Passing on the Art

After getting himself into the right condition, Zhou Muzhi left home.

The sky was overcast today, and many people needed carriages. His usual carriage company had none to spare. Combined with his rise in status last night, this meant the household carriage had now practically become his alone.

He could use it whenever he wished.

The driver waited outside the Zhou Residence.

Once Zhou Muzhi entered the carriage, the driver called out.

"Young master, where to?"

"The Li Residence."

The driver understood. His heavily callused hand gripped the whip and cracked it against the horse's rump. The carriage moved, gray dust rose, and the tiled houses on either side of the road slid backward.

Inside the carriage, Zhou Muzhi closed his eyes and rested.

He had plenty to do today. Aside from seeking his master out to learn more advanced martial arts, the threat from the Qian Family would likely arrive soon.

He needed to be the oriole waiting behind, watching the mantis stalk the cicada, then breaking the deadlock at the right moment.

When the driver arrived at the Li Residence, he saw that the sky had grown darker. Clouds piled upon clouds, pressing down upon the earth as though the heavens were about to fall.

Zhou Muzhi also glanced up, then immediately looked away. He stepped out of the carriage and casually instructed the driver.

"Rest inside the Li Residence. It looks like rain, and I'll need to go somewhere else later."

The Zhou Residence's driver immediately replied, "Understood, young master. This old servant will head to the Li Residence's stables."

Zhou Muzhi straightened his robes and stepped through the Li Residence's vermilion gates into the courtyard.

Li Jingfei was right at the entrance to the main hall in the front courtyard, where the projecting eaves sheltered him perfectly.

He reclined in a pearwood chair with his eyes closed, holding an old wineskin. Every so often he took a small sip, his cheeks slightly flushed and his head swaying gently.

Clearly, he was in a good mood.

Without opening his eyes, Li Jingfei's ears twitched. He lowered the hand holding the wineskin against his chest and spoke.

"Back here so soon, you little scamp? Don't tell me you've improved again?"

Of course, he said it in jest. Surely improvement still required a period of accumulation.

This time, Zhou Muzhi had no intention of revealing anything yet. What he practiced was clearly not what his master had taught him, and it was also a lost divine art of the Yuanchu Sect. Revealing it would cause considerable trouble.

Thus, he planned to wait for a reasonably suitable opportunity to reveal it.

He shook his head and spoke. "That's not it, Master. I want to learn a martial art suited to my realm, something to protect myself with. Please pass such an art on to me."

At this, Li Jingfei opened his eyes. A trace of drunkenness remained in them, but his voice had already rung out.

"You mean a fighting method to go with it?"

"True enough. You have the realm but nothing else, which amounts to having brute strength alone. Without any fighting methods, you're like someone fighting barehanded against an armed opponent. You'll easily come off worse."

As he spoke, he pondered for a few breaths, then continued, "Very well. Originally, I worried you'd bite off more than you could chew, but the Five Qi aren't so easy to cultivate. Spending some time practicing fighting methods would be worthwhile."

As he continued speaking, Li Jingfei stood up, looked at Zhou Muzhi, and scratched his messy hair.

"Tell me, what do you want to learn? I don't have so many rules for you. Whether it's fist techniques, palm techniques, movement techniques that ordinary martial artists can only dream of, or even armed combat techniques, I can teach you everything I know."

Then he added, "Of course, that's far too much at once. Master one first, and learning the rest later will be easier."

Receiving such treatment, Zhou Muzhi was moved beyond words. This master truly treated his own people exceptionally well.

With that thought, he honestly voiced what was on his mind. "Master, I've heard that your nickname is Astonishing Wind Leg, and that your leg techniques earned you a tremendous reputation even in the Commandery City. Those are what I want to learn."

Hearing his prodigy of a disciple praise him, Li Jingfei felt pleased no matter how low-key he was.

Who didn't like being praised?

"You certainly have a way with words. That's all ancient history. Your master is old now. All I can do is retire here."

Zhou Muzhi smoothly followed up. "Master, you're my pillar holding up the heavens. You aren't old-you're still terrifyingly strong. Who in all of Suming County would dare touch your tiger's whiskers!"

"What a glib tongue, hahaha!"

Li Jingfei laughed heartily. Then his smile faded, he patted his long robe, and his expression grew serious.

