Chapter 5: The Ultimate Star Sect Technique

Since Jiang Mingzhe entered the world of fame and fortune, the women around him were either gentle and elegant or ambitious and strong-willed. At this moment, seeing Ah Zi’s youthful innocence, he found it refreshingly different.

He smiled subtly, adopting a shy expression and whispered, “...Dear sister, please guide me.”

Only then did Ah Zi beam with satisfaction, lifting her delicate chin. “Poor thing, today this sister shall do a good deed and broaden your horizons.”

With that, she placed her hands behind her back and, adopting the demeanor of a senior disciple, began to proudly explain as she walked, “Our sect’s martial arts are vast and profound, roughly divided into internal energy, agility skills, weapon techniques, unarmed combat, hidden weapons, and poison arts. Among these, poison arts are the most critical and paramount.”

Jiang Mingzhe followed closely, absorbing every word.

“Let me start with internal energy. The most powerful internal art in our sect is called the Great Transformation Technique, possessing overwhelming might. However, even the eldest senior brother cannot master it, let alone us.”

She sighed lightly and continued, “The internal energy we disciples cultivate is called the Celestial Circuit Sutra. When perfected, it unblocks the body’s three hundred and sixty-five acupoints in unison, mirroring the stars in the heavens. It’s incredibly potent, but unblocking these meridians is extremely difficult. To speed up the process, one must capture potent poisons and absorb their venom into the internal energy to break through. The stronger the poison, the faster the breakthrough, though one risks poisoning oneself to death—hahaha.”

Ah Zi laughed nervously for a moment, then suddenly looked at Jiang Mingzhe. “Do you think I’m joking? Hmph, actually, disciples who die from this every year are not few…”

Jiang Mingzhe keenly noticed a subtle, almost imperceptible fear hidden in her eyes.

Recalling her tender age struggling in this ruthless Star Sect, he felt a twinge of pity and softly asked, “Such danger… why insist on practicing it? Wouldn’t it be better to go slower and safer?”

“You don’t understand!” Ah Zi glared, the fear vanishing without a trace. “Though it’s dangerous, firstly, it greatly accelerates cultivation, so others won’t dare bully you; secondly, the internal energy infused with deadly venom gives you an edge in combat. This technique is therefore also called the ‘Star Sect Poison Sutra.’”

Jiang Mingzhe mused that in the original tale, Star Sect disciples often appeared clownish, laughable, and feeble. But on reflection, that was because they faced fierce opponents like Xiao Feng and You Tanzhi. Against ordinary martial artists, their poison skills would likely be unstoppable.

Ah Zi continued, “Our agility techniques include two kinds: ‘Moon-Chasing Skill’ and ‘Star-Pursuing Skill.’ Mastering the first grants swift movement like lightning, and the second allows you to leap and crouch freely. Master both, and you can perform the Moon-Chasing Star-Pursuing Technique that Master used before.”

Jiang Mingzhe thought this was easy to understand—one for running fast, the other for jumping high—naturally leading to excellent running and leaping abilities.

“As for weapon techniques, most disciples train in the Tianshan Staff Style, which emphasizes wielding heavy weapons with ease. Compared to Shaolin’s Demon-Subduing Staff, it’s arguably superior. We also have the Big Dipper Saber, Ice Soul Saber, Spirit Snake Sword, Meteor Sword, Ruthless Flute, and the Carefree Fan. The Carefree Fan is the most formidable, but Master hasn’t passed it down to anyone yet, so you probably can’t hope for it. If you don’t want to carry around a heavy steel staff, it’s best to learn the Spirit Snake Sword Style like me.”

The Carefree Fan! Jiang Mingzhe’s heart stirred. Since Elder Ding’s subordinate was from the Carefree Sect, this fan technique must have something extraordinary.

“There’s even more when it comes to unarmed combat!” Ah Zi spread her hands wide, indicating a great number. “Let me tell you about the five most powerful: Three Yin Centipede Claw, Thousand-Spider Ten-Thousand-Poison Hand, Toad Swallowing Heaven Fist, Scarlet Flame Silent Palm, and Soul-Destroying Scorpion Finger! Each requires mastering different poisons, and their effectiveness depends first on the potency of the absorbed poison, then on how well the moves are executed.”

She curled her lip. “As for techniques like Corrupt Heart Palm, Bone Extracting Palm, and Seven Poisons Soul Severing Hand—they’re not weak but lack the purity of those five, with less sharp moves. Only fools learn those.”

Jiang Mingzhe was somewhat taken aback. Thousand-Spider Ten-Thousand-Poison Hand was Yin Li’s ultimate skill in the Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre. It turned out it originated from the Star Sect!

