Mysterious Martial Arts: The Record of the Swordsman

Chapter 345 Where Water Runs Deep, Dragons Are Born

"Whether it's utter nonsense or not, you know it in your heart."

Jiang Wen shook his head, then turned to look at Yuan Chengzhi and said in a deep voice, "Brother Yuan, don't fight him head-on. You just need to engage him in a prolonged battle, constantly depleting his internal energy and forcing him to continuously circulate his power. When the sacred fire within him burns him out, he will naturally be defeated and die."

Subsequently, Yuan Chengzhi changed his tactics, no longer engaging Yu Zhenzi in a direct confrontation, but instead relying on the agility and unpredictability of the Golden Snake Manual to constantly dodge and seek opportunities to launch surprise attacks.

Although Yu Zhenzi's martial arts skills had greatly improved, Yuan Chengzhi, who had the psychological advantage, seemed to be displaying his true strength. His every move was flawless, and for a time, Yu Zhenzi was completely restrained.

Jiang Wen stood aside, watching the battle unfold. His eyes were fixed on Yu Zhenzi, and he saw that the redness of Yu Zhenzi's skin was getting deeper and deeper and his breathing was getting more and more rapid. Suddenly, Yu Zhenzi struggled to take a step forward and once again used his internal energy to pounce on Yuan Chengzhi, his speed three times faster than before.

However, when the Golden Snake Sword and the longsword clashed again, this time, Yuan Chengzhi anticipated an overwhelming force coming from the sword. He then used the Golden Snake Sword to parry diagonally, and the strange weapon turned at a subtle angle several times, managing to lock Yu Zhenzi's longsword firmly in his grasp. With a pull, a draw, and a deflection, the longsword immediately flew out of his hand.

"What...did you do...?"

The speed at which the Sacred Flame Technique spreads far exceeds what ordinary people can imagine. The intense flames and the ultimate goal of burning oneself that used to require gradual practice can now be achieved without Yu Zhenzi having to deliberately try to figure it out. It is like a continuous tide rising up, vast and unstoppable.

Yu Zhenzi clutched her throat and staggered backward, while Yuan Chengzhi caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of his eye that horrified him—

The sleeve of Yu Zhenzi's Taoist robe was torn in the collision, revealing his arm. His original skin seemed to have disappeared, and the ash patterns evolved again and again, eventually covering the arm with fine and terrifying cracks that looked like tree bark!

"Look at his hands..."

People in the crowd began to gasp in shock, because Yu Zhenzi seemed to be suffocating, frantically tearing at his robes. After several struggles, his upper body was completely exposed, covered with these strange patterns.

As Yu Zhenzi struggled in agony, the color of the wood-like cracks changed, from light purple to dark brown, and then to a strange, deathly white, and became unusually uneven.

It wasn't the smooth shine of a wound scar, but a dry, matte finish like moldy tree bark after being exposed to dampness. Even from a distance, you could sense a rough, uneven texture, as if countless tiny roots were emerging from under the skin, pushing up the thin epidermis.

The bloodthirsty spectators watched, seemingly able to feel the intense pain of the skin being violently pulled, along with a deeper, bone-deep itch, originating from the countless tiny tapeworms wriggling beneath the skin, gnawing at the flesh with an itchy pain.

"Ah... what is this?!"

Yu Zhenzi couldn't help but scratch, but when he desperately scratched his skin, what flowed out was not bright red blood, but a pale yellow, viscous liquid with a faint, rotten, sour smell. And the wood-like patterns that were scratched suddenly became thicker and deeper than before, with several small forks appearing on them.

Even more horrifying was that these wood-like cracks were opening and closing with his breathing, like countless mouths and noses buried under his skin. Yu Zhenzi frantically pressed, grabbed, and tore at them with his hands, but after he had scratched his chest, back, and belly until they were covered in blood, the wood-like cracks did not disappear. They seemed to have only closed briefly before opening again, and even wider.

Amidst Yu Zhenzi's cries of pain, more new lines grew from the split wound, each with the same breathing gill slits. They were like a group of greedy little mouths, vying to breathe in the air of this world!

During the struggle, a drop of liquid flew out and splashed onto the face of a martial arts practitioner. At first, he blankly tried to wipe it off, but then his skin suddenly convulsed violently, as if it were corroded by sulfuric acid, and his blood vessels dilated, as if it were about to burst out of his body at any moment.

Intense pain spread across his face. The martial artist tried to suppress it with his hands, but felt an extremely strange and disgusting writhing sensation beneath his palms, instantly plunging him into a state of collapse and despair. After blindly running a couple of steps, he stumbled and lost his footing, falling from the precipitous peak of Tongtian Rock. Only a long and desperate wail echoed through the mountainside...

