Chapter Fourteen: The Yin Yang Sword Takes Shape

  Time always slips away unnoticed, and in the blink of an eye, six years have quietly passed.

  Unfortunately, six years of morning chanting only made the heart palpitations at dawn lighter, but never reached the state of escaping during the day.

  Since five years ago when Zhang Ping discovered that drawing the sword could not only familiarize himself with the sword's feel, but also greatly increase his speed of drawing the sword, he has also started practicing drawing the sword with his right hand.

  In a clearing not far from the Upper Clarity Observatory, Zhang Ping was engaged in his final creative work on sword techniques. With his left and right hands wielding swords flying about, the copper sword's movements were powerful and majestic, while the iron sword's movements were swift as wind and thunder. As for Zhang Ping's bodily movements, they seemed both fast and slow, both straight and strange, giving one a feeling of being very unusual yet seemingly just right after watching for a long time.

  After half an incense stick, Zhang Ping threw his twin swords into the air and struck a large tree beside him with a palm. Immediately afterwards, Zhang Ping caught his twin swords, the copper sword sweeping out waves of sword wind, causing the falling leaves to rise again; the iron sword drew out trails of sword flowers, causing the falling leaves to split in two.

  Zhang Ping's copper sword swept more and more heavily, his iron sword danced faster and faster. Until Zhang Ping felt that his internal energy was almost exhausted to the point of harming himself, he finally exerted all his strength with his copper sword, and his iron sword shot out instantly. The spherical object made up of strips of leaves he had created was shattered into pieces. It seemed that this yin-yang sword technique he had created could now be used against enemies.

  "Amazing! I didn't expect that Liuru's martial arts skills have reached this level, it really makes me, as her junior master, feel ashamed."

  Chongxu smiled and walked out of the forest, looking at this infant he had rescued from the riverbank years ago, now grown into a handsome young man. Moreover, his talent was astonishing, six years ago when he was twelve years old, he could already rival the famous Mo Tian Ju Shi Xie Yan Ke. Now, on the basis of the Shang Qing swordsmanship, he has created another powerful swordsmanship, making Chongxu sigh that the world is impermanent.

  "No way, I wouldn't dare to be mentioned in the same breath as Master Shu. This little trick of mine is nothing but a trifle, how could it possibly catch Master Shu's attention? Master Shu must be joking when he praised me." Zhang Ping hastily intervened upon hearing Chong Xu's words. Because deep down, Zhang Ping still felt grateful and respectful towards this master who had saved his life. Therefore, sometimes just a small flattery would make him very happy, why not do it?"

  "You little scamp, you only know how to flatter your master's brother. Alright, since your sword skills are already proficient, hurry up and follow me to see Master Zhang, Master Zhang has something to entrust to you." Although he knew it was just flattery, Zhong Xuan still felt happy when he heard Zhang Ping praise his martial arts skills.

  "Alright, Master Shu." Then, Zhang Ping put away the two treasured swords and followed Master Chongxu to meet his own master.

  After arriving at Tian Xu's room, Chong Xu let Zhang Ping go in alone and guarded the outside. With a heart full of doubts, Zhang Ping still walked in.

  Inside the room, his own master Tianxu An sat on a futon under the Taoist chart. Zhang Ping walked over to greet him: "Master, are you well? This time, Master Chongxu summoned me here in secret, is there something important that you want to entrust to me?"

  "It's indeed the case, the once-in-a-decade Reward Good and Punish Evil edict will reappear in Jianghu. This time, after Master goes to Xiake Island, he will pass on the position of leader to you, Chongxu Shifu. Although his martial arts are not as strong as yours, he is a straightforward person and is well-versed in internal affairs, making him more suitable for taking over as leader than you. Don't mind." Tianxu said calmly.

  "Master, don't go, we'll settle with that whatever-it-is Reward Good and Punish Evil Second Envoy." Zhang Ping excitedly stood up and said.

  "How dare you! Don't you listen to your teacher's words? My mind is made up on this matter, now sit down quietly for me." Tian Xu scolded.

  "This scene today reminds me of one sixteen years ago, when I and your Shifu were like you are now. But in the end, it was Master who went to Hero Island. Do you know why?"

  "It's all for the survival of our sect." Tian Xu didn't wait for Zhang Ping to respond and explained himself.

  "So let's not mention the rebellion again. Now that your martial arts skills are accomplished, your sworn brother Shi Zhongyu has caused great trouble in the Snow Mountain Sect and is being pursued by them. However, since your sworn brother has committed a major taboo in the Jianghu world, our Upper Clearness Temple also cannot directly intervene. You can take this opportunity to travel the Jianghu world under the guise of sightseeing, secretly searching for your sworn brother Shi Zhongyu, and at critical moments, you can assist him as his sworn younger brother."

  After hearing Master Tianxu's words, Zhang Ping couldn't help but think of his sworn brother. He remembered that the beginning of his own martial arts skills owed a lot to this sworn brother. When he was young, his sworn brother would push his cradle back and forth, back and forth. Who could have thought that in the blink of an eye, more than ten years had passed, and life's encounters were truly moving. No matter what mistakes he made, Zhang Ping wanted to ensure his safety.

  The next day, Zhang Ping bid farewell to his master, packed up his luggage, and led Xiao Hei (the little donkey from those years) back onto the Jianghu road.

