Chen Yuan looked at Lin Jingqi with great interest.
He hadn't expected there was still this kind of hidden truth to that matter from back then.
Actually, he had felt something was off from the very beginning. This Lin Jingqi's behavior was far too weak and indecisive, not even as resolute as his wife.
Could someone with this kind of personality do something like seize a martial arts school?
Now that it was changed to being led by Zhang Qiuhe, it became much more reasonable.
Zhang Qiuhe glared fiercely at Lin Jingqi while spitting out blood. "Waste! You're just like Duan Mubai, both of you are wastes!"
Lin Jingqi looked at Chen Yuan with hope, hoping Chen Yuan would spare his life.
But in the next moment, blade light flashed, and Lin Jingqi's head instantly fell to the ground.
Chen Yuan shook off the blood droplets from the blade and sheathed it, saying to Zhang Xiaoyi, "Take the head, and bring that woman too."
Zhang Xiaoyi nodded, immediately found a rag to wrap Lin Jingqi's head in, and escorted Zhang Qiuhe out of the martial arts school.
Those martial arts school disciples were as silent as cicadas in winter, all voluntarily making way.
Actually, it was unnecessary for Chen Yuan to find these Transmission Hall disciples to come bolster his momentum.
The disciples in the martial arts school were all paying money to learn martial arts; there wasn't a true master-disciple relationship between them and Lin Jingqi.
Learning that Lin Jingqi had offended the Heavenly Wolf Gang, they had even considered directly quitting the martial arts school. None of them would have taken action.
Taking the carriage to Wuyi Lane, Chen Yuan took the head and threw it before Duan Mubai.
Duan Mubai seemed not to have expected Chen Yuan's actions to be so fast.
He was stunned for a moment before using trembling hands to lift the rag.
Seeing that familiar head inside, Duan Mubai let out sobs that seemed like crying yet also like laughing, his entire body trembling.
"Right, there's one more thing I need to tell you.
"Before he died, Lin Jingqi said that back then when they schemed against you, he wasn't the mastermind. Your fiancée Zhang Qiuhe was the mastermind; he was actually incited by Zhang Qiuhe.
"I've brought that woman to you too. Kill her or torture her, as you please."
Chen Yuan waved his hand, and Zhang Qiuhe was directly thrown before Duan Mubai.
Duan Mubai looked at Zhang Qiuhe tremblingly. "It was really you?"
"Of course it was me. Otherwise, do you think this waste Lin Jingqi could have done these things? Even if he had the heart, he wouldn't have the guts!"
Facing Duan Mubai, Zhang Qiuhe didn't show the slightest guilt; instead, she had a face full of hatred.
"Why!? Back then it was my father who adopted you, taught you martial arts, treated you like his own daughter. I also regarded you as my own sister!"
"But I'm not your real sister! I'm your fiancée! I'm the school master's wife!"
Zhang Qiuhe glared deadly at Duan Mubai. "You went out to find women, and I didn't care no matter how wanton you were. But you shouldn't have said that you regarded me as your little sister and didn't plan to marry me!
"I've prepared to be the school master's wife for over ten years. Zhenshan Martial Arts School is my home. I've already lost one home; I don't want to lose a second one!
"You regard me as your little sister, but if you married someone else, would she regard me as her little sister? Would Zhenshan Martial Arts School still be my home?
"Who becomes the master of Zhenshan Martial Arts School doesn't matter, but I must be the school master's wife!"
Duan Mubai looked at Zhang Qiuhe and suddenly burst into loud laughter, but while laughing, he began to wail.
He had never dreamed that he had fallen into his current state because of such an absurd reason!
Having seen enough of the spectacle, Chen Yuan waved his hand and had people pull Zhang Qiuhe down.
"Alright, whether it was the one who acted or the mastermind, I've brought them all to you. That's benevolent enough. It's time to hand over the Silk-Binding Jade-Shattering Hand, right?"
Duan Mubai said hoarsely, "Find me paper and brush."
Chen Yuan found paper and brush, and Duan Mubai tremblingly wrote out the Silk-Binding Jade-Shattering Hand cultivation method.
