Night of Despair

Chapter 220: Scars 218

“We pulled a lot of people today, all from the Western Capital, they said a lot of black smoke floated out above the court of Western Capital, condensing into Black Fog that never dissipates. Now, the Western Capital is almost submerged, and nothing can be seen clearly… This world feels like it’s about to face disaster… No! I have to get my master and eldest brother onto the ship and make a run for it overseas.”

“The last trip and then it’s time to completely shut down business. With the money from this trip, I’ve booked enough grain and oil to last a few years on the island. Though, I’ve encountered that supervisor again, and he seems to have returned to normal…”

“He asked me a bunch of things about astronomy, but what the hell do I know? Why don’t they ask people from Haiwen Si? I’m just a shipmaster, only know a bit about finding directions at sea!”

“Master is sick… he’s seriously ill. He’s been ill all along, hiding it because he was afraid I would worry! Damn it all! I was supposed to care for him in his old age! How could he do this to me!!?”

“My eldest brother sought out a great physician, but it was no use… It’s all my fault, I shouldn’t have visited Master so infrequently… If only I had noticed sooner… If only I had…”

“Today, I found a divine healer who said he could cure Master’s illness if it could be transferred to me. I gave him ten taels as a deposit; if he fails, he can’t blame me for being ruthless!”

“It’s useless… Master has lost consciousness… Master is going to die…”

At this point, Yu Hong noticed that the last page here had obvious creases and tears, clearly torn by someone’s hands in desperation.

“My eldest brother is preparing to have a Daoist perform a ritual… but I feel sure that Master will get better. He’s always been so robust. Maybe this time, he’s just trying to trick me…”

“Master coughed up blood… I gathered a lot of cotton, but it was all soaked through… It was all blood! All blood!! I cried in front of him, and he woke up for a moment, telling me not to be afraid. But he is the only family member I have in this world!! What do I do if he dies!?”

The paper here was spotted with many drops of blood, dark red and distinct.

“The supervisor… the supervisor said he has a way… I asked him what way, what the price would be. He shook his head, saying it didn’t require payment from me, everything depended on whether Master sincerely wished it… He also said, as long as I find that brilliant, unique… neither I nor Master would ever fall ill!”

The writing ended here.

Yu Hong flipped through the remainder, but the booklet was made by stitching single pages together, so there was nothing more; this was the last page.

“Fan Ming…,” Yu Hong whispered the ship’s name.

From this booklet, he had seen quite a bit.

The True Origin Sect, the Seven Leaves Faction, the anomalies of the Western Capital court, the mysterious supervisor, the owner of the Black Ship, Chen Zhilong trying to save his dearest master, surely made a significant decision, one that might be the ultimate reason for the ship’s current state.

Yu Hong closed the booklet. Besides the main story, he had also seen the appearance of the Black Fog.

“The court practices fasting, using no smoke, and three months later, black smoke drifted into the air, gathering into Black Fog, enveloping the Western Capital and causing the people to flee in panic.”

“Only, I don’t know if this Black Fog is the same as the one here in reality. And the supervisor that gave shipmaster Chen Zhilong hope, what method did he use to revive a dying master…?”

Setting the booklet aside, Yu Hong took out that mysterious Daoist Scripture he had acquired earlier.

Thanks to the translator, he now understood the name written on the cover of the scripture.

“Pure Elemental Spirit Calming Scripture.”

“This scripture was snatched from the depths of that mansion’s divine altar, and it must be greatly related to the statue of the Three-eyed Taoist.”

He gently pinched the cover and turned to the first page.

“Cleanse the lake of the heart, retain useful thoughts, build primary and secondary structures, to form a divine palace. The palace spirit is mysterious; apparitions come and go, all are like me, each with their inherent nature…”

A passage that seemed to describe meditative practices was ringing in Yu Hong’s ears.

The translator’s voice was clear, with well-defined cadence. It was pleasant to hear, but that wasn’t important. What mattered was that the scripture seemed completely unremarkable.

Rustle.

Rustle.

He flipped through the pages, and what followed were similar mantras, neatly arranged with dark script.

Without realizing it, he had gone through all eighteen pages, and the recitation in his ears gradually stopped.

He looked at the scripture with an unfathomable gaze, feeling as though his body had been thoroughly cleansed, just like when he first entered the place cloaked in the True Origin Divine Light.

“This scripture must be a treasure intended for certain special circumstances,” Yu Hong thought to himself.

Reflecting back, the scripture was placed next to the short sword by the incense burner.

Its core function was likely to suppress the incense burner.

“And that statue of the Three-eyed Taoist… now it seems to have been intended to work in conjunction with the scripture to suppress something inside the burner…”

Yu Hong closed the scripture, deep in thought.

“Whether it’s the bell sound of the True Origin Divine Light or this volume of Pure Elemental Spirit Calming Scripture, they seem to be targeting something that’s not recorded.”

Vaguely, Yu Hong felt as if he saw a dark shadow behind all these things, a dark presence influencing everything.

“Never mind, I’ll just get stronger first. No matter what it is, as long as I’m strong enough, it won’t be a problem!”

He put away the scripture and placed it together with the blue-light booklet from the True Origin Sect.

Picking up a charcoal pencil, he began to summarize his personal insights.

