The Legend of the Condor Heroes: From Being Expelled from Peach Blossom Island

Chapter 451 Follow-up
The Mysterious Maiden's Great Art is definitely a good thing, but after mastering it, it doesn't significantly improve one's martial arts strength and has little destructive power; it can only be considered a second-rate technique.

However, the most distinctive feature of this technique is that it has a hint of the mysterious Yin and a touch of the power of creation.

In this respect alone, it surpasses those martial arts techniques that only focus on the power of martial arts, and is vaguely similar to the body-refining techniques given to Wu Chengyu by the bamboo slips.

If that old monster from Western Xia were to obtain this and integrate it with the Wuji Xuanyin Gong, he might be able to reverse the original path that leaned towards extreme yin.

After practicing the Mysterious Maiden Great Method, one can gradually change a woman's physique, making her more graceful and slender. It can even adjust a woman's shoulder width, waist-to-hip ratio, and even the composition of her muscle fibers.

Not only that, it can also make women's skin whiter, shrink pores, and give them a smooth, porcelain-like complexion. It is also said to make them resistant to sun exposure.

If this kind of technique were to be sold in later generations, it would probably fetch an astronomical price. Even if you combined all the divine skills of the Free and Unfettered Sect with the Nine Yin and Nine Yang, or even added the Dao Heart Demon Seed Technique or the Longevity Formula, those beauty-loving women would still look down on it with the Mysterious Maiden Technique.

To be fair, the Sunflower Manual seems to have a similar effect, except that it's exclusively for men, for the most ruthless men.

Wu Chengyu walked behind A Ku, marveling at A Ku's back. When A Ku left with Hong Qigong, he was still young, but he was already almost 1.7 meters tall.

But with her bulging, powerful muscles and broad shoulders, if Ah Ku said she could take on ten people, people would just think she was being modest.

If it weren't for her still-baby face, Wu Chengyu would be embarrassed to call her his sister; she's practically a super-strong Barbie doll.

But a few years later, with A-Ku's talent, he had already mastered the Xuan Nu Great Art. His muscles were no longer visible. His shoulders were still slightly broad, but not too prominent. He was over 1.7 meters tall, with a slender waist and legs, and his walk was quite graceful.

Having cultivated the skills of a bear, A-Ku certainly couldn't be as delicate and petite as a willow in the wind, but she had a figure like a supermodel from later generations. Just looking at her from behind would definitely make the hearts of young men in love flutter.

In short, she was a tall, slender, and somewhat athletic girl. Wu Chengyu could only say that it wasn't that he didn't understand, but that the world was changing too fast, or perhaps this was the role that martial arts should play, rather than being brave and violent.

In terms of physique, Hong Niangzi is by no means inferior to A Ku, only slightly shorter in height. But in terms of heroic bearing, Hong Niangzi is the clear winner.

Ah Ku still has a baby face, especially after returning to Wu Chengyu's side. She smiles happily every day, looking charming and cute, and jumping around.

At this moment, A-Ku was holding two strings of candied hawthorns, but her eyes were fixed on the snack stall next to her. After watching for a while, she realized that Wu Chengyu was standing behind her watching her.

"Brother, come here quickly, I've never seen this kind of pastry before, buy it for me."

"You can eat, but you'll need to take your medicine when you get back."

"Oh dear, I don't want to drink such bitter medicine. How about you stew a pork knuckle for me? I want you to stew it yourself. Anyway, as long as I cultivate the Mysterious Maiden Great Art after eating it, I won't gain weight, and I can eat whatever I want without worry."

This is another advantage that would make all women scream; the Mysterious Woman's Great Technique would be considered wishful thinking in later generations.

"I still need to take the medicine. I've been resting for over a month now, and I estimate that I'll be fine after another half month of taking it."

"Looking at you lately, all you do is eat and sleep. At first, you'd eat two pork knuckles or three or four pounds of braised meat wrapped in pancakes in one sitting, then you'd sleep for one or two days at a time. Now your sleep schedule is becoming more regular, and you're eating less. Your injury should be fully recovered by now."

"Then I still want to practice the Bear Appearance technique. You gave me this technique, otherwise I wouldn't be like this. Brother, I've grown up. Please don't always treat me like that greedy, lazy little sister from before, okay?"

Wu Chengyu and Aku stood together, both smiling. Wu Chengyu's smile was one of doting affection, while Aku was greedily enjoying his brother's pampering. This feeling hadn't been felt for many years, and both of them cherished it immensely.

More than half a month later, Ah Ku's injuries had been completely healed thanks to the help of the bear. Just as she said, with the Xuan Nu Great Magic, she could eat as much as she wanted without gaining weight.

Wu Chengyu simply had her write down the Xuan Nu Great Law from memory, which would make a good gift for Hong Niangzi.

Hong Niangzi maintained a good figure, but years of training and leading troops inevitably made her a bit burly, and her skin was a bit dark and rough from being exposed to the wind and sun.

