Gao Wu insists on cultivating immortality.

Chapter 183 One step further

The sword light, as clear and cold as water, possessed the divine power to annihilate everything.

Gao Wu drew his sword to resist, but to no avail; his consciousness was pierced directly by the sword light. At the last moment, he suppressed the urge to unleash the Azure Dragon Divine Qi Incantation to resist.

Then, Gao Wu's consciousness plunged into a dark abyss. To be precise, he was as if he were dead, losing all sensation and even consciousness.

In an instant, Gao Wu felt that he was really dead.

There was no body, no consciousness, everything disappeared, everything was over.

After an unknown amount of time, Gao Wu regained consciousness. He felt darkness, coldness, and a vast, endless void.

"I am Gao Wu, an ageless youth who has lived two lives!"

Gao Wu woke up almost instantly. He opened his eyes, and a wealth of information flooded into his eyes and ears. The information he received through his body's senses broke through the dark, cold, and deep abyss.

His gaze fell on Bai Yunfei, who was sitting quietly opposite him. The martial arts master's gaze was calm as water, gentle yet possessing an unshakable strength.

Compared to Wang Tianyin's ruthlessness and Han Yujun's profundity, Gao Wu always felt that Bai Yunfei was too gentle as a grandmaster.

Only at this moment did he realize that Bai Yunfei was the most decisive of the three grandmasters. A wisp of water-like sword light nearly annihilated his soul.

Without any hesitation, he drew his sword, striking directly at the center of his mind with precision, speed, agility, and elegance.

Bai Yunfei is a true swordsman!
In a brief moment, Gao Wu truly experienced the terror of death, with all his senses, memories, emotions, and intelligence being stripped away.

Even though he immediately escaped the abyss of death, that moment of destruction left an indelible mark on his memory.

There are thousands of schools of swordsmanship, and each swordsman has his own understanding of the Dao.

Just as Bai Yunfei said, Gao Wu saw her sword and her Dao in that sword mark.

It was this very sword strike that extinguished his inner demons. Because his spirit and consciousness were severed, his inner demons naturally disappeared as well.

It's like the guillotine can cure all headaches!
Gao Wu sheathed his sword. Even with his swordsmanship and the Heavenly Fate Sword, he couldn't stop Bai Yunfei from unleashing his sword intent. The gap between the two made him feel a little uncomfortable.

He stood up, bowed deeply, and said, "Teacher Bai, I have learned a great deal."

Bai Yunfei gestured with his hand and said, "You're too kind."

She then added, "There is also a very simple path to the intent of fists and swords: seek purity and truth. The purer and more sincere one is in the martial arts, the easier it is to condense the true meaning of martial arts."

"Thank you, Master Bai." Gao Wu bowed again. He understood Bai Yunfei's meaning very well. Seeking purity and truth was a quick way, so he left it for last.

Bai Yunfei shook his head slightly: "Lao Tzu said, 'The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.' My attempt to convey the Tao through the sword has ultimately left a trace and fallen into a lower level..."

After leaving the Cleansing Pavilion, Gao Wu glanced back at the third floor; the tea room was still lit. Seven days of quiet tea tasting and recuperation had given him insight into Bai Yunfei's cultivation methods.

Even though it wasn't very suitable for him and he didn't learn much from it, he still gained quite a bit.

Wang Tianyin used the Golden Yang Qi to help him temper his physical body, which was the simplest, most practical, and most effective method. This can be considered a technique.

Han Yujun helped him hone his martial arts skills in the Dragon Abyss Pool, and instructed him on various methods for condensing source energy through acupoints, which can be regarded as a method.

When it came to Bai Yunfei, the other party had only explained a lot of theories over the past seven days, and only made a single sword strike at the very end.

From Gao Wu's perspective, Bai Yunfei had passed on to him the swordsmanship he had cultivated throughout his life.

The way of the sword is too broad and profound, even divine will cannot express it clearly. That final sword strike was something Bai Yunfei was forced to do, which is why she said it was a inferior move.

Gao Wu didn't feel anything about it. If it weren't for this trace of sword intent, he wouldn't have been able to understand how powerful Bai Yunfei was.

If you don't understand how capable the other person is, it's hard to understand what she's saying...

A single sword intent essentially restarted his life, allowing him to experience the terror of death once more. This experience was far more terrifying than the one he had at the age of fourteen.

