Chapter 35: How to Relieve Sorrow? Only by Cheating!

“Brother Zhang, you know the kind of people at the Zhu Wu Linked Mountain Villa.”

“Once they learned I was here to find you, they tried to kill me to silence me.”

“Under duress, to protect myself, I had no choice but to kill them.”

Zhang Jie, knowing Zhang Wuji’s nature was so kind it bordered on weakness, explained aloud.

Of course, the tiny details he casually omitted didn’t matter.

After all, Zhu Changling, Wu Lie, and the others couldn’t crawl out of their graves to refute him.

To Zhu Changling and the others, who harbored malice, Zhang Jie looked like a little white rabbit—kind, handsome, and harmless.

“That’s right!”

“The people of the Zhu Wu Linked Mountain Villa are exactly like that.”

Zhang Wuji recalled Zhu Jiuzhen, who had been cruel and tried to deceive him three years ago,

Wu Lie, who had impersonated his foster father Xie Xun, Wei Bi, who had hunted him down,

Zhu Changling, who had forced him to jump off the cliff—and he nodded in agreement with Zhang Jie’s view.

The Zhu and Wu families of the Zhu Wu Linked Mountain Villa were all evil to a man!

If not for Zhang Jie’s boldness, keenness, and formidable martial skill, he too might have fallen to Wu Lie and the others.

Thinking of this, Zhang Wuji felt at peace.

These people of the Zhu Wu Linked Mountain Villa truly deserved to die!

Zhang Jie eliminating them wasn’t exterminating a family—he was upholding Heaven’s justice.

If Zhang Jie knew Zhang Wuji’s thoughts, he’d give him a thumbs-up.

Just for one thing—slaying Zhu Jiuzhen, that venomous woman—

he had saved countless innocent people who would later be bitten and killed by dogs.

His smooth takeover of the Zhu Wu Linked Mountain Villa may well owe something to Zhu Jiuzhen’s deeds:

Compared to being bitten to death by dogs, the others of the Zhu Wu Linked Mountain Villa preferred a new lord.

Even if that new lord had just slaughtered their former lord’s entire household.

Zhang Jie could only say: oppressive rule is fiercer than tigers.

“Brother, how is it that Zhu Changling looks so unkempt?”

Zhang Wuji, now at peace, pointed to Zhu Changling—filthy beyond measure, hair and beard wild and matted,

his clothes reduced to tattered rags—and asked in bewilderment.

From his months living at the Zhu Wu Linked Mountain Villa, he knew

Zhu Changling, though inwardly cunning and treacherous, outwardly maintained dignity and

paid great attention to his appearance—he shouldn’t look this filthy and disheveled.

“Hah.”

Zhang Jie told Zhang Wuji Zhu Changling’s story as if recounting a joke.

As he spoke, he laughed himself. It wasn’t that he had a low sense of humor—

but Zhu Changling’s behavior was so bizarre that every time he thought of it, he laughed again.

But Zhu Zhangling’s antics were so bizarre that Zhang Jie couldn’t help laughing every time he thought of them.

Zhang Wuji, upon hearing this, was left speechless.

He too had lived alone for three years, but his life in the Kunlun Valley was filled with birdsong and flowers,

fish in the stream, deer and other animals on the ground, wild peaches and plums to eat.

But on the stone platform where Zhu Changling lived, bitter winds howled constantly, rain and snow were frequent,

and apart from a few hardy vines, there were no other plants or animals.

Zhang Wuji could hardly imagine how Zhu Changling had survived these three years.

“With such endurance, why didn’t he just diligently train his family’s One Yang Finger?”

Zhang Wuji asked, puzzled.

“I’d like to know too.”

Zhang Jie was equally baffled.

If Zhu Changling had spent the time he wasted stubbornly enduring Zhang Wuji’s presence on training,

he might not have reached the pinnacle, but he certainly could have become a top-tier master.

Remember, Wu Lie’s Orchid Finger Brush and Zhu Changling’s One Yang Finger

both originated from Nan Di Yidan, one of the Five Greats of the Divine Eagle Era.

And Yidan himself rose to the rank of the Five Greats through the Dali Duan family’s One Yang Finger.

That means Zhu Changling and Wu Lie theoretically had the potential to become pinnacle masters.

Even if their talent fell far short of Yidan’s, becoming a top-tier master was still very possible.

But these two fools were blinded by the legend of the Dragon-Slaying Saber: “Command the world, none dare defy.”

They never considered that even Mei Jue, the sect leader of Emei, who held the equally famed Heaven-Defying Sword,

had never sought to dominate the Jianghu—how could two minor players like them succeed?

And didn’t the Wudang Sect, possessing neither the Dragon-Slaying Saber nor the Heaven-Defying Sword, command respect?

To forge steel, you must be strong yourself; no whip is needed to spur a horse—Zhu Changling and Wu Lie understood nothing of this.

Yet though he despised Zhu Changling’s cruelty and heartlessness,

the inherently kind Zhang Wuji used the eternal snowdrifts to build a grave beside Zhu Jiuzhen’s tomb,

ensuring Zhu Changling received a proper burial.

He piled a grave beside the tombs of Zhu Jiuzhen and the others, ensuring Zhu Zhangling was finally laid to rest.

