Chapter 1812: How Can This Be?
Zu An had expected a huge clash of t.i.tans, and he had been planning to swoop in to reap all the benefits after. And yet in the end, this was it?
Isn’t this Zang Ao just too much of a scrub?
After entering this tomb, he’d discovered that things never went according to his plans at all. He had wanted Zhao Han and Ghost King to take each other out, but that didn’t happen. Later, he had wanted Sun En and Zang Ao to defeat each other, but the fight was completely one-sided…
Is this Zang Ao pretending? How can he give up that quickly?
Sun En was still worried that the job wasn’t done yet. He moved closer and examined Zang Ao’s body. Then, he said with a sigh, “He died, as expected. He’s lucky to have died so easily.” With his cultivation, there was no way he would mistake a living person for the dead.
The Four Sages of Liangshan had previously felt hopeful, but when they heard that, they all became depressed, thinking, Even Boss is dead, so what do we even have left to hope for? They could no longer maintain their formation and fled for their lives.
However, Sun En snorted coldly and pointed in their direction, sending a bolt of electricity at them. The Four Sages of Liangshan screamed. They staggered and fell, and the celestial army quickly caught up and surrounded them.
Previously, they had only barely managed to hold on by using their coordinated fighting style. Now that they were running for their lives, their formation was destroyed. They were stunned by the electric shock as well, so how could they still fight back? They were quickly diced up into a b.l.o.o.d.y paste.
w.a.n.g Youjun suddenly felt a tense sensation around his own neck. In terms of status in the world of warriors, the Four Sages had been on par with him, and yet they had died so easily here.
…
When he saw that Zang Ao’s group had completely been dealt with, Sun En sighed in relief. Then, he looked at Jing Teng and the others, saying, “Miss Jing, I helped you get your revenge. It should be time for you to give me the immortal opportunity, right?”
Jing Teng’s gaze shifted to Zang Ao’s scorched corpse. There was no happiness or joy visible on her face. She replied, “Big brother Zu already told you the truth. Zhao Han stole the immortal opportunity. If you chase after him now, you might still make it. Otherwise, it might really be gone.”
Sun En shook his finger with a smile, replying, “Miss Jing, in this, your conduct is poor. I helped you get revenge, and yet you still want to fool me with those words. According to what I know, the Baopu Sutra should have both an inner manual and outer manual. The outer manual is nothing more than some words encouraging virtue and providing advice in statecraft. If I am not mistaken, what Zhao Han stole should be the outer manual… and the true inner manual should still be here.”
“How did you know that?” Jing Teng exclaimed, her expression finally changing.
Qiu Honglei, Chu Chuyan, and the other women were shocked. They now understood why Jing Teng hadn’t seemed to be all that worried.
Qiu Honglei tugged on Zu An’s sleeve, asking, “Did you already know?”
Zu An voiced his confirmation. “When we were crossing over the Earthflame Devil’s territory, didn’t I offer to fly Miss Jing over the magma? That entire time, we were conversing with each other by writing on each other’s palms. I warned her that we absolutely couldn’t bring Zhao Han near the immortal opportunity, or else we would all be finished. She told me not to worry at the time, and since she told me that, I naturally trusted her.”
Back then, Zhao Han had been completely focused on checking for any conversations through ki, and hadn’t expected them to use such a primitive method.
Qiu Honglei sighed inwardly in relief.
I guess I misjudged him back then. Ah… How embarra.s.sing.
But are you really going to believe her just like that? Who is she to you, anyway?
You have successfully trolled Qiu Honglei +23 +23 +23…
When he sensed her resentment, Zu An replied with a chuckle, “You understand now, right? Or did you really think I carried her just because of perversion?”
“Was that not the case too?” Qiu Honglei replied with a frown. She glanced at Zu An and Jing Teng’s intertwined fingers and noticed that they were still leaning against each other.
You have successfully trolled Qiu Honglei for +233 +233 +233…
…
Fortunately, Sun En spoke up just then to help Zu An out of his embarra.s.sment. “I learned of it in the past while chatting with Zang Ao. He inadvertently mentioned that, and it was you who first told him.”
Jing Teng’s face turned pale. She said, “I really didn’t have any discernment with people. I just casually mentioned that the immortal ruler’s manual was separated into the inner and outer manuals. I never expected he would actually take it to heart, let alone deducing that Zhao Han only took the outer manual so quickly.”
In the past, Immortal Ruler Baopu had sensed that the people of the world had become corrupt, and that almost everyone was cruel and ruthless, causing the world to be filled with monsters. He knew his own martial strength alone couldn"t completely change all that. Only once the world stabilized again, and there was peace across the land, could he then spread enlightenment to the common people. That was how the world could be gradually changed.
