Chapter 34: Secret Treasures Of The Human Body

Chapter 34: The Secret Treasury of the Human Body

The night was deep and cold.

After finishing his medicinal bath, Zhao Changhe stood behind the house, gazing up at the sky.

There was no moon tonight. The clouds grew thicker, and fine snowflakes had begun to fall, hinting at another heavy snowfall later in the night.

He realized he had been in this world for less than two months, yet he had grown increasingly accustomed to it—accustomed to the wooden house without heating, to reading the sky for time and weather, to practicing martial arts, to the archaic speech and the rules of the demonic path.

Accustomed to the inexplicable "server-wide announcements" that appeared in the sky.

Images of his former world appeared in his mind less and less often. Zhao Changhe himself could hardly tell whether his current obsession with cultivation was for the sake of returning home or for making a name in this chaotic age.

In any case, what now occupied his thoughts most were cultivation and Luo Qi... and occasionally, Yue Hongling, who would flash through his mind.

If not for the fact that the first thing he saw upon entering this martial world was Yue Hongling... Zhao Changhe suspected he might now be a rampaging bandit. But because she had been there before him, he had constantly restrained his increasingly wild bandit tendencies, unwilling to abandon his last shred of conscience.

Otherwise, if they met again in the martial world, he wouldn’t know what to call her, and he would no longer have the face to meet her as openly as before.

Or perhaps it had nothing to do with Yue Hongling...

It was simply that he didn’t want the beauty of the martial world in his dreams to be destroyed by his own hands. Yue Hongling was merely the embodiment of the martial world he had cherished in his heart since childhood, now manifest before his eyes.

"Clang!" Zhao Changhe drew the steel blade he had just won.

The medicinal bath was over; it was time to practice with the blade. There was no time for sentimental literary sighs. Enough was enough.

A new blade required renewed familiarity and mastery. Only by understanding all its characteristics could one achieve "the blade as an extension of the hand." No longer could he recklessly grab any blade and swing wildly, as in his dreams.

This fine steel blade, won in a gamble, was not as exaggerated as the broadswords in his dreams. It was a standard thick-backed blade, with a spine nearly a centimeter thick, and a considerable weight of about ten jin. It perfectly suited Zhao Changhe’s current strength. The previous blade, a flimsy thing of two or three jin that trembled at the slightest shake, had no power in its cuts and was utterly unsuitable for him.

Especially since the Blood Fiend Blade Technique was a style of grand, sweeping motions. It required such a heavy blade to be fully effective. Unfortunately, such blades were often expensive, and his previous circumstances had made them impossible to obtain.

As for the material and craftsmanship of this blade, Zhao Changhe was no expert, but he could clearly sense its murderous aura and sharpness, far surpassing his old broken blade. A good blade like this might cost dozens of taels of silver—considering that the entire stronghold’s total assets were only three hundred taels, which could buy enough food to sustain the whole camp for quite a while.

Zhao Changhe fondled the blade with reluctant hands, finding it even more satisfying than fondling Luo Qi’s jade rabbit.

A good weapon is a martial artist’s life. Truly.

"Shua, shua, shua!" The blade’s gleam flickered in the night, replacing the moonlight that was absent tonight.

The falling snow grew heavier. Everyone in the stronghold retreated into their houses, and all was silent, save for the whistling of the blade behind the chief’s house, mingling with the howling north wind—indistinguishable as to whose chill it was.

If those who had marveled at his talent during the day’s duel in the branch leader’s courtyard were here, they would know there was no such thing as talent...

Only Xia Chichi understood that while others rested, he practiced with his blade.

But there was one difference from his usual practice...

"Swoosh!" A figure leaped into the snowy air, landing on a tree trunk with a tap, sending snowflakes cascading down. Then, using the momentum, the body rose again, drifting toward another branch.

"Crack!" At the top of a tree three zhang high, a branch snapped under the blade.

The figure brushed past the branch and landed lightly on the ground.

Zhao Changhe exhaled, looking back with joy in his eyes: "Lightness skill is truly interesting. Now I can finally show off. This haul was quite good... Should I make Fang Buping my transport captain next time?"

"Flying Blood Without Trace" was considered a high-level lightness skill even within the Blood God Sect... The reason they gave him such a good one wasn’t that Fang Buping was generous—the bastard still had his ulterior motives. This skill required a decent level of internal energy to use, and Fang Buping was eager to see Zhao Changhe’s frustration at having a beautiful woman before him while being impotent.

But Zhao Changhe was far from impotent; on the contrary, he was a powerhouse. His internal energy had already reached a respectable level, and even if he hadn’t broken through the first barrier, he was on the verge.

...

Zhao Changhe still had no idea what the technique passed down by Xia Longyuan was called, so for now, he called it the Xia Family Heart Method.

This method could be cultivated while lying down or even standing, without requiring the cross-legged posture with palms facing heaven—that was a Daoist practice. However, it still required focused calm and internal visualization to guide the energy; otherwise, chaotic qi could be fatal.

