Shooting the Eagle: Starting from Iron Palm Peak

News travels fast in the martial arts world.

Less than a month after the incident with the Northern Hubei faction, news of Lin Qi's palm strike on Luoxia Mountain spread like wildfire, from Ezhou to Xiangyang, from Xiangyang to Jiangling, and from Jiangling eastward along the Yangtze River, drifting into Taihu Lake, into Lin'an, and into teahouses and taverns of all sizes.

The messengers embellished the story, some saying Lin Qi smashed the bluestone slabs of Luoxia Mountain into dust with a single palm strike, others saying he exerted force from a distance, causing Lü Ziyue to vomit blood without even touching him, and still others saying he didn't even lift a finger, but merely glanced at the slabs and they cracked. The storyteller in the teahouse turned this into a tale, striking his gavel with great enthusiasm.

"Then came Lin Qi, the new leader of the Iron Palm Clan, who arrived at Luoxia Mountain alone. Lu Ziyue, the leader of the Northern Hubei Sect, led his men to greet him, but their words were rather disrespectful. Leader Lin didn't say much. He walked to the front of the council hall, pressed his hand on the ground—and guess what? That three-foot square bluestone slab shattered into sixty-four pieces on the spot!"

The audience erupted in cheers.

But some people weren't so impressed. In a corner, a seasoned veteran, holding a wine glass, slowly said, "Qiu Qianren's annihilation of Hengshan was a genuine victory. This young man surnamed Lin is just showing off in front of his vassal sect; what's there to brag about?"

The storyteller chuckled and struck the gavel again: "My esteemed guest, you may not know this, but Lu Ziyue's Broken Door Saber is a renowned weapon in the Ezhou area. Chief Lin's ability to subdue him without a fight wasn't solely due to his martial arts skills—"

"What does that rely on?"

"It's all thanks to the Iron Palm Clan."

The seasoned veteran fell silent, picked up his glass, and downed it in one gulp.

On Iron Palm Peak, Lin Qi paid no attention to these rumors. He hadn't descended the mountain for a long time. Every morning he would get up at dawn to practice Iron Palm Kung Fu, handle gang affairs in the morning, read in the afternoon, practice the palm technique again in the evening, and meditate and circulate his internal energy at night. His days passed like markings on a stone slab, unchanging.

Mu Nianci lived in another room in the side courtyard, doing roughly the same things every day. In the mornings, she practiced the "Free and Easy Wandering" technique, her movements becoming much more agile than when she first arrived on the mountain. During the day, she helped Lin Qi organize documents, classifying and filing reports from various departments, her handwriting becoming increasingly neat. In the evenings, she planted flowers in the courtyard. After the gardenias finished blooming, she planted several jasmine plants, small white flowers with a faint fragrance, lighter than the gardenias.

The two often sat together on the stone steps in the courtyard, watching the twilight slowly descend, neither speaking. They were silent, but not bored. Sometimes, while Lin Qi practiced his palm techniques, Mu Nianci would mend clothes under the eaves, the needle and thread moving softly across the fabric. When Lin Qi stopped practicing, she would glance up at him, then lower her head again. In that slight up and down movement, something subtly changed.

One evening, Lin Qi finished practicing the Thirteen Forms of Iron Palm Kung Fu by the courtyard wall, then withdrew his palms and let out a long breath. Mu Nianci came over with a bowl of lotus seed soup and handed it to him.

"Brother Lin, are you finished practicing?"

"Hmm." Lin Qi took the bowl and took a sip. The lotus seeds were stewed until soft and tender, and the soup was warm, neither too sweet nor too bland, just right.

"Have you mastered your Iron Palm technique?" Mu Nianci sat down on the stone steps, hugged her knees, and looked up at him.

Lin Qi thought for a moment, nodded, and then shook his head.

"I've mastered it. But I'm still far from my master's level."

