Tai Shan's Secret

Tai Shan's Secret

The Scarred Woman had a clear head on her shoulders.

There were only the two of them in the underground palace now. In her current condition, if Ye Weiming wanted to kill her, she would have no chance of escape.

Rather than waste her energy worrying over nothing, she might as well hurry up and detoxify herself and tend to her injuries.

Otherwise, burdened by poison and wounds, she probably would not even be able to defeat the water bandits wandering through the underground palace.

Shaking his head, Ye Weiming took out a bottle of Realgar Wine and casually tossed it against the wall behind the Scarred Woman. The bottle shattered, splashing liquor all over her.

The Scarred Woman opened her eyes again, a trace of anger now in her gaze as she looked at Ye Weiming. "What are you doing?"

A man could be killed, but not humiliated!

If you wanted to monopolize the underground palace's rewards and clear the area by killing me, fine. I was right here—come at me. If I so much as frowned, then I would not be a true hero!

But treating me like this was going too far.

Where was your integrity? Where were your principles?

Ye Weiming's gaze fell on the swollen wound in the tiger's maw of the Scarred Woman's right hand. The two bite marks still oozing black blood looked especially gruesome. "Do you have no idea how you got poisoned? There are plenty of venomous snakes lurking in this underground palace. Realgar Wine keeps them from coming near."

With that, he ignored her and turned to charge down the right-hand path at the fork, sword in hand. With the formidable power of Level 7 Moon Maiden Swordplay, he cut down the water bandits along the way as easily as chopping melons and vegetables, soon reaching the end of the corridor.

It looked like a dead end, but there was more to it than met the eye.

Following the method recorded by Old Man Li, Ye Weiming felt around beneath the wall lamp holding burning charcoal and found an inconspicuous hole. He inserted two fingers and immediately felt a pull ring. Hooking it with his fingertips, he yanked down hard.

Crack!

As the mechanism activated, the wall at the end of the corridor opened, revealing a spacious stone chamber behind it. There were no lights within the chamber, but by the glow from the corridor, he could see that the square room connected to three other passages.

Yet compared with those passages, the countless venomous snakes coiled throughout the chamber were far more eye-catching. There were at least a hundred of them, densely packed across the floor, walls, stone pillars, and ceiling beams... everywhere. As the Stone Door opened, they all turned their cold gazes toward Ye Weiming, the intruder, making his scalp tingle.

Fortunately, Ye Weiming had anticipated this and drunk Realgar Wine in advance. Afraid of its scent, the snakes did not dare approach rashly.

To be safe, Ye Weiming took out another bottle of Realgar Wine, uncorked it, and poured it directly over himself. In an instant, the entire secret passage was filled with the pungent fragrance of liquor.

As the smell spread, the snakes retreated far away. Only then did Ye Weiming brace himself and step into the stone chamber. He then took out a torch prepared beforehand and reached back to trigger another mechanism inside, closing the Stone Door through which he had entered.

At this point, Ye Weiming's retreat had been cut off. He was now trapped in the same room as those venomous snakes that made his whole body feel uncomfortable just by looking at them.

Turning back, Ye Weiming carefully inspected the left side of the wall, the area that had previously been hidden by the Stone Door, under the torchlight.

Ding! Passive skill "Autopsy Method" activated. You discover that the thirteenth brick below the left side of the Stone Door appears unusually loose, as though someone has pried at it before.

Upon receiving the system prompt, Ye Weiming could not help silently cursing the game designer for being so devious.

With the Stone Door open, Old Man Li's treasure cache was completely invisible. To uncover this secret, one first had to close the Stone Door. Yet the chamber was filled with brightly colored venomous snakes, while behind him lay a broad, brightly lit passage. Closing off his only escape route took no small amount of courage.

What was more, judging from the chamber's layout, the passages ahead and the empty platform in the center of the room all appeared far more mysterious. In comparison, this corner behind the Stone Door was undoubtedly the easiest place to overlook.

Without Old Man Li's map to guide him, even a professional like Ye Weiming, who possessed the Autopsy Method, might have passed right by the treasure. Much less other players.