Having practiced the Thunderbolt Leg Technique to this stage, he had gained a deep understanding of Inner Qi. It wasn’t difficult to devise a Basic Technique now; the challenge was how to make the technique produce water.

After pondering for a while without any ideas, he got up to practice the Thunderbolt Leg Technique.

Letting the Black Mark continue to work, enhancing the pyroxene and turning it into Large Pyroxene Stone.

Time passed day by day.

Yu Hong immersed himself in creating a new Inner Strength technique.

He integrated the rune system of the Yingshan civilization, inspired by the newly obtained Solidification Rune and Separation Rune, soon he had an idea.

The Separation Rune would separate moisture from the air, from all things, and then solidify it into the clear water he needed.

This process was his own idea.

While cultivating and creating, Thunderbolt Leg Technique’s sixth layer had finally reached completion.

Completion meant that the Thunderbolt Transformation was perfected; the entire Thunderbolt Leg Technique had no new realms of cultivation to explore, it had all come to an end.

*

*

*

Wind howling, ice and snow covering the land,

Yu Hong stood quietly in the secondary safe zone, his legs buried in the black soil, his eyes tightly shut, motionless.

Minutes later,

suddenly, his eyes burst open.

Streams of white Inner Qi rapidly circulated within his body and then flowed back into the Inner Qi cluster in his Dantian.

Until, after about ten seconds, all Inner Qi had returned.

By Yu Hong’s ear, an uncommonly heard feedback sound from the Black Mark abruptly rang out.

‘Thunderbolt Leg Technique has reached its zenith. You have gained the Cultivation Technique completion trait: Tao Breath Circulation.’

‘What the hell!?’ Yu Hong was startled, nearly shaken from his tranquil state.

Fortunately, he stabilized himself in time, regulated his breathing for a moment, and after completely concluding his cultivation, he carefully sensed his entire body.

He soon discovered the key.

He pressed his hand onto the pattern of the Black Mark, and suddenly, like the mark itself, there were two more marks floating in his mind. Beneath them, a new white circular complex pattern appeared.

He inexplicably knew the meaning of the pattern at a glance.

Those were four words: ‘Tao Breath Circulation’.

‘What’s the use of this thing?’ His heart skipped a beat, feeling like he might have discovered some new benefit.

Like the mark itself, he imagined his thoughts moving forward, touching the white circular pattern.

Instantly, a stream of clear information flowed from the Black Mark.

‘Tao Breath Circulation: Thunderbolt Leg Technique completion trait, allows a life form to automatically practice any other Martial Arts in their sleep or rest, producing 55% of the effectiveness of active cultivation. (Excluding techniques like Fasting, which necessarily require practice during rest or sleep).’

‘!!’ Seeing this, Yu Hong’s eyes instantly widened.

His Inner Qi had been slow simply because there wasn’t enough time for Qi Cultivation! He could only practice so little each day, as exceeding the limit would exhaust his spirit, leaving him unable to do anything else.

Moreover, once interrupted to do other things, naturally, he would have to stop cultivating Qi.

But with this trait, from now on, whatever Martial Arts he practiced, the speed would definitely increase several fold!!

Although it was just over half as effective, it would still be continuous, without stopping!!

Yu Hong was overjoyed.

‘Indeed, my previous idea was correct! Taking a Cultivation Technique to its limit truly yields unexpected gains!’

This trait was truly formidable.

He immediately tested it, exhausting all his Inner Qi in one go, then without actively practicing Qi Cultivation, merely allowed his body to recover on its own.

Sure enough, in just two short hours, all Inner Qi was fully replenished.

This was still just repair, the simplest function; the real test for this trait would come when cultivating Martial Arts.

Immediately, Yu Hong threw himself completely into researching the creation of Basic Techniques.

The next morning.

He, with dark circles under his eyes, spread open a small yellow duck notebook on the desk.

On the notebook’s pages was clearly written an essay he had attempted, combining the principle of localized air conditioning condensation with the Separation Rune and Solidification Rune, joined with his own understanding and sense of Inner Qi, to try out a simple Basic Technique.

This technique was very simple, with really only one function.

To cultivate a kind of Inner Qi that could condense water.

Aside from this, it had no other function.

Meaning this Basic Martial Arts’ Inner Qi, aside from being able to gather water, had no effects at all, not even the ability to injure when released.

‘Condensation is just supplemental; the core is still in using the previously obtained visualization chart, along with the Infinite Qi Condensing Technique from Wuji Palace, and my sensation of countless tiny energy particles around me… to draw in and identify the particles most coherent with water, then incorporate them into my body, merging them with my own. Ultimately, I’ve finished this piece of the Basic Technique.’

Yu Hong was quite satisfied with this process; the energy particles in the surrounding void couldn’t just be absorbed at will.

The Condensing Technique from Wuji Palace mentioned that in the vacuum there are 9,672 types of particles, some of which the human body can absorb.

But after entering the body, they wouldn’t have any special effect; without a corresponding accumulation and cultivation method, they would soon dissipate.

And not all of these energy particles necessarily suited one’s physical and mental state, so a careful selection was needed.

Fortunately, over these days, Yu Hong had eventually found a type of rare hydrophilic vacuum particle and collected it into his body.

Although the Inner Qi developed from these particles, apart from condensing water, was of no other use, there was still the Black Mark, right?