Late autumn, September, on the Luo River.
Sailboats followed one after another across the rolling waters. Some belonged to merchant caravans; others carried martial artists crossing the river on their travels. But every ferry bustled with lively chatter, voices talking over one another everywhere:
"This business with the Great White Upper Kingdom's treasure coming to light certainly caused a stir."
"You can say that again. I heard experts from all the major martial sects gathered there, only for the imperial army to catch them all in one net. What a shocking sight that must have been!"
"Plenty of those martial artists call themselves righteous disciples of respected sects, but behind closed doors, they rob homes and waylay travelers. We've lost so much cargo over the years-which time wasn't their doing? Righteous sects? Pah! Good riddance to those the court killed!"
"I heard the court sent men from the West Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard this time. Their leader was apparently the West Depot's overseer. What was his name... Yu Huatian?"
"That's right, Yu Huatian!"
"That Eunuch Yu really is something. They say even the army at Dragon Gate Pass mobilized a couple of days ago and brought back heaps of gold from the desert. Looks like the Great White Upper Kingdom's treasure really did exist."
"So what if it did? Once that gold comes back, it'll end up in the hands of corrupt officials anyway. Who actually does anything for ordinary people?"
"But I heard Yu Huatian, the chief eunuch of the West Depot, is different from other officials..."
"Different how? Snakes and rats share the same nest. Besides, he belongs to the eunuch faction. We hate them, and those officials hate them even more."
"True enough. If he weren't rotten, why would so many people despise him..."
"Shh... Watch your tongue! A fleet's coming. Judging by the banners, those look like West Depot men!"
"Ah... They really are! Clear the way! Keep your distance!"
As a magnificent fleet approached, the noisy chatter on the water abruptly ceased. Ferries blocking its path scattered to either side, as though they had encountered a plague god.
The reason was simple: every sail in that fleet flew the West Depot's distinctive dragon-and-python banner, marking them as the emperor's personal troops.
This was an imperial institution that inspired even greater awe and fear than the army!
Splash, splash-
Under the many awed gazes around them, the fleet sailed slowly across the water.
Six smaller sailboats guarded a large ship in their midst. Their hulls sat deep in the water, clearly laden with heavy cargo.
Every sailboat was packed with members of the Embroidered Uniform Guard clad in Flying Fish Uniforms, Embroidery Spring Sabers at their waists. Their eyes were sharp, their right hands resting on their sword hilts, ready to draw at any moment. Security was exceptionally tight.
Several West Depot agents were stationed among the squads of guards, supervising and patrolling.
On the large ship in the center, meanwhile, every man was a West Depot expert. Armed with sabers and swords, they encircled the entire cabin in layer upon layer, leaving not a single gap. Anyone entering had to undergo strict inspection.
The entrance to the main cabin was personally guarded by First Division Chief Ma Jinliang and Second Division Chief Ding Xiu. One carried twin swords on his back, a bronze beast mask covering his face, his icy-white, ghostly eyes inspiring dread; the other stood tall, his gaze calm, both hands resting on his slender Miao Saber, his bearing imposing.
Yan Shisan sat on the wooden steps outside the entrance, carefully wiping his dark blue-black longsword. He seemed calm, but his mind remained intensely focused. From time to time, he glanced up at the cabin behind him, watching for any unknown person approaching.
The ship was silent. Everyone diligently fulfilled his duties, while also avoiding any excessive noise that might disturb the figure lying inside the cabin-
Threads of sunlight shone through gaps in the window. Dressed in white underclothes, Yu Huatian lay quietly on the bed, his eyes closed. His handsome face was peaceful, though a trace of weakness and exhaustion lingered between his brows.
The final battle at Blackwater City had, after all, been a direct confrontation with a Great Grandmaster. And Li Qiushui came from the Great Song Dynasty's Carefree Sect. Together with Wu Yazi and the Heavenly Mountain Child Grandmother, she was known as one of the "Three Elders of Carefree." Her lineage was orthodox, and she was far beyond any ordinary Great Grandmaster.
