Benguan’s middle finger suddenly straightened, and the power of his ‘Zhongchong Sword’ rushed forth. Jiumozhi exclaimed, “Excellent! This is the ‘Zhongchong Sword’ technique!” With a wave of his palm, he blocked the attack. Despite fighting against the two of them simultaneously, he did not seem the slightest bit nervous.
Seated in front of Elder Kurong, Duan Yu continually snuck side glances towards this battle, the likes of which wulin might see only once every thousand years. Although he did not understand martial arts, he could still tell that these eminent monks were using their internal energy to compete in a sword competition with each other. The situation was even more dangerous than if they were wielding actual, physical swords against each other. Fortunately for him, Jiumozhi had prepared those six sticks of incense, and so he was able to see some of their sword and sabre techniques of the three via the movement of the smoke. After watching for over ten stances, he suddenly realized, “I know! That’s master Benguan’s ‘Zhongchong Sword’ technique! It is totally identical to the technique which was drawn on his manuscript.” He gently unscrolled the manuscript teaching the ‘Zhongchong Sword’ technique, comparing the movements of the smoke to the sword techniques contained in the manuscript. With it serving as reference, he now understood everything he saw, including Bencan’s ‘Shaoze Sword’ techniques. The techniques of the ‘Zhongchong Sword’ were majestic and imposing, with large, grand motions; in contrast, the ‘Shaoze Sword’ flickered here and there, its changes and movements small and refined.
Abbot Benyin saw that his two martial-brothers could not gain the slightest advantage, despite having joined forces. He thought to himself, “We have not yet thoroughly finished our studies of this technique, and can easily run out of attacking strokes. The earlier all six of us join in, the better. The Enlightened Lord of the Great Wheel is intelligent to the extreme; right now, it seems as though he is simply observing Bencan and Benguan’s techniques. He isn’t using all of his abilities.” He immediately said, “Brothers Benxiang and Benshen, let us join in as well.” He stretched out his index finger, attacking with the ‘Shangyang Sword’ technique. Following him was Benxiang’s ‘Shaochong Sword’ technique and Emperor Baoding’s ‘Guanchong Sword’ technique. In unison, the three streams of sword qi attacked the the three lines of jade smoke in front of them.
Duan Yu’s eyes wandered left and right; he would check out the ‘Shaochong Sword’ technique, then the ‘Guanchong Sword’ technique, and then the ‘Shangyang Sword’ technique. After he compared them to the illustrated manual, he could understand what was going on in general, but by and large everything seemed confused and jumbled to him. Just as he was raptly studying the instructions for the ‘Shaochong Sword’ technique, he saw Elder Kurong stretch his finger onto the drawings and write, “Only study one at a time. Move on to the next one only after you are done with the previous.” Duan Yu’s heart jumped; he realized that Elder Kurong was giving him pointers. Turning around, he smiled slightly towards Elder Kurong, so as to express his appreciation.
But as soon as he turned around, the smile on his face immediately froze and became stiff. The face he saw was extremely bizarre. The left side of Elder Kurong’s face was healthy and rosy; the skin was smooth and the flesh was abundant, like the face of a young baby. But the right side of his face was like a withered bone; aside from a layer of sallow skin, there wasn’t so much as a single scrap of flesh. With the bones on prominent display, it seemed very much like half of a skeleton’s skull. In his startlement, he immediately turned back, his heart pounding madly in his chest. He knew that this was the result of Elder Kurong practicing the ‘Withered Glory Meditation’ art, but this half-withered, half-healthy face was simply too terrifying. For the moment, he felt as though he couldn’t calm down no matter what, only to see Elder Kurong’s index finger once more tracing words on the scroll. “Do not waste such a good opportunity. Focus all your attention on studying the sword techniques. Watch by yourself and learn by yourself. That does not count as violating our ancestral commandments.”
Duan Yu realized, “Grand martial-uncle Kurong said to my uncle that the ‘Divine Sword of the Six Meridians’ cannot be taught to secular disciples. Only after he shaved his head and became a monk could he be taught the technique. But for him to now write, ‘Watch by yourself and learn by yourself, that does not count as violating our ancestral commandments’ implies that the commandments of the ancestors of the Duan family do not specifically forbid secular members of the family from studying the techniques independently. He ordered me to ‘Not waste such a good opportunity’ and to ‘focus all my attention on studying the techniques’. Naturally, he wants me to study and learn by myself right now.” He immediately nodded, then began to carefully study his uncle’s execution of the ‘Guanchong Sword’ technique. After more or less understanding it, he moved on to the ‘Shaochong Sword’ technique and the ‘Shangyang Sword’ technique.
