Chapter 6: Chapter 5: Silk Binding Jade Hand
Chen Yuan watched Lin Jingqi with great interest.
He never expected there was such a hidden story behind the events of that year.
In fact, he had felt something was off from the start. Lin Jingqi acted far too cowardly and indecisive; he wasn’t even as resolute as his wife.
’Could someone with a personality like that really pull off seizing a martial arts hall?’
Now that it was Zhang Qiuhua who had orchestrated it, things made a lot more sense.
Spitting blood, Zhang Qiuhua glared viciously at Lin Jingqi. "Trash! You’re just like Duan Mubai—both of you are trash!"
Lin Jingqi looked at Chen Yuan with pleading eyes, hoping he would be spared.
But in the next instant, a saber flashed, and Lin Jingqi’s head hit the ground.
Chen Yuan flicked the blood from his blade, sheathed it, and said to Zhang Xiaoyi, "Take the head, and bring the woman with you."
Zhang Xiaoyi nodded. He quickly found a ragged cloth to wrap Lin Jingqi’s head in, then led the captive Zhang Qiuhua out of the martial arts hall.
The martial arts hall’s disciples were scared into silence, all of them scrambling to clear a path.
In truth, Chen Yuan bringing these disciples from the Instructor Hall for a show of force had been entirely unnecessary.
The disciples in the hall were just paying students learning Martial Arts; they had no true master-disciple bond with Lin Jingqi.
Upon learning that Lin Jingqi had offended the Celestial Wolf Gang, they had even considered quitting the hall on the spot. None of them were going to lift a finger to help him.
Arriving at Wuyi Lane by carriage, Chen Yuan took the head and tossed it in front of Duan Mubai.
Duan Mubai seemed stunned that Chen Yuan had acted so quickly.
After a moment’s pause, he lifted the ragged cloth with a trembling hand.
Seeing the familiar head inside, Duan Mubai let out a sound that was half-sob and half-laugh, his entire body shaking.
"Right, there’s one more thing I need to tell you.
Before he died, Lin Jingqi said he wasn’t the mastermind behind the plot against you. Your former fiancée, Zhang Qiuhua, was. He claimed he was manipulated by her.
I brought her here for you. Whether you kill her or torture her, it’s your call."
With a wave of his hand, Chen Yuan had Zhang Qiuhua thrown down in front of Duan Mubai.
Duan Mubai looked at Zhang Qiuhua, trembling. "Was it really you?"
"Of course it was me. Did you really think that piece of trash Lin Jingqi could pull something like this off? Even if he had the ambition, he never had the guts!"
Facing Duan Mubai, Zhang Qiuhua showed no guilt at all. Instead, her face was filled with hatred.
"Why!? My father was the one who took you in, taught you Martial Arts, and treated you like his own daughter! I treated you like my own sister!"
"But I’m not your sister! I was your fiancée! I was supposed to be the matron of the hall!"
Zhang Qiuhua glared at Duan Mubai. "You can go out and fool around with other women, I wouldn’t have cared! But you should never have said you saw me as a sister and had no intention of marrying me!
I spent more than a decade preparing to be the matron of the hall. The Zhen Shan Martial Arts Hall was my home! I already lost one home; I wasn’t going to lose another!
You see me as a sister, but if you married someone else, would she see me as a sister? Would the Zhen Shan Martial Arts Hall still be my home?
I don’t care who becomes the master of the Zhen Shan Martial Arts Hall, but I had to be the matron!"
Duan Mubai looked at Zhang Qiuhua and suddenly burst out laughing, but his laughter soon turned into racking sobs.
He never would have dreamed that he’d end up in this state for such a ridiculous reason!
Having had his fill of the drama, Chen Yuan waved his hand and had his men drag Zhang Qiuhua away.
"Alright, I’ve brought you both the culprit and the mastermind. I’ve more than fulfilled my end of the bargain. It’s time to give me the Silk Binding Jade Hand, isn’t it?"
