Change of Heart IV

"What does it have to do with you?" Deng Mingchao said coldly.

"Hehe..." Mu Qiao Zhi smiled. Her fit, leopardess-like body moved closer step by slow step, narrowing the distance.

"You look very angry?"

"Why can't I be angry? Facing a traitor..." Deng Mingchao's face showed ridicule, but before he could finish, he was interrupted.

"What did I betray?" Mu Qiao Zhi laughed. "No, Junior Brother Deng, aren't your thoughts a little ridiculous? Qingfeng Temple throws its doors wide open to teach martial arts. We pay to enter and learn. They're only external martial arts—anywhere can teach them. Rich families practice them to keep fit; poor families practice them to make a living. Don't tell me you really planned to make this your lifelong goal?"

"..." Deng Mingchao wanted to say something, but for a moment, he did not know how to refute her.

"Junior Brother Deng, these external martial arts schools are simply one training ground after another, places where money changes hands and skills are passed on. What they teach isn't some important or rare martial art, either. If this place no longer works out, we just switch to another. Every so often, all kinds of martial arts schools close down while others rise up. If everyone were as stubborn as you, would you plan to collapse together with the school?" Mu Qiao Zhi continued with a smile.

"Then what did Senior Sister Mu come here for?" Lin Hui could not help speaking up from behind.

"I only wanted to bring you two to Black Dragon Gate as well. Qingfeng Temple's martial arts are too weak. Even if its movement techniques hold a slight advantage, that overall weakness cannot bridge such an enormous gap." Mu Qiao Zhi smiled. "Don't forget why we practice martial arts."

She stopped three meters away from them.

"Wasn't it to gain some strength to protect ourselves and our families after failing the selection?"

With a sigh, she slowly raised her hand and flexed the black metal claw.

"If we could pass the selection and become Resonants, who would still be willing to practice martial arts? Internal martial arts aside, the ceiling of external martial arts has always been right there. We only learn them as a matter of course, and the masters only teach them casually. Everyone knows that external martial arts are nothing more than that once practiced to their limit. That is reality."

"What Senior Sister says makes sense, but..." Deng Mingchao began, his expression ugly.

"But what? Even your masters—the three of the Ming generation—weren't they the same back then? They failed the selection and could only settle for second best, hoping to enter the Three Sects and Six Clans of the Inner City. But they weren't chosen there either, and only then did they have no choice but to learn external martial arts. If they had a choice, who would stay in the Outer City and practice these bitter, third-rate Cultivation Techniques?" Mu Qiao Zhi continued.

Hearing this, Lin Hui understood somewhat. The martial arts schools of the Outer City were like one training institution after another, taking in young people who had failed the selection and could not enter the Three Sects and Six Clans.

These young people wanted to study martial arts to protect themselves, yet suffered from having no way to do so, and thus this enormous market came into being.

And in response to that market, vast numbers of external martial arts schools had sprung up in every town.

Because external martial arts did not discriminate—anyone could practice them, so long as they paid.

And this was also the key reason behind Mu Qiao Zhi's way of thinking.

"Mu Qiao Zhi, have you said enough?" Deng Mingchao's expression had become exceedingly grim.

"Draw your sword. Use your strongest move. We were classmates once—I came so you could see just how much higher Black Dragon Gate's martial arts stand than Qingfeng Temple's!" Mu Qiao Zhi smiled again.

Clang!

With a ring of steel, Deng Mingchao finally could not hold back any longer. His sword flashed from its sheath, its shadow like a wisp of clear wind, far faster than before, reaching Mu Qiao Zhi in an instant.

Though this strike contained complex and varied changes, at the very instant the sword was launched, its speed surged violently, as if everything before it had been a compressed spring, released all at once in the final moment.

That sword speed!?

Lin Hui recognized it at a glance from behind. This was not the Nine Section Fast Sword, but the Clear Sword Technique!

The defining trait of the Clear Sword Technique was speed—an utterly sudden speed that caught people off guard before they could react.

This strike's speed was even close to Lin Hui's own sword speed when he activated his special effect. Clearly, Senior Brother Deng had also been hiding some of his strength.

One had to know that Lin Hui had already reached the sixth grade of Body Tempering and was nearing the seventh.

With his current foundation, once he activated the special effect, his sword speed far surpassed the full-force sword strike of the senior disciple from back then.

