Chapter 2271: Chapter 23: Practicing Wu with the Dao
The matter of Marquis Wu’an and the Lord of Hua Ying Palace being on good terms is well-known within both the court and the common populace. It’s an old friendship built from humble beginnings.
It isn’t Jiang Wang’s first visit to Hua Ying Palace.
However, visiting deep into the night is indeed a first.
Compared to the grandeur and clarity of the Long Life Palace, the architectural style of Hua Ying Palace is relatively more imposing, exuding a heroic aura. They often use weaponry as decoration, hanging armor and longbows, with scarcely any ornamental flowers or plants.
If they plant anything, it’s trees that can be used to make spears, bows, or beams for construction.
Standing as proudly as the guards on watch.
Walking through Hua Ying Palace, led by a silver-haired old woman, each guard and maid exudes a military demeanor, meticulous in every word and action, even their salutes are rigid and proper.
This old woman who has stayed by Jiang Wuyou’s side for years has an unknown name; Jiang Wuyou sometimes calls her "Granny Shen."
It’s as if she’s calling her "Mystic Granny."
Though having met many times, Jiang Wang had little interaction with her, a cold-natured elder.
The meeting place is the Martial Arts Field.
The martial arts field of Hua Ying Palace is arguably the most meticulously thought-out construction in the palace.
Soundproofing, breath-hiding, gathering arrays of all kinds, all crafted by leading artisans. The other materials like floor tiles need not even be mentioned.
Even the weapon rack by the martial arts field, filled with swords, spears, staffs, axes, and halberds, contains nothing of ordinary quality.
The scale of the entire martial arts field far exceeds that of typical private fields, genuinely capable of accommodating the training of four to five hundred soldiers.
Reaching the martial arts field.
At that time, the bright moon hung high, casting a few cold stars.
The pristine summer night spread over the rooftops of successive palaces.
In the vast martial arts field, a lone figure danced.
Her long hair was tied into a ponytail, whipping and exploding like a whip tip in the air, tracing powerful and graceful arcs.
She wore leather armor, yet the armor couldn’t conceal her robust physique.
Explosive power surged beneath the armor.
Her strong, rounded legs created a series of dull thuds on the ground, one after another.
With a massive, somewhat exaggerated Painting Halberd in her hand, she soared like a dragon swimming.
Her speed wasn’t fast, not in a rush to complete each move or form, much like her journey to the present day.
But every one of her movements was extraordinarily powerful.
Even a simple turn or step seemed to mobilize the strength of her entire body.
She exerted her utmost to walk, to pursue, to fight.
The air was collided apart, the night wind scattered. Breaking a ground full of moonlight, chaotically scattered on her.
Jiang Wang watched her movements, feeling a dragon within her body roaring and turning.
That wasn’t an illusion.
It was a real manifestation of power.
Jiang Wuyou had fully harnessed the power of the spine dragon, using her human dragon to drive her limbs and bones, causing earth-shattering might. It’s a path distinct from orthodox cultivation and martial arts. Her Dao vein, Teng Long, never left the Sky-reaching Sea, and the so-called dragon roar was indeed a tsunami!
When she finally stopped her halberd stance, there was a momentary stillness in the whole world.
With a casual toss, the Painting Halberd flipped away far into the air.
The Fangtian Ghost God Halberd, which had just howled like a divine dragon, quickly lost all its spirituality, silently collected by Granny Shen.
Granny Shen stepped back, vanishing into the night with the Fangtian Ghost God Halberd.
The Lord of Hua Ying Palace turned around, her healthy wheat-colored skin emanated a sunny feel. A slight sweat on her forehead added a lively sensuality to her.
She looked at Jiang Wang without saying anything else, casually beckoning a longsword from a weapons rack at the edge of the field.
"On such a good night, how could we squander it?" she said, "Marquis Wu’an, kindly instruct me on my swordsmanship."
Jiang Wuyou’s current cultivation is Inner Mansion.
Two years ago, when Jiang Wang set out to rescue Zhu Bijing and swept through the Diao Hai Building’s Inner Mansion disciples, Jiang Wuyou was in the Inner Mansion Realm.
Three years ago, when Jiang Wang first came to Qi Country and had not yet entered the Heaven and Earth Gate, Jiang Wuyou was also in the Inner Mansion Realm.
Now Jiang Wang has achieved God Descending, and is a strong presence within the realm, while Jiang Wuyou remains in the Inner Mansion Realm.
It’s not because she lacks talent, nor because she isn’t diligent enough.
It’s because... she’s pioneering a new cultivation path alone.
In today’s world, the martial arts system hasn’t been fully explored.
The number one martial artist of the current era, Wang Ao, has yet to take that step beyond the Absolute Summit.
But everyone knows it’s just a matter of time.
The path before the Martial Path’s Twenty-Six Heavens has been opened, the result of the ardent efforts of countless genius cultivators. The thick clouds shrouding the Twenty-Seventh Layer of Martial Dao have also been largely dispelled, the contours of the palace behind those clouds captured...
People are completely convinced that it will eventually pave a route from the beginning of transcendence to beyond the peak. Truly opening a new path for the present world human race.
If not Wang Ao, then someone else.
Once such a grand project is completed, the merit from opening a new path for humanity could very well push that martial arts number one to a higher layer, stepping above the summit.
Many astonishingly gifted cultivators have turned to martial arts, harboring the intention of reaching beyond the Absolute Summit.
After all, achieving beyond the Absolute Summit is exceedingly challenging.
Even the Sons of Heaven from the six great Overlord Countries have not transcended beyond the peak. Huang Weizhen, the most charming figure of the Chu Territory in three thousand years, has been scheming for over nine hundred years, only now glimpsing some possibilities.
But blazing new trails holds dangers beyond ordinary imagination.
In the thick clouds and fog, you never know what’s ahead, you never know where the path is, you never know whether you’re right or wrong—the way to verify mistakes is through death.
