Chapter 214 - The Mystery of the Stone Tablet
Chapter 214: The Mystery of the Stone Tablet
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Plkch!
Blood splattered all over his chest.
The excited Wang Shoutao shuddered and stared at the man in front of him in disbelief.
“W-why…”
Plkch!
The short sword went in again, deeper this time, and came out of his back.
‘Wang Shoutao, who was terrified, confused, angry, and indignant, died before he could get an answer.
Pu!
‘The man pulled out his short sword, flung away the beads of blood on it, and licked his lips.
He gently pushed Wang Shoutao’s body to the ground and smiled evilly.
“Why?
“A stupid pig is a stupid pig. You even asked?
“Don’t you know that the best way to make sure a person keeps a secret is to turn him into a corpse?
“Only the dead can keep secrets!
“Pui!”
He lowered his head and spat on Wang Shoutao’s corpse. Then, without looking back, he turned around and walked towards the door.
‘When he opened the door and walked out of the house, he pressed the switch, leaving Wang Shoutao’s corpse lying on the living room floor.
Su Jingxing, who had pressed himself against the wall in time, activated Advanced Hearing and listened to the man’s movements.
When he walked out of the corridor and took the elevator, he made a call to a third person.
“It has been resolved.
“Don’t worry, I destroyed all the surveillance cameras in advance. No one will find out that I did this.
“Don’t worry. I’ll call the crematorium later.
“That’s it. I’ll be right back.
After hanging up, the man really dialed the number of the crematorium’s customer service office and told them that there was a corpse here.
After hanging up, he took out his SIM card, crushed it, and threw it away.
Su Jingxing kept listening. While the man walked out of the building and towards the entrance of the estate, his body flashed and he entered Wang Shoutao’s house from the balcony. He quickly searched around but did not find the stone tablet or Soul Nurturing Stones.
Immediately, he quickly left through the balcony, caught after the man who had just gotten into the car and hung behind him.
In the latter half of the night, the man was driving down the relatively empty streets. He was in high spirits as he sped along with music playing.
Su Jingxing followed him all the way to an entertainment clubhouse in the Northern District.
There were many people in the magnificent clubhouse.
Su Jingxing stopped outside and listened to the man’s movements.
After entering the clubhouse, the man greeted people all the way and went to the top floor of the building.
“Were you followed?”
In the large office on the top floor, a deep voice that sounded like a low cannon boomed.
“You can trust me when I do my job.”
‘The man replied lazily, “That fellow thought that I would give him the treasure medicine for a complete transformation. From the beginning to the end, he didn’t tell anyone else and kept cooperating with me. After we finish him off tonight, this matter will end here. The stone tablet and stones are ours!”
“By the way, Big Brother, why are so many people searching for this stone tablet? Is there some secret about it?”
“You don’t have to know that.” The dull voice sounded again. “After a busy night, you can go back and rest.”
“No, I have to look at the stone tablet and stones again.”
‘The man said firmly, “I know, Big Brother. You’ll give them away tomorrow. Let me get my fill of looking at them tonight. Perhaps I can unlock the secret of the stone tablet?”
“Alright, I’ll let you have your fill,” replied the dull voice teasingly.
“Hehehe, Brother, don’t laugh at me. What if I really unlock the secret?”
The deep voice did not respond.
Su Jingxing, who had arrived at the rooftop, heard the sounds of a mechanism moving.
Then, he heard the man sigh again.
“Tsk tsk tsk, good stuff. These stone tablets and stones are definitely good stuff. Unfortunately, no one can unlock their secrets.
“Fortunately, heaven isn’t blind and allowed them to fall into our hands. Tonight, let me crack their secrets one by one!”
After this chunibyo declaration, exclamations could be heard from time to time.
“Be careful, don’t drop them,” a dull voice warned.
“Don’t worry, don’t worry, Big Brother! You can trust me!”
‘The man’s delightful voice responded.
On the rooftop.
Su Jingxing, who was wearing a cloak and a mask, smiled when he heard this.
“Ican indeed rest assured now. The stone tablet and the Soul Nurturing Stones have not been transferred away!”
Sighing inwardly, Su Jingxing controlled his body and gently descended.
Just as he was about to appear, he suddenly sped up and entered the room through the open window.
“What…”
Buzz!
The air vibrated.
An invisible pressure suddenly erupted and accurately covered the entire office.
Su Jingxing circulated his 400 years of true energy cultivation and formed a terrifying suppression that enveloped the entire floor. It pressed the man and a tall and handsome middle-aged man to the ground, leaving them immobile.
‘The Soul Nurturing Stone in the man’s hand fell to the ground with a clang.
