Chapter 88: Hongqu Discusses the Dao

Because Xiao Yu, as the “daughter of Hongxiu Fang,” immediately called him “Father” upon meeting, Xu Dahao and the other martial world bosses instantly activated “Big Destroy Dad.”

When they practiced their ultimate techniques, Xiao Yu saw through their true strengths and weaknesses at a glance.

She not only pointed out the flaws in their moves but also offered suggestions to help them fix their deficiencies...

She restrained the urge to play the role of “Wang Yuyan” and didn’t flaunt her brilliance excessively.

Even with her restraint, when they asked for her opinion, her evaluations still left them deeply impressed.

Hearing Xiao Yu loved martial arts, several wealthy patrons handed her secret manuals as gifts.

Of course, the secret manuals they casually gave away could never be their core cultivation techniques.

The key was that they came easily—she performed a set of Tiger Roar Sword, absorbed the martial essence from the great martial lords as they demonstrated their ultimate skills, greatly increasing her martial experience, and then casually offered a few comments, earning countless rewards.

The rewards were so abundant that Aunt Liu specially found a bolt of brocade for her to use as a wrapping cloth.

That was the entirety of Xiao Yu’s first outing to meet guests.

Simpler than making breakfast for her on the dunes.

“Hey, Hongqu, come over and help me—how do you read this character?”

She had just flipped two pages of the “Ghost Shadow Grasping Hand” when Xiao Yu hit a major obstacle: she couldn’t read characters, let alone understand their meaning.

“You’ve repeatedly insulted my late father—do you still expect me to help you?” Hongqu said coldly.

Xiao Yu put down the book and sighed, “First, if you don’t provoke me, I won’t go out of my way to stab you in the lungs.”

“Second, when I said your father was pathetic, it wasn’t an insult—it was the truth—”

Seeing her eyebrows begin to form a “V” again, Xiao Yu pressed her palm down and said, “Don’t rush. Let me explain slowly.”

Hongqu remained furious and agitated, but only furrowed her brows without speaking.

Xiao Yu spoke slowly, “Kong Zan of the Hunting Flag Immortal was one of the ten human immortals of Lu State, serving alongside your father. You must be familiar with him, right?”

More than familiar—he was your father’s closest friend!

Thinking of this desert barbarian girl killing her Uncle Kong, Hongqu’s expression grew complex—filled with hatred and confusion.

Seeing her expression, Xiao Yu understood.

“The Eight Immortals Shooting the Sun—your father was the organizer, the leader. But at the critical moment, he let Kong Zan go searching for that Bone-Changing Elixir.”

“He knew the Bone-Changing Elixir had been eaten by me, yet he refused to cut his losses and turn back—he kept chasing me.”

“Even after chasing me, he knew I’d consumed the Bone-Changing Elixir and would inevitably achieve great power, yet he still treated me like an ordinary child, with contempt—and was ultimately ambushed by me.”

“Kong Zan was indeed foolish.”

“But you, Jade-Faced Wenqu, who let him act foolishly without restraint—or were too weak to restrain him—aren’t you pathetic too?”

Hongqu exclaimed, “You just got lucky—you ambushed Uncle Kong! A moment of fortune can’t justify your arrogance!”

“You’re pathetic too!”

Xiao Yu shook her head lightly, her gaze disdainful. “The Eight Immortals Shooting the Sun was a desperate cry of near-certain death.”

“Even if you carefully seized every sliver of opportunity and tried your hardest to create more, success wasn’t guaranteed.”

“Yet you dared to be careless, giving a common desert barbarian girl a chance to get lucky...”

“Do you look down on the Flame Sun Marquis—or simply not care about your own lives?”

Hongqu muttered, “The victor is king, the loser is a dog. Now you can say whatever you want.”

“You’re right—the victor is king. Right now, I could knock you down with one finger. Won’t you behave and listen?” Xiao Yu waved her fist, threatening her.

“Hmph! A true man does not yield to force!” Hongqu said expressionlessly, though her body tensed.

“Fool!” Xiao Yu cursed. “You carry the burden of national vengeance and family hatred, yet you can’t even wield a single martial technique.”

“Now that divine secret manuals have fallen from the heavens, you don’t beg humbly for the gift—you put on this arrogant, unyielding act for whom?”

“Go ahead and be proud!”

“Look around you—where are you? Do you really think your status and beauty will let you be proud forever?”

“And you look down on me? I’ve already slain human immortals. Now I’m hungry for knowledge and train diligently.”

“In three or five years, I may ascend to the azure heavens and become a sword immortal—while you’re still wallowing in the mud, full of resentment and sorrow.”

