Chapter 57: Chapter 57 Divine Weapon Concealed in a Cliff
Translator: 549690339 |
Zhou Heng immediately jumped off the bed. He had just woken up not long before and still felt somewhat sleepy, but now he was completely awake, looking at the ancient sword that had suddenly appeared with shock and uncertainty.
“What are you?” He sensed a faint ghostly aura on the ancient sword, yet it was somewhat elusive, not like the pure ghostly aura that was cold and sinister; it even gave him a sense of clarity and warmth.
“I am your great opportunity, your great fortune,” the ancient sword trembled again, its voice ancient yet filled with temptation, “Come, grasp the hilt, and you shall inherit not just one Celestial Man’s legacy.”
“Do you think I’d fall for that?” Zhou Heng sneered. He would never trust something of unknown origin, especially since it had been in the enemy’s hands before.
“Hehehe,” laughter came from within the ancient sword, “Do you think, just because you’ve obtained a bit of Pure Yang Palace’s favor, you can join the Taoist Immortal Sect and never lack for inheritance?
“Young man, you are too naive. The great sects of the Martial Path all treasure their own rubbish as if it were gold; ordinary disciples can hardly get the true teachings. Even if you pass the assessment and truly enter Pure Yang Palace, at most you’ll learn a few Sect Fifth Rank techniques.”
“Now, all you need to do is hold the hilt, let me serve you, and you can obtain numerous Celestial Man inheritances. Many divine techniques and marvelous methods are at your disposal to choose from. Why would you not want to?” “Are you really that powerful?” Zhou Heng’s heart stirred, and he chuckled, “Why do I find that hard to believe? If you were really that powerful, why couldn’t Kong Chengshun beat me?”
“…” The ancient sword fell silent for a moment before responding, “That’s because his spirit wasn’t strong enough; he couldn’t fully bear the Celestial Man’s inheritance, while your spirit is uncommonly tenacious, truly deserving of this great opportunity.”
“I still don’t believe you have a Celestial Man’s inheritance,” Zhou Heng shook his head, “unless you can provide proof.”
“Kid, you’re trying to trick me into teaching you Martial Arts, but sadly, you’re still too green,” the voice from the ancient sword came with a mocking tone, “However, it’s indeed rare to see someone with a spirit as strong as yours, so fine, let you taste a little sweetness then.
“Here is an Absolute Fourth Rank Internal Cultivation Method; listen well!”
After that, the ancient voice coming from the sword began to recite a series of mnemonics that were profound and abstruse, highly advanced to the extreme, which Zhou Heng couldn’t understand at all.
It seemed the ancient voice took this into account, for with each segment it recited, it would follow with very detailed explanations, incrementally building from simple to complex, thoroughly exhaustive.
“Fuyaji is explaining to you the Martial Arts ‘Heavenly Demon Soul Technique’ [Absolute Fourth Rank]. Studying this Martial Arts has a high chance to become someone else’s puppet. Do you wish to learn it?”
A system prompt sounded in Zhou Heng’s mind.
“Damn, that crafty old man is really quite something!” Zhou Heng kept a straight face, but inwardly he was cursing up a storm.
He now understood that all the talk about serving him and Celestial Man inheritances was just a prelude; the real “killer move” was here.
It was to take advantage of his cleverness leading to his own mistake, thinking of wheedling Martial Arts out of the sword but unaware that it was exactly what the ancient sword was waiting for, hoping to seize the chance to pass on a Martial Arts with serious hidden issues.
“I got too arrogant; if it wasn’t for the System, I’d have probably fallen for it,” Zhou Heng reflected with a shiver of fear. He still lacked experience, not having considered this possibility.
You can’t just go plucking wool wherever you see it.
In the future, I must be careful, I must be careful.
“No!”
Zhou Heng made his choice, followed by a series of prompts.
“You have refused to learn the Martial Arts ‘Heavenly Demon Soul Technique’ [Absolute Fourth Rank] as explained by Fuyaji. You will not gain proficiency in this Martial Arts.”
“Fuyaji’s explanations contain profound Internal Martial Arts principles; your comprehension of ‘Authentic Internal Energy Heart Method’ [Eighth Rank] deepens, proficiency +100.”
“Fuyaji’s explanations contain profound Internal Martial Arts principles; your comprehension of ‘Authentic Internal Energy Heart Method’ [Eighth Rank] deepens, proficiency +150.”
By the time Fuyaji had finished explaining the Heavenly Demon Soul Technique, Zhou Heng’s proficiency in the Authentic Internal Energy Heart Method had risen from intermediate to advanced.
[Eighth Rank]Authentic Internal Energy Heart Method: Advanced (460/3000)
This wool seems to be sheared quite nicely too.
Zhou Heng’s heart bloomed with joy, but his face was furrowed with worry as he said, “What are you talking about? I don’t understand at all. Is this really an Absolute Fourth Rank Martial Arts?”
“You don’t understand?” Fuyaji in the ancient sword was clearly stunned.
