Chapter 578

Wu Pifu did not leave immediately.

Firstly, there was still enough time, and secondly, he truly owed Huang Rong an answer.

"Fine!"

Huang Yaoshi, however, exclaimed in praise: "Possessing both emotion and righteousness, holding firm to one's principles—even if thousands of men stand against me, I shall go! My disciple Pifu, go forth as you must!"

"Father!!"

Huang Rong immediately cried out to Huang Yaoshi, tears falling in large drops once again.

Huang Yaoshi, however, spoke to Huang Rong with a solemn expression: "Rong'er, do not be reckless! Although I have never been to the Heaven Beyond Heaven, from your explanation, I know how perilous that environment is. The human race there is truly walking on thin ice; it is a reenactment of our ancestors' history, rising from the wilderness. Our ancestors also traveled in such tattered clothes, enduring countless sacrifices and immense heroic spirit, only to achieve the reality where our race now covers the earth. My disciple is truly magnificent!!"

Huang Rong sobbed: "Father! What is so magnificent about it? That woman clearly harbors ill intentions, using her words to pressure Brother Pifu. If Brother Pifu is gone from the Heaven Beyond Heaven, humanity will lose one of its three pillars supporting the sky. That woman is too wicked; she must be a spy for an outside race, or perhaps she is just power-hungry... Brother Pifu, don't go!"

Huang Yaoshi said angrily: "In such a situation, how can petty romantic feelings ruin a man's heroic journey!? Nonsense, this is absolute nonsense!"

Wu Pifu listened quietly from the side.

This was indeed something Huang Yaoshi would say and do.

In the original text of *The Legend of the Condor Heroes*, Huang Yaoshi actually never thought much of Guo Jing, finding him dull, stupid, and unhandsome; crucially, he was also pedantic and boring. He was strongly opposed to Huang Rong being with Guo Jing.

However, later, when Guo Jing defended Xiangyang, acting as a true hero for the country and the people, Huang Yaoshi greatly admired him. Though he didn't say it aloud, he felt quite proud. From that point on, he truly regarded Guo Jing as a worthy son-in-law, even helping him secretly many times. Later, when Yang Guo became the Hero of the Divine Condor, he even joined Yang Guo in assisting Guo Jing to face the Mongol army at the most critical moment.

Huang Yaoshi admired such heroic, passionate people from the bottom of his heart!

At this moment, Hong Qigong also said from the side: "Listening to what Rong'er said, the Public Official of Heaven is truly a great man. He walks through fire and water for his companions, and not wanting to implicate the human race or cause many weak ones to die in vain, he made the decision to face the battle alone. Rong'er, you should support him."

"You, you... Waa!"

Although Huang Rong was intelligent, at this moment she could not articulate her feelings and could only wail loudly.

In fact, despite the differences in culture, era, and information, the meaning behind Huang Yaoshi and Hong Qigong's words was very clear.

Salute those who go to their deaths!

This is actually the greatest difference between men and women. Who is right and who is wrong is not so absolute, but from the perspective of Huang Yaoshi and Hong Qigong, if they knew how to describe it, they would certainly say this is the ultimate romance of a man.

After crying, Huang Rong's expression became resolute. She wiped away her tears forcefully and said loudly to Wu Pifu: "Brother Pifu wants to face death, and you certainly won't take me with you, right? That's fine! Brother Pifu, I will wait here for you for one year. If you don't come within a year, I will go to the Yellow Springs to find you. If you aren't dead but were just delayed and only come after a year, then Brother Pifu, you must resurrect me!"

Wu Pifu lowered his head slightly, truly moved in his heart.

Since he was awakened from old-fashioned cryogenic sleep by the Unified Human Government, which cured his terminal illness and the trauma from the old-style freezing, he had signed a maintenance personnel agreement. Since then, he had fallen into cryogenic sleep again. Fortunately, this time the sleep was of a new type; after his consciousness gradually awakened, he would also enter an alternative slumber within a personalized virtual space.

