Wang Sheng’s “Heavenly Thought Scripture” naturally didn’t contain as much content as Zhu Xiao’s secret manual, so it was quickly finished.
Zhu Xiao waited silently after finishing it, not speaking a word.
It wasn’t until Wang Sheng was done that she spoke, “The power you used to probe me, was it the spiritual power mentioned in the scripture?”
She could actually faintly sense Wang Sheng’s Divine Thought.
In fact, she had not known what this power was before, but after reading the “Heavenly Thought Scripture,” she understood that this indistinct power could very well be the spiritual power mentioned in the manual.
Wang Sheng was also somewhat surprised; this was the first time his Divine Thought had been perceived by someone who had not cultivated spiritual power.
He couldn’t help but be curious, asking, “Is your perception so sharp?”
“Cultivating the body, one’s sense of the body and external conditions is strong, which is why I could feel it.”
Wang Sheng took another appreciative look at Zhu Xiao’s secret manual.
Then, perhaps because they had broken the ice, the two of them quickly began to exchange ideas smoothly.
His interaction with Qiao Nian was about spiritual power, while his exchange with Zhu Xiao mainly concerned enhancing the physical body.
Zhu Xiao’s methods had helped Wang Sheng gain a deeper understanding of his “True Body.”
After the Yijin Scripture broke through its limits, it was no longer the original scripture, especially after breaking through three times and deriving the True Body. The scripture gradually evolved into a method for strengthening the physique.
It even birthed a “Divine Skill” that, for now, could only be experienced for a short period.
After confirming with Zhu Xiao, he further perfected the content, which like the “Lifeless Vacuum Sensing Chapter,” could bring significant improvements once summarized later on.
Furthermore, with the substantial progress of the True Body after breaking through “Blood Qi like Dragon,” it might soon enter the next level.
Perhaps the Divine Skill could also be used.
And during their exchange, Wang Sheng also vaguely understood why he previously felt that Zhu Xiao was a bit blank.
Zhu Xiao seemed to be the type who did not want to interact with unfamiliar people or just didn’t know how to.
However, as they became more familiar, she became increasingly talkative. She not only exchanged secrets with him but also shared some other matters with a hint of giving.
Nevertheless, the overall direction remained on point, and they quickly began to discuss the “Heavenly Thought Scripture.”
“Spiritual power, does it genuinely exist, and can you demonstrate it?”
Wang Sheng didn’t hesitate. Just now, Zhu Xiao had revealed her Qi Force, and he planned to be equally forthcoming, promptly showing his Divine Thought.
He took an object from the table and controlled it with his Divine Thought, saying, “I call this power Divine Thought. It’s different from the spiritual power cultivated by Qiao Nian. This power can manipulate objects, probe…”
He briefly introduced the functions of Divine Thought.
“This power is so convenient!”
Zhu Xiao instantly saw through one of the essential natures of Divine Thought, then she felt a bit disappointed, “Unfortunately, it seems my path doesn’t include this power.”
Wang Sheng, however, didn’t think so and said, “My power is somewhat unique, but spiritual power is actually something everyone has, even if your path is Refining Oneself, it’s definitely there. The only issue is how to develop and use it.”
Spiritual power is undoubtedly something everyone possesses; it’s just that different cultivation paths have different ways of finding and utilizing spiritual power.
Zhu Xiao didn’t have such a deep understanding of spiritual power, and she was somewhat surprised to learn of this aspect.
“Does everyone have spiritual power?”
Zhu Xiao pondered.
Could the power of the spirit be the key to breaking through?
“If I cultivate this scripture, can I develop strong spiritual power? And how powerful is Qiao Nian?”
Hope flickered in her eyes, clearly wishing she could also develop spiritual power.
She knew about the destruction caused by the battle between Qiao Nian and Wang Sheng. For those materials, even if she made a move, she couldn’t have destroyed them so thoroughly.
Wang Sheng couldn’t guarantee an answer to such a question.
“The spiritual power of Qiao Nian is very strong; his overall strength is no less than that of a top-tier Grandmaster. As to whether you can cultivate spiritual power, I cannot guarantee that. Also, there is something I need to remind you: Qiao Nian’s cultivation encountered major problems.”
Zhu Xiao had her own path, which was why Wang Sheng felt comfortable handing over the “Heavenly Thought Scripture.” However, if Zhu Xiao intended to cultivate it, there were some things she needed to be reminded of.
As one of the most powerful people in the Great Zhou, she was entitled to know certain matters.
Seeing Wang Sheng’s serious expression, Zhu Xiao’s face also turned solemn, “Cultivation encountered problems?”
“Yes, and they were severe problems. I mentioned that Qiao Nian’s strength reached a top-tier Grandmaster Level, but the Cultivation Technique he left behind could only achieve Grandmaster Level strength. Don’t you find that odd?”
Zhu Xiao was taken aback; she had indeed not realized this before.
She didn’t suspect Wang Sheng of deliberately concealing his skill, as from the beginning he had said the manual could only cultivate to Grandmaster Level.
But initially, she did not pay attention to this.
Reminded by Wang Sheng, she also suddenly became aware of something amiss.
“Did Qiao Nian destroy it before dying, not wanting you to get the complete manual?”
