The Human Emperor
Chapter 159: Face Off Between Su Zhengchen and Demonic Emperor Old Man!

“Teacher, if you cultivate the Myriad Spirit Sea Art, will you be able to regain your previous cultivation?”

Wang Chong suddenly asked.

“How can it be that easy? Not only is the Myriad Spirit Sea Art extremely difficult to cultivate, it’s also only a method to replace one’s spirit sea. If not for one’s spirit sea being shattered, no one would bother with such a troublesome technique. From the very start, the idea of using one’s acupoints to replace one’s spirit sea is far-fetched. At the very least, of our lineage, I haven’t heard of anyone succeeding yet.”

The Demonic Emperor smiled bitterly. Then, turning to Wang Chong, he patted his shoulders and he said:

“Child, I understand your intentions. Even though it has only been ten days since you became my disciple, I’m heartened by your thoughts.”

When the Demonic Emperor Old Man said these words, Wang Chong saw a glint in his eyes.

Wang Chong wasn’t foreign to this kind of expression. It was the face of one who had decided to sacrifice himself.

“Since the Myriad Spirit Sea Art is difficult to cultivate, and there are very few people who can succeed in it, it means that it’ll impossible for him to regain the unparalleled cultivation he possessed back then. Could it be that... he intends to do what he did with Zhou Wen to me; cultivate the Myriad Spirit Sea Art to a certain level and infuse his energy into me!”

Wang Chong’s heart jolted.

The price of such an infusion was great. One had to abandon his life to pass on his cultivation to another person.

It seemed as though many things had changed because of Wang Chong’s interference, but some things still remained the same. In the end, the Demonic Emperor Old Man still chose to give up on his cultivation and life for his disciple, just that the person became him.

This left complicated emotions within Wang Chong. Even though his primary goal was the 《Great Yinyang World Creation Art》, he could feel that the Demonic Emperor Old Man had truly regarded him as his own disciple, and he unreservedly cared for him.

This struck a chord in Wang Chong’s heart.

“No matter what, I must stop him!”

Wang Chong made up his mind.

Previously, Wang Chong’s understanding of the Demonic Emperor Old Man stopped at his unparalleled cultivation and top-notch cultivation technique. However, at this moment, the impression Wang Chong had of him was completely different from before.

Unknowingly, in the depths of Wang Chong’s heart, he had already truly recognized the person before him as his real master.

“Master, what are the conditions to cultivating the Myriad Spirit Sea Art?”

Wang Chong asked.

“Hehe, there are many conditions for it. The martial artist’s aptitude, talent, willpower, and comprehension are the most basic factors. Beyond that, one required an immense quantity of spiritual energy, luck, as well as mystic tools, pills, and such. Chong-er, if you’re interested, I can impart this technique to you.”

The Demonic Emperor Old Man mistook Wang Chong’s intentions.

“Spiritual energy...”

Wang Chong mumbled silently as a storm raged in his head.

“I can’t say anything about the rest, but spiritual energy... I do have an unlimited supply of it!”

Wang Chong suddenly recalled the spirit vein he found not too long ago. Even though he didn’t know the exact details of the Myriad Spirit Sea Art, he had an intuition that it was closely related to the Origin Energy of the world.

At the very least, with sufficient spiritual energy, the success rate of cultivating the ‘Myriad Spirit Sea Art’ would increase significantly.

“Master, I don’t have that intention. Putting that aside for now, given that that person has sent his disciples to search through the city, it isn’t safe for master to remain in the capital any longer. I know of a place that master can hide at for the moment. Furthermore, that location might be useful to teacher’s cultivation of the Myriad Spirit Sea Art.”

Wang Chong said.

“Oh?”

The eyebrows of the Demonic Emperor Old Man shot up.

Chuckling, Wang Chong revealed the matter about the spirit vein. Upon learning about the matter, the Demonic Emperor Old Man was astonished. He stared at Wang Chong with a look of disbelief.

Spirit veins were incredibly precious, and they were extremely difficult to replace. One might not even be able to replace a single spirit vein amidst few hundred mountains. Yet, despite Wang Chong’s young age, he was able to replace one and buy down the entire mountain in advance. This, in itself, seemed inconceivable to the Demonic Emperor Old Man.

“To think that there would be such a matter...”

The means of this disciple of his had really left him shocked.

There was one thing Wang Chong was right about. A spirit vein was indeed helpful to the cultivation of the Myriad Spirit Sea Art.

“Let’s follow your arrangements then.”

The Demonic Emperor Old Man agreed to Wang Chong’s plan.

“Then, rest well, master. I’ll arrange to have someone send you out of the city tomorrow.”

Wang Chong chuckled. After chatting a moment longer with the Demonic Emperor Old Man, Wang Chong left.

Not too long after Wang Chong left on his carriage, the Demonic Emperor Old Man’s retracted his smile, and a grave expression surfaced instead.

Walking out of the room, the Demonic Emperor Old Man lifted his head and gazed at the skies. A huge black bird was circling in the aerial space above the residence, and seemingly alarmed by the Demonic Emperor Old Man’s gaze, it immediately flapped its wings and darted west.

“Hmph, beast! Since you’re already here, don’t dream about leaving!”

