Chapter 13: Longing for something out of reach

Li Xiu hesitated for a moment, and when he saw that no one was around, he rushed out of Wudang without stopping.

He ran through the mountains and forests like a mountain demon, passing horses and even outrunning cheetahs. After a while, he got out of Wudang.

He returned to the small town and went back to the inn.

Li Xiu had already paid for several months' stay at the inn and told them that he was going away on business for about ten days and that the room did not need to be cleaned.

So when he returned to the inn, he was not unpleasantly surprised to find that his room had not been occupied by anyone else.

As he slowly pushed open the door to his room, Li Xiu first looked to his right and saw that the small wooden rod on the door frame was still there.

This was another precaution he had taken. If someone had entered his room without his knowledge in the past ten days, the small wooden rod would not have stayed in its distant place.

After entering the room and locking the door behind him, Li Xiu checked the window and saw that there were no signs of tampering. Only then did he relax.

Without pausing, he bent down and pushed aside a piece of wood under the bed, revealing two secret books and the rest of his belongings.

He then called for the innkeeper to clean the room, changed the water for the tea and set a table with food to enjoy.

Although he had managed to survive on wild vegetables for the past few days with the protection of the Nine Yang Divine Skill.

But after leaving the cliff, he still needed to eat some normal food.

After filling his stomach with food and drink, Li Xiu lay down on the bed and began to carefully study the two secret manuals.

One was an Unnamed Sword Technique, and the other was the Seven Harms Fist.

Even though Li Xiu was able to use the Seven Harms Fist to fight Huogong Toutuo at the bottom of the cliff, it did not mean that he had mastered the Seven Harms Fist.

Most of his power actually came from the overwhelming strength of Nine Yang True Energy, and the rest was just a combination of minor Seven Harms Fist techniques and the use of Qi to increase strength.

After thinking for a moment, Li Xiu put the Seven Harms Fist aside and focused on the unnamed sword technique.

It was not that Li Xiu looked down on the Seven Harms Fist; rather, he valued the Seven Harms Fist more than the Unnamed Sword Technique in his hands.

Through his casual conversations over the past few days, he had heard some rumours about the Kongtong Sect from other martial artists in the Jianghu.

The founder of the Kongtong sect, Master Mu Lingzi, used the Seven Harms Fist to dominate the martial arts world in his early days travelling the Jianghu, and had established it as the main martial art of the sect after its founding.

After learning the Nine Yang Divine Skill, Li Xiu was no longer a martial arts novice and had a new understanding of the secrets of the Seven Harms Fist.

The Seven Harms Fist is definitely a very meaningful and exquisite martial art.

When mastered, it can release both rigid and flexible energies, and even seven different energies at the same time.

It is excellent at attacking an opponent's vital organs and has a complex and dazzling fist power, with changes and power that are shocking. It is not as weak as described in the original novel by the Five Elders of Kongtong.

Li Xiu calculated in his mind that it was likely that Zhang Wuji would rarely use the Seven Harms Fist later on, not because the martial art was too weak, but because its power was too great and its fist strength was cruel and vicious.

A blow would go straight to the enemy's most vulnerable organs. Even if the person hit did not die instantly, if they were lucky enough to survive, they would be weak and sickly for the rest of their lives.

So how could the indecisive and kind Zhang Wuji use it?

As for the Seven Harms Fists of the Five Elders of Kongtong, it's not worth mentioning either.

If they try to practice it forcefully with insufficient internal energy, they will end up hurting themselves before hurting the enemy, making it a useless and comical martial art.

Although the Seven Harms Fist has many excellent aspects, it is also very difficult to practise.

The circulation of qi is complex and the power of the fist is difficult to control, so it is not a martial art that can be mastered in a short period of time.

That is why he turned his attention to this Unnamed Sword Technique. On the other hand, this Unnamed Sword Technique in his hand is only refined and complex in its techniques.

For Li Xiu, who has now reached the final stage of the Nine Yang Divine Skill and is clear-minded and focused, it will only take a short time to fully master the Unnamed Sword Technique and use it effectively.

As for the even more powerful Seven Harm Fist, it will have to wait for later due to Li Xiu's plans and calculations.

A month later, the season has gradually turned into early spring and the weather has gradually warmed up.

Li Xiu is still in the same good restaurant in the town at the foot of Wudang Mountain, sitting by the window on the second floor, wearing a thin white robe, a bamboo hairpin and black rolling cloud boots, drinking and enjoying himself.

For the past month, he has been completely different from before, as if he were a real young master of a wealthy family out for a leisurely stroll.

It is not that Li Xiu has lost his ambition after obtaining the Nine Yang True Classic, but rather that his ambition has never wavered.

He wants to be the number one martial artist in the world, not the kind that is achieved by suffering or dying in the shadows like Zhang Sanfeng.

There was a commotion on the street below and passers-by stopped and whispered to each other, attracting Li Xiu's attention.

On the main street of the small town, a group of people came out of the town gate, about twenty to thirty people, all young women dressed in white, holding swords.

