The Portal of Wonderland

Volume 2, Chapter 456 The Truth About The Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art

"It would be helpful if my senior would elaborate further," Shi Mu was sufficiently shocked at its words, but on the outside, he managed a helpless chuckle.

"There is a reason why Stone Monkey is infamous—very little has passed down through this bloodline, if at all. Evolving one's Stone Monkey bloodline into that of the Skyshielding Monstrous Ape… well, it's more likely a pipe dream," The elderly ape in green robe explained unhurriedly. "Still, as a possessor of this bloodline, you'd managed to integrate two of the Grand Ancestor White Ape's essential blood and triggered the Inherited Memories of the Heavenrouser anyway… Impressive, I'll give you that."

Shi Mu was a bit tongue-tied. There must have been many like him who possessed the Stone Monkey bloodline, but most of the humans did not even end up being an official martial artist—at the very most, they were just slightly more powerful than a normal human with no special bloodline of any kind at all. Hence, one could only imagine the chance of any of these abundant Stone Monkey heirs to ever, ever come in contact with the essential blood of a Skyshielding Monstrous Ape.

In other words, Shi Mu had been very, very lucky.

"On the other hand, Senior Green Ape... This lowly one had a strange dream just now… Could it be related to any of the Inherited Memories?" With a slightly alarmed face, Shi Mu started to describe the war he had witnessed in his dream, including the appearance of the bizarre three-headed behemoth ape with six arms.

"Ooh, now this is one of those memories I would have never expected you to unlock," The elderly ape remarked in palatable surprise.

"Anything special about it, though?" Shi Mu asked.

"You don't really have to think much to know what that is, to be honest. It was the last battle the Grand Ancestor White Ape was ever involved in," The elderly ape explained. "Heavenrouser has a mind of its own—and a very mysterious mind at that, which would be the most likely reason why it reenacted the scene for you. That ought to be good…"

"B-but the Grand Ancestor White Ape has always been so powerful. Just what kind of terrible enemies could possibly kill him? Was it… Was it that nine-headed Jiao dragon?"

"Please. That nine-headed tapeworm with some ceremonial, golden scales? Back when that White Ape fella hadn't practiced the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art, that worm managed did a good job at being a pest, but once White Ape managed to succeed in parts of the cultivation, hoo boy," The elderly ape sneered dismissively, "One finger was all it took to crush it into dust."

Shi Mu took a sharp inhale of breath. A simple clone of the nine-headed Jiao dragon already possessed the powers of the crux of Heaven-rank—which meant that the real Jiao dragon must have possessed powers above Saint-rank. If something as powerful as that still couldn't rival the White Ape (or its finger) … how powerful was the White Ape?

"Just who managed to slay the Grand Ancestor White Ape? How did that even happen?" Shi Mu asked after a few moments of hesitation.

The elderly ape in green robe frowned as it tried to remember, but that effort ended with a shake of the head. "Unfortunately, I don't know. I'm just an insignificant strand of the Grand Ancestor White Ape's spirit, kid. Why'd you even expect me to know every trivia, eh?" The elderly ape said sourly.

Shi Mu shook his head, "Well, it's a shame, anyhow."

The elderly white ape's fingers started to rub against the wine cup before it said, "I still wonder: Are you one lucky human fledgling… or is the opposite more true?"

Shi Mu was sufficiently confused, so he asked, "Why does Senior Green Ape think so?"

"Well, I can tell from the essential blood in your body that you'd not only inherited the memories of Grand Ancestor White Ape's Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art; You even started practicing it already, didn't you?"

Shi Mu nodded, "True."

"Hee hee hee. Practicing the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art recklessly will get you into a dogpile sooner or later, kid," the elderly ape declared, its voice suddenly seeped with just enough twinge of schadenfreude.

"Wait, what? How? Why?"

"Do you know that the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art is intertwined with some sort of mystical, ineffable destiny? Once you started practicing it, you could never stop—you'll have to keep at it, bringing your Qi into cycle after cycle, until you've consummated all nine cycles. Did you know that?"

"I… I… No, this junior did not know this," Shi Mu answered, genuine with his shock. "Senior Green Ape, what will happen if the practice stops?"

"Well, the practitioner suffers withdrawal effects of the Mysterious Art! If you're lucky you lose all of your cultivation base completely, but the top prize would be to have your body blow up on its own," the elderly ape replied flatly as it snuck a side-way glance at Shi Mu.

He may not have shown any sign of fear on his face, but inwardly, Shi Mu's heart tanked.

"However, judging from your squishy human body, I would be reasonably confident that you have yet to truly evolve your bloodline into the Skyshielding Monstrous Ape bloodline, yes? Even if you did manage to inherit the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art, you should only be able to reach its first level, am I right?"

"Senior Green Ape is truly perceptive. This junior would like to know how to obtain the rest of the practice."

"Uh… Look, this is a pretty long story, but basically: Due to a bet with an acquaintance, Grand Ancestor White Ape left the technical discourses of the second and third level of Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art within Heavenrouser, which is now in your possession already, hence allowing you the chance to practice it," the elderly ape explained. "The problem is that Grand Ancestor White Ape then swore never to reveal the latter six levels to anyone."

"In other words, I'll never be able to fully consummate all nine cycles of the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art, and so is fated to die painfully while losing all of my cultivation efforts," Shi Mu said somberly after a deep breath, "Senior Green Ape, if you know of any way that could avert this, please enlighten this junior, who would forever be indebted to such kindness."

