Chapter 91: Martial God Pictorial Record

The atmosphere was awkward for a moment.

Chenlong stayed silent for a long while before saying with some exasperation, "Wipe out Book Mountain?"

"That's right!"

Wang Ping said earnestly, "I have already verified that Book Mountain is secretly in contact with the heavens. Given enough time, Shuzhong will very likely become the next Longxing County!"

"Rather than letting this hidden danger grow out of control, we should strike first. We can capture Chen Luoyan, interrogate her for intelligence, and then wipe out Book Mountain. We'll seize all their extraordinary person legacies and train our own extraordinary persons to benefit the realm—mastering the arts of the extraordinary to control the extraordinary!"

Chenlong understood perfectly.

"You brat. You've set your sights on Book Mountain's extraordinary person legacies, but you can't beat them yourself, so you want to drag the Tribute Hall down with you?"

"..."

What nonsense was he spouting!

Wang Ping shook his head decisively, his face completely serious. "Your Excellency misunderstands. My words stem entirely from unswerving loyalty to the state. I am filled with righteous fervor and harbor absolutely no selfish motives."

Chenlong curled his lip. "Save that routine for someone else. Wiping out Book Mountain is absolutely impossible. They were dispatched by the heavens to begin with, and they possess ways to contact the heavens. Pulling a single hair will move the whole body; we couldn't possibly hide it. Bringing down that much trouble upon ourselves just for a few extraordinary person legacies isn't worth it."

Wang Ping's eyes instantly widened.

What surprised him wasn't Chenlong's attitude, but his underlying implication: the Imperial Tribute Hall actually did have a way to wipe out Book Mountain!

'Did I hear that right?'

To be honest, he hadn't actually expected Chenlong to mobilize forces to destroy Book Mountain.

His original intent was simply to probe. He wanted to gauge Chenlong's reaction to figure out whether Book Mountain or the Imperial Tribute Hall was stronger, just to have a clear idea.

He hadn't expected Chenlong to drop such a massive revelation.

'This means Book Mountain can be attacked, and even wiped out. It's just that the Immortal Gate behind them can't be provoked... I underestimated these martial artists!'

Seeing his reaction, Chenlong's lips curled up in a faint smirk.

'Little fox, now you know how formidable the Tribute Hall is, don't you?'

What a joke. He had spent years plotting and scheming in the Capital; how could he not hear the probing in Wang Ping's words? He had naturally said all that on purpose.

Of course, he wasn't lying.

If a war truly broke out, the Tribute Hall genuinely had the means to annihilate Book Mountain.

To put it to the extreme, the Tribute Hall could crush any single extraordinary person sect across all of Great Shun and the Central Divine Land with overwhelming superiority in a one-on-one fight!

The reason they didn't do so was partially out of fear of provoking those terrifying entities in the "heavens," but also because not all extraordinary person sects were running dogs for the heavens. They still held strategic value as potential allies. Furthermore, making too big of a scene and being attacked from all sides wouldn't be ideal.

'I suppose this counts as showing our hand early.'

Chenlong couldn't help but sigh. Under normal circumstances, a newcomer who had just joined the Tribute Hall wouldn't learn of its true strength this quickly.

But Wang Ping was an exception. After all, the First Seat had personally ordered them to look after him. Moreover, he happened to be an extraordinary person and had caught the eye of that girl, Chen Luoyan.

Therefore, Chenlong felt it necessary to demonstrate the strength of martial artists.

'He is a rare martial seed with outstanding talent, after all. I can't let him stray onto the orthodox path, abandon his martial training, and waste all his energy on immortal cultivation.'

With this in mind, Chenlong changed the subject.

"I heard from Shenhou that after you mastered the Thirteen Grand Protectors Hard Qigong, you asked if there was a second half. I imagine you must have noticed its profound subtleties."

"The second half does indeed exist."

With that, Chenlong pulled a thick stack of Xuan paper from his robes. Both sides of the pages were densely covered in handwriting, complete with corresponding illustrations.

"Take it."

As Chenlong handed over the paper, Wang Ping was immediately hit by the fresh scent of ink, making it clear that the contents had likely been penned not long ago.

"This is the second half you wanted, the painstaking work of the First Seat. It is named the Martial God Pictorial Record, universally acknowledged as the number one internal energy manual in the world today. I've marked everything for you across the entire manual, from the physical cultivation diagrams to the corresponding annotations. Take it back and study it well. You must memorize it within three days."

"Once you've memorized it, destroy it in front of me."

"Do you understand?"

Chenlong's tone turned stern. This rule was meant both to prevent anyone with ulterior motives from hoarding the martial art and to test a martial artist's memory.

Only those who could memorize it possessed the qualifications to continue practicing.

If one couldn't even memorize it and constantly needed to reference the manual, it just proved their talent was limited. Even if they practiced it, they would only be wasting their time.

As for the three-day limit, Chenlong had set that timeframe based on his own standards.

'Back then, even without trying to understand it and purely relying on rote memorization, it took me five whole days to memorize the entire manual. This kid has higher talent, so three days should be about right.'

"I understand," Wang Ping said.

He accepted the Xuan paper and swept it with his spiritual sense, instantly engraving the entire manual into his mind. From the physical diagrams to the corresponding annotations, not a single detail was out of place.

Just in case, Wang Ping still flipped open the manual and mentally cross-referenced it one more time.

'Mhm, he's diligent enough.'

Seeing Wang Ping start reading the manual so quickly, Chenlong nodded in satisfaction. He planned to step out for a stroll; after all, the manual would take a long time to read...

"Reporting to Your Excellency, I have finished memorizing it."

