Chapter Twenty-Seven: Invincible Across the Ten Directions and Seclusion in the Cold Pool

After two moves, Qin Shuang returned the blade to Nie Feng. Both Bu Jingyun and Nie Feng were visibly astonished.

For the two of them, destroying a wall was no difficult task; the challenge lay in the fact that wherever the blade had passed, it had cut like a knife through butter. Aside from the thin fissure left behind by the blade’s path, there was no other damage.

Though Bu Jingyun was awestruck, his face remained entirely expressionless. Nie Feng, however, was full of admiration:

"Senior Brother, what profound internal strength, what exquisite technique!"

These were moves known to everyone in the martial arts world—"Splitting Mount Hua" and "Sweeping Through Ten Thousand Armies"—yet Qin Shuang had executed them with such breathtaking results that it seemed as if his strikes could truly cleave mountains and decimate armies.

Qin Shuang felt no pride. Having come from the world of *Ne Zha* to the world of *Feng Yun*, such a display was nothing to boast about. With his current strength, was this not to be expected?

"We are fellow disciples. As for what you can glean from these two moves, that depends on yourselves."

For the first time, Qin Shuang revealed the true extent of his strength as the senior disciple:

"Go on, enter. The martial arts behind this wall are supreme divine skills. How much you can comprehend is up to you."

Indeed, obtaining one's destiny ahead of time is not necessarily a good thing. It is like a novice player obtaining an endgame artifact; they can only look at it, and it merely takes up space in their inventory. At this moment, neither Feng nor Yun had reached the level required to fully grasp the True Martial Arts or the Ten Successive Martial Ways; they would need time to contemplate them slowly.

Qin Shuang gave the severed wall a gentle push. It collapsed, stirring up a cloud of dust. Once the dust settled, the three stepped inside to find the Qilin mural that concealed the True Martial Arts and the Ten Successive Martial Ways.

"A Qilin mural?" Bu Jingyun stared at the image before him. He had seen Qilin murals twice before: once at the Wielding Sword Villa when fighting for the Peerless Sword, and again in the mountains behind the Yu family village when he obtained the Qilin Arm. He had not expected to find another one here.

"Focus your minds and immerse yourselves in the mural. You will naturally discover the martial arts. As for how much you can comprehend, that is up to you."

Qin Shuang closed his eyes, channeling a trace of Dragon Soul energy into the mural. Once his consciousness entered, he saw a figure step forward and begin to demonstrate martial arts.

Fists, palms, fingers, claws, legs, blades, spears, swords, halberds, and staves—every move was exquisitely refined, every technique infinitely powerful. It was hard to imagine one person mastering so many disciplines. Even though Qin Shuang already knew of the Ten Successive Martial Ways, he could not help but sigh. This was what it meant to be a genius.

He emptied his mind, concentrating fully on the demonstration.

The blade techniques were the Unrivaled Blade: Cloud Severing the Blue Sky, Drawing the Blade to Sever Water, Sweeping Wind and Urgent Rain, Mountain City Urgent Rain, Unique and Unparalleled, and Wrath of the Vault of Heaven.

The spear techniques were the Heaven-Questioning Spear Manual: Angry Questioning of the Commoners, Proud Questioning of the Commoners, and Returning Horse Questioning Heaven.

The sword techniques were the Destiny Sword Dao: Sword River Snowy Surge, Carp Leaping over the Dragon Gate, Sealing the Sword and Hiding the Name, and Who Follows the King’s Will.

The halberd techniques were the Great Yi Halberd Score: Guiding through the Maze, Pointing Directly to the Universe, Cold Sorrow of the Yi River, and Ghosts and Gods Giving Way.

The staff techniques were the Roaring Tiger Staff Collection: Tigers Descending the Hill and Iron Lock Across the River.

