Grave Robbery

Wang Ming, after leaving Guo Jing and Huang Rong's group, returned to the mountain to continue his sword training journey.

Wang Ming had no interest in following Guo Jing around as a babysitter.

Besides, if he really tagged along, those two lovebirds were now inseparable; stuck between them, they'd probably curse Wang Ming as a third wheel in their hearts.

Most importantly, Wang Ming had no appetite for eating dog food—though he had no interest in Huang Rong, being live-streamed a show of romantic torture was still unbearable.

Wang Ming practiced his sword in these deep mountains, and the Heavy Swordplay had basically been figured out by him on his own. The essence of this Heavy Swordplay was Dugu Qiubai's epitaph: "A heavy sword has no edge; great skill appears clumsy."

The sword technique itself wasn't hard to reconstruct; the key was how to increase strength and inner energy—that was the threshold for cultivating this sword art.

Without the gall of the Pusi Snake, even if Yang Guo trained himself to death, he wouldn't make any progress.

The "Indestructible Vajra Body" was truly formidable. Zhu Wushi drained the experts of eight major sects and, on top of that, studied countless martial arts texts from the royal secret vault, yet he could only tie with Gu Santong. Back then, Gu Santong couldn't even transform and could only use defensive techniques.

The true qi of this "Indestructible Vajra Body" was extremely pure, incomparable to "Purple Mist True Qi." It also had the effect of strengthening blood and physique, which was why Wang Ming didn't need to find the Pusi Snake's gall to practice.

The sword techniques of the Sharp Sword Realm mainly focused on agility, relying mostly on wrist and arm strength. Wang Ming initially thought Heavy Swordplay involved elbow and arm power, but after this period of training, he realized he was wrong.

Heavy Swordplay required not just arm strength but the power of the entire body. No wonder in "The Legend of Qin," Sheng Qi wielding the Great Que and Wei Zhuang with the Demon Sword Shark Tooth always twisted their bodies in all kinds of spins and mid-air flips when swinging their swords—it was mainly to maximize the preservation of the sword's inertia and amplify its power.

Shark Tooth might not look large, but it was by no means light. You had to know it was made of bronze plus precious metals, meticulously crafted by a master swordsmith.

Weapons from the pre-Qin era were extremely heavy. They were nothing like the swords and blades of today's Martial World People, which were very flexible, light, and thin. You could say that everyone in the pre-Qin period used a Mysterious Iron Heavy Sword like Yang Guo's.

Wang Ming had once read an article, though he couldn't be sure if it was true.

The skeletons of people from before the Han Dynasty unearthed from tombs were clearly much taller and sturdier, not comparable to modern people, almost matching the physique of Africans.

But from the Han Dynasty onward, people gradually became shorter and smaller.

The reason seemed to be the frequent wars during the Five Barbarians' Chaos period; strong young men were conscripted into the army, and how many of those who went to the battlefield ever returned? The Five Barbarians' Chaos spanned too long a time, reaping wave after wave of robust youths for military service. What remained were the frail, short, and weak. The story of "the old man losing his horse" illustrated that the strong were all taken as conscripts.

The constant wars drained the excellent genes, causing later generations to doubt the height and martial prowess of the ancients.

A person's physical condition was related to diet, but the most important factor should be genes. Just like those big African brothers—what good things did they eat? Yet they still grew up tall and burly.

"Ah! I'm thinking too far ahead." Wang Ming snapped back to reality.

In the end, as Wang Ming saw it, Heavy Swordplay was similar to Wei Zhuang and the others' sword techniques—of course, similar only in their basic attacks, not things like Hundred Steps Flying Sword or Crossing Eight Directions. Even with Wang Ming's knowledge and foundation, he couldn't reconstruct those on his own at this stage.

Dugu Qiubai's several realms:

The Sharp Sword Realm—"Nine Swords of Dugu" was the core of his sword technique.

The Soft Sword Realm—no legacy was left behind, and Wang Ming didn't know how to train it. This realm should be the peak of sword-wielding skill; the soft sword was the hardest to practice, and one misstep could injure oneself.

The Heavy Sword Realm—why was this realm so strong?

Because of strength!

A master's combat power included strength and inner energy.

These two forces worked together.

For example, before Yang Guo trained in the heavy sword, his fights relied on 30% physical strength and 70% inner energy.

But after training with the heavy sword, it became 100% physical strength and 70% inner energy, plus the weapon's bonus.

That was the principle of one plus one equaling two.

