Chapter 144: Chapter 144

And this Roaming Dragon Step was simply a crude method stripped from Startled Swan, Roaming Dragon, then issued by the Longxiang Army to its rank and file…

Understanding crystallized. Shen Xiuhan’s gaze moved to the second manual.

Tortoise-Breath Phantom-Face Art…

He opened the first page, and a passage of introduction leapt out:

‘The Tortoise-Breath Phantom-Face Art was created by the reigning dynasty’s Right Chancellor, Yan Yu, based on a fragmentary remnant of the Great Yang’s Thousand-Face Sect divine power — the Tortoise-Breath Metamorphic Self-Replacing Arcane Scripture. Practiced to its depths, the art permits the reshaping of face and form and the concealment of one’s cultivation. This volume contains the first layer; upon completion, the practitioner may alter face and body for approximately one hour.’

‘Note: Cannot be penetrated except by a perception-eye method or a Refine Spirit-stage practitioner!’

A Great Yang dynasty art — and one derived from a divine power at that!

Shen Xiuhan’s pulse quickened.

The Great Yang had fallen over a thousand years ago. Most of its transmissions had been lost to time.

What survived was either locked away in the imperial archives of the capital, shown to no outsider, or collected by the great sects of the various provinces as priceless heirlooms.

Even mastering just the first layer of this Tortoise-Breath Phantom-Face Art allowed one to perfectly assume another person’s appearance and build, without a single flaw.

Shen Xiuhan himself had been completely fooled. Until Tian Ping’an died and the art’s effect dissipated, he’d genuinely believed the man looked that unremarkable.

‘My current Void-Gazing Eye excels at reading weaknesses and tracking attack trajectories, but it’s not built to see through disguise arts…’

Shen Xiuhan murmured, a thoughtful gleam in his eye.

‘I wonder — could a two-comma Void-Gazing Eye pierce a high-level disguise?’

‘Most likely, yes…’

His finger traced the annotation at the bottom of the page.

‘Note: Cannot be penetrated except by a perception-eye method or a Refine Spirit-stage practitioner!’

A perception-eye method…

By its very name, a technique purpose-built to counter disguise arts.

And Refine Spirit — the final of Transforming Strength’s three stages.

Refine qi, refine essence, refine spirit…

Reaching Refine Spirit was enough to see through shape-shifting?

Shen Xiuhan recalled the clash with Qu Bushi at Linshui Wharf, when the enemy had channeled the Sea-Overturning Pearl to unleash a palm-strike.

At the time, Ji Xue had indicated that such a palm-technique required Refine Spirit before it could be deployed.

“It seems that reaching Refine Spirit within Transforming Strength brings a qualitative leap in power…”

Shen Xiuhan pondered for a moment, then returned his attention to the manual.

“Quite the pedigree.”

‘With Deduction at my disposal, I can push this to Perfection — perhaps even resurrect the Tortoise-Breath Metamorphic Self-Replacing Arcane Scripture itself. Not impossible.’

His thoughts flowed like a spring.

‘Still, the pedigree is impressive but the scope is limited — just the first layer, with an obvious weakness. Transforming Strength can see through it. Valuable, but not exactly priceless.’

‘The real reason Wang Lin and Ding Ning have been chasing Tian Ping’an so relentlessly… must lie elsewhere.’

Shen Xiuhan closed the booklet, tidied it away, and turned his gaze to the last volume on the desk.

It lay there quietly, five bold characters on its cover, the calligraphy vigorous and forceful:

Dragon-Elephant Golden Body Art.

“A body-hardening method?”

Shen Xiuhan’s eyes sharpened. He picked it up and began to read.

Two or three pages in, comprehension dawned on his face.

“This looks like… an advanced form of the Iron Bone Art?”

One brow rose. He turned more pages, growing more certain with each one.

“No doubt about it.”

“The sophistication is leagues beyond Iron Bone Art… This might well be a body-hardening method that reaches all the way to Astral Strength.”

The deeper he read, the more astonished he became. Tian Ping’an had been brazen beyond belief — to lay hands on something like this!

Body-hardening methods were valued far above ordinary techniques.

The logic was the same as treasure armor versus treasure weapons.

What kept you alive was always the most expensive.

And this was a body-hardening art capable of reaching the Astral Strength tier.

Shen Xiuhan’s expression turned solemn as he read on. When he reached the final page, it shifted again.

The manual’s last leaf was filled with dense fly-speck calligraphy — training notes and insights for cultivating this Dragon-Elephant Golden Body Art.