Yet Senior Brother Deng Mingchao could barely approach such speed. Clearly, he had not merely learned Qingfeng Temple's martial arts; he had other martial arts to support and strengthen him as well.

In an instant, that clear-wind-like sword shadow flew toward Mu Qiao Zhi's chest, about to pierce into it.

Unfortunately... a black metal claw swept forward like lightning without a care, throwing out a mass of black claw shadows.

Clang clang clang clang!!

Four rapid clashes rang out in succession as the Clear Sword and black claw collided, then separated.

The black claw's immense strength forcibly knocked the sword's trajectory aside, then drove straight toward Deng Mingchao's chest in return, paying him back in his own coin.

Whoosh!

The black metal claw came to a steady halt before Deng Mingchao, perfectly still.

A fierce gust buffeted Deng Mingchao's uniform, pressing it tightly against his chest.

He panted violently, disbelief showing on his face.

Even if he was weaker than Mu Qiao Zhi, she had not used the Clear Sword Technique from beginning to end. What she had used was Black Dragon Gate's martial arts.

How long had it been since Mu Qiao Zhi switched over? And she was already...!?

"Do you see?" Mu Qiao Zhi withdrew her claw. "This is the gap in martial arts. Junior Brother Deng, Junior Brother Lin, when a road is destined not to go far, turning back early and choosing a longer road is the right path. Do not waste your years for nothing, only to regret it beyond remedy when you grow old."

After saying that, she turned and headed toward the dark alley from which she had come, soon vanishing from sight.

Deng Mingchao and Lin Hui were left standing where they were, silent, their minds teeming with thoughts.

They stood there for several full minutes.

"Senior Brother Deng?" Only then did Lin Hui speak. He noticed that Deng Mingchao seemed distracted, his face extremely ugly, with even a faint trace of struggle showing through.

Seeing this, Lin Hui understood as well. Senior Brother Deng had wavered.

If the gap between Black Dragon Gate's martial arts and Qingfeng Temple's had only been slight, Lin Hui believed Senior Brother Deng would not have wavered so easily. After all, there was the sunk cost, and Master Mingde looked after them within Qingfeng Temple. The treatment was different—there was no need to even say which side one should choose.

But the problem was that, judging from Mu Qiao Zhi's display just now, the gap between the two sides' martial arts was truly rather vast...

Lin Hui knew that he was actually different from the others. Back then, he had had a choice, but had chosen Qingfeng Temple for its speed. The others, however, had had no choice at all when they joined Qingfeng Temple.

The others sought to practice martial arts and grow stronger, with strength as their priority. He was different—he practiced martial arts mainly so he could run away, with survival as his priority.

As for Black Dragon Gate, even after Mu Qiao Zhi had displayed such an enormous difference, Lin Hui remained unmoved. No matter how strong Black Dragon Gate was head-on, its escape speed could not compare to Qingfeng Temple's.

If Daoist Baohe had not been concerned about saving face back then, and had simply turned around and fled instead of fighting directly, he definitely would not have been injured.

Seeing the shifting expression on Deng Mingchao's face, Lin Hui sighed inwardly. He knew that before long, he might have one less senior brother again.

What Qingfeng Temple would become in the future, even he could not say now.

"Let's go." Deng Mingchao let out a breath, composed his expression, and continued leading the way forward.

The two of them dealt with another two Blood Eyes and one Blood Body, but Deng Mingchao did not say another word.

Lin Hui also stepped in to deal with a Blood Eye. When it was time to return, the two headed back together and left the black house district.

At the gathering point, most of the team members had already returned.

Their eldest senior brother Chen Sui, Huang Shan, Qiu Yiren, Zhao Jiang'an and Mu Qiao Zhi from Black Dragon Gate, and the others were all there.

But upon seeing his eldest senior brother, Lin Hui's expression suddenly changed slightly. He saw that the tiger's mouth of Chen Sui's right hand, where he gripped his sword, bore what looked like a split wound.

Moreover, Chen Sui's expression was much like Deng Mingchao's just now.

His gaze kept drifting, almost unconsciously, toward Zhao Jiang'an, who had once been their second senior brother.

Seeing this, Lin Hui formed a guess in his heart. Deng Mingchao beside him was no fool either; he too noticed the signs, and his expression grew even uglier.

"Each team, report your numbers." Constable Xu Ansheng spoke in a deep voice.