And Scarlet Flame Silent Palm—he wondered if it shared roots with Li Mochou’s Scarlet Flame Divine Palm from The Return of the Condor Heroes.

“Regarding hidden weapons, our sect has a plethora: Blissful Thorn, Green Phosphorus Needle, Heart-Piercing Nail, Soul-Chasing Whistle… at least thirty or forty varieties. But the techniques mainly consist of yin hand, yang hand, finger flicks, and mouth blows. Mastering one means mastering them all. It’s not as hierarchical as internal energy or weapon techniques. Since your fingers are nimble, getting started shouldn’t be hard.”

“Finally, and most importantly, is poison arts!”

When it came to poison arts, Ah Zi’s expression grew even more solemn. “Jiang Mingzhe, remember this: even if you master nothing else, if you master poison arts well, you can make a name for yourself in the martial world!”

Jiang Mingzhe nodded involuntarily.

In his view, poison arts might lack the nobility of other skills, but their potential was tremendous. Even the strongest martial artists could be undone by a poison master’s subtle attacks. They were the perfect choice for striking above one’s weight.

If martial arts masters were powerful human weapons, poison experts were akin to wide-area weapons capable of annihilating entire cities single-handedly when well-prepared.

Yet he also knew such feats were unlikely among current poison masters—

After all, they probably had no concept of bacteria, viruses, or genetics, and their methods of gathering, refining, and using poisons likely remained purely empirical.

Ah Zi recited clearly, “To master poison arts, first you must recognize and seek poisons. You need to know the toxicity and interactions of various poisonous plants and animals, where they grow, and how to collect or capture them.”

“Next is refining and combining poisons. Extracting poison is just the beginning; being able to merge different poisons into stronger, more complex toxins marks a true expert.”

“Finally, using and neutralizing poisons. Whether absorbing poisons internally to temper your skills, applying them to weapons or hidden arms, or delivering them directly to harm others, the same poison can have many applications. The principles are profound, and the importance of detoxification goes without saying.”

Jiang Mingzhe listened with great interest, thinking the Star Sect had clearly developed a comprehensive system for poison arts.

Suddenly, Ah Zi clapped her hands. “Oh! There’s also poison cultivation, a field Master has only started researching in recent years. He wants to breed countless poisonous insects for his use, making them consume or reproduce among themselves to produce rare and potent poisons.”

Jiang Mingzhe was startled again, recalling the Western Venom’s snake taming and driving techniques from The Legend of the Condor Heroes, the Ancient Tomb Sect’s bee raising and driving from The Return of the Condor Heroes, and the Five Poisons Cult’s poison gu methods…

If these arts all originated from the Star Sect, then Ding Chunqiu truly deserved his title as a grandmaster.

He felt his address of “dear sister” was well-earned, for Ah Zi had revealed to him all of the Star Sect’s secret arts without reservation.

As Jiang Mingzhe recorded and pondered, applying his professional habits and analyzing according to his goals, he soon devised a preliminary plan.

Internal energy was essential in Master Jin’s world, the foundation of all else, but its cultivation required steady progress. According to the four-quadrant management rule, this fell under “important but not urgent.”

Agility skills were versatile, but his immediate goal was to establish a foothold in the Star Sect, without needs for rapid travel, pursuit, or escape—thus “neither important nor urgent” and could wait.

Both unarmed and weapon techniques needed learning, with weapon skills likely offering more immediate combat benefits—“important but not urgent.” Unarmed combat could be postponed—“neither important nor urgent.”

Hidden weapons, as carriers of poison, were relatively easy to pick up, so he classified them as “urgent but not important.”

He placed hidden weapons in this quadrant because he judged poison arts to be the best priority for quickly gaining a foothold—“important and urgent.”

On one hand, poison arts formed the foundation of most Star Sect secret techniques; on the other hand, poison skills had the potential for rapid advancement, especially since—

A confident gleam lit Jiang Mingzhe’s eyes: after all, he had studied biology and chemistry!

Though far from an expert, he possessed basic knowledge of the periodic table, chemical reactions, and microbiology. With this seemingly trivial foundation, he could explore purifying and synthesizing poisons, even cultivating biological toxins selectively.

For example, the sect disciples only knew some snake poisons were strong, some stronger, but Jiang Mingzhe might analyze their principal toxic components—whether neurotoxins or hemotoxins—greatly increasing his chances of successful combinations and targeted applications…

Lost in thought, he was suddenly startled by Ah Zi’s exclamation, quickly followed by a forced but delighted compliment.

“Ah! Senior Brother! After just a few days apart, you’ve become even more wise and heroic!”