Chapter 16: 《weeds Of The Grain Sea》
Hong Yuan was also a free-spirited character and did not feel sorrowful because of Yang Lie and Wu Duxiong’s departure.
In just a short while, he stood in Tiger Subduing Stance, practiced Guiding Technique, and rehearsed the Seven Slashes of Bolang, passing the time quickly.
He had excellent Root Bone and high Comprehension, so every practice allowed him to feel his own incremental progress. Perhaps it wasn’t obvious in one go, but little by little it accumulated, like sand piling into a tower, and it would eventually bear sweet and abundant fruit.
Moreover, Hong Yuan’s diligent training would in turn promote the improvement of his Root Bone and Comprehension.
It was truly like stepping on his right foot with his left foot, spiraling up to the heavens.
Although Hong Yuan had told the apprentices that they could come to him for guidance when they encountered difficulties, the apprentices still couldn’t dispel their fear of him for the time being, so no one came to disturb him.
Meng Yue and the other two who had been “instructed” by Hong Yuan—the youth with the prominent ears and the short, sturdy man—woke up, unable to bear the crowd’s mocking gazes, timidly asked for two days off in front of Hong Yuan, and slunk away from the Martial Arts School.
Only Meng Yue kept his composure, applied medicinal ointment after his injuries, and trained even more diligently.
In a flash, the sun had shifted westward, and it was afternoon.
In the Martial Arts School’s backyard, Yang Erhu stood with his hands behind his back, looking at Hong Yuan: “Yesterday, as your teacher, I taught you Stance Training and Guiding Technique. Today, I will teach you Tiger Subduing Fist and Tiger Roaring Breathing Method!”
“First, Tiger Subduing Fist!”
Yang Erhu stepped into Tiger Subduing Stance, slowly assuming the posture, like a fierce tiger perched high on a mountain rock. Suddenly, he unleashed a fierce gust, pouncing out to kill, and fist wind arose instantly.
“Tiger Subduing Fist is named as fist, but in reality it can be fist, palm, claw, or even fake Weapon!”
“Hungry Tiger Pounces on Prey!”
“Black Tiger Digs Out Heart!”
“Fierce Tiger Scissors Tail!”
“Tiger Claw Probes Clouds!”
Yang Erhu’s figure leaped and dodged nimbly, changing at extreme speed, truly as if he had transformed himself into a great beast. Now fist, now palm, now claw whistling through the air, every move and technique was fierce and sharp, carrying roaring gusts of wind.
At the end, with a tiger leap over a mountain stream, he shot to the Weapon rack two zhang away, slapped and lifted with one palm, and a Spear flew into his hand.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
The Spear in Yang Erhu’s hand seemed to come alive, swift as a raging Storm, moving like a dancing flood dragon serpent. Amid the pervasive killing intent, silver light flashed like lightning, directly Piercing through a jujube-wood-thick Jujube Wood Stake, with the spearhead embedding into it.
The Jujube Wood Stake trembled unceasingly.
Yang Erhu had already retracted his stance, exhaled a breath of white gas, and looked at Hong Yuan: “How was it?”
“I’ve roughly memorized it!”
“Very good!” Yang Erhu had already witnessed Hong Yuan’s exaggerated speed in learning Martial Arts, so he wasn’t surprised, but he couldn’t help sighing inwardly. Taking on a disciple with exceptional talent was great; if it were someone with mediocre aptitude, it would probably take ten days or half a month just to get started on standing in stance.
He took an old Booklet from his bosom, its black hemp cover worn and faded white, and solemnly handed it to Hong Yuan.
“This Booklet records Tiger Subduing Fist and Tiger Roaring Breathing Method. It is the school’s Secret Transmission; without permission, do not pass it on to others at will.”
Hong Yuan nodded, then asked in surprise: “Teacher actually carries this Booklet on him. What if it’s lost?”
“I only brought it today because I was going to teach you. Normally, it’s stored in a safe Local Area.” Yang Erhu waved his hand, then pointed to his own Head. “Besides, the contents of the Booklet are already second nature to me. Even if it’s lost, it wouldn’t matter much.”
“Heh heh!” Yang Erhu wore a mischievous smile on his face. “If someone picks up this Booklet, or kills me and seizes it, thinking they can figure something out from it, they’d be greatly mistaken. Open it and see!”
Hong Yuan did as told and opened it. The front part with the Tiger Subduing Fist move diagrams was still fine, but when he flipped to the Breathing Method in the back, he frowned repeatedly.
What the hell are these things?
Things like “three taels seven qian of sesame,” “half jin of tiger bone,” “three pulls of the bellows,” “seven pounds in the mortar,” and so on left him completely baffled.
“These are coded phrases. So-called ‘three pulls of the bellows’ refers to three quick inhales followed by three slow exhales. In the Jianghu, any sect with some Foundation will have many such coded phrases in their Secret Transmission, obscure and hard to understand. Like in those storybooks and novels, picking up a Martial Arts secret manual and immediately becoming a Master—it’s just the ravings of sour scholars.”