For ordinary people, the ring finger is the least dexterous, whereas the index finger is the most nimble. Thus, the ‘Guanchong Sword’ technique strove to achieve victory in a sluggish, simple, and unsophisticated way, whereas the techniques of the ‘Shangyang Sword’ were ingenious, lively, and difficult to ascertain. The ‘Shaochong Sword’ was similar to the ‘Shaoze Sword’ technique in that it used the pinky; however, one was on the left hand, whereas one was on the right hand. Thus, in terms of technique, the ‘Divine Sword of the Six Meridians’ had techniques that were ‘skilled’ as well as ‘clumsy’, ‘nimble’ as well as ‘sluggish’. And yet, the ‘clumsy’ techniques were not any less wonderful, nor the ‘sluggish’ techniques contain any less might. They were just displayed in different ways.
At first, Duan Yu had just been curious. He was simply comparing the movements of the jade smoke to the techniques written down on the scrolls; it was something akin to guessing riddles. Only now, after receiving directions from Elder Kurong, did he settle down and seriously watch the battle. By the time he more or less understood the techniques of the ‘Shangyang Sword’, ‘Shaochong Sword’, and ‘Guanchong Sword’, Benguan and Bencan were beginning to repeat their respective sets of movements and attacks. Duan Yu no longer needed to refer to the manuscript each time. The movements of the jade smoke were identical to the sword techniques which he had memorized. He felt as though the lines and techniques drawn on the paper were rigid and inflexible, whereas the movement of the jade smoke underwent boundless changes and transformations. The techniques were much richer and more diverse by far than the ones actually written on the scroll.
After watching for a while longer, he saw that Benyin, Benxiang, and Emperor Baoding’s techniques had been exhausted as well. Benxiang flicked out his pinky, striking with the ‘Parting Flowers, Flicking Willows’ technique. It was the second time he had used this technique. Jiumozhi nodded slightly. Following this, Benyin and Emperor Baoding could not help but repeat previously used techniques as well. Suddenly, a ‘chi-chi’ sound could be heard from in front of Jiumozhi, and the power of his ‘Blazing Flame Sabre’ increased dramatically, forcing back the internal energy of the five.
As it were, Jiumozhi initially remained on the defensive, desiring to see the techniques of the ‘Divine Sword of the Six Meridians’ in its entirety before counterattacking. Now that he had changed from defense to offense, the five lines of smoke whirled about in the air with incomparable nimbleness. But that sixth line of smoke remained calmly unmoving in front of Elder Kurong, still three feet away from him and not moving in the slightest. Elder Kurong desired to know the exact extent of his abilities and see how long he could hold out, fighting with five lines of smoke but holding the sixth stock still. This was why that entire time he hadn’t extended his own hand to attack. And, sure enough, Jiumozhi really did expend a rather considerable amount of energy keeping that sixth stream of smoke still. But now, that line of jade smoke finally began to inch its way towards the back of Elder Kurong’s skull.
Alarmed, Duan Yu said, “Grand martial-uncle, the jade smoke is attacking!” Elder Kurong nodded, then unrolled the ‘Shaoshang Sword’ manuscript and placed it in front of Duan Yu. Duan Yu saw that the illustrations of the ‘Shaoshang Sword’ manuscript were made in the splash-ink style, similar to the style used for scenic paintings. The horizontal and vertical lines were tilted and few in number, but the sword technique was strong and vigorous, with the capability of shattering the earth and battering the heavens, containing within it the power of the wind and the rain. Duan Yu studied the sword manuscript, but could not forget about the stream of jade smoke that was floating towards the back of Elder Kurong’s skull. Turning around, he saw that the jade smoke was now only three or four inches away. He cried out in alarm, “Careful!”
Elder Kurong flipped his hands over, then extended the thumbs of both hands. With two ‘chi-chi’ sounds, they launched separate surprise attacks on Jiumozhi’s right shoulder and the right side of his chest. He did not ward off his enemy’s assault; rather, he sent two brilliant attacks of his own to counter-attack his opponent. His judgement was that Jiumozhi’s ‘Blazing Flame Sabre’ internal energy was still not fully released. As it was advancing towards him only slowly, for it to actually harm him would still take it a short while. If, despite moving after Jiumozhi did, his attack arrived first, he would be able to catch Jiumozhi offguard.
