The following evening.
After dinner, the three Liang siblings gathered once more in Liang Yue's room to discuss what had happened yesterday.
Liang Yue had returned very late last night, so he had not told Liang Peng about Zhen Changzhi's death. He had only informed him this morning before heading to the academy, telling him to be extra careful.
Only now did the three siblings finally have time to sit down and talk properly.
"How was it?" Liang Yue asked Liang Peng. "Did everything go alright at the academy today?"
"Zhen Xiaohao didn't come today. There were some rumors going around the academy." Liang Peng looked rather grim. Things did not seem good.
"What rumors?" Liang Xiaoyun asked as well.
"Yesterday, I beat up Zhen Xiaohao. Everyone thought I'd be punished, but not only was I fine, Zhen Xiaohao didn't even come to the academy." Liang Peng said, "Later, someone went to ask around and heard that even Zhen Xiaohao's father had been implicated. Last night, the Ministry of Justice raided the Zhen household overnight."
Because Zhen Changzhi's corruption case was extremely serious, they could not alert the enemy, so both his death and the hidden silver had been kept secret. The outside world had received no word of it. But last night, the Ministry of Justice had sealed off the Zhen residence and hauled a cartload of things out from inside. There was no way to hide that from the neighbors.
Naturally, it spread throughout the southern part of the city overnight.
"They're all saying..." Liang Peng wore an expression that was hard to put into words. "Our family has ties to the Liang Family among the Four Great Clans. Some are even saying I'm Left Prime Minister Liang Fuguo's illegitimate son..."
"What kind of nonsense is that?" Even Liang Yue found it bizarre.
The Four Great Clans of the divine capital: Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen.
These four were ancient great clans that had existed even before the Yin Dynasty, their lineages stretching back thousands of years. Each had high ministers serving at court. Anyone who had even the slightest connection to the Four Great Clans was surely either wealthy or noble.
Take Chen Ju, for instance. His family was merely a collateral branch of the Chen Clan responsible for managing its businesses, yet even as a side branch, their wealth was already beyond counting.
But sharing a surname did not mean they were related. If Liang Yue's family had even the slightest connection to that Left Prime Minister's Liang Family, they would not have fallen into such hardship in Peaceful Lane, nor would even an Official Guard position have been taken from them.
But rumors were like that.
From his classmates' perspective, Zhen Xiaohao had bullied Liang Peng at the academy, only to be beaten badly by Liang Peng right afterward. Then, immediately after that, his household had been raided by the Ministry of Justice. His father, Zhen Changzhi, had been known for being cautious in office and clean as water, never having encountered any trouble in decades. If Liang Peng did not have some powerful backing behind him, who would believe it?
Young boys and girls had the most fertile imaginations. At once, a tale of an illegitimate son of the Left Prime Minister cast out among the common folk began to spread.
"Didn't you clarify it?" Liang Xiaoyun asked.
"I did. I said I'm absolutely not anyone's illegitimate son." Liang Peng said helplessly. "They all said they understood, then secretly tried to persuade me that being illegitimate wasn't shameful, and that rising to power couldn't be rushed."
"You've suffered for it." Liang Yue said. "The details of Zhen Changzhi's case can't be made public yet. Once the investigation is over in a while, your noble reputation can be washed clean."
Liang Peng nodded, then felt there was something strange about those words.
There were other troubles that were not easy to speak of. Before, only some girls at the academy had secretly liked him, occasionally casting shy glances his way. It had not affected him much. But now, the way girls from more than half the academy looked at him had changed. Their gazes were downright blazing.
Every so often, someone would even pass him a love letter. He simply could not focus during class.
It was far too damaging to his studies.
So annoying.
"Oh, right." Liang Peng added, "I don't know if I was hurt after fighting with him, but ever since I woke up this morning, I've felt a little dizzy every time I breathe. If I take a deep breath, I get even more lightheaded. How about I take leave tomorrow too and go see a physician?"
Liang Yue scratched his head. "You can get hurt from beating someone up one-sidedly?"
"Whether he's injured or not, he can rest for a day." Liang Xiaoyun nodded. "It would be good to lie low and avoid the storm as well."
His younger brother and sister returned to their rooms to rest, while Liang Yue went out into the courtyard.
Last night, he had gotten that copy of the Hu Family Blade Technique from Hu Tiehan. Now, he finally had time to practice it.
There were two matters of utmost importance before him now. One was to find the murderer who had killed Zhen Changzhi as soon as possible and completely clear the two brothers of suspicion. The other was to swiftly improve his strength and fortify himself. In this vast world, only sufficient strength gave one the foundation to stand firm.
