Chapter 448: Gao Zhijian

Chapter 448: Gao Zhijian

Li Huowang’s eyes snapped open abruptly. As he sat up from his disheveled bed and glanced to the right, he noticed the slanting sunlight streaming through the window—daylight had already been pouring in for quite some time.

“I overslept again?” Li Huowang didn’t bother with the bloodstained wounds all over his body. He hastily dressed himself and descended the wooden staircase.

“Good morning, Brother Li,” Zhuge Yuan greeted him with a fan in hand, bowing slightly.

“Good morning, Brother Zhuge.”

Seeing him, Li Huowang slapped his forehead in irritation. He had just returned to the village and already let his guard down. Zhuge Yuan, who had saved his life, was still waiting for his help. Practicing the cultivation techniques far outweighed matters of romance or relationships.

He grabbed a steamed bun and pickled vegetables from the table and took a few hurried bites before washing them down with white rice porridge. Then, he found a quiet ear chamber within the Bai family compound and sat cross-legged, closing his eyes to begin cultivating the mysterious martial arts technique.

According to the obscure texts of the manual, Li Huowang wrapped the divine fire from his eyes around the primordial energy. The next step was to push this innate Qi through his body's seven chakras—root, navel, solar plexus, heart, throat, brow, and crown.

He allowed each of his ten emotions and eight sufferings to be immersed in that invisible, formless primordial energy.

The process was arduous. It felt like pushing a one-wheeled cart loaded with an elephant—it moved not an inch despite all his effort.

But he did not rush. Cultivation required patience, not haste. What mattered was perseverance over time.

If Bei Feng could achieve it, then so could he.

How long passed, he couldn’t tell. When Li Huowang finally opened his exhausted eyes, the sky outside had grown dim.

The entire chamber now looked askew, its floor and walls bulging unevenly.

Seeing this, Li Huowang frowned. The cultivation method clearly caused strange changes in the surrounding environment. It seemed he would have to find another place to practice in Niu Xin Village, somewhere less likely to harm others by accident.

He stood and walked toward the door. Just as he opened it, he was startled to see a young man standing on the ceiling above him.

Upon seeing Li Huowang, the boy recoiled in terror, scrambling backward along the ceiling on hands and feet.

While Li Huowang puzzled over this stranger and tried to guess his identity, Gao Zhijian’s towering figure suddenly appeared upside-down on the ceiling, approaching him.

Only then did Li Huowang realize—not were they hanging upside-down, but *he* was!

The thought struck him instantly, and his feet gave way. He tumbled toward the boy below.

Quickly shifting his position mid-air, Li Huowang landed firmly on the ground. Still shaken, he stood up and peered back into the ear chamber.

The room had completely flipped upside-down—floor became ceiling, beams were beneath him. He hadn’t even noticed how long he’d been standing there.

It was clear now that he needed to change places for further cultivation. This method was truly peculiar indeed.

“L-L-Li…”

Li Huowang raised his head to look at Gao Zhijian, patting his forearm gently. “How old are you? You’ve grown taller again in just a few months. Is something wrong?”

“Hmm,” Gao Zhijian replied, pointing outside.

Li Huowang saw the solemn expression on his face and nodded, stepping forward with him.

“Father and Mother asked me to bring you home for dinner,” said the boy who had earlier fainted in fear.

“I’ll come back later. Tell them to eat first.”

When they arrived at Gao Zhijian’s house, Li Huowang saw him holding a pile of stone fragments, looking deeply apologetic as he presented them to him.

“This is…” Li Huowang studied it for a while before recognizing it—the stone tablet from the celestial scroll he had given him, the same one that Dan Yangzi had treasured so dearly.

Through Gao Zhijian’s stammering explanation, Li Huowang learned that the scroll had shattered unexpectedly one afternoon recently. From within came strange words—mockery of the delusion of immortality.

“It’s fine. Don’t feel guilty. This has nothing to do with you. That thing was merely a deception used by the Way of Forgetfulness,” Li Huowang explained.

Though he didn’t know when exactly Dan Yangzi had obtained the so-called celestial scroll, judging by how painstakingly he had collected so many broken pieces for alchemy, it must have taken years—perhaps three or five.

The so-called “Old Lord” mentioned by Gao Zhijian was undoubtedly a fake created by the Way of Forgetfulness.

Not only Dan Yangzi had been deceived, but also the spirit beast in the cave, and countless others across the land.

Such a massive, long-term scam spanning the four seas and eight directions could not be accomplished overnight—it required decades or even centuries of planning.

Only someone wielding dice could orchestrate such a grand deception.

The dice had gone to great lengths collecting lies from so many victims, all to wait for the perfect moment to summon the avatar of Doumu and steal the Divine Eye of the Mountain of Ghosts, which Emperor Liang had painstakingly created.

What remained of the dead Divine Mountain of Ghosts—was it chaos? Disorder?

“But something seems odd. Based on what I know about them, the dice should have been trying to steal the Dao of Doumu, replacing her with their own body to become saints. Why would they help her? Could it be that they’ve been tricked by her too?”

Lost in thought, Li Huowang was pulled back to reality by Gao Zhijian’s hand.

“Sorry, I got lost in my thoughts. Gao Zhijian, do you need anything else?”

“Yes,” Gao Zhijian answered briefly before turning to walk inside.

Soon, he returned carrying a military treatise. Li Huowang remembered this—it was the one he had taken from Peng Longteng’s corpse.

“This… this is… a military cultivation manual…”

Li Huowang took it in surprise, flipping through pages carefully. To his astonishment, he discovered it actually contained a hidden martial cultivation method teaching how to increase and control aura, a physical training technique.

“You practiced it?”

“Mm,” Gao Zhijian nodded. Glancing around, he walked over to a giant halberd nearby, clenched his jaw, roared loudly, and lifted the heavy weapon effortlessly.

A thick wave of aura spread outward from Gao Zhijian. The headless Peng Longteng began to stir excitedly, its massive palm clenching and unclenching.

“Hah!” With a mighty roar, a strong gust of wind whipped Li Huowang’s robe and hair backward. The massive halberd crashed down with tremendous force.

In an instant, the earth trembled. The stones cracked beneath their feet, and Li Huowang felt a quake.

He was startled. Gao Zhijian had grown so powerful without warning. If he grew even taller, his strength might rival that of Peng Longteng himself.

Should one call him naturally gifted, or praise the martial art itself?

(End of Chapter)