Here Lies The Wicked

Chapter 44: Hand Copied Secret Book

‘Finish this bowl of donkey-hide gelatin solution, improve body balance and prevent coughing!’

Fang Zheng finished the whole dose of black, oily medication in one go.

The next moment, the Qi and blood within his body burned like an oven. His boundless Qi and blood in his limbs and bones made the all too familiar pain of his body in turmoil travel through his entire being.

Fang Zheng did not hesitate and immediately began to train the Maha Golden Immunity Shield.

With this abundance of Qi and blood available to be consumed, another secret art was successfully trained by Fang Zheng to completion.

’12th Level, complete!’

Unlocking the second stage of Maha Golden Immunity Shield, a golden bell covered his entire body.

A vision of a bell found in Buddhist temples seemed to materialize out of light. It seemed to be made out of pure gold and looked ancient. It was solid like iron, covering Fang Zheng’s entire body. The bell protected him from all physical harm, and not even fire and water could get in. It was as though there really was a golden sun in the sky, bedazzling in its glory.

Fang Zheng finally breathed out, and the ancient bell disappeared only to reform as a layer of membrane that clung to his skin.

It was not unlike the membrane snakes used to protect themselves.

The membrane was golden in color and glittered in the light. If one were to attempt to cut this membrane open, they would find that it was made of 12 tightly overlapping layers.

Fang Zheng was extremely pleased. Now that he had fully trained his Maha Golden Immunity Shield, it could take on two forms.

They were the bell and the membrane respectively.

The bell was the complete form, it was a comprehensive defense, with seemingly no blindspots.

However, there were always pros and cons. The cons of the bell form were that it cost a lot to maintain, and required sufficient Qi and blood to support it.

Moving on, Fang Zheng focused entirely on training the Nine Yang Divine Power.

The last time he tried it he had insufficient Qi and blood and could only draw out a sliver of power before he was forced to cut short his training.

However, now that he had the rush of bio-energy carried by the Qi and blood, true Qi was cycling according to the daily cycle.

Nine Yang Divine Power is considered a skill that utilized the Yang Inner Strength[1].

Therefore it could only be trained in the day, in order to draw out true Yang energies. When a full rotation of the day cycle had finished, Fang Zheng finally understood why it was only optimal to train in the day.

A strand of special energy orbs from the sun that had not been seen in a long time followed the circulation of true Qi which was drawn into him and had melded with the true Qi. In the blink of an eye, the true Qi caught aflame as though drenched in oil and set alight. This was the divine flame of the sun!

“Oh!”

Without warning, Fang Zheng suddenly spat out a mouthful of bright, red blood. His internal organs had been seared by the heat, and the burning sensation was traveling throughout his meridians. The pain was intense.

Such pain as this was akin to breathing in when surrounded by an inferno. The flames were burning through one’s airways and innards.

His physical strength was insufficient!

His meridians were not tough enough!

Therefore he could not withstand the overwhelming force of the true Yang Qi that was now coursing through his body and destroying it from within.

The divine flame of the sun that was being channeled within him by The Nine Yang Divine Power was exponentially fiercer than that of the Diamond Immune Arhat. The Diamond Immune Arhat was more subtle and was focused on slowly taming the wildfire through the process of training.

It was nothing like the Nine Yang Divine Power, which ignited the true Qi upon being channeled.

‘F*ck!’

“It seems like the difficulty of training The Nine Yang Divine Power is great. Following the strengthening, it has been passed down.”

At the moment, the effects of the blood replenishing medicine were still active.

After he stopped training, the limitless Qi and blood made his body feel as though it were expanding again. Unable to bear it, Fang Zheng could only continue to another Rare Manuscript.

The very thought of it made his balls ache.

The Nine Yang Divine Power was really a b*tch to deal with.

He had failed in training it two or three times in a row now.

Even the Sacred Book of Tendon and Marrow Transformation, one of the three Great Divine Powers[2], was not as troublesome.

