Beautiful Shadow II

Beautiful Shadow II

"Then there were the proper martial arts schools that openly took disciples. The second choice was a renowned master from the Central Plains, Soul Severing Palm Li Ran." Lu Sheng had made careful inquiries about the man. His meridians had been injured by enemies in the Central Plains, forcing him to bring his wife and children to Yan Mountain City, where he lived under an assumed name, far from trouble.

"Even wounded, he still made a name for himself in Yan Mountain City. His skills must be far from ordinary. And his palm techniques are similar to mine, so they're worth a look."

"As for hard skills, there are two men: Tumbler Chen Jia and Copper Pillar Yang Furui." Lu Sheng had personally visited the martial schools and dojos run by those two. Tumbler was already over seventy, and all he taught were common, ordinary techniques. Copper Pillar Yang Furui, on the other hand, was much more generous. As long as one paid the tuition, one could learn the basic hard skill, the Quenching Iron Skill. After that, depending on one's performance, there was a chance of being chosen as a personal disciple and taught the Copper Pillar Skill.

"Joining a martial school or dojo to study is far too slow for me. I only need the manuals, as long as I can get started and obtain the manuals." After considering it, he decided to first check the auctions in the city. Perhaps he could find a formidable technique like the Black Fiend Skill.

At the thought of an auction house, Lu Sheng suddenly touched his purse. His fingers brushed the few thin banknotes and Gold Leaves within, and he let out a long sigh.

"I need to find a way to make money."

If not for Wang Ziquan's matter, and if he had not encountered the Red Mansion Painted Boat again, he would not have been in such a rush, nor would he have been so eager to increase his strength.

After packing his belongings and clothes, Lu Sheng ran all the way back to the Official Road outside Yan Mountain City and entered the city along the main thoroughfare. He decided to first take a look at that renowned master from the Central Plains, Soul Severing Palm Li Ran.

He hailed a carriage and let it race through the city for the time it took to drink a cup of tea before arriving in a secluded district.

At the end of the district stood an antique estate, its entrance hung with a peachwood plaque. This was the famous Green Wood Dojo, the martial arts school established by Soul Severing Palm Li Ran.

The gates happened to be wide open. It was the time each day when visitors were allowed to tour the dojo.

The crowd buzzed noisily. Lu Sheng squeezed in among them and followed them into the estate, where he saw a large square arena with red pillars.

On the platform, a middle-aged man with grizzled whiskers was performing a set of linked palm techniques. His palms stirred up gusts of wind, and faint whistling sounds of air being torn apart rang out from time to time.

"Good!"

When he reached the most exciting part, the dense sea of heads below surged, and cheers erupted all around.

Lu Sheng fixed his gaze on the stage.

"So this is the standard of a renowned master from the Central Plains?"

He began to doubt his own eyes. The man's palm techniques were decent enough, with acceptable speed and accuracy, but there was the faintest lag in the transitions. His strength was clearly lacking as well, weak and powerless. Even those air-piercing sounds were little more than a gimmick produced through technique to make up for it.

What left Lu Sheng most speechless was hearing someone beside him say:

"Yesterday, Grandmaster Li set up an arena and invited all the martial world fellows in Yan Mountain City to challenge him. Even the second commander of the Flying Curtain Army was stirred into coming and exchanging a few moves with Grandmaster Li. You have no idea! Before thirty moves had passed, that second commander took a palm strike to the chest, staggered back several steps, and cupped his fists in surrender!"

"Incredible! As expected of a renowned master from the Central Plains! He truly is extraordinary!"

"That's nothing. Grandmaster Li previously defeated the masters of Copper Pillar Dojo, Mad Lion Dojo, Cloud Water Dojo, and Nine Curves Universe Dojo one after another." Another person could not help showing off. "I watched every single match. No one could last fifty moves against Grandmaster Li!"

A wave of admiration immediately swept through the crowd.

