Chapter 135: The Grand Sacrifice Martial Tournament, and Another Divine Art Obtained

Li Guanyi did not pay attention to the clanging sounds.

But the person knocking this time seemed to have very little patience.

With a screeching, ear-piercing sound, Li Guanyi turned his head and saw the wrist-thick fine steel on the window being pried apart like dough, and then a figure squeezed through the still-narrow gap, dropping to the ground like a ball of grey shadow.

Of medium height, with dashing brows, though old, one could tell he had been quite handsome in his youth; he winked at Li Guanyi—it was precisely that martial-arts-obsessed expert of the Chen royal clan, Chen Chengbi.

Li Guanyi said in surprise, "Elder Chen?"

"Shh! Shh!"

"Boy, don't speak."

Chen Chengbi gestured for Li Guanyi to be quiet, and casually pinched the fine steel back into place.

The ease of it was even simpler than a child pinching mud.

The corner of Li Guanyi's eye twitched—this was inside the palace, the archives of the Jinwu Guard, the Son of Heaven's imperial guards, with very high confidentiality; the fine steel on the window was called Jade Pillar Divine Steel.

Refined over three thousand three hundred times, mixed with materials like Vajra substance peculiar to this world, it was a composite special steel, its hardness and toughness both exceeding ordinary armor.

Ordinary armor would need ten layers stacked to achieve such thickness; with such thick metal, let alone this special steel, even a lump of pig iron standing there couldn't be broken through by blades or swords—chopping at it would only leave a tiny white mark—yet under the old man's hands it was pinched round and flattened.

In other words, the smiling old man before him could pierce ten layers of armor with one pinch.

If this were the Li Guanyi of before, he would surely have sighed in awe.

But knowing that this old man's youthful friends could now move mountains,

Li Guanyi felt it wasn't much after all.

It was knowing too much that made one somewhat numb.

He casually set down the archives, looked at the old man and said, "Elder, what have you come for?" Chen Chengbi, however, gestured for him to keep his voice down, grabbed Li Guanyi's wrist, his eyes lighting up, and said, "I heard you raided the Ghost Market before?"

Li Guanyi grinned and nodded in acknowledgment.

Chen Chengbi clapped his hands and said excitedly, "Well done, you stinky brat! Every time this old man goes, those bastards hide faster than goddamn rats, and I can't exactly flip my own Ducheng upside down—it pissed me off so much, a few years back I went to the Ghost Gate of the Nether Ghost Market to reason with them."

"Those old things wouldn't see me."

"Back in our youth we had life-and-death dealings, and yet he wouldn't see me."

Chen Chengbi cursed freely and loudly, his voice even louder than Li Guanyi's.

From the old man's cursing, Li Guanyi also picked up some information about the Ghost Market; the old man sighed and said, "Back in the day this old man broke through the Huang Quan, kicked over the Merit Hall, but still didn't get to see that Night Son of Heaven."

Li Guanyi said, "Huang Quan?"

Chen Chengbi said, "The Huang Quan River runs the assassin business; the world's assassins all revere it as supreme—didn't you know, boy?"

"The Assassin Rankings are also arranged by the Nether Ghost Market."

"The Good and Evil Merit Hall is a strange place, containing all manner of secrets about experts that no one knows; many people are willing to spend countless silver taels to erase their pasts. Besides this there are several other places surrounding the Nether Ghost Market—this ghostly place is not the same as your Xue family."

Chen Chengbi smacked his lips and said:

"Though it holds the world's great wealth, it is also a major force on the dark side of the jianghu."

"And within the Rebirth Hall, one can summon the world's famous physicians to save the living and guide them to rebirth."

"If the Xiyumo Sect, Xuefu Sect, and White Bone Chan are the evil paths; the Academy and the various great sects are the righteous paths, then the Nether Ghost Market is a neutral ground between righteous and evil. To enter one needs a token; disciples of the righteous sects might buy assassinations within, while evil beings might hire famous physicians."

"The deeds of all who come are recorded in the Good and Evil Merit Hall."

"A place like the Ghost Market—once you walk in, you don't come out, boy. Don't go to the Ghost Market unless absolutely necessary."

Li Guanyi silently noted this down and asked curiously:

"They record all this—aren't they afraid people will come at them hard?"

