Chapter 166: Divine Weapons Have Spirits; Without a Master, They Gather Dust

The night was black with no moon, only the faint glow of scattered candlelight reflecting off the accumulated snow.

Inside the room, Li Yuan tidied himself up slightly, mainly retracting the Mixed-Gold Great Xi Yi Hammer, the Strange Weapon Forging Hammer, the Thousand-Jun Heavy Hammer, and the Supreme-Grade Six-Heavens Boots and Nine-Heavens Boots from his control.

Pushing the door open and stepping out, he saw a black-clad, masked figure standing in the courtyard.

"Let's go!"

Jing Jing Shuhu lowered his voice, turned, and vanished into the night.

"Compared to Old Han, Old Jing is still a bit indecisive; delaying for a day should be no problem, right?"

Li Yuan muttered to himself, shifted his body slightly, and followed.

This was already the second day since he went to the Ruined God Temple; Jing Jing Shuhu pondered for a long time, sought out many disciples from the Surveillance Hall to gather intelligence, and only then made up his mind.

Whoosh~

In the night, Li Yuan moved with calm composure, rising and falling.

The White Crane Ascension Method and Kestrel Step he practiced were merely barely mastered, but with the boost from the two pairs of third-tier boots, he followed quite easily.

'This young man's lightness skill talent is also this good?'

In the night, hearing the barely perceptible sound of wind behind him, Jing Jing Shuhu felt somewhat surprised in his heart.

The Divine Weapon Valley has no superior lightness skills, and the few medium-tier lightness skills it does have are all within the Secret Tower; this young man at most learned a few inferior lightness skills and footwork, yet he can keep up with me?

With a slight movement of his heart, Jing Jing Shuhu quickened his pace.

He primarily cultivates the 'Eight Steps Chasing the Cicada', concurrently practices six different inferior lightness ascension methods, and possesses deep internal qi.

Leaving no trace on the snow, making no sound upon landing, rising and falling, he was like a ghost.

"Still thinking of testing me at this time?"

Li Yuan silently criticized in his heart, but his steps slowed slightly; at this moment, it was better not to provoke this old man.

"Lightness skills not inferior to a mastered Form-Shifting! This young man's talent is better than Old... better than Han Han Chuijun."

After Jing Jing Shuhu accelerated several times and felt he had tested Li Yuan's lightness skill and body technique, he finally stabilized his speed and headed toward the Ruined God Temple.

Li Yuan followed at a moderate distance; when they reached the street where the Ruined God Temple was located, a glance from the corner of his eye revealed black-clad, masked figures leaping out from the shadows.

They were clearly the elites of the Surveillance Hall.

"Is Old Jing so wary of the Ruined God Temple? Or does he not want to provoke the imperial court behind these temples?"

Thinking this in his heart, Li Yuan pulled the tattered cloth on his face up a bit higher; copying the others, he was wrapped up more tightly than anyone else.

"Scatter and hide individually; do not enter the temple until you see my command!"

Jing Jing Shuhu glanced at the crowd and quickly issued the order.

The disciples of the Surveillance Hall nodded one by one and silently scattered to the streets near the Ruined God Temple.

"You, follow me."

He glanced at Li Yuan: "Judge the distance yourself; you must remain within my line of sight..."

Li Yuan's lightness skills were far superior to the other disciples, but he was not entirely at ease.

Li Yuan nodded, making no sound at all.

To lie in ambush, one must look like one is lying in ambush; otherwise, what's the point of disguise and concealment?

Whoosh!

Jing Jing Shuhu tapped his foot and leaped onto a courtyard wall ten feet high; Li Yuan followed closely behind, only to see the old man dive down.

Accompanied by a barely perceptible sound of breaking the air, mastiffs inside the courtyard silently fell to the ground; upon landing, a patrol of guards was also taken down.

"So skilled? A veteran!"

Li Yuan was somewhat surprised.

Ambushing, assassination, hidden weapons, positioning... these were things he had seen in books in the Library Tower, things he himself was not yet very skilled at, yet Jing Jing Shuhu was incredibly ruthless and experienced.

All the way to the front of the Zhengdian, not a single guard or mastiff managed to utter even half a cry.

"Top-tier assassin!"

On the roof of the main hall, Li Yuan felt a chill; with just this sequence of movements, he would need to review it several times and scout the location in advance to accomplish it.

Jing Jing Shuhu could do it casually, finding the optimal point of entry...

"Wait here!"

Jing Jing Shuhu spoke softly.

