Tome of Troubled Times

Chapter 34: Profound Mysteries

The night was freezing.

After soaking in the medicinal bath, Zhao Changhe stood behind the building and looked at the sky.

The moon could not be seen tonight. The clouds had become thicker and thicker and tiny snowflakes had gently begun to fall. He could tell that there would be heavy snow tonight.

He realized that he had gotten used to this world despite only being here for less than two months... He was used to not having heating in his wooden hut; he was used to telling the time and predicting weather from looking at the sky; he was used to training; and he was used to the antiquated way of speaking together with the rules of the demonic dao.

He was used to the strange “server-wide announcement” that would appear in the sky.

The real world appeared less and less frequently in his mind. It was now difficult for Zhao Changhe to know whether he was so obsessed with cultivation because he wanted to go back, or because he wanted to make a name for himself in these troubled times.

Anyway, what occupied most of his brain power was cultivation and Luo Qi. Yue Hongling also flashed through his mind occasionally.

If it was not for the fact that his first experience with the jianghu was with Yue Hongling...Zhao Changhe wondered if he would have turned into a true-blue bandit. Yet, because he had met her, Zhao Changhe kept restraining his growing bandit-like tendencies. He did not want to abandon the rest of his conscience.

Otherwise, the next time they met in the jianghu...not only would he not know what to call her, their meeting would not be as calm as before.

Or perhaps we’ll have nothing to do with each other...

Zhao Changhe did not want to ruin the beauty of the jianghu in his dreams with his own hands... Yue Hongling was the jianghu heroine ideal he had in his heart since he was a child, and she had actually appeared before him.

Twang!

Zhao Changhe took out his newly-won steel saber.

Now that his medicinal bath was over, it was time to practice with his saber. He did not partake in any of the labor that would make a refined youth sigh. This was enough for him.

He needed to get familiar with the weight of his newly-acquired saber and all its idiosyncrasies in order for it to become an extension of his arm. He could not randomly pick up sabers and use them blindly like in his prior dreams...

This unblemished steel saber which he just won was not as ridiculous as the broad saber from his dreams. It was a standard saber, with the spine close to a centimeter thick. The entire weapon was rather heavy, a little more than ten jin, and was incredibly suited to Zhao Changhe’s present strength. The saber he used before, weighing two to three jin, wiggled like a willow branch whenever he hacked and slashed with it; there was absolutely no force behind the attacks. It was no longer appropriate for his use.

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This was especially so since the Vicious Blood Saber Art was a free and wild saber art. One needed a heavy saber like this to be able to display its full power. It was a pity that sabers like this usually cost a fortune. There was no way Zhao Changhe could buy something like it with what he had before.

Zhao Changhe was not an expert at appraising the material and craftsmanship behind the saber, but he could clearly feel a hostility and sharpness radiating from it. It was far superior to his old, worn out saber. A weapon like this cost a few dozen taels of silver—by comparison, the cash reserves of the mountain stronghold only amounted to three hundred taels in total. The cost of that one saber could feed the stronghold for a good while.

Zhao Changhe felt reluctant to put down the saber as he played with it. He found it more fun than teasing Luo Qi.

Indeed, a warrior’s fate was tied to a good weapon.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

The saber flashed in the dead of night, brighter than the moonlight.

As the snow got bigger, the people in the stronghold all hid in their huts. There was not a sound to be heard other than the swooshing coming from the stronghold master’s building as it mingled with the howling of the mournful north winds. It was hard to tell which was colder.

If the people at the branch master’s courtyard today, who had gasped in awe at the genius Zhao Changhe, could see this right now, they would know that he was no genius...

Only Xia Chichi understood that, while other people rested, he was training with the saber.

His training, though, was a little different now.

Swish!

Amidst the snow, his figure shot up into the air and stepped on a tree trunk, bringing up rustling snow with him. He mustered up even more strength and drifted to another tree branch.

Kacha!

The highest branch of a ten-meter tall-tree fell under his saber.

His hand scraped the falling branch as he landed gently on the ground.

Zhao Changhe heaved a sigh and looked behind. He had a pleasant expression on his face. “Movement arts are really interesting. I have something I can show off with now. My gains this time around are pretty big... Next time shall I confer upon Fang Buping the honor of being in charge with my logistics?”

Traceless Soaring Blood was considered a relatively high-level movement art in the Blood God Cult. The reason Fang Buping was so willing to give away such a good art was not that he was generous. He still had schemes he was hiding. It was due to the fact that one needed to have decent internal force to be able to use it. Fang Buping wanted Zhao Changhe to feel what it was like to be in the presence of a remarkable beauty while figuring out he was impotent.

However, not only was Zhao Changhe not impotent, but on the contrary, he was a fierce man. His internal force had already reached a high level. Even if his cultivation in internal arts was not yet at the first layer of the Profound Gate, he was on the verge of breaking through.

*

Even until now, Zhao Changhe did not know the name of this internal art he had inherited from Xia Longyuan. For now, he did not care too much and called it the Xia Family Internal Art.

This internal art was also the type that could be cultivated lying down and standing up. It did not require him to meditate in a lotus position and be one with the universe—that was the stuff of daoists. However, it did require him to be attentive and tranquil. He needed to calmly perform internal observation and guide his qi, otherwise his life would be in danger if his qi was sent into disarray.

Compared to Luo Qi’s internal art, which literally allowed her to cultivate in her sleep, this internal art looked no good. However, once Zhao Changhe reached a high enough level with it, he reckoned it would allow him to forgo sleep entirely. There would be no difference then.

