Chapter 14: Iron sand

Mei Qinghe was silent for a long time before saying: "The Five Mountains Sword Sect is of the same spirit, and it won't be as dirty as the senior said."

She was just stiff-mouthed, she knew this point herself, and Li Miao knew it very well.

Otherwise, how else could she answer?

Should she say "Senior, you are right, our Huashan Sect is indeed about to be exterminated"?

Mei Qinghe was orphaned since she was a child and was taken in by the Huashan Sword Sect to grow up, and she had long regarded the honor and disgrace of the sect as her own pursuit.

In order not to lose the face of the Huashan Sword Sect, she could wait for Li Miao to kill her.

She naturally couldn't nod and agree with what Li Miao said.

But the decline of the Huashan Sword Sect could no longer be covered up, and she couldn't argue with confidence, so she could only distinguish with a "won't be like what you said" that had no confidence.

Li Miao smiled: "It seems you are also very clear about this matter."

"I am indeed unfavorable to the Five Mountains Sword Sect, this is not false."

"But being unfavorable to the Five Mountains Sword Sect is not the same as being unfavorable to the Huashan Sect. Don't you think?"

Mei Qinghe didn't answer.

She understood Li Miao's meaning, but she was a young person in her twenties, who had practiced martial arts in the sect since she was a child and rarely went out.

Unlike the old Jianghu people who had seen through the essence of the so-called "Jianghu," she knew what interests were, what top and bottom were, but she didn't want to admit it.

Just like some young people in Li Miao's previous life, they knew what the so-called "correct" was, but they just stubbornly didn't want to admit it.

Li Miao smiled.

He didn't have any plans, he just wanted to finish watching the play he didn't finish watching last night.

It was

Recognizing that Mei Qinghe’s Wu Gong was from the Huashan Sect, he thought that since it served both public and private interests, it wouldn't be bad to capture an internal mole early on to use as a pawn.

But his thoughts had changed for the moment.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard was a secret service agency that dealt with the filthiest transactions, the most naked interests, and the most sinister human hearts in the Wu Lin.

Having served in the Embroidered Uniform Guard for twenty years, his expectations of the so-called Wu Lin had declined with each passing day.

The real Wu Lin was not that romantic; acting with chivalry and righteousness would lead to a death without a whole corpse, and seeking vengeance with a free spirit would lead to the destruction of one's family.

A reputation for chivalry that spread across the world often relied not on Wu Gong, but on power. Drawing a blade to see blood was often not for the sake of loyalty, but for money.

Being two-faced and treacherous, full of deceit and fraud, was the true living world of men.

So when Li Miao saw Mei Qinghe clutching the broken half of her sword waiting for death, he couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Because what this woman displayed was actually somewhat in line with his expectations of the Wu Lin.

This gave him other plans for Mei Qinghe.

Seeing that Mei Qinghe did not speak, Li Miao was not annoyed.

Temptation with profit was often useless on young people, but coercion was very effective on everyone.

He changed the subject and said, "What do you think of my Wu Gong?"

Hearing Li Miao stop talking about the plight of the Huashan Sect, Mei Qinghe breathed a sigh of relief.

She shook her head: "I cannot see it clearly."

She truly could not see it clearly.

She hadn't even perceived Li Miao making a move; it was only when she saw the shortened sword that she understood what had happened.

As for the maneuver of flicking his hand to break her long sword, she couldn't even find a suitable target to make a comparison.

If one were to say it was a hidden weapon technique, it didn't seem like it.

Hidden weapons emphasized deception and drawing blood to seal the throat; she had never heard of any hidden weapon expert who sought to pierce through a person with a single throw.

But to say it was purely thrown with raw strength was also inconceivable.

Li Miao reached out and pinched the blade of the sword in Mei Qinghe’s hand, then gave it a light snap.

Clang~

A piece broke right off.

Mei Qinghe was stunned; Li Miao had snapped it from her hand, yet she hadn't felt any strain on the sword hilt.

Looking again at the piece of the blade in Li Miao’s hand, there was a clear thumbprint on it!

Li Miao hadn't "snapped" the blade; he had "pinched" a piece off, just like picking a flower!

"Reach out your hand," Li Miao said.

Mei Qinghe numbly extended her hand.

Li Miao gripped the piece of the blade in his hand and held it above Mei Qinghe’s palm.

