Chapter 40

Just as a cry of "Oh!" was heard, it wasn't Li Mochou who made the sound, but Luo Fan. Li Mochou, unfamiliar with the subtleties of the Zhongchong Sword, was struck on the knee by Luo Fan, causing her to lose balance and fall forward. Luo Fan took the opportunity to use the One Finger Zen to immobilize Li Mochou, pinning her down. The One Finger Zen is extremely draining, and with Luo Fan already injured, he couldn't avoid Li Mochou, who fell directly onto his wound.

"I'm in so much pain," Luo Fan exclaimed, then threw the now immobile Li Mochou onto a nearby hay stack.

"Are you okay?" Xiaolongnü asked, concerned that Luo Fan's wound had been aggravated.

"I'm fine."

After that, things became much quieter. Li Mochou and her disciple were immobilized and thrown aside, while Luo Fan practiced his skills to heal his injuries. It wasn't until he had recovered significantly that he released the two.

However, at this time, they had gained an additional follower—Lu Wushuang, seeing that Luo Fan could subdue Li Mochou with a single move, had the idea of becoming his disciple. She was originally the daughter of the Lu family, enjoying a life of luxury. But her parents were killed by Li Mochou, and she survived by chance. Taken in as a disciple by Li Mochou, she endured humiliation to survive. Li Mochou, suspicious of her, never taught her high-level martial arts and often beat her. Now, with the opportunity to escape Li Mochou's clutches, she naturally wouldn't let it go.

However, it wasn't appropriate for Luo Fan and Xiaolongnü to bring a female disciple along, so he didn't agree. Lu Wushuang, being clever, thought that since Xiaolongnü was with Luo Fan, her martial arts skills must be quite good, so she also asked to become Xiaolongnü's disciple. Xiaolongnü, moved by her plight, finally agreed after much persuasion.

After some time, Luo Fan's injuries were almost fully healed, and it was time to leave.

Suddenly, Lu Wushuang ran into the dilapidated house and shouted, "Master, Brother Luo, there's a madman outside."

"A madman?" Luo Fan walked out of the house and saw a disheveled man with a beard leap over and grab at his arm, asking, "Where is my child? Have you seen my child?"

Luo Fan saw that this seemingly simple grab actually followed the principles of martial arts and was startled. He quickly stepped back with his right foot, using the Lingbo Weibu to dodge, and the man missed.

The man, acting madly, seeing his grab miss, didn't even ask who was in front of him and followed up with another grab with his left hand.

"Ouyang Feng?" Luo Fan whispered to himself, but his feet didn't slow down. He stepped back with his left foot to the Xun position. In this world of the Divine Carver, the only madman who could make Luo Fan use the Lingbo Weibu to dodge a casual grab was Ouyang Feng.

Luo Fan's guess was correct; this man was indeed Ouyang Feng. Two years ago, he had parted ways with Yang Guo at the Wang Tieqiang Temple in Jiaxing, hiding under a large bell to avoid Ke Zhen'e. He practiced his skills to heal his internal injuries, and after seven days and nights, his internal strength had recovered, but the external injuries from Ke Zhen'e's iron staff were severe and took longer to heal. He lifted the bell and stayed at an inn for about twenty days to recover, then went to find Yang Guo. However, after several months, the vast world made it impossible to find him. He thought, "This child must have gone to Peach Blossom Island." He then got a small boat and sailed to Peach Blossom Island. He didn't dare approach the island during the day, only landing on the back mountain at night. Knowing he was no match for Guo Jing and Huang Rong, and unsure if Huang Yaoshi was on the island, he hid in a remote cave during the day and secretly patrolled at night. The island's layout was intricate, and he didn't dare wander around randomly.

For over a year, he was extremely cautious, never leaving the cave during the day, and his presence was never discovered. One night, he overheard Wu Xiwen and his brother talking and learned that Guo Jing had sent Yang Guo to the Quanzhen Sect to learn martial arts. Ouyang Feng was delighted and immediately stole a boat to leave the island, heading to Chongyang Palace. By then, Yang Guo had already left with Luo Fan, and despite his efforts, Ouyang Feng, in his mad state, couldn't get any information from others, so he wandered aimlessly in the area. Unexpectedly, he ran into Luo Fan today.

At this moment, Ouyang Feng was startled, feeling that the name "Ouyang Feng" was familiar, but due to his reversed practice of the Nine Yin Manual, his mind was unclear, and he couldn't remember who Ouyang Feng was. He asked, "Who is Ouyang Feng? Who is Ouyang Feng?" Despite his confused state, his pride as a martial arts master remained. Seeing that his two grabs had been dodged by a child, he was不服 and struck out with a palm at Luo Fan.

This time, Luo Fan didn't retreat. He stepped to the Li position, pointed his fingers like a sword, and aimed at Ouyang Feng's Qimen point. Ouyang Feng, however, didn't dodge and struck Luo Fan's chest with another palm.

