Chapter 14: Top-Tier, Secret-Transmitted Lu Da Fa

Top-tier Wu Gong!

Li Yuan squinted, unable to hide the excitement in his heart.

He had only been learning martial arts for a little over a month, and had no real sense of what was top-tier or low-tier, nor did he even know what grade of Wu Gong the Bai Yuan Cloak Hammer belonged to.

But he had heard the name Divine Weapon Valley from Fatty Sun — it was a major sect of the Dormant Dragon Prefecture.

"Although Gao Liu County is considered a large county, news from the outer city is still rather cut off. No, perhaps it's because my status is too low…"

Li Yuan squinted.

Within the space of the Soldier-Bearing Register, the light was very dim, but on the gray Dingxin Dingxin Shitai, the text at the bottom of the tattered Liuhe Boots was clearly visible to him.

Only the writing was too small, making it very strenuous to read.

"Good thing I can read. If it were some other apprentice, even if they got this secret manual, they'd probably eight times out of ten not be able to understand it…"

Li Yuan muttered to himself.

He didn't know how many people in Gao Liu County could read, but more than half of the apprentices at the Weapon-Forging Shop were illiterate. This made him feel somewhat fortunate — if not for his second brother Li Lin, he probably wouldn't know how to read either.

And to learn from scratch a written language entirely different from his previous life's would likely be no easier than learning martial arts.

"Soldier's Path Combat Killing Hammer, the foremost of the five great secret-transmitted Wu Gong of Divine Weapon Valley. It is divided into three parts — Soldier's Path, Combat, and Killing — and may not be taught to those without superior bone constitution…"

"This secret transmission takes the Soldier's Path as its core, filled out with Combat and Killing. It is a top-tier Wu Gong for slaughter on the battlefield, brutally savage in its killing intent. Those whose physique is not strong and whose will is not firm must not learn it…"

"Secret transmission means a Gong Fa not to be passed on to outsiders. Of the eight thousand disciples of Divine Weapon Valley, should any outsider learn it, they must be slain; should their clan obtain it, their clan must be exterminated!"

……

Li Yuan silently recited it word by word, sentence by sentence.

"This section is 'Combat'!"

No Soldier's Path, no Killing method, only one-third…

Li Yuan felt it was a pity, but not too unexpected — after all, this was only a single shoe, and at most it could only hold half the content. Although it was less than he had anticipated, he could accept it.

After all, the hardships of learning martial arts in these times, he had experienced firsthand.

Learning the craft of smithing required selling oneself for twelve years; a single Bai Yuan Cloak Hammer had to be split into multiple parts for transmission, and they still held back the Lu Da Fa and wouldn't teach it.

To obtain one-third of a top-tier Wu Gong secret manual, he was already content.

Needless to say, this was the very thing he lacked most right now — the "Lu Da Fa."

Only…

"The foremost of the five great secret transmissions of Divine Weapon Valley…"

Li Yuan hesitated for a brief moment, then immersed himself once more in this secret manual.

The tiny characters were strenuous to read, but the content was far too captivating. The Lu Da Fa of this top-tier Wu Gong was vastly more profound than that of the Bai Yuan Cloak Hammer.

The Lu Da Fa alone actually comprised as many as seventy-two forms. One had to master at least one form of hammer technique before being considered to have entered the door, yet a single form contained as many as eighty-one variations.

But…

Slowly opening his eyes, Li Yuan felt a touch of melancholy:

"Another hammer technique, huh…"

……

……

Li Yuan had no choice.

That very night, after spending the whole day discovering the Soldier's Path Combat Killing Hammer, he slipped out of his room, found a deserted, secluded spot, and attempted to practice the Lu Da Fa of this top-tier Wu Gong.

"Without someone to guide me, I really wouldn't dare practice the breathing method and the stance Gong Fa. But the killing techniques — no problem. Even if I practice them wrong, at worst I'll just strain a muscle, or at most fracture a bone?"

Under the night sky, clutching his intense interest in the top-tier Wu Gong, Li Yuan didn't even feel cold.

He still decided to give it a try.

First, the Lu Da Fa of the Bai Yuan Cloak Hammer could only be learned after entering the inner court; second, this was a top-tier Wu Gong!

Third…

"They're all hammer techniques — the mastery-level hammer technique experience brought by wielding the practice hammer is still useful!"

Stepping into the Bai Yuan stance, gripping the practice hammer, Li Yuan adjusted his breathing and began learning the first form of the Soldier's Path Combat Killing Hammer's Lu Da Fa.

Under the blessing of the Soldier-Bearing Register, he was like a veteran who had practiced hammer techniques for decades. Although it was still difficult at first, after several attempts he gradually found his way.

In just over a shichen, he had already mastered the first variation of the first form.