After that came everything he had experienced. The maintenance personnel agreement was activated, and upon waking, he discovered that the entire Gaia had undergone drastic changes. The Dream World was born, and he was forced to follow his predecessors into the Dream World to struggle for survival. Back then, there was no "Land of Redemption," and Chu Minghao was nowhere to be seen. It could be said that every entry into the Dream World back then was a gamble with his life.

Later, when all the old predecessors died, he met the Mute Woman in a desperate situation. That was the first time he had formed such a strong bond with an "NPC" in the Dream World, and the Mute Woman eventually died for him. This was also the reason he felt he must resurrect her. After that, Jiu Jiu, Daphne, Beelzebub, and the Golden Tree all became his companions and followed him along the way...

Although he always said things like "I'll sleep with Jiu Jiu once she turns into a human" or "I'll marry them all," he always felt these things were actually very far from him. The three "attachments" were less like "child brides" and more like him wanting companions by his side...

And Huang Rong, who was before him, was truly an accident among accidents. He met her in a situation he never expected, and then, unknowingly, he had arrived at the present...

Unlike his other companions, Huang Rong was the first to make him feel that this woman was not just a companion...

It was just that the kindness of a beauty is heavy, and he did not know how to repay it.

"Fine."

Wu Pifu stood up. He looked at the sky and said: "If I do not die this time, I will definitely return to find you within a year. If I am not dead but have been delayed, I will definitely resurrect you. This is my word... this is my promise!"

Huang Yaoshi and Hong Qigong were absolutely stunned. They looked at each other, both seeing horror in the other's eyes.

Wait, the Heaven Beyond Heaven is one thing, the Public Official of Heaven is another, but did you two just mention... resurrection?

Huang Yaoshi's eyes suddenly became incredibly excited, but this was not the time to ask. He suppressed the excitement in his heart, only to hear Huang Rong immediately say: "You are not allowed to go! Brother Pifu is very stupid and easily deceived. If you go alone, I won't be at ease at all, so I must help you deliberate on this!"

Wu Pifu thought for a moment, and considering Huang Rong's "wise" attribute, he nodded: "That's fine, you can help me deliberate."

Huang Rong finally broke into a smile, though it was very forced. She pulled Wu Pifu to sit down and said to Huang Yaoshi and Hong Qigong: "Father and Qigong, please help us deliberate together."

Once the two nodded, Huang Rong said on her own: "Brother Pifu, does the Wu Gong of this world provide a great boost to you?"

Wu Pifu said: "Yes, a great boost, but the most important thing is that it allows me to gain internal energy. As for the differences in internal energy cultivation methods, they may only have reference value for me. Because, as I heard from Rong'er, the difference in internal energy mainly lies in the amount of internal energy that can be condensed daily, the quality of the internal energy, and a very small number of internal energy methods that carry different attributes. For me, the amount and quality of internal energy are not very significant; rather, the different attributes carried by the internal energy are very valuable to me. Besides these, the efficiency and methods of using internal energy will likely provide me with improvements as well. For example, Qigong's Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms provide me with a great boost."

Huang Rong's Wu Gong was weak, and she did not have a deep understanding of these things, but Huang Yaoshi and Hong Qigong were the pinnacles of the martial world in this world. Although Wu Pifu's terminology was strange, the two understood what Wu Pifu meant after a little thought.

Compared to Hong Qigong, who had seen Wu Pifu lift a water tornado with one hand, Huang Yaoshi did not have a deep understanding of Wu Pifu's strength. He only knew that his strength was very high and that he could fly, but he did not know exactly how strong he was. So, he pondered for a moment and asked: "So, the special techniques of internal energy provide you with a great boost... how great is the boost specifically, and how much will it help you on this trip?"

Wu Pifu pondered silently. After a moment, he shook his head: "My trip is very dangerous, so I can't say for sure how much it will help, but the boost to my strength will be at least doubled... Let me demonstrate a little for the two of you."

