Chapter 192: Wang-styled Book of Changes ###
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
When Meng Qi initiated the conversation about the thunderbolt mark, Zhang Yuanshan, Jiang Zhiwei, Luo Shengyi and the others did not feel strange. On the one hand, everyone knew he could summon the Sky Thunder; on the other hand, each had their fortune encounters. It was normal that he did not mention the Nine Heavens’ God Thunderspear could be attached to man’s body. Since they were only teammates, not couples, what they should know was the general condition of their strength and methods, and their kindness. For example, Jiang Zhiwei just told them that after she encountered something, she opened her Mouth Apertures and grasped the “Hitting the Sea” but did not mention what the windfall was.
With the Heavenly Thunder Energy and Qi attached to his body, it was quite right for him to choose ” Seven Purple Thunderstrikes “. After all, the most famous bladesmanship and spear art were Nine Annihilation at Heavenly Nights, the Six Strokes of the Overlord, and Seven Purple Thunderstrikes in the Thunder God Clan. Since the first two moves belonged to those of Dharmakaya, it was far beyond Meng Qi’s purchasing power. But he could afford the last one.
Facing their undoubting eyes, Meng Qi smilingly looked at Fu Zhenzhen and said, “Well, I have six long swords of the Refined Weapons, Lao Luo and Lady Ruan each have two. I wonder whether there’s something you need.”
He took out five long refined swords from the fourth Imperial Prince and a broadsword from the Sword General and passed them to Fu Zhenzhen.
Fu Zhenzhen had owned a long refined sword from her school but it was not a high-ranking one. Therefore, she felt satisfied with a set of mandarin duck swords–a long sword and a short one at her first sight. She peacefully and joyfully read the seal characters on the body of the sword, “Swords of living in love forever, living in love forever…”
“The swords of living in love forever” were a kind of terrific Refined Weapons. The long sword was feminine while the short one masculine, which was sharply opposite to the common ones. They were said to have been forged by a affectionate couple who had stuck to each other till their hair turned gray. They had the swords made as a memento, which were so sharp that they could cut iron with the slightest effort, and tangled up. Their Sword Qi could disturb people and were quite particular. Later they were kept by the fourth Imperial Prince. Their original price was 350 Karma points but if they were exchanged with Dominator of Samsara in Six Realms, they were worth 150 Karma points.
“If you like them, you can take them at a price of 200 Karma points.” Meng Qi said as if he were a street vendor.
His offer was not too low in order that Fu Zhenzhen and Zhang Yuanshan would not feel very much indebted. Of course, he could not inflate the price on purpose for they were friends that were ready to die for each other, anyhow.
“OK.” Fu Zhenzhen gave Meng Qi 200 Karma points and took away the “Swords of Living in Love Forever”. She kept the long sword for herself and quietly put the short one on Zhang Yuanshan’s waist.
She threw those scripts of Enlightening the Apertures which might not be very useful for her now, and the long sword from her school into the center light pillar in passing, saying, “With the remaining 890 Karma points…yes…I have to repay 260 to Yuanshan, and another 260 for Heavenly Vision and Earthly Hearing, and the rest for a toxin script and some toxin materials which would be allocated by myself.”
After the cultivation and the Samsara task, she finished the consummate of the two Apertures and was on her way to open Ear Apertures. Actually, she had planned to learn it by herself but under the pressure of the death mission, she had to exchange for a Heavenly Vision and Earthly Hearing to meet the need of emergency. She hoped that she would thoroughly remould herself within a year.
For one thing, she had begun to cultivate the first part of Man-saving Sutra and plus the genuine Qi from herself was also a kind of sovereign remedy for wounds. For another thing, after learning Man-saving Sutra and The Chapter of Medicine King , she grasped the basic medicine theory. Thus she could be counted as a well-known doctor at the level of enlightenment period. However, whether the Man-saving Sutra or The Chapter of Medicine King was anchored in the physician’s kind heart. As it pertained to poison, they only guided the physicians to major in detoxicating and drawing out toxin. So they only referred to few poisonous plants raising and toxin allocation, which was not effective enough in Samsara tasks.
Of course, if one further studied the theory of the medical treatment, he would understand more toxicology for the medical treatment and toxicology were connected together. But at the present, Fu Zhenzhen had not reached this realm.
“With the remaining 370 Karma points, she has to exchange not only for the script of toxin script but also for the toxin materials…” Meng Qi took a glance at them, and suddenly had a pretty clear idea that she could spend only 200 Karma points in exchanging for a copy of Aunt Wang Nan’s Toxin Script .
As soon as she saw it, her face lit up, “This toxin script is really great. Meng Qi, you seem to have known much about this field, don’t you?”
“Haha, I once told you that when my kung fu was at the initial stage, I was always thinking of developing my skills through employing toxins.” Meng Qi casually answered.
In fact, Fu Zhenzhen just spoke by the way and she would not care it. After she exchanged for Aunt Wang Nan’s Toxin Script , she began to select the toxin materials. When it came to this, no one was superior to her. So what they could do was watching her picking up them one by one, such as dark red shady flowers, corroding corpse powder, the most toxic venom of red clams, disemboweling herbs… When Meng Qi and the others saw so many lethal kinds of toxins, they all felt it would better not to offend her from now on.
