Chapter 133: Exploring The Secrets Of Blood Aura, The Mystery Of The Goddess

Chapter 133: Probing the Blood Fiend, the Mystery of the Celestial Maiden

This parting lacked the melancholy of farewells past.

Instead, Zhao Changhe felt a joy that almost made him want to hum a tune, his spirits soaring.

Next time we meet, right? You just wait.

This time, though he had clearly harbored a desire to pursue, he had still been hesitant and timid, not purely due to admiration, but more from a subconscious sense of being "unworthy" of his own strength.

She had said the prerequisite was that his strength must not be too far behind hers.

Faced with such words, aside from a seasoned philanderer, few men could brazenly press forward.

But next time they met, he would have it... Zhao Changhe was supremely confident, even though he knew that the further ahead he went, the less likely he could progress as quickly as before.

It wasn't just about the higher energy requirements for breakthroughs or the greater difficulty of techniques in later stages.

Fortune and misfortune have always been intertwined. The drawback of starting martial arts as an adult, with meridians already set, had hindered his internal energy growth; but his mature physique and vigorous blood energy, coupled with the Blood Fiend Art that suited him perfectly, gave him a great advantage in cultivating it. Add to that his top-tier comprehension and talent in martial arts, his relentless effort, and the unique compatibility and boosting effect of the Six Harmonies Divine Art, and it all created the miracle of five breakthroughs in half a year.

But at least this physical dividend was now largely exhausted.

From the recent tentative insights, he felt it more and more clearly. Even Chili Fayuan had begun to dabble in mental illusions, let alone Tang Wanzhuang, who was already playing with light refraction... The power levels involved in further cultivation were clearly starting to touch on the realm of the "inhuman," which this mortal physique could no longer support much. At best, he had a good foundation, but the rapid progress was certainly over; it would inevitably slow down.

Otherwise, take Wan Dongliu, also a genius of talent, who had trained since childhood and at twenty-three had only reached the sixth level of the Mystic Gate. Was he inferior in any way? Even if there were differences in talent, they wouldn't be extreme. Those who made the Hidden Dragon List were all considered by Heaven to have potential surpassing ordinary beings; being on the same list meant no dimensional gap. And Wan Dongliu was among the rare few on that list. To expect to surpass him by much was truly asking the impossible.

Yet Zhao Changhe remained confident.

His own talent had now been proven. He wouldn't claim to be a prodigy, but saying he was exceptionally gifted was no exaggeration. Since talent wasn't an issue, and with the Heavenly Book in hand, if he couldn't make faster progress than others, it would be a waste of such fortune.

His earlier habit of learning a bit of everything wasn't the greed that Yue Hongling feared; it was merely a process of verification and testing. Zhao Changhe had always been clear on that.

Now that Yue Hongling had left, with nothing else to do, Zhao Changhe's first act was to get brush, ink, paper, and inkstone from the Xiaoxiang Pavilion, lock the door, and start writing.

Back then, he had memorized the Blood Fiend Art manual but hadn't brought it with him when he left the stronghold. Now, to have the Heavenly Book dissect the Blood Fiend Art, he had to painfully write it from memory, and even more painfully, use his never-learned drawing skills to sketch the example diagrams crookedly.

When Tang Wanzhuang had suggested he learn such things, Zhao Changhe had nodded along, but he'd never thought martial arts would actually involve writing and drawing. Yet here it was. Was this like the language teacher saying you need to learn Chinese well to study math, or else you can't write a thesis?

Fortunately, the manual was just a thin booklet; aside from the many diagrams, it was only a few thousand characters. If it had been a thick tome of hundreds of thousands of words, Zhao Changhe might have jumped into a river.

After a whole day of effort, he finally reproduced the manual. He immediately placed the gold leaf beside it and silently watched for changes.

At that moment, the gold leaf was still repeatedly displaying his battle with Wan Dongliu. Zhao Changhe knew such replays were valuable for reference and error correction, but he had no heart to study them now.

Sure enough, after a while, the battle scene on the gold leaf shifted to the background, and in the center, the analysis of the Blood Fiend Art began.

