Armpit Universe Technique

Armpit Universe Technique: One flower, one world; one armpit, one universe. A universe was heaven and earth, a realm unto itself. Learn this technique, and you would never again be troubled by carrying things.

Qin He took one look and was overjoyed.

This was a spatial spell!

In Journey to the West, with a sweep of Zhen Yuanzi's great sleeve, he had stuffed Tang Sanzang and his three disciples, horses and all, into it.

That sleeve formed a space of its own. No matter how Sun Wukong charged, he could not break through.

And in the Buddhist realm, Shakyamuni possessed the Buddha Kingdom in Palm.

An entire kingdom rested upon Shakyamuni's palm.

Wasn't that divine?

Whether it was a sleeve, a palm, a flower, or a leaf, each was a world.

It was just that Qin He's was somewhat unconventional.

It had gone beneath his armpit.

Who cared whether it was unconventional? As long as it was useful.

Qin He could not wait to learn it. In just a few breaths, he grasped the mysteries of the Armpit Universe Technique.

He took a Golden Wound Pill from his pocket and tucked it beneath his armpit. Hey, it was gone.

He reached under his armpit and fumbled around. Hey, it came back out.

This was a storage space.

One that could hold things.

Qin He was so excited he nearly jumped up.

This skill was simply too useful.

No wonder it had been the reward from that white-furred zombie that took a day and a half to burn to ash.

Qin He did not know how large it was inside.

He tucked two Golden Wound Pills beneath his armpit, and they went in.

He tucked in two dolls, and they went in.

He picked up the Great Iron Shovel and tucked it under his arm. Hah, it went in too.

He picked up the bamboo basket filled with dried chilies and tucked it under his arm. It went in as well.

He tucked in a large water vat, and it could still fit.

He tucked in the Corpse Purification Platform. Uh... tucked again... tucked again... it would not go in.

It seemed this space was not limitless after all.

Still, it was already enough.

What Qin He truly needed to store were little things that could not be casually shown to others, such as pills and Corpse Suppressing Nails. The largest item would be the Great Iron Shovel.

The following time passed as Qin He played with his Armpit Space. Inside the Corpse Burning Furnace, the corpses of the two Di Barbarian spies gradually charred black.

An hour later, two Shadow Play Performances began once more.

How should he put it? Killing them before burning them had truly let them off too easily. They should have been roasted alive.

These two beasts had been fine before the Di Barbarians raised their troops. Afterward, they had done nothing but kill.

First they killed other tribes, then the Liao people. After killing the Liao people, they killed the Goryeo people. After Goryeo, the Rong Tribe. After the Rong Tribe, the Han people.

They had slaughtered countless villages and towns. Wiping out entire families was as natural to them as eating and drinking.

Wherever they went, they killed, taking pleasure in murder.

The shadow plays were bloody and monotonous. Qin He even found his mind wandering.

The rewards came in pairs.

One gave him the Chaos Army Saber Technique.

The other gave him nine years of Dao Xing.

Chaos Army Saber Technique: Learn this technique, and amid chaotic armies, your saber skills will attain perfection, unstoppable and invincible.

Qin He did not use a saber, did not like sabers, and had not the slightest interest in military camps, but he still learned it.

As he always said, too many skills never weighed one down. Who knew when it might come in handy?

This reward was rather similar to the Street Brawl Technique.

Both were about prevailing amid chaos, except one was for fighting and the other for battling amid tens of thousands of troops.

Their methods were naturally different as well. One emphasized nimble movement and evasion; the other, meeting on a narrow road.

When two flowers bloomed, each told of a different branch.

This world was simply that strange.

By all reason, after the Flying Fish Guard had been given a savage beating by Di Barbarian spies—and even had the Imperial Prison's "first time," guarded bitterly for centuries, stolen away—the two sides should have been going at each other tooth and nail.

But they did not.

The Di Barbarians lost An Baogu and lowered their banners, investigating left and right. In the end, they sent Qin He two little snacks.

What about the Flying Fish Guard?

They had no time.

Over these past two or three days, memorials of impeachment had flown onto the imperial desk like snowflakes. Their spearhead seemed aimed at Xu Xianchun, but in truth, it was aimed at Prince Wei, Nine Thousand Years Old Wei Zhongliang.

Wei Zhongliang was frazzled, while Xu Xianchun lived every day in terror.

The Flying Fish Guard wanted revenge?

Rest easy. Revenge for what? Why ask for a bicycle when you had nothing?

After the two sides had fought a clanging, banging battle, both discovered that, damn it, the enemy was not across from them, but beside them.

The Imperial Palace.

Wei Zhongliang sat at the seat of honor as two young eunuchs gently kneaded him. His Lordship Nine Thousand Years Old had a splitting headache.

