--[Molt and Rebirth] [Effect: life and death turn on an instant; the shell cracks and the body escapes! Ignite Qi and Blood to burst forth at several times your speed, retreating several zhang out of the fray to seek a chance of survival!]
[Forewarning] [Effect: before the autumn wind stirs, the cicada senses it; death comes unknowing from unpredictable ambush! Sense murderous intent and malice, gaining an instant's warning!]
[Cloud Leaping] [Effect: body light as cicada wings, running swift as the wind! Treat high walls, treetops, and water as nothing, borrowing purchase from them all to cross as though walking on level ground!]
"If only I could pick them all by being quick enough!"
Lu Sui's heart burned.
On closer analysis, all three talents could prove immensely useful.
[Molt and Rebirth] preserved his life, while [Forewarning] provided warnings.
As for [Cloud Leaping], it looked as though it could let him moonlight as a divine thief?
After silently repeating his sixteen-character guiding principle several times, Lu Sui's gaze grew resolute.
Painfully relinquishing the other two, he selected [Molt and Rebirth].
However wonderful everything else might be, none of it mattered more than staying alive.
Ding!
It sounded like a bell being struck, crisp and pleasant.
The gray cicada beat its wings and flew around Lu Sui, trailing flecks of golden light.
Bathed in them, his thoughts flickered:
"Cicada-Chasing Steps reached perfection, yet no text about transformation appeared.
It seems not every martial art has prospects for 'growth.'"
Dou Xiaowen had obtained the Turtle-Snake Stance in the Nine Ridges and Ten Mountains. Perhaps its origins were far from ordinary.
"Even mundane-grade martial arts have their differences."
Lu Sui looked again at the main shrine enshrined in the center.
The writing on it changed once more.
--[Lu Sui] [Martial arts: "Panwu Great Strength True Art," "Incomplete Heavenly Sight and Earthly Hearing Great Art," "Cicada-Chasing Steps"] [Methods: "Incomplete Grand Shaman Ghost-Capturing Compendium"] [Talents: Hibernation, Molt and Rebirth]
"Once I've stacked ten talents and perfected ten martial arts..."
With a slight shift of intent, Lu Sui left the ancient temple, thinking:
"Even Master Tan will be a shade inferior to me then!"
The next day.
Before daylight had fully broken, Lu Sui was already up.
"Young Master works too hard. I used to get to sleep in, but now I have to crawl out of bed before the rooster crows!"
Yawning, Xiaohuan brought hot water and helped Lu Sui wash up.
Lu Sui teased:
"Now you know how to complain? What did you say when I brought you osmanthus lotus root and roasted chestnuts?"
Xiaohuan hurriedly said:
"Young Master is the best young master in the whole world! Xiaohuan loves massaging your legs and pounding your back most of all!"
Having said that, she gazed at her young master with eager eyes.
Lu Sui laughed.
"I'm not going out today. Tomorrow I'll visit that stall again and buy you sugar-roasted chestnuts."
He had only just kicked Deng Yun to death. How could he rashly venture out before the evil calamity and Zhou Qing had been dealt with?
Though Master Chai was there to safeguard him, caution remained paramount until he understood the Calamity Artifact's effects.
Autumn's chill deepened. A string of water droplets gathered beneath the eaves, falling with steady drips.
Still wearing his loose training clothes, Lu Sui stood with his feet neither square nor splayed.
He began moving through his stances and practicing his punches.
Before long.
With air currents howling and humming, Lu Sui had already surpassed ten punches!
His fists tore through the air with dull booms!
After Unifying the Six Harmonies, he felt the Qi and Blood inside him surging like rivers in flood, wave driving wave.
By thirty punches, far from feeling exhausted, he found his movements increasingly fluid, his whole body delightfully invigorated!
After fifty punches, his breathing remained steady. Long streams of white vapor flowed from his nostrils like two little snakes, extending and retracting.
A quarter of an hour passed, and Lu Sui threw his eightieth punch.
This had been his former limit. Whenever he reached it, his arms ached, his muscles swelled, and his Qi and Blood flagged, unable to sustain him.
But the improvement from Unifying the Six Harmonies was obvious. His muscles and sinews worked as one, his circulating Qi and Blood forming a complete cycle.
It almost gave Lu Sui the illusion that he would never tire, that his formidable strength was inexhaustible!
