Chaotic World Book
Chapter 297 - 290: Father-in-law Teaching His Son-in-law

Chapter 297: Chapter 290: Father-in-law Teaching His Son-in-law

Of course, he could not dare say these words to Cui Wenjing, fearing that he might get beaten to death.

Zhao Changhe could only change the approach, cautiously asking for advice, "I noticed that previously Chi Li, Yue Hongling, along with Brother Cui and Brother Situ, took quite a long time to transition from the Mystical Gate Eighth Layer to the Ninth. Is there anything special about this threshold?"

Cui Wenjing responded sternly, "Why don’t you ask your Yue heroine? Isn’t she the involved party and clearer on this than I am?"

Zhao Changhe replied with an apologetic smile, "Uncle has been through this himself, and is still a top-notch Great Grandmaster. With Uncle present, why would I bother asking anyone else..."

Cui Wenjing really didn’t want to teach, constantly feeling like his advice resembled saying "come, come, come, I’ll teach you how to win my daughter," which felt awkward.

But the way he was praised... both as the Crown Prince and a hero, it seemed improper not to give a few tips, both publicly and privately.

Reluctantly, Cui Wenjing began, "Naturally, the climb towards the summit grows increasingly tiresome, and the difficulty of each layer is double that of the preceding one, which is quite normal, applicable to all things. It’s like how easy it was for you to move from the two hundred and fifth position into the top two hundred, but to move from second to first is quite..."

Zhao Changhe muttered, "It wasn’t that hard."

Cui Wenjing was perplexed, "?"

Zhao Changhe quickly clarified, "Err, I don’t mean myself. I mean, back then there was someone who literally ’lay down’ to reach first..."

Cui Wenjing clenched his fist, a dangerous look in his eyes.

Zhao Changhe almost wanted to cover his head.

Taking a deep breath and with a blank expression, Cui Wenjing explained, "The Mystical Gate Ninth Layer is the ultimate in human martial arts. The so-called bridging the Heaven and Earth Bridge or transforming to cultivate special physical constitutions isn’t just about personal strength anymore but also involves mysterious external forces. Just on its own, the Mystical Gate Ninth Layer represents the highest achievement, and naturally, it’s not easy to reach, starting with the ninth Mystical Gate which is quite dangerous."

Zhao Changhe perked up, "Heavenly Spirit?"

"Correct. The Heavenly Spirit is the intersection of man and heaven, the core pathway of the Heaven and Earth Bridge. Originally, in cultivation theory, the moment one opens the Heavenly Spirit Mystical Gate, it’s not only a sign of achieving the Ninth Layer but also involves the key to the Secret Realm’s gate. The difficulty of this gate lies in its crucial role, carrying a different significance."

Zhao Changhe caught the key point, "In theory?"

Pleased with his understanding, Cui Wenjing looked at him complexly for a while before sighing, "Correct, because this gate is so difficult, at worst, one could enter a demonically disordered Spirit Platform state and die, or at best, go mad or turn into an idiot, which are common occurrences. Therefore, all cultivation methods have adopted a compromise, partitioning the function of bearing the Secret Realm, merely retaining the breakthrough of personal strength, which simplifies things a lot. The Secret Realm is left for discussion later. This also led to an explosion in the number of people at the Mystical Gate Ninth Layer; in reality, they are not truly at the Ninth Layer, just halfway there."

Zhao Changhe understood, "The reason why Yue Hongling and others were stuck here for a long time is that they were not satisfied with being halfway and their Ninth Layer is the true Ninth Layer. Thus, though they were stuck at the Ninth Layer for a long time, breaking through the Secret Realm later becomes relatively easier, whereas for others who took shortcuts, breaking through the Secret Realm becomes much harder than expected, resulting in many at the Ninth Layer but few in the Secret Realm, unable to fill the Human List."

Cui Wenjing applauded, "Exactly... where there’s a so-called unbridgeable chasm, it is actually man-made. In summary, achieving the Mystical Gate Ninth Layer is already an ultimate pursuit for common folk, becoming a regional overlord alone, and to desperately pursue the Secret Realm, available only to a handful out of millions, doesn’t seem quite necessary."

Zhao Changhe smiled slightly, not engaging in this topic.

Cui Wenjing, watching him diagonally, knew that this man would absolutely not be satisfied with being a halfway Ninth Layer; in fact, he had already slightly glimpsed the door to the Secret Realm and reaching the true Ninth Layer wouldn’t be very difficult, but it would still require a certain opportunity.

After all, the Heavenly Spirit is ultimately the Heavenly Spirit; it cannot be forcefully breached but requires a certain enlightenment and taking advantage of the situation to naturally succeed. Otherwise, it really can lead to madness.

As for how to find that enlightenment... it might not come even after many years. Of course, Cui Wenjing didn’t think this would happen to Zhao Changhe, otherwise the strongest Hidden Dragon in history would be a joke.

He wasn’t planning on teaching much, and instead asked, "Have you already started seeking a special physical constitution?"

Zhao Changhe replied with an apologetic smile, "Uncle’s insight is piercing; could there be some guidance?"

