The next day…
Black Dragon Altar courtroom…
"I've only been gone for a few days. How did it turn out like this? You guys actually let that King of Yakshas run rampant in Tianjing City?!" Zhen Commander Zhu Jian, who just returned to Tianjing City, pointed at his colleagues seated before him and asked in a dark tone.
Heavenly Dragon Temple's sect building was located in the Middle Plain. Its influence extended over to the 14 commanderies and 32 districts around it.
It was considered a behemoth!
Going from Tianjing City with fast horses, the return trip would take four whole days.
By the time Zhu Jian personally invited their trump card, the chief of Prajna Hall over, the Great Boundless Palace's King of Yaksha had already obtained seven consecutive victories in three days, defeating many experts.
"I underestimated the Eight Divisions. I didn't think they would be so well informed and made preparations in advance."
Zhou Wen lowered his head dejectedly, feeling defeated.
In the past few days, he had continuously invited several martial arts experts of the seventh Mortal Stage of Titan Stage.
Among them were Lin Shiheng, a captain of the royal guard who was well experienced in warfare, and also the master of Sword-Saber Alliance, who had plenty of experience in the world of martial arts and lived through dangerous tribulations.
He never expected them to have lost to Moro, being defeated one after another.
"Commander Zhou can't be fully responsible for this. From what I've observed, that bald monk from the Great Boundless Palace must've pulled some kind of trick!" Ji Liang said in a low voice, trying to ease the tension.
"Each time they issue the challenge, Gandharva would be standing outside the ring within twenty steps of the King of Yakshas, staying very close to him.
"I've heard that the Great Boundless Palace has a technique to borrow strength for a cooperative attack!
"It allows several people to cultivate the same type of true Qi, letting them fill in for each other. In battle, it would be equivalent to fighting multiple opponents. It's extremely freaky!"
Zhu Jian steeled his face and rolled up his sleeves as he said, "It's too late to say anything now. That King of Yakshas had defeated so many experts. Isn't that just proving that our Zhou Kingdom is helpless and allowed a bald monk to run rampant in our capital?!
"It's already difficult to explain this to the emperor. If the Black Dragon Altar fails to salvage this mistake and make it up with our merits, we can just take off our koi uniforms and go back to being farmers!"
Ji Liang sighed helplessly. He originally planned to invite a few more experts to put the Great Boundless Palace in their place.
Who could have known that he would instead be slapped in the face by the other party?
"We understand. Now that we have Master Yuanhui from the Prajna Hall backing us, that King of Yakshas wouldn't dare stir up any more trouble," Zhou Wen muttered under his breath.
"Let's hope so! Today the Yuanmeng Empire's envoy will be meeting His Majesty. We must not let anything go wrong!"
Zhu Jian, still simmering in anger, slammed his palm on the sturdy desk.
The shock caused the teacup to jump, spraying tea everywhere.
"From what I can see, why not ask Marquis Zhao Kai to act and reprimand those two during tonight's banquet?" Wolf Guardian Commander Jiang Gong's strong voice suddenly came from behind the door.
"Even if that incurs the wrath of the Yuanmeng Empire's Imperial Preceptor, we can use this excuse to cease the alliance treaty. Moreover, we have the Grand Commander…"
Hearing that, the veins on Zhu Jian and Zhou Wen's forehead popped as they gave off mixed feelings.
Both of them suppressed their emotions and cleared their throats, each saying, "There's no need! His Majesty was willing to give up Yongxue Pass to achieve the treaty at the Yan Province to avoid war. If we did that, it would just bring unnecessary losses to our nation and hurt our people. It's unwise to do so!
"Furthermore, Commander Jiang! Are you so sure that the Grand Commander can defeat Phags-pa?
"The Yuanmeng Empire's Imperial Preceptor became an Innate Grandmaster a decade ago. He's now at his peak, in prime condition.
"Meanwhile, our Grand Commander had once burnt through his life, reaching its limit. Even if he had some new comprehension and managed to progress further, I'm afraid he's not as powerful as you might think."
The Zhen and Shadow Guardian Commanders spoke as though it was well-rehearsed between them.
They were building on and complementing each other's points.
They gave no chance for Jiang Gong to speak and he could only chuckle and say, "I'm just giving a random suggestion. You guys don't have to take it so seriously."
That scene caused Ji Liang, who was just observing from the sidelines, to feel a shiver run down his spine.
It seemed that quite some people within the Black Dragon Altar did not wish for the Grand Commander to make an appearance.
…
'You've arrived at Jian Zhang Palace. Acquired Tibetan Secret Scriptures!'
'Would you like to imprint?'
Zhao Mu stood before a dew collecting immortal statue with his hands behind his back.
That statue was 200 feet tall and 70 feet wide, cast from pure copper.
The general shape was of an immortal holding up a round plate, collecting heavenly dew.
Rumor had it that the crown prince of the previous dynasty was superstitious of eternal life and listened to folk tales.
He thought that drinking the mixture of jade powder and heavenly dew would allow him to extend his lifespan.
He forced the people's labor and burnt through his wealth, wasting exorbitantly to cast the statue of the dew collecting immortal.
"Since ancient times, none had been witnessed to achieve eternal life."
Zhao Mu shook his head as he lamented, waving his sleeves as he departed.
