Zhuo Fengru backed off before his blood could splat on the floor, sweating cold bullets and unable to curb his adrenaline rush for several big breaths. In reaction to Ming Feizhen’s smile despite the two scarlet fingerprints on his forehead, Zhuo Fengru remarked through his teeth, “You’re crazy.”
Ming Feizhen rubbed his head, pretending it hurt. “You flatter me.”
Right from the beginning, Zhuo Fengru was aware that his sword attack wouldn’t inflict any substantial damage to Ming Feizhen – which was not to say that he was the better swordsman. It was pointless to compare their skillsets against each other, as their first match demonstrated. Though Ming Feizhen couldn’t employ a diverse range of disciplines, at best, he half understood what he was doing with them. Therefore, any half-decent boxer would be able to piece him up. Suffice to say, Zhuo Fengru wanted to figure out Ming Feizhen’s true background whenever the latter tested him. After all, Zhuo Fengru wasn’t someone who just followed a textbook.
For any opponent, the attribute of Ming Feizhen that would give his opponent the most trouble was his immensely potent internal energy. In Zhuo Fengru’s opinion, the only person he’d confidently say could beat Ming Feizhen in a strength contest was Shaolin’s abbot. When going up against an opponent with so much power, they’re a threat even if their technique is sloppy.
Zhuo Fengru was unquestionably the faster striker, but speed wasn’t a magical attribute that automatically won fights. Even though he was always cognisant of this fact, Ming Feizhen was more reckless than he anticipated. Because Ming Feizhen head butted Zhuo Fengru’s qi-imbued fingers without generating any prior momentum, Ming Feizhen could’ve only used 30% of his full power at most. Furthermore, that was his head that he was pitting against Zhuo Fengru’s fingers.
In their previous bouts, they only sparred. Hence, Ming Feizhen couldn’t have gauged the gap in their internal energy potency. In the event that the gap between their energy was too great, both of them would’ve wounded up injured. The difference was, one would lose his fingers, while the other would lose his head. It went without saying which loss was worse. The reason Ming Feizhen committed to the risky endeavour was because he saw through Zhuo Fengru’s bluff.
Zhuo Fengru tore off a section of his garment to staunch his bleeding. At this point, he didn’t need to be told that he couldn’t count on luck, so he looked over his shoulder and called, “Yanran.”
Xu Yanran’s frayed brain had yet to recover from the light shone on her identity. “Uncle Zhuo…”
“This old one must say farewell now. May he take one last close look at you?”
Xu Yanran lowered her face that had become home to a deluge of emotional rain.
“It’s understandable for you not to forgive.”
“That’s not it… That’s not it… Uncle Zhuo, you never did anything wrong. It’s just, it’s just I don’t know what to say, but you’ve always treated me kindly.”
Zhuo Fengru shook his head. “No, this old one has done wrong by many people. Out of all of them, though, is your mother. Had it not been for my poor judgement, you and your mother wouldn’t have been separated for all these years. Xu Family raised you well, very well, much better than I could’ve ever raised you.”
Xu Yanran often approached Lady Zhuo ever since she was a kid to have conversations since she found that she hit it off with Lady Zhuo. Every time they met, Lady Zhuo would have new clothing and snacks. Even when Xu Yanran sounded as though she was whining, Lady Zhuo would lend an ear. Xu Yanran used to wonder why Lady Zhuo would wear her affection in her eyes whenever they met.
It wasn’t often that girls would lose their happy place called home to a fire overnight, yet not even have a moment to reflect on what was loss or mourn because she was busy trying to stay alive. Looking back on it, perhaps the dangerous ordeal was Xu Yanran’s salvation. With no time to think or grieve, she had an impetus to stop herself from imagining the horror her parents had to suffer before their deaths.
Xu Yanran never understood why her kind parents had to die. When she learnt Zhuo Fengru and Lady Zhuo were her true parents, a part of her was glad, though, glad that she hadn’t lost everything as she thought.
“I know I shouldn’t think like this.”
“Don’t cry.” Zhuo Fengru rubbed Xu Yanran’s crown, then sighed. “You’re such a kind kid.”
Xu Yanran’s sleeves and hands were sodden. “I know I shouldn’t be thinking this when I haven’t avenged my family. I know I shouldn’t be happy… but I… I’m just so glad to know I still have family. Are even you going to leave me?”
Zhuo Fengru bitterly smiled. “Can you… call me ‘Dad’ just once?”
Xu Yanran looked down, unsure what to think and what to say. She saw it, the gaze that was the same as the one Lady Zhuo reserved for her from Zhuo Fengru. Alas, when she raised her head, he had begun making his way to Ming Feizhen. By the time she realised it, she had already uttered, “Dad…”
Zhuo Fengru froze in his tracks.
“Dad… I, I won’t forgive you. I won’t forgive you if you die!”
The corners of Zhuo Fengru’s lips gradually curved up, and then he burst into laughter. Upon resuming his walk, he felt lighter than ever; even his posture took up more vertical space than before.
“Finally ready to get serious? In that case, I have to respond in kind, don’t I?” Ming Feizhen ejected a surge of internal energy that billowed objects immediately in his vicinity. “Hero Zhuo,” Ming Feizhen bridged the gap in a flash, “you first.”
In their palm-to-palm collision, rifts several metres deep formed below their feet, yet not a grain of dust left the ground.
