Dawn had barely begun to whiten the sky.
Hong Yuan had already set out.
It was the morning three days later. Thin mist hung over the official road to Qingxu County. The road was pitted, puddled, and muddy in many places.
Hooves went clop, clop.
On a horse with a patchy coat, Hong Yuan held a wine flask in his left hand and a book in his right, lounging back at ease in the saddle.
His legs gripped the horse's belly like iron bands. As it moved, his body rose and fell, as though he might tumble headfirst into the mud at any moment. In truth, he was steady as a rock.
He had left in such a hurry because he had a banquet to attend.
As the saying went, anyone who wasn't eager for a feast had something wrong with his head.
Hong Yuan's head was in excellent health.
For a wedding, the main banquet would naturally be held at dusk. But Huang Guiling was taking a concubine, so to avoid conflicting with a proper wedding, the feast would be held in the morning or at noon.
Most likely at noon.
Hong Yuan had to leave early. Missing the chance to give his good brother and the man's son a happy family reunion would be terribly rude.
The horse beneath him was no fine steed, but it was steady and knew the way. Hong Yuan let it run while he turned the pages of the notes in his hand.
They were, of course, the handwritten notes of True Person Li that Yang Erhu had given him.
Hong Yuan had read them many times over the past three days and could recite them backward. With nothing else to do on the road, he opened them again to accompany his wine.
"The martial artist's path begins with strengthening the body and nourishing the blood, then attaining the forces of hardness and softness."
"Hard force is like metal and stone shattering apart. It drives straight ahead, sweeping aside all in its path. Soft force is like an endless stream of water, deflecting or guiding..."
Hong Yuan took a sip of wine. The notes were not hard to understand. When a martial artist first entered True Force, his force was violent, erupting like thunder and fire, difficult to restrain. This was hard force.
After long cultivation, he would gradually tame that hard force, turning it soft—a sustained, deft force. This was soft force.
The second stage of force transformation, "Receive-and-Release-at-Will," could also be called "Hardness and Softness Working as One"!
"My late master Dragon Tiger once said: 'Hardness and softness drive each other and give rise to transformation...'"
What transformation?
Subtlety, of course!
"There are many ways to wield force with Subtlety: spiraling to bore through, striking across empty air, penetrating bone to injure within, or sending flying floss forth like needles... These are the arts of applying force, and their mastery rests in the mind."
Beneath those lines were extensive annotations in smaller characters. Drawn from True Person Li's many years of cultivation, they described techniques and experiences involving the refinement of strength into force and the union of hardness and softness.
They also covered the various essentials of Subtlety and his own experiences with it. At the end, True Person Li summed up Subtlety in a single sentence:
Wield force as though drawing silk!
Hong Yuan nodded. Force was like a cocoon. If he could control his own force well enough to draw out its threads and peel it apart, he could naturally work all sorts of tricks with it: Flying-Floss Force, Silk-Winding Force, strikes across empty air, techniques that penetrated bone.
"These handwritten notes of True Person Li are the Tiger-Subduing Sect's most vital secret teaching, the very thing the Dragon-Subduing Sect and Meng Yue dream of obtaining."
"What a pity!"
Hong Yuan sighed, a trace of regret on his face.
The Tiger-Subduing Sect had inherited High Person Dragon-Tiger's teachings, so it did have a method for reaching Subtlety.
Once one reached Subtlety, Tiger-Subduing Force could be transformed into Tiger-Baleful Mountain-Splitting Force!
But what the Dragon-Subduing Sect did not know was that True Person Li had died too suddenly. He had never had time to pass down the essential secret of Tiger-Baleful Mountain-Splitting Force.
True Person Li had founded the entire Tiger-Subduing Sect, and he had never written down that essential secret, passing it on only by word of mouth. When he died, the Tiger-Subduing Sect's secret method at the level of Subtlety was lost with him.
Hong Yuan felt only a little regret. After studying the notes for three days, he had already touched the thin barrier before "Receive-and-Release-at-Will." All he needed was an opportunity, one gentle push, and he would cross it.
Subtlety was a much steeper challenge, but with the comment "Wield force as though drawing silk," Hong Yuan believed his Root Bone and Comprehension would let him work his way into it, bit by bit.