Although I was badly injured when I was fourteen, I didn't really understand fear yet.

The older one gets, the more one understands, and the wiser one becomes, the more one will know the terror of death.

Back at Villa No. 18, Gao Wu saw Song Mingyue waiting for him on the sofa in the living room.

Song Mingyue, unusually, came forward to greet her, her bright eyes filled with deep concern in the dim light: "Just now I vaguely felt your breath suddenly stop. Are you alright?"

She looked Gao Wu up and down, but found nothing unusual, and then she breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's nothing." Gao Wu gently hugged Song Mingyue. "I was just scared out of my wits after taking a sword from Master Bai."

Song Mingyue thought for a moment and gently patted Gao Wu's head. Gao Wu chuckled, "Aren't you scared by my patting?"

Song Mingyue said softly, "When I was little, I was timid. When I was scared, my mother would stroke my head, and then I wouldn't be scared anymore..."

Gao Wu had only meant it as a joke, but hearing this made him feel uneasy. He hugged Song Mingyue tightly and said, "With us brothers together, we're not afraid of anything!"

"Mmm." Song Mingyue responded softly. She thought for a moment and then rested her head on Gao Wu's shoulder, feeling that this was more intimate and better.

After hugging for a while, Gao Wu patted Xiao Song's head and said, "Alright, let's end the sadness for today."

"Do you want to practice?" Song Mingyue calmed down. She felt empty after not resonating with Gao Wu's spirit or sparring with him for several days.

"Forget it, I'll rest for another night." Gao Wu felt that resting like this wasn't really a good idea, at least he felt tense the whole time and didn't feel relaxed at all.

However, this is also a unique experience. One more night won't make a difference.

Song Mingyue nodded gently: "Then I'll go do my homework."

She was relieved to see that Gao Wu was alright. She didn't like chatting and preferred to finish her routine homework first.

Gao Wu sat idly in the living room, casually picking up a book from the bookshelf and flipping through it for a while. Seeing that it was almost time, he washed up and went to bed. Lying in bed, Gao Wu pondered deeply for a long time: Why did he practice martial arts? What was his true nature? Was the awakened innate wisdom Gao Wu himself, or someone else entirely…?

He fell asleep thinking about it.

Gao Wu got up at six o'clock sharp in the morning and stopped thinking about those questions. He practiced martial arts to become stronger. Becoming stronger would make him awesome. He could kill alien beasts if he wanted to, and pick up girls if he wanted to. It was that simple.

As for who he is, he is who he is, and there's no need to consider those philosophical attributes.

Gao Wu went to the underground training hall and practiced the Nine Transformations of the Heavenly Dragon once. He felt that his spirit and body were in harmony, his mind and qi were in harmony, and his will and strength were in harmony.

After circulating its own energy for seven days, and with his divine will guiding it, the energy naturally gathered at the Dazhui acupoint, forming the fifth acupoint.

He activated the Tenfold Azure Dragon Divine Qi Mantra between his eyebrows to bless the Dazhui acupoint.

Once the acupoints are fully consolidated and stabilized, they will also shine with a blue eight-pointed star, and the source energy will flow smoothly and abundantly.

Having condensed the fifth acupoint, the total source power of all acupoints in the body has reached nearly 20,000, which is already the upper limit for a high-level martial artist.

The fact that the acupoints could be so easily condensed is also thanks to Bai Yunfei's guidance.

He rested for seven days but was constantly nourished, causing the accumulated energy to remain stored in his body and difficult to convert. When he actively circulated his source energy, he effectively released all the accumulated power.

Unfortunately, he couldn't condense the sixth acupoint in one go. If he could open the Heaven-Earth Bridge and connect all six acupoints, his source energy would be inexhaustible, and he would officially enter the Martial Master level.

With the blessing of his three divine spells, plus the wonders of the Yin God and the Heavenly Fate Sword, if he were to truly become a martial artist, he would be qualified to directly contend with martial arts masters.

Gao Wu was already able to sense the gathering of source energy at the perineum.

Logically speaking, his accumulated experience was already sufficient. After all, even Xiao Song was able to advance to the Martial Master level, so he was actually superior to Xiao Song in every aspect, including mental strength.

