Chapter 0052

Chapter 52: The Dao Follows Nature, Heaven Moves Myriad Phenomena

Lian Han Xing woke up, and as soon as she realized all her clothes had been changed, her face went pale. She blurted, “I was captured!”

She jumped up from the bed, her body shaking as her heart sank. She feared Zhou Tong’s Joyous Union Lock the most; if he had put the shackle on her while she was unconscious, then…

At that thought, her hands and feet turned cold, and the light in her eyes dimmed. Compared to losing her freedom and becoming someone else’s tool, she would rather die.

The door opened, and Mu Rong Ya walked in with steady grace. Seeing her enemy, Lian Han Xing’s eyes turned red, almost to the point of tears. She said with a bitter laugh: “You must be satisfied now. I lost to you completely. You can let your disciple do whatever he wants with me.”

Mu Rong Ya’s lips curved as she took in Lian Han Xing’s frightened, pitiful look; it felt satisfying. She said: “Too bad for you, my disciple doesn’t want you.”

At once Lian Han Xing bristled like a cat and shouted: “How long do you plan to humiliate me? If you have the guts, kill me!”

Mu Rong Ya let the smile fade and answered calmly: “I’m just stating the truth. If the kid put a shackle on you, his cultivation would rise and he would gain a powerful helper, but he refused.”

Hearing that, Lian Han Xing’s pupils shrank. She hurried to check her body. When she found no sign of control, she let out a long breath despite herself, and a strange feeling rose in her chest. [I feel disappointed… how is that possible?]

She bit her red lip, and Zhou Tong’s figure flashed in her mind, making her grit her teeth. That brat—what did he mean by this? She, a great beauty, had been lying in front of him with no way to resist. With one move he could have taken her completely. Yet he gave up. Did he look down on her, or…

[Playing hard to get. He must be playing hard to get!]

As a worldly beauty, she quickly found a “reasonable” answer. Zhou Tong must be ignoring her charm on purpose, acting indifferent to stir up her pride so she would think about him all the time. She snorted in her heart: [Brat, your nice little plan is wrong. I won’t fall for it.]

She moved to step away, but a sword lifted to her neck. She froze and asked through clenched teeth: “Mu Rong Ya, do you really want to kill me?”

Her body tensed. She was very weak now; if they fought, she would surely die.

Mu Rong Ya said: “I do want to kill you, but I can give you a chance to atone.” She sheathed the blade, flicked her finger, and a thread of light shot into Lian Han Xing’s brow.

“Ah…” Lian Han Xing cried out in pain and gasped: “What did you do to me?”

“Just a small trick,” said Mu Rong Ya. “You will help us rescue someone. If you succeed, I will set you free and wipe our grudges clean. But if you dare play games…”

“I get it,” Lian Han Xing snapped, then sniffed coldly: “You want to save your disciple. I hope you keep your word.”

“I can swear to the Heavenly Dao,” said Mu Rong Ya.

“No need. I trust your reputation,” Lian Han Xing replied as she waved her hand and walked out on her own. She reached the deck and looked back, but did not see her own ship. Her face tightened with worry.

Mu Rong Ya’s voice came from behind: “Don’t worry. I sent your disciples back and gave them some guidance so they won’t go astray.”

“Busybody,” Lian Han Xing muttered. Then she sensed another presence. Zhou Tong sat cross-legged on the deck as if in cultivation.

She snorted in her thoughts: [Trying to stage a chance meeting? Don’t think I can’t see through that.] She tried to ignore him and walk past, but stopped, because an aura of a cultivator rose from him.

She stared and blurted: “That is… the First Layer of Soul-Refining. How is that possible?”

Zhou Tong’s concealment was so refined that even she could not see his realm before. Now that she knew his true level, she almost dropped her jaw. “So weak? I actually fell into this brat’s hands?” she said in a daze, not knowing he was in the middle of a change he had chosen himself.

Reborn, Zhou Tong carried too many supreme arts. Each one was top grade. If they spread, the whole continent would fight to have them. But for someone aiming at the Emperor Realm, he no longer needed them.

To become a true emperor, he had to grasp six kinds of “Nothing.” Among them, the realm of No-Knowing was the peak of supreme arts, where one could create arts at will. Reaching that realm was very hard. He had to forget all other supreme arts and keep only one method to guard his body, then suffer long grinding and tempering.

In his past life, Zhou Tong had set half a foot into No-Knowing. Gathering the strengths of a hundred schools, he created a move called Break All Arts that could crack ten thousand techniques.

Now he had cut away every other art in his mind and was using the Joyous Union Heavenly Art as his body-guarding method while he charged at No-Knowing.

The Joyous Union Heavenly Art had nine layers. The first was the bedchamber method. The second was the Sea of Red Dust. The third was Silken Phantasm. The fourth was Jade Devil Body. The fifth was Sky God Tongue.

Sky God Tongue meant the power to speak with heaven and earth, to know the path of their movement, to hold water, fire, wind, thunder, mountains, rivers, grass, and trees in one’s heart, and then to command them. This layer was very close to No-Knowing. No-Knowing was the realm that drives all arts, while Sky God Tongue tells the secret of nature. The Dao follows nature. They match.

In a flash Zhou Tong understood. With long preparation and sudden clarity, as if poking through a thin sheet of paper, he flowed into the realm of No-Knowing.

At once, the sky dimmed. All light hid itself, and the world around them turned like night.

“What… what is happening?” Lian Han Xing trembled, staring at Zhou Tong like she had seen a ghost. A terrifying aura rose from the youth and stood above all things.

She whispered: “Is this still the Soul-Refining realm? Why do I feel like an emperor star is rising?”

Her knees weakened, and she could not help kneeling.

Boom.

“Ah…” She screamed as thunder exploded. Lightning roared in all directions and tore the sky, like dragons and snakes leaping, and her very soul shook. Under her shocked eyes, Zhou Tong’s aura climbed sharply.

She pointed at him with a trembling hand and stammered: “He… he…” His cultivation shot up like a rocket, breaking through from the First Layer of Soul-Refining, surging all the way to the Ninth Layer.

“How can this be? Am I dreaming?” she asked herself.

“You will get used to it,” Mu Rong Ya said from the side, striking Lian Han Xing like a bolt.

[Get used to it? Is this his normal?] she thought, stunned.

Before she finished that thought, Zhou Tong went further. He shattered the wall of a major realm and stepped into the Unified Heart Realm.

Boom.

Thunder rolled. A Heavenly Tribulation came down.

“It’s Lightning Tribulation! He hasn’t even crossed the extraordinary divide, yet he can draw Lightning Tribulation? What kind of monster is this?” Lian Han Xing gaped. Then something even more shocking happened.

Zhou Tong rose into the air. He looked up at the All Heavens lightning, golden light blazing in his eyes, without a trace of fear. He said with a wave of his hand: “This showy Lightning Tribulation should disperse.”

The sky split with a blast, and an amber star fell from above. Sky God Tongue, Heaven Moves Myriad Phenomena.