By nightfall, Ye Xihan still hadn’t sent anyone to feed them. Fu Yunmo and Nan Kunlun were so hungry that their stomachs felt stuck to their spines. Irritation set in, and they found it impossible to continue their martial arts practice.
“Nan Kunlun… let’s see if you ever dare to eat salted fish again…”
Provoking that she-devil was truly a death wish, and now she was being starved right along with him.
“I won’t… salted fish isn’t even good. It’s so salty it’s bitter,” Nan Kunlun replied. Even as hungry as he was, he had no desire for it—besides, that fish was their primary camouflage; they couldn’t actually eat it.
“I’d eat anything right now; who cares if it tastes good…” Fu Yunmo rolled her eyes. Her stomach growled loudly. There was nothing in this cell but dry straw, cockroaches, and rats. To make matters worse, she had finished the water sent the previous night; she hadn’t had a drop to drink all day.
She collapsed onto the straw and closed her eyes, trying to sleep. When you’re starving, being unconscious is the only way to ignore the hunger—and the thirst.
Just then, the iron door creaked open. Fu Yunmo’s nerves, which had been fading into a stupor, snapped back to attention. A flicker of hope rose within her, but she didn’t dare approach the bars. She sat silently on the straw, listening to light footsteps descending the stairs.
She could now distinguish the sounds: these were Ye Xihan’s footsteps. As a woman of slender build and extraordinary qinggong, her pace was exceptionally light.
Ye Xihan bypassed Nan Kunlun and walked straight to Fu Yunmo’s cell. She had changed out of her white robes into a pale blue outfit, still wearing her white jade mask, with her long sword gripped in her hand.
At the sight of that weapon, Fu Yunmo began to tremble. Having experienced its power firsthand, she now remembered its name: the Bone-Shattering Sword. It was a cruel weapon feared by everyone in the martial world; it was said that no one ever left its presence with an intact corpse.
“What did that man say to you that day?” Ye Xihan asked coldly. Her voice was as it had been when they first met—devoid of emotion, yet radiating a bone-chilling murderous intent.
“…He said he saw me acting bravely to protect my companion, so he wanted to pass a legendary martial art to me. Then he gave me a salted fish.”
Fu Yunmo spoke the truth. Until yesterday, she truly hadn’t known the secret hidden within the fish—though she had, in fact, already begun practicing the Fengyun Manual.
Beneath the mask, Ye Xihan’s brow furrowed. She watched Fu Yunmo’s expression intently but found no flaw. She didn’t realize that as a professional actress, “performing” was second nature to Fu Yunmo.
However, remembering how Nan Kunlun had pried the fish open and eaten it piece by piece earlier that day, a wave of disgust rose in Ye Xihan’s heart.
Was that fish truly just a fish?
Could it be that the last member of the Zhao family didn’t have the manual after all?
But then why did he flee from my pursuit, only to die with a peaceful smile on his lips?
It was a smile that suggested he had successfully entrusted something precious to another. That was why Ye Xihan was certain the item was with Fu Yunmo. She had never let that man out of her sight, and the only person he had interacted with was this waiter. She had searched every place he had visited to no avail; Fu Yunmo was the only lead left.
“Give me the salted fish.”
Finally, Ye Xihan relented. Was there truly a secret hidden inside?
Nan Kunlun obediently handed the fish over. Now that it was torn open, the smell was even more pungent. Ye Xihan reached out but paused mid-air, her hand freezing.
“Xiao Tang.”
A man wearing a Shura mask entered—the same man who had brought their food before.
“Take it.”
Ye Xihan refused to touch the fish herself. As Xiao Tang took it and they prepared to leave, Fu Yunmo suddenly shouted, “Sect Leader Ye! If you won’t give us food, at least give us water!”
Ye Xihan paused and turned to Xiao Tang. “You didn’t give them water?”
Her voice was dangerously soft. Xiao Tang lowered his head in silence.
“…Fix it,” she commanded before sweeping out.
Xiao Tang immediately ordered water for the two “little ancestors” in the cells. Finally having a drink, Fu Yunmo felt like she was coming back to life. She was still hungry, but at least the water would keep her going.
Once the guards were gone, Fu Yunmo whispered, “Kunlun, you still have the parchment, right?”
“Mmh.”
Fu Yunmo sighed. “Now that she’s taken the fish, she’ll be furious when she finds nothing. She might just execute us on the spot. We have to speed things up.”