That Yu Huatian had managed to drive Li Qiushui away with a surprise attack using the Fourteenth Sword and the Innate Body-Piercing Formless Sword Qi could truly be called a blessing amid misfortune.
"Splash, splash..."
The sound of water stirred by the advancing ship made the cabin feel especially tranquil. The bed curtains swayed gently in the breeze.
Yu Huatian had fallen into a deep sleep, free of pressure or dreams, simply allowing his body to repair the injuries from the battle under the effects of the Great Restoration Pill.
Even when unconscious, a person could vaguely sense whether the world outside was dangerous.
Yu Huatian was probably in just such a state.
They had now returned to Ming territory. With the West Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard providing tight protection, no one foolish enough to invite trouble was likely to approach. Besides, Yu Huatian had not slept so comfortably in a long time, ever since transmigrating into this world. He had therefore originally expected to remain unconscious until they returned to the capital.
But perhaps the Great Restoration Pill's effects were simply too heaven-defying, or perhaps his injuries had not been as severe as he had imagined.
As a warm current swept through his dantian, Yu Huatian suddenly opened his eyes. Before he could even determine where he was, he instinctively examined his condition, then froze slightly:
"I'm healed?"
Yu Huatian could scarcely believe it.
Although he had ultimately frightened Li Qiushui into retreating during their battle, he had paid an enormous price.
While defending with the Seventy-Two Sword Forms, Li Qiushui's formidable Great Grandmaster-level true qi had shaken his internal organs out of place and badly damaged his meridians. Then, after unleashing his final move, the Innate Body-Piercing Formless Sword Qi, every last trace of true qi in his body had been drained. He had not even had the strength to speak, merely holding on until Li Qiushui left before finally losing consciousness.
Precisely because he knew how terrible his condition had been and feared lasting damage, he had forced himself to retrieve and swallow the Great Restoration Pill from the system space before his final shred of consciousness faded, rather than choosing a Lesser Restoration Pill.
Now it seemed the Great Restoration Pill truly deserved its reputation as a sacred healing medicine in so many martial arts novels. Its efficacy lived up to its name.
After examining himself, Yu Huatian could clearly sense that his damaged organs and meridians had completely recovered. Even the less obvious hidden ailments that had previously accumulated in his body had vanished entirely.
Moreover, whether it was his imagination or not, Yu Huatian felt that his Sunflower True Energy had also improved. His lower dantian and the meridians through which his true qi circulated had widened somewhat. But because the battle had consumed so much, his true qi was still depleted, with little stored in his dantian, so he could not yet tell how much difference it made.
Now that his injuries had healed, he only needed to slowly cultivate and replenish his true qi until it filled his dantian. Then he would be able to see exactly how much his internal power had increased.
Still, although my internal power has increased somewhat, my cultivation realm shows no sign of budging. It seems my earlier guess was right. Simply increasing my internal power probably won't let me break through to the Great Grandmaster Realm...
Yu Huatian pondered.
A martial artist's cultivation really came down to two things: martial technique and internal power.
The Seventy-Two Sword Forms, Thirteen Life-Taking Swords, Innate Body-Piercing Formless Sword Qi, and the other arts he currently practiced all fell under "martial technique."
Martial technique was the most direct expression of a martial artist's fighting strength.
At the same cultivation realm, an exquisite martial art could certainly enhance one's combat strength enormously.
But internal power was equally important!
As the saying went, "Practice martial techniques without cultivating internal power, and in the end, all comes to nothing."
Quite apart from the many martial arts that required profound internal power to unleash their full might, someone with deep internal power would live considerably longer than an ordinary martial artist.
Furthermore, it was said that at sufficiently lofty heights of martial cultivation, a casual strike could shatter the void. At that point, there would be little need to rely on "martial technique" to improve one's fighting strength. If every casual blow carried hundreds or thousands of years of internal power, how could an enemy possibly withstand it?