Jiumozhi was a careful and contemplative person. Long ago, he had prepared a stream of palm energy which protected his chest. But he had only anticipated a single, ferocious attack from the ‘Shaoshang Sword’, and did not foresee Elder Kurong would launch twin surprise attacks at the same time and threaten two different areas. Jiumozhi raised his palm and used it to block the attack on the right side of his chest. Following that, he kicked upwards with his right foot, hurriedly propelling himself backwards. But no matter how quickly he retreated, he could not move faster than the sword qi, which arrived with the speed of the thunder and the lightning. With a soft sound, the top of the robe on his shoulder split open, and fresh blood spilled forth. Elder Kurong reversed his thumbs, retracting his internal energy and pulling back towards him. All six sticks of incense snapped simultaneously. Benyin, Emperor Baoding, and the rest also withdrew their fingers and dissipated their sword energy. Each of them had fought for a long time without achieving success and had been secretly anxious for a long time now. Only now did they feel relieved.
Jiumozhi walked back inside the room. A small smile on his lips, he said, “Elder Kurong, your Meditation Arts are extraordinary indeed. This humble monk admires you greatly. But as for that ‘Divine Sword of the Six Meridians’, well, it seems it really is nothing more than a tool with an undeserved reputation.” Abbot Benyin said, “How is it nothing more than a useless tool? I must ask that you enlighten us.” Jiumozhi said, “What the venerable Mr. Murong admired was the sword techniques of the ‘Divine Sword of the Six Meridians’, not the sword formation. This sword formation of the Heavenly Dragon Temple really is very powerful, but if we were to compare it with Shaolin’s ‘Arhat Sword Formation’ or Kunlun sect’s ‘Chaos Sword Formation’, it can only be said to be on the same level, and cannot be said to be the most unparalleled sword technique in the world.” By describing it as a ‘Sword Formation’ instead of as a ‘Sword Technique’, he was pointing out the fact that all six of them fought in unison with a pre-planned formation, rather than one of them using the ‘Divine Sword of the Six Meridians’ by himself, as he, Jiumozhi, had done with his ‘Blazing Flame Sabre’.
Abbot Benyin felt that his words were indeed reasonable, and was at a loss for a response. But Bencan only coldly sneered, “Regardless of whether it was a ‘Sword Technique’ or a ‘Sword Formation’, were you, Enlightened Lord, the victor in that competition? Or was the Heavenly Dragon Temple the victor in that competition.”
Jiumozhi did not reply. Closing his eyes, he silently meditated for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea. Opening his eyes, he said, “In the first round, your respected monastery took the upper hand. But in the second round, I believe I am guaranteed victory.” Benyin was startled. He asked, “Enlightened Lord, you want to compete in another round?” Jiumozhi replied, “A man must live up to his words. Since I have already given my word to Mr. Murong, how can I back off at the first sight of difficulty?” Benyin asked, “And why is it that you are guaranteed of victory, Enlightened Lord?”
Jiumozhi smiled slightly. “Everyone here has a profound and deep understanding of martial arts. Can it be that you cannot guess? Please prepare to receive my stances!” As he spoke, his two palms slowly pushed outwards. Elder Kurong, Benyin, Emperor Baoding, and the other three simultaneously felt as though two streams of internal energy were suddenly attacking from different directions. Benyin and the others all felt that they could not use the ‘Divine Sword of the Six Meridians’ to block this energy attack. Each of them faced two streams of energy, and pushed out with palms to block the attack. Only Elder Kurong continued to thrust out the thumbs of both of his hands, using the ‘Shaoyang Sword’ technique to receive the opponent’s energy.
After pushing out this twin burst of palm energy, Jiumozhi immediately halted his attack. “Excuse me for offending you!”
Benyin, Benguan, and the others all traded glances. All of them understood, “With a single palm, he was able to send out so many streams of internal energy. If Elder Kurong were to launch another concerted double-attack on him, he would be able to withstand it. But we, on the other hand, would have to give up the sword techniques and use palm techniques. It seems our ‘Divine Sword of the Six Meridians’ inferior to his ‘Blazing Flame Sabre.’”