Without even seeing his fingers move, a stream of iron sand fell "rustling" from beneath his palm.

Not until the iron sand filled half of Mei Qinghe’s palm did Li Miao stop and brush the powder from his hands.

"See clearly now?"

Mei Qinghe looked numbly at the iron sand in her palm.

To say she saw clearly, in truth, she still didn't.

This feat of iron sand almost overturned her understanding of Wu Gong.

There was a common, low-level external hard skill in the Wu Lin called Iron Sand Palm. The training method involved repeatedly thrusting one's palms into boiling iron sand to toughen the skin and flesh. At a high level, one could grab weapons with bare palms without being cut.

There were also experts in the Wu Lin famous for this who could disarm opponents with their bare hands.

But that was using iron sand to toughen the palms; who had ever heard of using palms to grind out iron sand?

No matter how well one practiced Wu Gong, the human body was still flesh and blood. If one could train the body to be harder than iron, why bother practicing the sword?

But regarding Li Miao’s Wu Gong, Mei Qinghe also understood.

Invincible under heaven.

At the very least, almost all sword techniques and blade techniques were useless against him.

Sword and blade techniques were extensions of the hands and feet, but they were destined to be less flexible than hands and feet. It was because sharp swords were sharper and harder than human palms, and because flesh and blood could not block steel, that sword techniques had emerged.

But in front of this person, the blades themselves were a weakness.

If you presented your long sword to someone and they crushed it like tofu, then turned around and threw the fragments at you to pierce you through, what was the point of talking about superior sword techniques?

"Senior, who exactly are you?"

Mei Qinghe asked hoarsely.

"My name is Li Miao, I am no one; at the very least, no one in the Wu Lin knows me."

Li Miao said with a smile: "Now, I will make a deal with you."

"From today on, you will follow me. Whatever I ask, you answer; whatever I tell you to do, you go and do."

"When my business is finished, perhaps there will be a massive benefit for your Huashan Sect."

"If you do not agree, I will go pay a visit to the Huashan Sect, and at that time, I will poke a finger through every sword in Huashan."

"Did you hear clearly?"

Mei Qinghe nodded.

She had no choice but to agree. She did not have the qualifications to refuse.

"Very good, wait here."

"To be my subordinate, there is one more thing that needs to be settled."

Having said that, Li Miao flashed away and disappeared from sight.

Mei Qinghe stood silently, not daring to move, her heart filled with mixed emotions.

She had considered herself accomplished in martial arts and had even inquired about her enemy’s skills beforehand, believing she had a sure victory before sneaking down the mountain to seek revenge.

Who would have thought she would be inexplicably threatened by a strange expert and become his subordinate?

Right now, her sect did not know her whereabouts, and they would certainly send people to search for her later.

When they met, how would she explain it to her sect? Tell the truth?

If what happened tonight hadn't happened to her, she would have just taken it as a joke!

Not to mention that this person named Li Miao was open about being against the Five Mountain Sword Sects. Being in the Qilu region now, it was clear he was heading toward this year’s Five Mountain Sword Sects alliance meeting at Mount Tai.

When this person attacked them, and she was following by his side, could the Huashan Sect really stay out of it?

If this person really wiped out the Five Mountain Sword Sects, could the declining Huashan Sect still manage to survive without the name of the Five Mountain Sword Sects?

Her thoughts raced, and the more Mei Qinghe thought, the more desperate she became.

Just as her mind was in a thousand tangles, a figure suddenly appeared before her.

She looked up and saw it was indeed Li Miao.

Li Miao raised his hand and threw a person in front of her.

That person had his acupoints sealed and was dumped onto the ground with a thud; he struggled to get up, saying:

"My lord, I do not know how I have offended you. If it is money you want, I have a chest of escort silver in my room; I am willing to offer it with both hands."

"If there was a misunderstanding in the past, or if my subordinates offended you, you may kill them as you please; I will never shield them."

"If I have offended you in any way, please tell me; I will pay with both my hands and legs, I only ask that you spare my life."

The man struggled for a long time, finally managing to sit up, and looked toward Mei Qinghe.

Seeing her face clearly, the man pondered for a moment, suddenly remembered something, and stammered: "It’s you... you are still alive?"

Mei Qinghe looked at Zhao Dehua, who was slumped on the ground, and said:

"That’s right, you old thing."

"I am still alive."

(End of chapter)