Free Web NovelChapter 43: Chapter 43—Research
Chapter 43—Research
Hua Mingyue stayed silent.
Lei Cheng sat in silence for a while.
The problem was not subtle. Everyone knew that Bizarre Cultivation led to corruption and loss of humanity. He had seen it with his own eyes just yesterday: Bizarre Cultivator Shen’s grotesque transformation from human into a meatball-like monstrosity, and the winged cultivator’s unnatural appendages sprouting from his arms. That alone had been enough to make him flinch.
He could accept death. Becoming something that no longer resembled a human frightened him far more.
He had also heard enough to know Bizarre Cultivators looked at mortals the way people looked at insects—they had eyes only on their interests.
"Nine out of ten people who try to enter Bizarre Cultivation die in the entry itself," he muttered. He rubbed his forehead. "And they grow parts or organs based on the bizarre creature they follow... That is probably why Father didn’t want me going down this path."
He looked at Hua Mingyue carefully again. "Is there really no other way?"
He hesitated, then added the part he had been holding back. "The martial path is weak, and I already know I don’t want to end up gaining random body parts. If it’s a tail, I can hide it under my waist. If it’s horns, maybe I can manage. But if it starts growing other things... like eyes around my entire body." He shuddered at the thought. "That would be disgusting."
Hua Mingyue said nothing for a moment.
Then she closed her eyes briefly and sighed.
"No. There is no other way."
Lei Cheng let out a breath. "So I have no choice but to enter the Bizarre path?"
Her eyes gleamed faintly.
He didn’t notice.
Then he straightened. "Or I create my own path."
The memory from the Eye of Prophecy was still there in the back of his mind: ’The Dao bends towards the twisted and turns away from the living. Those who walk it rise only to be claimed in time. No height escapes its hunger. Only what is forged new may walk it and not be devoured.’
The words had sounded impossible before. Now they felt like his only remaining choice.
It was also the reason he had the idea to create his own path.
"Looks like I have no choice," he muttered. "So, how do I forge my cultivation path? Any idea?"
Hua Mingyue replied swiftly, "The best route is to use the martial path as a foundation and create something new. History repeats itself."
Lei Cheng glared at her. "You spent all that time explaining how each path developed from the one before it. You wanted me to build my own path from the beginning, didn’t you?"
Hua Mingyue grinned. "Indeed."
Lei Cheng sighed. "You prepared something for me, right? Some important knowledge?"
"No," she said. "The ancient beings themselves failed. I only have the data they left behind."
His eyes sharpened. "You have the data? The details of why they failed?"
"Yes."
"Then hand it over."
He raised his palm eagerly.
Hua Mingyue’s expression shifted from playful to stern in one breath. "Did you forget what I asked for when I helped you remove the fox mark?"
Lei Cheng froze.
He remembered it bitterly. He broke into a sweat.
’Marriage.’
His hand remained suspended in the air for a moment, then slowly lowered. He tried a different approach, stepping closer and gently moving her fan aside with his hand, his expression turning soft and pleading.
"Dear, please give me the details," he said. "I’ll marry you after I create my path."
Hua Mingyue promptly stepped on his foot.
Lei Cheng yelped and stumbled back, clutching his leg. "Why did you kick me?!"
"What if you pushed it back then?" she hissed.
He pointed at the sky in frustration. "Do you really think we have time for marriage right now?"
Hua Mingyue smiled and opened her fan with maddening calm. "Since the time is unfavorable, I will agree for now. Don’t forget your words."
Her smile carried a certainty that made Lei Cheng instinctively feel he had already lost the argument.
Lei Cheng straightened, serious again. "I won’t forget. We’ll get married once I’ve created my path."
Hua Mingyue pulled several books from one of her storage rings and dropped them onto the ground in front of him.
"Read these first," she said. "The martial path, and the research left by those who failed before."
Lei Cheng looked down at the books.
Primordial Colourful Monkey Body Tempering Technique.
Dragon Phoenix Body Tempering Technique.
Dragon Elephant Body Tempering Technique.
He glanced up. "Why don’t you just explain the martial path to me?"
Hua Mingyue sighed. "I’m not well-versed in the martial path." She paused with a slight smile. "But I know enough to guide you."
She began.
"This is the ancient martial path, not the modern one. The ancient martial path fuses Blood Qi and Spiritual Qi."
Lei Cheng listened closely. He raised a point. "The Spiritual Qi is gone now, corrupted out."
She pointed at the book on the ground. "Each level of martial cultivation is built on Intent. Ten percent Intent is one level."
Lei Cheng connected the numbers quickly. "I have forty-two percent death intent, so that means I’m equivalent to the level five?"
"Your combat power is around that level," Hua Mingyue said. "But don’t become overconfident. A true fifth-level cultivator would still kill you with a single slap. You have the power, not the foundation."
Raw strength without the body to support it was nothing more than borrowed power.
She glared at him coldly. "And Death Intent, being at forty-two percent, drains your lifespan more quickly."
Lei Cheng nodded, rubbing his head. "I would not be foolish enough to challenge one."
"Good."
"This ancient martial path uses Intent to cultivate," Hua Mingyue continued. "For example, the Dragon Phoenix Forging Technique uses Dragon Phoenix Intent to temper the body."