One sentence, and he fell with the wind, choosing the moment precisely when dark clouds covered the moon and shadows fell over the rear courtyard.

"These old men are all extraordinary."

Li Yuan lay on the roof of the main hall, looking back reluctantly at the large incense burner in front of the hall; surrounded by disciples of the Surveillance Hall, he dared not simply take away this incense burner.

Changing his thoughts, he looked toward the bamboo grove in the rear courtyard; under the shadows, the bamboo grove was very quiet, with only a few scattered lights glowing.

As soon as Jing Jing Shuhu landed, he seemed to merge into the shadows; Li Yuan stared intently but actually lost sight of him.

"Good heavens!"

Li Yuan sucked in a cold breath in his heart.

He had considered himself proficient in the way of assassination, but compared to this Old Jing, his own methods were simply worthless.

"This must be at least a Gold-Ranked Killer? Hmm... could Old Jing also be a killer from the Star-Picking Tower?"

Li Yuan felt somewhat startled, his mind racing with fantasies.

But he quickly reined in his thoughts, stared at that deep, dark bamboo grove, lay in quiet ambush, and waited.

"Hah!"

Inside the thatched cottage, Su Su Wanxiong let out a long sigh, his complexion returning to a ruddy hue as he drew out the last trace of Heavenly Cicada Qi.

"What a Ku Yue, what a Heavenly Cicada Sword!"

Under the candlelight, Su Su Wanxiong's eyes sparkled with a sharp glint: "Next time we meet, I'll make you taste the flavor of my Mother-and-Son Qi Art!"

His voice was low, carrying thick killing intent.

Had he not been severely injured, let alone those few from withered moon, even Han Han Chuijun, he would not have placed in his eyes.

Rrrrip~

He tore open his robe, revealing a shallow finger print on his chest that condensed and did not dissipate; this was the heaviest wound on his body,

which had taken years to heal.

"One Qi Soul-Pointing Finger, Fang Feng Yuanqing, heh, One Qi Manor..."

Su Su Wanxiong's face twitched; One Qi Manor was one of the five top sects of Great Yun, equal in fame to Dragon-Tiger Temple.

This wound is hard to heal; this grudge is also hard to avenge.

Unless...

"Sea-Splitting Profound Whale Hammer!"

A flash of cold ferocity passed through Su Su Wanxiong's eyes; he picked up a letter from the table, pulled it out, and read:

"Meng Zhan can't hold back either? Heh, wait until he truly bows to Blood Vajra... Who?!"

Whoosh~

A strong wind howled, and the door burst open.

In the courtyard, the one-eyed temple keeper bowed slightly: "Helmsman, a letter from outside the city says Wan Ya's eldest disciple, Qi Ying, suddenly led a group away, suspected of ambushing Shi Hong..."

"Ambush Shi Hong? Wan Ya has only this much capacity, but to kill Shi Hong, Qi Ying is not qualified enough."

Su Su Wanxiong paid it no mind: "Shi Hong is... Who?!"

Swish!

Su Su Wanxiong let out a loud shout, terrifying the one-eyed temple keeper into a full-body shudder: "Helmsman?!"

Bang!

A ghost-head blade cleaved through the roof; tiles and beams fell, filling the air with dust.

"No one?"

Su Su Wanxiong stepped out from the dust, a flicker of surprise and doubt crossing his face; he had clearly felt a bone-piercing chill.

Boom!

Almost the instant Su Su Wanxiong stepped out the door, the one-eyed temple keeper felt a thunderclap explode beside his ear; he suddenly turned around,

only to discover in horror that someone had appeared behind him, a foot away, without him knowing when?!

Bang!

Brain matter burst, blood flowers splashed.

Jing Jing Shuhu erupted violently, a small hand hammer striking with the immense power of a siege hammer, aiming directly at Su Su Wanxiong's chest.

"Bold!"

Su Su Wanxiong was shocked and enraged, yet his reaction was incredibly fast; his ghost-head blade swept horizontally through the air, turning the corpse of the one-eyed temple keeper, thrown toward him, into minced meat,

while a ferocious blade light slashed straight toward him.

Boom!

On the roof of the main hall, Li Yuan's heart trembled; he heard the sound of metal striking metal cutting through the night sky, ringing out in a cacophony.

"I really hooked one!"

Li Yuan focused his gaze.

He saw smoke and dust and rolling snow within the bamboo forest; in less than a blink, the bamboo forest spanning a li

had been flattened, and thatched cottages shattered with a boom.

Figures leaping out from within all recoiled in horror, yet they coughed blood and lay dead.

