Zhu Ju just tapped lightly, and an Invisible Force entered their bodies. Shii Zhao and Dugu Feng imdiately turned pale.
"Don’t even think about circulating your Qi Blood to resist. Follow obediently. After half a month, this Restriction will dissolve on its own."
"Yes."
Compared to Shii Zhao’s sullen expression, Dugu Feng adapted to being held captive with surprising ease.
Perhaps,
the Red Blood Sect often used such thods to control others.
"Young Master Zhu, whatever you command in the coming days, Feng’er will obey without delay."
With her veil removed, Dugu Feng’s features were exquisite and her figure graceful. She cast seductive glances, her every move a picture of delicate charm.
It was enough to make one feel an uncontrollable urge to dote on her.
However, ever since witnessing the thods of the Demoness from the Joyful Sect, Zhu Ju was unmoved by such a Bewitching Technique.
He imdiately lowered his gaze, the Profound Light between his brows pulsing. Dugu Feng suddenly felt a chill run through her, and her charming smile froze.
"Sister Bai Fu."
Her beautiful eyes darted about as she forced a smile and said,
"For the ti being, why don’t I hunt for ga while you prepare the food? It’ll be more convenient if we work together."
"Hee hee..."
"Your Martial Arts Talent is astonishing, little sister, and with the Young Master’s guidance, your future is surely unimaginable. However, your foundation isn’t very solid. I happen to have so experience in that area, so we could exchange a few pointers."
Bai Fu’s eyes lit up.
With two Gui Cang Grandmasters accompanying them, especially one who was a local, their pace of finding the way increased dramatically.
And the number of troubles they encountered plumted.
Even when so foolhardy pursuers appeared, Bai Fu didn’t need to lift a finger before the two of them had already charged out.
They even intentionally slowed their pace, allowing Bai Fu to see their movents clearly and teaching her so things about the Martial World.
They didn’t know Bai Fu’s relationship with Zhu Ju, and Zhu Ju had no intention of explaining.
「A few days later.」
"We’re here."
Shii Zhao gasped for breath, pointing at the mountain peak before them.
"This is the second spot with a clear view of all of Saint Head Mountain that also has clouds and mist. But look at this peak."
"It has a smooth cliff face nearly forty zhang high, making it completely unclimbable. So no one knows what it’s like up there."
The cliff face was as smooth as a mirror. Although it had a slight incline, there was no place for a foothold, let alone for climbing.
Zhu Ju stepped forward, touched the mountain’s surface, and looked up.
"Wait for down here."
The mont he spoke,
PENG!
The ground beneath his feet trembled slightly, and the hard rock cracked with nurous fissures. He used the powerful rebound to launch himself into the sky like a cannonball, shooting straight up for six or seven zhang.
When his montum waned, Zhu Ju lightly slapped the cliff face before him with one hand, a downward-angled force erupting from his palm.
His body shot up another several zhang.
Repeating this cycle, his hands slapping or gripping, his figure gradually disappeared into the clouds and mist high above.
"Unbelievable!"
Shii Zhao’s eyes were wide with astonishnt.
"Leaping six or seven zhang in a single bound... I have not only never seen such a Body Technique, I’ve never even heard of it before."
"He is an Unparalleled Grandmaster, after all." Dugu Feng found a clean spot to squat down and shrugged.
"Only one appears every hundred years."
"No!" Shii Zhao retracted his gaze and shook his head lightly.
"Before Fu Xuan, no Unparalleled Grandmaster had appeared for a thousand years. After him, there has only been Young Master Zhu. So, you can’t say one appears every hundred years."
"Hmm..."
"Fu Xuan ca here back then, and now Young Master Zhu is here exploring as well. Could it be that Saint Head Mountain truly holds so secret?"
He stroked his chin, lost in thought.
The mountain was smooth and offered no footholds, making a normal climb impossible, but one could use tools.
If he had ropes, grappling hooks, and the like, he could also make it to the top with so effort.
’Perhaps,’
’I could obtain the sa fortuitous encounter as the Unparalleled Grandmasters.’
