Chapter 302: The Long-Lost Blind Man

Chapter 302 The Long-Absent Blind Woman

Sanniang had departed.

Zhao Changhe returned to his room to rest, a persistent ache throbbing in his head.

The headache was not a mere figure of speech; it was entirely physical.

The Spring-Returning Mantra was truly not something he could trifle with at his current level. The piercing, needle-like mental agony brought on by his earlier attempt to grasp a mere fraction of the natural laws had not yet subsided. Consequently, he had lacked the energy to exchange many words with Sanniang, let alone engage in any playful banter; neither of them had been in the mood.

The Spring-Returning Mantra was an unexpected windfall that had never featured in his plans. On the surface, it seemed to offer absolutely no assistance in enhancing his immediate strength, yet everyone knew its future potential was boundless. The sole vexing point was that it did not quite seem to suit his style, belonging to an entirely different system from his own martial path.

What business did a berserker have picking up a healing skill...

His current repertoire was far too chaotic. Even though he tried his utmost to integrate everything into a singular cohesive system, a careful review still revealed a jumbled, disorganized mess of various disciplines.

To step into the First Secret Treasury and achieve what people termed a "Grandmaster" was clearly not a matter of simple breakthroughs in raw power alone. Only when one possessed their own unique comprehension and organization of the martial path could they truly be worthy of the title of Grandmaster.

Like Hu Lie, whose scimitar dissolved into the yellow sands; like Lie Ya, whose meteor plunged into the battlefield; like Yue Hongling, whose setting sun was reflected in the rivers.

They possessed something uniquely their own; their martial paths held essence, energy, and spirit.

The other so-called half-baked experts of the Ninth Realm, who failed to connect the bridge between Heaven and Earth, mostly lacked these elements. They merely parroted others and followed texts verbatim, devoid of any original understanding or personal integration, relying solely on the accumulation of raw power. What kind of Grandmasters could they be considered?

Was that not precisely the reason they could be defeated by those of lower realms...

Of course, for him at this moment, this "chaos" was not a bad thing; it represented breadth. Only after witnessing a vast array of techniques could he cross-reference them, adopt their strengths, transform them into his own, and ultimately return to simplicity, reducing everything to the fundamental horizontal and vertical strokes.

Take this Spring-Returning Mantra, for instance... It could at least serve as a reference for how to make contact and influence the physical body and vital blood of others, which offered a crucial point of comparison for the Blood Fiend Saber Technique.

For when the Blood Fiend Saber Technique was cultivated to its depths, apart from the specific effect of instilling terror, its truly most important effect was actually inducing a violent frenzy in the opponent's vital blood, even causing it to surge uncontrollably, leading to a wretched and miserable death. Zhao Changhe had never quite figured out how to achieve this aspect before, but now he seemed to have gained a bit of a foundation.

Beneath the moonlight, Zhao Changhe stood outside the courtyard holding the Dragon Sparrow, remaining perfectly still for a very long time before suddenly swinging his blade.

The blade struck soundlessly; the moon cast no shadow.

It was the "Hell as It Is," which now incorporated the Yellow Sand Saber Technique.

Hell could be clamorous, or it could be entirely silent. Previously, Zhao Changhe could not execute such a silent blade, as his style was invariably violent and fierce. Ever since he comprehended this method of silence following his battle with Hu Lie, "Hell as It Is" had been fully mastered, playing a vital role when he assassinated the envoy within Batu's army. This was the result of reference and cross-verification.

The Clamorous Hell was cruel and violent, with raging fires consuming the body, striking utter dread into people.

The Silent Hell was oppressive and helpless, devoid of the light of day, similarly giving rise to a creeping terror.

Different paths yielded the same effect, to be deployed according to varying environments.

And then...

The soundless and trace-less blade energy shot straight toward the treetop. Only when it reached the side of a sparrow did the bird suddenly sense the peril and attempt to flap its wings to fly away.

Yet it abruptly felt the vital blood within its body surge wildly. Before the blade energy could even touch its form, its blood had already burst forth, resulting in a wretched and miserable death.

Hell on earth was precisely like this.

"Hell as It Is" had attained great mastery at this moment.

This was not a saber technique of the Eighth Mystic Gate... It belonged to the level of the Secret Treasury, having already glimpsed the extremely subtle and profound gates of the martial path.

Cui Wenjing, Tang Wanzhuang, and the others had all remarked that the Blood Fiend Saber Technique was an excellent style. For them, finding another fine saber technique for Zhao Changhe would have been an easy task, yet none of them had done so, proving that this technique was indeed extraordinary. At this point, it once again revealed its true grandeur; even at the level of the Secret Treasury, the Blood Fiend Saber Technique was by no means inferior.

Of course, it depended on who used it.

Zhao Changhe exhaled a breath, sheathed his blade, and went inside to rest.

His mental energy had not yet recovered, and this single strike made his head ache even more. Leaning against the bed, he fell asleep before long.

...

Several times he had thought the blind woman would appear, yet she never did.

This time, he had not given it a single thought, having fallen asleep from sheer exhaustion, and yet the blind woman appeared.

Unlike the early days when she stood before him without the slightest reservation, and unlike recently when she deliberately kept her distance as if at the edge of the sky, this time the blind woman suspended herself amidst the treetop outside the window, precisely where the sparrow had been moments ago. Neither too close nor too far, the arrangement was finally less awkward and felt much more normal.

