Martial Dao: Peace by Force

Chapter 57: Chapter 55: Stealing Celestial Secret Again, Immortal’s Guidance

”This little piece of junk caused so much trouble?” Zhai Jia found it ridiculous. He examined it again and again, feeling that the shabby little thing wasn’t worth fighting over.

Lei Ming didn’t know the reason either. He pursed his lips and said, ”Master said the same thing. If this thing really held some secret, it would have been figured out by all those powerful figures over the past thousand years. Why would it be left until now?”

”The Celestial Harmony Palace might know something...” Wan Ze suddenly spoke up.

Zhai Jia and Lei Ming froze.

”The Celestial Harmony Palace?” Zhai Jia shook his head and chuckled. ”Those old fossils are reclusive and never show themselves. It’s hard enough to even find them, let alone whether they know anything.”

”Didn’t Master Wan go there once?” Wan Ze asked.

Zhai Jia lowered his voice and explained, ”Back then, Master Wan only managed to get in because someone led the way... It’s hard to say about those people from the Celestial Harmony Palace. Maybe they look down on us common folk.”

Wan Ze was slightly taken aback and said thoughtfully, ”Senior Brother, they say that Master Zhang from the Celestial Harmony Palace is a Land Immortal. How powerful is he, really?”

Zhai Jia pondered for a moment. ”How powerful? Hard to say... When Master Wan visited, it was already several hundred years after Master Zhang passed away. He refused to talk about Master Zhang, so it’s hard to tell if it wasn’t all just hype.”

”Huh? Hype? Holy crap, the Celestial Harmony Palace pulls stunts like that?” Lei Ming was completely dumbfounded.

Wan Ze remained noncommittal. ’Perhaps the Celestial Harmony Palace really has fallen into decline now, but I can’t just talk about the vision I just saw.’

He had indeed seen an ethereal, immortal-like figure surrounded by swirling, mystical mist.

’I don’t know if this is what the Peak of the Body Refining Realm looks like, or if Master Zhang of the Celestial Harmony Palace was actually a Qi Refiner!’

His gaze fell on his status screen.

[Stealing Celestial Secret 1: Tiger and Wolf Momentum (78% Remaining)]

(Effect: Momentum becomes intimidating, combat power soars!)

[Stealing Celestial Secret 2: My Fate is My Own (100% Remaining)]

(Effect: Survive grievous wounds, cling to life in desperate situations.)

[Stealing Celestial Secret 3: Immortal’s Guidance (100% Remaining)]

(Effect: Guidance with a Divine Touch.)

...

’Damn it, a single fight used up so much of my kingly aura!’

Wan Ze cursed inwardly and reluctantly looked away, thinking he’d have to be more sparing with it from now on. Just then, he heard Lei Ming ask, ”So, what do we do now?”

”First, let’s find out that woman’s background. We might get a pleasant surprise.” Zhai Jia said thoughtfully, then smiled. ”Don’t worry, leave this to me. I guarantee it’ll be done without a trace.”

Wan Ze didn’t care about what happened next; he had already gotten what he wanted. ”Then I’ll leave the rest to you two, Senior Brothers.”

”You’re just washing your hands of it already?” Lei Ming was stunned.

”Saving my own skin is what’s important. I’m outta here.”

Wan Ze said without looking back.

Lei Ming didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Zhai Jia laughed. ”Our little Junior Brother really has a steady head on his shoulders.”

Lei Ming was speechless. Thinking of the three bodies they had just disposed of today, he couldn’t help but swallow hard. ”He’s a natural-born killer... I’ll go see him off. Senior Brother, I’ll leave you to clean up the mess here?”

Zhai Jia nodded, though he felt deep sympathy for the mother and daughter’s plight.

...

「Beneath the night sky.」

A young girl lay on a hospital bed, her eyes red-rimmed. At some point, a wallet had appeared by her hand, a thick wad of cash inside.

...

「The moonlight flowed like water.」

Wan Ze pulled down the brim of his flat cap. After quietly leaving the hospital, he continued jogging along the roadside. To the naked eye, the progress bar for his Mysterious Shadow Step quest was filling up rapidly.

