Swordsman Lin Ruhai let out a breath. “Looks like I didn’t castrate myself for nothing after all.”
What use was a cheat that could only share memories?
Combat in the Douluo world relied on martial souls. Douluo Lin Ruhai possessed abundant experience in martial-soul combat, and had even gained a slight grasp of methods for resonating soul power with the spirit after studying a seven-in-one martial soul fusion skill. But to Swordsman Lin Ruhai, none of that meant anything.
He had no martial soul, nor could he touch spiritual power.
Everything from Douluo was, to Swordsman Lin Ruhai, flowers in water and the moon in a mirror.
In the end, he still had to use the Bixie Sword Manual.
“No!”
Douluo Lin Ruhai suddenly raised his hands and executed a clean, crisp set of the One Hundred and Eight Forms of Heaven-Overturning Palm.
At first, he was still somewhat awkward, but as the moves flowed on, he became faster and faster, cleaner and cleaner.
Pa!
Douluo Lin Ruhai even struck out a series of sharp cracks, making the surrounding mist burst with popping sounds.
After finishing all one hundred and eight forms, he withdrew his stance with a lingering sense of satisfaction. “It’s useful, brother, it’s useful!
“The Douluo world relies only on martial souls and soul skills. There are no cultivation methods, nor any martial arts. The memories we share actually include experience as well.
“These martial arts you learned, the experience you gained in cultivation—it’s the same as if I once cultivated in another world. Once shared, they become completely mine!
“Didn’t you follow Lin Zhennan and train in martial arts for many years? You have a deep understanding of martial terminology, meridians, and acupoints. These are all things the Douluo world lacks.
“Back then, Tang San could become a God King with a single Mysterious Heaven Skill. If I, Lin Ruhai, rely on The Smiling, Proud Wanderer to muddle my way to becoming a Titled Douluo, that won’t be a problem!”
Swordsman Lin Ruhai had not expected such a reversal either, but on second thought, he still could not use the other party’s experience.
“Brother, I’m in a fantasy world, after all.” Douluo Lin Ruhai saw hope. His eyes shone as he patted Swordsman Lin Ruhai on the shoulder. “The body martial souls and spiritual-type martial souls in the second part, and later elemental martial souls and bloodline powers—all of these can be excavated.
“Even if we can’t share power, once I gain the corresponding experience and feed it back to you, perhaps I’ll be able to help you achieve a breakthrough.
“Besides, aren’t you already practicing Bixie? The Master stood by the river and said: castration is like the flowing current, irreversible.
“Since it can’t be reversed anyway, you might as well walk this path all the way into the dark. Once I become a Titled Douluo, ascend to godhood, or a few brothers who aren’t such trash show up, then with how awesome my fantasy world is, perhaps your brother will one day see the light of day again!”
The corner of Swordsman Lin Ruhai’s mouth twitched.
He had already been influenced and matured by his experiences in the world of The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, but his Douluo self still retained the personality from their previous life. It was truly…
Nostalgic!
He shook his head and smiled, then said to Douluo, “From the look of you, you already have a plan?”
“Mm… a bit of an idea.” Douluo Lin Ruhai said, “I can’t use the Bixie Sword Manual. The One Hundred and Eight Forms of Heaven-Overturning Palm sounds impressive, but in the martial world, it’s only third-rate martial arts at best. I need more martial arts.
“You’re practicing Bixie now, but you’ll still need a certain amount of time to settle and temper it before it can turn into combat strength.
“And Lin Pingzhi’s family, according to the original story, won’t have anything happen to the three of them before Liu Zhengfeng washes his hands in the golden basin. They’ll suffer, but in the end, they won’t die.
“If you want to take care of them completely and protect their whole family, then jumping out to face Yu Canghai now will give you an even greater chance of getting hacked to death.
“Why not…”
At this point, a sly, wicked smile appeared on Douluo Lin Ruhai’s face.
Swordsman Lin Ruhai knew he had come up with an idea, and laughed twice as well. “Why not what?”
“A base-swap operation!” Douluo Lin Ruhai said. “While Yu Canghai has brought his men out in full force, you go to the Qingcheng Sect and steal their martial arts for me! They’re one of those so-called ‘prestigious orthodox sects,’ after all. The martial arts they’ve inherited are definitely far better than some Heaven-Overturning Palm.
“I already have martial arts knowledge, and I’ve grasped meridians and acupoints. As long as there are martial arts manuals, I’ll learn part of them, you’ll learn part of them, and after sharing, won’t we have double the cultivation experience?”
