Chapter 509: The Heavenly Master's Strategy Acquired
The Recovery
On a certain highway in Jiang Province, a stretch limo sped quickly from west to east.
Inside the car, Linda watched over the medical pod, carefully observing the situation within.
Jiu had taken a direct hit from the lightning. Even though the tiger phantom and the battlesuit blocked some of the energy, the remaining lightning still caused severe trauma.
He was barely clinging to life when he was placed into the pod. Fortunately, Luke was well-prepared. After injecting various expensive medications, his injuries were finally stabilized.
After confirming he was out of mortal danger, Linda returned to her seat and complained softly.
"You should have made him surrender then."
Having spent so many days with him and being called 'Sis' hundreds of times, Linda hadn't said it aloud, but she already considered the simple-minded boy her junior disciple.
Luke shook his head.
"It's not that I wouldn't let him. He wanted to fight. Jiu is simple, but his fighting spirit is surprisingly strong. He would never surrender." He paused, then sighed. "That kid's talent is truly astonishing. Much stronger than yours."
"Stronger than me?"
The girl was displeased and demanded, "Where is he stronger than me? Tell me, where?"
Luke didn't bother to argue. He closed his eyes, leaned back on the sofa, and communicated telepathically with Ava.
Linda glared at him angrily, but then, remembering the blood-red tiger roaring towards the sky, she couldn't help but feel a little doubtful.
The key to the Tiger Fiend Scripture was the surrounding tiger phantom. Having the form was the first step, having the spirit was the second, and having both form and spirit was the third. While the tiger phantom Linda condensed was powerful, it was superficial. Though Jiu's was smaller, it already carried a trace of the spirit and savagery of a ferocious tiger.
"He only practiced the first layer and achieved this much. Is his talent really better than mine?"
The girl clutched her hair, starting to doubt herself.
Luke spoke up at the right moment.
"Jiu grew up in the mountains, constantly in danger, and accustomed to fighting various wild beasts. He knows what killing qi is and how to make an opponent fear him. That's a natural talent that made it easy for him to master the Tiger Fiend Scripture. Unfortunately, mastering it is easy, but controlling it is hard. If he continues, he'll eventually turn into a beast. You, however, are different..."
He deliberately stopped there. Linda urged him on.
"How am I different?"
Luke poured a glass of red wine. Sipping it, he said, "While you are slow to practice, you have excellent control. Your future achievements will definitely be higher than his. As the old saying goes, slow work yields fine results."
Linda rolled her eyes, but she seemed satisfied with the flattery.
"Right, what are you planning to do next?"
"Go back."
"Back where?"
"Metropolis."
Linda was surprised. "You don't want the Heavenly Master's Strategy anymore?"
Luke tipped his head back and downed the wine. He opened his right hand, and an ancient book composed of data streams appeared in his palm. The pages flipped, and the flashing blue light illuminated his knowing face.
"I already have it."
Inside the Forbidden Area
In a secret chamber on Longhu Mountain, seven old Daoist priests from different temples each produced a stone slab. The slabs were fitted together to form a Bagua disk engraved with intricate and complex patterns.
The seven priests simultaneously performed hand seals, injecting their cultivation into the disk. The disk began to glow. Within the light, a faint, illusory gateway appeared. Peering through the gateway, one could vaguely make out an oil lamp, a prayer mat, a whisk, a pile of dry bones, a Daoist robe, and a stone table.
Zhang Huaixu, the Mountain Master of Longhu Mountain, bowed and stepped through the gateway. He carefully placed the Tiger Fiend Scripture on the stone table, bowed again to the dry bones, and then retreated.
The seven old Daoist priests withdrew their energy, and the gateway vanished. No one noticed that the book on the stone table shifted slightly the moment the doorway closed.
The Daoist sect had a Forbidden Area, but its location was a secret. Even the elders holding the stone slabs didn't know the exact spot. The only way to reach it was to merge the seven stone slabs and summon the gateway, much like summoning the Dragon.
The Forbidden Area was small, just a ten-meter-square room, dark, with no windows or door, surrounded entirely by stone walls.
In this dark environment, a faint blue light quietly appeared. The Tiger Fiend Scripture on the table automatically opened. The pages detached from the binding and turned into pools of metallic liquid. The liquids merged to form a palm-sized spider robot.
"Young Master, I have reached the destination."
"Specific location?"
"Four hundred meters underground, beneath Longhu Mountain."
"Begin scanning. Find what I'm looking for."
The spider robot crawled around the Forbidden Area. After confirming there were no hidden chambers, it returned to the stone table. Besides the Tiger Fiend Scripture, there were five other books on the table:
One written in Clerical Script, titled Dao Heart Demonic Seed True Scripture;Two written in Seal Script, titled Yin Nether Record and Blood Coagulation Artifact Catalog;The remaining two were written in an even older Bronze Inscription script: Yin-Yang Five Elements Technique and the Daoist supreme treasure—the Heavenly Master's Strategy.
Seeing the last book, Luke's breathing accelerated for a moment before he calmed himself.
"Examine all five books carefully. Don't damage them. Once you confirm there are no hidden sections or layers, copy the contents exactly as they are."
"Understood, Young Master."
The robot began its work. Before long, the Heavenly Master's Strategy appeared in Luke's hand as a data stream.
The Cheeky Kiss
Inside the car, looking at the blue, hovering book, Linda was full of questions.
"Are you sure that's the Heavenly Master's Strategy?"
"One hundred percent sure."
"But..."
The girl scratched her head, unable to understand. "Didn't we lose? Did you tamper with the table where the wooden box was placed and secretly copy it?"
Luke smiled and shook his head. "The item in the wooden box was fake. It was never the Heavenly Master's Strategy."
"Fake?"
"Of course it was fake. The Heavenly Master's Strategy is a Daoist supreme treasure. What is a supreme treasure? A supreme treasure is something you never bring out for outsiders to see. You didn't actually believe those Daoist priests would bet the real one, did you?"
Linda grew even more confused. She couldn't wrap her mind around it and finally turned her curious gaze toward him, saying with a mix of demanding and coaxing,
"Hurry up and tell me! What happened? Quickly!"
Luke pointed to his cheek.
"Give me a kiss. Kiss me, and I'll tell you."
"Dream on!"
Linda scoffed, turning her head away. Luke spread his hands.
"If you don't kiss me, I'll bury the secret forever in my heart and tell no one."
"..."
After a few seconds, a figure flashed quickly past, returning to its original position in less than a blink. Luke felt something touch his left cheek, but before he could register the adrenaline, the sensation was gone. He turned to see Linda sitting on the sofa with a serious expression, a beautiful flush of red on her face.
"I kissed you. Now you can tell me."
Luke: "?"
His fury instantly maxed out. Without a word, he reached out to grab her arm and pull her into his embrace. Unfortunately, even using all his strength, the girl didn't budge. Instead, she asked with a look of utter confusion,
"What are you doing?"
Luke coughed, subtly retracting his left hand.
"You had a mosquito on your arm. I was helping you swat it."
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