Leaving aside Old Yue's plans to obtain the Sunflower Manual and practice it, Tian Hao ran straight back to his cave with the manuscripts.
This cave belonged to him alone. A courtyard lay outside, backed by a rock face, while inside were a specially built furnace, a bedroom, a bathroom, and other amenities-even a porcelain toilet he had fired himself.
As a modern man, he would have found life truly uncomfortable without these things.
He showered first, then sat cross-legged on his bed and summoned the Heaven-Defying Mirror with a thought.
Ning Zhongze Spirit: 16 Qi: 12 Essence: 6 Destiny: -65
When he had carried Yue Lingshan over earlier, he had taken the opportunity to touch his master's wife Ning Zhongze's palm. Sure enough, she could trigger the Heaven-Defying Mirror too.
Her destiny attribute was likewise negative, with an even greater magnitude than Yue Lingshan's. Clearly, the destiny attribute was the key to triggering the Heaven-Defying Mirror.
"Her attributes are about the same as Little Senior Sister's, but how am I supposed to maintain skin contact with Master's wife for a long time?"
Tian Hao pondered this problem. He very much wanted to repeat his old trick, knock his master's wife unconscious, and download at his leisure, but after comparing their strengths, he decisively abandoned the idea.
"I need a good plan. Otherwise, once she finds out, Old Yue won't even need to act. She'll castrate me herself.
"Hmm? Then I could go straight off and practice the Evil-Warding Sword Art... No, losing a body part could very well affect my future cultivation. The loss would outweigh the gain."
After thinking for a good while without finding a solution, Tian Hao simply stopped wasting his already scarce brain cells and took out the martial manuals he had obtained from Old Yue.
He set the Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt aside for now and read the Eagle Claw Stele-Smashing Hand first.
He had wanted to create a hammer technique for forging iron, which required a martial art that turned an opponent's force against them as its foundation. He had therefore asked his master to look for one during his travels.
The Eagle Claw Stele-Smashing Hand was precisely such an external martial art, its core principle being to deflect a thousand pounds with four ounces.
Though nothing special in Jianghu, it was a purely external art that could be used without internal cultivation. For someone like him, who had yet to cultivate internal energy, it could not have been more suitable.
The Eagle Claw Stele-Smashing Hand was also a martial training method, one of the three modes of external cultivation. With the Embrace Origin Force for gentle training, the Eagle Claw Stele-Smashing Hand for martial training, and the Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt for hardening training, he now had all three. Moreover, they could complement one another and multiply their power.
Clearly, his master's wife had put considerable thought into finding this martial art for him.
Most of the night passed like that. Tian Hao only dozed briefly before dawn, then rose early to practice his boxing.
His primary art, the Embrace Origin Force, was a purely external martial art. Although reaching full mastery would allow him to develop internal energy from the outside inward, combining internal energy with internal force to multiply its power, that was merely a supplementary benefit.
As an external art, it naturally could not be cultivated through seated meditation. He had to pair it with external techniques to put his muscles and bones through their paces.
Most importantly, he had to use the condensed Embracing the Origin Inner Force to scour his muscles, bones, skin, and membranes, gradually stimulating and strengthening them. The internal force of external arts resembled the various forces described in Chinese martial arts novels.
The Embrace Origin Force had a matching boxing routine. In fact, it could be called a boxing art in its own right, one that used its movements to condense internal force.
Internal force was the very essence of external martial arts. Its existence was what allowed certain external martial arts experts to contend with internal martial arts experts.
As he practiced his boxing and felt the Embracing the Origin Inner Force repeatedly washing through his muscles and bones, the delight on Tian Hao's face grew ever stronger.
His guess had been right. The Heaven-Defying Mirror could stack other women's innate attributes onto his own. This cheat was incredibly powerful.
Aptitude mattered most in martial cultivation. With good aptitude, one could reap twice the results with half the effort.
According to his conjecture, an ordinary person's innate attributes generally stood at one. Innate spirit and essence would remain unchanged, but innate qi would steadily diminish with age. It was a nonrenewable resource.
That was why the younger one began cultivating internal arts, the better.
Moreover, once a person developed internal energy, they could lock in their innate qi and prevent further depletion. Innate qi could also assist in cultivating internal energy.
When he was one year old, his innate qi had still been 2.5. By fifteen, it had dropped to 0.1. That seemed to be the minimum; over the past three years, it had neither fallen nor risen.
That was also why Old Yue had taught him the external martial art Embrace Origin Force rather than the Mount Hua Heart Method.
Compared with his already ruined innate qi, his innate essence was fairly decent, at two and a half times that of an ordinary person.
In other words, his overall efficiency in cultivating external arts would be two and a half times that of an ordinary person.
Now, with Yue Lingshan's eight points of innate essence stacked onto his own, his cultivation efficiency had surged severalfold.
It was a change he could distinctly feel. Nor was innate essence the only attribute that affected external cultivation; the other two innate attributes could influence it as well.
"Condensing the Embracing the Origin Inner Force seems easier now. Is that the effect of the added innate spirit attribute?"
