Only twenty or thirty people were in Chrysanthemum-Killing Manor at the time. They all swarmed over to hear the man who had brought back the news recount what had happened.
When Tie Mingzhu heard that White Chrysanthemum had abducted her friend, she neither looked into the details nor went to ask Nan Xinlan. She simply rushed off headlong to "avenge" her friend.
After Wang Chong let her go, she finally learned a little sense. Everyone knew she had gone looking for White Chrysanthemum to avenge her friend, but only the two of them knew that "White Chrysanthemum" had captured her alive and that they had spent half a day alone together in a ruined temple. So when she met her friend Nan Xinlan, who had taken an enormous risk to come looking for her, she left out that "story" and said she had never encountered White Chrysanthemum.
Although Nan Xinlan could tell that something was a little off about her friend, first, she felt guilty toward this close friend of hers, and even if something had happened, she would have to help Tie Mingzhu cover it up. Second, she knew she had absolutely no ability to rescue anyone from White Chrysanthemum. If Tie Mingzhu had encountered him, she herself would certainly have run into him too. How could the lecher possibly have passed up bedding them both? So she, too, kept her mouth shut.
The man who returned with the message was plain and honest, without any habit of embellishing stories or fabricating lurid sexual rumors. He faithfully recounted what the two women had told him. When everyone heard him say that Tie Mingzhu had actually never encountered White Chrysanthemum, they all rejoiced at this "reckless" heroine's good fortune. The women of Qingcheng, in particular, were overjoyed.
Wang Chong hid off to one side and heard everything clearly. A few plans quietly took shape in his mind as he thought, Since Tie Mingzhu said she never saw me, presumably she wouldn't dare expose me publicly either. Otherwise, her own reputation would be ruined and her chastity disgraced.
Miss Tie, you wouldn't want anyone to know that you shared a ruined temple with a lecher-and spent a whole night there with him-would you?
Mm, and that the lecher even put you through some bondage play.
In an instant, Wang Chong came up with seven or eight different lines to use. However, the messenger also said that Nan Xinlan and Tie Mingzhu had both suffered something of a fright and were tired as well, so they would not be coming to join everyone. That let him breathe a small half-sigh of relief.
This had been Nan Xinlan's idea. She had spun a cocoon and trapped herself inside it: in everyone's eyes, the lecher White Chrysanthemum had already defiled her. How could she have the face to show herself? Tie Mingzhu was even more worried that she might give something away and let people discover that White Chrysanthemum had captured her, so she was unwilling to come either.
The women of Qingcheng were worried about their friend. Since Tie Mingzhu could not come, naturally they would go visit her. Chu Qiuzi wanted to invite Wang Chong along, but considering what had happened to Nan Xinlan, it would hardly be appropriate to bring an unfamiliar man. She could only reluctantly take her junior sisters and leave.
Wang Chong stayed at Chrysanthemum-Killing Manor. He soon keenly noticed that although the sixty-one brothers of the Chrysanthemum-Slaying Alliance had gathered under the banner of hunting down White Chrysanthemum, every one of them had his own interests. The vast majority treated this gathering as a social occasion. There were drinking parties almost every day, and people frequently arranged to go out in groups of seven or eight. They claimed they were going to track down White Chrysanthemum, but in reality they were simply touring the mountains and enjoying the scenery.
He even attended a poetry gathering. Unwilling to draw undue attention, he did not copy out poems to show off, instead becoming a member of the praise brigade. He lavished compliments on every participant and earned a great deal of goodwill.
With Fang Jingru threading the needle and Qin Han pushing hard on his behalf, he successfully joined the alliance on his third day at Chrysanthemum-Killing Manor, becoming the sixty-second brother of the Chrysanthemum-Slaying Alliance. He could hardly have been more like a fish in water.
Every day, Wang Chong found time to silently review his various martial arts and secretly put himself through grueling practice.
His identity could be exposed at any moment, turning him into "the lecher White Chrysanthemum." His martial arts were his only hope of staying alive, and he could not afford the slightest laziness.
