Martial Dao: Peace by Force

Chapter 216: Chapter 160: Otherworldly Opportunity! Six Hidden Secret Fruit

The night was deep.

Wan Ze sat cross-legged in his room. The window was wide open, and gusts of cold winter wind poured in, making the curtains sway gently.

The lights were off. Only a sliver of faint light from outside pierced the darkness, pooling on the floor.

He closed his eyes, his breathing steady. Without hesitation, he activated his Spiritual Form.

In that instant, the Moonlight solidified. It wrapped around his wrist and gave a sudden, hard pull.

His entire being was yanked into that mysterious world.

...

Silence. Desolation...

Wan Ze opened his eyes to find himself standing in an unfamiliar mountain forest.

Overhead hung the same Red Moon.

Its light cascaded down, dyeing the entire forest a deep, oppressive crimson. It felt as if everything was steeped in blood.

It was quiet all around.

Unnaturally quiet.

There were no chirping insects, no calling birds, not even the sound of wind.

The entire world was like a frozen painting. Even the air had ceased to move.

Wan Ze stood his ground, his gaze sweeping across his surroundings.

Beneath his feet was a stretch of scorched earth, so black it shone, as if it had been repeatedly immolated by lightning and fire. Stepping on it produced a faint, granular crunch.

Patches of withered grass grew sparsely on the scorched earth, long dead. They crumbled at the slightest touch.

Not far ahead was a dry creek bed, covered with smooth, round stones. The water was long gone, leaving only a dead, gray-white stillness.

Across the creek, the dark silhouette of a building was faintly visible.

It looked like a dilapidated temple.

It appeared to have been abandoned for a long time. Half of a corner eave had collapsed, revealing a pitch-black space within.

The vermilion lacquer on the walls had long since peeled away, revealing the crumbling mud beneath.

The temple gate hung askew, half-open.

Moonlight glinted off the broken tiles on its roof.

”Has the arrival point changed again?” Wan Ze muttered to himself.

He focused and scanned his surroundings.

The scorched earth, the dry creek, the Red Moon, the dilapidated temple... Everything here exuded an ineffable strangeness.

A faint sense of oppression hung in the air, as if something was watching him from the shadows.

He stood in place, sensing the area for a few seconds.

No danger.

At least, not for now.

Only then did Wan Ze take a deep breath and proceed as usual.

He crouched down and touched the scorched earth... He failed to trigger Stealing Celestial Secret.

He continued along, touching things one by one, then felt the smooth, round stones. Still no reaction.

It wasn’t until he had walked a dozen or so steps...

...that he found a dozen or so blades scattered in a patch of withered grass.

The blades were all broken and incomplete. Moonlight glinted off their rust-caked surfaces.

Wan Ze strode over and reached out to touch one.

A familiar, icy sensation spread from his fingertips.

[Stealing Celestial Secret Successful!]

[Magic Sense +8%]

A jolt of pleasure shot through Wan Ze. He moved on to the next blade.

[Magic Sense +11%]

And the next.

[Magic Sense +12%]

And the next...

[Magic Sense +5%]

...

After touching all dozen or so broken blades, his Magic Sense had increased by a total of 31%.

Wan Ze stood up and let out a soft breath.

’A 31% increase in Magic Sense. Not bad.’

’This unfamiliar place seems to be a treasure trove.’

He raised his head and looked toward the dilapidated temple.

Being cautious, he didn’t enter directly. Instead, he first circled the temple, carefully observing his surroundings.

The scorched earth stopped at the temple’s foundation. The stone steps before the entrance were overgrown with dry, yellow weeds.

Once he confirmed it was safe, Wan Ze walked up the stone steps and pushed open the half-ajar temple gate.

”CREAAAK...”

The hinges let out a piercing screech, exceptionally clear in the silent night.

It was dark inside the temple.

Red Moonlight filtered through the decaying window lattice, casting mottled, distorted shadows on the floor.

Dust was everywhere, and cobwebs hung from the crossbeams. Directly opposite stood a divine statue, surrounded by junk of indiscernible shape piled in the corners.

Wan Ze’s gaze fell upon the statue.

’It has no facial features.’

’Is this... a Faceless True Monarch Statue? Who had the audacity to erase his face?’

