Fifteen chapters already?
Li Guanyi recalled what Xue Daoyong had previously said about the top ten ultimate techniques of the Central Plains, particularly the secretive methods of the Murong family, the "Twelve Layers of Jiangnan Misty Rain." He looked at Murong Qiushui, who wore a faint smile as she gazed back at him. "It's just a trivial technique."
"There are too many people in the world who know this little trick."
Li Guanyi replied, "If many people know this little trick, then how many can actually use it?"
Murong Qiushui stretched out her hand, pinching Li Guanyi's cheek, then pressed her hands together, flattening the boy's cheek until his mouth protruded. She playfully scolded, "That’s not important, oh Li Nuer."
"The last part was figured out by your aunt."
"So, aside from me, only you will know it."
Li Guanyi did not press further.
He had relied on his aunt for ten years. Although he had many confusions in his heart, he chose not to ask since she wouldn’t harm him. As long as he could use the technique, he would cultivate it. However, this seemingly complex technique made Li Guanyi's head spin, yet when it came to practice, he was able to grasp it directly.
His body instinctively operated.
This was not learning; it felt more like recalling.
The transitions and changes of inner qi and spirit were like the rise and fall of a melody.
The maintenance of spirit was akin to fingers gently pressing on the strings, tightening them to produce a long, resonant overtone.
He seemed to be fully focused, casting aside all cultivation thoughts, adopting a tranquil mind.
He had practiced this technique for ten years.
During these ten years, he did not regard it as a divine secret but purely delved into the art of playing the zither, simplifying complexity until he reached the utmost point, then reassembling various techniques for application, allowing him to play freely and naturally, like sturdy roots sprouting lush flowers.
With each pluck of the strings, each adjustment of the zither.
It was all the internal flow of this technique.
As Li Guanyi played the zither, he heard his aunt's suppressed cough. He stopped playing and looked at Murong Qiushui, who was covering her mouth. "Aunt, is your old ailment acting up again?!" The young man set down the zither and hurried over.
Murong Qiushui had suddenly suffered from her old ailment a few years ago.
She coughed incessantly, her complexion pale. The day before, she had been taking care of Li Guanyi.
After that day, it was the young child who took care of her.
Thus, thirteen-year-old Li Guanyi worked at the Rejuvenation Hall, but later brought his aunt back to the Xue family, taking good care of her daily needs. For a long time, she had not coughed, and Li Guanyi gradually felt at ease. However, today, the ailment had flared up again.
Li Guanyi supported Murong Qiushui, circulating his inner qi and transmitting it from his palm.
Murong Qiushui's body clearly lacked the forging of the body; she was not a habitual killer, and Li Guanyi's inner qi could only be transmitted a short distance before it naturally dispersed and collapsed. Murong Qiushui pressed her hand against Li Guanyi's, softly saying, "It's the old ailment."
"Don't worry, Aunt, Li Nuer."
Li Guanyi looked at Murong Qiushui, who wore a faint smile, her eyes calm.
Li Guanyi withdrew his hand, saying, "Then Aunt, you shouldn't overexert yourself. I can play the zither by myself. Later, I'll have the kitchen prepare some nourishing soup for you."
Murong Qiushui suddenly pulled the boy into her embrace, smiling, "Ah, not bad."
"Aunt coughs on purpose, and my Li Nuer adds dishes for her. Truly filial."
Li Guanyi's lips twitched, "You!"
"Are you trying to scare me again?"
Murong Qiushui laughed, her pride evident, "Did I not say?"
"Be careful of beautiful ladies; they are the best at deceiving."
"Is Aunt not beautiful?"
Li Guanyi grinned, unreservedly saying, "Half-old Xu..."
Then he received a sharp smack on the forehead.
Murong Qiushui glared at him in mock anger, her features more beautiful than the young lady who had yet to fully mature, far more lively than Yao Guang. Li Guanyi covered his forehead and returned to the zither, his expression calming, no longer playful.
