Chapter 123: The Legend of Martial Dao, the Immortal Divine Art

Seeing that the waterproof pouch had not been touched, Li Guanyi longed to open it immediately.

Yet he remained calm and restrained, dismantling it, stuffing the scrolls into the gaps between his battle armor and clothes, placing the potions inside a water flask and hanging it at his waist, wrapping stones in the pouch and tossing it into the well—only after completing all this did Li Guanyi sit still for a moment, then urinate as usual before returning.

His timing was perfect; no one noticed anything amiss.

Afterward, he spoke only of martial arts with Ye Buyi.

Only when changing guard and leaving did Li Guanyi see Situ Deqing again.

This assassin, known by the alias Si Qing and hidden within the imperial library, still wore his dark green official robe, instinctively bowing as he greeted Li Guanyi: "Lord Li—I never expected to meet you here."

Other martial merit youths had also visited the library due to their fathers' or brothers' positions.

So they recognized this library keeper.

Si Qing smiled softly and said, "I've never seen anyone cultivate the Wang Yang Qi. I wonder if our Great Chen kingdom's secret technique, the Wang Yang Qi, can counter General Yue Qianfeng's Crimson Dragon Qi? I also know some medicine—may I examine you?"

This was the second time; Li Guanyi's heart stirred slightly, and he extended his hand: "Then I'm in your hands."

Situ Deqing placed his hand on Li Guanyi's wrist.

He sensed the Crimson Dragon Qi within the youth had grown far quieter, yet he detected none of his own hidden force—hesitating, he suppressed his instinct to stare at Li Guanyi, merely frowning slightly, puzzled.

Strange, strange—the internal force vanished…

Could it be that the strand of internal force I left earlier was simply too weak?

Too weak to conceal itself properly.

Or was it erased and absorbed by the Wang Yang Qi?

A ruthless martial artist would strike now—but he was a killer, always cautious; after thinking, he chose a more conservative approach, slipping ten times the previous amount of internal energy into the youth's body, silently.

He paused, then transmitted again, until continuing would expose him.

Only then did he release his grip.

His face bore a humble, gentle smile: "Lord Li, your cultivation has made progress."

"The Crimson Dragon Qi has calmed considerably, but I dare to warn you one thing."

"Still, be careful."

Li Guanyi feigned indifference: "With this divine art, what is Crimson Dragon Qi?"

Situ Deqing merely smiled apologetically.

The Gold Guard dispersed, ate their meals and drank wine and meat, then returned home; Li Guanyi did not drink, rode his horse slowly, and upon returning to his courtyard, immediately sprinted to his room and slammed the door shut.

He sat cross-legged, breathed deeply, and activated the Liu Xu Si He Divine Art, swallowing the internal energy Situ Deqing had left behind—this energy was vastly stronger than before, subtly refined and potent; Li Guanyi spent a full hour completely dissolving it.

He cursed the old bastard several times.

He swung a punch, then paused slightly.

He felt his punch's force had increased by at least twenty percent.

The Liu Xu Si He Divine Art's nature is to control and refine alien true qi, not to convert it into one's own cultivation—but all internal energy, ultimately, is pure heavenly energy refined, and the Liu Xu Si He Divine Art strips away its original characteristics.

What remains is pure qi refined by a high-level martial cultivator.

To Li Guanyi, it was no different from a supreme tonic.

The world's tenth assassin had delivered a pure energy essence.

It saved him at least a hundred days of breath cultivation.

Li Guanyi punched the air, feeling his Second Layer solidify instantly; his internal energy was now sufficient to assault the eye acupoint—or rather, the first chakra. At this moment, Li Guanyi suddenly realized a problem.

He had been forced by the Princess to read several scrolls.

He now understood the cultivation methods from Second Layer to Third Layer extremely well.

The Central Plains martial system's orthodox Nine Orifices structure strengthens the body, enhances perception and reaction, and greatly improves killing efficiency and combat instinct; the Western Regions' Seven Chakras system grants a unique ability upon breaking through each chakra.

