As Li Le threw a punch straight for her heart, Lin Yue remained completely unhurried. Her left palm whirled gently while her right palm stuck smoothly to the wind of his punch, redirecting most of its force like water flowing around a stone. Circling her feet in a Grasp the Sparrow's Tail stance, she stepped sideways to dodge his sharp assault.
"You really were hiding your strength!"
A flash of annoyance glinted in Li Le's eyes, and his offensive grew even fiercer. He unleashed a barrage of punches, throwing a flurry of shadows that blanketed Lin Yue from all sides.
Yet Lin Yue remained entirely calm and relaxed. The fiercer his punches became, the more she used his own momentum to pivot, either guiding his strikes into empty air or borrowing his power to redirect the force back at him.
After a few tough exchanges, Li Le felt as though his fists were hitting cotton. He had nowhere to vent his full strength, and the force of his own blows ended up numbing his arms.
He immediately caught on and eased his momentum slightly, switching from sheer brute force to rapid agility. Alternating between fast and slow strikes, he tried to disrupt Lin Yue's rhythm.
Seeing this, Lin Yue kept her footwork steady while her opening and closing palms became even more fluid and seamless. Executing Cloud Hands and Single Whip one after another, no matter how Li Le altered his technique, she always managed to stick precisely to his wrists and guide him along using his own force.
After exchanging blows for half an hour with neither able to gain the upper hand, Li Le let out a snort and cast a sharp, scrutinizing gaze toward her.
Lin Yue didn't take the bait, merely saying coldly, "Go back."
"Fight me!"
With those words, he shifted his footwork and charged at her again. Lin Yue fended off all his moves before leaping backward to open up some space, saying:
"If you leave, I'll leave Mount Guiwu, too."
Their eyes met—one arrogant, the other cool and detached—neither willing to back down.
Li Le's gaze grew complex. After a moment of silence, he said, "You're close to breaking through your realm, too."
"Fine then. Be my opponent. Saves me the trouble of going out to look for one."
Lin Yue ignored him, spared him a glance, and turned to walk back to the main compound.
Breaking through to the Master Realm required not only a sufficiently deep cultivation, but also talent, continuous exploration, challenges, and self-transcendence, forging one's own unique martial art system to comprehend the core essence of martial arts.
For the past few years, Li Le had been continuously challenging experts to synthesize his martial skills into his own martial art system, just like that young man six years ago.
Having found a target, he was no longer as frantic and irritable, managing to quiet his heart and talk back to others a bit less.
Li Le went to talk to Meng Yanshuang. The others watched from a distance, unsure of what was being said, though Li Le's mouth rattled on without stopping. From his arrogant posture alone, it was clear nothing good was coming out of his mouth. Sure enough, Meng Yanshuang's eyes turned red, and she cursed at him for a bit before Li Le finally stopped. He stared at her in a daze, at a loss for words.
As the sun set in the west, Lin Yue was gathering medicinal herbs in the backyard when Meng Yanshuang suddenly marched over in a huff and asked her:
"Miss Lin, if something like this happened to you, what would you do?"
Without pausing her hands, Lin Yue replied in a slow, steady voice, "Even if he didn't do it on purpose, that doesn't mean he shouldn't face the consequences."
Hearing Lin Yue's response, Meng Yanshuang's expression softened.
"Then what would you do?"
Lin Yue turned back and offered her a faint smile.
"Arguing won't solve the problem, and fighting him is out of the question since I can't beat him. I would drug him, beat him up while he's unable to fight back, loot his money, and leave."
"Considering that he might seek revenge, I wouldn't let him know I was the one who did it. And if he were an evil person, I might just finish him off for good."
Beneath the glow of the setting sun, Lin Yue's gentle smile seemed unexpectedly chilling.
Meng Yanshuang's heart trembled. This normally gentle woman actually had such a fierce side to her.
She opened her mouth and asked, "Is Miss Lin willing to help me?"
"How should I help?"
A cup of tea's time later, Meng Yanshuang left satisfied.
The next day, the courtyard erupted. Li Le, who had woken up late, kicked open Meng Yanshuang's bedroom door in a rage.
"Meng Yanshuang! Get out here!"
Finding no one inside, Li Le stepped out of the room, only to see the crowd of onlookers who had gathered to watch the drama.
Seeing a turtle drawn on one side of Li Le's face, a large pig's head on the other, and the words "lecher" written across his forehead, the children curled their lips and couldn't help bursting into mischievous laughter.
