Flying Cloud Divine Skill

The next morning.

The mountain trees were tranquil, streams murmured, and birds chirped sweetly.

The previous night, after Zhang Yu left Mount Heng territory, he traveled east for forty or fifty li.

When dawn broke, he left the main road and entered the mountains.

Yue Lingshan had walked for most of the night. Her embroidered shoes and white socks were stained with mud, and spiderwebs and leaves clung to her dress.

Her black hair was disheveled, and her pretty face looked haggard. Without last night's arrogance, she appeared rather pitiful.

"Little thief, where are you taking me?"

"Of course, back to Blackwood Cliff."

"G-going to Blackwood Cliff for what?"

"I captured Sect Leader Yue's daughter, which counts as restoring some face for the Cult. When we return, I'll offer you to Eastern Cult Master as a concubine. When he is pleased, won't he promote me and grant me a noble title?"

Yue Lingshan snapped furiously, "Dream on! Even if I bite through my tongue and kill myself, or jump off Blackwood Cliff, I will never become a demon's concubine!"

"That isn't up to you."

Seeing her face flushed with anger, Zhang Yu couldn't resist reaching out and pinching her. Her skin was as smooth and glossy as a peeled egg.

She really was the Junior Sister from The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, Linghu Chong's eternal ideal. Her skin felt wonderful.

"Lecher, I'll bite you to death!"

Zhang Yu withdrew his hand quickly, but her sharp teeth still scraped a bloody mark across it.

"Are you a dog?"

Feeling that he was in the wrong, Zhang Yu did not retaliate. He simply escorted her onward.

Remembering that she was being taken to Blackwood Cliff—a place that was practically a demonic lair in the legends of the martial world—Yue Lingshan felt both angry and afraid.

"Little thief, my father must know something has happened to me by now. He'll come after us. You should let me go and flee for your life."

Zhang Yu smiled. "Don't worry. I threw your handkerchief beside the western main road. Perhaps Mister Yue will think you went back to Mount Hua first."

Yue Lingshan ground her teeth in hatred, yet could do nothing. From childhood, she had been doted on by her parents and protected by six senior brothers. When had she ever suffered the slightest grievance? The more she thought about it, the angrier she became, until mist rose in her eyes.

After walking fifteen or sixteen li through the forest, they came upon Guanyin Nunnery.

Seeing that Yue Lingshan truly could not continue, and that he was tired as well, Zhang Yu entered the nunnery to rest.

The nunnery had long since fallen into disrepair.

The Bodhisattva statue had vanished from the altar. Only small statues of Sudhana and the Dragon Girl remained, covered in dust and sitting opposite each other in silence.

Once Yue Lingshan sat down, her tears fell in strings like beads from a broken curtain of rain.

"What? Missing your parents?"

Zhang Yu used the Dragon Girl statue as a pillow and reclined against a pile of straw.

Seeing her weep so pitifully, he found it amusing and could not resist taunting her.

"Heroine Yue was born with a golden bowl and silver chopsticks. You could have stayed on Mount Hua, learned needlework and embroidery, stitched mandarin ducks and butterflies, then married a good husband, managed the household, raised children, and lived a life of wealth and honor. How many people would envy such a life? Why wade into the murky waters of the martial world?"

Yue Lingshan said nothing and merely sobbed aloud.

"What are you crying about, anyway?"

Yue Lingshan glanced at him and choked out, "This heroine walked all night and hasn't eaten yet."

"Endure it! This is a desolate wilderness. Where am I supposed to get food for you?"

Yue Lingshan continued crying loudly.

Zhang Yu closed his eyes, only to realize that his own stomach was painfully hungry. Blackwood Cliff was still more than two hundred li away. Without food, he certainly would not make it back.

He remembered a mountain stream two or three li from the nunnery. He ought to be able to catch some fish and shrimp there.

"You're noisy enough to kill someone. Stay here and don't move. I'll find something to eat."

As soon as Zhang Yu left, Yue Lingshan immediately stopped crying. She moved to the altar and rapidly rubbed the rope binding her hands against the sharp edge of the table...

