Chapter 24: Little Sweetie and Cow Lady

A day later, Zhang Jie found Yu Lianzhou after spending the night repairing the training ground.

“What? You say you want to leave the mountain to travel?”

Yu Lianzhou, who had always been stern and expressionless, raised his voice upon hearing Zhang Jie’s words.

“Yes, I feel I’ve learned all I can here on the mountain.”

Staying longer would only be wasting time—I’d rather descend and wander the world to gain experience.”

Zhang Jie answered honestly.

Yu Lianzhou considered this reasonable; few masters had ever achieved greatness through solitary, closed-door cultivation.

Sometimes a single moment of enlightenment on the road surpassed ten years of rigorous cultivation on the mountain.

Even the Seven Heroes of Wudang, personally trained by Zhang Sanfeng, the greatest under heaven, had all traveled the world in their youth.

Yet, remembering that Zhang Jie had never left the mountain in over a decade, Yu Lianzhou still felt uneasy:

“You’ve grown up on this mountain with no experience of the Jianghu—how can I possibly let you go?”

“Why not wait until your Sixth Master returns? Then you can travel with him.”

Yu Lianzhou paused, then proposed this idea.

“Master, you know I can’t bear restraint—I’m used to going my own way.”

Zhang Jie politely declined Yu Lianzhou’s suggestion.

He intended to go to Kunlun Mountain to find Zhang Wuji and learn the Nine Yang Divine Art.

How could he possibly do that if he traveled with his Sixth Master Yin Liting?

He couldn’t very well say he had foreknowledge, could he?

To be honest, Zhang Jie was utterly covetous of the Nine Yang Divine Art.

Though he had already cultivated the promising Wudang Nine Yang Art,

the Wudang Nine Yang Art was merely a modified fragment of the full Nine Yang Divine Art.

Years ago, the Shaolin Master Jueyuan accidentally obtained the Nine Yang Scripture hidden within the Lengyan Sutra and began studying it, his martial skill surging.

He was then pursued by Yin Kexi and Xiao Xiangzi for carrying the scripture, fleeing to the peak of Huashan,

and ultimately, with help from Yang Guo, Guo Xiang, and others, defeated Yin Kexi and Xiao Xiangzi.

Alas, Master Jueyuan, exhausted by the ordeal, was near death.

Before passing, he recited the entire Nine Yang Scripture from memory.

Zhang Sanfeng (then known as Zhang Junbao), Guo Xiang, and others silently memorized portions of the scripture.

Zhang Sanfeng later combined his memorized passages with his own martial insights,

synthesized and refined the Nine Yang Scripture’s content, and created the Wudang Nine Yang Art.

Guo Xiang, likewise, used her portion of the Nine Yang Scripture to create the Emei Nine Yang Art.

Though refined and expanded by Zhang Sanfeng’s ever-deepening martial understanding, the Wudang Nine Yang Art was still incomplete,

lacking the pure, blazing yang energy inherent in the full Nine Yang Divine Art.

When Zhang Wuji was injured by the Yin Yang Palm of the Yin-Yang Elders,

even Zhang Sanfeng’s near-century-long cultivation could only temporarily suppress the cold poison,

unable to fully dispel it with the Wudang Nine Yang Art,

leaving the young Zhang Wuji to suffer its torment.

Only after Zhang Wuji mastered the complete Nine Yang Divine Art did he fully purge the cold poison.

Moreover, as a proper Daoist cultivation method, the Wudang Nine Yang Art

offered benefits like purity, vastness, balance, and longevity,

but it also suffered the greatest flaw of such methods: slow progress.

On the entire Wudang Mountain, apart from Zhang Sanfeng, even Yu Lianzhou,

the most accomplished among them, had not yet brought the Wudang Nine Yang Art to perfection.

Remember, the Seven Heroes of Wudang had trained in the Wudang Nine Yang Art since they first joined Zhang Sanfeng’s sect,

and now, nearly forty years had passed.

Even if Zhang Jie, having shared his mind with the Water Margin Zhang Jie, considered himself gifted,

he knew he could not reach perfection in the Wudang Nine Yang Art without at least ten years of practice.

How long had it taken Zhang Wuji to master the Nine Yang Divine Art from the moment he found it?

How long did it take from obtaining the Nine Yang Divine Art from Zhang Wuji to cultivating it to perfection?

Even though Zhang Wuji had already trained in the Wudang Nine Yang Art beforehand,

the time required to reach perfection in the Nine Yang Divine Art was still shockingly short!

And as for the Wudang Nine Yang Art—Zhang Jie, a veteran cultivator of over a decade,

would he fear a mere youth of three or four years’ practice like Zhang Wuji?

The vast disparity in cultivation time made Zhang Jie unhesitatingly abandon the Wudang Nine Yang Art and embrace the Nine Yang Divine Art.

Wudang Nine Yang Art: When I first met you, I called you Little Sweetie.

Now that the new one has replaced the old, I call you Cow Lady.

You bastard—I spit!

Zhang Jie shrugged: It’s not that the Wudang Nine Yang Art is bad—

it’s just that the Nine Yang Divine Art offers far better value, it’s too delicious, too tempting!