Lei Cheng looked at the book again, recognizing the brilliance of the idea. ’Using Dao, the Intent, to refine the body instead of raw energy like Blood Qi or Spiritual Qi... that would be far stronger than the usual body-forging methods.’
Hua Mingyue continued, "The first step in ancient martial cultivation is Foundation." She paused for a moment. "While human Bizarre Cultivation’s first step is Fusion."
Lei Cheng frowned. "Why are the first steps named differently?"
"Because they describe the function of the starting levels, and they are two different paths," she answered gently. "Martial cultivation was the first path to combine levels into steps. Human Bizarre Cultivation followed that logic later. The older paths—Immortal Cultivation, for example—did not use such precise division."
"Next," Lei Cheng said quickly.
Hua Mingyue continued, "The Foundation step is subdivided into Level 1 skin and flesh tempering, Level 2 tendon tempering, Level 3 bone tempering, Level 4 internal organ tempering, and Level 5 bone marrow tempering."
Lei Cheng nodded. "They make up the entire body, and hence the Foundation name?"
"Yes." Hua Mingyue nodded. "The foundation. The basics of cultivation."
Then she moved aside and sat down, fanning herself while watching him. "Now read the research books. Figure out where the failed attempts went wrong, and create your own path."
Lei Cheng picked up the book titled ’Records of New Path Creation by Supreme Yin’ and began reading.
It was a compilation of attempts—attempts to create a new path, attempts to fuse Martial Path with Bizarre Qi, notes on the problems encountered, and where each attempt had failed. He flipped through the pages quickly, absorbing the structure of the research in a single pass.
He picked through other research books. Time passed. When the sun rose to its peak, he set down the last book.
"So that’s how it is," he murmured, eyes gleaming. Countless failed attempts had given him something even more valuable than success—they had shown him what to avoid.
He stood up at once and rushed out of the Lei Clan compound, heading for the government district.
Hua Mingyue did not follow this time. She remained in the garden, reading a storybook as though nothing in the world could concern her more than the next page.
---
After some time, Lei Cheng reached Prison Street. The street had one intimidating huge fortress right beside Constable Street so that reinforcements could move quickly if criminals tried to escape. The fortress itself occupied the entire street, and it rose to ten floors. On the plaque, the words ’Prison’ were written in crimson as if they had been written by blood.
’It should also have underground floors,’ Lei Cheng mused, glancing at the black building and its windows.
He stepped through the lion gates and looked around.
The interior was dim. The floor was gray and hard underfoot. There was no furniture, no decoration, no comfort of any kind—only bare walls, rough stone, and the faint old stains of blood on the floor. The entire building smelled faintly of rust and damp stone.
The prison guards saw him and immediately raised their spears.
"What do you want?"
Lei Cheng raised both hands slightly. "I am Lei Cheng. I have come to speak with your prison warden."
The guards dropped to their knees at once.
"Lord Bizarre Cultivator, forgive us for pointing our weapons at you."
Lei Cheng shook his head. "Go call your warden."
The guards ran off without daring to leave anyone behind.
Soon, a middle-aged man in a black robe with the words Prison Warden stitched onto it arrived. He had short hair, a thick mustache, a trimmed beard, and a muscular frame. He appeared calm, hands folded behind his back—but Lei Cheng noticed the subtle trembling in his posture.
"I want a few of your death-row prisoners," Lei Cheng said before the man could even ask what he needed.
The warden obeyed immediately.
Within a short time, Lei Cheng had selected twenty-four prisoners, each convicted of a different crime. He made a point of avoiding anyone who seemed innocent—he knew too well that gangs and corrupt constables often framed the undeserving and threw them in alongside the guilty.
He returned to the Lei courtyard with them. On the way, a few tried to escape, but a vine rose and bound them tightly. Lei Cheng even broke their legs and fixed them up with Life Intent to keep them from running.
In the garden of the Lei courtyard, Hua Mingyue glanced at Lei Cheng and the prisoners. Servants and maids didn’t dare come in; they peered from the corridors.
Lei Cheng singled out one man: a thin scholar-looking prisoner with delicate skin and handsome features despite his prison rags. His crime had been sexual assault; he had violated more than ten women. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
Lei Cheng brought him forward.
He instructed him to sense Blood Qi, then reach for the Bizarre Qi in the air, then try to fuse the two.
Under Lei Cheng’s control, the man obeyed, stammering, "Yes... I’ll try to fuse."
He sat on the ground, and Lei Cheng injected a thread of Life Intent to strengthen the Blood Qi and speed things up. "Do you feel energy inside your blood?"
The man nodded. "Yes."
"That is Blood Qi."
"Now sense the energy in the sky."
The man focused, then nodded again. He could feel the presence of another kind of energy in the atmosphere around him. It was chilly. He felt his blood freeze the moment he brought it into his body. The energy was gray-colored. fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm
"Now fuse them."
The prisoner attempted it. His body began to shake immediately. Blood came from his mouth. The tremors intensified. The red Blood Qi and gray Bizarre Qi were clashing inside his body.
Lei Cheng stepped back slightly, watching.
’Will he succeed?’
He did not have high hopes. It was only the first rough attempt.
