Chapter 30: Old Books for a New Dawn
……
……
Then, the voice sounded again.
Still four words, four stars, one direction.
"Su Shu, Tan Wei."
Luo Luo's Falling Rain Whip, hearing the words, followed the direction. The raindrops and wind in the night all converged into a straight line. The sword intent from Zhong Mountain, condensed into wind and rain, seemed to ignore time itself, accurately stabbing the point in the night sky.
There was only pitch-black night, nothing else. When the Falling Rain Whip struck, it once again drew forth a spray of blood and a pained grunt! Unlike the shock and anger in the previous cry of pain, this grunt held more bewilderment, and even a faint hint of fear!
Luo Luo felt her true essence surging through her body at high speed. Clearly, it wasn't flowing through the meridians as required by the sword manual, yet it still reached the hand gripping the whip handle, even more abundant than during her usual practice.
This puzzled her greatly, but it brought even more surprise.
In the time that followed, the voice kept sounding. Sometimes it spoke the sword manual of the Zhong Mountain Wind and Rain Sword, telling her which move to use. Sometimes it spoke of the method for circulating true essence, but it was clearly different from what the manual said. More often than not, it spoke of the stars in the night sky.
Listening to that voice, Luo Luo felt as if she had returned to her early childhood, when her father, on the stone platform at the cliff's top, pointed at the drifting clouds on the horizon and taught her how to fight. Her emotions grew calmer and calmer, more and more composed. She didn't think at all; her divine sense moved freely, and the Falling Rain Whip in her hand howled forth, like an extremely sharp longsword, stabbing ceaselessly into the night!
Slap, slap, slap, slap—in the seemingly empty night, countless impact sounds rang out. That was the sound of the tough and terrifying Falling Rain Whip landing on a human body. Following that, dozens of torn cloth scraps fluttered in the wind and fell to the ground. Those scraps were all black.
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle, sizzle—the wildly dancing front half of the Falling Rain Whip had already been stained red. Countless streams of blood sprayed out from the night, yet no injured person could be seen. It was as if an invisible brush, dipped in ink ground from cinnabar, was writing wild cursive script. The scene was extremely eerie.
After a pained and furious roar, that powerful demon finally could no longer conceal his tracks. He tumbled out of the night. The moment his feet touched the ground, he rolled a dozen times across the grass, not stopping until he reached the lakeshore.
This powerful demon's body was covered everywhere with wounds from the Falling Rain Whip, blood streaming endlessly. His black robe had long since been torn into countless shreds, hanging messily on him. He looked exceptionally wretched and miserable—where was his former might?
His first thought upon being forced out of the night was to retreat, to get as far away from that Falling Rain Whip as possible. In the process of his hasty and miserable retreat, he hadn't forgotten to pull the magical artifact from the lawn, because by then, he had been beaten until his soul and spirit were both lost.
He crouched by the lakeshore like a dog, his right hand holding the magical artifact to protect his head. His voice was like a broken bellows, hoarse and unbearably harsh, filled with shock, anger, venom, and fear. Because no matter how he thought about it, he couldn't understand what was happening.
"Who? Who is it! Come out!"
The reason the Black Robe Strategist trusted him with such an important mission was that this powerful demon specialized in a secret technique from Snow Old City, excelling at concealment. This allowed him to survive long-term in the human world. He also possessed unimaginably tenacious willpower, never becoming disheartened by temporary setbacks. But what happened tonight had completely exceeded what he could accept, and was on the verge of destroying his will.
Because his greatest skill—concealing his tracks—had been completely seen through! That enemy who never showed himself seemed to know his technique inside out, able to perfectly predict where he would appear next. How was that possible?!
"Who the hell are you! Get out here!"
This powerful demon looked around at the pitch-black National Academy, then at the dim light outside the library. Remembering something he seemed to have forgotten, his blood-covered face showed extremely intense unease, and his voice trembled very badly.
The light on the lawn outside the library grew a bit brighter, because the door had opened.
Then, the surrounding light grew a bit dimmer, because someone had walked out.
A young man stood on the stone steps.
He wore an old Daoist robe and held a short sword.
His face was slightly pale, somewhat nervous, but his gaze was firm, with no intention of retreating.
……
……
Chen Changsheng had been in the library all along.
These past nights, he had been in the library.
He was using starlight to wash his marrow.
He woke from his meditative state not because of the fierce battle outside the library, but because the magical artifact used by the powerful demon had caused some interference with the starlight falling from the night sky.
He walked to the window and discovered a fierce battle unfolding in the night of the National Academy. He didn't know who the little girl was, but he saw the man's demon horn, so he naturally understood which side he should be on.
Then, that demon man vanished into the night.
The little girl's long whip silently summoned the wind and rain all around.
