Chapter 196: Lost Face

Fang Fengyi's eyes gleamed with excitement as he stepped aside; he loved watching women fight the most.

When visiting brothels, he also loved using money to make two courtesans quarrel and fight.

In his view, women's struggles gave him the feeling of watching a spectacle and a joke.

Seeing the two women assume martial arts stances, he nearly laughed out loud.

To him, it was all just putting on an act.

Fortunately, his control over his expression was masterful; he merely lifted the corner of his mouth slightly, unseen by anyone.

At that moment, Hong Luan also raised her palms into the shape of tiger claws.

Fang Yongwei saw this, raised her delicate eyebrows, and asked, "Bai Hu Reversal Stance?"

This was very "common" martial arts of the Jianghu, common enough that even small families with some lineage would learn it.

Immediately after, her expression relaxed considerably.

After all, she was quite familiar with the "mainstream" fist technique known as the Bai Hu Reversal Stance.

This made her even more confident.

But a second later, her face changed.

Whoosh!

Hong Luan struck with a palm, coming from above down, just like a cat's paw swipe.

Fang Yongwei instinctively dodged, but then her eyes widened, because while Hong Luan's hand-raising motion looked slow, the moment the claw came down, the speed was incredibly fast.

Although she dodged backward, those white, tender fingertips swept down almost brushing the hair on her forehead.

Fang Yongwei felt something sharp like claws falling right in front of her.

Her body hair stood on end; she quickly retreated two steps, preparing to withdraw further before counterattacking.

But Hong Luan was also very fast, almost synchronously pressing forward.

Another palm came down with a whoosh.

Fang Yongwei raised her hand to block; the two exchanged several blows with a pat-pat-pat sound, and Fang Yongwei retreated repeatedly.

She felt her hands being struck like by iron hammers, and immediately her heart was filled with shock.

How could those soft, tender hands be so hard?

After blocking a few more times, she retreated several more steps, and at the same time, her hands seemed to have lost all strength.

At that moment, Hong Luan struck down with a palm; Fang Yongwei could no longer block. Seeing the palm come down with a whoosh, she instinctively closed her eyes.

A pure white palm stopped above her head; the palm wind blew Fang Yongwei's hair into a complete mess.

She instinctively took another step back, but her center of gravity became unstable, and she plopped down onto the ground.

Hong Luan looked at her opponent, her eyes wide open.

How could she be so... weak!

Then she realized what had happened, immediately stepped forward, and helped Fang Yongwei up: "Young Lady Fang, are you alright?"

Fang Yongwei stood up and looked at Hong Luan in surprise: "You... how long have you been practicing this fist technique?"

"About four months, I suppose."

"You never practiced before?"

"Before, I was just a maid; how could I practice martial arts?" Hong Luan said with a smile. "Only after becoming the personal maid of the Young Lady and being given to my husband did I receive his instruction."

"Four months..." Fang Yongwei's expression went blank. "I entered the Tianyi Sect at age five; it has already been ten years!"

The others also wore surprised expressions; especially Huang Ying, who stood nearby, thinking of something, looking very excited.

Huang Qing smiled and said, "Young Sister Fang practices with weapons, right? We are just good at fist techniques; we only learned the bare basics of swordsmanship."

Fang Yongwei forced a difficult smile.

She could understand that she had truly lost, and it wasn't a matter of the fist technique.

Her opponent's overall physical quality far exceeded her own.

Practicing a fist technique for less than half a year and being able to beat her into this state with just a few punches; if she had a sword, she would have even less hope.

"How did you cultivate your blood qi!" Fang Yongwei was not someone who couldn't accept defeat; she straightened her body and asked curiously, "I have practiced martial arts for ten years, yet my blood qi seems inferior to yours."

Huang Qing and Hong Luan both looked somewhat awkward.

How to say it?

There were two men here; how could they say it?

Huang Qing's gaze subtly swept over the two men present.

This movement was noticed by the Eldest Lady Huang.

She immediately said, "Ying'er, take Young Master Fang outside for a stroll."

Huang Ying was somewhat reluctant to leave, but he could not disobey his mother's words, so he could only take Fang Fengyi and leave.

