Martial Dao: Peace by Force

Chapter 240: Chapter 167: Teachings of a Qi Refiner

By the time they reached the city proper, it was already evening.

In Holy City, the sky darkened early at the end of December.

The last sliver of crimson lingered in the west as streetlights began to flicker on, one by one. Pedestrians on the road hunched their shoulders, their steps hurried, all eager to get home before night fell completely.

The car pulled up to the back door of the guesthouse.

Zhai Yu was carrying the physical body, which was encased in a semi-transparent substance. They had already covered it with a cloth to avoid drawing any unwanted attention.

Wan Ze and Zhai Jia got out of another car, carrying a large stack of materials from the research institute. The three of them hurried into the building.

No one could say for sure what that mysterious substance was.

It looked like amber, but it was softer.

You could call it a gel, but it was harder than any gel.

It was warm to the touch and gave off an indescribably strange sensation.

Zhai Yu had studied it for the entire trip but couldn’t make heads or tails of it. In the end, they could only conclude, ’That senior’s abilities are beyond our comprehension.’

A moment later, after stowing everything away, Wan Ze carried the physical body down to the basement.

The coffin was still there, sitting quietly. He pushed open the lid, then placed the body inside, carefully arranging it. He gauged the space... The coffin was more than large enough for two people.

But Wan Ze didn’t get in. Instead, he stood beside the coffin, looking down at the body encased in the mysterious substance.

Through the semi-transparent ”amber,” he could vaguely make out the silhouette of a woman, slumbering peacefully within.

So he said softly, ”Senior, I’ve taken care of the matter you entrusted to me.”

There was no response.

He took a deep breath and whispered, ”My apologies, Senior.”

He quickly climbed in and lay down.

The bottom of the coffin was ice-cold. A chill shot up Wan Ze’s spine.

He shifted his position to get more comfortable, then closed his eyes and activated his Spiritual Form.

HUMMM!

The instant his consciousness plunged into that other world, Wan Ze opened his eyes.

The Red Moon still hung high in the sky, dyeing the entire mountain forest a strange, dark crimson.

He stood beside a mountain stream. Beneath his feet was scorched earth, and before him lay a dry riverbed.

’My arrival point...’

’It’s this canyon again.’

He was becoming more and more certain that his arrival point wasn’t random, but was tied to a specific medium.

The last two times he’d entered this world by lying in the coffin, he had appeared in the Female Sword Immortal’s territory. But when he’d activated his Spiritual Form back at the guesthouse, he had appeared in the woods next to it.

This meant the medium for these last two arrivals had to be the coffin.

Wan Ze, remembering his purpose, pushed the thought aside.

He scanned his surroundings but saw no sign of the white-robed figure.

’Wait... where is she? She’s not here?’

Wan Ze frowned.

Previously, whenever he arrived, even if the senior didn’t show herself, the Broken Sword would immediately rush over and jab at him.

But today, there was no sign of anything.

He got his bearings and started walking toward the ruined temple.

...

The ruined temple stood dilapidated and lonely under the Red Moon.

Just as Wan Ze approached, he heard a roar from inside: ”You damned thing!”

BANG!

The shadow of a sword flew out of the temple, tumbling a few times in mid-air before steadying itself.

Who else could it be but the Broken Sword.

The Broken Sword, having been blasted out unexpectedly, trembled with rage. It pointed back toward the temple, as if cussing it out.

But for all its posturing, it didn’t dare charge back in. It just hovered at the entrance, its body quivering.

After a few seconds, the temple fell silent.

The Broken Sword peeked inside furtively, then shot back in with a WHOOSH.

”You damned thing!”

BANG! It was sent flying out again.

The Broken Sword spun twice in mid-air, steadied itself, and trembled with rage. But it wasn’t discouraged. After a moment, it crept back to the entrance, peeked... WHOOSH! And charged again!

”You damned thing!”

BANG! Flying again!

This repeated seven or eight times. Each time it was sent flying by those three words, and each time it would stubbornly charge back in.

Wan Ze stood a short distance away, watching with his jaw agape.

’These two... when did they get on such good terms?’

He remembered that the last time he’d seen them, the True Monarch Statue had been chasing the Broken Sword all over the mountain, looking like it wouldn’t rest until it had smashed the sword into a flat sheet of metal.

And now here they were, one blasting it out from inside, the other charging in from outside, like they were just horsing around.

The Broken Sword was blasted out once more. It wobbled in mid-air as if dazed from the blows.

It turned and suddenly spotted Wan Ze.

The Broken Sword acted as if it had seen its savior. It WHOOSHED over to him, its body trembling violently. It pointed at the ruined temple, then at itself, the very picture of grievance...

It quickly landed on the ground, its tip scratching crookedly as it wrote two words on the scorched earth:

BROKEN STATUE

After a moment’s thought, it added two more letters:

B... D...

’Bad?’

Looking at the two letters, Wan Ze almost burst out laughing. ”Are you trying to say it’s bad?”

The Broken Sword nodded frantically, its body bobbing up and down as if it desperately wanted to carve the word ”YES” into the ground.

Wan Ze reached out to pat it.

With a WHOOSH, the Broken Sword shot back three feet.

The atmosphere turned awkward.

Man and sword, they stared at each other from three feet apart.

Wan Ze acted as if nothing had happened. He retracted his hand and cleared his throat. ”Where’s your master? I’ve found what she was looking for.”

The Broken Sword froze for a second, then its tip swiveled to point at a large mountain in the distance.

Wan Ze followed its gaze.

The mountain, bathed in the light of the Red Moon, looked as if it had been taken over by something.

Countless shadows swarmed over the mountainside, like writhing tentacles.

He could faintly make out massive cracks on the mountain’s surface, from which a dark red light emanated.

An occasional, blood-curdling shriek echoed from the mountain. The sound was unlike any beast—sharp and piercing, enough to make one’s skin crawl.

Even more strangely, the Moonlight around the mountain was distorting, as if being drawn in by some Power. It formed ribbons of light that flowed ceaselessly into the mountain.