The Heavenly Demon Goes to View the Plum Blossoms (11)
A second-class body has countless closed acupoints. For true experts, the various gates they naturally utilize remain sealed, which not only limits how much internal energy one can store but inevitably creates complications when trying to circulate it.
Normally, opening these gates is a process that demands a great deal of time, but that only applies when following the orthodox method.
The internal energy wielded by the Heavenly Demon Divine Art is destructive by nature. This art, which always seems desperate to shatter something around it, influences not only the martial techniques deployed by its user but the user’s internal energy itself.
Many who practiced the Heavenly Demon Divine Art died young because a single mistake allowed their own power to devour them. It is one of the art’s flaws, yet a flaw does not mean it cannot be turned to one’s advantage.
Just as gunpowder can produce countless casualties when mishandled but becomes an excellent tool when used correctly, the destructive nature of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art holds value if one can wield it with precision.
Like right now.
I used the destructive power of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art to smash through the countless walls within this second-class body. I opened a path to the middle dantian for the internal energy that had filled the lower dantian and lost its way. I pierced the blocked meridians so the vast inner energy could flow freely throughout the body.
In short, I had forcibly created a shortcut by exploiting the characteristics of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
However, because this was not the proper method, side effects naturally followed.
Consider this: doors are made to be opened, not shattered. Just as blasting a door with explosives damages the surrounding walls, forcing a breakthrough with this art destroys the meridians. No matter how delicately one manipulates the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, burdening the meridians cannot be avoided.
Therefore, it is a method one should never choose unless they wish to hasten their own early death. But right now, it was acceptable.
The Stalactite Oil is an elixir that can cure even someone on the verge of qi deviation with a single drop. With its medicinal effects still lingering, I could wreck my body as much as I wanted and still recover.
“You’ve gone mad. You are completely out of your mind! To destroy your own meridians with your very own hands!”
The Blood Cult Leader seemed to have realized what I had done the moment he saw me circulating my energy.
“There is no shortage of surprises here. How can someone possessing a mere second-class body circulate their internal energy so exquisitely? And with your meridians shattered, the pain should be enough to kill you—yet how can your expression remain utterly unchanged?!”
“Shut up.”
His eyes are unnecessarily sharp, babbling about things that need not be said. Thanks to him, worry had now clouded Baru’s gaze as she looked at me.
“I’m fine.”
This level of pain was nothing compared to what I had endured in the past. I spoke to reassure her, but her anxious eyes remained unchanged.
That damned Blood Cult Leader is never any help.
“How astonishing! To think a monster like you could appear among the outsiders!”
In that case, let us go silence that noisy mouth of his.
I sheathed my sword and circulated my energy through my body. The damaged meridians had already healed, so there was no hindrance to using my martial arts.
“Just what realm are you looking at?”
Instead of answering, I moved. I stepped through the air to silence my footfalls and leaped forward. The distance between us closed in a single stride. At a range where our breaths could mingle, I met the Blood Cult Leader’s eyes, now dyed crimson.
Yes. I figured someone of your caliber could keep up.
As I thrust my fist, the Blood Cult Leader unfolded a palm technique to receive it. Our actual fist and palm never touched. What collided instead was the condensed energy surrounding our hands.
The dark red inner energy of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art and the white inner energy of the Asura Dual Extremes used by the Blood Cult Leader clashed, each trying to devour the other.
As expected, an early realm is no light thing. To display this much power while borrowing an incomplete jiangshi body—I shall offer you special praise.
But that is all it amounts to.
I added more power to my clenched fist, and the seemingly equal standoff crumbled in an instant. The Blood Cult Leader’s eyes widened as his body flew backward and slammed into a boulder on the rocky mountain.
Cracks spread outward from the point of impact. Soon the rock shattered and collapsed, creating a tomb for the Blood Cult Leader.
“My, my. You really are too harsh.”
A voice drifted from behind me, and I turned my head. The mouth of the jiangshi whose limbs I had severed and left sprawled on the ground was moving.
“It was something I put considerable effort into creating.”
I kicked a pebble off the ground, sent it spinning into the air, then snatched it and smashed the jiangshi’s head apart. The voice immediately leaked out from another location.
“This is too much. It is already heartbreaking that my treasured creation is ruined, yet you refuse to even converse with me.”
When I hurled a stone toward the source of the sound, the Blood Cult Leader shrieked.
“I have something to say, you know?!”
Smashing them one by one would be tiresome. Just as I prepared to scatter my energy and burst every remaining head on the ground, the Blood Cult Leader let out a scream that bordered on a shriek.
“Why do you hate me so much?!”
“What a foolish question. Does one need a reason to hate the Blood Cult?”
“It is related to that beast you keep with you!”
Hmm. I was well aware that I should not play along with what the Blood Cult Leader was saying.
I had already piqued his interest. It was obvious he would become fixated on me. In such a situation, revealing anything that could be seen as a weakness would only lead to predictable consequences.
