Chapter 276 – Evil Emperor’s Manuscript

“Grandfather, are you serious? If we don’t wait for the boat, do you expect us to swim there?”

The girl with an egg-shaped face pouted.

The silver-haired old man remained silent. A burly young man next to him chuckled and spoke up first, “Junior sister, you’d be surprised, but someone has actually swum across… Not only did they reach the martial saint island, but they were also accepted as a disciple by the Penglai Martial Saint, and later became a renowned Grandmaster.”

“Really?”

“Absolutely.”

The young man patted his chest with conviction and said, “I read about it in the notes of our past sect leaders of the Rock-Smashing Style. The words of the past sect leaders and Founding Masters can’t be false, right?”

“Is that what you focus on, reading those notes?”

The silver-haired old man snorted coldly, making the burly young man shrink back and immediately clam up.

However, the girl with an egg-shaped face was intrigued and couldn’t help but ask, “Senior Brother, is that true? Was there really such a person?”

The silver-haired old man’s expression softened as he nodded, “There indeed was, and the tale is even more legendary than your Senior Brother’s description…

The person who chose to swim to the martial saint island received the Legacy of the Last Martial Saint, and rose to be acknowledged as the number one in the ancient martial arts world.

He is still alive today, in Penglai, honored with the title ‘Lord of Heaven’…”

Not only was the girl with the egg-shaped face amazed, but even the burly young man and a few other disciples who had been listening attentively were left wide-eyed and awestruck.

“Grandfather, do you think if we emulate this ‘Lord of Heaven’ now, we might have a chance at such great fortune and opportunity?”

The girl with the egg-shaped face asked, suddenly inspired.

Several disciples from the Rock-Smashing Style beside her looked tempted, ready to give it a try.

The silver-haired old man, seeing the imaginative thoughts brewing in this group of juniors, shook his head in exasperation, “Do you really think swimming hundreds of kilometers and finding the martial saint island in the vast ocean is a simple task?

The Penglai Lord of Heaven was already a Grandmaster level figure before he reached the island; otherwise, he couldn’t have accomplished such an incredible feat… If you truly wish to imitate him, I won’t stop you. But don’t blame your master if you’re swallowed by the waves or eaten by sea creatures in the process…”

Upon hearing this, the disciples’ previously eager thoughts were immediately sobered.

At this moment, the girl with an egg-shaped face, who had been staring at the sea, suddenly pointed at a luxurious five-story white yacht approaching slowly from a distance, her face beaming with excitement. “The boat is here!”

The silver-haired old man lifted his eyelids slightly, “Indeed, it is.”

The Rock-Smashing Style disciples, upon hearing this, immediately perked up. One by one, they hurriedly grabbed their luggage, eager to board.

In their excitement, they discussed animatedly, “Master really went all out this time, renting such a large yacht!”

“Considering we are one of the top martial arts sects in the North, we have to keep up appearances!”

“Master is awesome!”

Their excited cheers echoed on the pier.

But as the yacht approached, it did not stop by their side. Swiftly, it whooshed past them.

The expressions of the Rock-Smashing Style disciples froze in place. They watched in disbelief as a small, old fishing boat slowly sailed over and moored at the dock.

“Let’s go,” the silver-haired old man, who had remained expressionless all along, picked up his suitcase and called out coolly, “This is the boat we rented. A yacht? What were you all thinking? Hmph…”

The group’s faces fell in dismay at this anticlimactic turn of events. With their spirits dampened, they dejectedly followed.

…

Inside a room on one of the three decks of the slowly passing luxurious yacht.

Eight figures were attacking a person in the middle.

Among the eight, some had powerful punches and kicks, others had fierce Claw Skills, and some had elusive Movement Techniques… Each excelled in pure martial arts techniques, making them top-notch Ancient Martial Arts Experts.

Each one was enveloped in inner strength, exuding a powerful aura beyond ordinary people, showcasing their formidable strength.

Yet, even with the combined efforts of the eight, all their attacks were completely repelled by a figure in the middle, who was radiating a thick dark golden light all over.

