Chapter 669: Chu Laoguai

Yin Qi read books extremely quickly, basically ten lines at a glance, and he possessed a photographic memory.

He could finish a page in two or three seconds.

If anyone else were around, they would likely think he was just flipping through the pages to find something.

In just over half an hour, he finished the thick "Tianyuan General History," finally gaining some understanding of the development of this world, and then he read several more history books concerning the Eastern Continent in succession.

After finishing the history books, Yin Qi read some classic books on Confucian Dao and Buddhism; they were all brand-new theories, and he benefited greatly from them.

Just like that, the whole morning passed.

In the afternoon, Yin Qi found a book introducing the four major cultivation systems; the content inside was very detailed. Besides the four major systems, there was another powerful profession in the West, which was the Dragon Knight.

A Dragon Knight, to put it plainly, is a Western martial artist joining forces with a mount dragon; especially since Second Order flying dragons can fly, it gives the Dragon Knight super-strong combat power, making it hard to find an opponent at the same tier.

This is like cavalry against infantry; under equal circumstances, the cavalry would definitely crush the infantry.

Subsequently, Yin Qi found some secret manuals on Eastern Martial Dao, Daoism, Western magic, and martial arts to flip through, his speed equally fast.

The Eastern Martial Dao of the Shenmu World is very unique, focusing primarily on cultivating True Qi, and surprisingly, the True Qi is not stored in the dantian but circulates within the meridians.

It is not like Immortal Dao, where the transformation of True Qi first liquefies, then solidifies, thereby achieving a qualitative transformation.

It constantly tempers the True Qi, causing the True Qi to undergo transformation.

The First Order is True Qi, and the Fifth Tier and Ninth Order are still True Qi.

Although they belong to the same type of True Qi, their power cannot be mentioned in the same breath; a wisp of a Sixth Tier martial artist's True Qi might be hundreds of times more powerful than First Order True Qi because its level is higher.

It is just like how a wisp of Spirit Qi cannot be compared to a wisp of Chaos energy at all.

A martial artist's improvement in cultivation comes from the transformation of True Qi; at the same time, Shenmu martial arts also emphasize tempering the physical body with True Qi, so basically, the higher the cultivation, the stronger the physical body will be.

As for Daoism, it is much the same as Immortal Dao.

Western magic mainly cultivates the soul, then uses the power of the soul, which is Spiritual Power, to manipulate the Spirit Qi between Heaven and Earth, thereby casting various spells; in essence, it is very similar to Daoist Arts.

As for Western martial artists, they are generally similar to Eastern Martial Dao.

They mainly cultivate Battle Qi, but the Battle Qi is scattered throughout the body; when cultivating, they use Battle Qi to temper the physical body, so Western martial artists are generally tall and burly muscle men.

The four major cultivation systems each have their own strengths and weaknesses, but the only one with value to Yin Qi is the Eastern Martial Dao.

Finally, Yin Qi walked toward the "Ancient Books" section.

In the ancient books section, various books were placed in a chaotic manner. Yin Qi scanned them at a glance; most were books of classics, history, philosophy, and literature, and only a small portion were secret manuals, including both Martial Dao manuals and Daoism manuals.

Although it was only a small portion, overall there were still over a hundred books, which was quite considerable.

Of course, besides secret manuals, there were also miscellaneous books on medicine, poison, divination, and feng shui, and even evil books; just looking at the name like "Blood Sacrifice Secret Canon," one knew it was for cultivating evil arts.

Yin Qi did not mind these books.

In any case, there were only about a hundred of them, and they weren't as thick as history books, so he could finish them all today.

Yin Qi pulled out a secret manual titled "Lie Yang Palm" and began to read it.

"Feng Xian Finger," "Pure Yang Profound Art," "Green Wood True Scripture," "Ethereal Saber Technique," "Nine Heavens Thunder Technique," "Star Heaven Art"... one by one, the cultivation manuals made Yin Qi quickly immerse himself in them.