The martial arts practitioners who were watching quickly retreated, afraid of being contaminated by this unclean substance. However, a few people sniffed the stench and muttered to themselves.

"This smell... it's somewhat like catalpa wood?"

Jiang Wen moved about on high alert, trying to prevent Yu Zhenzi from taking the opportunity to harm people. But the scene was too bizarre. Looking at the dense, wood-like cracks in front of him, he felt that Yu Zhenzi had transformed into a monster wearing human skin, and something even more terrifying might shed its skin at any moment.

He vaguely guessed some of the truth.

The drawback of the Sacred Fire Technique is that when one reaches its peak, the meridians will be burned to death. This is an inherent flaw that this technique has been unable to overcome since its inception. Once all twelve regular meridians and eight extraordinary meridians of the body are ignited by the raging fire, the internal organs will instantly fail under the devastation of the extreme yang internal force.

At this moment, the wood-grain-like cracks on Yu Zhenzi's cheeks, seemingly chaotic and terrifying, were actually spreading along the meridians and acupoints of his body. The center of the cracks was often where the acupoints were located. It seemed that he was releasing the threat brought by the internal force of the Sacred Flame Technique in this way, balancing the internal and external pressures. Rather than being affected by the strange martial arts, it was more like he was adapting to and overcoming the defects of this technique in a more bizarre way!

Suddenly, a distant and terrifying roar rang out. Jiang Wen was staring at the wood-grain-like gill slits on Yu Zhenzi's neck that were opening and closing, but his gaze was also drawn to the unusual bulge on his forehead. Clearly, the area above his head had changed again!

The bulging veins there looked like the result of excessive exertion, or a swelling left from a fight. Jiang Wen recognized it as the location of the four Shencong acupoints on the top of the head. At this moment, a smooth fleshy mound protruded from under the skin, pulsating with Yu Zhenzi's heavy breathing, like a live egg buried between the skin and flesh.

At this moment, all that could be heard was the synchronized opening and closing of the wood-grain-like gill slits on Yu Zhenzi's body, accompanied by a sticky and nauseating breathing sound. The color of the fleshy mounds was slightly lighter than the original skin color, with a sickly pinkish-white hue. At this moment, because they were so taut and shiny, one could even clearly see the crisscrossing, root-like tumor-like blood vessels underneath.

The fleshy mound is growing abnormally at a visible rate, extending upwards and to both sides from the center of the Shencong acupoint, gradually revealing a pair of vertical and immature outlines, which are actually like the pair of soft fleshy horns on the head of a calf that has just emerged from the mother cow's womb!

"What kind of monster is this?!"

The martial arts world was dumbfounded, having never witnessed such a bizarre scene before. They racked their brains but couldn't come up with a suitable explanation, so they all turned their gaze to Jiang Wen, hoping the leader of the Wuyi Sect would provide an explanation.

Since this was caused by stealing martial arts from your Wuyi Sect's "Langhuan Blessed Land," as the sect leader, you should know its origin, right?

Jiang Wen, observing everyone's gaze, coughed lightly twice and pointed at Yu Zhenzi, explaining, "This is the 'Withering and Flourishing Zen Technique,' originating from the Duan royal family of Dali. When the Buddha Shakyamuni passed away in Kushinagar, between the twin Sala trees, one withered and the other flourishing, this technique focuses on cultivating the duality of withering and flourishing."

Someone from the Xiantian Sect asked, "Sect Leader Jiang, this doesn't look like the withering and flourishing of trees, it looks more like a calf! Does your Wuyi Sect have any Bull Demon Divine Skill?"

Jiang Wen said calmly, "This is what you don't know. The Withering and Flourishing Zen Skill is a rare skill in the world, and it can be practiced either way. Therefore, some people have a withered left cheek and a rosy right cheek; some have a decaying upper body and a vibrant lower body. And the one in front of you has a mouth below the head and horns on the upper body—look closely, those aren't cow horns, they're clearly tree branches."

Given Jiang Wen's current pivotal position, even if he said what grew out of him was a television antenna, people would believe him. Then Jiang Wen reminded everyone:

"Don't think he's easy to bully now. He's currently entangled in both withering and flourishing energies. The withering energy can instantly destroy an enemy's meridians and life force, while the flourishing energy can cause an enemy's wounds to grow wildly and mutate. If you get too close and end up with your liver and gallbladder all over, don't come begging to me."

