A Journey to the Ancestral Home

Wang Ming crawled out of the pool, climbed ashore, and changed into the dry clothes he had brought in advance.

This trip to the Ancient Tomb could be considered a wasted effort. He had originally thought that the first volume of the Nine Yin Manual was here, but it turned out that most of it was the lower volume, which was basically of no use.

Sigh! Other protagonists all run here to pick up experience packs; what absolute nonsense. Putting aside whether a modern person can even understand it, just the fact that it lacks the general outline and inner skill cultivation content means you can indeed become an expert by practicing it, but you'll mostly end up looking like Chen Xuanfeng and Mei Chaofeng.

To let Wang Ming leave with such zero gains felt rather unwilling. Traveling in ancient times wasn't like later generations with high-speed rail and planes—those comfortable modes of transportation that could get you to your destination in at most half a day.

Driving a carriage took half a month just to reach Zhongnan Mountain. The journey was extremely tormenting, and his body felt almost shaken to pieces. This wasn't Wang Ming exaggerating; the wheels of ancient carriages were made of wood and lacked any shock-absorption devices, so the person sitting inside bore every single jolt.

Suddenly, a series of bell chimes echoed from the mountain.

It snapped Wang Ming out of his deep contemplation, and he looked toward the direction of the chimes.

"The Quanzhen Sect?" he murmured softly under his breath.

His eyes instantly brightened. He circulated his Lightness Skill and quickly dashed from the Ancient Tomb toward Chongyang Palace.

The current Quanzhen Sect posed truly no threat to Wang Ming. Wang Chongyang had long since kicked the bucket, and Zhou Botong was trapped on Peach Blossom Island by Huang Yaoshi. Having met Ma Yu in the desert, he knew from Ma Yu's fight with Mei Chaofeng that Ma Yu was only at peak First-Rate, on the verge of stepping into Houtian. The rest of the Seven Disciples of Quanzhen were about the same, so there was nothing to fear.

The Heavenly Dipper Array was the ultimate fallback Old Wang had left for his disciples; the fact that forming the array could trap Huang Yaoshi proved its extraordinary power. Although the Heavenly Dipper Array was formidable, Wang Ming wasn't afraid. Knowing where its flaws lay, what was there to fear?

Along the way, Wang Ming smoothly entered Chongyang Palace without a single person noticing his infiltration. If a bunch of ordinary disciples could spot Wang Ming, he might as well just find a block of tofu and bash his head in—his martial arts would have been practiced in vain.

By the time he ascended to Chongyang Palace, the sky had already grown dark, as Wang Ming had spent quite a bit of time exploring the Ancient Tomb.

After searching around for a while, he finally found the Scripture Library of the Quanzhen Sect. There were a few disciples guarding the outside, but such a meager guard couldn't possibly block his path.

Sneaking inside, he discovered that the first and second floors were entirely filled with Daoist scriptures, Buddhist sutras, and Confucian classics. That seemed normal enough, considering this was the Quanzhen Sect, which advocated the integration of the Three Teachings.

Yet these held no use for Wang Ming. Without lingering, he proceeded to check if there were any useful items.

On the third and fourth floors, he finally saw various martial arts manuals, but they were all common goods—such as Five Tigers Severing Gate Saber, Eagle Claw Skill...

Disappointed, he headed toward the top floor. This floor was much smaller in area than the ones below, only the size of a single attic, and he found that the books here consisted of only three thread-bound volumes stored in exquisite wooden boxes.

One was Wang Chongyang's memoir, and another was the Quanzhen Sect lightness skill, the Golden Goose Skill.

The last one was the Quanzhen Sect's foundational swordplay, with the tactical profoundness of the Heavenly Dipper Array attached to the very back.

After flipping through it, the memoir lacked much nutritional value. It spoke in a mystical, grandiose manner, actually claiming that his karmic merit was fulfilled and he could now achieve Feathered Ascension. If you're going to die, just die—why play these games and leave lingering attachments for future generations? As expected, while others built sects, he founded a religion; a religion had to have doctrines and pursuits.

At most, a martial arts faction would vanish within a century, but only religious sects could be passed down far and wide, with Shaolin and Wudang being prime examples. Even if the ancestral home of the Quanzhen Sect were destroyed, its heritage would still circulate in the world.

Quanzhen Swordplay was quite good. Its moves lacked the exquisite precision of the Five Peaks Swordplay, but its utilization rate of true qi was something the Five Peaks Swordplay couldn't match.

At first, Wang Ming didn't pay much attention to the Golden Goose Skill because he already possessed quite a few lightness skills, but upon flipping through it, he was instantly astonished. The name of this lightness skill sounded quite tacky, but it was remarkably powerful. Those who mastered it could step thirty-seven times on empty air, ascending three feet straight up into the sky—truly world-shocking and peerless.

Wang Ming quickly memorized the manual in his mind, then continued searching around the attic to see if there were any hidden compartments or similar things.

Unfortunately, it was all wasted effort; he found no Quanzhen Inner Skill or Innate Skill in this Scripture Library. After searching three times with still nothing to show for it, Wang Ming had no choice but to leave the Scripture Library.

He glanced back at the attic behind him.

"Isn't this defense a bit too simple? It's practically undefended."

After a short moment, Wang Ming figured it out.

