Chapter 135

“Lingyu, tell your master’s wife the truth, how long have you been practicing the Zixia Divine Skill?”

“It’s just a foundation-building technique. I can master it in three months. I don’t need to practice internal energy cultivation. I can start directly with innate true qi. I only need to guide the qi into my body. The Purple Cloud Divine Art is a qi-guiding technique for me. I have quite a few such techniques, but the Purple Cloud Divine Art is the best among them. It’s the only foundation-building technique that involves innate purple qi.”

Unfortunately, his master used it as an internal energy technique for changing one’s expression, which was a real waste of talent.

I know what you want to ask, Master’s wife. Someone like me can reach the pinnacle in three months. If you don’t have spiritual roots, but know how to refine essence into qi and preserve your primordial yang, you should be able to achieve it in ten years. If you don’t know how to refine essence into qi, but can preserve your primordial yang, and you keep practicing honestly, and your aptitude isn’t too bad, you can accumulate experience and reach the Innate Foundation Establishment stage in about ten years. It’s really not difficult.

The Purple Cloud Divine Skill is indeed powerful. If it weren’t merely a foundation-building technique, not involving cultivation beyond the innate level, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to rank it among the top ten martial arts skills.

Seeing Zhang Weihao’s high regard for the Zixia Divine Skill, Ning Zhongze was clearly feeling better now.

It turns out our Zixia Divine Skill is so powerful, but unfortunately most people have gone down the wrong path. No wonder my father got married so late; there was such a key secret to it.

“I heard from Chihiro that Master cut his own skin, castrated himself to practice swordsmanship, and mastered the Evil-Repelling Sword Manual.”

Ning Zhongze and Yue Lingshan, who were eavesdropping in the shadows, instantly changed their expressions, never expecting their father to do such a thing.

“I actually discovered the secret of combining the Zixia Divine Skill with the Evil-Repelling Sword Manual back then, so I didn’t mention it when my master first asked me. I didn’t expect him to find out too, and actually do such a thing.”

I suspected before that he had already undergone surgery, entered the Lesser Heavenly Cycle, gained the power to fight against those with innate abilities, and then became arrogant, wanting to bully children, fish in troubled waters, and reclaim his position as leader of the Five Mountains Alliance. I didn’t expect I was right. He’s incredibly audacious. He chose this path himself; why should I and the Zhang family bear the consequences? I don’t owe him anything. Ling Shan isn’t a commodity; this isn’t a business transaction.”

Why is this happening? Is there a connection between the two?

“Refining essence into qi is very important for the Zixia Divine Skill, while the Evil-Repelling Sword Manual is a technique for eunuchs. Since eunuchs no longer have that thing, there is naturally no risk of qi leakage. However, it is also very dangerous for too much yang qi to accumulate in the body and not be able to be released. Therefore, the Evil-Repelling True Qi of the Evil-Repelling Sword Manual is actually cultivated through the method of refining essence into qi. Combined with the Zixia Divine Skill, he can directly master the Evil-Repelling Sword Technique. After practicing for a few years, he may not be inferior to Lin Yuantu in the past.”

Although physical defects prevent the body from circulating energy through the body, true innate ability is not solely determined by this. Becoming a master among innate individuals and possessing the strength to fight against a grandmaster of innate abilities is not impossible.

After all, the Evil-Slaying Sword Manual itself is quite powerful; with sufficient resources, it could greatly increase his strength. He got carried away, severely underestimating the terror of a Grandmaster of the Innate Realm, and ultimately courted death.

Yue Buqun wasn’t truly brainless, but rather he had become somewhat arrogant, especially after learning that Zhang Weihai could easily defeat Jiang Yuyan with a single palm strike, which made him think that the Yihua Palace was nothing special.

Before witnessing a Grandmaster of the Innate Realm truly make a move, many people mistakenly believed that a Grandmaster of the Innate Realm was only slightly more powerful than an Innate Grandmaster. They thought that if a group of them attacked together, they could overwhelm an Innate Grandmaster, and that a Grandmaster of the Innate Realm could still be killed even if they suffered greater losses.

The result was completely different; Grandmasters were from a completely different world (similar to the difference between a Grandmaster and a Ninth Rank Upper Master in Joy of Life).

In the world of dragons and snakes, because the energy of heaven and earth is limited, the gap between innate and innate levels is not too large. An innate person can only cultivate to a maximum of 100 on their own. Even if they are not very good at entering the innate level, they will still be at least 80. 80 vs 100, so the gap is naturally not too large.

The Grandmaster at level 100 can borrow the power of heaven and earth, but because the Dragon and Snake World is in the Dharma-ending Age, the available energy of heaven and earth is very limited, almost non-existent. Therefore, the Grandmaster at level 100 is only around level 120. The difference between 80 and 120 is obvious, but not enough to cause despair.

Zhang Weihua was unaware of other worlds, but the energy of heaven and earth in the Mingzong world was at least 1000. Even a grandmaster could only borrow a small portion, around 100, which was 200 to 80. That was a huge difference.

If you only have 100 health points, someone can kill you with a single hit, and it’s not a simple matter of addition and subtraction.

Therefore, in similar worlds, the gap between the realms of innate grandmasters and those below grandmasters is completely widened, almost like a direct break.

Even a Grandmaster of the Innate Realm has difficulty injuring a Grandmaster; it’s not something that can be dealt with simply by numbers.

Well, the eight major sects succeeded once, but it’s hard to say whether Tianfeng Shisilang is a Grandmaster or not. The white-robed man was only confirmed to be a Grandmaster after his third attempt. Who knows about the first two times?

As for Yagyu Ittsuken, he must be a Grandmaster, otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to suffer a mutual defeat with Dugu Can, the leader of the Western Demonic Sect.

Of course, it’s unclear whether this is how it was in the original work or if the Ming Dynasty world has changed.

If the Purple Cloud Divine Skill here is cultivated in the way of internal energy, it is a perfect match with the Evil-Repelling Sword Manual. It saves the need for pills, directly achieving the effects of pills without suffering from the backlash of pill poison. 1+1 can truly be greater than 2. It is definitely at the level of an innate divine skill, only lacking the final part of the cultivation of refining the spirit and transforming the human into a being in the original Sunflower Manual.

The incomplete version mainly lacks the “Refining Spirit” skill; in other words, it can only cultivate innate grandmasters at most, and will not produce true celestial beings.

This is clearly a conspiracy between the imperial court and Shaolin Temple, which has truly harmed generation after generation of outstanding figures. Yue Buqun will not be the first nor the last. So Zhang Weihai gave away a free gift, and now it’s Shaolin Temple and the imperial court’s turn to lose more than they gain.

“So what do we do now?”

“I’ll say it again: Senior Sister, just stay with me. As her mother, you should take charge. Don’t go back for now. Just wait and see. We’ll see in a few months. Maybe Yaoyue will be magnanimous and won’t care. But if Yaoyue really wants to come out of the mountains and head for Mount Hua, then there’s no way around it. I can’t gamble with the Zhang family. If you insist on this, I can only apologize to Senior Sister.”

“No, please don’t. Shan’er has nothing to do with this. It’s us parents who have wronged her.” Ning Zhongze ultimately felt sorry for her daughter and was unwilling to risk her daughter’s lifelong happiness.