Book 11.5: Chapter 65

The only reason Zhuo Fengru’s soul didn’t leave his body after sustaining Miguo’s punch was attributed to the new stuff he gleaned from Abyss Theory. Instead of eating the full brunt of the punch, at the moment of impact, he spread out the impact similarly to spreading out a blast over a larger surface area rather than the specific target.

Zhuo Fengru’s desire to reach new heights, in terms of speed, created the attack that pierced Miguo, and the experience gave birth to the concept. Put another way, it was the intent behind his seemingly phantom attack that spawned the idea of defusing the force once it reached a velocity beyond the attacker’s control.

Impressive it may have been, but Miguo’s punch did inflict lethal damage. Miguo predicted Zhuo Fengru only had one day left. At most, Zhuo Fengru had another two. In his state, there wasn’t much Zhuo Fengru could do. The only way he could see himself being useful was through passing on the energy he spent all his life cultivating, and he could do so via the sarira, By the same account, the blood debt would be in Hua Qing’s hand to collect.

It’s important to make a distinction between vitality and true qi for they weren’t one and the same. Unlike true qi, vitality was found in every component of one’s body.

It didn’t take long for the relic to start glimmering after Zhuo Fengru’s energy pooled in. Hua Qing was unaware the relic could redirect leaking energy to its owner. A combination of Wugou as well as Zhuo Fengru’s energy almost had it replete. It was the first time it outshone the silver orb in the sky. In exchange, Zhuo Fengru’s vision gradually darkened.

If Ming Feizhen was a shiny gem, Zhuo Fengru would call Hua Qing a plain rock, blade of grass or wooden board. Although Zhuo Fengru was fond of both of them, he liked Hua Qing’s plainness because it reminded him of himself. Before he was called a hero, he was friendless, broke and just another face in the crowd. He looked up to heroes and craved adventure in the pugilistic world just as Hua Qing did. Speaking of gallantry, they both wanted to be heroes. When it came to romance, they were both clumsy. Talking about their dreams was something they were proud of him. Despite their common traits, though, Zhuo Fengru wouldn’t approve of Hua Qing’s gratitude.

Using the method Wugou taught him in order to absorb internal energy, Hua Qing poured his essence back into the relic, returning the 30% he absorbed from Wugou back into it.

Owing to the different disciplines Wugou and Zhuo Fengru practiced, it wasn’t much, but there was a distinct disagreement between the two energies inside the relic.

Zhuo Fengru couldn’t direct the flow of energy inside the relic, so he could only let his internal energy and essence, on top of someone else’s, return to his body. As a result, Miguo’s residue energy reduced accordingly.

Sweating bullets, Hua Qing conveyed, “Hero Zhuo, I do not know how to give speeches on morality, but I cannot watch you die.”

Hua Qing neither leaned towards good or bad – nor did he have any other special idea. If he had a principle, it was, “If it’s within your means to help, help. Otherwise, run the other way,” even though he grew up on the streets and was a thief by trade. If this wasn’t for his sense of duty, he wouldn’t have earnestly tried to fulfil Master Xu’s last request. On the same account, he believed it was only right to entrust the energy to Zhuo Fengru.

Hua Qing had only learnt a simple absorption and discharge method, then extrapolated to control the energy. Howbeit, guiding qi back to its origin wasn’t something that could be conceptualised from nothing or learnt overnight. The difference between the two levels could be compared to moving large goods to sewing a thread through a tiny hole.

Owing to Hua Qing’s lack of proficiency and knowledge, the large volume of energy he reversed into Zhuo Fengru’s body gushed in ruthlessly. To make an analogy, his energy would be horses riding onto a battlefield littered with injured soldiers, which would be his meridians in this case, trampling on the grounded soldiers. Zhuo Fengru had the ability to direct qi deliberately. Sadly, it took everything he had just to absorb the energy in his current condition, let alone direct it. Hua Qing could only slow down the flow; however, again, his lack of training limited his performance. As such, Zhuo Fengru was in immense pain.

“Tch!” Su Li strode over to Kongcang. “Monk, help me, and I’ll let you go.”

Kongcang opened his eyes slightly, then beamed at the sight of Zhuo Fengru. “Miss, what is positive about life? What is negative about death? This one enjoys the view. What could there possibly be to help with? Besides, this one is in trouble himself. How can he help?”

“Second chance.”

“This one is powerless to help notwithstanding his desire to help.”

Su Li’s cheeks turned red. “I gave you a chance. You forced my hand, so don’t blame me.” Su Li pried open the immobilised monk’s mouth, then shoved in a pill.

Caught off guard, Kongcang reactively swallowed the pill. “What did you do?!”

Su Li stomped the ground. “It’s a brand new pill I bought from Shuzhong’s black market. It wasn’t cheap, but the name has a nice ring to it. It’s called ‘Love is Pain’.”

“Tang Clan’s ‘Love is pain’?! Y-y-you’re flipping nasty!”

Glossary

Love is pain – I’ve taken liberties with the name because there’s no way I could do it justice without being wordy or missing the point. The name is a reference to Jin Yong’s phrase, “Too much love will shorten your lifespan. Too much wisdom will eventually hurt you.” The phrase has a broader sense, but that’s as good as we can do in English. The character for “love” in the phrase can mean a number of things, such as love for family, romantic feelings, emotional investments in things, devotion, empathy, friendships and the list goes on. As such, how it’s translated also changes according to what the character needs to convey. You’ve probably come across something similar when it comes to the second part, which is really just saying, “When you’re cognisant of too much, it can be draining and mentally hurt you.” The truth sometimes hurts, they say.

Shuzhong – The name of an erstwhile country in history.

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