Hidden Weapons

His cultivation speed was nearly three and a half levels a year, putting his soul power at the peak of Level 16 or just entering Level 17.

This was Ma Hongjun's achievement over the past year. Compared to Tang San now, it was hard to say who was better.

Speaking of Tang San, he had been living quite comfortably in Heaven Dou City over the past year or so.

Not only did he have an aunt like Tang Yuehua who cared for him, but he had also gained the loyalty of the Strength Clan.

As early as a year ago, when word first spread through Heaven Dou City that the master of Moonlight Pavilion had gained a nephew by her side, Tai Tan, Tang Hao's most loyal follower, immediately came knocking.

As a former vassal of the Clear Sky Sect, the Strength Clan's patriarch Tai Tan knew the sect's internal affairs extremely well.

Tang Yuehua had only two older brothers: Tang Xiao and Tang Hao.

Tang Xiao had neither wife nor children, while Tang Hao was suspected to have a wife.

Thus, in Tai Tan's eyes, the nephew by Tang Yuehua's side had to be his master's son.

After meeting Tang San and confirming it beyond doubt, Tai Tan immediately revered Tang San as the Young Master and practically handed the entire Strength Clan over to him.

As a result, Tailong became Tang San's lackey seven years earlier than in the original story.

The Strength Clan excelled at forging. With their help, Tang San left the forging of hidden weapon components to them and handled the assembly himself.

Thus, his progress with Tang Sect Hidden Weapons was not merely a few streets ahead of the original story.

Moreover, the humiliation Tang San had suffered at the Clear Sky Sect had made him realize the power of the soul master system and the importance of his own strength.

Therefore, Tang San worked far harder on cultivating his soul power than he had in the original story.

Two months ago, Lin Rong had crossed paths with Tang San at an auction in Heaven Dou City.

They said wealth and power could shape a person.

At that auction, Tang San no longer bore the slightest trace of a village child. Instead, he carried himself somewhat like the leader of a major power.

At the time, Lin Rong had used Life Sense to see that Tang San's Soul Power Level was 16.

In his previous life, many people believed Tang San's Innate Full Soul Power had been cultivated through the Mysterious Heaven Skill.

But with the Mysterious Heaven Skill, even if that Innate Full Soul Power had been fake, it would not have made any difference.

With Tang Yuehua's guidance and Tang San's own personality, his First Soul Ring had definitely been around four hundred years old. Therefore, his Soul Power Level after absorbing the soul ring was Level 13, just as in the original story.

By that calculation, Tang San had raised his soul power by three levels in a year and a month, making his cultivation speed nearly half a level slower than Ma Hongjun's.

But Lin Rong knew that this was only temporary.

As the Mysterious Heaven Skill advanced, Tang San would gradually open the Eight Extraordinary Meridians within his body.

Each meridian he opened would increase his cultivation speed by another step.

At that auction, the main items up for sale were Tang Sect Hidden Weapons.

Those immensely powerful hidden weapons, which required virtually no skill to use, naturally caught Ning Fengzhi's attention.

And so, Tang San naturally established a connection with the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.

Likewise, after Ning Fengzhi learned that Tang San was the "inventor" of those hidden weapons, he immediately considered recruiting him.

He had even contemplated marrying Ning Rongrong to Tang San, thereby tying Tang San completely to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's ship.

But soon after, when Ning Fengzhi learned that Tang San was truly Tang Hao's son, the appreciation and desire to recruit him in his eyes instantly turned into a faint, almost imperceptible killing intent.

Yet due to various concerns, and without the connection of Ning Rongrong and Tang San knowing each other, Ning Fengzhi still did not choose to make a move, just as in the original story.

Instead, he struck a deal with Tang San.

Tang San received five million Gold Soul Coins, while Ning Fengzhi received one hundred sets of hidden weapons. Both believed they had profited.

Of them, Tang San had genuinely made a profit.

Though the Strength Clan had a substantial fortune, they also had a large number of clan members to support, while Moonlight Pavilion's income had to supply the Clear Sky Sect's material needs.

As a result, Tang San had not had many Gold Soul Coins at his disposal to begin with.

Of the five million Gold Soul Coins Ning Fengzhi gave Tang San, ninety-nine percent was pure profit. Tang San had made an absolute killing.

In contrast, Ning Fengzhi had suffered a hidden loss.

