Wuxia: Become the 100-Victory Sword King at the Beginning

The peach blossoms in the Yihua Palace trembled gently in the morning mist, and the dewdrops condensing on the petals resembled undried bloodstains.

Shi Feiyang leaned against the gap in the palace wall, Xuan Shuang Blade holding half a piece of blackened osmanthus cake, watching Palace Master Yaoyue walk over, stepping on the broken ice scattered on the ground.

Her long, flowing silk dress swept across the ground, instantly creating spiderweb-like frost patterns wherever it passed.

"Shi Feiyang, do you understand the enormity of your actions?" Yaoyue's voice was as cold as ice, and a crystal-clear ice shard appeared in her hand at some point. "After the battle at Tianji Pavilion, the whole world knows that the fragment of the military tally is connected to Yihua Palace."

Shi Feiyang suddenly let out an exaggerated burp, deliberately spitting the crumbs of cake in his mouth onto the Xuan Shuang Blade: "Palace Master, you are mistaken. I am expanding the revenue streams for Yihua Palace! Just imagine, if we can gather all the Dragon Soldiers of the Nine Provinces, we can hang a sign at the entrance of our palace that says 'The Number One Armory Under Heaven,' and we can make a fortune just from selling tickets!"

Palace Mistress Lianxing rushed over carrying a medicine chest, the jasmine in her hair glistening with morning dew.

She crouched down to examine the wound on Shi Feiyang's leg, her voice as melodious as a jade flute yet tinged with reproach: "You're injured like this and you're still being sarcastic. Murong Hui's Netherworld Claws are coated with a thousand years of corpse poison..."

Before she could finish speaking, Shi Feiyang suddenly grabbed her hand and pressed it to his chest: "Sister, look! My heart is still beating, which proves that your concern is more effective than the antidote!" Yaoyue's icicles whizzed past his ear and embedded themselves in the stone wall behind him: "Shut up! What exactly is the 'Bright Jade Profound Ice Technique' on the fragment of the military talisman? Why is it related to my Yihua Palace's mental cultivation method?"

A flicker of apprehension crossed her eyes, clearly indicating she had long been wary of the secrets contained in the tattered scroll. Shi Feiyang sat up abruptly, pulled the crumpled scroll from his robes, and deliberately wiped his nose in front of the two of them: "You mean this? It's just a glowing treasure map!"

He suddenly lowered his voice and leaned closer to Yaoyue mysteriously: "But if we combine your ninth level of Mingyu Gong with my 'Tai Xu Yin Qi Jue'... hehe, we can develop a new move called 'Ice and Fire in One Heaven,' which is guaranteed to be even more attractive than the belly dance of a Persian dancer!"

Lianxing chuckled, but Yaoyue's icy gaze made her immediately suppress her laughter. In the distance came the sounds of the flower servants cleaning up the battlefield; bloodstains from the previous day's fighting still clung to the broken peach branches.

Looking at the mess on the ground, Shi Feiyang suddenly became serious: "Actually, I've already figured it out. This military token is a hot potato." He turned the Xuan Shuang Blade, and the lightning on the blade shattered the petals into powder. "But if we want to keep the Yi Hua Palace peaceful... we have to turn the tables and take the initiative."

Yaoyue snorted coldly, turned around and looked at the chaotic flames of war outside the palace walls: "You think you can take me on?"

"Wrong! It's because of the two palace masters' stunning beauty!" Shi Feiyang suddenly jumped up, plucked a vine from a tree and tied it around his waist. "Look, Wang Shichong wants the military seal? We'll spread the word that the seal is bound to a single person, and only a descendant of the Yihua Palace can touch it. Murong Hui wants to plot something? We'll turn the Peach Blossom Formation into a massive maze, charging ten taels of silver per person, and let him get lost until he questions the meaning of life!"

Lianxing laughed at his twisted logic, while Yaoyue thoughtfully stroked the icicle.

Just then, a servant rushed in to report: Murong Hui's whereabouts have been discovered in the Taihang Mountains, and Wang Shichong is mobilizing 30,000 troops to besiege the area below the mountains.

Shi Feiyang immediately put on a bitter face and hugged Lianxing's medicine box: "Sister, save me! My wound is suddenly hurting terribly, and I need the Palace Master's exclusive care!" He then turned to Yaoyue and winked, "Palace Master, look, the enemy has delivered himself to our door. Wouldn't it be a waste if we didn't hold a 'Limited-Time Experience Battle of Yihua Palace'? Buy one get one free, buy the murderer to stage a life-or-death battle, and get Palace Master Lianxing's personally brewed osmanthus soup as a gift!"

Yaoyue's icicles finally pointed at his nose: "If you keep talking nonsense, I'll freeze you into an ice sculpture and hang you at the palace gate."

But Shi Feiyang keenly caught a glimpse of a smile in her eyes.

That night, thousands of red lanterns lit up the peach blossom array in Yihua Palace. Shi Feiyang stood atop the palace wall, watching Wang Shichong's army swarm in like ants. He took out the tattered scroll from his robes and, by the moonlight, glanced at the prophecy on the back—"On the day the two jades unite, the world will be transformed under a new banner."

He suddenly brandished his Frostblade, slicing off a piece of ice and carving it into portraits of Yaoyue and Lianxing, which he then played with in his palm: "Two peerless beauties, it seems my part-time job as 'protector of flowers' is about to be upgraded to 'angel of dynastic change'!"

Meanwhile, deep in a dense forest a hundred miles away, Murong Hui gently stroked the dragon pattern on a half-torn scroll, his chilling laughter echoing in the night: "Shi Feiyang, our game has only just begun."

