Martial Arts Crossover: My Wife is the Top Scholar

Chapter 66 Li Zhaoting is a gentleman, how could he take advantage of someone in distress?

The Demonic Cult and the Demonic Sect are different concepts.

The Demonic Sect originated from the Hundred Schools of Thought during the pre-Qin period. After Emperor Wu of Han dismissed the other schools of thought and exclusively honored Confucianism, these people banded together for mutual support and developed into two factions and six paths.

The essence of the Demonic Sect is philosophy.

The Tianlian Sect reveres rare and valuable commodities.

The Butian Pavilion believed that the world was in turmoil because there were too many ambitious people. Killing these ambitious people would maintain peace and stability in the world, so they trained elite assassins.

The Yin Gui faction starts in the harem, cultivating bewitching concubines who bring ruin to the country and seduce the emperor, thereby seizing power and profit.

The Demonic Image Sect inherited the philosophy of the School of Diplomacy.

These ideas cannot be said to be absolutely right or absolutely wrong; it is a matter of ideas. The so-called internal strife within the Demonic Sect is actually a dispute over ideas.

The essence of a demonic cult is "religion".

The founder was "Ashura Venerable", whose origins can be traced back to the reign of Emperor Taizong of Tang. It is said that Ashura Venerable had exchanges with Xuanzang before founding the sect.

The way the Demonic Cult passes on its martial arts techniques is very healthy.

On the one hand, they recruit talent and cultivate experts.

On the one hand, he studied martial arts techniques and perfected his unique skills.

The Demonic Sect does not possess the Seventy-Two Ultimate Skills, but it does have the Ten Great Divine Skills, which are not immutable and can be replaced by later practitioners.

A certain elder of a demonic sect selected seven of the most evil, most extraordinary, and most ingenious martial arts manuals from the replaced martial arts techniques and combined them into a secret manual.

Name: The Great Compassionate Ode of Heaven and Earth in Intercourse!

Wang Yuyan had explained to Li Zhaoting that the Ten Great Skills of the Demonic Sect were actually "Ten Categories".

Knife skills, sword skills, hidden weapons, claw techniques, finger techniques, self-defense, blood, spirit, sound waves, and life-or-death struggle!
Wang Yuyan did not know the specific name.

As the Holy Maiden of the Demonic Sect, Li Shengnan holds a position second only to the sect leader. She has the freedom to browse through secret manuals and access resources at will, and her martial arts foundation is astonishing.

With a single thrust, a thousand crimson sword beams materialized.

The Nine Great Techniques of Incomparable Wonders and Soul-Stealing Power!
The Demonic Cult's secret sword technique is wondrous and exquisite, capable of evolving into 729 moves. Its unpredictable and elusive attacks, along with its meticulous and precise techniques, surpass even the Wudang Yin-Yang Sword Technique and the Bashan Returning Wind and Dancing Willow Sword. It is extremely difficult to learn, with only three to five disciples in each generation of the Demonic Cult able to master it.

Li Shengnan, at such a young age, has mastered the Nine Great Soul-Slaying Techniques to perfection, demonstrating her exceptional talent.

Li Zhaoting pressed down with his right folding fan, drew a jade flute from his waist with his left hand, and pointed it at Li Shengnan's armpit. The jade flute, accompanied by music, swept across the room, manifesting a gentle breeze and a bright moon.

Li Shengnan swung her sword downwards to block, but the jade flute was not as hard as the sword, so she could not meet it head-on. Li Zhaoting spun his wrist and moved upwards against the current, still pointing towards his armpit. With a light flick of his left little finger, he shot out a sword aura.

The Shaoze Sword appeared and disappeared in a flash, its movements subtle and unpredictable. Its sword energy was as fine as silk, passing through the inside of the jade flute. The sword energy carried the airflow, producing a whistling sound from the flute's holes.