Zhao Changhe let out a sigh: "You've come?"

The blind woman also seemed momentarily choked up. After not meeting for so long, suddenly turning up left her somewhat at a loss for words. It took a long while before she replied: "You have glimpsed the gate of the Secret Treasury. I felt it, so I came to see you... Do you no longer need your doubts resolved?"

Zhao Changhe said calmly: "Apart from the fact that your identity remains unclear, I have no other doubts to ask you about."

The blind woman said: "Because you have already integrated into this world, living your own life amidst the joys, angers, sorrows, and delights around you. Regarding the martial path and the previous era, you have also found your own understanding and path of exploration. Now, whether I am here or not makes no difference; it is no longer like when you first arrived in this realm, wanting to find a strategy guide to answer everything."

Zhao Changhe nodded: "Perhaps."

Thus, seeing the blind woman now stirred no waves within him. His past resentment and displeasure had faded considerably; either way, with or without her, it was all the same.

Unless this creature started stirring up trouble or handing out tragedies, then they would never hear the end of it.

The blind woman concluded: "You are already a person of this world."

Zhao Changhe fell silent for a moment, then asked with a somewhat strange expression: "Did you praise me day and night just to achieve this result?"

"?" The blind woman asked in surprise: "What did I praise you for?"

"The Chronicle of a Troubled World is practically the number one fanboy of Zhao Changhe. A long time ago, people suspected I was sleeping with the book spirit. Are you truly unaware of that?"

The blind woman let out a soft laugh: "Do not keep probing into my identity, it is meaningless... The Chronicle of a Troubled World is the manifestation of the Heavenly Dao. It only honestly provides judgments it deems important. Your actions earned that; it has nothing to do with me."

"How could it be without 'me'? Is that kind of expectation, written from my perspective, also the same?"

"Yes, because the Heavenly Dao stands from everyone's perspective. If someone else had done those things at that time, they would have received the exact same evaluation."

"Fine then." Zhao Changhe had originally intended to ask her view on Xia Longyuan, but just like Sanniang, once the matter had passed, his anger subsided. He felt the same way now; once the moment was gone, there seemed to be nothing worth asking.

After pondering for a long while, Zhao Changhe discovered with surprise that he truly had nothing he wished to ask the blind woman. As for deeper matters, such as the specific events of the previous era, which gods and Buddhas of the heavens were still hanging on by a thread, where each was located, and what their purposes were—asking about such things would yield no answers anyway, so it was better not to ask.

In his current state, one might even say it was better and more comfortable if she did not exist.

After some thought, he asked a very direct question: "It feels like the complete unsealing of the gold foil is nowhere in sight. Is there any special treasure required? I can go look for it."

The blind woman said: "No need. What it requires is simply the spiritual qi of Heaven and Earth, and... completeness."

"Similar to Ying Wu's concept? The completeness of the world?"

"That is one aspect. The key is that it is incomplete itself."

"The gold foil is incomplete? How come I couldn't tell?"

"This page is complete, but it is only one page."

Zhao Changhe understood. To completely unseal the gold foil, he likely needed to gather the Heavenly Book, or at least a significant portion of it.

He asked bluntly: "How many pages are there in total?"

"Nine. Nine is the ultimate number."

"Then are there any clues to find the other pages?"

"None. One can only say they cannot exist within the mortal world; they will only be found within various ancient secret realms. Some secret realms were formed in isolation precisely because of the existence of the Heavenly Book."

"Because heaven and man are separated? So they won't fall into the mortal realm."

"You may look at it that way."

"Then have any ever been found by someone? For instance, does Xia Longyuan possess one?"

The blind woman fell silent for a moment, then said slowly: "Perhaps."

Perhaps... Zhao Changhe knit his brows, studying the blind woman intently for a short while.

If she were a book spirit, she might not know other things, but there’s no way she wouldn’t know where the Heavenly Book is. Could she really not be a book spirit? Then was my beauty lotion wasted?

Or perhaps Xia Longyuan used his great power to block the Blind Man’s perception? Hmm, that possibility is more likely. That feeling of being watched no matter what you do—I can’t help it, but Xia Longyuan would never tolerate it; he must have a way to block it.

Zhao Changhe suddenly wondered, when I’m having sex, does the Blind Man watch? Is it big?

“Alright.” Zhao Changhe’s mood suddenly improved, in a very Ah Q-ish way, and he laughed: “What wind blows you here today? Just say what you need, no need for so much small talk—who are we to each other?”

The Blind Man felt that he was no longer mysterious, but he really had to get involved, because this matter was too important—not the time to play dumb… Besides, he couldn’t fool Zhao Changhe anyway; that guy was really clever.

He was silent for a long while, then finally spoke: “When you go to Kunlun, don’t just grab a Dragon-Elephant Blood Ginseng and call it done. There will be many things there…”

“Such as?”

“A Heavenly Book.”

Zhao Changhe almost laughed out loud: “Fine, I understand.”

This was the reason the Blind Man had come all this way after so long.

Everything fears the unknown, fears your mystery, fears your lack of desire, fears your pure pursuit of amusement—then you are invincible.

Since what you seek is now clear, there’s a handle to grasp… Though I myself value the Heavenly Book highly, it feels like the Blind Man is giving me a walkthrough, but in essence, isn’t this you asking me for a favor, damn it?

Aren’t we all just people, with human desires and human wants… What’s with the pretension to gods and buddhas!