Chapter 152: Eloquent Tongue, Wind-Chasing Beast

Over the next few days, aside from practicing the Sun and Moon Primal Chaos Art together with Tian Manyin to refine the technique, Lu Sheng focused on consulting Lu Chunyuan to adapt to the vastly increased strength he gained after successfully forging his Golden Body.

Simultaneously, he had Tian Manyin and Lu Hongyuan make preparations for returning to their ancestral hometown to offer sacrifices. As for himself, he utilized the accumulated merit he had acquired during this period to enhance his strength, preparing himself for his upcoming travels.

"When walking the pugilistic world, the most important thing is to keep watch in all directions and listen to everything from afar, enabling one to perceive information regarding danger, opportunities, and the like."

"Sensory mystic arts are primarily divided into four categories: eyes, ears, mouth, and nose, which are cultivated within the seven yang apertures."

"As for the eye aperture, I have already perfected the Penetrating Brilliance Divine Pupils, granting me the abilities of distant vision, microscopic vision, night vision, internal vision, and X-ray vision. Even if the Martial Repository holds other ocular techniques, it would be difficult for them to grant me any further improvement."

"On the other hand, regarding the mouth aperture, although I have already mastered the Golden Mouth and Jade Teeth technique, over these past two months in the Martial Repository, I have also come across mystic arts such as the Iron Teeth and Copper Molar technique, the Iron-Chewing technique, the Saliva-Producing technique, the Taste-Enhancing technique, the Voice-Changing technique, the Amplification technique, the Mute technique, and others."

"If I were to cultivate all of these mystic arts, my mouth aperture's capabilities would undoubtedly become much stronger."

Looking at the merit points, which had now surpassed two million after being converted over these past few days, Lu Sheng did not stint. He quickly consumed over one hundred thousand merit points to fuse these mystic arts together, elevating his proficiency in the mouth aperture.

"Ahem!"

Feeling a slight itch in his throat, Lu Sheng gave a light cough. Immediately, he sensed that his control over sound had grown significantly stronger.

Without needing to deliberately strain his throat, he could make his voice high-pitched or deep at will. He could even perceive that if he wished to imitate a female voice, he would be fully capable of doing so.

"Then... let's give it a try!"

With this thought in mind, Lu Sheng controlled his throat and, mimicking Tian Manyin's voice, said:

"My Prince, you've been cultivating for an entire day again. Would you like to rest for a while?"

Although his control was not yet entirely practiced, making the tone sound slightly strange, purely in terms of the voice itself, it was already a spitting image.

"This voice-changing technique will surely complement my Ruyi transformation ability quite well!" Lu Sheng thought with inward complacency, only to suddenly hear Tian Manyin's voice coming from nearby:

"Who's that? Who is mimicking the way I speak?"

Pushing open the room door, she walked straight inside.

Finding no one else there, Tian Manyin looked at Lu Sheng with suspicion and said, "Just now, I thought I heard someone mimicking my voice. Could that person have been you?"

"Ahem, ahem!" Even with his remarkably thick skin, being caught in the act made Lu Sheng feel somewhat awkward.

Without admitting or denying it, Lu Sheng asked Tian Manyin:

"How was it? How different was that voice from yours?"

"Haha!" Seeing Lu Sheng's expression, Tian Manyin knew instantly that it was him. She laughed heartily and said, "The voice sounded somewhat similar, but the tone was a bit too bizarre!"

"If you wish to learn, I shall slowly teach you in the future!"

"That would be wonderful!" Accepting her words, Lu Sheng said, "I can teach you this mystic art of mine as well!"

With that, he explained to Tian Manyin how he had fused various mystic arts, such as the Golden Mouth and Jade Teeth technique, the Saliva-Producing technique, the Taste-Enhancing technique, and the Voice-Changing technique.

"You can actually create mystic arts?" Tian Manyin said in astonishment.

Although, through the matter of the Sun and Moon Primal Chaos Art, Tian Manyin already knew that Lu Sheng possessed profoundly deep insights into martial arts, upon hearing that he had attained such a high level of mastery in mystic arts as well, she remained utterly amazed:

"Mystic arts are mostly figured out by Grandmasters and Great Grandmasters after long periods of experimentation, by comprehending the innate divine patterns inscribed upon the bodies of fierce beasts."