This move was extremely bizarre, even more unorthodox than the martial arts of the Demonic Sect. In the instant of the move, he used a folding fan to block Li Shengnan's view, and with a slight flick of his right little finger, two streams of internal energy shot out from under the folding fan, shooting towards his shoulders. One was the Six Meridians Sword Qi, and the other was the Sunflower Acupuncture Technique. The two streams of internal energy seemed the same, but in reality, they were completely different.

Li Shengnan had inquired about Li Zhaoting's fighting style from Wang Yuyan and knew that Li Zhaoting's swordsmanship was superb, his moves were as fast as lightning, and his sword energy was chaotic and unpredictable.

After exchanging blows, it was discovered that Li Zhaoting used a close-quarters combat style, with small, agile, and unpredictable moves. His fingers were exceptionally nimble, often resulting in unexpected and surprising attacks.

Li Zhaoting's fingers are very dexterous.

On the one hand, he has been learning musical instruments since childhood.

On one hand, the Six Meridians Divine Sword uses the fingers as a sword.

On one hand, he practiced diligently with Feng Suzhen day and night.

The first two might be understandable, but Li Shengnan could never understand the last one. She couldn't imagine that Li Zhaoting, holding a jade flute and a folding fan in both hands, could block her intricate sword techniques and still have the strength to create a sword with a flick of his finger.

As the Holy Maiden of the Demonic Sect, Li Shengnan received martial arts instruction from the sect leader, Yu Luosha, from a young age. With her keen insight and exceptional judgment, she quickly discerned Li Zhaoting's unique characteristics.

—Smooth!
Whether it's swordsmanship, palm techniques, claw techniques, flute techniques, or finger techniques, or a combination of various martial arts, the movements are incredibly fluid. The interconnected moves have no trace of artifice, flowing smoothly and naturally. Before the move is made, one could never imagine how the sword energy could shoot out from between the jade flutes, but after receiving the move, one feels that it was exactly as it should be.

Everything that deviates from the norm becomes natural.

Everything becomes exquisite and fluid when it flows naturally.

Whether it's a claw strike, a flick of the finger, or a turn, the trajectory of the sword energy—whether arc, straight line, or circular—is breathtakingly beautiful, even more graceful than a light song or dance.

However, if you observe Li Zhaoting's movements closely, you will find that his evasive space is only one foot below his feet, and he hardly moves at all.

What kind of skill is this?
Could Li Zhaoting be a disciple of the "miscellaneous school"?
A "jack of all trades" isn't that "jack of all trades"!

Li Shengnan had seen people who studied a hundred schools of thought, people who relied on a single skill, people who were complex and ever-changing, and people who were unconventional. But she had never seen anything like this. It was all-encompassing and could fuse the essence of various schools into one. No matter how strange, bizarre, complex, or unconventional a thing was, it would all become appropriate and reasonable.

Which "reason" is being referred to?
Does such a martial arts philosophy exist in the world?
Li Shengnan's competitive spirit was aroused. Originally, she only wanted to catch the book thief, complete her sect's mission, and take a few sightseeing trips, and have a fight at Cihang Jingzhai.

Now it seems this mission is no simple task!
Perhaps it was a trial deliberately arranged by the master!

Thinking of this, Li Shengnan swung her sword like the wind, the blood-red sword light swirling and turning into a huge arc. Then, with a flick of her wrist, the sword energy transformed into a long whip.

Li Zhaoting's eyes narrowed, he closed his folding fan, and used the fan ribs to unleash sword energy, binding the sword into threads. The threads intertwined, and he countered Li Shengnan's powerful attack with a spinning counterattack.

The two sword-qi whips, one upright and one in reverse, have completely different underlying principles, but their shapes are exactly the same. The sword-qi whips intertwine inside and out, forming a Tai Chi Yin-Yang fish.

