A Voyage

Wang Ming converted his training to the Innate Skill and immediately set out for Peach Blossom Island, as this was the easiest time to land.

Huang Yaoshi had left the island to search for Huang Rong, leaving only a group of deaf-mutes behind, which made it quite secure.

Enticed by a heavy reward, a boatman brought Wang Ming near Peach Blossom Island, but absolutely refused to go ashore, saying that anyone who landed could never return again.

Left with no choice, Wang Ming handed the agreed-upon payment to the boatman, channeled his lightness skill of One Reed Crossing River, and headed toward the island, though this consumed a massive amount of internal energy.

By the time he reached the island, the Innate Skill qi in his lower dantian was indeed completely exhausted, so he found a hidden spot to begin recovering his internal energy.

After meditating for a short while, his inner breath was mostly restored, and he followed the route through Peach Blossom Island.

Looking at the grand formation composed of peach trees before him, Wang Ming had no interest in testing it; he soared up into the air, using the tops of each tree to propel himself forward, heading straight toward the center all the way.

Huang Yaoshi's formation was of little use and rather mediocre. Those with high martial arts could simply fly right over the top, and anyone unafraid of offending Huang Yaoshi could burn it down with a single fire.

Wang Ming explored the island and found that Zhou Botong was still alone in the cave, while Guo Jing had not yet arrived.

It would be too foolish to wait dryly outside the cave for Guo Jing, so Wang Ming sneaked into Huang Yaoshi's study, going there every day to read some books and pass the time.

Perhaps because Huang Yaoshi had suffered losses at the hands of Chen Xuanfeng, Wang Ming failed to find any martial arts manuals on the island at all; the books in the study were entirely miscellaneous learning rather than manuals.

During these days, Wang Ming frantically used his enhanced memory to absorb this knowledge, which was actually more valuable than martial arts. Wang Ming knew many martial arts, but places possessing this kind of knowledge were truly a rare sight.

What Wang Ming cared about most were the medical science and mechanical arts here, which were the things he lacked most. The only pity was that this place did not contain the formula for Huang Yaoshi's exclusive secret pill, the Nine Flower Jade Dew Pill, which was a supreme healing medicine.

After reading these books, Wang Ming even began to doubt Huang Yaoshi's origins. Huang Yaoshi understood astronomy above and geography below, the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams, the arts of Qi Men Dun Jia, the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting, and even agricultural water conservancy and economic strategy, knowing everything and mastering everything.

All of this was very similar to the Free and Unfettered Sect in Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, making him practically a low-profile, younger Wu Yazi.

I won't let my mind wander anymore; I'd better hurry up and read! It will be troublesome if Huang Yaoshi comes back.

At this time, Wang Ming was simply no match for this Eastern Heretic, Huang Yaoshi, and it would be deeply awkward to be caught red-handed.

Wang Ming memorized the medical and mechanical texts by rote, briefly browsed through the other books, and dared not read any longer. He erased all traces of his presence, went to the spot where boats docked on Peach Blossom Island to observe, and cultivated while he waited.

Just a few days later, Huang Yaoshi returned with a reluctant Huang Rong.

This couldn't help but make Wang Ming feel fortunate that he hadn't been too greedy. Had he failed to restrain his greed and continued reading books in Huang Laoxie's study, he definitely would have been caught red-handed.

Another few days later, that foolish kid Guo Jing arrived on the island as well. He blundered into Zhou Botong's cave and even disrupted Huang Laoxie's plan to coerce Zhou Botong.

Seeing that the protagonist had arrived, Wang Ming took the risk of coming near the entrance of the cave and restrained his breathing, quietly eavesdropping as Zhou Botong, that master-level benefactor, bestowed cheats upon the protagonist Guo Jing.

After eavesdropping for a few days, Wang Ming finally acquired the complete Nine Yin Manual, which people in the martial arts world of today dreamed of obtaining. The biggest surprise was still the Twin-Handed Combat Technique; after trying it briefly, Wang Ming found he could use it. This Zhou Botong truly was a martial arts genius, actually able to run two different martial arts simultaneously without dying from mutual conflict.

The Empty Clarity Fist was also decent, but it did not quite match his own personality.

Having obtained what he wanted, Wang Ming was unwilling to linger any longer, lest any unexpected changes occur.

