Misty Rain of the Old Times

Chapter 764 If You Don't Take It, I Won't Take It

Looking at the two corpses still bleeding, Chen Xuan guessed that the Qin family, which once held absolute power in Yuhua Kingdom, had been completely wiped out. This was not a personal grudge in the martial arts world, but a change of power, and it was definitely more thorough than when Chen Xuan killed the Wu family.

Chen Xuan remained unmoved by this. Such was reality; similar massacres were happening every day in places unseen. The only difference was that he happened to witness the aftermath this time.

The matter was over, and no one should disturb the camp anymore. Chen Xuan nodded slightly to the Chrysanthemum Guard commander, then secretly shook his head, and smiled at the two children, "Let's go, it's getting late, we still have a long journey tomorrow."

Seeing them turn to leave, the Chrysanthemum Guard commander hesitated for a moment, then quickly stepped forward, searched the two headless corpses, and said to Chen Xuan and his companions' retreating figures, "I dare to ask Mr. Chen to stay a moment."

"Isn't it all over now?" Chen Xuan murmured, then turned around and asked, "Is there anything else you would like to say?"

Since the other party's attitude was always very good, Chen Xuan naturally wouldn't act arrogantly because of his cultivation level. Unless it was a confirmed enemy, he was always easy to talk to.

The commander of the Chrysanthemum Guard was extremely experienced. He quickly found several items on the dead boy's body. After confirming that there were no other important items, he handed the items to Chen Xuan and said, "Mr. Chen, you are too kind to ask for our advice. These are important items we found on them. We hope Mr. Chen can decide how to handle them."

Even though Chen Xuan clearly showed an indifferent attitude, he really didn't dare not ask Chen Xuan. This was no joke. If Chen Xuan remembered it afterward, things would be terrible. Not to mention that they just happened to be there, there's a saying in the martial arts world: those who see it get a share.

The items included a book about an inch thick that was taken from the boy's body, silk fabric from the lining of his collar, a thin leather piece from the lining of his belt, and the Overlord Three Light Fist manual that was still in the boy's possession. Other items such as ornaments and gold and silver notes were not worth taking out and getting in the way.

Looking at the items he handed over, Chen Xuan didn't take them immediately. Instead, he asked curiously, "You guys can handle the aftermath yourselves. Isn't it a bit inappropriate for me to review and decide?"

“Mr. Chen is joking. These are just material possessions, but they are extremely important. How could we dare to make such a decision on our own?” the Chrysanthemum Guard commander said with a smile, without making any move to retract his statement.

Actually, he was feeling uneasy. His main orders were to capture the remnants of the Qin family, but they also needed to retrieve the items they were carrying. But could he afford to ignore Chen Xuan's thoughts and pretend not to know anything? He didn't even dare to look at Chen Xuan before he had a chance to examine the items. This kind of person was so clever that he was practically invisible.

"You guys are really cunning," Chen Xuan chuckled, accepting the gift without hesitation, just like receiving snacks from a friend.

He wouldn't say he had much interest in these things, nor did he have any intention of possessing them, but he was still a little bit curious.

"Mr. Chen, please," the Chrysanthemum Guard commander said with a smile, offering the gift with both hands. He then turned away without looking at Mr. Chen and instructed his colleagues to handle the aftermath.

The two heads, mainly the little boy's, were covered with some kind of beeswax after being confirmed to be genuine, placed in a box and sealed, and then the corpse was placed in a box. All the items were carefully collected, inspected, registered, and recorded. As for the items in Chen Xuan's hands, they were not recorded until he gave the order.

In addition, people were sent to check on the old man who had been swatted away by Chen Xuan. He was already dead beyond any doubt, and his rotten body was brought back as intact as possible for simple treatment. He was to be taken back to report.

As they cleaned up the mess, Chen Xuan also took advantage of the dim moonlight to examine the items in his hands. The two books were the Overlord Three Light Fist and the Myriad Gu Medicine Scripture. The silk fabric, as thin as a cicada's wing, was a full ten feet square when unfolded, and if crumpled into a ball, it could fit in the palm of his hand. It contained the Butterfly Transformation Heart Sutra written in tiny characters. These items could be considered divine martial arts manuals, which would cause bloodshed in the martial arts world if they fell into the hands of Chen Xuan.

Chen Xuan had seen Qin Yan demonstrate the Overlord Three Lights Fist before. After reading the manual, he retracted his assessment of Qin Yan from that day. It wasn't that he hadn't mastered the essence; he had only barely scratched the surface. Cultivating this thing required not only extremely high talent but also a corresponding temperament. In short, this was clearly a fist technique exclusive to emperors. Without the ambition to conquer mountains and rivers and the imperial temperament cultivated from long reigns on the throne, it would be difficult to master. Perhaps Qin Yan's status was high enough in the past, but he had never experienced what it was like to be an emperor, so he couldn't unleash the true power of this fist technique at all.