Every line bespoke deep martial understanding, every sentence cutting straight to the core. The author’s cultivation was clearly profound, his breadth of knowledge vast.

But the critical thing wasn’t the notes.

It was the name signed beneath them —

Wang Zhifan!

“Well, well.”

Shen Xiuhan ran a quick mental calculation and saw the picture at once. His expression turned distinctly odd.

‘The nerve on this man — he actually stole a technique that the Zhendong General had personally transmitted to the Pathfinder Camp colonel, along with Wang Zhifan’s own cultivation notes.’

If Tian Ping’an had simply deserted, that would have been one thing.

The Longxiang Army would hunt for a while, fail to find him, and after enough time, probably let the matter rest.

But the man had killed comrades and stolen Wang Zhifan’s handwritten notes.

Those notes contained not merely cultivation tips, but the martial insights of a frontier general. In enemy hands, they posed an enormous threat.

No wonder Wang Lin and Ding Ning had pursued him without rest — from the border all the way to Changyun County, thousands of li without pause.

‘But this means… the weapons and armor I can keep, but the manual will have to be turned over.’

Shen Xiuhan’s thoughts raced.

Of the Longxiang Army’s five great battalions, each colonel held a sixth-rank imperial commission, with Transforming Strength as the minimum requirement — Zhenyue Colonel Zhao Zheng being one example.

The Pathfinder Camp’s colonel was likely stronger still.

The fact that Wang Zhifan had entrusted both the Dragon-Elephant Golden Body Art and his personal notes to that man said it all.

This colonel… was very possibly an Astral Strength fighter.

“Astral Strength…”

Shen Xiuhan’s gaze turned pensive, his expression flickering between light and shadow.

Tian Ping’an had somehow tracked him to his front door.

The Longxiang Army was teeming with experts — countless fighters stronger than Tian Ping’an.

If one of them came knocking, even with Wang Lin and Ding Ning to vouch for him, he’d have a hard time washing himself clean in all of Yunshui Lake.

Hoarding a military secret art was not a charge just anyone could bear.

“So be it.”

After a long deliberation, Shen Xiuhan made his decision.

“This works out perfectly — I hand the manual over as a favor to my two senior martial siblings, and in return I have every reason to keep the other spoils without looking greedy. As for the three techniques…”

“The Roaming Dragon Step is useless to me. The Tortoise-Breath Phantom-Face Art, on the other hand, is worth a Deduction.”

“And the Dragon-Elephant Golden Body Art — I can’t cultivate it for now. I’ll copy it for my own reference and hand over the original.”

Shen Xiuhan picked up the Tortoise-Breath Phantom-Face Art, lowered his lids, and swept every stray thought aside.

‘Deduce!’

The familiar golden phantom rippled outward in the depths of his consciousness.

【…】

【In the fifteenth year, you comprehended the third and final layer of the Tortoise-Breath Phantom-Face Art and cultivated it to Perfection. You may now freely alter your face and form — tall or short, fat or thin, male or female, young or old — all at a thought. You may also suppress your cultivation by three minor realms. Only an Innate-level practitioner or one who wields a perception-eye divine power can see through the disguise!】

“Hoo…”

Shen Xiuhan opened his eyes slowly. Without hesitation, he activated the art.

CRACK-POP…

Shen Xiuhan’s face began to shift like a lump of soft clay being kneaded — features crawling, rearranging.

In a few breaths, his sharp, handsome face was gone.

In its place — an utterly forgettable, featureless visage.

Han Li.

Another thought.

Bone-joints popped and clicked. The face transformed again.

Brows like blades, nose-bridge high and straight, thin lips pressed tight — carrying a certain cold severity.

Ji Ning.

“Interesting.”

Shen Xiuhan’s playful side surfaced. He kept experimenting with relish.

Another round of crackling, and his face softened, grew rounder, took on a boyish cast — Luo Feng’s likeness.

He amused himself for a while, cycling through several faces, before settling down to the real work.

“Hwa…”

A strange ripple spread outward. Inside, the Hidden Strength brimming in his Guanyuan and Tinggong apertures seemed to draw a thin veil across themselves, turning dim and indistinct.

Both apertures were clearly open, force flowing without cease — yet to any observer’s senses, they’d register as dormant.

At a glance, he looked like nothing more than a newcomer to Hidden Strength, with only a single Taichong aperture to his name.

“Good.”

Shen Xiuhan’s eyes lit up.

This way, he needn’t worry about his cultivation advancing too fast and drawing unwanted scrutiny.