Chapter 93: New “Teammates”
“I’m talking about the sword art.” Jiang Zhiwei seemed to take it for granted.
Meng Qi felt himself teased by her, so he said with a wry smile, “I am incapable of sword art, and it is difficult to learn and master.”
“Anyway, you can’t exchange good blade moves of the Desperate Hit now. It won’t be a waste of time for you to learn the sword art from me during the Samsara task.”Jiang Zhiwei pressed her lips together into an extremely charming smile and said, “Most importantly, I want to check out what weaknesses of this sword art will be exposed on a beginner so that I can modify it. Well, you have a fine foundation of martial arts, which makes the sword art easier to master.”
Meng Qi vaguely sensed that she said the latter sentence to dispel his embarrassment, but he still couldn’t resist asking,”Modify? Is it the sword art created by you?”
Zhang Yuanshan, Qi Zhengyan, and Fu Zhenzhen all looked at Jiang Zhiwei in astonishment. Could she create her own sword art?
It was still an underestimation to call her a natural swordsman!
Meng Qi also had the experience of creating moves, but they basically derived from the change of “Peace Quietude Split” almost without created parts. It was unexpected that Jiang Zhiwei had already begun to create new sword arts through integrating what she had learned.
“Yeah, I thought it’s difficult to use ‘Sword of Anatta’ and had intended to simplify it into a sword art of the Desperate Hit during enlightenment period for daily use. However, I had no clue until I instantly figured out a new idea by integrating the Merciful and Merciless parts of the sword art of the Holy Spirit. Combining it with bits of the both, I created a sword move,” Jiang Zhiwei said frankly.
Her face turned into a rare light-red like broken clouds at dawn which looked incredibly beautiful. She said,”I considered it the top sword move of the Desperate Hit during the enlightenment period. Thus, I named it ‘Yama’s Invitation’.”
This boastful statement made her slightly shy.
“But, but doesn’t it count as imparting the supreme art of school in private? What’s more, we will be obliterated by Dominator of Samsara in Six Realms if we impart the sword art of the Holy Spirit in private.” Meng Qi was rather tempted by her suggestion due to his deep-rooted obsession with sword art. Besides, what Jiang Zhiwei said was absolutely right. He couldn’t exchange new moves of the Desperate Hit now. If he exchanged when returning, he could just spend a lot for direct infusion or Karma points exchanging time for practice. Thus, it wasn’t a waste of time for him to take the opportunity to practice the sword art during the Samsara task.
His face returning to normal, Jiang Zhiwei said with a smile,”It’s a move newly created by me just secretly connecting bits of principles of the sword of the both. It can’t count as the supreme art of school, and we won’t be obliterated by Dominator of Samsara in Six Realms. I just asked that secretly.”
“I see. But it’s probably a bit similar to ‘Sword of Anatta’.” Meng Qi found it quite appealing and asked, “Will we be misapprehended by your Sword Washing Pavilion?” For something like impartation of Gist of Trueness of “Ananda Oath-breaking Bladesmanship”, one could only figure out new moves and new blade gist either through painstaking practice or by chance.
Pretending to be arrogant, Jiang Zhiwei tossed her head and said,”If you use this move in front of the disciples of Sword Washing Pavilion and are misapprehended by them, I must take care of it myself. I will chase until the end of the earth to kill you, the thief monk who stole the supreme art of Sword Washing Pavilion.”
Thief monk… Meng Qi looked embarrassed but felt extremely touched because Jiang Zhiwei was obviously pushing the boundary. Strictly speaking, the experience of practicing “Sword of Anatta” and the sword art of the Holy Spirit, as well as newly-created sword moves, should be included in the sword art of Sword Washing Pavilion. However, since Dominator of Samsara in Six Realms didn’t consider that they derived from the sword art of the Holy Spirit, they were barely exclusive of the supreme art of school accordingly. It just depended on how Jiang Zhiwei considered it.
Thinking about this, Meng Qi put his palms together and bowed sincerely. No matter whether he could cross the threshold of the sword art and master “Yama’s Invitation” during the Samsara task, at least her intention was worth appreciating and remembering.
