Moonlight Breathing Method

Ten miles outside Pasture City stood the towering Lone Wolf Mountain, its cliffs rising a thousand fathoms, its forests dense and deep.

At the foot of Lone Wolf Mountain ran the Tianyu Grand Canal, flowing past Pasture City into the distance.

As the saying went, live off the mountain by the mountain, live off the water by the water.

Many people in Pasture City made their living from the canal.

More than half an hour later, Lin Changsheng led Tie Yang and Li San along a small path. They encountered no pedestrians along the way, and soon reached the foot of Lone Wolf Mountain. Ahead lay the sandy bank of the Grand Canal; behind them stood the high mountains and dense forests.

"Kid, how much farther?"

"I'm telling you, don't try any tricks, or you'll die a miserable death!"

Tie Yang scrutinized Lin Changsheng, his brow tightly furrowed.

Lin Changsheng looked thin and frail, like a scholar. Even if he had ill intentions, he would be no match for him. Yet they had already come this far without seeing any silver, leaving Tie Yang both impatient and uneasy.

"Brother Yang, don't worry. How would I dare deceive you? It's not far ahead, in a crack beneath that cliff."

Lin Changsheng pointed ahead as he spoke to Tie Yang.

He remembered there was a large crevice beneath that cliff, a place his former self often visited. The rushing river there was thunderous; if he killed Tie Yang there later, they could scream themselves hoarse without anyone hearing.

"I wouldn't think you'd dare!"

Hearing Lin Changsheng's assurance, expectation gleamed in Tie Yang's eyes, and his steps became much lighter. Li San also smiled.

Before long.

The three arrived beneath the cliff. A rock wall stood on one side, the Grand Canal on the other. Few people ever came here.

In the stone wall stretching dozens of zhang stood a crevice about half a zhang wide and one zhang deep, concealed by vines.

"Brother Yang, look. It's buried in there."

Lin Changsheng pointed at the crevice and spoke to Tie Yang.

"You go in and bring it out for me!"

Greed flashed in Tie Yang's eyes as he ordered Lin Changsheng.

What if there was some trick inside the crevice?

Though Lin Changsheng appeared harmless, Tie Yang still remained wary!

"Alright!"

Lin Changsheng nodded, then suddenly pointed at the crevice. "Brother Yang, someone's coming over there!"

At Lin Changsheng's words, Tie Yang and Li San instinctively turned to look.

Bang!

A vicious glint flashed through Lin Changsheng's eyes. His palms were like blades as they chopped toward the two men's shoulders!

Crack! Crack!

"Ah! You!"

Caught off guard, Tie Yang and Li San both had their shoulder bones crushed inward by the Iron Sand Palm. They cried out and collapsed onto the ground, staring at Lin Changsheng in horror!

"You want my silver, and I want your lives!"

Murderous intent filled Lin Changsheng's eyes. He circulated his perfected Iron Sand Palm and struck Li San, who was closer to him, on the Baihui acupoint atop his head!

Pfft!

Li San could not dodge in time. His skull shattered, blood gushing from his mouth and nose. His eyes bulged wide as he slumped crookedly to the ground, dying with eyes still open!

"Changsheng, spare me! Spare me!"

"I was wrong! My family has three taels of silver—I'll give it all to you! Just spare this dog's life!"

Seeing Lin Changsheng smash Li San's skull with his bare hand, Tie Yang was scared out of his wits. His face was stricken with terror. He tried to get up and flee, but his entire body went limp with fright, and he fell flat on the ground before hurriedly begging for mercy.

At this moment.

Tie Yang's intestines were green with regret.

He had never imagined that Lin Changsheng, who looked harmless to man and beast, could be so terrifying!

"Too late."

Lin Changsheng looked at Tie Yang and shook his head. "Perhaps in a few days, word will spread through East Street that you fell into the water by accident."

With that, he struck the top of Tie Yang's head with his palm. With a crack, Tie Yang's skull shattered. He died with his eyes open, his breath cut off.

"Poor bastards, only 233 copper coins!"

Lin Changsheng searched Tie Yang and Li San, then kicked their corpses into the surging Grand Canal. After cleaning up the bloodstains on the ground, he turned and left.

Rather than return the way he had come, Lin Changsheng took a wide detour through the mountain before heading back to Pasture City.

He was not strong enough yet. He could not let the Green Snake Gang trace this back to him.

Half an hour later.

Lin Changsheng reached another mountain path on Lone Wolf Mountain that led toward Pasture City.

Suddenly.

From the other end of the mountain path came a middle-aged man in gray, staggering forward with a long saber in hand and a bundle slung over his shoulder. His breath was weak and ragged.

The man was covered in blood. His knuckles were unusually large, and a bone-deep wound split his chest. His face was purple-black, black blood continuously flowing from the wound and staining his clothes, dripping all along the way. When the middle-aged man saw Lin Changsheng, a flicker of hope appeared in his eyes.

