Sword drawn from the constellations, poison as its edge.

Chapter 55 Betraying Your Good Brother

Jiang Mingzhe patted his chest, his voice filled with heroic spirit: "Since you call me 'Big Brother,' I can entrust my life to you, let alone anything else? Who bullied you and wants Big Brother to avenge you?"

Duan Yu quickly shook his head: "No, no, revenge only leads to more revenge. Even if someone bullied me, if I stopped being angry later, it's as if they didn't bully me. What I'm asking of you, brother, is something else entirely. Brother, you see—"

He squatted down and pointed to the jade statue's shoes. Jiang Mingzhe bent down to look and saw that there were several words embroidered on the inside of each shoe. The left shoe was embroidered with "Kowtowing a thousand times, serving my command" and the right shoe was embroidered with "Obeying my command, I will die a hundred times without regret".

Duan Yu said, "When I came here before, I saw two prayer cushions in front of the fairy sister. I thought I should pay my respects to her. After I knelt down, I saw these words."

He pulled over a small prayer mat, the top layer of cattail grass completely torn apart. Duan Yu pointed at it and said, "As the fairy sister requested, I kowtowed a thousand times, breaking this prayer mat and revealing what's inside."

After saying that, she opened her clothes, carefully took out a silk package, and showed it to Jiang Mingzhe.

On the silk were a few lines of fine writing, which meant that the scroll contained the essentials of the Xiaoyao Sect's martial arts. Those who kowtowed a thousand times and were willing to be driven must practice diligently once a day at dawn, noon, and dusk, without being lazy. After mastering the skills, they could then learn the martial arts secrets of various schools and sects in the world at Langhuan Paradise, and then go down the mountain to kill all the disciples of the Xiaoyao Sect.

Jiang Mingzhe smiled calmly, "This is truly a stroke of luck. This secret manual is so precious; it must be some extraordinary divine skill. If you, my dear brother, can master it, you will surely become one of the top masters in the world. Hehe, my sister-in-law really dotes on you."

Duan Yu blushed and waved his hand, saying, "Brother, please don't say that. What virtue or ability do I have to be worthy of the fairy sister? Besides, I don't know any martial arts, and I have no desire to learn martial arts to kill people. By the way, brother, come with me."

He led Jiang Mingzhe through a side door. Jiang Mingzhe glanced at it and thought to himself, "This must be Wu Yazi and Li Qiushui's bedroom. My master and Li Qiushui are having an affair. I wonder if they're having an affair outside or here."

The room contained a stone bed and a wooden baby cradle. A seven-stringed zither hung on the wall, but the strings were broken. To the left of the bed was a stone table with a chessboard carved in crisscrossing patterns and more than two hundred chess pieces scattered around, forming an unfinished game.

Seeing Jiang Mingzhe looking around, Duan Yu suddenly pointed to the crib and said hesitantly, "Big brother, look, this is where Fairy Sister slept when she was little. The words on the outside were written by Mr. Wuyazi to Qiushui. These two are Fairy Sister's father and mother."

Jiang Mingzhe sighed inwardly, knowing that Duan Yu had fallen in love with the jade statue at first sight and refused to admit that she had a husband and had a child. Therefore, he had cleverly imagined a family of three. At this moment, he was probably afraid that he would become suspicious when he saw the crib, so he hurriedly instilled the scene he had imagined into himself.

He nodded and said, "Judging from your appearance just now, my sister-in-law is only about eighteen or nineteen years old. I imagine she has lived here with her parents since birth and has never seen outsiders as she has grown up. She must be gentle and quiet. She wants you to learn the martial arts of the Xiaoyao Sect and kill all the members of the Xiaoyao Sect. Most likely, her father was the leader of the Xiaoyao Sect, but he was killed by his own disciples. Therefore, she is determined to take revenge. Hmm, since this valley has been discovered by those rebellious disciples, it is definitely no longer safe to live here. I wonder where she moved to."

Upon hearing this, Duan Yu's face lit up. He suddenly slapped himself on the face and exclaimed joyfully, "Yes, yes, yes! Brother is indeed insightful, unlike me, a fool who thought that since the fairy statue was here, she must have already ascended to heaven. Yes, since our enemy knows this place, she must have left, but..."

He suddenly felt melancholy again and shook his head, saying, "But the yellow dress she's wearing seems to be an old item from many years ago."

Jiang Mingzhe said, "She was born here and grew up wearing mostly her mother's clothes."

"Yes!" Duan Yu immediately beamed upon hearing this: "Right, right, right, it must be her mother's. Oh my, brother, how are you so smart?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Mingzhe frowned slightly, recalling how Azi often praised him for his intelligence with such admiration, and a sense of urgency welled up within him.

I thought to myself that I had to deal with things here quickly and find Azi. Normally, this girl is clever and cunning, so I don't need to worry about her. But now the situation in this area is turbulent, and the Four Evils have all come out. No matter how cunning she is, her low martial arts skills are always a fatal flaw... Damn it, but my martial arts skills are also very low!

