Chapter 97

Xiao Yu discovered that she had underestimated Aunt Liu.

Of the five elements of immortal martial arts—heart, spirit, intent, qi, and body—Aunt Liu's strongest was actually "qi."

At the beginning, Aunt Liu used the newly mastered "Flowers Like Brocade" sword intent to confront Lady Huo.

But Lady Huo's sword moves were seasoned and her sword intent was intense; in just two moves, "Magnificent and Royal" tore "Flowers Like Brocade" to shreds.

Peonies bloom and all flowers dim.

One could see only peony flowers blooming with wealth in the arena, while the azaleas were squeezed into the corners, suppressed and set off to become roadside dogtail grass.

At that time, Xiao Yu felt that Aunt Liu would be defeated immediately.

As a result, Aunt Liu exhaled and shouted, "Heh, ha!"

Colorless and tangible qi energy erupted from her body, like a storm, ravaging the magnificent peonies blooming in the courtyard; like the scorching sun of midsummer, it took away the prosperity and glory of the peonies, causing the petals to lose their beauty and wither.

And in the center of the massive qi energy, clusters of azaleas bloomed again, setting off the courtyard in a sea of red.

When "internal qi" leaves the body and interacts with the surrounding heaven and earth vital energy, it is no longer "internal qi," but "true qi."

Clearly, Aunt Liu was an internal martial arts expert of the "True Origin Realm"!

"Good!" Lady Huo gave a low shout and also began to exert her true origin to the fullest.

Aunt Liu's true origin was vast and continuous like ocean waves; Lady Huo's true origin was thick and solid, like a reef in the ocean waves.

Whether it was the ocean waves or the reef, they were endowed with the divine soul of famous flowers.

The seawater of the ocean waves seemed to be clusters of flourishing azaleas, while the peonies standing proudly in the tide were the embodiment of wealth and glory.

Of course, the above were all Xiao Yu's spiritual perceptions.

In the eyes of the maids and young ladies shouting from afar, although they could see some shadows of peonies and azaleas, more of it was magnificent and swift movements, cold light flashing, sword shadows that were hard to capture, and the smoke and dust stirred up by the whistling true qi, with rolling gravel.

After half a stick of incense, Aunt Liu's sword moves began to become chaotic, while Lady Huo began to blush and pant; the two sides looked at each other, very tacitly took a few steps back, sheathed their sharp swords, and ended the duel.

"Jin Tong, your peony divine spirit is indeed powerful."

"Your 'Flowers Like Brocade' is also quite good," Lady Huo said.

Aunt Liu shook her head gently, "Just relying on a body of true qi to hold on."

"Qi is the foundation of immortal martial arts; using true qi to suppress others is dignified and upright, not shameful at all," Lady Huo said.

Aunt Liu smiled, "This is the first time I've heard this from you."

"This is also the first time you've fought me to a draw," Lady Huo said with a complex expression.

For the first forty-plus years of her life, she had always been stronger than Liu San; even if Liu San clung to the Tianmen Society leader and learned the top-level breathing method "Primordial Boundless," she could still suppress her with sword intent.

Now Liu San had also mastered the "Nine Flower Divine Spirit," and there would eventually be a day when her sword intent would be complete, then...

"It seems I will be able to hear your praise often from now on, how happy I am," Aunt Liu smiled spiritedly.

Lady Huo pursed her lips, "Not necessarily."

—Even that old slut Liu San could make further progress, I, Huo Jin Tong, not only have more talent than her but also have a greater advantage in cultivating the Nine Flower Sword—I am already a noble lady, full of wealth, while she still mixes in the pleasure quarters, having only a slutty air on her body, now with a bit more good fortune, but I will definitely be more likely to comprehend the second type of "Nine Flower Divine Spirit" than her.

Lady Huo instantly cleared the depression in her heart, feeling once again that hot-blooded impulse that had disappeared with the years.

"How many moves of that old widow's 'Xiao Xiao Mudan Sword' did you remember?"

Not to mention eating, Aunt Liu didn't even get to drink a cup of tea before leaving the "General of Pacifying Difficulties Mansion."

It wasn't until the carriage left "Yong'an Street," where the General's mansion was located, that the aunt asked.

"I didn't remember a single move," Xiao Yu said.

"What did you say?!" Aunt Liu almost jumped up—if not for the low carriage, she really couldn't jump up.

Xiao Yu smiled faintly, "I remembered them all, but before I even walked out of the General's mansion, I forgot them all."

Aunt Liu reached out to pinch her face, "Do you know how difficult it is to see that old widow once?"

Xiao Yu hurriedly dodged, shouting, "Hey, Aunt, don't be anxious, only after forgetting the moves can one master the sword intent!"

"You have already mastered..." Aunt Liu was first startled, then full of suspicion, "Are you sure it's 'mastered' and not 'understood'?"

