Wang Chong had already recalled seventy or eighty percent of his martial arts. He had put the most hard work into Flowing Cloud Palm and Wind-Splitting Palm, but his strongest martial art was called the Hundred Styles of Wind and Cloud.
It was both a Folding Fan art and a palm technique, combining the internal art he had arrived with when he transmigrated, the Cloud-Riding, Wind-Treading Lightness Skill, Soaring Clouds, Treading the Wind, Flowing Cloud Palm, Wind-Splitting Palm, and part of the Candle-Bearing Sword Technique. It could well be called a supreme art.
Flowing Cloud Palm embodied the flowing grace of drifting clouds and running water. Its strikes were blindingly fast, its moves exquisite, its variations endless. Wind-Splitting Palm, on the other hand, was a method of projecting palm force, much like the Air-Piercing Palm or Hundred-Pace Divine Fist in martial arts novels. These two arts also formed the backbone of the Hundred Styles of Wind and Cloud.
His internal art hardly needed mentioning: it was clearly of an orthodox Daoist lineage, without the slightest trace of anything sinister. His Cloud-Riding, Wind-Treading Lightness Skill was likewise graceful and poised, leaving the dust far behind. Every martial art required internal strength as its foundation, and more than ninety percent could not do without the support of lightness skills. Yet the most formidable martial art he possessed was the Candle-Bearing Sword Technique.
This sword technique consisted of seventy-two sequences and was a superior sword art of an orthodox Daoist lineage! It drew upon the ancient tale of the Torch Dragon bearing candlelight in its mouth. Supposedly, when this sword art was mastered to its utmost, friction between the sword tip and the air could produce a faint glimmer like a candle flame. As the sword technique unfolded, thousands upon thousands of candle flames would appear, a dazzling sight.
Wang Chong mused to himself, The original owner's talent seems to have been a little lacking. He couldn't grasp the deeper levels of this sword art and only put effort into the moves that complemented the Hundred Styles of Wind and Cloud. He had only a rough understanding of its most subtle mysteries and most powerful moves.
Although I've erased the design on the fan, I should still avoid using it whenever possible. From now on, I'd better put more hard work into swordsmanship!
Toward evening, more guests arrived at the inn. With something to hide, Wang Chong could not resist sneaking a look from inside his courtyard gate. It was the convoy from the Flying Tiger Escort Agency, and every one of them was wounded. He had no idea what danger they had encountered.
The female disciples of the Qingcheng Sect made no particular move. The escort agency's men, however, sent two escorts to pay them a visit as soon as they had settled in.
Only after the dark-faced middle-aged man introduced himself as Zhang Xingzhou, a Wudang Disciple, did Chu Qiuzi's lovely face thaw a little. She said coolly, "Wudang and Qingcheng both belong to the nine Daoist lineages. Whatever business you two have, please speak plainly!"
The sinister-looking man was impatient by nature and could not hold back. "The shipment we're escorting this time is extremely important, but yesterday we ran into men from the Qinghe Gang lying in ambush. They had strength in numbers, and we failed to protect the goods. When we learned that several heroines of the Qingcheng Sect were here, we came especially to beg you to help recover them."
Hearing what they wanted, Chu Qiuzi felt somewhat reluctant. Escort agencies transported shipments for profit and protected goods; it had little to do with chivalry or upholding justice. When a shipment was lost, there were established channels: return to the agency for help and bring more men to seize it back by force, or invite a respected figure in the martial world to mediate. These were all thoroughly familiar procedures. For these two escorts to turn up uninvited and brazenly ask for help meant they took her and her fellow disciples for greenhorns. They wanted to drag them into the mire, have them fight to the death for the escort agency, and risk their lives for the owner of the goods.
Such attempts to draw people into risking their lives for no reason were all too common in the martial world. Only rash newcomers with little experience, whose elders had heads full of mush and had never warned them, would recklessly agree. Not only would they risk their lives for someone else, they would also make enemies for nothing. Many had ruined their entire lives this way.
While checking in, one of the escorts had learned that a group of women skilled in martial arts was also staying there. After a private discussion, they had come to try their luck. If they could draw these heroines into bolstering their ranks, their chances of recovering the shipment would improve. They had not expected to encounter people from the Qingcheng Sect. The Purple-Cyan Jade Maiden Chu Qiuzi was enjoying great renown. Though she was not as famous throughout the world as Wu Hook Frost Snow or Chess Sword Linglong, she was not far behind, and she was no easy person to fool. Although his companion had steeled himself and spoken, Zhang Xingzhou was uneasy and far from confident.