Besides the internal cultivation and Cloud-Riding, Wind-Treading Lightness Skill that had come with his transmigration, the Flowing Cloud Palm, Wind-Splitting Palm, and Candle-Bearing Sword Technique he was most adept at, and the Hundred Styles of Wind and Cloud that combined these five arts, Wang Chong was actually proficient in another martial art, called the Flying Flowers, Plucking Leaves Hand.
Like the Hundred Styles of Wind and Cloud, the Flying Flowers, Plucking Leaves Hand was one of Wudang's Thirty-Six Supreme Arts. Likewise, it was not merely a palm technique, but also a hidden-weapon art. This palm technique also required the internal power he had arrived with upon transmigrating to bring its subtle wonders into play. After all, ordinary hidden-weapon skills required only accuracy, but without profound internal power, one could hardly injure people with flying flowers and plucked leaves.
His ability to slice a squirrel in half with a leaf that day had been thanks to this Flying Flowers, Plucking Leaves Hand.
Without mastery of this supreme art, no matter how advanced his internal cultivation, he could not have easily achieved such a technically demanding result.
He did not know whether it was some effect of transmigration, but he always felt that his martial arts improved every day. It seemed that, although he had not mastered the Candle-Bearing Sword Technique, he could easily execute many moves he had previously been unable to perform, both swiftly and well.
The Seventy-Two Forms of Candle-Bearing Swordsmanship was not among the Thirty-Six Supreme Arts. Instead, it was one of Wudang's Seven Divine Swords, a rank higher-a sword art of the highest order in the orthodox Daoist tradition! It was one of Wudang's most closely guarded transmissions!
Never mind lay disciples-even initiated disciples and inner-chamber disciples were not qualified to learn it. Only true inheriting disciples could glimpse its true form.
However, this sword art was supposedly extremely difficult to practice. Only two people in the present Wudang Sect could produce candle flames with their swords: one was the current Empress, and the other was Mo Zhenxing, the youngest of the Seven True Ones of Wudang. The rest merely knew the sword moves thoroughly and struck somewhat faster.
Wang Chong had always found this sword art a little inconceivable. Steel's ignition point was above thirteen hundred degrees. To reach combustion through friction with the air would require at least Mach six. That would take a Silver Saint.
Even taking a step back, if combustion was unnecessary and all that was needed was the thermal radiation of a faint red glow, that would still require dozens of meters per second, roughly a tenth of the speed of sound.
Mm, that speed actually might not be impossible. The lightness skills of this world really were too fast.
Striking speed was even greater than the speed of lightness skills, and with special techniques added, such as vibrating the sword tip at high speed...
Wang Chong studied it for several days without much success, though he did manage to improve his sword-drawing speed a fraction. He wanted to keep his head down and continue practicing hard, but news suddenly arrived that someone had discovered traces of White Chrysanthemum in Pengshan County, two hundred li away.
Wang Chong was delighted by the news. He was probably the person in this world who most wanted the "real White Chrysanthemum" caught. So when Fang Jingru called for everyone to set out, he was the first to step forward, giving everyone the favorable impression of a man "eager to serve the common good and uphold righteousness, boldly stepping forward to face danger."
More than thirty people had now gathered at Chrysanthemum-Killing Manor, so they split into three groups and departed in succession, leaving two people to guard the manor. These young people were all outstanding talents of the southern martial world and handled everything with exceptional care. Wang Chong followed Qin Han and the others in the second group to depart.
Everyone in Qin Han's group came from a distinguished background, and they had prepared strong horses well in advance. They also allotted Wang Chong a yellow-coated horse with a black mane and tail. Although he had never ridden before, fortunately his lightness skill was excellent and his internal power formidable. He did not need to perform any advanced feats of horsemanship; merely sitting steadily on horseback was not difficult.
Throughout the journey, Qin Han rode at the head, showing not the slightest consideration for his horse's stamina.
But the animals of this world possessed no extraordinary qualities, so they covered only a little over a hundred li in a day and a night, choosing an inn along the way to stay at.
...Horsepower: expand 155 entries. Mm, Toad must have meant that famous writer and editor who loves treating people to meals...
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