Chapter 84: The Faceless True Qi Simulates the Sunflower Manual

Zhao Ti raised a finger and pointed forward; the Illusory Yin finger force emitted a light, melodious, ethereal sound, heading straight for Ji Mo Zhi.

If the Illusory Yi Yin Zhi is not released externally and only uses finger techniques to strike acupoints to injure people, there is actually no sound, but when true qi is released outward, it is naturally different.

Ji Mo Zhi heard the sound of the finger wind and his face immediately changed. He had once taken a finger strike from Zhao Ti at Dali's Heavenly Dragon Temple, a taste he still could not forget; he had spent a full month using the internal force of the Flaming Blade to smelt and refine it before completely refining that wisp of Illusory Yi Yin Zhi true qi.

Although the Flaming Blade belongs to yang, it is not a perfectly pure, masculine, rigid art; this is also why it took so long to dissolve it.

Seeing the Illusory Yi Yin Zhi again at this moment, Ji Mo Zhi's solemn bearing instantly shattered, his face turning savage: "It's you?"

Zhao Ti slowly rose from the meditation cushion and smiled faintly: "The famous Protector Dharma King of Tubo, Ji Mo Zhi, well-versed in Buddhist teachings and possessed of great wisdom, who once every five years opens a dais to expound the scriptures, where eminent monks from the Western Regions, Tianzhu, and various lands gather at the Great Wheel Temple of Snow Mountain to hold the scriptures and question difficulties, study the inner canon, and all depart in joy and praise."

Ji Mo Zhi's expression flickered uncertainly: "Are you from the Great Song imperial household?"

Zhao Ti clapped his hands: "Who I am is unimportant. What matters is that such a highly virtuous eminent monk actually snuck into someone's manor to steal things—truly jaw-dropping. Is it really as the Demon King said, that in the age of the decline of the Dharma, demon sons and demon grandsons have mixed into the temples, wearing kasaya, destroying the Dharma, twisting the scriptures, and gravely breaking the precepts?"

"Nonsense!" Ji Mo Zhi's brows nearly stood on end: "What would you know of Buddhist teachings, you yellow-toothed child, speaking recklessly? Today this king will take you to the Great Wheel Temple of Snow Mountain and have you meditate before the Buddha for thirty years to comprehend what true Buddhist teachings really are."

Zhao Ti shook his head: "I'm afraid you don't have that ability. One foot of the Buddha counters ten feet of the demon. Better that I take the Dharma King and properly teach the Dharma King to repent."

Ji Mo Zhi's face was expressionless, secretly thinking that that day at Heavenly Dragon Temple, had it not been for seven people attacking together, how could he have taken that bitterly cold finger strike? Here in this cave there are no other great masters now, and he himself has learned an absolute art like the Faceless True Qi, no longer comparable to last year; he should swiftly capture the opponent, torment him a while, and take him away.

He said nothing; his body suddenly moved and arrived right before Zhao Ti, then he struck out with the Flaming Blade.

Zhao Ti smiled and said: "Sword, come!" His finger wind struck the long sword Li Qingluo had been leaning on the ground; the sword sprang up and fell into his palm. Then his body rose like a wisp of light smoke, evading the palm wind of the Flaming Blade, and flashed to Ji Mo Zhi's side.

Ji Mo Zhi's face showed surprise; he had not expected the opponent's lightness skill to be so swift, very similar to what that eunuch had used earlier, yet seemingly different—he did not know what connection there was between the two.

Tong Guan, who had just been about to run out and call for people, saw Zhao Ti's footwork and was stunned. Then, watching Zhao Ti's sword strikes drift and bewitchingly elusive, as if formless, his expression drastically changed, and he stood there as if petrified.

Zhao Ti seized the initiative; the Sunflower Manual sword art surged like waves of a night sea, wave upon wave, endless in variation, each move flowing into the next, actually forcing Ji Mo Zhi to retreat seven consecutive steps.