The fist techniques were the Mountain and Sea Fist Sutra: Fist Overturning the World, Dragon Scale Breaking the Sun, Overturning Rivers and Seas, Rolling Dragons Overturning Seas, Dragon Shadows Flashing, Coiled Dragon Entwining the Moon, Coiled Dragon Flying, Striking the Yellow Dragon, and Dragon Striding Across a Thousand Mountains.

The palm techniques were the True Martial Divine Palm: Mysterious Gate Crushing the Void, Striking Directly at the Mountain Pass, Striking Directly at the Yellow Dragon, Heaven’s Vastness, and Controlling the Universe with the Palm.

The leg techniques were the Fierce Strength Leg Arts: Angry Treading of Mountains and Rivers, Angry Shattering of Mountains and Rivers, Stars Turning in the Galaxy, and Stars Shifting in the Galaxy.

The finger techniques were the Perfect Golden Finger: Piercing Stone and Splitting Gold, One Thought of Perfection, and Pointing at Stone to Turn it into Gold.

The claw techniques were the Oracle Dragon Claw: Evil Dragon Entwining Lock, Heavy Dragon Deep Lock, Golden Dragon Entwining Lock, Dragon Claw Locking the Sun, Thousand Whirlpools and Ten Thousand Claws, Cloud Dragon Deep Lock, and One Stroke Opening the Heaven.

Twenty weapon techniques and twenty-eight unarmed techniques, totaling forty-eight in all. As for the "Ten Directions Invincible" from the comic version and subsequent moves, Qin Shuang found no trace of them. Perhaps Wu Wudi had not yet created them when he left this legacy. Qin Shuang committed every move to memory, but he had no intention of completing the rest; that was Wu Wudi’s path, not his.

After the martial ways came the internal energy method, the True Martial Arts. Qin Shuang memorized its circulation path and energy channels at a glance. Opening his eyes, he saw Bu Jingyun and Nie Feng deep in meditation, unconsciously practicing the moves. It seemed they would be in seclusion here for some time.

After leaving a message for them, Qin Shuang headed toward the cold pool alone. The Fire Qilin kept its distance, neither too close nor too far. When Qin Shuang reached the pool, the beast stopped following and headed deeper into the cavern. All things require a balance of Yin and Yang; this cold pool was the most Yin and cold place, while the area the Qilin headed toward was the most Yang and hot. It seemed the beast understood his purpose and was returning to its lair to stabilize the imbalance, or perhaps to advance its own cultivation. After all, among the legendary beasts, the Fire Qilin appeared the weakest; it was likely still a juvenile.

Standing by the pool, Qin Shuang touched the water. It was bone-chillingly cold, a stark contrast to the air. An ordinary martial artist would risk sudden death upon contact. Through the thick walls, Qin Shuang locked eyes with the Fire Qilin in the distance. The dragon and the Qilin, having never met, shared a silent understanding. One leapt into the lava, the other into the cold pool.

As Qin Shuang submerged, the piercing chill brought him an unprecedented sense of comfort and ease. As he dived deeper, the cold intensified, yet the water never froze—a wonder of nature. He adjusted his posture, sat cross-legged, and silently circulated the Ice Jade Nine Heavens. Endless cold rushed from all sides into his meridians, feeding the circulation.

The Ice Jade energy spun faster and faster. The pool seemed to hold an infinite source of cold. As he reached the bottom, the icy aura peaked. The energy he had gathered grew increasingly vast. The eighth level of the Ice Jade energy, which had once felt like an bottomless black hole, finally felt as though it had touched a base, and he could clearly sense a gradual expansion.

Whether it was a moment or a day, Qin Shuang finally felt the eighth level reach its limit. The surrounding cold began to wane. He slowed his internal energy, refining it through eighty-one cycles until it reached perfection, then suddenly accelerated the circulation once more.

Cycle after cycle, the Ice Jade energy in his meridians grew until it reached his limit of control, and he launched his assault on the ninth level of the Ice Jade Nine Heavens.