"My group: nine Blood Eyes, one Blood Body."

"Six Blood Eyes, two Blood Bodies."

"Five Blood Eyes, two Blood Bodies..."

"Four Blood Eyes, two Blood Bodies."

The teams reported the numbers of patients they had slain.

"Not bad. Prepare to withdraw. Everyone has worked hard—continue tomorrow." Xu Ansheng nodded. The number of patients in this outbreak was estimated at around twenty to thirty. They had dealt with more than half of them in this trip, making for very good efficiency.

Before long, everyone quickly headed back the way they had come.

Along the way, Deng Mingchao did not say another word. Even when he parted from Lin Hui, he vanished in silence.

After returning to Qingfeng Temple, Lin Hui immediately told Master Mingde everything that had happened that day.

Inside Mingde's home.

"Sigh..."

A sigh rang out.

Daoist Mingde held a cup of freshly brewed medicinal tea, his expression desolate.

"I don't blame him. Even I, upon hearing about such a gap, would be tempted to switch sides, let alone a young man..."

Inside the room, before the windowsill, he set down his teacup and tugged at the cotton robe draped over himself.

"What about you? Were you tempted? Black Dragon Gate is short of core elites right now. If you go over, you'll be valued and put to good use."

Lin Hui shook his head slightly at those words.

"Black Dragon Gate's martial arts are not what this disciple seeks."

"The truth, or are you just humoring me?"

"Of course it's the truth. Given the current situation, there's no need for me to lie to you." Lin Hui's voice was calm.

"That's true..." Mingde smiled, though his smile carried a trace of bitterness. "Who would have thought? The moment Senior Brother Baohe fell, such a vast Qingfeng Temple would scatter apart so quickly..."

"Master, don't worry either. Lower the tuition a little, and there will always be people willing to learn," Lin Hui suggested. "We simply won't compete head-on with Black Dragon Gate."

"That makes sense. Qingfeng Temple now relies on just the three of us from the Ming generation, and even then we've split into three branches, each going its own way. Decline is already inevitable. We truly should lower the tuition." Mingde nodded in agreement.

"Only..." He hesitated, but in the end said nothing more. With a long sigh, he fell silent.

Lowering the tuition meant that Qingfeng Temple would henceforth fall to the very bottom among external martial arts schools, dropping from its former middle rank into the lower tier.

Lower-tier martial arts schools accepted almost anyone who came. Their tuition was generally less than half that of mid-tier schools. They could barely make ends meet and could not support even a slightly larger operation.

But under the current circumstances, Mingde could not afford to hesitate.

Thus, the very next day after accepting Lin Hui's suggestion, he decisively posted a notice outside declaring that anyone studying martial arts under him would pay only one-third of the previous tuition.

Within just a few days of the notice going up, quite a few students came to inquire.

Lin Hui and Wei Wei were responsible for receiving them and explaining matters. They then claimed an area within Qingfeng Temple as their new training grounds.

Very soon, half a month slipped by in the blink of an eye.

Qingfeng Temple's original grounds had been divided into three sections, each controlled by Ming Chen, Ming Xiu, and Mingde respectively.

Ming Chen and Ming Xiu both discarded the Qingfeng Temple name, renaming their schools Fast Sword Gate and Wind Sword Gate as they recruited students on their own.

Only Mingde still clung to the memories of the past and continued using the name Qingfeng Temple.

Meanwhile, Deng Mingchao finally left without a sound. After leaving behind a letter, he joined another sect—not the Black Dragon Gate, but one founded by other masters from the Outer City.

Only Lin Hui, Wei Wei, and Wang Yun remained under Mingde.

The new students who came to enroll were far poorer in quality than before. Some had come merely to practice for fun; others simply wanted cheap, professional exercise—whether the swordsmanship was strong or not did not matter, as long as it was cheap. Some had even come to pursue Wei Wei, drawn in by her beauty...

For a time, the Qingfeng Temple inherited by Mingde seemed to have suddenly become the sort of training class Lin Hui had often seen in his previous life.

When practicing swordsmanship, everyone chatted and laughed in the backyard training ground, utterly devoid of their former strictness and solemnity.

Mingde had become disheartened and could not be bothered to interfere. After teaching the introductory Seven Section Fast Sword once, he returned to his room to rest. Wei Wei and Lin Hui maintained order among the rest.