Ji Mo Zhi was inwardly shocked; he had originally underestimated the opponent. Besides that ice-cold finger technique, the opponent actually possessed such profound attainments in the way of the sword.

At this point the distance was too close and Zhao Ti's sword art too swift. Ji Mo Zhi's Flaming Blade palm wind was sluggish and heavy when swung, so he used one hand directly for palms while the other hand successively employed the Picked Flower Finger, the Faceless Robbery Finger, and the Tara Leaf Finger.

Zhao Ti wielded the sword with one hand, while using the Illusory Yi Yin Zhi with the other to clash against the opponent's three Shaolin finger techniques.

Those three finger techniques were all incomparably subtle, and Ji Mo Zhi had practiced them to mastery, but the Illusory Yi Yin Zhi followed the path of "Heaven giving birth to water." No matter how those finger techniques changed or how infinitely profound they were, none could break through the Illusory Yi Yin Zhi's defense.

The longer Ji Mo Zhi fought, the heavier his heart grew. He had always been self-confident, never carrying weapons on his person, relying only on palms and fingers to travel the world, but now he was suffering for lacking a weapon, entangled like a great net by a single sword.

His Flaming Blade palms struck the sword's spine more than once. Li Qingluo's long sword was decent, but it was never a weapon forged from Spring and Autumn precious material that could cut iron like mud; by his palm force it should have been broken long ago. Yet that sword's bewitching shadow roamed freely—when struck it simply did not take force, and instead borrowed the momentum of the strike to change its move and thrust at other parts of his body.

Ji Mo Zhi let out a long howl, feeling utterly frustrated. Clearly bearing several absolute arts and with internal force more abundant than the opponent's, he had no room to display them at all.

This howl startled Tong Guan, who had been spacing out. Tong Guan's face turned pale as snow-white xuan paper, his head spinning, muttering to himself: It's over, it's over. His Highness has practiced the Sunflower Manual; I myself shall become a sinner—what am I to do about this?

Seeing his wooden-stupefied appearance, Li Qingluo anxiously reminded him from the ground: "Eunuch, aren't you going to run outside and call for people?"

Tong Guan came to his senses and took to his legs to run outside, but in his heart he still had some doubts. His Highness's Body Movement and Footwork, the continuous sword moves, were clearly the Sunflower Manual, yet why did they look somewhat different from what he himself had practiced?

Ji Mo Zhi, hearing Li Qingluo's words at this moment, could not help but be moved in his heart. He knit both brows: the opponent is from the Song imperial household—how could there be only two people here? Outside there might well be other experts, or at least some soldiers!

Thinking of this, he drew a sharp breath. If he could not take the opponent down swiftly, the consequences would be unimaginable. Returning through the three-foot wall hole was no longer possible—after all, that place was narrow and cramped; it would hardly do to bend over and retreat backward out of it, and besides, how could the opponent allow him to enter safely? Even entering would be seeking death; he could not return to the other side of the small hill.

Then there was only leaving through the main entrance of this Langhuan Jade Cave, but the main entrance was surely full of the opponent's people. Since it was an imperial outing, there would inevitably be strong bows and stiff crossbows. Unless he captured the youth before him as a hostage, he could not leave.

Ji Mo Zhi's thoughts flashed like lightning. He looked at Zhao Ti, wondering where he could be easily captured. The sword art and footwork the opponent used seemed to be one set, with no flaw to seize; bewitching shadows and light smoke—he did not know what martial art it was.

Zhao Ti's sword turned at will, one move following another as if inexhaustible; his body was like a shadow, drifting and untouchable.

Ji Mo Zhi observed the sword moves and footwork and could not help but feel some inspiration. What martial art was this? It differed vastly from the path of Other Martial Arts, yet displayed extraordinary power. He had never seen anyone use the sword to slant upward, hook up, then slash down; nor had he seen anyone use body movement to flash, sway, and tumble in such a way—but it was profoundly mysterious, truly an absolute art!

He secretly thought: better to use the newly learned Faceless True Qi to simulate it; perhaps the power would be even greater, and it might startle the opponent into revealing a flaw, perfect for capture.

