A Farmer's Journey To Immortality - Chapter 585: An Aurous-level Martial Technique: Celestial Unity
Chapter 585: An Aurous-level Martial Technique: Celestial Unity
Jin Jolan’s smile grew wider. His reluctance from before melted away instantly.
“Well, well,” he said with a chuckle. “It seems I underestimated you, Zinnia. To think you had something of this level hidden all along.”
Zinnia didn’t answer. She stood still, watching as Jin motioned for one of his men to bring forward two other jade boxes.
“As agreed,” Jin said, handing them over, “two imperfect Aurous-level Compendiums in return. Our researchers have been working on refining them, but they’re still unstable. Consider this a fair exchange between fellow martial artists.”
Zinnia accepted the boxes, her face showing no emotion, though inside she could barely contain her distaste.
Once the exchange was confirmed, Jin clasped his hands behind his back and looked at her fondly, as if talking to an old companion rather than someone he had harassed for years.
“Old friend,” he began with a sigh, “it’s good that you finally decided to come around and cooperate with the Grand Martial Hall. To be frank, I never wanted things to turn sour between us. I hoped we could settle things peacefully.”
He gave a small laugh, shaking his head. “But you… you were always too stubborn, clinging to the old ways.”
Zinnia’s eyes flickered with restrained anger, but she stayed quiet.
Jin continued, his tone turning more thoughtful. “Look at me,” he said, gesturing to himself.
“I used to have my own martial arts school too. But where is it now? Gone. Crushed, just like the grass under a giant’s foot. I learned to adapt. The world of Sharang is changing faster than any of us imagined. If we old folks don’t change with it, we’ll be left behind, forgotten.”
He looked at her with what seemed like sympathy, though his words still carried a hint of pride. “I didn’t know you had one more Aurous-level Martial Compendium apart from Celestial Harmony. That was quite the surprise.” He chuckled again, his single eye glinting with amusement. “Thanks to that, all your previous aggressions are forgiven. Let’s forget the past.”
Zinnia forced herself to nod. “Thanks and I’ll hold you to that,” she said quietly.
“Of course, of course,” Jin said cheerfully. “Don’t worry—we’ll share the results with you once we organize everything. And if by any chance, you have any more martial arts techniques to exchange, well…” He smirked slightly. “You know how to reach me.”
He turned to leave, his robes brushing lightly against the ground. “See you next time, Zinnia.”
As he walked away with his entourage, the courtyard fell silent again.
***
Seven days later.
Silence filled Zinnia’s study room. The faint scent of old paper and tea leaves lingered in the air.
Aksai sat there, alone, with his eyes closed and his hands resting loosely on the armrests of the chair. The eight manuals on the desk before him were neatly arranged in two rows. Their covers, bound in aged leather and inscribed with faint golden symbols, seemed to hum softly with residual Qi.
He had just finished reading them all—every line, every pattern, every flow of energy contained within the pages. The eight tomes were the result of Zinnia’s recent exchange with the Grand Martial Hall.
Each of them was an imperfect Aurous-level Martial Compendium—brimming with potential yet tainted by flaws that made them dangerous to cultivate.
For most martial artists, these manuals would have been priceless treasures. For Aksai, they were nothing more than puzzles to solve.
He finally opened his eyes. A faint glimmer of silver flashed across his pupils as he exhaled slowly. “Eight different approaches,” he muttered softly to himself. “All trying to touch a realm they barely understand.”
His gaze drifted over the manuals again. He could tell which techniques focused on refining the Qi channels, which prioritized the body’s endurance, and which tried to fuse both into a flawed harmony. Each one was incomplete. But they hinted at the path the Grand Martial Hall was desperately trying to carve.
Aksai leaned back in the chair, thinking about how these tomes had come into his hands. Zinnia had traded them from Jin Jolan—four imperfect Aurous Compendiums and several Argent-level ones.
But those Compendiums hadn’t come from her. They were his doing.
The manuals Aksai had provided through borrowed hands weren’t native to Sharang at all. Haitin Blackblood had given them to him long ago, back when their alliance had been more of convenience than friendship.
