Chapter 117: Heavenly Maiden Xi’s Surname
The night was dark and silent, dim and without light.
But this posed no hindrance to Hong Yuan, who saw it clearly. Mr. Wuchen slowly raised his head, his face rapidly changing.
It transformed into the clean-shaven face of a middle-aged man, still ordinary in appearance, but with a pair of eyes deep and unfathomable, as if harboring many secrets.
Just this pair of eyes set in his face made this ordinary clean-shaven middle-aged man seem somewhat extraordinary.
Hong Yuan watched this scene, growing more interested in the man.
Even standing right in front of him, staring intently, he couldn’t spot any flaws in the change of appearance.
Disguise? Illusionary Technique?
Hong Yuan pondered in his mind, while Mr. Wuchen’s face broke into a wry smile:
“What odd person? It’s all just exaggerated boasts spread through the Martial World. I am merely a frustrated wanderer drifting through Jianghu, barely clinging to life.”
“This action is to request Alliance Leader Hong to step in. If there’s a chance, rescue Brother Song Yinglong from the Red Lotus Sect.”
Mr. Wuchen sighed.
Hong Yuan neither confirmed nor denied, chuckling:
“Mr. Wuchen, I don’t quite understand what you’re saying. From what I know, Manor Lord Song is one of the Red Lotus Sect’s Four Kings, already at the top of the Red Lotus Sect. Why would he need me to rescue him?”
“I didn’t expect Alliance Leader Hong to already know about this.”
Mr. Wuchen showed no surprise, his voice low:
“Brother Song joined the sect halfway. The Red Lotus Sect took a fancy to the foundation he accumulated over decades. He also wanted to borrow the Red Lotus Sect’s power to expand. I advised him early on that cooperating with the Red Lotus Sect was like making a deal with a tiger. A cult like the Red Lotus Sect with its Depraved God and Evil Sacrifices has cunning followers—how could they be so easily schemed against? But…”
Hearing this, Hong Yuan waved his hand to signal Mr. Wuchen to pause. With a flick of his sleeve, a wine pot appeared in his right palm.
He took a sip of wine, smiling:
“How can a good story go without wine? Tell me in detail!”
Mr. Wuchen gave another wry smile, then began recounting the matter in detail.
After Song Yinglong joined the Red Lotus Sect, he was highly regarded and directly became the Vajra Heavenly King, one of the Four Kings.
Over these past twenty years, Crouching Tiger Manor’s growth naturally owed much to Song Yinglong’s strategizing, but it also had the Red Lotus Sect’s support behind the scenes.
Besides using the Red Lotus Sect for expansion, Song Yinglong also obtained a Gang Body secret technique from the Red Lotus Sect.
Outer Gang Mysterious Iron Buddha Skin Gang!
After achieving this Gang Body, Song Yinglong’s state of mind turned arrogant and conceited, looking down on everyone. His attitude toward the Red Lotus Sect became increasingly perfunctory.
Until he suffered repeated defeats at Hong Yuan’s hands and began seeking help from the sect. Surprisingly, the Red Lotus Sect gave him the Inner Gang Hundred Poisons Bodhi Gang that matched the Mysterious Iron Buddha Skin Gang.
They even provided the extremely rare main materials, Blood Bodhi and Sand of Resentment.
“After cultivating Mysterious Iron Buddha Skin, the body becomes like golden iron, invulnerable to blades and spears, with boundless strength. Once Hundred Poisons Bodhi is achieved, the entire body harbors deadly poison everywhere. Even a top master who is slightly careless and gets a graze on the skin will suffer greatly, with combat power greatly diminished.”
“This combination of outer and inner Gang is the Poison Buddha Golden Body Gang.”
Mr. Wuchen looked at Hong Yuan and let out a long sigh:
“Brother Song suffered successive defeats at Alliance Leader Hong’s hands and couldn’t accept it, so he staked his life to seize a chance to achieve Inner Gang.”
“But the Red Lotus Sect is no benevolent group. How could they not know Brother Song was just stringing them along? Giving him such Gang Body secret techniques and main materials so generously must come with a problem.”
Mr. Wuchen paused, then continued:
“Even if the Red Lotus Sect didn’t set any traps, with Brother Song’s current state of mind, he couldn’t possibly endure the organ-refining ritual of the Hundred Poisons Bodhi Gang.”
“On the night when the moon hangs in the sky, sorcerers cut open the martial artist’s chest cavity, sew the Blood Bodhi wrapped in Sand of Resentment into the cultivator’s heart. It sounds simple, but any slight oversight means certain doom.”
