No one saw Jinshui until the next morning. He appeared in front of his room when the sun was coming, in a state of soaking wet, his face messy, the look in his eyes looked very terrible.
Liuxin and Yanzi were there. Liuxin signaled Yanzi, and the little lady quickly ran to call for Huang Yu. The two had heard about Jinshui's reunion with Xu Qiao at the small lake, then also the fight with Ma Yongtao last night. The current Jinshui was not the same as the Jinshui they knew. Even Liuxin was horrified. She quickly closed the door.
Jinshui stopped in front of the bedroom door, trying to find Xu Qiao's figure inside. She's still alive, he told himself. Still alive, but no one could tell for how much longer. Ever since on the boat she had been so weak, Jinshui was worried that his arrival would bring another shock to her, scaring her, and hurting her even more.
"Hua Gege, let her have some rest for today," Liuxin said imploringly, "she's very weak, she won't be able to deal with you now...."
"Can't deal with me?" Jinshui looked at her with a strange look. "She loves me so much, she wants to see me more than anything. I'm also the same, loved her so much, how could I harm her?"
Huang Yu soon arrived there, along with Yanzi and also Li Qian. Liuxin held back at the door, Jinshui was already one step in front of her.
"Liuxin Meimei, let him go inside," Huang Yu asked Liuxin to step aside.
Liuxin let Jinshui push open the door and stepped inside. She was very uneasy.
"Don't worry," Li Qian said. "If Huang Yu and Ma Yongtao's punches last night weren't enough to wake him up, I'll be happy to add another."
"Xu Qiao Jiejie is still unconscious," said Liuxin, "Hua Gege almost killed her, I'm just worried if she thinks that threat will actually happen… don't know how she will react."
"They love each other," Huang Yu said to her, "everything will be fine."
Inside the room, Jinshui found Xu Qiao lying weakly on the bed, and immediately knelt on the edge of the bed, only daring to grab Xu Qiao's hand and hold it to her chest. The girl was sleeping too peacefully.
"I'm sorry," he whispered softly to her ear, "Huang Yu already told me everything. I've hurt you, from the beginning until now, never stop giving you wound after wound. I... really deserve to die."
He stroked Xu Qiao's forehead with his fingertips. All his pride vanished, the anger and hatred in his heart replaced by unbearable pain and guilt. He loved Xu Qiao so much, he shouldn't have been willing to let this girl hurt him even a little, but instead had hurt her deeply.
"Please wake up," he said again, "You may scold me, curse me, hit me, but I will not allow you to leave me again because I too... will not leave you again."
Xu Qiao slowly opened her eyes and tried to call. Jinshui held her hands, waiting anxiously for her reaction. Xu Qiao recognized him, and she was silent for a moment. In her last memory, Jinshui was there on the boat, and she knew he had prepared to crush her skulls. He said he would destroy her to nothing so that no one else could have her either. A death threat that was real.
"Qiao-er...."
"Jinshui Gege, I had a dream...." Xu Qiao forced a smile at him. "Dreaming of going to a place far away. But you weren't there, no matter how I looked for you I couldn't find you. Did you... were you the one who found me?"
"Qiao-er...."
Xu Qiao took a deep breath, and the next words were heavy.
"It's okay if you want to kill me. Besides, I'm hopeless too. After all, this life of mine has already belonged to you since three years ago. I won't blame you...."
A drop of Jinshui's tears fell on the back of Xu Qiao's hand. He was stunned, unable to give an answer. His heart would feel more at ease if Xu Qiao hated him, and blamed him. But even as these words came out, he realized that Xu Qiao was already willing to give everything to him. Three years ago Xu Qiao had started to love him, until now she had never stopped loving him and that feeling of love was bigger than he could ever imagine.
"We meet again in the next life only, shall we?" Xu Qiao spoke again, hitting Jinshui even more. "I promise, I will never leave you unless you don't want to see me around. Whatever you do, I will try to fit in with you, be a great warrior or a villain, I will still be with you."
