Chapter 91: Lixiang Garden

“You’ve mastered over a dozen sword intentions?” Hongqu stared blankly for a moment before regaining her composure. “And you’ve even cultivated inner qi?”

Xiao Yu nodded, sighing. “Ah, no wonder they say ‘qi is the root,’ and ‘qi is the finest medicine for strengthening heart, spirit, will, and body.’ The difference between having and not having inner qi is immense.”

Even with mastery of multiple sword intentions, I could never directly turn them into powerful killing techniques.”

Now that I have inner qi, it serves as the ‘body’ that carries the sword intentions.”

Intention is the soul; qi is the body. With both soul and body, the sword qi gains spirit, like a living being.”

Cultivating inner qi is far easier than refining heart, spirit, and will—but qi is the foundation of transcendence.”

Without qi, no matter how strong your heart, spirit, and will, you cannot unleash transcendent power.”

Even the spirit and will themselves require qi to manifest their power.”

Before cultivating inner qi, my physique was only slightly stronger than an ordinary person’s—I couldn’t leap two zhang high, run across tree branches, or swing a sword to release half-a-foot of sword qi.”

Even if I infused my sword strikes with the Fierce Tiger intention, ordinary mortals wouldn’t perceive anything extraordinary.”

Only in a soul state, facing ghosts and gods, could my spirit and will reach their full potential.”

Now, anyone with eyes who saw me just now practicing swordplay would know I’m a ‘master.’”

“Inner qi is good, but the cost is high. Before, without cultivating inner qi, you only trained spirit and will—there was still a sliver of hope for your immortal path. Now, the clear water has already steeped the tea leaves.”

Once you step onto the heretical path, there’s no turning back,” Hongqu sighed.

“Do you really think I’ll find an immortal connection at Hongxiu Courtyard?” Xiao Yu glanced at her, her tone complex. “Maybe you still have hope—someone might come to rescue you.”

But the person who comes to rescue you? If they don’t casually slash me to death with one sword, I’ll be kneeling, thanking them for sparing my life.”

If I want to survive—and thrive—in Hongxiu Courtyard, I must cultivate immortal martial arts!”

So this isn’t a matter of choice—it’s not even a choice at all.”

Hongqu shook her head, speaking softly. “Perhaps in the end, I’ll still have to ask you for guidance on immortal martial arts.”

She didn’t voice the thought in her heart: Simply cultivating immortal martial arts, even to its peak, only leads to a human immortal—hardly enough to achieve true freedom and ease, like the Five Supreme Sword Maiden Li Manman.”

Her father had told her himself: Li Manman’s true strength was no weaker than his own, even without the title of ‘human immortal.’”

Yet Li Manman remains the ‘Five Supreme Sword Maiden’—the number one courtesan of Western Shu!”

“What sword technique did you just practice? Every move seemed to carry a spirit intention, yet it wasn’t your main style, the Tiger Soul Seven Killings,” she asked curiously.

Xiao Yu grinned proudly. “You don’t know martial arts, but your eye for detail is sharp.”

The Tiger Soul Seven Killings has seven profound principles; Hu Chen mastered five of them. When the Purple Mansion deduced the ‘Hu Chen Annihilation Method,’ it didn’t just uncover the weaknesses in all five principles—it also provided counter techniques.”

For example, one of the seven principles, ‘Tiger Roar Blade,’ concentrates blade momentum.”

The Purple Mansion deduced a technique to break that momentum.”

If the ‘Tiger Roar Blade’ is cultivated to manifest spirit intention, it becomes the ‘Fierce Tiger Spirit.’ The counter-technique, ‘Break Tiger Momentum,’ can likewise cultivate the ‘Slashing Tiger’ spirit intention.”

Thus, Xiao Yu not only mastered the ‘Fierce Tiger Spirit’ at a level higher than Hu Chen’s, but she has now also cultivated the ‘Slashing Tiger’ spirit intention—specifically designed to dismantle the Tiger Soul Seven Killings.”

The ‘illusions’ Hongqu had seen earlier—the roaring giant, the axe-wielding arm, the masked assassin, the wind spirit, the giant net—all were spirit intentions of the ‘Slashing Tiger Five Swords’ and the ‘Breaking Wind Nine Swords’ (which counter the Wind Yin Treasure Mirror).”

Xiao Yu’s pride lay in the fact that in just one night, she had infused soul into the ‘Slashing Tiger’ and ‘Breaking Wind’ techniques—meaning she had cultivated their corresponding sword intentions.”

The Purple Mansion only provided the counter-techniques; cultivating spirit intention into the moves relied entirely on her own Kunpeng Wisdom Divine Skill.”

Combined with her innate spiritual insight, this made her truly the 'Righteous Father Killer.'

