Legend of Zhan Zhao

Chapter 25 Invincible Divine Mirror, Lotus Heart Treasure Mirror

"what?"

"Why did the fight start?"

Guo Huaiji followed Guo Huai into the temple, without uttering a single word, but his heart was filled with a thousand thoughts.

What puzzled him most was the change in his godfather's attitude.

He was particularly baffled by this sudden attack.

But he had to retreat to the sidelines.

A sudden gust of wind arose in the arena, and the two sides immediately began to fight.

"This is the Lotus Fragrance Finger Technique!"

"Please enlighten me, young friend!"

Guo Huai stretched out both hands and thrust them straight at him.

His name is quite elegant, as if it were used by a girl, but his ten fingers are not only incredibly fast, but also sinister and ruthless.

It targets the most vulnerable gaps in the human body, and with the wind blowing around it, it can change its moves at any time and attack different vital points.

With the thumb hooked at the center of the chest, a burst of internal force can shatter the heart meridian;

With the index finger pointing towards the eye, the fingertip as sharp as a cone, gouging out the eye only takes a moment;
Then, use your little finger to trace the energy flow from your dantian (lower abdomen) to your dantian...

All of this makes him rise like a ghost, his fingers like poisoned daggers, each move bone-chilling, each step deadly.

As for why it's called Lianxiang?
The lotus blossoms when the finger falls, and the fragrance lingers even after a person dies.

The eunuch Lianxin, who created this martial art, liked this kind of contrast.

At this moment, Guo Huai was like a venomous snake, coiling around its prey, neither in a hurry to kill, waiting only for the moment when the other party showed signs of fatigue.

But this time, the opponent is not the prey at all.

'Nice move.'

'It's a pity the person wasn't quite there.'

Faced with the approaching force, Zhan Zhao made a quick assessment in his mind, and without even putting down the broom, he simply took a step forward.

The two figures separated and merged in an instant, so fast that they left afterimages in the eyes of Guo Huaiji, who was watching from the sidelines.

One moment Guo Huai's ten fingers were still covering his vital area, the next moment Zhan Zhao had already casually moved behind him.

Immediately afterwards, Guo Huai's palms struck like venomous pythons emerging from their lair, aiming straight for the heart, only to see the monk's robe sway and vanish like a reflection in water.

Zhan Zhao's toes darted across the ground, leaving no ripples as they stepped over the stone slabs; only the sound of his clothes rustling through the air echoed like a dragon's roar.

Guo Huai's first move demonstrated superior martial arts skills and profound expertise, clearly indicating that he had put in a lot of hard work.

However, it was unrealistic for someone like him, the Grand Eunuch and a confidant of the Empress Dowager, to devote himself entirely to martial arts training.

It's even less likely that they would frequently get into fights with others.

Therefore, Guo Huai, Jie Wen, and Zhao Wujiu are all masters of the same level.

However, in terms of the purity of his skill, he is not as good as Jiewen.

In terms of combat experience, he is inferior to Zhao Wujiu.

Ever since.

Every time the finger technique began, Zhan Zhao had already accurately predicted the landing point. The two figures moved swiftly and gracefully, without any physical collision or confrontation.

Lotus Fragrance Finger Technique?

You need to be able to hit someone first!
"Tsk!"

Guo Huai knew that his opponent must have a high level of martial arts to have defeated the Four Great Constables. However, he was confident in his own skill and originally planned to gradually show his opponent the superiority of his martial arts by starting with the easy ones and gradually moving on to the difficult ones. He was moved by the result.

"Good good!"

"I underestimated you. It's time to show my true abilities!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Guo Huai gradually withdrew his finger, and the true energy of his entire body surged outward, condensing into a solidified aura.

With each step, a red lotus imprint is left on the brick and stone ground, and seven steps in a row burst into flames, as if karmic fire paved the way for the journey.

The fierce wind seemed to freeze the air, and the chilling atmosphere was suffocating.

"This is the Cleansing Qi—please enlighten me!!" "Oh? That's more like it!"

Zhan Zhao's eyes lit up; it was this power that he had initially sensed as a threat.

Guo Huai's own martial arts skills were just so-so, but the technique he mastered was truly formidable.

But the solution remains the same.

Zhan Zhao's figure shifted rapidly, weaving through the gaps in the qi like a dragon playing in the waves.