The elderly ape poured itself a cup of wine and sipped slowly before placidly replying, "There is one way of obtaining the rest of the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art. You'll have to go to where Grand Ancestor White Ape further its cultivation—The Holy Land of Qing Lan."

"'Holy Land of Qing Lan'? Where's that?" Shi Mu's eyebrows furrowed as he probed.

"Sorry kid, this part is a complete blank for me, so you'll have to go looking for it on your own. Hey, at least I'm sure it's within this starfield dimension! Now, let me be a killjoy before you started getting too hopeful again—don't you think it's all going to be hunky-dory once you got to the Holy Land of Qing Lan," The elderly ape seemed to have read through every thought in Shi Mu's head, and so once again threw Shi Mu in for a rude awakening. "The Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art is known as the solitaire of all cultivation techniques practiced within the Holy Land—simply put, it is hailed as a nonpareil power. Not only that, every disciple of the Holy Land of Qing Lan is a prodigious genius—and still not many of them ever managed to complete all nine cycles throughout millions of years."

"Yes, the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art is truly filled with profundity. As such, this junior would devote himself earnestly to its full completion," Shi Mu said, determined.

"Ho ho ho! Devotion? How nice would it be if the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art could be completed through sheer devotion alone!" The elderly ape smirked, before adding sarcastically, "I don't recall you being the only one with a surplus supply of devotion throughout history, so I guess every other practitioner with a trove of devotion all manage to consummate the Art after all, huh?"

"If there is any secret of the practice, it has eluded this junior. Please, do not hesitate to enlighten him," Shi Mu said respectfully.

"Like this old geezer had told you, kid, the practice of the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art depended on a sort of mystical, ineffable Qi and destiny. Hence, it didn't matter which starfield dimension or which planet one's from—the only few people who could ever had the chance of practicing the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art are those who had been bound by this destiny. And by 'bound', I meant that only the chosen one could ever reach the consummation of all nine cycles, while every other practitioner of the art that did not—no matter how powerful they are at the moment—automatically become disqualified by that destiny. Their end? Complete debasing of their cultivation effort… every mote of it."

"So there could only be one person who will truly master the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art, because once someone succeeds, the others all automatically fail?!" By this point, shock was blatantly creeping into Shi Mu's voice.

"Right you are, kid. There could only be one person among the massive group of disciples in Qing Lan to ever master the Art, simply because there can only be one. Back then when Grand Ancestor White Ape had practiced the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art to its penultimate stage, hundreds of prodigious disciples—each a genius with frightening talents in martial arts and cultivation in their own right—all instantly lost their power and cultivation base. These streams of powers then flowed into Grand Ancestor White Ape like water, pushing its body to instantly consummate the entirety of the Art in one go… And thus, a legend was borne!"

"W-what the hell?! What kind of ruthless cultivation technique forces everyone's power to—Did no one escape this complete defeat at all?" Shi Mu's voice was cracking.

"Nope. Throughout hundred millions of years since the birth of the Holy Land of Qing Lan, every single disciple who had ever practiced this art would all face the same fate with no exception," The elderly ape said with heavy emphasis.

It was then when a single thought roused in Shi Mu's head, causing his heart and expression to sink even further.

"Hoo hoo, look at that face, human fledgling! Now that's the face of a realization. You get it now, don't you? Every single practitioner of the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art is the nemesis of the others. They would resort to killing their brother if they ever found out that he is a fellow competitor, or else they risk losing everything they've got. The tragedy of killing your own brothers and peers for the sake of power had stained the history of the Holy Land red for million of years," the elderly ape continued. "Those hundreds of practitioners who had lost their cultivation base the moment Grand Ancestor White Ape reached the ninth cycle were considered lucky. At the very least, they remained alive at the moment, and so they could at least watch the glory of the technique coming to fruition with their own eyes."

Shi Mu shook his head and laughed dryly. "This technique is such a magnificent, royal pain in the neck."

"Which is why no matter how powerful or talented they are, the moment a genius start practicing the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art, they'll do everything to hide that fact," the elderly ape paused for a while, and then continued, "The same goes to you, kid. You need to hide the fact that you're a practitioner lest you want someone to squeeze your life out of you—and mark my words, they will do so without any shred of hesitation."

There was a long moment of silence as it befell Shi Mu.

"Hey, hey! Don't get all grouchy now. Ever since Grand Ancestor White Ape consummated the Art which then caused the phenomenal cessation of cultivation base over hundreds of disciples in the Holy Land, very few people had dared to practice it anymore."

"Oh come on, Grand Ancestor White Ape had died about thousands of years ago. Surely there are now many newcomers who had picked up the Art once more, no?" Shi Mu questioned almost instantly.

"Don't worry. See, there is a building called the Soul Alcove in the Holy Land, where every disciple would light a Spirit Lantern there. It functions as a microcosm of their life: as long as the disciple lives, their Spirit Lantern would live on. Grand Ancestor White Ape may have already died thousands of years ago, but because of the existence of a certain strand of spirit locked inside Heavenrouser—that's the old geezer here, by the way—the Grand Ancestor's Spirit Lantern is still up," the elderly ape explained.

Shi Mu exhaled a breath hearing the elderly ape's words, "Oh, there's such a thing? Phew, what a relief—"

"But! It's been a very long time, hasn't it? It's starting to become quite grueling to continue my own existence, frankly. In fact, I'm afraid my existence is coming to an end," the elderly ape suddenly changed the mood of its tone between sly chuckles, "Once the Grand Ancestral White Ape's fire's out, who knows how many challengers would emerge all of a sudden, just to take a shot at its power, huh?"

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