Chu Qiuzi pondered for a moment. Before she could think of an excuse to refuse, her fifth junior sister, Female Zhuge Luo Lingxi, gave a soft laugh and said, "Ordinarily, when fellow members of the martial world are in trouble, we sisters ought to lend a hand. Unfortunately, the lecherous villain White Chrysanthemum has recently committed a string of crimes, abducting Lotus Immortal Nan Xinlan and our little sister Mingzhu from Iron Pear Mountain Manor. We're in a hurry to rescue them. This is a matter of the utmost urgency, so we cannot spare the time."
The sinister-looking man could not help saying, "With beauties like those falling into a lecher's hands, I'm afraid he's already done everything to them. What difference could a little time make..." The Qingcheng women's faces all turned livid. How could they not know that? But to spell it out to their faces like this, especially when Tie Mingzhu was their close friend, truly showed them no respect.
Their fourth junior sister, Jade Balance Immortal Maiden Bai Lingxi, had the fiercest temper. How could she tolerate such nonsense from him? She raised her hand and shot out a Crane's Cry Divine Needles.
The dark-faced middle-aged man knew things had gone wrong and hurriedly thrust out his palm, shoving his companion. But how could he compare with a direct-lineage disciple of Qingcheng? Though he had entered Wudang, he was merely a lay disciple, much like the lay disciples of Shaolin, and could not receive the true transmission of its superior arts. His move was a fraction too slow. His companion cried out as the Crane's Cry Divine Needles pierced his ear. The sinister-looking man's face filled with anger, but he was only an ordinary escort and had misspoken himself. He truly did not dare lose his temper at a Qingcheng disciple.
Helpless, Zhang Xingzhou tugged his companion and said, "We've come at an unfortunate time. We'll take our leave."
Chu Qiuzi held her fourth junior sister back and said coolly, "Go ahead!"
After the two left the Qingcheng women's courtyard, Zhang Xingzhou said with a hint of reproach, "Old Lu, why did you go shooting your mouth off?"
Although the sinister-looking man's ear had been pierced, the Qingcheng Sect's Crane's Cry Divine Needles were never poisoned, and the wound was small. A little rubbing stopped the bleeding. He jerked his chin to the side and said, "If those Qingcheng women won't do, we can still ask that junior of yours. Even if his martial arts are crude, he'll be another lump of meat to take a blade."
With no other options, Zhang Xingzhou knocked on Wang Chong's courtyard gate.
Wang Chong had been channeling his internal strength into his ears all along, eavesdropping from his own courtyard. Those words went straight into his ears, making him so furious that smoke all but poured from his seven orifices. He thought, These two escorts are no good! They're just taking me for a fool, trying to trick a fool into pulling chestnuts out of the fire for them for nothing. I won't open it, I won't, I simply won't. Let's see if you dare smash the gate down!
The two escorts hammered on the gate for a while, but Wang Chong had made up his mind. He simply would not open it or make a sound. This was a little survival trick unique to modern people. The dark-faced middle-aged man and his sinister-looking companion did not think that deeply about it. Assuming Wang Chong had stepped out, they could only leave in disappointment.
Hearing their hurried footsteps gradually recede, Wang Chong had barely begun to breathe a sigh of relief when he thought, That middle-aged man who said my movements on the road resembled his sect's Cloud-Riding, Wind-Treading Lightness Skill was actually from the Wudang Sect. Doesn't that mean I'm from Wudang too? Could that girl in green have been telling the truth? Am I really Mo Yuncong of Wudang? I'd better not believe it too readily. I still feel there's a trick in this somewhere.
Suddenly, he heard the rush of wind. A slender, gracefully upright figure vaulted over the wall and floated down. An exceedingly gentle voice said, "So you are a disciple of Wudang, young master. May I ask whether you're a lay disciple, or which elder you study under?"
The Purple-Cyan Jade Maiden Chu Qiuzi was graceful and enchanting, her smile radiant, her whole person seemingly wreathed in a spring breeze. She was utterly beautiful, utterly dazzling!
...Wang Chong: Was this girl here to catch a lecher?...
...Chu Qiuzi: How should I tactfully ask him in a moment, "Young master, are you married?"...
...Eldest senior sister: "I'm in secluded cultivation."...
...Third senior sister: "I'm in secluded cultivation too. I haven't left the mountain."...
...Fourth junior sister, Jade Balance Immortal Maiden Bai Lingxi: "Second senior sister moved so fast."...
...Fifth junior sister, Female Zhuge Luo Lingxi: "Second senior sister moved so fast."...
...Sixth junior sister, Cloud-Seizing Immortal Magpie Long Cuocuo: "Second senior sister moved so fast."...
...Seventh sister, One-Flavor Immortal Huang Yan: "Second senior sister moved so fast."...
...Youngest junior sister, Azure Bird in the Clouds Ren Wanqing: "Second senior sister moved so fast."...
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