“Whoosh!”
Fang Qiu walked up the winding trail.
It was then that Fang Qiu discovered that there seemed to be a natural screen; the high mountain outside the path hid everything behind it from public view.
Behind the mountain, he was surprised to discover a place similar to a valley where there was an impressive stretch of pavilions.
These pavilions were precisely the same as the ones in the ancient ruin!
“Sure enough, it’s true.”
Fang Qiu looked around and said with amazement, “This place hidden deep inside the mountain is not easy for ordinary people to find. It has been cut off from the rest of the world. Besides, there is a 1,000-year-old ice lake outside it. If it had not been for the guidance of the ancient ruin, no one would be able to find this place even in another hundred years.”
Sighing with emotion, Fang Qiu began to search the pavilions.
He made a thorough search of the whole place.
Like in the ancient ruin, every room in the pavilions was empty.
After rummaging through these pavilions, he only found a few pieces of jade but not a single wooden puppet.
He surmised that these jade pieces should have come from the wooden puppets which had been hidden by the others!
Fang Qiu had a sudden inspiration.
He nodded mentally and went to the hall of the pavilion.
This hall was as deserted as the one in the ancient relic, and there was only a painting with the large character “Mo” hanging on the eastern wall of the hall!
After glancing casually at it, Fang Qiu directly jumped up to the “Mo” picture, reaching out to lift it.
However, nothing happened.
After another careful examination, Fang Qiu found nothing unusual. Only then did he return to the center of the hall. He put his palms together and bowed reverently to the “Mo” painting before turning to leave.
He walked out of the pavilion.
Once again, he came to the lake.
It wasn’t very big. Although it looked like the heavenly pools on the tops of snow-capped mountains, it was only a quarter of their sizes.
He didn’t think much about it.
Fang Qiu plunged into the water and swam to the bottom of the lake.
Before long, he reached the intersection of the underwater passages. Because he had cracked the formation previously, it was much easier for him to unlock it this time.
As soon as he opened the formation, Fang Qiu flashed in.
Then he took out his mobile phone.
Fang Qiu strode forward as the flashlight on his phone lit the way for him.
Soon, he came to the place where he had encountered many wooden puppets before after passing through the ancient ruin.
Fang Qiu noticed this place remained the same, except that there were no wooden puppets.
He went deeper into the place.
As Fang Qiu moved ahead, he found that the cave interior was the same as what he had seen before.
“Those wooden puppets…”
On his way, Fang Qiu mused to himself, “The hidden wooden puppets outside are all gone and only the jade pieces have been left behind. In other words… the wooden puppets we saw in the ancient ruin were very likely illusions only. These stones created illusionary images of wooden puppets in our eyes.”
“Or, we stepped into the illusions created by the jade pieces!
“It is quite possible that these illusions are purely man-made.”
At the thought of this…
Fang Qiu affirmed his thoughts and nodded in his heart.
After all, those pavilions were real, and those who created these illusions with the jade pieces must have lived there.
The hub of all these tricks must be the painting in the hall of the pavilion!
Fang Qiu clearly recalled that the ancient relic vanished as soon as he touched the painting. But now, when he moved the real picture, nothing happened. All of this showed the importance of the painting!
“No puppets, only jade pieces.”
“Then, we were actually fighting with these pieces of jade, weren’t we?”
Fang Qiu took out a piece of jade and examined it thoroughly, feeling increasingly curious about it.
“What on earth are these jade pieces?
“How could it produce such a magical effect?”
Fang Qiu pondered as he went deeper into the cave.
He soon came to the deepest part of the cave, where the jade mine was located.
Upon his arrival, Fang Qiu was surprised to see a wooden puppet!
“Eh?”
The appearance of the wooden puppet stunned Fang Qiu.
He even wondered if his earlier conjecture was wrong.
But he took a closer look.
This wooden puppet was different from all the other puppets he had seen before — it looked much smaller.
“This puppet seems to be the real one.”
Fang Qiu nodded to himself and said, “But why didn’t I see it in the ruin?”
Fang Qiu sized it up more carefully.
As a result, he spotted a very large piece of jade in its small chest. In the ancient ruin, the jade pieces inside the chests of those wooden puppets were only the size of a thumb, but this jade piece was as large as a fist.
Moreover, this fist-sized jade was more glittery and translucent than any of the other jade pieces that Fang Qiu had ever seen.
In particular…
Fang Qiu clearly perceived that the Qi of Heaven and Earth emitted by this jade piece was purer and several times more intense than the other pieces!
“A precious stone.”
Fang Qiu stepped forward, ready to watch it very closely.
Just as he came a little closer, the little puppet got to its feet, rolled its eyes, and darted towards Fang Qiu, throwing a powerful punch at Fang Qiu’s chest.
“Hmm?”
Fang Qiu, even though startled, quickly reached out to block this attack.
In his view, this little puppet should be the same as those wooden puppets in the ancient relic. It would be activated only when being touched. Unexpectedly, when he got a little closer, this little puppet was automatically activated!