Her words flowed slowly, her voice low but still clear enough. She was already starting to find it difficult to speak, and would not be able to make a sound any louder. In her mind there were so many words to say, she was really afraid that she will not have time to say more.
"I'm sorry," Jinshui said once again. "If I had known your true condition from the start, none of this would have happened. It's been troubling you, still talking nonsense to you. Qiao-er, everything was my fault."
Jinshui brought his face closer to hers and kissed her on the lips before she said another word. That kiss was not the first time, but this time was the one full of emotions. Xu Qiao felt the warm tears running down her cheeks that weren't hers. She just realized, Jinshui already knew everything.
Huang Yu, Li Qian, Liuxin, and Yanzi came inside, watching this scene with their own emotions. Lin Jixuan was also there followed by Huang Lian and Shuqin. When Jinshui let go of Xu Qiao, the girl also had tears in her eyes, but there was also a faint smile on her face. Then she slowly closed her eyes, drifting back to sleep.
Yanzi quickly stepped forward to check her pulse. Xu Qiao was very weak, but not in a dangerous condition. As long as she was breathing, there was still hope. According to dashanzhu's hint that was passed on by Gu Chenhui, it was likely that Jinshui would be able to save her. But this possibility was only a slight, and she was worried that it would only make Jinshui disappointed once again.
"She will be fine, at least for now," Yanzi said. "Jinshui Gege, you must quickly master wuqing xue inner energy to its last level." She still called Jinshui the same Xu Qiao did.
"What did you say?" Jinshui asked.
"Using the highest energy level of your wuqing xue, in addition to some medicine, might be able to save her, it's just…" she was a little hesitant to say the next word, "it's just that laofuren said this method might hurt yourself and it would take a long time to recover. Plus, the chances of success are also only three parts."
"You give good news as well as bad news, how exactly?" Lin Jixuan asked her, a little confused.
"Shijie can be saved," Huang Lian murmured in hope.
"Jinshui Gege... if it fails, are going to punish me?" Yanzi looked at Jinshui worriedly. Liuxin said that this Hua Jinshui was no longer the same as the one they knew. Even though she just saw Jinshui had returned to normal, her heart mind was still not calm enough.
"It won't fail," Jinshui said. He had yet to master the highest level of wuqing xue, but he knew he would be able to obtain it. "Qiao-er… how much time does she still have?"
"That… I don't know either," Yanzi couldn't be sure, "it's up to her own willpower to survive," she continued. "But she has lost all her inner energy and is starting to find it difficult to speak. She is no longer able to distinguish tastes, later if hearing starts to have problems then what follows is her vision. Losing these two senses, being unable to communicate with others, also only being able to lie in bed, still alive is also hard to imagine how she feels."
The others glanced at each other. Unable to hear, see, and speak, who could survive in such a condition? Jinshui took a step back. Xu Qiao's situation was worse than imagined. Still alive, but no better than dying right away. No, he would not let Xu Qiao live like that.
"Jiaozhu, allow me to help you," Shuqin reminded Jinshui. "You want to erase the existence of shengnu, may I be the last shengnu in the history of Yumen Jiao?"
Jinshui turned to look at her for a moment. For a second, Shuqin was another hope for him. But when he looked back at Xu Qiao, he knew Xu Qiao would not let him sacrifice another life either.
--
Training the eighth level of wuqing xue inner energy was not just about calming the mind and concentrating. Due to the heretic nature of this part, it could only be obtained by taking the inner energy that had been trained by a shengnu since childhood. At the end of the training of this extraordinarily misguided method, it might also cost the shengnu's life.
Jinshui went to see Zhang Zheliang in the octagonal room that day, hoping that the old man can give him another guidance.
He gave Zhang Zheliang a bottle of medicine specially made by Yanzi. This medicine was not the same as huanming yao who was rather violent, of course. The drug could fully restore Zhang Zheliang's consciousness, giving him a chance to enjoy old age in peace.
