Chapter 797 - 679: Who Am I?

Chapter 797: Chapter 679: Who Am I?

"Was it from this corpse, or accidentally dropped from that monster?"

Zhang Liyou couldn’t figure it out either, but quickly walked over, bent down, and picked up the booklet.

It felt slightly heavy in her hand, and she carefully wiped the bloodstains and mucus from the cover with her palm.

A few strong, gilded characters came into her view—"Nine Yang Red Skill."

The four characters were like four dancing flames, instantly burning her vision.

Zhang Liyou’s eyes suddenly brightened, and her heart involuntarily began to race.

The pages inside the manual seemed to have been treated with some special liquid. Though inevitably stained with blood, displaying dark brown spots, the writing and diagrams remained clearly visible, the ink thick and the lines distinct.

The manual did not explicitly state the specific level of this Cultivation Technique, but after a cursory glance through a few pages, Zhang Liyou was deeply shocked by the profound and extremely complex paths of energy manipulation it described, as well as the martial arts manifesto of unparalleled dominance.

This Martial Art... is too profound, too domineering!

It surpassed all the Cultivation Techniques she had been exposed to at the university by countless degrees, absolutely not in the same league.

With Zhang Liyou’s limited knowledge and insight into martial arts, she could only vaguely sense that this technique was incredibly powerful, with absolutely extraordinary might. However, she couldn’t assess to what extent, or what level it belonged.

Naturally, she couldn’t have known that this was one of the three Divine Skills selectively cultivated within the Night Watcher organization.

She was just an ordinary university student before, having heard of the name Night Watcher, but how could she possibly know what Martial Arts the Night Watcher specifically cultivated?

However, at this moment, her mind faintly guessed the possible identity of the monster from earlier.

"To practice or not to practice?"

This thought flashed through her mind for a mere moment, the answer already crystal clear.

This was simply not a matter of hesitation and contemplation.

She quickly closed the manual, disregarding whether any sticky bloodstains remained on the cover, and without any hesitation, stuffed it into the innermost part of her clothing, snugly tucked away.

The cool booklet pressed against her skin, yet seemed to harbor burning energy, making her feel a surge of heat all over.

Then, she once again fully engaged the Turtle Breath Technique, striving to reduce her aura, heartbeat, or even presence to the lowest possible level, just like when she arrived, turning into a blurry shadow, quietly retracing her steps, and rejoining the bustling crowd outside on the street.

As if nothing had happened.

Zhang Liyou took a deep breath, suppressing the tumultuous emotions within her, quickening her pace toward Luo Ji’s house.

Back at the house, Luo Ji was not home again, she had no idea where he went or what he was doing.

At this moment, she couldn’t afford to care, heading straight into her temporary small room, locking the door firmly and even dragging over a chair to gently brace it against the door.

After doing all this, she went to the bedside and sat down, forcing herself to take a few deep breaths, trying to calm her agitated feelings.

Then she took out the "Nine Yang Red Skill" and began to study it.

"Nine Yang in the sky, its path brightly red. Extremely Yang, extremely firm, melting gold and refining iron... absorbing pure Yang energy, burning muscles and tempering bones, blood burning and boiling sea, pushing forward with no retreat..."

The words of the opening manifesto were bold and overbearing, the scorching will to consume all things surged between the lines, instantly capturing Zhang Liyou’s entire mind.

She read each word and sentence carefully, her breath involuntarily becoming rapid.

According to the manual, once "Nine Yang Red Skill" is mastered, Qi and blood will almost endlessly regenerate, ordinary punches and kicks can unleash immense Attack Power, defensive strength becomes unparalleled, it is also a sacred healing tome, impervious to any poisons, specifically countering all cold and toxic martial arts.

In short, this Martial Art was unimaginably powerful to Zhang Liyou, nearly encompassing attack, defense, endurance, healing, and detoxification in all aspects, almost perfect.

However, the more powerful the Cultivation Technique, the higher the threshold and danger of training it.

The manual repeatedly mentioned that if a person did not have a will as steadfast as a rock, moving forward with no retreat, attempting to practice recklessly could easily result in the overwhelming Yang and firm Qi and blood backfiring on oneself.