Over a li of ground, blade lights and hammer shadows reflected and shone together; two figures moved and crossed, and every collision erupted with a large spray of sparks.

"That blade light looks like Su Su Wanxiong? How did I hook him again?"

Li Yuan recognized that blade light; last year by the Dahe River, the scene of Su Su Wanxiong manifesting Qi into form had left a deep impression on him.

"Jing Jing Shuhu?!"

Moments later, the sound of blades and swords clashing ceased; Li Yuan heard angry shouts, and then the two figures vanished one after another into the night.

Bang!

The sound of a signal arrow exploded, this being the secret signal Jing Jing Shuhu had set.

As Li Yuan leaped down, the disciples of the Surveillance Hall, who had been lying in ambush all around, also surged out, pouncing on every living thing inside the temple.

Bang!

Li Yuan stepped forward, raised his hammer, and with a backhand strike sent the attacker flying backward.

Shouts of battle rang out in a cacophony as the two sides quickly engaged in fierce combat.

Fortunately, all the disciples of the Divine Weapon Valley wore black clothes and masked faces, so there was no fear of mistaken identity.

Whoosh!

Li Yuan moved with a stride, wielding the long Handle-heavy hammer like the wind; with his current physique and the eruption of internal force, he encountered almost no resistance.

Soon, the shouting within the temple ceased; Li Yuan also set down the heavy hammer, swept his gaze across, and spotted a familiar gray-white round bead amidst the ruins.

"This thing?"

Li Yuan couldn't help but raise an eyebrow; the round bead, crushed by someone's foot, now emitted a light only he could see.

Mixed with blood-green, it was actually a fourth-rank strange object!

【Profound Yin Single-Eyed Mother-and-Son Eye (Fourth Rank)】

【Taken from the eye of a blood-green snake, placed within a broken divine statue, tempered by incense smoke for a hundred years; nine sons and one mother, already possessing spiritual oddity...】

【Control Condition: Divine Art, Third Layer】

【Control Effect: Fifth Tier (Pale Yellow): Divine Eye Sutra (Fragmented)

Fourth Tier (Green): Divine Art, Fourth Layer, Fragmented Divine Art, Fourth Layer

Third Tier (Deep Blue): Hundred Insects Retreat, Bewitch the Heart】

A fine treasure!

Li Yuan picked up this round bead and discovered that beneath the layer of gray-white shell lay a lifelike snake eye.

And that gray shell...

"It resembles the Fragmented God Statue very much; no wonder incense scent lingers, no wonder I sensed no radiance..."

Only upon handling it personally did Li Yuan realize that although the incense scent on this stone shell was not abundant, its tier seemed very high.

"At least Fifth-Tier incense!"

Li Yuan clenched the round bead, his heart filled with joy; he had been searching for high-tier incense for a long time, and never expected to find it here.

Over these past half a year, thanks to Lei Lei Jingchuan and Jing Jing Shuhu's attention, he had collected quite a few First and Second-Tier hammers.

As long as there is enough incense, let alone five Fifth-Tier ones, six will suffice!

"While Old Jing is still here, I must collect incense abundantly."

【125】 Stuffing the round bead into his bosom, actually storing it within the Weapon-Storage Space, Li Yuan felt slightly reassured and thought he could visit other temples as well.

He stuffed the sphere into his bosom, in truth storing it within his Weapon Storage Space; Li Yuan's heart settled slightly, feeling he could go check out other temples as well.

The ties between the Xieshen Sect and the temples are intricate; the Fragmented God Temple is surely not the only one.

"With five Fifth-Tier hammer techniques as talents, surely there will be some qualitative transformation?"

In the night, disciples of the Inspection Hall searched the temples, while Li Yuan sat cross-legged leaning against that incense burner, pondering in his heart.

Over these half a year, his understanding of the various control effects of the Weapon-Storage Talisman deepened considerably, especially regarding talents.

A First-Tier talent boost is equivalent to a disciple of mediocre aptitude and average bone constitution.

Second-Tier is three times that; Yue Yue Yunjin belongs to this category.

By such inference, for Fourth and Fifth-Tier hammer technique talents, the Hammer Weapon Hall likely has only a handful of people, including Wan Lili and Fang Fang Bao Luo.

"A boost from five Fifth-Tier hammer technique talents must surpass Old Han..."

Li Yuan held this expectation in his heart.

He had been coveting that hammer for a long time

; if there were still no reaction, it would be most impolite.

"I was careless!"

