Chapter 88: Hong Qu Discusses the Dao

Because Xiao Yu, this "daughter of the Red Sleeve House," insisted on calling him "Daddy" the moment they met, the group of Wu Lin bigwigs led by Xu Daho immediately activated their "Great Father-Destroyer" mode.

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

Not only could she point out the flaws in their moves, but she could also offer suggestions to help them compensate for their defects...

She resisted the urge to be a "Wang Yuyan" and did not excessively show off her brilliance.

Yet even with her restraint, when they asked for her opinion, the evaluations she gave still left them filled with admiration.

Hearing that Xiao Yu liked practicing Wu Gong, many wealthy patrons even brought out secret manuals to gift her.

Of course, the manuals they could give away so casually were absolutely not their core techniques.

The key was that it came easily; she danced through a set of Tiger Roar Swords, absorbed the essence of their martial arts while the Wu Lin bigwigs demonstrated their skills, greatly increasing her own martial arts experience, and finally, with a few casual comments, she reaped countless rewards.

There were so many rewards that Auntie Liu specially found a piece of brocade for her to use as a bundle.

The above was the entire content of Xiao Yu's first time going out to meet guests.

It was even simpler than making breakfast back in Shaqiu.

"Hey, Hong Qu, come over and help me look at this; how do you 'read' this character?"

Having just flipped through two pages of the *Ghost Shadow Capturing Hand* in her hands, Xiao Yu encountered a big problem: she was illiterate and could not understand the meaning.

"You have repeatedly humiliated my late father, yet you still expect me to help you?" Hong Qu said with a cold face.

Xiao Yu put down the book and sighed: "First, if you don't provoke me, I won't actively poke at your sore spots.

Second, my saying your old man is a loser is not humiliation, but a fact—"

Seeing her eyebrows begin to fold into a "V" shape again, Xiao Yu pressed her palm down and said: "Don't be anxious, let me analyze it for you slowly."

Hong Qu remained furious, but only furrowed her brows and said nothing.

Xiao Yu said leisurely: "The Flag-Hunting Immortal Kong Zan is one of the ten great immortals of the Lu Kingdom and served in the same court as your father; you shouldn't be unfamiliar with him, right?"

Far from being unfamiliar, Kong Zan and her father were close friends!

Thinking that the Shaman girl before her had killed her Uncle Kong, Hong Qu's expression was extremely complex, filled with both hatred and confusion.

Seeing her little expression, Xiao Yu understood.

"The Eight Immortals Shooting the Sun at Flying Immortal Crossing—your father must have been the organizer, the leader, yet at the critical moment, he allowed Kong Zan to go off searching for some Bone-Changing Pill.

Knowing full well that I had eaten the Bone-Changing Pill, he couldn't make a decisive choice to turn back, and instead continued to pester me.

Pestering me is one thing, but knowing I had eaten the Bone-Changing Pill and that my supernatural powers would surely be perfected, he still treated me like an ordinary child, looked down on me, and was ultimately ambushed by me.

Kong Zan was indeed stupid.

But the Jade-Faced Wenqu who let him act stupidly, without adding constraints or being unable to constrain him, was equally a loser, wasn't he?"

Hong Qu said excitedly: "You were just lucky to ambush and plot against Uncle Kong. A moment of fluke cannot be the reason for your brazenness."

"You're also such a loser!"

Xiao Yu shook her head lightly, her eyes filled with disdain. "The Eight Immortals Shooting the Sun was originally a desperate cry with nine deaths and one life.

Even if you cautiously seized every opportunity and tried your best to create more, success was not guaranteed.

Yet you dared to be careless, giving an ordinary Shaman girl a chance at a fluke...

Do you all look down on Marquis Lieyang, or do you simply not care about your own lives?"

Hong Qu said gloomily: "The winner is the king, the loser is the bandit; you can say whatever you want now."

"You're right, the winner is the king; now I can beat you down with one finger, and you still won't be obedient!" Xiao Yu waved her fist, threatening her.

"Hmph, a true hero cannot be bent by force!" Hong Qu was expressionless, but her body tensed up.

"Idiot!" Xiao Yu scolded: "Bearing the hatred of your country and family, yet you don't even know a bit of Wu Gong.

Now that a divine martial arts manual has fallen from the sky, instead of kneeling and begging for the favor, who are you putting on this stupid display of unyielding pride for?

Go ahead and be proud!

Don't look at where this is; do you really think your status and appearance can let you be proud for a lifetime?

And looking down on me... I could kill immortals before, and now I am thirsty for knowledge and practicing Wu Gong diligently.

In three to five years, perhaps I will ascend into the blue void to become a sword immortal, while you are still mourning and grieving in the mud pit."

Hong Qu widened her eyes, her lips trembling; she seemed deeply moved.