The mountain stream was about two zhang wide and more than three meters deep at its deepest point. Water murmured along, and aquatic plants grew between two blue rocks.

"There should be fish here."

Zhang Yu stripped off his clothes, put on the Green Jade Thumb Ring, and dived beneath the water. Seven or eight minutes later, when he emerged, a lively carp was skewered on his long sword, along with five or six crabs.

"There aren't many fish, but there are plenty of crabs. This should be enough."

"With this Green Jade Thumb Ring, I can hold my breath underwater for fifteen minutes even without Internal Energy. If things ever get bad, I can take a boat out onto the rivers and seas and become a fisherman."

Humming a tune, Zhang Yu carried his sword back toward Guanyin Nunnery.

He crossed the threshold and glanced at Yue Lingshan, who still refused to give up. He chuckled softly.

"Stop trying. That rope is twisted cowhide. You can't wear it down with wood."

Yue Lingshan glared at him. With her tears not yet dry, she sat dejectedly before the altar.

A pile of firewood was lit inside the nunnery.

Zhang Yu removed the carp's innards, skewered it on a branch, and slowly roasted it over the fire. The crabs were simpler: he wrapped them in leaves and layers of yellow mud, then buried them in the ashes to stew. The point was to preserve their original flavor.

The aroma of meat spread through Guanyin Nunnery.

Yue Lingshan secretly swallowed.

"Long ago there was beggar's chicken. Today there is beggar's crab. The finest flavors in the world come from nature."

Zhang Yu smiled as he cracked open the mud, tore away the leaves, and released the fresh, sweet aroma of crab meat.

He lifted the back shell, revealing crab meat and roe packed inside, with juices still bubbling.

Mountain crabs raised in clear streams truly were delicious.

Unfortunately, each was only as large as a duck egg, with little meat and roe.

There were six crabs in total. Zhang Yu devoured four in one go, still unsatisfied.

Yue Lingshan slowly moved to the fire and stared at the crabs, her eyes glowing.

Zhang Yu asked, "Want some?"

Yue Lingshan nodded.

Zhang Yu opened a crab and held it to her mouth. After hesitating for a moment, she lowered her head and took small bites, her lips and teeth unavoidably brushing his palm.

He had no intention of taking advantage of her. Yue Lingshan was still only fifteen or sixteen, practically a middle-school student. Besides, she possessed Internal Energy. Once freed, he might not even be her match.

One crab did not fill her stomach. Instead, it only awakened her appetite.

Yue Lingshan pointed toward the fire and said softly, "There's still one... You've already eaten four!"

After they finished the crabs, the carp was nearly roasted as well.

Yue Lingshan waited eagerly. In the end, she received the fish head and tail, which she ate with great relish.

Zhang Yu ate until his stomach was round, then suddenly heard the faint clash of weapons.

He rose with his sword and was about to leave.

Yue Lingshan heard the sounds outside as well, and her eyes lit up.

"It must be my father! Quickly let me out. I'll beg him to spare your life."

"Stay put."

Zhang Yu turned back, tore off a strip of his sleeve, gagged her, and tied her to the corner of the altar table. He then stamped out the fire until not even a spark remained before confidently leaving Guanyin Nunnery.

The farther he went, the louder the clash of weapons became.

Zhang Yu hid in a bamboo grove.

Two people were fighting fiercely in the open ground outside the grove.

"He's still alive?"

The man was around forty and wore a silk robe. A ghost-headed iron-ring saber flashed in his hand. His movements were extremely nimble and graceful, sometimes retreating and sometimes dispersing like drifting clouds, making his opponent unable to predict him.

There were two bloody holes in his left leg. They had only been roughly bandaged, and blood now flowed freely.

His opponent was a long-faced man in red, wielding an iron sword as he defended himself. He was clearly at a disadvantage, with three or four more saber wounds across his body.

Only by deliberately attacking the robed man's injured left leg each time could he neutralize his attacks.

"'Great Song Yang Hand,' Fei Bin."

Zhang Yu recognized the red-robed man fighting Hall Master Wu.

"Why press me so relentlessly?" Wu Lianjiang slashed again, knocking Fei Bin back five or six steps. He braced himself on his saber, his left leg trembling nonstop.

