Chapter 106: Martial Arts Secret Manual: Celestial Horse Mountain Heroic Chronicles
Chapter 106: Chapter 106: Martial Arts Secret Manual: Celestial Horse Mountain Heroic Chronicles
"I’m no Great Hero."
Zhu Ge was unmoved.
A Great Hero—that was a title for those in the Great Realm, a common term for what were known as Great Powers.
And it was exclusive to the Martial Dao.
For this Bamboo Stick Insect to call Zhu Ge a Great Hero was like calling a low-level clerk a department director.
But Zhu Ge was not someone easily fooled, and he continued his steady staff strikes.
’The method for changing the silver staff...’
Zhu Ge carefully tried to comprehend it.
How he used the silver staff would determine his Combat Value for a long time to come.
As long as he used it well, this True Level Star-picking Silver could absolutely unleash immense power!
"Great Hero! I was wrong! Great Hero!"
"I’ll be your pet! I’ll be your pet, okay, Great Hero?"
"Great Hero, I was really wrong! I have a secret manual, a Martial Arts Secret Manual! I’m willing to offer it to you, Great Hero!"
"Great Hero, Great Hero! If you bludgeon me to death, the secret manual will be gone forever!"
WHOOSH—
The silver staff stopped. Zhu Ge looked at the Bamboo Stick Insect before him, a trace of suspicion on his face. "Really?"
"Really, really! I’m willing to submit! Oh, oh, oh, right, right, I have a secret manual too!" the Bamboo Stick Insect shrieked.
"That Martial Arts secret manual is called the *Celestial Horse Mountain Heroic Chronicles*! I’m willing to give it to you, Great Hero!"
*Celestial Horse Mountain Heroic Chronicles*!
*Zhi*—this was a literary genre, a type of historiographical format for compiling Historical Records that centered on classified accounts of regulations, social phenomena, and natural conditions.
For example, the *Records of the Three Kingdoms* or various county annals.
In other words, this *Celestial Horse Mountain Heroic Chronicles* should be a record of the deeds of certain people known as "Heroes" in the region of Celestial Horse Mountain.
’It’s really a Martial Arts secret manual?’
Zhu Ge narrowed his eyes. "If you’re lying to me, you’re dead... Jianjian!"
"Coming!" Liu Jianjian trotted over, her eyes shining as she looked at the Bamboo Stick Insect. "Is this it?"
Zhu Ge nodded.
The Bamboo Stick Insect before them suddenly raised its head. "What... what are you going to do?"
"Weren’t you just offering to submit to me?" Zhu Ge grinned.
The Bamboo Stick Insect looked panicked and was about to resist when it saw Liu Jianjian suddenly pluck a strand of hair from her head and throw it toward the creature’s head.
"Hunt!"
The Demon Qi on Liu Jianjian’s body surged, rolling into the strand of hair.
The next moment, the hair transformed into a long spike in mid-air and plunged into the Bamboo Stick Insect’s body at a speed it couldn’t react to.
"Refine!"
Liu Jianjian’s demon heart throbbed violently.
"No, no!!!" the Bamboo Stick Insect shrieked in terror. The reflection of a hedgehog’s silhouette suddenly appeared in its two tiny, sesame-seed-sized eyes.
It was Liu Jianjian’s true form!
In less than a minute, the Bamboo Stick Insect’s entire body turned into a swirl of garish colors, as if it were a swimming pool full of paint being drained, and was absorbed into the long spike Liu Jianjian had just formed.
SWISH—
The long spike quickly returned, transforming back into a single black strand of hair that settled on Liu Jianjian’s head, looking no different from the rest.
"Finished?"
Zhu Ge was curious.
Although he knew the contents of the *Demon Hunting Divine Technique*, this was the first time he had seen how a demon was actually hunted.
"It’s done..." Liu Jianjian’s voice held a trace of weakness. "I’m only in the Mid-Transformation Realm, so my Cultivation is about the same as this Bamboo Stick Insect’s. Subduing it was a bit difficult."
"Alright, you should rest for a bit," Zhu Ge said with a nod.
"This Bamboo Stick Insect seems to have a way of integrating metal into its body. It’s probably an ancient, unusual species."
"Also, it has a Martial Arts Secret Manual like the *Celestial Horse Mountain Heroic Chronicles*. Its origins must be extraordinary. When you’ve recovered, let it out so we can ask some questions."
