116: Chapter 116 Shocking News

With the Reading Master ability, he quickly memorized every single word of this Wuque Method.

The water-attribute cultivation technique was excellent, and it was exactly the attribute his Open-Ring Forbidden Method was missing.

However, Tang Long also felt a headache coming on, because this technique required too much external help.

In addition to water-attribute resources, the Tide Art required the practitioner to be submerged in water for long periods from the very beginning to constantly temper the body's affinity for water. In the middle and late stages, it even required entering deep water or staying on the seabed for extended periods.

"Elder Zheng, must this technique be practiced while soaking in water? Can I do it without soaking?"

"Of course not!"

Elder Zheng answered flatly, "The body, the water, and the water spiritual energy must form a trinity of compatibility. This can only be improved through long-term direct contact; there is no other way."

"Kid, this is a Wuque Method; ordinary people wouldn't get a chance at it in eight lifetimes. The cultivation method isn't difficult, so stop looking for shortcuts or crooked ways."

"When you're just starting out, taking a bath is enough."

Tang Long sucked in a breath through his teeth, "But I'm a student now, I don't have that much time for baths!"

Elder Zheng rolled his eyes, "Then you'll have to figure that out yourself. You want a Wuque Method, and you want it to be easy to practice, and you want no threshold—what kind of beautiful dream are you having? I've lived for eighty years, and I've spent nearly sixty of them soaking in water to achieve what I have today. You want a shortcut? Heh."

Tang Long thought about it and realized he was right.

However, after looking at it for a while longer, another question suddenly occurred to him.

"Elder Zheng, how old is Ye Baiqiao, and what is his current realm?"

Elder Zheng's face twitched at the question, and he sighed, "It's been nearly twenty years since we parted; he must be forty by now. Back then, he already had half a foot in the Huagai Realm realm. Now... I can't say for sure."

"He performed such great deeds and had such high prestige, so why was he exiled?"

Elder Zheng gave a short laugh, "Back then, the Governor of Yu City, Guan Tai, rebelled and declared himself emperor. After several major battles, Dongyu was on the brink of destruction. It was Ye Baiqiao who emerged out of nowhere to suppress the rebellion. Because of that, he established extremely high prestige in the country."

"Especially in the army, with just one word from him, ninety-nine percent of the warriors would be willing to die for him."

"But precisely because of that, another problem arose. When his opinion differed from His Majesty the Emperor's, who had the final say?"

Tang Long immediately sneered, "So the Emperor was jealous of talent, destroyed his own pillar, and let Dongyu fall to its current state. Did no one stand up to call out the injustice for him?"

Elder Zheng's face immediately hardened, "Young man, don't talk nonsense about things you don't understand!"

"The former Chief of the National Defense Army, Chief Miao, fell out with His Majesty over his case, and a large number of generals in the army were also implicated because of it."

"It's true the late Emperor had some disagreements with him, but he had a major problem of his own. The biggest charge for his exile was blasphemy! The decree was issued by the Pope!"

"Blasphemy? How did he blaspheme?"

"Uh... this..." Elder Zheng hesitated, "Our state religion in Dongyu is the Red Religion, but he... sigh, not only did he get involved with a foreign woman, he insisted on associating with the Sun Worshipers."

Sun Worshipers!

Tang Long couldn't help but be greatly shocked.

According to the background he knew from the game, back when the sun in the sky had not yet been polluted, the Sun God reigned over ten thousand domains as the King of Gods.

At that time, the largest religion on earth was known as the Sun Worship Sect.

The Sun Worship Sect followers regarded the Sun God as the only true god, calling other gods false gods. They also suppressed other sects forcefully for a long time and likely did many excessive things.

When the sun became polluted, the number of people in the world who believed in the Sun God plummeted, and the Sun Worship Sect similarly declined.

As news that the Sun God was dead began to spread, other sects began their counter-attacks and settlements of old scores against the Sun Worship Sect.

After a long period of large-scale extermination, Sun Worship Sect followers were treated like rats in the street. Even the Sun God began to be vilified, becoming a synonym for cruelty, tyranny, and insanity to highlight the holiness of the other gods and the legitimacy of the various sects.

Many years later, the term 'Sun Worshiper' had become almost equivalent to an insult.

The sun was almost covered by dark hands, and the Sun God had not responded to the prayers of the Sun Worshipers for a long time. Having lost everything, the Sun Worshipers gradually even lost their faith.

Thus, they developed a new set of theories, preaching that all suffering in the human world was the sin of the gods, and that a world without gods—a land of eternal peace—must be established.

So, the Sun Worshipers were the predecessors of the Blasphemers.

Of course, there was still a small handful of people who maintained the ancient sun worship and always called themselves Sun Worshipers.

In truth, they were already Blasphemers; they could only be considered two different departments of the same organization.

And now you're telling me Ye Baiqiao was also a Sun Worshiper?

What a shocking revelation!

Is it for real?

If that were true, why did he save Blue Star several times? Why did he almost wipe out the Blasphemer's ancestral planet? Why did he become the vessel for the Yuanwu God in the human world? Why did he turn into a sun upon his death, continuing to give off light and heat?

Wait...

Motherfucker, he turned into a sun!

In that case, it's actually very possible he was a Sun Worshiper.

Tang Long pondered for a long time before suddenly asking, "Elder Zheng, which kind of spiritual energy can significantly increase vitality?"

Elder Zheng's expression became a bit strange, "The wood attribute, of course. In nature, plants have the longest lifespans and the strongest vitality. But..."

"But the vitality of plants actually comes from the sun. So sun-attribute spiritual energy is the one that increases vitality the most, right?"

Elder Zheng curled his lip, "That's only in theory. In reality, Sun-type Cultivation Methods are too fierce and harsh; the human body can hardly withstand them. Besides, the sun is nearly dead, and sun spiritual energy in the world is becoming increasingly scarce. Sun-type Cultivation Methods are getting harder and harder to practice and are basically being phased out."

Tang Long continued noncommittally, "But Sun-type Cultivation Methods are also the most powerful. If I'm not mistaken, the reason Ye Baiqiao was so powerful was that he practiced a Sun-type Cultivation Method."

Elder Zheng was stunned by this, frozen for a long while.

"Kid, who told you this?"

"No one told me, I guessed it myself."

"You're a bit too smart for your own good, kid. It's fine to talk about Ye Baiqiao's affairs in front of me, but you'd better not mention a single word to anyone else, or you'll easily invite disaster. If you really cause trouble, even Lv Yang might not be able to protect you."

Tang Long immediately agreed, "I'll keep that in mind."

Elder Zheng also breathed a sigh of relief and asked instead, "Manman didn't come today?"

"She said she'd come yesterday, but I haven't seen her."

"Young people these days, not a single one of them is worry-free."

Elder Zheng shook his head and went to the bookshelf to read for a while.

After a while, Tang Long received a message from Mad Dog. After thinking it over, he returned the Tide Art Manual to Elder Zheng.

Elder Zheng took back the secret manual and, without wasting a moment, claimed he had to go home to prepare and left immediately.

Watching his retreating back, Tang Long calculated in his mind.

There is definitely a story to be told regarding Ye Baiqiao...

A big story!

If he played his cards right with this story, it would definitely be a huge help to his plans!

But this story would be hard to write, and one could even say it was quite dangerous.

Even the Chief of the National Defense Army was finished. For a small fry like himself, touching this line would likely be incredibly perilous.

Everything else is nonsense; I still need to hurry up and increase my strength.