Wang Sheng shook his head and said:
“Indeed, Qiao Nian destroyed the latter half of the manual. This ’Heavenly Thought Scripture’ is one that I reassembled, and even the name, I changed it. The original name of this manual was ’Heavenly Father Sacrificial Scripture.’
But destroying the manual wasn’t because Qiao Nian didn’t want me to have the complete manual. In fact, he willingly gave it to me.
“The original name of this scripture included the words ’Heavenly Father’, which relates to…”
Wang Sheng repeated in detail the incident from forty years ago when Qiao Nian was influenced by the “Heavenly Father”.
“Intervention in the spiritual path? Heavenly Father?”
The expression on Zhu Xiao’s face was incredibly animated. She had been mostly indifferent before, showing eagerness only occasionally towards spiritual cultivation techniques.
Now, she was filled with shock. She had never expected that there were so many secrets hidden in the shadows of the world.
As the person at the helm of the Great Zhou’s top power, she was completely unaware.
The massive amount of information left her somewhat dazed.
“Is all this true?”
“It is true,” Wang Sheng reaffirmed.
“…”
Zhu Xiao fell silent for a while, and Wang Sheng did not disturb her, allowing her time to digest the information.
Even he had been greatly shocked upon initially learning of these matters.
After a long time, Zhu Xiao seemed to come to her senses and said, “Could my path too have been interfered with?”
It was no wonder she doubted.
The words left behind by Qiao Nian reflected in many ways that the so-called “Heavenly Father” would interfere with the new paths, and even the Qi Blood Martial Arts might have issues.
She had great confidence in herself and had looked down to some degree on the Qi Blood Martial Arts that had never made progress and yet still had to be pursued, leading to the emergence of a so-called Master of Destiny among those powerful martial artists.
She had always believed that if a path could only be traversed by one person, then there was no hope for it.
But now, having received Wang Sheng’s information, Zhu Xiao began to doubt whether her own path had been interfered with unknowingly.
Wang Sheng still could not give an accurate answer to this question.
The maneuvers of the “Heavenly Father” were indeed quite deceitful, and without coincidence, perhaps no one would have known of its existence.
Previously, Wang Sheng had investigated Qiao Nian’s case, but it wasn’t until he defeated the Heavenly Father and saw the transformation in its appearance that he began to harbor suspicions.
Seeing Wang Sheng’s silence, Zhu Xiao guessed the answer.
“Is there no way to investigate?”
A shadow crossed her heart.
“The way forward is already difficult…” As she said this, she seemed to recall something, “After I had trained my limbs and torso, I wanted to go further, but it felt like I had encountered an insurmountable barrier that I simply couldn’t cross. I always thought it was the realm itself that was difficult to surpass, but looking back now, that feeling seems a bit off…”
Zhu Xiao spoke clearly, stating that this feeling was completely different from the bottlenecks she had faced in the past.
If the past barriers appeared naturally, the current one troubling her seemed like a mountain placed there by someone.
This feeling was distinct. Although she had doubted it briefly in the past, since she was pioneering a new path, she hadn’t dwelled on it for too long.
But now she questioned whether it was all psychological, wondering if this sensation was problematic.
“This feeling of mine seems different from the interference in spiritual martial arts.”
Wang Sheng listened intently.
“It’s very likely that you’ve been interfered with, maybe because you’re not pursuing spiritual martial arts, so no spiritual control could be exerted.”
“There’s such a method of interference?” Zhu Xiao was somewhat overwhelmed by the amount of shocking information.
“There is, I suspect that Qi Blood Martial Arts have been interfered with in this way!”
Wang Sheng had been suspecting this already while examining Zhu Xiao’s secret texts, and now with her sharing her situation, his suspicions deepened.
Qi Blood Martial Arts had been developed for countless years. If it were mature, that would be one thing, but for it to be caught up by cultivation techniques that had merely existed for decades indicated that it could not be considered mature.
This was not a normal phenomenon.
Zhu Xiao frowned and asked, “Qi Blood Martial Arts could be interfered with too?”
“Do you think Qi Blood Martial Arts are inadequate?” Wang Sheng discerned her tone, similar to his own attitude before conducting his “sacrificial refining” research, “Qi Blood Martial Arts have been developed for so long, it’s not that simple, Manager Zhu, think about those Qi Blood martial arts techniques, are they really that inferior?”
The more Wang Sheng read, the clearer his understanding became.
He hadn’t expected Zhu Xiao to make a similar mistake to his own.
Qi Blood Martial Arts were not so inept, especially given the possibility of other circumstances at play.
On being prompted in this way, Zhu Xiao had a sudden realization.
It seemed she did indeed harbor that notion.
Seeing her reaction, Wang Sheng knew it was not something she could make sense of on the spot, so he decisively changed the topic.
“In any case, it’s highly likely that Qi Blood Martial Arts has been interfered with, and it’s a similar kind of interference to what you’re experiencing, yet completely different from the interference with the spiritual cultivation path.
If we can confirm that your path, Manager Zhu, has indeed been interfered with, then the implications are far-reaching.”
If this could be substantiated with evidence,
it would signify a rather complex situation.
What was merely intended to be an exchange on the path of cultivation had brought Wang Sheng new information.
Manager Zhu’s path seemed to have issues as well…