Dual Cultivation In Martial Peak

Chapter 21- Siblings Divine Art

"Young Master Su, do you know the way to this den's exit?" Du Yi Shuang asked.

"Yeah, I know." Su Mu replied with a smile, making Du Yi Shuang blush a little as Lan Chu Die's expression brightened instantly. Just as they were about to ask for him to lead the way, Su Mu said, "Shouldn't you guys recover first? The exit isn't that far, only about 30 minutes from here."

Since the two of them were pretty tired, they both agreed to Su Mu's idea of taking some time off to recover. Taking some Medicine Pills out, both of them started to meditate while sitting cross-legged on the ground. Both of them have been in this cave for the past few days, so they were confident in their analysis of the Monster Beast and knew that it wouldn't come after them anytime too soon.

'Their aptitude isn't bad. But it's not good enough to practice the Secret Art made for my wives.' Su Mu thought, looking at the two girls sitting cross-legged in front of him.

Although the Secret Art he created was generally divided into two parts, one for him and the other for his women, the part made for his women could be further divided into three parts.

The first part that offered the most benefits was for his wives. The second part was for his concubines and the third part was for his servants. And a special part was created for Su Yan thanks to the Ice Phoenix Source that she will soon inherit.

Which part of the Secret Art a woman can cultivate highly depends on her natural aptitude.

From what he could tell, the women who were sitting in front of him were only gifted enough to cultivate the third part that was made for his servants. Although it was the weakest version of the Secret Art, the benefits it offered were nothing short of miraculous when compared to normal Secret Arts used by cultivators.

The reason for such a Secret Art to exist was simple. Not everyone under the Heavens was created equal, biting more than one can chew will lead to consequences no matter who it is. His Secret Art can being someone's potential out to the maximum, not increase it. But no matter which part one cultivated, condensing a Dao Seal shouldn't be a problem. As for their Open Heaven promotion and the rank they'd attain, that depends on way too many factors to conclude anything so early on. But ignoring the Open Heaven Restriction is possible with all versions of the Secret Art.

Either way, Su Mu had no plans of letting them go. He was already aware of what kind of people they were. Even if their aptitude wasn't comparable to the others, they'd be strong enough as long as they are trained properly.

'Let's go with the simplest and most efficient way.'

While Lan Chu Die and Du Yi Shuang were recovering, Su Mu took some herbs out of his clothes and placed them on the ground before crushing them with a rock. The place he did it wasn't too far away from where Du Yi Shuang was sitting.

Since he planned on taking them, he'd go with the easiest method there is.

'It'll take a few minutes to work.' Su Mu thought, looking at the green paste he created next to Du Yi Shuang before walking over to the other side of the cave.

This paste was something that'll allure the Monster Beasts towards it. The stronger the Monster Beast was, the faster they would approach it. It just happens to be so that Di Yu Shuang was sitting near the entrance. If the Monster Beast appeared here, they'd have no way to run away with the entrance being blocked.

Just as Lan Chu Die and Du Yi Shuang were meditating, Su Mu noticed a large, black spider with eight legs walking on the ceiling. The ceiling wasn't that high so the spider should be able to attack them if it extends its arms. Although he noticed it, Su Mu ignored it for a while until it was close enough to Du Yi Shuang. Just as the beast was about to attack her, Su Mu warned them with a shout. "Watch out!"

Hastily, Lan Chu Die and Du Yi Shuang tried to retreat. Unfortunately, Du Yi Shuang, who was at the front, did not react with enough time as her window of opportunity to retreat closed.

The spider attacked her with some of its legs, the strength was enough to cut through rocks. With such sharp legs and the difference in strength, even with Du Yi Shuang's cultivation level, she would most likely die.

When Du Yishuang realized the impending danger, she quickly released her Yuan Qi. Immediately, the peaceful and good-natured girl had a change in her aura.

Being able to release Yuan Qi was one of the symbols of being in the Qi Transforming Realm. In this boundary, the Yuan Qi in the body will be calm and steady. However, once a person releases their Yuan Qi, their whole body releases a powerful and oppressing aura. If one's control is not good, one might end up letting the power control them instead. Becoming like a wild beast that acts based on instinct and emotions.

However, Du Yi Shuang showed amazing proficiency in controlling her strength as not once did her face showed fear, panic or anger. Instead, she remained calm and composed.

She turns around, placing her palm to redirect the attack of one of the spider's legs. Meanwhile, she also moved her body backwards, to avoid the spider's other leg. However, she underestimated the speed of the spider's second attack as its legs were about to land on her slender shoulder.

