Willow Floss Sword Technique

Fang Yunhua had no interest whatsoever in how exhausting a night Chu Liuxiang had endured.

Though he had been rather tired himself last night.

But when he pushed open the door and felt the warm sunlight, a cheerful smile spread across his face. Another day brimming with energy!

Behind him came a complaining voice.

"You big bad bully! You're absolutely awful!"

Jin Lingzhi emerged from the room. Compared with the spirited boldness she had displayed when they met last night, the captivating allure now lingering around her eyes made it even harder to look away.

For a little spitfire whose tongue never spared anyone, her body was remarkably honest. Fang Yunhua had already gained a deep appreciation of that.

Yet after coming over and hugging his arm tightly, Miss Jin, who usually carried herself with such forthright ease, suddenly grew inexplicably wistful.

"Will we really keep going on like this... If only every day could be like this... But you horrible bully are bound to go chasing other girls again! They must all be blind-how could they fall for you?"

As she spoke, however, Jin Lingzhi worked herself into a temper. She pinched Fang Yunhua's arm hard, then hurriedly rolled up his sleeve and gently rubbed the spot she had pinched purple, looking rather distressed.

"Why didn't you dodge?"

Jin Lingzhi started complaining to Fang Yunhua again, but he looked at her seriously.

"Because I really have wronged you. When it comes to love, I can't give you a devoted heart that belongs to you alone, so however you treat me is only fair. But I can promise you that, for the next few days, I'll belong only to you."

Faced with Fang Yunhua's eyes, which would have looked tender even gazing at a dog, Jin Lingzhi, who had still been quietly sulking, felt as though she had melted into a pool of spring water. She could no longer muster even the slightest resentment toward the man before her.

Even a little spitfire had a certain reserve when expressing her feelings. She merely nodded, and they sat down on the steps outside the room, with Jin Lingzhi leaning gently against his shoulder.

To her surprise, that alone left her feeling perfectly content.

Just as he had said, for the next few days, he would belong only to her.

Then, after savoring a brief moment of tenderness, Jin Lingzhi suddenly hauled Fang Yunhua to his feet.

"I learned the Emei Sect's Willow Floss Sword Technique when I went home this time. Fight me! If you lose, I'll tie you up and take you back to the Ten Thousand Blessings and Longevity Garden, and never give those other little vixens another chance to see you."

Fang Yunhua nodded somewhat helplessly and, under her delighted gaze, instructed the merchant association's members to fetch two wooden swords.

In an open space in the rear courtyard, two figures stood facing each other.

Fang Yunhua held a three-foot wooden sword, its tip resting lightly against the ground, a smile at the corners of his mouth. Jin Lingzhi's delicate brows were slightly knitted, and she held her wooden sword like a willow branch, light and graceful yet revealing a stubborn refusal to admit defeat.

After all, in her previous bouts with Fang Yunhua, she had achieved the glorious record of thirty-three battles and thirty-three defeats.

On top of that, he had agreed to her wager for this bout, which left her feeling considerable pressure.

But with such a rich prize awaiting victory, what if... what if she really won? She knew Fang Yunhua would never break a promise he had made to her. This was probably the closest she would ever come in her life to having him all to herself!

Under the pressure of that mixture of excitement and apprehension, Jin Lingzhi struck first. As she unleashed the Willow Floss Sword Technique, her wooden sword drifted like willow floss in the wind, its path impossible to predict, its gleaming strokes as dense as woven cloth!

Yet Fang Yunhua did not move his body. With nothing more than a casual flick, his wooden sword struck later but arrived first, tapping her wrist with precision.

"Your force is scattered," he said with a light chuckle. "Since our sects both belong to the seven great martial sects, I know a little about Emei's Willow Floss Sword Technique. It calls for resilience within softness, not a blind pursuit of speed."

Confronted once again with the enormous gap between them, Jin Lingzhi gritted her teeth and changed her moves, sending her sword along unexpected angles and trying to disrupt Fang Yunhua's rhythm with elusive footwork.

But Fang Yunhua merely turned slightly sideways. His wooden sword followed hers like a shadow, always bearing down three inches above the line of her attack.

"Watch closely." Fang Yunhua's sword suddenly sank, and Long Wind Rides the Waves from the Thirteen Forms of the Clear Wind erupted. His wooden sword blurred into an afterimage, lightly striking the same spot on her blade three times in succession. The web between Jin Lingzhi's thumb and forefinger went numb, and she nearly lost her grip.

For the final move, Fang Yunhua's wooden sword abruptly flicked upward. Jin Lingzhi hastily blocked, only for his blade to turn and tap her gently on the shoulder.

"You're paying too much attention to my movements." He withdrew his sword and stood still. "The Willow Floss Sword Technique and the Thirteen Forms of the Clear Wind have a few things in common. For instance, the essence of both is to keep your opponent guessing, not let them lead you by the nose."

Jin Lingzhi glared at Fang Yunhua with puffed-out cheeks, only to see him smiling as he offered her a handkerchief to wipe away her sweat. Her cheeks promptly reddened.

As the breeze swept through the pines, the crisp clacks of wooden swords continued to echo in their ears. Only at noon did Jin Lingzhi finally put down the wooden sword that had grown increasingly heavy in her hand.

"Why do I feel like you've gotten even better?"

It had not been very long since their last sparring match, yet back then Fang Yunhua had not possessed this grandmaster's air of making heavy work look effortless. His ability to turn a sparring match into a lesson was ample proof that the gap between their strengths had widened considerably again.

"It's probably because something suddenly clicked in my understanding of swordsmanship after I sparred with Commander Chu a little while ago. That's why you feel I've improved so much."

Jin Lingzhi nodded thoughtfully and said nothing more.

She had little interest in the rumors circulating through the martial world about Fang Yunhua and Chu Liuxiang. Now that she and Fang Yunhua had a rare chance to spend some time together, she naturally wanted to enjoy every minute and every second.

"By the way, there's something else I'd like to ask your second uncle to help with this time."

"All right. My second uncle is in the Capital City. I'll write him a letter later."

Jin Lingzhi agreed at once, never thinking for a moment that he was using her. A girl like her, outwardly carefree but actually sensitive at heart, knew perfectly well that Fang Yunhua's affection for her contained not a trace of pretense.

Being able to help him at a time like this would only make Jin Lingzhi happy.

After all, compared with those other little vixens, this clearly made her place in Fang Yunhua's heart a little more important.

"I should still explain the details to you."

After he explained this and that, and how everything stood, Jin Lingzhi nodded thoughtfully.

"Then when should we arrange to meet?"

"In three days. I ought to spend more time with you over these three days."

Jin Lingzhi's eyes lit up.

"Can I take that to mean this is a kind of transaction too? Young Master Fang, you wouldn't want to miss out on meeting my second uncle, would you? Heh heh heh!"

Fang Yunhua tapped her forehead in exasperation.

"That laugh sounds awful!"

"But last night, you used that exact same tone to suddenly say all sorts of strange things, and then you went 'heh heh' just like that too."

Jin Lingzhi rubbed her smooth forehead aggrievedly. Of course, Fang Yunhua had barely used any force. Seeing her pitiful little expression, he said helplessly,

"If you really want to play that game... I can play along. But only for these next few days."

"Okay!" Jin Lingzhi immediately stopped looking aggrieved. First she darted into the room, wrote the letter, and arranged for a merchant association member to deliver it. Then she began washing up and dressing for their date later. Fang Yunhua took advantage of the free time to seize every minute and second for practicing his internal arts.

But once he began, his practice lasted from noon until the hour of the Rooster, five in the afternoon...