Li Shengnan's sword is a divine weapon, and Li Zhaoting's folding fan is no ordinary object either. Wooden folding fans are not as hard as steel, but they contain plant veins inside, which have an excellent effect on the transmission of true energy, making them most suitable for using softness to overcome hardness.

With his right hand, he clashed with Li Shengnan's folding fan, while with his left hand, he lightly flicked out a jade flute. Li Zhaoting cultivated two kinds of longevity true energy, one yin and one yang, with each kind of true energy circulating in half of his meridians.

Although her mind was too sharp and she wasn't as pure as Little Dragon Girl, making her unable to fight with both hands simultaneously, her left and right hands combined their attacks with the exquisite skill of "double dexterity".

Li Shengnan also has skillful hands.

On his left hand, a glove as thin as a cicada's wing and crystal clear had appeared out of nowhere. It extended its sharp claws towards the jade flute, and the sound of the wind, sometimes fast and sometimes slow, reminded people of the underworld.

Indestructible Vajra - Great Search God Hand!

It is not only the most advanced grappling technique of the Demonic Sect, but also one of the "Ten Divine Weapons" passed down by the Demonic Sect, ranking alongside "Listening to Spring Rain All Night in a Small Building" and "Rakshasa Shield".

The set of grappling techniques used by Li Shengnan is called "Soul-Chasing Source Life-Taking Hand". The moves are exquisite and unparalleled, no less than the Tianshan Plum Blossom Hand. Moreover, it is fierce and vicious, with several torture moves that are often used by the elders of the Demonic Cult's Punishment Hall.

With this move, all traces of the previous elegance and grace vanished, and the battle instantly intensified, with no more probing attacks, only direct assaults. Li Zhaoting's moves were like a storm, a tempestuous tempest of thunder and lightning.

Li Shengnan's moves were fierce and ruthless, pressing forward relentlessly.

The two fought from the woods to the outskirts, from the outskirts all the way to Taihu Lake, from the land to the sky, and from the sky to the water, creating towering white waves.

Using clouds and mist as their battlefield and the vast ocean as their weapon, they can stir up wind and clouds with a wave of their hand, unleash a barrage of arrows with a flick of their finger, and transform flowing water into gentle sword energy, all of which burst forth in a mighty torrent.

"boom!"

Two white dragons rose from the water.

Li Zhaoting laughed wildly, "Miss Li, if fighting on the surface isn't enough, let's fight underwater. Whoever is blasted to the surface first loses this battle."

Li Shengnan asked, "What if we lose?"

"I've lost. I'll go with you to the Demonic Sect's headquarters."

"I lost, so I'll give you a divine weapon in return."

"make a deal!"

Li Zhaoting leaped into Taihu Lake.

Li Shengnan jumped down right after her.

Underwater combat is completely different from surface combat, requiring extremely high swimming skills. It tests not only breath control but also agility. Experts can use the water to unleash powerful moves, deflect the enemy's force, and suffocate even the strongest foe.

The representative of this is Chu Liuxiang.

Chu Liuxiang's lightness skill is unparalleled because his breath is incredibly long, allowing him to breathe through his skin, thus saving time on breathing. His swimming skills are also unmatched.

Even a powerful woman like Shui Mu Yin Ji, a super strong woman who comprehended unparalleled martial arts from water, and a martial arts master who nearly killed Chu Liuxiang in seven or eight moves, was almost suffocated by Chu Liuxiang when he pressed her underwater to compare their internal energy.

Another representative figure is Kumārajīva.

Kumārajīva was born in Tibet and could not swim.

On land, she could easily defeat a hundred Abi.

Once on the boat, he was casually teased and played with by Abi.

No matter how exquisite one's martial arts skills or how profound one's internal strength, if one is not good at swimming, one cannot go into the water, otherwise there will surely be trouble. The representative of this is Lu Xiaofeng with four eyebrows.

Lu Xiaofeng had two major weaknesses in his life.

First, their resistance to toxins is relatively low.