Just as the attack was about to land, Du Yi Shuang panicked and closed her eyes, steeling her resolve while circulating her Yuan Qi within her body to protect herself.

The pain that Du Yi Shuang was expecting never came as she felt herself being lifted by someone. Opening her eyes, she looked at Su Mu, who was holding her in his arms. The sense of security and reassurance brought a blush to her already nervous and scared face.

'How did he?' Lan Chu Die thought, looking at Su Mu and Du Yi Shuang who were next to her. As far as she could remember, Su Mu was nowhere near Du Yi Shuang to save her like this.

"Little Sister Du, are you alright?" Su Mu asked, looking at the blushing Du Yi Shuang with a smile.

"Yes, thank you, Young Master Su." Du Yi Shuang nodded slightly as Su Mu placed her on the ground.

"We can't escape." Lan Chu Die muttered. In her eyes, even if all three of them teamed up, defeating a Peak 4th Order Monster Beast was impossible.

Without any warning, the spider Monster Beast released a string of webs from its mouth, grabbing Su Mu's arm.

"Do you guys know what's the difference between Qi Transformation Realm and the Separation and Reunion Realm?" Su Mu asked with a calm face while looking at his right arm.

Without even realising it, Du Yi Shuang replied. "The amount and strength of Yuan Qi a cultivator can store along with better use."

As for Lan Chu Die, she was too busy looking for ways to escape that she didn't catch Su Mu's question.

"Indeed." Su Mu replied, releasing a small burst of Yang Yuan Qi from his arm, melting the web without any difficulty. "That means, as long as one has enough quantity and control over their Yuan Qi, even a 4th Stage Qi Transformation Cultivator like me can do something like this."

Just as his words finished, Su Mu disappeared at a speed where Di Yu Shuang and Lan Chu Die couldn't even follow him with their eyes.

Thud*

Before they could realise what was going on, the spider Monster Beast fell from the roof with blood dripping from its forehead.

"Monster Beasts are easy to take down because of their low intelligence. The only thing you need to do is identify their weaknesses." Su Mu explained. That wasn't a lie. If Lan Chu Die and Su Yi Shuang were trained properly, taking care of this beast wouldn't have been difficult for them.

The Monster Beast was so weak that Su Mu didn't even use his Sword Qi to deal with it.

"Young Master Su... How?" Lan Chu Die muttered, completely bewildered. When Su Mu said that he was also in Qi Transformation Realm, she thought that his cultivation must be higher than hers. But he was just in the 4th Stage of Qi Transformation Realm? Or was he lying about his cultivation? But why would he lie about something like that? Only those in the True Element Realm can sense the cultivation of those who are in lower Realms than them, so Lan Chu Die wasn't able to sense Su Mu's cultivation.

"It was a Martial Skill." Su Mu replied. Of course, that was a lie. All he did was a simple application of Yuan Qi that any Qi Transformation Realm Cultivator is capable of.

'And he made it look so easy?' Lan Chu Die thought, not sure how to process all this.

As for Du Yi Shuang, she was still stuck at the moment when Su Mu stepped up to save her before coming back to reality.

With that problem dealt with, the three of them soon left the den after collecting whatever treasure they could find. The Monster Beast Su Mu just killed wasn't one of the 9 Monster Beasts required to open the Dragon and Phoenix inheritance, so naturally, it had no Monster Core inside its body. Under Su Mu's leadership, both Du Yi Shuang and Lan Chu Die were acting obedient and willingly followed all his orders. Su Mu also noticed that Du Yi Shuang was doing her best to avoid eye contact with him.

After sensing Hu Mei'er and Hu Jiao'er's location, Su Mu realised that the two of them were chasing after something. And for some reason, it seemed like that thing was heading in Su Mu's direction. Thinking of an idea, Su Mu slightly increased the Yang Qi fluctuations around him and sure enough, Hu Jiao'er and Hu Mei'er started running faster towards his location.

'So that thing is attracted towards Yang Attribute?' Su Mu thought, realising what was going on. Since that was the case, Su Mu decided to find a suitable spot to spend a day or two while increasing the presence of Yang Qi inside his body.

While this was going on, Lan Chu Die was busy observing Su Mu. Lan Chu Die was a female with ambition. To obtain her heart, one must surpass her in strength, confidence, and influence. Only when she adores one, then one would be able to win her heart.

And unsurprisingly, Su Mu met all those conditions perfectly.

After moving for a single day, they arrived at a cave where Su Mu decided to take a break. As Lan Chu Die and Du Yi Shuang were scouting the area, Su Mu was looking at the walls of the cave.

