me one thing: you must not kill or injure any monk in the Temple.”

Stupefied, Kou Zhong and Ba Fenghan looked at each other.

Those monks did not come to kill or injure them, they ought to offer thanks to Buddha for their good fortune; how could they dare to hope otherwise?

Xu Ziling proudly stood up. Looking at the flickering light of Jing Nian Chanyuan in the distance, he slyly said, "The Jade Annulus of He Clan is in the Copper Hall. I can feel it.”

Kou Zhong was extremely baffled. "So what if it is in there?” he asked, "Even if you are willing to let us go on a killing spree [orig. refrain from the oath of abstaining from killing], we do not have the slightest chance of success.”

Ba Fenghan nodded in agreement.

The difference in power between the two sides was simply too great.

Xu Ziling smiled slightly and said, "As long as we do one thing, the Jade Annulus of He Clan will be ours tonight.”

"What thing?” the other two asked together.

Calmly, Xu Ziling replied, "As long as we can go back to hide in the bell tower, success is guaranteed.”

Scratching his head, Kou Zhong said, "Would Xu s.h.i.+fu please speak a bit more clearly?”

Under the eager eyes of the two, Xu Ziling slyly said, "A moment ago, just before the copper door was opened, I was able to feel the Jade Annulus of He Clan inside the Hall for the first time.”

Kou Zhong and Ba Fenghan were stunned.

If Xu Ziling had said, ‘When the copper door started to open he could feel the Jade Annulus of He Clan inside the Hall', that would have been logical, the two would not be surprised. Because the meaning would be like ‘opening the door to see things'.

Xu Ziling continued enthusiastically, "It was approximately the ten-breathing period of time just before Liao Kong pushed the copper door open with his true power. If Xiaodi's guessing correctly, until that moment Liao Kong was still using the Jade Annulus of He Clan to advance his training in some kind of Dhyana set of skill. Therefore, up to that moment I still did not feel the existence of the Jade Annulus of He Clan. It was only after the moment he withdrew his power that I was able to sense the Jade Annulus of He Clan.”

Knitting his brows, Kou Zhong said, "Does it have anything to do with our chance of success of stealing the treasure?”

Ba Fenghan spoke delightfully, "Of course it does. Did Ziling feel any peculiar characteristic of the Jade Annulus of He Clan?”

Xu Ziling nodded. "Precisely so,” he replied, "So much so that even Liao Kong is unable to curb it. Therefore, if we want to open the door and get out of the pa.s.s, we must leave now. w.a.n.g s.h.i.+chong was not lying, the Jade Annulus of He Clan is constantly changing, but only martial art master of Dhyana way who has reached his innate boundary would be able to sense the peculiar power hidden inside the Jade Annulus of He Clan. You ought to be able to sense it too. It's just that at that time your mind was divided, plus the distance was far, so you could not detect its presence.”

Kou Zhong's confidence grew. He said, "Quickly tell me your grand plan to steal the treasure.”

Xu Ziling said, "First, we have to a.s.sume that w.a.n.g s.h.i.+chong's remark about the Jade Annulus of He Clan may follow the heavenly stars and changing constantly is not just a brag. If this is true, then the Jade Annulus of He Clan's changes also follow the stars, i.e. it follows a cycle.”

Ba Fenghan was shaken, "Is Ziling referring to the Jade Annulus of He Clan gradually generates harmful changes to those who follow Dhyana way, and hence the monks must keep some distance away from the Copper Hall, and so they could only post guards at the periphery?” he asked.

Thinking hard, Kou Zhong said, "In the entire monastery, only the white stone plaza in front of the Copper Hall is brightly lit. As long as they stationed several monks with comparatively good eyesight to keep watch, I am afraid even a housefly flying past would not escape their eyes. How are we going to enter the Hall?”

"It's all a gamble,” Xu Ziling admitted, "My bet is that because Liao Kong is experiencing some setback in using the Jade Annulus of He Clan in his Dhyana training, he must find a quiet place to train. This could be to our advantage.”

Ba Fenghan was puzzled, "Just the Four Great Protectors Vajra plus more than two hundred monks with superior martial art skill we already cannot deal with. Looking at how well they are training, perhaps they even know some kind of Luohan Formation, Vajra Formation, or something like that.”

Slapping his thigh, Kou Zhong said with a sigh, "I get it. As long as we can lure them to fight in front of the Copper Hall, they would have to guard against the Jade Annulus of He Clan's influence more than we do. Perhaps after fighting once or twice we can cover our heads and slip away. Ha! This is really interesting. But afterwards, how are we going to escape?”

Xu Ziling laughed and said, "This is called in your eagerness you become confused. As long as we manage to s.n.a.t.c.h the Jade Annulus of He Clan away, it would be the same as obtaining the evil incantation to deal with the crowd of monks. But we must wait until the moment the Jade Annulus of He Clan is most harmful to them before we can lay hands on the treasure and s.n.a.t.c.h it away. If we miss this opportunity, we will have to wait until the next cycle. But then the other side would guard against it even more!”

Ba Fenghan said, "Ziling seems to be certain that we won't be like those monks who suffer the Jade Annulus of He Clan's harmful effect and have our power greatly reduced. What exactly is the reason for this?”

Xu Ziling smiled and said, "It is purely my intuition. Because the Jade Annulus of He Clan only created in me the feeling that made me want to get close to it. But because it is beyond my capability to estimate what kind of state it would change into, we must go into hiding somewhere closest to the treasured jade annulus first, we must observe its change, and wait until the most fortunate timing before we make our move. Do you understand?”

Kou Zhong and Ba Fenghan's spirit soared, it completely washed away the frustrated and useless mood they felt just a moment ago.

Xu Ziling's tiger-eyes were flas.h.i.+ng with spirited light. "Just go!” he spoke nonchalantly.

Leading the way, he shot out in the direction of Jing Nian Chanyuan.