Then Zhang Jie led Zhang Wuji back up the cliff using a rope.

“Hail the Lord!”

As Zhang Jie leapt onto the cliff, the Zhu Wu Linked Mountain Villa followers immediately bowed in unison.

“No need for formalities. This is my brother, Zhang Wuji.”

Zhang Jie introduced Zhang Wuji to them.

He was also relieved no traitor had tried to cut the rope to avenge Wu Lie and the others.

Clearly, they were all wise men who understood the times!

“Greetings, Young Master Wuji.”

They all bowed to Zhang Wuji as well.

Zhang Wuji, who had lived among the lowest rungs of society since leaving Wudang, had never seen such a scene.

He hurriedly returned their bows: “Please, no need for such courtesy.”

“From now on, treat Young Master Wuji with the same respect you give me—do you understand?”

Zhang Jie instructed them, deliberately elevating Zhang Wuji’s status.

Hearing the unyielding will in Zhang Jie’s words, they all responded in unison:

“We humbly obey the Lord’s command.”

Zhang Jie brought Zhang Wuji back to the Zhu Wu Linked Mountain Villa and treated him with great hospitality—details omitted.

That night, Zhang Jie sat alone in the quiet chamber of the Zhu Wu Linked Mountain Villa, specially designated for training.

Before him lay the very manuscript of the Nine Yang Divine Art that Zhang Wuji had given him that day.

“Let him be strong—he is strong; the clear wind brushes the mountain ridge.”

“Let him be arrogant—he is arrogant; the bright moon shines over the great river.”

“Let him be cruel—he is cruel; I maintain my true qi in fullness.”

Zhang Jie carefully read the manuscript, committing each incantation to memory.

Zhang Jie carefully studied the secret manual, committing each incantation to memory.

Having memorized the Nine Yang Divine Art’s incantations perfectly,

Zhang Jie began slowly converting his Wudang Nine Yang internal energy into Nine Yang Divine Art energy.

Since Wudang Nine Yang had originally been derived from part of the Nine Yang Divine Art,

even after Zhang Sanfeng’s revisions, their underlying logic and meridian pathways remained largely overlapping,

so the transformation flowed as smoothly as Dove chocolate.

Thus, this transformation was as smooth as a Dove chocolate.

After several hours, Zhang Jie exhaled deeply.

Several hours later, Zhang Jie exhaled slowly.

Zhang Jie inhaled deeply.

This breath was extraordinarily long—as if swallowing all the air in the chamber!

That breath was exceptionally long, as if swallowing all the air in the quiet chamber into his belly!

The gauze curtains and other light objects in the chamber drifted gently in the breeze stirred by Zhang Jie’s breathing.

Soon, Zhang Jie opened his eyes, and a flash of tangible light shot through them and vanished.

The chamber, which had seemed dim even under the glow of several whale-oil candles,

now appeared as bright as daylight to Zhang Jie, every detail crystal clear.

To Zhang Jie’s eyes, it was as bright as daylight, every detail crystal clear.

“Exhaling to form a sword, the empty chamber glows white!”

Zhang Jie felt joy in his heart.

Exhaling to form a sword, the empty chamber glowing white, and gripping iron until it turns to mud—these are the three great achievements of Wu Gong.

He never expected that on his very first night after obtaining the Nine Yang Divine Art, he was already nearing exhaling to form a sword and the empty chamber glowing white!

But Zhang Jie understood that this breakthrough had nearly exhausted the potential he had accumulated over years,

and it was no longer possible to achieve such rapid progress again.

To truly accomplish these three achievements, what remained was years of slow, painstaking effort.

“This pace is too slow!” Zhang Jie felt dissatisfied.

Having experienced rapid advancement, he could no longer endure his progress crawling like a turtle.

If other martial artists knew Zhang Jie’s thoughts, they would likely band together to kill him.

If Zhang Jie finds this pace unsatisfactory and calls it turtle-crawling, what would they be—snails strolling?

Yaozhidao they had trained for decades,

and some even for a lifetime, yet their accomplishments fell far short of Zhang Jie’s mere few months.

“What soothes sorrow?

Only Du Kang—no, only cheating!”

Zhang Jie’s thoughts shifted: since rapid advancement was no longer possible in the Yitian world in the short term,

why not switch worlds?

He, Zhang Jie, was a man with an external cheat!

Zhang Jie: I’m done pretending—I’m laying it all out—I’m just a cheater~

“If Zhang Jie from the Tianlong world succeeds in his mission, then the full mastery of the Nine Yang Divine Art is within reach!”

Zhang Jie thought of Zhang Jie from Tianlong’s journey to Leigushan to seek Wu Yashu.

If he obtained Wu Yashu’s sixty years of Bei Ming Shen Gong internal energy, he would soon achieve full Nine Yang mastery,

becoming a supreme expert, and dominating the martial world would be a mere formality!

Action beats desire—he immediately set off to the shared space to urge Tianlong Zhang Jie.

Besides, how could he not share the news of obtaining the Nine Yang Divine Art with someone?

Of course, he must keep it secret from outsiders, but not from himself.

And how could the thrill of showing off before outsiders compare to showing off before himself?

Like Xiang Yu, who believed fine clothes must not be worn at night, Zhang Jie entered the shared space with ease.