"One month?" Chu Li found it difficult.
He could not leave the Public House for a month. Do not even mention leaving the Glory's Will Tree, leaving the other spirit plants were also not an option. If anything happened, his sin would be tremendous.
"Why, you don't want to?" Xiao Yueling looked at him and smiled. "This is a deal, you can always reject it."
Chu Li clenched his teeth. "Yes, I know! But I am a Scribe of the Public House and I cannot simply leave my post as I wish. I'll have to report this to Lady Xiao and seek for her permission first!"
Xiao Yueling spoke as if she did not care much, but he knew that if he refused the deal, he would not be getting the Imminent Skyline.
Xiao Yueling smirked and nodded as a sign of applaud. "You're a rare one!"
Chu Li was a smart person. These types of people were usually very ambitious; it was hard for them to not to be selfish and chase for greater gains. Yet, Chu Li could put his own responsibilities first in front of such a large temptation and even he was hesitant to take the deal. More so, he even remembered his duty to report to Lady Xiao first which made Xiao Yueling very impressed with his character.
When Xiao Qi brought Chu Li to meet Xiao Yueling, her intention was to let Xiao Yueling help judge if he was worth training and to see if it was a good decision to designate an important position on him.
Should Xiao Yueling vouched against Chu Li, a lot of things would not have happened thereafter. No matter how smart he is, he would never be allowed to be in charge of the blessed farmland.
With the Omniscient Mirror, it always allowed Chu Li to have had a clear mind. At this point, Xiao Qi was his path to success. If he wanted to get the chance to train for experience and get in touch with the conscious state to achieve the boundary for Grandmaster, he would need Xiao Qi's help. The available spots for the people in the Public House to be trained for experience were scarce; he had to increase his value.
More so, Chu Li himself enjoyed power and authority. He was still far from having enough power to be in control of anything, and his source of authority was bestowed from Xiao Qi. Hence, he had to gain Xiao Qi's trust in order to be granted an important position by her. He needed to work beside her like a confidant.
His thoughts flashed through like lightning. It seemed as if he reacted out of reflex, but he had actually considered it several times and had given it a lot of thought — it was a decision coming from long and deliberate thinking. This time, even Xiao Yueling was unable to see through him.
Ah Shu took out an old yellowish book and passed it to Chu Li.
Chu Li took it and flipped through it for a few times. Then, he lifted his head to Xiao Yueling in surprise.
Xiao Yueling glanced at him. "Why, you can't make anything out from it?"
Chu Li shook his head. "This is a unique heart technique!"
"It can't be one of the best if it wasn't unique," Xiao Yueling said. "Now it all depends on your competency."
Chu Li pondered and nodded, immersing into the Imminent Skyline's heart technique.
The Imminent Skyline's heart technique was different from the current martial arts heart technique. It had two completely different martial art study systems.
The current martial arts heart technique is to cultivate the inner energy along the meridians, but Imminent Skyline is different as it cultivates the acupuncture points, the finest of them all.
According to the text of Imminent Skyline, the human body has a huge void. If the spoken void could merge with the void of heaven and earth, then it would be the true form of oneness with heaven and humanity.
If one was able to break through the void in their body, then they would be able to break through the void that is outside of their body.
The theory was not only odd but it was also hard to implement.
It was said that an invisible membrane between the human void and heaven and earth void exists.
The Imminent Skyline secret manual claimed the membrane to be invisible but textured, that it was thin as gauze but also as tough as tempered steel. The membrane was said to gather and cumulate all of the universe's energy. Should one intend to break the membrane, they needed a tremendous amount of the purest inner energy, congealing it into pin like needle form using the unique heart technique. Only then would there be a sliver of hope.
People usually dedicated all their efforts to cultivating their meridians and body, not knowing the rarest treasure was the void. The void is like a box that contained a hidden infinity of energy; it will be up to the person to see whether if he could open the box and acquire the energy and power.
After Chu Li read it, he had a sudden burst of enlightenment. This was not a normal Light-body Technique secret manual. It was a stunning theory of martial arts, utterly different from the martial arts of today.
