Chapter 172 – The Snowy Plains Ablaze Once More
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
The Three Songs of the Fisherman did not have a fourth move.
Mo Yu stood silently by the window. Many Li Palace priests only saw the grace and power of Gou Hanshi"s Three Songs of the Fisherman, but they did not see what she did. It was precisely because Gou Hanshi had exhausted himself too greatly in the match against Zhexiu that he had used his strongest three strikes as soon as the final match had begun. What he had sought was a speedy victory.
Of course, although Chen Changsheng had managed to dodge Gou Hanshi"s Three Songs of the Fisherman through some incredible fluke, Mo Yu still did not believe that this youth had any chance of winning. The discrepancy in cultivation was not something that magical artifacts could completely make up for, much less cheap things like courage and their ilk. Since that threshold was there, it was impossible to step across it.
This threshold was called Ethereal Opening.
Gou Hanshi was already at Ethereal Opening while Chen Changsheng was still incredibly far away from it, so the conclusion of this match was foreordained, regardless of how injured or tired Gou Hanshi was.
What was Ethereal Opening? Ethereal Opening was connecting one"s Ethereal Palace to the world. As long as one could cultivate up to this realm, the meridians in one"s body would be completely connected and true essence would flow endlessly. Moreover, at that time, the world and the cultivator would share an empathetic connection. Every movement of the cultivator would generate a response from the world, and their cultivator would be purer and stronger. If one described the true essence of a Meditation cultivator as a stone, then the true essence of an Ethereal Opening cultivator was like an iron bar, many times stronger.
The further along one proceeded on the path of cultivation, the harder it was to break through, and the bottleneck of Ethereal Opening was particularly special, with the greatest frequency of deaths. As a result, young cultivators would often fearfully and yearningly refer to this threshold as the pa.s.s of life or death. The reason that people so frequently died at Ethereal Opening was because the Ethereal Palace…was the heart.
The heart was far too frail. The moment it was injured, it became very difficult to save. Consequently, Ethereal Opening had to be attempted very slowly. Upon cultivating to the upper level of Meditation, the cultivator would use an extremely fine method of Introspection to control their spiritual sense and have the starlight they drew into their bodies lightly knock on the gate of their Ethereal Palace until finally, when one"s heart had developed an intrinsic connection with the world, the gate of the Ethereal Palace would slowly open. Thus, there was a saying that Ethereal Opening was cultivating according to one"s heart. It was exceedingly difficult, at the very least requiring one hundred nights of star radiance knocking at the gate. The smallest lack of caution might lead to the cultivator damaging their Ethereal Palace. A light consequence was severe injuries and paralysis, but the most common consequence was immediate death.
Ever since the Heavenly Tomes fell to the earth and humanity began to cultivate, countless cultivators had fallen at this threshold, countless talented and smart young geniuses had tragically fallen. This led to a saying in the continent. Only geniuses that had pa.s.sed through Ethereal Opening were true geniuses.
Before the age of twenty, Gou Hanshi had succeeded at Ethereal Opening. Of course he was a genius, but he was also a marvel.
How could Chen Changsheng possibly be his opponent?
The Three Songs of the Fisherman seemed natural and tranquil, but in reality, it was incredibly taxing in terms of true essence. Even with Gou Hanshi"s ability, he had to slow down for a few moments, and he had also developed some doubts over a few things.
Chen Changsheng using the Falling Rain Whip and the Wenshui Sword to receive his first two strikes had primarily relied on the innate power of these two divine weapons, but when Gou Hanshi clashed with them, he had clearly sensed that there was a problem with Chen Changsheng"s true essence. It did not match, or at least it should not have matched, with the power he had showed. It should have been more mediocre.
"Your meridians…" He looked at Chen Changsheng and slightly raised his brows, but ultimately said nothing more.
