"Released him?" The old man set down the dossier in his hand.
"That was what Gu Yuanqing said. Void Form is at the ninth layer of True Martial, and most of his cultivation lies in his Lightness and Concealment Arts. Had you not mentioned it, Senior, we would never have known he had slipped into North Spring Mountain. If Gu Yuanqing really let him go, we would have no way to tell whether he had left. However, when I was outside Gu Yuanqing's Courtyard just now, I indeed sensed no one inside his room."
The old man stepped outside the tent and looked toward North Spring Mountain, then closed his eyes. A moment later, he frowned. "There are indeed only three people on the mountain. If he had killed Void Form, he would have had no reason to conceal it. It seems he really did let him go."
"May I ask why you wished to see Void Form, Senior?" Yuan Yingsong asked curiously.
"Merely to ask him a few questions. Yingsong, send word to the Heavenly Policy Mansion for me and have them issue a wanted notice. Say that Void Form trespassed on forbidden ground, and have him apprehended as soon as possible!"
"Remember, I want him alive!"
"Understood, Senior. I will send word to the Heavenly Policy Mansion at once."
The old man nodded slightly, his gaze returning to North Spring Mountain. I was still a step too late. The day before yesterday, I never imagined that incomplete scripture had fallen into Void Form's hands.
But has that scripture fallen into Gu Yuanqing's hands as well?
And another thing—who exactly is the powerful expert on North Spring Mountain? Where is he hiding?
From what I sensed, the aura Gu Yuanqing revealed while cultivating was clearly only at the true martial realm, and his Sword Intent has yet to reach full mastery.
At the summit, Gu Yuanqing frowned in the midst of his cultivation. Just now, he had once again felt a faint sense of being watched. Yet he was in the Courtyard now; no matter which mountain opposite him someone stood on, they should not have been able to see him.
"Am I imagining things?"
He could not be certain. He closed his eyes and used Mountain Observation, but found no trace of anyone else on North Spring Mountain.
"Could it be... a Grandmaster has arrived?"
Once that thought emerged, he could no longer suppress it. The more he learned about cultivation, the better he understood the allure that Beyond Grandmaster held for Grandmasters.
Especially those nearing their lifespan limit, as Prince Qing had said—they would not let even the slimmest chance slip by.
Rumors of someone Beyond Grandmaster on North Spring Mountain had circulated for a long time. Now that the rumor had been released as fact, how could it fail to draw their prying eyes?
A sense of urgency welled up within him.
Grandmasters were the crown of martial arts cultivation, beings who transcended the mundane and possessed power ordinary people could scarcely comprehend.
He had never fought a Grandmaster. He could not even be entirely certain whether the power of North Spring Mountain could seal a Grandmaster's power.
Even if it could, he could not completely seal the true qi of someone at merely the profound martial ninth layer. How effective would it be against a Grandmaster?
Moreover, the books said that Grandmasters had shed their mortal flesh. Their physical strength alone was formidable beyond measure and could not be underestimated!
After a long while, Gu Yuanqing drew a deep breath and composed himself. Fretting like a man afraid the sky would fall was useless; strengthening himself was what truly mattered.
He closed his eyes again and entered the Spiritual Mountain Trial.
A few days earlier, he had defeated Kong Shengbing, the North Spring Sword Sect Leader. He had assumed that his next opponent would be a Grandmaster, giving him a chance to probe the depths of a Grandmaster's strength. Who would have thought the next enemy would merely be an ordinary practitioner at the profound martial ninth layer?
Today, he had even encountered Void Form.
Only when he actually fought Void Form did Gu Yuanqing realize how troublesome he was.
His movement was too fast. He could rightly be called the number one person in lightness arts among everyone Gu Yuanqing had encountered. Even with the Great Yi Illusionary Sky Steps, Gu Yuanqing could not keep up. After all, the two movement techniques emphasized different things.
The Illusionary Sky Steps featured uncanny footwork and concealed methods of exerting force. Its explosive speed over short distances was unrivaled.
The Vast Void Horizontal Technique, however, could be summed up in one word: fast. Combined with the Vast Void Breath Concealment Technique and his Profound Martial Wonderland, it made Void Form move like a phantom. Sometimes, even while Gu Yuanqing kept his eyes fixed on him, he inexplicably lost track of him.
At the same time, his hidden weapon skills were all but impossible to guard against. Ordinary protective true qi could not stop those fine needles at all, and the Spiritual Mountain Trial had even brought in the poison on his hidden weapons.
Gu Yuanqing had neither Object Control nor Mountain Observation here. One careless moment saw him struck by a needle, and within a single breath, he lost all sensation throughout his body.
"No wonder he ranked in the top ten of the Black List despite only being at the profound martial ninth layer, short of its peak!"
Gu Yuanqing did not rush back in. He sat cross-legged on the green stone, activated Qi-Drawing, and tempered the remaining acupoints required for the Vast Void Horizontal Technique.
This movement technique required twenty-six acupoints. Apart from the six main acupoints, the other twenty were hidden acupoints on the minor branches of the meridians. Twelve of them differed from those used by the techniques Gu Yuanqing had previously cultivated.
He had tempered five in his spare time yesterday. Seven remained, mostly distributed across his legs.
The benefits of having spiritual qi pooled around him became apparent now. Ordinary people would need countless hours of effort and medicinal herbs to temper these acupoints, yet Gu Yuanqing finished tempering all seven in just two hours.
As he activated the cultivation method, a technique path independent of the Heavenly Dao Zen Heart Art opened up.
He rose and practiced the Vast Void Horizontal Technique in the Courtyard for a while before entering the Spiritual Mountain Trial again.
With experience under his belt, Void Form was no longer so difficult to deal with.
Several times, Gu Yuanqing could have killed him, but deliberately avoided his vital points. Killing him would mean losing this sparring partner to another opponent.
Gu Yuanqing changed his strategy, using Void Form as an opponent to practice the Vast Void Horizontal Technique.
Empowered by his peerless comprehension, his mastery of the Vast Void Horizontal Technique improved rapidly in battle.
The only problem was that this technique and the Heavenly Dao Zen Heart Art remained as sharply divided as two distinct rivers. Running both required Divided Attention, preventing him from controlling it as effortlessly as Void Form did.
Against ordinary people, that naturally posed no problem. Against true experts, however, it was a weakness.
"It seems I still need to put some work into incorporating this technique into the Heavenly Dao Zen Heart Art. Preserving its unique qualities while blending it seamlessly with my own cultivation method will be no simple matter."
After fighting Void Form for a long time, Gu Yuanqing felt he had learned nearly everything he could. Seizing an opening, he abruptly unleashed the Great Yi Illusionary Sky Steps and drove his sword into Void Form's heart.
Void Form's figure dissolved, and the next opponent slowly appeared.
Suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind.
Only my spiritual consciousness enters the Spiritual Mountain Trial, yet circulating techniques here feels no different from doing so outside.
Every time I come in, all I think about is fighting opponents, honing my combat instincts, and gaining battle experience. But what if I simulated and worked out cultivation methods in here?
Outside, even with my peerless comprehension, the cultivation methods I devise will inevitably contain errors. One careless mistake could leave me injured.
Even with Spiritual Qi pooled around me, allowing ordinary injuries to heal quickly, the risks are still considerable! I could suffer cultivation deviation and destroy my foundations entirely!
But in the Spiritual Mountain Trial space, even dying has no real consequences. Surely testing cultivation methods should be no problem either?
At the thought, Gu Yuanqing grew excited.
"I really let a single leaf blind me to the whole forest! I've been using the Spiritual Mountain Trial for so long, yet this never occurred to me!"
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