Seeing that he had scared away the martial arts figures who were eager to seize the credit and find the treasure, Jiang Wen signaled to Yuan Chengzhi, Feng Daode and the others with his eyes not to go forward, lest they catch some strange disease. He was pondering the true nature of the matter.

The so-called "Zen of Withering and Flourishing" is obviously a lie. What kind of kung fu in the world can trample evolutionary theory underfoot and make oneself grow a mouth or horns at will in the blink of an eye? But there is one thing Jiang Wen did not make up: he genuinely believed it was related to trees.

Like the wood-like patterns that cover his entire body, like roots underground, and the opening and closing gills are the leaves that breathe, and the opposite corners are the branches that grow from his body towards the sun and reach for the sky.

This change did not appear out of thin air, but was a manifestation of the ancient power within him, proof that he was being assimilated or constantly evolving and sublimating.

Jiang Wen can connect chickens with basketballs, so he can naturally connect trees with cows—

This all began with the discovery of the ox-headed jade figure in the Hongshan Civilization, because the evolution of this civilization exhibited a key characteristic that clearly distinguished it from other early civilizations in China.

………………

Later excavations revealed that the Hongshan Culture, which was in the altar-temple-mound period, was not mature in terms of material, cultural and military aspects compared with other civilizations of the same period. It could even be said that it was not yet ready to make leaps. However, public power that transcended clan organization still emerged here. It was able to identify status and class with jade and hold a consistent belief ceremony, directly embarking on the path of centralized theocracy.

Everything seems to point to one answer: the religious personnel of the Hongshan civilization at that time actually possessed the resources and abilities to communicate with the gods, thereby making up for their deficiencies in material culture and even military strength!

At that time, writing had not yet appeared or matured, so the name of this bull-headed deity was unknown. Later generations could only guess at it based on the sound and form in ancient books. However, between the pre-Qin and Han dynasties when "King of the Western City" was active, historical records did indeed contain a secret about the bull-headed deity.

In the seventh year of Duke Xiang of Qin's reign (771 BC), the State of Shen, allied with the States of Zeng and the Quanrong, attacked Haojing, the capital of the Zhou Dynasty. They killed King You of Zhou at the foot of Mount Li, marking the end of the Western Zhou Dynasty. At that time, Duke Xiang of Qin had led troops to aid the Zhou Dynasty, achieving great merit in battle. As a result, the State of Qin was formally enfeoffed as a vassal state by King Ping of Zhou and granted land west of Mount Qi.

However, he died on his way to conquer the Western Rong. His son, Duke Wen of Qin, as the second ruler, inherited his father's ambition to strengthen the state. Two major events occurred during this period, which were quite prophetic: one was the acquisition of the meteorite "Chen Bao" from outer space, and the other was the felling of "Nanshan Dazi".

The Records of the Grand Historian, Qin Annals, records this event very briefly: "In the twenty-seventh year of Duke Wen's reign, he attacked the great catalpa tree in the southern mountains, which was greatly appreciated."

The "Collected Explanations" of the Records of the Grand Historian quotes Xu Guang as further enriching the story: "There is a Nu Te Shrine on the old road of Wudu today, which depicts a large ox with a tree growing on it. An ox emerges from the tree and is later seen in the Feng River."

Cao Pi added in "Biographies of Strange Things": "Duke Wen of Qin cut down a catalpa tree, which transformed into an ox. Duke Wen sent a rider to attack it, but the rider fell to the ground and his hair was disheveled. The ox was afraid of it and went into the water but did not come out. It was submerged in the Feng River. Qin then erected the Nu Te Shrine."

Cao Pi's record influenced Li Daoyuan, who wrote it in more detail in his "Commentary on the Waterways Classic". He said that the "Great Catalpa Ox God" mentioned in the record was originally a sacred tree in the hearts of the Qiang people, and the bull hidden in or carved on the Great Catalpa tree was a totem animal worshipped by the Qiang people. In order to appease the bull god who was angry about losing the Great Catalpa tree, the Qin people built the "Nute Temple" in Wudu County for worship.

But here's the problem: the Qin people felled the giant catalpa tree and drove the sacred ox from within it into the Feng River. In essence, this was a spiritual conquest of the Rong and Qiang people. For peoples with lower levels of civilization, spiritual conquest is often more important than military conquest. So why would the victors build a shrine for the Qiang deity they had defeated? It was clearly the Qin warriors who scared away the ox god; shouldn't the warriors be made door gods instead?

Therefore, regarding the phrase "In the twenty-seventh year of Duke Wen's reign, he felled the great catalpa tree of Nanshan, which yielded great wealth," later generations offered a completely different interpretation than the ancients.

