Flying Dust - Chapter 4

Even so, Mo Fei Chen could not help but look at him, as if there were irresistible great waves brewing in that flat likened to the water expression.

Mo Fei Chen’s intuition told him that this man was the founder of Kun Yun Mountain Manor, Shi Zu, He Yunfeng, the master of the World Detention Sword, a myth of the martial world more than a hundred years ago. Because under the thick mist, only He Yunfeng had not been burnt to ashes.

“Why, although you already died… but I think that you are still alive?”

Mo Fei Chen wanted to reach out and touch it but suddenly he withdrew his hand back. The ice coffin was the coldest thing in the world so if his hand really touched it, it would be frozen and never recovered.

“A sword is without a trace where it can’t be detained in this mundane world and time does not wait to lean on a thousand clouds.” Mo Fei Chen suddenly felt a little sad and sentimental, “Luo Lianyun has been dead for more than a hundred years, even her corpse has been turned into yellow earth. So even if your face remains young forever, what can you do?”

Rumor had it that He Yunfeng was very fond of Luo Lianyun. Unfortunately, she was deeply in love with the demonic cult leader and only treated He Yunfeng as her brother. What was the name of this demonic sect leader, Mo Fei Chen no longer remembered. All he knew was that he had let Luo Lianyun down and eventually became addicted to the devil’s ways, unable to free himself. Later on, Luo Lianyun and He Yunfeng joined forces to kill him and the result was that ‘the evil will not triumph over the virtuous’, however He Yunfeng was seriously injured and died.

Mo Fei Chen smiled, “Shi Zu, I think you are also one of the rare beautiful men in the world. In terms of martial arts and cultivation, you are also unrivalled, so how did you lose to a demonic cult leader?”

Scratching his head, he laughed again, “But everything in this world, no one can say for sure. Besides, if men are not bad, women won’t love him 1.”

Waving his torch, Mo Fei Chen tilted his head and looked at the carvings on the roof of the cave, “Shi Zu, in here, you are also bored right? so let this disciple’s disciple 2 accompany you for a while!”

It was strange, just now, he felt that the ice coffin was so cold that his lips were trembling. However after sitting for a while, he felt a little warmth around his body. Mo Fei Chen subconsciously looked at the paintings on the top of the cave and after a small movement of true qi through his body, he suddenly realized that the paintings on the top of his head were arranged in a geometric progression sequence. If you take these pictures apart, they could be linked into several sets of martial arts.

It seemed to be about sword techniques, Qing Gong 3and even some was about the cultivation methods of internal force.

Mo Fei Chen was struck dumb with amazement. He was afraid that he had accidentally learnt some of the unpassed secret manuals of their sect… and wondered if he would be punished. Fine then, he actually also didn’t deliberately try to steal to learn anything, he just accidentally saw it.

The night just went on like this, but there seemed to be no movement at the top of the cliff, let alone someone coming here to rescue him.

Don’t tell me that several Shi Xiong and Shi Di blamed him for kicking the hornet’s nest and deliberately hid it from Shi Fu? I blame myself for my bad reputation!

Suddenly, Mo Fei Chen missed Yu Jin more and more. Despite what he had done, if Yu Jin found out about it, he knew that he would definitely not be able to have a good result. But, no matter what he had done, Yu Jin was the one who would punish him impartially.

“Shi Zu… What do you think Yu Shi Xiong is doing right now? Is he already getting what he wants? And then, is it time for him to come back?”

The day just passed like that, Mo Fei Chen felt so hungry and dizzy that his eyes dimmed that he didn’t even bother to sit down, he just lay down on the ground and looked at the set of martial arts manuals.

Oh, that’s right, there is a set of Qing Gong manuals here. If I could practice it, then I would be able to leave this awful place!

This was a set of footwork. Mo Fei Chen studied it in his head intensively for a long time. He followed the steps with his feet. At first, he couldn’t figure out how to do it, but as he stepped on it, he gradually realized the subtlety of this set of Qing Gong. Every place where the force was exerted, at the knees and ankles was all very well thought out. However, with good footwork but without good internal strength, the beauty of this Qing Gong could not be demonstrated.