Even though I knew this, the reason I hesitated for a moment was likely because I was unaccustomed to losing anything of my own.
“Have you finally decided to listen?”
“Speak.”
“Let us play a little game.”
Deciding he still did not know his place, I burst another head. A sigh-laden voice flowed from yet another direction.
“I will speak obediently, so please stop. Transferring my consciousness is quite exhausting, you know.”
“I don’t care.”
“Sigh. Do you know what the formation installed across this entire mountain does?”
“It must be intended to offer every living thing on Mount Hua as a sacrifice.”
The time I had spent roaming about in order to crush the Blood Cult Leader had not been merely a year or two. During that period, I had endured countless hardships at his hands and naturally came to understand that bastard’s nature.
The Blood Cult Leader only offers to pose a problem once every hint has already been provided. In this case, the clues he had given were the divine spirit at the center of the blood formation and the lives sacrificed to it. Extracting the answer from the question was not particularly difficult.
“Correct. How surprising. How did you figure it out?”
“Just say what you have to say.”
“Haha. Very well. No matter what method you used, it appears you are free from the sacrifice. But what about the beast beside you? I shall tell you how that fellow can survive, so…”
“After all that buildup, it was nothing but useless drivel.”
“…Pardon?”
Resisting a life-draining blood art is no easy task. Baru is a divine spirit who can freely wield Taoist magic, so if taught the method she would eventually master it, but she cannot learn it immediately.
But what of it? If Baru cannot protect herself, I simply need to protect her. Previously I had thrown her outside the formation for the sake of efficiency, but if I put in the effort, there is no reason I cannot safeguard her.
“Is that all you had to say?”
“No. One moment.”
I burst the heads of every remaining jiangshi. I waited, wondering if another voice would emerge from somewhere, but nothing came even after a long while.
Is it because he lacks sufficient time? How utterly sloppy. If it were the Blood Cult Leader I knew, he would have predicted even this situation and prepared a way to toy with his opponent.
“Min-ga.”
Just as I was thinking how refreshing it felt now that the Blood Cult Leader had vanished, Baru approached me hesitantly.
“Is it truly acceptable to act this way?”
“What do you mean?”
“Would it not have been better to extract more information?”
Normally that would be correct. The Blood Cult Leader is the head of an organization. If there is information to be gained, one should persistently question him even through torture.
But the Blood Cult Leader is an exception. That fellow will never willingly offer useful information from his own mouth. The only time he proudly blabbers something is when his plan has already reached completion.
Rather than burning with anger while listening to his nonsense, it is far better to shut his mouth.
I was about to explain this when my words caught in my throat. If she asked how I knew so much about the Blood Cult Leader, I would have no proper answer. I could not say I knew because I had confronted him before.
While I pondered how to gloss over the matter, murderous energy began rising across the entire mountain. It seemed the Blood Cult Leader had returned to his main body and activated the blood formation.
Perfect timing. This would allow me to smoothly change the subject.
“What is this?!”
I moved to Baru’s side. She was clutching her staff tightly with both hands in alarm.
“It’s fine. Nothing will happen as long as you stay by my side.”
The principle of this blood art is no different from energy absorption techniques. If absorption arts steal the opponent’s control over their internal energy and claim it as one’s own, the Blood Cult’s art makes the opponent lose control of their life force and seizes it.
Therefore, the countermeasure is the same as resisting energy absorption. One simply needs to avoid losing control.
I spread my energy outward to form a single space. Perhaps because I had opened all my meridians earlier, moving my internal energy felt much easier than before.
I suppressed the murderous energy approaching us with my own and drove it away. The energy did not even dare draw near our surroundings.
While fending off the murderous energy, I raised my head to observe the forest. The energy spreading through the woods was devouring life itself—from the trees, from the birds soaring through the sky, from the beasts racing across the ground.
The sight evoked a gluttonous demon that would not stop until it had consumed every living thing on the mountain.
“…Min-ga. May we go to that cliff over there?”
“Of course.”
I led Baru toward a nearby cliff. Looking down, the murderous energy surged around the mountain as though someone had thrown a spark onto a pile of firewood that was the mountain itself.
“The mountain is collapsing.”
Listening to Baru’s horrified voice, I observed the flow of the energy. It swallowed the surrounding life force and gathered toward a single location—a building belonging to the Mount Hua Sect.
Was he planning to offer the entire mountain’s life to a single martial artist? The target was most likely the Mount Hua Sect Leader.
Hmm. Even at a glance, it was clear the Blood Cult Leader had invested tremendous effort into this. He must have waited for this day throughout all the years he cooperated with Mount Hua.
From the Blood Cult Leader’s perspective, the Mount Hua Sect Leader must be akin to an artwork he had painstakingly crafted. If I were to destroy it, he would be absolutely delighted.
Very well. While finishing the quest, shall I also feed that bastard a bitter taste of defeat?