Eight Trigrams Mountain Shaking Fist

The clamor of the village was shut outside. Xie Yuan returned home, sat on his bed, and circulated his Inner Breath to heal his injuries.

Zhang Yu Feng's fist techniques had inflicted some internal injuries on him, but with the Nourishing Body Skill protecting his organs, they were nothing serious. With a period of slow recuperation, he would naturally recover.

But he certainly would not recuperate in the village.

After treating himself for a while, Xie Yuan regained some of his spirits. He opened his eyes and took the booklet from inside his robe.

Other than a few bloodstains, the booklet's blue cover bore no writing. Xie Yuan lightly rubbed it, then took out another booklet he had kept close to his body.

Holding one booklet in each hand, he compared them before his eyes and silently nodded.

Sure enough, they were made from the same material.

He flipped them open, and even the handwriting was identical.

"It is undoubtedly the Taoist Master's handwriting."

Xie Yuan murmured.

He recalled how the Taoist Master had said he had taught his elder brother a fist technique. Xie Yuan had never found it and had thought it had all been torn apart by wild beasts. So it had ended up here after all...

Xie Yuan dredged up memories he had deliberately buried. Before Xie Lun died, there had been a time when he seemed to have practiced a few fist and kicking forms at home, but Xie Yuan had not thought much of it then.

By the reckoning, not long after his elder brother encountered the Taoist Master, he had fallen victim to Zhang Yu Feng's evil hand. If he had been given a little more time—even not much time—with talent that even the mysterious Taoist Master had praised, perhaps he would no longer have feared Zhang Yu Feng at all.

What a pity. A genius who had just encountered a great fortuitous opportunity had met an enemy utterly beyond his current limits. No miracle had occurred.

Otherwise, perhaps his elder brother might have carved out a legend of his own.

Xie Yuan felt somewhat wistful and let out a long sigh.

He put away the Nourishing Body Skill and slowly opened the fist technique manual.

"..."

Before long, he closed the booklet again and shook his head.

Reading made his head spin a little.

There were too many technical terms inside. To Xie Yuan, it was like reading a heavenly tome.

"What fist follows the Eight Trigrams and Five Elements, feet treading the Heavenly Gang and Earthly Baleful Stars; what overcoming with the orthodox and joining with the unorthodox. I can understand a little when I look at it, but not much."

Xie Yuan was somewhat helpless. This required a great deal of Taoist knowledge. He could grasp the rough meaning of many things, but he had never studied them systematically. He knew only the surface, not the depths, so everything was shrouded in clouds and mist.

All in all, this was a profound Taoist fist technique. Its power was fierce and forceful, its moves mysterious, both orthodox and unorthodox.

It possessed both the force of ultimate yang and ultimate hardness, as well as the transformations of the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams. When facing an enemy, it left them unable to block and unable to defend.

Even by a rough estimate, compared with his current fighting methods, the Iron Cloth Long Fist could be disregarded, while the Soaring Dragon Escort Agency's Grade C saber art, the Galloping Wolf Saber Art, was utterly incomparable.

Xie Yuan did not know what level the escort agency's Grade A techniques were at, but he deeply suspected that even Shen Longteng's trump card could not compare to it.

Then there was the result Zhang Yu Feng had achieved with it. Their Blood Qi cultivation was at the same level, yet this was the first time Xie Yuan had encountered an opponent of the same realm who could contend with him. Even if Zhang Yu Feng had taken advantage of his distracted state of mind, it was enough to show the exquisite profundity of this fist technique. It could actually ignore part of the difference in internal power cultivation.

Yet Zhang Yu Feng had managed to learn it, so he must have put in bitter effort in secret. At such a young age, to climb from a small mountain village into the County Office, he was not an ordinary man in some sense.

But by now, he should already have turned into a heap of flying ash.

Xie Yuan's gaze shifted as he thought to himself:

"If I followed the proper method, I would do no more than find a Taoist Priest to recite scriptures, lay a solid foundation, first understand the scriptures, then see whether I possessed enlightenment.

"But with my talent, there is no need to go through so much trouble."

Xie Yuan closed his eyes and recalled his battle with Zhang Yu Feng, recalling the mysteries of his moves. Then he compared them against the booklet, read through it in one gulp without chewing, and gained a general understanding.