This man was Wu Lianjiang, Hall Master of the Cloud Water Hall, one of the Demonic Cult's twelve halls. The martial world called him the Flying Cloud Divine Ape.

Fei Bin said, "Demonic Cult fiends deserve to be killed by everyone."

"Do you want Wu's head to establish the reputation of your 'Great Song Yang Hand'? If you aren't afraid of death, come and take it."

Fei Bin gave a sinister laugh. "If you hadn't taken two sword strikes to the leg, I naturally wouldn't dare come."

"Though this old man has fallen into dire straits, I am not some rat for petty men to bully!"

Wu Lianjiang hesitated for a moment, then tapped two pressure points on his leg, slightly stemming the bleeding.

He leaped into the air, darting back and forth as his iron saber rolled in his hand.

Four or five afterimages instantly appeared before Fei Bin, followed by five or six saber shadows sweeping through the air. He realized that something was wrong. This was the Flying Cloud Divine Ape's famed technique, Cloudy Waves Crossing. He had never expected Wu Lianjiang to still be able to use it in such a wounded state.

"Jade Enters Heavenly Pool!"

Fei Bin drew a circle with his long sword, then thrust straight upward from below toward the center of the afterimages.

This was Jade Enters Heavenly Pool, one of the Mount Song Sect's Seventeen Sword Techniques. It was well suited to countering Wu Lianjiang's Cloudy Waves Crossing, displaying the momentum of facing countless attacks with a single decisive thrust.

However, Fei Bin's resolve was insufficient, so his sword was not swift enough. He failed to hit Wu Lianjiang and instead exposed a flaw, allowing Wu Lianjiang to knock his sword away with a saber stroke.

"Die!"

Fei Bin paled in alarm and hurriedly retreated.

When Wu Lianjiang was young, enemies had pursued him until he fell off a cliff. By sheer luck, he survived and landed on a stone platform along the cliff face. There, he discovered a skeleton and the Flying Cloud Divine Skill carved into the stone.

Among the twelve hall masters, his martial arts ranked near the bottom. But when it came to lightness skills and movement techniques, he ranked first.

"Chasing Clouds and Lightning!"

Wu Lianjiang appeared before Fei Bin like a ghost. His ghost-headed iron-ring saber pierced into Fei Bin's chest. In a panic, Fei Bin seized the back of the blade with his left hand and struck Wu Lianjiang's chest with all his strength using his right palm.

"Bang!"

The two quickly separated. Fei Bin pressed a hand over the wound and glanced at Wu Lianjiang, who was still standing. He thought, I used all ten parts of my power in that Great Song Yang Palm, yet he seems completely unharmed.

Could he have cultivated an external technique like the Iron Shirt, or perhaps be wearing something protective, like a Golden Thread Soft Armor?

"That must be it."

Fei Bin tapped several pressure points on his chest to stop the bleeding, then withdrew.

Wu Lianjiang stood where he was, suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, and then turned and vanished into the forest...

"Your subordinate, Zhang Yu, Deputy Flag Master of the Cloud Water Hall, arrived late to protect you. Please punish me, Hall Master."

Zhang Yu dropped to one knee and scanned the woods.

Wu Lianjiang had deceived Fei Bin, but he was clearly at the end of his strength and could not have escaped far.

"Tell me your origins." A voice echoed through the forest.

Zhang Yu secretly rejoiced. "Your subordinate is from Meixi Village in Pingding Prefecture. I joined the Cult in the seventh year of the You Sheng era. My Incense Master was Song Chuke, and my Flag Master was Yu Hu. In the eighth year of the You Sheng era, I distinguished myself in the campaign to destroy Gushan Fort and was promoted to Deputy Flag Master. I originally guarded Iron Soldier Mountain, but half a year ago I was transferred back to Blackwood Cliff and stationed at the second pass of Baizhang Cliff."

As soon as he finished speaking, a figure dropped from a tree.

Wu Lianjiang's face was gray and blood flowed from his seven orifices. Leaning against the tree, he slowly sat down.

"So you are genuine."