Hongqu’s eyes widened, her lips trembling, clearly deeply shaken.

After a long silence, she said, “I thought you were content with your current state... I’m sorry—I underestimated you.”

She glanced around, stepped closer, and whispered, “But you shouldn’t have said that out loud—we’re definitely being watched right now.”

Xiao Yu looked at her in surprise: this little girl isn’t stupid!

She rolled her eyes, irritable. “Ask Aunt Liu. Ask Ziying. Even ask Shao Yao or the Five Supreme Sword Maidens—they all have the same dream as me: to fly into the azure heavens and live in bliss.”

“What normal girl from a decent family would willingly enter the Jiaosifang?”

“Dreaming of escaping this filthy pit is only human.”

“As natural as eating and drinking.”

“Pretending to be indifferent is abnormal—it looks like you have hidden motives.”

Hongqu paused, then sighed, “You’re right. I held myself too high—I underestimated everyone.”

“That’s barely the bearing of a chancellor’s daughter,” Xiao Yu nodded.

Hongqu dragged over a stool and sat beside her, pointing at the “Ghost Shadow Grasping Hand,” “These martial manuals? Practicing them wastes time and ruins your future.”

“You haven’t even read it—how do you know?” Xiao Yu asked.

“No need to read. All celestial martial secret manuals that cannot lead to immortality will damage your Dao path and immortal prospects.”

“My father wants me to advance further—to surpass human immortals and truly enter the immortal path.”

“So I can easily learn any refined martial art, and I could have taken any human immortal or martial immortal as my master—but I’ve never practiced a single technique.”

On her youthful face appeared a melancholy only adults possess: “Unfortunately, my father’s early vision was narrow. Only recently did he come to understand this truth—and he wasted a tremendous opportunity from his youth.”

Xiao Yu exclaimed in surprise, “Aren’t celestial martial arts just watered-down immortal techniques? How do they damage the immortal path?”

Hongqu said, “Imagine you have a teapot and a pot of clear water. Becoming immortal is like steeping premium Biluochun tea in that teapot.”

“You have no Biluochun—only bitter tea dregs.”

“So you use your only teapot and water to brew the bitter tea just to quench your thirst.”

“Later, when you finally get Biluochun, how will you steep it?”

“The teapot is already filled with bitter tea, and the clear water is gone.”

Seeing Xiao Yu lost in thought, she added, “The teapot is our body; the clear water is our soul.”

“Everyone has only one teapot, and only limited clear water.”

“Cultivating immortality means cultivating both spirit and body, harmonizing Dragon and Tiger, forming the Golden Core.”

“Spirit means mind and soul; body means flesh, blood, and primordial qi.”

“Practicing celestial martial arts exhausts both spirit and body—so when you later encounter an immortal opportunity, you’ll find it impossible to enter the immortal path.”

“Interesting,” Xiao Yu nodded slowly, sighing. “These few words are simple, but they’re the insight your father spent his entire life and experience to gain—they must be invaluable. Hongqu, thank you.”

Hongqu looked at her strangely. “Aren’t you worried? Aren’t you anxious you’ve taken the wrong path?”

Xiao Yu sighed, “Of course I regret not meeting a guiding immortal earlier.”

“But I understand hardship better than you do.”

“Biluochun tea—most ordinary families can afford a pot if they pinch their pennies.”

“Immortal opportunity? Most people never encounter it in their entire lives, no matter how hard they strive.”

“And even if you get an immortal opportunity, you still need immortal fortune and immortal roots—the path is filled with endless hardships.”

“In the countless trials ahead, there will surely be obstacles harder than the teapot and water problem.”

“If you truly have the awakening to become immortal, you won’t fear the difficulty of turning bitter tea water into Biluochun.”

Hongqu pondered, “This view isn’t wrong—but even someone with my father’s insight and opportunity couldn’t find a way to fix the flaw of celestial martial arts.”

“In the western nations, human immortals are numerous.”

“Yet over countless years, no one has ever been heard of to repair their foundation and break through to heavenly immortal in this lifetime.”

“There are five types of immortals—Heavenly, Earthly, Human, Ghost, and Divine—and each path has nearly fixed boundaries.”

Xiao Yu asked curiously, “Do you know the exact distinctions between the five immortals?”

Hongqu shook her head. “I only know roughly: Heavenly Immortal is the rarest and noblest; Earthly Immortal is the reluctant choice of those with shallow fortune; Human Immortal is simply a mortal who cultivates martial arts or arcane arts.”

“Human immortals imitate heavenly immortals—they try to condense their true qi into a core.”

“But it’s a dead core—lacking the indestructible nature of the Golden Core, and unable to advance further.”