The statue was about twice the height of a man and sat cross-legged on a stone platform. Its posture was majestic, but the lack of facial features gave it an indescribably bizarre appearance.

The statue was covered in palm prints.

The prints were densely packed, covering the statue’s chest, abdomen, and arms.

The marks looked fresh, as if they had just been made.

And yet, this temple had been abandoned for who knows how many years.

Wan Ze stared at the palm prints, an indescribable feeling washing over him. He took a deep breath, suppressed the sense of strangeness, and walked forward.

After a moment of silence, he decisively reached out.

’Fortune favors the bold!’

His fingertips touched the base of the statue.

The moment he made contact, a bone-piercing chill surged through him!

This wasn’t the usual faint coolness; this was a raging torrent, like the eruption of a cold wave.

Wan Ze immediately looked at his data panel.

But what he saw made him freeze.

The Exorcism stat he had previously gained from Stealing Celestial Secret was plummeting.

But another line of text stopped him from retreating.

[Stealing Celestial Secret Successful!]

[Stealing Celestial Secret: Six Hidden Secret Fruit (18%)]

’Six Hidden Secret Fruit?’

Wan Ze’s heart pounded.

The human body has six great secret repositories. That was the path of Cultivation after the Refining Force realm, a higher level of the Martial Dao.

His master, Situ Bai, had reached Refining Force Great Perfection but had been stuck at that Realm for ten years, unable to open his Yellow Court Secret Collection.

’And this ”Six Hidden Secret Fruit”...’

’Does this refer to one specific fruit? Or can I choose any of them?’

Wan Ze took a deep breath.

He watched as the [Six Hidden Secret Fruit] progress accumulated to 26% and then stopped completely. The bone-piercing chill vanished at the same time, and he finally let go.

He took two steps back and cautiously studied the Faceless True Monarch Statue, his gaze serene.

’To think this bizarre statue held such an opportunity.’

But he soon realized something was wrong.

The longer he stared at the statue, the more mental distress he felt.

The feeling was hard to describe... It was as if something was using his gaze as a conduit to slowly contaminate his consciousness.

’This statue... there’s something wrong with it!’

Wan Ze quickly averted his gaze, no longer looking at the featureless face.

Taking a deep breath, he slowly backed away.

After taking two steps back, he spun around.

The temple was a scene of decay.

The altar table was thick with dust, and the incense burner had toppled over.

In the corner, piles of shapeless junk were shrouded in thick cobwebs, resembling white cocoons.

Wan Ze walked briskly to the temple entrance.

Only then did the sense of mental oppression finally begin to fade.

’Retreating is out of the question.’

Composing himself, he looked at his data panel.

...

[Illustrated Guide: Taiyin Breathing Technique] (Intermediate, Mastered)

[Skill High Level Satisfying Conditions: Swallowing and Replenishing 30,000 Threads of Moonlight] (12,945/30,000)

...

’Still need over seventeen thousand more threads...’

’I’m close, really close!’

After a quick scan of the area confirmed there was no immediate danger, Wan Ze sat down cross-legged.

He closed his eyes.

He began circulating the Taiyin Breathing Technique.

Instantly, the Red Moon in the sky began to tremble.

Threads of Moonlight peeled away from the moon, like invisible filaments, rapidly converging on him and seeping into his body with every breath.

The mountain forest was silent.

The Red Moon, silent.

The converging Moonlight swirled slowly around Wan Ze, instantly filling the dilapidated temple.

...

But suddenly, Wan Ze felt that something was wrong.

He whipped around.

The instant he turned, his pupils contracted, and his blood and energy surged instinctively.

It was a sword!

A Broken Sword!

It hung half a meter behind him, its tip aimed directly between his eyes.

The blade was so damaged that only half remained. The break was jagged, as if snapped by immense force, and the blade itself was stained with blood. It just hovered there in midair, motionless.

Wan Ze’s heart skipped a beat.

He was certain he had checked this spot before. There had been nothing there.

’But this sword... it appeared out of thin air!’

’It completely bypassed my Perception!’

Even though Wan Ze was accustomed to intense situations, his scalp prickled at this.

The Broken Sword suddenly moved.

It shot forward at extreme speed, as if trying to scare him off.

However, Wan Ze merely narrowed his eyes. He didn’t dodge.

Because in that instant, a critical thought struck him!