Mo Fei Chen frowned and thought that he probably still had to learn Shi Zu’s internal strength. Otherwise, he would have to die here with him. He Yunfeng still had a coffin when he died but if he, Mo Fei Chen, died, he would only stink and rot away, waiting for the worms to come and eat him.

“Shi Zu, I’ll kneel three times and kowtow nine times to learn your internal kung fu, so I’m not stealing kung fu without permission from the teacher, right?”

After saying this, he knelt down in front of the ice coffin earnestly and kowtowed nine times, even his forehead was bleeding slightly.

Mo Fei Chen once heard a saying. It was a saying that said, ‘Sooner or later, you have to pay back for what you have done’. He didn’t want to owe anyone anything so he kowtowed to him. If there would be anything in the future, he didn’t have to pay anything back… Of course, this was all completely his own self-consolation.

He was not greedy, although even a fool would know that He Yunfeng’s internal energy cultivation method 4were naturally profound, but Mo Fei Chen learned to use the sufficient one, before then stepped on the stone wall with that set of footwork, just like stepping on a floating cloud, and after a dozen steps, he leapt on the stone wall of the cliff path.

Not far away was the large pit where he had fallen and it seemed that no one had come to repair it.

Did no one come to look for him since he had fallen?

No way, am I Mo Fei Chen really such a failure?

He pulled the corners of his mouth while he was in the middle of the air. Forget it, being a failure is a small problem, being hungry is a big problem!

He didn’t know if it was because his internal strength had improved in addition to the effect of Qing Gong ; normally, it took him about 6 hours to walk the cliff path, but now it only took him half of the total normal time to finish it.

At this moment, lunch was being prepared in the Mountain Manor and smelling the aroma of rice, he came to the dining hall where his Shi Xiong and Shi Di usually gathered.

They were sharing the steamed bun and serving the vegetables and seeing how good their appetites were, really no one was worried about him!

Mo Fei Chen sat down silently at the table and grabbed a steamed bun from the bowl behind him.

Finally, someone noticed him.

“Mo Shi Di! You did really come up?”

If I am not coming up then are you seeing a ghost right now?

“Aiyou, I was so worried about you!”

If you’re worried about me, why do you look like you’ve gained two extra pounds 5 of flesh?

“Come on, quick! You’ve been hungry for two or three days, so drink your porridge, the buns are too hard and not suitable for you!”

Nonsense! The congee we make at our Mountain Manor is only two grains of rice, it’s not as filling as a bun!

In the end, Mo Fei Chen only ate half of a steamed bun and a bowl of rice-water soup, and then someone said that Wen Qing Yuan wanted to see him.

Frowning, Mo Fei Chen had a hunch that Wen Qing Yuan might know what he had seen and done at the bottom of the valley.

“That’s right, if you think about it, Shi Fu really has foresight!” One of Shi Xiong swallowed the steamed bun and looked as if he had suddenly realized what had happened.

“What foresight?”Mo Fei Chen poked at him, meaning that he should be quick to say what he wanted to say or in other words, ‘Spit it out!’

Another disciple, the Shi Di who was repairing the cliff path with him, almost choked, so he answered back quickly, “Shi Fu said not to worry about you, that you can definitely climb up by yourself. He also said that since that cliff path was so dangerous, he told us not to go near it anymore.”

What? I thought that Wen Qing Yuan might come and get me. In the end, this guy is the most heartless one!

Mo Fei Chen, extremely unwilling, bypassed the two halls and arrived at the ‘Quiet Rain’ study room where Wen Qing Yuan put his books collection.

“I, Mo Fei Chen, pay my respects to Shi Fu.” Looking at the two closed doors, he twisted his eyebrows, wondering if Wen Qing Yuan was going to purposely make a mystery of simple things.

There was a gentle scent of tea escaping from the crack of the doorway; when he listened carefully, he heard the sound of book pages turning.

“Come on in!”