Bang!

The great hammer struck the ground.

"Strenuous, far too strenuous."

Li Yuan rubbed his wrist, panting: "No wonder they say those without a strong physique cannot learn it…"

Over a month, especially after entering the door of the Bai Yuan Cloak Hammer, his physique had improved tremendously. Compared to those young bull-calves in the front court, the only gap was in build — his stamina had already surpassed theirs.

With blood qi guarding his body, he could hold the Bai Yuan stance for a whole day without feeling tired.

But now, having practiced for only a single shichen, he was already so exhausted he could barely lift the hammer, and the wisp of blood qi within him had been mostly consumed.

"Hah!"

Forcing himself to hold a stance for a while, it took Li Yuan some time before he caught his breath, and he understood where the problem lay:

"I need medicinal supplements!"

Expenditure exceeding intake would lead to depletion of qi and blood.

Li Yuan decisively gave up the thought of learning the second variation, and instead slipped into the kitchen, wolfing down the steamed buns left over from noon along with the salted duck eggs his second brother had brought that he hadn't eaten.

"Exhausted, yes, very exhausted — but the effect is also extremely astonishing! And this is only the first variation. What would it be like once all eighty-one variations are mastered?"

"At the same level of entry, the entry threshold of this Soldier's Path Combat Killing Hammer is who knows how many times higher than that of the Bai Yuan Cloak Hammer…"

"I wonder if there's any saying about it?"

In the pitch-black kitchen, Li Yuan's eyes were very bright. Though his body ached a little, he could feel that his stamina had improved again.

Moreover, after that wisp of blood energy within him was replenished, it seemed to have grown a tiny bit stronger.

One hour of this might well be worth two days of him standing the Bai Yuan Stance!

"The difference between combat techniques and training techniques lies in mobilizing and strengthening that wisp of blood energy within the body. No wonder they don't teach combat techniques until you enter the inner court — perhaps even if they did, it would be useless!"

After resting for nearly half an hour, Li Yuan had finally recovered completely. He truly felt the difference between combat techniques and training techniques, and he also had some guesses about the realms of Mastery, Minor Accomplishment, and even Achieved realm.

"Consuming blood energy, replenishing blood energy — truly simple and brutal… The moment you practice a combat technique, your blood energy bottoms out instantly, but without replenishment, a person might practice themselves to death, so…"

Returning once more to the empty corner, hammer in hand to practice the second routine, Li Yuan couldn't help but have many thoughts rising in his mind.

He might not be terribly clever, but his past life's habit of wandering the jianghu had taught him to analyze more, to summarize more, and use that to dissect the difficulties he faced.

The biggest problem he faced right now.

Was not the unknown killer hidden somewhere, but medicinal ingredients to nourish the body — ginseng, fleeceflower root, rehmannia, and the like…

But in the final analysis, it was money — silver!

"For now I can only learn up to the third variation. My physique and blood energy are both insufficient…"

That night, Li Yuan learned three variations. Lying exhausted on the communal sleeping platform, his mind was full of Bai Huahua silver, and his desire for a rank-entry weapon.

According to what was written on the shoe sole, his progress belonged to the extremely poor kind.

His bone structure wasn't good enough, and he had no great medicines to supplement him. If not for the Mastery-level hammer technique bolstering him, Li Yuan suspected he wouldn't even have been able to grasp these three variations.

"Medicinal ingredients, silver, an entry-level weapon! Best if it's a hammer…"

Thinking this, Li Yuan closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

……

……

In the dead of winter, even escort agencies and traveling merchants wouldn't lightly leave the city, and ordinary commoners certainly wouldn't venture out casually.

But the lockdown of Gao Liu County lasted only a little over two months. Before the New Year, regardless of whether County Magistrate Lu Lu Yunqing was willing or not, he had no choice but to lift the lockdown and shift to searching in secret.

"Such a tiny county, yet so many internal force experts? Divine Weapon Valley truly lives up to its name as the foremost sect of the Sleeping Dragon region…"

Not far from the Weapon Forging Shop, in a dilapidated and abandoned courtyard, Nian Jiu — looking as though skin and bones alone remained — shook off the thick snow on his body, tore off the clothes that could no longer cover him, and revealed wound after wound of ferocious appearance.

Lingering palm prints, pierced bullet holes, and a long narrow knife wound on his lower ribs through which his innards could almost be seen.

"Five-Jade Poison Blade… Blade-Bearer Yu Zhen."

Nian Jiu's facial skin twitched.

That one slash had nearly taken his life.

"Got to go…"

Nian Jiu murmured, changed into the coarse hemp clothing torn from the skeleton in the corner, and walked out of the shadows.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

In the city of Gao Liu County, fireworks were shooting up into the sky.

(End of this chapter)