Su Luo Yan had once mentioned that her younger brother died at the hands of White Chrysanthemum, struck in a vital acupoint on his back by the Ice Soul Finger, meeting an untimely death.
At first, no one knew there were multiple White Chrysanthemums. When Sun Yanqi was captured, it just so happened that his martial arts were entirely of the ice attribute, and having committed heinous crimes and attempted to violate Nan Xinlan, he was naturally taken to be the killer.
Although Tiemole had later appeared, that man possessed a fiercely rigid martial art and did not know the Ice Soul Finger, so Su Luo Yan had still remained convinced that Sun Yanqi had to be White Chrysanthemum.
Now, an artifact from the Ten-Thousand-Year Fox House had been found on Wen Ducheng, and this man was also adept in the divine Ice Soul Finger art; he was undoubtedly the murderer.
Monk Xuan Gang took out a jade pendant, placed it on the table, and said, "Return this to Chess-Sword Linglong."
Wang Chong took the item and fell silent for a long time. The jianghu was fraught with tempestuous perils; even Su Luo Yan's younger brother, with his formidable martial arts, had been unable to escape intact.
Where could a youth ever grow old in the jianghu? One step into the jianghu, and the years hasten by!
And that "hastening" did not merely mean the rush of time—sometimes, it was sheer heartbreak.
Wen Ducheng had risen to fame in his youth, ranking fourth among the Thirty-Six Divine Generals of the eighteen grassland tribes. Yet had he not stirred up trouble for no reason and insisted on killing Su Luo Yan's brother, suffering severe injuries in the process, he would not have met this calamity and lost his life outside Pengshan County.
Wang Chong sighed softly and said, "Thank you, Master."
Monk Xuan Gang suddenly said, "From now on, you had better call me Senior Brother."
Wang Chong simply did not want their relationship to become that of martial brothers—he did not want anyone calling him "Xuan De."
Smoothly changing the subject, Wang Chong asked, "Master, you have been in closed seclusion for several days. How has your cultivation of the Diamond Prajna Palm Strength progressed?"
The monk Xuan Gang chuckled and replied, "I've reached thirty to forty percent mastery and can now unleash two layers of palm force."
Wang Chong looked astounded and cried, "You've been in closed seclusion for several days, and you can only unleash two layers of palm force?"
Xuan Gang retorted petulantly, "And how many layers do you think would be appropriate?"
Wang Chong answered, not quite certain, "At least six or seven layers, shouldn't it be?"
Xuan Gang's expression darkened considerably as he said, "Tiemole practiced this palm technique for twenty to thirty years, yet he could only produce five or six layers of palm energy. In just a few days, I have already managed to unleash the second layer of palm force—that is proof of my profound foundation and heaven-sent talent! How many layers of palm force can you unleash right now?"
Wang Chong hesitated for a moment, thinking to himself, *About five or six layers sounds reasonable; I can't look worse than Tiemole, can I?* He then answered, "Probably on par with Tiemole."
Xuan Gang was utterly unconvinced and said, "Let's clash palms and see."
Wang Chong still grounded himself in the Nine-Headed Dragon King Aspect Dhyana Art and struck out with a Diamond Prajna Palm. However, to spare Xuan Gang any embarrassment, he deliberately held back twenty to thirty percent of his power. Xuan Gang likewise struck out with a palm. As their palms met in a head-on clash, Wang Chong could not hold his ground and was forced back seven or eight paces, using the momentum to bleed off most of the force.
Monk Xuan Gang was profoundly astonished. When they had clashed last time, Wang Chong's internal force had been slightly inferior to his. This time, while it was still slightly inferior, the gap had noticeably narrowed. More importantly, the palm force Wang Chong unleashed was indeed over five layers; the sixth wave was faint and indistinct, clearly a sign that it was "not yet fully mastered." As for the blazing fiery energy contained within the palm strike, Xuan Gang thought little of it—after all, Wang Chong cultivated Wudang's Pure Yang Art.
Xuan Gang withdrew his palm force and said, "What method did you use to unleash five layers of palm force in a single breath? Although these five layers were somewhat disjointed and full of flaws, it can indeed be considered mastered."
Wang Chong replied sheepishly, "I don't really know either. I just casually practiced a bit, and it happened."
He naturally knew that his palm force had not truly been flawed; rather, lacking experience, he had not known how to keep the palm force seamless and impregnable while holding back.