Wang Ming came to the beach of Peach Blossom Island and looked out at the boundless ocean, his mind blank. He felt as though a row of crows was flying over his head, endlessly mocking him for being a fool.

He had made no plan for how to return! With no boats passing by here, even if he built a raft himself or hijacked a vessel, he didn't know the water routes anyway!

Just as Wang Ming's mind was racing with desperate thoughts, a shout echoed from beside him.

He turned his head to look and saw that it was none other than Hong Qigong.

"Kid Wang, you actually arrived at Peach Blossom Island before me. With the two of us joining forces this time, Jing'er's marriage is all settled."

Hong Qigong walked up close and patted Wang Ming on the shoulder as he spoke.

After a moment of complete bewilderment, Wang Ming snapped to his senses, realizing that he had run into Hong Qigong, who had just arrived at Peach Blossom Island to propose marriage for Guo Jing. Hong Qigong also mistakenly assumed that Wang Ming had only just arrived.

Perfect, I'll go with him to help Guo Jing propose marriage, and then logically have Huang Laoxie send people to escort me away, he thought, figuring it out immediately before replying,

"That's right! This junior also came for Jing'er's marriage, seeing as I've been his teacher for so many years."

"We're both Jing'er's teachers. Calling each other teacher and chief like this is too distant. From now on, I'll call you Brother Wang, and you can call me Elder Brother Hong."

"In that case, Elder Brother Hong, this younger brother won't stand on ceremony."

"Jianghu folk don't bother with so much formality. It's just forms of address, don't dwell on it. Let's go and get to business."

Hong Qigong took the lead, and Wang Ming followed closely behind toward the center. He figured that Huang Rong must have given Hong Qigong a map in advance, otherwise, it would have been impossible to smoothly navigate out of the peach blossom maze.

Just as they cleared the peach blossom maze, the sound of a zither and a xiao drifted over from afar, suggesting that Huang Laoxie and the Western Venom had already come to blows.

Hong Qigong, walking beside him, pulled out a sheng from who knows where, brought it to his lips, and began blowing into it with his internal energy. Instantly, three sounds intertwined, battling fiercely without a clear winner.

"Since I've made the trip, I can't let people say I just came for sightseeing," Wang Ming muttered to himself with a self-deprecating smile.

Glancing at his surroundings, he casually plucked a decent-looking leaf from a tree, brought it to his lips, and began to play.

Secretly channeling the technique of the Seven String Formless Sword, he used the leaf in place of a zither to unleash it.

With this, the scene grew even more chaotic. Four distinct sounds tangled together, creating a truly hideous cacophony—it was sheer noise pollution.

Before long, Hong Qigong reached the outside of the bamboo grove. Looking out, he saw that the one playing the xiao should be Huang Yaoshi, and the one strumming the iron zheng should be Ouyang Feng.

As for the young man in white wearing a white satin robe embroidered with gold thread and holding a folding fan, he figured that must be Ouyang Ke.

Only a protagonist wears a white robe—showing off like that gets you killed fast, Wang Ming inwardly sneered.

There were also Guo Jing and Huang Rong on the sidelines.

The sound battle was at its most intense when suddenly, the leaf in his hand shattered, unable to withstand the frantic output of internal energy.

Seeing that the leaf in his hand was broken, he intended to step aside and watch the show, as there were no more leaves here for him to pluck.

At that moment, an object suddenly flew toward Wang Ming, hurtling right at him. He caught it and saw that it was an iron zheng, which Huang Rong had snatched from Ouyang Feng's handmaiden.

Seeing that the leaf in Wang Ming's hand had broken, Huang Rong immediately found the nearest instrument and hurled it over. She had used a bit too much force; an ordinary person could have been killed by the impact. She hadn't thought much of it when she saw Wang Ming arrive, assuming he had been brought by Hong Qigong and was likewise here to help out, which was why she was so enthusiastically throwing—no, presenting the iron zheng.

Seeing the situation, Wang Ming did not stand on ceremony. He found a spot to properly place the iron zheng and unleashed the complete version of the Seven String Formless Sword.

