Tome of Troubled Times

Chapter 126: Pure Bliss Art

When Zhao Changhe killed Fa Yuan with an arrow, Yue Hongling did not stay idle. She quickly sobered herself up, and then, with a flash of her sword, she beheaded all of the men that were inside the hall.

Zhao Changhe raised his head and looked up toward the sky. However, the Tome of Troubled Times did not appear this time.

I just killed someone at the ninth layer and it didn’t even care...

He scratched his head and realized something from this.

The Ranking of Hidden Dragons evaluated a person’s martial arts potential, not their mere achievements in battle. What kind of potential could be glimpsed from a sneak attack on an enemy who was severely injured like this? The potential to seize opportunities? This was already likely something expected of whoever could rank 88th, so there would naturally be no change in the ranking because of it.

Yue Hongling bent down to examine the women lying on the ground, who were still writing and moaning. Her face was filled with disgust toward them.

Sure enough, their dantians had been completely drained. These unfortunate women, who probably came from all kinds of forces and had gone out to wander the jianghu, had all become completely disabled and were met with a fate worse than death for cultivators.

This was the so-called “rapid recovery” secret art of the Maitreya Cult.

Even so, when they saw Zhao Changhe approaching, they all put on seductive smiles and tried to entice him with their bodies. However, Zhao Changhe simply pressed on their sleep acupoints with an emotionless face and left them on the ground.

“Maitreya Cult...” Yue Hongling ground her teeth together fiercely and stabbed her sword deeply into the ground. “I swear I won’t rest until I uproot this demonic cult!”

With that single movement, she aggravated the wound on her shoulder yet again, causing it to bleed profusely once again. She gritted her teeth and remained silent despite the pain she was clearly experiencing.

Zhao Changhe sighed and said, “While your injury is only on your shoulder, and it may not look that severe, it is clearly causing you discomfort when you move. You should really rest for a while. If you have the strength, you might as well put some clothes on them and send them out later. It’s...not convenient for me to do it.”

Yue Hongling glanced at him, then she lowered her head and said, “Changhe... At least you’re still a gentleman.”

“Not really. I really did want to hold you in my arms back when I was riding behind you on the horse, and I wanted to do that even more just now,” Zhao Changhe said. “To be honest, I actually still want to hug you even right now.” Yue Hongling was momentarily stunned, but she did not say anything. Instead, she quietly draped a robe on the unconscious woman in front of her.

Seeing her attitude, Zhao Changhe looked at her slender figure, and then he suppressed his desires. He felt like he really should not say anything more provocative. He pursed his lips, thought for a while, and then walked to the Buddha statue to search for something.

Sure enough, he quickly found a hidden compartment that contained a list of officials in Yangzhou who were followers of the Maitreya Cult. In addition to that list, there was also correspondence between Fa Yuan and the cult leader.

Zhao Changhe sighed with relief, thinking that his mission as a “secret agent” had finally come to a perfect end. With this, Tang Wanzhuang should not be able to continue guilt-tripping him with the Six Harmonies Art and Dragon Bird anymore.

But for some reason, he felt like something was missing...

Zhao Changhe knocked his head, then turned back around to search Fa Yuan.

On Fa Yuan’s body he found a substantial amount of money, medicine, poisoned hidden weapons, and several secret manuals, all of which were top-tier cultivation techniques of the Maitreya Cult. The most eye-catching among these cultivation techniques was the “Pure Bliss Art.”

Yue Hongling, who had just covered another woman, turned around and glared at him angrily, “You aren’t allowed to learn that evil art!”

“Previously, the flower-picking celestial maiden mentioned that there’s a part of this that involves normal dual cultivation for increasing cultivation. She was probably not lying. After all, their high-ranking members can’t be draining each other’s cultivation all the time... She mentioned that it offers some benefits to the meridians, which also seems reasonable. This is very important to me, and I’m not some saint. Besides, I plan on having a wife in the future anyway, and the nature of things depends on how they’re used. There is no need to outright reject things just because they come from the Maitreya Cult.”

Zhao Changhe did not even blush when he said all that. He casually tucked the secret book into his chest pocket, storing it together with the golden foil.

Yue Hongling stared at him while thinking, Sure, I don’t have any problem with you having a wife in the future, but why were you looking at me the entire time you were saying all that? Just who are you planning on having dual cultivation with right now?

But at this moment, the fragrance of flowers still permeated the air. Everyone in the hall was still immersed in the aphrodisiac. The two of them were merely suppressing their desires, but their inner restlessness remained.

Zhao Changhe’s performance just now was really too perfect. At the moment, Yue Hongling could only furrow her brow and glare, unable to find any words to say.

If Zhao Changhe had taken advantage of the intoxicating atmosphere and said something like “Hey, big sister Yue, let me help you check your wound,” she had no idea if she could have rejected him. That was also why she had quickly said “At least you’re still a gentleman,” trying to remind him to not do anything reckless.

However, his reply was not something she had foreseen. He said that he actually had thoughts of taking advantage of the situation.

It was quite evident that he really wanted to do it, but he simply respected her too much and was unwilling to do anything inappropriate.

The atmosphere fell into silence for a moment, with the only audible sound being their accelerated heartbeats, thumping in the very loaded environment.

It’s all over.

Should I say something?

Zhao Changhe cleared his throat and took a slight step forward while looking at her lowered head and eyelids.

