Chapter 79: Chapter 79 Mechanical Technique: Azure Dragon Chapter
This evening, the entire Qingshan Village was bustling with activity.
Dealing with wolf meat, refining Body Tempering Liquid, and handling the traps outside the village.
However, it seemed that due to the wolf pack’s attack, Village Chief Zhou Zhengwen had decided to set traps around the village for the long term, leaving only one path for entry and exit.
Wang Sheng watched the refining of the Body Tempering Liquid for a while before he left, as this liquid had no effect on him.
Even the blood of these wild wolves was not as good as his own.
Of course, the idea was still valid. If he could obtain powerful blood, perhaps he could make use of it to accelerate the pace of his body’s training.
…
Because the weather gradually warmed up, the villagers in the fortress were afraid that the wolf meat would spoil and processed it quickly. By the next day, the village was hung with well-processed wolf meat and pelts.
The village chief also had some sent to Wang Sheng.
And the one who delivered it was Zhang Ze.
“Mr. Zhang, may I ask if there is something you need?”
Wang Sheng knew that Zhang Ze wouldn’t come to him for no reason, as the two of them were hardly familiar with each other.
Zhang Ze glanced at the big white dog sleeping in the yard, appearing harmless to humans and animals, steadied his mind, then said, “Senior Wang…”
He knew of Wang Sheng’s strength and was not particularly close to him, so he started by addressing him as senior, a recognition hardcoded into the bones of the Cultivation World: “respect the powerful.” In the face of someone stronger than oneself, it was proper to call them senior when unfamiliar.
But Wang Sheng interrupted him directly, “No need to call me senior, just Wang Sheng or Yun Sheng will do.”
Mainly because he was at least a decade or two younger than Zhang Ze, the term “senior” was just something he couldn’t get used to.
Zhang Ze immediately corrected himself: “Then I’ll call you Yun Sheng!”
That was better, as it seemed more intimate.
He didn’t beat around the bush either, and, having confirmed the address, stated his purpose directly: “Yun Sheng, it’s like this, I have an object that I’d like to ask for your help in opening.”
Saying this, he took out a box.
The box was a rectangular solid, roughly seven inches long, about four inches wide, and around three inches high.
It was entirely made of wood, which appeared somewhat aged but well-preserved and seemed delicate to the eye.
Without waiting for Wang Sheng to ask, Zhang Ze continued, “This box was something I encountered during a remarkable adventure when I was young, an adventure that turned me into a martial artist and also gave me this object.”
He pushed the box in front of Wang Sheng.
Wang Sheng didn’t touch the box directly but asked, “So why do you want me to open it?”
From the look of the box, an ordinary person could have forced it open.
“When I got this box, I also obtained something else—a book and a thing that turned me into a martial artist. I have since used that thing, but the book described many things, including the method to open this box.”
“What is the method for opening it?”
Zhang Ze didn’t answer but said, “The Qi-Blood Power of a Grandmaster!”
“How can you be sure that I’m a Grandmaster?”
Honestly, even Wang Sheng himself didn’t know which realm he belonged to in this world, so how could Zhang Ze, a First Grade Martial Artist, know?
“The book I got has some information, ‘A martial artist of seventh grade, can project Qi-Blood, Grandmaster Power, As You Wish.’ It mentions that once a martial artist reaches the level of a Grandmaster, they can use their Qi-Blood at will. Yun Sheng, the blow you struck to kill the Wolf King matched almost 100% with a Grandmaster’s description.”
“…”
Wang Sheng fell silent for a while and then said, “Can I take a look at your book?”
Having heard so much from Zhang Ze, he was not very interested in the unknown box but was indeed very interested in the book.
“Of course, you can.”
Zhang Ze had clearly prepared in advance and brought the book with him.
After Wang Sheng took the book, he flipped through it briefly.
The paper of the book was tough and clearly not made from ordinary material.
As for the content, it wasn’t a book specifically for recording information, but more like someone’s miscellaneous notes, jotting down whatever came to mind in a very messy fashion.
He quickly found information about the wooden box on the last page, where the handwriting was even more scrawled and appeared to have been written in blood.
The content was pretty much as Zhang Ze had described, but Zhang Ze hadn’t told the whole story.
That is, the wooden box actually required the recipient’s escorting, and the reward for delivering the box was the very thing that would make Zhang Ze a martial artist.
It also warned that the box could not be opened by anyone other than a grandmaster, so one shouldn’t harbor improper thoughts.
Then it detailed where the box needed to be delivered and promised a hefty reward for doing so.
After reading, Wang Sheng looked at Zhang Ze with a strange expression.
Your thick brows and big eyes hide a rather dark heart, stealing this thing outright.
Zhang Ze knew right away that Wang Sheng had misunderstood and promptly explained, “Actually, I did go to deliver it, but only a grandmaster can open it, so it was useless for me to keep it.
But by the time I got there, the family that was supposed to receive it had been annihilated by someone, reportedly because they had acquired some formidable cultivation technique…
That family was a local grandmaster-level clan all wiped out, and at that time, I was afraid of being implicated, so I left right away and due to fear of pursuit, I only revealed my martial artist status a year or two later, and on reflection, the place where I chanced upon my opportunity must have been intended to enable ordinary people to gain…”
He felt rather helpless too. The recipients had been wiped out before he could deliver the item, and he lived in fear for a long time, not daring to reveal his identity as a martial artist.
Only after a year or two, when he was sure there was no danger, did he claim to have chanced upon an opportunity to become a martial artist. Of course, in hindsight, he felt fortunate, considering the annihilation that the box had triggered, he was certain that had he delivered it, he definitely would have been silenced.
Zhang Ze thought he was rather clever in his youth, unable to fathom if he had been influenced by something evil.
As for the box, he had, of course, tried to open it but, just as the book said, no matter how he tried, he couldn’t.
Thus, the wooden box had remained in his possession for twenty years, becoming an obsession lasting as long, sometimes choking him in his sleep like a fishbone in his throat.
Grandmasters were beyond his reach; he had even planned to pass down this item as a family heirloom on his deathbed, but then he encountered Wang Sheng in this village.
Seeing that Wang Sheng didn’t speak, Zhang Ze continued, “Actually, it’s become an obsession of mine, so I hope Yun Sheng can help open it. Whatever is inside will belong to Yun Sheng… of course, if there’s a cultivation technique, I would like to make a copy.”
“I’ll give it a try!”
Wang Sheng picked up the box and tried to open it with brute force.
He was expecting it not to budge, but he felt the wooden box wobble, seemingly about to break apart.
“…”
So it seems it’s not necessarily grandmaster qi-blood power needed, huh? The quality of this wooden box is indeed good, a treasure in itself, but even it can’t withstand a grandmaster’s strength.
But it’s not that only grandmasters can break it open; grandmaster-level brute force could do it as well, qi-blood power might just be one way of opening it without damage.
If the power is sufficient, “miracles” can also be created!
But Wang Sheng stopped the notion of forcing it open.
Instead, he threw the box into the air and released a bit of qi-blood power, directly enveloping the box.
Crack!
The box was opened smoothly without any incident.
As the box opened, a book, a piece of paper, and a palm-sized stone fell out.
Wang Sheng saw the title of the book.
Mechanical Technique: Azure Dragon Chapter!