Thus, after reaching peak Grandmaster through the Sunflower Manual, Yu Huatian had already begun considering how to break through to Great Grandmaster.
He simply had not found any promising ideas.
But after exchanging blows with Li Qiushui in the battle at Blackwater City, some vague conjectures had formed in Yu Huatian's mind.
A Great Grandmaster's true qi seemed to be on an entirely different level from a Grandmaster's.
The difference was not merely one of quantity, but even more one of quality.
For example, the Sunflower True Energy cultivated through the Sunflower Manual was far superior in quality to the internal energy cultivated by ordinary martial artists.
Yet a Great Grandmaster's true qi was far more powerful even than Sunflower True Energy. Otherwise, during their earlier battle, when Yu Huatian had clearly blocked every one of Li Qiushui's attacks with the Seventy-Two Sword Forms, why had her true qi still inflicted internal injuries on him?
That was the difference in the quality and quantity of true qi.
In other words, simply increasing the amount of true qi would not work if he wanted to break through to Great Grandmaster.
Moreover, a Grandmaster's dantian had an upper limit to its storage capacity. No matter how much he increased his true qi, it would eventually fill up, leaving no room for further improvement.
Therefore, to break through to Great Grandmaster, he needed to find a way to improve the "quality" of his true qi.
But just how the "quality" of a Great Grandmaster's true qi differed from a Grandmaster's, and how to improve that "quality," were questions Yu Huatian could not answer at present.
Figuring it out slowly on my own would take too long. The best method would be to seek guidance directly from a Great Grandmaster, or fight Great Grandmasters more often and gain experience from those encounters.
But with my current strength, the route of fighting Great Grandmasters for experience probably isn't viable yet. After all, I don't have that many Great Restoration Pills to save my life...
Then only the first option remains...
But here in Ming, most known Great Grandmasters are like divine dragons-one glimpses their heads but never their tails. They're rarely seen.
And the top martial artists known throughout the martial world are mostly only Grandmasters or peak Grandmasters... Still, after so many years, surely some have secretly broken through to Great Grandmaster without anyone knowing?
Yu Huatian concentrated on his thoughts.
The waters of the martial world ran deep. Some people might have secretly broken through to Great Grandmaster long ago, but that did not mean they had to trumpet it or reveal it to outsiders.
Those who roamed the martial world tended to prefer playing the pig to devour the tiger...
Yu Huatian had several candidates in mind-
The first was the Iron-Gall Marquis Zhu Wushi of Dragon Guard Mountain Villa.
He had already been a Grandmaster twenty years ago. To obtain the woman he loved, Su Xin, he had even laid a trap during the battle at Tai Lake, killing 108 experts from eight major sects and draining all their internal energy.
With all these years spent lying low since then, no one knew how many more martial experts he had secretly drained.
Although the strength he displayed publicly remained at peak Grandmaster, Yu Huatian suspected that he had long since secretly broken through to Great Grandmaster.
But he and Zhu Wushi were already at odds. Moreover, now that he commanded the West Depot and intended to contest Zhu Wushi's authority, a man as ambitious as Zhu Wushi had probably long regarded him as a thorn in his eye.
Under those circumstances, asking him for guidance on breaking through to Great Grandmaster was probably impossible.
Besides, Yu Huatian could not swallow his pride enough to do it.
Rather than seeking guidance from him, he would be better off visiting Gu Santong in the Heavenly Prison.
But Yu Huatian did not know whether Gu Santong had broken through to Great Grandmaster by now, or even whether he was still alive. And given Gu Santong's temperament, the chances of success might not be very high either.
The second was Shangguan Jinhong, leader of the Money Gang.
He had already dominated the martial world twenty years ago. Who knew how many martial experts had lost their lives to his Mother-and-Child Dragon-Phoenix Rings? He had attained the realm of "no rings in his hands, yet rings in his heart." For twenty years, no one had seen him unleash his twin rings.
Yet the Money Gang he had founded had swept across the martial world for years, and no one dared provoke it. "When money hits the ground, your head is no longer safe"-its renown rivaled that of Great Song's Beggar Gang and the Power Gang.