These were raw materials. They would not work very well without being refined. Thus their price was not high. All told, these piecemeal materials cost Fu Zhenzhen 150 Karma points and she had 20 left behind.
Fu Zhenzhen did not choose the other things for the Man-saving Sutra was a most fundamental theory. Except for healing through genuine Qi, it could raise the spiritual things. And once consumed, it could quickly recover. Furthermore, it also included the relevant Body Movements of sword art.
After her exchange had finished, Meng Qi asked Ge Huai’en with a smile, “Do you need a long sword of the Refined Weapons?”
It was well known that this was a much better deal to exchange his spoils of war with his companions than with Dominator of Samsara in Six Realms, really a double- winning one. And only Ge Huai’en, who needed a long sword, did not have one yet.
Ge Huai’en, mild and gentle, slightly nodded to Meng Qi and said, “Brother Meng, I want that Dying For a Just Cause Sword.”
While Meng Qi was helping Fu Zhenzhen to choose the things she needed, he was quietly glancing over all his trophies.
The Dying For a Just Cause Sword was quite a nice Refined Weapon. If the man kept the idea of dying for a just cause in mind, the sword would automatically penetrate a strong power to oppress the enemy, leaving him feeling inferior to the opponent and shivering with cold. It was said to have been forged by an erudite man and was worth 360 Karma points. But if he exchanged it with the Dominator of Samsara in Six Realms, he could only get 160.
“You can have it at a cost of 200 karma points too.” Meng Qi straightforwardly said. As for the newcomers, he was very considerate. When he just joined the team, Jiang Zhiwei always looked after him. Without her care, he might have died in some place a long time ago.
Ge Huai’en exchanged 200 Karma points for the Dying For a Just Cause Sword with Meng Qi. When he was thinking about what else to exchange next, he heard Meng Qi said with a tone revealing extremely care, “Please tell us what else you want. Let us give you some advice, for two heads are better than one.”
When he recalled the sincerity of Jiang Zhiwei, Meng Qi and Fu Zhenzhen, Ge Huai’en forced a smile and nodded, “I don’t want to die soon, so I must open my Ear Apertures as soon as possible. With the 580 Karma points left, I have to exchange for a Heavenly Acumen Pill and two bottles of Virtual Consolidation Elixirs. Since I not only have mentor-disciple relationship but also have obtained the Big Inner Script this time, I have no lack of the normal martial arts for the time being. But I can’t afford the unique skills now, so I don’t know what to choose…”
With the arrangements of the Third Prince and Luo Shengyi, he had taken a chance to sneak into the palace and become a guard of a side palace. He had gained the Big Inner Script that every guard was supposed to obtain. He just exchanged it for more than 100 Karma points.
“Brother Ge, en, apart from kung fu, what else are you adept at? Or what else are you interested in?” Meng Qi was active and fond of jesting. Though he often said he was stingy, actually, he tended to contribute a lot of effort without caring much on the return most of the time. Hence, he gradually became the adhesive in their team, an intimate bond with every one. He was getting along well with all of them.
“In short, this is just like a perfect aunt of the neighborhood committee…” Meng Qi mumbled to himself.
Ge Huaien pondered for a moment and said, “Among the six skills of the Confucious Sect, I like the divination best and intensely dive in Book of Changes. Can these be seen as hobbies?”
“Of course, they can.” On hearing this, Meng Qi braced up at once. “What we need in our team is talent just like yourself!”
Ruan Yushu, holding her ancient organ in her arms, slightly interjected, “If you want to learn from numbers to ‘count’ to detect the future things to pursue good fortune and avoid disasters, then Wang-styled Book of Changes is your good choice.”
As they were big aristocratic families in the neighbourly states, Ruan Yushu knew the Wang family in the River East very well.
Wang-styled Book of Changes only cost 300 Karma points. Thought it was a little more expensive than the other books of number deduction, such as Plum Blossom and Liuren, it had a sound foundation. Of course, without a talent in predicting, it was useless to exchange for such books, for it was too difficult to learn them well.
“En, Wang-styled Book of Changes was written by some Master of Wang family who had studied Book of Changes . Though it only covers the basics of the Book of Changes , a primer for those disciples who have outstanding body potentials, yet it’s broad and profound.” Jiang Zhiwei agreed with Ruan Yushu.
Ge Huaien pondered for a moment and decided to exchange for the Wang-styled Book of Changes , for it could help him to avoid some risks. Then he spent the remaining 70 Karma points on the auxiliaries, such as copper coins, pegwoods, and items of changing appearance.
Meng Qi sold two swords for 400 Karma points, plus the reward of 100, and 200 from shaking the pot. In total, he got 1,871 Karma points. He cast the remaining weapons and the Yin-absorbing Secret Sutra which he had read and was almost useless now into the Central Light Pillar.