Mo Fei Chen opened the door and then closed it again, standing in front of the door with his head bowed. In front of him was an archaic writing desk and a rocking chair where Wen Qing Yuan was sitting on it with a book in his hands.

“You’ve seen everything right?”

“See what?” Mo Fei Chen gave him a sinister look in his heart. Is that the way to ask a question? Without head and tail 6…

“Of course, it’s Shi Zu, He Yunfeng.”

“I saw it.” He is not bad looking but unfortunately he is frozen in a block of ice and looked like a specimen.

“Have you also seen the martial arts scriptures carved on the stone walls on the main gate?”

Mo Fei Chen trembled, yet he still answered honestly, “Yes, I saw it.”

Wen Qing Yuan still did not look up but turned the book page over and said, “You were able to come up from the bottom of the valley because you have learned ‘Ride the wind’, right?”

“Ride the wind?” I’m also riding on a crane to the Western Paradise!7

“It’s precisely that set of footwork ah, you know that our sect’s sword techniques, palm techniques, Qing Gong and even internal kungfu are all carved into the stone walls, but no one knows the order of the carvings, so if you practice them wrong, you will go mad8* The fact that you can survive and come up here means that you have understood the order of those pictures.”

Mo Fei Chen nodded, “Then Shi Fu is going to punish me for acting presumptuously and practicing Shi Zu’s ‘Qing Gong’ without permission?”

“Why should you be punished?” Wen Qing Yuan put the book down and pointed to a chair not far away, gesturing to him to sit down, “It is your lucky chance to figure out the arrangement of those drawings. Moreover the one who taught you ‘ride the wind’ is Shi Zu, not me.”

Mo Fei Chen suddenly put his mind at ease but then he was puzzled again. Wen Qing Yuan seemed to see that he had doubts, so he said, “If you have any questions, just ask! This teacher [Wei Shi] has never pointed out your martial arts, but I can help you clear up your doubts.”

“Shi Zu’s martial arts seem…to be very exquisite, so why don’t Shi Fu, you learn it to revive our Kun Yun Mountain Manor?”

“So did Shi Zu created these martial arts because he wanted to make his name known to the world or did he just want to have fun with Luo Lianyun in Jiang Hu?”

Mo Fei Chen suddenly understood and nodded.

Actually it was also good that Wen Qing Yuan did not have any (wild) ambition, so he himself could stay in Kun Yun Mountain Manor and live an unfettered free life, otherwise, he would be pushed to practice and speed up his martial arts hardworkingly every day to glorify Kun Yun Mountain Manor, then he would be definitely bored to death. 9

“The piece of cold ice that sealed Shi Zu’s body is called ‘Liang Yu’ which was collected from the north by Luo Lianyun after Shi Zu was seriously injured. This piece of cold ice has a unique effect, it can preserve the Qi and pulse of a dying person. Luo Lianyun has put her life’s inner force 10 into this ice coffin, so that in ten or a hundred years, our founder can rebuild the ‘Sword Seed’.”

“Rebuild the ‘Sword Seed11‘?” Mo Fei Chen opened his mouth. Once a martial artist could turn his Qi into a sword, a Sword Seed would be formed in his Qi Sea. That was the place where the internal energy was accumulated and harmonized. Once the Sword Seed was destroyed, the person would gradually weaken and die.

Wen Qing Yuan didn’t say anything anymore. Instead, he changed to another book and continued reading.

Suddenly, Mo Fei Chen seemed to recall something, “Shi Fu! Shi Zu is still alive?”

“That’s right.” Wen Qing Yuan said leisurely, “But it’s a secret. There will be many people who will try to get their hands on the World Detention Sword as long as Shi Zu does not wake up, you must strictly keep this secret, otherwise it might attract calamity [the destruction of the Sect] coming to our door.”

Mo Fei Chen stayed where he was for a long time before nodding his head and leaving.

It’s really so sad, ah! How could Wen Qing Yuan tell him this kind of super big secret in such an easy going tone?

Tl notes: hmm… It’s getting more and more interesting