Duan Mubai said in a hoarse voice, "Bring me paper and a brush."
Chen Yuan brought him paper and a brush, and Duan Mubai, trembling, wrote out the Cultivation Technique for the Shattering Jade Silk Binding Hand.
Satisfied, Chen Yuan put away the Cultivation Technique and set down fifty taels of silver. "Take this money and live out the rest of your days."
Duan Mubai waved his hand. "Don’t waste your silver. I’ve been lying here for years; I’m used to it."
"Then what about that woman, Zhang Qiuhua? Do you want me to get rid of her?"
"Let her go. In the end, I was the one who wronged her."
Chen Yuan glanced at Duan Mubai and shook his head slightly.
’What a bleeding heart.’
Chen Yuan got into the carriage, called Zhang Xiaoyi over, and said coolly, "Later, take that woman to a secluded place and get rid of her."
Zhang Xiaoyi was surprised. "Sir, didn’t you promise Duan Mubai you would spare her?"
"I only asked if he wanted her dealt with. I never promised I’d do what he said."
Chen Yuan said coolly, "That woman is trouble, and she’s unhinged.
I killed her husband and destroyed the Zhen Shan Martial Arts Hall. There’s no telling what kind of trouble she might stir up later.
They say the cycle of vengeance never ends, right? Well, if you kill every last one of them, there won’t be any of those messy revenge stories to begin with."
Zhang Xiaoyi scratched his head in confusion.
’Is that what "the cycle of vengeance never ends" means?’
’But if Sir said it, it must be right.’
After returning to the Celestial Wolf Gang, Chen Yuan immediately went into seclusion to cultivate the Silk Binding Jade Hand.
Destroying the Zhen Shan Martial Arts Hall was a trivial matter, not even worth reporting to Jiang Kaitai.
The official story would be that the Zhen Shan Martial Arts Hall was colluding with the Black Water Gang and had shown disrespect to the Celestial Wolf Gang.
Although Lin Jingqi, the master of a martial arts hall, was barely a figure of any note, in the eyes of the Celestial Wolf Gang he was no different from Hu the Third, whom Chen Yuan had slain in the Forget Sorrow Building. They were both small fries, not worth mentioning.
Chen Yuan had been doing these sorts of things frequently to get on Jiang Kaitai’s good side, so Jiang Kaitai was already used to it.
Back in his room, Chen Yuan took out the Cultivation Technique and began to study it intently.
After transmigrating, Chen Yuan had inherited the memories of the in-game ’Chen Yuan,’ as well as this body’s exceptionally formidable Martial Dao Talent.
Chen Yuan had only practiced the Martial Dao for two years before being put in charge of the Instructor Hall. He had even earned the profound respect of the old Instructors there, all because of his monstrous Martial Dao Talent.
He could grasp the basics of any Cultivation Technique with just a single glance and comprehend it completely after a short period of practice.
The proprietress of the Forget Sorrow Building had said Chen Yuan’s Celestial Wolf Saber Technique possessed seventy percent of Jiang Kaitai’s essence, but that was actually an underestimation.
When Jiang Kaitai was at Chen Yuan’s level of Cultivation, his mastery of the Celestial Wolf Saber Technique had been far inferior.
’When I first got here, I felt like a pretty pathetic transmigrator, not even blessed with a single cheat ability. But now it seems this body I transmigrated into is the greatest cheat of all.
As long as I can survive the coming crisis in Lianshan City and continue to grow stronger in the Jianghu, my future will be limitless.
A genius who doesn’t live long enough to develop is just a corpse. But one who does... becomes a legend.’
Duan Mubai hadn’t held anything back; he had indeed written out the Cultivation Technique for the Silk Binding Jade Hand in its entirety.
After reading it all in one go, Chen Yuan let out a long sigh of relief.
He was now certain that this Silk Binding Jade Hand was definitely not an ancestral technique of the Duan Family. They simply didn’t have that kind of heritage.