Though both ultimately converge at the Fourth Heavenly Layer, their combat styles differ distinctly at the Second and Third Layers.

Central Plains martial arts see farther, strike harder, perceive more keenly, react faster, survive on dirt, and are immune to most poisons—poisons lethal to ordinary people are merely diarrhea to a Third Layer Central Plains martialist; Western Regions martial arts are strange and unpredictable—a punch strikes left then right, internal energy radiates heat.

It can confuse the mind, and at the Second Layer, one gains water-fire alternating techniques.

Li Guanyi rubbed his temples: which orifice should he assault first?

For a martialist, the first step determines the entire path ahead—eyes represent vision and reaction, mouth and nose represent organs and blood-qi; after much thought, Li Guanyi decided he must find a chance to meet the Princess again.

Synthesizing the advice of Princess Chen Qingyan, Xue Lao, and Chen Chengbi.

Then take this next step.

Can he pursue both the Seven Chakras and the Nine Orifices?

Li Guanyi hoped Situ Deqing would send him more internal energy—but he also guessed Situ Deqing's attitude would grow increasingly aggressive: if one strand of internal energy failed, he'd send this much; when he realized his energy couldn't destroy Li Guanyi, he'd come himself.

Li Guanyi had considered all this, then removed from his armor the hidden items: several books, one letter, and many vials and jars; though Li Guanyi understood medicine, Hou Zhongyu's alchemical path differed from his own herbalist approach.

He could only cautiously pour out small amounts to test these medicines.

It took about half an hour.

In the end, he understood most of them.

Some vials contained liquids capable of corroding rock and steel.

Li Guanyi suspected they were ultra-strong acids—steel visibly bubbled, emitting pungent white fumes.

Even a martialist's face couldn't withstand this substance splashed upon it.

Another was a deadly poison; Li Guanyi tested it on a snake, which collapsed instantly.

Another powder, when sprinkled, turned skin and bone into bloodwater within two breaths.

Slowly, even the blood color vanished, leaving only water.

Li Guanyi's eyelid twitched.

He recalled how Hou Zhongyu had kept pulling porcelain vials from his belt and hurling them during their fight—if he hadn't been agile enough, he'd have been hit; his armor would have melted and fused to his skin, and with this substance striking him, he'd surely be dead.

Another vial contained a numbing agent; the moment Li Guanyi opened it, he slammed it shut—but still, half his body went numb, and it took several breaths to recover.

There are also a few bottles of healing pills and qi-restoring pills.

Li Guanyi merely sniffed them and knew they contained top-grade imperial-grade herbs; these pills were extremely potent, but Li Guanyi knew he couldn't take them—such high-level cultivators had refined their stomachs, livers, and kidneys to absorb medicinal power and neutralize toxins with great strength.

If he took them, he'd likely be poisoned on the spot.

After all, they weren't on the level of the Eternal Moon Immortal Herb.

Eighty years of refinement had drawn out the toxicity, yet even so, had he not possessed a Golden Skin and Jade Bone physique, nor undergone combat refinement with Hou Zhongyu, nor benefited from the Tiger Roar Bone Forging Art and the Four Symbols Sealing Array, Li Guanyi would have been overwhelmed by the medicinal force into a sluggish mental state.

Li Guanyi repackaged these pills into new porcelain bottles and carried them with him.

That letter had yellowed with age; its script was elegant and plain. Li Guanyi glanced at it and froze slightly—it wasn't Hou Zhongyu's handwriting, but his teacher's journal entry, though he didn't know why Hou Zhongyu had kept it all along.

It was a letter written by Hou Zhongyu's teacher to a friend.

"Brother Zhou, seeing these words is like seeing you face to face."

"I have left my master and taken his cultivation art with me. After much thought, I can only avoid being killed by him by fleeing to the Chen royal court. It is not that I betray my master's grace, but since that day he met the man in the blue robe, his thoughts have shifted day and night, gradually slipping into madness."

