Ask Wudang Chapter 238

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To brave the thorns and advance courageously, that is the mindset a strong person should possess.

To change one’s destiny, create one’s future, and establish one’s own rules—this is what truly defines a hero.

The path of martial arts is no different; once the will to progress is lost, one stops there.

And Ye Qingfeng’s goal was to witness the scenery at the highest peak, so he never had any thought of retreating.

Next, Ye Qingfeng took Xiyu out to buy some furniture and daily necessities. Then, he returned to the inn to retrieve the Bodhidharma remains and the Water-Splitting Sword before finally returning to the courtyard.

Dinner, naturally, was left to Xiyu.

After half an hour of bustling and a not-so-delicious dinner, the two finally settled down.

After eating, Ye Qingfeng walked into the courtyard and said to Xiyu, “Take out your Water-Splitting Sword and spar with me.”

Xiyu glanced at him and said, “Didn’t you tell me to put down my sword? Now, less than half a day later, you’re telling me to pick it up again?”

Ye Qingfeng said, “I told you to put down your sword so you wouldn’t kill anymore. What does that have to do with whether you pick it up or not?”

Seeing his perpetually calm demeanor, Xiyu grew even more annoyed in her heart, but she still took out her Water-Splitting Sword.

Ye Qingfeng then said, “Come, this time I won’t take your sword. Use your Water-Splitting Sword Art properly and let me see it.”

Xiyu said nothing more. With the longsword in hand, her aura surged.

This was her second time fighting Ye Qingfeng.

Last time, she was utterly defeated after only two moves, and even her proud Water-Splitting Sword was taken from her.

After their last encounter, she had a preliminary understanding of Ye Qingfeng’s martial arts.

In her opinion, Ye Qingfeng had most likely practiced a hard-style martial art, relying on his invulnerability to blades and spears, which was why he dared to block her Water-Splitting Sword with his bare hands. She believed that as long as she used feints against his solid defenses and entangled him, she would surely find a weakness.

With this thought, Xiyu immediately became fully alert, secretly accumulating her internal energy. When this energy condensed to its peak, she saw her wrist lightly flick, and the Water-Splitting Sword, like a nimble snake, directly enveloped Ye Qingfeng, swift and precise.

Ye Qingfeng was unaware of Xiyu’s plans and conjectures. Seeing her sword stance so sharp, he was quite pleased. Because he truly wanted to witness the profundity of the Water-Splitting Sword Art. In his eyes, the Water-Splitting Sword Art seemed to have reached the second stage of Dugu Qiubai’s five sword realms, which is the realm of “Soft Sword, Impermanent.” But whether it had truly reached it, he still needed to verify.

Therefore, he did not try to seize her sword at close quarters as he did last time. Instead, he deployed his agile footwork, circling around Xiyu’s sword light, then combined it with the Bagua Youlong Palm, interspersing slashes and upward cuts, entangling, and locking, countering every move and breaking every stance.

It must be said that Xiyu’s Water-Splitting Art was truly extraordinary. Once the Water-Splitting Sword was unleashed, its attacks were continuous, like a furious storm. As the sword qi intertwined, it resembled a ball of green light around Ye Qingfeng’s body, leaving him no room to retreat. However, Ye Qingfeng’s martial arts had reached the realm of no-form, no-style, where any technique or stance transition left no trace. Therefore, although Xiyu’s Water-Splitting Sword Art was exquisitely profound, it simply could not touch Ye Qingfeng, let alone injure him; that was a fantasy.

After more than thirty exchanges, Ye Qingfeng had fully grasped the core of the Water-Splitting Sword Art.

This sword art was known for its changes, often shifting moves unexpectedly. Combined with the inherent flexibility of the Water-Splitting Sword, it bore a resemblance to the Wudang Soft Finger Sword Art, but to say it reached the “Soft Sword, Impermanent” realm, it still lacked a certain flavor.

The core of the “Soft Sword, Impermanent” realm lies in “Im-permanence.” What is impermanence? It means no fixed state, no fixed posture, no fixed rules, completely following one’s heart’s desire, making it impossible for the opponent to guess where your next attack will come from or how it will change.