“The Tiger Soul Seven Killings is powerful, but I’m no longer the adopted daughter of the Guan family—I can’t publicly display it anymore,” Xiao Yu explained with a smile.

Hongqu widened her phoenix eyes in disbelief. “Don’t tell me you just invented those sword techniques and spirit intentions yourself.”

—Of course I invented them! Unique in the entire world!

Xiao Yu really wanted to pull off this boast.

“Of course not out of thin air. My adoptive father is the Immortal-Eyed Tiger. I personally witnessed the Eight Immortals shooting down the sun. I traveled with Marquis Lieyang all the way from Feixian Ferry. How could you think I only know the Tiger Soul Seven Killings?”

Yesterday, she had observed the ultimate techniques of over a dozen martial masters and acquired four martial manuals.”

Xiao Yu had too many excuses.”

And her excuses weren’t even excuses.”

In two more days, she could master the essence of the martial arts of Xu Dahao and the other martial masters.”

Her new sword techniques and spirit intentions would clearly bear the imprint of Xu Dahao and the other martial masters’ styles.”

After all, yesterday she had genuinely called them ‘Father.’”

They had all answered—and all triggered the ‘Great Annihilation Dad.’”

Hongqu said seriously, “You’re truly remarkable. Your sword talent is among the highest I’ve ever seen.”

Ordinary martial artists spend their entire lives mastering only form—they never touch the ‘spirit.’”

Techniques come naturally to you; spirit and will are effortlessly understood.”

But you’ve taken the wrong path. Martial arts value depth, not quantity. Your sword intentions are strong, but far too scattered.”

Xiao Yu knew Hongqu had great insight, so she didn’t argue, only asked curiously, “What happens if they’re too scattered?”

Hongqu replied, “Too many scattered intentions waste time, prevent you from refining to higher realms, and drain immense amounts of spirit and will energy.”

I once heard Uncle Kong say that the ‘intention’ that gives a technique soul is like a newly laid egg.”

An ‘egg’ is clearly not the end of life—it’s the beginning.”

Above ‘intention,’ there are many more levels.”

Each level is a thousand or ten thousand times harder than the initial awakening of ‘intention.’”

Though your talent is high, you have only a hundred years of life—and only one pot of ‘clear water.’”

That ‘clear water’ has already steeped tea.”

Rather than wasting time dividing the ‘tea water’ into many small cups, focus on one cup—turn that single cup of tea into nectar, even into a divine elixir capable of reversing fate and creating miracles.”

Xiao Yu listened intently, asking quickly, “What are the levels above ‘spirit intention,’ and how do you reach them?”

“I don’t know.”

Seeing Xiao Yu’s skeptical expression, Hongqu said coolly, “If Uncle Kong could reach a higher level, could you have ambushed him?”

“He doesn’t eat pork, but hasn’t he seen pigs run?” Xiao Yu said.

“The levels above ‘intention’ aren’t ‘pigs’—they’re phoenixes, they’re qilins. As the saying goes, ‘phoenix feathers and qilin horns’ are rare.”

Have you ever seen a phoenix fly? Have you ever seen a qilin run?” Hongqu asked.

Xiao Yu patted her steel sword and sighed with a smile. “Guess I’ll have to become the phoenix myself.”

Breakfast was plain: pickled vegetables, mixed-grain porridge, fried oil cakes.”

Not bad for ordinary families.”

Xiao Yu watched little Zi Ying and little Du Juan and other young maids devour their meals with delight.”

But she was a martial artist!”

Inner qi must be refined from the body and blood.”

To absorb qi from outside and replenish yourself, you must reach the True Origin realm.”

Xiao Yu had just cultivated inner qi—she was precisely in need of internal replenishment.”

“Zi Ying, did you find the errand boy I told you about last night?”

Zi Ying didn’t bring breakfast—she simply called them to the ‘dining hall’ to eat together.”

Because after breakfast, they had to go to Lixiang Garden for class—they couldn’t keep lounging in ‘Xiao Jingxuan.’”

The dining hall was nothing like the old canteen.”

It was a small, low, cramped room beside the kitchen, dimly lit, less than thirty square meters, packed with forty or fifty girls—some as young as two or three, still in their mothers’ arms; others in their thirties.”

Some were unregistered ‘daughters’; others were official ‘girls’ working the trade.”

The girls slurped their porridge with excellent appetites.”

The ‘girls’ either stared blankly, half-asleep, or chattered excitedly about last night’s risqué stories.”

It wasn’t a scene of demons running rampant, but it was certainly foul and chaotic.”

Fortunately, the atmosphere was decent—no bullying, no shouting, and no one disturbed Xiao Yu.”

They merely glanced at her and Hongqu with curious eyes, whispering quietly among themselves.”

“It was too late last night—the front gate was locked. After the aunts’ morning lessons, I’ll take you to meet Uncle Zhang,” Zi Ying said, also eating heartily.”

