Wang Yu: Why Don't You Ask Me?

Yang Weiming did not lead them to the Hall of Inquiring Swords, bringing them instead to a small courtyard at the rear. The moment Wang Yu stepped through the door, he felt the air drop several degrees. Looking inside, he saw neither Liu Wuchen, Fang Shaobai, nor any of the other five disciples. Aside from Yan Xiangxue and Ardai, only two elderly men were in the room. One had grizzled gray hair and beard, with sharp, imposing features that naturally commanded awe. When his gaze swept past, it struck like lightning, seeming to pierce straight into the depths of everyone's hearts. The other elder was tall with hair entirely white, yet his complexion was ruddy and radiant with vitality. He appeared even younger than the first, and wore a genial, beaming smile that made him look thoroughly kind and approachable. Wang Yu silently guessed that these two must be Ling Feiyun and Gu Nanfeng. Then he watched Yang Weiming bow respectfully. "Master-Ancestor, Master, Mr. Sun and Prince Zhao have arrived." *Hiss—* None of them had expected that this smiling, gentle-looking old man was the very ruthless legend who had swept through the martial world seventy years ago, wresting away the personal swords of the sect leaders of all Seven Great Sword Sects. Sun Wenzhu straightened his posture involuntarily, and Wang Yu's breath softened a fraction. The grizzled elder glanced toward the tall elder. The tall elder looked the newcomers up and down with two sweeps of his gaze, chuckling softly. "Every generation of the jianghu brings forth new talent. Excellent, excellent." Everyone bowed in unison. "Greetings, Senior Ye!" Ye Tianlin cast a brief glance at Qianqian without speaking, then turned his gaze upon Sun Wenzhu. "I hear Mr. Sun hails from Huichun Valley and has come to Mount Tianshan in search of a snow lotus." Sun Wenzhu nodded. "That is correct." Ye Tianlin said, "Mr. Sun seeks spirit herbs along his travels through fair trades, curing ailments and healing injuries in exchange for whatever spirit herbs the other party possesses." Sun Wenzhu said, "Indeed." Ye Tianlin nodded. "Miss Yan took a palm strike from Shi Mo of the Black Qiang, and the White Bone palm force has penetrated deep into her marrow. Please examine her and see if there is any cure." Yan Xiangxue could not help chuckling. "I am already eighty-three." Ye Tianlin laughed as well. "Even if you were ninety-three, before me you would still be a young lass." Sun Wenzhu did not smile. Without a word, he stepped forward, took a seat beside Yan Xiangxue, and said, "If you please." "Much obliged." Yan Xiangxue extended her wrist, allowing Sun Wenzhu to take her pulse. The entire room fell silent. Sun Wenzhu closed his eyes slightly, listening for a moment before having Yan Xiangxue switch to her other hand. After listening for another moment, he finally opened his eyes. His expression remained impassive, but Ardai beside him could hardly contain herself. "How is it?" Sun Wenzhu shook his head. "I cannot cure it." Ye Tianlin and Ling Feiyun showed no change in expression; clearly, Sun Wenzhu's answer did not catch them off guard. The light in Ardai's eyes dimmed, and her eyes reddened. Then everyone heard Sun Wenzhu continue, "However, I can suppress Senior Yan's injuries and prolong her life by one year. Within that year, if an expert skilled in cultivating water-fire internal force—or better yet, ice-fire internal force—can be found, the palm force rooted in her marrow can be extracted." "Eh?" Ardai's eyes immediately brightened. A faint smile appeared at the corners of Ye Tianlin's mouth. "Could Mr. Sun elaborate?" Sun Wenzhu nodded. "Senior Yan's internal force is cold as ice and chill as snow, representing the peak of ice and snow internal arts. Though severely injured by Shi Mo's White Bone palm force, throwing her inner breath into disorder, her power has actually grown more potent. "At present, that White Bone palm force has invaded her organs and bone marrow, thoroughly mingled with Senior Yan's inner breath. The stronger Senior Yan's inner breath becomes, the fiercer Shi Mo's White Bone palm force turns. "While Senior Ye's martial prowess reaches the realm of creation itself, the internal arts of the Tianshan lineage also belong to the cold ice branch. While it can help Senior Yan smooth her inner breath, the fact that both share the same cold ice attribute prevents it from isolating and expelling the White Bone palm force. "Under such circumstances, an attempt to heal Senior Yan would seem helpful on the surface, but in truth it would only feed the palm force's virulence. What appears to be saving her would actually harm her, causing Senior Yan to perish all the faster. "However, one who cultivates water-fire internal force is entirely different. Fire rests within water, and water is harbored