With the remaining four long swords of the Refined Weapons in exchange for 620 Karma points, the Yin-absorbing Secret Sutra for 220, six swords of Hundred-time Tempered 120, Meng Qi’s Karma points shot up to 2831. Even including the consumed thunderbolt mark, he reaped more than Jiang Zhiwei.
When he knew everyone gained a bumper harvest, he suddenly realized that these harvests might be the “gifts” prepared by the Dominator of Samsara in Six Realms before the death mission as to increase their survival possibility.
“You have looted the sword warehouse, haven’t you?” When Jiang Zhiwei saw Meng Qi had so many swords, she could not help kidding.
“Yeah, almost.” Meng Qi replied with a smile. When he looked up the parts of the Exterior on the exchange list, he found the Seven Purple Thunderstrikes , which was the top bladesmanship of the Exterior. Its price was 8,800 Karma points. And its core and Purple Thunder Force representing the Primary Instruction was worth 1,000 Karma points; the needed Karma points for the first six strikes varied from 800 to 1,000; but the last strike needed 2,400 Karma points; and the derived eighth and ninth strikes were at the ordinary Dharmakaya level.
If he planed to use the Seven Purple Thunderstrikes, he had to learn “Purple Thunder Force” first. However, he did not have to major in it but could treat it as a Dharma Access alone. With the assistance of the “thunderbolt mark” and “Nine Annihilation at Heavenly Nights”, he could get a better result than majoring in it.
In other words, he had to spend almost 2,000 Karma points…Meng Qi badly hated to part with his Karma points which were saved up after innumerable hardships. But he had to take this step because the frequently-used Ananda Oath-breaking Bladesmanship was a big hidden trouble. If he often used it to cut his opponents, he would become a real monk one day, for his hair would gradually be lost by misgivings from the hidden troubles. Let alone Ananda was still alive in the Samsara.
“‘Purple Thunder Force’ is worth 1,000 Karma points and the fifth move of ‘Violent Thunder Shocking the Sky’ 1,000.” Meng Qi made up his mind to exchange for them. As unique skills, they were supposed to be extremely fierce rather than those for daily use.
“Jingle-jingle” Meng Qi seemed to have heard the sounds of his falling coins and heartbreaking. He directly picked up the scripts.
The Karma points for the impartation of the Gist of Trueness and the script impartation were almost the same. The only trouble was that he might learned nothing from the impartation of the Gist of Trueness. Though Meng Qi had the fragmentary Gist of Trueness of “Nine Annihilation at Heavenly Nights”, he did not dare to take the risk of having a try, because it might be a waste of his precious Karma points. However, if the fragmentary Gist of Trueness of “Nine Annihilation at Heavenly Nights” and thunderbolt mark could help him to cultivate the Purple Thunder Force and “Violent Thunder Shocking the Sky”, he would basically grasp them within a year and form his own style.
Having browsed the script, Meng Qi put it away. He took out the script of the 5th and 6th passes of the Golden Bell Shield given by his Master, and exchanged for 300 Karma points with reluctance.
“What else will you like to exchange for?” Jiang Zhiwei was a little shocked, for Meng Qi still had more than 800 Karma points left.
Meng Qi looked at the enshrouding Central Light Pillar and replied, “The Enlightening the Apertures part of ‘Eight Nine Mysteries’. I have to change the major method of kung fu before I reach to the Exterior.”
Up to now, Meng Qi was equipped with a lot of miraculous kung fu such as “Nine Strategies Beyond the Swords” in his sword art, “Essence of Heavenly Knife” in his bladesmanship, “Thundering scream” used to suppress, “the Immortal Pressing Art” applied to group fighting, Hallucination Body Movements recorded in “the Immortal Pressing Art” for escaping. And this was the intact version of the “the Immortal Pressing Art” and included the seven immortal hallucinations. Meng Qi did not want to be greedy nor to be distracted. What he intended to learn was unloading the force to borrow force and the Dharma Access to keeping the genuine Qi at its peak.
Only when he consummated the sixth pass of the Golden Bell Shield and opened his Mouth Acupore, could he cultivate its seventh. Thus, he could study and practice nothing else but these two skills within at least a year. That was why there was no kung fu especially in need for Meng Qi for the time being. Furthermore, he had just got a breakthrough with the assistance of Spiritual Core, making his foundation unstable. If he employed the elixir again, it would probably result in “burning” himself by the deficiency fire and destroying his foundation. Therefore, he had to bring the major of his kung fu method into routine.
“Eight Nine Mysteries?” Zhang Yuanshan, Luo Shengyi and the others blurted out. Since this Divine Skill was listed on the top of the Exchange List, everyone were bound to notice it!
With the Eight Nine Mysteries, he would be an eternal Tao if he wanted to become a Taoist, and if he became enlightened about Buddha, he would be the Golden Body of Bodhi. That was to say, he would not be defiled, nor purified and would not be reproduced, nor destroyed. His body would be sanctified and never be damaged through thousands of disasters. He would be a superhuman, mastering the changes of the heaven and earth, changeable and adept at avoiding disasters. Of course, he would be not only infinitely resourceful but also incredibly powerful.