I Have the Martial Arts Heavenly Eye in the Storm Riders

Xu Sanzui, who had been shouting from behind, felt a chill run down his spine as soon as he saw Jin's face. He turned and tried to shrink back behind the door.

But he had only moved his leg half a step when Jin was already in front of him.

This kick wasn't fancy; the lift, the delivery, and the landing were all quick and clean.

Xu Sanzui only had time to see the tip of a boot flash before his eyes before he was kicked and sent flying. Two of his front teeth broke off on the spot, and his mouth was full of blood. He rolled twice when he hit the ground, and even the folding fan in his hand flew into the incense ash.

The hall fell silent for a moment.

Jin stood still, her clothes still swaying gently, but her face was frighteningly cold.

He was usually a man of few words, but when he got into a fight, he was even more ruthless. His eyes flashed with a cold light, and the men who had just been kicked didn't even dare to cry out in pain.

Xu San covered his mouth, his hands were covered in blood, and tears welled up in his eyes from the pain, but he still struggled to get up and knelt down with a thud.

"Master, please spare my life!"

"My little dog's eyes are blind, really blind!"

He kowtowed repeatedly, pleading for mercy incoherently.

"I'm just trying to make a living, I never meant to offend you two..."

Jin looked down at him, her voice low but as if she had been pulled out of ice water.

"Using the name of the Sword Saint to swindle money, and even trying to cripple people, you've certainly got a big appetite for this."

Xu Sanzui's forehead thumped repeatedly.

"I won't do it again! I'll never do it again!"

Several thugs nearby also knelt down, scrambling backward as if they were half a beat too slow, or they would get kicked again.

Long'er stood to the side, still seething with anger. Seeing Xu San's shrugging face, she sneered.

"Weren't you so fierce just now? Now you're scared?"

Xu Sanzui looked up at him, a flash of resentment in his eyes disappearing in an instant, but he still managed a forced smile.

"Young man, please calm down, young man, please calm down..."

Jin was too lazy to look at this kind of person anymore, so he kicked the folding fan covered in incense ash on the ground at Xu Sanzui's face.

"Take your people and get out."

Xu Sanzui felt as if he had been granted a pardon and readily agreed. He didn't bother to pick up his fan and instead dragged the thugs out one by one.

The group arrived looking fierce and menacing, but left like a string of sick dogs with broken bones, stumbling and disappearing in no time.

The hall fell silent once more.

Incense ash was scattered all over the ground, the bronze incense burner rolled in the corner, and smoke was still drifting gently. Mixed with the shouting and fighting just now, it seemed to add a bit more absurdity to this farce.

Jin turned to look at Long'er, first scanning him up and down. Seeing that he was not injured, his brows relaxed a little.

"You sure know how to make a scene."

Long'er was still staring at the fake footprints on the ground, her eyes still blazing with anger, which only grew brighter.

"I can't be bothered with them swindling money, but I find it disgusting to see them plastering this kind of garbage on kendo surfaces."

After hearing this, Jin's lips twitched very slightly.

"He has quite a temper."

"Don't you also dislike it?" Long'er tilted her head to look at him.

Jin said calmly:

"Disliking someone and causing trouble as soon as you walk in are two different things."

Long'er snorted.

"Not smashing it, keeping it for the New Year?"

Jin wasn't annoyed by his retort; he simply kicked away a piece of broken wood on the ground.

"Alright, vent your anger and leave."

"From the entrance to the hall, this place is all about making a living off the dead; it gets filthy if you stay here too long."

Long'er nodded, but before leaving, she glanced down at the footprints a few more times, her eyes full of disdain.

"This is called the Sword Enlightenment Platform? What a terrible name."

The two left the main hall one after the other.

The wind in the village is still the same old wind, and the bells are still the same old bells, but after all this commotion, the sound of them has completely changed.

Xu Sanzui and his gang vanished without a trace. The once bustling shops were now half-closed. Several vendors selling commemorative swords huddled under the eaves, peering out, but when Jin's gaze swept over them, they quickly retreated.

Long'er grew increasingly annoyed and quickened her pace.

"Hurry up."

"What's the rush?" Jin followed behind, his tone unhurried.

"This godforsaken place is so annoying, I can't even look at it twice."

Jin watched him walk forward with a straight face and suddenly found it a little funny.

"You're not that old, but you have the temper of a seasoned veteran."

Long'er didn't turn her head back.

"If I were a seasoned veteran, I would have smashed that pile of junk just now."