Ye Weiming reached out and removed the stone brick, which had clearly been pried out and put back in place. Behind it, he found an oilcloth-wrapped bundle. He immediately opened it.

Obtained "Tai Shan's Secret" Manual ×1.

Tai Shan's Secret (Ultimate Internal Art): The Taishan Sect's supreme internal art. With powerful mental calculation, it allows one to anticipate an enemy's moves and defeat them in a single strike! Cultivation requirement: None.

An ultimate skill!

It was actually a Martial World Ultimate Skill—and an internal art at that!

Before this, the highest-level martial art Ye Weiming had obtained was merely the basic movement technique Eight-Step Toad Leap contributed by Chou Ba. He had never expected to acquire a Martial World Ultimate Skill this time!

In Eternal Chivalry, martial arts were divided by strength into six grades: Low-grade martial arts, basic martial arts, intermediate martial arts, advanced martial arts, Martial World Ultimate Skills, and Peerless Divine Skills. By type, they were divided into three categories: internal arts, moves, and mental arts.

Mental arts were a rather special category. They were often supplementary arts that came with certain advanced martial arts, and because they were attached to other martial arts, their rank was usually not very high. The value of a standalone ultimate mental art was thus obvious.

Every player's martial arts slots had a limit. It was not possible to learn as many martial arts as one pleased.

Every player's Skill Panel contained only thirteen internal art slots and thirteen move slots. Once they were full, learning a new martial art required forgetting an existing one, and all attribute bonuses gained from cultivating that martial art would be wiped away as well.

Mental arts were different. There was no limit to how many one could cultivate, but there was only one mental art equipment slot. In other words, no matter how many mental arts one had learned, only the one equipped in the mental art slot could grant attribute bonuses.

After all, mental arts cultivated the mind. The mental art one chose represented one's state of mind in battle, so naturally, one had to remain devoted to one.

And Tai Shan's Secret had no cultivation requirements!

That meant he could learn it right away?

Without the slightest hesitation, Ye Weiming slapped the manual. As it turned into a streak of white light and vanished before his eyes, the system prompt arrived as expected.

Ding! You have learned the ultimate mental art "Tai Shan's Secret."

Tai Shan's Secret (Ultimate)

The Taishan Sect's supreme internal art. With powerful mental calculation, it allows one to anticipate an enemy's moves and defeat them in a single strike!

Level: 1

Proficiency: 0/1000

Attack Damage +10%, Accuracy +10%, Critical Damage +10%.

Its active effect can be activated in battle to calculate flaws in the enemy's moves and defeat them in a single strike!

An advanced mental art truly was an advanced mental art. Its attributes increased Attack Power and critical damage by percentage. Such an effect would only grow more powerful later on, greatly raising his upper limit of attack power. And this was only Level 1. As its level increased, its effects would only become stronger!

And that was only its bonus in the normal state. What kind of spectacle would it create once its effect was activated?

Just thinking about it was exciting!

After calming himself down, Ye Weiming opened the Stone Door once more and left the snake den that sent chills down his spine.

After turning a corner, he saw the Scarred Woman standing at the three-way intersection where they had passed each other earlier. Her arms were folded across her chest, her back against the stone wall, while one foot rested on tiptoe against the wall behind her. She watched him with a faintly teasing smile.

Now that he had the manual, Ye Weiming was no longer as wary of her as before. He strolled toward her and joked half-seriously, "You were badly poisoned earlier. You recovered so quickly?"

"Of course." The Scarred Woman sounded rather proud. "The Tang Clan's specialties are hidden weapons and poison. Whether it's antidotes or our sect's internal arts, both have strong suppressive effects on toxins. The snake venom I suffered earlier was fierce, but given a little time, detoxifying it was no great difficulty."

"Then congratulations. I hope you reap a bountiful harvest today." As he spoke, he passed by her and headed back along the path he had come from.

Ye Weiming could hardly wait to find a minor monster and test the effects of activating Tai Shan's Secret.

"Wait." Seeing that Ye Weiming was about to leave, the Scarred Woman immediately called out to him. "Interested in teaming up to farm a BOSS? Since you helped me earlier, I only want the sect mission item. Everything else is yours."