The room he was in now was a cubicle. The half-open door was a row of bookshelves.
Clearly, the mechanism he had just unlocked earlier was the bookshelf and there was a secret chamber behind it.
Su Jingxing floated over and scanned the secret chamber. He found the stone tablet and three Soul Nurturing Stones that Huang Qian and Wang Shoutao had brought back from the river.
‘There were also many other items in the secret chamber, Energy Gathering Stones, special treasure weapons, and strange tools.
After scanning through them, Su Jingxing put them all into his palm space.
The stone tablet and the three Soul Nurturing Stones were naturally included.
“Who… who are you…”
From the corner of his eye, the man who saw Su Jingxing’s movements sprawled on the ground and warned with difficulty, “We… we are from the Qi… Li Family. You… you stole our things. Aren’t… aren’t you afraid that the Li Family will find trouble with you!”
“You can even get your cover-up wrong. Impressive.”
Su Jingxing lowered his head and glanced at this young man who could be considered handsome. He said in a muffled voice, “Don’t worry. As you said, only the dead can keep secrets. Be it the Qi Family or the Li Family, you won’t live to see them again.”
“No…”
Swish!
A throwing dagger flashed past, and the young man only had time to spit out a single word before his head was penetrated. He died with his eyes wide.
‘The middle-aged man trembled in fear and hurriedly spoke up with difficulty.
“Wait… wait… I…”
Swish!
Another throwing dagger continued to flash past, and the middle-aged man was cut off.
[Card+2]
“What would I wait for? I’ve already said that only the dead can keep the secret. Wait?”
Su Jingxing shook his head and walked towards the desk. He operated the computer that was switched on and found the surveillance footage of the office.
Instead of deleting it, he moved the entire console out and stored it in his palm space.
Then, he used the phone on the desk to call the crematorium’s customer service office and informed them that there were two corpses here.
After hanging up, he leisurely left through the window and headed straight into the night sky.
‘An unexpected surprise.
This was a pleasant surprise.
A Memory Card that he had extracted by chance eventually gave him the third stone tablet and three Soul Nurturing Stones.
Su Jingxing already had seven Soul Nurturing Stones in his possession. Together with these three, that made ten of them.
‘There were a total of 12 Soul Nurturing Stones in the entire set, and he was only missing the last two.
As for the stone tablet.
Before this, Su Jingxing had only seen photos of it. This was the first time he was seeing one with his own eyes.
After returning to his small courtyard at the foot of the mountain, Su Jingxing took out the stone tablet and observed it.
‘The mysterious feeling became clearer.
The more he looked at the mysterious patterns on the stone tablet, the more magical it was. It was as if little figures were jumping around.
Su Jingxing didn’t know how the others felt, but as he stared, he felt that the patterns on the stone tablet were coming alive!
It was as if little figures were dancing on the stone tablet and posing.
Then, their postures kept changing. One moment they were neat, the next moment they were messy.
In the end, all the little figures gathered together —
Whoosh!
A bright glow suddenly flared before his eyes, and he had no choice but to close them.
His powerful perception spread out immediately and covered the stone tablet.
Buzz!
Su Jingxing’s body trembled, and so did the stone tablet.
‘Their frequency seemed to have reached a common point at this moment.
‘The next second, a bunch of complicated information appeared in Su Jingxing’s mind.
This bunch of information was like countless ropes of hemp, me you and you in me. It kept winding, intertwining, and coiling.
Amess described the current situation in Su Jingxing’s mind.
Yet this extremely complicated piece of information could move on its own.
As it moved, it triggered Su Jingxing’s heart, and for some reason, he felt frustration surge.
It was a frustration and impulse that made him wish he could scratch his scalp and destroy everything. It made him wish he could destroy everything in his sights.
Roar!
Along roar.
Su Jingxing decisively condensed the Heaven Trampling Elephant to run through his sea of consciousness.
The Martial Art True Intent of the Sishui Horned Dragon was released as well. It circled around his mind.
A dragon and an elephant attacked the ball of information from the front and back.
The former bit, while the latter trampled.
‘The mess of information was gradually separated. The frustration and destructive desire that surged in Su Jingxing’s heart slowly disappeared.
After a while, the message became clearer.
Only then did Su Jingxing absorb the information and use it for himself.
Then, his eyes widened.
“Full Moon Breathing Technique. This is actually a martial art, a mental martial art!?”
The mysterious patterns on the stone tablet turned out to be a martial art!
A mental.
Er, it seemed like it isn’t just the mind, the soul is also involved.
As long as I absorb the essence of the moon during the full moon, my soul would be strengthened?