Inside Wang Shichong's tent, an advisor unfurled a parchment scroll depicting the layout of the Yihua Palace. The candlelight cast his shadow on the three characters "Peach Blossom Formation," making them appear menacing and ghostly. The peach blossoms of Yihua Palace still swayed in the wind, unaware that this idyllic paradise was about to become the center of a whirlpool that would stir up the winds of change across the land.

Shi Feiyang took a bite of the moldy osmanthus cake, let out a satisfied burp towards the moon, and exclaimed, "A beauty in troubled times, a secret military scroll, hehe, much more exciting than a storyteller's tale!" Yaoyue smiled; since Shi Feiyang's return, Yihua Palace seemed to have regained its liveliness. Lianxing's heart was no longer empty.

In the heart of Nangongwan, a secret chamber beneath a three-zhang-high bluestone slab lies like a lurking beast. Bronze candlesticks emit eerie green flames, casting a ferocious and lifelike image of a white tiger totem on the wall. The luminous pearls embedded in the beast's eyes gleam coldly, seemingly watching over the three treacherous figures within the chamber.

Nangong Jun knelt on the tiger-skin cushion, the black iron heart-protecting mirror under his python-patterned belt reflecting the flickering candlelight. His well-defined fingers repeatedly caressed half of a bloodstained jade pendant, a token delivered by a messenger from Xiaoyao Fort three days ago. Dark red bloodstains still clung to the broken edge of the dragon pattern on the pendant.

"The Lotus Manual of Yihua Palace is hailed as the pinnacle of martial arts," he suddenly sneered, his voice like a viper spitting its tongue, "If we can master it, my Nangong family will surely dominate the martial arts world!" A hoarse, strange laugh suddenly rang out from the corner, sounding like a broken bellows being pulled.

The man in black robes slowly stepped out of the shadows. His bronze demon mask covered half of his face, revealing an empty right eye with only a ghostly blue flame flickering deep within its socket.

The poisoned silver needles he twirled at his fingertips reflected a cold light, and with each rotation, a faint, sweet, and pungent aroma filled the air—the result of being soaked in the deadly poison of the Thousand Spider Poison Hand technique from the Western Regions.

"Does Lord Nangong know," the voice of the black-robed man, Murong Hui, seemed to come from the depths of hell, "that the manual contains a secret technique even more terrifying than peerless martial arts?" He casually tossed out a yellowed ancient book fragment, the parchment unfurling in the air, strange runes and chain patterns faintly visible in the candlelight. "This 'Heart Gu' technique, once planted with a Gu worm during combat, can turn martial arts masters into puppets to be manipulated at will."

Wang Shicai slammed his iron claws heavily onto the sandalwood table, his nine steel claws digging deep into the surface, causing candle wax to splatter everywhere.

The Lord of Xiaoyao Fortress, clad in black iron armor, the wolf-tooth decorations on his shoulder blades jingling softly with his movements, exclaimed: "Is there really such an evil art? If it can control the heroes of the martial world, not only the Yihua Palace, but the entire martial arts world..."

Before he could finish speaking, his gaze met Nangong Jun's greedy eyes.

Murong Hui let out a strange, grotesque laugh from beneath his ghostly mask. As his robes billowed, silver needles shot out like venomous snakes, piercing Nangong Jun's palm with lightning speed.

"Since we've sworn an oath of blood, there must be some kind of prize." His voice carried a seductive undertone. "This blood curse is called 'Soul Lock.' If anyone breaks the oath..."

Before he could finish speaking, a wisp of green smoke rose from Nangong Jun's palm. The intense pain made the veins on the veteran's forehead bulge, but he gritted his teeth and swallowed his pain.

Seeing this, Wang Shicai slashed his wrist with his iron claws, and blood dripped into the bronze wine vessel on the table: "Good! After we obtain the treasure manual, we'll take that old hag Yaoyue's life first!" He tilted his head back and drank the strong liquor mixed with the blood of the three men. As his Adam's apple bobbed, his gaze swept over Murong Hui's mutilated face. "But why do you know so much about the secrets of the treasure manual, sir?"

“I was once a guest of honor at Yihua Palace,” Murong Hui’s voice suddenly turned low, and a trace of reminiscence seemed to flash in his empty right eye, “but unfortunately… I saw something I shouldn’t have seen.”

He waved his sleeve, and the candlelight suddenly went out, plunging the secret room into complete darkness. When the light returned, three human skin masks were now on the long table, each depicting the face of a flower servant, a guard, and a cook from the Yihua Palace.

"At midnight three days from now, the third branch of the peach tree in the northeast corner of the Peach Blossom Formation will break," Murong Hui's voice came from all directions. "At that time, I will use the Breaking Yuan Sand to break the formation's core restriction. However..."

He appeared with a jade box in his hand. Inside, dozens of blood-red Gu worms wriggled. "Just in case," he said, "everyone needs to take the 'Unity Gu'." Nangong Jun's pupils constricted: "You!"

"Don't worry," Murong Hui pushed the jade box onto the table, the Gu worms leaving corrosive marks on the stone surface as they crawled out. "This Gu only activates when someone betrays us. If the cooperation goes smoothly, we will be the masters of this martial world in three days."

A cruel smile curled at the corner of his mouth beneath his mask, and a silver needle hidden in his sleeve was already pressed against Wang Shicai's back—this so-called ally was nothing more than a pawn to achieve his goals.

Outside the secret room, the night was as dark as ink.

As Nangong Wan's guards walked by, banging on their clappers, little did they know that just three zhang away, a conspiracy capable of upending the martial world was quietly taking shape.

Murong Hui glanced one last time at the human skin mask on the table, a chilling laugh escaping from beneath it, before his figure vanished into the darkness like smoke. Meanwhile, the three Heart-Sharing Gu worms slid down everyone's throats, silently awaiting the moment of betrayal. (End of Chapter)