Yang Erhu smiled mockingly.
“Tiger Subduing Fist isn’t anything special. The important thing is the Breathing Method. Without the Breathing Method, Tiger Subduing Fist is just some minor Kung Fu of fists and feet. Only by using the Breathing Method to control Tiger Subduing Fist can one cultivate Tiger Subduing Strength!” Yang Erhu said again.
Next, Yang Erhu explained the coded phrases one by one to Hong Yuan. Once he confirmed that Hong Yuan had memorized them all, he retreated to his reclining chair and leisurely watched Hong Yuan practice the fist technique and Breathing Method.
After more than half a shichen like this, suddenly an apprentice’s shout rang out: “Museum Master, there’s a Mister surnamed Qin here to visit, saying he has business with you.”
This apprentice didn’t dare enter the Inner Courtyard and only spoke loudly from the corridor.
“Surnamed Qin… Qin Fuzi?!”
Yang Erhu leaped up and darted out of the corridor. In no time, Hong Yuan saw the figure of that Qin Fuzi.
Compared to when he had just left the Biwu Immortal Realm, he looked even older, with obvious wrinkles on his face, strands of white hair on his head, and even his figure seemed somewhat stooped.
For Qin Ziyue’s outcome, he might have had a premonition when Qin Ziyue went missing, but he still harbored some unrealistic hopes.
Now that hope was shattered, his remaining spirit completely dissipated—dead!
When the heart dies, the spirit perishes.
Seeing Qin Fuzi in his current state, Hong Yuan’s mind automatically conjured the words “walking corpse.”
Yang Erhu brought Qin Fuzi into the main room to talk. He himself appeared very dazed, following inside like a marionette.
Hong Yuan focused on practicing the Breathing Method, his mind and spirit united, and didn’t eavesdrop on their conversation.
After just a short while, Qin Fuzi came out of the room, declined Yang Erhu’s offer to see him off, and shuffled step by step out of the Martial Arts School.
Yang Erhu worried something might happen to him and sent an apprentice to follow behind, instructing him to watch Qin Fuzi home. He himself sighed and returned to the backyard.
He held an oilcloth Package in his right hand. Before Hong Yuan could ask, he spoke first: “Qin Fuzi came to say goodbye. He said he’s returning to his hometown to make a cenotaph for Ziyue beside his wife’s grave. From now on, he won’t be coming back.”
Yang Erhu and Qin Fuzi were old acquaintances of twenty years. He hadn’t felt much parting sorrow when sending off Wu Duxiong and Yang Lie in the morning, but now he couldn’t help feeling a bit sentimental.
Hong Yuan couldn’t empathize, so he changed the subject, pointing to the oilcloth Package: “Teacher, what is this?”
“I don’t know either. This is what Qin Fuzi gave me before leaving.” Yang Erhu shook his head, weighed it lightly, “It should be some book, right? Doesn’t this Qin Fuzi know that Yang someone gets a headache just looking at books?”
The edges of the oilcloth were very worn and dirty, clearly of great age. Although Yang Erhu showed a troubled expression, he still carefully peeled it open and beckoned to Hong Yuan: “You come over and take a look too!”
Soon, the oilcloth was opened, revealing a thread-bound book inside. The paper was yellowed, with worm-eaten marks on the corners, and the cover was much worn, with only a few faint ink characters vaguely visible.
Yang Erhu squinted at it for a long time but couldn’t recognize what the characters were, so he tossed the book to Hong Yuan. “Your eyes are sharp; come see what it says.”
Hong Yuan took it without ceremony, focused his gaze slightly, and read: “Ba Hai… Ba Hai Miscellany?”
Miscellany?!
A type of miscellany recording strange tales and anomalies?
But why would Qin Fuzi give this kind of book to Yang Erhu?
Hong Yuan felt there was more to it and immediately flipped open the pages. The handwriting inside was not neat, with many sloppy parts—it was actually a handwritten manuscript.
Many pages were damaged and incomplete, but there were still legible texts. Hong Yuan saw a passage recording a strange incident that occurred in a place called Yonghe County.
“Over a hundred county folk suddenly suffered from dry blood syndrome, their faces like withered wood, coughing up sawdust-like phlegm… Said to be fox immortal demanding lives, or yin soldiers passing through devouring people’s vital energies.”
It really is a record of strange tales?!
Hong Yuan frowned as he flipped page by page. When he reached the last few pages, his finger suddenly paused.
“Blood Contract Talisman. The holder of this talisman can sense the location of blood relatives within a radius of over twenty zhang! Method of creation as follows… Select an elm tree over ten years old, use the inner layer of Bark from the sunny side or thin sheepskin paper as the talisman base… Take fresh deer heart blood, a little cinnabar powder, one tael of water without roots…”
