Chapter 48

Cao Jing clutched Guo Qingshui tightly, his breathing already ragged. It was clear that his heart was filled with extreme fury and agitation. Ever since he had repeatedly entwined himself with Guo Qingshui in passion and love, Cao Jing had regarded her as his private possession.

Guo Qingshui gently twisted her waist and hips, her body like a water snake as she teasingly brushed against Cao Jing's most vital place. At once, Cao Jing's breathing grew even more hurried and heavy, and his hands slipped involuntarily beneath her clothes, kneading everywhere.

Guo Qingshui gave a coquettish laugh. "A man and a woman, alone together in a room—the long night ahead, dry firewood meeting blazing flames. What else could they do? Of course, they could seek pleasure and tumble into bed..." As she spoke in a soft, languid voice, her body swayed. In two or three movements, she slipped free of Cao Jing's embrace. Her lotus steps shifted, seeming slow yet swift, and in the blink of an eye, she had gone far away.

All that remained in the wind was Guo Qingshui's seductive laughter and waves of her fragrant scent.

Fire nearly spurted from Cao Jing's eyes. His face was full of viciousness as he shouted and gave chase at once, growling, "You are my woman. Even as a ghost, you will be..."

Guo Qingshui sneered. "Say such things after you have mastered the Cao Gongyang Sword Scripture! Can you compare to a dragon-blooded one?"

Watching Guo Qingshui's graceful figure recede farther and farther away, Cao Jing roared, "Just you wait for me!" He had no idea that his mind had already been bewitched, that Guo Qingshui had him completely under her control. How could a woman like her possibly be satisfied by Cao Jing alone?

The Cao Gongyang Sword Scripture was divided into upper and lower volumes. The upper volume taught sword moves and martial techniques, while the lower volume taught the sword art's heart method, a method for cultivating inner qi. Once both volumes were mastered, one could unleash sword qi with tremendous power. The Cao Gongyang Sword Scripture's martial moves and heart method formed a single matched whole. Though it was merely a low-grade Essence Cultivation art, its heart method and moves fit together perfectly. Using the sword scripture to drive the sword moves, its displayed might could rival that of a high-grade Essence Cultivation art. What Cao Jing had learned was only the upper volume. As for the lower volume's sword scripture heart method, it was kept in the ancestral hall and could only be learned by an outstanding member of the Cao family who had gained everyone's recognition.

Among the Cao family's younger generation, Cao Jing had a considerable chance of cultivating the sword scripture heart method. He merely needed another three to five years of experience, and the opportunity to study the lower volume of the sword scripture would surely come. But at this moment, provoked by Guo Qingshui's words, he was as though possessed by demons and unwilling to wait even another instant. The thought of returning home immediately arose in him, and he wanted to rush to the ancestral hall at once to take the lower volume and cultivate it.

In the north of the city, near the city wall, a secluded secondary residence seemed far too small and inconspicuous compared with most mansions in Yongan Prefecture. Some things were small and plain, yet especially eye-catching. But this residence, with its weathered plaque bearing the words "Lin Manor," was both small and unremarkable, nearly a forgotten existence tucked away in some corner.

Before Lin Manor lay only a cold, mottled alley. The walls on both sides were covered in moss, and even clumps of lush green wall grass grew from them. This alley had been formed by the rear courtyard walls of two great estates pressing together, and almost no one came to such an extremely secluded place in ordinary times. Lin Manor stood at the joining point squeezed between the residences of a former Minister of Military Affairs and a high-ranking military official, with its rear pressed tightly against the city wall. It could be said to be a tiny existence hiding behind two colossal beasts.

Ning Chang'an looked around and immediately sensed the strangeness of this place. He sighed. "This truly is a good place!"

Lin Ying stopped beside the two small stone lions before Lin Manor's gate and turned to ask, "What is so good about it?"

Ning Chang'an pointed at the courtyard walls on either side of the alley before Lin Manor and chuckled. "Everyone says a tiger's backside is not to be touched, but Lin Manor is quite something. It has touched the backsides of two tigers at once and remained perfectly safe. How could this not be called a good place? Could there be a little tiger hidden inside Lin Manor?" Ning Chang'an looked at Lin Ying with a faint smile, hoping to spot some clue on her lovely face. What else could something that dared touch a tiger's backside be, if not a little tiger?! Lin Manor's location was simply too apt to stir one's imagination. Consider it: anyone who could occupy a large tract of land in Yongan Prefecture to build an estate had wielded immense authority in office. Who would be willing to leave their back garden to others, allowing such a thorn in their flesh?

Lin Ying blinked and looked at the words "Lin Manor" on the plaque. "There is no little tiger in Lin Manor," she said mildly. "There is only a sword!"

Ning Chang'an froze, both surprised and curious. "A sword?" Master's Tower had almost no information about Lin Manor. There were only four simple words—keep respectful distance.

Lin Ying did not wish to say more. She waved her hand. "Go in. Dressed like an assassin, standing between the backsides of two tigers, be careful you do not meet with misfortune!"

Ning Chang'an was momentarily speechless.

With a creak, Lin Manor's vermilion-lacquered gate opened. An elderly woman bent at the waist opened it, peering out through the crack. She first saw Lin Ying, and a kindly smile appeared on her wrinkled face. "Miss has returned!" Then the old woman's gaze swept past Lin Ying and settled on Ning Chang'an, her face filling with vigilance.

Under the old woman's stare, Ning Chang'an immediately felt uncomfortable all over, as though a venomous snake had fixed him in its sights. The skin on his face began twitching uncontrollably.

