The Legend of the Condor Heroes: From Being Expelled from Peach Blossom Island

Chapter 503 The Secret Passage (Part Two)

The second stone door inside the secret passage leads to the scripture room, which is not large and contains a few bookshelves.

Aside from the Great Shift of Heaven and Earth, the only martial art of the Ming Cult worthy of Wu Chengyu's attention is the Great Nine Heavens Hand. This is a top-tier palm technique comparable to the Eighteen Subduing Dragon Palms and the Six Yang Palms of Tianshan, and it is the true strongest martial art of the Ming Cult leader.

Almost every leader of the Ming Cult was a top-tier expert, so they could naturally unleash the full power of this palm technique, but now that's questionable.

Yang Xu was only at the top level. Fang Yu died too suddenly. Yang Xu's identity as the successor to the next sect leader was determined by Fang Yu before his death. As Fang Yu's personal disciple, it is unknown whether he had learned this palm technique before.

Without learning the Great Nine Heavens Hand, Yang Xu's chances of reaching the pinnacle level in the future would be infinitely reduced.

Like the Tianshan Six Yang Palm, this palm technique originated a hundred years ago and is a level above modern martial arts. This level of superiority is that when the practitioner reaches the level of subtlety, they can integrate subtlety into the palm technique, thereby affecting the opponent's spirit in certain aspects.

A century later, there seems to be no such breakthrough in the martial arts of The Legend of the Condor Heroes. The Eighteen Subduing Dragon Palms were also incomplete when they were passed down to Hong Qigong. Later, Hong Qigong completed them. Perhaps the missing part is precisely the subtle application of the Eighteen Subduing Dragon Palms.

In the past, when Qiao Feng used the Eighteen Subduing Dragon Palms, he became more and more courageous in battle. His momentum often suppressed his opponents, making them unable to exert their full fighting power due to fear. It is hard to say that the Eighteen Subduing Dragon Palms also had the effect of suppressing the opponent's spirit.

Sure enough, the Great Nine Heavens Hand technique was in the scripture room. Wu Chengyu picked up the manual and flipped through it. It did have some unique features, but for him, it could only serve as resources and could no longer fundamentally improve his martial arts skills.

However, the Five Elements Flag members were not focused on Da Jiutian. As soon as they entered the scripture room, they began searching with a specific purpose. They quickly found five secret manuals in the scripture room, and everyone was excited, almost cheering.

Jiang Ruocheng forcibly suppressed his excitement: "These five manuals were the fundamental martial arts of my Five Elements Camp. When Fang La dealt a heavy blow to my Five Elements Camp, he also confiscated these five manuals, so that future generations could no longer cultivate the highest level of our sect's skills."

"Master Wu, you may take any of the other martial arts techniques in this library; we won't contest them. However, please allow us to safeguard these five ultimate techniques. They concern the inheritance of the Five Elements Camp. Please forgive our selfishness this once."

Wu Chengyu was naturally indifferent. With his martial arts skills at his current level, ordinary techniques were no longer useful, and he would not covet the inheritance of his allies.

He glanced at the covers of the five manuals and the first one he saw was Taibai Xuanjin Qi, the so-called unique skill of the Golden-Faced Fox King. It now seemed that it actually came from the Ruijin Camp and was instead embezzled by the Ming Cult, becoming the so-called secret of the Ming Cult.

The Ming Cult's suppression, fear, and plunder of the Five Elements Camp were almost ubiquitous, so it's no wonder that even after a century, the Five Elements Camp still harbored hatred.

As for the other four martial arts manuals, they are the Hunyuan Hanyue Jin of the Thick Earth Banner, the Lingshu Changqing Jue of the Giant Wood Banner, the Chiyang Zhenhuo Jing of the Blazing Fire Banner, and the Qianlang Chaosheng Fa of the Flood Banner.

It seems that, like the Taibai Xuanjin Qi, it is a unique skill with a single elemental attribute. If the Innate Skill had not yet reached the perfection of the five elements, Wu Chengyu would definitely have used it for reference. However, it is not good to cause discord with the Five Elements Camp because of this.

As for the other martial arts manuals here, there are only a hundred or so, fewer in number than those of the Murong family, but generally of higher quality than the Murong family's collection. These can all serve as resources for Wu Chengyu to study martial arts in the future, or be given as rewards to the disciples of the Beiwei Army.

The only thing that caught Wu Chengyu's attention was the Tantric Great Handprint and the Flame Blade, which seemed to be only half-finished.