Chen Changsheng leaned against the wall, gripping his dagger and warily staring at him, his expression abnormally solemn and focused. Only upon confirming that there was no fourth move did he relax a little. With the fastest of speeds, he flipped his palm over and snapped his fingers.
The finger he snapped was the ring finger. With a zing, the golden string wound around the finger straightened into a needle, its point incredibly sharp and gleaming with a cold light.
He stabbed this needle like a lightning bolt into his neck, so deeply that only the end could be seen.
With this movement, the needle entered and began to constantly tremble, a.s.sisting him in stabilizing his spiritual sense as quickly as possible. At the same time, it also stimulated the three fractured meridians in the upper half of his body to twist and begin to invisibly rub against each other. It naturally could not cause the meridians to connect, but it did give the true essence a wider path to flow through.
The bodies of Luoluo and Xuanyuan Po were different from his, but through the lessons and treatments he had given them, Chen Changsheng had developed an even deeper understanding of meridians. Although he could not cure his own illness, he could remedy the problems somewhat.
Gou Hanshi did not know what he was doing, and believed this to be some method through which Chen Changsheng was stimulating his potential. To an orthodox sect like the Mount Li Sword Sect, this sort of method undoubtedly belonged to the evil path, so he couldn"t help but crease his brow.
Chen Changsheng did not know what Gou Hanshi thought, nor did he have the mind to care. He used his dagger to cut a strip of cloth from his upper clothes and used it to tie his right hand to the sheath, tightening the knot with his teeth.
Gou Hanshi"s brow creased again and he increased his grip on his sword, as he felt that something was not right.
Just as his fingers tightened, Chen Changsheng acted, moving from the Jiao constellation to the Niu constellation, moving from the east to the northeast. In a flash, his figure vanished, and when he next appeared, he was already in front of Gou Hanshi.
The dagger howled as it swung down, but it encountered Gou Hanshi"s sword.
Gou Hanshi did not know the numerous and indescribable positions of the Yeshi Step, but he did know of the Yeshi Step, or else he would not have been able to expose Luoluo"s movement technique during the Ivy Festival. He could not judge his enemy"s plan so as to seize the decisive moment, but he could make preparations to meet Chen Changsheng"s sword. He had covered every position around him.
The swords met, but they did not really meet. They were separated by an extremely tiny distance, the true essence on the swords clashing, whirlpools of Qi emerging and then dying away as the swords were forcefully separated.
With a clang, Chen Changsheng floated backwards.
He had originally planned to use the same method he had used to defeat Zhuang Huanyu, precisely the method that Gou Hanshi had instructed Liang Banhu to use to defeat Tang Thirty-Six, exchanging strike for strike, wound for wound, relying on the tenacity of his body to seek out a chance of victory. He had not expected that before their swords had even truly clashed, he would be forced into retreat by Gou Hanshi"s understated strike.
Most terrifying of all was that though the swords had separated, he could clearly sense an extremely thin strand of true essence traveling along his dagger, crossing into his meridians, and striking right at his Ethereal Palace!
With a m.u.f.fled groan, Chen Changsheng"s mind was injured by sword intent. Blood seeped from the corner of his mouth and when his feet landed on the ground, he found it impossible to stand steady. He retreated and retreated again, finally able to barely stand steady upon reaching the wall.
The edge of a sword flew through the air and he brought up his dagger to block, taking a defensive posture. His face was slightly pale while blood dripped from the corners of his mouth. He seemed in a rather dismal state, but his mental state was even worse off.
Gou Hanshi was truly very strong, far stronger than Zhuang Huanyu. He wanted to exchange wound with wound, but he was not even able to do that.
A shrill noise shrieked through the Hall of Washing Away Dust as Gou Hanshi"s sword arrived once more. This time, he used the Thirteen Swords of the Falling Star. His sword was like a star, its trajectory seemingly constant yet incredibly hard to grasp.
Papapapapa! Ten-some light collisions rang out in succession.
