The Legend of Min Hong

Chapter 49: A Scary Change

The faint moonlight spilled across the entire mountain top like a thin layer of silver yarn.

Min Hong's figure once again appeared on the white futon in his sea of consciousness. Staring at the now hovering martial art in front of him that read; [Art of Myriad Seals], touching it with a look of sheer nervousness, anxiety and anticipation.

In the afternoon, he had already read through the 'Art of Myriad Seals' manual. But just as Min Jiao had said, it was an utterly incomplete manual, and to master this extremely complicated and detailed martial art, was indeed abnormally difficult.

Thus, a whole afternoon of intense studying yielded little to no effort. Moreover this 'Art of Myriad Seals' was also different from other kinds of martial arts Min Hong had ever come across.

For instance, the 'Eight Vengeful Palms' and 'Willow Leaf Palm' were both martial arts with fixed sequences of moves and gestures. In comparison, the 'Art of Myriad Seals' required the usage of some kind of hand seals in order to draw out the Qi within the body.

So, when the Qi was combined with the hand seals, an exceedingly strong power will be generated. Although he only skimmed through the manual, Min Hong was still able to sense that the Seal Method described in the manual was not complete.

Maybe that was why Min Tian and Min Rou had decided to give up on this martial art, even after successfully mastering the hand seal method.

After all, without the full manual, it was impossible to really bring out the might of the 'Art of Myriad Seals'.

As for the missing hand seal methods, Min Hong was hoping that the 'Eye of Myriad Universe' could complete it and then the glowing figures could display its perfected version of the completed 'Art of Myriad Seals'.

Under Min Hong's strained gaze, initially, nothing happened with the motes of light. But moments later, many motes of green light started to rush over and cover the incomplete manual. They were rushing over so fast, that their noises graduated from mere whistling to the roaring of a storm.

After some few minutes, the motes of light in the entire sea of consciousness were exhausted, except for the last one which came to transform into another glowing figure.

Upon seeing the glowing figure appear, Min Hong couldn't help but heave a heavy sigh of relief in his heart. When the glowing figure finally transformed into existence, its hands folded together to form several complicated hand seals.

"This is indeed the opening hand seal method of the 'Art of Myriad Seals'." Min Hong muttered to himself as a fire lit up in his focused eyes. After the first hand-seal, the glowing figure displayed six other hand seals in quick succession.

Each of the different hand seal method displayed was fairly complicated, yet, with the preparation he had made this afternoon Min Hong was able to keep up with the glowing figure's rhythm, despite how difficult it seemed.

When the hand seals displayed by the glowing figure changed for the seventh time, Min Hong's heart started to beat rapidly in utter anxiety, as the hand seal method depicted on the incomplete manual ended here.

Thus, the rest of the hand seal methods were not recorded in the incomplete manual.

Under Min Hong's fiery and intense gaze, the originally smooth movements of the glowing figure suddenly came to an abrupt halt. After what seemed to be like an eternity to Min Hong, the hand seals finally continued to change.

"Yessss!" looking at the hands of the glowing figure, the new hand seal was clearly unfamiliar, yet it also looked extremely concise in relation to the previous sets of hand seals. Min Hong was utterly restraining himself from yelling in absolute excitement.

The incomplete martial art manual was perfectly restored, thanks to the heaven-defying ability of the 'Eye of Myriad Universe' glowing figure!

"To think that it actually worked" Flooded with emotions, Min Hong continued to focus on the glowing figure displaying the incomplete martial art. However, an awful look suddenly flashed across his face, as he saw that this glowing figure was actually fading.

"What's Happening?" Upon seeing this, Min Hong was extremely anxious. This was the first time ever that such a thing had ever happened, ever since he obtained the 'Eye of Myriad Universe'.

The expression on Min Hong's face turned slightly ugly, as the rate at which the glowing figure moved from one hand seal method to another became slower and slower until it came to a halt.

However, the last hand seal method it was currently displaying was clearly not the last step in the 'Art of Myriad Seals' technique.

"Perhaps the 'Eye of Myriad Universe' glowing figure was unable to completely restore this 'Art of Myriad Seals' technique."

Min Hong's eyebrows furrowed together, as he was evidently unable to comprehend why the glowing figure, which was fine some moments ago, become incapable of executing the complete 'Art of Myriad Seals technique.

However, although the glowing had paused, after a while, it once again returned to the starting point of the 'Art of Myriad Seals'. Yet, even at its second try, Min Hong was disappointed when the glowing shadow stopped at the same place it had previously

Even though it kept repeating itself over and over again, there was still no further hand seals added to the ones it had previously displayed. Min Hong stared blankly at the glowing figure. A long time later, he finally reached his patience limit, and gave up.

"Forget it, I'll just make do with what I have. At least it's still more complete than the incomplete version written in the manual." Min Hong spoke with a self-mocking smile as he tried to console himself.

He then stretched out his hands, and began to imitate the hand seal methods the glowing figure had displayed

This lasted for a long time before Min Hong finally took a breather.

Though the hand seal methods were complicated, under the perfect tutelage of the glowing figure, committing these hand seals to mind wasn't a difficult task.

