Only I Mastered It?

When Hua Wen saw Duan Yun studying the metal sheets, he could not help reminding him, "Brother Duan, do not casually try practicing the things written on them. They can drive people mad very easily."

"Ah?"

"The Thunder Crazies earned their name because they often listened to thunder and studied Divine Iron while practicing. It left them crazed and deranged. Even they could not endure those cultivation methods, so for outsiders like us, practicing them would naturally be even more dangerous."

Hearing this, Duan Yun cautiously wrapped the two pieces of "Mother's Divine Iron" in cloth and said gratefully, "Thank you for the guidance, Brother Wen. Without you two, I truly would not have known any of this."

Hua Wen burst into laughter. "Brother Duan, your skills are high and your courage is great. I was merely being nosy. But speaking of it, aside from not having skills as astonishing as yours, when my brother and I first entered the martial world, we too were completely bewildered, scared half to death by all these freaks."

"Especially my younger brother. Less than ten days after leaving home, he was captivated by some broad. He shamelessly confessed his admiration, only to discover in the room afterward that the other person was a man. He nearly got buggered."

"Damn it, Brother, you just say that stuff wherever you want?"

As they talked, Hua Wen and Hua Wu began chatting about amusing tales from the martial world.

Naturally, what they told were true stories. Having finally gotten a chance to interact with the Great Medicine they had raised, neither minded sharing such things with him.

After all, they were the helpful "Lingshui Twin Heroes."

Besides, the two eagerly anticipated the Great Medicine's reaction once he learned the truth.

Listening to them generously recount these amusing stories, Duan Yun felt relaxed and at ease.

Later, he even drank with the two brothers beside the bonfire, his heroic spirit suddenly surging.

Traveling the world, unexpectedly making friends in the martial world, killing villains, then laughing and drinking together afterward.

This was the goddamn martial world he had always imagined!

It was not as if Duan Yun lacked vigilance. The wine he drank was all wine he had brought himself.

But to Hua Wen and Hua Wu, that was all a joke.

Among the Great Medicines they had eaten, what kind of personality had they not encountered?

The next day, both parties set out together, their destination being the nearest Cloud-Inlaid City.

Hua Wen said the two brothers had an old friend there and invited Duan Yun to join them for meat and wine.

Duan Yun figured he had nothing better to do. These were also the first pair of martial-world friends he had made, and their temperaments suited each other, so he did not refuse.

Since he was going to become a person of the martial world, amid love and hate, gratitude and grudges, the more friends he had, the better.

So far, aside from those two flower-like sister constables, this should have been the second pair of upright people he had encountered.

Mainly because those two middle-aged uncles, Hua Wen and Hua Wu, truly carried the air of heroic wanderers in every gesture, making others feel as though bathed in spring breeze.

They reminded him of people like Gai Nie from the anime of his previous life.

On the road, Hua Wen and Hua Wu exchanged a glance, faint smugness in their eyes.

The more they spent time with this Great Medicine, the more certain they became that Duan Yun was a fledgling who had only just left the nest and had no idea what the martial world truly was.

As long as they kept up their act, such a fledgling would surely bare his heart and soul to people like them.

After all, they were genuine great heroes.

In less than an hour, they reached Cloud-Inlaid City.

Like Riverside City, Cloud-Inlaid City was a small city. Yet because many merchants traveled through it, it was livelier than Riverside City.

Hua Wen and Hua Wu soon brought Duan Yun to an elegant little courtyard within the city.

Not long after they entered, a man dressed like a scholar abruptly fell to his knees, his eyes reddening as he said, "I never thought this humble scholar would see my two life-saving benefactors again!"

Hua Wen and Hua Wu quickly helped him up, saying they had merely passed through the area and stopped by to visit an old friend.

After some conversation, Duan Yun learned that this scholar was named Zhang Tielan and had once been a student at an academy.

He had a younger brother named Zhang Tiehong, and the two brothers had been extremely close.

Years ago, the two could be called the academy's most prized students. Whenever they had nothing to do, they would roll up their sleeves and go reason with people.

Duan Yun could tell as much from Zhang Tielan's bulging muscles, sturdy enough to let horses run across them.

But who could have expected that a later upheaval would cause their academy to collapse and scatter? The brothers could only wander the martial world, only to have the misfortune of encountering the Red Chamber Fairies.

The Red Chamber Fairies coveted the brothers' strong bodies. The brothers were no match for them and were captured.

Duan Yun had not expected to encounter victims of the Red Chamber Fairies here as well.

Just how many innocent men had the women of the Red Tower violated?

"My younger brother has been gone for five years, yet I still dream of the days when we studied and lifted cauldrons together at the academy. Had you two benefactors not acted back then, I likely would not have lived until now." Zhang Tielan, a hulking man, shed tears.

Hua Wu could not help sighing, saying remorsefully, "We can only blame our brothers' skills for being insufficient. Back then, we could only barely save you."

Zhang Tielan gritted his teeth. "I will remember for the rest of my life the sight of my brother being violated to death by them! Alas, my skills are too meager. I can only secretly oppose them and cannot truly avenge this blood-deep hatred.

"I heard those two madwomen of the Red Tower have already become elders."