Secondly, it causes seasickness and makes one prone to misfortune; once on a ship, it is easy to encounter storms.

Li Shengnan's ancestral home is in northern Shaanxi. Her family fell into decline and she was picked up by the leader of the Demonic Sect. He took her back to the main altar and nurtured her. With her unwavering perseverance, she gradually became a saintess.

In terms of martial arts foundation, Li Shengnan is by no means inferior to Li Zhaoting, except that she is not as good at swimming.

Li Zhaoting was from Nanjing. His home was right next to the famous Qinhuai River, and the Yangtze River was just outside his door. When he was a child, he imitated Chu Liuxiang and went to the Qinhuai River to bathe every day.

There are dozens of martial artists in the world whose martial arts are stronger than Li Zhaoting's, and no more than a handful of people who are better at swimming than Li Zhaoting, let alone Li Shengnan.
Li Zhaoting had no intention of taking advantage of the situation; he was simply standing on the lake, and on a whim, he spoke freely, ignoring Li Shengnan's background, and thus gained a great advantage.

Li Shengnan possessed a tenacity that came from the bone marrow of her body. She would rather die than show weakness. She forcibly used her inner energy to resist the water pressure, which inevitably slowed down her attacks. She was initially thought to be a mermaid, but after three or five moves, Li Shengnan ended up doggy-paddled.

This is hardly a martial arts competition.
This is clearly a one-sided beating!

Li Zhaoting is a gentleman; how could he take advantage of someone in distress?

After fighting for seventeen or eighteen moves, seeing that Li Shengnan's eyes had rolled back and her breathing was unsteady, like a drowning fish, he hurriedly swam over and gave Li Shengnan a breath.

Don't get me wrong, we're holding hands and channeling our vital energy through the pulse points, not kissing in the water!
Li Shengnan was in a daze.

Due to geographical factors, Li Shengnan's swimming skills were only at the "can swim" level. She didn't have a deep understanding of the dangers of water currents and thought it was just a change of location.

She forgot the famous saying from the Tao Te Ching: "Nothing in the world is more yielding and weak than water, yet it can overcome the hard and strong. Nothing can take its place. The yielding overcomes the hard, and the weak overcomes the strong."

Water is the softest thing in the world, and at the same time, it is the hardest thing in the world. It can nourish all things and bring them to life, but it can also destroy the world and destroy everything in front of it.

Throughout history, wise and virtuous rulers have often regarded flood control as their top priority, and the construction of dikes and dams has always been of paramount importance, allowing no room for negligence.

It is both affectionate and heartless.

Li Shengnan had experienced the hardships of the desert and knew that water was the source of life, but she had never seen a mighty river.

Faced with Li Zhaoting's opportunistic and relentless bombardment, his true essence and internal strength were rapidly depleted.

She couldn't use her exquisite lightness skills or her deadly demonic techniques; she could only mechanically wave her arms and legs to barely block the attacks.

Li Shengnan felt her body getting heavier and heavier, even the shoes on her feet felt incredibly heavy, every cell in her body was screaming about being suffocated, and her mind was in a daze.

Li Shengnan never admits defeat. She gritted her teeth and pondered how to defeat her enemy, but unexpectedly, Li Zhaoting rushed forward, grasped her pulse, and helped her regulate her breathing.

Li Shengnan's body was tense. As she regained consciousness, her wrist trembled involuntarily. With a loud bang, Li Zhaoting flew out of the water.

"Clap!"

Li Zhaoting lay amidst a cluster of lotus flowers.

"Wow!"

Li Shengnan burst out of the water, her chest heaving as she breathed heavily. She had never imagined that breathing could be so pleasant, even more enjoyable than fine food and wine.

Li Zhaoting bowed deeply and said, "I lost!"

Li Shengnan sneered: "Who needs your help? I'm not a sore loser. This battle isn't over yet. Let's have another match next month at this time."

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(End of this chapter)