The main reason he couldn't concentrate his energy at the Huiyin acupoint in one go was that his martial arts level wasn't high enough!

Upon opening the Book of Boundless Merit, Gao Wu saw that the Nine Transformations of the Heavenly Dragon were still a little short of completion; he should be able to complete them in three to five months of cultivation.

In other words, he will be able to advance to the Martial Master level within six months at the latest.

Gao Wu was not very satisfied with this. He hoped to advance to the Martial Master level before the Azure Dragon Cup, so that the Martial Saints and Martial Kings could also see the young king from the Northern Continent!
When Song Mingyue entered the training hall, she saw Gao Wu standing there in a daze. She went over and gently patted Gao Wu: "You've condensed your fifth acupoint?"

Although the two did not communicate constantly, their spirits would fluctuate strongly each time Gao Wu broke through his strength, and she would naturally sense it.

“Yes.” Gao Wu put away the Book of Boundless Merit and said with a smile, “My martial arts have improved greatly recently. Would you like to give it a try?”

"Okay." Song Mingyue didn't have many thoughts. She had advanced to the Martial Master level, but it wasn't smooth and stable enough yet, and she needed to find someone to practice with.

The two sparred in the training hall, and Gao Wu clearly felt Song Mingyue's tremendous progress in all aspects.

Advancing to the Martial Master level greatly enhanced Song Mingyue on all levels. Moreover, this was still too short a time, and the physical enhancements had not yet fully manifested.

Of course, it's also because Song Mingyue's body is too weak in various aspects. If it were him, even if he advanced to the Martial Master level, there wouldn't be any significant changes in his physical condition.

At nine o'clock in the morning, Gao Wu followed Song Mingyue to pay his respects to Lu Yuan.

He mainly wanted to report on his learning progress over the past few days. Although he had not formally become Lu Yuan's disciple, he was considered a special student of the old man and he respected the old man very much.

Lu Yuan checked Gao Wu's condition and was quite satisfied with the training results from the three grandmasters. The three grandmasters hadn't held back and had all done their best.

He said to Gao Wu, "You and Mingyue get ready. We'll be heading to Zhongjing in three days."

Gao Wu nodded and asked earnestly, "Master Lu, what do we need to prepare?"

"Be prepared mentally," Lu Yuan said calmly.

Gao Wu chuckled dryly. He wasn't pretending to be stupid; he was just playing along with Lu Yuan. He hadn't expected the old man to have such a bad temper.

Three days later, Lu Yuan personally led the team onto a plane bound for Zhongjing.

In fact, the real leader was An Ziru, and there were more than ten martial arts masters and advanced martial artists accompanying him.

The group consisted of nearly fifty outstanding young talents, 80% of whom were martial arts students from Ankyo University and 20% from other universities.

Just like Li Chunyi, who obtained a valuable spot.

Gao Wu was quite impressed with this tall, strong, bald, and burly young man. In terms of martial arts skills, Li Chunyi was really good, even stronger than Yan Shanyue.

Li Chunyi also paid close attention to Gao Wu. He actually wanted to get closer to Gao Wu and learn some of his skills in showing off.

Even with Grandmaster Lu Yuan leading the group, the group of teenagers behaved very well on the plane.

This time, Gao Wu also brought Shang Qingjun and Zhou Hongying with him. The two of them can help him shoot videos and handle publicity and other business.

Shang Qingjun had never been to Zhongjing before, so she took advantage of the holiday to bring her here for a visit.

Judging from their schedules, they'll all be spending the Lunar New Year in Beijing. It'll be more lively if they get together.

After nearly ten hours of flight, in the afterglow of the sun, Gao Wu saw the ancient yet modern Zhongjing... and the towering walls stretching across the snow-white mountains...

Gao Wu felt a surge of pride and pointed to Zhongjing outside the window, saying to Song Mingyue, "I will be crowned king here!"

Song Mingyue nodded earnestly in agreement.

Gao Wu laughed heartily... Xiao Song has made great progress recently and has learned how to be a qualified straight man!

He patted Xiao Song's thigh with satisfaction: "When I become the king, I will make you my chieftain's wife."

A hint of doubt appeared in Song Mingyue's bright eyes, while Zhou Hongying chuckled softly, "So you're a mountain bandit... then take me, a commoner, too..."

(End of this chapter)