Jin said, "You've smashed quite a bit too."

Long'er then turned around and looked at him, then suddenly asked:

"Did you feel bad about the ten taels of silver you gave me?"

Jin said, "It hurts."

Long'er was taken aback. "You gave it to me because you felt sorry for me?"

"No, you can't get in."

"Giving it to you at least lets you see for yourself what kind of rotten mud is inside."

Long'er was taken aback at first, then smiled, finally feeling a bit relieved of the tightness in her chest.

As the two talked, they reached the entrance of the village, and it looked like they would be able to leave after passing through a bamboo grove.

Just then, Jin suddenly stopped in his tracks.

It was extremely brief, as brief as the sole of a shoe lightly brushing against the ground.

But Long'er immediately sensed something was wrong and turned to look at him. "What's wrong?"

Jin remained silent, only slowly turning his gaze to a patch of bamboo shadows on his right.

The wind rustled through the treetops, causing the green bamboo to sway, and nothing seemed amiss on the surface.

But his eyes had already turned cold.

In the next instant, Jin had already darted away.

He wasn't impulsive or reckless; rather, he was as fast as a shadow suddenly pulled out of the wind, without even a word of warning, and rushed straight into the depths of the bamboo forest.

Sure enough, a figure flashed past among the bamboo shadows.

The opponent was extremely well hidden, and his lightness skill was astonishing; he originally only left a very slight sway between the bamboo tips.

If Jin hadn't spent years navigating the world and been so familiar with the feeling of being secretly watched, he might have truly slipped right past them.

"Stop right there, you cowardly creature hiding your head and tail!"

Before Jin could finish speaking, the man had already chased him into the woods.

Two figures, one in front of the other, disappeared into the depths of the bamboo forest in the blink of an eye.

Long'er's heart tightened. Without thinking twice, she immediately mustered her strength and chased after him, calling out, "Brother Jin!"

But he was a bit too slow. When he reached the middle of the woods, all he could hear was the sound of wind whipping through the bamboo, and he couldn't see any of the shadows clearly.

Further ahead, Jin became increasingly alarmed as he pursued.

The person in front showed no sign of panic, and moved with ease. He lightly touched the bamboo branch with his toes and was propelled far forward, as if he were not using any leverage but rather going with the wind.

Jin was confident in his lightness skill, but even after a relentless pursuit, he was always just a hair's breadth behind.

His eyes darkened, and he urged his feet forward, suddenly becoming much faster. His clothes brushed past the bamboo leaves, and even the sound of the wind was ripped away by him.

The person in front seemed to have noticed it as well, and paused slightly as if somewhat surprised, before suddenly changing the direction of their footing.

With just this one change, Jin knew he couldn't catch up.

The previous movement technique was already quite advanced, but this time, it was as if the whole person had turned into the wind. In the depths of the bamboo forest, only a ripple of leaves could be seen before closing up again, leaving not even the slightest trace.

Jin stopped abruptly in front of a patch of old bamboo, his chest heaving slightly, but his brows furrowed.

That's no ordinary person.

If the opponent hadn't simply dodged but had instead turned around and attacked, I might not have gained the upper hand.

He stood there and listened for a moment. The wind was still blowing all around, and there was no other sound. He had no choice but to slowly suppress his breathing.

"So fast..."

The sound was so soft that it quickly dissipated into the bamboo breeze.

Jin didn't chase after him anymore, and turned to walk back.

He hadn't walked far when he saw Long'er standing motionless in front of a patch of tangled bamboo, as if lost in thought.

This bamboo grove is different from others; the bamboo is covered with old marks, some split in the middle, with the cut surfaces as smooth as mirrors.

Some were split diagonally, with burrs curling up at the edges;

Several others looked as if they had been forcibly broken off by a blunt object, their rough cracks particularly glaring.

Long'er stared intently at the broken edge, not even noticing Jin approaching.

"Long'er?"

Jin called out.

Long'er did not respond.

The look in his eyes was strange; it didn't seem like he was in a daze, but rather as if he had been sucked into the bamboo marks.

Each break in his eyes no longer seemed to be just a break, but the trajectory of a falling sword, the momentum of a flick of the wrist, the wind stirred by the hem of his clothes when he turned around.

The bamboo shadows swayed gently, and the sunlight dappled his face, breaking and closing again.

In a daze, Long'er seemed to really see someone standing in the bamboo forest.