At first, he didn't think he had any ability to help the little girl, because he hadn't even succeeded in washing his marrow, while both the little girl and the demon man were clearly formidable figures.
He stood in the corner by the window, silently watching the battle, cheering for the little girl in his heart without making a sound. He didn't want to introduce any variables into the fight, nor did he want his presence to distract the little girl.
A demon naturally wouldn't care about the life or death of an ordinary human, but that little girl might.
Even such a detail, he wouldn't overlook. He was a very meticulous person.
But the next moment, he was somewhat surprised to discover that he really might be able to change the course of this battle.
The long whip in the little girl's hand was clearly no ordinary object, but she wasn't using whip techniques—she was using sword techniques.
The Zhong Mountain Wind and Rain Sword.
In the old temple of Xi Ning Town, Chen Changsheng had once seen this sword manual. He remembered it very clearly; it was in the fourth volume of the Yu Hua Jing Zhu.
Of course, those sword techniques mostly existed in the form of debates among Daoist sages. It wasn't until a few days ago, when he found the corresponding books in the library, that he understood those phrases were actually methods for circulating true essence and wonderfully subtle moves.
He could recite this sword manual backward and forward. With these days of review, he could naturally see the sword techniques hidden in the little girl's whip movements. They had the drizzling form of the Zhong Mountain Wind and Rain, but lacked its biting cold intent. Moreover, her method of driving true essence was clearly problematic, which was why it was so awkward.
Yes, there wasn't a single drop of true essence in his body, but he had already begun studying the methods of circulating true essence.
These days in the library, while cross-referencing with the cultivation knowledge in his mind, he had tried to break through the limitations of his meridians to drive true essence, making several hypotheses for this—since his nine segments of meridians couldn't connect, if he wanted to cultivate, he had to find a completely new method.
He didn't know if this method would work, or if it could drive the Zhong Mountain Wind and Rain Sword, because he was just an ordinary person without true essence. But at that moment, the little girl was already covered in wounds and seemed about to die. He had to take a gamble, hoping to help her.
That was the sentence.
"Heavenly stars reflect the viscera, true essence follows intent, level the wrist and suspend the shoulder, gather the wind and rain."
Fortunately, the problem the little girl encountered with true essence circulation while using the Zhong Mountain Wind and Rain Sword was very similar to his own situation.
Even more fortunately, she didn't know who Chen Changsheng was, but she instinctively followed his advice.
The most fundamental stroke of luck was that the hypothesis Chen Changsheng had made succeeded on her.
The Zhong Mountain Wind and Rain Sword finally unleashed its true power.
……
……
"But how could you know where I was?"
By the lakeshore, the blood-soaked demon man stared at Chen Changsheng, speaking with anger and bewilderment.
The Falling Rain Whip was astonishingly powerful, especially after the little girl received Chen Changsheng's guidance and could use true essence to execute the Zhong Mountain Wind and Rain Sword. As long as she could find the powerful demon's position, she would definitely be able to seriously wound him.
The question was, why could Chen Changsheng call out his hiding place with a single word?
"Shuo Snow, Mei Steps, over three thousand positions—all of these need to be memorized by rote."
Chen Changsheng walked to the little girl's side, holding the short sword across his chest, looking at the powerful demon in the distance. His expression was very alert, but his tone was casual. "I didn't know before that this was the Ye Shi Steps, but I've memorized it all."
Yes, this was the demon race's most mysterious body technique—the Ye Shi Steps. Using this technique, one could move freely within a certain range. More crucially, by borrowing the wind and snow heavenly secrets hidden in the steps, one could conceal one's tracks.
Even within the demon race, this body technique was an untold secret.
But Chen Changsheng, when he was very young, had already memorized all those three thousand positions and their sequence.
Back then, he thought he was reading a missionary novel called "Records of Mist and Smoke in the Capital." It wasn't until eight days ago, when he found a record in the library of a National Church elder's actual battle with a powerful demon, that he cross-referenced the two and understood that this novel was actually a secret cultivation manual.
"So you were lying. You're not from Mo He, and your surname isn't Mo He."
Chen Changsheng looked at the demon man seriously and said, "You're from the Ye Shi clan. Your surname is Ye Shi."
That powerful demon was stunned, and his expression turned extremely ugly.
There were many things he hadn't anticipated.
He had thought that the young man in the library wouldn't affect tonight's plan at all, because that young man hadn't even succeeded in washing his marrow.
He never expected that this young man would nearly break the situation set by Lord Black Robe.
What he least expected was that this young man seemed more concerned about a small, inconsequential lie he had told.
This made him very frustrated, very aggrieved.
Then, he began to feel sorrowful, muttering to himself, "The Strategist Lord truly possesses boundless wisdom. He calculated that I wouldn't want to die, that I would want to use the sacred artifact to protect myself and escape… and so, he arranged for such a strange person like you to appear."