Jiang Zhiwei didn’t behave affectedly. Receiving Meng Qi’s salute gracefully, she said with a smile,”There is one more thing. Since you have opened your Eye Aperture, you should practice the fifth level of Golden Bell Shield. It’s a solid promotion for you.”
“Yeah,” Meng Qi gently patted his bald head and said. He almost neglected such an important thing. Obviously, he had been enlightened, but he hadn’t thought about practicing the fifth level of Golden Bell Shield.
Tracing it to its cause, he still thought about returning to Shaolin to read the script of Golden Bell Shield without spending Karma points. He unconsciously forgot that he could exchange from Dominator of Samsara in Six Realms. Now, he was far away from Shaolin with a formidable enemy around him. There was not enough time at all for him to practice after returning to Shaolin.
Once he exchanged now, he was likely to cross the threshold of the fifth level during the Samsara task. He would then be able to sharply reduce the attack from common Refined Weapons and general Enlightened Masters, which made it uneasy to break his feats. As for consummation, it took painstaking practice.
From the fifth level of Golden Bell Shield, there was a “Closure” after the consummation of every level. Depending on the body potentials, efforts, and degree of understanding of everyone, one could be “conferred” as high as the first order which had the strength almost twice as strong as the ninth order.
In this way, everyone who practiced Golden Bell Shield would not have the uniform strength after the consummation of every level. Only those who were conferred the top three orders at every level could be expected to claim the Dharmakaya of Vajra in the end.
It was also the convention of Kung Fu. For most people who practiced the same feat and reached the same consummation realm, there was a distinction between high and low.
Reminded by Jiang Zhiwei, Meng Qi immediately took out the jade-slip scroll and flipped through it. The resting period before the task would not last too long, and they would begin the task a bit later.
“Well, the script of the fifth level took 200 Karma points.”With the definite target, Meng Qi quickly found the directory from the fifth to the eighth level of Golden Bell Shield during the enlightenment period. They respectively took 200, 400, 600 and 800 Karma points.
It occurred to Meng Qi that besides Red Sun Evil Blade and Pearflower Storm Needles, he had nothing else for exchange. Thus, swallowing his embarrassment, he looked at Jiang Zhiwei and others with a smile and said, “My faithful friends, you see, I’d ask you for a favor so soon. I just need to borrow 50 Karma points from you. Hey, I’m such a cheeky person.”
Jiang Zhiwei could not refrain from smiling at this funny little monk. “Since you’ve got 150 Karma points, it’s probably enough if I exchange a Hundred-herb Bolus. If so, you will owe me 60 Karma points.”
Hundred-herb Bolus was a panacea for healing during the enlightenment period, and each was worth 100 Karma points. It could be exchanged to Dominator of Samsara in Six Realms for about 60 to 70 Karma points without being devalued like scripts.
Qi Zhengyan suddenly said, “Lady Jiang, you don’t need to exchange your Hundred-herb Bolus. We could probably cobble together enough Karma points. I have 30 spare Karma points.”
Hundred-herb Bolus was a panacea for healing which might save the life of anyone present. Such a waste was unnecessary. There were no more than three or four of them in a bottle.
Zhang Yuanshan clapped his hands and said,” That would be enough. I still have 10 Karma points, and Junior Sister Jiang might also have 10 Karma points left.”
With Karma points cobbled together, Meng Qi smoothly exchanged the script of the fifth level of Golden Bell Shield. Then he roguishly looked at Qi Zhengyan, Jiang Zhiwei, and the others and said, “My faithful friends, you should endeavor to protect me from now on because you won’t be able to get back your Karma points if I’m killed. Ha ha, the one in debt is the boss.”
His thought was so unconstrained. Jiang Zhiwei watched the sky filled with dense white mist like Celestial Court and fairyland, speechless.
They chatted about their experience during this half year. A moment later, there appeared to be three beams of milky light.
“Newcomers?” Zhang Yuanshan held Fu Zhenzhen’s hands indicating that she didn’t need to be nervous.
