"This junior dares not."
"You are not to tell the Palace Master about what happened today. You may go back."
Mu Yuan stood still.
Didn't you hear me?
“If that’s the case, I need a reason.”
"You still need a reason from me?"
Mu Yuan cupped his hands, lowered his head, and mustered his courage to say, "If it's just about getting back my son's scroll, there's no need to hide it from the Palace Master—unless it's related to her or even harmful to her."
"You still care about the Palace Master?"
"And the entire Chonghuo Palace."
Elder Yuwen suddenly burst into laughter. The laughter was hearty, but on such a night, it was undeniably eerie.
“Mu Yuan, I watched you grow up. What else do you want to hide from me? Before the Palace Master Lian passed away, she told you some things. Others may not know, but I know them very well.”
Mu Yuan lowered his head even further: "That was just in case, there's no need for it now."
"Alright, alright. You're all grown up now, and it's not wrong for you to have your own ideas." Elder Yuwen tossed the two scrolls into Mu Yuan's hands. "But let's read the contents of these two halves of the scrolls first."
On the other side, in Xuezhi's room.
Qiu Hongxiu and Zhong Tao stood in front of the wall and door that were riddled with holes, looking at the densely packed holes with a puzzled expression.
Xuezhi looked into the cave and then cast a pleading look at them.
“Strange, I’ve been wandering the martial arts world for so many years and I’ve never seen such martial arts before.” Zhong Tao stroked his chin and asked Qiu Hongxiu, “Wife, our sister said that this person is very fast, so fast that she can’t dodge. But no matter how high an ordinary person’s internal strength is or how fast their movements are, they can’t avoid using their internal energy to break the whole wall and poke so many holes.”
Who is your wife?
"Sigh, let's not worry about it so much."
Qiu Hongxiu touched the holes: "Of course, we can't rule out one possibility—this person used their qi, but the speed of their qi circulation was too fast."
"You're overthinking it. Right now, the number one person in the world should be Abbot Shi Yan of Shaolin. He definitely can't do that."
Qiu Hongxiu asked, "Sister, did you get a good look at what that person looked like?"
Xuezhi shook her head. She had originally thought that once there were more holes in the wall, she would naturally be able to see the person's face. But in the end, after the person finished their madness and turned to leave, she didn't even see their appearance—not even their back.
If someone like that wanted to kill themselves, it wouldn't be too difficult.
Xuezhi suddenly felt a little scared.
Everyone fell silent.
A rooftop in Suzhou at night.
Mu Yuan slumped to the ground, supporting his head with one hand and clutching the scroll in the other.
“I know how you feel right now,” Elder Yuwen said in a low voice. “I’m letting you know these things because I think you should know, not because I intend for you to do anything shocking.”
Mu Yuan remained silent.
Xuezhi looked at the neatly arranged holes of various sizes, originally intending to wait for Mu Yuan to come and let him take a look.
However, Mu Yuan did not return.
110
The following day at noon, Xuezhi summoned all the Chonghuo Palace disciples staying at the inn across the street, including Haitang and Chequ, to a meeting in Yingzhou, the Immortal Mountain, and instructed them to search for Mu Yuan. Then, she stayed alone at the door of her room to study the sword holes.
Qiu Hongxiu only had a superficial understanding of martial arts.
However, Xuezhi, Zhongtao, and Fengshe were incredibly curious about those small holes. Martial artists always have a fascination with weapons and manuals that others find hard to understand. In Qiu Hongxiu's view, a large hole is a hole, a small hole is a hole, holes of different sizes are holes, and holes of equal size are still holes; the only difference is the depth of one's internal energy. Deep internal energy doesn't fascinate her or inspire endless longing. This is also why Zhongtao hasn't won her over yet.
Xuezhi is different.
Although Chonglian was her father, he rarely displayed his skills in front of Xuezhi. Therefore, the only top-level masters Xuezhi had ever truly observed up close were Mu Yuan and the Four Protectors. At this moment, looking at those meticulously crafted caves, she felt a surge of emotion, wondering when she would ever reach even half of that level.
"What amazing internal strength." Feng She clicked his tongue as he tapped the edges of the small holes. "Look, it's not damaged even like this. It's like the holes weren't even made. Just imagine how deadly it would be if it hit someone."
kill without spilling blood.
Upon hearing these words, Xuezhi suddenly remembered something.
Many years ago, there was an extremely famous name in the martial arts world: Blood Phoenix.
Rumors say that Blood Phoenix is an extremely beautiful yet cruel woman who kills without blinking an eye or shedding blood. In reality, however, Blood Phoenix is two people: one is Bu Shu, the Holy Maiden of Shuangcheng Tower, and the other is Chong Lian. Besides being extremely beautiful and arrogant, both of them have also practiced the same secret manual.
At that moment, a voice sounded from behind:
"When I was a child, I heard Palace Master Zhen say that the 'Lotus Wings' was a supreme martial arts manual. Even though it destroys things, it is still an extremely tempting art for martial artists. I didn't believe it at first, but now it seems to be true."
Xuezhi and Fengshe quickly turned around.
The person behind me is Haitang.
"Sister Haitang?" Xuezhi asked in surprise, "Why are you here all alone?"
"I came back to check because I heard that someone attacked the restaurant at night yesterday." Haitang walked closer and slowly stroked the small holes. "This person's skill is far inferior to that of Palace Master Lian, but I can confirm that these holes must have been made by the power of the Nine Forms of the Lotus God. Moreover, he must have mastered at least the fourth form."
Xuezhi was slightly taken aback and said, "Brother Mu Yuan told me just two days ago that the person had only cultivated to the third form."