Chapter Ninety-One: Leak

Using the method of cultivating his internal power that Zhuming had devised, Ma Beifang had advanced in a way that was nothing short of miraculous. In little more than a year, his inner force seemed as deep as that of a man trained for decades. Stranger still, this inner force somehow contained the techniques of palm force, finger force, and other esoteric arts of the martial world, blending them all into one seamless whole. No one could guess where Zhuming had obtained such an extraordinary skill.

By now, Ma Beifang’s strength was nearly equal to Zhuming’s. The marvelous feats Zhuming had once shown him a year earlier, Ma Beifang could now perform with ease.

Zhuming felt that their powers were now almost on par, and that they could use their full strength in direct palm-to-palm combat to force open each other’s meridians with supreme inner force. They had already tried twice.

But each time they reached the final stage, Ma Beifang would always become distracted by some thought and be unable to give his all. This was extremely dangerous; a duel between masters allowed no room for error. Fortunately, Zhuming’s inner force had long since reached a level of perfect control, and he had been able to withdraw his power in time, avoiding a terrible disaster.

Zhuming had once asked him what exactly bound him so tightly. Ma Beifang had thought for a long while before blushing and saying, “I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but whenever life and death hang by a thread, I always think of Huang Shan.” This nearly drove Zhuming mad with irritation.

With his profound internal strength, Ma Beifang used the Featherless Before the Lamp lightness skill, moving like a breeze over the tips of grass. In no time at all, he arrived before the Water Curtain Cave, where Zhuming was already waiting, seated on a wooden stump by the slope. It was a clear night, the moon bright and the stars few, and in his white robe Zhuming indeed looked like an immortal of elegant bearing and transcendent grace.

Like a gust of wind, Ma Beifang flew in. From afar he tossed the goat aside, drew the long sword from behind his back, and gave a low cry. His body pounced toward Zhuming like a night owl. Zhuming pressed his left hand lightly on the stump, and though his body seemed not to move at all, he rose suddenly from the ground and leaped several zhang into the air. There, he unfolded his form, turned his right hand over, and a long sword appeared in his grasp. No one knew where he had hidden it.

He brought the sword down in a sweeping slash. A fierce beam of sword energy cleaved through the air. Ma Beifang replied with a rising reverse stroke, releasing a surge of sword energy of his own. The two forces collided in midair, and a flash of white light burst forth with a tearing hiss like silk ripping apart.

Zhuming did not pause; he swept his sword horizontally. Ma Beifang rose gracefully into the air, and the blade of energy skimmed past him. With a thunderous crash, it sliced a great boulder several zhang away neatly into two halves, fragments of stone scattering in all directions.

Ma Beifang touched down lightly on the water, then, with a mere tap, sprang upward again with agile ease. Sweeping his robe sleeves, he sent a fierce wind swirling up two live sheep not far away and smashed them toward Zhuming. Zhuming flicked out a sword strike, and the sword energy flashed like lightning, severing both sheep heads in midair. Blood spurted from the necks. Then both men, gathering their breath in the dantian, opened their mouths and inhaled; two streams of blood shot into their mouths respectively.

By the time the sheep carcasses fell to the ground, the blood had been drained dry. After drinking, the two men looked at each other and laughed aloud.

At that moment, from the woods in the distance came the faintest crack of a broken twig. Ma Beifang immediately sprang up. With a single bound he rushed into the forest, and in the moonlight saw a slight figure fleeing as fast as an arrow.

Using the branch for leverage, he leaped behind the figure and reached out to seize it. Though agile in its reactions, how could it possibly be Ma Beifang’s match? It was immediately caught by the shoulder blades and could no longer move. When Ma Beifang looked by moonlight, he was shocked beyond measure.

“Huang Shan! How can it be you?”

It turned out that she had thought she had hidden everything from everyone, but she did not know that one person had already begun to suspect him: Huang Shan. When the two of them sparred from time to time, Ma Beifang tried hard to control his inner breath, yet a trace of it would always leak out unintentionally.

Huang Shan was meticulous to the point of severity, and she soon noticed that this inner force was exceedingly fierce and domineering, utterly unlike the deep, tranquil path of the Heavenly Mountain School’s Primordial Harmony technique. More than that, Ma Beifang’s rate of improvement in strength was absurdly unnatural.

Suspicion took root in her heart. She wondered whether Ma Beifang had secretly been training some demonic art behind her back, and she began observing him in secret. Although he appeared normal in daily life, there was always a faint, elusive trace of blood about him.

Even more strangely, whenever the smell of blood on him lessened, he became irritable and restless; when the scent grew stronger, his mood would calm instead. After months of covert observation, she found no abnormality in his behavior by day, and so she decided to follow him secretly at night to see what had happened during his sacrifices.

Along the way, Huang Shan became ever more certain of her judgment. The lightness skill by which he moved over the grass might outwardly have been the Heavenly Mountain School’s Featherless Before the Lamp technique, but the force within it was not Primordial Harmony. It was also due to Ma Beifang’s own carelessness that she had been able to trail him all the way to Water Curtain Cave.

Huang Shan could never have imagined that Ma Beifang’s martial skill had become so formidable. Even less could she have imagined that after fighting Zhuming, he would slaughter sheep and drink their blood like some fiend. Shock and fear seized her.