After going through it all once, Xie Yuan's vision blurred, and enlightenment struck him.

Eight Trigrams Mountain Shaking Fist: (1/100)

"Eight Trigrams Mountain Shaking Fist! What an imposing name."

When he looked at the technique manual again, the words that had seemed like a heavenly tome suddenly carried meaning, even the illustrations of the fist manual.

Eight sets of fist forms and their corresponding movement techniques naturally emerged in Xie Yuan's mind.

"This fist technique actually comes with combat movement techniques. It is a genuine practical fighting style. Zhang Yu Feng only learned half of it; the footwork was too profound, and he clearly had not comprehended it. Otherwise, there would have been another hard fight."

Xie Yuan nodded to himself. The more he studied this fist technique, the more profound and wondrous it seemed, its power boundless.

But no matter how profound it was, he had learned it.

"Great power means great consumption. An ordinary First Level of Practice martial artist probably could not throw more than a few punches. Even the Second Level of Practice could not sustain it for long, and this is only the initial stage. If an External Refinement Martial Artist wished to use this fist technique... they should probably pair it with Inner Strength? Perhaps this is meant to go with the Nourishing Body Skill?"

Xie Yuan fell into thought.

That Taoist Master's identity was mysterious and unfathomable. The Nourishing Body Skill and the Eight Trigrams Mountain Shaking Fist had originally both been prepared for his elder brother, so they were very likely complementary parts of a set.

First teach him the Eight Trigrams Mountain Shaking Fist and see his comprehension. If it worked out, use the Nourishing Body Skill to lay his foundation, then bring him back to the sect for careful guidance.

Xie Yuan felt that he had guessed a sliver of the Taoist Master's intentions.

"The Nourishing Body Skill provides endurance, while the Eight Trigrams Mountain Shaking Fist is fierce and powerful. They are both Taoist arts, from the same root and source. Together, their effect is not simply one plus one greater than two!"

Xie Yuan's spirits lifted, and he nodded to himself.

But after closing the booklet and putting it away close to his body, he did not immediately begin practicing in excitement as he had whenever he obtained a new technique before.

For one, his body was not in good condition. For another, he could not remain in the village for long.

After tidying up, Xie Yuan got up and went outside, where he saw Li Lan and Wang Lei standing on the slope watching the commotion in the village.

When they saw him emerge, Li Lan chattered excitedly:

"Yuanzi, Yuanzi! Look, the Zhang Family caught fire! They say both of them burned away!"

"Is that so? It seems good and evil are repaid in kind; those who commit too many injustices will bring about their own doom."

Xie Yuan smiled faintly.

"Yes, yes! Yuanzi, you really can read. You have learning."

Li Lan nodded repeatedly, then asked in confusion:

"Yuanzi, you're leaving already?"

"Yes. The escort agency is busy. I ate here yesterday too. I'll come back next time."

"Being busy is good. Being busy means you'll make something of yourself."

Li Lan tucked her hands into her sleeves and shot Wang Lei a glance. Wang Lei merely chuckled.

Xie Yuan loaded some of the remaining wood from the courtyard onto the donkey cart. After thinking it over, he went to call Zhu Dongming as well.

"I'll trouble Zhu Ge to drive me for a while."

"No problem."

Thus, Zhu Dongming drove the cart while Xie Yuan sat backward amid the pile of wood at the rear, wrapped in a thick padded coat and wearing a dogskin hat. While the Zhang Family's ground was still warm, they left Small Stone Village and followed the official road toward Cloudshine.

On the first day of the New Year, there were still quite a few people heading to the county seat. People and carts flowed endlessly along the official road.

"Hyah! Hyah! Move aside! County officers on official business! Everyone clear the way!"

Clip-clop, clip-clop. Urgent hoofbeats rang out. The people on the official road hurriedly moved to either side as they watched a small squad of county officers gallop past in a cloud of dust, racing north.

The donkey cart laden with timber stopped by the roadside. Xie Yuan sat backward upon it, watching the county officers rush past him, and smiled lightly.

Whether it had been a carrier pigeon delivering a letter or some other means of communication—or whether they had arranged it beforehand—their response had indeed been swift.

But it no longer had anything to do with him.

Xie Yuan pressed down his hat and sat on the donkey cart as it slowly entered Yun Zhao County.