Tome of Troubled Times

Chapter 133: Mystery of the Celestial Maiden

This time, there was no sadness in their parting like there had been in the past.

In fact, Zhao Changhe even felt the joyous urge to sing a little tune. He was now extremely relaxed and comfortable.

Until we meet again. Just you wait.

Although he still had a desire to pursue her in his heart, he simply suppressed it. It was not purely due to his admiration of her, but more so due to the subconscious feeling of his strength being unworthy of her at the moment.

She had said it herself: anyone who wanted to wander the jianghu with her had to be capable enough to do it.

In the face of such a situation, other than those wealthy and powerful experienced men, there were hardly any men who would be able to muster the courage to advance with her.

But next time we meet, things will be different...

Zhao Changhe was very confident about this. Even though he knew that it would take him longer to advance now, he was not discouraged.

After all, breaking through to the later stages of cultivation was not only about an increase in the demand for energy and the difficulty of the cultivation techniques.

Blessings and misfortunes were always intertwined. The greatest drawback of starting to practice martial arts in adulthood was the rigidity of a person’s meridians. It was because of that that it has been so difficult for him to improve his internal cultivation. However, his excellent physique and vigorous blood and qi just so happened to be extremely suited for practicing the Vicious Blood Art, giving him a significant advantage in practicing it. Coupled with his excellent comprehension and diligence in training, along with the unique compatibility and the boosting effects of the Six Harmonies Art, he had been able to create this miracle of reaching the fifth layer in just half a year.

However, he had already pretty much used up the advantage given to him by his physique.

This feeling had become increasingly apparent recently. Chi Li and Fa Yuan had already begun delving into spiritual illusions, and Tang Wanzhuang had even begun manipulating light perception. As people continued to progress in cultivation, their power inevitably touched realms beyond the comprehension of ordinary people. And when it came to that, his comparatively mundane physique would no longer provide him with as great of support. At most, it could be said to provide a good foundation, but his progress would definitely not be as rapid as before, and his cultivation would inevitably slow down.

Otherwise, a genius like Wan Dongliu, who had been practicing since he was a child, would not have been merely at the sixth layer of the Profound Gate at the age of twenty-three. After all, in what way was he inferior to Zhao Changhe? There was no huge gap in their aptitude; all those who could be listed on the Ranking of Hidden Dragons were considered by the very heavens to have surpassed ordinary mortals in potential. As for the differences between those on the list, they were not all that ridiculous. Wan Dongliu’s appearance and placing on the Ranking of Hidden Dragons indicated his exceptional talent. It was really difficult to surpass him.

However, Zhao Changhe still felt very confident.

His aptitude had just been validated, and while he might not be called a prodigy, there were certainly no issues with his aptitude. Since that was fine, with the Heavenly Tome in hand, if he could not make progress faster than others, then he would have truly wasted such a massive opportunity.

The reason why he had been learning a little bit of everything before was not because he was greedy, as Yue Hongling said. In fact, it was truly just a process of verification and testing for him, and he had been well aware of this all along.

Now that Yue Hongling had left and there was nothing else to do, the first thing Zhao Changhe did was get a brush, ink, and inkstone from the Xiaoxiang Pavilion, then he locked the door and began writing.

When he had finished memorizing the Vicious Blood Art before, he had not taken it with him when he left the mountain stronghold. So now, if he wanted to get the Heavenly Tome to dissect the Vicious Blood Art, he could only painstakingly transcribe it from memory and draw the example diagrams that had been in the secret book with his rudimentary drawing skills.

When Tang Wanzhuang suggested that Zhao Changhe learn these things, he had verbally agreed, but in reality, he had truly never believed that practicing martial arts would have anything to do with writing and drawing. It was like the language teacher said that one would first need to learn a language well before studying mathematics; otherwise, they would not know how to write essays.

Fortunately, the secret book had been rather thin, only a few thousand words and a number of diagrams. If it had been a thick book with hundreds of thousands of words, Zhao Changhe would have seriously considered just jumping into a river instead.

After painstakingly transcribing the whole day, Zhao Changhe eventually finished writing down the manual. He then immediately placed the golden foil beside it and silently observed any changes in the foil.

At this moment, the golden foil was still repeatedly replaying the battle between him and Wan Dongliu. He knew that this kind of replay had valuable reference value, but he really was not in the mood to scrutinize it right now.

Sure enough, after a short while, the replay of the battle shifted to the background, and in the center, an analysis of the Vicious Blood Art began to appear.

Zhao Changhe sat up straight and carefully observed everything that appeared for a long time before letting out a soft sigh.