Zhang Zheliang had been injured deeply for too long. He depended on huanming yao to maintain his martial abilities but slowly destroy his brain function. This new medicine worked the other way around. His mind would no longer be chaotic, nor did he have to worry about forgetting everything after waking up. But the inner energy that should have long disappeared will slowly fade away and he will return to being an ordinary person.
When Zhang Zheliang was in this state of consciousness, only then could Jinshui expect his help in understanding the highest level of wuqing xue. Zhang Zheliang did understand the character of this Yumen's martial art more than Gu Chenhui, because many years ago he had discussed it at length with Wu Youwei, hoping to master the final level without the help of a shengnu.
"Originally, wuqing xue was only created up to the seventh level by a mysterious figure named Yi Wenquan. Not many people knew this person, but he was a very intelligent person and loved all martial arts and martial arts styles," Zhang Zheliang told Jinshui according to what he had heard from Wu Youwei. "Yi Wenquan just married and took in disciples at an advanced age. He only passed on wuqing xue to his male disciples, while his only daughter studied another art, training a manual that only women could learn."
"Yun xia shen gong," Jinshui guessed.
"At that time, this manual did not have a name, and its character was still slightly different from the current yun xia shen gong," said Zhang Zheliang. "This manual was reportedly created by a palace concubine who spent her life without ever meeting the emperor. As for how Yi Wenquan had acquired this manual and passed it on to his daughter, no one knew."
"Did Yi Wenquan not know that this art has a strong negative nature, and it can also damage the body of anyone training it?" Jinshui asked.
"I think he only saw the front part of the manual stated that it can only be learned by female, then just handed it over to his daughter," Zhang Zheliang also did not know completely because Wu Youwei didn't tell him a lot either. "One of Yi Wenquan's disciples named Wu Shaoyang really liked his master's daughter, and Yi Wenquan had arranged the marriage for this disciple and his daughter before he died."
"Wu Shaoyang?" Jinshui heard that this person's surname was the same as his father's, "is he my ancestor?" he asked.
"Correct. Wu Shaoyang was later the founder of Yumen Sect," Zhang Zheliang said. "He inherited all of his master's abilities, then started gathering followers. This person had extraordinary authority, anyone bowed down to him. Not to mention that he had already managed to train the wuqing xue of the seventh level as taught by his master when he was still very young. Old people admired him, young people respected him."
Jinshui listened. Unknowingly in his mind, there was a slight feeling of joy. He had an extraordinary ancestor, even Zhang Zheliang seemed to be very respectful in mentioning his ancestor's name.
"Wu Shaoyang didn't marry his master's daughter when he came to age. He worshiped that woman like a goddess, but was also afraid of her because this woman had clearly higher ability." Zhang Zheliang took a deep breath. "Wu Shaoyang had promised himself that he would legally marry his master's daughter only after defeating her."
"I never expect someone who only mastered yun xia shen gong to be better than someone who already mastered the seventh level of wuqing xue," said Jinshui.
"However, they were not getting any younger. They had a fight every year to determine who was better. In that last year, his future wife deliberately gave in and they got married. At the same time Wu Shaoyang also officially became the supreme leader of his own sect which became known as the Yumen Jiao (Jade Gate Teachings) according to the name of his place of origin."
Jinshui certainly knew. The Yumen Jiao or Hell Gate Sect was originally called the yumen jiao or Jade Gate Sect. The two letters yu sounded the same, but they were two different characters with very different meanings. The term Yumen, which means the door to hell, only appeared in the following generations, due to the cruelty of the leader of this sect and the actions of his followers which caused enmity with those who claimed to be from the righteous sect.
"On the wedding night, the woman told her husband, in fact, the ability she learned was still higher than wuqing xue," continued Zhang Zheliang. "Yun xia shen gong manual can only be mastered by maidens. When she became someone else's wife, her ability will naturally decrease a lot. That woman said that she no longer wanted to be number one and that it was time to be a good wife, not realizing that these words were the same as telling Wu Shaoyang that in the last fight, he didn't really lose in fair term.
