Chapter 133: Mystery of the Celestial Maiden

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 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. ☜