Wudang's Closely Guarded Secret — Transmitting Force Through Objects

Wang Chong truly had never imagined that, back when he'd been a "lecher," life had been calm and settled. Not only had he been on brotherly terms with a band of young heroes, but he'd also grown quite intimate with several beautiful heroines. Now that he'd turned over a new leaf as a good man, though, he was as wretched as a stray dog that had lost its home. Mm—or perhaps a tailless toad! He'd been fleeing for three days now, and one after another he'd crossed blows with more than half of Yaglakar Yehu's men. Of them all, the two strongest were a warrior with a thick, bulky waist and a dark, swarthy face, and a man tall and gaunt yet with an enormous frame, monstrous in build, clad in a ko-hemp robe. The former was Lichiluo of the Afugan clan of the Jiuqu League; the latter was a helper Yehu had recruited at great reward, who called himself Bone Demon—a cultivator who trained alone in bitter seclusion, his martial arts unfathomably strange. As for the rest, if he took them on one at a time, he was more than seventy percent sure he could finish them within twenty moves. Unfortunately, these people never moved alone and were rich in tracking experience, so he'd never once found a chance to face one in single combat. Wang Chong felt his chin and found that a bristling stubble had actually grown there. His face was no longer clean and fair, either, and he hadn't applied the cosmetics he carried in a good while. After all, he was fleeing for his life—how could he spare any thought for such things? "It's a good thing I made my breakthrough in the heat of battle and mastered the Army-Breaking Bodhisattva Aspect, able to burn fat to keep fighting. Otherwise, these days of running for my life would've burned me down until the oil ran dry and the lamp went out." "Still can't shake off these pursuers, still can't find a chance for a one-on-one. I haven't even had the chance to ask anyone which way Tongzhou Prefecture lies..." "Who's there?!" Wang Chong casually flung out the rabbit in his hand. He'd hunted game along the way and cooked it through with his Pure Yang internal force; it had no salt and no flavor, but it was more than enough to fill his belly. The half-cooked rabbit burst into powder in midair. A tall, gaunt man in a ko-hemp robe gave a cold snort and stepped out from behind a great tree. Seeing that it was Bone Demon, whom he'd crossed with several times before, Wang Chong didn't hesitate for an instant—he turned and left at once. In single combat he wasn't afraid of the man, but his real fear was being tied down by Bone Demon while Yaglakar's experts came pouring in one after another. He had barely set off when a long whip arced through the air, coiling into countless rings, and came down upon his head. Wang Chong hurriedly used his lightness skill to dodge aside, and saw a woman barring his path—tall and large-framed, her features not especially pretty, but her figure exceedingly imposing. With her before him and Bone Demon behind, the two of them sealed off his every avenue of retreat. Wang Chong drew a deep breath and pulled the folding fan from his sleeve. With a flick, the fan opened and shielded his chest. He knew a savage fight was surely coming, and he dared not be the least bit careless. The whip-wielding woman didn't strike again. When she saw the portrait on Wang Chong's folding fan, she let out a laugh and said, "The woman on this fan—she's your sweetheart, isn't she? Rest easy. After I kill you, I'll surely go and kill her too, so the two of you can be a pair of lovebirds doomed to the same fate." Wang Chong was utterly contemptuous. What good could such a crude mind game do against him? To say nothing of the fact that Chu Qiuzi was a disciple of Qingcheng—these people would never dare go to Qingcheng to do any killing. And though Red Sleeve Goddess Nun ate vegetarian, she herself was anything but mild! Mm, Chu Qiuzi was most likely already in Chang'an by now. A pity that, for the time being, he had no way to go keep a date with this pretty sister of his. Bone Demon's voice was like a cracked gong, tinged with something metallic, as he called out coldly and grimly, "You actually killed two of Yehu's sons, and nearly killed his only beloved daughter. If I could take you alive, can you guess what methods he'd use on you?" Wang Chong gave a small, silent "hm?" in his heart, thinking, "Why is it that Bone Demon and this woman, clearly holding the upper hand, with an overwhelming chance of winning if the two of them joined forces, both resort to psychological tricks?" "There has to be something strange going on. I can't drag this out any longer!" Wang Chong abruptly quickened and lunged straight at the tall, large woman. The woman's figure was like a Victoria's Secret supermodel's—a full head taller even than a tall man like Bone Demon, roughly over 1.9 meters. Though she was bundled in bulky clothes, her waist was slender and her legs exceedingly long; in the modern world she'd have been an absolute head-turner. Her weapon was a soft whip. Such a weapon