She is an unparalleled commander in front of others, but only in front of Wu Chengyu does she act like a little girl, and occasionally she will complain about it.

Just then, the Beiwei Army, who had followed Hong Qigong to Hunan, finally returned. Only Song Mu led a dozen or so men into the city to find Wu Chengyu.

"Why are there only a few of you? Where are the others?"

"Reporting to the Master, we obtained quite a lot of supplies from the Iron Palm Gang this time. It's inconvenient to enter the city, so I've asked the brothers to find a place to temporarily set up camp outside the city."

"Let me tell you about my experiences over the past two months."

"When we arrived at the Beggars' Sect headquarters in Junshan with Elder Hong, the Clean Clothes Faction of the Beggars' Sect had already rebelled and severely injured and imprisoned all the elders of the Dirty Clothes Faction."

Fortunately, Chief Hong's prestige within the Beggars' Sect was truly extraordinary. The lower and middle-ranking Beggars' Sect disciples, unaware of what had happened, immediately set things right upon seeing him. The Clean Clothes Sect had accumulated some masters over the years, but unfortunately, they all died in this ambush targeting Chief Hong.

The few remaining Clean Clothes Sect elders were immediately captured by Chief Hong. It took us a month to eliminate all the Clean Clothes Sect disciples of the Beggars' Clan, and now only one Clean Clothes Sect elder, surnamed Peng, is missing.

Afterwards, as agreed, Chief Hong held back for us and led us to attack the Iron Palm Clan. Qiu Qianren was dead, and the Iron Palm Clan only had a few experts, who were no match for our sword formation. It took several hours to completely wipe out the Iron Palm Clan.

However, when we arrived at the Iron Palm Clan, we learned that Qiu Qianren's sister, Qiu Qianchi, had married and was no longer on Iron Palm Peak, so we had no way to pursue her.

Wu Chengyu nodded. With Hong Qigong's prestige and the arrival of these two hundred Beiwei soldiers, if they still couldn't restore order and suppress the Clean Clothes Faction, then he might as well just cripple his martial arts and go beg for food.

As for the Iron Palm Clan, Qiu Qianren and several of its top members had already died. The remaining members were powerless against the Beiwei Army. The reason Hong Qigong was sent to oversee the situation was simply because they were afraid there might be some special arrangements inside Iron Palm Peak.

As for Qiu Qianchi, Wu Chengyu immediately pictured that infatuated face in his mind. Judging by her age, she should be almost thirty. She probably married Gongsun Zhi a few years ago. A scumbag and a resentful woman, these two are truly a perfect match.

Unfortunately, Wu Chengyu really didn't know the location of the Valley of Heartbreak, otherwise, given his personality, he would probably have gone to eliminate it completely, but for now, he could only let it go for the time being.

Qiu Qianchi alone can't cause much trouble, and besides, her fate shouldn't change much. After giving birth to Gongsun Lü'e, it won't be long before Gongsun Zhi cripples her limbs and throws her into the abyss. She probably won't have a chance to cause me any trouble. "Did you get the things from the Iron Palm Clan?"

Song Mu immediately took out an iron box from his hand. He had not opened it out of curiosity along the way. Wu Chengyu took it casually and found the Wu Mu Legacy inside.

Wu Chengyu casually flipped through the book, and couldn't help but feel excited. This should be an authentic work by Yue Fei, which would be considered a treasure to be passed down through generations.

The content is very rich, including Yue Fei's military experience, the essentials of troop training, the key points of battle formations, methods of attacking and defending cities, the coordinated combat of various troop types, and even how to set up camp and ambush in different mountainous and scenic areas.

It also contains Yue Fei's experience and strategies for fighting against the Jin army over many years. In Wu Chengyu's view, these strategies were not only aimed at the Jin army, but were also effective against the steppe cavalry and the Mongols.

No wonder Guo Jing was able to quickly become a qualified military commander after obtaining the Wuyue Manual.

Unlike other military treatises, Yue Fei's "Military Manual" focuses more on specific operations. Later generations saw military treatises similar to Sun Tzu's "The Art of War," which discussed battlefield philosophy and concepts of war.

Wu Chengyu had skimmed through it in his previous life, and even those who hadn't read it could casually say: "Military tactics are not constant, just as water has no constant shape."

However, to truly apply the principles of Sun Tzu's Art of War in practice, one needs personal understanding and practice, and even more so, talent.

The Military Manual of Yue Fei is different. With this book, even if you just imitate it blindly, you can still lead troops into battle. It can be said that Yue Fei was teaching you step by step.

Unfortunately, after Yue Fei's death, his "Wumu's Legacy" was hidden in the Southern Song Dynasty palace, left unattended and completely ignored.

Later, it was stolen by a former leader of the Iron Palm Clan and simply became a burial item in the Iron Palm Clan's forbidden area.

In the original novel, Guo Jing and Huang Rong went through many hardships and numerous clues before finally winning each other over, which ultimately shaped Guo Jing into a great hero.