Xiao Yu said, "Initially mastered, barely entered the door."

Aunt Liu looked at her with the eyes of someone looking at a monster, murmuring, "Too exaggerated, only watched it once..."

Xiao Yu sighed, "If it were other sword manuals, let alone watching it once, even if you taught me hand-in-hand a hundred times, I might not be able to enter the door. The 'Nine Flower Sword' is different."

"Comprehending the divine spirit of the 'Nine Flower Sword' will only be more difficult," Aunt Liu said.

"It varies from person to person..." Xiao Yu thought for a moment and said, "Why did Aunt Liu immediately comprehend 'Flowers Like Brocade' after I said just a few words yesterday?"

"Before you said that sentence yesterday, I had practiced the 'Nine Flower Sword' for over thirty years and visited hundreds and thousands of aristocratic gardens," Aunt Liu said.

Xiao Yu nodded, "That's right, you have the foundation, and with one moment of enlightenment, you have accumulated much and released it all.

But you have the foundation, and I also have a rich foundation!"

"What foundation do you have? You haven't even seen the famous flowers carefully cultivated in the imperial gardens," Aunt Liu said.

"I haven't seen the famous flowers of the imperial gardens, making it hard to enter the door, but I possess all the insights of the 'Nine Flower Sword' after it reaches completion," Xiao Yu said with a complex expression.

"Where did you get these insights?" Aunt Liu asked suspiciously.

"I have seen a Shadow Spirit Map imbued with spirit by a Zhang Huasheng," Xiao Yu said vaguely.

The "immortal spirit" bestowed by the Zhang Huasheng Zhang upon the "Painting of a Noble Person Dancing with a Sword" contained a divine spirit even more elegant and magnificent than the completion of the "Nine Flower Sword."

Before Aunt Liu achieved enlightenment, Xiao Yu hadn't thought of the Shadow Spirit Map.

Upon seeing Aunt Liu's "Flowers Like Brocade" with her own eyes, she immediately felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity.

After returning to the Little Quiet Pavilion, she suddenly felt enlightened.

The feelings and insights from the day she watched the Shadow Spirit Map all came back to her.

The feeling of observing the Shadow Spirit Map was not good; she felt very uncomfortable watching it, and the divine spirit of the immortal spirit in the painting was not what she wanted.

She had an instinctive rejection of it.

But to tell the truth, the "Imperial Concubine" in the mind of the Zhang Huasheng of the Upper Nation was far more noble and beautiful than the foreign noble person who created the "Nine Flower Sword."

Aunt Liu showed a thoughtful expression and said, "Since your foundation is deep, let's make persistent efforts and visit the next expert who has mastered the Nine Flower Sword."

She lifted the curtain and said to the coachman, "Change course to 'Not Bu Bu Si Gui'."

"Should we go through the main gate, or quietly enter from the back gate?" the coachman asked.

Aunt Liu said angrily, "Am I that unpresentable? I walked through the back gate of the General of Pacifying Difficulties Mansion, and I have to walk through the back gate of 'Not Bu Bu Si Gui' too?"

She was willing to walk through the back gate of the General of Pacifying Difficulties Mansion, not because she felt humble and unworthy of the elegant hall.

She was purely saving face for her old sister, Lady Huo.

Lady Huo was now a general's wife, managing a large family of servants and young ladies, but she was also born in the Red Sleeve Pavilion.

Her appearance at the main gate of the General's mansion would lead others to associate and discuss that Lady Huo was also once a whore.

"No, no, no, I was just worried that the gamblers at 'Not Bu Bu Si Gui' would collide with you, Aunt," the coachman explained hurriedly.

Aunt Liu sneered, "We were whores to begin with, what would we be afraid of being collided with by men?"

The coachman was speechless, drove the carriage silently, and said no more.

Xiao Yu also twitched her mouth and said, "Aunt, perhaps you can always maintain the 'Du Juan Divine Intent' for yourself, just like Lady Huo, being in a state of practice every moment, eventually becoming a natural bearing."

"That's why she hasn't comprehended the second type of flower divine spirit even after decades since she comprehended the peony divine intent at fifteen, with half her body already buried in the soil," Aunt Liu said.

Xiao Yu had nothing more to say.

"Not Bu Bu Si Gui" was a gambling house.

There were not many guests inside; it might be because there were few people in the morning, or it might be related to the "strict crackdown" triggered by the Thousand-Hand Qianshou Dao Sheng.

The number of "Ah Fei" sitting at the door cracking melon seeds and chatting was more than the gamblers.

"Ah, it's Aunt Liu, Aunt Liu is here!"

As soon as Aunt Liu entered the main hall, she was recognized by an "Ah Fei."

"Aunt Liu is truly a rare guest, a rare guest indeed!"