They believe that while this legend can explain "Feng" referring to the Feng River, "Date" referring to the miraculous bull, and even connects to later customs ("Hu Zhi Fa Tou," which imitates loose hair) and local shrines (the "Nute Shrine" in Wudu County), it cannot explain the causal relationship of this event. A more historically accurate interpretation is needed, based on historical research and considering geographical and ethnic names.

"In the sixteenth year, Duke Wen led his army to attack the Rong, and the Rong were defeated and fled. Duke Wen then gathered the remaining people of Zhou and took control of their land, which extended to Qi. He then offered the land east of Qi to Zhou."

Duke Wen of Qin waged war against the Qiang people to continue his father's unfinished work of conquering the Western Rong. As early as the sixteenth year of Duke Wen's reign, the Qin state defeated the Western Rong, expanding its territory eastward to the core area of ​​Zhouyuan in Qishan. This allowed Qin to reclaim many Zhou dynasty remnants who had been trapped there due to the Quanrong rebellion during the reign of King You of Zhou, as well as many Western Zhou wooden slips, scriptures, and palace artifacts.

Therefore, Japanese sinologist Takikawa Shigen wrote in his "Annotations and Textual Research on the Records of the Grand Historian": "Da Zi, Feng, and Da Te are probably Rong names."

According to this interpretation, "伐南山大梓，丰大特" does not describe cutting down trees or obtaining sacrificial offerings, but rather a military campaign launched by Duke Wen of Qin in the Nanshan region against Rong tribes named "大梓", "丰", and "大特". This campaign was aimed at preventing a counterattack by the Qiang people after Qin had reclaimed the former territory of Zhouyuan in Xiqi.

Jiang Wen suspected that both accounts had merit, and the clue lay in the so-called "hairstyle" mentioned in the accounts.

The term "maotou" refers to a hairstyle without any embellishment. Even the Imperial Guards of the Han Dynasty had a unit with such hair at the front. According to the "Xuanzhong Ji" and "Lieyi Zhuan", it originated from the myth of Qin Dynasty warriors with disheveled hair defeating the "Great Ziniu God".

Upon closer reflection, when Duke Wen of Qin attacked the Qiang people, a bull emerged from under a catalpa tree on Nanshan Mountain. This bull possessed extraordinary abilities; after knocking down a warrior, it was frightened away by a disheveled Qin warrior. Disheveled hair, in particular, is a common posture used by shamans in a state of madness when communicating with deities.

Doesn't this mean that the miraculous power of "Nanshan Dazi" was transferred from this ox to the Qin warrior, turning the tide of the war against Qin and winning a decisive victory? Only in this way can it match the prophecy after obtaining "Chen Bao" that "whoever obtains the male pheasant will rule the world."

For Duke Wen of Qin, the worshipper, the external objects, such as "Nanshan Dazi" or "Dazi Niu Shen," were merely vehicles, while the supernatural phenomena hidden behind them were the core. Therefore, although Duke Wen of Qin won, he was still willing to build a shrine to worship the ox, and he took the image of the ox rather than the catalpa tree as the core, calling it "Nute".

Nu means anger, and Te means bull. The reason why Duke Wen of Qin was always victorious in his campaigns against the Qiang people was that he discovered a special thing that allowed his soldiers to enter the state of disarray when communicating with the gods as shamans, and to attack fiercely like an angry bull, by taking some kind of secret treasure that he had seized when he attacked "Da Zi", "Feng" and "Da Te".

The same "spiritual communication," the same bull head—perhaps the bull-headed deity worship of the Hongshan Culture somehow spread to the Fengqi Zhouyuan region in the west, while the secret treasure of Duke Wen of Qin somehow ended up in the hands of the "Xicheng Wangjun" clan in southeastern Shaanxi. However, the "Nute" at that time was not nearly as terrifying as it is today, and some unknown changes may have occurred during that time...

Just then, Yu Zhenzi suddenly looked up at the sky and roared, as if he had been awakened by some strange power.

"Everyone be careful! Although the Sacred Flame Technique has injured his body, he probably still has a third form!"

As Yu Zhenzi moved madly, the horn on his forehead suddenly throbbed violently, emitting a low, muffled buzzing sound. This sound pierced everyone's eardrums and drilled directly into the minds of the martial arts practitioners, making them dizzy and nauseous.

Immediately afterwards, all the wood-like gill slits on Yu Zhenzi's body opened to their maximum size, emitting a deafening breathing sound that intertwined with the buzzing of the horns, creating a bizarre and maddening resonance! (End of Chapter)