He muttered to himself for a while and looked at Xiao Yueling. "This theory…"
Xiao Yueling shook her head. "I didn't succeed. The theory is very mysterious, but…"
She smiled. "This is an ancient secret manual. These days, there isn't a theory like this anymore. It probably got phased out and forgotten in time. Don't take it too seriously, but do give it a try."
Chu Li nodded as he pondered.
Xiao Yueling said, "I heard from Xiao Qi that your meditation skills are very good."
Chu Li smiled. Ever since he completed the Wisdom Root Scripture, his impure thoughts were cleansed incredibly quickly during meditation — not even billows could grow.
Xiao Yueling continued, "The Imminent Skyline will require very good and in-depth meditation skills."
"But it is a form of Taoist martial art," Chu Li replied.
There were two challenges in mastering The Imminent Skyline. Firstly, one would need an unaccountably large amount of inner energy, and the second one was that one would need to identify and locate the finest of acupuncture points. However, the acupuncture point itself was mysterious, mimicking Taoism. It seemed to be easily located in the body, but was not; it seemed to be in limbo between existence and non-existence, and extremely deep. One would need a fine and sensitive concentration to locate it. The task was likened to searching for a needle in the dark with only one's touch. The hand was one's mind. If one's hand was not sensitive enough, they would not be able to find it as they would not even know it when they touched it.
Finding the finest of acupuncture points was much harder compared to having immense inner energy. If one could not find the acupuncture point, it did not matter how concentrated one's energy was.
"It's a Taoist martial art, but you have pretty strong Buddhist ties. Maybe you could succeed by accepting outside help?" Xiao Yueling smiled.
Chu Li smiled. "I'll try, but I'm not sure where I can ask for help."
"Chen Siyu," Xiao Yueling answered. "You don't have to do much, just protect her for a month and that's it. I'll tell the Public House about it and Xiao Qi will agree."
"Alright," Chu Li delightfully agreed.
"Ah Shu." Xiao Yueling lifted her hand.
Ah Shu brought over a letter and gave it to Chu Li.
After Chu Li took it, he gave it a read — it was a letter for Chen Siyu. There was no author written in the letter, only a thin piece of white paper.
Xiao Yueling explained. "I wrote the letter and said that you'll be disguising yourself as her cousin brother, Chen Li. But do not expose yourself that you are from the Public House. She resides at The House of Xu at Halting Alley in Cloud State Town."
"Noted," Chu Li acknowledged.
"Go now. If anything happens to Chen Siyu, you can say goodbye and never return to the Public House," Xiao Yueling said lightly.
Chu Li gave a fist salute, turned around and left.
Ah Shu saw Chu Li out, and upon her return, asked Xiao Yueling in a concerned tone, "Lady, can he…? What if there are mistakes…"
Xiao Yueling smiled, and replied, "If he can fend off the chase and assassination from the Tempest Temple, what do you think?"
"Perhaps we should let Sister Xiao Qi send a more matured and experienced one. He's too young and that could be a concern."
"It will be less suspicious and won't garner much attention." Xiao Yueling shook her hand. "Alright, go and do your homework. Don't worry about nothing!"
"Got it…" Ah Shu pursed her lips and ran back to her room.
...
Cloud State Town was located 200 miles away from the West of Chong Ming Town. It was a middle-class town that was half the size of Chong Ming Town.
Stepping into the Cloud State Town, he felt as if he was stepping into Chong Ming Town with its hustle and bustle around it. It may not be as big as Chong Ming Town, but Cloud State Town definitely had its liveliness.
Chu Li asked around and very quickly, he was able to find its way to Halting Alley through the busy crowd.
The Halting Alley was two streets away from the most crowded street. In contrast, it was quiet and peaceful, despite being in a busy neighborhood. Chu Li assumed that Chen Siyu must be wealthy, else she would not have been able to afford a house in this area.