Despite their weak, hungry legs, they had to keep practicing to save their lives.
“Alright, Sister Mo. Let’s learn ‘Soaring Straight Up’…”
Nan Kunlun began explaining how to channel the internal energy of the Fengyun Manual into the soles of the feet, stimulating specific acupoints to increase leg strength and lightness of pace.
The core of this technique was “lightness” and “speed.” While most qinggong shared these traits, this specific style focused on ghostly, erratic footwork—reminiscent of the legendary Lingbo Microsteps of Master Jin’s novels. Crucially, the lighter the practitioner’s weight, the more effective the technique, making it particularly advantageous for women.
It’s like a mix of Lingbo Microsteps and the Sunflower Manual, Fu Yunmo thought, thankfully without the need for self-castration.
She tried to channel her internal energy as Nan Kunlun described. She felt the icy qi from the previous night split into two streams, flowing down to the soles of her feet.
She leaped. To her shock, she shot up nearly ten feet. The cell ceiling was high, yet her head almost clipped it. Startled by her own success, her breathing faltered; she lost her balance in mid-air and tumbled down, landing hard on the straw.
“Ouch!”
She clutched her waist, which throbbed with pain. Is this the blood and tears required to learn martial arts?
But then it hit her: Ten feet? The cell window wasn’t even ten feet high—it was about eight feet up. If she could jump that high, she could reach the window.
“Sister Mo, are you okay?” Nan Kunlun asked anxiously.
“I’m fine,” she said, staring intently at the high window. “Kunlun… we can reach that window.”
Fu Yunmo gathered her energy once more. With power surging through her feet, she took off like the wind and soared toward the window. she grabbed the iron bars with one hand and braced her feet in the gaps of the masonry to stabilize herself. However, her arm was weak and injured; after just a moment, she began to shake.
“Kunlun, there’s a forest outside. We can escape!” She looked at the bars. “And I think these can be broken…”
The window was nearly two feet wide—large enough for Nan Kunlun to squeeze through. Her strength failed, and she let go, using her internal energy to cushion her landing.
This qinggong is miraculous… But she realized that without the Fengyun Manual as a foundation, one couldn’t learn this technique; the two were codependent. Unfortunately, her internal energy was shallow. Two jumps had already drained half her reserves. She hoped Nan Kunlun, whose energy was stronger, would have better luck.
“I understand,” Nan Kunlun said.
Fu Yunmo heard rustling as Nan Kunlun used the technique to reach his own window. He was heavier than her, so his execution wasn’t as graceful, but he managed to grab the bars. Channeling his energy, he struck one of the iron rods. With a faint clink, the bar was knocked outward, landing silently on the grass and soil below.
“Sister Mo, it works!”
One by one, he knocked the bars out and squeezed through. Dropping onto the grass outside, he breathed in the fresh air, feeling reborn. He sprinted over to Fu Yunmo’s window and reached inside. “Sister Mo!”
“Quick, get me out of here!” she whispered urgently.
“Coming! Catch the bars as I break them, don’t let them make a sound.”
Fu Yunmo nodded. Thanks to her new internal energy, her reflexes and vision had improved. As Nan Kunlun broke the bars, she caught each one and laid it silently on the straw.
“Done. Come on out!”
Nan Kunlun stepped back. Fu Yunmo summoned every ounce of her strength, leaped to the window, hugged the remaining bar, and scrambled out. Nan Kunlun caught her as she fell, saving her from a painful landing.
“Do you need to rest?” he asked. They hadn’t eaten in a day and were exhausted.
“Rest? We’re in a race against time! If we don’t run now, we’re dead!”
Driven by the will to live, she took off like a wild horse, bolting into the woods with Nan Kunlun. As long as they left the Ye Yue Sect behind, she didn’t care where they went.
After running for a while, she glanced back. From a distance, the Ye Yue Sect headquarters looked like a magnificent, imposing palace. For a fleeting second, she was stunned by its beauty.
No, no! Not the time! Keep moving!
Exhaustion weighed on them, but fear kept them fast. Their new skills were the only thing keeping them upright. However, as they delved deeper into the forest, a thick, heavy mist began to swirl around them.
When she turned around, she realized the path they had taken had disappeared.
“Kunlun… which way do we go now?”
Fu Yunmo, who was naturally terrible with directions, realized she was lost. And her legs were finally beginning to give out.