Without overwhelming martial strength to suppress them, how could the major sects have tolerated the Money Gang's arrogance?
Thus, Shangguan Jinhong's strength must already have surpassed the Grandmaster level.
But during this desert campaign, Yu Huatian had just killed so many members of the Money Gang. Even Jing Wuming, the foremost expert under Shangguan Jinhong's command, had died at his hands. He and the Money Gang could be said to have forged a blood feud that would end only in death.
Under such circumstances, seeking guidance from Shangguan Jinhong was certainly unrealistic.
As for other supreme powers such as the Shaolin Sect, Wudang Sect, Snowmoon City, and Amity Flower Palace, their ancient legacies meant they probably also had Great Grandmasters overseeing them. But obtaining an audience would likely be as difficult as ascending to heaven...
Right! The Wudang Sect might offer a chance...
Suddenly, Yu Huatian's gaze sharpened.
Wudang's Zhang Sanfeng was now a hundred years old and enjoyed immense prestige in the martial world. Although he rarely acted, leaving outsiders ignorant of his strength, the fact that Wudang had stood unchallenged in the martial world for so long made it clear that the sect was anything but simple.
That leader of Ming's Taoist community had to be a Great Grandmaster!
But he seemed to have killed quite a few Wudang disciples this time as well. Zhang Sanfeng's granddisciple Zhang Wuji had also fled after being gravely wounded by him. Seeking guidance from Zhang Sanfeng would probably not be easy.
Still, it was not entirely without hope...
Yu Daiyan, the third of Wudang's heroes, had been crippled by a monk from the Western Regions using Diamond Finger Force during an upheaval many years ago. Even now, he remained disabled and had yet to recover.
And he happened to possess a portion of the sacred healing medicine capable of mending bones and reconnecting meridians-the Black Jade Intermittent Ointment...
At that thought, Yu Huatian's eyes flashed, and he quickly made his decision: Once I return to the capital, I'll make time for a trip to the Wudang Sect!
The more he encountered, the stronger his enemies became. This desert journey, for instance, had drawn not only numerous Grandmasters, but even Li Qiushui of the Three Elders of Carefree.
If he had not previously drawn several supreme arts, possessed considerable martial attainments, and had a Great Restoration Pill to heal his injuries, then even if he had survived this time, he would probably have suffered lasting damage.
Therefore, he had to find a way to break through to Great Grandmaster and improve his strength as soon as possible!
With a plan in mind, Yu Huatian set those thoughts aside for the moment and opened the system interface to take stock of his gains.
On his personal status panel, his plundered fate points had impressively broken into six figures once again-
Host: Yu Huatian Realm: Peak Grandmaster Martial arts: Boy Skill (perfection), Sunflower Manual (perfection), Thirteen Life-Taking Swords (Fourteenth Sword), Innate Body-Piercing Formless Sword Qi (perfection), Star-Absorbing Great Method (perfection), Dragon-Capturing Skill (perfection) Plundered fate: 117698
Nearly 120,000 fate points!
In other words, the final battle at Blackwater City alone had earned him 110,000 fate points.
Although it could not compare with the previous battle on that rainy night at Dragon Gate Inn, it was still a considerable amount.
At the very least, it was enough for one gold-tier reward draw.
Without hesitation, Yu Huatian issued the command in his mind: System, perform one gold-tier draw.
One hundred thousand fate points were deducted, and the system's voice rang out:
[Ding!] [Congratulations, host. You have obtained the martial art: Indestructible Golden Body.]
"Indestructible Golden Body?"
Yu Huatian's eyes lit up.
The signature art of Jue Wushen, master of the Absolute Godless Palace in Japan, from Wind and Cloud?
-
A two-in-one chapter. The recommendation slot has ended. If I don't get another one, paid chapters will probably begin in the next few days. I'm already building up a stockpile, so don't worry, everyone.
(End of chapter)
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