Twelve Divine Valleys and Twelvefold Spring Rain

In this abandoned mountain manor that seemed inhabited by ghosts, Murong Brother, corpse-like as he was, told Duan Yun a rather sinister tale in a ghostly voice.

Murong Brother's Murong Family was a martial lineage. Unlike martial artists outside, who had no path to cultivation and found it difficult even to obtain a proper secret manual, his family's martial treasury held quite a few manuals for cultivation.

But Murong Brother had known from an early age that there was one martial art in the family that he was forbidden to practice. They said the art was inauspicious, and that his skill had not yet reached the necessary level—he feared he would be unable to control it.

"But I was a cultivation genius, one in ten thousand, especially gifted with the saber. Ever since I was twelve, there has been no saber art I couldn't wield." Murong Brother spoke with great enthusiasm.

Hearing this, Duan Yun felt he was boasting a little. After all, only a cultivation genius one in ten thousand like himself deserved such a description.

"At the time, that martial art was called the Twelvefold Spring Rain. It happened to be the saber art I was best at, a divine technique one of my ancestors had comprehended within the Twelve Divine Valleys."

"The Twelve Divine Valleys?" Duan Yun asked in confusion.

Murong Brother gave an extremely Edward-like smile and said, "You don't even know about the Twelve Divine Valleys, yet you want to pretend to be Old Devil Duan?"

"The Twelve Divine Valleys are the most mysterious sacred land in the martial world. Anyone who has spent a little time in the jianghu has heard its legends. It is said to be a valley that does not belong to the mortal realm, and there is a saying: 'All martial arts under heaven emerge from the Divine Valleys.'

People all knew that the Twelve Divine Valleys lay within Wu Mountain, yet very few could find them.

It was said that one could only enter them during certain seasonal periods, using an exceptionally special method.

My Murong Family's ancestor was very fortunate at the time. He entered with four other fellow practitioners. That valley was another world entirely, unlike the human realm. It increased their comprehension immensely, as though they had received divine enlightenment.

The five of them all gained greatly within it, and each comprehended an entirely different divine technique.

The five families returned home in delight, and my Murong Family obtained two divine techniques. One of them was the Twelvefold Spring Rain."

Murong Brother continued staring at the beam overhead. "For a time, this saber art made my Murong Family's saber techniques famous far and wide, and we went years without encountering an opponent. But later, our ancestor actually sealed away that divine manual in the prime of his life and forbade anyone in the family from practicing it.

Before he died, he even left behind an ancestral rule, saying that this saber art was not something ordinary people could control and that no one in the family should learn it."

"But I thought myself a heaven-gifted saber master. This saber art seemed as though it had been born for me, so one day, I stole the manual. By the time my father learned of it, it was already too late."

"Because I was a saber genius one in ten thousand, in less than a month, I had already learned the Twelvefold Spring Rain to a respectable degree. Strangely enough, it was spring when I practiced the saber then, and spring rains often fell during that period. That gave me an even deeper understanding of this saber art.

It could be said that in the past hundred years, apart from our ancestor, I was the person in the family who had cultivated this saber art most deeply. Seeing that nothing unusual had happened to me, both my father and I believed that my peerless talent had mastered this saber art. He stopped trying to control me and instead rejoiced at the rapid progress of my saber skills."

"That was the happiest time of my life. Proud as a man, wild as a saber, I rarely met an enemy with this saber art—and so I gained my own love as well."

"It was true love at first sight. But when I took her to meet my parents, my father's expression suddenly changed drastically. Only after questioning me closely did he learn that the woman I loved deeply was actually my half-sister by the same father."

"I suffered the first blow of my life, but I pulled through. I wanted to forget the pain, so I wandered the jianghu. By sheer coincidence, while exterminating a group of bandits, I met a female hero. Then it was love at first sight again. I took her home afterward, and my father's expression changed dramatically once more."

At this point, Murong Brother revealed the pain of someone struck by an arrow. "After that, my father and I had a huge fight. I thought he was far too indiscreet. Later..."

"After practicing this saber art, I always felt as though it were spring. Like animals in spring, I constantly craved love, yearning to make up for my regrets. But later, five times! Five women who fell in love with me at first sight, women I loved to death, were all my half-sisters by the same father. It was as if they had been waiting for me."

"I finally began to believe that this saber art was inauspicious, that it was cursed. Otherwise, there was simply no way to explain such a thing. Gradually, my spring vanished. Whenever I saw my former lovers—my sisters now—no, one of them was an elder sister, my heart gradually died as well."

"Later still, my father fell seriously ill because of it. He grew much older and weaker. I felt I no longer had the face to remain alive in that home."

Duan Yun summed it up. "So you came to this dump because you wanted to die."

"That was roughly it. Only when I lie still can I feel a little more comfortable."

As he spoke, Murong Brother entered a state of "lazily dying."

Duan Yun had not expected the Murong Brother before him to have such a terrifying tale of ill-fated romance.

Five times in a row. An ordinary person would go mad after just one time. After five, it was barely understandable that he wanted to die.

But Duan Yun cared more about the Twelvefold Spring Rain saber art.

There was actually such a miraculous saber art in this world.

Just as Murong Brother had said, something could happen once or twice, but not again and again. Once it happened more than three times, it was difficult to blame it on coincidence.

Could it be that once this saber art was cultivated to success, it held an enormous attraction for the opposite sex with closely related blood?

That was the most fitting explanation Duan Yun could think of. Otherwise, Murong Brother's experience was completely inexplicable.

At this point, Duan Yun could not help saying, "Murong Brother, how about passing that saber art on to me?"

Murong Brother had already lazily died again, but upon hearing Duan Yun's words, he wore the expression of someone looking at a pervert.

Duan Yun hurriedly explained, "Don't worry, I don't have any elder sisters or younger sisters, nor do I have that sort of—well, that sort of idea. My father was just an honest gynecologist. He's dead now, and I'm the only seedling left in the family. So this saber art's curse is useless against me."

Murong Brother looked at him with hazy eyes. "I thought the same back then. I thought my father was a refined gentleman, honest and devoted. Who could have imagined..."

Duan Yun had a clear understanding of both himself and his father. "My father really wasn't as capable as yours."

Murong Brother looked at him and asked doubtfully, "My saber art is this uncanny, and you're not afraid?"

"Afraid? You failed to control this saber art for two reasons. First, you had too many hidden sisters. I don't have that problem. Second, compared to a cultivation genius one in ten thousand like me, you, a saber genius one in ten thousand, were still lacking by just a tiny bit." Duan Yun analyzed the matter with a solemn expression.

Murong Brother looked stunned. "I'm lacking compared to you?"

He had never seen anyone so confident—or rather, with such thick skin—that he dared question whether a saber genius one in ten thousand like him lacked sufficient skill.

"Why not let me practice it and see? If I get caught too, I can share some of your pain." Duan Yun said.

"I won't teach you."

"Why not?"

"I'm lazy."

"I think you just don't dare."

"Don't provoke me. I'm just lazy."

Seeing this, Duan Yun could not help sighing inwardly, Damn it, even provocation doesn't work. But I really want to learn this saber art.