"Damn it! Are you serious? Not again. Don't you know a Saint cannot be defeated by the same move twice?" Ye Xiu felt a surge of triumph because Hong'er's leap had bought him exactly the time he needed. He shot out a kick and sent her tumbling down.

"Waaah!" Hong'er shrieked, crashing heavily to the ground, nearly splitting her backside in two. She scrambled up, raising her sword, intent on charging Ye Xiu once more.

"Haha, still daring to challenge me, eh!" Having bested two disciples of the Ghost Valley consecutively, Ye Xiu was understandably carried away by his glee and burst into loud laughter. "It seems your Ghost Valley is nothing special after all. Send up the next one!"

"Hmph! You are asking for death." Hong'er pulled herself up from the dust and immediately drew her stance, preparing to lunge at Ye Xiu. It was a pity that before she could even fully raise her sword, Wang Long stopped her.

"Hong'er, stand down. You are no match for Young Hero Ye yet." Wang Long seemed rather pleased, showing no signs of defeat. He approached Ye Xiu with a smile. "Alright, let the sparring end here for today. Martial arts discussion should be like this; victory isn't always won by sheer technique. Many times, the formless triumphs over the formed."

"Indeed, Brother Ye's martial techniques are truly bizarre. I am also quite impressed," Chen Feng, mindful of currying favor, chimed in to echo Wang Long's flattery. Still, he couldn't help feeling a little unconvinced, as his own strength lay primarily in the sword, and Ye Xiu had simply been lucky this time.

Ye Xiu, understanding the importance of proper etiquette, knew he should be humble on someone else's ground: "Not at all, Senior Brother Chen possesses superior strength, and his advantage is undeniably in the sword. If we were to fence, I would surely lose immediately. Next time, I must humbly seek your guidance."

"Mmm, Ye Xiu indeed has the bearing of a great general." Wang Long flicked his sleeve, signaling Chen Feng to lead the junior brothers through their sword practice, while he himself ushered Ye Xiu to a bench beside the training ground. He then asked, "The moves you used just now—I have never seen them before. I must ask for enlightenment. How did you achieve such rapid footwork and movement?"

"Footwork? What footwork did I use?" Ye Xiu recalled his coach in Sanda explaining concepts like shuffling steps and hopping steps. He felt that so-called footwork drills were merely about keeping the body ready at all times, nothing mysterious about them. "Learned it back home. Just practiced running and jumping a lot in my spare time."

"Oh?" Wang Long frowned, his curiosity piqued, and pressed on. "The boxing style from your hometown is truly peculiar, and the postures are quite strange. Young Feng just suffered for it."

"That? It's called Muay Thai. It's a technique where both the kicks and punches are unified." Ye Xiu grew animated when mentioning Muay Thai because he genuinely liked that stance. "I watched a lot of movies back then and learned it from there."

"Tai Quan?" Wang Long looked utterly blank. The moment the words left his mouth, several people nearby were visibly startled. "Tai Quan? Does that mean 'Too Fast Fist'?"

"It's the boxing style of Thailand, a very, very small country next to my homeland," Ye Xiu struggled for an explanation, opting for a simple diversion.

"Then this master called 'Dian Ying'—what great figure is he?" Wang Long was the type to drill down until he reached the root of the matter. "To create such a comprehensive move encompassing both offense and defense—he must be an extraordinary person. I must meet him sometime if the chance arises."

"Uh, ah, that’s not a master." Ye Xiu began to look troubled; this question was utterly impossible to explain. "Dian Ying isn't a person. Ah, forget it! Just consider it self-taught; Master Teacher doesn't need to worry about it, okay!"

"Haha, Oka! What does that phrase mean now!" Wang Long burst out laughing. Since meeting this Ye Xiu, Wang Long's life seemed to have been filled with much more joy. "What does Young Hero Ye think of the martial arts practiced here in my Ghost Valley?"

Truthfully, after the bout, what astonished Ye Xiu most was how much higher the practitioners of the valley could jump than ordinary people. He had always been curious about the art of lightness skill (Qinggong), and now was the perfect chance to clear his doubts: "Elder Wang, I noticed how they can leap so high with just a small jump—is there truly such a thing as Qinggong?"

"Qinggong, hehe." Wang Long turned to look at the disciples practicing their swordsmanship. "To be frank, since childhood, our valley disciples practice martial arts while carrying burdens weighing a hundred catties for their daily training. When they take those weights off, jumping higher than normal people is quite natural; there is no need to be surprised."

"Oh, so that's how it is! So, in ancient times, there really wasn't the legendary Qinggong after all." Ye Xiu finally understood. The logic was the same as tying lead weights to one's legs; if you do it for decades and then suddenly remove them, you will naturally be able to run faster than others. He hadn't expected such a rudimentary method to have been popular for hundreds of years.

Wang Long pointed his finger towards Chen Feng and asked Ye Xiu, "What do you think of Feng'er's swordsmanship? He is a master of our Ghost Valley's Sword Style."

Ye Xiu didn't previously know how to appreciate someone else's sword dance and couldn't understand it. He only noticed that Chen Feng's sword was shorter than the other disciples', making his movements appear swift: "Senior Brother, this treasured sword looks more like a dagger. It's far too short compared to a longsword."

"Feng'er's sword is named 'Gui Qi' (Ghost Cry). Paired with our Ghost Valley's 'Gui Shan' (Ghost Flash) Sword Style, it flows like water, utterly seamless. It can truly be called the king of speed," Wang Long said with a hint of pride, seemingly confident that the Ghost Valley was about to produce another genius who could aid in quelling the chaotic times, perhaps even helping to establish a new dynasty.

"'Gui Qi,' 'Gui Shan' Sword Style." Ye Xiu found the sword's name strange enough, but he dared not compliment the sword style's name. Good heavens, isn't Gui Qi a badass video game? How could it be a sword? This can't be some kind of cheap trick, can it? "From what I know, the inheritors of the Ghost Valley are all astute strategists, but there haven't been many whose martial prowess was particularly renowned. Are these all just rumors in the Jianghu?"

Wang Long shook his head slightly, hands clasped behind his back. "The profound attainments of the Ghost Valley are divided into four categories: Qimen, Xinshu, Hunpo, and Swordsmanship. Qimen refers to the art of the Eight Trigrams, focused on formations; Xinshu is the art of discerning human nature, focused on attacking the mind; Hunpo has become a forbidden art, known to none; and Swordsmanship is the art of the stab, focusing on a single, fatal strike. Mastering even one of these four categories is enough to mark someone as a talent unmatched in this era."

"What exactly is Hunpo? If no one has learned it, doesn't that mean it's lost? Isn't that too much of a waste?" Ye Xiu was clearly an ambitious man, and his focus and curiosity immediately latched onto this forbidden art.

"Naturally, it is not lost. However, methods like foreseeing the future or the timing of life and death are beyond the grasp of ordinary people. But it certainly exists; how long it has existed, we cannot know," Wang Long expressed a touch of regret that the most miraculous aspect of his sect had reached a state where no one understood it.

"Since the sword is for stabbing, does that mean there is only the thrusting move?" Ye Xiu recalled his exchange with Hong'er earlier, where she seemed to rely only on a single move—a fierce charge straight toward a vital point. Doubts naturally arose. "I noticed Hong'er only had that one move!"