Chapter 35: Qin Shuang's Fortuitous Encounter

After Qin Shuang and Nie Feng jumped into the river, they were knocked dizzy by the surging water. When Qin Shuang woke up, he found himself lying on the riverbank alone, with no sign of Nie Feng.

At present, he was still injured, so for the sake of safety, he chose to first practice his internal energy and meditate. He would only begin searching for Nie Feng once his internal injuries were mostly healed.

Half an hour later, he stood up and began searching for Nie Feng around the riverbank. However, he searched the riverbank several times but could not find Nie Feng.

Where did Nie Feng go? It turned out that after Nie Feng was knocked unconscious by the river, he was washed to the other end of the river embankment. Unconscious, he was saved by a woman who was washing clothes by the river.

This woman was none other than Di Er Meng. Although the timing was a bit later than the original timeline, fate had long been destined, and the two of them still met.

And everything that followed developed just as it did in the original story.

After Nie Feng woke up, he discovered he was blind. Di Er Meng found a divine doctor to diagnose Nie Feng; it turned out that the palm strike Xiongba had delivered to Nie Feng's face had directly caused the nerves in Nie Feng's eyes to atrophy.

Under the stimulation of the divine doctor's meticulous acupuncture and Di Er Meng's careful nursing, Nie Feng soon regained his sight.

Di Er Meng was afraid that Nie Feng would see the birthmark on her face after he regained his sight, so she left Nie Feng after he recovered.

After Nie Feng regained his sight, he could not find Di Er Meng, and only learned she had left after seeing the farewell letter she had left behind.

He did not know why Di Er Meng had to leave him, so relying on the memory of her voice in his mind, he began his journey to find her.

Qin Shuang followed the direction of the river to search for Nie Feng. He walked along the riverbank for the entire way, eventually arriving at a mountain stream.

Seeing a faint light emerging from within the mountain stream, Qin Shuang felt there must be some mystery inside, so he braced himself and walked into the mountain stream.

There was indeed a mystery inside this mountain stream; it looked as if someone had lived there, with neatly arranged stone chairs and a stone table. However, the tables and chairs were covered in a thick layer of dust, suggesting no one had lived there for a long time. At the far end, there was also a glowing bed.

Qin Shuang walked to the side of the bed and took a look; was this not the legendary cultivation treasure of the martial arts world, the Cold Jade Bed?

Legend had it that if one practiced energy for one Circulation on this Cold Jade Bed, it was equivalent to five days of bitter cultivation, which was why this Cold Jade Bed had once triggered bloody storms in the martial arts world.

Qin Shuang then walked to the stone table to take a look; on the stone table sat an incomparably huge axe, and beside the axe lay a book.

Qin Shuang opened the book and took a look, discovering that this was actually a Secret Manual of Axe Tactics. Flipping to the middle of the book, a letter fell out, with "To be opened by the fated one" written on the envelope.

Without a second thought, Qin Shuang tore open the letter and began to read:

"Fated one, when you see this letter from this old man, I must surely no longer be in this world. This old man is named Lei Zhen. I relied on one Thunder-Shock Axe to fight across the world without a rival, yet I won the martial arts world only to lose the person I loved most. I could only watch helplessly as she married another. In a fit of rage, I killed her husband's entire family, yet she did not leave with me, choosing instead to accompany her husband in death. From then on, I saw through the vanity of the world. Before I became a monk, I left my world-conquering Thunder-Shock Axe, its techniques, and this Cold Jade Bed in this cave, hoping to wait for a fated person. I hope you, the fated one, can live without regrets and that all lovers may eventually be united."

After reading this letter, Qin Shuang suddenly realized that the person who had lived here was actually the famous "Blood Axe" Lei Zhen, who had been renowned in the martial arts world two hundred years ago.

While at the World Martial Arts Association, Qin Shuang had once accidentally come across records regarding the "Blood Axe" Lei Zhen. The records stated that Lei Zhen had relied on an incomparably powerful axe to fight across the world without a rival, but had disappeared from the martial arts world at the height of his fame, with no one knowing the reason.

Qin Shuang muttered to himself, "This senior Lei Zhen was also a bitter lover; for the sake of the woman he loved, he was actually willing to give up everything and retreat into the monastic life."

Qin Shuang then continued to read the Axe Tactics. After finishing the book, Qin Shuang picked up the Thunder-Shock Axe beside it.

Nowadays, they were at odds with Xiongba, and among the four of them, his martial arts were the most singular, possessing only the Tianshuang Fist Technique, which was countered by Xiongba at every turn.

Now that he had obtained the inheritance of the Blood Axe's Thunder-Shock Axe, he had to learn it as quickly as possible so as not to hold the four of them back.

Qin Shuang picked up the axe. The axe looked incomparably huge, and its weight was not low. Having practiced martial arts for so many years, Qin Shuang actually found it a bit strenuous to hold this axe.

Qin Shuang looked at the Cold Jade Bed, put down the axe, walked to the front of the Cold Jade Bed, sat cross-legged, and began to circulate his True Qi.

This Cold Jade Bed was indeed miraculous. Qin Shuang felt the speed of his True Qi circulation constantly increasing. After meditating for half an hour, he got up from the bed and picked up the axe to practice the techniques.

When he was tired from practicing the techniques, he would go to the bed to circulate his energy, repeating the cycle. Slowly, he became accustomed to the weight of the Thunder-Shock Axe, and the Thunder-Shock Axe also became handy in his hands.

The Thunder-Shock Axe was divided into nine forms. He quickly learned the first five forms, but he could never understand the final four forms.

Encountering a Bottleneck, he knew that cultivation alone would not suffice; no matter how powerful the techniques were, they needed to be tempered through battle. He needed battle.

He picked up the Thunder-Shock Axe, looked at the Cold Jade Bed, and then brought the axe down, chopping the Cold Jade Bed into two halves.

In these turbulent days of the martial arts world, it was better for such heaven-defying things not to exist. If discovered by those with ulterior motives, it would surely be a disaster for the martial arts world. And at present, they did not have the ability to protect this Cold Jade Bed, so it was better to destroy it.

After he destroyed the Cold Jade Bed, he simultaneously destroyed the Secret Manual for the Thunder-Shock Axe.

He strapped the Thunder-Shock Axe to his back and walked out of the cave.

Walking out of the cave, Qin Shuang felt as if he had been reborn. As the old saying goes, "If one survives a great disaster, one will surely have good fortune." This old saying had been verified on himself today.

Xiongba, who had returned to the place where he had been unconscious, happened to run into the members of the World Martial Arts Association who had come to search for him and Nie Feng.

Qin Shuang slowly took the Thunder-Shock Axe off his back. After many battles with Xiongba, he understood that the martial arts world could only be resolved by the ways of the martial arts world, and the ways of the martial arts world required blood. Therefore, he would no longer show mercy to this group of former subordinates.

When the members of the World Martial Arts Association saw it was Qin Shuang, they picked up their weapons and attacked him. Qin Shuang directly used a Zhenlei Chop to strike at the crowd; a huge axe was conjured, and the members of the World Martial Arts Association were instantly struck and severely injured.

"Go back and tell Xiongba that the pain he inflicted upon us today, sooner or later, we will make him pay it back."

Qin Shuang said coldly to the severely injured crowd.

Now that Nie Feng was missing and there was no news of him, he blamed all of this on Xiongba.

The most urgent task was to find Nie Feng as soon as possible. Qin Shuang gave himself three days; if he still could not find Nie Feng after three days, he would have to leave this place and go to rendezvous with Duan Fengyun and Bu Jingyun. He did not want to see his brothers injured again, nor did he want to lose anyone else.