Wulin : Martial Heroes

Chapter 42: Underworld Gate

 ‘Huh’ Li Xin sighed.

‘You wait. When I am strong enough, I would not mind investigating who is the one that is writing this introductory page’ he mutters.

He then continues reading the introductory page. It is almost reaching the end of the introduction

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The Duke secluded himself and it was at this moment that many people believe that the Duke had created the Scroll of Eternal Life.

The Scroll remains as one of the most coveted secret martial arts technique in Wulin, in par with the Nine Yang Divine Skill of the Righteous Temple, the Supreme Ultimate Inner Skill of the Cloud Gate and the Ten Thousand Sword Codex of the Divine Sword Mountain.

Duke Jingwu of Wei in his illustrious life had pacified the Wu region to the south, cleared the desert to the north and settled the Tuyuhun to the west.

And travelling and fighting up and down the Tang empire, he learned from his enemies and his rivals and even stolen many of their martial arts methods and their internal energy method.

All the accumulation of this knowledge had created a very powerful martial arts technique that is probably unsurpassed in Wulin.

This is my opinion. Even though, I, myself had read this secret manual and my fellow colleague had also read this manual, we do not understand it.

We believe that the manual is not written in a conventional way. There are many traps in it that would threaten to cause one to have their Qi deviated.

It would also able to cause Qi reversal if one practice blindly according to the instruction of this manual

I believe that the key to solve the puzzle that the Duke put in the manual could only be found in the book itself

However, even if one discards learning the supreme inner energy skill of this manual, there is many information, and knowledge that would aid one martial arts just by reading this book

It is a pity that I and my colleague could not unravel the mystery of this manual and could only leave some introduction of how this manual came to be so that the name of the Duke would not be forgotten

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‘Ah! Li Xin finally get the answer he wanted. It turns out whoever wrote this introductory page did read the manual.

But it seems that he was not able to learn this skill.

Li Xin did flip the book a few times before. He did read it and most of them is something he could not understand.

There is symbols and there are idioms and there are even classic characters that he does not know how to pronounce.

There is also all kinds of diagrams and illustration of herbs and fruits.

It seems that while this manual does possess a great inner energy skill, it would not be easy to learn it.

It seems the practice method is hidden in the words of the manual.

This kind of method shows that the Duke had encrypted his own secret manual so that if it did falls into the hands of the people it would not be so easy for people to simply learn about it unless they knew how to crack the encryption

It might also be a way for the Duke to test whoever got this book.

Considering the Duke is a prideful person and also a smart person, he probably would not have wanted any person to inherit his legacy.

He probably wanted someone that would at least be smart to inherit his skill.

Of course, both of these are just his speculation but he doesn't think that he is wrong. He truly believes that between those two reason, there is probably some truth to it.

Li Xin then continue reading the page. By now he is completely relieved that nobody knows how to decrypt the method of this manual

Li Xin on the other hand is not worried.

Since he is quite sure that the system would help him and there is no need for him to think too much to break through whatever methods Li Jing had put to hide the true practice.

Then he continues reading

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One could only imagine what kind of martial arts Duke Jingwu of Wei had manage to create with his vast knowledge.

Some people said that the reason why Li Jing created the martial arts technique was because he fears that Taizong was ready to deal with him

Taizong while he did not appear to be like so in the words of those scholars who had beautify his image had executed a few people that have been loyal to him in the past

Out of the many people in the portraits of the Lingyan Pavilion, by the end of his reign how many people were left?

So, many believe that the Dike created the martial arts so that whoever got it could topple the Tang dynasty for him and get him his revenge if he were to executed wrongly by the Emperor.

Of course, no one knows whether this fact is true or not

Fortunately, Taizong did not do such a thing to the Duke and the Duke died peacefully. Li Jing had brought the martial arts technique into his tomb.

Li Jing is buried in a large tomb made in the shape of Mount Tie in Eastern Tujue territory and Mount Jishi in Tuyuhun territory.

This is the end of the legends.

This is the history of this Scroll.

Below, I would write out my own speculation about certain history of this scroll so that those who manage to get this scroll would understand many things about the dispute of the world regarding this manual.

This is a bloody manual that was fought for each time it appeared. But, there are not many that have mastered it.

The concepts in the manual is all encompassing but it is hard to practice. After the death of the Duke, there is many stories of the whereabouts of the Underworld gate.

I, myself as I am writing this is in one of the libraries of the Underworld Gate.

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Li Xian stop reading for a second

‘The Underworld Gate!’ he exclaimed.