Although the vast majority of the manuals were relatively ordinary, there were still quite a few top-tier divine arts. For example, the "Star Heaven Art" could actually draw upon the power of the Heavenly Stars to cultivate; after reaching the Great Completion Stage, one could even manipulate the Heavenly Stars, and it could be cultivated all the way to the Eighth Order (God King).

There was also the "Feng Xian Finger," a finger technique that could seal immortals and gods.

There was also the "Nine Heavens Thunder Technique," which was also a Daoist Art of magnificent power that could destroy immortals and slay gods; they were all peerless divine arts from ten thousand years ago, and it was unknown how they ended up here.

Suddenly, Yin Qi was startled, and he turned his head to see an old man appearing in his sight.

This old man was exceptionally aged, his eyes turbid and lifeless, his teeth had long since fallen out, his wrinkled skin was like a crumpled ball of paper, and there were only a few dozen sparse hairs on his bald head, like a reanimated corpse.

The old monster Chu Laoguai!

"What sharp Spiritual Sense, little friend is about to break through to the Fifth Tier, right?"

A faint green light flashed in Chu Laoguai's eyes, and his voice was aged as he said with praise: "To be close to the Fifth Tier at such an age, looking across the entire Tianyuan Continent, I'm afraid you won't find a second one. A few days ago, I even heard the little Emperor and the others mention you, but it's a pity they all underestimated you, thinking you were only at the late Third Order."

Yin Qi cupped his hands in a salute and smiled slightly: "Greetings, Senior. The world has also underestimated the Chu Kingdom; I did not expect the Chu Kingdom to have a supreme powerhouse like you sitting in command. It is truly the fortune of the Chu Kingdom."

Chu Laoguai shook his head and said: "I'm old. Counting it up, I am already over one hundred and seventy years old, and I don't have many years left to live. The future of this Chu Kingdom belongs to you young people. By the way, do you recognize these ancient characters?"

Yin Qi nodded and said: "I know a little."

Please... you.... bookmark 6... 9... book....!

Chu Laoguai said: "Little friend is indeed learned. I have a request that I hope little friend will agree to."

Yin Qi understood in his heart and pretended to be puzzled: "Senior, please speak."

Chu Laoguai said gloomily: "I have an ancient book in my hand, and I hope you can help me translate it. Later, I will have someone send the characters to the Qishi Mansion."

What he wanted to translate was an evil art for extending life; naturally, he would not give Yin Qi the handwritten copy.

Instead, he would scramble the order and pick out the non-repeating characters.

Yin Qi nodded and said: "Good."

Chu Laoguai did not expect Yin Qi to agree so readily and asked with some suspicion: "Are you not curious about what I want you to translate?"

Yin Qi naturally would not say it explicitly, but just smiled: "If Senior is willing to tell me, you will naturally say it voluntarily; if Senior is unwilling to say, it is useless for me to ask, so why go to the trouble?"

Chu Laoguai chuckled, his whole person looking like a reanimated corpse that had just jumped out of a coffin.

If it were an ordinary person, they might be scared silly.

After laughing, Chu Laoguai sighed: "To tell you the truth, what I am asking you to translate is actually an evil art. I am too old and don't have many years left to live, but I don't want to die, so I have no choice but to resort to this desperate measure to find a way to extend my life."

Yin Qi nodded, his expression calm.

Chu Laoguai asked strangely: "Are you not disgusted, or perhaps vigilant?"

Yin Qi shook his head and said: "Even ants cling to life, let alone humans. Furthermore, although my cultivation is not as good as Senior's, if Senior wants to deal with me, I'm afraid it won't be that easy, so why should I be vigilant?

However, if it is for the sake of extending life, Senior actually does not need to practice evil arts.

This junior also has some involvement in Alchemy and can refine Pills for extending life; of course, it is not free."

"Immortal Pill for extending life, is this true?"

The green light in Chu Laoguai's eyes flared, and even his voice was no longer aged, but resonant and powerful.

If there were an Immortal Pill to extend life, he would not be willing to practice evil arts, because evil arts often have very serious side effects and are not tolerated by the world; once discovered, the Chu Kingdom would become the target of public criticism. (End of chapter)