The Demonic Emperor Old sneered coldly. Lifting his hand, a black surge of energy shot forth from his finger. The surge of energy wasn’t particularly strong, especially given the Demonic Emperor Old Man’s Origin Energy realm cultivation, but for some reason, it was extremely pure and dense. Despite the long distance, the surge of energy didn’t dissipate in the least, retaining its full strength.

Pu!

The surge of energy struck the black kite accurately, piercing through its body. Blood spurted in midair, and the black kite suddenly fell silent. Then, it began to plummet from the sky.

Only upon seeing the black kite fall did the Demonic Emperor Old Man’s grave expression alleviate. Even though his cultivation had fallen tremendously after his disciple’s betrayal, his sensitivity to the surroundings still remained.

Even though the thick roof was hindering his senses, he still clearly perceived the presence of this bird as though a torch in the middle of the night as soon as it arrived the aerial space above the Purple Bamboo Garden.

“This black kite definitely isn’t sent by Chong-er, there’s totally no need for him to do so. Someone must be using him to trace me.”

A deep crease slowly furrowed on the Demonic Emperor Old Man’s forehead. At the same time, he recalled the powerful but inconspicuous sword intent that rubbed off Wang Chong’s body.

That sword intent had reached an incredible level, to the extent that Wang Chong wasn’t able to perceive it. However, the Demonic Emperor Old Man was able to sense it clearly.

As soon as Wang Chong walked in, he had already noticed it.

This sword intent didn’t bear any malicious intent toward Wang Chong, but it contained a heavy warning intent, seemingly threatening him to stay away from Wang Chong.

“Lingering sword intent, that person’s swordsmanship cultivation has reached an unfathomable level! He’s probably at Saint Martial realm pinnacle as well, not weaker than me previously in any way. To think that such a formidable figure would be hidden in Great Tang’s capital.”

The Demonic Emperor Old Man muttered, and a slight worry rippled in his eyes. When one’s swordsmanship cultivation reached a certain level, one’s would be able to condense the destructive force of a sword qi into a single thread easily.

Even when he was at his peak of his strength, the Demonic Emperor Old Man had to be careful when facing an expert of this level.

On top of that, the 《Great Yinyang Heaven Creation Art》 also happened to be unsuited for absorbing sword qi.

“My disciple sure is acquainted with a formidable figure!”

Upon recalling how protective the sword intent was toward Wang Chong, the Demonic Emperor Old Man flashed a bitter smile. The other party’s sword intent was upright and valiant, clearly reflecting his identity as an orthodox cultivator.

Most probably, this matter arose from the 《Little Yinyang Art》 he imparted Wang Chong.

The other party seemed to have misunderstood him.

Wang Chong’s root bone was top-notch, reaching Tiger Bone 3-dan at just fifteen-year-old. Such talent was extremely rare in the world. Given the other party’s overwhelming strength, the Demonic Emperor Old Man didn’t think that it was possible for the other party would overlook this.

Most probably, the other party was also interested in taking in Wang Chong as his disciple.

“... My disciple sure is popular! However, it’s impossible for me to give up! Since you wish to vie with me, let’s see how it goes down then.”

The Demonic Emperor Old Man laughed heartily, and a domineering aura naturally flowed out from him.

That’s right!

The other party might be skilled in swordsmanship, but he wasn’t an ordinary person either. In the past, it would be no different from a joke if someone tried to steal his disciple.

Since the other party wanted to take Wang Chong as his disciple as well, he was free to try.

Placing his hands behind his back, the Demonic Emperor Old Man turned around and walked back into the residence.

...

“The black kite is dead!”

Just as the Demonic Emperor Old Man was walking back into the residence, beneath a Chinese scholar tree in the city’s west, the great ex-war god, Su Zhengchen, was in the midst of meditating when his eyes suddenly opened.

“Ah!”

Old servant Fang Hong, who was standing beside Su Zhengchen to wait on him, was astonished by the latter’s words.

“How is this possible? The black kite’s flight altitude is over a thousand zhang, even arrows aren’t able to reach that high. How could someone hurt the black kite?”

(~3000m)

“The black kite is indeed dead! Without a doubt, the other party’s cultivation is formidable. Not only did he kill the black kite, he even dissipated the sword intent I left on it. We’re only left with the rough location of the other party now.”

Su Zhengchen spoke nonchalantly, as though he was just recounting an ordinary and insignificant matter. However, the shock on the face of the old servant beside him deepened.

“How is this possible... How can anyone in the capital be capable of dissipating master’s sword intent!”

Fang Hong widened his eyes in astonishment.

The old master might be old, and he had retreated out of the royal court and given up on his martial arts training. However, Fang Hong knew that not only did the old master’s martial arts not deteriorate, it was even advancing steadily.

It was because what the old master was cultivating wasn’t sword qi, but sword intent!

The cultivation of sword intent was many times harder than that of the cultivation of sword qi.

After so many years, the old master’s cultivation had already transcended the realm of swordsmanship that ordinary cultivators knew of. What the old master left on the black kite was also sword intent instead of sword qi.

This was because sword intent was much sharper than sword qi, and it was much harder to eradicate it.

However, the old master had just said that some had dissipated his sword intent!

How could there be someone capable of such a feat in the world?

“That Chong gongzi... How did he get acquainted with such a formidable figure?”

Sword qi is more of Origin Energy cultivation. Qi is a gathering of Origin Energy, and sword qi is an expulsion of this gathered energy through one’s sword.

On the other hand, sword intent is more of a mental state.