After a long while, she said: "I thought you were content with the status quo... Sorry, I underestimated you."

She looked around and moved a few steps closer, whispering: "But you shouldn't say it out loud; we must be being watched right now."

Xiao Yu looked at her with some surprise: this girl isn't stupid!

She rolled her eyes and said irritably: "Go ask Auntie Liu, ask Zi Ying, or even ask the currently popular Sister Shao Yao and the Five Absolute Sword Maidens; they must also have a dream like mine of flying into the blue void to be happy and carefree.

As long as they are good daughters from normal families, who would be willing to enter the Music Office?

Dreaming of escaping the filthy mud pit is human nature.

Just like people needing to eat and drink water.

You pretending to be indifferent is actually very abnormal and makes it seem like you have ulterior motives."

Hong Qu was stunned and sighed: "You're right; I held myself in high regard and underestimated everyone."

"That's barely a bit of the bearing of a Prime Minister's daughter." Xiao Yu nodded.

Hong Qu pulled over a stool, sat beside her, pointed at the *Ghost Shadow Capturing Hand*, and said: "This kind of martial arts manual, practicing it is not only a waste of time but also affects one's future."

"You haven't even looked at it, how do you know?" Xiao Yu asked.

"No need to look. Of all the immortal martial arts manuals in the world, any that cannot lead to immortality will damage one's path to immortality after cultivation.

My father hoped I could go further, surpass immortals, and step onto the true path of immortality.

That's why I could easily learn any exquisite martial art and could take any immortal or martial immortal as a master, yet I have never practiced a single technique to this day."

On Hong Qu's young face appeared a touch of melancholy only adults have. "It's a pity my father had shallow knowledge in his early years and only gradually understood this principle recently, missing a heaven-sent opportunity in his early years for nothing."

Xiao Yu asked in surprise: "Isn't immortal martial arts a cut-down version of immortal techniques? How does it damage the path to immortality?"

Hong Qu said: "You have a teapot and a pot of clear water now. Becoming an immortal is like brewing a pot of top-grade Biluochun tea in that teapot.

You don't have Biluochun, so you can only find 'bitter tea dregs.'

You use your only teapot and water to brew bitter tea to quench your thirst.

Even if you get Biluochun in the future, how will you brew Biluochun tea?

The teapot is already filled with bitter tea, and the clear water has been used up."

Seeing Xiao Yu lost in thought, she sighed again: "The teapot is our body, and the clear water is our soul.

Everyone only has one teapot, and the clear water is limited.

Cultivating immortality is the dual cultivation of nature and life, the union of dragon and tiger, forming a Jin Dan.

Essence is spirit and soul; life is the body, the blood and vital energy of the physical form.

Cultivating immortal martial arts exhausts both nature and life; even if you encounter an immortal opportunity in the future, it will be hard to enter the immortal path."

"A bit interesting." Xiao Yu nodded lightly and sighed: "Although these few sentences are simple, they are insights your father spent a lifetime of time and experience to gain; they must be very precious. Miss Hong Qu, thank you!"

Hong Qu looked at her strangely and asked: "Aren't you worried or anxious that you've gone down the wrong path?"

Xiao Yu sighed: "I certainly feel regret that I couldn't meet an immortal master to guide me early on.

But I understand the difficulties of reality better than you.

For ordinary families, if they grit their teeth, they can basically drink a pot of Biluochun tea.

But immortal opportunities are something the vast majority of people will never encounter in a lifetime, no matter how hard they try.

Not to mention that even with an immortal opportunity, one still needs immortal fortune and immortal roots; the path to immortality is difficult at every step.

Among the countless difficulties ahead, there must be ones harder than the teapot and clear water problem.

If one truly has the determination to become an immortal, there is no need to fear the difficulty of transforming 'bitter tea water' into Biluochun."

Hong Qu pondered: "This kind of thinking isn't wrong, but even with my father's knowledge and opportunities, he couldn't find a way to make up for the flaws of immortal martial arts.

In the Western countries, the number of immortals is not small.

Yet for countless years, I've almost never heard of anyone in this lifetime making up for their foundation and breaking through to become a Heavenly Immortal.

There are five types of immortals in the world—heaven, earth, human, ghost, and god—and each path almost limits the boundaries."

Xiao Yu asked curiously: "Do you know the specific classification of the five immortals?"

Hong Qu shook her head: "I only know the general idea. Heavenly Immortals are the hardest to obtain and the most noble; Earth Immortals are a helpless choice for those with shallow fortune; Human Immortals are actually mortals who practice martial arts and strange techniques.

Human Immortals also imitate Heavenly Immortals; Heavenly Immortals practice dual cultivation of nature and life to condense an immortal Jin Dan.

