Chapter 399: Chapter 119: Exhaling Wind, Martial Path Stellar Technique
Cao Guishan’s status was clearly extraordinary, and at his command, a dozen n in black imdiately brandished their long sabers and hacked toward Zhou Heng.
These n in black were all highly trained experts, their saber technique exquisite. They coordinated their attacks to seal off all of Zhou Heng’s possible escape routes, aiming to kill him on the spot.
Li Chengyu’s family couldn’t bear to watch the scene unfold and closed their eyes.
In their eyes, Zhou Heng was truly just soone who happened to pass by; travelling on such a rainy night, he must have so urgent business.
What a pity to suffer this calamity as an innocent bystander.
Zhou Heng stood in place, without any intention of dodging. He quietly watched as the dozen or so n in black ca at him with their sabers.
“Even if you are exceptional in martial arts, facing such an onslaught, you are surely bound to die,” Cao Guishan said with a cold smile, confident in the strength of his subordinates.
But just as the n in black got within three feet of Zhou Heng, he suddenly took a light breath and then exhaled.
Boom!
The breath seed to burst open the void itself, emitting a deafening roar.
The air expelled from Zhou Heng’s mouth turned into a wild wind, sweeping up the pouring rain along with the dozen n in black and flinging them into the sky.
In an instant, silence enveloped the world, and even the heavy rain ceased to fall.
Bang!
Then, an explosion sounded in the air. As the wild wind dispersed and the rain began to fall again, it carried a faint scent of blood.
The dozen n in black had vanished without a trace.
Zhou Heng still stood there, a smile on his face, his eyes teasingly fixed on Cao Guishan. He chuckled, “What were you trying to do just now, kill ?”
Silence, utter silence.
Cao Guishan stared dumbfounded at Zhou Heng, sniffing the bloody scent in the rain. He had realized what had just happened and suddenly fear flashed across his eyes.
“Turning breath into wind! Martial Saint! You, you’re actually a Martial Saint?! No, even a Martial Saint doesn’t possess such a physique!” His body trembled, he scread in sheer terror, and simultaneously, he turned on his heels and ran, trying to escape into the dense woods.
“You’re running away?” Zhou Heng shook his head, raised his right hand, and flicked a finger. Imdiately, a sonic boom rang out in the void, creating an invisible wind blade that cleaved through the air and struck Cao Guishan’s neck.
A head flew into the sky as blood spurted from the severed neck like a fountain, but the body maintained its forward montum, running several paces before collapsing to the ground with a thud.
Cao Guishan’s head rolled to a stop right beside Li Chengyu’s family.
At this mont, the family was completely dumbfounded, staring blankly at Zhou Heng, continuously asking themselves if they were seeing illusions or experiencing death-induced hallucinations, not even noticing the head of Cao Guishan beside them.
It took a good while before Li Chengyu’s family regained their senses and fully understood what had happened.
They had been saved!
A self-proclaid passing traveler, a Martial Saint-level powerhouse had saved their family?
Li Chengyu’s mind raced with nurous thoughts.
He tried to stand up and express his thanks.
But during the previous escape, he had already reached the end of his tether; letting alone standing up to express his thanks, he found it difficult to even move a finger or open his mouth to speak.
At this point, Li Chengyu had a realization; he was probably not long for this world.
“Many, many thanks to my benefactor,” Li Chengyu managed to open his mouth with all his might and expressed his thanks to Zhou Heng while lying on the ground.
“Thank you, benefactor.” The young woman’s condition was evidently better; she had managed to get up and bowed in deep gratitude to Zhou Heng.
“Thank you, Benefactor Brother!” The little girl Ning’an also expressed her thanks.
After that, the two of them tried to help Li Chengyu up.
But Li Chengyu shook his head, signaling them not to do so. He looked at Zhou Heng, his complexion suddenly becoming rosy, and said, “My benefactor, we were bound to die today. Thanks to your help, my wife and daughter may preserve their lives.
“I, I am probably not long for this world, but may I implore you to help us once more? If you agree, I will give you all the treasures I have accumulated over my lifeti, as long as you escort them to…”
“Father!” The little girl Ning’an burst into tears when she heard this. “No, Father, don’t say such things!”
“Husband…” The young woman also cried profusely, her expression one of deep sorrow. She could sense that her husband’s physical condition likely wouldn’t last through the night.
“…” Zhou Heng raised his hand to his temple, shook his head slightly, and said with a smile, “Better that you escort them yourself. I really don’t have the spare ti for this.”
As he spoke, he pointed his finger at Li Chengyu. A brilliant erald glow, as bright as the stars themselves, shot from his fingertip and entered Li Chengyu’s body.
“What, what is this?!”