"...What?"

The corner of Chenlong's eye twitched, and he spun around.

He watched as Wang Ping neatly gathered the pages of the manual, snapped his fingers to conjure a flame, and burned the entire stack to ash in mere moments.

He really memorized it?

Seeing Wang Ping act so decisively, Chenlong immediately dropped the idea of testing him. But it was such a thick manual—how could he possibly just glance at it and...

"...Oh right, you're an extraordinary person."

Chenlong let out a long breath and regained his calm.

If he was an extraordinary person, then it wasn't surprising... But this wasn't martial talent, it was cheating. This wasn't what the Tribute Hall wanted to see.

At that thought, Chenlong couldn't help but speak up to warn him.

"You used spiritual sense, didn't you?"

"I know you practice an extraordinary person's cultivation method. It's a good thing you have this aptitude. I imagine your martial arts progressed so quickly because of it too, right?"

"Your Excellency is perceptive," Wang Ping said with a perfectly tranquil expression.

Chenlong grew increasingly serious.

"Extraordinary persons certainly possess a certain advantage when practicing martial arts, and I suspect that's how you managed to master the Thirteen Grand Protectors Hard Qigong. But that's as far as it goes."

"The Martial God Pictorial Record is different. Before it, all your advantages as an extraordinary person are useless. If you want to master this internal energy method, an extraordinary person's physique won't help you, and an extraordinary person's spells won't help you. You can only rely on the purest martial talent to have any possibility of success."

"I will bear that in mind," Wang Ping said.

Seeing that Wang Ping wasn't taking this lightly, Chenlong finally felt relieved. But to be honest, when he first learned Wang Ping was an extraordinary person, he had actually been quite disappointed.

The Martial Dao required absolute purity. Without purity, one's Divine Intent would scatter. And if one's Divine Intent scattered, practicing martial arts would yield half the results for twice the effort, making it exceptionally difficult to reach the pinnacle.

"For the next three months, I will remain in Longxing County."

After a moment of thought, Chenlong added, "During this time, if you encounter any difficulties or confusion while practicing the Martial God Pictorial Record, you can come ask me."

"Thank you, Your Excellency!" Wang Ping said gratefully.

Seeing this, Chenlong didn't say anything further, only pondering internally:

'I hope this wasn't a wasted trip for me.'

Chenlong actually held Wang Ping in very high regard; otherwise, he wouldn't have spoken to him at such length. The reason boiled down to the things Wang Ping had done.

Rallying the black-headed commoners, storming the county town, battling an extraordinary person, and breaking open the granaries to seize food.

Someone capable of such feats possessed not only ability but, more importantly, courage. Someone without courage, no matter how capable, would never dare to do those things.

This was what Chenlong valued most.

'Before practicing martial arts, one must first train their courage. Courage is paramount.'

Chenlong looked up at the sky, his thoughts gradually turning heavy. In the eyes of countless martial artists across Great Shun, those of the Martial Dao Grandmaster Rank were situated high above, always transcendent and free from worldly ties.

But who could truly understand?

Reaching the Martial Dao Grandmaster Rank meant that the divine weapon was nearing "maturity." They appeared glorious on the outside, but in reality, they never knew which day they might suddenly be taken away.

That was why those of the Martial Dao Grandmaster Rank were like divine dragons who showed their heads but hid their tails, never revealing themselves to the public. They would never allow their names on any rankings. This was partly to hide and avoid being noticed by the heavens, and partly because, every so often, an expert of the Martial Dao Grandmaster Rank would be "taken away," never to be heard from again...

The higher one's martial arts, the faster they died.

However, the truer this was, the more important courage became.

For example, on the Armament Manual, among the five listed on the Heaven Ranking, there was someone who was actually capable of breaking through to the Martial Dao Grandmaster Rank, yet they intentionally suppressed themselves and refused to take the step.

They would rather remain constrained by the Armament Manual than reach the Grandmaster Rank.

This was proof of a lack of courage, and these were the people Chenlong looked down on the most. No matter how strong someone like that was, they would never receive an invitation from the Tribute Hall.

Those with courage lacked the talent and threw their lives away for nothing.

Those with talent lacked the courage, leaving others resentful of their cowardice.

This showed just how precious a martial artist with both courage and talent truly was.

'However... the First Seat wants a true martial genius, not an extraordinary person who practices martial arts. This Martial God Pictorial Record is the true test.'

Only by passing it would he receive a title from the Tribute Hall.

If he failed, he would just become a reservist like the vast majority of people in the Tribute Hall. He would have to slowly polish his Martial Dao, never receiving any special privileges again.

Whether he was a true genius or a fake one would soon be revealed.

Judging Wang Ping by his own standards, Chenlong evaluated internally:

'If he is a true martial genius, he should encounter the first difficulty in the Martial God Pictorial Record by tomorrow morning at the latest and come ask me about it.'

'If so, he might have a chance to master this internal energy method within ten years.'

At this thought, Chenlong couldn't help but touch the white hairs at his temples and sigh. Even as he felt hopeful, his sense of the pressing lack of time grew sharper.

The Martial Dao could not grant immortality; even those of the Grandmaster Rank would grow old.

And a full sixty years had already passed since the First Seat dominated as the number one in the world.

Yet in the world today, let alone someone who could rival the First Seat, there wasn't even a single martial artist who could come close to her. This fact made one uncontrollably anxious.

'Where exactly does the future of the Martial Dao lie?'

The Tribute Hall, and indeed the entire realm, had not produced a peerless Supreme Great Grandmaster Rank expert like the First Seat in a very, very long time.