Tome of Troubled Times

Chapter 21: Secret Unveiled

“This must be what they’re searching for.” Zhao Changhe panted heavily, but there was unusual excitement in his voice. “You are more knowledgeable and experienced than me. Do you know what this means?”

Luo Qi had an expression of fear and stared blankly at the dragon of blood circling around the reflection of the moon in the pool. Her eyes looked both sorrowful and delighted at the same time.

After a while, she replied, “A restriction has been activated. It’s possible that a hidden door has now been revealed. Well, it’s also possible that whatever restriction that would kill someone has been disabled and we can go in. Either way, this secret door must be nearby. It can’t possibly be in some remote area.”

“Like this...” Zhao Changhe stood up weakly and looked at his surroundings.

The feeling of being in a fantasy world is getting stronger.

“So the Blood God Cult stationed themselves here because the blood and vicious qi used by their martial arts can dispel this restriction.” Luo Qi spoke as if she was mumbling to herself. “The hardship you endured cultivating this Vicious Blood Art...”

“It wasn’t for nothing, right? This is known as the fate of a main character; even with so many disciples cultivating the Blood God Cult’s martial arts, none of them came here to offer up their blood.” Zhao Changhe had recovered considerably by now and strode around the pool filled with vitality. “Come here. If there’s a secret door, I’m guessing it might be here.”

Luo Qi felt like she was in a dream as she walked over and saw Zhao Changhe walking toward the mountain wall behind the waterfall.

The backside of waterfalls, due to being constantly splashed by water year in, year out, usually has a small depression, or even a small cave. This waterfall was no exception. However, Luo Qi, who was interested in uncovering the secret hidden here, had searched the place before and found that there was nothing special. In fact, the disciples of the Blood God Cult had searched this place numerous times before. If there had been anything, it would have been taken long ago.

However, at this moment, Luo Qi agreed with Zhao Changhe’s assessment. With the restriction activated, a secret door, if there was any, would likely appear there.

Sure enough, as the two of them passed through the waterfall and took a look. On the rocks in the depression, which originally had nothing on them, an exotic image of a starry sky had appeared. It looked like there was a semicircular firmament adorned with countless stars above them. It was incredibly mystical.

“This is an array. It needs to be broken before we can enter.” Luo Qi contemplated for a while. “This image looks similar to the Azure Dragon Constellation...”

She reached out her hand and tapped on the stars corresponding to those of the Seven-star Azure Dragon Constellation. The starry image flashed slightly. There was no other reaction.

Luo Qi had a displeased look on her face. “This reaction probably means my reasoning is correct, but there’s still some important thing missing... What could it be...”

Zhao Changhe furrowed his brow. If Luo Qi could not figure it out, he definitely could not. However, this secret door was not revealed. It would be extremely unlucky if someone else managed to break into it first.

He did not know what was inside, but he got the feeling that he really had to be the one who found out.

“This place probably won’t be discovered anytime soon. After all, the others must have searched this place countless times in the past. They won’t come here to have another look for no reason.” Zhao Changhe said resolutely. “We need to figure out what’s missing within the next few days.”

Luo Qi had a complicated look as she looked at him and quietly said, “You could indirectly ask Instructor Sun about it. About how you should ask him...”

Zhao Changhe felt that this was a pain in the ass. How should I ask him...

“I’ll give it a try.” Zhao Changhe muttered to himself, ”Whatever the case, this place is the greatest hope we have of breaking away from our current circumstances.”

Luo Qi looked at the waters of the pool. The scene of the blood dragon circling the moon had disappeared. From the outside, it looked like no change to the pool had ever occurred.

*

“You broke through?”

The following morning, Zhao Changhe went to meet Instructor Sun as usual.

Seeing Zhao Changhe’s imposing and fierce appearance, Instructor Sun knew that he had broken through.

Great masters certainly had their own secret methods, but ordinary warriors had no way of figuring out someone’s cultivation just by looking at them. Even Branch Master Fang had required Luo Qi to reveal that she was at the first layer of the Profound Gate for him to know of her usefulness. Naturally, Instructor Sun only knew that Zhao Changhe had broken through because he had attempted to last night. Otherwise, Instructor Sun had no way of knowing of his cultivation.

That was why many instances of assassinations in the jianghu were carried out by people in ordinary disguise. A good number of great men fell in this way.

“I broke through.” Zhao Changhe replied very calmly. No one could tell if he harbored any other thoughts. “I tested it out and the amount of power I can draw upon is twice as much as before. My ability to take hits has also increased significantly. The first layer of the Profound Gate is indeed impressive.”