"Hmph!"
Dugu Feng snorted coldly at his words.
"You think you’re the only one with that idea?"
"When Fu Xuan died, every place he had ever visited was turned upside down, and Saint Head Mountain was no exception."
She picked up a twig, poked at the ground, and continued,
"There are records in my sect that in the ten years following Fu Xuan’s death, everyone in the Martial World was searching for the opportunity that allowed him to beco an Unparalleled Grandmaster."
"Countless people from the Martial World explored Saint Head Mountain, and without exception, they all ca up empty-handed."
"Sigh!" Shii Zhao sighed softly at her words.
"That’s true."
"Both Fu Xuan and Young Master Zhu ca here only after becoming Unparalleled Grandmasters. It seems that even if Saint Head Mountain holds so opportunity, one must reach the Realm of an Unparalleled Grandmaster to even be worthy of touching it."
"We shouldn’t even think about it."
「Not far away.」
Bai Fu was inspecting the seasonings she had brought with her.
She wasn’t interested in so-called fortuitous encounters. After all, including today, she had been in the Martial World for less than a month.
She only knew that Zhu Ju was the second Unparalleled Grandmaster after Fu Xuan, and nothing else.
’I’m running low on spices. I should go restock.’
*
*
*
「The summit.」
Clouds and mist swirled.
The rolling mountain range stretched out before his eyes.
A crooked tree grew from a crack in the rock, its canopy like an umbrella, offering shelter from the wind and rain to anyone sitting on the peak.
’I ca to the right place!’
’This is it!’
Zhu Ju looked down at the distant mountains, a sudden enlightennt dawning in his heart as the Five Peaks True Form Force began to circulate on its own.
’This mountain!’
’This scenery!’
’It’s so familiar.’
’Isn’t this exactly what’s depicted in the Five Mountains True Form Map?’
’However...’
"Fu Xuan’s painting skills could use so work. If I weren’t so intimately familiar with the Five Mountains True Form Map, I’m not sure I would have recognized this."
Sitting cross-legged under the crooked tree, Zhu Ju’s gaze drifted as he took in the surrounding mountains and undulating terrain.
The peaks rose and fell, their contours varied.
Protrusions, depressions, undulations...
The myriad sights entered his eyes and flowed into his Sea of Consciousness. The green mountains, the sea of clouds, the course of the Earth Veins—there was a pattern within the chaos.
Gradually,
in Zhu Ju’s mind, the nurous forests vanished, the streams stopped flowing, and the mountain range began to reveal its true form.
’Shattered!’
A sense of fragntation welled up in his heart.
Like a torn piece of paper, the mountains he saw were not in their original form.
’Hm?’
Zhu Ju’s brow twitched, and the image of the mountain range in his mind changed accordingly.
’Everything leaves a trail!’
’As long as one can find the pattern, a torn piece of paper can be pieced back together.’
’The sa is true for this mountain range.’
Cataclysms, ti, and tectonic shifts all alter the terrain, causing it to deform gradually over the years.
’I just need to extrapolate backward...’
Gradually,
in Zhu Ju’s mind, the mountains began to shift, and the Earth Veins slowly converged inward.
’And finally...’
’A palm!’
Zhu Ju’s eyes flew open, and tumultuous waves churned in his Sea of Consciousness, as if a thunderclap had exploded in his mind.
This mountain range was, shockingly, a giant hand!
A giant hand,
shattered and broken, that spanned a thousand li!
「In a trance.」
Countless years ago, a giant hand crossed over from another world and, for so unknown reason, shattered with a deafening crash, falling upon this land.
The giant hand, broken into pieces, beca mountains and rivers. Moss and vegetation grew from its palm, nourishing birds and beasts.
And those five fingers contained the Power of the Five Elents, the Way of the Five Elents, the five colors, the five phenona, and even the five tones...
The Power of the Five Elents circulated—tal, wood, water, fire, and earth, generating and overcoming one another, like a giant millstone nourishing all creation.
PFFT!
Zhu Ju suddenly spat blood. His eyes were shut tight, two streams of bloody tears flowed from his pupils, and his body trembled uncontrollably.