It all comes down to saving time... There’s too much to learn. I really wish my days could be twice as long.

Zhao Changhe sat down quietly on the bed and carefully did his internal observation. Without realizing it, the image of Luo Qi lying on the bed watching him practice with his saber flashed through his head.

It was as if he was experiencing what Luo Qi experienced back then... Unfortunately, there was no exchange of roles; there was no beautiful woman practicing with a saber outside for him to watch.

From the time he obtained the Xia Family Internal Art until now, it had not even been ten days and he was already on the verge of breaking through. Of course, it was not because he was a genius. Xia Longyuan’s qi allowed him to skip the phase of getting a feel for the flow of qi in his body.

Other than that, internal and external arts naturally progressed faster when cultivated simultaneously.

People who had better constitutions, who spent each and every day training their fists and swinging their weapons, naturally had less clogged up meridians and acupoints. qi could more easily flow through their bodies. One would not trust any sickly person if they said they could cultivate internal arts well. On the other hand, miraculous qi could alter one’s body, give them more strength, and boost their blood flow.

Whether it was internal or external arts, they both developed the body.

That was why, no matter how much time someone spent training, whether it was through cultivating or with real combat, practicing both internal and external arts had always been the way of kings. It was far more advantageous than practicing only one.

There was a saying that internal and external arts achieved the same result once trained to a high level. This was related to how one would reach the body’s Profound Mysteries after breaking through all nine layers of the Profound Gate. At present, Zhao Changhe did not have what it took to experience what that level felt like, but he felt that even though cultivating in such a way was time consuming, it bore good results.

The fact that Zhao Changhe’s qi acted by itself to soothe the effects of the medicine was enough to make practicing both internal and external arts worth it.

It was just that he had not discovered anything mystical about his body at the moment. Must be because my cultivation is too shallow... Today, I’ll try to break through the Profound Gate for internal arts. Once I do that, will I be able to discover the mysteries of internal arts?

Zhao Changhe felt a little shameful thinking about the Profound Gate for internal arts.

This was because, technically speaking, this Profound Gate referred to the Huiyin acupoint, located in the space between one’s anus and genitals... So to break through to the first layer of the profound gate was to open this acupoint.

As he directed his qi and had it rush downward, it felt like he was giving himself a blowjob...

He did not know what Luo Qi or Yue Hongling thought when they cultivated, but they were probably not as bored as him to think up these things.

Opening a Profound Gate was really painful. For many people, once they felt pain, it was difficult to focus and circulate their qi. That was why this was a bottleneck. It was a good thing that this was an orthodox internal art—the pain was on an incredibly normal level. After experiencing the baptism of the Vicious Blood Art, Zhao Changhe felt that this pain was like being bitten by a mosquito. It did not affect him at all. After he increased his strength and struck the gate a few dozen more times, he broke through.

Zhao Changhe could feel a coolness spread out from the Profound Gate and seep into his four limbs. Even his spirit began to quiver and became considerably keener. The wisp of Xia Longyuan’s qi could no longer be felt. It had completely been refined into his own qi and continued to slowly circulate around the path it had followed before. It was calm and vast, like there was a star chart unfolding in his body with a moon bathing his dantian in light and his acupoints shining resplendently like stars.

He slowly opened his eyes.

There was no light in the room. It was completely dark. Previously, his Back Eye would have had trouble making out details in the room even with its night vision capabilities. However, at this moment, Zhao Changhe realized he could see everything clearly.

Even the patterns of the wood on the walls could be clearly distinguished.

His hearing had also improved. There was not supposed to be any sound as the snow fell to the ground outside, but now, Zhao Changhe could hear them rustle and quieten down.

“My vision and hearing are both better.” That was his first reaction.

His second reaction was his heart skipping a beat. Why do I feel like the Back Eye’s increase in effect feels similar to breaking through the Profound Gate for internal arts? Moreover, after I broke through, it seems like I can still strengthen the effects of the Back Eye. Don’t tell me that this Back Eye is unlocked once people reach a certain layer? Then which layer allows people to look behind them?

Zhao Changhe could not sit down. He stood up and flipped through the books he brought back during the day. One of them was the sacred text of the Blood God Cult. It naturally contained explanations on the Profound Gate and Profound Mysteries of the body from the perspective of the Blood God Cult.

Those who have reached the Profound Mysteries have divine powers.

When ordinary people break through the Profound Gate, they open the aperture of their eyes and can see further and clearer, down to the smallest detail. Only with the divine powers of the Profound Mysteries can one see what is happening behind them and see ten thousand li far; they can see the sadness and joy of the mortal world; they can pry into the workings of the heavenly dao. None of the happenings of the world escape their sight. This is called the heavenly eye.

Our Blood God Cult blah blah...

Zhao Changhe was not in the mood to read how the Blood God Cult bragged about itself...

The heavenly eye...

Before, Zhao Changhe had mainly used it as a hack to peep on people showering. He had never expected it was something the masters on the Rankings of Heaven, Earth, and Man were striving for, nor did he know it could evolve.

And I had the gall to declare that I’ve figured out the position card a few days ago... It turns out that I hadn’t even figured out the ability card.

Zhao Changhe lay on his bed and stared into space. He did not know what to think, and he soon fell into a deep sleep.

He had a dream.

Below a tranquil night sky, the blind woman stood with her eyes closed lightly. She appeared both near and far. It was like she was a goddess of the night.

“I didn’t think you’d reach the first heavenly layer in both internal and external arts this quickly.”

“I’ve finally fucking found you! Let me go back!”

“Oh? Do you...really want to return?”