His thoughts were tangled; what exactly was Aunt's old ailment...
If the method Aunt taught him was truly the most secretive "Twelve Layers of Jiangnan Misty Rain" among the top ten ultimate techniques mentioned by Xue Lao.
Aunt should possess high cultivation.
Not the kind of martial artist who kills at every turn, at least she had attainments in spirit.
There must be something she couldn’t handle.
Li Guanyi subconsciously thought of the deadly poison in his heart.
He had escaped back then.
His own deadly poison.
Could Aunt truly escape unscathed?
Aunt said his father wore a mask, was that the Taiping Duke, or did others wear masks too? After all, in General Xue's memories, the ancestor of the Chen Kingdom, Duke Chen, also wore a dark golden mask.
The more he traced back to those events, the more mysteries he uncovered.
Li Guanyi suppressed his chaotic thoughts.
He knew his thoughts were too numerous and tangled; if expressed in the zither's melody, they would not escape Murong Qiushui's ears. He played quietly.
His inner qi would naturally disperse upon entering Aunt's meridians.
This was because after entering the realm, his inner qi could leave his body, but he had only completed the forging of the body and had yet to condense qi. His breath was not refined enough; after leaving his body for a while, it would naturally dissipate. It seemed he needed to explain this to Xue Daoyong.
To say he had completed the forging of the body.
He needed to cultivate the next stage of the technique.
To prevent disciples from being greedy and reckless, most sects and families would pass down techniques stage by stage to ensure their disciples would not hastily seek to elevate their realms, leading to unstable foundations.
Li Guanyi had not mentioned that he had completed the forging of the body these past few days.
Ordinary people required three years for forging the body; he had completed it in just over ten days, which was truly absurd. He planned to find a good opportunity to discuss it in detail with the elder.
But since he had to go to Jiangzhou City.
Then he should elevate his realm.
To understand Aunt's health issue, he needed at least to condense qi.
And there was also the old man of fate; Li Guanyi's "Tiger Roar Bone Forging Technique" was already at the final stage. According to the technique's records, if he could harness various fortunes from heaven and earth during cultivation, he could push this "Tiger Roar Bone Forging Technique" to its peak.
Previously, Li Guanyi had thought of starlight.
Now, he would use the roar of the fallen kingdom of Tuyuhun as the final boost, to see how far he could cultivate the "Tiger Roar Bone Forging Technique."
[The martial artist's root bone is elevated a level, cleansing hidden injuries and dispelling hidden poison]...
A thought surfaced in the young man's mind.
If propelled by the fortune of a nation’s destruction.
How much could it elevate?
The book did not specify.
Because throughout history, the White Tiger Sect had never had a practitioner of this technique who had achieved national destruction. No, there was one, the only one before him, who had the fortune of a nation’s destruction while cultivating this technique in his youth.
Li Guanyi recalled.
That was the opponent of the founding monarch, the Red Emperor, eight hundred years ago.
The overlord of a chaotic world, the creator of the Fierce Tiger Roar War Spear.
Since ancient times, the strongest of the White Tiger Sect.
So far.
The only practitioner to complete this level of the Tiger Roar Bone Forging Technique.
...
Li Guanyi quickly mastered the "little trick" that Murong Qiushui mentioned.
However, he discovered a new problem: learning the technique and being able to use it perfectly were still quite distant. In the following days, Li Guanyi practiced the zither with increasing diligence, his skills becoming more proficient, yet he found it difficult to maintain the disguise of "spirit" at all times.
One day after practicing the zither, he picked up a war spear and practiced in the Xue family’s martial arts arena.
He was already very skilled in the spear techniques of the Xue family.
However, the Rolling Waves technique remained difficult to execute.
The weapon was sufficient, the forging of the body was complete, but without condensing qi, the qi would always disperse at the completion of each move. Li Guanyi was not discouraged; he practiced each move one by one, while Xue Changqing watched with envy. After Li Guanyi finished, he also ran over to grab a war spear and practice.