He fell silent, attempting to sense through the appropriate link, only to find that there wasn’t a trace of the Heavenly Demon Soul Technique’s aura on Zhou Heng.
“How is this possible?” Fuyaji was baffled. The Heavenly Demon Soul Technique should leave a soul seed in the mind as soon as one agreed to learn it, but there wasn’t the slightest hint of a soul seed’s aura within Zhou Heng.
“I really don’t understand,” Zhou Heng made a skeptical expression and said, “What you just taught wouldn’t happen to be a fake Martial Arts, would it? Why don’t you go over it again?”
“How can such a thing happen?” Fuyaji was full of doubts. Suddenly, he thought of a possibility, and the sword body trembled slightly as he said, “Hmph! So you are really that dull, it seems I have misjudged!”
With that, the surface of the ancient sword glowed faintly and directly pierced through the void, vanishing without a trace, as if it had never appeared.
Looking at the empty table, Zhou Heng’s eyes narrowed slightly as he silently mused to himself, “Fuyaji Sword, Divine Weapon?”
Just now, while the ancient sword hadn’t left, he had used a “Dissemble Card” on it.
“Congratulations! You have disassembled a Sword Talisman ‘Geng Metal Sword Energy Technique’ [Secret Six Rank] from the weapon ‘Fuyaji Sword’ [Celestial Third Rank](Sealed).”
“Sword Talisman ‘Geng Metal Sword Energy Technique’ [Secret Six Rank]: Capable of releasing Geng Metal Sword Qi, comparable to a full-force strike of a Sixth Rank Martial Path practitioner, and near Fifth Rank in the presence of ample metal, can be used three times.”
The object he disassembled was quite impressive, effectively giving Zhou Heng another card up his sleeve to save his life.
But what shocked him even more was the Fuyaji Sword’s rank.
Celestial Third Rank!
A weapon of this level had another name—Divine Weapon!
The fact that Kong Chengshun had a Divine Weapon, even in a sealed state, surprised Zhou Heng and greatly disquieted him.
Divine Weapon!
Its very existence was equivalent to a Celestial Man!
And it was in Kong Chengshun’s hands.
This made Zhou Heng feel like a huge, bright red “Danger!” had appeared overhead.
If he didn’t deal with this crisis, he felt he would not be able to rest easy in the future.
But that was a Divine Weapon.
How to handle it?
“From the performance of the Fuyaji Sword just now, it seems it can’t initiate attacks on its own, or there are significant restrictions, otherwise it wouldn’t have needed to use rhetoric to hook me,” Zhou Heng pondered with furrowed brows. “And that ability to appear and disappear out of thin air probably can’t be used at will, though I can’t be sure… How to prevent it from escaping?
“There’s ghostly Qj on the Fuyaji Sword, which might be a way to handle it… Since it is in a sealed state, the spiritual power it can release is probably limited as well, otherwise it could have directly interfered with my consciousness…
“When should we make a move? Wait until Kong Chengshun leaves here, when he goes out of the city?”
“No!”
“Now is the best opportunity!”
With this thought, Zhou Heng took out the last three taels of gold he had, headed straight out the door, and, under the cover of night, sprinted through the alleys toward the residence where Kong Chengshun lived.
During the day, Kong Chengshun had been seriously injured, and Tian Chong had been stripped of his post; naturally, they could no longer stay at the inn they had booked. In order to facilitate healing, Kong had rented a secluded mansion on the outskirts of the city.
He didn’t dare leave directly, fearing that once out of the city, in the wild countryside, he might be killed by Zhou Heng or Pei Zhantu and others. He planned to stay for a while and leave after the storm had passed.
Yet deep down, Kong Chengshun was immensely frustrated. He couldn’t understand how things had come to this.
How could a country bumpkin from the backwoods have the backing of a big shot like Pei Zhantu? And to further his damn luck, even individuals from the Pure Yang Palace wanted to take him as a disciple.
Why him!?
Therefore, when the senior from the ancient sword mentioned earlier that there was a way to deal with Zhou Heng, he agreed without a second thought.
Even though the method required draining all his inner Qi and might even harm his foundation, Kong Chengshun felt it was all worth it if it meant getting rid of Zhou Heng!
Being drained of inner Qi meant at most a few days of weakness, and a damaged foundation could be healed with spiritual medicine!
Such a price, he was willing to pay!
At this moment, Kong Chengshun lay collapsed in the room of the mansion, his complexion deathly pale, looking completely drained. Just now, he had contributed all his inner Qi, feeling so weak he could hardly move a finger.
But his heart was filled with joy, for he had witnessed the ancient sword, after absorbing his inner Qi, break through the void and vanish into thin air!
Such an inconceivable sight greatly boosted Kong Chengshun’s confidence, and he eagerly awaited the good news from his senior.
Hum!
Suddenly, the void trembled lightly, twisting slightly. The ancient sword reappeared in Kong Chengshun’s hand out of nowhere, its blade now dim.
“Senior, how did it go? Is that Zhou Heng done for?” Kong Chengshun asked impatiently.