Each time, at the critical moment, the sword energy would deflect the sharp edge of the qi, but it would be like a silver fish circling a reef, swimming and piercing along the barrier of qi.

Sometimes it's like a light drizzle, sometimes like crashing waves.

This forced Guo Huai's impenetrable aura circle to repeatedly expand, only to quickly contract again to avoid being penetrated by the sword energy.

This was repeated time and time again.

Even so, it was still difficult to restrain Zhan Zhao's movements, which were as fluid as flowing clouds.

"Let's stop!"

Guo Huai's powerful internal energy was still able to sustain him, but after several attempts, he still couldn't gain any advantage. He clapped his hands together and simply gave up.

Seeing his opponent withdraw his inner energy and retreat gracefully, Zhan Zhao also slowly stopped.

no more, no less.

He took exactly sixty-four steps.

When the last step was taken, we returned to the starting point.

With a sweep of the broom, the scattered fallen leaves were gathered back at the feet.

"call--"

Guo Huai's chest heaved, his expression revealing admiration: "Seeing is believing, young friend! Your martial arts talent is truly astonishing, and your future is limitless!"

"I also took a shortcut..."

Zhan Zhao bowed.

He did indeed take a shortcut.

To counter Guo Huai's offensive, one could move freely under the influence of Lianxiang Finger Technique and Jingshi Gang Qi, which was not difficult.

However, to kill Guo Huai, one must truly break through the Cleansing Qi, which presents a different kind of difficulty.

"A prolonged battle is pointless; we cannot win, so we must retreat."

"However, our family's skills have not yet reached their full potential, but this is not the fault of martial arts."

Guo Huai was not a pure martial artist to begin with, and he readily admitted defeat. He then began to introduce the technique: "This is the Lotus Heart Treasure Mirror, a superior martial art derived from the Invincible Divine Mirror."

"The Invincible Divine Mirror was created by Yang Sixu, a powerful eunuch of the former Tang Dynasty. He was known as the one who was invincible in the army. He led the southern and northern expeditions and pioneered the practice of eunuchs leading troops into battle. He was praised as 'the spirit of the sea and mountains gave birth to this military minister.' His status at the time was even higher than that of Gao Lishi."

"However, in the late Tang Dynasty, eunuchs caused chaos and controlled the court. Many eunuchs ran rampant inside and outside the court, causing chaos in the government. They also learned the 'Invincible Divine Mirror' and were difficult to eradicate, which aroused the hatred of the people."

"Finally, during the chaos at the end of the Tang Dynasty, whether intentionally or unintentionally, this divine skill was broken up, with various forces each taking a part, and it was scattered into many fragments."

When the topic turned to eunuchs causing chaos and bringing disaster to the world, Guo Huai remained calm, as if he were not a despicable eunuch, but rather a powerful eunuch feared by the entire court and the public.

"In this dynasty, a powerful eunuch named Lianxin collected most of the fragments, summarized and studied them, and finally created this 'Lotus Heart Treasure Mirror,' which ranks thirteenth on the Baiyulou Heart Method List."

There's something Guo Huai didn't say: the ranking of "Lotus Heart Treasure Mirror" seems to be four places lower than "Invincible Divine Mirror," but it is said that if one cultivates it to its full potential, one can transform Yin into Yang, and even eunuchs can grow beards and become majestic.

This was too tempting for a eunuch.

Therefore, any eunuch who had the means could practice the "Lotus Heart Treasure Mirror" more, and the highest achiever was Guo Huai, the steward who could use rare medicinal herbs from the palace to nourish his body and enhance his skills.

As he practiced, he discovered that this technique did indeed go to extremes at different times.

Before reaching full maturity, he was like a ghost, effeminate and sinister, known for his speed, strangeness, and cunning, which fits people's traditional impression of eunuchs.

But after reaching a high level, he becomes powerful and masculine, straightforward, bold and domineering.

However, since Lianxin's death, no one has been able to reach this level.

Guo Huai has only practiced making his voice deep and pleasant, no longer the treacherous and sinister one. After recounting the origin of his divine skill, he offered a condition: "If you solve the case of the 'Zhong Kui Diagram,' I am willing to give you the complete secret manual of the 'Lotus Heart Treasure Mirror,' along with a fragment of the original 'Invincible Divine Mirror,' for your perusal. What do you say?"

(End of this chapter)