He had mastered all thirteen forms of the Iron Palm Technique, and had also practiced the thirteen ultimate moves with great skill. Heart-to-heart talk, bone-breaking and tendon-splitting, soul-chasing and life-stealing, stone-shattering and monument-breaking, heart-crushing and intestinal-severing, throat-locking and meridian-sealing, bone-shattering and body-pulverizing, death-severing and intestinal-severing, Yama's roll call, Asura's descent, heaven and earth collapsing, eternal damnation, yin and yang returning to oneness—he had practiced each move no less than a thousand times.

Especially the final move, "Yin Yang Returns to One," which Qiu Qianren had said should not be used if the mind is distracted. He practiced it for a long time before daring to actually use it. When he struck out with his palm, it was a perfect blend of strength and gentleness, yin and yang complementing each other, which even amazed him.

But he knew that once you reach this level of skill, progress isn't about practice anymore. It's about accumulating experience, day after day, year after year; there are no shortcuts. He needed time to fill the gaps left by Qiu Qianren's thirty years of accumulated skill.

Although he possessed the second volume of the Nine Yin Manual, which narrowed the gap to some extent, the difference was still vast.

Mu Nianci nodded as if she understood, but didn't ask any more questions.

The moonlight rose from behind the mountain ridge, shining into the courtyard like a thin layer of frost. The fragrance of jasmine drifted in the night breeze, faint and almost imperceptible.

"Brother Lin, will you stay on the mountain forever?" Mu Nianci suddenly asked.

Lin Qi turned to look at her. Moonlight fell on her face, her eyes were bright, and her eyelashes trembled slightly, as if she were waiting for an answer.

"No," Lin Qi said. "Once the Iron Palm Gang is more stable, I still want to go out and travel."

Mu Nianci nodded, lowered her head, and gently drew circles on her knee with her fingers.

"Will you take me with you?" she asked softly.

Lynch didn't answer immediately. He looked at her; the moonlight illuminated her profile, making her features soft yet clear. A breeze blew, causing stray hairs to flutter across her forehead before falling back down.

"Yes," he said.

Mu Nianci didn't speak again, but the corners of her mouth curled up slightly. The smile was faint, like moonlight, but very beautiful.

Night fell, and Lin Qi sat on the stone steps without going back inside, nor did Mu Nianci leave. The two sat side by side, gazing at the moon and listening to the distant sound of the pine trees rustling in the wind.

The courtyard was quiet, with only the occasional chirping of insects. Several jasmine flowers had bloomed, their white petals shimmering silver in the moonlight. The bouquet in the earthenware pot had been changed several times; now it was white jasmine, paired with a few sprigs of pale purple wildflowers, arranged together in a lively and cheerful way.

Life on Iron Palm Peak continued, day after day.

Lin Qi practiced his martial arts, handled gang affairs, read books, and meditated every day.

That afternoon, after practicing his palm technique in the courtyard, he sat down on the stone steps, staring blankly at the palm print on the courtyard wall. Mu Nianci came out of the house, carrying a bowl of mung bean soup, and placed it beside him.

"Brother Lin, what are you thinking about?"

Lynch picked up the bowl and took a sip. The soup was cold and sweet. He put the bowl down and said, "I'm thinking about something."

"What is it?"

"It's about a martial arts manual."

Mu Nianci didn't press the matter. She sat down beside him, pulled a needle and thread from her sleeve, and began mending something. The courtyard was quiet, with only the soft sound of the needle and thread cutting through the fabric.

Lin Qi's gaze passed over the courtyard wall and landed on the distant, layered mountains.

His Iron Palm Kung Fu had reached a bottleneck. He could no longer improve his techniques, and although his internal energy was still increasing, the rate of increase had slowed down.

The internal energy boost from the snake blood has been fully absorbed, and the Yi Jin Duan Gu chapter of the Nine Yin Manual has been practiced for a long time, but the progress is getting slower and slower each day, like an ox stuck in a quagmire, moving slower and slower.