“After all, heavenly immortal is merely the starting point of the immortal path—there are higher realms beyond.”

“Yet in combat power, the gap between human, earth, and heavenly immortals isn’t as vast as their realm differences.”

“Some human immortals with powerful divine techniques can slay earth immortals—even heavenly immortals.”

“Like Uncle Kong...”

She glanced at Xiao Yu with a complex expression. “In the Middle Ages, the Flag Gate Escape technique once killed a true immortal.”

“Uncle Kong fought many earth immortals.”

“If an earth immortal didn’t enter the Flag Gate Escape formation, Uncle Kong lost.”

“If an earth immortal dared to enter the Flag Gate Escape formation, Uncle Kong was guaranteed not to lose—and had a strong chance of winning.”

“The Flag Gate Escape formation is indeed strange—it can twist all five senses and spiritual perception,” Xiao Yu said.

“But you killed Uncle Kong. Don’t say ‘carelessness’—even if he was careless, you still had to find him. You killed him, so you must have broken the five-sense seal of the Flag Gate Escape.”

“I was born with sword bones, and I ate the Bone-Changing Elixir. At the time, my sword intent shook my sword bones—I acted purely on instinct, without understanding why,” Xiao Yu sighed.

Even though Hongqu understood better than anyone else how hard it was to kill Kong Zan inside the Flag Gate Escape formation, hearing this “standard answer” Xiao Yu had repeated countless times, she found no obvious flaw.

Seeing her fall silent, Xiao Yu urged, “Continue—tell me about the five immortals.”

I know only this much about the difference between a Human Immortal and a Heavenly Immortal: gods are mortals granted divine status, possibly becoming saints in the flesh or through their souls alone.

An immortal can become a god, but a god is not necessarily a Heavenly Immortal.

A Ghost Immortal is a ghostly entity that has cultivated immortality; if it masters great spiritual powers, its strength may not be weaker than that of a Heavenly Immortal.

After a pause, Hongqu added, “You’ve surely noticed—I’ve repeatedly said that other paths to immortality may not be weaker in combat than a Heavenly Immortal.

A Heavenly Immortal is a realm, a state; true combat power depends on the specific spiritual arts and immortal techniques the individual cultivates.

Without mastering powerful immortal arts, one’s combat power is weak; with them, one becomes utterly invincible.

The arts of protection must be distinguished from one’s realm and path.

After all, cultivation is not for fighting and killing, but for eternal life and transcendence beyond the cycle of rebirth.

The path of slaughter has no direct connection to immortality.

Of course, once one understands one method, all methods become clear.

If a True Immortal were to cultivate the art of killing, they could grasp it instantly and master it upon first practice.”

Xiao Yu thought for a moment and asked, “Do you know any famous Human Immortals from the Western kingdoms?”

Hongqu replied, “That depends on who you mean.”

“Do you know Song Zhong, the Blood-Handed Arhat?”

Hongqu nodded. “I’m somewhat familiar with him.”

“He’s also at the Human Immortal realm—why is his strength so immense? To pull a flying immortal across an iron chain, you’d need at least a hundred thousand jin of force.” Xiao Yu had once asked Guan Zhong and Song Changqing.

They only knew that since his debut, Song Zhong had been famed for his divine strength.

But they couldn’t explain the exact reason.

“Uncle Song was born with divine strength and has cultivated the Buddhist arts of Subduing the Dragon and Taming the Tiger. That’s why, though dressed as a layman, he never recites sutras—only kills—and yet is called ‘Arhat,’” Hongqu said.

—This girl is truly a hidden treasure!

Xiao Yu, pleasantly surprised, asked, “Do you know Subduing the Dragon and Taming the Tiger?”

Hongqu glanced at her. “I don’t know a single martial art.”

Before Xiao Yu could ask further, she snatched the “Ghost Shadow Grasping Hands” manual and said, “Which character don’t you recognize?”

“You won’t learn Subduing the Dragon and Taming the Tiger or the Flag Gate Escape Technique—truly a waste of the King of Hell’s grace in sending you to be reborn in the Chancellor’s mansion.”

Seeing the look of regret on her face—as if she wished to trade places with Hongqu—Hongqu sneered, “You’re not regretting for me; you’re regretting for yourself.

You regret you can’t steal Subduing the Dragon and Taming the Tiger or the Flag Gate Escape Technique from me.

But have you ever thought—if I had truly learned them, would you even be meeting me here?”

“Don’t overthink it. I’m just genuinely sorry for you.”

Xiao Yu rubbed her nose and pointed to the characters in the manual she didn’t recognize or understand.