Miscellaneous Records of the Bai Sea

Hong Yuan was carefree by nature as well, and he did not grieve over Yang Lie and Wu Duxiong's departure.

The whole noon passed swiftly as he stood in the Tiger-Subduing Stance, practiced the guiding technique, and trained in the "Seven Waves-Breaking Slashes."

His innate aptitude was excellent, and his comprehension was high; every practice session let him feel the little bits of progress he made. Perhaps one time was not too obvious, but grains piled into a heap, sand stacked into a tower, and in the end it would bear sweet, abundant fruit.

Moreover, Hong Yuan's hard training would, in turn, promote the improvement of his aptitude and comprehension.

It truly was stepping on his left foot with his right and spiraling straight up to the heavens.

Although Hong Yuan had told the apprentices they could come ask him for guidance if they ran into difficulties, for a while the apprentices still could not dispel their fear of him, and no one came to disturb him.

Of the three whom Hong Yuan had "instructed," the young man with the pair of jug ears and the short, stocky man woke up and could not bear everyone's mocking gazes. They timidly asked Hong Yuan for two days' leave, then slunk out of the martial hall in disgrace.

Only Meng Yue could keep his composure. After applying wound medicine, he trained even harder.

In the blink of an eye, the sun slanted westward, and it was afternoon.

In the rear courtyard of the martial hall, Yang Erhu stood with his hands behind his back and looked at Hong Yuan. "Yesterday, your teacher taught you stance work and the guiding technique. Today, I'll teach you the Tiger-Subduing Fist and the Tiger Roar Breathing Method!"

"First is the Tiger-Subduing Fist!"

Yang Erhu assumed the Tiger-Subduing Stance and slowly opened his frame, like a fierce tiger perched high upon a mountain crag. Suddenly, he brought out a wicked gust and pounced to kill, fist wind rising at once.

"The Tiger-Subduing Fist is called a fist, but in truth it can be fist, palm, claw, or even a false weapon!"

"Hungry Tiger Pounces on Prey!"

"Black Tiger Scoops the Heart!"

"Fierce Tiger Clips the Tail!"

"Tiger Claw Probes the Clouds!"

Yang Erhu's figure shifted, darted, and leapt, changing with extreme speed. He truly seemed to have transformed himself into a great striped beast; fist, palm, and claw whistled through the air, every move and every form fierce and razor-sharp, wrapped in howling wind.

At the very end, with a tiger's leap over a mountain stream, he shot to the weapons rack two zhang away in a single bound. With one palm, he slapped and lifted, and a long spear flew into his hand.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

The long spear seemed to come alive in Yang Erhu's palm, swift as a mad storm, moving like a dancing flood dragon-serpent. Amid spreading killing intent, silver light flashed like lightning and pierced straight through a jujube-wood post as thick as a thigh, the spearhead sinking into it.

The jujube-wood post trembled without end.

Yang Erhu had already withdrawn his form. He breathed out a mouthful of white vapor and looked toward Hong Yuan. "How was it?"

"I've roughly memorized it!"

"Very good!" Yang Erhu had already witnessed Hong Yuan's exaggerated speed in learning martial arts, so he did not find it strange. Still, he could not help sighing inwardly: taking in a disciple with outstanding natural talent was simply good. If it had been someone dull and mediocre, they would probably need ten days to half a month just to get started on standing post.

From inside his robe, he took out an old booklet. Its black hemp-cloth cover had been worn pale, and he solemnly handed it to Hong Yuan.

"This booklet records the Tiger-Subduing Fist and the Tiger Roar Breathing Method. They are our school's secret transmissions. Without permission, you must not pass them on to others on your own."

Hong Yuan nodded, then said in surprise, "Teacher actually carries this booklet on you? What if it were lost?"

"I only brought it with me today because I was going to teach you. Normally, there's naturally a place to store it." Yang Erhu waved his hand, then pointed at his own head. "Besides, this old man has long since memorized the contents of the booklet until they're rotten-ripe. Even if it's lost, it doesn't matter much."

"Heh heh!" Yang Erhu's face carried a smile with bad intentions. "If someone picked up this booklet, or killed this old man and snatched it, then thought they could make something out from it, they'd be dead wrong. Open it and take a look!"

Hong Yuan opened it as he was told. The diagrams of the Tiger-Subduing Fist moves at the front were nothing much, but when he flipped to the breathing method at the back, his brows furrowed again and again.

What the fuck was all this?

Things like "three liang and seven qian of sesame," "half a jin of tiger bone," "three pulls of the bellows," "seven poundings of pestle and mortar," and so on left him utterly baffled.

"These are secret terms. The so-called 'three pulls of the bellows' refers to three quick inhales followed by three slow exhales. In the jianghu, any school with even a little foundation has many secret terms in its secret transmissions, obscure and difficult to understand. Like in those storybook novels, where someone picks up a martial arts manual and immediately becomes an expert—that's nothing but the fever dream of sour, pedantic scholars."