Instructor Sun did not respond and sized up Zhao Changhe up for a while. He said, “After cultivating the Vicious Blood Art for a while, one’s vicious qi can flare up. The feeling is like being devoured by ants. Normal people are unable to endure that sort of pain, so they have to rely on our faith’s Blood Settling pills to suppress the vicious qi. Actually, this sort of pain can arise from time to time, not just during breakthroughs. It’s only that during a breakthrough, the pain is more obvious... This is why we allow outsiders to practice the Vicious Blood—”

Before Instructor Sun finished speaking, Zhao Changhe calmly interrupted him. “I know. You stopped yourself from talking a few times before... Since this is the case, I can’t blame you. I can only blame myself for being too eager for results.”

If he had stopped training this nefarious martial art half a month back, he could have still given it up and taken a different road. But once one cultivated the Vicious Blood Art for long enough, there was no more going back. And with yesterday’s breakthrough, Zhao Changhe had crossed this threshold.

The best thing he could do was to continue walking this path to the end and strive for the Blood God Art. It was said that the Blood God Art could remedy the side effects of the Vicious Blood Art. This was probably true. Or he could approach a stronger master for help. There was definitely a way.

Instructor Sun added, “You have good potential. The one surnamed Fang keeps giving you the cold shoulder. From the beginning, I’ve always thought he’s letting talents go to waste because of personal grudges. I might be sent back to the Head Altar in a few days. I’ll report to the cult leader on this Fang person and fight for you to be allowed to formally join the cult. Once that happens, we’ll see if you have any chance of cultivating the Blood God Art.”

Zhao Changhe was at a loss. “You’re leaving, instructor?”

“I’ll have to see... There’s something...” Instructor Sun did not say more about this. “Anyway, I’ll only know in a few days. I’ll teach you the Vicious Blood Saber Art over the following days... You don’t need to worry, even though the Vicious Blood Saber requires one to channel the Vicious Blood Art in order to display more of its power, there are no downsides to learning it. It’s a good saber art. Even if you cultivate another martial art in the future, you can still use this saber art. You just have to use a different technique to direct your strength.”

Zhao Changhe cupped his fists. “Thank you for your trouble, instructor. Other than this, I’ve heard that there are such things as arrays. Is my current cultivation high enough to learn about them?”

This thing that Instructor Sun was talking about—Zhao Changhe definitely knew what it was. Before, Zhao Changhe may have actually reported what he found to the instructor. Everyone would have benefited. However, now, he was unwilling to. If he did not leave some room for himself, was he just supposed to let others use him to death?

Instructor Sun did not know if there was any grounds for his suspicion, but he felt that even though Zhao Changhe’s expression was calm and he spoke courteously, he was hiding something... You said you don’t blame me. But whether you blame me in your heart, no one can know.

Instructor Sun did not take this to heart. It was normal for youths to have some...feelings after encountering such a situation. They would quickly come to understand that in the jianghu, things were like this. How can something ever go completely according to one’s wishes? It was only after coming under their control would a cult trust someone. Array arts were one of the core techniques of any sect. There was no harm in asking about them now.

“You wish to learn array arts?” Instructor Sun said, “You won’t master anything if you bite off more than you can chew. You don’t have that much energy.”

“At least I should learn how to break arrays. If someone traps me in an array while I’m traveling around the jianghu, won’t that mean certain death if I’ve never learned how to break an array... ”

“You even wish to travel the jianghu... Heh...” Instructor Sun laughed. “In any case, what you say is right. You should, at the very least, know how to break a few arrays.”

“Please teach me, instructor.”

“To break an array, you only need to look at its core and order. For example, to break the Heaven, Earth, and Man Array, you need to find the exact order to solve it. First break the Man portion, then Earth. If you start with the Heaven part, it’ll be no different from bashing your head against a wall. For something like the Big Dipper Array, you’ll need to find where the Celestial Pivot[1] is located. Once you figure out where the array core is, you’ll be in an advantageous position...”

Order and array core.

Zhao Changhe recalled what Luo Qi had done back at the waterfall. She could tell that among the stars there was the seven-star Azure Dragon Constellation and which stars were a part of it. This initial approach was correct. This was pretty good. Zhao Changhe did not understand at all what he was looking at. If he randomly tapped on the stars, it was possible the secret door would have exploded.

However, Luo Qi was stuck there. She did not know the correct order and tapped on the stars according to the regular order of the Azure Dragon Constellation, so she could not open the door.

Come to think of it, it shouldn’t be hard to break... We just need to look into this world’s theory of constellations. Whichever star is the most important should be the array core.

Instructor Sun continued, “At the moment, you’re still a layman. Even if someone sets up an array, you wouldn’t even know it. Breaking into or out of one is beyond you. Take it easy. At the very least, learn the Vicious Blood Saber first. Its footwork is reminiscent of array arts. You’ll be able to slowly grasp arrays through learning by analogy...”

1. This is a Chinese name for Alpha Ursae Majoris. ☜