A Scroll of Infinite Glory

Chapter 146 When things reach their extreme, they begin to recover.

"You want to kill him?"

The first thing the old Taoist priest said after waking up in the carriage was this.

Guan Luoyang made no attempt to hide his true feelings: "When you two Daoists came to the Sword Casting Manor before, it aroused suspicion among the crowd. So I went up Lao Jun Mountain to investigate. It turns out that I have made enemies with the outsiders and the leader of the Demonic Sect. Of course, I want to kill him."

"Unfortunately, it seems there's no such opportunity now."

Hearing this, the old Taoist priest struggled to sit up, pulled out the sleeves that were pressing down on his thighs, and clasped his hands between his chest and abdomen.

Although his physical skills were ruined, his spiritual realm remained. As soon as he regained consciousness, he sensed the presence of some familiar people around the carriage.

The people from the Sword Casting Manor, Xiao Jiang who went up the mountain to seek instruction, the second son of the Lu family, and Zhao Wangui of the Lushan Sect, etc., are all considered to be righteous people in the martial arts world and like-minded individuals.

As for the person who intercepted this team and just spoke up to mock them, he was the same person who had followed Shao Lingxiao to attack Lao Jun Mountain. At the time, he was only a distant glimpse of them and couldn't tell who it was, but now he could tell.

The Human-Heaven Evolution Method is the supreme scripture of the Fire Luo Sect. It must be Xu Miyuan of the Fire Luo Path who came.

In a flash, Yu Tu Zhenren had already guessed the general course of events after he fainted on Xu Boyuan's back.

However, this young man in front of us actually managed to escape from Shao Lingxiao and Xu Miyuan...

Upon closer inspection, Master Yu Tu realized that although Guan Luoyang was young, the foundation of his internal energy in his dantian was by no means inferior to that of the best among the top masters in the martial arts world. Moreover, his mental gate had been opened, and the spiritual power in his brain was even slightly stronger than that in his dantian.

Unfortunately, even with his exceptional strength, which was among the best in the martial arts world of the Tang Dynasty, he couldn't resolve the clump of demonic energy entrenched in his chest and abdomen.

Those were clearly traces left by Shao Lingxiao himself, a secret technique evolved from the "Morning Birth, Evening Death Sword Art".

Even a wisp of true energy that has already been injected into someone else's body is still full of vitality, self-circulating, and can even devour the ever-growing spirituality of external power.

The more anxious a person is to use their internal energy to expel this ball of true energy, the more likely their own power will be invaded and assimilated by this ball of true energy.

But that's not the most terrifying part of this move. What's even more terrifying is that this demonic energy can rapidly transform a person's blood into waste blood.

The circulation of blood is an essential part of maintaining human vitality. Fresh blood can draw "vitality" from the outside world through human respiration, and carries this "vitality" to keep the heart, lungs, and brain active.

The demonic energy would cause any blood it came into contact with to immediately lose its ability to carry "life force".

Back then, Grandmaster Yin Beiwu of the East Sea died from a similar move. With his grandmaster's body, less than an hour after being hit, his heart stopped beating, his lungs shrunk, his brain lost its temperature, and black blood tears flowed from his eyes.

When Shao Lingxiao used this move against the young man, even without employing the terrifying power he had displayed in the past, he was absolutely certain that the young man would die.

But this young man has actually held on until now?!

As Yu Tu Zhenren looked at Guan Luoyang, he discovered something deeper within his body—his bone marrow was vibrating and undulating!

All the hundreds of bones in his body maintain a subtle, continuous activity that is imperceptible to the average person, even in this seemingly still posture.

Throughout history, there have been hundreds and thousands of people who have cultivated internal energy to the point of cleansing their meridians and refining their marrow to the point of having bone marrow as white as frost. However, to actively control the movement of bone marrow and bones without relying on internal energy is simply beyond common sense.

It was this wondrous state, which even a grandmaster could not foresee, that made his blood incredibly pure and vibrant. The waste blood caused by the demonic sect's true energy was transformed back into living blood through the repeated vibrations and rises and falls of his bone marrow and bones.

"What exquisite skill!"

From the outside, it seemed that Master Yu Tu had just sat up straight, glanced at Guan Luoyang twice, and couldn't help but sigh.

"This old Taoist has been presumptuous and has unwittingly glimpsed some of the mysteries of your martial arts, young friend."

"After examining your injuries, young friend, I believe there might be a way for you to threaten the life of that person outside."

Outside the carriage, Xu Miyuan's arrogant voice was suddenly disturbed by a gust of swift wind.

The sword chant of the Dingfeng Sword Formation sounded like a melodious flute, and then waves of energy emanating from outside the carriage symbolized that the eight masters had simultaneously attacked Xu Miyuan.