The man's features were not old, but his sharpness was already formidable. When he raised his sword, his thrusts, parries, slashes, and hooks still carried the youthful vigor of a young man, clean and resolute, as if he wanted to cleave the sound of the wind in the forest with each strike.

Long'er's throat bobbed slightly, and he bent down and broke off a bamboo branch.

Jin wanted to stop him, but seeing his gesture of holding the branch, he swallowed his words.

Long'er is slow to start.

When the first sword was thrust out, it was still a bit awkward, like feeling one's way across a river by touching the stones.

When the second sword was raised, the wrist became a little smoother;

By the time the third sword strike landed, his energy had gradually returned to normal.

He didn't speak or look at anyone else; he simply followed the image in his mind, walking towards it again and again.

Bamboo branches are light and cannot withstand too much force, but precisely because they are light, they are more likely to reveal problems in your hands.

Long'er's move went astray, so he immediately stopped, looked down at the broken edge, and tried again from a different angle.

Jin stood to the side, his gaze slowly changing.

At first, he thought that Long'er was attracted by the bamboo marks and wanted to try it out, but as he looked at it, he actually figured out some tricks.

Long'er wasn't just waving around randomly; he was dismantling things.

Disconnect the breath left in the mouth, dismantle the swordsman's hands, steps, shoulders, and waist when drawing the sword, and then piece it back together little by little.

This cannot be explained simply by the word "smart".

He quickly snapped a bamboo branch in two.

Long'er casually tossed it aside, broke off another one, and continued walking down.

Jin finally couldn't help but speak up.

"What did you see?"

Long'er didn't stop, only replying softly after a slash of her sword.

"sword."

"Nonsense." Jin frowned. "I can also tell it's a sword."

Long'er spun around, the bamboo branch brushing against an old bamboo stalk, creating a soft whistling sound. Her eyes shone with an alarming light.

"I saw how he drew his sword."

Even Jin fell silent after those words were spoken.

He gazed at the mottled bamboo marks around him, then at the bamboo branch in Long'er's hand, and after a long while, he finally uttered a sentence.

"Your eyes are really sinister."

Long'er ignored Jin.

Now he was completely absorbed in it, and the sounds of the wind, the bamboo, and Jin's voice outside seemed very far away.

Only the old marks, one by one, became clearer and clearer before his eyes.

As time went by, the shadows in the bamboo forest grew longer and longer.

Long'er had already changed several bamboo branches in his hand. Most of the first few were broken by himself, while the later ones broke halfway through because the branches could not withstand the increasingly sharp force.

But he still didn't feel tired.

One move after another, one style after another, at first it was just a formality, but slowly it gained momentum, and later, even the intention began to emerge.

As Jin watched, a strange, inexplicable feeling arose in his chest.

He had seen people with great talent, but he had never seen anyone with talent this exceptional.

While others can only see the surface of the remains left by their predecessors, Long'er seemed to be able to feel the bones inside directly through the cracks.

Later, Long'er suddenly stopped, stood there, her forehead covered in sweat, but her eyes were so bright they were almost burning.

"Eight Styles"

He murmured those two words as if speaking to himself.

Jin took two steps closer. "What eight styles?"

Long'er slowly raised her head, her chest still heaving, but her tone revealed an irrepressible excitement.

"I've figured out the first eight moves."

After saying that, he suddenly moved his feet again, and with a flick of the bamboo branch, the sword path immediately unfolded.

One move after another, clean, solitary, and lofty, initially carrying the stiffness of youth, but later, it truly exuded a chilling aura.

Especially when the last sword was thrust out, even though the branch didn't have any internal force attached to it, the bamboo leaves in front were still forced to lean back.

After reading it, Jin remained silent for a long time.

Long'er gathered the branches and turned around, her face covered in sweat, but for the first time, her lips curled into a wide smile.

"How is it?"

Jin looked at him, unusually refraining from immediately cutting him off. After a moment of silence, she slowly said:

"It doesn't look stolen."

Long'er was taken aback. "What do you mean, 'doesn't look like it was stolen'?"

"Like you dug yourself out of a bamboo skeleton."

The compliment was a bit awkward, but Long'er understood it, and her eyes lit up with even more joy.

"I knew it."

He looked down at the bamboo branch in his hand, then gazed into a dense forest deeper in the distance. His breathing was still unsteady, but his heart was already soaring forward.

"Not enough."

Jin asked, "Do we still need to practice?"

"Of course." Long'er gripped the bamboo stick tightly, her voice low but firm.