Satisfied, Chen Yuan put away the cultivation method and placed down fifty taels of silver. "Take this money and live out the rest of your life well."
Duan Mubai waved his hand. "Don't waste silver. I've been lying here for several years; I've gotten used to it."
"What about that woman Zhang Qiuhe? Should she be dealt with?"
"Let her go. In the end, I wronged her."
Chen Yuan glanced at Duan Mubai and lightly shook his head.
What a soft-hearted fool.
Chen Yuan got on the carriage and called over Zhang Xiaoyi, saying indifferently, "In a while, take that woman to a remote place and deal with her."
Zhang Xiaoyi asked in surprise, "Young master, didn't you promise Duan Mubai to let her go?"
"I only asked him if she needed to be dealt with; I never promised to do as he said."
Chen Yuan said indifferently, "That woman is not one to be trifled with, and she isn't right in the head.
"I killed her husband and destroyed Zhenshan Martial Arts School. There's no guaranteeing she won't stir up more trouble.
"As the saying goes, when will the cycle of vengeance end? Kill them all cleanly, and there won't be so many messy revenge stories."
Zhang Xiaoyi scratched his head in confusion.
Is that what "when will the cycle of vengeance end" means?
But since the young master said it, there shouldn't be any problem.
After returning to the Heavenly Wolf Gang, Chen Yuan immediately began closed-door cultivation, preparing to cultivate this Silk-Binding Jade-Shattering Hand.
Destroying Zhenshan Martial Arts School was just an insignificant trifle; he didn't even need to specially report it to Jiang Kaitai.
To the outside, just saying that Zhenshan Martial Arts School colluded with the Blackwater Gang and showed contempt for the Heavenly Wolf Gang was enough.
Although this martial arts school master Lin Jingqi could barely be considered a figure of some note, in the Heavenly Wolf Gang's eyes, he was the same as Hu Laosan who was beheaded by Chen Yuan in the Forget-Worry Tower previously—both were small-time characters who couldn't make it onto the stage.
Chen Yuan had frequently done this kind of thing during this period to curry favor with Jiang Kaitai; Jiang Kaitai had long grown accustomed to it.
Returning to his room, Chen Yuan took out the cultivation method and carefully studied and cultivated it.
After transmigrating, Chen Yuan inherited the memories of "Chen Yuan" from the game, while also inheriting this body's extremely formidable martial arts talent.
That Chen Yuan had only cultivated martial arts for two years before taking charge of the Transmission Hall, and could even make those veteran instructors within the Transmission Hall respect him immensely, was all because of his monstrous martial arts talent.
Any cultivation method—so long as Chen Yuan glanced at it—he could more or less grasp the basics and master it; with a short period of cultivation, he could thoroughly comprehend it.
The proprietress of Forget-Worry Tower said that Chen Yuan's Heavenly Wolf Blade Technique had seventy percent of Jiang Kaitai's essence; actually, she was somewhat underestimating Chen Yuan.
When Jiang Kaitai had been at Chen Yuan's current level of cultivation, his accomplishment in the Heavenly Wolf Blade Technique was far inferior to Chen Yuan's.
When he had just transmigrated, Chen Yuan had even felt that he didn't have any cheat at all—his identity as a transmigrator was truly too shabby.
But now it seemed that this body he had transmigrated into was his greatest cheat.
So long as he could survive this tribulation in Liancheng City and grow in this jianghu, his future accomplishments would be immeasurable.
A genius who hasn't grown is just a dead person; one who has grown—that's a legend.
Duan Mubai did not hold anything back; he had indeed written out the complete Silk-Binding Jade-Shattering Hand cultivation method.
Reading it through in one go, Chen Yuan let out a long breath.
He could now be certain that this Silk-Binding Jade-Shattering Hand absolutely wasn't the Duan family's ancestral cultivation method; their family didn't have this kind of foundation.
The core of this Silk-Binding Jade-Shattering Hand was extremely exquisite; it wasn't entirely a grappling-type martial technique, but even more so a cultivation method that could mobilize internal breath and temper the meridians.