"This?"

Lin Changsheng narrowed his eyes, slowly backed away, then turned and left.

Judging by this man's condition, someone had to be hunting him down. Lin Changsheng had no desire to wade into this muddy water.

"Young brother, don't... don't go. My name is Gao Yang. I was poisoned by Sky-Piercing Harrier Ling Ziyu... I won't survive... Can you deliver a letter to Gao... Gao Family Village?"

"I'm begging you..."

The gray-clad middle-aged man stumbled and fell to the ground. Looking at Lin Changsheng's retreating back, he spoke in broken fragments as black blood slowly seeped from the corner of his mouth.

His gray bundle and long saber fell into the grass.

Hearing the middle-aged man's words, Lin Changsheng ran even faster.

"Deliver my letter for me, and the silver in the bundle is yours..."

Lin Changsheng ran all the way, faintly hearing the gray-clad middle-aged man's intermittent voice behind him.

"A bundle? Silver?"

Lin Changsheng ran more than two li before thinking it over. He cautiously returned and hid in the woods. From about a li away, he saw the middle-aged man lying motionless on the ground, seemingly already dead.

I'll wait an hour first. If no one comes after him, I'll go take the bundle!

Lin Changsheng thought to himself.

After an hour, Gao Yang would surely be dead through and through.

Even if someone had been hunting Gao Yang, Lin Changsheng would be safe hiding this far away.

Lin Changsheng waited a full hour.

When he saw no pursuers, he finally crept forward cautiously. The middle-aged man lay on his side, and the black blood at the corners of his mouth had already congealed. Lin Changsheng relaxed a little.

Lin Changsheng found a branch over one zhang long and used it to hook the bundle over from beside the gray-clad middle-aged man.

Then.

He carefully used the branch to pry it open.

"Hm! So much silver!"

"Huh? Moonlight Breathing Method?!"

Looking at the items inside the bundle, Lin Changsheng's heart suddenly clenched, and his eyes lit up.

Inside was quite a bit of silver, along with two articles of clothing, a yellowed booklet with curled edges bearing the five words Moonlight Breathing Method, and a jet-black token that looked neither like wood nor iron, engraved with an image of a white cloud.

"I never thought taking a detour back to the city would bring such a huge haul! My hour of waiting wasn't in vain! This feels great!"

Lin Changsheng was overjoyed.

He had been worrying about having no cultivation method, and now someone had delivered one right to his door!

Worried about poison, he took off his outer robe and carefully wrapped up the silver, manual, and token.

Then, using the long saber, he quickly dug a pit on the spot and buried the middle-aged man along with his empty bundle, piling up a small grave mound.

He then carried over a large stone and placed it in front of the mound as a gravestone.

"Brother, since I've taken your silver, I'll naturally keep my promise. If I ever get the chance and have the strength to go to Azure Sun City, I'll deliver your letter to Gao Family Village!!!"

Lin Changsheng looked at Gao Yang's grave, spoke those words, then picked up his things and hurried down the mountain.

Lin Changsheng knew of Gao Family Village.

It was more than two hundred li from Pasture City, located in Azure Sun City.

Half an hour after Lin Changsheng left, a lean, pale-faced middle-aged man in blue arrived, following the blood trail with a sword in hand. He stopped before the grave mound.

"The blood trail ends here. Someone buried Gao Yang?"

The blue-clad man's eyes flashed. His sword left its sheath, and before long, he had dug open the grave. Looking at the dead Gao Yang inside, he hauled him up and searched him thoroughly, not even sparing the bundle, as though looking for something.

"Damn it! That thing was taken away? Who was it?"

After finding nothing, a fierce look appeared in the blue-clad man's eyes. He kicked Gao Yang flying and muttered, "This person buried Gao Yang, so he shouldn't have gone far!"

Lin Changsheng returned home and hid away the silver, manual, and token.

Lying on his bed, he recalled every moment of killing Tie Yang that day, and his emotions still would not settle.

He thought it over carefully and felt there were no glaring flaws. Only after calming down did he take out the silver and the Moonlight Breathing Method manual.

He did not dare touch them with his hands.

Gao Yang had died miserably from a potent poison. What if the items were poisoned too?

He had no desire to gamble.

"This time, I really struck it rich. There are actually thirty-two taels of silver!"

"But I can't spend the silver for now. I need to bury it somewhere safe first!"

After carefully counting the silver, Lin Changsheng quickly dug a hole inside the house and buried all thirty-two taels. He tamped down the earth, then placed the rice jar over it.

Once bitten, twice shy. If he suddenly took out silver and spent it, someone with ulterior motives would surely notice.

After all.

Even enrolling in the martial hall had caught Tie Yang's attention. If his Iron Sand Palm had not reached perfection, news of him accidentally falling into the river would likely have spread tomorrow!

Only overwhelming strength kept one from fearing the covetous eyes of others!