"Almost forgot, Ouyang Feng is immune to point strikes!" Luo Fan quickly retracted his fingers, stepped back to the Qian position to avoid the palm, and drew his sword, slashing upward. Ouyang Feng sidestepped, but suddenly saw a sword light cut horizontally from the upward slash, just inches from his body!

During the days Luo Fan was healing, he wasn't idle. The battle on Zhongnan Mountain kept replaying in his mind, and his understanding of the Nine Swords of Dugu became clearer. Combining this with the pursuit sword technique he had used on Zhongnan Mountain and the Lingbo Weibu, he integrated them into a new sword technique, which he named the Phantom Body Sword. This was the technique he had just used.

The first strike aimed at vital points, which could be one or several strikes, real or feigned. If the opponent responded, the Nine Swords of Dugu's ability to predict the opponent's moves would turn the first strike into a feint and quickly transition to a second strike targeting the opponent's weakness. If the opponent didn't respond, the strike would hit the vital point. This avoided the awkwardness of the Nine Swords of Dugu not having a first move and made the technique more unpredictable.

In reality, this technique had no fixed moves, but was more like the Quanzhen Sect's One Sword to Transform Three Purities, a sword skill. Theoretically, each move could be turned into a feint, and a second lethal move could be executed simultaneously, continuing infinitely. However, this technique was very draining, and since this was Luo Fan's first use, he could only turn one move into a feint and execute one lethal move, and couldn't continue the sequence.

Ouyang Feng, a master of martial arts, although unable to dodge in time, managed to trap Luo Fan's sword with his palms just as it touched his clothes, nullifying the attack.

Luo Fan, with his weapon trapped, didn't panic. He kicked at Ouyang Feng's chest, but Ouyang Feng crouched and attacked Luo Fan's lower body. Luo Fan leaped with one leg and kicked Ouyang Feng several times, forcing him to release the sword and use both palms to counter.

Luo Fan, despite his mastery of the Nine Yang and the Phantom Body Dugu Nine Swords, was strong, but Ouyang Feng, who had also mastered the reversed Nine Yin, had become increasingly strange and powerful. Some of his moves defied the laws of the body, and whenever Luo Fan used the Phantom Body Sword to put Ouyang Feng at a disadvantage, Ouyang Feng would use some bizarre moves that even the Nine Swords of Dugu couldn't predict, leveling the playing field. Since Luo Fan intended to practice his sword skills against Ouyang Feng, he didn't let Xiaolongnü help, and after over a hundred moves, they were still evenly matched.

Ouyang Feng suddenly asked, "You, little boy, have excellent skills. What school are you from?"

Luo Fan originally wanted to say he was a Quanzhen disciple, but realized he wasn't anymore, so he replied, "No school, no sect."

"I don't believe it!" Ouyang Feng shouted. "No one taught you martial arts? Where did you learn these skills?"

Luo Fan smiled and said, "I learned from a manual. Do you believe it?"

Ouyang Feng thought about how he had also learned from a manual, though it felt a bit off, he believed it somewhat and asked, "What manual did you learn from?"

"The Nine Yang Manual," Luo Fan replied casually.

Ouyang Feng thought he had only heard of the Nine Yin Manual and wondered where the Nine Yang Manual came from, so he shouted, "Nonsense! I've never heard of such a powerful skill!"

Luo Fan, finding it amusing, said, "There are many powerful skills you haven't heard of. Are they all nonsense?"

Ouyang Feng, feeling a bit不服, said, "What powerful skills haven't I heard of? Tell me."

"Have you heard of the Nine Swords of Dugu? The Taiji Sword Technique? The Exorcist Sword Technique?..." As they continued to fight, Luo Fan listed over a dozen martial arts. Ouyang Feng found each name unfamiliar and tried to recall if he had heard of these manuals before, but the more he thought, the more his head hurt. He shouted, "Impossible! Impossible!" and completely forgot about the fight, clutching his head and running away.

Luo Fan, having no grudge against Ouyang Feng and considering him Yang Guo's adoptive father, couldn't take the opportunity to attack. Seeing him run away, Luo Fan had a sudden idea. He calculated the location and the time in the Divine Carver world and realized what was about to happen. He then pulled the two women to follow, leaving the divine crane to follow on its own.

Hong Qigong's token had helped Luo Fan a lot, and since he was nearby, he planned to try to save both Ouyang Feng and Hong Qigong if possible.

Luo Fan's lightness skill was slightly better than Ouyang Feng's, so even with the two women, he didn't lose sight of Ouyang Feng, who kept stopping and moving. After several hours, they arrived at the foot of Mount Hua.

"Brother Luo, why are you dragging us to follow this old madman?" Lu Wushuang, being more talkative, asked first. If it had been Yang Guo, Luo Fan would have dismissed him with a "Don't ask, kid," but since Xiaolongnü was also curious, he explained, "I'm taking you to see a great battle and meet two senior masters."

"Senior masters?" The little girl pouted, unimpressed. "What's so interesting about two old men?"

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