"To be able to fuse so many mystic arts together—you are truly remarkable!"

Her eyes darting about with a clever glint, she said, "How about this, let me give it a name!"

"Very well! Then I must truly thank you!" Lu Sheng replied. To him, the task of naming things was far more taxing than creating mystic arts. Having Tian Manyin help him out was a relief he gladly welcomed.

With a beaming smile, Tian Manyin said, "As long as it is something that can be done using the mouth, your mystic art basically covers it all."

"Among all the mystic arts I have ever witnessed, purely in terms of exquisiteness and ingenuity, none can compare to this one."

"Therefore, I shall name it the Marvelous Mouth Art. What do you think?"

"The Marvelous Mouth Art!" Musing over the name, although Lu Sheng did not feel it sounded particularly imposing, he still nodded and said, "What my wife says is right, let's go with this name!"

"In the future, whenever I pass down this mystic art, I will certainly mention that the name was bestowed by you!"

"Chuckle!" Laughing with delight, Tian Manyin said, "Then I truly have to thank you! Perhaps my name, Tian Manyin, will be passed down through the ages because of this!"

***

After the two of them exchanged lighthearted banter for a while, Tian Manyin recalled their serious business. She produced a map and said to Lu Sheng, "Three routes for returning home to offer ancestral sacrifices have already been selected. Take a look and see which one is most suitable!"

Pointing to the three routes marked on the map, Tian Manyin explained them to Lu Sheng one by one.

"Traveling exclusively by land, exclusively by water, or combining water and land routes?"

Examining the three routes indicated on the map, Lu Sheng pondered inwardly and asked Tian Manyin:

"Which one do you think we should choose?"

"Naturally, the combination of water and land!" Tian Manyin replied, explaining to Lu Sheng, "The water route ahead allows us to travel northward along the Jing River to the east of Yujing, leading directly to the Great River. From there, once we enter Bingzhou, we can transfer to the land route."

"From there, we can use the post stations and follow the official highway straight to Jinyang. Along this journey, the water portion will take about five days, and the land portion about fifteen days. In total, it will take only twenty days to reach Jinling County!"

"Five days? Fifteen days?" Looking at the map where the distances for the water and land routes appeared roughly similar, Lu Sheng remarked, "The land route is surprisingly slow. If we were to travel entirely by land, wouldn't it take a full month?"

"In that case, approximately how many days does it take to send a letter from Yujing to Jinyang?"

"Sending a letter?" Glancing at Lu Sheng with a hint of surprise, as if she couldn't fathom why he would bring this up, Tian Manyin nevertheless answered:

"If it involves matters concerning a Great Grandmaster, a Golden Sword Imperial Despatch will be used, which arrives in less than a quarter of an hour."

"For matters of secondary importance, they are delivered by Martial Ancestors riding flying beasts, which can arrive in about half a day."

"For lesser matters, Martial Masters and Great Martial Masters ride Wind-Chasing Beasts—fierce beasts capable of traveling five thousand li a day. Even with rests required along the way, it takes at most two days to travel from Yujing to Jinyang!"

"Generally speaking, the imperial court's dispatches are mostly transmitted using this method."

Having said this, feeling as though she had guessed Lu Sheng's train of thought, she added:

"The imperial decree conferring your fief has been down for several days. By now, they are probably already in the midst of renovating the ancestral temple."

"Therefore, you needn't worry that upon arriving in Jinling County, you will have nowhere to offer your sacrifices!"

Without offering an explanation, Lu Sheng nodded slightly and asked, "What is the price of a Wind-Chasing Beast? Are they available for purchase anywhere?"

"Are you thinking of..." Looking at Lu Sheng, Tian Manyin hesitated slightly before asking, "Rushing to Jinling County by yourself?"

"No!" Lu Sheng shook his head and said, "It will be you and me together!"

"We will head to Jinling County first, to take a look at the subjects of my fief!"