The core of the Silk Binding Jade Hand was exceptionally profound. It wasn’t just a grappling-style Martial Technique, but also a Cultivation Technique that could mobilize one’s Inner Breath to temper the Meridians.
It involved Outer Cultivation of Grappling Techniques and Inner Cultivation of Silk Binding Strength and Shattering Jade Strength. These two forces, one hard and one soft, transformed into Inner Strength that flowed through the body, aligning with the principles of Yin and Yang to constantly temper the Meridians.
Even without practicing an Inner Power technique, years of tempering with this hard and soft Inner Strength could allow one to break through to the Meridian Passage Realm.
No wonder Duan Zhenshan had reached the Meridian Passage Realm without ever practicing an Inner Power technique—it was because he had cultivated the Silk Binding Jade Hand to an incredibly profound level.
Logically, a Cultivation Technique of this caliber should have an accompanying Inner Power method to be practiced with.
The Silk Binding Strength and Shattering Jade Strength were only meant to play a supportive role.
But the Duan Family had no Inner Power technique passed down through their lineage, which made it clear that their ancestors must have acquired this technique by chance.
Chen Yuan sat cross-legged on his bed, continuously circulating the two forces: Silk Binding Strength and Shattering Jade Strength.
He felt the two forces, one hard and one soft, surging through his body, bringing waves of excruciating, needle-like pain.
But Chen Yuan’s expression remained unchanged as he forcibly controlled these two forces, using them to channel the faint Inner Strength produced by his Cyan Wood Heart Method and assail his Meridians.
If Duan Mubai were to see this, he would surely be devastated.
His own Martial Dao Talent was considered quite good, but when Duan Zhenshan had taught him the Silk Binding Jade Hand, it had taken him a whole month just to comprehend the Silk Binding Strength and Shattering Jade Strength.
As for controlling those two hard and soft forces to temper his Meridians, that was completely out of the question.
He couldn’t control the two forces at all; they would immediately conflict with each other. Forcibly using them to temper his body would have been tantamount to destroying his own Meridians.
That was why, despite practicing this Cultivation Technique for over a year, Duan Mubai hadn’t even mastered the basics.
Yet now, in just one day, Chen Yuan’s mastery over the Silk Binding Strength and Shattering Jade Strength was nearly identical to that of Duan Mubai’s father, Duan Zhenshan.
Chen Yuan endured the intense pain, forcing open his blocked Meridians one by one.
This wasn’t a game with a pain perception filter; Chen Yuan had to endure every last bit of the agony himself.
Under the assault of the hard and soft forces, the Du Meridian, the Ren Meridian, the Chong Meridian... were all forced open, one after another.
He had already reached the Peak of the Body Tempering Realm; it was only the slow progress of the Cyan Wood Heart Method that had prevented him from breaking through.
Now, with the aid of the Silk Binding Strength and Shattering Jade Strength, his Eight Extraordinary Meridians were completely opened. Inner Strength flowed through his body like water, completing a full Circulation, endless and self-sustaining.
He had reached the Meridian Passage Realm!
Chen Yuan let out a long breath. He was drenched in sweat, as if he had just been pulled from water.
The greatest difference between the Meridian Passage Realm and the Body Tempering Realm was the enhancement in power.
One simply relied on the power of muscles and bones.
The other could stimulate the Eight Extraordinary Meridians with Inner Strength to mobilize the entire body’s power. In terms of explosive force, the two were on completely different levels.
Furthermore, after achieving Meridian Passage, his body’s cycle of Circulation was fully opened. Even when Chen Yuan was asleep, his Inner Strength would circulate subconsciously, further increasing its growth rate.
However, reaching this step also meant he was in even greater need of a good Inner Power Heart Method.
Even when Chen Yuan was completely focused on cultivating, it took a full hour for his Inner Strength to complete one Circulation using the Cyan Wood Heart Method.
A high-grade Cultivation Technique, by contrast, might only require a quarter of an hour, or even less. The difference was enormous.
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