Starting With The Martial Arts Holy Fire Order

Ling Yihan examined the blood messages carefully, then nodded with satisfaction.

“Good, very good.”

Seeing this, Bai Yuan and Xian Yutong brightened and immediately kowtowed.

“Young Master Ling, we’ve written the blood messages as you instructed. Will you let us go now?”

“Let you go? Sure…”

Just as they breathed a sigh of relief, Ling Yihan’s palm struck down on Bai Yuan’s head with a crack—his skull shattered instantly.

Bai Yuan died with his eyes wide open, as if he couldn’t rest in peace.

“You… you went back on your word!” Xian Yutong stammered, his face a mix of anger and fear.

Ling Yihan sneered.

“Oh, I may want to spare you, but my Great Nine Heavens Hand does not! Bai Yuan may have been innocent, but he knew too much. If I’d let you both go, Butterfly Valley would never have peace. Killing him swiftly was already a mercy. But you… you are different.”

As he spoke, he reached out and crushed Xian Yutong’s tendons and bones one by one, making him scream in agony.

“If not for my foresight and skill, I’d be dead by your hands, and Dai Qisi and Sister Qingyang would have fallen to a beast like you. Killing you outright would be far too easy… No, I’ll take my time tormenting you…” Ling Yihan chuckled coldly.

“Devil… you’re a devil! All you demon cult members will die wretchedly… Even as a ghost, I won’t forgive you…”

Abandoning his earlier pleas, Xian Yutong now cursed venomously.

Ling Yihan responded with a cold laugh, pulling out the Dragon Sword from his storage ring.

The sword’s guard held a hollow sphere that rotated, emitting a low, dragon-like hum.

“What a sword! Today, you’ll be my first test.”

With a light movement, he slashed across Xian Yutong’s wrists and ankles, severing them cleanly as though cutting tofu.

Blood spurted from the wounds after a moment, drawing more pitiful screams from Xian Yutong.

“This blade is incredibly sharp! It’s probably as good as the Heaven-Reliant Sword.”

Ling Yihan noted with delight as blood dripped off the sword’s edge without staining the blade.

“No time to waste. I’ve heard of a punishment called ‘death by a thousand cuts.’ I’ve never tried it… Let’s test it on you.”

“No… no, please…”

The sound of the sword slicing flesh, along with Xian Yutong’s wails, echoed for half an hour.

Finally, only a corpse and scattered bones remained at the cliffside.

Ling Yihan placed their swords, iron fan, and blood messages in his storage ring, then struck the remains with his palm, sending them and the surrounding soil tumbling off the cliff.

“So, the Kunlun Sect and Mount Hua Sect plan to ally? I’ll plant a little evidence to frame Kunlun for the deaths of Xian Yutong and Bai Yuan, make them turn against each other, and see how they fare against the Ming Cult…”

With the matter resolved, Ling Yihan returned to the cottage in Butterfly Valley.

By now, Hu Qingniu had taken his medicine and fully purged the residual Jin Can Gu poison from his system.

“Brother Ling, did you kill them both?” Dai Qisi asked curiously, noticing he returned alone.

Ling Yihan nodded.

“Yes. After all, they were from the Mount Hua Sect. If I’d let them live, it would only have brought trouble for Mr. Hu.”

Hu Qingniu expressed his gratitude.

“Brother Ling, thank you for your thoughtfulness. My life isn’t worth much, but my only concern is for my sister.”

Hu Qingyang smiled playfully.

“Brother, no need to worry. With Brother Ling by my side, I’ll be just fine.”

“A daughter is bound to leave someday… Brother Ling, I’ll leave my sister in your care,” Hu Qingniu said with a meaningful smile.

“Ah… of course.” Ling Yihan pretended not to understand, simply responding with a nod.

Over the following days, Ling Yihan didn’t rush to leave.

He stayed on to discuss medical topics with Hu Qingniu, focusing on meridians and pressure points. Living in the martial world, it’s inevitable to sustain injuries, and having some medical knowledge is invaluable.

Though not formally trained in medicine, Ling Yihan’s mastery of martial arts gave him an understanding of acupuncture points and internal energy flow.

And, having recently studied medicinal herbs with Hu Qingyang at Bright Summit, he found he shared a natural rapport with Hu Qingniu.

While many praised Hu Qingniu’s medical prowess, few truly understood his skill’s depths. Ling Yihan’s sincere inquiries not only satisfied Hu Qingniu’s intellectual solitude but also provided an eager disciple for his medical expertise.

During this time, Hu Qingniu not only shared his insights but also taught Ling Yihan how to prepare and brew medicines.

He even allowed him access to his entire collection of medical books, including his life’s works, On the Dai Channel and The Ziwuwu Acupuncture Manual.

With the Memory Bead, Ling Yihan could commit the contents of each book to memory with a single read, never to forget them.

Hu Qingniu, his sister, and Dai Qisi were unaware of the Memory Bead, assuming Ling Yihan was simply gifted with a photographic memory.

This only deepened Dai Qisi’s admiration and affection for him.

“Brother Hu, have you heard of a medicinal wine that harmonizes yin and yang energy, preventing internal energy conflicts during training?” Ling Yihan asked Hu Qingniu one day, his eyes still on a medical book.

Hu Qingniu shook his head.

“A medicinal wine to harmonize yin and yang energy? No… where did you hear of such a thing?”

“It’s called Xuanbing Bihuo Wine. I only heard rumors about it, and I can’t say whether it truly exists.”

Ling Yihan’s greatest concern was that if he ever obtained a martial art like the Nine Yin Manual, its cold energy might conflict with the pure yang energy from his Nine Yang Divine Skill and Marital Arts of the Wedding Dress, making it impossible to train in both.

Only a rare master who could balance yin and yang energies—like Shi Potian in The Tale of the Gallant Knight—could reconcile such conflicting energies, thanks to his consumption of Xuanbing Bihuo Wine.

Though Wudang’s Zhang Sanfeng was also capable of yin-yang balance, even he could only train in partial forms of the Nine Yang Divine Skill, without reaching absolute balance.

If he truly wished to train fully in both the Nine Yin Manual and Nine Yang Manual, even Zhang Sanfeng’s methods might not suffice.

Hu Qingniu pondered.

“Hmm, it’s an interesting idea. I could try to concoct this medicinal wine.”