Not only did they fail to gain any advantage, but they were also faintly being suppressed.

“Monument Crushing Palm!”

Among the eight, a massive figure over four meters tall, resembling a white mountain of flesh, suddenly launched a palm strike at the figure in the middle.

The terrifying Strength carried by his fan-sized hand tore through the air, creating a series of explosive cracks, displacing layers of airwaves, and displaying an astonishing might.

The other seven’s eyes flashed in unison, seizing this opportunity. Simultaneously, they unleashed their most powerful techniques.

In an instant, eight fierce attacks came from all directions, almost indistinguishable in their timing.

It was like eight giant waves crashing simultaneously against the figure in the center.

“Boom!”

The terrifying shockwave that erupted instantly shattered all the glass windows around the room on the third deck.

Even the luxurious yacht shook violently, its forward momentum stalled.

However, in the next moment, rings of dark golden ripples emanated from the room.

Following that, with a resounding “Boom,” the eight figures were all blasted away.

“Congratulations, Demon Emperor! Your martial arts are nearing Mastery, with only a small step left to reach the Grandmaster realm!”

The mountainous fat man who led the attack was the first to speak, grinning as he congratulated the person in the center.

The others followed suit, starting to voice their compliments, but were interrupted by a calm voice from the center.

“All of you, get out. I want to be alone for a while.”

Their voices immediately halted. They responded with a respectful “Yes,” and then filed out of the room one by one.

Among them, a burly man as towering as a small mountain stood quietly at the entrance, taking a guard stance.

Inside the room, Lu Yuan stood quietly.

Around him, his mental power swirled like misty milk.

Since establishing his “Demon Emperor” title at Longan Mountain and subduing the Protector-level figures of the evil martial alliance, Lu Yuan had been using these eight as his Sparring Partners.

Over time, his prowess in the domain of martial artists had continued to grow rapidly, even undergoing some remarkable transformations.

At this moment, Lu Yuan could feel his mental power gradually permeating his body.

During this process, his blood coursed vigorously, his muscles, bones, and skin trembled continuously, and his Five Viscera radiated a newfound vitality…

Lu Yuan could clearly feel that his constitution points, strength points, and other attributes were continuously and gradually increasing.

This was a process of transitioning from one life form to another.

Lu Yuan tried to slowly release his aura, and immediately the air around him began to distort slightly.

It was very similar to the Grandmaster Field he had seen before, only much weaker.

“In a certain sense, I should already be entering the Grandmaster realm… It’s just that the speed of entering is somewhat slow,” Lu Yuan pondered. This might be because his ability in all aspects far exceeded that of ordinary martial artists who had reached the True Intent’s limit by dozens of times.

Entering the Grandmaster realm with True Intent involves merging one’s mental will with one’s body.

Others have weak mental strength and poor constitution; merging the two is like combining two drops of water-naturally simple.

However, with his strong mental strength and robust physique, it was like trying to rub two hard stones together. Naturally, it was challenging.

“If there were a significant amount of external stimuli, this process could be sped up considerably…”

This was also why he eagerly rushed to participate in the Penglai Martial Arts Conference on Martial Saint Island.

In Penglai, Grandmasters were everywhere, providing the external stimuli he needed.

It would also allow him to appreciate the martial arts essence of various sects and further refine his pure martial artist system.

He had already felt this advantage during his Sparring Partner sessions with Xu Weiguo and the eight Protector-level figures from the evil martial alliance.

Now, with an intelligence point of 28 and near-demonic comprehension skills, just sparring a few times with someone allowed him to learn their moves.

He could then discard the dross and integrate the essence into his pure martial artist system.

The difficulty in his breakthrough to Grandmaster was also related to this.

He had already studied a plethora of techniques, and his foundation was extraordinarily solid. During the breakthrough attempt, he continuously expanded and enriched his martial arts system, further solidifying his foundation.

Therefore, the difficulty coefficient for breakthrough kept rising.