The Ming Cult had conquered such a large territory in the Western Regions, and it was inevitable that they would have had many conflicts with various forces in the Western Regions. Therefore, it was understandable that they would collect a few Tantric martial arts manuals. However, the fact that there were remnants of Kumārajīva's Flaming Blade here surprised Wu Chengyu.

Even in the era of Tianlong, the Flaming Blade was definitely a divine skill. If Kumārajīva hadn't been so focused on collecting all kinds of martial arts and instead dedicated himself to studying the Flaming Blade, he might have been able to push this martial art to an even higher level.

Wu Chengyu simply put the Great Nine Heavens Hand, the Secret Sect Great Handprint, and the Flaming Blade into his bosom. He had nowhere else to put the other manuals for the time being, so he decided to leave them here.

The members of the Five Elements Banner carefully stored away the unique skills of each school. Although they were curious about other martial arts, they were never greedy. This alone shows the character of the people in the Five Elements Banner.

The third door leads to the treasure room, which immediately catches the eye. It is filled with gold and silver treasures plundered by the Ming Cult over the past century, especially the wealth looted from corrupt officials and local powerful families during the Fang La Rebellion when they captured prefectures and cities.

This treasure room is about half the size of a basketball court and nearly four meters high. Such a large space is filled with large wooden boxes. Opening any one of them will reveal all kinds of rare treasures. Gold is the minimum; even silver is not qualified to be placed here.

These should be the military supplies that the Ming Cult is preparing for a future rebellion. The Ming Cult has been accumulating strength for over a hundred years, and it is unknown how much will be left when they actually rebel a hundred years from now.

For the people of the Five Elements Camp, these treasures were enough to dazzle them, but their biggest problems now were survival and revenge. The gold and silver were useless if they were just hidden within a few hundred square kilometers of Bright Peak.

Wu Chengyu remained silent, as did the members of the Five Elements Camp, and they all quietly left the treasure room.

Wu Chengyu has already used the treasures here as military expenses for the future rebel army and his training of new troops. The people of the Five Elements Camp will inevitably have their eyes on it too. The premise of treating money as dirt is that there is really a lot of unclaimed wealth right in front of you, which you can take as you please, and you can resist the temptation.

If they had no ideas, wouldn't everyone in the Five Elements Camp be saints? Where in this world are there any true saints?

But Wu Chengyu wasn't worried about them taking all the treasure. Even if they did, what Wu Chengyu ultimately wanted was their people, and to gain both their wealth and their people in the end.

Of course, now is not the time. Bringing up the division of money now would only increase suspicion and cause more trouble. After leaving the treasure room, the last stone door was inscribed with the name of the Divine Weapon Room. This time, the area was not large, only about forty square meters, but it contained all kinds of divine weapons and artifacts, some of which were plundered by the Ming Cult itself, and others that were personally forged by the craftsmen of the Ruijin Camp.

It has all eighteen kinds of weapons, as well as various strange weapons. Each one exudes a chilling aura, and even after a hundred years, you can still feel the killing intent emanating from it. You can tell that each one is an absolute treasure without even touching it.

The leader of the Ruijin Camp here is called Tieyu. He has been blacksmithing for many years and his arms are frighteningly thick. At this moment, he is the most excited. He picked up a pair of purple-gold hammers and tears immediately fell down his face.

"This is the weapon used by the leaders of my Ruijin Camp over the years. It disappeared when Fang La ambushed us. I never expected it to have been kept here all this time. Damn Fang La, damn Ming Cult."

And this Azure Destiny sword was forged by the previous camp leader over two years using special minerals. The sword was as light as a feather, yet incomparably sharp. Later, that camp leader, under orders from the Ming Cult, descended the mountain and died far from home. When his body was returned, the Azure Destiny sword was gone; it turns out it was here too.

Upon closer inspection, Tie Yu discovered that at least a quarter of the divine weapons in the Divine Weapon Chamber were forged by the Ruijin Camp, and all of them disappeared after their masters' tragic deaths.

Seeing this, the members of the Five Elements Camp gritted their teeth in hatred, and Wu Chengyu was also secretly astonished. The upper echelons of the Ming Cult were really too despicable.

Tie Yu picked up the weapons one by one and carefully put them down. Then, he composed himself and bowed to Wu Chengyu, saying, "What I have seen today has finally solved many of the mysteries of my Ruijin Camp. On behalf of my Ruijin Camp, I thank you, Hero Wu. In the future, if you have any orders, the Ruijin Camp will do its best."

This was one of Wu Chengyu's plans: he made no demands on the Five Elements Camp, but instead showered them with favors until they could no longer refuse him.

