Mrs. and Mr. Smith

Chapter 825: Chapter 825: Rumors about the Guardian and the Masked Woman

Ethan Smith picked up the book.

Only a few simple words were written on it: Modern History of Martial Arts.

The book was printed, indicating that it was compiled by later generations.

The book was thin, merely a few dozen pages.

Compared to the other three books, this one seemed pretty slim.

“It seems the history of martial arts is indeed bleak in recent times.” Ethan Smith couldn’t help shaking his head.

Not wasting any more time, he opened the first page.

The author’s name came into view first.

The author was named Piedmont, and no other information was provided.

Ethan Smith found a corner to sit down with the book and started reading diligently.

The book was not large, but it documented everything in detail.

Every event—big or small—from two hundred years ago, up to twenty years ago, was recorded without omission.

Ethan Smith spent a whole three hours reading but still didn’t find anything related to his father.

“That’s strange,” Ethan Smith frowned.

According to Mike Taylor and Adonis Williams’s descriptions, his father was a top-notch expert who had left a deep mark in the modern history of martial arts.

Yet now, Ethan found no records of his father, not even a single mention of the surname Smith.

Ethan fell silent for a while before continuing to read.

It was late at night by now, and the elegantly dressed young men on the first floor had long since retired to sleep.

Yet Ethan was still engrossed in reading.

Just then, he saw an important piece of information:

About a hundred years ago, there were Martial Saints in the world.

The Capital City Martial Arts Association had already begun to take shape at that time.

They controlled most of the Martial Saints of that period and virtually had the entire martial arts world in their hands.

But the influence of the Martial Saints was immense, and a single Martial Saint could significantly affect the situation of the country!

The control the Capital City Martial Arts Association had over such a powerful force naturally resulted in disaster.

This situation persisted until seventy years ago.

The Capital City Martial Arts Association became increasingly powerful and ambitious.

At this critical juncture, a man who called himself the Guardian, killed more than thirty Martial Saints of the Capital City Martial Arts Association in one breath!

Reading this, Ethan Smith couldn’t help but gasp.

He slew more than thirty Martial Saints in one go? How powerful would one have to be to do that!

“Who’s this Guardian… what is he guarding?” Ethan couldn’t help but be curious.

Ethan continued to read; the book didn’t say much about the Guardian. However, from what was written between the lines, it became evident that the Guardian was far beyond the Martial Saints in terms of strength.

“His mere gesture caused darkness to shroud the heavens and every one of the ten Martial Saints perished.”

“In three days straight, thirty Martial Saints were killed.”

These two sentences were proof of the Guardian’s dominance over the Martial Saints.

Ethan Smith murmured to himself: “Could it be because of the Guardian’s existence that the Martial Saints retreated into the Mystic Realm?”

But something felt odd to him.

No Martial Saints were born in recent times. Since then, not a single Martial Saint had appeared.

While the Guardian could kill alive Martial Saints, how could he possibly prevent future ones from stepping into the Martial Saint Realm?

“Could he possibly be limiting the realm of martial artists to below the Martial Saint Realm?” Ethan whispered to himself.

This appeared practically impossible.

If it were true, the Guardian would no longer be a human but a part of the Path of Heaven itself.

“There must be another reason,” Ethan thought to himself.

Ethan Smith lowered his head and continued reading.

Since then, the flourishing wings of the Capital City Martial Arts Association were clipped, and no longer did any Martial Saint exist within their association.

Even so, the Capital City Martial Arts Association remained the most powerful organization in the martial arts world.

With the development of technology, the Capital City Martial Arts Association began to undertake a drastic transformation, desperately trying to procure an official label in the world of martial arts.

In the following decades, the Capital City Martial Arts Association has boasted dozens of Marquis!

Among them, some have even stepped into the Half-step Martial Sage Realm.

“After reaching Half-step Martial Sage, even with the nourishment of treasures, advancement to the Martial Saint Realm is still impossible.”

“Despite their best efforts, the association couldn’t find a trace of the cause.”

Reading this, Ethan Smith shook his head: “It seems even the Capital City Martial Arts Association couldn’t find a reason.”

Obviously, they’ve attempted to advance someone into the Martial Saint Realm but unfortunately had failed.

“Attempts were made to invite him to cultivate in the Mystic Realm, but even that couldn’t help him enter the Martial Saint Realm.” A passage of text further on caught Ethan’s attention.

This surprised Ethan greatly.

“Does it mean… even after cultivating in the Mystic Realm, a Half-step Martial Sage cannot advance to the Martial Saint Realm?!” Ethan looked surprised.

Does this mean that Marc Fraley and others also can’t step into the Martial Saint Realm?!

And the existing Martial Saints such as Luke Fraley, were they all individuals from a hundred years ago? They were Martial Saints a hundred years ago?

“What on earth is the cause of this?!” Ethan grew increasingly surprised.

If that were the case, the depletion of qi was certainly not the cause.

Because in the Mystic Realm, there was no shortage of qi.

“No wonder people say Marquis are the strongest in the world,” Ethan thought to himself.

Afterwards, Ethan read through the entire book.

Besides this information, he wasn’t interested in the remaining contents.

Many of the records of characters and events were beyond his understanding.

Ethan returned the book.

He touched his chin and murmured: “So, no one in this era, whoever it is, can step into the Martial Saint Realm.”

“And the Martial Saints controlled by the Capital City Martial Arts Association do not dare to show themselves because of the existence of the Guardian.”

Ethan remembered the words of the Pavilion Master.

He had said Ethan would be the one to break this deadlock.

“If I indeed step into the Martial Saint Realm, then I would be the only one to have done so in the past century,” Ethan thought to himself.

At this point, daybreak was upon them.

Ethan didn’t dare to waste any more time. He put the book away and continued leafing through the other three, hoping to find some information about the masked woman.

According to the man with the mustache, the masked woman appeared ten thousand years ago.

Therefore, Ethan picked up the earliest book.

Unfortunately, the characters recorded in this book were all in a peculiar script that Ethan could not understand.

With no other choice, Ethan put down the book and chose the one about martial arts history five thousand years ago.@@novelbin@@

Although the text in this book was complex, Ethan was able to decipher it due to his university studies in ancient language.

He gently opened the book and quickly flipped through the pages, hoping to find any information related to the masked woman.

About an hour later, Ethan finally found a record related to the masked woman.

“Her figure is splendid, her beauty unmatched; masked by a demonic figure, she kills mercilessly.”

This one sentence, caught Ethan Smith’s attention.