He no longer takes established masters seriously.

The Five Greats level of martial arts is his current benchmark.

That day, Hong Qigong's casual move required his full strength to deal with, putting him under immense pressure.

If he wants to reach the level of being able to fight against the Five Greats, he must find other opportunities.

And this opportunity was... the first volume of the Nine Yin Manual.

The first volume of the Nine Yin Manual was in Zhou Botong's possession. Lin Qi kept this information in mind.

After Wang Chongyang obtained the true scriptures, he did not cultivate them himself. Before his death, he entrusted the scriptures to his junior brother Zhou Botong for safekeeping, instructing him to hide the two volumes separately. Zhou Botong carried the first volume with him, while the second volume was hidden elsewhere and later tricked into being obtained by Huang Yaoshi. Chen Xuanfeng and Mei Chaofeng stole the second volume and escaped from Peach Blossom Island. The second volume went through many twists and turns before finally ending up in Lin Qi's hands.

The first volume remained with Zhou Botong. In his quest for the second volume, Zhou Botong traveled to Peach Blossom Island, where he fought Huang Yaoshi but was defeated and trapped there for fifteen years. He possessed the first volume, but he vowed never to practice the martial arts of the true scripture, so he merely concealed the text with him and never actually practiced it. This prevented him from defeating Huang Yaoshi and kept him trapped on the island.

The first volume lays the foundation of internal energy cultivation, representing the orthodox Taoist mental techniques. The second volume records specific techniques, various exquisite martial arts. He possessed the complete second volume, but lacked the mental techniques from the first volume to complement his practice. Many of the martial arts in the second volume were beyond his ability or knowledge to practice, not because he was unintelligent, but because he lacked the support of the internal energy foundation laid in the first volume. Most of the martial arts in the second volume were built upon the foundation of the first volume's internal energy cultivation. Without the first volume, it was like building a house without a foundation; trying to add bricks and tiles on top would inevitably lead to collapse.

Lin Qi didn't want to follow the same path as the Black Wind Duo.

He absolutely had to obtain the first volume of the Nine Yin Manual.

After finishing the last stitch, Mu Nianci bit off the thread, folded the clothes neatly, and placed them on her lap. She looked up at Lin Qi, saw that he was still lost in thought, and waved her hand in front of him.

"Brother Lin, what's wrong with you today? You seem distracted."

Lin Qi snapped out of his reverie and smiled, "I was thinking about martial arts."

"Your martial arts skills are already very high." Mu Nianci said this in a very calm tone, not as an exaggeration or as flattery, but simply as a statement of fact.

Lin Qi shook his head: "Not tall enough."

Mu Nianci didn't say anything more. She stood up, put the folded clothes inside, then came out again, squatted down in the yard, and reached out to pull out a few weeds from the flower bed.

The sun slowly sank in the west, casting a golden-red glow on the horizon. A few jasmine flowers bloomed in the earthenware pot, their white petals shimmering faintly in the twilight.

Lin Qi sat on the stone steps, his mind still racing with thoughts of the first volume of the Nine Yin Manual. Zhou Botong was trapped on Peach Blossom Island, and the first volume was in his hands. To get to Peach Blossom Island, he would have to face Huang Yaoshi. Lin Qi couldn't fathom Huang Yaoshi's temperament. The Eastern Heretic acted entirely on a whim, disregarding rules, even breaking the legs of his own disciples and expelling them from the sect. What if Huang Yaoshi took a dislike to Lin Qi and unleashed a flick of his finger? Lin Qi didn't know if he could withstand it.

But he can't stay away just because he's afraid.

He absolutely must obtain the first volume of the Nine Yin Manual. He has to get his hands on it.

Mu Nianci stood up, patted the mud off her hands, and walked up to him. The twilight fell on her face, making her features appear gentle.

"Brother Lin, whatever you do, I'll go with you."

Lynch didn't answer, he just nodded.