Watching Chen Yue disappear from sight, Yu Kan and Ma Jun leaned back against the rocks, keeping a wary eye on their surroundings, especially the way they had come. As they waited tensely, Ma Jun couldn't help speaking again in a low voice.
"Senior Brother, did our junior really only ask you for the Gold Coin Dart and Pearl Star Chain a few days ago?" He'd been holding that question in all the way here.
Yu Kan's sharp gaze continued sweeping the woods as he replied quietly, "Yes, just seven or eight days ago.
"The hall only has those two books of miscellaneous techniques. You've read them too. They're easy to pick up, but extremely difficult to master.
"Especially the Pearl Star Chain. It demands tremendous arm strength, eyesight, and feel. It takes years of hard practice to get anywhere with it."
"Seven or eight days..."
Ma Jun repeated under his breath, his face twisted in a bitter smile. "Seven or eight days, and he can kill with a flick of the wrist and hit a target a hundred paces away with a bow and arrow... Senior Brother, I know our junior is gifted. I knew it when I saw him practicing Mountain Crushing Fist and Eight-Step Cicada Chase. But this... this is beyond all reason, isn't it?
"Even if those two manuals are basic, they're still genuine killing arts! Has he not slept these past few days? Has he done nothing but practice?"
Yu Kan fell silent for a moment. His gaze shifted from the woods to the direction Chen Yue had disappeared in, and a complicated, bitter smile appeared on his face. There was admiration in it, a touch of bitterness, and the sigh of someone who had witnessed a miracle.
"Master used to say that the path