Chapter 310

Hu Xiaotian said: "That Li Gonggong said it seems the Retired Emperor had already taken the Heart Sutra of Prajnaparamita before, and now there is none of that left in the Cangshuge."

Quan De'an thought for a moment, then said: "Hu Xiaotian, you must quickly ascertain whether that secret passage connects to the seventh level of the Cangshuge."

Hu Xiaotian exclaimed in surprise: "The Cangshuge has seven levels?"

Quan De'an nodded and said: "Only the Emperor has the key to the seventh level of the Cangshuge."

Hu Xiaotian suddenly recalled the little eunuch corpse he had encountered in the underground passage; that little eunuch came from the Cangshuge, but that day he clearly had not found a passage leading to the Cangshuge. If the Cangshuge had no road connecting to the secret passage, how did that little eunuch enter the secret passage?

Seeing Hu Xiaotian's expression at that moment, Quan De'an couldn't help but feel suspicious, and said in a low voice: "Are you hiding something from me?"

Hu Xiaotian shook his head and said: "No, I tell you everything I know, holding nothing back." In his heart he added, "As if!"

Quan De'an said: "That's best."

Hu Xiaotian leaned closer and said: "Eunuch Quan, the little princess keeps saying she wants to bring me to the Chuxiu Palace to serve her."

Quan De'an said: "You don't need to worry about her; even if she wants to, others won't agree."

"You should know her temperament; she always insists on achieving her goal and will not rest until she does."

Quan De'an chuckled: "Are you afraid of her?"

Hu Xiaotian said: "Not afraid, but worried she'll ruin our grand plan."

Quan De'an said: "Although she is young, she knows her limits and won't go too far."

Hu Xiaotian said: "I seem to have offended Empress Jian."

Quan De'an put away the map drawn by Hu Xiaotian, his expression calm as an ancient well, and said: "How did you offend her?"

"To be precise, it should be offending Wang Decai; that bastard constantly speaks in front of the Empress, the Empress has been bewitched by him, thus targeting me. Last time, if it weren't for the little princess coming to my rescue, I would most likely have ten** die in the Xin'ning Palace."

Quan De'an said: "What exactly are you scheming?"

Hu Xiaotian said: "Wang Decai suspects his brother's disappearance is related to me, regards me as a mortal enemy, constantly looks for opportunities to strike at me, even injuring a little eunuch of the Si Yuan Bureau."

Quan De'an said: "Tell me your thoughts."

Hu Xiaotian said: "The little princess wants to stand up for me, but I'm somewhat hesitant."

Upon hearing this, Quan De'an immediately understood his meaning and coldly said: "Hu Xiaotian, you'd better remember this well: what do you want to do? Who do you want to kill? At the very least, don't drag the little princess into it."

Hu Xiaotian said: "Eunuch Quan, actually it's not me dragging her in, but rather she……"

"Hmph!" Quan De'an grunted angrily, glaring at Hu Xiaotian with both eyes.

Hu Xiaotian sighed and said: "That Wang Decai is really an eyesore; if you don't mind, could you help me deal with him?"

Quan De'an said: "He won't be prosperous for long; just ignore him for now." He slowly rose to his feet and said: "Show me the martial arts I taught you."

Hu Xiaotian took off his outer robe, walked slowly to the courtyard, focused his mind and regulated his breath, and performed the entire set of the Qiqi forty-nine style Profound Dark Yin Wind Claw from start to finish. Although Hu Xiaotian appeared frivolous and seemed to care about nothing, he was actually very clear about his situation, with a strong sense of crisis; precisely for this reason he was eager to enhance his own strength, and his enthusiasm in learning martial arts was unprecedented.

Quan De'an originally thought this kid was merely exceptionally clever, but he didn't expect that in cultivating martial arts the kid had indeed put in hard work; seeing him finish the Profound Dark Yin Wind Claw, he discovered the kid had acquired some proficiency. Observing martial arts also requires looking at detail handling and transitional changes; Hu Xiaotian's understanding and comprehension of this claw technique truly amazed him.

After finishing his practice, Hu Xiaotian approached Quan De'an with a smile and said: "Eunuch Quan, how do you feel?"

Quan De'an said: "It was not in vain that I poured my heart and blood into cultivating you."

Hu Xiaotian silently thought to himself: "The master leads you to the door, but practice is personal; you've spent hardly any effort, merely teaching me once, yet all my current achievements come solely from my diligent study and hard training."

Quan De'an added: "With your current claw strength, climbing up the well opening should not be difficult."

Hu Xiaotian cursed the Senior Eunuch's deceitfulness, thinking he genuinely wanted to test his martial arts, but after all that effort he was just probing his basics; old ginger is spicy, so in front of Eunuch Quan he must keep his wits about him. Hu Xiaotian put on a beaming smile and said: "You overestimate me, Elder; the well wall has not a single crevice, and even if I wanted to climb, I'd need to find something to grip."

Quan De'an said: "How is your practice of the breathing and exhalation technique I taught you?"

Hu Xiaotian said: "I have practiced it, but I don't feel anything."

Quan De'an said: "Then keep practicing." His right hand suddenly shot out without warning, directly clamping onto Hu Xiaotian's throat; Hu Xiaotian realized it was too late when he struck, and Quan De'an's fingers had already rested on his throat.