After completing one round of the Embrace Origin Force Fist Technique, Tian Hao fell into thought. He could clearly feel that condensing and controlling the Embracing the Origin Inner Force had become much easier.
The human body possessed three treasures: essence, qi, and spirit. Spirit was the most mysterious, somewhat resembling the mental power, will, and similar abilities found in novels. Strengthening it could bring many benefits.
Improved memory, for instance. Last night, he had memorized both manuals in full. Though he could not claim to remember everything at a glance, reading them a few times had allowed him to recall every word without error.
"Junior Brother Hao, come have breakfast! Big meat buns, fresh from the steamer."
Just then, a middle-aged man arrived carrying a basket. After calling out to Tian Hao, he sat beneath a tree and began munching on a large meat bun.
"Second Senior Brother, why are you so late today?"
Tian Hao walked over and sat down without ceremony, taking a large meat bun from the basket and biting into it as he asked curiously.
Lao Denuo had not amounted to much in the original story, but he got along well with Tian Hao. He had also practiced an external martial art before and had given Tian Hao plenty of guidance in cultivating the Embrace Origin Force.
Usually, Lao Denuo brought breakfast over at the crack of dawn and practiced external boxing with him to hone their strength. Today, however, he was two hours late.
"Don't even mention it. Master went into seclusion today, and Master's wife has to look after Little Junior Sister, who's caught a cold. Eldest Senior Brother still hasn't returned from escorting the tutor out, so supervising our junior brothers and sisters' practice fell to me.
"Those boys are mischievous as anything, and the girls only care about dressing up. None of them take cultivation seriously.
"Heaven really is unfair. They have excellent aptitude but don't treasure it. You're the hardest worker, Junior Brother Hao, yet you lack the aptitude. Ah!"
Lao Denuo ended with a sigh, feeling quite sorry for Tian Hao.
He was fond of Tian Hao and had witnessed firsthand how desperately he had trained over the past three years. Unfortunately, the results had been meager. It had taken him three years just to reach the Entry-Level Realm in the Embrace Origin Force and condense the Embracing the Origin Inner Force.
He knew a little about the Embrace Origin Force. It was an external martial art that was difficult to learn and harder still to master, growing increasingly demanding as one progressed. It placed extremely high demands on both physical aptitude and comprehension.
With Tian Hao's aptitude, he would have to burn plenty of incense in thanks if he managed to reach full mastery within his lifetime.
"Do they all think Jianghu is a game of playing house? Sooner or later, they'll regret it."
Tian Hao sneered. He had little faith in those senior brothers and sisters of his.
Fighting and killing were the norm in Jianghu. Without sufficient strength, one's end would be miserable. This was especially true in the already dark world of The Smiling, Proud Wanderer. If they lacked strength, they might die without even knowing how it happened.
"Those aren't things for us to worry about. Master and Master's wife must have plans, and Eldest Senior Brother will be there to shoulder things in the future!"
Lao Denuo did not concern himself with such matters. He was only the second senior disciple, after all. As a disciple who had joined with prior martial training, he was certainly out of the running for the future sect leadership. Besides, he would not be staying in the Mount Hua Sect forever.
Soon. Just a few more years!
"With Eldest Senior Brother's devil-may-care attitude, do you think he can shoulder the responsibility of being sect leader?"
Still sneering, Tian Hao had little faith in their eldest senior brother, Linghu Chong. Perhaps he could make a good friend, but the man lacked a sense of responsibility. Viewed from the standpoint of the Mount Hua Sect and Old Yue in the original story, he was an utterly ungrateful wolf who had dragged the sect into one disaster after another.
Let that fellow become the Mount Hua Sect's leader, and the sect would surely be finished.
Since Tian Hao had joined the Mount Hua Sect, he naturally could not let that ungrateful wolf destroy it.
Otherwise, without the Mount Hua Sect's protection, revenge would be the least of his worries. Merely surviving in this dark Jianghu would be difficult.
Thus, Linghu Chong was his enemy-or at least a potential enemy.
"Junior Brother Hao, mind your words. Don't forget our sect's fourth prohibition: jealousy toward fellow disciples."
Lao Denuo's expression changed. He glanced around and, only after confirming no one else was nearby, warned him in a low voice.
"Is he even worthy of my jealousy?"
Casting him a sidelong glance, Tian Hao picked up another large meat bun and spoke worriedly between bites. "Last month, Master said the Demon Cult had been making quite a few moves in secret lately. I reckon a war between the orthodox and demonic factions isn't far off."
Old Yue had told him that personally and warned him not to leave the Mount Hua Sect. Even Mount Hua Territory was no longer entirely safe, and members of the Sun-Moon Demon Cult had appeared in Guanzhong as well.
A storm was coming!
Lao Denuo fell silent. He had heard some rumors too. Although he had not participated in the war between the orthodox and demonic factions ten years ago, he had heard of it. Blood had flowed in rivers, and the casualties had been countless.
If another such war broke out, with the Mount Hua Sect in its current state, a single charge from the Sun-Moon Demon Cult would be enough to flatten it.
Even being an undercover agent here gave him no peace!
Before you continue