Chapter 195: The Divine Art of the Five Ultimates

The two of them exited the armory, turned the iron winch again, and stepped into the iron room.

This iron room was exceptionally large and tall, its four walls bare, containing nothing at all.

Standing in the iron room was just like standing in a vast wilderness.

Yet, in the center of this empty and eerie room, two skeletons stood alone, tightly embracing each other; though their flesh and blood had withered away, the skeletons remained standing to this day.

"Who are these two?" Xiaoxiannv frowned and guessed, "Could they be a pair of infatuated lovers who, even at the moment of death, had to embrace each other, unable to let go?"

Yu Liancheng shook his head and said, "But I can guarantee that these two were not only not on good terms, but were actually rotten to the core."

Xiaoxiannv said, "How do you know?"

Yu Liancheng said, "Look over here."

Xiaoxiannv followed Yu Liancheng's finger and looked; it turned out the two were not embracing at all—the palm of the person on the left was thrust directly into the ribs of the person on the right.

With a single claw of his bare hand, he could penetrate straight into the bone.

This astonishing claw strength clearly belonged to a top-tier expert.

But not only were seven or eight of his own ribs broken, his neck had also been snapped by the other party, his head hanging limply as if he were leaning against the other person.

These two had clearly engaged in a vicious fight, each using lethal moves, and perished together.

"Let's go, there's nothing worth seeing in this room." Xiaoxiannv shook her head.

"You're wrong, this room is the most important one." Yu Liancheng had already arrived at the left side of the iron room, where there was a low table with brush, ink, and books placed upon it.

Yu Liancheng took the silk booklets from the low table, his expression becoming a bit more solemn as he focused his attention on reading them.

Xiaoxiannv was suspicious, so she also walked over and picked up a silk booklet to flip through, her expression changing instantly.

What was recorded on these pages were the world's top martial arts.

Xiaoxiannv's martial arts had been taught by famous masters and her strength was not insignificant, but at this moment, she had broken out in a cold sweat.

This was because the martial arts she had learned previously were simply worthless compared to these.

Perhaps the techniques recorded in the books could not compare to Yihua Palace's "Mingyu Kung," but they surely would not lose to the Fossil Divine Art of the Ninth Sister.

To any martial artist in the world, these silk booklets held an immense temptation.

Zhang Jing was no exception.

She gritted her teeth and actually put the silk booklets down.

Before coming here, she had said she was only checking if the treasure was real.

That "Nine Appearances Divine Dragon Ghost Sorrow" was something Yu Liancheng didn't need, so taking it away was fine.

But these secret manuals were extremely precious, and the other party had clearly come for this as well; her pride would not allow her to keep looking.

Yu Liancheng did not notice her, as he was completely absorbed in reading the silk booklets.

The martial arts in the silk booklets were the crystallization of over a decade of hard work by the "Hero of the Age" Ouyang Ting and the "Five Ultimates of Heaven and Earth," gathering the exquisite essence of various sects to stand uniquely on their own.

It could be said that every move was the quintessence of martial arts, and every move was an unbreakable ultimate technique.

Several of the martial arts among them were even below the Wind Thunder Eighty-One Styles and the Yuluo Light Smoke Palm.

There were also many annotations on the martial arts, which were likewise the hard work of the Five Ultimates experts.

Yu Liancheng was intoxicated, his mind completely immersed within them.

However, he first just swallowed them whole to get through them, memorizing the contents to savor slowly when he had leisure time.

He possessed the ability to never forget what he had seen, reading ten lines at a glance, and quickly finished one booklet before moving on to the next.

In less than half an hour, he had finished reading all of the silk booklets.

Yu Liancheng let out a long breath; reading these secret manuals so quickly felt no less satisfying than drinking a pot of strong liquor in the dead of winter—he felt completely refreshed and satisfied to the extreme.

He turned his head and saw Xiaoxiannv Zhang Jing standing to the side waiting for him.

Yu Liancheng's heart stirred, and he quickly understood Zhang Jing's thoughts: "Xiaoxiannv, catch."

After speaking, he tossed the few rolls of silk booklets to Zhang Jing.

Zhang Jing caught them in a flurry and quickly put them down, saying, "What do I need these secret manuals for? You take them yourself."

"I have already completely memorized them in my mind; they are dispensable to me now." Yu Liancheng shrugged.

"Really?" Zhang Jing was incredulous.

Yu Liancheng smiled, his smile carrying a sense of self-satisfaction: "I am a true martial arts genius, and I possess the ability to never forget what I see. If not for this, how could I have this shocking martial arts prowess at an age not much older than yours?"

"But... but I still can't take them, I said so." Zhang Jing placed the secret manuals back on the low table without much hesitation.

"Then do you remember the few things I said when we left Jiuxiu Villa?"

"What?" Zhang Jing was confused; they had talked about too many things, how could she possibly remember.

Seeing that Zhang Jing was still full of confusion, Yu Liancheng said bluntly: "I said at the time, 'You just need to flatter me from time to time; if I'm happy, maybe I can find you one or two martial arts techniques that don't lose to the Fossil Divine Art,' isn't that how it went?"

Zhang Jing recalled for a moment and nodded.

"Although you didn't flatter me, my mood was quite good traveling with a beauty like you, so this is me fulfilling my promise."

Yu Liancheng patted Zhang Jing's head and laughed: "If it really doesn't work, just consider yourself owing me a few flatteries; remember to pay them back well later."

After speaking, he strode toward the door: "Let's go, we still have a few rooms we haven't seen."

Zhang Jing was stunned for a long time, but finally brought the rolls of silk booklets with her, her cheeks flushing slightly, her beautiful eyes shining: "This guy, sometimes he's not that annoying."