Yue Hongling instinctively took half a step back in response.

“Huh? How did the two of you get here?!” Tang Buqi’s head emerged from the same passageway that Fa Yuan came from. “We finally found the secret passage... Eh? Fa Yuan is dead?”

Zhao Changhe turned his stiffened head slowly, and his words seemed like they were being squeezed out from between his teeth. “I didn’t even see you when we attacked the temple. Where did you come from?”

“?” Tang Buqi was puzzled. “I was fighting on the front lines the whole time. Are you seriously pretending that you haven’t seen me just because my strength is a bit lower than yours?”

Zhao Changhe gritted his teeth and said, “Not only do I see you now for the first time, I forgot you even existed.”

“Pfft,” Yue Hongling suddenly burst into laughter. She naturally reached out to wipe the sweat from Zhao Changhe’s forehead, and then said softly, “Let’s just talk later.”

Zhao Changhe turned his head in surprise, and Yue Hongling smiled softly, with clear eyes under her gentle brows.

His heart slowly opened up and he responded softly, “Okay.”

They brought Fa Yuan’s head and the unconscious women with them when they left the secret passage. Zhao Changhe then handed them over to the Demon Suppression Bureau to deal with and he returned to look for the flower-picking celestial maiden.

But when he entered the room where he left her in, she was nowhere to be found.

Yue Hongling was somewhat surprised, “I even pressed a few more of her acupoints as assurance because I was worried that your technique wasn’t foolproof...and she still managed to escape. Did you really capture her on your own?”

“Hey,” Zhao Changhe frowned. “She is only at the fourth layer of the Profound Gate, and she has no combat experience. It isn’t a big deal for me to defeat such an opponent. Perhaps she has some special way of unlocking acupoints. I’ll study the Pure Bliss Art and see if I find anything.”

Yue Hongling rubbed her chin and pondered. “A celestial maiden at the fourth layer of the Profound Gate? Logically speaking, it shouldn’t be possible to have a celestial maiden with such a low level of cultivation. Either she happened to fall into your hands after just becoming a celestial maiden, or she has some other secrets.”

This remark was tantamount to saying that Zhao Changhe’s cultivation was low. He could not accept losing face just like that, so he snorted and muttered, “Just wait until I study these things I got from the Maitreya Cult. If it can help my internal energy reach the fourth layer, I can try seeing if I can raise my external cultivation to the fifth layer.”

“Wait, are you saying that your internal energy really hasn’t reached the fourth layer?” Yue Hongling was incredibly shocked by this revelation. “But then, how were you able to hear the sounds when I couldn’t? And you were even able to suppress the effects of the aphrodisiac?! This internal art of yours...”

The fact that he was able to hear the sounds could be attributed to the combined enhancement of his internal energy and the Back Eye. It would have likely been impossible for his senses to reach such a level if he only had one of those factors, much less without either. As for his ability to suppress the aphrodisiac, that was truly due to the extraordinary nature of his internal art. Without Yue Hongling as a reference, Zhao Changhe would probably not have realized just how remarkable the Six Harmonies Art was.

He sighed, “The internal I’m practicing is indeed quite amazing. I actually believe that it might be the best in the world. However, the problem with my meridians has always held it back, and it feels like this damned restriction will never be resolved.”

When he said that, both of them thought of the Pure Bliss Art that he had picked up, but neither of them said anything.

Gong Chaoqun flew over and asked, “Young hero Zhao, I received Fa Yuan’s head. Did you find anything else in there?”

Zhao Changhe retrieved the list of officials and the letters from his pocket and handed them over to Gong Chaoqun. “I’m going back to rest. I’ll leave the other matters to the Demon Suppression Bureau.”

Gong Chaoqun was ecstatic when he saw the list. “Yangzhou is settled!”

Is it really?

Zhao Changhe smiled but he did not say anything. He then turned away and left.

He headed back to Xiaoxiang Pavilion. His clothes, luggage, and Snow-Treading Crow were still there. With the chaos in the city as authorities hunted down followers of the Maitreya Cult, Zhao Changhe hoped that no one would try to take away Snow-Treading Crow.

When he got back to Xiaoxiang Pavilion, he was surprised to find that some people had been captured, but surprisingly, Ruyan was just there, having neither left nor been arrested.

Zhao Changhe had a strange expression on his face. “Are...are you fine because you’re just an ordinary believer? When did the government start acting so reasonably? If I were to go by malicious assumptions, someone like you would have definitely been detained, even just for the sake of face.”

Ruyan replied, “The Xiaoxiang Pavilion is owned by the Cao Gang. It isn’t a branch of the Maitreya Cult. Young Gang Leader Wan thought I was innocent, so he decided to protect me.”

Zhao Changhe thought for a moment and chuckled, “Alright, then why didn’t you go home? What are you still doing here?”

“I have no home.” She sighed softly. “I’ve lived here for so long that I’ve already grown accustomed to it, which is why I’ve decided to simply continue living on like this. If you need me right now, I can still serve—”

Yue Hongling’s face suddenly appeared in front of her while she was in the middle of talking.

Ruyan: “...”

Zhao Changhe chuckled helplessly. “It seems like you won’t be able to open for business tonight. We’re normal customers here. Arrange a room for big sister Yue to rest in. If you’ve still got anything to say to me, we can talk again tomorrow.”