Just at this very moment, smoke could be seen rising up from in front of Elder Kurong. Four distinct lines of black smoke drifted upwards, then moved towards Jiumozhi. Jiumozhi held a deep, secret dread of this old monk who sat facing the wall and never turned around a single time. Now, seeing the smoke head towards him and not knowing what the old monk’s intention was, Jiumozhi once again executed his ‘Blazing Flame Sabre’ technique to ward off all four lines of smoke. He did not immediately launch a counterattack, both so that he would not be caught off-guard by a simultaneous attack from Benyin and the others, as well as to enable himself to calmly see if Elder Kurong had any other fearsome techniques.
The black smoke grew thicker and thicker, showing that the attack was extremely aggressive. Jiumozhi was secretly surprised. “To launch an all-out attack like this is like the saying that a windstorm cannot last all morning, and a rainstorm cannot last all evening. How can this possibly be sustained? Elder Kurong is an eminent monk of this age. How could he use such a rash, aggressive method to fight his opponent?” He felt that Elder Kurong couldn’t possibly be that inexperienced; thus, he must have some other trick up his sleeve. He immediately tightened his defenses and raised his guard mentally, preparing himself to immediately act as according to the situation. After a short period of time, the four lines of smoke suddenly began to split. One became two, two became four, four became eight, eight became sixteen, rushing towards Jiumozhi from all directions. Jiumozhi thought to himself, “An arrow at the end of its flight is a spent force. Nothing worth even talking about.” He executed his ‘Blazing Flame Sabre’ technique and blocked every single line. As soon as his internal energy touched the lines of smoke, they split and fell apart, filling the entire room with smoke in the blink of an eye. Jiumozhi was not worried in the slightest, generating his internal energy to protect his entire body.
As the smoke and the mist thinned by degrees, he could hazily see that Benyin and the other five monks were on their knees, a solemn expression on their faces. A look of great grief and indignation could be seen on the faces of Bencan and Benguan in particular. In a moment of clarity, Jiumozhi suddenly realized the truth. He secretly cried out, “Oh no! This old monk, Kurong, knows that they aren’t a match for me, so he actually burned the manuscript of the ‘Divine Sword of the Six Meridians!’”
His guess was correct. Elder Kurong had used the force of his ‘Solitary Yang Finger’ to set the six manuscripts ablaze. Afraid that Jiumozhi would prevent him from doing so and snatch the manuscripts by force, he used his internal energy to push the smoke towards Jiumozhi, forcing Jiumozhi to stay on the defense and exert his efforts towards protecting himself. By the time the smoke dissipated, the drawings had been long since reduced to ashes. Benyin and the others were experts of the ‘Solitary Yang Finger’ who had spent many years mastering it. As soon as they saw the black smoke, they knew what caused it. They thought to themselves that their martial-uncle would rather die with glory than live with dishonor [lit., ‘would rather be a broken jade vessel than an unbroken clay pot’] and was willing to destroy this most precious treasure of their monastery rather than let it fall into enemy hands. Fortunately, the six of them had each memorized a portion of the technique. Once their powerful enemy departed, they would simply recreate it from memory. Only, a priceless artifact which had been handed down to them by their ancestors had been totally destroyed.
Now, the Heavenly Dragon Temple and the Enlightened Lord of the Great Wheel had formed between them a long, deep, and bitter enmity. It would be difficult for there to be any sort of peace between them.
Jiumozhi was both startled and angry. He usually had a very high opinion of his own intelligence and stratagems, but today he had been defeated by Elder Kurong twice in a row and witnessed the destruction of the manual of the ‘Divine Sword of the Six Meridians’, earning himself a bitter enemy without any reward at all. He stood up and folded his palms together. “Elder Kurong, why did you need to be rigid and inflexible to such an extent? That you would rather shatter the manuscript than allow it to fall in the hands of others shows your lofty style and temperament. That your venerable monastery’s most precious treasure was destroyed in part due to the actions of this humble monk is a source of great regret for me. Fortunately, it was impossible for any one person to fully learn the martial arts on this manuscript. Thus, it does not really matter whether or not it was destroyed. I take my leave now.”
He turned around slightly. Not waiting for Elder Kurong or Abbot Benyin to reply, he suddenly struck out and seized Emperor Baoding’s wrist, grabbing his wrist acupoints and saying, “My humble country’s ruler has long wished to meet with Emperor Baoding. Your majesty, I’ll have to invite you to make a journey to Tibet with me.”