could strike at great distance, and its tip moved even faster than blade or saber—but in a long whip, force had to be pushed along link by link to be transmitted, which made its path very easy to read. What was more, if he got tangled up fighting Bone Demon while this woman lashed wildly with her whip from the outside, he'd surely be at a great disadvantage. But if he rushed this woman first, her whip techniques were meant for striking at range, and Bone Demon would have no way to close in and coordinate. Sure enough, Bone Demon stepped forward and hurled out a claw strike from afar—but he would not step into the arc of the woman's whip. The woman shook her long whip into a thousand shifting variations, lashing at Wang Chong from every direction. Yet at this critical moment, Wang Chong's mind rose to an extreme calm. He pressed down the folding fan in his hand, laying it against the middle section of the long whip, and channeled a surge of internal force through it. The woman's whip technique wavered, revealing a faint opening. Though it lasted only an instant, it gave Wang Chong his chance. With his focus gathered to a single point, he loosed a Diamond Prajna Palm Force: Nine-Headed Fire Dragon Flash. Faced with Wang Chong's palm strike, the tall woman suddenly flashed a sly smile. Her free hand rose upright before her chest, and she too hurled out a claw—her martial technique exactly the same as Bone Demon's. But on her hand she wore a greenish-black iron claw bristling with countless spikes, and a faint, raw reek clung to it, clearly smeared with deadly poison. Had Wang Chong's palm landed squarely, those iron spikes would surely have pierced his skin and poisoned him on the spot. Both Bone Demon and this woman clearly knew a thing or two about Wang Chong—they already knew he excelled at the Diamond Prajna Palm, which was why they'd devised this scheme to break his strongest technique. Mm, though Wang Chong's strongest art was actually swordplay, the Holding-Candle Swordplay drained him far too heavily, and he simply dared not use it much. Wang Chong, unshaken in the face of danger, drew back his palm and swept out his sleeve, striking hard upon the tall woman's iron claw. A blazing surge of internal force, carried through his sleeve and the iron claw, slammed violently into her meridians. Wudang's closely guarded secret—Transmitting Force Through Objects! In this world, there were no few who could transmit a burst of internal force through some other object, but they were all figures of profound cultivation who had entered the innate realm, and even for them it involved no special technique—it came naturally, effortlessly, as smooth and easy as breathing. Only Wudang's unique art made it possible to transmit force through an object before ever entering the innate realm; and once one did enter the innate realm, this wondrous skill grew only more marvelous, taking on all manner of transformations. In all the world, there was no school of inner cultivation that could surpass Wudang's internal force at transmitting force through objects. Wang Chong's Innate Pure Yang Art had already been cultivated to the Reaching Heaven and Coiling Earth stage—vast and unmatched, supreme in greatness and hardness, in yang vigor, in ferocity, in blazing intensity. Though the tall woman's internal force was no mean thing, it could not match Wudang's divine art. Her throat turned sweet and she spat out a mouthful of blood. Mustering all her strength into a single claw, she tore Wang Chong's sleeve to shreds—but Wang Chong seized the opening to kick her square in the face, and she went flying off. Ever since transmigrating to this world, Wang Chong had run into one great enemy after another, each a matter of life and death decided in an instant, and this had bred in him a fighting habit: to hold nothing back, to strike with all his might, victory and defeat settled in a single heartbeat. In truth, the ordinary martial artists of this world, before making a move, all made a point of first securing their own safety and probing from every angle, and only then seeking an opening in their opponent to strike at leisure. How could there be such a savage, ferocious style? Bone Demon couldn't help but tremble inwardly with fear. "This little thief is awfully bold and fierce!" he thought. Once that flicker of fear set in, his attacks slowed a fraction. In truth, though—having spent a fierce move like the Diamond Prajna Palm Force: Nine-Headed Fire Dragon Flash, and then been forced to change his technique under the tall woman's pressure, Wang Chong's chest, too, felt tight and stifled. Had Bone Demon charged in, he feared he'd be coughing blood within a few moves; and had the two of them attacked at full strength together, he might well have died in the fight on the spot. But now, of course, things had taken a different turn. He let out a long breath of the stale air in his chest, activated the Army-Breaking Bodhisattva Aspect, gathered his true qi anew, and bellowed, "The two of you—come and die!" ...Wudang: In this world, I am the foremost sect under heaven...