Wu Shaoyang's self-esteem was enormous, and he was not able to accept such a fake victory. On that wedding night, he used all of his wuqing xue skills and sucked up his wife's inner energy to show off. But once it sucked power it can no longer be stopped. As a result, the woman not only lost all of her inner energy, but immediately became a disabled person, totally paralyzed and could only lie in bed, and she died soon after."
"The first generation of shengnu was none other than the wife of Yumen leader," said Jinshui. He felt a little horrified. His ancestor killed his loved one just for the sake of showing off and he almost made the same mistake just because of his pride.
"Wu Shaoyang was deeply in grief, but after a few days passed, he began to notice that his inner energy had doubled. His wuqing xue, which had been mastered to the highest level, could still be even more powerful. At that time he had tried to help his wife by returning the energy, but to no avail. Then he went back to studying the contents of wuqing xue manual, and read his wife's manual, trying to find out what had happened."
"Is yun xia shen gong the only one to perfect wuqing xue?" asked Jinshui.
"Only yun xia shen gong trained since childhood," said Zhang Zheliang. "Because of the nature of this pure inner energy that can unite with wuqing xue who also cannot be trained using any emotions. Wu Shaoyang then asked his concubines to train several girls as guinea pigs. Then when the time came, he asked his son to do the same thing as himself to one of these guinea pigs and it worked. So, in the second generation of Yumen, girls began to be trained from a young age, so that one day they could help the new leader perfect his wuqing xue inner energy, and then up to the tenth generation, that is your father, who was not willing to betray his wife to master his ability."
"Then in Yumen, the supreme knowledge is yun xia shen gong, not wuqing xue?" Jinshui asked. "It's just that because this knowledge can only be learned by female, while the ten generations of Yumen leaders are all male, it's instead being taught to others so they can take advantage of it?"
"Not really. Your father said that the yun xia shen gong had been modified a bit by Wu Shaoyang, and it was specially taught to perfect wuqing xue only. Besides, there are still leng qing yu hua and yin feng nong yue those two ancient manuals," Zhang Zheliang said. "That Yi Wenquan created wuqing xue based on these two ancient manuals because he was unable to fully learn them. He only took some of the essences, left the negative traits, then combined it with several other knowledge like when I perfected my yin shou yang zhang."
"Were leng qing yu hua and yin feng nong yue the two manuals belong to the owner of Baiyu Shan?" Jinshui asked again.
Zhang Zheliang shook his head. "Those two ancient manuals were originally stored in the Yumen original base, only the leader and a few chief disciples knew about it," he continued. "Leng qing yu hua was said to be very difficult to learn and no member was able to pass its second level, and for eight generations it was just hidden. While yin feng nong yue manual only consists of three major techniques, although each of them can be developed into a series of complicated combination of changes, no one considers this manual so valuable."
Jinshui just listened carefully. It turned out that the history of Yumen was closely related to Baiyu Shan.
"The eighth generation Yumen leader later handed over the leng qing yu hua and yin feng nong yue manuals to an old man surnamed Bai, who then passed those manuals on to his daughter, Wuyan Guniang, the current great master of Baiyu Shan."
Jinshui had heard that Wuyan Guniang was the only person who could master leng qing yu hua perfectly and also studied yin feng nong yue well. Although the two girls Hanleng Shuang Yin also learned these two arts from the great master Baiyu Shan, their abilities were still far from what they should be.
"Wuqing xue had undergone many changes and improvements during the nine generations, but still can't erase the existence of shengnu because it will eliminate the invincible strength of the eighth level." Zhang Zheliang took a deep breath. "Laofu and your father had researched this manual a lot. At this time Laofu can't help but have to admit, in the past, there was actually an intention not to let your father master the highest level for fear of creating disaster in the martial world."
Jinshui quite understood his consideration. With his father's character and reputation, he really shouldn't master the highest level. "But this time is different," he said, "level eight wuqing xue can be used to save someone's life."
"Martial arts can harm, but it can also help, depending on who uses it," said Zhang Zheliang.