Chen Changsheng found it impossible to defend the ground at his feet and was forced to move left. He continued to retreat with messy footsteps, stirring up wet grains of sand, until he eventually stopped ten-some zhang away. When he was finally able to stand straight, he could no longer suppress the nausea in his chest. With a squelch, a spurt of blood issued from his mouth.
Holding his sword, Gou Hanshi quietly stood, looking at Chen Changsheng. There was no scorn or contempt in his eyes, but actually a faint sense of praise and admiration.
Both the Three Songs of the Fisherman and the Thirteen Swords of the Falling Star were his strongest and most familiar techniques. Through ten-some years of bitter cultivation, he had been able to link these techniques together into an unbroken chain, striking as fast as a lightning bolt, each move smoothly leading to the next. Any other opponent would have definitely been thrown into confusion by this chain of attacks, the signs of defeat apparent.
Chen Changsheng had not been able to block these attacks, had been forced to retreat in a very pathetic fashion, and had his true essence shaken, causing him to continuously vomit blood, but he was still able to stand steadily, his mind still as calm as usual.
This was because he knew how to respond to these attacks.
Chen Changsheng"s cultivation in the path of the sword had been limited by time, making it impossible for him to cultivate to the peak. Though he knew the reasoning, he could not fully use it, but he had extensive knowledge of the path of the sword, especially when it came to the sword style of the Mount Li Sword Sect. Other people might not know how to break Gou Hanshi"s sword techniques, but he could find the most appropriate technique to respond. If not for the fact that the cultivation gap between them was so great, he might have been able to receive these techniques rather easily.
Regretfully, that uncrossable gap between cultivation levels was still there.
Chen Changsheng said nothing as he looked back at Gou Hanshi, his right hand slightly shaking. He had keenly felt that power of the Ethereal Opening Realm, felt that strand of true essence still attacking his meridians. He was extremely sure that if he had not tied his hilt to his hand, his dagger might have already been sent flying.
This sort of discrepancy in cultivation most clearly exhibited itself in the density and power of true essence. He was well aware that there was no way to close this gap in such a short amount of time, so he could only think of another way, could only attempt to close this gap through quant.i.ty.
I have nothing but silver while you have gold. Silver is cheap while gold is precious, so if I want to overwhelm you in terms of property, I can only hope that I have many times more silver than you have gold. Yes, it"s just this simple.
Since his mind was set, Chen Changsheng immediately began Meditative Introspection. His spiritual sense entered his body, instantly crossing vast distances to reach that pure white plain of snow. Like a cool breeze, his spiritual sense fell on the southeastern corner of the snowy plain.
At that moment, he felt like he heard a sound. This sound was a pile of dry leaves acc.u.mulated over several years being set ablaze, a person pouring a pot of oil over a bonfire, a meeting between the strongest wine and the most beautiful girl.
A whoosh, a crackle, a burst of cheers.
The cool breeze descended like a spark, instantly setting the southeastern corner of the snowy plain ablaze. The star radiance that had remained peaceful for several months transformed into raging flames that burned everything around them.
Chen Changsheng"s body instantly became scalding hot, the air around his body heating up.
A terrifying heat occupied both his body and mind. Water transformed into sweat and was rapidly lost. Perhaps for this reason, his skin became dehydrated, seeming to painfully crack apart.
Even greater pain came from his senses. He instinctively stuck out his tongue and greedily licked at the corner of his lips, resisting that unbearable thirst and dryness on his lips and tongue.
He was truly very thirsty. He wanted to drink, wanted to bathe in cold rain.
The spectators had been silent all this time, but only when they saw Chen Changsheng hold his sword in front of him and the air in the Hall of Washing Away Dust instantly turn blazing hot did they realize what was happening.
"He"s going through another initial Meditative Introspection?"
"How is this possible?"
"Just how much star radiance is inside his body?"
"Where is all that star radiance being stored?"
Countless shocked questions came from the second floor of the Hall of Washing Away Dust.