The world of martial arts, the immortal swordsman in the mortal realm.

Chapters 50, 61, 62: Power surges, three-inch sword light!

As midnight approached, the Prince's mansion gradually quieted down.

The ginseng immortal, Liang Ziweng, carrying a string of medicine packets, left his residence, "Cangbai Garden," with one of his disciples, and headed towards "Aoshuang Garden," where Ouyang Ke resided.

He hadn't participated in the earlier attempt to humiliate Ouyang Ke, but now he was offering timely help. He had specially prepared several doses of excellent wound medicine and blood-tonifying and qi-boosting medicine, intending to take advantage of Ouyang Ke's setback to befriend him and then use Ouyang Ke to get close to the Western Poison and gain some benefits in the future.

After Liang Ziweng walked away.

Two figures silently floated down from the rooftop; it was Lu Chen and Huang Rong.

They had arrived a quarter of an hour ago and had been lying in ambush on the roof. They had intended to wait until Liang Ziweng was asleep before making their move, but Liang Ziweng was busy in the pharmacy, so the two of them had no choice but to wait patiently.

As it turned out, Liang Ziweng actually went out on his own, which saved the two of them a lot of trouble.

The two arrived at the pharmacy and listened carefully for a while. Lu Chen then made a gesture to Huang Rong, who understood and stood to the side of the door. Lu Chen then raised his hand and knocked on the door.

"Master?"

A boy's voice came from behind the door:
"Master, did you forget something?"

As they were talking, the door creaked open and a young man in blue robes walked out. Before he could even see who was outside, Huang Rong, who was standing by the door, made a lightning-fast move and knocked the young man unconscious with a single finger.

Lu Chen reached out to help the young man in blue, dragged him inside, placed him on a chair, and then looked around before his gaze fell on a large bamboo basket.

"The bamboo basket smelled strongly of medicine."

Huang Rong said softly.

Lu Chen nodded, walked to the bamboo basket, lifted the lid and looked inside. Sure enough, there was a large snake inside, its body entirely vermilion and as thick as a bowl, exuding a strong medicinal smell.

It was winter, and although this mutated snake no longer needed to hibernate, it was not very active either.

Although the noise of Lu Chen lifting the basket lid startled it, it reacted somewhat slowly and before it could make an attack, Lu Chen quickly closed the lid again and then tied the bamboo basket tightly with hemp rope.

Then he picked up the large bamboo basket and smiled at Huang Rong:
"Now that I've got the treasure, I can go back and enjoy it slowly."

the other side.

Liang Ziweng was in Aoshuang Garden, having a pleasant conversation with Ouyang Ke.

He not only presented Ouyang Ke with carefully prepared medicines for injuries and tonics, but also gifted him a secret method for replenishing yang energy through yin-yang cultivation. This gesture greatly changed Ouyang Ke's opinion of the white-haired old man, and he became much more polite in his conversation.

After chatting for a while, the two started talking about Lu Chen again.

Liang Ziweng said, "What that young Lu used seems to be the legendary sword energy."

Ouyang Ke nodded:

“My uncle once said that the Duan family of Dali once had a sword qi divine skill that could release sword qi with a finger, which was indestructible. However, that skill has long been lost, and even the Southern Emperor, one of the Five Greats, could not learn it. I don’t know where that boy Lu learned such a strange skill.”

He had some doubts about whether Lu Chen had obtained the fragment of the sword qi divine skill of the Dali Duan family by chance, but he felt that this guess was not very reliable: how could Lu Chen, an outsider, obtain the Duan family's divine skill, which even Emperor Duan Zhixing of the South had failed to learn?
Or perhaps, Lu Chen's "Formless Sword Finger" is just a similar skill?

Just as he was wondering, he heard Liang Ziweng say:
"Young Master Lu's 'Formless Sword Finger' is quite formidable. I wonder if Young Master Ouyang has a countermeasure?"

Ouyang Ke said confidently:

"The sword energy emitted by his Formless Sword Finger is only an inch long. It can still be quite fierce because it is unexpected. But now that I have used it once, I will definitely be able to defeat him next time we fight."

He believed he had seen through Lu Chen's "Formless Sword Finger" technique, but he had not yet used his trump card, the "Spirit Snake Fist".

