Chu Liuxiang

Chu Liuxiang was in a foul mood.

After acquiring the White Jade Beauty, he should have been enjoying a leisurely rest aboard that treasure ship.

But the corpses drifting down the river, one after another, had stirred his curiosity again.

Then came the one-month deadline set by Gong Nanyan, a disciple of the Divine Water Palace.

That left him no choice but to investigate the truth hidden behind those corpses.

Had events followed the original story, Chu Liuxiang would have focused on identifying the five corpses, while Su Rongrong, whose aunt had joined the Divine Water Palace, would have investigated the stolen Heavenly One Divine Water.

But now, events had veered slightly off course.

It had now been established that the pregnant disciple of the Divine Water Palace, who had chosen suicide after stealing the Heavenly One Divine Water, must have been led astray by someone.

Before dying, she had said only that she was sorry to the child in her womb, yet she would rather die than reveal "his" identity. Such blind devotion already showed how skillful that man was.

And judging by Su Rongrong's own words: he had to be eloquent, clever, adept at winning girls' hearts, and a consummate charmer. Young girls could never resist a man like that.

That made it possible to narrow down the suspect.

After all, who in the martial world had not heard of the talents of the Amorous Young Master, Fang Yunhua?

Zuo Mingzhu of Cup-Tossing Manor, Shi Yin of Shi Family Manor, Jin Lingzhi of the Ten Thousand Blessings and Longevity Garden, Yan Wushuang, the capital's foremost courtesan, Song Emei of the Lingnan Song family, Gu Qingcheng of the Hainan Sword Sect, Xie Lingshan, the little princess of Kunlun...

All these women were rumored to have considerable dealings with him.

Despite his reputation as an amorous man being known throughout the martial world, these celebrated heroines and young ladies of distinguished families still flocked to him like moths to a flame. That instinctively led Chu Liuxiang to suspect that he had also seduced a disciple of the Divine Water Palace.

Besides, only the Amorous Young Master possessed the extraordinary skill needed to make a pregnant woman choose suicide without hesitation to protect him.

Of course, suspicion was only suspicion. To investigate in detail, he first had to meet the man.

But according to rumors circulating over the past six months and more, the Amorous Young Master had incurred so many romantic debts outside that Master Kumei, the leader of Mount Hua, had forbidden him to leave. That had nipped Chu Liuxiang's plan for a chance encounter in the bud.

Still, that was no matter. There were always more solutions than difficulties.

After his inquiries confirmed that Jin Ban Hua-the hapless mark from whom he had recently stolen the White Jade Beauty-was quite friendly with the Amorous Young Master, Chu Liuxiang had decided to use their relationship, particularly the theft of the White Jade Beauty, to get closer to Fang Yunhua.

After all, disguises were his specialty.

Yet he had never expected to be exposed before they had exchanged more than a few words.

"An excellent sword," Chu Liuxiang praised.

Fang Yunhua reluctantly halted his blade.

"You're not going to dodge?"

"You may have said you wanted to kill me, but there isn't a trace of killing intent in that sword."

Chu Liuxiang pulled off his disguise mask, revealing a handsome face that could almost rival Fang Yunhua's.

"I am Chu Liuxiang. A pleasure to meet you. I have a few questions I would like to ask the Amorous Young Master."

Although one man's sword tip hovered three inches from the other's throat in the reception hall, the atmosphere seemed much more cordial than before.

Rather than put away his sword, Fang Yunhua said,

"Meeting me in disguise was rather discourteous of you."

"So?"

"We fight first!"

Chu Liuxiang nodded slightly and sprang into the air, his peerless lightness skill carrying him effortlessly beyond the reach of the sword light.

Fang Yunhua's sword accelerated by another thirty percent. He flicked his wrist and shook out nine sword blossoms. Those moves seemed present yet absent, real yet illusory, changing yet unchanged. Even Chu Liuxiang, with his wealth of combat experience, could not immediately distinguish the real attacks from the feints.