Li Xin did not think that this person is inside the library of the Underworld Gate.

The name Underworld Gate might look like it is some kind of a mystical place but it is actually the name of a sect.

If the orthodox sect had the Three Great Mountains as the premier force of the orthodox faction, then the heterodox sect also had its premier faction

There is the White Bone Peak at Tianshan, Demon Mountain on the Kunlun Mountain and then there is the Evil Valley

White Bone Peak is known to many but not many dares come near that place. It is said that there is an old granny there who is at the level of a grandmaster.

Demon Mountain on Kunlun Mountain is also one of the most famous premier heterodox sect. But they rarely went down to the Central Plains.

But if they do, they usually would come down because of revenge. As for the Evil Valley, no one knows its real location

Some people said that it is in Sichuan. Some said it is in Guanzhong. Others said it is near the Western Region.

It was Tianji Pavilion that expose this place. Inside the Evil Valley, there is seven people who is considered the seven great villains.

But because no one knows the location of this valley, no one is able to exact revenge to the evil people in this valley.

There was one rumor that Li Xin had heard when he was playing the game that one of the Seven Villains went out during the chaos of the world and this villain had been killing along the way.

These are one of the few famous sect of the heterodox sect. But…the most famous of them all is probably the Underworld Gate.

They do not rule the heterodox faction but there is not many faction or force of the heterodox sect that would disobey their orders.

They have established themselves as the leading figure of the heterodox faction after all of the feat that they managed to achieve.

From what Li Xin had heard, this sect is mentioned on the down low.

People seem to fear it so much, that when they do speak about it, they would spoke about it in hushed tone like they were speaking about some taboo things.

Underworld Gate is a force in the heterodox sect akin to Righteous Temple position in the orthodox sect faction.

And the difference between the Underworld Gate and the three great mountain of the orthodox sect is that, like Tianji Pavilion, like the Evil Valley, the Underworld Gate location had never been uncovered.

The more people does not know about this sect, the more fearsome they appear to be. Li Xin of course understood this method. The more mysterious one appear to be, the more impact one could inflict to the thought of others.

No one knows much about the internal structure of the Underworld Gate, their members and who they serve or their objective

What many forces in Jianghu know is that, during the time of Sui dynasty, their reach was everywhere.

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Author Note

Huangchao Rebellion -  Towards the end of the Tang dynasty, the imperial government granted increased powers to the regional military governors. The An Lushan and Huang Chao rebellions weakened the imperial government, and by the early 10th century the regional military governors commanded de facto independence from its authority.

In the last decades of the Tang dynasty, they were not even appointed by the central court any more, but developed hereditary systems, from father to son or from patron to protégé. They had their own armies rivaling the "palace armies" and amassed huge wealth, as testified by their sumptuous tombs. 

After the collapse of the Tang dynasty in 907, the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period thus ensued.

Zhu Wen – Emperor Taizu of Later Liang, personal name Zhu Quanzhong  (December 5, 852 – July 18, 912), formerly called Zhu Wen, name later changed to Zhu Huang , nickname Zhu San (, literally, "the third Zhu"), was a military governor and warlord who in 907 overthrew the Tang dynasty  and established the Later Liang as its emperor, ushering in the era of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. The last two Tang emperors, Emperor Zhaozong of Tang and Emperor Ai of Tang, who "ruled" as his puppets from 903 to 907, were both murdered by him.

Li Keyong the founder of Tang, later known as Later Tang

Zixia Internal Energy practice of Huashan

Zhou Botong - Zhou Botong is a fictional character in the wuxia novels The Legend of the Condor Heroes and The Return of the Condor Heroes by Jin Yong. A member of the Quanzhen Sect, he is highly-skilled in martial arts, having been trained by his senior, Wang Chongyang, the sect's founder. Although he is already in his old age, he is still known for behaving childishly and constantly seeking fun, hence he is nicknamed "Old Imp".

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Calculation

Money

3300 Ding 756 Liang 50 Wen – 1000 Ding=2300 Ding 756 Liang 50 Wen

2300 Ding 756 Liang 50 Wen -400 Liang=2300 Ding 356 Liang 50 Wen

Martial Skill Point

5700 - 560=5,140

5,140 - 560=4,580

4,580 - 560=4,020

4,020 - 560=3,460

3,460 - 560=2,900

2,900-560= 2,340

2,340-560= 1,780

Item

[Detoxifying Pill x 3] -1= [Detoxifying Pill x 2]

[Rejuvenating Inner Qi Pills x 5] -1= [Rejuvenating Inner Qi Pills x 4]