Mingyu Skill

After spending two hours, he successfully converted his cultivation to the new method.

The White Jade Beauty continued guiding a strand of Fang Yunhua's internal energy through the statue.

One circuit, two, three, four... all the way to the ninth. Fang Yunhua dimly realized that it was showing him the internal energy circulation routes for all nine levels of the Mingyu Skill. With his photographic memory and gift for comprehension, he committed these circulation methods firmly to heart.

Immediately afterward, he discovered a tragic fact.

The internal energy he had cultivated through more than ten years of practicing the Embrace the Origin Skill had already suffered considerable losses when he converted it to the Demon-Subduing Heart Method, refining it to a higher quality. Now that he had converted it again to the supreme Mingyu Skill, every last trace of impurity left after this further purification had been swept away.

And his current internal energy was only damn well equivalent to the fourth level of the Mingyu Skill.

But then he recalled the accounts of the Mingyu Skill: its sixth level was enough to contend with the greatest masters of the age, the eighth level's realm of Supreme Forgetfulness made one invincible under heaven, and the ninth firmly placed one among the absolute strongest in Gu Long's martial world.

He began to feel that his fourth-level cultivation might not be quite so pathetic after all.

Besides, in Gu Long's martial world, even the strongest master could be killed by a sneak attack. His swordsmanship was seriously good, and after realizing that his true nature lay in letting himself run free, he had already begun to sense that he was close to grasping the "intent" Withered Plum had spoken of.

After circulating his energy through another full cycle, he rose and discovered that the White Jade Beauty had shattered into fragments all over the floor.

Jin Lingzhi, who had been guarding him throughout, asked excitedly.

"Well? Well? There really was a secret!"

"Yes, an internal cultivation method. Stronger than Mount Hua's... much, much, much stronger."

Fang Yunhua did not mention the name "Mingyu Skill." After all, that was only his conjecture.

Moreover, although accounts of the Four Great Divine Skills had vanished from the martial world, if some accident exposed that he possessed one of them, Mount Hua, which had clearly yet to stand tall and straight again, would probably be trampled flat by those greedy martial artists.

Jin Lingzhi acted as though she were the one who had learned the Mingyu Skill, her little face flushed with excitement. But just as she was about to say something, the words reached her lips and her expression turned serious.

"You absolutely, absolutely cannot tell anyone about this. Even though neither of us knows what this cultivation method is, if you judge it stronger than the internal cultivation of Mount Hua, one of the Seven Great Schools, word getting out would definitely draw countless covetous eyes!

"And the White Jade Beauty, too. It was one of the Capital City Four Treasures, after all. Although plenty of people no longer take the secrets of those four treasures seriously, with you as living proof, there's no telling how much trouble it might stir up.

"An innocent man becomes guilty simply by possessing a precious jade-that's something my grandmother has reminded me of again and again since I was little!"

Fang Yunhua saw Jin Lingzhi in a new light. After all, she had always come across as rather goofy, and she kept clinging to that outdated tsundere routine. If he had not been considerate of her, she would have been a black-haired losing heroine through and through.

"Hey! What's that look supposed to mean?"

After putting the fragments of the White Jade Beauty into the brocade box, Fang Yunhua answered with a smile.

"I'm marveling at my good wife's wisdom, and sincerely thanking my good wife for the reminder."

"Good wife... good wife... if you've got the guts, come ask for my hand and see whether I dare marry you!"

Jin Lingzhi sounded fierce, but her smiling eyes made it obvious that she was happy enough for the sweetness to reach the very bottom of her heart.

All Fang Yunhua could do now was smile meekly and keep quiet.

The second day, which should still have been devoted to their dates, quietly slipped away as Fang Yunhua familiarized himself with his new cultivation method.

Jin Lingzhi had no complaints. She had long since grown tired of touring the Capital City; what mattered was who accompanied her. Now, even simply sitting beside Fang Yunhua and guarding him while he cultivated felt like a very happy thing to do.

Meanwhile, several rumors also flowed into the Capital City, the foremost city of the realm.

The first was that Fang Yunhua had officially become Mount Hua's heir, taking the position of its junior sect leader.

This caused little stir, since many in the martial world had expected it all along. After all, the Amorous Young Master's name was actually far more renowned than Mount Hua's, which had fallen quiet in recent years.

Besides, anyone with eyes could see that Mount Hua's growth was closely tied to this young Sect Leader Fang. If they did not make him their heir, were they supposed to choose Gao Yanan instead?

Her title of Clear Breeze Female Swordswoman was no small name either, but what people in the martial world delighted in discussing was the gossip about her and Hu Tiehua, the Xiaoxiang Chivalrous Thief. She was the very embodiment of a woman ruled by romance, pursuing a man for years on end.

If she really replaced Fang Yunhua, the whole of Mount Hua would probably raise a different banner the very next day.

Thus, Fang Yunhua becoming Mount Hua's junior sect leader hardly counted as a major event worth discussing. If he had failed to become junior sect leader, people would have been far more eager to discuss the reasons behind it.

And the second rumor happened to satisfy those eager spectators' appetite for gossip perfectly.

It concerned the truth behind the death of Ren Ci, the former leader of the Beggar Gang.

It did not directly identify the current Beggar Gang leader, Nangong Ling, as the killer.

Instead, it raised numerous grounds for suspicion surrounding Ren Ci's sudden death.

First, in the years before his death, Ren Ci had appeared before the Beggar Gang's elders less and less frequently.

Second, very few people had actually seen Ren Ci's body. Nangong Ling had handled his funeral single-handedly, and it was also Nangong Ling who had delivered the final verdict on his cause of death.

Lastly, there was the former Beggar Gang leader's widow. Like her husband, she had rarely appeared before the gang's disciples during the years preceding Ren Ci's death, and afterward she had continued to live an extremely secluded life.

Nangong Ling also took responsibility for her everyday needs, the purchase of household supplies, and so on.

Was that normal?

For public discussion to spread at its fastest, it needed room for arguments on both sides.

If a matter was nailed down beyond dispute-such as Fang Yunhua becoming Mount Hua's junior sect leader, something anyone with eyes considered perfectly reasonable, with nothing to argue about even in idle conversation-interest would not last very long.

So, rather than directly throwing mud at Nangong Ling, the initial guidance of public opinion was better aimed at getting everyone to discuss the matter first, warming them up for the explosive revelation to come.

While taking Jin Lingzhi out through the streets that day, Fang Yunhua noticed that this rumor was gradually overtaking the discussions of how he had driven Chu Liuxiang away when the latter went to Mount Hua to steal a treasure a few days earlier.

As people in the martial world concerned themselves with Ren Ci's cause of death, they also began gossiping about Nangong Ling and Ren Ci's widow. To onlookers who did not know the truth, the relationship between those two easily invited flights of imagination.

And in this day and age, rumors with even a hint of something salacious were what the public loved spreading most. Otherwise, his own title of Amorous Young Master would never have become established so easily.