In a state of wonder, Fang Qiu found the little puppet had impressive strength.
Through this punch, he sensed its strength was greater than that of an ordinary Half-step Guru, in terms of power and speed.
Just like the poison-type elder from Zhongdong, it was only a step away from being a guru!
There was no one else around, so Fang Qiu could fight with it using the strength of a guru.
Fang Qiu did so.
He was ready to crush it.
The little puppet lasted two rounds against Fang Qiu.
To his great surprise…
The little puppet’s offensive moves were quite peculiar and antiquated. Each seemed to have some hidden and profound meaning.
“Is this… an ancient boxing art?”
The little puppet’s unique attacks made Fang Qiu curious. He immediately gave up the idea of launching an overwhelming offensive to defeat it. Instead, he took his time to fight with the little puppet, while attentively observing and studying its movements!
Fang Qiu hadn’t done this for a long time.
It was undeniable that Fang Qiu was indeed learning on the sly!
After this little puppet made each move, Fang Qiu would clearly memorize it.
It didn’t take long for it to complete one set of ancient boxing moves.
“No more?”
Fang Qiu pondered over what he had seen.
He was sure that he had committed this entire combination of boxing skills to memory.
Then he was about to combat and suppress the little puppet.
After it finished a set of ancient-boxing skills, the little puppet found Fang Qiu was still full of vigor. Suddenly, it unclenched its fists and fought with Fang Qiu using a Palm Technique.
“Palm strikes? Great!”
Fang Qiu was overjoyed and continued to learn secretly.
The small puppet wasn’t a human after all, so it had no independent mind. It could only fight according to the instructions set by the person who created it. Therefore, it duly displayed the entire series of palm motions.
Fang Qiu witnessed the whole process.
“Anything else?”
He thought of something and tried to suppress the little puppet.
He hadn’t yet made a move.
Unexpectedly, the little puppet suddenly turned around and rushed into the cave, unearthed a long bronze sword and thrust it at Fang Qiu.
“Swordsmanship skills?”
Fang Qiu grinned with pleasure.
Little did he know that this little puppet possessed so many ancient treasures.
He didn’t hesitate.
Fang Qiu went on fighting with the little puppet while learning its Swordsmanship skills.
It finished off a set of Swordsmanship moves.
After mastering the fist and palm skills, Fang Qiu also grasped these Swordsmanship skills.
Then Fang Qiu noticed that this set of ancient Swordsmanship skills was much more potent than the current martial arts, though it was inferior to the three moves of the Divine Sword that he had learned after he got the Divine Sword, nor was it as exquisite as the Space-splitting Sea-cracking Sword that he created by the Divine Sword and the Great Hand of Destruction.
When he was secretly learning, Fang Qiu had already thought about it.
He could pass on these Swordsmanship skills to He Gaoming and the others. Although the nine people led by He Gaoming had obtained the Combined Attack Sword Formation, the rest of the more than 20 people had not learned any ancient techniques yet.
As long as he taught them this set of Swordsmanship skills, the team’s combat capability would certainly move up another notch, and their strength would be significantly improved.
With this in mind…
Fang Qiu increased his secret observation on studying the skills.
After it finished demonstrating this set of swordsmanship skills, it threw away the bronze sword in its hand and ran into the cave. Then it came back with a saber which it used to slash wildly at Fang Qiu.
“It’s truly omnipotent.”
Fang Qiu smiled and continued to study its moves.
Saber Technique.
He had never experienced it before.
It was the first time he exercised it!
Likewise, the little puppet fought in an orderly and progressive manner, neither too hasty nor too slow, and almost every move it made looked perfect.
Fang Qiu viewed and emulated it in high spirits!
All along the way, he had taken note of the Fist Technique, Palm Technique, Saber Technique, and Swordsmanship skills!
Fang Qiu even began to practice as he was learning. When the little puppet used the Saber Technique, he adopted the Swordsmanship skills he had just learned to fight against it.
Because of the great disparity in strength between them, the little puppet still couldn’t defeat Fang Qiu even after performing an entire set of Saber Technique skills.
“One more, please!”
Fang Qiu was waiting to see if the little puppet would provide him with more ancient techniques to learn.
He never dreamt of its following reaction.
After the Saber Technique skills, the little puppet knew it was no match for Fang Qiu, so it simply crouched down and remained still, unwilling to stand up.
“Huh?”
Fang Qiu walked over curiously and asked, “What’s wrong? Don’t you want to fight anymore?”
But it completely ignored him.
After all, this opponent was merely a puppet.
Fang Qiu realized that this puppet must not have any other martial arts to perform. Seeing that it didn’t fight back, he didn’t hesitate for a moment and directly reached out to remove the fist-sized jade from its chest.
Without the jade piece…
The puppet still sat motionlessly.
As for Fang Qiu, he sat down cross-legged and began to digest the ancient martial arts skills he had just learned.