As Chen Xuan flipped through the book, he pondered for a moment and had to admit that this boxing technique was quite remarkable, no less than any of the unique martial arts he had ever practiced. If he were to practice it himself, he would no longer be a novice who had just started learning martial arts. He would have mastered it after just one reading, and with a few more days of dedicated study, he would have reached the pinnacle. As for the mental fortitude required, that was simply not an issue, because his martial arts talent was utterly unreasonable.

Overall, it's alright. When you're bored out of your mind, you can ponder it a bit. You've already mastered so many martial arts skills that you can't use them all, so you can extract their essence and use it as your own resources.

The "Ten Thousand Gu Medicine Manual" records methods for cultivating and controlling dozens of types of Gu worms, as well as hundreds of medicinal formulas. Most of these are unorthodox and harmful practices. Among them is the method for cultivating and controlling the Heart-to-Heart Gu, which does not necessarily require a spider. This Gu worm also records a method for changing its size at will, with the same effect as Qin Ruyu's ability to change size that day. After reading it, it is not a particularly miraculous method.

How to put it? It's like the dantian in the human body. It seems to exist on the outside, but it is boundless inside. Once the Gu worm is cultivated, there will be a special acupoint in the body to store the torrent of blood, flesh and essence. After you can use it freely, you can control the size of your body at will. It seems magical when you don't understand it, but once you understand the principle, it's just like that. In fact, with Chen Xuan's current cultivation level and experience, he can deduce and play with it in many different ways.

This medicine book also records the recipe for a fragrant powder called Red Thread, which is something that greatly attracts boys when used by girls. The main ingredient is the Acacia Ice Moon Flower, which has been the source of evil for many girls over the years. Of course, this is just Qin Ruyu making use of waste materials when cultivating the Heart-Connecting Gu.

In short, most of the things recorded here are not very serious, but Chen Xuan will not take them one-sidedly. Although the contents recorded are not serious, they can still be useful if used properly by serious people. Among them, the Heart-to-Heart Gu is not the most powerful. There are more than a dozen other kinds that are ranked higher. However, the conditions for refining the top-ranked ones are too harsh. Unlike the Heart-to-Heart Gu, which uses people as the main material, it is available everywhere.

It even records the Flame Crystal Worm, which ranks above the Heart-to-Heart Gu. Back then, Liu Zhenwei was parasitized by the Flame Crystal Worm in his heart, causing a swarm of worms that blotted out the sky like dark clouds. Just thinking about it makes one's scalp tingle. If Liu Zhenwei had obtained this Ten Thousand Gu Medicine Scripture and had the correct method of control, then Chen Xuan could not have solved the crisis by simply simulating the Flame Crystal Worm's mature environment suitable for procreation.

The Butterfly Transformation Heart Sutra recorded on that silk fabric, as thin as a cicada's wing, was the spiritual cultivation technique that Qin Ruyu practiced. This technique itself could not improve a person's combat strength much, but practicing it could enhance their mental will. It was because of this that Qin Ruyu was able to withstand absorbing the mental memories of so many people without losing consciousness.

In Chen Xuan's view, the Butterfly Transformation Heart Sutra is even more precious than the Myriad Gu Medicine Sutra and the Overlord Three Lights Fist, because it is a technique for enhancing mental will. Any grandmaster knows that mental will is the most difficult to enhance, unlike internal strength, true qi, and true essence, which can be improved by spending time and effort. In the grandmaster realm, the most important thing is to continuously enhance mental will until breaking the shackles of the human body's void and mental interference with reality. This is the core key to further stepping into the Tribulation Transcending Realm. Without a technique for cultivating mental will, one can only rely on one's own daily enlightenment and sudden understanding.

Of course, the Butterfly Transformation Heart Sutra was nothing special to Chen Xuan. He didn't lack cultivation methods in this area; the Ze Yuan Technique he cultivated had a similar mental cultivation method. Perhaps it couldn't compare to the Butterfly Transformation Heart Sutra in terms of simply improving mental will, but in the face of Chen Xuan's talent, this thing was really not very useful. However, some of the mental will techniques in it still gave Chen Xuan a great surprise. After a little study, he estimated that with his current cultivation level, he could make the people of an entire city fall into a mental illusion without them even realizing it. However, such a large-scale use of mental power would consume too much energy and could not be maintained for long.

Finally, there was the soft, thin leather—a map detailing the Qin family's multiple treasure troves and how to access them. Chen Xuan glanced at it, uninterested; he wasn't short of money. Logically, carrying a powerful technique or a treasure map on one's person was ill-considered, but given the Qin family's current state, why not take it with him on the run and let someone else benefit from it?

In short, apart from the Butterfly Heart Sutra, the others are not the originals and are obviously copied, which is quite normal. Such a precious secret manual should not be left unbacked. If it is lost or accidentally destroyed, one would be devastated.