Li Guanyi looked around but did not find a familiar figure, asking, "Why hasn't the young lady come?"
Xue Changqing thrust the spear forward, gripping the end with both hands, his hands trembling slightly. "Ah? You’re asking about my sister?"
"Why don’t you ask me!"
Li Guanyi raised his hand and tapped the top of the boy's head.
Xue Changqing could only mumble a reply, "The palace sent a decree for my sister to enter the palace."
Li Guanyi paused for a moment. "Enter the palace?"
Xue Changqing replied, "It’s said that my aunt is lonely in the palace. For the next month, the emperor will be fasting, bathing, and meditating to prepare for the grand ceremony. He can’t accompany her all the time, so he wrote to ask my sister to enter the palace to keep her company until the grand ceremony is over next month, and then return with grandfather."
"My sister isn’t very happy."
Li Guanyi asked, "Not happy?"
Xue Changqing said, "There are just too many rules in the palace. My sister only looks like a young lady from a noble family, but she doesn’t really like all the rules in the palace. Even eating, drinking, and walking must be done with decorum; it can drive a person mad."
"However, it seems that my aunt is six months pregnant."
Xue Changqing sighed, "Her mood often fluctuates, so His Majesty personally wrote to her. There are quite a few women from the Xue family who can accompany her, but such opportunities must go to the legitimate daughters, so only my sister is left."
"Grandfather agreed without hesitation."
"They have already started preparing the carriage and horses."
"Those noble ladies are congratulating my sister, envying her, as if there’s some spring outing poetry gathering."
"Probably no one has the mood to practice martial arts today."
Li Guanyi said, "I see."
He thought for a moment, letting Xue Changqing practice martial arts by himself while he went to see the young lady. Just then, he happened to bump into her as she was coming out. Zhao Dabing drove the carriage, and Xue Shuangtao, seeing Li Guanyi there, curiously asked, "Aren't you going to practice martial arts?"
Li Guanyi smiled, letting Zhao Dabing make way for him.
Then he sat down, saying, "Nothing much, practicing martial arts every day is getting tiresome. I just wanted to take a stroll. Brother Zhao, is that too abrupt?"
Zhao Dabing had already skillfully prepared salted peanuts and flower tea.
Undoubtedly, it was not abrupt.
Xue Shuangtao asked, "Did Changqing tell you something?"
Li Guanyi turned around and sold out the little guy, sincerely saying, "The kid has a big mouth; don’t blame him."
Xue Shuangtao sighed, looking at the familiar scenery outside the window for a long while, then said, "I really don’t want to go to the palace. It’s stuffy and meaningless there. Everyone speaks with hidden meanings, concealing many thoughts. Living there is truly exhausting."
Li Guanyi asked, "Can’t you not go?"
Xue Shuangtao replied, "If I don’t go, wouldn’t my aunt’s efforts be in vain? I am a daughter of a noble family; since childhood, I have received the family’s nurturing, never lacking in food and shelter. There are gains and losses; if they need me, I naturally cannot avoid it."
"There are gains and losses, it’s always like this."
"Many daughters of noble families only want to gain and are unwilling to lose, which is why they suffer in frustration."
She lifted the curtain of the carriage, looking at the scenery outside. It was already spring, and the Jiangnan scenery was just right. She rested her hands on the curtain, her chin resting on top, saying, "But this kind of scenery will be hard to see for a long time. In the past, I could only see it when going to the private school; now I just want to look at it more."
Li Guanyi asked in confusion, "If you want to see it, then go see it. Isn’t today the spring outing?"
Xue Shuangtao laughed, "How could that be? Even if we go for a spring outing, it’s with the ladies of the court outside the city, reciting poetry by the creek. They say it’s to send me off, but it’s really just an opportunity to gather and compare this and that, competing with each other."
"They think that aside from their family backgrounds, they are no worse than me."