…
The Smiling, Proud Wanderer.
Lin Ruhai opened his eyes.
Agony still came from his lower body, but Lin Ruhai was already extremely calm. The True Spirit Orb, another self, additional memories and ideas, plus his own Bixie Sword Manual.
The difficult problem of preserving Lin Zhennan’s life seemed to have resolved itself.
As for saving the Fuwei Escort Agency.
There simply wasn’t enough time!
Over the next few days, Lin Ruhai did not go out, much less head to the Fuwei Escort Agency to investigate the situation. Instead, while recovering from his injuries, he cultivated the Bixie Sword Manual.
Previously, he had only cultivated clean internal energy from external training. Very quickly, it transformed into Bixie internal energy. Streams of heat charged wildly through his body, and yet because of the deficiency caused by the deliberate venting of yang, the internal energy became self-consistent and did not harm him.
Once his injuries had mostly recovered, he followed the sword manual and cultivated the Bixie Swordplay.
He was not unfamiliar with this swordplay.
That was because he often saw Lin Zhennan teaching Lin Pingzhi, and had more or less glimpsed half of the sword techniques. It was just that without the Bixie Sword Manual, this swordplay was utterly ordinary, even slightly inferior to the complete One Hundred and Eight Forms of Heaven-Overturning Palm.
With this experience, Lin Ruhai’s progress in cultivating the swordplay was extremely rapid.
As Bixie internal energy was poured in and the mental formula of the sword manual circulated, this originally unremarkable swordplay suddenly became perilous, bizarre, and uncanny. The flaws that had originally existed in the sword techniques, with the injection of internal energy and the sudden increase in speed, abruptly transformed into dangerous killing moves. Every form was unfathomably vicious.
“Cut!”
Lin Ruhai suddenly leapt up and swept his sword sideways.
Bang, bang, bang!
Within two meters around him, branches and leaves snapped, and sword marks were left on the tree trunks.
Its power did not seem particularly impressive.
But when Lin Ruhai struck out with this sword, it had not even taken half a second!
Though the martial world possessed internal energy, most people were still made of mortal flesh. Even an ordinary person could easily kill a martial arts expert if he stabbed a sword into a vital point.
“What a fast sword. What a powerful sword!”
Lin Ruhai let out a breath. At this moment, he alone could fight ten of his former self from a few days ago!
This was the Bixie Sword Manual. This was the power of castration.
With the Bixie Sword Manual mastered, Lin Ruhai disguised himself and returned to Fuzhou City. Everything was still fine at the Fuwei Escort Agency. Yu Canghai had yet to arrive, and there was still plenty of time.
But Lin Ruhai did not dare guarantee whether there were already Qingcheng Sect disciples nearby. He merely took one look, then set foot on the road to the Qingcheng Sect.
He traveled hard, practicing his swordplay along the way.
Every day, he hurried along tightly. When he arrived at Huguang and boarded a boat, he happened to see several Daoists wearing the same clothes and carrying swords disembark from the opposite direction. They shouted in a Sichuan accent. The one leading them was a short middle-aged man, yet he was treated with considerable respect among the group.
“Yu Canghai?”
Lin Ruhai’s heart shook. He vaguely had a guess, but still showed nothing. The current him was far from being a match for someone at a sect leader’s level. Even Lin Pingzhi in the original story, after castrating himself, had only seen his strength greatly increase several months later, allowing him to defeat and kill Yu Canghai.
For the rest of the journey, he even stopped practicing swordplay and instead increased his speed.
At last, he arrived at the foot of Mount Qingcheng.
He took out the money he had obtained along the way with martial arts, cleaned himself up properly, bought two sets of silk clothes, hid his weapon, and posed as someone from a wealthy family as he openly and grandly paid a visit to the Qingcheng Sect.
The Qingcheng Sect was similar to Shaolin and Wudang. It was not purely a martial sect; its main business was a Daoist temple, so naturally there was no shortage of pilgrims. In addition, Lin Ruhai was not wearing a sword, so he slipped in with ease.
Over the next several days.
He disguised himself as a wealthy lay practitioner devoted to the Dao, throwing money around every day, and even took the initiative to copy Daoist scriptures.
Meanwhile, in secret, he had quietly figured out the Qingcheng Sect’s layout.
That night.
The moon was bright, the stars sparse.
“It’s time to make a move.”