If he were to suddenly unleash the "Snake Fist" next time they clashed, he would surely catch Lu Chen off guard.

Liang Ziweng reminded him:

"Young Master Ouyang, please do not be careless. That young Lu is extremely cunning and treacherous. When fighting Master Lingzhi, he deliberately held back, not using his sword energy, but only breaking Master Lingzhi's large handprint with his sword finger. Only when fighting you, Young Master, did he suddenly unleash his sword energy to ambush you. What if he is still hiding something, and that invisible sword energy is more than an inch long?"

Ouyang Ke frowned, but still stubbornly insisted:

"So what if his invisible sword energy can extend a foot outward? Now that we know this skill of his, how can we possibly be hit again? We just need to avoid the direction of his sword finger."

Even so, he knew in his heart that if he were to fight Lu Chen, he would have to be constantly on guard against Lu Chen's invisible sword energy, otherwise he would be restricted and his skills would be greatly diminished.

Liang Ziweng, observing Ouyang Ke's expression, knew he was in a difficult position and offered a gentle reminder with a smile:
"Perhaps we could try using hidden weapons. Lu Chen's swordsmanship is sharp, but his fist and palm skills are quite ordinary. In my humble opinion, Lu is probably the most traditional kind of swordsman, who only practices swordsmanship and has little experience in other martial arts. Therefore, when fighting him, we could suddenly use hidden weapons to catch him off guard. Medicine and poison are inseparable, and I also know a little about poisons, so using hidden weapons to poison him is no problem..."

Ouyang Ke nodded silently; he actually had the same idea.

Liang Ziweng then said:
"Young Lu's 'Formless Sword Finger' is formless and invisible, its attacks are secretive, and it can even injure people from a distance. Its power is immense, truly a divine skill. If we can defeat Young Lu, capture him alive, and interrogate him to extract the secret of the 'Formless Sword Finger'..."

Ouyang Ke was also somewhat envious of Lu Chen's Formless Sword Finger.

He only had three fingers left on his right hand, one less than the Nine-Fingered Beggar, so his fist and palm skills would definitely be greatly reduced. However, he could use his index and middle fingers to perform the "Formless Sword Finger" technique, and losing his little finger and ring finger would not affect him at all.

The key is that the posture of the Formless Sword Finger is so elegant!

It was much more elegant than his uncle's "Toad Kung Fu," and it suited a dashing young man like him perfectly.

If he could get his hands on the secret technique, he would definitely put in a lot of hard work to master it.

At that moment, Ouyang Ke smiled generously at Liang Ziweng:
"If we can truly extract the secrets of the 'Formless Sword Finger' technique, Ouyang Ke will definitely share it with Elder Liang."

Liang Ziweng was overjoyed:
"Young Master Ouyang is generous and righteous; I admire him greatly!"

After that, they put even more effort into coming up with ideas:
"This old man just watched Lu lad and Lingzhi's two battles with the young master, and I have gained some insights into his finger sword technique and footwork..."

As he spoke, Liang Ziweng stood up and demonstrated the movement techniques and sword skills that Lu Chen had used, which he had recorded from his observation. Although it was impossible to truly replicate Lu Chen's agile and swift movements, as well as the power and subtle changes in his sword techniques, since he did not know the inner workings, he could at least dissect the surface footwork rhythm and the movements of the techniques.

Ouyang Ke also demonstrated each of the moves he had memorized from his own perspective, comparing them with Liang Ziweng's demonstration. The two continued to practice, discuss, and study, attempting to dissect Lu Chen's martial arts.

At the same time, in Hanmei Garden.

In the living room, three large bowls of steaming hot snake blood were lined up on the table.

The snake blood had no fishy or foul smell at all; it only had an extremely pungent and strong medicinal smell, as if it were some kind of highly concentrated medicinal soup, rather than fresh snake blood.

“Half for each of us,” Lu Chen said.

"No, no, no, you should drink it all." Huang Rong shook her head repeatedly with a look of disgust.

“No. This precious snake blood can not only greatly increase one’s power, but also make one immune to all poisons. We have offended Ouyang Feng, so we must be wary of him using poison. Rong’er, you must drink it too.”

"Ouyang Feng is one of the Five Greats, just like my father. He shouldn't bully me because I'm younger..."

