Chapter 25

(Don't forget to bookmark~ There are two more chapters today.)

Jiang Ni seemed to have become obsessed with watching vegetables and fruits grow bit by bit, squatting in the vegetable patch whenever she had a moment to spare, staring intently. The divine talisman dagger, which had to serve as both a hoe and a machete, was pitiful. One night, under the bright moon, Xu Fengnian kindly went to the vegetable patch to fertilize, but was caught by the sleepless Jiang Ni, who, in a frenzy, chased him halfway up the mountain with the divine talisman. For the next few days, Xu Fengnian didn't dare return to the thatched cottage, and each meal was a makeshift barbecue of wild game. At first, Hong Xiuxiang didn't dare to indulge in the rich food, but later, unable to resist the temptation, he started to join in, and once he began, he couldn't stop. Every time he saw the Young Master, he would bat his eyes and ask with a grin what he had caught that day. This was far from the strict rules of the mountain.

Xu Fengnian was quite impressed with his ability to endure the constant chatter of the cow-riding man, who was like a fly on the buttocks of the green ox.

Having brought hundreds of books up the mountain, Xu Fengnian certainly wasn't planning to become a walking bookshelf. Whenever he was confused by something, he would ask Hong Xiuxiang to explain. The most interesting part was that many seemingly unsolvable high-level techniques often had countermeasures in other manuals. This kind of contradiction, which required patience to find, was the most beneficial to Xu Fengnian. Now, it was hard to say how skilled the Young Master was in knife techniques, but his perspective had certainly risen to new heights. During this time, Xu Fengnian picked up an old martial arts manual called "The Great Bear Combat Techniques," which was used for physical training. The techniques were simple but powerful and ruthless, aiming to be fatal with each move. He also obtained an unnamed boxing manual from Wudang, which was more yin and gentle. Xu Fengnian initially disliked it, but Hong Xiuxiang persistently recommended it, exaggerating it to the point of almost calling it the best in the world. Xu Fengnian still refused at first, but the parched and hoarse Grand Uncle had to demonstrate his best technique, which left Xu Fengnian genuinely shocked: the cow-riding man plucked a handful of bamboo leaves and scattered them in the wind, then moved with the leaves, extending his palm. Xu Fengnian only saw him swaying like a drunk, "bouncing around," but he managed to stick all the leaves back to his palm.

Chewing on a wild pheasant leg, Xu Fengnian, who had been struggling to understand the boxing manual, had to ask, "This boxing style seems more like something for women. Are you trying to trick me?"

The Grand Uncle, whose mouth was greasy from eating, wiped his lips and said seriously, "How could I dare to deceive the Young Master?"

Xu Fengnian, suspicious, asked, "Who created this boxing style?"

The Grand Uncle's eyes darted around, swallowing a mouthful of pheasant meat and dryly laughing, "Young Master, I need to go tend to the ox. Don't let this delay your knife practice."

Xu Fengnian pressed the scabbard against Hong Xiuxiang's shoulder and coldly smiled, "If you don't tell me, I'll make you vomit everything you've eaten."

The Grand Uncle, with a mysterious air, said, "I found it by chance in the top floor of the Xuan Yue Palace. It's from a long time ago, and its origin is unknown. It must be the work of some great predecessor."

Xu Fengnian sheathed his sword, gathered his qi, and drew six circles in the air according to the boxing manual, one inside the other, looking quite proper, but he felt it was still far from the skill of the cow-riding man in the bamboo forest. It wasn't just the spirit, but even the form was barely satisfactory. The Grand Uncle, who was busy leading the green ox, glanced at Xu Fengnian's stance and nodded with a bright smile, "This boxing style traces back from the Eight Trigrams to the Four Symbols, the Three Talents, and the Two Instruments, but it's still far from the Taiji and Wuji. The Young Master's technique is already quite agile and fluid, with a well-ordered opening and closing, which is quite difficult. It's much faster than when I started, but there are still some minor flaws to correct. If 'The Great Bear Combat Techniques' is a method of overwhelming force, this boxing style is a clever way to use a small force to control a large one. When practicing, remember to focus on a small area, not a large one, and seek stillness, not movement. This way, you can grasp the essence of life and growth, reaching the peak where even a feather cannot be added, and a fly cannot land, where a single leaf can signal the change of seasons."

Xu Fengnian pondered and sneered, "Only the part about focusing on a small area is useful. The rest is just talk."

Hong Xiuxiang chuckled, not arguing.

Xu Fengnian narrowed his eyes and smiled, "You like meat so much. There are plenty of cranes on this mountain. Why don't you lure one down?"

Hong Xiuxiang dryly laughed, "That won't do. The Wudang cranes are spiritual and were my childhood playmates. Killing them would be more painful than killing me."