“Perhaps the ritual has already ended by now, and Brother Song has already…” Mr. Wuchen shook his head, then said: “This plea for Alliance Leader Hong to act is merely clinging to a slim hope.”
Hong Yuan looked at Mr. Wuchen and smiled:
“Mr. Wuchen, you truly have deep friendship and loyalty toward Manor Lord Song.”
Mr. Wuchen’s eyes were deep, as if recalling the past, and he said:
“I owe my survival to Brother Song’s rescue back then. Otherwise, not even my bones would remain.”
“Oh!” Hong Yuan nodded, not probing into the story between Mr. Wuchen and Song Yinglong, and said leisurely:
“I greatly admire the friendship between Mr. Wuchen and Manor Lord Song. But isn’t there one point where Mr. Wuchen is mistaken? According to you, Manor Lord Song risked death to cultivate the Gang Body precisely to deal with me. Now you want me to save an enemy. Do I look like a saint?”
Mr. Wuchen smiled and slowly spoke.
“Brother Song just couldn’t turn the corner in his mind. I can see that Alliance Leader Hong has never taken Brother Song seriously—it’s always been mere toying.”
“Alliance Leader Hong’s martial arts are world-shaking. You’re probably already at the Grandmaster level. Forget Brother Song only achieving Outer Gang—even with inner and outer combined into the Poison Buddha Golden Body Gang, he might not be your opponent.”
Grandmaster!
Now Hong Yuan’s eyes had been opened, and after a trip to the Zhongyu Sect, he learned many Jianghu secrets from Elder Qi Changkong of the Zhongyu Sect, so he naturally knew what Grandmaster meant.
Force Transformation’s third layer, Microscopic Level for Grandmaster martial artists!
Next came mastering Dan Dao, Gang Body, and True Skill. Achievement in any one made one a top master.
Given the special cultivation system of this world, it could lead to a situation where top masters outnumbered those at Microscopic Level.
The reason was simple.
The hurdle from Microscopic Level to Dan Dao, Gang Body, or True Skill wasn’t a bottleneck in realm—it was merely about secret techniques and resources.
The so-called gap was just secret techniques and various resources.
With secret techniques and resources in place, advancing to top master became a matter of probability.
Temperament, talent, plus a tiny bit of good luck!
Above top master was Grandmaster!
Grandmaster wasn’t self-proclaimed behind closed doors—it was forged in battle.
A so-called Grandmaster didn’t surpass top masters in essence, just in combat power. Anyone who could single-handedly hold off three or more top masters… was a Grandmaster!
In the current world, Grandmaster was the pinnacle of individual combat power.
Hong Yuan toyed with his wine pot and smiled faintly:
“Mr. Wuchen still hasn’t gotten to the root. Why should I save someone who is hostile to me?”
Mr. Wuchen sighed, his expression growing even calmer, and changed the subject:
“Has Alliance Leader Hong heard of Heavenly Maiden Xi?”
Hong Yuan’s expression shifted slightly, and he said flatly:
“Of course. About seven hundred years ago, the first leader of Great Yin Dynasty’s Xuanqiong Mirror. Legend says she collected sorcery from across the world, compiled the Xuan Dian, encompassing everything, containing all mysteries of the world’s four poles.”
He stared at Mr. Wuchen, his eyes scrutinizing.
“I wonder what Mr. Wuchen means by mentioning Heavenly Maiden Xi?”
Mr. Wuchen closed his eyes briefly and said slowly:
“No one knows Heavenly Maiden Xi’s surname, only her name ‘Xi.’ The world says she descended from the heavens, hence Heavenly Maiden Xi!”
Mr. Wuchen’s voice became both solid and ethereal as he said:
“But I know her surname. Heavenly Maiden Xi was surnamed Yu!”
“Yu Xi!”
“I am also surnamed Yu!”
Hong Yuan raised an eyebrow: “Yu Wuchen?”
Heavenly Maiden Xi’s origins were mysteriously unfathomable, her surname unknown for centuries. Countless odd sorcerers who studied sorcery revered her as a deity, trying to trace her past. Mr. Wuchen thought Hong Yuan would at least be shocked, but the reaction was unexpected.
He couldn’t help saying:
“Yu is my surname. ‘Wuchen’ is actually a nickname given by Jianghu folk, but I’ve grown used to it over the years. Calling me Yu Wuchen is fine too.”
Yu Wuchen looked at Hong Yuan and said gravely:
“I say this only to tell Alliance Leader Hong that I know many secrets of this world. As long as Alliance Leader Hong acts once, whether you can bring Brother Song back alive or not, I will tell all.”