"Rong'er, you don't know the Western Poison, how do you know what kind of person he is? This matter is not open to discussion."

Lu Chen said decisively, picked up a bowl of snake blood, and handed it to Huang Rong:

"Here, this is yours."

Huang Rong pouted, took the large bowl, blinked, and said in a soft, sweet voice:
"Then you drink first, set an example for me."

"it is good!"

Lu Chen picked up a bowl of snake blood, took a deep breath, and was immediately choked by the spicy and bitter medicinal smell, causing Huang Rong to burst into laughter and her eyes crinkled with joy.

Lu Chen kept a straight face and adopted a serious expression:

"Don't laugh, be serious, you're taking your medicine."

As he spoke, he held his breath, brought the bowl to his lips, tilted his head back, and gulped it down...

In one swift motion, he drank the entire bowl of snake blood clean.

After finishing, he picked up the second bowl and was about to pour half a bowl into his own when Huang Rong said:
"This whole bowl is yours. I'll only drink one bowl at most. Otherwise, I won't drink a drop. I don't believe you can pinch my nose and force it down my throat."

Lu Chen knew that she actually wanted him to improve his skills, and moved by her sentiment, he didn't argue with her. He gently tapped his bowl against the large bowl in Huang Rong's hand.
"Alright, this bowl is mine too. Come on, let's drink this precious medicine together!"

As he spoke, his eyes were fixed intently on Huang Rong.

Helpless, Huang Rong could only frown and silently practice the "breath-holding technique" to completely hold her breath before bringing the bowl to her lips, tilting her head back, and gulping it down.

Seeing this, Lu Chen nodded in satisfaction and began to drink his second bowl in large gulps.

Soon, the two of them finished off the medicinal blood.

Lu Chen felt his tongue was numb from the pungent taste of the medicine, and even his breathing was spicy and astringent. Huang Rong quickly poured water to rinse her mouth, and after using three large bowls of mouthwash, she ran to the bedroom like the wind, took out a toothbrush and toothpaste, and started brushing her teeth.

Just as Huang Rong finished brushing her teeth and was about to brush them again, she suddenly felt a surge of heat rising in her chest and abdomen, which quickly spread throughout her body, making her feel hot all over, as if she were being roasted by several large furnaces.

Looking at Lu Chen again, one could see that his face was flushed, his forehead was sweating, and even wisps of white steam were rising from his head.

"The medicine has worked! Quickly, start practicing your skills!"

Lu Chen gave a reminder, got into a fighting stance, and began practicing the "Tendon and Bone Strengthening Technique".

Huang Rong quickly put down her toothbrush and began practicing the Yi Jin Duan Gu Technique opposite Lu Chen. As soon as they started practicing, they both felt a completely different sensation compared to their previous cultivation.

Although the effects of the Yi Jin Duan Gu Pian (易筋锻骨篇) are immediate and the feedback is obvious, regular practice is like a gentle drizzle, slowly nourishing the muscles, bones, and meridians, and the skill level increases gradually.

At this moment, a torrent of heat seemed to surge within his body, guided by the Yi Jin Duan Gu chapter, rushing and tempering his tendons, bones, and meridians, rapidly improving his physique, strengthening his tendons and bones, and expanding his meridians.

It was as if a torrential rain was falling in their dantian, with countless streams of heat surging into it and transforming into true qi, causing their power to surge forward rapidly.

Huang Rong only drank a bowl of snake blood and practiced the Yi Jin Duan Gu Pian for half an hour before she had fully digested the medicinal effects. Her body heat dissipated, and she felt cool all over, with her senses and hearing becoming much sharper.

She tried performing a set of "Falling Flower Divine Sword Palm" again, and found that some exquisite moves that she couldn't perform before due to insufficient skill, or that didn't have much power when she did perform, could now be used with ease and were no longer difficult for her.

Moreover, every move has become more agile, swift, and powerful.

"That's at least six or seven years' worth of skill!"

Huang Rong looked at Lu Chen with excitement.

Lu Chen hadn't finished refining yet and was still practicing the Yi Jin Duan Gu chapter, so Huang Rong patiently accompanied him in his practice.