’The True Monarch Statue behind me could trigger Stealing Celestial Secret, and this sword seems to have even more Spirituality... If I can catch it, I might get a huge reward.’

Wan Ze decisively shot out his hand, grabbing for the hilt.

Just as his fingers were about to make contact, the Broken Sword swerved violently, dodging past his fingertips.

’It knows how to dodge? It’s sentient?’

Wan Ze froze.

The Broken Sword also froze.

It hovered in midair, the blade trembling slightly, as if expressing some sort of emotion.

Wan Ze probably didn’t expect it to dodge, and the sword certainly didn’t expect him to try and grab it.

Staring at the sword, Wan Ze felt the corners of his mouth slowly curl into a smile.

’Interesting.’

He pushed off his feet and lunged, reaching out to grab it again.

The Broken Sword seemed startled, shooting backward with a WHOOSH!

Wan Ze raised an eyebrow and gave chase.

The Broken Sword dodged again!

And so, a chase between man and sword began inside the dilapidated temple.

The Broken Sword weaved left and right, narrowly evading Wan Ze’s grasp at the last second every time, as nimble as an eel.

The chase only invigorated Wan Ze. His steps grew faster, his lunges more cunning.

The Broken Sword was forced back again and again until it was about to collide with the True Monarch Statue behind it!

”VMMMM!”

A brilliant golden light suddenly erupted from the True Monarch Statue.

The light was blinding, instantly illuminating the entire temple.

”Vile creature!”

Wan Ze flinched and instinctively took two steps back. It was as if he’d heard a furious shout, a crack of thunder that exploded in his mind.

The Broken Sword was clearly terrified as well. Its blade trembled violently, and after a moment’s pause... it turned and fled.

But then the True Monarch Statue moved.

The twenty-foot-tall stone statue actually lifted right off its stone platform. Maintaining its cross-legged posture, it soared through the air at an astonishing speed, smashing through the air with a deafening ROAR as it pursued the Broken Sword!

Wan Ze stared, dumbfounded.

”What the...?”

’Forget the sword being sentient, the statue is too?’

”Hey! Wait for me!”

Wan Ze blurted out.

He broke into a run, giving chase.

...

Under the moonlight, a bizarre scene was now unfolding in the once-silent mountain forest.

In the lead, a Broken Sword fled for its life, its blade flickering with a faint, cold light, moving as fast as a shooting star.

In the middle, a massive Faceless True Monarch Statue soared through the air. It remained in its cross-legged meditation pose, yet its speed was astounding, making the very air tremble in its wake.

Bringing up the rear was Wan Ze, sprinting for all he was worth. He pushed off so hard with each step that he left deep craters in his wake, kicking up clouds of scorched earth.

As the chase between the True Monarch Statue and the Broken Sword continued, the energy field of the entire forest began to shift silently.

The red Moonlight roiled like a stormy sea, beginning to heave violently and surge in great waves.

The crimson light that had previously hung motionless in the air now grew frenzied, flowing wantonly between heaven and earth as if being drawn by some unseen force.

Wan Ze’s heart pounded in his chest as he ran.

’The energy fluctuations from these two bizarre things are this terrifying?’

’And...’

’This Faceless True Monarch Statue is fucking alive???’

This completely subverted his understanding of the world.

But Wan Ze didn’t stop.

’If this True Monarch Statue had wanted to deal with me, it wouldn’t have waited until now.’

’Besides, that Broken Sword can clearly trigger Stealing Celestial Secret. That’s my opportunity. How could I just give up on it?’

’If I really run into danger... worst-case scenario, I’ll just sever the link to my Spiritual Form and exit!’

Wan Ze stopped overthinking it and sprinted with all his might.

As he ran, he furiously circulated the Taiyin Breathing Technique.

In that instant, a strange phenomenon occurred!

The red Moonlight, which had been surging chaotically, was suddenly drawn by an unseen force and began to converge on him in a frenzy.

It was like countless crimson threads surging from all directions, forming a massive vortex around him!

The vortex grew larger and denser, gradually blanketing the sky above the entire forest.

As Wan Ze ran, the Moonlight churned around him. He seemed to be enveloped in a giant cocoon of light that moved with him, trailing a long, fiery tail.

The Broken Sword seemed to sense something and glanced back.

Then it fled even faster.

...

...