Instantly, everyone on the field felt a wave of distress as the cultivation within their bodies slipped out of control. Stirred into a frenzy by Wang Ming's zither notes, when the melody turned soothing, their attacks turned soothing as well; when the melody grew rapid, their attacks followed suit. Wang Ming did not use the moves invented by Huang Zhonggong for his attacks, but purely and rapidly alternated between rapid and soothing tempos.

This made the true qi inside the bodies of the people present thrash about like a revved-up husky tearing up a house, causing their blood to surge and leaving them utterly miserable.

Huang Yaoshi's Blue Sea Tide Song was a type of sonic power skill that induced hallucinations and preyed upon inner demons, causing people to lose their mental composure.

Ouyang Feng's iron zheng was yet another method that synchronized the zither music with a person's heartbeat; the faster he played, the faster other people's hearts would beat, giving one the sensation that their heart was about to leap out of their chest.

Wang Ming's Seven String Formless Sword, however, interfered with a person's internal energy, causing it to run amok inside their body. In severe cases, it would directly lead to a deviation in cultivation and death as the internal energy breached the dantian.

Hong Qigong actually possessed no sonic power skill, but his internal energy was so high that he simply forced his sounds to become thoroughly nauseating to others.

In truth, while making sonic power skills sound so profound, the four of them were completely unharmed, merely suffering from slightly churning blood.

Sonic power skills were an awkward category of martial arts: when used for bullying lesser opponents or crowd control, the damage was off the charts. Yet when used to fight opponents of the same tier or above oneself, the damage was practically equivalent to scraping away dead skin.

Of course, if you possessed a Demonic Zither like the one belonging to the Six-Fingered Zither Demon, then pretend I said nothing.

Wang Ming had mentioned before that the Seven String Formless Sword was the absolute best match for Ren Woxing. That madman used the Star Absorbing Great Art to absorb his way to becoming the number one internal-energy wielder in the world of The Smiling, Proud Wanderer. If it came strictly to the sheer volume of internal energy, Dongfang Bubai, Feng Qingyang, and Zuo Lengchan combined probably wouldn't have been a match for him.

The reason Ren Woxing had appeared so underwhelming was simply that he lacked a high-output offensive method, much like Duan Yu's Six Meridian Divine Sword.

Just thinking about Ren Woxing made one want to laugh. When fighting others, he would either use a two-finger-wide soft sword to compare sword techniques or clash palms to compare internal energy, and if that failed, he would simply absorb them outright.

Martial arts in the world of The Smiling, Proud Wanderer had declined to the point where internal energy could rarely leave the body, basically requiring it to be channeled into weapons or hands.

Armed with that immense internal energy and coupled with this Seven String Formless Sword, Ren Woxing could have easily mowed down all the martial arts experts of that world like grass.

Do not think this is an exaggeration; the Sunflower Manual did not actually boost internal energy by much—it was merely a specialized technique designed to grant terrifying speed.

Yet the three juniors, Huang Rong and the others, simply could not endure it, even though they had plugged their ears with cloth.

"Stop playing! Rong'er is about to get hurt!" Guo Jing shouted.

Wang Ming looked over and saw that Huang Rong indeed had a flushed face, clearly suffering immensely from holding back. Guo Jing's internal energy, strengthened by the Treasure Snakes' blood, was not weak, and coupled with the methods taught by Zhou Botong, he was still holding on. Looking over at Ouyang Ke, however, he was already vomiting blood.

Immediately, the four fighters halted their clash. It was not easy to encounter a match of equal skill, and having been too absorbed in the fun just now, they had completely forgotten that there were juniors present and rushed over to check on their conditions.

The moment Ouyang Feng saw Ouyang Ke's injuries, a wave of fury gripped his heart. Yet Ouyang Ke's condition could not be delayed, nor was this a suitable place to fly into a rage, so he forced it down and quickly moved to sort out the rampaging true qi within his nephew's body.

Ouyang Ke's injuries were not light; had it dragged on for even a moment longer, he would have suffered a cultivation deviation, his true qi would have burst through his dantian, and his meridians would have ruptured, leaving him crippled if not dead.

Among the three, Ouyang Ke had it the worst, primarily because the martial arts he practiced were not upright Daoist internal arts like Guo Jing's, and compounded by the fact that he had just been ambushed by Huang Rong with a few needles and had a rib broken by a vastly improved Guo Jing, making him this miserable.