Another half hour passed, and Lu Chen finally finished refining. He laughed and used his index and middle fingers to make a sword-like gesture. He then chopped at the corner of the table. With his fingertip still three inches away from the corner, the table corner fell off with a snap. The cut was as smooth as a mirror, as if it had been cut by a sharp sword.

Huang Rong's eyes lit up:
"Your sword aura can now strike three inches?"

Lu Chen nodded and smiled:

"Not bad. I've been working hard every day recently, diligently practicing the 'Tendon Changing and Bone Strengthening Technique,' and my sword aura skills have already improved significantly. Today, after drinking the precious snake's blood, my power has increased even further, and my sword aura can now barely reach three inches!"

Huang Rong was first delighted, then pouted and said:

"If I had known the precious snake's blood was so useful, I wouldn't have drunk it. If you had drunk all three bowls of blood, wouldn't your sword's edge have been able to strike four or five inches deeper?"

Lu Chen smiled faintly:
"It won't go that far. Even if you give me three bowls of blood, I'm afraid it will only go four inches at most."

Seeing that Huang Rong still looked regretful, Lu Chen smiled and said:

"The flesh of that precious snake should also have some effect, just like the flesh of the Bodhi snake. If we eat that big snake, our power should increase even more."

Hearing him say that, Huang Rong stopped worrying and said with a smile:

"I'm so tired of eating snake meat every day at Brother Diao's place!"

Just then, a heart-wrenching scream faintly came from outside:

"My precious serpent..."

Yes, that's Liang Ziweng's voice.

He spent half the night discussing with Ouyang Ke how to target Lu Chen, and Ouyang Ke promised to introduce him to Ouyang Feng. He returned home excitedly, only to find that his precious snake, which he had raised for twenty years, had disappeared. He immediately couldn't help but scream in despair.

It was the dead of night, and the Prince's mansion was completely silent. His skill was also quite profound, so his scream carried far and wide. Naturally, all the guests of the Prince's mansion who lived in the vicinity heard his scream.

Before I could figure out what was wrong with Lao Liang in the middle of the night, I heard him scream again:

"Damn it! Which bastard stole my precious snake!"

"Old Liang, what are you yelling about?"

The hot-tempered Hou Tonghai stepped out of the house and shouted across the distance:
"The neighbors are still sleeping. You're disturbing their sweet dreams in the middle of the night. Can't you even be a human being?"

However, his voice was louder than Liang Ziweng's, and he alerted almost half of the Prince's mansion.

"My precious snake! Who stole my precious snake?"

With bloodshot eyes, Liang Ziweng rushed out of Cangbai Courtyard and headed towards Qingsong Courtyard, where his fellow disciples Sha Tongtian and Hou Tonghai lived. "You, surnamed Hou, are the first to answer. Are you feeling guilty? Did you steal my snake?"

Hou Tonghai spoke with righteous indignation:

"What nonsense are you spouting? What kind of bullshit snake is this? I've never even heard of it..."

Liang Ziweng had almost lost his mind at this point, and he was unwilling to listen to his explanation.

He rushed straight into the Green Pine Garden, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Give me back my precious snake!"

He then lunged at Hou Tonghai, attacking him with punches and kicks.

Among the retainers of the Prince's mansion, Hou Tonghai was the weakest in martial arts, relying entirely on his senior brother to hold him up. Faced with Liang Ziweng's frenzied attacks, Hou Tonghai could only withstand about ten moves before he was unable to defend himself and quickly summoned his senior brother:

"Senior brother, please help me!"

Ghost Gate Dragon King Sha Tongtian shouted in a low voice:
"Old Liang, you've gone too far! My fellow disciples have never even seen your so-called 'treasure snake'!"

As he spoke, he leaped into the arena, parried a move from Liang Ziweng for Hou Tonghai, and began a fierce, tumbling battle with Liang Ziweng.

The group was shouting and fighting, which alerted the guests.

Ouyang Ke, who had just become acquainted with Liang Ziweng, was the first to arrive at Qingsong Garden with several concubines in white. Peng Lianhu, who was also on good terms with Sha Tongtian and Hou Tonghai, also arrived quickly.

Master Lingzhi hurriedly put on his monk's robe and came over with a pair of large bronze cymbals to watch the excitement. Lu Chen and Huang Rong also came, and they stayed with a few guards from the Prince's Mansion who had rushed over after hearing the commotion, watching Sha Tongtian fight Liang Ziweng.