Driven by curiosity, Chen Xuan quickly flipped through the book. In the time it took for a group of Chrysanthemum Guards to clean up the mess, he had already finished reading it. With his photographic memory, he didn't need to consciously copy it into his mind.

During the process, the two little ones also took a look. Chen Xuan looked at it too fast, and the two of them couldn't keep up with the pace. Moreover, even if they saw the content, they couldn't understand it for a while. Fortunately, they didn't care too much. It's not like they haven't seen good things before. They wanted to keep everything they saw for themselves. They couldn't even finish practicing what they had.

Seeing that the Chrysanthemum Guards had almost finished their work, and under their seemingly casual but actually cautious observation, Chen Xuan decisively tossed the items in his hand to them, laughing, "I've looked at them, they're indeed good stuff. You guys take them back, otherwise you might not be able to explain yourselves."

How could it not be a good thing? If the remnants of the Qin family manage to escape, they might very well be able to make a comeback.

Upon receiving it, the Chrysanthemum Guard Commander hesitated and said, "Since Mr. Chen has said it's a good item, aren't you going to keep it? Don't worry about us; as long as Mr. Chen speaks up, we'll pretend nothing happened."

Hearing this, Chen Xuan didn't feign arrogance and smiled, saying, "I've seen it and memorized it. It's not very useful for me to keep it, but it's still very useful for reference, so you should take it back."

"In that case, thank you very much, Mr. Chen. We will accept it without further ado," the Chrysanthemum Guard Commander said respectfully with a sigh of relief. He was relieved that if Chen Xuan wanted to take them away, there was really nothing he could do but pretend that nothing had happened.

Nodding, Chen Xuan smiled and said, "I won't disturb you any longer, I'll take my leave now." As he spoke, he paused, thought for a moment, and kindly reminded them, "Those few techniques are good, but they are not the originals. If you have any ideas about practicing them, you should be careful. If you make a mistake, you might suffer the consequences. That's all I have to say, take care."

After saying that, Chen Xuan took the two little ones and left in a flash.

With such a powerful martial arts manual in hand, no one would remain indifferent, especially in this world where such power is bestowed upon them. The reason Chen Xuan kindly offered this reminder was because their attitude was genuinely good; otherwise, he wouldn't have bothered to say anything more.

Well, copied martial arts manuals are bound to have errors and omissions. Not everyone has Chen Xuan's talent and experience. Even if there are occasional errors, he can fill in the gaps himself or even innovate without being affected. Furthermore, it is not the original. To put it more mysteriously, it has lost its essence. If you don't have the talent, you can't figure it out on your own without guidance. There is no guarantee that something will go wrong. The more powerful the martial arts manual, the harder it is to practice.

Just like the formula for a nuclear bomb, if you don't have that talent, would you even understand it?

After Chen Xuan and the others left, the group of Chrysanthemum Guards looked at each other, then tacitly understood each other.

The commander coughed and said, "Mr. Chen is truly a man of high moral character, remaining unmoved even with such overwhelming power before him. Well, brothers, you've all had a hard time on this mission. Don't say we didn't take care of you. Come on, before we go back, let's discuss this together. How much we get is up to us. These things will eventually be sealed and handed over."

"Haha, you're so generous, we won't pretend."

"Saying all that just seduces the bros..."

As the saying goes, "Every man for himself." Loyalty is one thing, but who can remain unmoved when good things are right in front of them? What's wrong with us working ourselves to the bone to earn a little something? As long as we do our job well, the higher-ups will turn a blind eye to things that are not explicitly stated. Even gatekeepers know how to skim some profits, let alone those of us who risk our lives.

"Master, were those people being chased just now members of the Qin family?" the little maid asked curiously on the way back.

Nodding, Chen Xuan sighed, "Yes, the Qin family is completely finished."

Although I don't feel any sense of shared sorrow, the thought of the long queues in front of the Qin family's gates, now reduced to dust, still evokes a sense of melancholy. What are centuries-old dynasties and millennia-old families? Nothing in this world lasts forever; it's just that the time hasn't come yet.

"I glanced at those manuals just now, and I couldn't understand many of them. Brother Chen just gave them back like that?" Guo Qingxue said with some regret. It wasn't greed, it was just human nature. How many people could remain indifferent to such precious things?

With a smile, Chen Xuan said, "As I just said, I've already memorized it after reading it. I'll think about it when I have time, and I'll tell you about it if you're interested later."

"Thank you for your kind offer, Brother Chen, but I'd better not. I haven't even mastered my own martial arts yet. No matter how good the martial arts are, you still need the talent to do them," Guo Qingxue shook her head, understanding perfectly well.

They returned to the camp in a few words. Without asking what they had been doing, the little princess smiled and said, "Husband, you're back! We didn't eat well, did we? Would you like me to make another meal?"

"Never mind, I eat only to satisfy my appetite, I can't survive without what I eat. It's getting late, why don't we get some rest?"

...(End of this chapter)