"I heard the man in the blue robe's words—his discourse is full of the style of plundering all life to concentrate it within a single body. The thought terrifies me, yet his words point directly to the Dao. Sometimes, upon waking, I find my internal qi flowing exactly as he described—fear beyond words."

"My master's actions have grown increasingly eccentric—even at noon, he drinks the blood of living people to cultivate, which I witnessed. I am filled with dread. We sorcerers are neither of the Shiwaisan Sect nor the orthodox Daoist Xuan Sect; we walk the middle ground between good and evil, yet we have one taboo."

"It is this: do not overstep good, do not exhaust evil."

"Pure good is the Dao; pure evil is a monster."

"We seek only a technique, understand the 'stop,' and comprehend the 'enough.'"

"I can no longer tolerate my master's actions, so while he cultivated at midnight, I stole his scriptures and texts. When I opened them, I found this art wild and unrestrained—I became entranced, yet terrified and trembling, drenched in cold sweat. I wanted to burn them, yet could not bring myself to do it."

"I only hope that hiding within the palace, I may purify the malevolence of this art."

"That day, the man in the blue robe spoke with my master only one night, yet to purify this malevolence will take at least sixty years. Judging by its style and demeanor—wild and tyrannical—it must be one of the three legendary martial arts tales whispered in the Jianghu."

"Legends of him existed when my father was young; now I am thirty."

"Yet he remains exactly as described in the legends?"

"I observed him—his temples are streaked with gray, yet his aura is imposingly wild."

"Does cultivation in this world truly allow one to remain forever?"

"Truly, can one achieve eternal life and indestructibility?"

Li Guanyi saw the letter abruptly end, and suddenly understood the reason for Hou Zhongyu's obsession and longing, and why he had kept this letter. Li Guanyi scanned the letter and muttered, "The three legendary martial arts tales…"

He thought of the Book of Imperial Ultimate Cosmic Order he cultivated. Ancestor Lao had mentioned it too as a legendary martial art, yet in Ancestor Lao's words, there were four legendary martial arts—this letter must be decades, even a century old.

Legendary martial arts…

One who revealed the foremost mathematical treatise of the age; another who made a sorcerer capable of refining the Eternal Immortal Herb flee in terror through the night.

Li Guanyi silently recorded these two names.

Then he put away the letter and opened the several books.

One was Hou Zhongyu's notes; Li Guanyi found the pill formulation within. Another scroll was a breathing qigong and basic sorcerer cultivation methods—none of the art Li Guanyi desired, yet he didn't care.

He knew this thing, if preserved, was a curse.

So he recorded the pill formula and the breathing qigong, then lit a fire and threw the two scrolls directly into the flames—to leave no trace. The white paper ignited easily; the fire surged high at once, but slowly, Li Guanyi noticed something odd.

The flames burned, yet the two scrolls did not burn away.

Instead, they glowed brightly within the firelight. Li Guanyi's expression changed slightly; he reached out, grabbed the nearby water basin, and doused the fire. The flames died, and the scrolls shed their paper appearance, transforming into thin sheets of unknown metal.

Li Guanyi rejoiced. When cooled, he picked up the two scrolls and scanned them.

The text appeared as if punctured by needles. One scroll was an art—detailed and complete. Li Guanyi read: "The Eternal Moon Indestructible Divine Body?" He scanned the art—it was precisely the method Hou Zhongyu cultivated, the incantation his teacher spent sixty years refining to neutralize its mad malevolence.

It came from the method of one of the legendary martial arts tales—the man in the blue robe.

Li Guanyi scanned it and saw it tightly sealed life force, proposing massive meat consumption, following the Daoist path of refining essence into qi. Normally, martial artists breathe in primordial qi and absorb medicinal power, integrating it into their bodies or expelling it.

This art transforms such medicinal power and essence into "life force."