"This is different from the usual cultivation system, belonging to the characteristics of Ancient Demons. Now, including myself and Wang Daoning among others, we can’t really claim to have thoroughly grasped this thing. The person who understands this the most in the world, besides Your Majesty, might be Li Shentong. What I can tell you is, this is a bottomless pit; currently, there’s no end in sight, and no one can give you clear guidance on what to do next, completely dependent on your own fortune. If not careful, you might end up training into something that looks nothing like anything else, full of hidden ailments."

Zhao Changhe thought to himself that Yue Hongling hadn’t blindly followed the Xuanwu Gemstone’s transformation to cultivate an Innate Taoist Body, but had slightly adjusted it based on her own understanding of martial arts, which was probably based on this consideration. Her understanding of martial arts was indeed in place.

But this was something he really had a knack for; the guidance of the golden foil would definitely be reliable.

He asked, "Uncle, do you know about the Dragon Elephant Blood Ginseng?"

"Dragon Elephant Blood Ginseng..." Cui Wenjing frowned in contemplation for a moment before shaking his head. "I’ve heard of many kinds of blood ginseng, but I’ve never heard of one named after the Dragon Elephant. If you need it for your body refining, I can keep an eye out for any news."

Zhao Changhe was overjoyed. Having a backer was wonderful, and when the Cui Family really started to search for something, the chances of success were much higher. Surely, something with a specific name wouldn’t be as elusive as those heavenly materials and earthly treasures needed for transforming meridians.

Seeing him as joyful as a monkey, Cui Wenjing said irritably, "Don’t think that finding some herbs to soak in will solve everything. You should prepare yourself for a lifetime of searching through various secret realms and studying them meticulously."

Zhao Changhe forced a smile, "Understood..."

Cui Wenjing observed him for a long while, then suddenly ran out of things to say. Actually, discussing cultivation guidance was just like discussing issues about sons and daughters, hoping that you’ll progress soon to come and marry my daughter, otherwise what’s the point in teaching you. There was no need to make these points too clear, otherwise, it would just cause embarrassment for old Cui.

After a good while, Cui Wenjing sighed and brought up a topic no one wanted to openly discuss, "You’re really setting your sights on becoming the Crown Prince now, aren’t you?"

Zhao Changhe said, "What are you talking about..."

"Then why go all out in this battle? The outcome of this battle clearly belongs to Zhao Changhe alone; everyone must acknowledge that."

"... What does that have to do with anything? Brother Cui also held his ground firmly. Does he also want to become the Crown Prince?"

Cui Wenjing raised his palm as if to slap him, and Zhao Changhe covered his face.

Cui Wenjing stared at him irritably for a long while, then sighed, "No matter what your reason is, perhaps inadvertently, you have already won the favor of Huangfu Yongxian and the recognition of Great Xia’s most elite troops. Do you know what that means?"

Zhao Changhe’s first thought was that it seemed like the resistance against marrying his daughter just got a bit smaller...

Then he quickly realized, with his current status and momentum, no matter what kind of bloodline, it really wasn’t important anymore... But everyone was only considering regular politics, never thinking that Xia Longyuan was simply a lunatic who wouldn’t care about these things.

As long as Xia Longyuan continued playing his divine game, this world would never be at peace; the only thing people could do was mend it.

This was the tragedy of Wanzhuang.

Now, it seemed it was his turn to be caught in this predicament.

As if seeing through his thoughts, Cui Wenjing said lightly, "In this world, the more conscientious people are, the harder their lives are, while those who only look out for themselves live more freely. Do you have any regrets?"

"What about uncle?" Zhao Changhe countered. "When the spirit of the Qinghe Sword perished and he left the Cui Family, uncle spoke calmly, but did he feel any regrets deep inside? Now Yuan Yong is defending the frontier, his righteous Qi spans across Yanmen. Maybe the Sword Spirit will return, who knows? Uncle rushes thousands of miles to help; does he blame Yuan Yong for being reckless and disregarding his family, or is there a bit of pride hidden there?"

Cui Wenjing fell silent, just looking at him intently.

Father and son-in-law exchanged glances for a long while before Cui Wenjing suddenly smiled faintly, "It’s been half a year since I last saw you, and you’ve not improved much else, but the bandit tone in your speech is almost gone. On the contrary, Yuan Yong is full of ’mother’ in his mouth."

With that, he turned and left, saying, "Have you noticed? The Dragon Sparrow is getting more obedient by the day. I think the day it acknowledges its master isn’t far off; you might want to start considering this."

The Dragon Sparrow of Great Xia, the Emperor’s saber.

If it acknowledged a master, it would only recognize one type of person.

Zhao Changhe felt a headache coming on as he watched the door; this old Cui wasn’t just talking about a saber, he practically wanted to drape a yellow robe over someone.

No wonder there was an alliance with the Wang Family. There really were a lot of rebels in the world... and they claimed to be royalists.

While he was still feeling the headache, the door was knocked on again, and an unfamiliar male voice outside chuckled, "How is Young Master Zhao’s injuries? Ying Wu here has some good medicine, different from the Cui Family... selling to young master, just for a single coin."

Eighth on the Heavenly List, Ying Wu... ranked even one place higher than old Cui.

If it were said that old Cui was still considering worldly affairs and landscapes, Ying Wu definitely was not.

Zhao Changhe was very interested in him.