He stopped in front of the third house and took a good look at the two, bold rock statues of the guardian lions. There were two young men who were holding onto knives, standing and staring at him with caution. Chu Li squinted his eyes at them and believed that these two had killed before.
Chu Li took out the letter and handed it to one of the young men.
"I am Chen Li, may I know if Chen Siyu resides here?"
"You know our Lady?" The young man looked fierce but had a gentle yet cautious expression. The other young man held onto his knife tightly, his body stiff. Both of them were extremely cautious.
Chu Li smiled. "Then this is the correct house. I am Chen Siyu's cousin brother. This is a letter from home. She would understand after she has read it."
The young man took the letter, looked at it, and saluted with his fists. "Please wait for a moment."
He turned and entered the residence. The other young man continued to stare at Chu Li, holding onto his knife.
Chu Li smiled and turned to observe the surroundings. As he activated the Omniscient Mirror, the whole residence appeared in his head.
The young man with the letter went into the residence and passed through the large courtyard before he entered the main hall.
As soon as he stepped into the main hall, the four people sitting inside gave him lightning glares.
One of the elderly with a sick complexion, white brows, and a white beard asked, "Xiao Du, what is it?"
His body was huge, fat and strong. He looked like a tiger resting on an armchair with his terrifying grandeur. He squinted his eyes and a scary spiritual force flickered.
The young man quickly lowered his head, bowed down and saluted with his fists.
"Clan Leader, it's the Lady's cousin brother paying a visit."
"Cousin brother?" The elder furrowed his brows. "Lady still has a cousin brother?"
"Leader Lee, since this was written for our Lady, we should let her have a look. We will know the truth then," said a handsome young man. He was seated in the front and looked to be about 30 years old.
"Alright, give this to our Lady!" The elder gave the letter back to Xiao Du.
He turned his head around and spoke, "Guardian Xu, it's the critical period. We cannot afford to be careless!"
"I feel that Leader is a little too cautious. It's just the Mountain's Split, why do you have to be so worried?" The handsome man laughed as he shook his head.
The elder scoffed. "You're still young, Guardian Xu. Maybe you haven't experienced the power of the Mountain's Split but I've seen it all by myself. It can split a mountain with just one hit. Its name is not just for show!"
"Even the best masters out there cannot beat time." Guardian Xu nonchalantly smiled.
The elder glared at him.
There was a kind looking elder sitting next to them; he waved his hands.
"Hehe, it's fine. Elder Hu, this is your fault right here. Think about it, if you were Guardian Xu, would you put someone who was popular for sixty years in your eyes?"
The elder loudly scoffed, unconvinced.
The kind-looking elder smiled. "When we were young and we heard all those old guys saying all of this, we weren't convinced too. We thought that they were already old and useless."
Guardian Xu glanced at the two elders, scolding them in his heart for looking down on people just because they were older and had more experience. He looked at the person over to his left.
That person was a very good-looking middle-aged man. His complexion was clear as jade, his mannerisms were natural and unrestrained. His eyes were closed and he seemed to be dozing off into sleep. He was the other Guardian, Zheng Gongming.
Aware of Guardian Xu's gaze, his opened his eyes wide and laughed saying, "Young Xu, Leader Hu, and Elder Lan are right. We shouldn't look down on the Mountain's Split. Both of us aren't qualified as its opponent."
"Has Guardian Zheng seen the Mountain's Split before?"
"Hmm, I've experienced it once, and I almost lost my life." Zheng Gongming nodded his head slowly. "That was three years ago. Thinking about it now, it's still terrifying."
Guardian Xu's facial expression became serious. He was clear on where Zheng Gongming's martial arts skills stood and he was definitely way better than him. It seemed like he himself was not qualified to be the opponent of Mountain's Split.
"Zhao Lun's Mountain Split…" The kind-looking elder sighed. "He is such an arrogant and strong figure. Lady sure is unlucky to have offended him!"
The other three did not say a word.
The Lady was beautiful, and it was said that the beautiful ones were a cause of disasters. However, which man would be alright with risking the disaster, no matter the cost?
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