Cloud-Piercing Step Shadow

The seventh day after the night raid on Red Flower Villa.

"Cloud Shadow Flies over the Moon, Twin Swallows Skim the Eaves."

On the training ground stood seven times seven willow stakes, forty-nine in all, each topped with an empty wine jar.

"Lurch east and west, seven up and eight down, look left and turn right, advance three and retreat two..."

Li Yu spread his arms and walked across the wine jars with an odd gait. With his foundation in the Returning Wind Brushes the Willow sword technique, copying the movements was not difficult, but truly glimpsing the gateway to superior lightness skills was no easy matter.

"Bang, bang, bang, bang!"

At first, all went well. After ten steps, however, the wine jars burst like beans popping in an iron wok. Every jar he stepped on shattered, as though a thousand-jin weight had dropped onto it, without a trace of the ethereal grace that Cloud-Piercing Step Shadow should possess.

"This footwork really is hard to master!"

Over the past few days, he had crushed four or five hundred empty wine jars underfoot.

Li Yu jumped down from the plum-blossom stakes and walked to the stone table. Looking at the yellowed ancient manual in his hand, he shook his head helplessly, slowly set it down, and heaved a long sigh. Unable to master it through practice, he found even the sight of it vexing.

"Without grasping its essence, brute practice is useless..."

Beneath the hem of his robe, two copper cylinders fitted tightly around his calves like sections of bamboo. Ordinary walking was no trouble; the physique of a third-rate expert could withstand that much.

"Circulating Qi according to the manual, starting at Qihai, passing through Yangling Pass, and reaching Qiuxu at the feet, inevitably makes the calves tense and swell. With the copper bands constricting them as well, the two forces clash, making them hard to control..."

So many attempts had all ended in failure. Just as frustration and discouragement weighed on him, he turned and saw a red camellia stuck in the earth. At once, his head cleared and his spirits soared.

"There must be a way!"

"How can I keep my calves relaxed while circulating Qi...?"

Li Yu circled the stone table, his gaze drifting now and then toward the sprig of red flowers he had broken off at the villa that day. He had casually stuck it into the ground without giving it any special care. Several days later, its leaves and flowers were still fresh and bright; presumably, it had taken root here.

As the ancients said: hang your head from a beam and prick your bones with an awl.

This red camellia achieved a similar effect by different means, greatly encouraging him to train diligently.

Just then, a strong lake wind swept past, sending the pages fluttering wildly.

He turned to look.

Figure after figure spun on their feet and turned, swaying east and west. Linked together, they resembled a... drunkard walking between the pages.

Drunk?

The lake wind subsided, finally leaving the book open at the four characters on its title page.

"Cloud-Piercing Step Shadow."

Li Yu looked momentarily stunned, then turned toward the empty wine jars atop the wooden stakes. His eyes lit up, as though he had grasped the crucial point. He had worn through iron shoes searching in vain, only to find dark willows and bright flowers where the lantern lights grew sparse!

"Bring wine!"

"Strong liquor!"

Everyone in South Canal's martial world knew that the Divine Dragon Cult's leader loved wine, and people near and far sought to curry favor with him. Ten-year-aged wine that could directly increase his source internal power was certainly something one could only stumble upon, not seek out, but the estate still kept plenty of ordinary strong liquor.

"Not enough..."

"Bring it all. Yes... pour every last drop in..."

Not far away, four or five fishing boats lay moored side by side at the dock.

"Black Tiger Plucks the Heart!"

"Fierce Tiger Scissors Its Tail!"

"Chasing a Sheep across the Ravine!"

Fu Rong stood on a fishing boat, the hair at her temples disheveled, having just finished a sequence of the Black Slaughter Saber Technique. Inspired by that day's sword practice on Lake Tai, she had persisted. Though a boat speeding along and one rocking at anchor presented different degrees of difficulty, her saber technique had still improved day by day.

The defeat at Linhu Town had left everyone in the Divine Dragon Cult nursing pent-up resentment!

"Is the cult leader planning to bathe in wine?"

The lake wind carried the fragrance of wine straight into her face. She put away her saber and looked over. A large water vat stood outside the training ground. Fire Saber, Donkey Toppler, Well Toppler... all sorts of liquor were poured into it. Soon it was full and about to overflow.

"You may leave."

Once the cult members had left, Li Yu took a deep breath and plunged headfirst into the wine vat. Bubbles gurgled up through the surface, which sank visibly, dropping by two-tenths.