It’s simply that the Nine Yang Divine Art offers unparalleled value—it’s too tempting, too alluring!

As for Zhang Jie not knowing the exact location of the Kunlun Valley, how would he find Zhang Wuji?

Though the Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber novel does not record the precise location of the valley holding the Nine Yang Divine Art,

it does describe how Zhang Wuji found it:

Zhang Wuji was deceived by Zhu Changling and his daughter at the Zhu-Wu Linked Mountain Villa,

learned the truth of his parents’ deaths, and fell into utter despair—he jumped willingly from a precipice.

Fortunately, he was caught by pine trees on the cliffside and suffered no serious injury.

There was a stone cave on the cliff; he passed through it into a secluded valley,

discovered the Nine Yang Divine Art hidden inside the belly of a white ape,

and cultivated there for five years, curing the Yin-Yang cold poison within him.

Zhang Jie now only needed to find the Zhu-Wu Linked Mountain Villa,

then follow the trail—and he would find the Nine Yang Divine Art!

The reason Zhang Jie hadn’t searched for the Nine Yang Divine Art earlier was precisely this:

There were so many cliffs near the Zhu-Wu Linked Mountain Villa—who knew which one Zhang Wuji had jumped from?

Searching for a cave accessible only to a twelve-year-old boy across such a vast cliff range was no different from finding a needle in a haystack.

But now, based on the timeline, Zhang Wuji still had over a year before he reached perfection in the Nine Yang Divine Art,

and he was still in the valley—if Zhang Jie went to the cliff’s edge, channeled his Qi, and shouted loudly, he’d likely find Zhang Wuji.

Meanwhile, Zhang Jie suspected the Kunlun Valley was likely a celestial secret realm,

similar to the Everlasting Spring Valley in the Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils,

filled with mysterious energies like heavenly qi.

The evidence? Zhang Wuji, who reached perfection in the Nine Yang Divine Art in just five years,

and the white ape, which lived over a hundred years with the mental acuity of a four- or five-year-old child.

Even if Zhang Wuji was truly gifted, a once-in-a-century destiny-blessed prodigy,

his ability to master the Nine Yang Divine Art in only five years was still terrifying.

Recall Zhang Sanfeng—the last once-in-a-century, even once-in-a-millennium genius who “others cultivated martial arts, he cultivated immortality”—

he didn’t become invincible until after he turned thirty.

Recall that the last once-in-a-century, even once-in-a-millennium figure like Zhang Sanfeng, who “others practiced martial arts, but he cultivated the Dao,”

He was in his twenties.

At twenty, he fought at Bright Peak, single-handedly defeating masters from the Shaolin, Wudang, Emei, Kunlun, Kongtong, and Huashan sects,

becoming famous overnight,

and as a youth barely past adolescence, became the leader of the Ming Cult, winning the loyalty of a million followers,

ending the Ming Cult’s decades-long fragmentation.

Later, with his extraordinary martial talent, he integrated the Nine Yang Divine Art,

the Qi-Nian Great Shift, Taiji Quan, Taiji Jian, and the Holy Fire Sect’s divine arts,

into one unified whole, becoming peerless in his age.

This rate of advancement was simply horrifying.

And the white ape, which drank mountain springs and ate wild fruits for over a hundred years, was even more miraculous.

Remember, monkeys rarely live beyond fifty years.

Small monkeys like the pygmy marmoset live about ten to twelve years.

Medium-sized monkeys like macaques average twenty-five to thirty years.

Small monkeys like pygmy marmosets typically live about 10 to 12 years.

Medium-sized monkeys like macaques have an average lifespan of about 25 to 30 years.

Under good captive breeding conditions, some macaques can live over 30 years.

Larger primates like orangutans have relatively longer lifespans, reaching around 35 to 45 years.

That white ape who lived past a hundred years was truly the eldest of all apes.

It’s like in a human population where most live only seventy or eighty years,

suddenly appearing an ancestor who lived over two hundred years.

This is no longer mere natural talent—it has transcended the limits of its very genes!

Excluding any inherent issues with the monkey itself, the only possibility is that what it ate and drank,

even the air it breathed, contained miraculous substances that extended its lifespan.

Zhang Jie’s hands rubbed together at this thought:

This treasure land is clearly destined for me, Zhang Jie!

In the end, Yu Lianzhou reluctantly agreed to Zhang Jie’s plan to descend the mountain alone.

Of course, this decision came after he considered Zhang Jie’s inner energy and lightness skills, which were sufficient to toy with Song Qingshu.

Song Qingshu was no ordinary person,

among the younger generation of the martial world, he ranked among the top young talents, known in the Jianghu as Jade-Faced Meng Chang.

Zhang Jie could humiliate him completely, leaving him powerless to resist,

proving Zhang Jie’s martial arts had reached the level of the elder generation of the Jianghu.

With such martial prowess, as long as he didn’t act foolishly, he would hardly encounter danger.

And Yu Lianzhou knew his disciple well:

How to describe this disciple of his?

He was overly cautious, bordering on cowardly.

Of course, in Zhang Jie’s own words, this wasn’t cowardice—it was going with the flow…