Below, a hall full of people stood or knelt. His ten most trusted men from the Five Tigers and Five Panthers were all there, whispering among themselves.

Feeling somewhat better, Wei Zhongliang straightened up.

The two young eunuchs hurriedly withdrew with good sense, and the discussion below fell silent as well.

Wei Zhongxian slowly opened his eyes and said, "Enough. It is time to settle on a plan. Tell this one, what should we do?"

Tian Ergeng, the Flying Fish Guard's Southern Commandery Commander, was the first to step forward. He and Xu Xianchun each controlled the Southern and Northern Commanderies, and they had always been close. Now that Xu Xianchun had become the target of public criticism, he naturally had to help. "Eunuch, I say we arrest a few of the ringleaders and throw them into the Imperial Prison. Charge them with colluding to frame us, kill their momentum first. Then we can have our people submit memorials to claim credit against them, muddying the waters."

Wei Zhongliang glared at him. "If it could be handled so simply, would this one still have a headache?"

Arrest people?

Did he not see what time this was?

Those bastards of the Donglin Party were exerting themselves together. The impeachment memorials before His Majesty piled higher than a man, and the dragon visage was displeased. And at a time like this, they would still arrest people?

Would that not plainly show retaliation and a guilty conscience?

This idiot either wanted him dead sooner or was simply an idiot.

Going head-to-head was even less viable.

The Donglin Faction had numbers and influence; there was no chance of winning, and it would look far too deliberate.

Winning or losing was secondary. Imperial Lord's trust was what mattered most.

As long as Imperial Lord still stood behind him, Wei Zhongliang could not be toppled.

Tian Ergeng had thought his many-pronged plan flawless, yet Wei Zhongliang had rejected it in a single breath. His face reddened, and he could only retreat awkwardly to one side.

"Eunuch, in my view, there is only one way now: sacrifice the rook to save the king. Only by retreating once and advancing once can we weather this crisis." At that moment, Cui Chengxiu, Wei Zhongliang's foremost strategist, stepped forward.

When Wei Zhongliang saw Cui Chengxiu step out, his brow eased. But after hearing him out, it furrowed again.

The very reason he had a headache was that he did not want to sacrifice the rook to save the king. Sacrificing the rook was easy; saving the king was not. The Donglin Party's aim at Xu Xianchun was only a probe. Once Xu Xianchun fell, the Donglin Party would certainly press their advantage and tear into him.

Otherwise, what was one Xu Xianchun? He had ten grandsons and forty sons. Anyone could replace him.

"Then tell this one: how exactly do we sacrifice the rook to save the king, retreat once and advance once?" Wei Zhongxian asked, forcing himself to be patient.

Previously, they had found several prisoners to die in their place and fabricated the destruction of a Di Barbarian nest. They had followed Cui Chengxiu's advice then, and only thus recovered some of the situation.

"Eunuch, the Imperial Prison being breached by a fierce Di Barbarian general cannot be argued away. That is also what gives those petty Donglin men the confidence to bite so viciously. What we must do now is stabilize the situation: take the initiative to plead guilty and dismiss Xu Xianchun, leaving those petty Donglin men no room to wag their tongues. That is the retreat. The advance is to petition His Majesty to summon the former Flying Fish Guard Commander, Shen Lian, back to the capital to take charge of the situation," Cui Chengxiu analyzed.

"Shen Lian?" Wei Zhongliang's brows twitched.

"Summon Shen Lian back to the capital?"

"No. If Shen Lian returns to the capital, the Flying Fish Guard will slip out of our control."

"Exactly. Absolutely not."

It was not only Wei Zhongliang who was moved; everyone in the hall changed expression.

Wei Zhongliang was not the Flying Fish Guard Commander. His control over the Flying Fish Guard rested upon the allegiance of the Southern and Northern Commandery Commanders, Xu Xianchun and Tian Ergeng. The Flying Fish Guard's true commander was named Shen Lian.

A year ago, they had joined forces to slander him, and an imperial decree had banished him beyond the frontier.

The position of Flying Fish Guard Commander had in fact remained vacant ever since.

What kind of man was Shen Lian?

He had led the Flying Fish Guard for more than ten years, his strength reaching the peak of internal force. He possessed enormous prestige and command among the Flying Fish Guard. If he returned to the capital, the Flying Fish Guard would change hands.

Even beyond the passes, he could still exert influence over the Flying Fish Guard.

When the Punishment Slave entered the passes last time, it was Shen Lian who had issued the warning.

And since the Punishment Slave entered the passes and had yet to show himself, quite a few people had begun to suspect that Shen Lian had secretly made a move.