After a long ti,
"The Great Way is poison!"
"It’s poison!"
Zhu Ju’s voice was hoarse, tinged with lingering fear.
"I was clearly prepared, but I still beca unconsciously engrossed in it. I almost followed in Fu Xuan’s footsteps."
"Terrifying!"
Now, he didn’t even dare to recall the scene he had just witnessed. He only felt that the once-normal circulation of the Five Elents had suddenly beco distorted and chaotic...
A great terror was hidden within!
If the Profound Light in his Sea of Consciousness hadn’t flared brightly and snapped him out of it in ti, he feared he would have been dragged under.
At best, he would have committed suicide like Fu Xuan; at worst, he would have beco a Fallen Demon like the Zhou Family.
After regulating his breathing for a long ti, Zhu Ju finally cald his agitated emotions and opened his eyes to look forward once more.
「At this mont.」
The clouds and mist shrouded the area, blurring the mountainous terrain.
"Viewing flowers in the mist is the way to obtain the true thod!"
Taking a deep breath, Zhu Ju carefully observed the terrain, sensing a hidden True Intent within the haze.
Just like...
the Five Mountains True Form Map!
The Power of the Five Elents appeared in his mind again, but this ti it wasn’t distorted, and its circulation wasn’t as violent.
"Strange!"
"Confronting the Great Way directly drives one to madness and demonic transformation, yet seeing it half-hidden allows one to glimpse its true face. What is the logic in that?"
Zhu Ju looked puzzled, then shook his head slightly.
"Perhaps the Great Way is so profound that ordinary people cannot face it directly. Only by viewing flowers in the mist, or like a blind man feeling an elephant, can one catch a small glimpse."
"The Five Elents..."
"This giant hand that fell from the sky seems to hide a Palm Technique, but it’s not the Five Elents Fist created by Fu Xuan."
As his thoughts turned, Zhu Ju gradually fell into deep contemplation.
...
"Seven days have already passed."
Shii Zhao looked up at the cloud-shrouded peak, his brow furrowed with a hint of worry.
"Do you think sothing might have happened to Young Master Zhu?"
"Impossible!"
Dugu Feng rolled her eyes.
"In this world, no one is a match for an Unparalleled Grandmaster."
"No!"
"Or rather, nothing exists that can threaten an Unparalleled Grandmaster, unless he chooses to end his own life like Fu Xuan."
"Right." Shii Zhao nodded, then said suddenly,
"Then do you think Young Master Zhu might suddenly kill himself? After all, Fu Xuan also committed suicide after leaving this place."
"What nonsense are you spouting?" Dugu Feng scoffed, then rubbed her delicate nose.
"He probably wouldn’t, right?"
"Speaking of which, sister Bai Fu went down the mountain a day ago. Why isn’t she back yet? We should be more worried about her."
"Bai Fu has already advanced to the Gui Cang Realm, and with Young Master Zhu’s guidance, her Force Manipulation thod is quite remarkable. An ordinary Gui Cang practitioner is no match for her. What’s there to worry about?" Shii Zhao shook his head, then suddenly sprang to his feet.
"Who’s there?"
SWISH!
TING...
Dugu Feng flicked her slender hand, and a cold gleam flashed. Sothing fell with a CLANG at their feet.
"A ssage?"
Shii Zhao picked at the silk cloth tied to the rock, and a line of text ca into view.
"Bai Fu’s been captured?"
"Hutou Mountain!"
A quick glance, and his face filled with anger.
"They’re courting death!"
"Suo Chao, the leader of Hutou Mountain, is a notable figure, but I doubt he could take down sister Bai Fu on his own." Dugu Feng stroked her chin.
"It seems he had his n attack her together."
"They captured her but didn’t turn her over to the Zhao and Che Families for the bounty. Instead, they’ve co to us to arrange a eting. What are they plotting?"
"Whatever their plot is, they’ve made a huge mistake." Shii Zhao snorted coldly, his face suddenly showing a flash of wild joy.
"Young Master Zhu is coming down."
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