Zhao Changhe sat up straight, studied it intently for a long time, and let out a soft sigh.

It was about what he had expected...

The gold leaf would analyze existing content and improve parts it deemed inferior, but it wouldn't expand into higher-level content.

For instance, the Extreme Joy Art's limit was the Secret Realm level, and the gold leaf hadn't provided any more impressive extensions. Now, with the Blood Fiend Art, it was the same—the manual originally lacked the subsequent Secret Realm cultivation methods, and now it still didn't have them, stopping at the ninth level of the Mystic Gate.

As for the so-called improvements, they didn't fix every flaw. The Extreme Joy Art had only changed the most vulgar harvesting technique, adjusting the nature of the dual cultivation method. In other aspects, Zhao Changhe didn't believe it was flawless, but the gold leaf didn't care. No perfect technique existed; if everything were changed, could it still be called the Extreme Joy Art?

The Blood Fiend Art was similar. The gold leaf had altered a few things, but not the issue Zhao Changhe most wanted to solve—the invasion of baleful energy.

It optimized the "Scattering Gods and Buddhas" strike, reducing its consumption and making its openings less severe. For the move "Heaven and Earth Without Self," which could completely drive one mad, it slightly optimized the state of overflowing baleful energy, leaving a sliver of clarity in the mind—a thread of survival.

His long-standing situation of having only one ultimate technique, which others had already figured out, had improved. That was fairly important...

The Blood Fiend Blade Technique originally had seven ultimate moves: three at the Mystic Gate level, three at the Secret Realm level, and one unknown. Since the manual had no content beyond the Secret Realm, that move was absent. The gold leaf now also showed an improvement to the third Mystic Gate-level ultimate move, but that required at least the eighth level of the Mystic Gate to use, so Zhao Changhe had no mind to study it for now.

Because these improvements were, at best, on the level of "technique," offering no help to the "method."

In particular, the pain from the baleful invasion remained unchanged, and the gold leaf even explained it in detail.

In the gold leaf's view, the Blood Fiend Art was meant to be this way. If you wanted to use such baleful energy to harm enemies, you had to endure its backlash. That was only natural. If this core were changed, it would no longer be the Blood Fiend Art—it might as well be called the Blood Divine Art.

It was the same as what Cui Wenjing had said... Indeed, it was likely that the Blood Fiend Art was the original, and the Blood Divine Art was the improved version, which, after suppressing the baleful energy, might even be less powerful.

Old Cui was ninth on the Heavenly Ranking; his judgments on martial arts were essentially theorems, rarely overturned.

Zhao Changhe sighed but understood. Force and reaction were mutual, after all—even firing a gun had recoil. Baleful energy couldn't be so obedient. Unless one day his level was enough to master it, he had to resist it.

How to become its master?

That was certainly not something a mere Mystic Gate-level manual could tell him.

Zhao Changhe put away the gold leaf, strode out the door, and headed to the Canal Gang to visit Wan Dongliu.

...

The Canal Gang members were astonished that Zhao Changhe dared to swagger in to "visit the young master," but even more shocking was the young master's order from within: "Treat him as an honored guest and invite Brother Zhao to my room for a talk."

Bewildered, the Canal Gang members silently led Zhao Changhe to Wan Dongliu's sickroom.

The servants and maids had long been dismissed; not a soul was within ten zhang of the room.

Zhao Changhe looked at Wan Dongliu, wrapped up like a dumpling, and sighed, "You, so cautious and secretive—how did a petty thief steal your mask?"

"The mask was in my bosom. That thief's sleight of hand is a true skill, impossible to guard against. It wasn't like I carelessly left it somewhere." Wan Dongliu sighed too. "Your attitude is what I can't figure out. Do you have a mask too? Take it out and let me see which faction you belong to. You hide it so tightly that I ended up fighting my own brother, getting cut up and having to admit fault."

"I don't, but I've always been well-disposed toward the Four Symbols Sect and the Blood Divine Sect, whether you believe it or not."

A flicker of amusement passed through Wan Dongliu's eyes. "Maybe there's more... but fine, I'll take your word for it."

Zhao Changhe stared at him for a long time, feeling a pang of regret.

