[After Su Yun left, life went on. You kept reading, practicing calligraphy and martial arts, and contemplating the sword intents of Demon-Slaying and Ghost-Slaying in your mind.]
[Several heavy snows fell, followed by a few sunny days.]
[The year's end drew near. New Year's Eve approached, and the festive air grew richer by the day.]
[Inside and outside Xie Manor, lanterns and decorations were up, and Spring Festival couplets filled the doorways. Across Bianjing City, firecrackers sounded one after another amid the bustle.]
[It was not only Xie Manor; all Bianjing had come alive with color. Even the manor servants, dressed in red robes and jackets, wore brighter smiles.]
[The end of one year, the beginning of another!]
[Within the next half month, Xie Yuan visited again. Lately, he had grown ever more obsessed with martial arts. He said that anyone traveling the jianghu needed real skills; otherwise, if he came upon injustice or had a chance to rescue a beauty, he could only run in circles with worry.]
[Xie Yuan showed you his new progress in martial arts. His sinews and bones had grown stronger, and he felt he could wrestle an ox. His strength was formidable.]
[You could see that he had reached the peak of Bone Forging, the second realm of martial dao.]
[His progress was hardly slow, but it also left his blood and qi churning, unable to settle.]
[Whenever night grew deep, Xie Yuan tossed and turned, unable to sleep. Even in the depths of winter, he had to bathe in icy water to ease the heat.]
[His sinews and bones felt as though they were burning, itching unbearably, as if he were trapped inside both a furnace and an anthill.]
[You found it strange. You had experienced nothing of the sort while training. Perhaps