Huang Yaoshi and Hong Qigong both nodded. Wu Pifu stood up and faced the lake. He struck out with a palm, and the lake more than ten meters away suddenly exploded with a spray of water. Huang Yaoshi and Hong Qigong were both shocked and moved.

This was not a solid, close-range attack, but a long-range palm strike—the so-called "palm strike from afar." Even as two of the Five Greats of the world, they could at most strike from three or four meters away, and the power would at most be enough to push someone back or stun a weakling. Moreover, the further the distance, the more the power would decay. At five meters away, there would likely only be a breeze; it was impossible to create such a huge spray of water from more than ten meters away. This power was at least ten times greater than theirs.

But what Wu Pifu said next made them feel that all the martial arts they had learned in their lives were just garbage.

"This is my casual, everyday strike."

"And this is my full-power attack without using internal energy."

Wu Pifu began to circulate his Qi and blood, mobilizing his blood energy. A wave of air erupted from his body. Huang Yaoshi and Hong Qigong saw a straight white smoke rising from Wu Pifu, like a beacon fire, shooting up a thousand meters into the sky. Then, Wu Pifu struck the lake with a palm. When the palm was struck, Huang Yaoshi and Hong Qigong felt dizzy, because they instinctively felt that the palm carried a thousand-fold weight, and each strand of force was subdivided into countless parts, while the force itself seemed to change constantly like a living thing.

With one palm strike, heaven and earth were shocked. Suddenly, like a thunderclap on dry land, the water at the edge of the lake where he struck retreated violently, turning into a hundred-meter-high wave that swept to the other side. Half of the lake exploded toward the opposite shore, directly collapsing the dam on the other side.

"And this is my full-power attack using internal energy, but without using the moves of the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms."

As Wu Pifu spoke, he was about to use his internal energy. These words shocked Hong Qigong and Huang Yaoshi so much that they were terrified. They both shouted at the same time: "Stop, Public Official of Heaven (My disciple), stop!"

Wu Pifu looked at the two in confusion. Hong Qigong asked first: "May I ask, Public Official of Heaven, how much internal energy do you have?"

This was originally a taboo in the martial world, but it didn't matter to Wu Pifu. Before he could answer, Huang Rong said proudly from the side: "Brother Pifu has thirty cycles of pure internal energy!"

What!?

Thirty cycles? Pure internal energy?

Combining these two terms brought a kind of indescribable, grotesque feeling to Hong Qigong and Huang Yaoshi.

The two were silent for a long, long time. Then they looked at each other, and Hong Qigong said first: "Since that is the case, the Nine Yin Manual, which we consider a peerless treasure, is truly useless."

Huang Yaoshi nodded in agreement. Then their eyes lit up at the same time, and they said the same martial art in unison: "...Six Meridian Divine Sword?"

The two laughed loudly at the same time. Hong Qigong immediately said to Wu Pifu: "The old beggar can finally repay a little of the Public Official of Heaven's kindness for teaching martial arts... I know the Public Official of Heaven is in a hurry, so I will whip my horse to the south to Dali and beg for the Six Meridian Divine Sword manual for the Public Official of Heaven!"

Huang Yaoshi also said: "Then I will go to the Shaolin Temple and the Chongyang Palace. These two places also have many special moves and techniques, as well as internal energy methods with special attributes."

Huang Rong wailed, tears rolling down her cheeks, her voice incomparably desolate.

Wu Pifu saw the resolute expressions of Huang Yaoshi and Hong Qigong, and then saw Huang Rong's expectant face. He felt both moved and guilty. After a moment, he said: "I also have a martial art I want to collect, and I plan to go there myself. This set of martial arts might be the most suitable for me, but I will only know after I obtain it."

The three were curious, but Huang Yaoshi and Hong Qigong were not easy to ask more. Only Huang Rong, who had no such scruples, asked directly: "What martial art does Brother Pifu want?"

"...Dragon Elephant Prajna Art!"