On the Street of Divine Weapons, in a backyard of a certain large mansion, before a broken rockery, Jing Jing Shuhu frowned tightly, looking at the collapsed tunnel entrance.

He truly did not expect that the young man, on his very first day down the mountain, would have found Su Su Wanxiong, who had been lurking for half a year.

Even more unexpected was that the temple truly dared to shelter him.

This means the imperial court also...

"Excavate this tunnel, search, investigate thoroughly!"

When the disciples of the Inspection Hall arrived, Jing Jing Shuhu, with a gloomy face, gave the order, then moved his body and vanished from the mansion.

In the night, he leaped several times, landing before the gate of an ordinary commoner's courtyard; before he could knock, the door opened.

Brother Qiao Tianhe, his face slightly embarrassed, clasped his hands in salute and invited him in.

Inside, Wan Chuan was sipping wine, quite leisurely:

"Have a few cups?"

"..."

Jing Jing Shuhu sat down with a gloomy face, drank several cups in succession, and only then did his complexion improve somewhat.

"Su Su Wanxiong, the 'Divine Art Five Ghosts', is most skilled in the art of escape; there were once experts in refining the viscera who pursued him for months without success; it is normal that you did not catch him."

Wan Chuan set down his wine cup, saw Jing Jing Shuhu say nothing, and spoke on his own:

"Zhenwu Hall's Meng Zhan, Baishen Sect's Su Su Wanxiong, and Wanyu of the Three Yuan Dock, tsk tsk; if Han Han Chuijun and Lord Master Gongyang Yu do not return, relying solely on you and Duanmu Sheng..."

Brother Qiao Tianhe attended nearby, pouring wine for the two.

"If you cannot stop them, guess whether Wanyu dares to breach the mountain gate of your Divine Weapons Valley?"

"He dares!"

Jing Jing Shuhu slammed his cup down heavily.

"Of course he dares; several years ago, Wanyu had already succeeded in refining the viscera; this is intelligence from the Yunshu Tower, it cannot be false."

Wan Chuan held his wine cup, shaking it lightly: "A Crimson Flame Naga Sinew Bow; I will help you repel Wanyu with it, how about that?"

"Delusional!"

Jing Jing Shuhu's face twitched; he almost swept his sleeve and left: "A mere Wanyu, dares to exchange for my Divine Bow?!"

"Weapons without spirit are driven by anyone; divine weapons choose their masters. The Crimson Flame Naga Sinew Bow has gathered dust in the Divine Weapons Pavilion for seven hundred years; it is better to let me use it."

Wan Chuan concealed nothing of his purpose:

"I am only interested in your ancestral master's methods of forging divine weapons; as for this bow, I will return it to you after using it."

"Impossible!"

Jing Jing Shuhu flatly refused.

Every time he thought of the ancestral masters of past generations losing their rare treasures to the Seven Stars Palace, his heart bled; let alone giving one away voluntarily.

Even though the Crimson Flame Naga Sinew Bow has gathered dust for many years and no one can claim it as master, it is still one of the two divine weapons remaining in the Divine Weapons Valley.

"The Divine Weapons Valley has become a target for all; those two divine weapons you cannot guard; why not let someone else guard them?"

Wan Chuan was very patient, his tone gentle, not wishing to provoke Jing Jing Shuhu:

"Have you forgotten what this old man said when we first met last year? Those who covet the Black Whale Hammer are not Su Su Wanxiong, not 'Master Master Baili Lei Jingchuan', but the Master of the Xieshen Sect..."

"I cannot hold it..."

Jing Jing Shuhu sighed; he was indeed somewhat worried. Even though they had countermeasures, one fears not ten thousand, but the one in ten thousand...

"Brother Wan, we have known each other for over seventy years; does that not make us old friends?"

Wan Chuan corrected: "Merely acquaintances."

"If a sudden change truly occurs, you may take the Crimson Flame Dragon Sinew Bow; you need not kill Wan Ya or anyone else."

Jing Jing Shuhu spoke on his own, rising to his feet:

"You must accept Li Yuan as your direct disciple."

"Master..."

Brother Qiao Tianhe, attending nearby, could not help but want to speak, but after being glared at, he immediately dared not make a sound.

"Hmm... an honorary title is acceptable, but a direct disciple? Though he possesses talent, this old man has long closed his doors; he is not yet enough for me to make an exception."

Wan Chuan pondered briefly, then still shook his head: "However, I can certainly recommend him to become an inner disciple of the Seven Stars Palace."

"Inner disciple?"

Jing Jing Shuhu sneered, swept his sleeve, and departed.