  After leaving the Upper Clear View, Zhang Ping first went to the Xuan Su Villa, but unfortunately, he missed again. In recent years, although Shi Qing and his wife would come to the Upper Clear View every year during Chinese New Year to look for Zhang Ping, they were always separated after a short reunion. This time, he had hoped to take the opportunity to see his adoptive father and mother, but unfortunately, he missed them again.

  Next, the north is too close to Xue Shan Pai, and this sworn brother of mine will not hide there. Since he has not returned to Xuan Su Zhuang for so long, it means that he feels Xue Shan Pai must be closely monitoring Xuan Su Zhuang and Jiangnan nearby, so he probably won't escape back either. Based on this reasoning, my sworn brother is likely hiding in the gap between Jiangnan and the north, outside of the pass.

  Zhang Ping decided to head to Motian Cliff first, then take a detour to Yangzhou, and from there go down to Suzhou and Hangzhou. Half a month later, Zhang Ping arrived at the foot of Motian Cliff, looking at the place where he had once obtained the mysterious technique and retrieved the Black and White Twin Swords. With no fear today, Zhang Ping flew straight up Motian Cliff along the iron chain.

  Zhang Fang had just climbed up to the top of the cliff when he was discovered by Xie Yanke, who was not far away.

  "Who is this bandit, daring to come to my Majestic Cliff and act wildly?" Xie Yanke shouted loudly from a distance.

  "Thank you, Mr. Xie, it's been six years since we last met, I don't know if your martial arts skills have improved or not." Zhang Ping asked with a smile.

  "Good little fellow, so it was you back then. Lately, there have been some of Xiao's followers coming to disturb me, today let you taste my Bi Qing Palm." As soon as the words fell, Xie Yanke launched a palm attack.

  Zhang Ping did not rush out with his sword. Instead, he used his palms as swords and launched a double palm strike. One palm was heavy, the other light and agile, two different palm techniques attacking Xie Yankui simultaneously.

  At that time, Xie Yanke was caught off guard by Zhang Ping's sudden change of move with his left hand. This time, when he encountered Zhang Ping's double palm strange move again, Xie Yanke remained calm and transformed into a double palm as well, regardless of the changes in Zhang Ping's double palms, and struck Zhang Ping's chest directly.

  Zhang Ping saw Xie Yanke's movements were not taking care of himself, only taking his own chest. His right hand continued to attack his chest, while his left hand transformed into a palm knife technique, attacking both hands' joints. His body then twisted and turned strangely with the changes in his left hand, making Xie Yanke feel that no matter where he directed his palm force, he couldn't evade Zhang Ping's right hand.

  However, Xie Yanke had been famous in Jianghu for many years and had created the Bi Zhen Qing Zhang, a divine skill. He saw his palms flying, palm force released, like Konghe Gong, like Piliu Palm. After bringing Zhang Ping's left hand aside, he struck with his right palm, colliding with Zhang Ping's right palm in a loud crash.

  Although Zhang Ping's internal strength was now above Xie Yanke's, he wasn't a specialist in palm techniques and had lost the initiative of this move. As a result, Zhang Ping retreated five steps while Xie Yanke retreated three steps.

  "Good move, come again." Zhang Ping felt a sense of excitement at having met his match.

  Only two people saw fists and palms flying, shadows intersecting. One move was exquisite and sophisticated, the other changed strangely with deep internal strength. After exchanging hands for more than 20 moves, Xie Yanku quickly thought of a countermeasure after adapting to Zhang Ping's strange moves.

  Xie Yanke's palm dissolved Zhang Ping's combination of splitting and hanging palms. A five-element opening mountain attack was launched at Zhang Ping's right shoulder, but just as Zhang Ping used his unique and mysterious body method to transform his body shape. Xie Yanke followed up with a whip kick, which Zhang Ping blocked with a monkey arm breaking wood move from his right hand.

  But little did he know, Xie Yan's body suddenly changed, using the rebound force from his leg to quickly turn sideways. Both hands came out at the same time, exerting internal force to execute the newly created Qing Palm. In an instant, Zhang Ping felt countless internal forces coming towards him. At this critical moment, Zhang Ping decisively drew his copper sword and executed a powerful slash, attempting to use brute force to overcome cleverness.

  Xie Yanke didn't think, and when the copper sword came, he changed his palm to a finger, tapping three times on the sword, and actually deflected Zhang Ping's mountain-opening stone-splitting sword. Then, with both palms slapping on the sword, Zhang Ping retreated three steps.

  "Alright, Mr. Xie indeed has exceptional martial arts skills. Today's matter is settled, we will meet again in the future." Zhang Ping said and put away his copper sword, using his lightness skill to glide down the cliff. Xie Yanke looked at the iron sword on Zhang Ping's back that had not been used, and did not dare to continue entangling him. He couldn't help but sigh that he was indeed getting old after Zhang Ping left.

  After a battle with Xie Yanke, Zhang Ping roughly understood his own strength. If he didn't use his sword, he was slightly inferior to Xie Yanke; if he had one sword in hand, he was slightly better than Xie Yanke; and if both swords were drawn, Xie Yanke would not be his opponent at all. However, if Xie Yanke wanted to escape with all his heart, Zhang Ping might not be able to stop him, so it wasn't worth provoking such an enemy for the sake of Shang Qing Guan. And after this battle, Zhang Ping believed that Xie Yanke would not easily come to provoke him again.

  Then Zhang Ping rode Xiao Hei to Yangzhou with a great mood.