At the sight, Li Chengyu’s pupils suddenly contracted as if he had witnessed sothing incredible, and his facial expression beca extrely animated.
There was shock, joy, doubt… a mix of expressions all mingling together, causing his facial muscles to falter.
“Star, star magic?!” The young woman was also astounded, staring blankly at the radiance enveloping her husband.
“So magical!” Ning’an’s eyes lit up.
She found that under the cover of the erald light, the nurous wounds covering her father were rapidly healing, and his flush of rejuvenation gradually returned to normal.
A mont later, as the erald glow dissipated, Li Chengyu was utterly shocked to find himself completely unhard, full of energy, and in high spirits, with no trace of his previous exhaustion.
“Soone can still wield such star magic now, capable of completely restoring a dying man like !” Li Chengyu was startled as he turned toward Zhou Heng, uncertainly asking, “You, who are you among the Star Monarchs?”
Since the descent of the calamitous star three years ago, the Star Realm had beco abnormal. Star Officers from Ninth Grade to Fourth Rank could no longer call upon the power of the Star Realm, unable to directly mobilize star energy, and their strength plumted imnsely. Even Star Monarchs of the Upper Third Rank had greatly diminished powers; their star magic was nowhere near as potent as before.
In Li Chengyu’s eyes, the healing effect of the star magic witnessed just now was so powerful that even when the Star Realm was still normal, it wasn’t sothing ordinary Star Officers could perform. At the least, it had to be high-ranking Star Officers of the Fifth or Fourth Rank.
Now, with the Star Realm being in disarray, performing such a level of star magic had beco even more challenging. Yet this young man had perford it effortlessly; only a Star Monarch could achieve this.
At this thought, Li Chengyu was taken aback by his own conjecture.
The “passerby” before him clearly looked to be only in his late teens, still a youth—how could he be a Star Monarch of the Upper Third Rank!
Nobody had ever heard of such a young Star Monarch in this world.
But if not a Star Monarch, who else could it be?
Martial Artists certainly did not possess such miraculous technique capabilities.
For a mont, Li Chengyu was plunged into confusion.
“Star Monarch?” Zhou Heng murmured, then added, “Let’s first leave this forest and find a place to take shelter from the rain. I have so questions for you.”
…
Since Zhou Heng had very limited information about this world, there weren’t many choices when he descended through the star gate.
He could only choose a general terrain.
For instance, he could choose mountains, rivers, basins, plateaus and so on, at most adding so restrictions like no signs of forbidden formations; the randomness of his descent was quite strong.
Thus, Zhou Heng descended into a mountain forest.
After his arrival, he did not hurry to leave but first found a cave to quietly contemplate the natural laws of this world and conform his Five Virtue Dharma Phase to it.
Three days passed, and Zhou Heng had already recovered seventy percent of his strength.
The recovery of his strength also incited a change in the Qi of heaven and earth, causing heavy rainfall throughout the entire mountain area.
Zhou Heng, having regained a fair amount of strength, was in high spirits; he planned to hunt so wild ga for a al. He intended to leave the mountain the next morning to inquire about this world but did not expect to encounter Li Chengyu’s family being pursued.
In fact, Zhou Heng had already arrived at the scene when Li Chengyu fell to the ground, but he did not co out imdiately because he could not be sure whether Li Chengyu was friend or foe.
Only after Cao Guishan and others arrived did he decide to make a move.
On one hand, Li Chengyu seed to be the party suffering persecution, and Ning’an was quite adorable, worthy of being saved.
On the other hand, he learned through Cao Guishan that Li Chengyu might be a Prince, which ant that he should know a lot about this world—information Zhou Heng lacked.
Therefore, Zhou Heng brought Li Chengyu and his family to the cave where he had been recuperating and asked them about the general situation of this world.
Although he had already made a rough guess about the cultivation paths of this world when sensing the natural laws with his Dharma Phase, he needed to ask soone to confirm his speculation.
Li Chengyu was extrely grateful to his life-saving benefactor, Zhou Heng. He answered Zhou Heng’s inquiries without reservation, providing him with a wealth of information.
Firstly, there was Li Chengyu’s identity.
He was a Prince of the Da Wei Empire, with many accomplishnts to his na and once an Upper Fourth Rank Star Officer in the Star Palace, possessing powerful strength. Now frad by the Crown Prince, he was forced to flee with his wife and daughter.
Additionally, there were the two paths of cultivation in this world—one was the Martial Path, and the other was Star Arts.
The Martial Path naturally involved cultivating one’s own bodily strength, enhancing power and speed, with the aim of achieving a level of might that transcends the ordinary—this is also the path of cultivation found in the majority of worlds.