Behind the wooden wall was empty space, the earth wall was solid, and behind the tin wall was a grayish-white room, filled with a dazzling array of five-colored items; looking closely, they were many bottles of different colors and sizes.

And these were all poisons, deadly poisons.

Among them was even a bottle of the "Five Poisons Heavenly Water" that Xiao Mimi had used as a feint.

Yu Liancheng had no use for poison, and Zhang Jing looked at them with disdain, so the two left quickly.

And now, this was the last room.

Yu Liancheng turned the silver winch, and before his eyes appeared rooms that were incomparably luxurious, like palaces in the heavens.

This place was the true underground palace.

Xiao Mimi's place was already considered luxurious, but compared to this, it was practically a mud hut.

Yu Liancheng and Zhang Jing walked past the first five bedrooms one by one; without exception, each bedroom contained one or two skeletons, each with a different posture of death, appearing as if they had been struck by someone using a heavy technique to seal their acupoints, leaving them to starve to death alive.

This method of death truly made one's hair stand on end.

The two walked all the way to the sixth room, lifted the bead curtain, and took a look inside; Zhang Jing was immediately horrified.

Under the flickering firelight, a burly man wearing a pearl-encrusted crown and a full beard sat facing the door, his hands pressed onto the table, appearing as if he were about to lunge up.

This man's thick eyebrows were like halberds, his round eyes wide open, and his face full of murderous intent; at a glance, he was clearly a figure of a warlord, and his martial arts must certainly not have been low.

A person like this must have had a very brilliant story during his lifetime.

But now, he had long since died from bleeding from his seven orifices.

——Ouyang Ting.

This person was none other than the "Hero of the Age," Ouyang Ting.

This peerless expert, who had attempted to create a miraculous art unprecedented and unrepeatable, had ultimately made a wedding dress for Yu Liancheng.

In the bedroom was an exquisite large bed; as the curtains were pulled back, a stunning woman, as complete and lifelike as if she were alive, appeared before the two.

Even though this woman's face was a terrifying shade of Iron blue, and even though she was a corpse, she was still very beautiful—a soul-stirring beauty.

Yu Liancheng sighed softly and said, "You wanted to know everything, didn't you? Just take a look at that silk book."

Beside the woman's pillow lay a silk book, which recorded the beginning, the process, and the end of all this, as well as the life of this tragic woman.

After a moment of reflection, Yu Liancheng knew the story like the back of his hand and no longer needed to read it.

Zhang Jing opened the silk book; the elegant handwriting was indeed the woman's own.

As it turned out, this woman was named Fang Lingji, and she was originally from a prominent family in Jiangnan.

When she was four years old, her mother took her to Suzhou to visit relatives, and by the time they returned, her entire family of over thirty people had been wiped out.

And the enemy was none other than Ouyang Ting, the most renowned chivalrous man of the time, one of the most powerful martial arts experts, and a billionaire with vast assets.

With no hope of revenge, her mother fell ill from grief and never recovered.

After she grew up, she managed to marry her enemy, using her beauty as a weapon for revenge.

But Ouyang Ting had a terrifying habit: he would not sleep with anyone, because a person is most defenseless when asleep.

Later, Ouyang Ting created the Underground Palace and invited the "Five Ultimates of Heaven and Earth" to create a secret manual.

It was precisely when the "Five Ultimates Divine Art" was about to be completed that Ouyang Ting plotted to kill the Five Ultimates of Heaven and Earth to monopolize the results.

Yet what awaited him was not becoming a peerless expert unprecedented and unrepeatable, but a cup of poisoned wine from Fang Lingji.

In the end, the two perished together.

When Zhang Jing finished reading the silk book, she was stunned for a long while, and like Yu Liancheng, she sighed softly.

She sighed for the generation's warlord, Ouyang Ting.

She sighed for the unfortunate "Five Ultimates of Heaven and Earth."

And she sighed even more for this tragic yet respectable Fang Lingji.

"Let's go. Everything that needed to be explored has been explored; it is time to leave this Underground Palace."

……

The two found an exit, left the Underground Palace, and traveled all the way to the foot of Emei Mountain.

Xiaoxiannv said, "The treasure has been found; what do you plan to do next?"

Yu Liancheng pondered for a moment: "I will take a trip to Jiangnan to find trouble with that Jiangnan hero, and incidentally let more experts in the Edo know the name of my 'Heavenly Soldier Master.' After that... I might go find trouble with the two Fungongs of Yihua Palace to see their peerless divine arts."

Xiaoxiannv suddenly fell silent for a moment: "I am going to part ways with you; I plan to go home."

Yu Liancheng said, "Oh?"

Xiaoxiannv said, "Before I set out this time, I told my mother I was going to find Yannantian's treasure. But now that it's just a trap, I want to go back and see my mother."

Yu Liancheng pondered for a moment and said, "Fine, we shall part ways here. We children of the Edo need not be tearful. If you want to see me, just come find me. It won't be long before you hear my name resounding throughout the world."

Xiaoxiannv nodded and said, "Good."

The two fell into a wordless silence.

Suddenly, Xiaoxiannv's pretty face turned cold: "When we jumped off the cliff, did you kiss me?"

Yu Liancheng smiled and said, "I thought you were very cute at the time, so I kissed you. If that caused you any trouble, I am truly very sorry."

"You don't need to be sorry, because I am going to return it," Xiaoxiannv said coldly.

"Return it..."

While Yu Liancheng was still confused, Xiaoxiannv's beautiful face had already magnified before him; her warm, cherry lips pecked his cheek, and then she turned around and unleashed her light-body technique, as if afraid Yu Liancheng would see her flushed, burning cheeks.

"I'm leaving, I will come find you again."

The red-clad figure was already far away, and her crisp voice drifted back, carrying a sense of freedom, yet also a thick, inseparable shyness.

……

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