Following that, Fang Zheng’s gaze turned to the Maha Golden Immunity Shield. He decided to take the opportunity to try and see if the skills contained within the manuscript could be strengthened a second time.

Originally Fang Zheng intended to strengthen the Diamond Immune Arhat. By subjecting his body to great strain in order to strengthen his constitution and meridians, he thought it would contribute towards training for The Nine Yang Divine Power.

However, he had to give it up.

The reasons were simple. The Diamond Immune Arhat could only be trained at noon because to do so earlier or later would invite mishap.

Furthermore, he really needed one Rare Manuscript right now.

Picking up the Maha Golden Immunity Shield, Fang Zheng was getting ready to begin the strengthening process when he suddenly stopped.

He had a sudden flash of inspiration.

“I wonder if it would be possible to copy a Rare Manuscript by hand, and chose to strengthen the skill on the copy?”

If that were possible, that would be extremely beneficial in the future.

On that thought, Fang Zheng was unable to repress his curiosity and immediately began to copy the Rare Manuscript by hand.

Following that, Fang Zheng began to write furiously, his hand moving rapidly.

His writing was tremendously fast.

As though he were possessed by a master of the Grass Script[3].

‘Hm.’

It really was a master of the Grass Script.

Fang Zheng had never had any thoughts of bringing the manuscript to a printing store for it to be photocopied, or to take pictures on his phone and print them out.

Modern middle to high range printers will possess an automated scanner for photocopying. It was entirely possible that in an average printing store, there would be the identification cards of hundreds of individuals stored within their machines.

‘It never hurts to be cautious’.

Not long after, a volume of the Grass Script Master’s greatest work, the Rare Manuscripts of Martial Strength, was all copied.

With the Human Skin Scripture in one hand and his only original copy of the Maha Golden Immunity Shield in the other, Fang Zheng focused and chanted “Maha Golden Immunity Shield, strengthen!” to himself.

Holding his breath, not daring to blink, Fang Zheng watched closely for any changes in the Human Skin Scripture

A single symbol began to slowly fade.

Like a dying star, it faded away. And then a second symbol began to do the same. At the same time, the hand-copied Rare Manuscript Maha Golden Immunity Shield began to undergo extreme changes.

A divine light began to descend.

A familiar scene recreated itself.

The pages began to flip themselves rapidly, endlessly blurring, morphing…

Maha Golden Immunity Shield (II)!

The strengthening was a success!

The Grass Script had also turned into authentic writings as though from an illustrious and renowned master, with an abundance of antiquated mystery to them.

“So that’s how it is.”

Fang Zheng’s eyes were full of joy.

On previous occasions, Fang Zheng had already discovered something interesting. Every time the strengthening succeeded, the words and diagrams in the fake Rare Manuscripts would undergo a tumultuous change. What once were just crude reproductions that were downloaded from the internet, had turned into legendary works of art.

Style gives birth to elegance, the Dragon’s Ink births a new chapter.

Fang Zheng began to flip through the brand new Maha Golden Immunity Shield (II). It turns out that the original 12 layers of tiny borders were now doubled to 24.

A few black lines appeared on Fang Zheng’s forehead.[4]

According to that line of thought, at the third level of strengthening, would it not be 36 layers of tiny borders and 48 at the fourth? At the very end, would it be more than 100 layers? Perhaps hundreds of layers?

Whew!

Fang Zheng breathed out some cold air, causing his molars to ache dully.

The sensation of his balls aching persisted.

However, at that moment, his phone suddenly vibrated. Someone just tagged all the members of the student group!

[1] Inner Strength is a concept of Chinese martial arts which allows the user to sustain greater amounts of damage through the mitigation, fortification of resistance, and to a certain extent, self reparation of said damage.

[2] This most likely is a variation of the real world Four Great Divine Powers of Shaolin, as the Sacred Book of Tendon and Marrow Transformation is listed within it.

[3] A form of Chinese Calligraphy that focuses on speed. The words written are very often compared to a handwritten prescription from a GP.

[4] This is not dissimilar to anime or cartoons when the character is portraying their feelings of helplessness or mild displeasure.