Hua Wen's expression also turned ugly. "Those demon women of the Red Tower are truly detestable. Who knows how many respectable men they have ruined! Whenever I met that kind of dogshit afterward, I never held back again."

Zhang Tielan wiped at his reddened eyes and said, "To have met two benefactors who acted righteously, my life, Zhang Tielan's life, has been worthwhile! Enough said. Let me offer my two benefactors a pot of wine."

As he spoke, he picked up a wine jug and gulped it down.

Hua Wen and Hua Wu also lifted their wine jugs and drank together, as if they wanted to drink away every last grievance.

Watching this, Duan Yun felt moved as well, sharing their hatred of a common enemy.

Because this was an expression of genuine feeling, without the slightest falsehood.

Hua Wen and Hua Wu raised medicine and ate medicine, treating human lives as worthless as grass. Yet to earn this heroic reputation, they had truly done quite a few righteous deeds.

Back then, the two had risked offending the Red Chamber Fairies to save Zhang Tielan. They were undoubtedly his life-saving benefactors.

In this cannibalistic martial world, all those who ate people did so to grow stronger, yet those who grew stronger had different temperaments and desires.

Some ate people to grow stronger so that they could eat people even better. Some ate people to grow stronger so that they could kill and violate even better. Hua Wen and Hua Wu ate people to grow stronger so that they could become great heroes.

Being a great hero, saving people, receiving their tearful gratitude—it felt just as good as eating Great Medicine.

For a moment, Duan Yun found the barrier between himself and these three new acquaintances growing thinner.

Because they shared a common enemy—the Red Chamber Fairies.

What had happened to Zhang Tielan and his younger brother further strengthened Duan Yun's resolve to slaughter the Red Chamber Fairies clean.

As they chatted, the three began to toast Duan Yun again.

"This little Brother Duan killed five Thunder Crazies who had brought disaster upon others last night, using only sword fingers against one man after another. His martial skills are astonishing. If my brother and I had possessed such ability back then, we would not have failed to save Brother Tiehong."

By this point, Duan Yun could finally no longer hold it in and confessed, "To be honest with you three, I also want to slaughter those madwomen of the Red Tower until none remain!"

Afterward, he told them of how he had encountered demon women from the Red Tower that night and nearly been violated.

Upon hearing that Duan Yun also bore a grudge against the Red Chamber Fairies, the four drank even more smoothly.

With a common enemy, even strangers became friends!

Zhang Tielan in particular could not help shedding manly tears again, saying that when he saw Duan Yun's vigorous, heroic bearing, he thought of his deceased younger brother.

As the drinking grew livelier, Hua Wu could not help going with the flow and asking, "May I ask where Brother Duan learned his arts? Those sword fingers from last night were truly formidable, yet they looked especially familiar."

Duan Yun replied, "Do not laugh at me, but I picked up a secret manual myself and just muddled around with it."

Duan Yun was telling the truth, but Zhang Tielan took it as deliberate modesty. After all, a young expert like this was most likely a prodigy from some noble clan or sect.

Duan Yun actually knew that this honest answer was even more misleading.

Only the two medicine-growers, Hua Wen and Hua Wu, suspected that it might be true, and excitement rose in their hearts.

This Great Medicine must have stumbled into tremendous luck through some strange coincidence and accidentally mastered a divine art.

Hua Wen pondered for a moment. "Do not laugh at me, Brother Duan, but I actually wanted to say last night that your finger sword looks extremely similar to a cultivation method my brother and I once practiced, the Jade Sword True Canon."

Duan Yun said in surprise, "You practiced the Jade Sword True Canon?"

Hua Wen and Hua Wu both burst into laughter. Hua Wen said, "Of course we did. This manual was once widely circulated in the martial world. It was said to be a divine art that could instantly cultivate Sword Qi and true qi. At the time, if not eight hundred people practiced it, then at least a thousand did. My brother and I were no exception and spent a great deal of money to get a copy."

"And afterward?" Duan Yun asked curiously.

"Afterward? Of course we cultivated jack shit! Back then, within a month, we had cultivated that so-called Jade Sword True Qi and Sword Qi and were overjoyed. But no matter how we practiced, that true qi and Sword Qi could not even kill a mosquito.

"Later, my brother persisted for over half a year, yet still cultivated jack shit. We became a laughingstock."

"No one succeeded?" Duan Yun could not help asking.

He had guessed that this secret manual might be common trash, considering how cheaply it sold, but he had not expected it to be this commonplace.

The copy in his hands was probably not merely secondhand. It had likely passed through at least seven or eight hands.

"Succeeded? I, a cultivation genius found once in ten thousand, practiced for over half a year without results. How could anyone possibly have succeeded? Of the eight hundred or thousand people who practiced this sword art, some supposedly practiced it for years until they became old men, yet no one had ever heard of anyone succeeding.

"Later, naturally, no one believed in the Jade Sword True Canon anymore. People of the martial world believed some mad master had used it to toy with others."

"I suffered because I wanted to take a shortcut and wasted so much hard work," Hua Wu complained.

Duan Yun blinked.

What? None of them mastered it?

Then why had I mastered it?

Facts spoke louder than words!

Sure enough, I was a sword-dao genius found once in ten thousand!