There was a faint protection around the group, surrounding a delicate carriage, as if an important person was sitting inside.

Li Xiu leaned against the window and looked at the wine in his cup, knowing that the opportunity he had been waiting for had come.

At this time, with this kind of grandeur, it was undoubtedly Emei Sect's senior disciple, Zhou Zhiruo, coming to visit Wudang.

"The seven-year period has arrived, are you here to take back the Yitian Sword from Wudang?"

Li Xiu muttered to himself and then smiled mysteriously.

An hour later, in the Great Hall of True Martial Arts at Wudang, Emei disciples stood on either side, and a white-clad woman wearing a veil slowly entered through the door in the middle.

Although they could not see her whole face, the beautiful eyebrows and eyes alone made Zhang Wuji and Song Qingshu's eyes slightly dazed, and their gaze unconsciously followed the woman.

Standing and waiting in the middle of the room was an old man with a youthful face and a slightly plump body - the head of Wudang's Six Heroes.

The unkempt Daoist Zhang Sanfeng, the number one martial artist in the world, was revered and feared by many in the martial arts world.

In terms of seniority, Zhou Zhiruo did not deserve a personal audience with Zhang Sanfeng, but since she represented one of the six major sects, she could not be neglected, especially since she represented the Emei Sect.

The words ''Emei Sect'' were closely associated with a particular person - a woman - who held a special place in Zhang Sanfeng's heart.

As he thought about her, the image of that wise and elegant woman appeared before his eyes.

It was a hundred years ago, when he was still called Zhang Junbao, a lowly Shaolin disciple, young and inexperienced.

When they first met on Mount Hua, he had been injured in a fight with someone else, and the girl saw the wound on his hand, which was bleeding profusely. She kindly took a handkerchief from her pocket and helped him to wrap it.

When the girl saw the wound on his hand and thought of her lover wandering the martial arts world, she couldn't help but shed tears. Zhang was also speechless at the sight of the girl's sadness.

It was the first time he had seen her eyebrows and eyes so closely, and she had taken a special place in his heart ever since.

Their paths crossed again at the foot of Shaoshi Mountain. The young girl had grown into a beautiful woman. She went to the Shaolin Temple to ask Monk Wuse about her lover's whereabouts, but left disappointed.

When the woman left the mountain, he followed her four or five steps behind, not daring to approach her or knowing what to say.

Fortunately, the woman turned and recognised him as the young man who had been injured on Mount Hua three years ago.

She asked if he had come to see her off, and he was surprised and blushed as he answered awkwardly.

The woman took a pair of iron arhats from her pocket and gave them to him. The young man later learned that they had been a gift from Monk Wuse to her on her sixteenth birthday, representing the emotional bond between her and her beloved.

Perhaps disappointed and heartbroken that Monk Wuse had not told her the whereabouts of her beloved, she gave the arhats to him on a whim.

"Well, let's part ways here. We'll meet again someday."

This was their third and final meeting.

A few days later, he was falsely accused of stealing Shaolin martial arts and was pursued by the Shaolin Temple.

Faced with disaster, he was too panicked and afraid to think of seeing the woman again.

His master, Jueyuan, in order to protect the two of them, put them both in an iron barrel and carried them for dozens of miles. Eventually he collapsed and died of exhaustion.

He had lost his only relative in the world, and the woman gave him her gold bracelet and told him to go to Xiangyang to find her parents and seek their protection.

Again it was a farewell with the words "until we meet again."

But this time it was not just a few days, but a lifetime of a hundred years.

The world of martial arts is so vast, and two people so small, that once they are separated, they will never see each other again.

Later, the woman wandered the martial arts world for several years, unsuccessfully searching for the person in her heart. Finally, she had a great realisation and founded the Emei Sect on Emei Mountain.

Coincidentally, he also became a Taoist and founded the Wudang Sect.

One spent the night with a green lantern, the other devoted himself to cultivating Taoism. Did they really see through the love and desire of the mortal world?

Martial arts legends say that Yang Guo and Guo Xiang met at Fengyang Pass, and from then on Guo Xiang searched the martial arts world for Yang Guo, but never saw him again and missed him for a lifetime.

Why can't it be that they met three times and fell in love without knowing how it happened, just to dream about it for a hundred years?

One hundred years later, he had become Zhang Sanfeng of Wudang, with a reputation known to everyone in the martial arts world. His martial arts skills had reached the level of enlightenment, and he was unparalleled in the world.

How could someone like the Legendary Condor Hero ever compare to me!

He was lost in memories, and his breath became increasingly ragged with wild thoughts. But in a moment, he sighed and his expression became slightly downcast as he turned away to hide his emotions.

"Yes, that's Yang Guo. How could I compare to him?"

In the rush of a hundred years, when he thinks of the woman with the bright eyes and white teeth, the clever and elegant woman, he can only say that the Emei Sect's Guo Xiang had done me a favour in the past, and that he and she have a history.

The distance of four or five steps became a lifetime...