Guan Luoyang turned his head to look, his gaze seemingly able to penetrate the gray-blue curtain and see the scene outside the carriage. Amidst the wind and swirling air, he asked, "What?"

"This is a method for wasting one's cultivation from the Lao Jun Mountain Wuwei True Scripture. Listen carefully, young friend."

The old Taoist priest reached out and grasped Guan Luoyang's wrist. His aged hand was no different from that of an ordinary old man in his eighties or nineties, and his strength was weak. There was no internal force in the body of this former number one master of the righteous path.

But when Guan Luoyang turned his head, he suddenly saw patches of ink, some dark and some light, appearing in his field of vision like clouds.

Even the darkest part didn't completely obscure his vision, but the characters that appeared and disappeared one after another among these ink marks had already attracted all his attention.

Since the emergence of internal martial arts, the study of cultivating internal strength has become very popular in the world, giving rise to various schools of thought.

When people make progress in their practice, they often feel physically and mentally comfortable. However, when they stop practicing or lose their skills, they always experience great pain and it can even damage their lifespan.

However, abandoning skills is an essential part of the path of martial arts advancement. If one cannot abandon skills and start over, then the mistakes made in the previous training process cannot be corrected, and the drawbacks will continue to accumulate until they become too serious to reverse.

After the successive patriarchs of Laojun Mountain created the Wuwei True Scripture, they continued to fill in and evolve it internally. They also noticed this problem, so they created a separate chapter in the True Scripture, which is a set of mental methods specifically designed to address the issue of wasted effort.

If a disciple of Laojun Mountain goes astray in his practice, but passes the test of character, he can learn this "Wasting Skills Mind Method".

After using this technique to disperse internal energy, you will not feel pain. Instead, it will break down the internal energy into smaller parts, peeling away the layers of its properties, leaving behind the most authentic vital energy. This will nourish and repair the most difficult-to-detect hidden injuries in the body, laying a better foundation for future cultivation.

"This set of techniques was originally intended to cripple one's own internal energy, but since you can withstand the invasion of the demonic sect's true energy, you might as well use this crippling technique to treat the demonic sect's true energy and your own internal energy as one."

"In this way, by peeling away the characteristics of the techniques layer by layer and returning to the original nature of true qi, you can mix your original power characteristics with the characteristics of the demonic sect's techniques and unleash them to attack your enemies."

"Before your power dissipates, this wisp of demonic cult energy will no longer be an obstacle to you; instead, it will become a sharp blade that surpasses that of ordinary grandmasters."

Yu Tu Zhenren's explanations reached Guan Luoyang's ears, word by word.

"This method of destroying one's cultivation also has its drawbacks. After the energy in the dantian is completely dissipated, it will take at least two or three years to recover to the previous level."

"But the foundation of your dantian and qi sea is different from that of ordinary people. It is formed by forcibly circulating internal energy through the power of the mind's mysterious gate. Therefore, after you lose your skills, you can fully recover within about ten days, and your foundation will become even more solid."

Guan Luoyang was multitasking, watching the ink marks appear before him, listening to Master Yu Tu's explanation, and trying to use his own skills to do it.

He quickly discovered a problem: "To treat the demonic cult's true energy and my internal energy as one, I have to make it operate according to the abandoned cultivation method, but I simply can't make it obey me."

"That's what I, the old Taoist priest, will do."

Yu Tu Zhenren's hand left Guan Luoyang's wrist, slowly forming a sword shape with his fingers, about an inch away from Guan Luoyang's chest, hovering in the air, and then his fingertips flickered slightly.

Bang!

Guan Luoyang seemed to hear the sound of the cold true energy pulsating between his chest and abdomen.

In his inner vision, the true energy was originally like an extremely soft jade stone, crystal clear, cool and calm, yet it was constantly growing stronger and stronger. Now, within this crystal clear true energy, something was being stirred by Yu Tu, causing the entire true energy to sway slightly upwards.

Guan Luoyang opened his eyes and looked outside, almost startled by the bright light in Yu Tu's eyes.

It was a kind of indescribable clarity.

A kind of sharpness that can surprise and frighten people just by existing there.

"When he went up the mountain before, the old Taoist priest had a vague feeling about it."

Yu Tu moved his sword finger slightly. "Although I don't know what method he used to seal and suppress Wuwei's sword intent, the old man's sword is actually still in his body, and it has been there for too long, carrying my life's cultivation."

"So long ago, even though he had sealed away Wuwei, whenever he made a move, he would still unleash a trace of Wuwei's power, a power that belonged to me."

A rumbling, muffled sound came from outside the carriage. It was the monster created by Anfeiyu destroying and leveling the array in the canyon from its foundation.