"And they don’t say it openly; they will subtly poke at me, so I can only smile back. It’s exhausting."
Li Guanyi said, "What do you call a spring outing? Isn’t this clearly a competition?"
"It has no meaning."
Xue Shuangtao laughed, appearing very skilled at this. "That’s how noble families are."
Li Guanyi looked at the young lady, noticing her calm expression, different from usual. He glanced at the knife at his waist, thought of the bow and war spear behind him, and felt he could not stand by idly. Rubbing his forehead, he asked, "Do you want to go for a spring outing?"
Xue Shuangtao replied, "Hmm?"
"What do you mean?"
Li Guanyi grinned, "I’m just asking if you want to see."
The young lady nodded, saying, "Of course I want to see, but..."
Li Guanyi said, "If you want to see, then come out and look. It’s much clearer out here than in that little square." He extended his hand, and Xue Shuangtao hesitated for a moment before grabbing his sleeve and stepping out. But who would have thought that the boy would suddenly grab her wrist.
Then he pulled her outside.
The scenery and sky of Jiangnan suddenly filled Xue Shuangtao's vision.
The Jiangnan breeze, the azure sky, the white clouds, the willow trees on both sides, the boy's sleeves fluttering in the wind, and his carefree laughter.
It was not the confines of that small square.
Li Guanyi held her hand and pulled her out.
With his right hand grasping the dagger, he turned and slashed.
The cold light of the dagger flashed.
The reins of the two horses pulling the carriage were severed, and with a loud crash, Zhao Dabing's carriage suddenly stopped at the roadside. Zhao Dabing was startled, then saw the boy pulling Xue Shuangtao leap up, Li Guanyi sitting on one horse while Xue Shuangtao landed on another.
The boy turned back and shouted, "Brother Zhao, I’m borrowing your horses!"
"When we return, I’ll tell the elder!"
"I'm taking the young lady for a spring outing."
The two horses, initially ready to gallop wildly, calmed down upon Li Guanyi's glance. The two horses became docile and then galloped away. Xue Shuangtao, dressed in a skirt, widened her eyes, saying, "Where are you going?!"
"I’ve received the invitation; I can’t not go. Let me go back."
Li Guanyi said, "What about those noble ladies, pretending to be friendly while scheming against each other at the poetry gathering? Just hearing about it makes me feel it’s cumbersome."
"If you don’t like it, then don’t go. Frowning doesn’t suit you as a young lady."
He joked, "If you’re in a bad mood, wouldn’t you not keep my weapon under your account?"
Xue Shuangtao's eyes widened.
A tense feeling of violating the long-standing rules surged, her heart racing.
She instinctively replied, "But that’s not proper."
"I can’t not go; what would they say about me if I don’t?"
Li Guanyi softly said, "Young lady, you don’t have to live under the gaze of others."
"Even if you enter the palace, don’t make yourself too tired."
He expressed his concern: "These matters won’t affect the Xue family. Within reasonable limits, it’s not wrong to make yourself happy. You’re going to stay in the palace; in the end, just indulge a little; it’s fine."
The two horses galloped quickly down the street, distancing themselves from Zhao Dabing and the Xue family's carriage. Old Zhao shouted from behind, "Hey, hey, hey, little brother, be careful not to bump into anyone!"
The maid Qing'er shouted, "Li Keqing, young master, no, Li Guanyi!"
"What are you doing?!"
"How am I supposed to explain this to the young ladies over there?"
The boy raised an eyebrow, saying, "Just say this, Sister Qing'er..."
He turned back, not knowing why, even though he hadn’t played the zither.
At this moment, his spirit underwent a change, seemingly aligning with the style of the second piece, naturally exuding a trace of carefree and lively spirit. This change was unintentional, even unnoticed, as the technique began to operate naturally, gradually ascending the levels. He simply smiled and said:
"An unruly fellow has kidnapped your young lady!"
(End of Chapter)