It was about as he expected...

The golden foil would analyze the existing content and improve the parts it considered to be subpar, but would not provide additional content for the higher levels.

For example, the upper limit of the Pure Bliss Art was the Profound Mysteries, and the golden foil would not increase that; the same was true for the Vicious Blood Art. The manual for the Vicious Blood Art originally lacked the cultivation technique for the Profound Mysteries, and what he was getting from the Heavenly Tome now still only led him to the ninth layer of the Profound Gate.

As for the so-called improvements, the Heavenly Tome would not actually address all of the flaws of a cultivation technique. When it came to the Pure Bliss Art, it only improved the most basic methods of its cultivation and adjusted the nature of its dual cultivation techniques. Zhao Changhe did not believe that it was flawless in all other aspects, but it seemed that the golden foil simply ignored the other aspects. There was no perfect cultivation technique. Besides, if it was modified, could it still be called the Pure Bliss Art?

The same was true for the Vicious Blood Art. The golden foil made some changes, but it did not address the issue that Zhao Changhe wanted solved the most: the invasion of vicious blood qi.

It did optimize the Scattering of Gods and Buddhas, reducing the consumption and minimizing its flaws. As for the No Man’s Land that could completely drive a person insane, it slightly optimized the state of overflowing bloodthirst, leaving a trace of clarity in his spirit, which offered him a precious chance to survive.

Just as Wan Dongliu said, he only had a single ultimate technique, which had even been thoroughly analyzed by others. However, that situation had now changed. This was incredibly valuable.

The Vicious Blood Saber Art originally had seven ultimate techniques, including three for the Profound Gate, three for the Profound Mysteries, and one unknown. Unfortunately, there was no manual for the parts beyond the Profound Mysteries, so he couldn’t even imagine that remaining skill for now. The golden foil also displayed improvements to the third ultimate technique of the Profound Gate, but it turned out that it still required him to at least be at the eighth layer of the Profound Gate to use it. Thus, he had to shelve it for now.

Because all of these improvements were only for the skills, they were of no help to the method of cultivation itself.

In particular... the pain caused by the surge of vicious blood qi.

In the golden foil’s “eyes,” this was exactly how the Vicious Blood Art should be. If you want to make use of that vicious qi to harm your enemies, then you should be prepared to handle the backlash of such vicious qi. It was only natural that once this core aspect was changed, then it would no longer be the Vicious Blood Art. It might then even be called the Blood God Art.

It was likely that what Cui Wenjing had said before was right: the Vicious Blood Art was the original form and the Blood God Art was merely a modification of it. The vicious qi would be restrained and the backlash subsequently reduced, but as a consequence, the power it produced could not be compared to that of the Vicious Blood Art.

Cui Wenjing was ranked 9th on the Ranking of Heaven. His judgments on martial arts were basically axioms; if he made an evaluation, then it was unlikely to be overturned.

Zhao Changhe sighed, but he also understood that greater power had to come at a greater cost. The bigger the gun, the stronger the recoil. How could something named “vicious qi” be obedient? Perhaps it was only on the day that his level was high enough to become its master that he would be able to fully subdue it.

As for how he could become its master?

Of course, that wasn’t something that a mere Profound Gate manual could tell him.

Zhao Changhe put away the golden foil and strode out, heading to the Cao Gang to pay Wan Dongliu a visit.

*

The members of the Cao Gang were extremely surprised that Zhao Changhe dared to come to pay their young gang leader a visit so brazenly. However, the young gang leader’s order from inside surprised them even more, “Treat him as a distinguished guest and invite him in for a chat.”

The members of the Cao Gang were filled with bewilderment as they silently led Zhao Changhe to Wan Dongliu’s sick room.

The servants and maids in the room had been dismissed long ago, and there was nobody within even ten zhang of the room.

Zhao Changhe looked at Wan Dongliu, who was all wrapped up like a sticky rice dumpling, then he sighed and said, “With your level of caution, how did you even manage to have your mask stolen by a petty thief?”

“My mask was in my pocket, and he sure has good sleight of hand. He caught me completely off guard. It’s not like I carelessly left it somewhere to be stolen.” Wan Dongliu sighed as well. “But it’s your attitude that I’m really having difficulty understanding. Do you also have a mask? Take it out so that I can see which group you belong to. You concealed yourself so well that I nearly ended up committing fratricide.”

“I don’t have a mask, but I’ve always been benevolent toward the Four Idols Cult and the Blood God Cult, whether you believe it or not.”

Wan Dongliu’s eyes flashed with amusement. “Yeah, I’m sure it’s the cult that you feel benevolent toward... Oh well, whatever. Forget it, I believe you.”

