Chapter 66

He walked briskly and took the same route he came. Soon, he made his way back to the Pine River. At the moment, most of the pleasure boats were shut down for today. The colorful flags on these ships had been removed. Along the riverside, a few pedestrians were seen.

He soon found the ship on which he had drunk.

It currently came ashore with no one around on the deck. The yellow lanterns on it were swaying about at the mercy of the wind.

"It must have been closed for today now. Girls have returned home and it's time for cleaning." Le Xaan figured. Then, he strolled through the dock pier before hopping onto the cruiser.

"Anyone here?" Le Xaan shouted before walking down the deck.

The pleasure vessel was empty all around now, and the floor was free of dust, its aged wooden planks so polished that they gleamed.

Le Xaan walked through the cabin's entrance and was greeted with a narrow passageway. Through it, Le Xaan found his way into a hall. On either side were private rooms.

In front of every room was hung a small red lantern, emitting a light red glow, which made the place appear abandoned, covered in its hue.

"Anybody there?" Le Xaan surveyed the surroundings, spotting no one around.

"I recall that there were no red lanterns before the rooms earlier on..." Le Xaan squinted his eyes and tensed up.

The cabin had three floors, each floor with five rooms. In front of every room were hung red lanterns. The dim red glimmer dyed the cabin with its shade in an absolute stillness.

Drawing on his memory, Le Xaan walked toward the room where he had stayed not long ago.

On the left side of the hall were wooden stairs. Le Xaan climbed the stairs up to the third floor.

The moment he made his way to the private room, he cast a glance at the two red lanterns hung above and felt somewhat creepy.

Whoosh...

A gust of chilly air brushed past him. Le Xaan abruptly turned on his heel. Just a moment ago, he sensed something floating past behind him.

"Since Rollerson Prefecture had already been destroyed, I surmise that no ghost's type of entities should come and hassle me anymore. Perhaps I am too on edge. "

Discovering nothing strange, Le Xaan calmed down. Then, he spun around and reached out to push open the room's door.

"Creak."

The door sluggishly swung open to reveal the red illumination inside that another two lanterns cast.

"Anybody there?" Le Xaan yelled and walked in.

"Yes..."

Suddenly, a raspy voice rang out from behind Le Xaan.

Le Xaan whirled about momentarily and spotted an old woman who held a white lantern and stood at the doorway of the room.

Her face was full of wrinkles, calling to mind the cracked bark of an old tree. Her murky eyes were fixed on Le Xaan.

"Young man, you shouldn't come aboard now."

"I have dropped my item here. A waist pouch. I return to look for it." Le Xaan forced a smile.

"Well... Look for it carefully, carefully." The withered woman was expressionless and walked toward another room slowly, holding the lantern in hand.

Le Xaan watched her walk away before walking in and closing the door.

Then, he turned around and scanned the room.

The two lanterns were hung on a wall, shrouding the room in their ruddy color. And Le Xaan was sure that when he was here earlier on, these two lanterns were not in place.

He meticulously ran his hands around the seat he had taken. Sure enough, he found the waist pouch in the crevice between the cushions.

He untied the waist pouch and found the silver and golden certificates, Deumu Wann's note, and the paper wrapper containing the particles, the remnants of the Ghost Spirits, all in place.

Fastening the waist pouch at his hip, Le Xaan stood up and looked around, finding the shade of the red lanterns deeper.

A baffling feeling crept into his heart.

"I have to go." Le Xaan walked briskly up to the door and extended his hand, trying to open it.

But the door remained shut fast!

Le Xaan was startled and mustered his strength to pull hard on the handle. How could opening a door demand so much effort? It seemed to have been latched tautly from the outside. Even with Le Xaan's tremendous strength, he was barely able to create a small gap between the frame and the door.

"Something odd!" Le Xaan grew alert and mobilized his Dark Shadow Qi, channeling it into his arm.

"Boom!"

The door was forcibly yanked open while the wooden handle fell off. Le Xaan bolted out of the room and soon descended the stairs before scurrying through the narrow passageway.

Then, he made his way to the deck and dashed along before hopping onto the dock pier to the side.

Having stepped ashore, Le Xaan turned to glance at the pleasure cruiser.

It looked like what it used to be, empty all around with no trace of anyone. By then, Le Xaan felt more or less secure and could no longer sense threats.

Le Xaan stared long and hard at it once more before spinning around and darting toward the city.

Without stopping, Le Xaan raced along the streets back home. Le Xaan pushed open the door, entered, and then latched it with one hand. The room was pitch-black, with an icy air suffusing the space.

Le Xaan slowly walked up to the desk and took out a flint.

"Crackle."

Sparks flew over and landed on the wick of the candle before a plume of flame arose.

The dim candlelight illuminated Le Xaan's gloomy face.

"Perhaps this ship seems to have some links with ghost's type of entities. Rollerson Prefecture was gone not long ago. But now I stumbled upon a weird pleasure cruiser. I have initially planned to rest for a few more days. But, from the looks of it, I have to carry on with my training from this moment forth. I must make the most of my time to prepare myself for any potential threats."

