Chapter 12

"Master, you're back?"

Wang Zhao, who was mixing hay in the stables, looked at Li Rui leading the horses back and wiped his trouser legs before standing up.

He looked at Li Rui with three parts fear.

Ever since Ma Yang died, that thought had been lingering in his mind; every time he fell asleep late at night, he could hear Li Rui's voice in his dreams.

"Apprentice, apprentice~"

Master is not normal!

But he couldn't say exactly where Master was not normal.

This feeling almost drove him crazy.

"Little Zhao, I'll take care of the stables here, you go back and rest first."

Seeing his apprentice with such large dark circles under his eyes, Li Rui didn't know it was because he had deducted Wang Zhao's pay.

"Thank you, Master."

Wang Zhao responded and fled back to his room as if escaping.

Although Li Rui also noticed that Wang Zhao was not normal, he had no mind to care why Wang Zhao would be like this now.

Because he had more important things to do.

He locked the sweat-blood treasure horses of the four Zhu Yue people into the stables, shoveled the hay, and then returned to his room; everything looked no different from usual.

Li Rui once heard an old Daoist priest say.

The bigger the thing a person wants to do, the more they must behave no differently from usual; they cannot tell others what they are going to do, not even to themselves; this is called 'spirit hidden within.'

Entering the room.

He carefully closed the door and checked the doors and windows again.

After confirming that no one was peeking.

He took out the oil paper from his chest.

Li Rui could almost hear the sound of his own heartbeat.

The secret method of the Huaqing Sect must be extraordinary.

He took a deep breath, unwrapped the oil paper layer by layer, and finally a book with a somewhat yellowed cover appeared before his eyes.

On the cover, four large characters were written upright—"Bai Yuan Cloak Knife"!

Now he didn't have to spend eight taels of silver to buy techniques at the martial arts hall, and what he got was the secret method of the Huaqing Sect!

Li Rui held his breath.

It's not hard to see from the name of the technique that this is a knife technique.

Although he hadn't practiced knife techniques, he had only heard of chopping, sweeping, and lifting; what is this 'cloak knife'?

"Sword walks green, knife walks black; the knife has only one edge, and its back is thicker. When encountering an enemy, you can use the back of the knife to block hard, to wait for an opportunity to break the enemy, arriving late but first; this is called the cloak knife."

"I observed the white ape for ten years in the Daoist temple and realized this knife technique, writing a book to pass it on to future generations."

"This knife is a secret transmission; the knife intent is naturally formed, the knife momentum is like a river pouring backward, continuous; it is a superior technique for killing and cutting, not to be learned by those without a firm mind."

Li Rui recited word by word.

"Drawing the knife is easy, but sheathing the knife is hard; be cautious! Be cautious! Be cautious!"

This sentence is not a knife formula; perhaps it is the Jianghu realization of the senior who created the "Bai Yuan Cloak Knife."

Translated, it means:

Don't be brave and fierce after learning the knife technique; try not to do it if you can use your mouth; if you really draw the knife, you must do things thoroughly and leave no future trouble.

The above is Li Rui's personal understanding.

Compared to the Eight-Section Brocade, which was eighty percent small pictures, the Bai Yuan Cloak Knife was too complicated, writing tens of thousands of words; perhaps because it was realized in the Daoist temple, it was mixed with a large number of Daoist classics, obscure and difficult to understand.

"The Dao has ten thousand methods, all can obtain longevity; water has a thousand sources, all face the East Sea, all are longevity."

Li Rui had a sense of deja vu of a graduate student reading a thesis in his past life.

Fortunately, his heart is now as firm as iron, and he spent three days and three nights hard, finally gnawing through this "Bai Yuan Cloak Knife."

Now the knife technique is there, just missing a knife.

This matter is even easier to say.

Zhu family guards generally carry knives, and carry two, as a backup; Yang Yong's backup knife is almost rusted, just right to borrow and play with.

"Borrow a knife?"

When Yang Yong heard Li Rui wanted to borrow a knife, he widened his eyes: "Old Li, are you really addicted to practicing martial arts? Practicing boxing before, now practicing the knife."

Although he said so, he still took out the knife and handed it to Li Rui.

Li Rui got the knife and grinned: "Old Yang, I'll treat you to wine another day."

Yang Yong waved his hand: "No need for wine, you'd better worry about spraining your old waist first."

But thinking that during this period, Li Rui walked with wind, more energetic than him, he knew the reminder was superfluous.

With the knife, practicing the knife became a matter of course.

Worried about breaking the furniture in the room, Li Rui specifically found a remote place where no one was around.

The Eight-Section Brocade he practiced before was boxing, but it had many similarities with this Bai Yuan Cloak Knife; both walked the path of being open and close, and the Eight-Section Brocade made Li Rui's body much stronger.

With a good foundation, practicing the knife was easy.

When Li Rui's five fingers just gripped the knife handle, a strange feeling rose.

He was very sure it was his first time holding a knife, but the moment he held it, it was as if he had touched it hundreds or thousands of times.

Innate knife technique holy body?

He quickly understood that this must be the credit of the Wu Gu.

"Those who obtain the Wu Gu will definitely reach the top of the Martial Path."

The power of the Wu Gu far exceeded his expectations.

But the more powerful the Wu Gu, the more he must develop cautiously.

The world you think: fight monsters and level up, gradually become stronger, and finally challenge the BOSS.

The actual world: the start is the final BOSS, killing you in one move, giving no chance at all.

If his Wu Gu was spread, the Huaqing Sect Master would have to stand aside among the crowd of big shots chasing him.

The ending would probably be a hundred times more miserable than that senior surnamed Huang.

Develop cautiously.

Li Rui carried the knife behind his back, like an old ape carrying a knife, then used his waist to exert force, the long knife swung out, drawing a semi-circle in the air.

His body squatted down, his right leg swept horizontally, sweeping up large pieces of snow.

Man and knife were harmonious, naturally formed.

One knife after another.

Li Rui didn't even know how many knives he had chopped.

He finally understood what the last sentence "Drawing the knife is easy, but sheathing the knife is hard" meant.

This Bai Yuan Cloak Knife technique is too evil.

Once the knife technique is used, even he himself finds it hard to stop; he must see blood, or be exhausted.

After a full hour.

Li Rui lay in the snow in a 'big' shape, panting heavily.

Practicing the Bai Yuan Cloak Knife, even being lazy is a luxury.

However, the power of the Bai Yuan Cloak Knife is indeed amazing.

He had only just started practicing, and he had the confidence to fight experts of the same level with this knife; if practiced to the profound, he would be invincible at the same rank!

Thinking of this, Li Rui's heartbeat skipped a beat.

In his life where he didn't even get first place in elementary school in his past life, he actually got first place at seventy; it's really absurd.

Late, but arrived.

After resting for a while, Li Rui stood up with the knife.

Practicing the knife is indeed more tiring than practicing boxing.

Practicing martial arts requires relaxation and tension; Li Rui rubbed his sore arms, hid the knife in the cotton jacket on his back, confirmed that others couldn't see it, and then walked toward his residence.

Li Rui lay powerlessly on the bed.

The Wu Gu is powerful, but it can't completely erase the muscle strain left by practicing martial arts; medicine must be used.

But the silver he saved had long been used up.

"Money, money, money..."

(End of chapter)