At worst, he could seek another school's method of Subtlety. The world was vast and its methods many. He did not have to follow the Tiger-Subduing Sect's force techniques down a single road until it went dark.
Hong Yuan's gaze fell on the final passage, a lament written by True Person Li.
"Even Subtlety is but a change in the method, momentum, and form of force! My late master once said that beyond Transformation of Form lies another transformation, called Nature Transformation!"
"Nature Transformation is the beginning of Divine Ability, beyond the reach of ordinary practitioners! Alas, I never witnessed it in my lifetime. What a profound regret!"
Transformation of Form!
Nature Transformation!
The beginning of Divine Ability?
Hong Yuan rubbed his chin in thought, his expression turning strange. Could this world really have sword-wielding heroes, sword immortals, monsters and demons?
Yangquan County was only forty or fifty li from Qingxu County. Though Hong Yuan had not urged his horse on at full speed, it took him less than an hour to make out the county town in the distance.
A little disappointingly, he had encountered no bandits blocking the road or chances to rescue a beauty—none of those delightful incidents. He had, however, met several groups of merchants on their way to Huang Guiling's banquet.
The checks at the town gate were lax. Hong Yuan paid a small entry fee and went in without trouble.
Just as Hong Yuan reached Qingxu County, several people swaggered into the Yang Family Martial Arts Hall in Yangquan County. Ignoring the apprentices' puzzled looks, they headed straight for the main room.
Leading them was the scrawny old man from the Dragon King Society. Young Master Hua had not come this time, leaving the old man in charge. He had changed into fine silk clothes, too, as though he had been promoted.
He was far more brazen than before. Before Yang Erhu had even appeared, he called out, "Hall Master Yang, are you here? This old fellow has come to visit again!"
A moment later, Yang Erhu appeared, his expression icy. He waved back the apprentices who were about to gather around, then looked at the gaunt old man with a dark face. "Old Man Jia, what are you doing here again?"
Old Man Jia narrowed his eyes to slits and chuckled. "Hall Master Yang, why be so unfriendly? We did work together once, after all..."
"Get to the point. Spare me the nonsense."
"Straight to the point, as always, Hall Master Yang." Old Man Jia was still smiling. "It's the same proposal Young Master Hua made last time. Make one move for us, Hall Master Yang, and the favor you owe us will be repaid."
"I owe you nothing. Leave!" Yang Erhu raised a hand to cut him off and pointed toward the door.
"Heh! Hall Master Yang, you can give me your answer after you've seen the gift I brought." Old Man Jia clapped his hands. A man immediately stepped out from behind him, holding a wooden box, and presented it to Yang Erhu with a calm expression.
"No need. I can't accept a gift from you."
Old Man Jia shook his head and stroked his beard with a smile. "You must look at this one, Hall Master Yang. Otherwise, I'm afraid you'll regret it when it's too late. Open it."
He waved a hand. The man opened the box and held its contents out for Yang Erhu to see.
A sharp, bloody stench struck Yang Erhu. Then his pupils widened. Inside the box lay three bloodied fingers and a strip of bloodstained cloth.
Yang Erhu stumbled back two steps. He was a ruthless man himself, with plenty of lives on his hands. A few severed fingers would never frighten him. But those three fingers and that strip of cloth were familiar.
In the next instant, Killing Intent flared across Yang Erhu's face. He lunged forward, shot out a palm as broad as a cushion, and locked his fingers around the box-bearer's throat!
The man was sturdy enough, but in Yang Erhu's grasp he could not move, no more than a little white rabbit. Yang Erhu lifted him one-handed, took a bound, and stopped before Old Man Jia.
Old Man Jia met Yang Erhu's terrifying stare without the slightest fear. Instead, he straightened his clothes and said calmly, "Hall Master Yang, I'm old enough not to fear death. Killing me would be easy, but once you make your move, there'll be no taking it back."
Murderous intent surged in Yang Erhu's eyes, but in the end he did not strike. "Where is he?" he asked coldly.
"Rest easy, Hall Master Yang. That friend of yours is doing very well. But if you want to see him, you'll have to come with this old fellow."
Yang Erhu drew a deep breath, looked again at the wooden box, and slowly nodded. "Fine!"
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