Book 16: Chapter 27
In a sincere tone, Jin Wangshi responded, “His fighting style was unorthodox – to say the least. I have never seen any discipline that matches its style, and I doubt there is a discipline that resembles his physique. It should be nothing more than an ordinary practitioner’s reflexes, except performed to a far faster and damaging level due to his odd physique.
“I have never seen or heard of a body like that. Every spot on his body seemed attackable, but he was able to recover instantaneously from injuries; even losing an arm was just minor damage to him. In my opinion, such an ability is no longer within the realm of martial arts but an inherited mutation or the effect of a drug.”
“It’s not a mutation,” asserted Wang Du, smiling. “He hasn’t mastered the full spectrum of control of tendons and bones, and still maintains a certain amount – a tiny amount – of normal movements for a human being. I surmise he was a normal human being, isn’t very old, and was used to modifying tendons and bones prior to his transformation. That said, it’s no simple matter to completely modify one’s bones and tendons. As for how he transformed his body, I know of at least three methods, though none of them are methods he would flaunt. My guess is that it was an accident – and not too long ago. At the very least, it hasn’t been long enough ago for him to have adapted to the body.”
Although Wang Du no longer had the stamina to fight a protracted fight against the intruder, his judgement could still be counted on.
Wang Du cast his gaze towards Jin Wangshi. “Judging from what you’ve said, you don’t have any clues, either, do you?”
Jin Wangshi confidently replied, “Not entirely. For him to dissect pregnant women alive and feed on unborn infants, there must be a reason besides him purely being perverse. I read in some old records that there is an ancient text in the Western Regions called ‘Distant Ancestors’ Records’’, which described many so-called demonic disciplines, and most of them mentioned blood. As far as my knowledge goes, there is no book that discusses the circulation of blood in martial arts in greater depth than this book. Following Divine Moon Cult’s destruction of the cult in possession of the book, the book was also erased from existence. When there were rumours of its resurgence, it was centuries later, but in the Central Plains. I heard some chapters of it fell into Sky Realm Palace’s possession some years ago and that some people have mastered some of it, one chapter being ‘Celestial Sphere Compass Technique’. This chapter may not be well-known in the martial world, but the previous dynasty’s Nightmare Monk was somehow able to get his hands on it, which inspired his creation of ‘Blooddeer Retrograde’.”
At this point in time, virtually everyone in the pugilistic world recognised that name, but they knew it as part of “Record of Extraordinary Skills”, which had become a mountain stack of yellow papers and was still growing, a collection of unorthodox sects’ treasured skills. In spite of their hatred and despise for the unorthodox sects, even the orthodox sects had to admit that the skills within were nothing to scoff at. If the orthodox sects wanted to come up with answers to the dangerous skills within, then the collection was a must-read text. As such, all members of the Seven Champion White Princes who trained in martial arts had to study it in depth. Hence, Su Xiao was the only person who was left out when he heard “Blooddeer Retrograde”.
“Is ‘Blooddeer Retrograde’ so impressive?” queried Su Xiao.
“Of course, but the most formidable version was not the one that Nightmare Monk practiced,” answered Jin Wangshi.