Wang Chong could also sense that Xuan Gang's Diamond Prajna Palm differed from his own. Like him, Xuan Gang had not cultivated the Diamond Prajna Palm's mental cultivation method from scratch, instead driving the palm energy with his own internal force. His two layers of palm force were as dense and ponderous as thunder, fierce and tempestuous—differing not only from the palm force Wang Chong had mastered, but also from Tiemole's and Nalihai's.
Xuan Gang was at a loss for words! What did he mean by, "I don't really know either. I just casually practiced a bit, and it happened"?
That was simply not something a human being would say!
Utterly infuriating.
Xuan Gang casually asked a few questions regarding the cultivation of the Diamond Prajna Palm. Wang Chong answered with a few remarks and brought up some points of confusion as well. Both possessed extraordinary natural talent. Xuan Gang had practiced martial arts for years, boasting rich jianghu experience and vast knowledge, while Wang Chong possessed the breadth of two lifetimes, his mind open to unconventional ideas. Through this exchange, both gained valuable insights, feeling that their shortcomings had been addressed and that their martial arts had advanced considerably.
Wang Chong had always felt that the first variation of the Nine-Headed Dragon King Aspect Diamond Prajna Palm was rather useless. But during the battle with Wen Ducheng, the technique's astonishingly rapid gathering of force and its effectiveness in finishing off an opponent had sparked his interest. During his discussion of martial arts with Xuan Gang, the monk had indeed offered several perspectives that enlightened him, refining his ideas until a brand-new variation of the technique gradually took shape.
Wang Chong felt he had reaped enormous rewards. After arranging to have dinner with Xuan Gang, he took advantage of the night to leave Pengshan County once more, seeking out a deserted patch of woods to drill the new technique. He tested the dozen or so methods he had conceived, weeding out the inferior ones to keep only the best. Though the Diamond Prajna Palm originally had its own accompanying stances, Wang Chong felt they did not harmonize with his newly created palm style. He retained only the method of circulating force, taking the Wind-Cloud Hundred Styles and the Plucking Flower and Leaf Hand as his foundation to develop eighteen palm stances of his own.
To be honest, calling it creating stances was a bit of a stretch; Wang Chong had simply selected suitable movements from what he had learned and slightly modified them.
After testing a few moves, Wang Chong gained another new insight: if executed while standing still, the technique's power had its limits, but if combined with a lightness skill, it would undergo an earth-shattering transformation.
The more he thought about it, the more excited he became. Executing the Riding Clouds and Treading Wind lightness skill, he sprinted around the deserted woods, repeatedly striking the large trees beside him with his palms. A continuous series of cracks and snaps echoed along his path as tree after tree snapped and collapsed.
By the time his true qi was mostly depleted, Wang Chong came to a halt and looked back. Seeing that at least thirty to forty large trees had been snapped by his palm force, he could not help feeling a twinge of guilt, yet joy welled up within him as he thought, *With these refinements, the strike is seventy percent faster and the palm force is twenty percent heavier. In a clash of palms, relying on how remarkably fast it gathers force, I will surely hold a massive advantage.*
"This technique shall be called..."
"Nine-Headed Dragon King Aspect, Diamond Prajna Palm Strength, Eighteen Flying Dragon Styles!"
Even though he had drawn upon the martial arts of predecessors, merely borrowing and adapting them, Wang Chong was still thrilled to have "created" a brand-new martial art. By now, the sky was growing light. Without using any lightness skill, he hummed a little tune as he strolled back toward Pengshan County.
After walking more than ten li, he suddenly heard the rhythmic clatter of hooves as several spirited steeds galloped forward, their strides shaking the earth. Gazing into the distance, he saw five or six riders spurring their mounts in wild flight. The group in front was being pursued by a lone rider who held a large bow and loosed feather-fletched arrows in leisurely succession. One of the fleeing men made a momentary slip, reacting just a beat too slowly to parry an incoming arrow; it struck him squarely in the left arm. Crying out in agony, he tumbled from his horse.
...Mo Yuncong: I must say, the one who killed me wasn't Wen Ducheng...
...Diamond Prajna Palm: What on earth has my perfectly good, fierce palm technique been turned into...
...Nameless Rider: I was just shot—does nobody care? I have at least three chapters of scenes ahead of me...
Chapter 58