Xu Fengnian joked, "Can you ride a crane? In Daoist legends, immortals often ascend to heaven on cranes."

Hong Xiuxiang shook his head, "I've never thought about it. I've been afraid of heights since I was a child."

Xu Fengnian sneered, "Afraid of going down the mountain, afraid of heights, afraid of women. Is there anything you're not afraid of?"

Hong Xiuxiang sighed heavily, looking worried.

The cow-riding man suddenly perked up his ears and cautiously said, "Young Master, I'll go lead the ox. You should check the thatched cottage."

Xu Fengnian gripped his Xiu Dong knife and rushed back. Who on this mountain would have the nerve to come and cause trouble? If there was someone, they definitely wouldn't be ordinary. Seeing the thatched cottage, Xu Fengnian stopped abruptly and slowly approached through the bamboo grove. Outside the cottage were three unfamiliar visitors, not wearing the hemp or silk robes of Wudang. The one in the middle was a delicate young man in rich and luxurious clothing. Xu Fengnian, familiar with the ways of the wealthy, could tell at a glance that this young man came from a wealthy family. The embroidery on his clothes was intricate and rare, and he was playing with two night pearls, of the highest quality, known as Dragon Pearls and Phoenix Eyes, each a top-grade treasure, and even rarer as a pair. The imperial tributes were no better.

Beside the arrogant young man stood two middle-aged men. One was a large, muscular man with a standard tiger-like appearance, broad-shouldered and fierce-eyed. Xu Fengnian would have said this man looked like he could exorcise ghosts. The large man had an ancient pair of knives, one long and one short, hanging from his waist. He stood a bit further away, while the other, a pale, beardless, and sinister-looking man, stood closer to the young man, slightly bent, with his hands behind his back, giving the impression of a silver ringed snake.

Jiang Ni, standing in the vegetable patch, had red eyes and was staring at the three men, her lips bleeding from biting them. Her delicate face had a red, swollen handprint.

Her carefully cultivated vegetable patch was completely destroyed, the wooden frames knocked down, the seedlings broken, and the soil turned upside down.

The Young Master had only been watering and fertilizing the plants, and Jiang Ni had chased him halfway up the mountain. With the vegetable patch in such a state, she must have fought hard, but her opponents were many and ruthless, and she had suffered a silent defeat. To Jiang Ni, the Beiliang王府 might be a gilded cage, but who else besides the Young Master dared to boss her around, let alone slap her?

Xu Fengnian, his hands wrapped in cloth and holding his knife, his face as calm as water, walked barefoot toward the three men.

Jiang Ni, I can bully you, but they can't!

No matter who your parents are!

The elegant young man slightly turned his head, his nose dotted with freckles. He glanced at Xu Fengnian, showing a look of disdain, and when his eyes fell on the Xiu Dong knife in Xu Fengnian's left hand, he slowly said, "Oh, that's a nice knife. I like it very much. Go, break his hands, and the knife is mine."

The large man, upon hearing this, showed a hint of pity in his eyes.

From start to finish, Xu Fengnian didn't say a word.

Ten steps from the large man, he suddenly charged forward, the Xiu Dong knife unsheathed, and with three steps, he delivered a swift and powerful strike, the wind whistling.

The large man, who had not intended to draw his knife, his eyes like copper bells, suddenly showed a sharp light. Without drawing his knife, he blocked Xu Fengnian's fierce strike with the short knife on his left waist.

The short knife, with a handle wrapped in gold and silver thread, was a fine weapon for close combat.

Xu Fengnian, his momentum blocked, did not simply rely on brute force. He used the momentum to bounce back and draw a stunning arc, then turned and delivered a horizontal slash.

The large man, showing a hint of surprise, quickly reined in his underestimation, took a half-step back with his right foot, and swung his left arm like a large wheel, chopping down from the air. He was no longer on the defensive but intended to use his natural strength to crush and destroy, sweeping the young man with the knife away, making it impossible for him to wield it again.

Xu Fengnian, taught by the old white-haired man when to store and release his strength, avoided the blade's edge and suddenly unleashed hidden additional force, almost as fast as the large man's draw, dodging the brutal swing. Xu Fengnian, intentionally or unintentionally, incorporated the boxing style he learned from the cow-riding man into his knife technique, his body spinning like a top, the speed increasing with each circle. Combined with his self-discovered rolling knife technique, it was seamless, and in the face of imminent danger, he reached a realm he had never achieved before, truly achieving a continuous flow of qi. His breathing was steady and calm, and the second horizontal slash of the Xiu Dong knife was even more powerful than the first.