"Sect Master, there's a drawing on your face!" Jingyang pointed it out, completely fearless of death.
Li Le reached up and wiped his face. The edges of the ink smudged slightly, but overall, it remained clear as day.
"Scram!" he roared, turning red with embarrassment and anger. "Where is Meng Yanshuang?!"
"Miss Meng left early in the morning," Jingrong replied, pressing her lips together.
Hearing that she had slipped away, Li Le gnashed his teeth and locked his gaze onto Lin Yue.
"Lin Yue, did you do this?!"
Lin Yue didn't deny it. "Miss Meng came to me yesterday saying she was leaving and asked me to sell her some knock-out powder for self-defense."
"Seeing that she was a young woman traveling alone and that it wasn't safe out there, I sold it to her."
"You two teamed up to screw me over?" Li Le pointed at Lin Yue. "Despicable! Shameless! Villains! Helping an outsider frame me!"
Lin Yue didn't argue further, insisting she had only sold the medicine. Old Huang also stepped forward, his crutch thumping against the ground with a dong, dong.
"Sect Master, you can't blame Elder for this. Elder earns her living selling medicine in the first place; how could she have known Miss Meng would drug you?"
Li Le was so angry he was about to explode. "She clearly knew Meng Yanshuang had a grudge against me, yet she didn't even warn me! She definitely did it on purpose!"
Old Huang leaned on his crutch, walked over, and patted his shoulder reassuringly. "Alright, alright. Elder probably didn't expect Miss Meng to be so impulsive either. Luckily, she isn't a bad person, just childish. Hurry and wash the ink off your face, the food's getting cold..."
Meanwhile, Meng Yanshuang had already arrived in town.
Remembering the pig's head and turtle drawn on Li Le's face, her shoulders shook with laughter.
Besides drawing on Li Le's face, she had also given him a beating and taken three hundred taels of silver as compensation.
After chuckling to herself, Meng Yanshuang sighed, bought a horse, and rode away.
Ever since Meng Yanshuang left, Li Le challenged Lin Yue to duels every single day. Lin Yue accepted every time; the mysteries of Tai Chi were boundless, and she also needed to comprehend its artistic conception to create her own moves and break through to the Master Realm.
Old Huang was over sixty years old now, his eyes cloudy and yellow, unable to see things clearly anymore. Every day, he sat at the doorway leaning on his crutch, looking outside, smiling and chatting a few words whenever someone returned. Once winter came, he would huddle in his room all day. Gradually, he could no longer walk, so the children built him a wheelchair to push him out to sunbathe and watch the mountain scenery from the doorway.
Old Huang often watched the sun rise and set, sometimes muttering to himself.
"I still want to watch the kids grow up, to build fires and cook for you all..."
"A Master Realm martial artist can live for two hundred years..."
Three years later, Old Huang passed away. Li Le built him a coffin and buried him on the back mountain.
Lin Yue's donkey was fifteen years old now. It was so old that its teeth were falling out, and it ate very little. Eventually, it didn't even have the strength to eat. Lin Yue stayed by its side, gently stroking its fur. The donkey moved its mouth, but no sound came out. A few days later, it passed away. Lin Yue buried it on the back mountain and planted a tree beside the spot so that once the tree grew tall, it could shelter it from the wind and rain.
Jingcheng was now nineteen years old, and all sect affairs were handed over to him to handle. He had grown thoroughly steady and mature. The second disciple, Jingrong, was eighteen, having bloomed into a beautiful young woman, elegant and dignified, true to her name. As the senior sister, she assisted Jingcheng with administrative duties while keeping her younger martial brothers and sister in line.
The third disciple, Jingyang, was seventeen, a sunshiny young man and a mischievous troublemaker. The fourth, Jingtong, was also seventeen, graceful in demeanor and gentle by nature. The youngest, Jingming, was over twelve; he was growing increasingly handsome with distinct features, remaining as quiet as he was in his childhood.
Now that the children were grown, each had their own thoughts and worries.
Lin Yue and Li Le sparred for three years without either being able to defeat the other. Both were thoroughly familiar with each other's martial arts routines, and continuing to fight would yield no further breakthroughs, so they both ceased fighting to focus on meditating and consolidating their experience.
One year later came another Martial Arts Convention. The five disciples set off to gain some real-world experience along the way. Li Le departed alone, while Lin Yue took responsibility for following the disciples in secret.
The courtyard gate of Mount Guiwu was closed and locked, just as it had been ten years ago.