The leader of the "Ah Fei" watching the field was a youth of twenty-four or twenty-five, wearing a martial arts outfit, with a short knife tucked in his back, of medium build, very sturdy, with a dark goat beard on his chin, which looked quite beautiful on his face.

The goat beard was gambling with a young master in a brocade robe and immediately apologized, "Master Xu, you also see, Aunt Liu is here, I will excuse myself for a moment, how about that?"

"Go, go!" The young master Xu stared at the cards in his hand without even turning his head to look at Aunt Liu.

"Aunt? You are..."

"Little Tiger, is Manager Liao here?" Aunt Liu asked.

"He is in the backyard." The goat-bearded youth didn't talk nonsense and immediately led the way for Aunt Liu.

"Master Liao, I beg you, give me a few more days, or lend me two more strings of coins, let me win back my capital, I only have one daughter, Hui'er!"

"Old Xu, don't blame me for being heartless; 'Not Bu Bu Si Gui' has lent you nearly thirty strings of coins back and forth, not counting interest, and just using your Hui'er to pay off the debt, and I even gave you two taels of silver, which is very kind!"

Manager Liao was a sturdy fat man with a white, fat face like a fermented white dough ball; his small eyes, small nose, and small mouth were almost squeezed out of sight by the fat on his face.

At this moment, he was carrying a birdcage and feeding the birds under the corridor.

A middle-aged man in a blue cloth short outfit was kneeling at his feet begging.

"Manager, Aunt Liu is here," the goat beard shouted.

"Oh, Aunt Liu, I heard magpies calling early this morning, so it turns out it was for you."

Manager Liao immediately walked toward Aunt Liu, but his robe hem was pulled by Old Xu.

"Master Liao, please have mercy, twenty-five taels of silver is too little, Hui'er is my only daughter!"

Manager Liao sneered, "Aunt Liu is an expert at buying 'daughters,' you ask her, how many strings of coins is an ordinary-looking yellow-haired girl worth."

Old Xu really looked at Aunt Liu with tearful eyes.

Aunt Liu said indifferently, "If you want to sell your daughter, go to Qingshuiwan yourself, our Teaching Division does not buy good people to be whores."

Manager Liao gave the goat beard a look, telling him to drag Old Xu away.

He hung the birdcage under the eaves again, led Aunt Liu to a small pavilion in the backyard, and served a cup of fragrant tea.

"What brings Aunt Liu here?"

"Are the Great Leader and the two guest elders here?" Aunt Liu asked.

Manager Liao said with a bitter smile, "Chen Taiping has entered the city with the Feather Forest Guards, and there is a Thousand-Hand Qianshou Dao Sheng hiding somewhere, a storm is coming! The Great Leader told us not to run around recently, and now they are all resting in the backyard."

Then he asked, "Does Aunt want to see the Great Leader?"

Aunt Liu said, "Since they are resting, I won't disturb the Great Leader.

Take me directly to the Plum Garden to see Mr. Lan, he still lives in the Plum Garden, right?"

"Of course, Mr. Lan loves plum blossoms the most, wishing he could eat, drink tea, and sleep in the plum forest."

The plum forest was really not small, over an acre of land, all planted with plum trees.

Now in late spring, the winter plum petals had withered, and they were beginning to sprout branches and leaves, but there were also plum blossoms in full bloom.

A handsome scholar in his thirties, with long hair draped over his shoulders, wearing a white robe with wide sleeves trailing on the ground, held a pot of wine in his left hand and a green jade brush in his right, depicting a plum blossom painting facing the forest ahead.

Drawing a stroke on the scroll, he looked up to drink a mouthful of wine, admired the plum blossoms in full bloom, and then lowered his head to draw another stroke...

Xiao Yu had to admit that this first impression of being unrestrained and uninhibited had a lot of style, like an expert.

Especially in Tianmen Town, where every inch of land is worth an inch of gold, hiding such a large plum forest... Damn it, he's really rich!

"Mr. Lan—"

"Liu San, you don't need to say anything," Mr. Lan interrupted Aunt Liu.

He continued to tilt his head back to pour wine into his throat, the clear wine spilling from his lips and wetting his clothes, looking very unrestrained.

After drinking a mouthful of wine, he continued to lower his head to paint, without even turning around to look at Aunt Liu.

"The little girl beside you is the 'Sand Barbarian Yu' with innate wisdom and sword bone spirit, right?

Hehe, I know exactly what you want to do.

Let me demonstrate the Nine Flower Sword so it's convenient for her to steal my Plum and Orchid Divine Spirit? You're thinking too beautifully."

There are three more chapters, wait a moment, I'm going to eat before coming back to proofread. Although there are many typos in the published chapters, which makes me very embarrassed, I really proofread carefully on weekdays. Three chapters take nearly an hour to tinker with, my brain CPU is relatively poor, and reading efficiency is too slow, so please forgive me, everyone.