As Chu Liuxiang dodged again, he touched his toes to a landscape scroll hanging from a pillar and flipped through the air. Before the severed silk cord of the jade pendant at his waist could reach the floor, Fang Yunhua's blade had already swept across along the scroll!

At that moment, Fang Yunhua's mastery of the Thirteen Forms of the Clear Wind rose to a new level.

A further realization dawned on him: this was probably his so-called cheat.

No system, no Deep Blue, not even any strange divine artifacts. With nothing but the boost provided by his memories of his previous life, he had developed ever-greater control over his body and mind. He truly, genuinely relied entirely on his own hard work! (Smile)

Then the scraps of silk sliced apart by his blade fluttered like a swarm of butterflies. Guided by his exquisite swordsmanship, they seemed to form a bizarre vortex, shredding seventeen gashes into the hem of Chu Liuxiang's snow-white robes!

"Worthy indeed of the Thirteen Forms of the Clear Wind! Worthy of Lingxiao, a treasured sword that earned a place in Xue Yiren's collection! And most worthy of the Amorous Young Master!"

Chu Liuxiang paid no heed at all to his momentary slip, as though he were deliberately holding back to let Fang Yunhua vent his anger.

Fang Yunhua's expression, however, darkened somewhat. Somehow, the other man's praise sounded like veiled mockery to him.

There was naturally nothing wrong with praising his Thirteen Forms of the Clear Wind.

But suddenly bringing up Xue Yiren made things rather awkward. Fang Yunhua had only managed to acquire Lingxiao through Xue Yiren's in-laws at Shi Family Manor, and at a certain price.

Even now, the thought of Xue Yiren's own daughter, the donkey-faced Xue Honghong, made Fang Yunhua's scalp prickle.

Still, it had all been worth it!

"Oh?"

As he kept dodging, Chu Liuxiang noticed that Fang Yunhua's swordsmanship had become considerably fiercer.

Fang Yunhua switched to Pine Waves Stack Upon Waves, the fifth of the Thirteen Forms of the Clear Wind, tapping his sword tip nine times against the sandalwood square table.

Each light tap drove the table legs half an inch deeper into the floor, and the nine crisp knocks subtly aligned with the positions of the Nine Palaces.

At the final knock, the entire table suddenly burst into nearly a hundred wooden spikes, spreading into a net across heaven and earth that closed over Chu Liuxiang, who had sensed something wrong and begun retreating at speed!

Sparring inside the reception hall restricted this master of lightness skill to some extent.

But as a seasoned fighter who rose to meet stronger opponents, the challenge only stirred the renowned Commander Chu's interest.

He gave a long laugh, and three silk ribbons suddenly shot from his sleeves to coil around a roof beam.

Using the pull of the retracting ribbons, he actually performed the exquisite footwork of Swallow Skims the Water Three Times amid the torrential rain of wooden spikes!

At the most perilous instant, three wooden spikes, like Bone-Piercing Nails, skimmed past his nose, Adam's apple, and chest, only to be blown aside by his breath before touching his skin. Then he swept his long sleeve, and the supple force coiling around it immediately sent several spikes spinning back toward Fang Yunhua!

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The trembling ring of a sword sounded again. Lingxiao blurred into multiple afterimages in Fang Yunhua's hand, like a long snake suddenly darting out of a rocky cave, its coldly gleaming tip striking each of the wooden spikes that had already closed around him!

As wood shavings drifted through the air, the tremendous noise from the reception hall drew the attention of the other Mount Hua disciples.

Master Kumei arrived first. Seeing Fang Yunhua and Chu Liuxiang exchange blows, she immediately recognized that they were primarily sparring, and stopped the Mount Hua disciples who were about to draw their swords and fight alongside Fang Yunhua.

Among those disciples stood a woman as bright and radiant as a spring breeze, gripping the hem of her clothes tightly. Her eyes shone with a brilliant light as she looked at Fang Yunhua.