Human Immortals also try hard to condense their true energy into a core, but it is a dead core; not only does it lack the immortal characteristics of a Jin Dan, but it also cannot go any further.

After all, Heavenly Immortals are just the starting point of the immortal path; there are higher realms ahead.

However, in terms of combat power, the gap between Human, Earth, and Heavenly Immortals is not as large as the gap in realms.

There are Human Immortals who have mastered powerful supernatural powers and can kill Earth Immortals, or even Heavenly Immortals.

For example, Uncle Kong..."

She looked at Xiao Yu with a complex expression. "In the Middle Ages, the Flag-Gate Escape killed a True Immortal.

Uncle Kong had fought with many Earth Immortals.

If the Earth Immortal didn't enter the Flag-Gate Escape formation, Uncle Kong would lose.

If the Earth Immortal dared to enter the Flag-Gate Escape formation, Uncle Kong would at least not lose, and his chances of winning would be very high."

"The Flag-Gate Escape formation is indeed very strange; it can distort the five senses and spiritual perception," Xiao Yu said.

"But you killed Uncle Kong. Don't talk about being careless; even if he were more careless, you would have to find where he was. You could kill him, so you at least broke the five-sense seal of the Flag-Gate Escape formation," Hong Qu said.

"I was born with a sword bone and ate the Bone-Changing Pill. At the time, the sword intent shook the sword bone, and I relied entirely on feeling; I don't know the reason," Xiao Yu sighed.

Even though Hong Qu understood the difficulty of killing Kong Zan within the Flag-Gate Escape formation far better than others, hearing this "standard answer" that Xiao Yu had said countless times, she couldn't find any obvious loopholes.

Seeing her silent, Xiao Yu urged again: "Continue talking about the five immortals."

"That's all I know about the difference between Human Immortals and Heavenly Immortals. God Immortals are living people who are canonized; they might achieve sainthood in the flesh, or they might be canonized in soul.

Immortals can become God Immortals, but God Immortals are not necessarily Heavenly Immortals.

Ghost Immortals are ghosts who become immortals; if they practice great supernatural powers, their strength is not necessarily weaker than Heavenly Immortals."

After a pause, Hong Qu summarized: "I'm sure you've heard that I've repeatedly said other immortal paths are not necessarily weaker than Heavenly Immortals in actual combat.

Heavenly Immortal is a realm, a state; true combat power is related to the supernatural powers and immortal techniques the Heavenly Immortal practices.

If they haven't practiced powerful immortal techniques, their combat power is weak; if they have practiced them, they are incomparably powerful.

The art of protecting the path must be distinguished from the realm and the path.

After all, cultivating immortality is not for fighting and killing, but for longevity and jumping out of reincarnation.

The path of killing and immortality have not the slightest direct connection.

Of course, if one path is mastered, all paths are mastered.

If a True Immortal practices the path of killing, they can almost master it at a glance and become proficient as soon as they practice."

Xiao Yu thought for a moment and asked: "Do you know any well-known Human Immortals in the Western countries?"

Hong Qu said: "That depends on who."

"Are you familiar with the Blood-Hand Luo Han Song Zhong?"

Hong Qu nodded: "I have some understanding."

"He is also in the Human Immortal realm; why is his strength so great? Pulling hard on the iron chains at Flying Immortal Crossing must have required at least 100,000 jin of force." Xiao Yu had also asked Guan Zhong and Song Changqing.

They only knew that Song Zhong had been famous for his divine strength since he started his career.

As for the specific reason, they couldn't say.

"Uncle Song was born with divine strength and also practiced the Buddhist 'Subduing Dragons and Tigers' supernatural power, so he dresses like a layman and only kills people without chanting scriptures, yet he is called an 'Luo Han'," Hong Qu said.

—This girl is truly a little treasure!

Xiao Yu was pleasantly surprised and asked again: "Do you know how to subdue dragons and tigers?"

Hong Qu glanced at her: "I don't know a single martial art."

Before Xiao Yu could ask again, she snatched the *Ghost Shadow Capturing Hand* and said: "Which character don't you recognize?"

"You don't learn either Subduing Dragons and Tigers or the Flag-Gate Escape; you really live up to the favor of the King of Hell sending you to be reborn in the Prime Minister's mansion."

Seeing the regretful expression on her face as if she wished she could take her place, Hong Qu sneered: "You're not regretting for me; you're regretting for yourself.

Regretting that you can't steal the Subduing Dragons and Tigers and Flag-Gate Escape techniques from me.

But you don't think about it; if I had really learned them, would you still be able to meet me here?"

"Don't overthink it; I'm just feeling sorry for you."

Xiao Yu touched her nose and pointed to the characters and sentences in the manual she didn't recognize or understand. ===== CHAPTER 89 =====