Wu Weiyang leaped down in front of the carriage and lashed out with her long whip.

The two horses pulling the cart neighed loudly and galloped away.

The carriage suddenly accelerated, and the old Taoist priest leaned to one side, but Guan Luoyang reached out and supported his shoulder.

The sword finger shifted slightly, but the connection with the true energy within Guan Luoyang's body did not disappear.

As the old Taoist priest moved his fingers, the ball of true energy was gradually drawn in and began to slide through the meridians, which was the path of the abandoned cultivation method.

Guan Luoyang's internal energy followed closely behind.

Wherever the demonic cult's true energy passed, the fresh blood in the nearby blood vessels all turned into waste blood.

Guan Luoyang's muscles and bones trembled continuously. His body, having mastered the fourth level of training, possessed a blood-generating and blood-activating ability that was hundreds of times stronger than that of an ordinary person. He was about to restore the waste blood to a normal state.

The "wasted energy" method in the "True Scripture of Non-Action" begins to achieve a complete meridian cycle in this process of constant arising and ceasing.

The characteristics of true qi and internal force were stripped away, and the circulation of the demonic sect's true qi became smoother and easier, entering the second cycle.

The thunderous sound of hooves propelled the entire procession, including the carriages, out of the Cloud Passage Valley.

The last few dozen miles from the canyon to Xiushuo City were a smooth road, and everyone sped across the wilderness.

The crescent moon had already reached the western horizon; the wind blew away the clouds, and the stars became even more dazzling and numerous.

This long night is finally almost over.

At that moment, a loud drumbeat could be faintly heard from the canyon.

Before long, Wu Pingqiang, Jiang Jiusi and others caught up with the team.

The Flying Shadow Armor also leaped over and landed on top of the carriage.

From this distance, the group on horseback could already see the outline of the city walls of Xiushuo City.

That Xiushuo City is the headquarters of the Ironclad Hall, where countless veterans and soldiers reside, and a force of elite troops from the imperial court is also stationed there.

Since the death of Duke Zhuang of Su Xing, there has been no Grandmaster in Xiushuo City. However, five years ago, there was still a victory where a Grandmaster was defeated.

At this moment, the flames on the wall increased, the torches flickered, and groups of people gathered. Looking towards this place, it was clear that they were veteran generals and experts in the city who had noticed the sound of horses' hooves and were already on alert.

But at that moment, most of the people in the team suddenly felt as if their pores had been electrocuted, a tingling sensation spreading through their bodies.

Those with higher internal strength, while not to the point of losing their composure, all heard the drumbeats resounding from the depths of their hearts.

The drumbeats, at first like a sliver of hot wind on the horizon of a vast desert, dim, distant, narrow, and muffled, quickly grew louder and more powerful, carrying swirling dust and smoke in the night, chasing after them from behind and pressing down on their chests.

Anfeiyu looked back.

A conspicuous bronze drum flew through the air, vibrating as it pursued them.

The figure of the man from the Western Regions was still behind the bronze drum. He continuously channeled his true energy into the bronze drum from a distance, causing it to fly at incredible speed and stirring up the air in front of it into torrents.

The airflow resembled colorless ribbons arranged by bronze drums, dancing and tumbling backward.

Xu Miyuan leaped above these raging torrents, precisely stepping on the points where the air currents intersected, passing by in a flash, as if riding the wind and controlling the air, his feet not touching the ground, incredibly fast.

In the blink of an eye, the distance between the bronze drum and the carriage was reduced by half, leaving only a distance of less than 500 meters.

The drumbeats, which resonated directly in people's hearts, had already shaken some disciples of the Sword Forging Manor who lacked sufficient internal strength, causing them to fall off their horses.

Jiang Jiusi flipped himself upside down and leaped onto the top of the carriage, standing side by side with An Feiyu, facing the bronze drum: "I still have one sword left, perhaps it can hold him off."

Wu Pingqiang also jumped onto the carriage, holding a seven-holed sword in his right hand and reaching into the bundle behind his back with his left hand to draw out a blunt, cyan-gold sword. He said, "Jiusi, try using this sword."

Xu Miyuan saw their actions clearly. He raised his right arm, which was exposed to the air, and suddenly pressed his body close to the bronze drum, slamming his right fist into the drum surface with all his might.

The bronze drum accelerated again, so fast it almost became a golden-red beam of light, hurtling towards the carriage.

Just as the three people on the roof were about to make their move, they suddenly felt themselves plummet downwards, and then their vision shot up dramatically.

The entire carriage broke in half, with the upper part carrying three people standing on the roof flying into the air.

A beam of golden-red light pierced the wrecked carriage and struck a pair of hands that seemed to be cradling a peach.

(End of this chapter)