'Siblings Divine Art, huh?' Su Mu thought, looking at the walls. Although the inheritance was well hidden from anyone who did not meet the conditions, how could it hide from his eyes?

'This Secret Art isn't bad, but its potential is too low.' Su Mu thought as he placed his hand on the wall before releasing a blast of Yuan Qi from it, removing the inheritance that was placed on it. From the beginning, he planned on giving Hu Jiao'er and Hu Mei'er a Secret Art for twins along with the one made for his wives. The reason they were entering the Heaven's Inheritance Cave was simply to gain experience.

'But the name Siblings Divine Art isn't bad.' Su Mu thought, deciding to use this name for the Secret Art he planned on giving the Hu sisters. This way, it'll be easier to explain how he got that Secret Art. Although he knew that the Hu sisters wouldn't question him, it was best to not leave any open ends.

Su Mu also noticed the seal placed at the end of the cave along with the unnaturally dense Yin Qi that was filled with nothing but evil intentions below this place. He guessed that there was an Evil Cultivator's inheritance below this place.

"Young Master Su, is everything alright?" Du Yi Shuang asked, hurrying towards Su Mu with a worried expression as she looked at the walls visibly having cracks in them.

"No, everything is fine." Su Mu replied with a smile, making Du Yi Shuang blush. Unlike Lan Chu Die, she was a kind-hearted and good-natured person. After what happened at the Monster Beast's den and how Su Mu saved her, she was already developing feelings for him. But she knew that he was someone way beyond her reach, so she kept them deep within her heart while trying to avoid Su Mu.

"What's up?" Su Mu asked, grabbing Du Yi Shuang by her waist, and pulling her closer.

"N-Nothing, I'm fine, Young Master Su." Du Yi Shuang stuttered, being so close to him made her mind go blank as she frantically looked around.

Looking at her reaction, Su Mu chuckled. "Don't worry, I won't eat you."

'I don't mind even if you do.' Du Yi Shuang said in her mind, wondering what the hell was up with her. What if Su Mu heard it and thought she was someone weird?

"I- Then, I will continue to scout the area." Du Yi Shuang said, running off at a very high speed while wondering how she'd be able to face Su Mu again without getting embarrassed.

And so, a few hours passed.

Du Yi Shuang and Lan Chu Die were discussing about what they should do.

'An Attack!' Suddenly, both of their eyes widened as they turned towards the cave's entrance. A sudden ray of light, alternating between red and white, approached them at a high speed.

Both of them tried to attack it. But instead of blindly following its given path, the bolt seemed to have some form of awareness and dodged the girls' futile attacks. It quickly flew around them before completely ignoring them, directly charging towards Su Mu, who was sitting at the end of the cave with his legs crossed.

Su Mu raised his arm while simultaneously coating it with a layer of Yang Yuan Qi as the thing flying towards him landed directly into his palm. The thing that flew towards him was not an attack. At this point, it was struggling to escape his palm like a worm.

"Young Master Su, are you alright?" Du Yi Shuang and Lan Chu Die simultaneously asked, running towards Su Mu.

"I'm fine, it wasn't an attack." Su Mu replied, slightly opening his palm to look at the object that was attracted towards his Yang Qi. This thing turned out, oddly enough, to be ginseng that had the shape of a human! The ginseng was strange to look at, with red and white each occupying half of it, like it was celebrating a wedding and mourning at a funeral at the same time. When Su Mu inspected the energy within it, he could sense two different types of energy. The red energy was burning hot while the white was cold. Both energies were of two different attributes, but they seemed to perfectly coexist within the ginseng. It continued to wiggle and strain to escape Su Mu's hand but to no avail.

'A Yin Yang Monster Ginseng?' Su Mu thought, he remembered this Mysterious Grade High-Rank herb. Getting up from the ground, Su Mu walked towards the entrance of the cave.

Just as he was about to reach the entrance, Su Mu heard a familiar voice. "Elder Sister, did it really run into this cave?"

Another familiar female voice replied, "Yes, it definitely snuck inside. If it hadn't, why would I even bother entering this place?"

The two voices hardly sounded different but one was gentler and charming, giving a person a sense of comfort.

"Wow! There are many different types of herbs here!"

"Yeah… but let's not harvest them right now. We should look if there's any danger inside."

"Oh! There are a lot of dangers here." Su Mu replied in a heavy voice, making Hu Mei'er and Hu Jiao'er take a defensive stance as Hu Jiao'er stepped in front of her little sister.

"Who's there?" Hu Jiao'er shouted.

"Can't you even detect my presence?" Su Mu replied, stepping out of the cave.

"Su Mu!" Both of the sisters exclaimed as Hu Mei'er directly ran towards him before hugging him.