Quan De'an coughed, slowly withdrew his bird-claw-like right hand, clenched his fist before his lips, coughed violently a few times, then said: "Don't be complacent just because you've learned a bit of martial arts; know that there are always people beyond you and heavens beyond the heavens. When you meet a true master, you can only be at their mercy."

Hu Xiaotian said: "If that's really the case, I'll expose you as my master, letting the whole world know you taught such a pus-filled disciple."

Quan De'an let out a harsh, cold laugh and said: "Don't try to provoke me; you're not my disciple, our relationship is merely mutual exploitation."

Hu Xiaotian smiled somewhat embarrassedly and said: "Elder, why do you have to put it so bluntly? Actually, we still have some feelings between us."

Quan De'an said: "Kid, the Zajia naturally knows what you're thinking; why bother putting on an act in front of me?" He patted Hu Xiaotian's shoulder and said: "You help the Zajia with affairs; if the Zajia doesn't give you some benefits, you surely won't feel at ease, so the Zajia will pass on to you a set of the Golden Spider Eight Steps."

"Golden Pig Eight Steps? Uh…… walking eight steps with a golden pig would probably take quite a bit of time, huh."

Quan De'an glared at this joking kid and said: "The 'zhu' in spider, not the 'zhu' of pig's head."

Hu Xiaotian laughed: "Spider is more fitting; the skill of a spider climbing walls is indeed top-notch."

Quan De'an said: "Originally, the name of this step technique was indeed called Spider Wall-Climbing."

Hu Xiaotian secretly thought: "Anything connected to the imperial palace must display imperial grandeur—gold inlay, silver trim, red robes and green sashes are unavoidable; the Golden Spider Eight Steps sure sounds ostentatious."

Quan De'an said: "Watch carefully, the Zajia will demonstrate it slowly from start to finish." Quan De'an stepped forward; although he appeared to be an elderly man on the surface, once he moved there was no sign of old age—seeing him tread the heavens and earth, at times striding like a dragon and tiger, at times leaping like a rabbit and falcon, truly still as a maiden, moving like a fleeing hare. One must know that Quan De'an's right leg is disabled; now he relies entirely on a metallic prosthetic to walk.

If one didn't know his right leg had been severed by his own hand, Hu Xiaotian could hardly believe the person before him was Quan De'an; after five steps, Quan De'an arrived at the ginkgo tree in the courtyard and said in a deep voice: "Grab!" His ten fingers, like hooks, sank deep into the trunk; the ginkgo's tough trunk, before his fingers, was as rotten wood.

"Lift!" His hunched body leapt up onto the trunk like a civet cat. "Extend!" Quan De'an, like a spirit cat, saw his slender body ascend the trunk as if walking on level ground.

Hu Xiaotian stared, dumbfounded; this was hardly a legged-disabled old man, more like an old monkey.

Midway up, Quan De'an again said: "Entwine!" His body coiled like a spirit snake around the trunk, spiraling upward; in an instant he reached the treetop. With one arm gripping the ginkgo's main trunk, he turned his body to gaze at the moon; his hunched form and the straight trunk together formed the shape of a bow.

In Hu Xiaotian's eyes, the emaciated Quan De'an harbored limitless strength within his slender frame; at this moment Quan De'an was like a fully drawn strong bow, poised to release.

The branches bent slowly under Quan De'an's pull, then with a sudden "bang!" they snapped straight; Quan De'an released the branches at the same moment, his body shooting out like a pellet, accompanied by a sky-full of dancing ginkgo leaves, his withered body spinning rapidly, hundreds of leaves like golden butterflies swirling around his body, a powerful gust surged outward from his center, Hu Xiaotian felt an invisible tug pulling his body toward Quan De'an; he stepped forward, keeping his body leaned back, exerting all his strength to oppose the strong suction generated by the Senior Eunuch's rotation.

Quan De'an certainly wouldn't exert his full strength; his right foot landed on the ground with a "bang!" as the blue bricks shattered, dust flying; Hu Xiaotian hastily shut his eyes, sand striking his face with burning pain; the suction suddenly vanished, Hu Xiaotian, who had been straining against it, lost the pull and, due to inertia, stumbled backward five steps before regaining his stance.

Looking again at the Senior Eunuch Quan De'an, standing with his hands behind his back as if nothing had happened, his expression light and carefree; at his feet lay a golden circle about one zhang in diameter, formed entirely from fallen ginkgo leaves piled up.

Hu Xiaotian stared for a full half-minute before bursting into applause; this was certainly not him deliberately flattering Quan De'an, but rather he was genuinely impressed by Quan De'an's superb martial arts—an expert can tell at a glance whether there's skill, and Quan De'an hadn't even struck at him, yet Hu Xiaotian had already been forced back several steps; this Senior Eunuch's martial arts are truly unfathomable. Know that Quan De'an now has a broken leg, and previously he had transferred ten years of his own power to Hu Xiaotian. Hu Xiaotian secretly sighed, if martial arts could be cultivated to Quan De'an's level, that would be incredibly powerful and imposing. But Hu Xiaotian merely indulged in a brief daydream, then quickly returned to reality; even if martial arts were as formidable as Quan De'an's, they hadn't stopped him from having his leg broken on Mount Pengyin, nor from needing help from this clueless kid who knows no martial arts; the most crucial point is that even if his martial arts were superb, he would still have to trail behind Long Yelin as a servant, tail between his legs. Thus martial arts aren't the key; the true decisive factor is still the mind.

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