He was the one who found the secret passage blueprints, he was the one who led the Five Elements Camp into the secret passage, he was the one who helped the Five Elements Camp rediscover their sect's unique skills, and he was the one who brought back these mysteriously missing divine weapons.

Each and every one of these acts was a favor bestowed by Wu Chengyu upon the Five Elements Camp. The Five Elements Camp had no idea that their previous vigilance towards Wu Chengyu, this suddenly appearing top expert, was gradually disappearing.

At this point, Wu Chengyu still acted as if he was doing a favor without expecting anything in return, simply glossing over the matter.

He casually picked up a steel spear, twelve feet long, made entirely of fine steel, but weighing seventy or eighty pounds. Such weight indicated that heavy metals similar to black iron must have been mixed in during the casting process.

The lance was a deadly weapon in ancient cavalry warfare and was also the most difficult to make. The blade was usually made of fine steel, while the shaft was made of white wax wood using a special technique. The production process was complex and often took several years.

Such a spear shaft is not only resistant to strikes from metal weapons, but also possesses great flexibility. The flexibility and versatility of the spear shaft are extremely important when using the horse spear technique, so it is rarely cast from high-quality steel.

The steel lance before them was not only made of metal, but also had a certain degree of flexibility. Wu Chengyu used both hands to bend the lance into a long bow shape. When he released one hand, the lance immediately straightened. Needless to say, this lance also contained a special metal.

In terms of armor penetration, toughness, and other aspects, this steel spear is top-notch. The only problem is that it is too heavy. Let's not talk about the weapons that weigh hundreds of kilograms like in Romance of the Three Kingdoms or Heroes of Sui and Tang Dynasties, as those are all exaggerations from later generations.

In fact, in real cold weapon combat, a weapon weighing twenty or thirty pounds is considered a heavy weapon, which only a strongman can use. From this point of view, a warrior who can wield such a weapon for a long time on the battlefield must be an unparalleled fierce general.

This steel spear was also forged by the ancestors of the Ruijin Banner. It was commissioned by a powerful general of the Houtu Banner, who possessed superhuman strength, and was forged by the master craftsman of the Ruijin Banner. It was invincible on the battlefield against the Liao Dynasty, but in the end, it was looted by the Ming Cult and brought here.

"Since you're thanking me, how about giving me this steel spear? To be honest, I'm also naturally strong, and ordinary weapons are too light for me. Such a handy long weapon is truly rare."

When the members of the Five Elements Camp saw that Wu Chengyu had taken the initiative to ask for it, they were overjoyed and couldn't wait to repay Wu Chengyu's kindness.

But then he thought about it again and realized that Wu Chengyu clearly didn't want to put them in a difficult position, so he took the initiative to choose a weapon, which could be considered as the Five Elements Camp repaying his kindness.

The more they thought about it, the more the Five Elements Camp felt they owed Wu Chengyu. After all, if Wu Chengyu hadn't revealed the secret of the secret passage, this steel spear could have been theirs.

Compared to what Wu Chengyu gave them, a steel spear was insignificant and could not be compensated at all. The more easily Wu Chengyu let it go, the more they felt they owed him, which was exactly the effect Wu Chengyu wanted.

At this point, most of the secrets within the secret passage were known. There were two remaining passages. One was an armory, which contained not divine weapons and powerful artifacts, but complete sets of weapons and armor, enough to equip five thousand elite troops, according to Wu Chengyu.

As for the final granary, it was empty, without mountains of grain and fodder. Grain and fodder don't keep for long, and the Ming Cult had been lying low for a hundred years. Usually, only the leader could enter and leave, so the leader couldn't be the only one to do the work.

However, this entire secret passage collection could definitely serve as the foundation for a rebellious force to rise to power. Now, Yang Xu has no idea where the entrance to the secret passage is, and the entire secret passage has essentially fallen into the hands of Wu Chengyu and the Five Elements Camp.

At this moment, Wu Chengyu suddenly raised a question: "The entrance and exit of the secret passage is outside Bright Peak. If we are careful, a team of a thousand men can slowly sneak in without being detected."

The other three entrances are located within the Ming Cult's headquarters on Bright Peak. If this army were to suddenly attack from these three exits, the Ming Cult would undoubtedly suffer heavy losses due to being caught off guard. Therefore, this secret passage is both a forbidden area for the Ming Cult and a bridgehead for its destruction.

Upon hearing this, the Five Elements Camp members' eyes lit up. As the saying goes, "He who carries a sharp blade will naturally have the will to kill." Wu Chengyu's idea was entirely valid, and for a moment, their accumulated hatred for the Ming Cult seemed uncontrollable.

(End of this chapter)