However, the manuals from Haitin contained something that Sharang martial artists had no understanding of—a concept called the Blood Force. Unlike Qi, which flowed through meridians and followed spiritual pathways, Blood Force originated from one’s very life essence. It was raw, volatile, and dangerously potent.
Although it was similar in nature to Qi and can be interchanged some times, it had its differences. For example, it was akin to the difference between salt and salt water.
Thus, before handing those manuals to Zinnia, Aksai had spent a few hours and processing power altering them using his Neural Link Fabric. He removed traces of Blood Force and replaced them with compatible Qi-based patterns that would seem natural to experts in Sharang.
To any outsider, the techniques would appear as genuine martial arts created through advanced body refinement. With this, the Grand Martial Hall had unknowingly begun studying something that was not of their world.
More importantly, Aksai himself had remained unseen throughout the entire exchange. It was Zinnia who had met Jin Jolan, who had delivered the manuals, and who had received the Grand Martial Hall’s research in return. The Hall had no idea that the mind behind those techniques even existed.
Aksai tapped his fingers gently on the armrest, his expression calm. He knew, of course, that this arrangement was temporary and had in fact placed a larger target on Zinnia’s back.
The Grand Martial Hall must have already begun speculating. They would likely believe that Zinnia had somehow stumbled upon a Tree Devil’s lair and uncovered the lost Martial Compendiums within.
Although the Tree Devil didn’t cultivate Qi or Blood Force, they made use of the Spirit essence. And the manuals Aksai had obtained from Haitin also integrated the concepts of Spirit essence wherever necessary. As much as Aksai tried to change these manuals, he couldn’t completely get rid of their true origins.
As such, the Grand Martial Hall would come to suspect that Zinnia had connections with the Tree Devils because only Tree Devils made use of the concepts of Spirit essence. For them, that was the only explanation that made sense.
But Aksai didn’t seem worried.
He looked at the manuals again, his gaze softening slightly. “They won’t harm her yet,” he said quietly. “Not while she’s still useful.”
He knew the way powerful institutions worked. As long as Zinnia continued to provide new techniques and research materials, she would remain valuable. No one would destroy a resource that kept feeding them.
Who would kill the hen that laid golden eggs?
Aksai leaned forward, placing his palm over the nearest tome. The faint glow of his Qi seeped into the pages, and the symbols on the Martial Intent Diagrams shimmered faintly in response.
“She’ll be fine,” he whispered. “At least for now.”
His expression hardened as he guessed the Grand Martial Hall’s motives before speaking to himself further.
“But before they realize what’s really happening,” he murmured to himself, “I’ll strike first.”
***
Three more days later.
Aksai was seen sitting by the same desk, his hand moving across a thick stack of papers.
It had been ten days since his return to Sharang. Ten days of sleepless nights, endless calculations, and silent experimentation.
The Neural Link Fabric hummed faintly inside him like a second mind—sorting, simulating, comparing, and fusing together the martial concepts drawn from the eight manuals obtained from the Grand Martial Hall and several of Haitin’s body cultivation methods.
Aksai leaned back in his chair now, tired but satisfied. In front of him lay a freshly bound manual with clean pages and steady handwriting. Its cover was plain—no ornamentation, no name—but the power sleeping within it was enough to shake the foundations of many martial schools.
He exhaled softly. “Celestial Harmony – Aurous Variant,” he murmured under his breath, running a finger across the edge of the book. The Neural Link Fabric had tested trillions of variations before settling on this one.
Every Martial Intent Diagram, every breathing pattern, every channel of Qi was mapped perfectly to his and Zinnia’s potential body structure. It was cleaner, stronger, and far more adaptable than the original.
A knock sounded at the door.
Aksai looked up. “Come in,” he said.
Zinnia stepped inside, her robes still slightly dusty from the training yard. Her expression was curious, but her eyes softened when she saw him sitting there.
“My lord, what have you been doing all these days?” she asked lightly, closing the door behind her.
Aksai smiled faintly. “Working.”
She tilted her head. “Working on what?”
He turned the manual toward her and tapped it gently.
“This. an Aurous-level Celestial Harmony. I call it Celestial Unity.”
Source: Webnovel.com, updated by novlove.com