In any case, it targets the soul and has nothing to do with the physical body.
As for soul martial arts, they were rare to begin with, and any one of them was a hot commodity.
The Mind section of the Colossal Divine Dagger that Su Jingxing cultivated was not a mental martial art, but mental control.
The Heaven Origin volume in the Three Origins Saber Art was a mental attack.
Unfortunately, it was already lost. Deduction was very troublesome, and Su Jingxing had yet to have the chance to obtain the complete version.
Although this Full Moon Breathing Technique recorded on the stone tablet was not an offensive martial art, it was very helpful to the soul. As for the specific aspect, Su Jingxing couldn’t tell for now.
He had a feeling that this martial art was very powerful, but it didn’t just increase his soul power.
‘There were no records of what exactly happened, and Su Jingxing had to figure it out himself.
In any case, Su Jingxing had made a killing.
“There are martial arts recorded on the stone tablets. Only this one, or on all three of them?”
Su Jingxing calmed his breathing and his mind.
That’s right. There were a total of three stone tablets. The one Su Jingxing obtained contained martial arts, but what about the other two?
Su Jingxing didn’t believe that the Changyang Prefecture Army and Bu Qing from the Martial Suppression Office didn’t study the patterns on the stone tablets after obtaining them.
‘As long as one sensed the patterns, they would trigger the information recorded on it.
Although this information was a mess and was very difficult to crack, if not for Su Jingxing’s powerful soul power and the help of the Sishui Horned Dragon and the Heaven Trampling Elephant, he wouldn’t have been able to crack it either.
However, this did not stop the people who were sensing the patterns from guessing what the information was.
Su Jingxing had heard that some martial arts could not be recorded in words and illustrations. Instead, they were imprinted on special items through mental imprints.
‘When reading and absorbing, one also had to condense their mental power to envelop it.
‘The Full Moon Breathing Technique was probably such a martial art.
The two other stone tablets most likely also contained such martial arts!
“Tsk, we haven’t even entered the underground palace yet, but I’ve already gotten some gains.
“That Crimson Moon Martial Sage sure is generous.”
After experiencing the mysteries of the Full Moon Breathing Technique, Su Jingxing sighed.
Moments later, he cut out many unnecessary thoughts and fell into deep pondering.
All three stone tablets have been found.
What should I do next?
Find Gu Zhanlin and Bu Qing, meet up with them and head to the depths of the Green Cloud Mountain Range together?
No!
Su Jingxing immediately dismissed the idea.
Gu Zhanlin represented the Changyang Prefecture Army, and Bu Qing represented the Martial Suppression Office.
Both were major factions and were official organizations.
Su Jingxing was an individual. He would be lucky if he wasn’t suppressed when he worked with them.
It would be unrealistic to want more benefits.
Even if Su Jingxing’s true energy cultivation was more than 800 years and he had Martial Art True Intent and secret abilities, it was still unrealistic.
‘The best way was to find and link up with a major faction no weaker than the Changyang Prefecture Army and the Martial Suppression Office to negotiate with them.
Su Jingxing quickly locked onto his target.
‘The Hundred Flower Valley!
Previously, he had done them the favor of delivering a corpse, and they had agreed to travel to the underground palace together.
The Hundred Flower Valley was the most suitable candidate.
At this thought, Su Jingxing made his decision.
The next night, after nightfall.
After putting on his equipment, Su Jingxing headed straight for the Wang Family’s residence again.
Along the way, he suddenly had a thought. He changed direction and landed on the top of a building.
“Come out!”
His deep voice reverberated through the rooftop.
His powerful perception spread out. In the next second, Su Jingxing turned his head to look behind him on the right. His gaze was fixed on a man in a white suit and trousers.
It’s this fellow?
Su Jingxing was secretly vigilant.
Lu Wuchang!
The man standing in the dark corner behind him was none other than Lu Wuchang from Ci En Bank.
‘The third-grade expert with terrifying intuition.
“Relax.”
Lu Wuchang spread his hands, indicating that he was harmless. “I was just passing by and happened to see a friend. I have no other intentions.”
Su Jingxing remained silent.
No other intentions?
Does he think I’m a three-year-old?
This fellow suddenly appeared midway and followed me across half of the Central District.
No other intentions?
Who are you kidding!
“Um…”
Seemingly realizing that Su Jingxing had seen through his trick, Lu Wuchang smiled awkwardly and shrugged.
“Alright, I did follow you on purpose. However, I really have no intention of harming you. I only followed you because I wanted to ask you a question.”
Su Jingxing remained silent.
“Ahem!”
Lu Wuchang coughed and said helplessly, “My question is, is the third stone tablet in your hands?”