Externally it cultivated grappling techniques; internally it cultivated Silk-Binding Force and Jade-Shattering Force. These two forces, one hard and one soft, transformed into internal force that roamed within the body, coinciding with the supreme principles of Yin and Yang, constantly tempering the meridians.
Even if one hadn't cultivated internal energy before, after long years of tempering, one could still step into the Meridian Opening Realm under the impact of this hard-and-soft internal force.
No wonder Duan Zhenshan could reach the Meridian Opening Realm without having cultivated internal energy—it was because he had cultivated this Silk-Binding Jade-Shattering Hand to an extremely profound degree.
Logically speaking, a cultivation method of this level should have a supporting set of internal cultivation techniques to coordinate with its practice.
The Silk-Binding Force and Jade-Shattering Force only served an auxiliary role.
But the Duan family ancestors had never passed down any internal cultivation techniques, which was sufficient to show that this cultivation method was probably also obtained accidentally by the Duan family's ancestors.
Chen Yuan sat cross-legged on the bed, constantly circulating the two forces of Silk-Binding Force and Jade-Shattering Force.
Feeling that one hard and one soft, the two forces constantly crashed within his body, bringing waves of needle-prick-like intense pain.
But Chen Yuan's expression didn't change; he still forcibly controlled these two forces to carry the faint internal power cultivated from the Azure Wood Heart Technique, assailing his meridians.
If Duan Mubai were to see this scene, he would definitely be greatly devastated.
His martial arts talent could be considered pretty good, but when Duan Zhenshan taught him the Silk-Binding Jade-Shattering Hand, merely comprehending the Silk-Binding Force and Jade-Shattering Force took a month.
As for controlling these one-hard-one-soft two forces to temper the meridians, that was completely out of the question.
He simply couldn't control these two forces; the moment they appeared simultaneously they began to conflict. Forcibly tempering would simply be self-destructing one's meridians.
Therefore, though Duan Mubai had cultivated this method for over a year, he couldn't even be considered to have entered the basics.
Yet now Chen Yuan had only used one day's time, and his grasp of the Silk-Binding Force and Jade-Shattering Force was almost no different from his father Duan Zhenshan's.
Chen Yuan endured the intense pain, bit by bit breaking through his blocked meridians one by one.
This wasn't the game; there was pain perception shielding there. All the pain had to be endured by Chen Yuan himself.
Accompanied by the impact of the hard and soft forces, the Du Meridian, Ren Meridian, Chong Meridian... were opened one by one.
He had originally already cultivated to the peak of the Body Tempering Realm; it was only because the progress of the Azure Wood Heart Technique was too slow that he couldn't break through.
Now with the assistance of the Silk-Binding Force and Jade-Shattering Force, the Eight Extraordinary Meridians were completely opened. Internal power completely circulated within his body like flowing water, revolving through the full cycle, ceaseless and endless.
The Meridian Opening Realm was achieved!
Chen Yuan let out a long breath. At this moment, his entire body was drenched in sweat, as if he had just been fished out of water.
Compared to the Body Tempering Realm, the greatest difference of the Meridian Opening Realm was the increase in power.
The former merely used the power of muscles, flesh, and bones.
The latter could stimulate the Eight Extraordinary Meridians through internal power, mobilizing power from the entire body. In terms of explosive power, the two were completely on different levels.
Moreover, after opening the meridians, the body's full cycle was completely opened up. Even when Chen Yuan slept, his internal power would subconsciously circulate; the growth speed of internal power would also advance further.
However, having reached this step, a good internal cultivation technique was even more necessary.
In a state of focused cultivation, the Azure Wood Heart Technique required two hours for a complete cycle of internal power circulation.
High-grade techniques required only fifteen minutes, or even less time. The gap was immense.
During the new book period, two chapters daily. Because we need to follow the recommendation schedule, bonus updates for great lords' rewards will be made up after the book goes premium.
Update time will be around noon at 12 PM or so, two consecutive chapters. If I wake up early, I'll update earlier.
Recently I've been staying up too late, only falling asleep at two or three in the morning. Sometimes I get up at noon~ *sigh*
By the way, begging for favorites, begging for follow-reads, begging for recommendations, begging for monthly tickets, desperately begging for all kinds of things.