Martial Arts 8

Liu Zhong vaguely remembered that Piaomiao Peak was somewhere on the southern slopes of Tianshan Mountain, so he led Song Qinghua south.

The mountains were bitterly cold, and snow and ice whipped against their faces, nearly freezing them stiff.

The two kept their internal energy circulating to maintain their body heat. That was the only reason they didn't freeze solid.

But they couldn't keep their internal energy circulating all twelve hours of the day. There were times when their strength would run out.

Liu Zhong had thought of this problem and prepared thick fur clothing.

He remembered that Tianshan Mountain had oil, and that the Tarim oil field was near it.

Liu Zhong and Song Qinghua found some oil in the mountains. When they stopped to rest at night, they burned it for warmth.

In truth, Liu Zhong himself didn't feel very cold.

His body was exceptionally strong. When snow fell on him, he only felt a chill, not the kind of bone-deep cold that seeped into his marrow.

He didn't know that this was thanks to the spiritual energy that had transformed his body.

The two traveled through Tianshan Mountain for several days. One day, they arrived at the foot of an ice peak. It wasn't very tall, but its slope was steep and treacherous.

When they looked up, they saw a cluster of flowers swaying at the summit.

Song Qinghua exclaimed, "Are those Tianshan Snow Lotuses?"

Liu Zhong smiled. "What else could bloom on Tianshan Mountain?"

Song Qinghua was delighted. "Tianshan Snow Lotuses are precious! Brother, let's climb up and pick them."

Liu Zhong agreed, and the two used their lightness skills to reach the summit.

Among the flowers at the peak, they saw three blooms as big as bowls. The rest were only buds, not yet open.

One was a white flower shaped like a lotus.

The other two were blazing red, more like peonies.

Song Qinghua exclaimed, "Can peonies really bloom on Tianshan Mountain?"

Liu Zhong studied the red flowers for a few moments. A thought struck him, and he remembered a legendary item from a certain novel.

But could the worlds of Jin Yong and Liang Yusheng really overlap?

Liu Zhong said, "Those should be Udumbara Immortal Flowers."

"Udumbara Immortal Flowers? What kind of flowers are they?"

"Udumbara Immortal Flowers are legendary. They bloom once every sixty years and can turn white hair black and restore youth. You're lucky, kid—you happened to find them in bloom."

As he spoke, he picked the two Udumbara Immortal Flowers and handed them to Song Qinghua.

"Keep them safe. When you find someone you love someday, you can use these flowers to win her favor."

Song Qinghua's face turned bright red, but he honestly took the flowers and put them in a jade box he had prepared.

—Before entering Tianshan Mountain, the two had agreed that if they came across Tianshan Snow Lotuses, they would pick them. So they had traded the gold and silver they'd taken from the Diamond Sect for a number of medicine boxes.

Song Qinghua put the Udumbara Immortal Flowers away, while Liu Zhong picked the Tianshan Snow Lotus and stored it.

"Later, we can find an escort agency to send it back to Wudang Mountain for Zhang Wuji's medicine."

At the mention of Zhang Wuji, Song Qinghua's face fell.

Liu Zhong said, "That child is so young, yet he's been afflicted with cold poison, and both his parents are dead. It's a sad story. Just think of it as taking pity on him."

Song Qinghua moved his lips but said nothing. He only nodded.

The two wandered through Tianshan Mountain for more than a month before finally finding Piaomiao Peak.

Piaomiao Peak was distinctive, quite unlike the other mountains in Tianshan. It was easy to recognize at a glance.

The peak wasn't very high and had no snow or ice. Instead, it was shrouded in mist, which made it impossible to see what lay within.

No wonder it was called Piaomiao Peak.

There were signs of human handiwork between the foot of the mountain and the peak, like traps someone had set. But they had all been destroyed and were no longer effective.

The mountain path was treacherous. It would have been dangerous for ordinary people to climb, but the two of them knew lightness skills, so it wasn't difficult.

At one point, they came to Jietian Bridge. It was called a bridge, but it was really just two chains connecting the opposite banks, with a bottomless cliff below.

The two used the Wudang Sect's unique internal skill, Ti Yun Zong, and crossed safely, arriving in front of a cluster of buildings.

The buildings were in a terrible state of disrepair. Only a few rooms could still keep out the wind and rain.

Song Qinghua searched inside and out. His excitement gradually gave way to disappointment.

"We found the home of someone who once lived in seclusion, but it's so run-down. Nothing was left behind, let alone any martial arts manuals."

Liu Zhong smiled. "Not necessarily."

"Did you find something, Brother?"

I didn't find it myself. I remembered it from a novel I'd read in a previous life.

"Come with me."

He led Song Qinghua to the garden, where a rockery had partly collapsed.

Liu Zhong channeled his internal energy and struck the remaining part of the rockery with his palm.

To their surprise, the rockery shifted nearly two meters.

It wasn't because Liu Zhong's internal energy was especially profound. There was already a mechanism beneath the rockery.

When it moved aside, it revealed the entrance to an underground passage.

They opened the entrance and waited for the musty, corrosive air inside to dissipate. Then each of them took a torch and went in.

The passage wound back and forth as it sloped downward. Suddenly, it opened into a vast cavern—a natural cave in the heart of the mountain.

Song Qinghua looked around the cavern. There was nothing but stone walls, and he was very disappointed.

"Don't be so quick to give up," Liu Zhong said. "There should be a mechanism here. Hurry and look for it."

Song Qinghua perked up again. He immediately began feeling around the walls for a hidden mechanism.

He actually found one, and a stone chamber appeared.

Song Qinghua immediately went inside, with Liu Zhong following behind him.

The chamber was small. In the light of their torches, they could see that its four walls had been polished smooth. Countless circles, each about a foot across, had been carved into the stone, and each one contained various images: people, beasts, and incomplete writing.

Among the writing, Liu Zhong could make out "Tianshan Six Yang Palm" and "Tianshan Zhemei Hand."

Song Qinghua cried out excitedly, "Brother, these are martial arts manuals! We really found them!"

Liu Zhong wasn't excited. His head was spinning, as if someone were pounding it with a massive hammer.

Liu Zhong was startled. He remembered that Mei Lan Zhu Ju, the four sword attendants in the original story, had reacted the same way when they entered this chamber.

It was because their skills were so weak that looking at the images overwhelmed them with the martial intent contained within.

He had only just completed his training in Wudang Basic Internal Skill. His own skill was still poor, and he couldn't study the images either.

Liu Zhong immediately warned him, "Don't look at those images anymore."

"Huh?"

The next moment, Song Qinghua felt a pain in his head too. His legs gave way, and he fell to the ground.

It took Song Qinghua a long while to recover.

"Brother, what on earth happened?"

"Our skills are too weak. The martial arts carved into the walls are extremely advanced. With our current abilities, we can't learn them. Even looking at them for too long affects us."

"Ah? Then what should we do?"