within fire. Using gentle water-attribute internal force as an outer conduit, one can smooth Senior Yan's inner breath straight into her organs and marrow, before infiltrating with fiery power to sever the White Bone palm force from Senior Yan's true qi." Sun Wenzhu concluded, "Only in this manner can the White Bone palm force be thoroughly uprooted. "While I possess no such ability myself, I have a stalk of Three-Leaf Dragon Whisker Ginseng that can be refined into a medicinal pill. It will suppress Senior Yan's inner breath along with the sinister palm force within her. Provided Senior Yan does not mobilize her true qi, it will guarantee one year of safety," Sun Wenzhu added. After hearing Sun Wenzhu's explanation, Ye Tianlin nodded in praise. "Mr. Sun is truly a miraculous physician of national renown." Ardai clutched Yan Xiangxue's hand, her face beaming with joy. "Master, Master! You can be saved!" Yan Xiangxue smiled and nodded, yet there was little true joy in her eyes. Ling Feiyun voiced what lay behind that reserve. "Though Mr. Sun can temporarily suppress Sister Yan's injuries, where under heaven are we to find an expert who has simultaneously cultivated both water and fire internal force?" Silence fell over the room. In the martial world, practitioners of water-attribute internal arts and fire-attribute internal arts were hardly scarce, but mastering both water and fire at once was far harder than pursuing either alone. Common knowledge in the jianghu dictated that ordinary martial artists practiced only a single internal art. Aside from standard advanced progressions, switching techniques when the elemental attributes differed too drastically often required completely dissolving one's former internal force. What Sun Wenzhu referred to was not practicing two separate arts side by side, but rather cultivating both water and fire within a single technique. Any art capable of reconciling water and fire would be hailed as a divine skill and peerless art anywhere under the heavens. Those who could cultivate such power would never remain obscure figures. Even so, cultivating this kind of art demanded absolute caution. The slightest misstep could spark a clash between water and fire, leading at best to coughing blood and injury, at worst to qi deviation, and if worse still, an immediate reset on one's life. Thus, while such techniques and practitioners had appeared throughout the history of the jianghu, they had almost never managed a stable, lasting transmission. Most lineages boasted no more than two or three practitioners, only to vanish into the churning waves of the martial world after a couple of generations. Yang Weiming suddenly spoke up. "Years ago when I traveled to the Central Plains, I heard tell of an expert in Jiangnan who practiced the Cold Ice Fierce Fire Palm. That person certainly cultivated both water and fire simultaneously." Sun Wenzhu picked up the thread. "By the time I entered the martial world, that expert had already fallen at the hands of the Young Manor Lord of Yulong Villa. Whether he left behind any successor remains unknown, but none has shown themselves in the jianghu." Ardai asked curiously, "Master, when you were introducing the Seven Great Sword Sects to me earlier, didn't you mention that the Qingyang Sect practices the Five Elements Sword Techniques? Don't the five elements include water and fire?" Yan Xiangxue shook her head. "What the Qingyang Sect practices are the Five Elements Sword Techniques, drawing upon the conceptual intent of the five elements. But their internal force follows a neutral, balanced path, not distinct elemental divisions." Yang Weiming pondered for a moment, glanced toward Ling Feiyun, and seemed to hesitate on the verge of speaking. "Say whatever is on your mind," Ling Feiyun said. Yang Weiming hesitated before replying, "Setting aside those techniques created by exceptional geniuses down through the generations, there is actually one sect whose heritage has been handed down in an unbroken line, and their very legacy is the dual cultivation of water and fire—" Ling Feiyun said coolly, "The Kanli Sect does indeed cultivate water and fire together, but its disciples conceal their tracks and hide away from the martial world. Where do you propose to find them?" Yang Weiming fell silent. Ardai pressed anxiously, "Since it is a sect, doesn't it have a mountain gate? Besides, I can have Father send people into the Central Plains to search!" Yan Xiangxue pressed a hand down on Ardai's, shaking her head. "Even if we found someone from the Kanli Sect, I would not allow them to treat me." Ardai asked in bewilderment, "Why?" Yan Xiangxue replied, "Because the Kanli Sect is an offshoot of the Demonic Cult. It is split into internal dual cultivation and external dual cultivation. Internal dual cultivation balances