However, due to the world rules’ constraints, the influence of spirit power on reality was minuscule, resulting in one condition—
Even if a Martial Artist had cultivated to the normal limits of the human body and had ample spirit power, they would be unable to break through the human limits, unable to build the bridge between heaven and earth to establish natural laws.
This ans that the limit of the human body in this world is equivalent to the level of a Seventh Rank Warrior in Da Qi.
Of course, due to a long legacy of tradition, martial artists have found so ways out, and thus there arose various sects like the Buddha Sect and Taoism. These sects possess secret techniques that can break through the limits of the human body and reach the realm of a Martial Saint.
But even a Martial Saint isn’t all that powerful; they simply have more formidable vigor and body, and cannot harness the power of heaven and earth. Essentially, they are still mortal.
If discussing solely the Martial Path, this world’s hierarchy wouldn’t be considered powerful.
However, aside from the Martial Path, there is another way in this world, and that is the path of star arts.
According to Li Chengyu, the path of star arts originates from the ancient, barbaric era.
Our forebears worshipped heaven and earth and received the favor of the stars, drawing the attention of the thirty-six Heavenly Fiend Star Gods and the seventy-two Earthly Fiend Star Gods, a total of one hundred and eight Star Gods.
As long as the rituals were proper and gained the recognition of the Star Gods, one could communicate with the Star Realm to obtain star power, breaking through the limits of mortals and possessing inconceivable divine power.
To this day, the path of star arts has beco quite refined.
One only needs a rudintary mastery of the Martial Path to hold rituals according to the guidance of the Star Palace. If the rituals are successful and one gains the protection of a Star God, they will possess strength far beyond that of a common martial artist.
However, the conditions for conducting such rituals are very strict, and the materials required are extrely rare, affordable only by the houses of the powerful and so wealthy families.
Since these rituals are not guaranteed to succeed and have a chance of failure, with only one opportunity available—if it fails, there’s no second chance—it results in the scarcity of Star Officers.
Having overwhelming strength, in addition to their rarity and generally noble status, such a group often becos an elite class that stands above even the emperors of empires. Thus, a Star Palace that surpasses the authority of imperial rulers erged.
The Star Palace assigns ranks to star art practitioners, dividing them from low to high from Ninth Grade to First Rank, with those from Upper Third Rank, Second Rank, and First Rank being called Star Monarchs, and the rest referred to as Star Officers.
A Seventh Rank Star Officer can overpower a Martial Saint at the pinnacle of the Martial Path. At the level of a Sixth Rank Star Officer, one can fly and escape into the heavens, entering and exiting the azure void, and even intertwine the authority of Star Gods at higher levels, akin to a Star God descending to the world, possessing vast divine power.
But three years ago, all this changed.
An ominous red star descended, the Emperor Star shifted, celestial patterns were thrown into chaos, and the Second Rank Star Monarch of the Heaven’s Observatory died an abrupt death. The Lord of the Star Palace and three First Rank Star Monarchs disappeared.
The Star Realm also beca abnormal. Star Officers below the Upper Third Rank lost contact with the Star Realm overnight and could no longer draw upon star power. Only a few remaining Star Monarchs could still manipulate star power to limitedly use so mid and lower-grade star arts.
But, since there were so few Star Monarchs and their strength was greatly diminished, although they were able to suppress other forces, which still dared not openly challenge them, so have begun to settle scores with certain Star Officers they previously didn’t dare to touch, all behind the scenes.
Li Chengyu was among them.
“One hundred and eight Star Gods, thirty-six Heavenly Fiend Stars, seventy-two Earthly Fiend Stars…” Zhou Heng’s gaze grew intense. There were many familiar things in the information revealed by Li Chengyu. “Now that the Star Palace is in decline, does that an the martial artists who were previously oppressed are getting restless?”
“Exactly,” Li Chengyu nodded.
“Have you heard of any remarkable martial artists erging recently?” Zhou Heng tried to gather information about Cheng Jianjian and Qi Rui, as the two of them had arrived here so ti ago.
“Indeed, so formidable martial artists have appeared recently. Most of them co from Taoism or the Buddha Sect, with unique secret techniques that barely allow them to break through the limits of mortals and reach the realm of a Martial Saint.”
While speaking, Li Chengyu seed to ponder and then, seemingly recalling sothing, he added, “Right, there’s one more, though I’m not sure she counts as a martial artist. So ti ago, I heard that the Star Palace found the reincarnation of Gou Chen, the Heavenly Emperor, leader of all the stars—a young woman.
“This woman isn’t only exceptionally skilled in star arts but also possesses many strange and secret treasures. Most importantly, her martial arts are extraordinarily advanced. It is said that she even left a Star Monarch severely injured using martial arts techniques.”
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