Lu Sheng could tell it was not empty flattery or planted praise, but genuine admiration.

He took another careful look at Li Ran, who was demonstrating on the stage. Someone had already gone up to challenge him. Or perhaps it should not have been called a challenge, but an attempt.

The young man who stepped onto the platform was solidly built, but he was extremely respectful toward Li Ran, repeatedly saying that he wished to receive Grandmaster Li's guidance.

The two quickly began fighting, their movements stirring the air like tigers and winds.

After watching only a few exchanges, Lu Sheng understood why Li Ran was held in such high regard.

"So Li Ran's strength and speed are already remarkable by ordinary standards." Seeing the stance of the young man who had come up later, Lu Sheng finally realized it. He had no reference point and had never exchanged blows with other experts. He had always concealed his strength and trained quietly, so even he could only guess at what level his own strength had reached.

"Now that I see it, I could deal with Li Ran within three moves." Lu Sheng shook his head slightly, turned, and squeezed out of the crowd without looking any further.

"That Soul Severing Palm is only a little stronger than my Heart Piercing Palm at great mastery. Without circulating internal force, perhaps he could exchange moves with me. But once I use internal qi..." Lu Sheng thought it over. Perhaps even three moves was overestimating his opponent.

One move was enough for him to kill the man on the spot.

The difference between using internal qi and not using it was severalfold in power.

"This is not the kind of so-called expert I'm looking for." Lu Sheng left Green Wood Dojo. He had originally intended to visit Copper Pillar Dojo as well, but it was already late, so he returned home to rest first.

The next day, Lu Sheng visited Copper Pillar Dojo and several other dojos.

He did indeed witness demonstrations of hard skills. The legendary Copper Pillar could bend a spear by pressing it against his throat. It looked quite impressive. But Lu Sheng had seen such hard skills before. They were nothing more than hard qigong. The training method was simple; it merely required suffering and persistence.

Moreover, Copper Pillar's hard-skill training required large quantities of medicinal herbs for cleansing and tempering. Otherwise, many hidden injuries and lasting complications would remain. The several hard-skill dojos were rather generous with the techniques themselves and had openly displayed them, but they did not mention a single word about the medicinal formulas for cleansing and tempering.

Lu Sheng carefully looked into it and learned that only by joining a dojo could one receive the medicinal cleansing treatment.

He was disappointed. Without the cleansing formulas, even if he trained them, he would end up covered in injuries. Although the Modifier's method of training might differ from that of ordinary people, he did not want to waste time testing it. Breaking through to the third level of the Black Fiend Skill alone had left him nursing internal injuries for half a year. If it happened again, would he not be unable to fight for years?

By the time he left the dojo, more than half the day had passed again.

Lu Sheng had gained nothing. Disappointed, he stopped by the famous ghost market street in Yan Mountain City.

Yan Mountain City's ghost market specialized in selling grave goods, smuggled goods, stolen goods, or other contraband and troublesome items.

Lu Sheng sorted through all his belongings. In total, he had banknotes and Gold Leaves worth two thousand taels. The dividends from the shop under his name that sold the Four Treasures of the Study amounted to only a few dozen taels a month, a drop in the bucket to him.

"One last stroll. Let's see if I can find any good goods." The reason he had come here was because Zheng Xianggui had often said that many of the fine items they auctioned had been dug out of the ghost market.

Since then, he had often come to browse Yan Mountain City's ghost market, hoping to stumble upon some luck.

There were not many people in the ghost market, only a dozen or so stalls crammed into a narrow alley.

Lu Sheng walked down the alley, occasionally squatting down and reaching out to touch the items on the stalls.

After wandering for a while, he still found nothing. Just as he was about to turn back and resume training his internal qi, a hesitant male voice came from the other end of the alley.

"Are you... Lu Sheng, Lu Yue's son?"

