Eight Desolations Secret Travel Art

"Two Han assassins have appeared in the palace one after another. It seems Chu and Han have already formed a secret alliance."

Within the State Affairs Hall, the left and right prime ministers sat with the other officials, discussing state affairs.

Although the news of the Jian'an Emperor's assassination attempt had been declared a rumor, as Great Wei's core officials, they still knew some of the inside story.

There had indeed been two Han assassins. After bribing several palace guards, they had infiltrated the palace to carry out the assassination.

"Great Liang City has been riddled through by them like a sieve. They come whenever they please and leave whenever they please. What is the Imperial City Division even doing? If this continues, Chu may not even have to attack before we fall into chaos ourselves."

Hong Daowen, Left Vice Minister of the Secretariat, was deeply worried and rather dissatisfied with the Imperial City Division's inaction.

"The matter of the God-Demon Weapon previously drew many Martial Warriors from various factions, all hoping to fish in troubled waters in Daliang. Those people are currently under the Imperial City Division's surveillance. Their manpower is already stretched thin, so some oversights are unavoidable."

"The God-Demon Weapon matter was barely suppressed, and now this assassination attempt has surfaced. It is clear that Chu has swallowed a weight and set its heart on iron this time—they mean to lock horns with Great Wei to the death."

"The Red River Palace Master was the first to break through into the Creation Realm, while Chu's ruler, Xiong Tuo, harbored the grand ambition of unifying the Six Kingdoms. The two hit it off at once; raising an army is only a matter of time. But in my view, their target is not Great Wei."

"Prime Minister Xiao, are you saying Chu wants to destroy Han?"

"Among the Six Kingdoms, Han has the weakest national strength. Its capital, Yangdi, lies only a few hundred li from Great Wei, and Great Wei has always been a thorn in the Han King's heart. Thus, if Chu moves troops against Great Wei, the Han King will surely answer the call. In my view, this is Chu's plan of Borrowing the Path to Destroy Guo. After wearing down part of Great Wei's national strength, Chu's next step will be to destroy Han."

"Alas, who knows what schemes and tricks Chu will come up with next."

"For now, we should watch the changes and use constancy to answer ten thousand changes."

Clear Breeze Pavilion.

In the rear courtyard, Zhao Hongming carefully pondered the Martial Skill known as Eight Desolations Secret Travel.

The essence of this technique lay in pursuing extreme speed, moving without leaving a trace and landing each step without a sound.

At the same time, it required the practitioner to follow a particular route and use the Divine Soul to discern direction while moving.

At extreme speed, one had to find the optimal route of travel, making it impossible for others to grasp one's whereabouts.

Judging from the experience of his previous life, Zhao Hongming felt that this Martial Skill had quite a bit of scientific logic to it.

The widest range of human vision was only one hundred and eighty-eight degrees.

The routes taken by Eight Desolations Secret Travel seemed all to fall outside those one hundred and eighty-eight degrees—in other words, within the blind spots of human vision.

It truly lived up to its name, Secret Travel.

Zhao Hongming raised his right hand and extended it straight before him, keeping his gaze parallel to it.

Imagining the back of his hand as the back of a person's head, his current position would be within that person's visual blind spot.

After determining the direction, he began moving according to the routes of Eight Desolations Secret Travel.

He circulated a strand of True Qi and took one step, his footfall soundless.

As he moved, he employed the sixth sense of his Divine Soul to identify the direction of every movement of his hand, keeping his body in sync with it.

With the support of Heaven's Reward and the Martial Arts Panel, he quickly grasped the basic patterns of the routes.

After walking continuously for an hour, Zhao Hongming's True Qi circulated more smoothly, and identifying directions gradually became second nature.

Afterward, he circulated a strand of True Qi and took two steps in succession, beginning again as his speed grew faster and faster.

After repeating this practice for seven or eight days, he could already move at high speed without disrupting his breath; wherever his mind pointed, his feet followed.

One month later.

Zhao Hongming successfully trained this Martial Skill to minor mastery.

Paired with Longevity True Qi, he moved like a ghost, silent and traceless.

Compared with Jianghu Martial Skills such as Heaven and Earth Severing Slash, Eight Desolations Secret Travel possessed one particularly unique trait.