However, the Book of Yue Fei was not meant for him alone. It is unlikely that the book will cultivate a military genius, but its contents are sufficient to cultivate a group of excellent mid-level military commanders.

The combat effectiveness of an army sometimes comes not only from its commander, but more from the quality of its middle and lower-ranking officers. Wu Chengyu had heard this saying somewhere in his previous life, but he deeply believed it.

Many of the rebels were descendants of Yue Fei's army. They used the training methods they learned from their fathers to train the rebels, which could be considered half of Yue Fei's military manual. However, it was ultimately impossible to restore the former glory of Yue Fei's army. Only when Wu Chengyu got his hands on this book would he have the confidence to train a strong army.

After a quick glance, Wu Chengyu realized that a deeper understanding required careful study, so he handed the Wu Mu Legacy to Song Mu, saying, "Take a look too."

All the way there, Song Mu kept guessing what was in the iron box, but he was very disciplined. Wu Chengyu neither told him to look nor forbade him to, so Song Mu simply put the iron box away and never thought of opening it.

He was so excited after just a quick glance that he was speechless: "This, this, this is the military treatise left by Grandpa Yue?"

Song Mu had aspired to join the army since childhood and hated the Jin soldiers to the bone. When Wu Chengyu was brainwashing them, he also emphasized Yue Fei. He had long regarded Yue Fei as his idol, so how could he not be excited to see Yue Fei's handwritten letter now?

"Now is not the time to look at it. Keep this book safe and make several copies when you return to Suzhou. Everyone in the Beiwei Army should study it. As for this copy, be sure to keep it safe. There are not many original copies of Marshal Yue left."

"I will protect this book with my life and will not allow it to be damaged in the slightest."

"Books are inanimate, but people are alive. Human life is always more important than a book, so there's no need to be so concerned."

Let's talk about the gains and losses of this attack on the Iron Palm Clan. Were there any casualties among the brothers?

"There were some traps and mechanisms in the Iron Palm Clan. Some brothers were injured, but no one died."

"The Iron Palm Clan truly lives up to its reputation, built up over generations by Qiu Qianren. The gold and silver treasures we found alone are estimated to be worth over ten thousand taels of silver. In addition, we also found a large quantity of weapons and armor, enough to equip a 5,000-man squad."

Wu Chengyu knew this would happen. Back then, when Shangguan Jiannan established the Iron Palm Clan, he didn't do it to be a江湖草莽 (jianghu cao, meaning a rough and unruly person) but rather to collect a lot of military equipment for future use in resisting the Jin dynasty.

After Qiu Qianren inherited the Iron Palm Clan, he surrendered to the Jin people. These weapons were probably intended for the Jin army to use in a future southward invasion. This guy wanted everything; he wanted to compete in the martial arts world and also wanted to enjoy wealth and glory by surrendering to the Jin state.

This is probably why Qiu Qianren has never been able to reach the level of "entering the microscopic" and break through to the top. His talent and wit are not as good as the Five Greats, his will is not firm enough, and he is a treacherous and scheming person. It is already not easy for him to reach the top.

At this moment, Song Mu took out another book and handed it to Wu Chengyu: "Master, we found a lot of martial arts manuals in the Iron Palm Clan. Most of them are second- or third-rate. Only this Iron Palm of the Mountain should be Qiu Qianren's ultimate skill."

Wu Chengyu glanced at the manual briefly, and a slight smile appeared on his lips. With his current insight, he immediately noticed that there were traps hidden in the manual, and some parts were obviously unreasonable and suspected of being altered.

This manual should be genuine, but to cultivate it one must first receive guidance from Qiu Qianren and avoid the traps within. However, in the hands of a master of Wu Chengyu's caliber, these traps become far too obvious.

With a little time and further verification using bamboo slips, Wu Chengyu could quickly correct all the hidden clues and errors.

"There's a problem with this manual, but I can correct it. The Iron Palm of the Mountain-Suppressing Palm is considered a top-tier martial art. You Beiwei Army practice the Dragon City Heart Method for internal energy cultivation, the Hengjiang Saber Method for weapons, and the Gale Leg Method for lightness and leg techniques."

The only thing lacking is your hand skills. The Bone-Dissolving Grappling Hand is a small grappling technique, which doesn't fit your style. I was wondering where to find a martial art of similar level, and this Mountain-Suppressing Iron Palm came just in time.

"The lower limit is low, anyone can train with it, and the internal and external medicines and medicinal bath formulas to prevent physical deformities are all available. The upper limit is also very high, and the fighting style is extremely fierce, which is perfect for your Beiwei Army. This Qiu Qianren is not bad; he has saved me a lot of trouble."

"Master, we've been away from Suzhou for several months now. Shouldn't we go back now?"

"First, find a dock on the Yangtze River, take a boat to Hangzhou, meet up with the brothers, and also take that Duan Tiande; I need to give him as a gift."

After that, we'll return to Suzhou. Winter is over, and we can't delay any longer; we'll set off tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)