Chen Chengbi said, "Come at them hard? Among the world's ten great masters, the Night Son of Heaven of the Ghost Market firmly holds one spot; the Lord of Huang Quan, the Nether Ferryman, is the foremost of the world's ten great assassins, having killed the Emperor of Wei a hundred years ago, which allowed the State of Ying to rise; and within the Rebirth Hall is the world's third-ranked physician."

"Within the Good and Evil Merit Hall, all good and evil can be recorded, and thus all good and evil can be erased. There dwell the world's most skilled masters of disguise—no one knows if they are male or female, young or old. Such a force—you pay, and they give you everything you desire."

"Divine weapons, sharp blades, Wu Gong, even the heads of Wang Hou and generals."

"Even a new identity, one that leaves the jianghu behind."

"Just for that last point alone, no one would provoke them."

"They are even more troublesome than the Xue family you're in, and the reason they haven't been targeted by the Academy is that although the Nether Ghost Market trades for money, it also has one rule—the Good and Evil Merit Hall."

Chen Chengbi said:

"The doer of good, King Yama gives you three measures of respect; the doer of evil, the netherworld claims your life without mercy."

"True good people, the Nether Ghost Market will protect their lives. Once a scholar who remonstrated for the people was about to be beheaded, and the Nether Ghost Market exhausted its elite forces to save him; likewise, seventy-three soul-claiming ghost messengers fought to the death against the Mo Sect Sect Master of fifty years ago."

"The last Ghost Messenger brought back the Mo Sect Sect Master's head and hung it on the Ghost Gate. He bore thirty-four wounds, loudly proclaimed his deeds aloud, and after doing all this breathed his last—still standing when he died."

"It was then that the Nether Ghost Market's fame shook the four corners."

Li Guanyi sighed in admiration, and Chen Chengbi said, "As for this rule that gives the Nether Ghost Market its footing—"

"I heard it was around two hundred years ago, when the Nether Ghost Market first opened."

"There was a supreme grand master of the Yin-Yang School who was on good terms with the first-generation Night Son of Heaven. The first-generation Night Son of Heaven, with a pot of wine, asked that Yin-Yang grand master for a life talisman. That grand master said that if it were only trade, the Nether Ghost Market would be hard to sustain for a single sixty-year cycle, but if there were trade, and Wu Gong, and such a rule—"

"Then it could endure for five hundred years."

"A bowl of wine, two sentences, five hundred years of enterprise."

"The Ghost Market's Night Son of Heaven gave that grand master a highest-grade jade token as a keepsake."

"That grand master took it and departed at his ease."

"It is an unparalleled tale of grace in the jianghu."

A Yin-Yang School grand master, on good terms with the Night Son of Heaven, a highest-grade jade token.

Li Guanyi fell silent, suddenly thought of that unkempt old man, raised his hand and pressed his forehead—the legendary figure, graceful and at ease, who traded a pot of wine for five hundred years of foundation, the Yin-Yang grand master, and the Mu Zi Yi old man he knew who was unrestrained to the point of utter abandon.

The contrast was too great.

It was as if legend had come into the mortal world.

Yet it became all the more vivid and real.

Chen Chengbi sighed with emotion, patting Li Guanyi's shoulder, and said: "In any case, kid, you did well, you did well indeed. Moreover, I heard that during the fighting, you used your battle-halberd to paint out a Crimson Dragon, and then intercepted a volley of over a hundred arrows."

The old man's eyes lit up, and he spoke his true purpose for coming here:

"The Crimson Dragon Force — have you already cultivated it to completion?!"

Li Guanyi nodded.

The old man burst into loud laughter: "Good, good, good! Hahahaha, marvelous, marvelous indeed!"

Chen Chengbi was overjoyed, doing several somersaults in a row, clapping his hands and laughing heartily: "Back then, when I saw Yue Qianfeng's little fellow's Crimson Dragon Force, this old man wanted to have a bit more fun with him, but I never expected that kid, though he looks like a big fellow, had such nimble lightness skills — even better than mine, he ran like the wind."

"I hadn't had my fill of fun yet, and he already ran off."

"Now that you've cultivated it, come, come, come, have a bout with this old man!"

"That's the divine martial art of that founding Red Emperor himself — seeing it and not sparring a bit, my hands itch, my heart itches, I can't sleep, I really can't sleep at all."

Li Guanyi felt that his earlier assumption — that the old master had transmitted Wu Gong to him only because he hoped Li Guanyi would help Aunt Xue's son — was completely wrong.

This old fellow just wanted to satisfy his itch for a fight.