"No wonder Liang Bao and Bai Fangfang said that martial practitioners with solid foundations and abundant Qi and Blood could run hundreds of li and go days and nights without sleep..."
A keen light shone in Lu Sui's eyes as he pressed on to a hundred punches in one sustained burst!
As though lashed by fierce winds, the grape trellis in the courtyard corner shook violently, threatening to collapse at any moment.
Rings of air visibly rippled outward, crashing in every direction and battering the thick courtyard walls.
Half an hour!
This time, enduring tremendous pressure as though bearing a mountain or submerged in a river's current, Lu Sui held out for a full half hour!
He felt as though fierce flames blazed throughout his limbs and bones, boiling his blood and scorching his sinews.
"My blood seems to be getting 'thicker' and 'heavier'? Is this the process of strengthening Qi and Blood, then replacing it with new blood?"
Lu Sui finished his movements and stood still, opening his pores to release the billowing heat.
His final total was a hundred and forty-eight punches!
At this pace, the goal of a million punches was not so impossibly distant.
"If the day really comes when I've thrown a million punches and perfected the Panwu Great Strength True Art...
Wouldn't I be able to kill... Uncle Wen, Master Chai, or Master Tan with one punch?"
Like the King of Hell calling the roll, Lu Sui recited the martial experts currently within his reach.
Achoo!
Dou Xiaowen rubbed his nose and muttered:
"I'm truly getting old. These old bones can't withstand changes in the weather."
With his hands behind his back, he slowly entered the outer study after a servant announced him.
The moment he stepped inside, he saw Lu Yulin sitting in a grand armchair, smiling and seemingly in excellent spirits.
Dou Xiaowen joked:
"Master, did you find some gold?"
Lu Yulin shook his head.
"No gold, but I've spotted a piece of uncut jade. I intend to polish it properly, strip away its stony casing, and carve it."
Dou Xiaowen froze briefly, then realized he meant the eldest young master!
No wonder his master was so delighted. Half a year ago, Lu Yulin had worn a worried frown every time Lu Sui was mentioned.
Compared with the eldest young master who had once been as soft as cotton, the present Lu Sui seemed utterly reborn after his trip to death's door.
"Master, do you still intend to send the eldest young master back to Mute Village?"
Dou Xiaowen asked.
"We'll wait until year's end. I'll go back with Zhan'ao to pay my respects to my godmother."
Lu Yulin sighed deeply, as though going home were some difficult undertaking.
"Don't worry, Master."
Seemingly aware of the circumstances, Dou Xiaowen offered reassurance:
"The eldest young master is still young. It isn't time yet. If all else fails, I'll teach him the Iron Crotch Art..."
Lu Yulin snapped:
"Even when you were young and strong, with three fires burning inside you and Qi and Blood blazing like a furnace, how many days could you last?"
Dou Xiaowen gave an awkward smile and argued:
"That's only because I started practicing martial arts too late and missed those prime years of hot-blooded vigor. Otherwise..."
He grunted twice, but never continued.
Lu Yulin waved a hand, knowing full well that though Dou Xiaowen was an expert in bodily hardening, his mouth was the toughest part of him.
He said gravely:
"Let's set aside the matter of returning to the village for now."
"I summoned you today, Master Dou, for just two things.
"First, I want to ask whether, given Zhan'ao's talent, he can reach complete perfection in Internal Nourishment before twenty-eight, take that step, and enter Fetus Embracing?"
At these words, Dou Xiaowen's expression grew solemn, gradually turning serious.
He had served the Lu Family for a full ten years, forging deep bonds through those years.
Moreover, Lu Yulin had never deliberately concealed many of the Lu Family's affairs.
Such as the story of the Lu Family's great-great-grandfather's rise, and those few "fine treasures" of the family that would make even those within the fold green-eyed!
Thus, Dou Xiaowen understood the meaning behind Lu Yulin's words almost immediately.
"Master, you intend to... open the secret treasury? Have the young master light the incense?"
Weighing his words, he said hesitantly:
"Back then, the great-great-grandfather obtained five sticks of incense, said to ensure five generations of wealth and good fortune. But every stick lit would diminish one's allotted fate.
"Now only the final stick remains. The young master has no choice at all.
"I'm afraid this incense mustn't be lit lightly!"
By the end, Dou Xiaowen's voice was trembling slightly.
As though the matter of "a Lu Family member lighting incense" held tremendous risk!