Inside his dantian.

A waterfall of wine descended like welcome rain.

The little crimson worm opened its tiny mouth and swallowed the wine Qi in great gulps. Ordinary internal power began filling his dantian...

Five jin.

Ten jin.

Twenty jin.

At last, it was full. It merely swam about freely, no longer drawing in the wine Qi.

Wine Qi spread from his dantian, coursing through his eight extraordinary meridians.

Twenty-five jin!

"Whew!"

Just as Fu Rong thought he had drunk himself to death in the vat, Li Yu suddenly raised his head, his face drenched in wine. Bracing himself against the rim, he took quite a while to recover before staggering toward the willow stakes.

"Lurch east and west, look left and turn right..."

What had seemed contradictory and conflicting instead became natural in his drunken haze.

So that was it!

He pushed off the ground and leaped onto the willow stakes, allowing the wine Qi to run rampant within him while striving to keep his mind clear. His feet felt as though they trod on clouds and cotton, his steps almost a dance. He looked ready to fall at any moment, yet skimmed steadily across one empty wine jar after another, as light as a garment, as a paper kite...

His internal power emerged from Qihai, passed through Yangling, and reached Qiuxu without obstruction.

The wine Qi inside him had found an outlet... As he moved faster and faster, it gradually dispersed.

Sweat poured down like rain, soaking his robes.

Time passed quickly.

Dusk fell, and the evening breeze brushed the willows. Tall poles rose along the dock, bearing red lanterns. Out on the lake, the fishing boats hauled in their nets one after another and returned to port fully laden. The wounded members of the White Dragon Banner had all remained at the estate, and once their injuries healed, they began plying their old trade.

"So this is Cloud-Piercing Step Shadow..."

Two figures walked onto the dock.

The saber wound on Lin Mang's left arm was already healing. Having just removed his bandages, he remarked, "The cult leader works day and night. With such diligence, no wonder he can master superior martial arts."

Fu Rong watched intently. "The cult leader seems... a little anxious."

Lin Mang nodded. "How could he not be? The West Canal Gate used to operate only along the two banks of the canal. Taking advantage of the turmoil in South Canal, they suddenly advanced, first subduing the Tyrant Tiger Gang, then occupying Linhu Town. They clearly came prepared!"

Fu Rong shook her head gently. She kept feeling that what troubled the cult leader was not the West Canal Gate.

"Miss Qin..."

She suddenly thought of the black-robed woman, who had not appeared for quite some time.

On the training ground, Li Yu leaped like a swallow, three feet, five feet, eight feet... Each time he descended, he touched a wine jar as lightly as a dragonfly skimming water, leaving it utterly motionless. Who could have imagined that sixty jin of copper bands were still fastened around his legs?

"Cloud Shadow Flies over the Moon, Twin Swallows Skim the Eaves..."

Li Yu felt as though his legs held inexhaustible strength.

With the aid of the copper bands and strong liquor, he had not only mastered Cloud-Piercing Step but also opened the Yingu, Zhubin, and Fuliu acupoints on his lower legs in the process, clearing nearly half of the entire foot-shaoyin kidney meridian.

That was why he felt this way.

According to the classifications commonly used in the martial world, he now belonged to the late third-rate tier.

Once he opened the remaining seven acupoints, he could join the ranks of second-rate experts...

"Whew!"

He exhaled deeply and loosened the copper bands. Pushing off with both legs, he shot upward, driving his internal power and striving to rise higher. Seven feet, ten feet... Only when he approached twenty feet did he finally fall.

"Crack!"

Cracks spread across the wine jar atop the willow stake.

Only after a long while did another crunch sound, and the jar finally shattered.

"Cloud-Piercing Step Shadow truly is a superior lightness skill. Even weaker second-rate experts might not be able to achieve this."

Li Yu landed outside the training ground, before the great wine vat. Looking at the densely packed willow stakes and the mountain of broken wine jars beside the dock, he felt comforted. Every bit of his painstaking effort had been worthwhile.

The cult members watching nearby were astounded by something else.

From morning until evening, he had drunk deeply three times, draining the hundred jin of strong liquor in the great vat.

Yet Cult Leader Li looked invigorated, without a trace of drunkenness.

Afterward, a saying gradually spread through the Divine Dragon Cult: the greater your capacity for wine, the greater your martial prowess!