The towering image of Ma Beifang she had held in her heart, fearless and unshaken, collapsed at once. The man she loved had become one of those evil sect members whom righteous people could not tolerate. Her despair and heartbreak can only be imagined.

She immediately ran off, wanting only to find some deserted place where she could cry her heart out.

Huang Shan forced her face around and glared at Ma Beifang with hatred. “Ma Beifang! You’re actually mixed up with monsters and sorcerers. How can you face our master?”

Ma Beifang argued, “It’s not what you think!”

Huang Shan said, “Don’t try to lie to me. I saw you drinking blood just now! You’re associating with murderous fiends so closely; that proves you’ve gone down the evil path too. Yes, if you hadn’t turned evil, how could your martial arts have advanced so fast?”

Ma Beifang said anxiously, “This art may not be orthodox, but I have never done anything wicked. How could that make me evil?”

Huang Shan replied, “Even if you have not done evil yet, your human nature has already gone numb. Sooner or later you will do evil!”

Ma Beifang was instantly speechless.

In a flash, Zhuming descended from the air in front of them and said coldly, “So this is the Huang Shan you spoke of?”

Ma Beifang said, “Yes, she is Huang Shan, Old Bamboo, she...”

Before he could finish, Zhuming said, “Kill her at once. Not a whisper of our affair must leak out.”

Ma Beifang shouted angrily, “How could that be?”

Zhuming barked, “Now that our divine skill is not yet complete, if word gets out and the martial world gathers to besiege us, would all our efforts not be ruined? A great man must decide without hesitation. What are you wavering for?”

Ma Beifang said, “I will never harm her!”

Zhuming said, “If you cannot bear to strike, then I will do it!”

Ma Beifang suddenly sneered. “Old Bamboo, haven’t you understood yet? Back when I first came to Heavenly Mountain, I had only learned a few clumsy tricks, but in order to protect Huang Shan, I was still willing to beat the senior sister of the Spirit Pivot Pavilion into unconsciousness. Now that our martial skills are about the same, do you think I’ll let you lay a hand on her?”

Zhuming was furious. “You dare turn against me for this girl? Then today I shall kill her and see what you can do!”

With that, he stepped forward. His right arm hung loosely at his side, while his sleeve quietly swelled with power. Ma Beifang immediately released Huang Shan’s shoulder blades, placed his left palm against the small of her back, and with a slight surge of force, Huang Shan felt as though she were a broken kite blown away by a wild wind. Her body shot upward several zhang into a towering tree.

Just as she flew past the treetop, her body began to fall again. With no way to borrow force in midair, she was utterly beyond control, hurtling straight toward the trunk. If she struck it solidly, she would either be killed outright or have her bones shattered and tendons severed. Frightened, she cried out.

Ma Beifang drove his right palm at Zhuming from a distance. Zhuming roared, “Brat! So you do place beauty above friendship!” and struck back with his own palm. But Ma Beifang’s strike was only a feint; midway through, he suddenly shifted its force toward the great tree instead.

The immense power slammed into the trunk. The tree, several spans thick, shook violently, and then the force rebounded, just in time to support Huang Shan’s body, slowing her fall at once so that she landed lightly upon the tree.

After all, she was a distinguished disciple of the Spirit Pivot Pavilion of the Heavenly Mountain School, and her martial arts were no mean thing. She had simply lost her composure in a fit of rage a moment ago. Now she recovered quickly, tightened her waist, spread her arms, and clasped the trunk. With a tap of her toes, she sprang up to the treetop.

Originally she had meant to flee, to leave this place of heartbreak, and had even harbored thoughts of death. But after running only a few steps, she found herself rooted in place once more. In the end, she still could not let go of the man with whom she had shared life and death.

Zhuming’s palm force was no less than ten thousand jin. Seeing Ma Beifang strike at him with his palm, he naturally met it with all his strength. Who could have expected Ma Beifang suddenly to redirect the power elsewhere, leaving his chest exposed? Zhuming’s palm force then surged forward like a broken dam, unstoppable.

It struck Ma Beifang’s chest heavily. He was sent flying several zhang back like a rag doll. Blood sprayed from his mouth, and Huang Shan at the treetop cried out in alarm.

Zhuming sighed. “Why do you persist in this suffering? If I had not restrained fifty percent of my power, you would not still have your life!”

With that, he lightly stamped his left foot and his body rose straight upward.

Ma Beifang had no time to wipe the blood from his mouth. With a tiger’s roar he struck out with both palms, their force crashing forward like towering mountains and surging seas. Seeing him give it his all, Zhuming dared not be careless. He thrust out his right hand, the five fingers sinking deeply into the tree trunk, and pushed forward with his left palm at chest level.

The two torrents of power collided. Ma Beifang, after all, had both feet planted firmly on the ground and could draw upon the strength of his whole body. Zhuming, however, hung high in the air, relying only on the five fingers of his right hand to anchor himself to the tree, with nowhere to borrow force. With a thunderous blast, Ma Beifang staggered back several steps, while Zhuming was blown far away by the palm wind, his right hand still clutching a great handful of wood chips torn from the tree.