Then, it condenses a Jin Dan in the dantian.

Like a great pill within the body.

It is one's own primordial essence and life force—so once injured, one immediately activates the qi and life force within the Jin Dan, using this art to instantly heal wounds. Theoretically, if this abdominal Jin Dan were fully refined, one could trade injury for death, becoming truly immortal and indestructible.

Li Guanyi finally understood why Hou Zhongyu was so hard to kill.

The man had nurtured his Jin Dan in his chest—accumulating life force for countless years.

Li Guanyi suddenly connected this with Hou Zhongyu's teacher's letter, and a chill struck him.

"That legendary martial artist seeks the path of plundering all life to concentrate it within a single body. Coupled with Hou Zhongyu's teacher witnessing his master drinking blood at midnight, this original divine art must be a path of devouring flesh and blood to sustain its own existence."

"Bloody and cruel, yet pointing directly to the path of indestructibility."

"That's why Hou Zhongyu's teacher said he was both terrified and yearning—unconsciously beginning cultivation—because all sorcerers possess the Dao-heart of seeking eternal life."

"It seems this legendary martial artist is the kind of arrogant, self-centered tyrant."

Yet that sorcerer spent sixty years transforming this demonic art—requiring human blood and devouring others' life force—into an arcane art that accumulates one's own life force before using it, likely blending in the methods of the Eternal Immortal Herb.

He was a sorcerer with compassion.

Too bad he was already dead.

Li Guanyi stared at the scroll. The Azure Phoenix manifestation appeared, and the Azure Phoenix, governing the life-force wood element, seemed deeply interested in this divine art. It flew in the air—since it was passed to him by his mother, its spiritual nature seemed higher than his own manifestation, and it actively flapped its wings to stir the wind and turn the pages.

Li Guanyi was curious.

It seemed each manifestation corresponded to a divine art.

Cultivating such arts would cause the corresponding manifestation to change.

The Crimson Dragon's burning force, the Bai Hu's armor-piercing power, the Black Tortoise's fondness for mysterious Dao resonance.

Counting them up, the Four Spirits manifestations were the only one without a corresponding art.

This time, it seemed completed. He wondered—if he cultivated this art, would there be changes? Perhaps all Four Spirits and Four Symbols now had corresponding divine arts…

Li Guanyi turned to the other scroll—it was Hou Zhongyu's notes.

Failure, failure—the blood of the Fire Qilin simply cannot succeed.

I have decided to take a desperate risk and record my legacy here; if I die, at least someone will come later. I now understand why the Fire Qilin cannot achieve immortality: its flame is violent, governing destruction in the Five Elements—not a auspicious Qilin, but a god of slaughter like Bai Hu.

To cultivate violent fire in pursuit of immortality is like bathing in lava.

The ancestors of the Chen state were fools.

Only earth, rich and nurturing, can bear all things; with its blood, one may attain long life and immortality.

I have discovered a marvelous method: if I can obtain the 【Mountain Marrow】, a celestial essence, and refine it, I can transform the Fire Qilin's primordial qi from fire into earth, becoming a Wu Earth Auspicious Qilin—then I shall fully attain immortality!

The Chen Emperor is cunning, constantly testing me. This old devil, young in years but with eight hundred scheming tricks—no wonder he aged prematurely, yet his cultivation runs deep; I know not how. Later one, if I die and you are fortunate enough to obtain this, do not forget to seek out the Qilin.

If what I seek succeeds, please burn this letter to me.

If this succeeds, I die without regret!

Behind it were detailed methods; fearing later seekers would not understand his research, Hou Zhongyu recorded every step—a behavior truly befitting his nature.

Li Guanyi finally understood why he had demanded the Mountain Marrow from the start.

But transforming fire into earth, fire and earth generating each other—a Wu Earth Auspicious Qilin?

Li Guanyi held Hou Zhongyu's belongings, his eyes flickering with a faint light.

He had finally found it.

A way to make the Qilin leave and still act openly.