However, though it was easy to recall these hand seal methods, it would be a different scenario when he gets forced to use them in battle.

"According to the incomplete manual, this 'Art of Myriad Seals" was split into five chapters. However, the incomplete manual only recorded the first chapter. If I'm not wrong, the extra hand seal method displayed by the glowing figures belong to the second chapter."

"Yet, why can't the glowing figure restore the third to fifth chapters as well. Could it be that the techniques are somehow too complicated for them to handle?" Min Hong's eyes flickered as different possible theories and scenarios rifled through his mind.

In the end, he could only shake his head and sigh, "If it's only two chapters, then two chapters it is. Anyways with my current strength, it would be a pretty good achievement to master only the first chapter of the 'Art of Myriad Seals." He thought to himself before exiting his sea of consciousness, down casted.

-----------------------------

On his bed, Min Hong's tightly shut eyes finally opened. His strong and vibrant figure jumped off the bed before concentrating his energy towards his abdomen. His hands came together to form some strange and complicated hand seals.

He had studied the first chapter of the Art of Myriad seals all day till he got exhausted, before deciding to come home to eat, take a bath and rest for a bit. So, now that his body feels rejuvenated, it was time to get back into mastering this mysterious technique.

As he moved from one hand seal to the next, ripples of Yuan Qi were leaked from the 'Yuan Wonder Gate' into Min Hong's meridians. However, its movements were extremely slow, and after flickering for a while, it finally disappeared.

As these ripples vanished, Min Hong helplessly shook his head. Although he had made thorough preparations, but to actually get to the stage where he could use the hands seals and his Yuan Qi in unison, he was still very far off.

After all, when all is said and done, the first chapter of the 'Art of Myriad Seals' was already considered to be as strong as a Low-Grade Royal Rank Martial Arts Technique and if the chapter two was added, then it wouldn't be farfetched to tag it a High-Grade Royal Rank Martial Arts Technique.

As Min Hong's thought arrived at this juncture, the gloominess that was hanging all around him was visibly weakened.

He lightly released a sigh, as his hand reached to caress his forehead. However, he suddenly sensed something weird the moment his hands touched the spot between his brows.

"What's going on?" Min Hong was absolutely petrified at his findings. The 'Eye of Myriad Universe just turned unresponsive.

Normally, anytime Min Hong touched his forehead, or make any form of contact, either by physical or mental, the 'Eye of Myriad Universe' always responds in some kind of way.

Sometimes, it will tremble slightly, and in other occasions, it would release some form of energy that always seem to calm Min Hong. Most times he feels protected, like the Eye of Myriad universe was reassuring him.

Today he was also looking for that same feeling. A feeling of reassurance, that feeling that will elevate his mood.

That feeling someone gets when one loses something, but another person comes to reassure the person by saying; "Don't worry, we will surely get it done next time." Or "Don't worry there's a better one next time."

So, when that certain individual who suffered an agonizing loss looks for his or her or its comforter, only to find out that the comforter was missing, or sick or probably dead, that individual would most certainly feel the same way Min Hong was currently feeling. Petrified and extremely anxious.

Min Hong quickly slipped into his sea of consciousness to check what was going on. Min Hong's mental body appeared on the white embroidered futon hovering atop the altar, within the energy barrier.

However, Min Hong noticed a very self-made and careless problem.

When he looked at the night part of his sea of consciousness, he noticed that all the green motes of light that usually hover around joyfully and carefreely, were all gone.

In fact, the entire sea of consciousness that was formerly a bit lively, now seemed somehow asleep. It was as if, the Eye of Myriad Universe was so exhausted to the extent that it was in a state of slumber.

"Energy deficiency?!" A thought flashed passed in his mind, causing Min Hong to be a little relieved. This was because, if the problem was only a matter of energy loss, it can be easily solved by resting or waiting for a little bit of time.

And if push comes to shove, Min Hong was willing to even give his own energy to solve the problem. But, if it was in any way not related to energy deficiency, then Min Hong would definitely be in a serious pinch.

This is because, there was no way he would be able to find what was wrong with the Eye of Myriad Universe, a treasure that was clearly ages older than his experience.

Furthermore, he wouldn't be able to find someone who could help solve the situation, because he would have to explain how and where he got this treasure from, provided that the expert he found didn't kill him first though.

It was only now that Min Hong came to the realization that, the Eye of Myriad universe might have lost all its energy trying to complete the missing hand seal methods of the incomplete 'Art of Myriad Seals' technique.

Perhaps the 'Eye of Myriad Universe' uses the green motes of light as an energy source, since every technique he had perfected had required the green motes of light, that also included all the glowing figures that usually display the perfected techniques.

Furthermore, there were also the occasional instances when the 'Eye of Myriad Universe' releases some form of energy that helped in his cultivation and some eye techniques like the 'Eagle's Eye.

"That should be the case" In his room, Min Hong came to and wiped off the cold sweat from his forehead. Since he now knew where the root of the problem was, he could now device a way to solve it.

After all, the 'Eye of Myriad Universe' was extremely important to him. No matter what, he could not afford to let anything happen to it.