Lu Sheng looked up. The man opposite him was a young gentleman dressed in yellow robes, with Huang Yu hanging from his waist. He stood tall and straight. Though Lu Sheng did not know him, he recognized his identity at a glance.

"You are... Chen Yunxi's elder brother? Chen Jiaorong?"

Chen Jiaorong's handsome face froze for a moment before he smiled.

"Brother Lu truly has eyes like torches."

"It is not that my eyes are like torches. You simply look too much like your younger sister." Lu Sheng shook his head.

Chen Jiaorong's face differed from Chen Yunxi's only in being more masculine. The two truly looked very alike.

"Since I've run into Brother Lu here, why don't we sit down together? Zhen Guo often mentions Brother Lu when he's with me." Chen Jiaorong smiled as he made the suggestion.

Lu Sheng paused, then nodded in agreement.

The two left the ghost market and found a tavern nearby, where they sat down to drink.

People came and went through the main hall. The calls of servers bringing wine and the laughter and chatter of guests rose without end. Yet neither of them was affected. They simply sat in silence for a while.

"I heard from Yunxi that Brother Lu is a man of noble character. I was the one who underestimated Brother Lu before." After the silence, Chen Jiaorong spoke first.

He paused, then added, "As for Wang Ziquan, the Government Office has already intervened. It was not Brother Zhen Guo who reported the case, but Wang Ziquan's cousin and family."

Lu Sheng held his wine cup and took a slight sip, letting the clear, faintly spicy liquor slowly flow through his mouth.

"Let's not speak of Yunxi's matter for now. What did the Government Office say?"

Chen Jiaorong shook his head. "Zhen Guo also asked me to inquire. They ruled it as him falling into the water by accident and going missing. The constables' investigation reached the same conclusion. It is said that someone even witnessed him fall into the Pine Cypress River. There are witnesses and evidence."

Lu Sheng said nothing. He tipped back his head and drained the wine in one gulp.

"So that settles it?"

"Yes. What else can be done?" Chen Jiaorong said helplessly. "Quite a few people disappear in the Pine Cypress River every year. Cases like Wang Ziquan's are not rare. This is how the Government Office handles them all. And they do not allow the matter to be spread around, or else one will be charged and thrown into prison."

Lu Sheng now understood how Yan Mountain City had earned its reputation for good public order.

"My sister said the reason you did not accept was because the two of you did not know each other well enough." Chen Jiaorong changed the subject.

"So Wang Ziquan's matter is really just going to be left at that?" Lu Sheng continued asking.

"Yes, it will be left at that." Chen Jiaorong answered. "The Pine Cypress River is enormous. Are you supposed to have people dive down one by one to search for a corpse that may already have been eaten by fish?"

Lu Sheng exhaled and sat upright, feeling deeply unsettled. Whether it was the Government Office in Nine Links City or the one in Yan Mountain City, both seemed deliberately unwilling to act. It filled him with irritation.

"What use is this Government Office, then?" The words slipped out before he could stop them.

Chen Jiaorong froze. His hand unconsciously reached for the Huang Yu at his waist.

"Yes... what use is this Government Office, really?"

For a moment, both were troubled in spirit, each thinking of other matters.

After a stretch of silence,

Lu Sheng's gaze unknowingly fell upon the Huang Yu in Chen Jiaorong's hand, and his eyes flickered.

"Brother Chen, may I take a look at that jade?"

Chen Jiaorong nodded and casually handed the Huang Yu to Lu Sheng. "It was a gift from a close friend some time ago. Fine Nine Plains Jade."

Lu Sheng took it. The instant it touched his hand, he felt an icy-cold aura surge from the jade through his palm and into his body.

That icy aura felt exactly the same as when he had absorbed that powder before.

"Such dense Yin Qi!" Lu Sheng was shaken. He had named this kind of aura Yin Qi, and the Yin Qi within this jade was far more abundant than the powder he had absorbed before—so abundant that he could absorb a great deal through skin contact alone, without even needing to draw blood.