"There's something else in the woods; I can sense it."

Jin wanted to advise him to take a break, but seeing his appearance, she swallowed her words.

He knew that look all too well; once someone had made up their mind, no one could stop them.

"Okay." He crossed his arms and leaned to the side.

"You practice. I'll keep an eye on you."

Long'er didn't turn around, but simply raised her hand in response.

Deeper into the bamboo forest, two figures stood under the dense shade, taking in everything.

Feng Wu had been worried, but she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that Long'er was not injured.

But after the initial relief, an unconcealable tremor quickly surfaced in his eyes.

"Master, this child Long'er..."

She was halfway through her sentence when she suddenly didn't know how to continue.

Wuming stood to the side, his gaze fixed on Long'er, and even his usually calm eyes were now filled with turmoil.

The person who just fled was him.

He originally intended to lead the person into this old bamboo forest so that Long'er could see, touch, and understand on her own, but he did not expect the black-clad youth beside Long'er to react so quickly, and he did not expect that the movement technique would evoke a sense of familiarity from the past.

Following his gaze, Feng Wu looked at Jin and whispered:

"I was really startled when that kid caught up with me."

"How can someone so young have such superb lightness skills?"

After a moment of silence, Wuming slowly spoke: "Like the Wind God's Leg."

Feng Wu was taken aback.

Wuming gazed into the depths of the bamboo shadows, his voice low.

"It resembles it, but it's more than just a resemblance."

"I'm familiar with the Wind God Leg technique, but this child's movements are even more elusive, slippery, and difficult to catch."

As he spoke, his thoughts seemed to be gently tugged, drifting back to many years ago.

Twelve years ago, in order to suppress the increasingly heavy demonic nature within Nie Feng, he took Nie Feng all the way north to a bitterly cold land and secluded himself in the Ten Thousand Year Ice Cave.

Now, twelve years have passed, and the wind is nowhere to be seen, yet this child has suddenly shown such skill here, which makes one wonder.

Feng Wu whispered:

"Does the master suspect that this child is related to Nie Feng?"

Wuming did not answer immediately.

He simply looked at Jin, then at Long'er, and after a long while, a faint smile appeared on his lips.

"If it really is related, it might not be a bad thing."

Feng Wu understood the meaning behind his words, and her heart stirred slightly.

"Master, you mean to..."

Wuming raised his hand to stop her from saying anything more.

"Let's take a look first."

These two words carry a lot of weight.

Feng Wu asked no more questions and simply stood quietly to the side.

But as she looked at the boy in the woods, covered in sweat yet still refusing to stop, her eyes gradually welled up with tears.

Over the years, she has watched Long'er grow up and knows how tough this child is at heart.

But when I actually saw him holding a bamboo branch and carving out a sword path from the ruins of the forest, I felt an indescribable mix of sadness and pride.

The nameless man's gaze grew ever deeper.

Long'er's current appearance does indeed resemble that old man surnamed Dugu from the past.

It's not that they look alike, nor that their moves are similar, but rather that they possess an indomitable spirit that refuses to bow down, a determination to cleave upwards with a sword even when they know there's a precipice ahead.

"This child..."

Wuming sighed softly, but didn't finish his sentence.

Feng Wu couldn't help but turn to look at him, "Master?"

Wuming gazed at Long'er, who was practicing faster and faster in the bamboo forest, and finally said slowly:

Whether one can go far on the path of swordsmanship depends on talent and fate.

"But this talent is already frightening enough."

Feng Wu said softly, "You said back then that if Long'er could stumble in on his own, then we'd see if he had the right fate."

"Now it seems he not only broke in, but he almost tore the door down."

Upon hearing this, Wuming actually smiled.

"Yes."

His gaze fell on the bamboo branch in Long'er's hand, his eyes as deep as an old well.

"In less than half a day, he managed to glean the first eight moves from the wreckage."

"In the martial arts world, if you told anyone about this, I doubt anyone would believe you."

Feng Wu was startled by what she heard and couldn't help but look at Long Er again.

The boy in the forest was advancing his sword one by one, his clothes were soaked with sweat and his face was a little pale, but his eyes were as bright as fire, burning brighter and brighter, showing no sign of weakness.

As Wuming watched, his figure suddenly faded.

Feng Wu's heart skipped a beat. "Master, where are you going?"

The nameless man did not turn back, leaving only a very soft sentence.

"It's time to let him see something real again."