The Wudang Soft Finger Sword Art, on the other hand, relies on powerful internal energy to bend the sword blade, introducing changes during the attack. It has already captured three-tenths of the essence of the “Soft Sword, Impermanent” realm. This Water-Splitting Sword Art, however, takes advantage of the Water-Splitting Sword itself; it is a sword technique entirely tailored for the Water-Splitting Sword. Once the Water-Splitting Sword is lost, the power of the Water-Splitting Sword Art would be greatly reduced, at most retaining forty to fifty percent of its original strength.

Therefore, from the perspective of its core essence, although the Water-Splitting Sword Art is exquisite, it is still inferior to the Wudang Soft Finger Sword Art.

Having understood the characteristics of the Water-Splitting Sword Art, Ye Qingfeng lost interest and abruptly increased the variations in his movements.

As a result, Xiyu’s pressure instantly intensified. She found that no matter where she thrust, Ye Qingfeng could anticipate and respond, and even if her sword moves had many subsequent variations, Ye Qingfeng could take them all.

“How can this be? How can his martial arts be…”

In an instant, many thoughts flooded Xiyu’s mind. Her emotions in disarray, her sword momentum faltered, and she was instantly struck on the wrist by Ye Qingfeng. The next moment, she felt a numbness in her arm, unable to grip her sword, and it dropped.

Ye Qingfeng was quick-eyed and quick-handed, reaching out to catch the Water-Splitting Sword. He said, “Why did you get distracted?”

Xiyu’s expression was complex. She shook her head and said, “I can’t kill you.”

She had originally thought that Ye Qingfeng had defeated her merely by relying on his hard-style martial arts, and that if she could find his weakness, she could defeat him. Now, it seemed things were not as she had imagined; Ye Qingfeng’s martial arts were simply too profound.

Ye Qingfeng smiled faintly, “You really wanted to kill me?”

Xiyu said coldly, “What if I did?”

Ye Qingfeng said, “If you want to kill me, then practice your martial arts well.” Then he added, “Your Water-Splitting Sword Art, aside from its agile moves, is too ordinary in other aspects. Before a true master, it’s completely vulnerable.”

Upon hearing this, Xiyu immediately felt unconvinced and retorted, “So what? Besides your superior lightness skill and footwork, your martial arts are nothing special. If you weren’t so slippery, I would have killed you a thousand times over already.”

Ye Qingfeng did not bother to argue further. He immediately released his aura and stomped his foot.

“Boom!”

In an instant, Xiyu felt an illusion before her eyes, as if the ground was shaking. In her view, Ye Qingfeng seemed to transform into a Buddhist Dragon-Elephant, roaring skyward, stomping his foot with a mighty force that shook the earth and heaven, possessing astonishing power.

“Watch carefully.”

Ye Qingfeng suddenly let out a soft shout, then moved his body, in a blink of an eye, he swept to a large tree in the corner of the courtyard and struck it with a palm. The palm strike seemed astonishing, but when it hit the trunk, only a muffled sound (Li Nuo Zhao) was heard. The tree did not sway at all, not even a few leaves fell, as if nothing had happened.

After a long pause with no movement, Xiyu couldn’t help but sneer, “You want me to watch this?”

Ye Qingfeng said, “Come over and see for yourself, Yang.”

Xiyu approached doubtfully but found nothing unusual. She reached out and touched the tree trunk, when suddenly she heard a “crack.” This large tree, as thick as a man’s waist, actually broke in half, falling against the courtyard wall. Xiyu glanced at it and saw that the break in the tree trunk was perfectly clean, as if cut by a saw, and the inside of the trunk was completely rotted into wood chips, like tofu that had been crushed. But from the outside, the bark was still intact, without even a trace of damage.

Seeing this scene, Xiyu’s expression immediately became wonderful. She had never imagined that Ye Qingfeng’s palm strike could produce such terrifying effects, like the legendary “hitting the ox across the mountain.”

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