Just as I was enjoying watching it...

After a fierce battle with Sha Tongtian for over a hundred moves, Liang Ziweng, who had gradually regained some of his composure, suddenly caught a whiff of medicinal scent—he was an expert in medicine and extremely sensitive to its aroma. At this moment, smelling a very faint medicinal scent, he immediately felt it was strangely familiar; it seemed to be the scent of his precious snake.

Liang Ziweng's spirits lifted, and a relentless attack temporarily forced Sha Tongtian back. He then said to Sha Tongtian, "Wait!" before withdrawing from the battle. He took a deep breath, pinpointed the source of the medicinal scent, and glared fiercely at Lu Chen and Huang Rong.

"It's you!"

Seeing Liang Ziweng's murderous gaze, Lu Chen frankly admitted:

"We did indeed eat a snake that was entirely crimson. Could that be Elder Liang's treasured snake?"

"what?"

Liang Ziweng felt dizzy:
"You...you ate my snake?"

Lu Chen sighed:

“We were sitting inside the house when the snake crawled up to the door by itself. We thought it was a wild snake, and it smelled so good that we couldn’t resist killing and eating it.”

With a sliver of hope, Liang Ziweng asked:
"What about the snake blood? Is the snake blood still there?"

He thought to himself that people usually only eat the meat of snakes and discard the blood. But with his precious snake, the meat was secondary; as long as the blood was still there, he could preserve most of the hard work he had put in over twenty years.

"Snake blood?" Lu Chen said with a pained expression, "I'm so sorry, Elder Liang, the snake blood was made into spicy blood curd and put in hot pot. It was so delicious that we couldn't resist and ate it all..."

"Mao Xue Wang..."

Liang Ziweng swayed, his mind went blank, and his vision went black.

In a daze, he felt a subtle sense of "divine justice prevails, and retribution is inevitable"—

He had just discussed with Ouyang Ke how to target Lu Chen, suggesting using poisoned hidden weapons, helping Ouyang Ke dismantle Lu Chen's martial arts, and even plotting to seize his "Formless Sword Finger," when unexpectedly Lu Chen ate his snake the very next day...

Isn't this retribution?

But he quickly dismissed the thought, his eyes red as he glared at Lu Chen and roared furiously:

"Nonsense, utter nonsense! My precious snake may not hibernate, but it doesn't run around in winter either, so how could it have crawled to your dwelling?"

Hou Tonghai had just been beaten up by Liang Ziweng without any explanation. Although he wasn't injured, he was still extremely unhappy. Hearing this, he crossed his arms and sneered:

"If it doesn't hibernate in winter, your snake must not be a proper snake. If it's not a proper snake, then maybe it thought your house was too stuffy and old-fashioned, so it wanted to move to another place. It just happened to crawl into the courtyard where Little White Dragon and Little Sword Demon lived, and unfortunately, they mistook it for a wild snake and ate it. What's so impossible about that?"
"Besides, it's just a small snake, what's so great about it? Old Liang, you're decades old, your hair and beard are all white, is it worth arguing with two young people over such a small matter? Do you have any of the demeanor of a martial arts senior?"

"Here's what we'll say, to be fair, let's just forget about that damned snake. When spring comes and the snake comes out of its hole, I'll have Little White Dragon catch a hundred or so decent snakes to compensate you. Be generous, don't let the younger generation laugh at you."

"you……"

Liang Ziweng was already furious, but he was also wary of Lu Chen's martial arts skills and dared not act rashly. He had nowhere to vent his anger, and when he heard Hou Tonghai's nonsense, he was so enraged that he convulsed and fell to the ground with a thud.

Seeing him lying on the ground foaming at the mouth, his eyes rolled back, and his cheeks twitching uncontrollably, Hou Tonghai clapped his hands and let out a strange cry:
"Oh no, Old Liang has had a stroke!"

Yes, Lao Hou wasn't mistaken. Liang Ziweng didn't faint from anger; he actually suffered a stroke from it.

Lu Chen blinked:
So, my buddy sank one of the F4 generals of the Great Jin Kingdom without even making a move?

Well, Third Master Hou also provided some assistance, so he deserves some credit too...

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(End of this chapter)