...

”Master Wan,” Miss Ling’s voice suddenly called out.

She was driving by herself in a small, Beetle-style car. She looked over in pleasant surprise. ”Where are you headed? I can give you a lift.”

”No thanks, I plan on jogging back,” Wan Ze replied.

Miss Ling paused, hesitating over whether she should get out and run with him, but then she suddenly saw Wan Ze stop and look toward a specific spot.

Miss Ling instinctively followed his gaze.

Across the street, a man stood in the shadows of an alley. He was tall, dressed in a black trench coat and high-top shoes, the laces on both tied in perfect symmetry. He wore his hair slicked back, looking clean and sharp.

The man had intentionally stepped out from the shadows; otherwise, Miss Ling would have never noticed him.

Wan Ze was a little over three meters away from the man—not far, but not exactly close either.

”I’m from the Secret Palace,” the man said, speaking first.

Miss Ling’s expression changed slightly.

She used to not know much about the affairs of the Martial Dao Realm, but after the incident with Tie Shizhe, she had crammed a lot of new information.

Among that information was a section on the Secret Palace...

So, she was instinctively afraid.

”Master Wan, why don’t you... get in the car, and I’ll, I’ll drive... and run him over?”

”...”

”...”

The man in the trench coat couldn’t help but glance at Miss Ling.

But Wan Ze took a step forward, blocking his line of sight, and tapped on the car door. ”You should go.”

Miss Ling’s foot hovered over the accelerator, wavering between the options of running the man over and driving away. She looked at Wan Ze earnestly and, after receiving a confirming glance, had no choice but to drive off.

”Then... you be careful.”

Wan Ze nodded. After watching Miss Ling leave, he turned his gaze to the tall figure in the alley, only to hear the man say, ”I’m a representative sent to talk with you.”

”Talk? About what? I killed one of your Secret Palace members. Don’t you people want to kill me?” Wan Ze raised his eyebrows, somewhat surprised. He had expected the man to attack directly, but instead, a representative showed up saying he wanted to talk?

”There is a need for us to talk... You should know that getting our Secret Palace to give up hunting you isn’t something a few experts from your Dragon Eagle Sect can stop. It depends entirely on whether we want to or not... Of course, we’ve investigated. The issue between you and the Secret Palace was a misunderstanding from the start, so there’s no need for us to continue this meaningless conflict,” the man in the trench coat said nonchalantly.

”And?” Wan Ze nodded.

”Even if you got the Tiger Talisman, it’s useless... The Imperial Mausoleum itself is an unsolved mystery. If it could be found with just the Tiger Talisman, you’d be underestimating Emperor Ying. You can have the Tiger Talisman; we don’t need it...” the man in the trench coat said with a faint smile, exuding a kind of innate confidence.

Wan Ze looked at him. ”Then what do you want?”

”I just want to know if—without relying on the Dragon Eagle Sect, without your master, without your senior brothers—you, Wan Ze, truly have what it takes to make my Secret Palace back down!” After speaking, the man in the trench coat clapped his hands. A group of figures swarmed out from behind him, each man wielding a machete.

The man chuckled. ”You want the Secret Palace to bow its head? Of course, that’s possible, but you need to have the skill to back it up. If you’re just relying on the power behind you to get the better of us... to be honest, you alone are not qualified. For today’s test, I’ll just take one of your legs, and we’ll call it even!”

”AHHH!!!”

Miss Ling’s scream came from the distance. Wan Ze looked over and saw that her car had been forced to stop. A large man with a knife was ordering her out of the driver’s seat.

Wan Ze frowned and looked at the man in the trench coat, his voice turning cold. ”I didn’t get it before, but now I understand completely.”

”Understand what?” the man in the trench coat frowned.

”That you people from the Secret Palace... are a bunch of fucking idiots!”

As his last words drifted on the wind, Wan Ze’s entire body shot into motion.

’Peace talks?’

’That’s just wishful thinking from your Secret Palace!’

’I’m not fucking playing along tonight!’