That was why he had written the outer manual. In his heart, the outer manual’s value wasn’t any lower than the inner manual. After all, the inner manual only benefited a single person, while the outer manual could help everyone in the world.
Immortal Ruler Baopu had sensed the aura of an emperor from Zhao Han and thought that he was the new emperor of this world. He thought he shared the fate of a ruler with Zhao Han, and hadn’t acted against him. He had even tacitly approved of Zhao Han taking the outer manual.
However, how could he have known that Zhao Han had no interest in such matters of statecraft at all? He was only interested in the inner manual that focused on individual cultivation!
…
Meanwhile, after Zhao Han stole the Baopu Manual, he had quickly left. Now that he already had the immortal opportunity, why would he still stay in this great tomb filled with dangers? After easily eliminating a monster along the way, as well as a group of unsightly cultivators, he successfully left the tomb. He quickly arrived at a quiet and secluded place, and impatiently flipped through the immortal opportunity he had obtained.
When he saw the pure immortal energy emanating from the book, Zhao Han’s entire body shook. He opened the Baopu Sutra with trembling hands. He was already prepared to worship the words as he opened it.
However, the contents weren’t the impenetrable mysteries he had expected, but rather things he could immediately comprehend through a.n.a.logies. He became more and more excited.
This is an immortal opportunity meant for me after all! In the eyes of others, this book might be like a heavenly book, but it was actually so easy for me!
He couldn"t calm down his excited heart and continued to read it with adoration. He nodded as he read. There were many areas in which he even felt as if he were conversing with an intimate friend. With his current cultivation, he could already skim the contents and understand everything. But this time, he didn’t want to miss out on any clues and read it word for word.
As time went on, however, his excited expression began to give way to doubt.
Why does this Baopu Sutra only talk about how to rule a nation?
As an emperor, he naturally understood the contents. Furthermore, there were many solutions he had never even thought of before. There were some enlightening policies that were bold and imaginative, yet also very practical.
But I didn’t come for a book on statecraft. Where the h.e.l.l is my d.a.m.n immortal opportunity?!
He finally couldn"t sit still anymore and quickly flipped through it. He discovered that there was no method of immortal ascension inside, unlike what he had imagined.
“What is going on?” Zhao Han exclaimed in alarm, but he quickly said to himself, “Never let yourself be fl.u.s.tered. Who knows, this sutra might hide great mysteries. These characters might just be a pretense.”
After all, he was well versed in the ways of the world. Such a thing was all too common. He calmed down considerably when he thought of that. He began to check to see whether the book held hidden meaning.
However, even after checking for a long time, he didn’t find anything. He even tried to use water and fire, to the point that he recklessly risked the manual being destroyed. Even after testing all kinds of methods, the booklet didn’t reveal any hidden messages.
“How can this be?!” Zhao Han exclaimed, drawing a complete blank. He had never panicked this much in his life before.
He was so angry that he wanted to rip the book to shreds. However, as soon as he raised his hand, he thought of something. Whether it was the characters or the immortal aura coming out of the Baopu Sutra, there was no way to fake them. That meant these were truly Immortal Ruler Baopu’s personal writings. In that case…
“This must be a test for me. How can immortality be that easy? Of course you need to go through some trials first!” he said to himself.
He gradually calmed down when he thought of that. If it wasn’t some double-layered wording, the secret had to be in the sutra itself. He likely had to use some rules and patterns to decipher it.
He thus opened the Baopu Sutra and began to study it again. He tried reading the first word of each line, linking the characters up diagonally, and even reading alternate lines… At first, he felt that it was all disorderly and messy, but also that it was extremely profound. He tried all sorts of deciphering methods and saw that there were many possibilities, as if there were countless secrets hidden within. He immediately became excited and began to think things over, biting words and chewing characters.
Suddenly, a gust of palm wind swept toward him. As he was focusing too intently, he only sensed it when it arrived. He quickly dodged to the side. Even so, he wasn’t able to completely avoid it. Half his body grew numb.
“This level of power…” Zhao Han muttered, suddenly looking up.
The long-robed elder who met his gaze was a bit surprised, remarking, “Hm? Your vigilance was so low. Just what were you looking at?” His gaze shifted to the Baopu Sutra in Zhao Han’s hands.
Zhao Han’s eyes narrowed. He quickly put the Baopu Sutra away and said, “The glorious libationer actually sneak attacked someone from behind. If news of this got out, I’m sure the entire world would laugh in mockery.”