The large man, whose strike had missed, glared, this young man not knowing when to stop, his single knife technique strange and precise, quite remarkable among his peers, but a pity for his talent. Finally, he became angry, though he still hadn't drawn his right-hand long knife, his left-hand short knife no longer held back. His wrist made a sudden, unnoticeable crack, and the blade shot upward, like fishing out a large whale from the East Sea, striking the unusually clear blade of the Xiu Dong knife. Xu Fengnian, subconsciously recalling the phrase "a feather cannot be added, a fly cannot land," used all his strength to retreat, his feet leaving a series of small arcs, finally stabilizing his stance.

Swallowing a mouthful of blood, the Xiu Dong knife in his hand did not tremble.

The large man with the double knives did not rush to attack, standing firm.

The young man who had ordered Xu Fengnian's hands to be broken whispered to the beardless man beside him.

Xu Fengnian tore off the cloth from his right hand, the Xiu Dong knife switching from left to right, focusing on the short knife of the large man, who was probably three times the weight of Jiang Ni, and said, "Good knife. I thought that after the fall of Dongyue, the Kudang knives, reserved for the royal family, had all been confiscated into the national treasury. The larger ones are called Kudang Man Knives, and the smaller ones are called Kudang Jin Knives. I didn't expect to see this pair here."

The large man with the Kudang knives on his waist showed a strange expression, his lips twitching, "Not bad eyesight."

Xu Fengnian, feigning innocence, said, "So you must be from the fallen Dongyue royal family? A stray dog, why come to Wudang Mountain to bite people?"

The large man, hit where it hurt, did not get angry. His calm and cultivation were as excellent as his knife skills, and he said expressionlessly, "I gave you ten breaths to rest. Is that enough?"

Xu Fengnian, holding the Xiu Dong knife in his right hand, did not speak.

The young man with freckles on his nose, impatient, said, "Why are you wasting time? I just want the knife. After breaking his hands, whether he lives or dies is up to fate!"

Xu Fengnian, his left hand covered in blood, unexpectedly raised the scabbard, perhaps fearing a disadvantage against a double-knife opponent with a single knife.

The Dongyue exile sneered at this.

Xu Fengnian charged again, his rolling knife technique like a snowball, the results of half a year of practice fully displayed. The Dongyue exile casually broke through Xu Fengnian's unstructured techniques, waiting for the moment when Xu Fengnian's qi had to shift to deliver a fatal blow. This torment was like a knife at the throat, not allowing the victim to breathe. At the moment Xu Fengnian's dantian was exhausted, he resisted the powerful diagonal slash and simultaneously threw the scabbard like an arrow, aiming for the young man's chest. The Dongyue knife expert's eyes twitched, breaking a major taboo in combat by turning his head to confirm whether this throw would cause an unacceptable result.

This was Xu Fengnian's best chance to injure the enemy, but when he saw the large man's right hand move, he knew it was bad. He forced himself to suppress the urge to take a risky stab and retreated further. Indeed, as the Dongyue exile turned his head, the Kudang Man Knife was already out of its sheath, cutting a two-foot-deep crack in the ground in front of Xu Fengnian.

It was a shocking sight.

Xu Fengnian, while adjusting his qi, also looked at the Xiu Dong scabbard.

The pale man in white extended his arm and lightly caught the scabbard that Xu Fengnian had aimed to hit.

The young man, either completely unaware of the danger or naturally composed, laughed, "You, a mere show-off, think you can kill me with such a petty trick? Don't you fear ridicule? Do you know who these two are?"

Xu Fengnian, seeing the Dongyue knife expert not intending to draw his knife, finally had the chance to carefully examine the young man with the freckles, and immediately understood, smiling, "Little lady, why don't you tell me? See if you can scare me."

The young man's face turned red, kicking the pale man beside him and screaming, "Kill him!"

The man finally spoke, his voice sharp and unpleasant, neither male nor female, "Looking for death."

Without any visible movement, the Xiu Dong scabbard shot toward Xu Fengnian's neck like a thunderbolt.

The Dongyue knife expert, standing in front of Xu Fengnian, stepped back to let it pass.

If he didn't dodge, he would be pierced through.

Xu Fengnian closed his eyes, not in resignation, but in a gamble.

The wind suddenly rose, and the thousands of tall green bamboo in the bamboo grove, as if bowing in reverence, bent toward the group, just like the eighty-one peaks bowing to the main peak, as if the celestial mechanism was being drawn.

An old Taoist appeared, with an indescribable divine aura.

He casually "caught" the scabbard, and when he stopped, he gently released it, perfectly sheathing the Xiu Dong knife in Xu Fengnian's hand.

The old Taoist stood calmly beside Xu Fengnian.

The young man, whose disguise as a man had been seen through, kicked the man who had lost the scabbard and shouted, "Useless! Kill them all!"

The young Grand Uncle, hiding in the bamboo grove, sighed, "This mountain truly cannot be descended. The women down there are all tigresses."

{Piaotian Literature}