He had planned to hire skilled craftsmen to dismantle the hidden weapons and then replicate them.

But unfortunately, every hidden weapon sold externally had been fitted with a safeguard by Tang San.

Without the Tang Sect's exclusive dismantling method, anyone attempting to take one apart would trigger the safeguard. All the hidden weapon's critical components would be destroyed, and it could never be reassembled.

Even Divine Craftsman Lou Gao could not dismantle the hidden weapon components intact without the Tang Sect's exclusive dismantling method.

There was even less need to mention anyone else.

So although Ning Fengzhi's plan had been well conceived, he had ultimately underestimated the safeguard methods of the Tang Sect from another world.

In the original story, one could still say that the five million Gold Soul Coins had bought the Aromatic Silk Beauty; whether the replication of the hidden weapons succeeded or failed, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect would still profit handsomely.

But this time, Aromatic Silk Beauty was still growing in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Eye.

Ning Fengzhi had paid five million Gold Soul Coins for those hundred sets of hidden weapons—he had been thoroughly ripped off.

Because of the hidden weapon insurance matter, although Ning Fengzhi could understand it, the killing intent in his heart toward Tang San inevitably grew by several degrees.

Tang Sect Hidden Weapons were divided into mechanism-type hidden weapons and technique-type hidden weapons.

Mechanism-type hidden weapons included Buddha's Fury Tang Lotus, Rain of Pear Blossom Needles, Peacock Plume...

The vast majority of mechanism-type hidden weapons were laced with deadly poison and used by Tang Sect outer disciples. They were things unfit for the grand stage.

Of course, a few mechanism-type hidden weapons such as Buddha's Fury Tang Lotus were exceptions.

Technique-type hidden weapons included Bat Wing Samsara, Bodhi Blood, Guanyin's Tear...

All technique-type hidden weapons required the combined support of multiple Tang Sect supreme arts, such as the Mysterious Heaven Skill and Mysterious Jade Hand, before they could be unleashed.

And Tang Sect supreme arts such as the Mysterious Heaven Skill could only be learned by direct descendants of the Tang Sect inner disciples.

Therefore, technique-type hidden weapons were high-end hidden weapons exclusive to Tang Sect inner disciples.

Among all these Tang Sect Hidden Weapons, Lin Rong could dismiss every other one, but Guanyin's Tear alone filled him with extreme wariness.

After all, in the original work, Guanyin's Tear possessed the power to slay gods.

Fortunately, as the Tang Sect's foremost technique, Guanyin's Tear had extremely harsh requirements for use.

To unleash Guanyin's Tear, every Tang Sect supreme art—such as the Mysterious Heaven Skill, Mysterious Jade Hand, Purple Demon Eye, Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track, and so on—had to be cultivated to its highest realm.

Setting aside the other conditions, Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown, the highest realm of the Mysterious Heaven Skill alone, required Tang San to possess at least Level 95 Soul Power.

Combined with the other demanding conditions, Lin Rong only needed to ensure that Tang San could never fulfill even one of them, and Tang San would never again be able to unleash that Guanyin's Tear said to "never miss."

Although Guanyin Bodhisattva was the embodiment of great mercy and compassion.

As a true Buddha who had seen through the mortal world, how could she shed tears over mortal affairs?

Besides, for a mere mortal to wish to make Guanyin shed tears was utterly disrespectful!

Therefore, things like Guanyin's Tear were better left as nothing more than a Tang Sect legend.

"Sever his hands, gouge out his feet, dig out his eyes... any of these would prevent Tang San from using Guanyin's Tear. Which one would be more merciful?"

"I'll see when the time comes. Whichever one is displeasing to the eye, I'll cripple that one."

Many people had speculated that, as an orthodox Daoist cultivation method, the Mysterious Heaven Skill should not have appeared in a sect like the Tang Sect.

It made sense logically, and Lin Rong thought so too.

But the strange thing was that technique-type hidden weapons, the core inheritance of the Tang Sect, all required the Mysterious Heaven Skill's internal energy to be unleashed.

Perhaps the Tang Sect originally had only technique-type hidden weapons, while mechanism-type hidden weapons were developed later.

After all, although technique-type hidden weapons bore the name "hidden weapons," their essence was closer to highly sophisticated martial arts techniques like "Shifting Flowers and Grafting Jade" or "Divine Flick of the Finger."