In mild cases, the meridians could be scorched, leaving Martial Arts in ruins; in severe cases, it could trigger internal fire, burning the body to death, turning one into a pile of charred remains.

Each warning was shocking enough to daunt most people.

But Zhang Liyou’s gaze grew increasingly determined, she did not have any hesitation and immediately followed the first layer method in the manual, sitting in a cross-legged position, mind focused towards the heavens, attempting to guide her Qi and blood to circulate along the provided paths in the book.

The first attempt was indeed immensely challenging.

This was not due to her lacking talent (on the contrary, her root bone and understanding were quite superior), but entirely due to the extreme Traits of "Nine Yang Red Skill" itself.

Even within the Night Watcher, those who chose this Cultivation Technique were the rarest.

Just because it is too difficult, too slow, and too dangerous.

It is not like the "Sunflower Dao Scripture" which can be quickly mastered with odd transformations, nor like the "Nine Yin Scripture" which has various supportive moves that could be progressed from external to internal progressively.

"Nine Yang Red Skill" emphasizes accumulating strength over time, training from the most fundamental Qi and blood internally, with an extremely difficult entry, slow progress, no shortcuts, relying entirely on detailed work and the perseverance of arduous cultivation, a severe test on the temperament and endurance of the cultivator.

Zhang Liyou was oblivious to these internal subtleties, only feeling as she guided her Qi and blood along the new path to a key acupuncture point in her arm.

As if icy water dripped into boiling oil, an exceedingly sharp and scalding pain suddenly exploded from deep within the meridian!

"Ugh!"

Caught off guard, Zhang Liyou let out a muffled groan of pain, sweat instantly oozing from her forehead, her entire arm felt as if it had been scalded by a hot iron, transmitting a burning pain.

And this, was just the beginning.

As she clenched her teeth and continued circulating the Qi and blood along the functional path, the pain intensified exponentially, as if her entire arm was forcibly plunged into boiling oil to fry and burn repeatedly.

In reality, proper practice at this stage should immediately cease, then apply precious cooling ointment externally for cooling down, allowing the damaged scorched meridian time to adapt and recuperate fully, even becoming stronger, before attempting the next impact.

It is impossible for a normal person to withstand being fried and burned continuously, this is also why "Nine Yang Red Skill" progresses extremely slowly.

But Zhang Liyou didn’t know any of this, there was no teacher around her, no Protector, nor any precious ancillary medicinal material.

Her mind was only tenaciously branded with the four characters "pushing forward with no retreat" from the manual’s manifesto.

These four words perfectly aligned with her current situation.

Thus, she not only did not stop, but steeled her resolve, pushing more fiercely to accelerate, further accelerating the wild speed of Qi and blood circulation.

She thought this was the necessary cost to break through barriers, persisting and forcibly breaking through was the only path to success.

Boom!!!

Her entire skin began to turn red like a boiled shrimp, emitting astonishing heat, and even the temperature of the room seemed to rise.

Underneath the skin, tiny blood vessels became prominent, revealing a crimson color reminiscent of flowing magma.

Boom!!!

In the next moment, her internal Qi and blood ignited like a gunpowder keg with a lit fuse, exploding with a roar.

The magnificent and wild Yang heat rampaged and burned furiously within every meridian in her body, the intense scalding pain swept through her body instantly, a white hot steam gushed violently from her pores, the room filled with a faint, burnt flesh odor.

Yet, even with consciousness blurred from the burning, Zhang Liyou desperately kept urging the Cultivation Technique without any thought of giving up.

Seeing the next moment was about to break all her meridians, even ignite internal fire, burning her to death, realizing the typical scenario described in the manual.

Buzz—

The shard of a mirror embedded deep in her palm suddenly emitted a gentle tremor, an icy and eerie aura seeped out from the shard, silently merging into her rampant meridians.

This aura was extremely strange, oppositional to the Yang and firm Qi and blood attributes of "Nine Yang," yet it was not a simple water-fire clash.

Where it passed, the previously wild and rampant Qi and blood seemed to be forcibly smoothed and tamed by some higher-level power, quickly calming down.

...