Lin Ying said mildly, "Granny Hua, this is a laborer I hired to do odd jobs. Please stop staring at him. If you look at anyone a few more times, no one could bear it!"

Only then did the old woman slowly withdraw her gaze and nod slightly.

Ning Chang'an entered Lin Manor together with Lin Ying. The old woman shut the gate and vanished in the blink of an eye. In that brief moment, cold sweat had already broken out all over Ning Chang'an's body. Secretly, he marveled at the old woman's formidable presence. Even her gaze carried baleful chill—how could ordinary people endure it?!

Lin Ying turned and glanced at Ning Chang'an. "You are all right?"

Ning Chang'an shook his head.

Lin Ying said, "My family does not particularly welcome strangers."

Ning Chang'an gave a bitter smile. "I could feel that."

Lin Manor was not large. Lin Ying led Ning Chang'an directly to stay in the western wing. Along the way, Ning Chang'an did not see a single servant, as though only Granny Hua and Lin Ying lived in the entire manor. It was already the latter half of the night, and dawn was not far away. Lin Ying mysteriously told Ning Chang'an to take off his night clothes, saying she would give him a complete change of appearance.

After giving the instructions, Lin Ying left Ning Chang'an's room to fetch some necessary things. Ning Chang'an walked to the window and gently pushed it open. A cool night breeze rushed against his face. The night was quiet. Suddenly, Ning Chang'an's ear twitched slightly, and a trace of astonishment appeared on his face.

Boom, boom, boom!

Carried on the wind, faint deep sounds reached Ning Chang'an's ears in waves. Ordinary people would barely have noticed them, but Ning Chang'an heard them with perfect clarity. He strained his eyes into the distance and saw, in the dark night sky, circles of rippling airwaves spreading outward, shaking the entire night sky until it resembled a tranquil lake constantly struck by thrown stones.

"Who is practicing martial arts? Such powerful inner qi! I wonder whether they are cultivating Qi Gong or Essence Cultivation. Every move shakes the void, and their fists and feet already possess the bearing of heaven and earth. A figure at the grandmaster level!"

Ning Chang'an exclaimed in astonishment.

All at once, the first light of dawn appeared. A streak of purple qi rose in the east, and the morning sun was about to rise.

Ning Chang'an saw only that the circles of ripples in the night suddenly calmed. In the unseen sense of things, it seemed as though an unfathomably vast monster had begun to breathe in and out. With each inhalation and exhalation, even the faint Eastern Purple Qi seemed to flow, transforming into a pale stream of light—and it was actually swallowed.

"What a fellow—Consume Mist and Eat Qi?!"

Ning Chang'an's horizons broadened. He watched wisps of purple qi drift over, tinting this stretch of night sky with a hazy violet color, dreamlike and illusory.

Ning Chang'an took a deep breath and immediately felt extremely comfortable in his lungs and organs. This purple qi was many times denser than usual. With one deep breath, the purple qi entered his body, and he instantly sensed its wonders. A faint current of heat began circulating throughout his body, and every joint in him writhed slightly. Ning Chang'an abruptly raised both hands and spread his palms. He saw that the two faint Lotus Patterns in his palms had become especially clear. The gray lotus petals glimmered with threads of silver luster, as though the petals were about to open and bloom completely.

This gray Lotus Pattern had only three petals, and they were exceedingly dim. The three petals were tightly closed and very simple, not even enough to count as a flower bud. Yet at this moment, silvery-gray radiance flowed faintly through both his palms, drawing in strands of purple qi that flowed over and merged bit by bit into the three petals.

As soon as the purple qi entered the petals, Ning Chang'an immediately felt the heat current throughout his body grow stronger, and his whole body began to burn.

Ning Chang'an was overjoyed. "Consume Mist and Eat Qi—so the Lotus Pattern actually has such a marvelous use! It seems my understanding of the Three Pure Nine Nether Wondrous Dharma Lotus Heart Scripture is still insufficient. I had never discovered it before. If someone elsewhere had not been practicing and breathing in and out tonight, drawing in such incomparably dense Eastern Purple Qi, I would never have made this discovery. Hehe, this is my destined fortune..."

Ning Chang'an's mind became clear, and he immediately understood the reason behind it. At once, he decided to take advantage of this opportunity and cultivate properly. This was the time when Eastern Purple Qi was at its densest. Furthermore, the person practicing in the distance was continuously inhaling and exhaling, making the purple qi in this area more than a hundred times denser than usual. Only then had it triggered the Lotus Pattern's change. Ning Chang'an immediately drew his mind inward, activated the Wondrous Dharma Heart Scripture, and extended his hands before him, pressing them against the empty air. Once the heart scripture moved, the silver glow in his palms suddenly lit up, drawing streams of purple qi like ten thousand rivers returning to the sea. They poured directly into the Lotus Patterns in the centers of his palms, then were driven by the heart scripture through every limb and bone in his body.

Ning Chang'an first felt a cool current pour into his body. A faint purple radiance rose all over him, making him seem to stand within a misty ball of light, mysterious beyond mystery. Then, it was as though a fire dragon burst forth within his body and roamed through it without cease. He felt as if his entire body were inside a blazing fire, like phoenixes reborn through nirvana, flames consuming his flesh. In the unseen depths, his strength grew thread by thread, slowly increasing, no less than if he had devoured the lifelong true qi of a Qi Gong expert.

Cock-a-doodle-doo!

At a rooster's crow, a streak of dawn light brightened in the east, and the sun climbed above the horizon.