Lord Shenxiu
Chapter 176 Comprehension (Adding more to the previous book)

Chapter 176: Chapter 176 Comprehension (Adding more to the previous book)

Several days later, a shocking piece of news spread from Changhe County.

The protector of the Five Poison Sect, a Grandmaster ranked seventy on the Earth List, Black Widow Hua Miao, was surrounded and executed on the spot by Divine Capture Sect!

At the same time, the imperial court and the Divine Capture Sect’s reputation soared, while the dark path martial artists quaked with fear, reasoning that if even a Grandmaster could be slain, what chance did they have?

As for the Divine Fortune Teller Zhuge WuLiang and Goddess Constable Yan Wushuang, these two Grandmasters also made waves in Jianghu.

That the Divine Fortune Teller was a venerated elder of the older generation was one thing, but only now did the people of the Martial Arts World realize that Yan Wushuang, the Goddess Constable, had quietly ascended to the realm of a Grandmaster!

With her age, climbing the Earth List in the future was only to be expected.

Meanwhile, rumors circulated that Iron Arhat Jing Fan might also have a breakthrough.

Many old-timers in the Martial Arts declared that in the coming years, there would definitely be intense power struggles over the rankings on the Human List and the Earth List across Jianghu.

Amidst all the turmoil, Zhong Shenxiu rode a donkey out of Changhe County in reverse.

"Solving Hua Miao this time, has part of the danger been eliminated?"

"As for the Five Poison Sect? It was the imperial court that made a move this time. Although I played the bait very effectively, the credit should go to the court..."

Painting everything as a scheme of the imperial court, and himself as just a backdrop and a pawn, was exactly the scene Zhong Shenxiu wished to see.

Otherwise, the Five Poison Sect’s retaliation to come would not be easy to handle.

"But no matter what, I already have many enemies. If I don’t advance to Grandmaster soon, who knows when someone might come and annihilate my entire family..."

Thinking of this, Zhong Shenxiu couldn’t help but touch his chest.

The Wang Family’s Secret Manual, given to him by Gu Qingying, was nicely lying there in his embrace.

That day.

After Hua Miao was decapitated in the street, her soul departing on the stone bridge, Gu Qingying broke into tears on the scene.

Having avenged a great wrong, he declared he owed the court an immeasurable debt, immediately wanting to sell himself to join the Divine Capture Sect, and presented the Wang Family’s Secret Manual.

Yan Wushuang promptly agreed to the former request, and regarding the secret manual, she swiftly entrusted it to Zhong Shenxiu for safekeeping. According to their agreement, he could study it for three years, then it was to be returned to the Divine Capture Sect.

But that secret manual, how to describe it?

Zhong Shenxiu, with an expressionless face, pulled out the secret manual from his chest; it looked like a grayish-white tattered cloth with some indistinct black rubbings on it.

Besides that... there was nothing else.

When Gu Qingying initially offered the manual, he was quite embarrassed and repeatedly swore and vowed that it was the genuine article.

It was said to be personally rubbings taken by an ancestor of the Wang Family from the Heavenly Stele—an absolute original!

There’s no way it was fake!

And Yan Wushuang consoled a few words, virtually disbelieving that anyone could comprehend martial arts from it.

She even assured on the spot that if Zhong Shenxiu couldn’t decipher anything in three years, she wouldn’t mind lending it to him for another three.

"This ’understandable but indescribable’ thing is a bit too much... No wonder they have given up hope."

"But I am different."

Zhong Shenxiu’s expression changed again and again.

This rag-like grayish-white thin piece looked like cloth, but when his fingers touched it, there was an indescribably strange sensation, as if touching a piece of living skin.

Something capable of bearing imprints from the Heavenly Stele was never going to be ordinary.

Just from the material alone, he could confirm that Gu Qingying hadn’t deceived him.

As for comprehending martial arts?

At this time, Changhe County was already a hotspot in the Martial Arts; with too many people and eyes around, Zhong Shenxiu decided to act after leaving.

Riding his donkey, occasionally sipping some wine, he adjusted his direction, ready to head back to Little Mountain City.

Since their last parting, it roughly had been almost a year.

As the year’s end drew near, it was time for the wanderer to return home.

The time was late night.

Unable to camp in the wilderness, Zhong Shenxiu found an old temple, looking at the gloomy sky outside, murmured to himself, "It looks like it’s about to snow..."

He lit a fire, ate some dry food, and then took out the ashen cloth, ready to commence his first formal contemplation.

This artifact was a heritage treasure of the Wang Family.

Some said it was a secret manual left behind by the Wang Family after contemplating the Heavenly Stele, while others claimed it was a direct impression of the Heavenly Stele.

Zhong Shenxiu was more inclined to believe the latter.

Otherwise, as forebears, if that ancestor of the Wang Family didn’t even write down a single cultivation incantation, leading to each generation’s martial arts deteriorating more than the last until they faced annihilation, it would indeed be a bit irresponsibly negligent.

At this moment, he carelessly unfolded the secret manual, then turned to the braised meat and roasted bread wrapped in oil paper in his embrace, first pulling the stopper from the gourd and pouring himself a gourd full of strong liquor.

"Ah... refreshing..."

Zhong Shenxiu looked at the secret manual, the corners of his mouth lifting in a playful smile, "The martial artists of this world think that to comprehend cultivation techniques, one must be calm and collected, even reaching the higher level of fasting and bathing, yet they don’t realize... the more they do this, the less they are likely to understand."

Because these martial arts were all intricately intertwined with the Evil God.

Therefore, being too rational was counterintuitive to gaining insight.

The better one was at calm and collected meditation, the more they headed in the wrong direction.

"Besides, those with high compatibility—that is, those high in inspiration and spiritedness—do indeed have a bit of an advantage..."

With the tipsy haze from the liquor, Zhong Shenxiu looked at the ashen cloth, his expression gradually becoming entranced.

Many people have experienced a situation.

Staring at a word for a long time, it suddenly appears utterly foreign, as if one doesn’t recognize it at all.

This phenomenon is called ’semantic satiation,’ which is due to the brain’s refusal to process something after staring at it for too long.

But at this moment, from the very first glance, Zhong Shenxiu felt something was off.

The familiar black impressions on the ashen cloth now almost seemed wholly unfamiliar.

Not only that, looking at them made it quite easy to make associations.

In reality, making associations wasn’t all that significant; for instance, many in Jianghu would associate swords with young heroes, fine horses with saddles, as well as strong liquor with roasted horse meat.

These kinds of related associations weren’t unusual.

But the associations Zhong Shenxiu was making were different.

It was as if he saw a fine horse and thought of pearls—a completely unrelated pair of elements which through this ashen cloth were forcibly melded together.

He looked at a black impression and suddenly associated it with tiny Gu!

Gu worms were commonly used by the Miaojiang Five Poison Sect.

But the ’concept’ of tiny Gu was even smaller than a worm; strictly speaking, it was more akin to the concepts from a previous life, like bacteria, fungi, and so on, yet broader.

Simply put, it could be the smallest concept composing the universe, yet possessing a unique life.

By comparison, they were akin to living atoms.

Zhong Shenxiu’s thoughts continued to diverge, growing even more curious as to why he thought of such a strange thing as a living atom.

’Tiny Gu, tiny Gu... hand!’

Following this, his mind shifted from tiny Gu to his own hands.

And at the moment that this thought emerged, an unexpected transformation occurred!