Everyone was greatly startled by this totally unexpected turn of events. This sneak attack was executed so unexpectedly that despite Emperor Baoding’s own formidable level of martial arts, Emperor Baoding fell to it. Jiumozhi had seized the “Lieque” and “Pianli” acupoints on his wrist. Emperor Baoding hurriedly exerted his internal energy to protect himself. In the blink of an eye, he had made seven attempts to break lose, but was unable to each time. Abbot Benyin and everyone else present felt that this ambush was too despicable and contemptible, totally not in keeping with his station as an elite martial artist. However, they managed to control their anger, and yet remained unable to think of a plan for rescue. With Emperor Baoding’s acupoints under the control of the opponent, his life could be taken at any point in time.
Elder Kurong laughed. “He once was Emperor Baoding, but has since abdicated and become a monk. His religious name is Benchen. Benchen, since the ruler of Tibet wishes to meet you, you might as well go.” Helpless, Emperor Baoding could only say, “Yes!” He knew what Elder Kurong was trying to do. Jiumozhi considered him the ruler of a country, and thus a priceless hostage. But with Elder Kurong describing him as having already abdicated his throne, he was no longer a priceless royal hostage, but only a monk of the Heavenly Dragon Monastery, making him a useless personage of little importance. Perhaps, in that case, Jiumozhi would release him.
Ever since Jiumozhi had entered the Muni Pavilion, Emperor Baoding had not said a single word or revealed a single hint of his real origins. But, in order to execute even a single sword of the ‘Divine Sword of the Six Meridians’, one must be a first class master martial artist, with an extraordinarily deep and profound internal energy cultivation. The people within the wulin who could be considered first class masters were well aware of who the others were. Jiumozhi had not come to Dali unprepared. Before arriving, he had carefully made inquiries regarding the appearance and ages of each and every member of Dali’s Duan family, as well as the disciples of the Heavenly Dragon Monastery. He had an eighty or ninety percent understanding of each person’s temperament, habits, and achievements in martial arts. He knew that aside from Elder Kurong, the Heavenly Dragon Monastery had four more martial arts masters. Now, a ‘Benchen’ had appeared out of nowhere, a person he had never heard of before, and with an extremely powerful internal energy that was not one whit inferior to the four other ‘Ben’ generation monks. Seeing his majestic poise and judging from his features that he came from a luxurious background, Jiumozhi guessed that he was Emperor Baoding.
Hearing Elder Kurong say that Emperor Baoding had already abdicated the throne and become a monk, Jiumozhi’s heart was swayed. “I’ve long heard that in each succeeding dynasty, the Duan’s of Dali would often abdicate and join the monastery. It is not altogether unbelievable that Emperor Baoding might do the same and join the Heavenly Dragon Monastery. But if an Emperor were to abdicate and become a monastery, there would be grand ceremonies held throughout the country, with gifts of food being given to monks and rituals made before the Buddha. Pagodas would be renovated and new temples would be built. It would be a huge public affair, not something kept so low-key and under wraps. Even my Tibet would, upon hearing the news, send an envoy to congratulate the new monarch. There’s some trickery involved here.”
He replied, “Regardless of whether or not Emperor Baoding has abdicated, he still needs to make a trip with me and pay a visit to my humble country’s ruler.” As he spoke, he tugged on Emperor Baoding’s hand, intending to immediately exit.
Benyin loudly shouted, “Wait a moment!” His form flickered, and he, along with Bencan and the other monks, simultaneously moved in front of the door. Jiumozhi said, “I have no intentions of harming Emperor Baoding, but if all of you force me to, then there’s no other options I can take.” His right hand feinted towards the back of Emperor Baoding’s heart. The power of his ‘Blazing Flame Sabre’ was all-conquering and unstoppable. With Emperor Baoding’s meridians already under Jiumozhi’s control, Emperor Baoding was helpless to resist and had no way to defend himself. If all of the monks of the Heavenly Dragon Monastery were to attack at once, not only would they fear ‘breaking the dishes in order to pelt the rat’, they still could not be certain of victory. And yet, Abbot Benyin and the others were still hesitant. Emperor Baoding was the ruler of Dali. How could they allow an enemy to kidnap him and march him away under duress?
Jiumozhi loudly shouted, “I’ve long heard of the fame of the eminent monks of the Heavenly Dragon Monastery. I never would have imagined that they would be so irresolute over such a small matter, like little boys or girls. Please make way for me!”