Hongqu finished with one oil cake and one bowl of porridge; Xiao Yu ate two large oil cakes!”

“What classes are there? Has Hongqu been here before?” Xiao Yu asked.

“Hongqu-jie just arrived. Last night, Aunt Liu specifically told me to bring Fengxian-sister and Hongqu-jie to Lixiang Garden.”

Xiao Yu was surprised to find that nearly half the girls and women eating in the dining hall had already attended Lixiang Garden.”

Lixiang Garden was large, with a spacious, open courtyard—no rockeries, fish ponds, or trellises.”

It was paved with blue stone slabs, wide and open—perfect for martial training. In fact, when they entered, over a dozen young women were already practicing dance and swordplay there.”

The courtyard was large, and the pavilions weren’t small either.”

Zi Ying left Hongqu on the first floor and led Xiao Yu to the third floor, into a room with a group of five- and six-year-old girls.”

“They’re not going to teach me how to read characters, are they?” Xiao Yu said skeptically.

Zi Ying nodded and brought her to a plump woman in a purple silk dress, aged thirty-four or thirty-five. “Fengxian-sister, from now on you’ll study under Third Auntie. Third Auntie, please take care of her.”

She bowed respectfully to the woman.”

Third Auntie studied Xiao Yu curiously. “How many characters do you know?”

Xiao Yu was speechless. “I may be a Sha Man, but on my journey from the Northern Wastes to Shu, I studied characters every day. The ‘Qionglin Youth Studies’ and ‘Thousand Character Classic’? No challenge at all.”

“Then write your name for me,” Third Auntie said.

Xiao Yu picked up a brush and wrote three large characters on paper: ‘Yu Fengxian.’”

“Hehehe,” Zi Ying covered her mouth and giggled.

The little maids beside her giggled strangely.

Third Aunt’s lips twitched. “Your characters—”

Xiao Yu’s face flushed; she was about to protest, when suddenly she paused. “Wait—I’ll write it again.”

She held her breath, focused her spirit, wielded the brush like a sword, uniting heart, spirit, body, and qi. The supple tip became a blade, dancing across the paper with her will—phoenixes soaring, dragons leaping.

The three characters flowed as one stroke, seamless and whole, nearly bursting from the paper, transforming into a phoenix spreading its wings to soar.

Those who saw the characters “Yu Feng Xian” felt a hallucination in their minds: the phoenix’s wings stirred the air, a gale rushing toward their faces.

“Excellent characters! Extraordinary spirit!” Third Aunt’s expression changed; she couldn’t help but cry out in praise.

Zi Ying and the little maids beside her stared wide-eyed, faces blank with confusion.

Xiao Yu tossed the brush aside carelessly and grinned proudly. “Still need to learn?”

“Ah, no wonder the ancient sages said: once one method is mastered, all methods become clear. Today, I finally understand.”

Third Aunt sighed, then looked at Xiao Yu. “If you only wish to read and write for daily life, you truly need no further lessons.”

But if you seek to earn the title of ‘talented woman’ in the pleasure quarters, you still have much to learn.

Of course, even if you wish to learn, you must have Aunt Liu find you another master—my ‘beginner’s school’ cannot produce a ‘talented woman.’”

“Third Aunt is surely being modest. I once heard Aunt Liu say that twenty years ago, ‘Third Niang’s’ fame was no weaker than today’s Peony Sister’s.”

Countless scholars and poets were captivated by her; even now, in bookstores across Western Shu, you can find her poems in anthologies,” Zi Ying said as they descended the stairs.

“So impressive! Then why doesn’t she move out like Peony Sister, and instead return to Pear Fragrance Garden to teach us beginners?” Xiao Yu asked.

Zi Ying looked at her with a complex gaze. “Once you’ve been to the ‘Support House,’ you won’t think Third Aunt’s current situation is pitiful.”

“Where is the Support House? Are there only old courtesans and dancers there?” Xiao Yu asked.

“Outside Tianmen Town, twenty li south of the South City Gate, at the foot of Bashan Mountain. It’s not just for old and faded courtesans—there are the sick, the mad.

Every month, new younger sisters enter through the front gate, while older sisters are sent out through the back gate of Red Sleeve Courtyard,” Zi Ying said gloomily.

Xiao Yu fell silent.

She knew ordinary courtesans’ later years were bleak—but Third Niang had once been famed throughout Tianmen Town!

At only thirty-some, reduced to teaching children their first characters was already a blessed outcome.

Where were her private savings from earlier years?

In just a few sentences, Xiao Yu was certain Third Niang was not extravagant or wasteful.

Could it be that when courtesans grew old and could no longer earn, their private savings were seized by the Prince of Qinghe to build new palaces?

Sigh—her own plan was better: immediately exchange her private savings for pills to boost her strength.