"Bing Xue'er?" Song Qingshu murmured, engraving the name deep in his heart.
He had kept hesitating over whether to continue after her. He took a few steps, only to pull them back in the end. What would be the point of catching up?
At that moment, Song Qingshu felt an urgent desire to grow stronger. Before, it had been due to the pressing threat of Zhou Zhiruo's pursuit. Now, he had another reason: so that he could be with Bing Xue'er in the future without trouble.
He clearly remembered how much resistance Yang Guo and Xiaolongnü had faced when they got together. Yang Guo had nearly been killed by Guo Jing with a single palm strike, setting off a whole chain of tragedies for the two of them.
And what had caused all that? One could say it was worldly rites and conventions, killing without drawing blood. Or one could say that Yang Guo himself had been too weak in the beginning.
But once Yang Guo later became the nearly invincible Condor Hero, and Xiaolongnü used Left-Right Mutual Combat to wield the Jade Maiden Heart Swordplay, forcing the Golden Wheel Monk into a miserable state, who would still dare gossip about their relationship? Would Guo Jing and Huang Rong still dare lecture them about propriety?
Song Qingshu had no intention of repeating Yang Guo and Xiaolongnü's mistakes. Madam Hu would either go to Medicine King Manor to find Hu Fei or return to Jade Brush Villa in Liaodong. It would not be difficult for him to find her. The urgent priority was to increase his own strength.
Sitting cross-legged atop a huge boulder at the mountain peak, Song Qingshu meditated on some martial arts he remembered. Although all his meridians had been severed back then, he had deliberately memorized the Nine Yin Manual and the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms manual from within the Dragon Slaying Saber and Heavenly Sword. He had never expected they would truly come in handy now. Half a day later, when Song Qingshu opened his eyes, his inner qi had grown a little denser and more abundant.
Although he had learned the Nine Yin Manual and the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms in such a short time, Song Qingshu could not bring himself to feel happy. His ability to instantly master martial arts manuals was indeed absurdly powerful, but he now realized that it only let him learn them.
Martial arts had compatibility. Only when a martial artist's temperament matched the style of the art could its power be brought fully into play.
For instance, Song Qingshu now knew both the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms and the Nine Yin White Bone Claw, yet neither art suited his temperament particularly well. Thus, the same Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms were far less powerful in his hands than in Qiao Feng's or Guo Jing's. Likewise, his Nine Yin White Bone Claw was weaker than Zhou Zhiruo's or Mei Chaofeng's.
The Nine Yin Manual contained countless martial arts: the Nine Yin White Bone Claw, White Python Whip Technique, Great Demon-Subduing Palm, Heartbreak Palm... Was there not a single one that matched Song Qingshu's temperament? Of course there was. It was Soul Transfer.
Song Qingshu's expression turned strange. How had he managed to cultivate this art to great mastery? Was his temperament truly destined to make him a lecherous thief?
He was full of confidence in this art now. Looking across the world, there was probably no one who had cultivated it more deeply than he had. Even Guo Jing and Huang Rong, who also knew Soul Transfer, would have their minds seized by him if caught unprepared.
Aside from martial arts compatibility, Song Qingshu had another major problem: he lacked practical combat experience. He knew every move, but when facing an enemy's attack, he was utterly lost as to which martial art would be most appropriate to block it, and which move he should use next to counterattack.
"Wang Yuyan and I are two extremes," Song Qingshu said with a bitter smile. "Her insight is exceptionally sharp, but she cannot use the slightest bit of martial arts. I know quite a few martial arts, but my judgment is terrible."
"Whatever. In the end, martial combat still comes down to speed and strength. I just need to work harder on those, achieve victory without moves over victory with moves, wahahaha!" Thinking of this, Song Qingshu could not help throwing back his head and laughing.
As he walked down the mountain, Song Qingshu alternated between practicing the Divine Light Scripture and circulating Nine Yin True Qi. In the end, his expression grew darker and darker. One of these internal arts was supremely rigid and yang, while the other was supremely soft and yin. They were completely incompatible. Unless he wanted to eventually explode and die, he could only choose one martial art to cultivate.
"Fuck!" Song Qingshu could not help swearing. Each divine art had its own advantages; it was truly difficult to choose between them.
After agonizing over it for half a day, he finally gave up thinking about it and temporarily left the two types of true qi alone. In any case, they would not reach their critical point anytime soon.
On the way down, he had actually been considering where to go next. By the time he reached the foot of the mountain, Song Qingshu had made up his mind. "Boundless Jade Cave, here I come!" In his previous life, he had seen a saying on a forum: if you transmigrated into Jin Yong's martial arts world and did not get your hands on Nine Yin Nine Yang, Lingbo Weibu, and the Six Meridians Divine Sword, you would be too embarrassed to show your face. He now deeply agreed. With his bug-like ability to learn anything at a glance, if he did not sweep up all the martial arts under heaven, he would truly be letting Heaven's gift go to waste.
The North Darkness Divine Skill in Boundless Jade Cave was nothing special to him. After all, Song Qingshu possessed the Divine Light Scripture and Nine Yin True Qi, and his internal power was already extremely profound. The North Darkness Divine Skill required one to disperse all one's internal power, making it as useless to him as chicken ribs. Lingbo Weibu, however, was different. It was the ultimate life-saving technique.
Song Qingshu was extremely wary of this violence-filled world. One could never have too many skills for preserving one's life.
The more he thought about it, the more excited he became. Song Qingshu immediately set off for Dali. Along the way, he thought of all the martial arts treasures across the world waiting for him to claim one by one: the Nine Yang Divine Skill in the Kunlun Mountains, the Sword Tomb, the Nine Swords of Dugu at Cliff of Reflection on Mount Hua, the Golden Snake Secret Manual in Golden Snake Cave, the Bixie Sword Manual in Fujian... Ah, spit, that one didn't count! Thinking of all this, Song Qingshu's sorrow over Bing Xue'er's graceful departure gradually brightened.
After crossing mountains and rivers and venturing deep into barren wilderness, he finally learned the location of the Wuliang Sword Sect. Song Qingshu knew that Boundless Jade Cave was near the Wuliang Sword Sect, but he did not know its exact location. He could only use that Jade Bi as a reference point and search the surrounding area.
After more than half a month, he finally found Boundless Jade Cave. "Fairy Sister, I'm here!" Song Qingshu ran inside in giddy delight. If anyone else had been present and heard that unbearably thirsty voice, they could hardly have avoided letting their imagination run wild.
From afar, he saw the jade statue. Sure enough, it looked like a living person. The pale yellow silk robe draped over it trembled faintly, its eyes gleamed brightly, and even the white jade's grain seemed to reveal a subtle rosy hue, no different from ordinary human skin.
Staring into those starry eyes as black as ink, Song Qingshu actually felt his heart skip a beat. "No wonder that fool Duan Yu was captivated at first sight. There really is something strange about it."
Remembering the purpose of his trip, Song Qingshu had no time to admire any beauty. He hurriedly lifted the jade statue's skirt and lowered his head to search carefully.
He finally found that cushion. When Song Qingshu noticed the hole in it, his expression immediately turned unpleasant. He reached inside and rummaged around, but after finding nothing, he finally gave up hope.
It seemed that Duan Yu of this world had already gotten there first. Song Qingshu had noticed earlier that this world's plot differed somewhat from the original, yet he had still harbored a faint hope that perhaps Duan Yu had not arrived here yet... Now it seemed he had simply been overthinking everything.
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