After seeing his uncle being captured, Duan Yu was extremely anxious. At first, he thought to himself that with his uncle’s level of martial arts, there was no need to fear. He thought that his uncle was just being patient for now, and when the right moment came, he would free himself. But the more he watched, the more Duan Yu felt that something wasn’t right. There was a look of great arrogance on Jiumozhi’s face and his words were proud and overbearing, whereas Benyin, Benguan, and the others looked anxious, angry, and helpless. As he watched Jiumozhi head towards the exit with Emperor Baoding in tow, Duan Yu was filled with fear and worry. Without pausing to think, he shouted, “Hey you! Let go of my uncle!” Following this, he came out from behind Elder Kurong.
Jiumozhi had long ago seen a young man hiding behind Elder Kurong, but was unable to guess who that person might be, much less the reason why he was sitting in front of Elder Kurong. Now, seeing him come out, his curiosity compelled him to turn his head and ask, “Might I ask who you are, sir?”
Duan Yu replied, “Don’t ask me who I am! Let go of my uncle first!” Stretching out his right hand, he seized Emperor Baoding’s left hand.
Emperor Baoding said, “Yu’er, don’t mind me! Leave quickly and go to your father, and tell him to immediately ascend the throne and take on this heavy responsibility! I am an old monk who is like a lazy cloud or an untamed crane; what is there to be concerned about?”
Duan Yu exerted all his strength to pull at Emperor Baoding’s wrist while shouting, “Quickly let go of my uncle!” The ‘Shaoshang’ acupoint of his thumb was touching the acupoints on Emperor Baoding’s wrist. With him now exerting his strength, Emperor Baoding’s entire body trembled, and he immediately felt his internal energy flowing outwards.
At this exact same point in time, Jiumozhi also felt his internal energy being drawn away from him. His countenance immediately changed drastically. He thought to himself, “How is it that the Duan dynasty of Dali learned the ‘Great Art of Energy Dissipation?’” He immediately gathered his internal energy to fight against this evil, heterodox martial arts.
Emperor Baoding immediately felt as though two fierce and powerful streams of energy were jerking at his body. He immediately used the technique of ‘Borrowing a Sabre to Strike a Knife’, forcing these two streams of internal energy to directly face each other. At this moment in time, these two streams of energy were principally facing off against each other ,with very little focused on his wrists. With a wave of his hand, he broke free from Jiumozhi’s grip. Together with Duan Yu, he floated backwards and retreated. He cried out to himself, “How shameful! That I was able to escape is all thanks to Yu’er.”
[Translator’s note: DRATS! Too bad Emperor Baoding is such a martial arts master, else Duan Yu would now have the internal energy of Jiumozhi, his own (which should be superior to Jiumozhi), AND that of Emperor Baoding by the start of chapter 11. What fun!]
Jiumozhi was more than a little bit startled by this turn of events. He thought to himself, “Another powerful martial artist suddenly appeared in the Central Plains. How could I have been totally unaware of this? This person is very young and is only around twenty years of age. How could he have reached such a level of martial arts? He addressed Emperor Baoding as uncle; he must be of a younger generation in Dali’s Duan family.” He slowly nodded and said, “I’ve always thought that the Duan family of Dali only specialized in their own ancestral martial arts. Only now do I know that a learned member of their latter generation made friends with the Old Man of Xingxiu and studied the strange martial arts technique known as the ‘Great Art of Energy Dissipation.’ Strange, how very strange!”
Although his martial arts learning was profound and vast, even he mistook Duan Yu’s ‘Divine Art of the Northern Darkness’ as the ‘Great Art of Energy Dissipation’. Only, wanting to conduct himself according to the dignity of his station, he changed ‘Old Freak’ into ‘Old Man’ in referring to Ding Chunqiu. Likewise, the people of Wulin all considered the ‘Great Art of Energy Dissipation’ as a vile art and an evil skill; he chose to describe it as a ‘strange martial arts technique’. Just now, in their brief exchange, he felt that Duan Yu’s internal energy cultivation was definitely not inferior at all to that of Ding Chunqiu, the Old Freak of Xingxiu. He definitely was not Ding Chunqiu’s disciple or student, and thus used the phrase “made friends with”.
Emperor Baoding let out a cold laugh. “I’ve long heard that the Enlightened Lord of the Great Wheel was wise and farsighted, flexible and accommodating, with extraordinary understanding and knowledge. I wouldn’t have imagined he would say such absurd things. The Old Freak of Xingxiu is an expert at plotting and sneak-attacking, despicable and without shame. How can the the sons of the Duan family possibly have any relationship with him?” Jiumozhi’s face reddened slightly, and his heart trembled. The eight words Emperor Baoding had used, ‘Plotting and sneak-attacking, despicable and without shame’, were