Ever since he reached the fifth Mortal Stage of Foundation Establishment, he had a better understanding of many martial arts knowledge and their utilization.
Especially the Presence Concealing Mantra, which he grew increasingly proficient at.
At that moment, he could travel around the imperial city's inner court and not worry about being discovered.
'Tibetan Secret Scriptures. It sounds familiar.'
Back in his bedchamber, Zhao Mu thought about it carefully while seated on his bed before finally remembering where the martial art originated.
The Tibetan Secret Scriptures came from Shattering Void written by Huang Yi.
It was the ultimate art practiced by Meng Chixing with the nickname 'Demonic Sect', who was one of the top three experts on Mongolia.
That person's name might be unfamiliar to many, but he had a very well-known disciple named Pang Ban.
The Tibetan Secret Scriptures was a kind of extremely perplexing martial art that was impossible to defend against.
It allowed one to materialize one's spirit. Upon completion, one's emotional fluctuations would be able to affect and transform reality.
One would be like a godly demon!
Also, there were two other Mongolian experts.
One of them was Phagpa who was given rulership over Tibet, practiced the Heaven and Earth Transformation Technique, which was similarly an art focusing on the spirit.
The other one was Kublai's brother, Si Hanfei of the Mongolian imperial family.
Meng Chixing effortlessly suppressed those two. From that, one could see how powerful he was.
'After unblocking the ancestral aperture, I can start developing my spirit. After I learn this art, doesn't that mean that I can even spar with the top expert of the Spiritual Transformation Stage?' Zhao Mu's heart shook with excitement.
He suppressed the thought and focused on studying the ultimate technique that Meng Chixing used to achieve greatness.
He could see two waves of true Qi, Mysterious Yin and Primordial Yang, turning into the Yin Yang black and white color.
It covered his body like a thin layer of translucent aura.
As Zhao Mu focused his mind on the Tibetan Secret Scriptures, his ancestral aperture started pulsating faintly while giving off heat.
The Qi in his body converged on his forehead and focused to a single point.
It felt as though it was trying to burst out from the aperture and open the third eye on his head.
A small, faint cinnabar mark appeared.
With the mysterious stone dial pouring the essence of that martial art into his mind, Zhao Mu guarded his mind and remained calm throughout the ordeal.
It was as though he turned into a Buddha that could experience everything without being shaken.
He allowed all sorts of illusory images to come right at him!
That was the unavoidable portion of the Tibetan Secret Scriptures. The stronger one's spirit was, the more realistic the illusions would be.
Only by having an immovable heart would one conquer their own emotions and see through the illusions.
That was like the legend of Gautama Buddha sitting below the Bodhi tree and suffering the disturbance from the Demon King Mara.
One could only achieve enlightenment by remaining unmoved by the distraction.
"Is this the trial one must pass through in the eighth Mortal Stage of Spiritual Transformation?"
Zhao Mu immediately understood that the spirit was illusory in nature, something that was unseen and untouchable.
By guiding the essence of the world and letting it interact, it would create all sorts of strange phenomena.
If one's mind was insufficiently firm, then it would be easy to lose oneself.
Using the logic from his previous life, the Tibetan Secret Scriptures was equivalent to a current that stimulates one's brainwave. With that, it would change the magnetic field of a living being to affect the magnetic field in the vicinity, finally achieving the terrifying stage of affecting the material world with one's spirit alone.
During that time, all sorts of wonderful, horrible, or irresistible illusions appeared in his mind.
They were illusions manifested from his subconscious.
An unknown amount of time passed.
Zhao Mu remained conscious the entire time.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
He felt as though lightning was trying to strike through his skull!
There was a sudden change in his consciousness!
He could clearly sense that his thoughts had turned into something physical, transforming into a clear and pure diamond-like rock that shined brilliantly.
"What a weird experience."
Being his first time cultivating a spiritual art, Zhao Mu felt a novel experience.
Putting on his robe, he got up and walked out of the bedchamber.
Meow!
Turning around, he saw a stray cat of mixed colors lying in a corner of the walkway.
The cold palace was desolate and people hardly cleaned it over the years.
It was teeming with stray cats, rats, and other small animals.
"Why not give it a try?"
Zhao Mu silently activated the Tibetan Secret Scriptures.
His spirit was like an arrow shot from the bow, shooting out from him silently.
He placed a seed of imprinting thought on that stray cat.
Swoosh!
He could see the stray cat that was dozing off standing up like a human.
With its hind legs on the ground, its paws curled up to make a greeting motion.
Although the body was stumbling about as though it would fall over anytime, it still completed the greeting motion.
"This is truly amazing. It's so difficult to defend against!"
Zhao Mu had a satisfied look on his face.
He imprinted the thought of greeting into the stray cat's body.
That thought quickly germinated and grew like a seed.
From there, it urged the stray cat without sentience to make such an unbelievably shocking motion.
If he imprinted his thoughts into someone else's heart, wouldn't that allow him to act with impunity?
"The cultivation of spiritual arts is like steering a boat in the middle of a raging sea. With the slightest negligence, one would suffer from Qi deviation and be destroyed."
Zhao Mu recalled the warning written within the Tibetan Secret Scriptures.
He did not plan to abuse it. Instead, he merely borrowed the essence of this art to help him see through the secrets of the eighth Mortal Stage of Spiritual Transformation.