For martial cultivators, by the Qi Blood Realm, their sinews and bones had already been tempered countless times. No moves involving fists, feet, blades, or swords could stump them. But for techniques to possess killing power, the most important thing was to comprehend the Dao resonance within them and merge it into one's martial arts.
Thus, what mattered in this world's martial arts manuals was not diagrams of moves, but visualization diagrams.
When he opened the booklet, the Hu Family Blade diagrams depicted a man wielding a blade atop a towering Snow Mountain, his figure darting and wheeling like a nimble spirit fox.
As he turned the pages, every visualization diagram struck him with a vast and majestic force, as though he had been instantly pulled onto that boundless ice field, witnessing sharp blade light flashing through the freezing wind.
Visualization meant to observe, then imagine.
Whoosh—
As he sank deeper into the images, the sound of roaring wind began to rise beside Liang Yue's ears. He had already committed every move to memory, forgotten the booklet's existence, and held a blade in his hand.
Every movement of the grandmaster before him came with the trembling of Snow Mountain, splitting ice for a thousand miles. Liang Yue could not achieve such a thing, but he followed every motion with strict precision, searching for the spirit within.
By rights, even if one in the First Realm could sense a trace of that spirit, it should not have been so vivid. Yet Liang Yue had immersed himself in the world of the visualization diagrams with such ease.
Image after image swept through his mind, that majestic blade intent bearing straight down upon his face.
The first strike!
Sand Gull Skimming Waves.
The second strike!
Mandarin Duck Linked Rings.
The third strike!
Embrace the Moon.
"..."
Under the moonlight, Liang Yue's figure grew increasingly elusive, gradually becoming a nimble afterimage. For a moment, it seemed as if his silhouettes filled the entire courtyard, and no one could tell which was real.
Only he himself knew that his true body stood upon the ice field, learning the blade from a legendary grandmaster.
That grandmaster possessed power capable of destroying heaven and earth. With one slash, mountain winds howled; with one blade falling to the ground, the ice field split apart. This vast stretch of heaven and earth seemed unable to contain him, thrown into utter upheaval by this single blade!
Boom!
With another turn of his body, several figures circled the sky, and Snow Mountain shattered because of them!
The eighteenth strike.
Cloud Dragon Nine Manifestations!
Sss! Sss! Sss!—
Deep marks carved by blade qi appeared simultaneously in nine spots across the courtyard floor. Liang Yue's half-closed eyes flew open, and the sharp gleam that burst forth in an instant seemed capable of piercing the deep night!
"This should be the Contemplation Realm, right?" He was somewhat excited.
At this moment, he only felt that his divine palace had suddenly opened wide. The Dao resonance between heaven and earth was like the surging waters of a mighty river. He seemed to be fishing beside that river; if he carefully perceived it, he could pluck it into his hands.
Without realizing it, he had broken through.
The Contemplation Realm!
Only after breaking through this second level of martial cultivation did one leave behind the crude tempering of sinews and bones and arrive at the doorway of true cultivation.
He truly had Hu Tiehan's help to thank for all of this.
Although Liang Yue had already stood at the peak of the Qi Blood Realm, only a final kick at the gate away from a breakthrough, if not for the martial arts manual Hu Tiehan had sent him, allowing Liang Yue to begin visualization early and stimulating the threshold of his divine palace, he could not have opened the gate to the Second Realm so quickly.
Martial arts manuals of the Yin Dynasty were not difficult to buy. There were all grades available, from high to low; they were not particularly rare items. But being easy to buy did not mean they were cheap. Even that roadside-stall copy of Iron Cotton Armor Hu Tiehan had given Pang Chun had been worth nearly a hundred taels. The value of this ancestral Hu Family Blade Technique was impossible to measure.
It was absolutely impossible for Liang Yue to buy a martial arts manual of this grade himself.
Now, as long as he closed his eyes, that towering Snow Mountain would appear within his divine palace, along with the endless blade light spilling across its slopes.
That proved he had fully comprehended all the spirit of the Hu Family Blade Technique!
From the first form to the eighteenth, not one had been missed.
"Wait..."
Liang Yue's heart was filled with gratitude as he thought of Hu Tiehan's rugged face, when he suddenly remembered something.
"Which form did Brother Hu say was difficult again?"
Thanks to Alliance Leader "one piece, fine wine" for the reward!
This book may be somewhat different from the previous two, and its opening has changed as well. Although I have been trying hard to maintain the same tone, the reading experience may still feel different. I do feel that I have a rather exciting worldview in mind, and if I slowly unfold it, it may turn out well, but I still feel uncertain. Early on, I worry that longtime readers may not accept it; later on, I worry that I may not be able to write it out. Seeing so many friends from the previous book come to support me, I am truly grateful.
Thank you, everyone. I'll keep working hard!
Before you continue