However, inner energy was easy to improve, but strength was difficult—basically, the upper limit was determined by birth.

So without this kind of opportunity, don't even think about it.

Against someone of the same inner energy level, you wouldn't flinch; you could even try to fight above your grade.

But if you ran into someone stronger than you, you absolutely couldn't fight.

Just like when Pei Yuanqing met Li Yuanba—he couldn't even struggle. Luo Cheng, who relied on technique and speed, could at least feint a few moves against Li Yuanba.

Pei Yuanqing, the slow, head-on type, would suffer internal injuries from just one blow.

The No-Sword Realm—Wang Ming was still far from this, so he didn't want to speculate. Empty thinking was useless.

Wang Ming practiced his sword in the mountains for half a month, then stopped and made his way to Zhongnan Mountain. Using the "Grass on Flying" lightness skill, he scouted the entire back mountain until he finally found that water pool.

Then, without wasting time, Wang Ming immediately dove into the pool and swam along the underwater passage. It was pitch black underwater, and he couldn't see a thing. Fortunately, he had come prepared; along the way, he had "robbed the rich to help the poor" at a wealthy merchant's home, obtaining a Night Pearl, which allowed him to see underwater.

Before long, Wang Ming reached the end of the waterway and swam upward.

"Huff... huff... huff..."

Wang Ming broke the surface and gasped for air. If the waterway had been any longer, he would have suffocated.

"Too reckless—almost kicked the bucket. I need to be more careful in the future." Wang Ming warned himself.

After leaving the pool and stepping into the stone chamber, he didn't bother drying his wet clothes. Raising the Night Pearl for light, he began to examine the "Nine Yin Manual" carved on the stone wall.

Half an hour later, The "Nine Yin Manual" on the Chongyang Legacy Carving was incomplete—it lacked the general outline, and much of it overlapped with the lower volume Wang Ming already had.

Wang Ming was disappointed. This trip had been a waste.

The most important part of the "Nine Yin Manual" was the general outline, followed by the upper volume's inner energy techniques, and only then the lower volume's external martial arts moves.

Forcing the lower volume's martial arts—Chen Xuanfeng and Mei Chaofeng were textbook examples.

Back in the day, Mei Chaofeng was also a peerless beauty; even Huang Yaoshi nearly lost control and developed feelings for her. Clearly, Mei Chaofeng's looks were top-notch. But after cultivating the lower volume of the "Nine Yin Manual," she became neither human nor ghost, earning the nickname "Iron Corpse."

"Sigh! That's to be expected. After all, Old Wang's Chongyang Legacy Carving wasn't meant to pass down martial arts—it was because all his techniques had been countered by Lin Chaoying, and in his shame and fury, he pulled out Huang Shang's 'Nine Yin Manual' to save face. No wonder Yang Guo and the others didn't make it their main cultivation."

Just as Wang Ming was about to leave, he turned back to glance at the direction of the deep darkness—the passage leading into the ancient tomb. He was quite curious about Little Dragon Girl and the tomb's martial arts.

After a moment's thought, he dismissed the idea. Curiosity killed the cat.

In this era, the First Under Heaven should be Lin Chaoying's maidservant; none of the current Four Peaks could match her.

Wang Chongyang and Lin Chaoying were likely at the Innate Realm, but for some reason, they both kicked the bucket not long after breaking through.

Lin Chaoying's "Jade Maiden Heart Sutra" was cultivated through dual cultivation with her maidservant. That maidservant probably lacked the foundation and talent to break through to Innate, but she should still have been at Peak Acquired Master.

Hong Qigong's strength was only Late Acquired Stage; the other three Peaks were about the same.

Don't think Lin Chaoying's maidservant was weak just because Ouyang Feng killed her.

At that time, Ouyang Feng had cultivated the "Inverted Nine Yin Manual" and was the true First Under Heaven of the second Mount Hua Sword Debate.

But the moment he entered the ancient tomb, he was subdued and had his acupoints sealed by Lin Chaoying's maidservant. It was just that the maidservant didn't know Ouyang Feng had practiced the "Nine Yin Manual" in reverse, reversing all his acupoints—so he wasn't actually sealed. Caught off guard, she was ambushed.

Even if Lin Chaoying's maidservant hadn't made a move, just releasing the Jade Bee Swarm would have left Wang Ming in a tight spot.

So Wang Ming stopped dwelling on it. He leaped into the pool behind him, activated the Breath-Holding Technique from the Chongyang Legacy Carving, and followed the current as he swam out of the ancient tomb.