Chapter 20

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In the deep mountains of Wudang, Su Qignian exerted his feet, leaping between the mud and branches. He moved like a galloping horse, as if he were a gust of wind.

Having reached the fifth level of the *Turtle Snake Skill*, even though it was not yet perfected, it already exuded a preliminary aura, not to be underestimated. This was a force capable of overwhelming the commonly practiced *Horse Form Fist* of the Great Tang, even when it was perfected.

Without deliberately following a direction, Su Qignian chose to delve into areas rarely visited by people. Many places had mud and even rugged rocks, with some cliffs being steep and dozens of feet high, enough to take a life.

Half an hour later.

At Su Qignian's speed, he quickly delved dozens of miles deep. His blood surged, and the fifth level of the *Turtle Snake Skill* had already begun to seep and refine the 206 bones in his body. Even though it was not yet perfected, with Su Qignian's current strength, running for dozens of miles without any effort was not a problem. The blood and qi from the morning's demon tiger soup were absorbed even faster and better due to the rapid flow of his blood.

Hmm?

Suddenly, Su Qignian stopped. This was a cliff, not very high, only about ten feet. The cliff face was covered with moss, but Su Qignian's sharp mental acuity made him feel something was amiss, as if there was something special hidden on this cliff.

Huff!

He pushed off the ground with both feet, stepping on the protruding rocks. After several slips, he finally managed to climb up the cliff.

"Unfortunately, I haven't cultivated inner family true qi, so I can't practice light body techniques. Some ordinary breathing and leaping techniques are not enough to handle such a steep cliff."

Su Qignian took a deep breath. If it weren't for his mental acuity covering his surroundings and sensing the details, even a fully perfected fifth-level *Turtle Snake Skill* practitioner might find it difficult to climb this cliff.

Looking down at the thick layer of moss under his feet, Su Qignian thought for a moment, then stomped his right foot hard, causing a powerful vibration.

Boom!

In a radius of about ten feet, the moss was lifted and shattered into pieces.

Buzz!

In an instant, Su Qignian's whole body trembled. In his ancestral acupoint, a long, resonant hum seemed to cross through the ages, directly entering his heart.

Clang!

Then, a snow-white blade of light appeared. What is perfection? The blade of light that appeared in Su Qignian's ancestral acupoint at this moment could be considered perfect.

This white was not cold but a fierce white, like the divine sun in the heavens, bursting with brilliant light and heat as it rose above the horizon.

Su Qignian could hardly imagine what kind of blade this was, as if it were not a technique of the mortal world. As this blade of light appeared, the golden sun that carried the *Sun Seeking Finger* technique, about ten feet high, also burst into brilliant light, resonating with it, but only serving as a backdrop.

At the golden peak of Tianzhu Peak, the Grand Taihe Palace of Wudang.

The ancient hall was empty, with only an old cushion. On the cushion sat an old man with white hair and a thin, hunched figure.

The old man seemed to be meditating, but upon closer listening, a faint snore echoed in the vast hall.

Just as Su Qignian stomped his foot and shattered the moss on the cliff, the snore abruptly stopped. Then, the old man yawned and opened his eyes.

A pair of gentle eyes, nothing extraordinary, as if they belonged to an old man who had lived a long life, with a sense of沧桑 (cang桑) and the accumulated human affairs in his pupils.

"A familiar sound, who triggered it? After so many years of silence, I didn't expect to hear it again."

The old man seemed to fall into a long reverie, taking a long time to come back to his senses, a faint smile appearing at the corners of his mouth.

"Not bad, not bad, neither too early nor too late, just right..."

...

On the cliff.

Su Qignian stood still for a long time before regaining his senses. He was somewhat dazed and then showed a bitter smile.

Because at this moment, in addition to the golden sun formed by the *Sun Seeking Finger* in his ancestral acupoint, a faint blade shadow appeared. This blade shadow was long and blurry, far less substantial than the golden sun formed by the *Sun Seeking Finger*. It was so vague that Su Qignian could not even see its shape, only sensing that it was a blade.

Su Qignian tried to touch it with his mental acuity but found that it was different from when he obtained the *Sun Seeking Finger*. His mental acuity could not penetrate the faint white blade shadow, as if it were not a real existence, allowing his mental acuity to pass through without any resistance.

Looking down, after the moss was shattered, a smooth, mirror-like surface was revealed, even showing the pores of the skin.

With some hesitation, Su Qignian still took action, shattering all the moss on the cliff and sweeping it off the edge.

"This is..."

Taking in the full view, Su Qignian couldn't help but draw a sharp breath. The platform where he stood, all the way to the cliff edge, was a single, seamless piece. Even looking at it made his eyes hurt, as if the cold winter wind had become even more piercing.

"What a terrifying blade!"

Su Qignian took a deep breath. Although he was not skilled with weapons, he had learned some basic knife and sword techniques. He could see that the cliff edge had been cut by a blade, meaning that this cliff was once a peak, and it had been severed by a single blade.

"Could this sharpness in the air be the legendary edge aura?"

Su Qignian murmured. Weapons have edges, and he had heard a martial artist in Chang'an say that third-rate martial artists who cultivated inner family true qi could use their physical meridians or weapons to emit a qi aura ranging from an inch to a foot. However, edge aura was different. Only those who truly understood the essence of weapons, true weapon masters, could cultivate and nurture it. When this edge aura was integrated, the qi emitted by the weapon was no longer ordinary, but a fierce and invincible sword or blade aura.

"Who in Wudang Mountain is so bold as to cut off a peak?"

Su Qignian looked around the terrain, which did not seem to be one of the seventy-two peaks. However, Wudang, with its natural beauty, even such a small peak had been formed over tens of thousands of years. In modern feng shui, there were experts who could locate and pinpoint the best spots. For a major sect like Wudang, which had been established for thousands of years, even dating back to the time when demons first descended, many Daoist scriptures recorded and explained this. For example, the famous *True Wu Seven-Section Sword Formation* of Wudang utilized the feng shui of the mountain, combined with seven spirit swords and forty-nine flawless swords.

As time passed, Su Qignian felt the intangible edge aura in the wind becoming weaker. After half an incense stick, he could no longer sense any abnormality.

Shaking his head in frustration, Su Qignian felt a deep sense of powerlessness in the face of the mysteries of Wudang Mountain.

After a few breaths, he collected his thoughts and leaped down the cliff to the other side.

As soon as his feet touched the ground, Su Qignian敏锐地 (min ruo di) caught a strong, pungent smell. Turning around, he saw a cave entrance about ten feet high, from which a large black bear, about half a dozen feet tall, emerged, its eyes emitting a fierce and brutal aura.

The pungent smell hit him, and Su Qignian's hair stood on end. He had disturbed such a fierce beast. Lions, tigers, and bears are the rulers of the deep mountains and forests, comparable to some of the weakest demon beasts.

In an instant, Su Qignian's fighting spirit flared up, his blood and qi seeming to ignite. This was exactly what he needed. At his current level, ordinary deep forests were like flat ground, and common snakes, insects, and beasts were no match for him. Apart from demon beasts, there were fewer and fewer things that could bring him pressure.

Roar!

A bear paw as big as a human head struck down, the air being pushed aside, making a roaring sound. Just a few feet away, Su Qignian could see the open mouth and the thick, disgusting saliva dripping down. (Please vote for the new book ranking, I'm on my knees begging for votes, please add to your collection! I had a bit of a delay this morning, please bear with me.)