Lin Yue tapped her toes, springing high onto the treetops. The tips of her feet landed lightly on a leaf; the leaf bent slightly under her weight, then snapped back into place as the force vanished, sending the teal-robed figure leaping forward.
The morning breeze was cool as autumn deepened, but for martial artists, a single light garment was more than enough.
Leaning against a tree branch, Lin Yue watched the group not far ahead. Carrying their packs and holding their swords, they walked and chatted. Jingcheng said something with a smile before glancing at Jingrong, who gazed off into the distance, responding nonchalantly with a few words.
The three younger disciples followed behind. Jingyang pointed at a tree by the roadside and asked Jingtong a question, and Jingtong explained it to him as they conversed. Behind the two of them, Jingming followed quietly, often lost in thought.
Lin Yue withdrew her gaze and closed her eyes to regulate her breathing. Her internal energy was profound, and she possessed her own martial Dao. She was only one final step away from the Master Realm, yet this step was not easily crossed. Some accumulated progress over time, some achieved sudden enlightenment in an instant, while others sought breakthroughs through near-death struggles. Most people didn't have the time to waste, and sudden enlightenment was far too elusive, so most chose the latter path.
Li Le was one of those who chose the latter.
She was in no rush. With her strength at the peak of the First-Rate realm, as long as a Master Realm combatant did not intervene, even if she couldn't win, she could rely on the Guiwu Lightness Technique to make her escape. In a world so vast, where could she not find a place to stay?
Besides, no one in this world had ever heard of any existence above the Master Realm.
There was plenty of time. The five disciples traveled by fits and starts, and Lin Yue secretly followed them for several months. She watched them clash with bandits and easily defeat them. After all, these five were extraordinarily talented, and having practiced martial arts for ten years, their cultivation rivaled the inner personal disciples of major sects. As powerhouses among Second-Rate martial artists, roaming the jianghu on their own was no longer a problem.
Still, considering it was their first time traveling far from home, it was better to keep an eye on them. Li Le was far too arrogant—he would shout his sect's name even when rescuing a child, fighting every single day and leaving his name wherever he went, incurring who knew how many jianghu grudges. Leaving behind this trouble magnet was a wise move.
Yet she feared that enemies might still come looking for trouble.
Shifting her gaze past the children, she saw a muscle-bound saber wielder wearing a bamboo hat with a scar across his face standing in the middle of the road. Jingcheng stepped forward to negotiate. The scarred saber wielder spoke with cold hostility, while Jingcheng responded with a friendly face, even thoughtfully pointing out the direction and route their sect master had taken, suggesting he go wait along that path where he might bump into him.
These were the children she had raised—neither humble nor arrogant, confident and calm, treating others with sincerity.
However, the saber wielder in the bamboo hat did not leave. With harsh words, he drew his bright blade with a qiang, and both sides drew weapons as the atmosphere turned tense.
The saber wielder engaged in battle with the five. Judging by his moves, his cultivation was at the peak of the Second-Rate realm, with above-average martial skills; he was likely someone Li Le had offended in the past.
Meanwhile, all five disciples practiced high-grade techniques, regularly observed battles between top-tier experts, received guidance from masters, and possessed rich combat experience. Although their internal energy was slightly lacking and they hadn't experienced true life-and-death struggles, they were geniuses who outnumbered him. Coordinating seamlessly, thrashing a trash opponent at the same level was more than easy for them.
Cornered by the five, the saber wielder grew anxious. His eyes darted toward the youngest, Jingming, and he feinted a strike to attack him. Young Jingming practiced fierce punches and wielded a fierce sword, advancing without ever retreating as he met the attack head-on.
He managed to exchange several blows with the opponent—not bad at all. Seeing their youngest martial brother fighting with growing vigor, the remaining four surrounded the two, eager for a turn.
Thus, the saber wielder had to fight them one after another. The most formidable was Jingrong, whose moves alternated between fierce and soft, leaving him completely flustered. Before it was even Jingcheng's turn, the saber wielder was beaten to the ground. The five offered no harsh words, simply departing with flair.
That year, martial artists from all over gathered toward the imperial capital. Along the way, the five encountered many challengers, jianghu scammers, and shady inns. They were cheated, bullied, confronted, and dragged into fights, but fortunately, the martial brothers and sisters worked together and powered through it all. Lin Yue watched secretly without interfering, finding their performance fairly acceptable.
After traveling for several months, they finally arrived in the imperial capital two months before the opening of the Martial Arts Convention.
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