Of course, once he succeeded, the rewards would undoubtedly exceed common expectations.

This was what Lu Yuan had always anticipated.

Lu Yuan casually pulled out a thick, old notebook from his pocket.

This was the [Evil Emperor’s Manuscript], the Legacy of the evil martial alliance’s past Evil Emperors, recording their insights and experiences in cultivation.

This notebook originally belonged to Protector Rou, that hefty guy. After getting a good beating from Lu Yuan, he obediently handed it over.

Lu Yuan had already flipped through the [Evil Emperor’s Manuscript] several times.

Most of the content detailed the application techniques of the power of the evil deity possessed by successive Evil Emperors and the various lethal moves developed based on these powers.

Many of the effects of the power of the evil deity were things Lu Yuan had never heard of, and the strange and imaginative moves developed by the past Evil Emperors were even more varied.

Surprisingly, this turned out to be quite enlightening for Lu Yuan.

He even discovered that one of the Evil Emperors had mastered the power of the crow deity from the crow deity sect. The few special moves developed from this had given Lu Yuan new ideas for utilizing death energy.

However, this particular Evil Emperor had left very few notes, probably due to his constant dealings with death energy and his lack of belief in the crow deity, resulting in his early demise.

In addition, the manuscript also contained insights on breaking through to the Grandmaster Realm in the evil martial path.

For an evil martial artist, breaking through to the Grandmaster Realm held much greater significance than for an ordinary martial artist.

Almost every evil martial artist who walked the path aimed to fuse the two types of power-pure martial arts and evil energy- to achieve their ultimate ideal realm.

However, Lu Yuan noticed that although many Evil Emperors in history had successfully broken through to the Grandmaster Realm, none had achieved the “ideal effect.”

Their Strength certainly surpassed that of average Grandmasters, but they still fell short when matched against top-tier emissary level adversaries.

Even when the evil power they wielded reached the emissary level, and both their pure martial artist and evil energy domains attained an S rating, they still couldn’t touch the boundaries of level SSS.

“It seems like the people in the evil martial alliance took the wrong approach…” Lu Yuan thought.

“Beyond SS, merely stacking Strength isn’t enough; one needs to explore the potential of mental will. It’s similar to what I learned from Yellow Bear: the standard for level SSS isn’t just higher than Grandmaster’s will, but involves a second stage of mental light.”

So…

Lu Yuan pondered, “In that case, using the evil deity projection as True Intent for martial arts was actually a fortunate move, a genuine path to greatness.

The extraordinary martial arts path I’ve been pursuing might well be the true evil martial arts road that generations of evil martial alliance martial artists have been seeking. Could I genuinely be the predestined Evil Emperor?!”

A sense of sudden joy and inexplicable accomplishment welled up from within him.

However, even with this realization, Lu Yuan knew he had yet to reach the final destination, and he was still uncertain if this path would prove viable.

For now, he was still feeling his way through, moving cautiously every step of the way.

However, he possessed one incomparable advantage.

He had his professional panel. If he discovered that the path ahead was a dead end, he could stop at any time and choose a different route.

Apart from his insights into the Cultivation of evil power and pure martial arts, the remaining content in the manuscript was a collection of little secrets from past Evil Emperors.

For instance, there was the stone slab that recorded the Sky Wrath of the feathered serpent deity, noted by the predecessor before last.

No wonder it became common knowledge throughout the entire evil martial alliance.

There were also some chaotic and twisted writings and symbols.

Lu Yuan speculated that these could be the ramblings recorded by past Evil Emperors who eventually succumbed to the evil deity’s consciousness before their minds completely deteriorated.

After all, the power of the evil deity was not something an ordinary person could perfectly handle.

Evil energy was the bait left by ancient evil deities in the mortal world. The more one mastered, the deeper the corruption.

Until they either became complete minions of the evil deity or… faced self-destruction.

Of course, having the professional panel on his side made him an exception.

With these thoughts, Lu Yuan closed the manuscript and took out the hearts of the two elephant deity emissaries.