Le Xaan walked away from the desk to the bed. Then, from beneath it, he pulled out a heavy steel chest. It was fixed onto a sliding groove. Without special means, ordinary people couldn't carry it away.

He took a small key from his waist pouch and inserted it into the lock. With a click, the box was opened.

Two brown cloth-covered booklets were placed in the chest.

Le Xaan picked one up and then closed the case, locking it securely once more.

"Evergreen Pine Chant."

On the cover, the three words were written in an elegant style.

Le Xaan flipped to the first page, browsing its summary, before starting to study the picture depicting an aged pine taking root into the cliff, the Meditation Chart, on the second page.

He focused his mind and watched it for a while. Then, he closed the manual slowly and sat cross-legged on the bed to meditate.

He had practiced this body-maintenance Qi cultivation method. However, it appeared to be in conflict with Jade Crane Skill. Every time its Qi emerged within his body, it would be swallowed up by Jade Crane Skill's.

This time, with no exception, as soon as Le Xaan managed to feel its Qi, Jade Crane Skill automatically activated and shattered the image of the green pine in his mind before replacing it with a crane poised for flight. The bird's cry assailed Le Xaan's ears.

"Sigh..." Le Xaan opened his eyes as he said, "The two inner body Qi cultivation methods clash with each other. So, am I to be trapped in such a deadlock, unable to make any progress?"

He grew agitated and unconsciously reached for his waist pouch, pinning its fabric in his fingers. Just then, he sensed the paper wrapper and came to realize something, astonished.

"This wrapper... contains the particles that the Ghost Spirits left behind, right?"

He unfolded the wrapper and found a pile of black powder within. But he remembered that this was not its original color.

"If I recall correctly, the pebble, the stone that the River Spirit left behind, helped me unseal the cheat tool. So, could it be that..." With his gaze transfixed on the heap of dust, a strange idea crossed Le Xaan's mind.

"Deep Blue!"

He called out inwardly.

Instantly, a blue window popped up before him.

Le Xaan examined the virtual interface and found no stats belonging to Evergreen Pine Chant. With hesitation, he shifted his gaze to the particles.

He took up the wrapper and then tilted it, dumping its contents into his palm.

After he obtained the powder, he didn't dare to let it touch his skin for fear that it might be corrosive or poisonous substances. However, currently, he didn't have many choices. Just give it a try. If something went amiss, he would simply toss it away.

Then, he bit down hard on his forefinger and milked a drop of blood out of it, dripping it onto the black dust.

"Sshhh!"

As expected, the moment the droplet of blood came into contact with the particles, wisps of white smoke wafted up. Soon, the black powder gradually turned white, its color fading away.

Now, Le Xaan felt a freezing cold sensation seeping into his palm.

"Would you like to conduct martial arts deduction?"

Almost immediately after the chilling sensation spread into his palm, a blue dialogue box popped up on Deep Blue's interface.

"As expected!" Le Xaan felt overjoyed. His guess was confirmed that such a function was indeed in place.

After he discovered that the Black Tiger Blade Style reached the Fourth Level, he had the suspicion that the cheat tool could rely on his pool of knowledge to deduct martial arts. As such, the Fourth Level of the Black Tiger Blade Style was created.

However, what happened to Black Tiger Blade Style didn't occur once more during the following period. Thereby, his guess was proven wrong, which left him confused.

But now, he realized that he needed the remnants of ghost's type of entities to fuel the deduction of martial arts.

"Back then, I used the River Spirit's pebble to unseal the cheat tool. Now, I depend on the particles that the Ghost Spirits left behind to deduct martial arts. It seems that the cheat tool is closely linked to ghost's type of entities." Le Xaan showed a smile of resignation on his face.

Soon, Le Xaan calmed down and focused his eyes on the dialogue box before him.

"Would you like to conduct martial arts deduction?"

"Yes."

After confirming his choice, it dawned on Le Xaan, for some baffling reasons, that all the martial arts listed by the cheat tool could be deducted and even fused with one another.

He felt that he had grasped hold of all these martial arts, which had become part of his reservoir of knowledge. He could remix them revolving around a set of martial arts that he chose as a hub.

Just like assembling a house with building blocks, he had many options for the structure and shape of it.

Currently, on the virtual interface, a few buttons trailed the lines of stats of martial arts.

Le Xaan scrutinized these buttons one by one.

"Dark Shadow could serve as a hub, merging with other sets of martial arts. This is the best option... Jade Crane Skill and Black Tiger Blade Style could do the same, both are good options.... Crashing Heart Palm is not bad either." Le Xaan dithered for a while and then said helplessly, "Unfortunately, the amount of the powder is too small, allowing for too few choices."

He found only two buttons available within the cheat tool's window: Black Tiger Blade Style and Jade Crane Skill.

"So I am left with only two buttons to choose from..."