Although Wang Ming's infiltration was exceedingly simple, practically like walking through an undefended area, that was because his cultivation had already reached the Houtian realm. How many people in the current martial arts world possessed such cultivation? Those who did have this cultivation found those manuals useless anyway; these manuals could no longer enhance their strength, so having them or not made no difference. It was akin to an honors high school student picking up elementary school textbooks—the effect on improving their own grades was close to zero.

The true core was the inner skill. Actually, it was quite good—Wang Ming had studied it through Guo Jing, but the absolute top experts of the martial arts world looked down on it. The pace of cultivation was simply too slow; practicing this kind of martial arts in the pugilistic world was tantamount to seeking death. With the pugilistic world being perilous and fraught with endless bloodshed, this kind of martial arts couldn't keep up with the rhythm. Everyone in the Quanzhen Sect was a Daoist priest, and coupled with their massive numbers, the presence of The First Under Heaven Wang Chongyang, and later Zhou Botong, along with the fact that they rarely traveled the pugilistic world and thus avoided frequent conflicts, were the only reasons they could settle down and cultivate.

Wang Ming walked into a grand hall of Chongyang Palace and glanced at the portrait of Wang Chongyang hanging in the center of the hall. Suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind: Lin Yuantu had left the information of the Bixie Sword Manual on a portrait—might this be the same?

Thus, he entered the hall, took down the portrait, and sure enough, there was a hidden compartment behind it.

He took out the book placed inside the compartment. Atop it lay the object of Wang Ming's greatest anticipation this time: the Innate Skill.

Opening the manual, some of Wang Ming's doubts were also resolved. No wonder Wang Chongyang passed up a mutual sweetheart and a great beauty to become a tonsured Daoist priest.

This martial arts technique was akin to a virgin skill. If one broke the taboo before achieving mastery in cultivation, the light consequence would be severe damage to one's vitality, while the heavy consequence would be instant death on the spot.

Although the restrictions were heavy, the advantages were also numerous. The Innate Skill was a Daoist breathing and cultivation method, as well as the martial art Wang Chongyang used back at the Mount Hua Sword Debate to suppress all the heroes. What Wang Chongyang practiced was precisely this uniquely transmitted secret Innate Skill; the mysteries within the technique could push one's subconscious potential to the absolute limit, causing one's martial arts to naturally step into an unfathomable realm of transformation.

After reading the manual, he put it back into the hidden compartment, restored the traces, and stepped out of the grand hall, preparing to leave Zhongnan Mountain when he overheard a conversation between two young Daoist disciples.

Learning that one of the young Daoist disciples was named Zhen Zhibing, he immediately stopped in his tracks and sized up this well-known Dragon Knight.

He was truly awesome!

He was one of the few successful NPCs Wang Ming knew of who managed to sleep with the female protagonist.

And so,

Wang Ming knocked out the two Daoist priests, then channeled a stream of true qi into Zhen Zhibing's body.

This stream of true qi...

No matter what, from now on Zhen Zhibing would definitely be a good Daoist priest dedicated to the Dao, and perhaps he could even lead the Quanzhen Sect to a new height.

To be honest, among the third-generation disciples of the Quanzhen Sect, the most capable ones were Zhen Zhibing and Zhao Zhijing. Yet Zhao Zhijing was bent on becoming the sect leader and turned into a traitor.

As for Zhen Zhibing, perhaps he felt the profession of a Daoist priest wasn't cool enough, so he stubbornly re-classed to become a Dragon Knight.

Sigh! Let's not think about it; I better slip away. If someone discovers two unconscious Daoist priests, it won't be easy for me to get out.

With that, he quietly sneaked out of Chongyang Palace, flicked his sleeves, and didn't take away a single cloud, deeply hiding his merit and fame.

Earlier, because it was inconvenient to carry his greatsword and luggage while heading to the Ancient Tomb, he had found a cave to store them. Returning to this cave, Wang Ming sat cross-legged on a large boulder and began taking stock of his harvests this trip.

The Ancient Tomb could be said to have been a wasted trip, with basically no major gains.

His spoils from Chongyang Palace were Quanzhen Swordplay, the Golden Goose Skill, and the Innate Skill.

The Purple Mist True Qi is falling further and further behind now. Against those few palm strikes with Hong Qigong, the subsequent stamina was clearly insufficient. Although this Innate Skill is a virgin skill, I have no interest in leaving romance behind in this world, so practicing it won't be a problem either.

Wang Ming hesitated here, wondering whether to switch his inner skill.

After a moment of reflection, he decided to make the switch. In this world, the only thing comparable to the Innate Skill was the Nine Yin Manual. But compared to the Nine Yin Manual, the Innate Skill suited Wang Ming better.

The Primal Chaos Technique, Purple Mist True Qi, and Innate Skill were inner skills of the same origin. They could be transitioned smoothly without needing to dissipate his cultivation and retrain from scratch, whereas the Nine Yin Manual might require crippling his cultivation to start anew.

Wang Ming slowly transformed the Purple Mist True Qi within his body. This transformation went extremely smoothly; after all, the Purple Haze Divine Skill had originally been created by Hao Datong, with its foundation rooted in the Quanzhen Sect's inner skill.

The full reservoir of Purple Mist True Qi inside his body, when converted to cultivate the Innate Skill, only proved sufficient for Wang Ming to break through to the fourth layer.

However, the new Innate Skill was remarkably pure, and using it to execute the Five Peaks Swordplay yielded far greater might than before.