Because it was a Martial Skill derived from the Eight Desolations Eternal Youth Technique itself, once mastered, it could rise alongside the realm of the Eight Desolations Eternal Youth Technique. Thus, Zhao Hongming only needed to train it to the first level for it to reach completion.

From then on, he merely needed to continuously raise his cultivation of the Eight Desolations Eternal Youth Technique.

Overall, this Martial Skill could be used for both attack and defense.

On offense, it allowed one to hide and assassinate, striking people in the dark without form.

On defense, it allowed one to escape with ease.

Zhao Hongming could not help but feel satisfied.

"Your Highness." At that moment, Chang Wubing entered the rear courtyard and said, "The General of the Right Imperial Guards has just assigned two additional palace guards to protect the safety of this residence. Would you like to take a look?"

"Why were two palace guards suddenly assigned here specifically?"

Recently, Zhao Hongming had kept a low profile, rarely going out. Aside from his daily greetings and the Imperial Academy, he had turned down all entertainment activities to raise his cultivation and Martial Skills as quickly as possible.

As such, he was not particularly aware of many changes outside the palace.

Chang Wubing explained, "Your Highness, you may not know this, but the palace has not been very safe lately. His Majesty has specifically strengthened palace security."

"Just handle such a small matter yourself."

"Yes."

Chang Wubing clasped his fists and withdrew.

Zhao Hongming gazed in the direction Chang Wubing had left, lost in thought.

"Lately, I've felt that many things have happened in the palace, and the changes have been great. Eight Desolations Secret Travel has just reached initial mastery, so perhaps I can try going out for a walk. Hearing is false, seeing is true. Learning more information can only be beneficial."

"Besides, Miss Chen once said that Martial Skills require bitter effort. To truly master them, one still needs actual sparring. My martial arts have advanced greatly now; it won't do if I don't put them to practical use."

He was now at Aperture Opening Third Grade. Together with his Heaven and Earth Severing Slash having reached completion, that was enough to handle some unexpected situations.

Zhao Hongming immediately blurred into a phantom, turning into an afterimage that vanished from the small courtyard.

Using Eight Desolations Secret Travel, he sped through the residence, passing beside Wang Bao and the other little eunuchs without anyone noticing his tracks.

When Zhao Hongming reached a patch of shadow outside the residence, he discovered the two newly arrived palace guards whispering to each other.

"We're really unlucky, the two of us. We got sent to the Fifth Prince's place. He won't even meet us, so there's not a drop of profit to be had. I heard the brothers at the other palaces have received quite a lot in rewards. Especially over at the Crown Prince's place—it's enough to make people green with envy."

"Out of all those brothers, only the two of us are clumsy with words and don't know how to curry favor. We shouldn't dream of good things falling into our laps."

"Come to think of it, isn't there too little manpower assigned to the Fifth Prince's side? The other palaces all have seven or eight palace guards, while the Crown Prince's side has as many as thirty. Compared like that, it just feels strange."

"You're confused. Doesn't that show from another angle that the Fifth Prince is greatly out of favor? Everyone in the palace knows that."

"Maybe I'm overthinking it."

Hearing their conversation, Zhao Hongming frowned deeply.

He lingered for a while longer, but when he heard the two men only boasting about their past exploits, he lost interest and turned to leave.

He walked through the palace as though strolling through a leisurely courtyard, and no one discovered his presence.

He had even passed a rockery earlier and seen an eunuch and a palace maid inside, sharing a meal together.

Curious for a moment, he slipped in to watch how the two went about it. He squeezed in and observed for quite some time, yet neither of them was disturbed.

Eight Desolations Secret Travel truly deserved to be called a Martial Skill of an Immortal Martial Arts Technique.

The eastern and western residences were home to the princes and lay closest to Zhao Hongming. Thus, after leaving Clear Breeze Pavilion, he took the opportunity to wander through the palaces of the various princes and Imperial Princesses.

He discovered that, just as those two palace guards had said, the differences in each place's security arrangements were far too great.

Suspicion rose in Zhao Hongming's heart.

No matter how out of favor he was, he still bore the title of prince. He should not have been treated with such obvious disparity.

The key was that he alone was treated this way, as though he were being singled out.

Among the Jian'an Emperor's sons and daughters, he was hardly the only prince or Imperial Daughter who was out of favor.

There was something fishy here.

After pondering for a moment, Zhao Hongming headed straight for the General of the Right Imperial Guards.

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