As for whether he could cultivate while sleeping like Luo Qi, it seemed this method didn’t allow that. But at deeper levels, it might replace sleep altogether, which would amount to the same thing.

Either way, it was about saving time. There was so much to practice that he wished he could use each day as two.

Zhao Changhe lay quietly in bed, carefully visualizing internally. Unbidden, the image of Luo Qi lying on the bed watching him practice with his blade flashed through his mind.

It was as if he were experiencing her perspective then... but unfortunately, there was no role reversal, no little enchantress standing at the door practicing her blade for him to watch.

It had been less than ten days since he obtained the Xia Family Heart Method, and he was already on the verge of a breakthrough. This wasn’t because he was exceptionally talented, but because of the trace of energy Xia Longyuan had left behind, sparing him the process of sensing and generating his own qi from scratch.

Moreover, internal and external cultivation complemented each other, making training easier.

The better one’s physique and the more one practiced boxing and blade work, the fewer blockages in the meridians and acupoints, facilitating smoother qi flow. A sickly person claiming to cultivate excellent internal energy would sound unreliable. Conversely, mystical qi could improve bone structure, enhance strength, and promote blood circulation.

Whether internal or external, it all boiled down to the development of the human body.

Thus, although it took more time, "cultivating both internally and externally" was always the royal path, beneficial both in cultivation itself and in practical combat compared to specializing in one.

There was a saying that at the deepest levels, internal and external merged into one, ultimately the same thing. This was related to the so-called "opening the secret treasury of the human body" after breaking through the nine barriers. For now, Zhao Changhe wasn’t qualified to experience that level. He only felt that this kind of cultivation, though time-consuming, yielded excellent results.

Just the fact that his qi had spontaneously helped soothe the medicinal effects during his bath was already worth it.

However, he hadn’t yet discovered any particularly miraculous properties, likely because his cultivation was still shallow. Today, he could attempt to break through the internal barrier and see if, after truly reaching the first level, he could find the wonders of internal arts.

The internal barrier was somewhat embarrassing to mention.

Because in the narrow sense, the "barrier acupoint" was actually the perineum... So breaking through the first barrier meant unblocking the perineum acupoint.

Guiding his qi to thrust there repeatedly felt like self-pleasure... He wondered how Luo Qi and Yue Hongling felt when they practiced... They probably weren’t as bored as Zhao Changhe.

Breaking through the barrier was quite painful. Many people lost focus due to the pain, making it a real hurdle. But since it was orthodox internal arts, the pain was still manageable. After enduring the baptism of the Blood Fiend Technique, Zhao Changhe found it akin to a mosquito bite, barely causing a ripple. He increased his effort and thrust through after a dozen attempts.

Zhao Changhe clearly felt a cool sensation spreading from the barrier, permeating his limbs and bones. Even his spirit jolted, becoming much more alert. The trace of qi from Xia Longyuan was no longer perceptible; it was now entirely his own cultivated qi, warm and steady, circulating along the meridian paths. It was peaceful and vast, as if a star map had unfolded within his body, with the dantian like a bright moon shining down and acupoints twinkling like stars.

He slowly opened his eyes.

The room was dark, with no lamp. His previous "eyes in the back of his head" had given him night vision, but it couldn’t discern details in such pitch black. Yet now, he found he could see clearly.

Even the wood grain on the wall was distinctly visible.

His hearing had also been enhanced. The sound of snowflakes falling outside the window, usually silent, now seemed to produce a faint rustling before fading away.

"The resolution has increased," was his first thought.

His second thought was a bit unsettling... Why did the effects of his "eyes in the back of his head" seem identical to the effects of breaking through the internal barrier? And after breaking through, it seemed to further enhance those effects...

Could it be that the "eyes in the back of his head" came with an extra layer of barrier? At what level could one see behind them?

Zhao Changhe couldn’t stay still. He got up and flipped through the stack of books he had brought back during the day. Among them were the scriptures of the Blood God Sect, which naturally included their perspective on the human body’s barriers and secret treasury.

"The secret treasury of the human body is divine power."

"Ordinary people break through barriers and open the eye acupoint, merely gaining clearer vision and finer perception. But the divine power of the secret treasury allows one to see behind, to gaze into the distance, to illuminate worldly joys and sorrows, to observe the principles of heaven. All phenomena of the world enter the eyes—this can be called the Heavenly Eye."

"Our Blood God blah blah blah..."

Zhao Changhe had no interest in reading the subsequent boasts...

The Heavenly Eye...

The ability he had previously used mainly for peeping at baths seemed to be a realm pursued by masters on the Heaven and Earth Rankings, and it could even evolve.

And he had the nerve to say he had only recently uncovered the second position card... In truth, he hadn’t even fully understood the first eye card.

Zhao Changhe lay in bed, lost in thought, his mind wandering until he unknowingly drifted into sleep.

That night, he dreamed.

He dreamed of a silent night sky, with the blind woman standing there, her eyes gently closed, seeming both near and far, like a goddess of darkness.

"I never expected... that you would break through the first level of both internal and external so quickly."

"I've finally fucking found you! Let me go back!"

"But you... do you really still want to go back?"