"Okay, Master. I’ll cultivate for a bit then." Liu Jianjian closed her eyes, sat down cross-legged, and began to circulate the *Demon Hunting Divine Technique*, pulsing her demon heart to recover her Demon Qi.
Normally, a Transformed Demon Beast should have an endless supply of Demon Qi. But Liu Jianjian had clearly been drained of over ninety percent of her Demon Qi in an instant, which was why she needed to recover like this.
After about half an hour, Liu Jianjian opened her eyes. All the Demon Qi had returned to her body, and her demon heart was once again hidden within her chest.
"Master, I’ve recovered." Liu Jianjian slowly exhaled, her expression immediately becoming somewhat excited.
"I just had a brief chat with the Bamboo Stick Insect. His name is Sword Hero... actually, I’ll just let Sword Hero tell you himself."
As she spoke, a strand of hair from her head detached on its own, expanded, and instantly transformed into the shape of the Bamboo Stick Insect, Sword Hero.
"Sword Hero?" Zhu Ge asked curiously. "Why would you choose a name like that? Tell me about your origins."
"Yes, Great Master!" Sword Hero crossed two of its legs and clasped them together, mimicking the Human Race’s gesture of cupping one’s hands.
"I was originally a Demon Beast from Celestial Horse Mountain. After accidentally devouring a Spirit Level metal vein, I advanced to the Spirit Realm. Later, a Martial Dao Hero took me in as a pet."
"However, that Hero later died, taking his enemy down with him, and so he released me back into the mountains. This *Celestial Horse Mountain Heroic Chronicles* was his Martial Arts Cultivation Technique Secret Manual."
’A Hero?’
Zhu Ge slowly nodded.
"Then why did you want to take a human pet?" Liu Jianjian asked strangely. "Taking a human as a pet? Is there really such a thing in this world?"
Sword Hero replied helplessly, "Little Master, the entire world is already falling apart. If the Human Race can take the Demon Race as pets, why can’t the Demon Race take the Human Race as pets?"
"Besides, I got used to being by my former Hero’s side, so I thought I’d just take a random human pet. At the very least, I’d have someone to talk to and relieve the boredom."
"Someone to talk to? To relieve the boredom?" Liu Jianjian looked utterly shocked.
"That... that makes so much sense! I always thought so many Demon Beasts were stubborn and primitive, drinking blood from raw flesh. They’re not nearly as fun to talk to as humans!"
"That’s why I always looked for Spirit Realm or Transformation Realm beasts to talk to, but so many Demon Beasts are territorial. They’d attack me as soon as I entered their domain."
"My dear sister, why didn’t I think of that before? If I took a human pet, I could chat with them every day and not have to worry about being attacked..."
The more Liu Jianjian spoke, the more excited she became, her eyes practically glowing.
"Alright, that’s enough out of you two," Zhu Ge interrupted, speechless.
Sword Hero was a male Bamboo Stick Insect, and Liu Jianjian was already calling him "my dear sister."
It seemed that gossip and chatting were indeed one of the ways for so-called "dear sisters" to get closer.
However, Zhu Ge had no intention of letting Liu Jianjian take a human pet.
Otherwise, putting everything else aside, a Confucian Scholar like Yu the Scholar alone would verbally assail him to death.
Assail him to death in every sense of the word.
"Do you know what bloodline you have?" Zhu Ge asked Sword Hero.
"I don’t know." Sword Hero shook his bamboo-stick-like head. "My former master, Sword of Blade Light, was just an Anger Realm Hero. In Qujing City, he wasn’t qualified to look up such secret and valuable knowledge."
"Fair enough." Zhu Ge nodded.
"In any case, now that you’ve joined us, just focus on helping us. You can recite the *Celestial Horse Mountain Heroic Chronicles* for me later."
There was no need to worry about the loyalty of a Demon Beast subdued by the *Demon Hunting Divine Technique*.
Therefore, Zhu Ge was quite at ease with this Sword Hero.
"Next, you can practice your staff techniques. From now on, watch me practice, and once you’ve got the hang of it, you can spar with me," Zhu Ge said.
"Huh? Me?" Sword Hero pointed at himself with a slender leg, his face looking like a bitter melon. "O-okay."
Beside them, Liu Jianjian’s expression was one of pleasant surprise. "That’s great! Sword Hero, from now on, you’ll be in charge of sparring with Master!"
"You’ll join too." Zhu Ge glanced at her. "You need to learn how to fight alongside the Demon Beasts you subdue."
"But let’s put that aside for now. There’s a Demon Beast up ahead."
"Back to training!"