Li Guanyi thought for a moment, then said: "Better not."

Chen Chengbi faltered, saying: "Why?!"

Li Guanyi said: "Senior, I've more or less figured out your temperament. When you spar with me, even if you can suppress your own techniques, you probably can't hold back, can you?"

"When we clash, the internal Qi circulates — I'm definitely not your equal, Senior."

"If your internal Qi invades my body, I just barely resolved the issue of the foreign true Qi, and now another kind would be added to my dantian — that's not appropriate, not appropriate."

Chen Chengbi scratched his ears and cheeks, saying: "No, I'm the one transmitting to you — ptooey, ptooey, ptooey."

"It's not me transmitting to you — it's that art you set your eyes on, the 'Six Void Four Harmony Divine Art.' The first layer alone lets you control three different kinds of true Qi."

"Your clan's 'Jade Arm Divine Bow Art,' and the Central Plains' 'Crimson Dragon Force.'"

"Even if this old man accidentally channels some into you during our fight, you can dissolve it and make it your own — that's all good things!"

The old fellow spoke with great conviction.

Li Guanyi didn't know whether to laugh or cry. This old man had calculated everything from the very start.

Careless about worldly matters, but when it came to fighting and sparring his abacus clicked away sharply — quite shrewd. So the young man extended his hand to let the old man take his pulse, and said: "Quite the coincidence, Senior — I already have three layers of true Qi changes within my body."

Chen Chengbi's eyes went wide, he gritted his teeth in frustration, stamping his feet in vexation.

The old fellow was like someone waiting for a flower to bear fruit any moment, only to discover the fruit had already been plucked — especially since he had come with the idea of experiencing the Red Emperor's divine martial art's force firsthand, ready for a satisfying battle at last, only to fall one step short, just one step!

Stuck.

The more he had looked forward to it before, the more wretched he felt now.

He scratched his ears and cheeks, paced back and forth, and finally looked at the young man over there. He knew that once he got into the heat of fighting, he could still control the force of his strikes, but his body's pure-yang boundless internal Qi was vast and mighty — his natural defensive reactions would inevitably send internal Qi into the young man's body.

Chen Chengbi suddenly let out a long howl, spun around, and grabbed Li Guanyi's hand.

He clamped Li Guanyi's hand against his own throat, eyes wide, and said: "Threaten me!"

Li Guanyi was stunned: "What?"

Chen Chengbi said: "Threaten me — tell me to transmit the divine art to you, or else you'll make my Chen family childless, snuff out our ancestral line, you'll — you'll — you'll trample your horses across Jiangnan, dig up my family's ancestral graves…"

Li Guanyi lowered his eyes, a sincere smile rising on the young man's face.

His voice remained, natural as breathing, and said:

"I could never do such a thing."

The old fellow glared at him and said: "Just threaten me a little, just put on a show."

"You threaten me, and I'll transmit Wu Gong to you."

Li Guanyi did as Chen Chengbi said. The old man, with exaggerated acting, said: "Father, look, I was threatened — you can't blame me. If they threatened to kill me, I definitely wouldn't yield, but when it involves my Chen family's ancestral line, I have to back down."

"I'll transmit the second layer of the 'Six Void Four Harmony Divine Art' to you right now."

"It'll be enough for you to control five layers of force-Qi."

"You can also cultivate my 'Pure Yang Boundless Divine Art' and my big niece's 'Kunlun Heart Art,' hehe, how interesting, how interesting."

"Father, it's him threatening me, he's threatening me!"

The old fellow laughed loudly, chanting the true formula of the second layer of the 'Six Void Four Harmony Divine Art' from his mouth — but the sound only fell upon Li Guanyi's ears, not a single character leaking out. Then, without any visible movement, a pulse of internal Qi shook Li Guanyi's wrist free, and he raised his hand in a palm strike forward.

The old man's internal Qi was suppressed to the second layer, yet that Thigh's Solemnity still made one tremble in awe.

Li Guanyi retreated, his military-school footwork carrying him straight back against the wall, nearly crashing the bookshelf down.

Li Guanyi reversed his hand and caught the old man's palm, saying: "Senior, let's take this fight outside."

"If we knock down these Juan Sect scrolls, General Gong and I will probably end up in the black room together."

Chen Chengbi laughed excitedly:

"Fight outside? Isn't fighting here even more interesting?!"

"Kid, let's make a pact — neither of us can knock down these walls or books; whoever knocks one down loses!"