"Incense Master Song died in battle at Damaoling. This time, Yang Lianting betrayed me, and fewer than one in a hundred members of the Cloud Water Hall survived. The fact that you escaped proves that you are extraordinarily fortunate."

Zhang Yu said indignantly, "That vile dog Yang Lianting is despicable and shameless. I will risk my life to escort you back to Blackwood Cliff, where we can report everything to Eastern Cult Master in person and purge the traitor at his side."

Wu Lianjiang smiled bitterly. "You're right. Yang Lianting is a treacherous villain! But Dongfang Bubai is no enlightened leader either. Otherwise, why would he allow such a villain to run rampant?"

"It pains me that the century-old foundation of the Sun Moon Divine Cult may be destroyed in their hands. Only by welcoming Cult Master Ren Woxing back can we hope to turn the tide."

"Your subordinate will obey every order from Hall Master."

Wu Lianjiang coughed out a clot of blood and said unwillingly, "If not for the sword wounds in my leg, Fei Bin could train for another ten years and still not touch a single hair on my head."

"Hall Master, I will escort you back to the Cult. There are many renowned physicians within the Cult. They will certainly be able to heal your wounds."

Wu Lianjiang shook his head. "My heart meridians have already been severed. There is no hope of recovery. Fortunately, I met you before I died. At least now I have someone I can entrust things to."

Zhang Yu lowered his head and squeezed out two tears.

"Whatever order Hall Master gives, your subordinate will carry it out even at the cost of his life."

"I have something to entrust to you."

"I have a granddaughter named Hanyu. She is hiding in Qingniu Village, fifty li northeast of Pingding City. I fear that Yang Lianting will kill her once he learns of her."

"Please rest assured, Hall Master. I will find Miss and secretly protect him."

"Good, good... You are a loyal man."

Wu Lianjiang vomited a large mouthful of blood. The Internal Energy from the Great Song Yang Palm was still tearing at his internal organs.

"After today, the Cloud Water Hall will cease to exist. When you return, go see Hall Master Tong Baixiong of the Wind Thunder Hall. Tell him, 'Your old drinking companion from Qunyu Courtyard in Hengshan City has gone on ahead. Take care of yourself.'"

"Though Tong Baixiong is one of Dongfang Bubai's staunchest supporters, he is upright and honorable. He will look after you."

Zhang Yu had originally felt three parts sincerity and seven parts deception. But now, seeing Wu Lianjiang genuinely consider his future as he lay dying, he felt a trace of emotion well up inside him.

Wu Lianjiang's face had already turned as pale as gold paper. Trembling, he took a booklet from his robes.

"My famed technique is called the Flying Cloud Divine Skill. The first half contains the Internal Energy cultivation method, while the second half contains lightness and movement techniques. I give it to you today so it will not be buried with me when I die."

After Wu Lianjiang finished speaking, his face suddenly flushed with color. He straightened his clothes and faced east, where a ray of morning sunlight happened to fall across his face.

"Remember, do not let... anyone from the Mount Song Sect find my corpse."

As soon as he finished speaking, Wu Lianjiang died.

Zhang Yu sighed and carefully folded the booklet recording the Flying Cloud Divine Skill, tucking it into his robes. It would be a lie to say he was not delighted.

"After muddling around for half a year, I finally obtained an Internal Energy cultivation method. The twelve hall masters of the Demonic Cult are no ordinary people. Even if the Flying Cloud Divine Skill is inferior to top-tier martial classics like the Sunflower Manual and the Great Star Absorbing Technique, it should still rank among the first-rate techniques of the martial world."

He felt somewhat melancholy as he carried Wu Lianjiang's corpse into the deep mountains. After walking for two hours, he finally found a cliff.

The place was secluded, the scenery beautiful, and a river flowed eastward among the distant mountain ridges.

After digging a grave, he saw the red sun rise to the center of the sky.

"Sun and moon shine without mercy upon loyal bones; this land is fortunate to have a saber as their stele."

"Hall Master Wu, rest in peace. I will do my best to fulfill what I promised."

Zhang Yu planted the ghost-headed saber before the mound and turned to leave.