As the audience looked around for signs of where the two had gone, Kongkong’er’s ears twitched in response to a quiet breeze. “On the roof!”
Ming Feizhen traded with only his right hand to even out the fact that Zhuo Fengru now only had one capable arm. Ming Feizhen’s defence was devoid of any commendable form, while Zhuo Fengru pushed the pace enough to eventually find a finish amid the chaos.
Ending the stalemate, Ming Feizhen circled off an attack. “That’s not going to cut it against me!” He thrust an arm upward, spawning a rotational qi wind that defused Zhuo Fengru’s momentum.
Disengaging, Zhuo Fengru rode Ming Feizhen’s momentum to vault up, going higher and higher without needing to take another breath.
Ming Feizhen narrowed his eyes as he watched the aerial elder due to the sun’s brightness. He noticed that Zhuo Fengru’s speed whilst airborne wasn’t fixed, something he’d associate with “product of nature”. Abyss Theory’s philosophy centred around deduction of nature. In martial arts terms, that would translate to depth of martial arts principles. Xu Clan’s branch studied all the martial arts disciplines they could to develop Abyss Theory. As the name suggested, it wasn’t a collection of movements and techniques; later generations added those components. Although some of the content they added was praiseworthy, in the eyes of their predecessors, it was an unnecessary endeavour.
Aerial Flower Divine Seal’s foundation was qinggong. Every step was performed with Abyss Theory as its foundation. When performed at the highest level, you were viewing Abyss Theory’s true form.
Ming Feizhen witnessed the unbelievable sight of Zhuo Fengru’s body falling apart inch by inch – the shadow of a sword strike from the abyss. Ming Feizhen felt a stabbing pain in his chest.
Ming Feizhen combined Yijin Jing and Tai Chi to ruin Zhuo Fengru’s two fingers with his head butt. It was a common misconception for Yijin Jing’s true qi and Tai Chi’s true qi to be hard and soft, yin and yang, respectively. In reality, they were true qi of varying degrees of those four attributes. He stacked a layer of Yijing Jing’s true qi on top of a layer of Tai Chi’s true qi, resulting in a solid defence seldom achievable. The only strategic counter would be to attack the fact that the two layers were inevitably two separate entities and separate them. Needless to say, strategy was one thing and implementation was another story.
Zhuo Fengru managed to separate the two layers, forcing Ming Feizhen to trade with a palm strike. They didn’t cause any collateral damage or generate any unnatural phenomena. They hold the end position of their clash until Zhuo Fengru lowered his extended arm.
“That was this old one’s best. He hereby admits defeat.”
Ming Feizhen first wiped the blood between his eyebrows, then saluted Zhuo Fengru. “It was an eye opener, Elder. This one’s victory is attributed to solely his age and strength advantage. If you were ten years younger, the result would be reversed.”
While Zhuo Fengru was unable to penetrate Ming Feizhen’s wall with his last thrust, sword spirit wasn’t an entity with physical form. Sword spirit travelled through barriers to attack one’s mind directly. As such, even if the damage was minor, damage was damage. If the two were measuring their levels, then Ming Feizhen didn’t win.
“Hahaha, if it weren’t for your brilliance, this old one’s last strike wouldn’t have been impressive. You brought out the best in this old body. A win is a win. A loss is a loss. Everything else is excuses.”
“… Mount Daluo’s Ming Feizhen offers you his humble greetings.”
“Uhm… Huh?! That means… your shifu is the genius, Huayu of the World. Ah, I see. I see now. It makes sense now.”
“Ah, I see,” equalled, “I see where your martial prowess stems from.”
“I see now,” equalled, “You definitely inherited his heretic ways.”
“It makes senses now,” equalled, “That explains why you also like visiting brothels.”
“Dad!” Xu Yanran jogged over to Zhuo Fengru, jubilant.
“Yanran, I kept my word, didn’t I? Hahaha.” Zhuo Fengru’s joy surfaced without him trying thanks to the stress that melted off in his fight. “Young Hero Ming, that strike was borderline epic, yet this old one wasn’t able to beat you. Mount Daluo’s direct disciple really is something else. This old one still has a lot to learn. He assumed you were a Wudang disciple all this time.”
Hua Qing opened and closed his mouth, but the words wouldn’t come to him.
“This one didn’t use his sect skills. It’s a long story that’s not really important.”
“What discipline did you use, then? There was definitely Tai Chi, right?”
“Yes, in addition to Shaolin’s Yijin Jing. This is a sect secret. I’m only telling you because I trust you. Pretend you never heard it now.”
“What?!” Kongcang belted from the ground. Notwithstanding his grave injuries, his years of practice in Vajra Realm protected his consciousness the entire time.
“’What’ what?” Ming Feizhen asked.
“You know Yijin Jing and Tai Chi… You know Yijin Jing and Tai Chi… Your surname is Ming… I get it. I can’t believe I didn’t think of that. Yes, you’re a Mount Daluo disciple. You, you’re my junior’s illegitimate kid!”
“… What are you talking about?”
“Don’t act stupid! There’s no way your shifu never told you. Your father is the man who defied an imperial decree thirty years ago to drive off Youtu’s forces, the leader of the imperial city’s three thousand cavalries unit – Ran Feikong!”
Glossary
