Chapter 3843 — Designs on the Art

When a skilled cultivator of higher rank deliberately conceals his strength, one who surpasses him in power can see through the disguise without much difficulty; but one who is weaker has a far harder time of it.

By Nan Tianguan's reckoning, if the other party had been able to kill Nan Tianyong, then he must possess at least the strength of the late Foundation Establishment stage, and quite possibly even more than that. With Yu Jiang's modest mid-Foundation Establishment cultivation, it was only natural that he could not see through the man's concealment.

"Eldest Martial Uncle is wise indeed. And yet, from what this disciple observed, that fellow's strength truly did not match my master's—it was only that he hurled some great killing weapon, and my master, caught off guard, took the blow and was slain by that single strike. Otherwise, that thing would have been far from my master's match," Yu Jiang analyzed, his face steeped in grief.

Just what Wei Zhao's true strength was, he could no longer make out at all; but judging from that first exchange of blows, even if the man was stronger than himself, he could not be much stronger.

The chief reason his master-by-convenience, Nan Tianyong, had fallen for the trick this time was simply that he had underestimated his foe too greatly. He had not even used a martial technique before the great killing weapon was flung straight into his face—and thus was he slain by treachery.

Of course, Nan Tianyong need not have died at all; it was only his misfortune to have taken in a disciple as black-hearted and wolf-livered as Yu Jiang. With such a one at his side, death came easily enough.

"A great killing weapon?" Nan Tianguan's expression stirred slightly, and he said with keen interest, "Tell me in detail, Martial Nephew—just what manner of great killing weapon could slay the Third Brother with a single strike?"

The jianghu is a treacherous place, and the world of cultivation has ever been one where the strong prey upon the weak. Any cultivator with even a modicum of strength is sure to possess trump cards of his own for preserving his life—only some are effective and some are not, some are commonplace and some are monstrously formidable.

Be that as it may, if a thing can serve as a life-preserving trump card, then compared with ordinary martial techniques it must have something uniquely its own. And Nan Tianguan had always been deeply interested in other people's trump cards and killing moves.

It was not from any great curiosity on his part, but because the cultivation art he practiced was of a most peculiar kind—the Lesser Formless Divine Art.

In the cultivation world of Yunjie Island, there were five cultivation arts renowned far and wide for their formidable, heaven-defying effects, and held in the highest esteem; nearly every cultivator coveted them. History had proven time and again that whoever obtained any one of them was all but assured of one day ascending to the seat of a local overlord.

These five arts were collectively known as the Five Great Divine Arts.

Among the Five Great Divine Arts was one called the Formless Divine Art. It was said that with this art at one's side, any martial technique was at one's command—even one never painstakingly cultivated, once merely witnessed, could immediately be imitated, and its might would be in no way inferior to the original.

Beyond allowing its practitioner to imitate any martial technique of anyone at any time, this Formless Divine Art possessed another, even more heaven-defying effect: it could gradually fuse together the essence of the many martial techniques thus imitated into an entirely new Formless Divine Technique.

In other words, this Formless Divine Technique gathered the finest essence of a hundred schools; in theory it was a supreme martial technique capable of endless advancement and endless growth—and this heaven-defying property alone was enough to outclass nearly every martial technique in existence.

Across the whole of the five great island tiers of the Heaven Rank, those with both the aptitude and the opportunity to cultivate the Formless Divine Art numbered no more than the fingers of one hand.

Yet the Lesser Formless Divine Art that Nan Tianguan cultivated was not the genuine Formless Divine Art, but a simplified version remodeled by a master of high attainment. Its effects were not so heaven-defying as the original, though it retained similar properties—merely greatly attenuated.

The Lesser Formless Divine Art could not fully replicate other martial techniques; even when replicated, the result was somewhat weaker than the original. Nor did its Lesser Formless Divine Technique perfectly fuse the essence of many martial techniques and improve without limit as the genuine one did—it was subject to layer upon layer of restrictions.

Even so, the Lesser Formless Divine Art remained a formidable art far surpassing ordinary cultivation methods, and those with the opportunity to cultivate it were likewise exceedingly few.

The reason Nan Tianguan had been able to obtain the Lesser Formless Divine Art was not only that his own fortune was great enough, but more crucially that a powerful patron of the Nan clan's Three Heroes on the Central Island had spoken on his behalf—only then had he come by it.

More than seventy percent of Nan Tianguan's present attainment and strength was owing to the Lesser Formless Divine Art.

For Nan Tianguan, the more formidable martial techniques he witnessed, the more potent his Lesser Formless Divine Art could become, and the mightier his Lesser Formless Divine Technique would grow.

So long as his martial techniques grew in power, his actual combat strength would keep rising even if his cultivation realm did not advance. That was why Nan Tianguan never tired of it; other cultivators' trump cards and killing moves were, to him, nothing short of a great tonic!

The moment he heard that a mere wandering cultivator's trump card—a great killing weapon—had been able to finish off the Third Brother, Nan Tianyong, whose strength stood at the very peak of the late Foundation Establishment stage, Nan Tianguan's interest was instantly kindled. If he could fuse this man's great killing weapon into his own Lesser Formless Divine Technique, would his strength not rise another notch?

As Nan Tianyong's disciple, Yu Jiang had naturally heard something of Nan Tianguan's cultivation of the Lesser Formless Divine Art—and had long coveted it with watering mouth.

Nor was he alone in this; even his master-by-convenience, Nan Tianyong, whom he had slain, had eyed his Second Brother's Lesser Formless Divine Art with deep envy.

It was only that the two brothers did not get along, and among cultivators profit has always counted for more than kinship. Unless it be a passing of the art from father to son or master to disciple, a thing as vital as a cultivation art could scarcely ever be shared. So however much Nan Tianyong envied Nan Tianguan's Lesser Formless Divine Art, he could do no more than dream of it—he never had the chance to lay hands on it.

But Nan Tianyong's lack of opportunity did not mean Yu Jiang likewise had none.

Had Nan Tianyong still been alive, then out of deference to the bonds of their school, Yu Jiang truly could never have obtained the Lesser Formless Divine Art from Nan Tianguan. The trouble was that Nan Tianyong had now died at his hands without anyone the wiser, and so that obstacle had naturally ceased to exist.

Even among the Nan clan's Three Heroes, own brothers though they were, no one would share a formidable art like the Lesser Formless Divine Art—but what if Yu Jiang could win Nan Tianguan's favor and have the man take him as a disciple?

In the cultivation world, the bond between master and disciple ranked even above that of blood brothers. If he could only curry favor with Nan Tianguan, then having the man pass the Lesser Formless Divine Art on to him was not entirely out of the question!