The moment this thought arose in Ji Mo Zhi, he felt there was no time to lose—act on it at once. He immediately spurred the Faceless True Qi he had just recently completed within his body, then shattered a nearby bookshelf with a palm, took a hard wooden strip to use as a sword, and began imitating Zhao Ti's sword art.

Seeing this, Zhao Ti was not alarmed in the slightest; he had long anticipated that this Monk would not be able to resist using the Faceless True Qi. He began to slow his offensive pace and engaged the opponent in a roaming fight.

At first, when Ji Mo Zhi employed the Sunflower sword art's body movements, he felt extremely awkward—those movements seemed deliberately designed to torment people, with bizarre and strange angles. But as he kept using them, he felt they were wonderfully effective; his body's blood and qi seemed to boil. Truly an unsurpassed wonderful art.

The hard wooden strip in Ji Mo Zhi's hand continuously executed the derivative sword arts of the Sunflower Manual; the more he used them, the smoother they became, the more he used them, the more pleased he felt.

Zhao Ti shifted from offense to defense, watching Ji Mo Zhi coldly with a thoughtful expression.

At this moment, hurried footsteps came from outside the Langhuan Jade Cave. Ji Mo Zhi had already wielded this sword art like a sky-covering sword net, his body like a phantom, dark and ghostly, shuttling back and forth ceaselessly.

But just as he pressed forward step by step, seemingly about to succeed, he suddenly let out an "Ah ya!" great cry, as if a spinning top had abruptly stopped—utterly abrupt.

He was seen with a face flushed crimson as blood, both eyes nearly bulging from their sockets, standing in the middle of the ground with an expression of stunned bewilderment.

Then his monk's robe cracked inch by inch; the blood vessels on his arms and body swelled like writhing snakes and crawling earthworms; his heart pounded violently without cease.

Zhao Ti stepped back two paces, squinted to look. Ji Mo Zhi suddenly let out a miserable shriek, covered his lower region with both hands, retreated several steps with "thud thud thud," and with a "bang" crashed into the wall, then slowly slid down to the ground.

One saw thin streaks of blood seeping from his skin, a pool of fresh blood flowing from below as well; his lips moved: "You, you…"

Zhao Ti blinked, rubbed his chin, and slowly walked forward: "This… I only learned it myself to find out. It seems the Faceless True Qi cannot simulate this sword art. If one forcibly tries to simulate it, then…"

Ji Mo Zhi's eyes bulged like an ox's; fresh blood flowed from the corners of his eyes; his lips moved, yet not a single word came out.

Zhao Ti muttered softly: "No wonder back then Li Qiushui, after simulating the Sunflower Manual, hurried to retreat without even delivering a follow-up sword strike…"

He secretly thought: Li Qiushui had wounded Li Xian at that time; delivering one or two follow-up sword strikes would have been only a matter of a few breaths, yet she retreated in haste, failing at the last moment—clearly suffering backlash from the Sunflower Manual, shocked and unable to comprehend, which is why she fled in panic. He did not know how injured she was.

This Sunflower Manual is a martial art of extreme yang and extreme yin interchanging. Put plainly, it is a martial art that severs yang-thoughts, transforming yang into yin. That is why it requires self-castration. Only the extreme yang true qi thus cultivated, interchanging with extreme yin, prevents the body from exploding and perishing.

Yet the Faceless True Qi, imitating those moves and footwork of the Sunflower Manual, provoked and stimulated a violent surge of yang qi within the body, the fire of thoughts burning the body. But without self-castration there was no way to dissolve it, resulting in an outcome similar to practicing this Manual without self-castration.

At this moment Tong Guan and the people outside rushed in, surrounding Ji Mo Zhi tightly, all shouting in unison that they had come too late to protect His Majesty.

Zhao Ti waved his hand: "Bind this Monk and carry him out. His injuries are such that he probably cannot walk. Be careful when carrying him—don't jostle him to death."