"Very well! My good disciple, the art that made my name is actually a combination of movement and leg techniques. It's called the Cloud-Chasing Thunderclap Technique. With minor mastery, you can evade opponents of your level; with major mastery, you can crush them. As for perfection, you can just about fight above your level."

As he spoke, Li Jingfei planted a foot forward.

Rumble!

It was as though a muffled thunderclap had exploded in his ears.

Zhou Muzhi's entire body went rigid. The scene of thunder rumbling across the sky replayed in his mind. By the time he came to his senses, his master had long since vanished from in front of him.

Li Jingfei's voice rang out behind him, still within the front courtyard.

"Did you see that clearly?"

When did he get over there?

Zhou Muzhi was inwardly shocked. His true realm was One Qi, yet even so, he had failed to notice how his master moved.

If he faced an opponent like this in a fight to the death, he would certainly not survive!

He immediately sobered, realizing that the gap between them remained vast. The pride his breakthrough had stirred in him instantly dwindled considerably.

Hearing the question, Zhou Muzhi honestly shook his head. He was no monstrous genius who could learn something after seeing it once.

Li Jingfei said little more and began teaching him from the very basics.

"This art has a foundational practice method, with eight variations of leg techniques in total. We'll start here. You should become proficient in about seven days, then move on to the movement variations afterward."

With that, Zhou Muzhi began his leg technique training for the day.

In a small town far from Suming County.

Inside a tavern in town.

Half-Immortal Xu looked at the seven or eight burly men beside him, along with a fully equipped young man missing an arm. The corner of his mouth twitched.

Some of these people had been added by Zhou Muzhi later.

Who knew what had gotten into that fellow? He kept increasing the numbers they had originally agreed on, and the strongest among them was already approaching Body Tempering.

These men were all stout fellows among ordinary people. On top of that, they wore thick fabric, with inner armor inadvertently showing beneath it, and carried weapons on the outside.

People would believe it if someone said they were private soldiers trained by some Lineage.

These men now took their lead from him, while he-Half-Immortal Xu looked at the one-armed young man beside him and put down his chopsticks.

"This old Daoist would like to ask, when are we making our move?"

Du Wen said nothing. First, he swept his gaze around. These men looked sturdy enough, but brute strength was useless for finding good things on Lesser Thunder Mountain.

"No hurry. The time hasn't come yet. This place is basically a trading spot. People generally put good merchandise up for sale here. Since they're all regular mountain foragers, they're eager to sell their goods, so the prices are considerably cheaper. We can buy whatever we can get."

Hearing this, Half-Immortal Xu frowned. He did have silver on him, given to him by that brat Zhou Muzhi, but that didn't mean he should scatter it by the handful. It all needed to be spent on the blade's edge, where it mattered.

Just as Half-Immortal Xu was about to speak, Du Wen's eyes lit up, and he whispered to him.

"The goods are here. See that group? They have everything you need. The only thing to consider is how to get it from them!"

Half-Immortal Xu followed his gaze and saw a party of three mountain foragers passing by, dressed in thick coats and leather trousers, with small caps on their heads.

"Old Xu, don't you know those ghostly tricks? Can you use a few on them? Then we can finish our task without a hitch!"

Half-Immortal Xu looked at the young man helplessly. "I only know a few methods for exorcising evil. Where would I get the miraculous powers you're talking about?"

"Tsk." Du Wen put down the duck leg he had eaten clean. "Can you summon some and set them on those people?"

Hearing this, Half-Immortal Xu hesitated. He really did have such a method, though he couldn't summon anything very powerful. At most, it could make someone lose their way or fall slightly ill.

Seeing a chance, Du Wen added, "I won't hide it from you. People like them were responsible for my arm. Those bastards robbed me of over half my wealth. This is exactly the sort of business they like."

As he spoke, he pointed at the guards eating their meal. "The other option is to head into the mountains ourselves. Let me make this clear first: all kinds of damned things happen in the mountains. I have no way to protect so many people. Half of us will definitely die."

The guards' thoughts began to shift.

"If mountain goods were that easy to gather, they wouldn't spend all day coveting other people's possessions. Plenty have fallen victim to them. It's just that everyone's ordinary and has no way to fight back."

Half-Immortal Xu was torn as well. People would die if they entered the mountains, and that might well include him.

Then Du Wen said something else, and only after hearing it did Half-Immortal Xu make up his mind.

"All right. We can do this!"