“No, he isn’t, there’s something odd about that kid.” The Fuyaji Sword trembled lightly, its voice anxious, saying, “We need to leave now, right this moment!”
“Ah? What, what’s wrong?” Kong Chengshun was baffled.
“That kid might be a Celestial Man reincarnation!” The Fuyaji Sword sounded frustrated.
It never expected that its carefully chosen puppet host would turn out to have such an identity, and the hope of breaking its seal was dashed once more.
Initially, upon reviewing Zhou Heng’s information through Kong Chengshun, it was merely a whim to see if this genius met its standards and ordered Kong to test him.
Upon contact, it discovered Zhou Heng was actually a Pure Yang Body.
This perfectly matched its requirements for a puppet host and was greatly beneficial for breaking its seal.
That led to Kong Chengshun’s relentless oppression of Zhou Heng, aiming to force him out of the city to conveniently lure and manipulate him.
But, unforeseen complications arose, with Pei Zhantu and You Ziheng stepping in, throwing all its plans into disarray.
Fuyaji had no choice but to bewitch Kong Chengshun, absorbing his Inner Qi and part of his foundation, in order to temporarily use the ability of shortdistance teleportation to seek out Zhou Heng himself.
Originally, Fuyaji planned to fully abandon Kong Chengshun after successfully turning Zhou Heng into a puppet, considering that Kong Chengshun’s limited talents would likely be of no help in breaking the Seal. However, Fuyaji had not expected that Zhou Heng would be unable to learn the Heavenly Demon Soul Technique.
This Internal Energy Method was extremely sinister. Once someone agreed to learn it and the instructor provided a detailed explanation, a soul seed would grow within the learner, gradually turning them into a puppet of the instructor.
However, there was one scenario in which, even if the learner agreed to learn this Internal Energy Method and listened to the detailed explanation, they still could not learn it.
That was the reincarnation of a Celestial Man.
Although a reincarnated Celestial Man would experience the confusion of the womb and lose the memories of their past life, their Divine Soul would still retain the essence of their previous incarnation’s spirit, untouched by such Absolute Fourth Rank sinister techniques.
At the same time, Fuyaji recalled that twenty years ago, a Celestial Man from Pure Yang Palace had reached the end of their lifespan and passed away during meditation, and during the day, a Grandmaster from Pure Yang Palace purportedly took Zhou Heng as a disciple on a whim, for reasons unclear whether true or false.
Therefore, in Fuyaji’s view, everything matched up!
Zhou Heng was the reincarnation of that Celestial Man from Pure Yang Palace who had passed away twenty years prior. You Ziheng hadn’t taken a disciple on a whim, but rather came to guide a bewildered Sect predecessor back to Pure Yang!
It must be so!
Fuyaji was absolutely certain of his speculation, which filled him with an intense sense of crisis—
Since Zhou Heng had such a close connection with Pure Yang Palace, it was very likely that You Ziheng would be secretly looking after Zhou Heng’s safety. His earlier attempt to find Zhou Heng might already have been discovered.
He must leave quickly!
Otherwise, once a Grandmaster from Pure Yang Palace discovered the Divine Weapon in his possession and sent it back to the Sect, he would never have the chance to break the Seal and regain his freedom again.
“But Senior, I can’t move at all right now,” Kong Chengshun said helplessly. His Inner Qi was drained, his foundation damaged, and he couldn’t even move a finger.
“I still have some ofyour True Qi conserved; I can return it to you. Use all your strength to move and grab the hilt of my sword…” Fuyaji spoke very rapidly, obviously in a great hurry, but as soon as he finished this sentence, he felt that something was amiss, “Not good!”
Boom!
A sound as though the sky was collapsing thundered through the air. A pure white Sword Qi over thirty feet in length split the night sky and descended, instantly leveling the entire courtyard to the ground.
Kong Chengshun didn’t even have a chance to react before the Geng Metal Sword Qi crushed him into powder; even his Divine Soul perished, completely annihilating both form and spirit.
“Damnit!” Fuyaji cursed loudly, and immediately tried to use the last bit of his Inner Qi to break through the void and teleport away from there.
But before he could disappear—
Boom!!
Three golden bolts of lightning fell from the sky, striking precisely on the blade of Fuyaji’s sword.
The power contained within these three bolts wasn’t strong, and even in its sealed state, Fuyaji’s sword regarded them as nothing more than mild attacks.
However, within them was a strange force that seemed capable of suppressing Yin spirits.
Fuyaji wasn’t a ghost, but he could be considered a Yin spirit who still carried a hint of ghostly energy, and being in a sealed state, the spirit he could manifest was not strong. After being struck consecutively by these three bolts, his consciousness immediately became momentarily confused.
The sword instantly lost its luster and fell to the ground.
At the same time, the earth-shattering noise alarmed many experts within Huangtong Mansion City.
Pei Zhantu, You Ziheng, Wu Zongshan, and Wang Lang immediately took action and flew toward the location with incredible speed.