Zhao Changhe stared at him for a while, feeling quite resigned in his heart.

This guy’s devotion to the cult is truly impressive. Even though I brutally injured him, he doesn’t resent me at all. Well, it’s not like I have anything against it. Compared to the hospitable fa?ade he put up when we met, this kind of genuine hospitality feels a lot better.

The next time I see Chichi, it seems that I should try and understand the Four Idols Cult better. It looks like I’ve misunderstood some things and I’ve been missing out on a lot of good stuff.

Wan Dongliu said leisurely, “If you have something to say, then hurry up and tell me. My father is on his way here from Jinling[1], and you won’t have an easy time if you run into him.”

“You have a high position in the Four Idols Cult. Can you help me obtain the Profound Mysteries part of the Vicious Blood Art?”

“What do you want that thing for? Why don’t you just ask for the Blood God Art?”

“I just want the Vicious Blood Art, what’s wrong with it? Of course, it would be great if I could also get the Blood God Art and compare the two.”

Wan Dongliu relaxed and said, “Come on, this is really a trivial matter. To think you’d bother me now over that.... Anyway, if you really want the Blood God Art, I’m afraid it won’t be easy. That’s the foundational cultivation technique of the Blood God Cult. My words don’t have that much sway in comparison to someone like Venerable Vermillion Bird, not even Xue Canghai has anything to say in front of her. However, if it’s just the Vicious Blood Art, it shouldn’t be a problem for me. You can play around in Yangzhou, I should be able to get it for you in two days.”

“Is two days really enough? Don’t tell me that the cult leader of the Blood God Cult is nearby?”

“Nope, he’s far away. However, there is a branch nearby, and it’s not difficult to get the Vicious Blood Art from them. They don’t really think much of that cultivation technique. If anything, I think they even want as many people as possible to learn it, so the cult could control them later using those pain-relieving pills. They just let pretty much anyone learn it...”

Zhao Changhe pondered for a moment, then shook his head. “I know more about this than you think. The part that the Blood God Cult lets everyone learn is just the Profound Gate part, but what I want is the Profound Mysteries part of the cultivation technique. I doubt you’d find that in a random branch.”

Wan Dongliu looked puzzled. “Isn’t it a bit too early for you to look into the Profound Mysteries part? Why are you in such a rush?”

In actuality, Zhao Changhe wanted the Heavenly Tome to analyze the complete version to see if he could extract a method to control the vicious blood qi rather than just brute-forcing it like he was doing now. Of course, he could not reveal this, so he simply said, “With only half of the manual on hand, how can I be at ease? It’s always better to address matters like this thoroughly before moving forward.”

“Then it seems I can’t help you with this matter.”

“You can just tell me where their headquarters is located.”

“In Wushan. It would be more convenient for you to head there by boat.”

Zhao Changhe could not help but feel even sorrier for Cult Leader Xue.

The cult’s headquarters was in Wushan, yet a bunch of elite members, including himself, were sent to the icy tundra to fetch items for the Four Idols Cult. It truly was a pitiful situation for the leader of a cult...

Speaking of the Blood God Cult’s nature, it did not really seem to match a place like Wushan. If the Maitreya Cult were in Wushan, it would seem much more fitting.

With this in mind, Zhao Changhe suddenly remembered something and asked, “Since you seem to know so much about the Maitreya Cult, do you know if they have a celestial maiden at the fourth layer of the Profound Gate?”

“At that level, even if they were called a celestial maiden, it would just be a superficial title. In reality, the people at that level are the ones that the Maitreya Cult specifically sends out to seduce and control people. For example, the magistrate’s concubine. While they’re called celestial maidens, they’re not the genuine high-ranking celestial maidens of the cult.”

Zhao Changhe nodded. This explanation aligned with his initial assessment of the flower-picking celestial maiden. This was how it was supposed to be, right?

But why did something about this feel so wrong to him? During the recent city-wide search for followers of the Maitreya Cult, she still had the audacity to secretly follow him and take advantage of the outbreak of his vicious qi to launch a surprise attack. Was this the kind of courage and cunning that a low-ranking celestial maiden groomed by a branch of the Maitreya Cult should possess?

She imitated Yue Hongling’s tone and mindset so perfectly that even Yue Hongling herself had to admit, despite her stubbornness, that perhaps the flower-picking celestial maiden saw things more clearly and played her character more convincingly.

No matter how he looked at it, she was a formidable and elusive character.

But her cultivation was really low, and her combat skills were still very immature, so what was going on?

1. This is modern-day Nanjing. ☜