Chapter 18: Stealing the Secret Manual

Joining Youruo's six-person team made daily life much more filled with laughter and joy.

Youruo and Duan Fengyun were like a pair of bickering enemies; they would bicker the moment they met, the kind where neither would let the other off.

Through constant, diligent practice, Duan Fengyun soon mastered Sword Twenty-Two.

He thought for a moment that in the future, this sword technique would still need to help Bu Jingyun increase his strength, so he had to return the sword manual to the ice cave. He wondered if, by the will of Destiny, this life's Bu Jingyun would obtain Sword Twenty-Two.

Thus, he found an opportunity, quietly slipped out of the World Association, arrived at the familiar ice cave, and placed the sword manual back at the entrance of the ice cave.

Returning to the World Association, Duan Fengyun saw Bu Jingyun still practicing the Cloud-Seeping Palm under the waterfall. He remembered that the fist, palm, and leg techniques he and the others had learned were incomplete; Xiongba had not taught everyone the strongest killing moves of the fist, palm, and leg techniques.

Therefore, in the original story, every time Feng, Yun, and Qin Shuang made a move, it was predicted by Xiongba, until Feng and Yun each had their own fortuitous encounters and obtained the Snow Drink Saber and the Peerless Sword, only then avoiding this problem.

Duan Fengyun believed that if he could learn the final killing moves, he would not be predicted at every step when facing Xiongba. He decided to find an opportunity to steal the final Cultivation Method moves for the fist, palm, and leg techniques.

But he also knew that Xiongba must have hidden this Secret Manual very well. If he wanted to steal it, he would be risking his life, so he had to come up with a foolproof plan before he could take action.

Duan Fengyun had been waiting for an opportunity, but Xiongba basically never left the World Association, and he could never find a chance to strike.

This day, Duan Fengyun noticed that the usually cheerful Youruo was a bit unhappy, so he asked Youruo what was wrong.

Youruo told Duan Fengyun that the anniversary of her mother's death was approaching, and she missed her mother a little. Through his conversation with Youruo, he learned that every year on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month, Xiongba and Youruo would go to her mother's grave to pay their respects, and they would be gone for the entire day. Duan Fengyun knew this was his chance and had to seize it well.

Soon, the sixth day of the sixth lunar month arrived. Duan Fengyun got up early in the morning and went to Huxin Xiaozhu to look for Youruo.

At this time, Huxin Xiaozhu was quiet. Duan Fengyun called out to Youruo's maid and asked:

"Where has the Eldest Miss gone? I have something to find her for."

The maid replied: "The Miss went out with the Gang Leader early this morning. What does Hall Master Duan need with the Miss? When the Miss returns, I will pass the message on to her."

"Since the Miss is not here, then forget it, it is nothing."

Duan Fengyun waved his hand at the maid and then left.

Leaving Huxin Xiaozhu, Duan Fengyun quietly slipped into the Lianwu Tang. Just as he was about to search the room, Duan Fengyun heard footsteps outside the door and hurriedly hid.

It turned out to be that fellow Wen Chouchou coming to look for Xiongba. Seeing that Xiongba was not there, he left.

Seeing that Wen Chouchou had left, Duan Fengyun began to search slowly. He knew Xiongba was cunning and treacherous, so he had to be careful while searching; if he damaged the room's furnishings or layout, he would definitely be discovered by Xiongba.

But after searching for a long time, Duan Fengyun still had no gains; it seemed the Secret Manual was not kept here.

He immediately entered Xiongba's room and began searching inside.

But after a round of searching, there were still no results.

Seeing that a routine search was ineffective, Duan Fengyun began to check if the room had any hidden compartments or secret chambers.

He knocked on every place that could possibly be a mechanism, and finally found a mechanism behind a portrait of a person.

He pressed the mechanism, a door in the wall opened instantly, and he walked in immediately.

This secret chamber was about thirteen square meters. Night Pearls the size of eggs were placed around the chamber to provide light, and boxes of gold and silver jewelry were placed in the room; it seemed this room was Xiongba's treasure vault.

Time was urgent; he had no heart and dared not take these jewels, as who knew if Xiongba had counted them.

Heaven rewards the diligent; he found an inconspicuous small box next to the jewelry boxes. He opened the box and saw that inside were indeed the manuals for the Frost Fist, Cloud-Seeping Palm, and Wind God Leg.

Too busy to verify their authenticity, he began to copy them directly. He kept counting the time in his heart, constantly accelerating his copying speed.

Soon, the three great unique arts had been completely copied by him. He hurriedly put the original manuscripts back in their place and then restored the secret chamber to its original state.

After exiting the secret chamber and checking Xiongba's room to see that nothing had been missed, Duan Fengyun quietly left.

Returning to the Tianwen Hall, Duan Fengyun hurriedly took out the copied manuscripts from his bosom. He looked at the first few forms of the Wind God Leg and Cloud-Seeping Palm, and they were all the same as what he had learned, so what he had copied must be real.

"Sure enough, this old scoundrel has been holding back on us."

Duan Fengyun looked at the final forms of the Wind God Leg and Cloud-Seeping Palm; these final forms were the true killing moves of these leg and palm techniques.

After he had memorized the final forms of the Wind God Leg and Cloud-Seeping Palm in his mind, he turned his gaze to the Frost Fist. Since he had already learned this much, he might as well learn it all.

"This Xiongba is even more ruthless to Qin Shuang, actually holding back so much."

Opening the Frost Fist, Duan Fengyun looked at the explanation of the fist moves and was shocked:

It turned out that the Frost Fist was divided into fourteen moves in total, but Xiongba had only taught Qin Shuang eight moves, keeping six for himself. This was also the reason why the gap between Qin Shuang and Feng and Yun grew larger and larger in the original story; when Feng and Yun had both practiced their respective leg and palm techniques to the pinnacle, Qin Shuang was still creating the subsequent fist moves for the Frost Fist like someone crossing a river by feeling the stones.

Duan Fengyun could not help but sigh for the tragic Destiny of this senior brother in the original story, and in this life, he would not allow such things to happen to the people around him again. After he had memorized the entire Frost Fist, he hid these three unique fist, palm, and leg techniques well.

Now that everyone had not yet defected from the World Association, he could not give them these subsequent moves yet; giving them away rashly now would purely be looking for trouble for himself.

In fact, while in the secret chamber, he was only focused on finding the three unique techniques and did not notice that there was another box next to the one containing the three unique techniques, and what was placed in that other box was the Three-Origin Returning Qi Cultivation Method.

If he had learned the Three-Origin Returning Qi Cultivation Method, combined with the three unique techniques, his individual strength would have been enough to contend with Xiongba, but unfortunately, his blockhead self did not notice it.

Having finished tidying up, he heard Youruo's voice outside the door and knew that Xiongba had returned.

He opened the door and asked Youruo why she had come. It turned out that after Youruo returned to Huxin Xiaozhu, she heard from the servants that Duan Fengyun had come to look for her early in the morning, so she had specifically run over to find Duan Fengyun.

"Oh, you mean that. I couldn't sleep this morning and wanted to find someone to play chess with. Senior Brother and the others weren't in their rooms, so I came to look for you, but you weren't there either."

Duan Fengyun explained to Youruo.

Youruo yawned and then said lazily:

"Alright, if there's nothing else, I'm going back to rest. I'm too tired from traveling all day today."

After Youruo left, Duan Fengyun, who had been mentally tense all day, also felt sleepy. So, he washed up briefly, went to bed, and ended his fruitful day.