Sectarian faith was truly something else. This guy had been cut so badly, yet just because Zhao Changhe seemed connected to the sect, he bore no grudge at all. His casual attitude, treating him as one of their own, was far more genuine than his earlier hearty hospitality. The awkwardness of always playing a role was gone.

Next time he saw Chichi, he should learn more about the Four Symbols Sect itself. His understanding had been too shallow; he seemed to have missed a lot.

Wan Dongliu said lazily, "If you have something to say, say it quickly. My father is on his way from Jinling, and if he runs into you, you'll be in for it."

"You have a high position in the Four Symbols Sect. Can you get me the Secret Realm part of the Blood Fiend Art manual from the subordinate Blood Divine Sect?"

"Why do you want that? Why not just ask for the Blood Divine Art?"

"I want the Blood Fiend Art. Can't I just be stubborn about it? Of course, if you can get the Blood Divine Art too, that would be good for comparison."

Wan Dongliu relaxed entirely. "I thought it was something serious. You risk getting cut coming to me for this at a time like this... If you really wanted the Blood Divine Art, that would be hard for me. It's their sect's signature divine art. Unless the Vermilion Sovereign orders it, Xue Canghai wouldn't dare disobey, but my word doesn't carry that weight. But just the Blood Fiend Art should be simple. Hang around Yangzhou for a couple of days."

"Two days is enough? Don't tell me the Blood Divine Sect's headquarters is nearby?"

"No, it's far. But there's a branch nearby. Getting a copy of the Blood Fiend Art from a branch isn't hard. The sect clearly doesn't treasure this art; they probably use the pain of baleful invasion with their special pills to control people. They let anyone learn it..."

Zhao Changhe pondered for a moment, then shook his head. "I know more about this than you. The Blood Divine Sect only releases the Mystic Gate part for anyone to learn. I need the Secret Realm part; it won't be at a branch."

Wan Dongliu was a bit puzzled. "You're not yet at the point of peering into the Secret Realm, are you? Why the rush?"

Zhao Changhe wanted the Heavenly Book to analyze the complete version to see if there were specific instructions for controlling the baleful energy, rather than just enduring it. That was his top priority. But he couldn't reveal that, so he just said, "Having only half a manual—who can feel at ease? Without long-term worries, there will be immediate troubles. I need to settle this first."

"Then I can't help with that."

"Just tell me where the headquarters is."

"In Wushan. You can take a boat; it's more convenient."

Zhao Changhe felt even more sorry for Sect Leader Xue.

The headquarters in Wushan, yet he and a bunch of elites had been sent to the icy snow to search for something for the Four Symbols Sect. A sect leader reduced to this...

Speaking of which, the Blood Divine Sect's nature didn't quite match the name Wushan. It would make more sense if the Maitreya Celestial Maiden were in Wushan.

Thinking of this, Zhao Changhe suddenly remembered something and asked, "Brother Wan, you know the Maitreya Sect well. Do they have a Celestial Maiden at the fourth level of the Mystic Gate causing trouble?"

"At that level, even if called a Celestial Maiden, it's just a gilded title—like calling any army corporal 'General' out of courtesy. In reality, that's the level the Maitreya Sect sends out to seduce and control people. The prefect's concubine was one such. Called a Celestial Maiden, but not a true high-ranking sect Celestial Maiden."

Zhao Changhe nodded; this explanation matched his initial judgment of the Flower-Picking Celestial Maiden—wasn't it supposed to be just so?

But that woman felt terribly off... especially when the whole of Yangzhou was hunting down the Maitreya Sect, she still dared to tail him stealthily, seizing the moment his killing intent flared to strike back. Was such nerve and such scheming something a lowly celestial maiden, bred by a Maitreya branch to ensnare men, ought to have?

She mimicked Yue Hongling's tone and mentality, and in the end, even Yue Hongling, for all her stubbornness, had to concede that perhaps, as an onlooker, she saw clearly—the persona she enacted was the real Yue Hongling as she should have been.

No matter how you looked at it, she was a formidable and troublesome character...

Yet her cultivation was truly shallow, and her fighting skills were utterly green!