In just a few exchanges, Li Guanyi was already in a sorry state at every step. The old man said: "Not satisfying, not satisfying! Why are you just like that bunch from the military school — your footwork is only straight in and straight out. You should know, that's footwork for large-scale army engagements."

"When your comrades are on all sides, you can only advance and retreat in a straight line."

"If you leap about like the jianghu, that disrupts the battle formation — the army supervisor would have you beheaded. But in a one-on-one, military-school footwork is truly embarrassing. I know you studied the Calculation Classics with that old fellow Zu Wenyuan — watch closely!"

The old man let go of Li Guanyi, his footsteps moving unhurriedly about the room.

At first he paced, then his speed grew faster and faster.

Every step he took landed on a position of the Jiugong, subtly containing the principles of the Eight Trigrams' transformations and the Five Elements' mutual generation. In the end his speed reached a level where, in the eyes of a martial artist like Li Guanyi who had not cultivated the Eye Aperture, afterimages appeared. Finally the old man appeared before him, and said proudly:

"This art, the 'Jiugong Eight Trigrams Step,' requires mastery of formations and the Calculation Classics. Back in his youth, Zu Wenyuan had no martial arts and escaped danger many times by relying on this step technique."

"He didn't teach it to you because you have internal Qi — after all, you're different from him."

"This old man will transmit it on his behalf. Come, come, come — step through the Jiugong, encircle the Eight Trigrams, internal Qi surging, advance and slay. Hahahaha, I've figured out quite a few tricks over the years — watch closely."

The old man was quite pleased. He felt that this young man had done what he himself had failed to do.

And seeing his exceptional talent in Wu Gong, he immediately felt as if he had found a priceless treasure; no other thoughts or calculations crossed his mind—his heart held only one lively, vivid, and crystal-clear Wu Dao heart, saying:

"The Dao of Heaven and Earth is nothing but Yin and Yang; Yin and Yang transform and interweave naturally. Thus, when stillness reaches its extreme, movement arises—Yang follows Yin; when movement reaches its extreme, stillness returns—Yin follows Yang. Yin must turn to Yang, Yang must turn to Yin—this is the creation and transformation of the cosmos, hence it generates endlessly, without cessation."

"My footwork is unfathomable in its changes—the stronger the Suan Jing, the stronger the array art, the stronger the footwork becomes!"

"It is inexhaustible!"

His body moved in a single flash, launching an attack toward Li Guanyi. The boy had extraordinary insight; his foundation in Suan Jing, honed over more than a decade of systematic training in his past life, was already terrifying in this world—further amplified by Hou Zhongyu's life-risking instruction in array art.

He quickly grasped it; inside the Juan Sect hall, an old man and a young boy moved swiftly, entangling in combat.

Fists and feet clashed back and forth, speed increasing rapidly, yet not even the hem of a robe brushed against the table.

The old man laughed heartily, saying: "With this Wu Gong, at the Great Sacrifice Tournament, neither the Crown Prince's top swordsman from the Donggong, nor Yuwen Lie's nephew, the young master of the Turkic Tie Futu, would be your match."

"Come, come, fight more with this old man."

"So satisfying, so satisfying! Why aren't you already sixty or seventy years old? With sixty years of internal energy, we could really enjoy this."

Li Guanyi said: "Top swordsman of the Donggong?"

Chen Chengbi said: "Yes, my eldest nephew spared no expense—he didn't hold back at all. He offered the title of Marquis of a Founding County. This title has two advantages: one is that it can be inherited by descendants."

"Countless noble families, especially non-elder sons, have turned red-eyed over it."

"It means they can split off from the main clan and establish their own page in the family genealogy."

"Needless to say, the temptation is immense."

"The other advantage is three hundred households of taxable fief—this isn't just an empty title; countless people desire it: Yuwen Hua, the outstanding young scion of the Yuwen Clan; Geshu Yin, the son of the commander of the Turkic Seven Kings' Tie Futu."

"And the top swordsman under the Crown Prince's banner—the grandson of the world-renowned Sword Saint."

"All of them have come."

"After all, it comes with actual fief income, so…"

As the old man's fist met Li Guanyi's, he felt the boy's strength and grew ecstatic, saying offhandedly: "Even members of the imperial family have come—one distant imperial relative."

"His father died early; he has only his widowed mother."

"He has neither title nor fief, yet he still entered."

Li Guanyi's pupils shrank slightly.

"Who?!!"