"Calm down, Mei'er." Su Mu said, patting Hu Mei'er on the back.

"To think we would run into you like this." Hu Jiao'er said with a smile before turning towards the entrance of the cave as two other figures emerged, making the smile on her face disappear as Hu Jiao'er asked in a cold voice. "They are?"

"Elder sister, you're being jealous." Hu Mei'er replied with a giggle.

"I'm not." Hu Jiao'er frowned, she wasn't jealous, maybe a little bit, but the question was out of worry for Su Mu. She could tell that both these girls that just appeared had higher cultivation than Su Mu. Although she was very close to Su Mu, she has yet to see him fight, so she was worried that he was being taken advantage of by these two.

'The Young Ladies of Blood Battle Group?' Both Lan Chu Die and Du Yi Shuang recognized Hu Mei'er and Hu Jiao'er. But what confused them was that Su Mu appeared to be quite close with those two.

"Young Master Su?" Du Yi Shuang muttered, looking at Hu Mei'er and Su Mu's close relationship as she felt jealous for the first time in her life.

The same was for Lan Chu Die. Although they have been travelling together, Su Mu never showed the slightest bit of interest in her even after she actively tried to show her 'goodwill' to him.

"Don't worry, I know them." Su Mu replied, motioning Hu Mei'er to let go of him as she reluctantly agreed.

"Introduce yourselves." Hu Jiao'er said, looking at Lan Chu Die and Du Yi Shuang.

'A True Element Realm Cultivator.' Both of them shivered from the pressure Hu Jiao'er was releasing with her True Element 2nd Stage cultivation.

"Stop bullying them, will you?" Su Mu said, making Hu Jiao'er nod as she retreated the pressure.

Both Lan Chu Die and Du Yi Shuang breathed a sigh of relief as their admiration for Su Mu increased to new heights. Not only was he strong, but his influence was also great as well. To be able to make the proud and infamous Hu Jiao'er so obedient, they couldn't find enough words to praise him.

"I am Lan Chu Die from the High Heaven Pavilion, Qi Transformation 7th Stage. It's a pleasure to meet you, Lady Jiao'er, Lady Mei'er." Under the unforgiving gaze that Hu Jiao'er was giving her, Lan Chu Die didn't dare to be presumptuous with her introduction. But in reality, the unforgiving gaze was aimed towards Lan Chu Die's massive chest, which made Hu Jiao'er a bit jealous. Lan Chu Die's beauty wasn't worse when compared to both her and Hu Mei'er, but those breasts definitely rubbed her the wrong way.

'A woman's jealousy has no cure.' Su Mu thought, looking at Hu Jiao'er with a smile.

"I'm called Du Yi Shuang. I am from Storm House. Please call me Little Sister Du. I am at the Qi Transformation 6th Stage. Nice to meet you, Lady Mei'er, Lady Jiao'er." Du Yi Shuang said, bowing respectfully. Although she was scared at first, she trusted Su Mu enough to not be on guard against Hu Jiao'er.

"Here." Su Mu said, extending his hand as everybody saw the Yin Yang Monster Ginseng sleeping peacefully on his palm.

"You caught it?" Hu Jiao'er replied, visibly surprised. They have been chasing this thing for so long and were unable to even close the distance on it.

"Yeah." Su Mu replied, tossing it towards Hu Jiao'er.

"You don't need it?" She asked, tilting her head.

"Not really." Su Mu replied, shrugging his shoulders before a grin appeared on his face. "But I have another gift for you two."

Hearing his words, both Hu Mei'er and Hu Jiao'er were excited as the former asked. "What is it?"

"I'll only give it to you after my Jiao'er beats me in a fight." Su Mu replied with a smile, making everyone's expression change. How weird was it for a Qi Transformation Realm cultivator to openly challenge a True Element Realm Cultivator?

After a few moments, Hu Jiao'er started grinning. This was her chance to get back at Su Mu for what happened that day. As the thought of that day came into her mind, a light blush appeared on her beautiful face. That day was the happiest yet most embarrassing day of her life. Happiest because she was able to meet Su Mu and embarrassing because Hu Mei'er was watching her the whole time.

"You really believe you can beat me?" Su Mu asked, laughing out loud.

"In a fight, yes." Hu Jiao'er confidently replied.

"And in bed?" Su Mu asked with a chuckle, making every woman present blush, especially Hu Jiao'er. How could he say that out loud? The scary image she was trying to build against Lan Chu Die and Du Yi Shuang was already crumbling to dust.

"Let's fight." Hu Jiao'er replied, moving towards an open area.