Duan Yu was quite obsessive about some things, but quick-witted about others. Seeing Jiang Mingzhe suddenly frown, he immediately said, "Brother, did seeing me and the fairy sister remind you of your sweetheart?"

Jiang Mingzhe was taken aback, then shook his head and said, "Brother, you're overthinking it. My junior sister and I got separated, and I was worried that she might encounter bad people, so I'm a little concerned." Duan Yu comforted him, "Brother, don't worry. Good people are always protected by heaven. You are so handsome, your junior sister must be very beautiful too. A beautiful girl will be even more blessed by heaven. When we get out, I will accompany you to find your junior sister."

In her heart, she thought to herself: When my elder brother lowered his eyes just now, there was clearly deep affection in them. He must have fallen in love with his junior sister, but he just doesn't know it yet. Hmm, I'll accompany my elder brother to find his junior sister and tell them the truth!

With his youthful spirit, he felt an immense responsibility suddenly looming over him, and his breathing became heavy.

Jiang Mingzhe, however, was much more mature. Since he was already here, he couldn't leave empty-handed. He suppressed his longing for the moment and went to see the remaining situation.

Thinking to myself: This game of chess is most likely the very trick that Su Xinghe set up later to help Wu Yazi choose his successor. Xu Zhu made a random move to solve this puzzle. I'll write it down and try it out one by one when I have time. I'll find out where Xu Zhu made his move and maybe it will come in handy.

However, he was not proficient in Go, and it would be difficult for him to memorize it by rote. After looking at it for a while, he gave up and thought to himself: "No rush. Anyway, I know the location. I can find Azi later and copy it down from the paper. Isn't that easy?"

He then asked Duan Yu, "Brother, do you want me to see where your wife lived back then?"

Duan Yu was just thinking about how to matchmake his elder brother and his junior sister when he heard this and suddenly realized something. He quickly shook his head and said, "Ah, no, elder brother, come with me!"

He led Jiang Mingzhe to the foot of the bed, where a moon gate was visible, with the words "Langhuan Paradise" carved beside it.

Jiang Mingzhe followed Duan Yu inside, which was a very large stone chamber filled with empty wooden shelves. There were still many slips of paper on them, all of which contained the names of various martial arts styles.

Duan Yu pointed to the shelves and said, "The Fairy Sister ordered me to learn the Divine Skill of the Free and Unfettered Sect, so I came here to learn martial arts from various sects and then go to kill the disciples of the Free and Unfettered Sect. But the martial arts here have probably all been stolen by those traitors. How can I kill for her? But I can't disobey the Fairy Sister's words. I thought, since my elder brother knows martial arts, I might as well learn the Free and Unfettered Sect's skills and take on this task for my younger brother."

Good bro, you're really generous!

Jiang Mingzhe couldn't help but swallow, thinking to himself that he wouldn't mind having a hundred more brothers like this!
He immediately waved his hand in refusal: "No, no, brother. First, this martial art was passed down to you by your sister-in-law, and I didn't kowtow to her. Second, I have my own master; how can I just learn someone else's kung fu? No, no, you should learn it yourself and go kill people yourself!"

Upon hearing this, Duan Yu became extremely anxious. He truly disliked martial arts and would rather run away from home than learn the famous One-Finger Divine Skill. As for killing, he would rather learn martial arts than kill.

Seeing that Jiang Mingzhe refused directly, she admired his noble character, but also felt even more anxious.

But he had a quick wit. After thinking for a moment, his eyes lit up and a plan came to him: "Brother, I've heard that people in the martial arts world will do anything shameless for a secret manual. But now that the manual is so readily available, you're upholding the rules of our sect and won't even bother to look at it. I've only ever seen two people with this kind of magnanimity in my life: you and myself! But I don't know any martial arts, so you're definitely the best!"

He mimicked Jiang Mingzhe's praise, giving him a thumbs-up and a hint of childish cunning in his eyes: "But weren't you being chased by villains, which is why you met me, little brother? If those villains could chase you, their martial arts must be far superior to yours. Although you escaped, what if those villains linger and your junior sister comes looking for you?"

"He wouldn't dare!" Jiang Mingzhe's murderous intent was immediately revealed, and his shout echoed in the stone chamber, buzzing: "He dares to hurt my junior sister, I, Jiang, will risk my life to bite off a piece of his flesh!"

He was only acting, but when he thought about Ah Zi meeting the Crocodile God of the South Sea, he couldn't help but worry and clenched his fists tightly.

Seeing his eyes widen in anger and his roar like thunder, Duan Yu's heart pounded in fear, yet he couldn't help but secretly rejoice: "Big brother, you may be clever, but you've still fallen for my trick! Alas, to fulfill the fairy sister's wish, I have no choice but to let you suffer!"
(End of this chapter)