As the light pillar vanished, there came three strangers — two men and a woman. The woman was tall with squinting eyes, a small nose and thick lips, which did not look good separately but appeared to be rather harmonious integrally. Actually, she could be considered a beauty with her own temperament in her twenties. She was in a dark purple costume and black riding boots with Loving Couple Swords of different lengths at her waist.
Then two men also appeared to be young in their early twenties. One was a giant man with thick eyebrows and big eyes as well as muscles almost bursting his clothes. He showed the heroic and awe-inspiring temperament. Being unarmed, he looked fresh and unrestrained. The other one was shifty-eyed looking at Meng Qi and others with a smile.
None of them showed the panic and confusion of first coming to World of Samsara.
“You are our teammates of this time, right? Let me introduce myself. I’m Luo Shengyi.” The bulky man laughed with one hand cupped in the other before his chest and the aura all around him, “These are my partners Xia Chulin and Xia Dandan. They are sister and brother.”
“Sister and brother, they were so different in appearance. One was a beauty with her own temperament, while the other one was shifty-eyed.” It was the first thought that came to Meng Qi, and so he reacted, “Partners?”
Jiang Zhiwei and others also looked at them quizzically.
Luo Shengyi laughed with ease, “In World of Samsara, different teams are often assigned to collaborate on tasks, and they may become one team after that.”
“Thus, this task is either a tough one which requires the collaboration between our teams or involves standing off against an opposing camp. Either way, it must be dangerous and lives will be taken.”
It seemed that there were quite a few teams in World of Samsara. Meng Qi, Jiang Zhiwei, Zhang Yuanshan, and others stared at each other with the similar thought. Zhang Yuanshan then stepped forward making a brief introduction of the five of them. He made it vague not even mentioning their schools. Who knew whether the three would be enemies in the future?
“I think we should be frank. At least we should tell about our respective martial arts levels, which is better for task arrangement. I’ve opened Seven Apertures, good at fisticuffs with minor fame.” Luo Shengyi would certainly not expose his trump card and martial arts. He just made a rough introduction of his realm.
“Minor fame. You are ‘the Invincible Ironfist,’ Luo Shengyi?” Zhang Yuanshan recalled who he was in no time.
“Exactly,” Luo Shengyi answered neither arrogantly nor modestly.
Seeing the vacant expression on Meng Qi’s face, Jiang Zhiwei said by Secret Voice-sending, “He made his fame by accomplishing several great things that were impossible for someone at his realm. At present, he ranks 30th on the Ranking List of Young Masters.”
It was a higher rank than that of “White-headed Vulture,” An Guoxie, and he couldn’t be despised! Nodding slightly, Meng Qi secretly decided that he shouldn’t only intend to run away for practice in future, it was time to check the Ranking List of Young Masters.
Just as Zhang Yuanshan was about to talk, all became black before everyone’s eyes with the cold and apathetic voice of Dominator of Samsara in Six Realms ringing in their ears.
“Devil Tomb was about to be opened. The four sects were going to jointly lay siege to Sacred Fire Mountain, the Head Altar of Devil Cult, eliminating the enemy’s main force and resealing Devil Tomb.”
“Main task one, go to Windcloud Heights, join the alliance of the four sects, attack Devil Cult, break through the Head Altar of Devil Cult, and seal Devil Tomb. You will be rewarded with 300 Karma points for accomplishing it. Failure will result in an equal amount of Karma points being deducted from you.”
“Main task two, Group-rivaling task: Kill the Samsara travelers in the team of Devil Cult. Members of your team will be respectively rewarded with 50 Karma points for killing one person who is in the Qi-cultivation Stage. Failing which, 50 Karma points will be deducted from each of you. All members will be respectively rewarded with 100 Karma points for killing one person with Six Apertures opened or less. Failing which, equal Karma points will be deducted. All members will be respectively rewarded with 200 Karma points for killing one person with Six Apertures opened or more. Failing which, equal Karma points will be deducted. At last, those who do not have enough Karma points will be obliterated.”