the yin and yang, kan and li, within one's own body, seeking to make oneself a universe unto itself. Regrettably, that branch has always been sparsely populated—reputedly passed down through a single lineage per generation, rarely emerging into the mortal realm. Whether they have any successor left today is entirely unknown. "The other branch of external dual cultivation has more adherents, but they fell into depravity because of it. Martial artists call them the Sect of Plucking and Replenishing. Its disciples pluck Yin to nourish Yang, harmonizing water and fire. If I must let someone like that treat me, I would rather die." "Ah!" Ardai gasped in horror. "Wouldn't that make them defilers?" Yan Xiangxue nodded. "Defilers, precisely." Yang Weiming kept his head lowered, not daring to speak. His knowledge of the Kanli Sect had originally come from his master. If he could think of it, how could his master not have? The reason his master had not brought it up was simply because it was unfeasible. Practitioners of the orthodox Kanli branch could not be found, and as for the vile Plucking and Replenishing branch, they would never deign to use them. Ye Tianlin turned to Sun Wenzhu. "In that case, we must trouble Mr. Sun to act. This old man is willing to offer two Tianshan snow lotuses as compensation." Sun Wenzhu waved his hands repeatedly. "I will be using a living ginseng, and at most I will slice off a fourth of it, which can be regrown later. A single snow lotus is more than sufficient." Sun Wenzhu said firmly, "My single pill is worth only one snow lotus." Ye Tianlin's eyes filled with approval, and he nodded with a smile. "Very well." "Then I shall trouble Mr. Sun," Yan Xiangxue said with a smile. "To live another year is always a blessing. It will grant me time to arrange my affairs." Ardai cried sorrowfully, "Master—" Yan Xiangxue held Ardai's hand, turning to Ye Tianlin and Ling Feiyun. "This child is half Han by blood, and I have taught her much of Central Plains culture. In truth, she resembles the Han far more than the Qiang. "The Black Qiang King has continually sought to take Ardai as a bride for his son. While I am here, I can still refuse him. But once I am gone, none among the White Qiang can stand against them, and Shi Mo could easily abduct her." Ye Tianlin understood her unspoken request and agreed, "Let her enter Mount Tianshan. Nanfeng can take her as his final disciple." Overjoyed, Yan Xiangxue pulled Ardai down to kneel before Ye Tianlin. "Quickly, kowtow to Sect Leader Ye in gratitude!" Ye Tianlin allowed Ardai to kowtow three times before waving his sleeve, gently lifting the young woman upright through the air. With matters reaching this point, virtually everything for the future had been settled. Wang Yu stood there somewhat bewildered. It seemed there was nothing for him to do here at all? Then he saw Yan Xiangxue turn toward him. "To meet the Prince of Zhenxi on this occasion is truly fortunate. This old woman happens to have a favor to ask." Wang Yu nodded. "Please, speak your mind." Though she had noticed that the expressions on Wang Yu and the two women beside him had turned rather strange after Sun Wenzhu finished speaking, Yan Xiangxue had not thought much of it, assuming they merely felt awkward learning that her days were numbered. "The White Qiang has no desire to make enemies of the Central Plains, yet once this old woman is gone, it will be hard to resist the pressure from the Black Qiang," Yan Xiangxue said. "I intend to have the White Qiang King shift our territory another hundred li south, forming a mutually supportive pincer formation with Lingwu Pass. Should the Black Qiang advance their troops, I ask that Your Highness harbor no suspicion, but lend the White Qiang a helping hand." Only then did Wang Yu realize the truth. No wonder they had allowed him to sit in and hear so many sensitive confidences—it was all to earn his trust. Meeting Yan Xiangxue's earnest gaze and seeing Ardai's aggrieved, pitiful expression, Wang Yu smiled. "I naturally trust Senior. But once Senior has passed away, can I place my trust in your successor?" Yan Xiangxue replied at once, "Of course you can. My disciple Gulanrena has inherited my teachings, and she is equally well-disposed toward the Han lands." Wang Yu shook his head. "I believe it would be far better for Senior herself to continue presiding over the White Qiang." Yan Xiangxue looked puzzled, and Ling Feiyun frowned slightly as well. "What if I stand as guarantor for this matter? Next month I shall descend the mountain to the White Qiang to see for myself whether this Gulanrena is dependable. Would the Prince of Zhenxi find that acceptable?" Wang Yu smiled, no longer keeping them in suspense. He pointed at himself. "Why don't any of you ask me whether I know a technique that balances ice and fire?"