Yang Erhu smiled with a snort.

"The Tiger-Subduing Fist doesn't amount to much. What matters is the breathing method. Without the breathing method, the Tiger-Subduing Fist is nothing more than a little fist-and-foot skill. Only by using the breathing method to command the Tiger-Subduing Fist can you cultivate the Tiger-Subduing Force!" Yang Erhu said again.

After that, Yang Erhu explained the secret terms to Hong Yuan one by one. Once he confirmed that Hong Yuan had memorized them all thoroughly, he retreated to a reclining chair and leisurely watched Hong Yuan cultivate the fist technique and breathing method.

After a little more than half an hour had passed like this, an apprentice suddenly called out, "Hall Master, there's a Mister Qin at the door paying a visit. He says he has business with you."

The apprentice did not dare enter the inner courtyard and only spoke loudly from the corridor.

"Surnamed Qin... Master Qin?!"

Yang Erhu sprang up and shot out into the corridor. Before long, Hong Yuan saw Master Qin's figure.

Compared to when he had just come out of the "Jade Wutong Immortal Realm," he looked even older. The wrinkles on his face were obvious, his white hair hung in locks, and even his body seemed somewhat stooped.

As for Qin Ziyue's ending, perhaps he had already had a premonition when Qin Ziyue disappeared, but after all, he had still held a few parts of unrealistic hope.

Now that hope had shattered, the remaining vigor in him had completely leaked away, dead!

When the heart died, the spirit was lost.

Seeing the present Master Qin, the four words "walking corpse" surfaced in Hong Yuan's mind on their own.

Yang Erhu brought Master Qin into the main room to talk, and Master Qin himself appeared extremely sluggish, following inside like a marionette on strings.

Hong Yuan maintained the breathing method, mind and spirit united, and did not eavesdrop on the two men's conversation.

Only a short while later, Master Qin walked out of the room, refused Yang Erhu's offer to see him off, and moved step by step out of the martial hall.

Afraid something might happen to him, Yang Erhu sent an apprentice after him, telling the boy to keep an eye on Master Qin until he got home, while he himself returned to the rear courtyard with sighs and groans.

In his right hand he held an oilcloth bundle. Before Hong Yuan could ask, he spoke first. "Master Qin came to say farewell. He said he was returning to his hometown to make a cenotaph for Ziyue beside his wife's grave. From now on, he won't be coming back."

Yang Erhu and Master Qin had known each other for twenty years. When Wu Duxiong had been seen off that morning, Yang Lie had not felt any sorrow of parting, but at this moment, he could not help feeling somewhat moved.

Hong Yuan could not share the feeling, so he could only change the subject, pointing at the oilcloth bundle. "Teacher, what is that?"

"This old man doesn't know either. Master Qin gave it to me before he left." Yang Erhu shook his head and weighed it slightly in his hand. "It must be some kind of book, right? That Master Qin—doesn't he know that Yang gets a headache the moment he looks at books?"

The edges of the oilcloth were very old and filthy, clearly from many years ago. Though Yang Erhu wore a troubled expression, he still carefully peeled it open and even beckoned to Hong Yuan. "Come over and take a look too!"

Very soon, the oilcloth was opened. Inside was indeed a thread-bound book, its paper yellowed, even showing signs of moth damage at the corners. The cover of the book was badly worn, and only a few blurred ink characters could vaguely be seen.

Yang Erhu widened his eyes and stared for a long while, but still could not recognize what the characters were. He could only toss the book to Hong Yuan. "Your eyes are good. You take a look and see what's written here."

Hong Yuan did not stand on ceremony either. He took it, his gaze narrowing slightly, then read, "Bai Sea... Miscellaneous Records of the Bai Sea?"

Miscellaneous Records?!

A miscellany of strange tales and bizarre hearsay?

But why had Master Qin given this sort of book to Yang Erhu?

Hong Yuan felt the matter was not that simple, and immediately opened the pages. He saw that the handwriting inside was not neat, with many scrawled places. It was actually a handwritten copy.

Many pages were already damaged and incomplete, but there were still clearly legible words. Hong Yuan saw one passage that recorded a strange incident that had happened in a place called "Yonghe County."

"More than a hundred county folk were suddenly stricken with Withered Blood Disease, their faces like withered wood, coughing up flakes like sawdust... Rumored to be a fox immortal claiming lives, or else yin soldiers passing through and devouring human essence."

It really was a record of strange tales?!

Hong Yuan frowned and flipped backward page by page. When he reached the last few pages, his fingers abruptly paused.

"Blood Pact Talisman. One who holds this talisman can sense the location of blood kin within a radius of more than twenty zhang! The method of making it is as follows... Select an elm tree over ten years old, and use the inner bark from its sun-facing side, or thin goatskin paper, as the talisman base... Take fresh deer heart's blood, a small amount of cinnabar powder, and one liang of rootless water..."