After the two men left through the moon-shaped archway, the Eldest Lady Huang said with a smile, "Now we can speak... when did Hong Luan cultivate such martial arts?"

Hong Luan was someone she had watched grow up; she knew her inside and out.

"It was taught by my husband," Hong Luan said with a smile.

"Moves can be learned in a short time, but blood qi is not so easy to cultivate," Fang Yongwei said with a probing look in her eyes. "Although I am at the bottom among my senior and junior brothers, regardless, I have practiced martial arts for ten years, yet I am no match for you in a few months; how exactly did you cultivate it?"

Hong Luan turned her gaze to Huang Qing, carrying a question.

Huang Qing's face turned slightly red.

The Eldest Lady Huang laughed, "We are all family; speak up, don't be shy."

After a while, Huang Qing said, "Dual Cultivation Art!"

The air fell silent.

Huang Ling was the first to react; she angrily stood up and snorted, "Shameless."

Then she left.

Huang Diniang, having been through it herself, nodded and smiled: "I have also heard of this supreme art. I never expected your husband to know it. I suppose the reason your skin is so smooth and beautiful must be the merit of the Dual Cultivation Art."

Huang Qing nodded lightly.

Fang Yongwei exclaimed: "I thought this was just a rumor... This is the supreme art of the Ding family of Gui Commandery. How does your husband know it?"

"He exchanged it for another supreme art."

Fang Yongwei nodded lightly, then said with some longing: "Then it seems I must also find a man who knows the Dual Cultivation Art before I marry."

Huang Diniang laughed: "Sister Fang, your marriage is not something you can decide for yourself."

Fang Yongwei's expression dimmed, and she sighed lightly.

Although she was merely a concubine-born daughter of the Fang family, she still had 'value'.

Her greatest purpose was to be used to form marriage alliances with talented sons of poor families.

This time, coming to the Huang family with her brother was actually to convey a message to the Huang family: The Fang family has a daughter who has just grown up; do you Huang family have any clan sons who wish to marry? We can introduce each other.

That was roughly the meaning.

Huang Qing looked at Fang Yongwei, with some sympathy in her eyes.

She too was a concubine-born daughter, except she was more favored and had found her beloved.

There was even some luck involved in this.

After all, her father's initial idea was to marry her younger sister to Li Lin.

It was just that her younger sister did not take a fancy to Li Lin, and Li Lin preferred women with a figure like hers anyway.

Thinking back now, she even felt a bit of fear.

If either of the two of them had so much as cast a favorable glance at the other, it would not have been up to her, Huang Qing, to marry the current official.

Huang Qing loved her younger sister Huang Ling very much, but when it came to Li Lin, she would absolutely not yield him to her.

At this moment, Huang Diniang stood up and said with a smile: "You three chat for now; I will go to the room to find something."

She returned to the main hall and saw her husband Huang Yan had just come back.

She walked over and asked: "What is wrong with you today, coming back so early!"

"I heard Xiner had returned, so I came back a bit earlier."

"Did you meet the son-in-law? Where is he now?"

"He is chatting with Ying'er and the others in the front hall." Huang Yan asked somewhat strangely: "Shouldn't you all be discussing matters? Why have you all separated? Did Ling'er and the Fang family boy not take a fancy to each other?"

"No, it is that the Fang family's younger sister was shamed by Hongluan."

"What happened?"

Immediately, Huang Diniang recounted the whole story.

After listening, Huang Yan said: "I have also learned about the Dual Cultivation Art. It can only slightly accelerate one's... cultivation speed. It is impossible for someone with absolutely no foundation to achieve results in less than half a year."

Huang Diniang's eyes widened slightly: "What do you mean?"

"The cultivation method the son-in-law practices has a problem... It should be a family-transmitted cultivation method. After all, it is the former Li clan of Jin Commandery; their foundation is deep."

Huang Diniang clapped her hands heavily: "What a pity. We should have been more forceful back then and made Ling'er marry Li Lin."

Huang Yan rolled his eyes at her: "Don't say such words in front of Qing'er."

"I am not stupid."

(End of this chapter)