My Martial Dao Has No Bottlenecks

The joss paper burned to ash. Yang Wei held Yang An in silence, then finally turned and returned to True Inheritance Peak.

'From now on, I'll raise Yang An to adulthood and make sure he lives a long, peaceful life.'

'Yan'Er, Zhi'Er... mother and daughter, if you can hear me from heaven, you must watch over him.'

...

When they returned, Lady Ning came over with some rice porridge to feed Yang An. Seeing the Peace Lock, she was taken aback.

"Martial Arts Hall Master Yang, this lock..."

"I left it for his mother years ago. She never wore it, so I'm giving it to him. By the way, the boy will take my surname from now on. His name is Yang An."

"Yang An... Good. With you to guide him, this child won't go astray."

Lady Ning said no more, taking the child and carefully feeding him the rice porridge. The Peace Lock around his neck swayed gently with her movements, tapping softly against the side of the cradle.

Liang Cheng went out to Mingxin Pavilion to discuss matters with Lü Bingchen. It was after noon when he returned to True Inheritance Peak.

After Yang An had eaten his fill, Lady Ning held him and patted his back to burp him. The Peace Lock slid to one side, glinting in the sunlight.

Liang Cheng's gaze swept over the Peace Lock, and he stopped in his tracks.

"Mother, this lock..."

"Martial Arts Hall Master Yang put it on him. It was something Qiao Zhi left behind."

Liang Cheng didn't reply. He had seen Yang Wei put it on Yang An himself, and just now in the sunlight, he'd felt that something was off about the Peace Lock.

He reached out and took a corner of the Peace Lock. It felt slightly heavy in his hand. As his fingers traced the cloud patterns on its surface, his brows gradually furrowed.

'Something's not right.'

With this in mind, he asked:

"Where's Master?"

"He's resting in the next room."

Liang Cheng nodded, handed the child back to his mother, and went to the next room to wake Yang Wei.

"Master, there's something not right with the Peace Lock you gave Yang An."

"Not right?"

Yang Wei shot up, got dressed, and went with Liang Cheng to Yang An's side. Liang Cheng nodded at him, then removed the Peace Lock and walked over to a lamp.

Liang Cheng focused his gaze, examining it closely. At several turning points in the cloud pattern, he infused a wisp of True Qi into his fingertip and traced the lines.

CLICK.

With a soft sound, a hairline crack popped open on the edge of the lock's face.

Yang Wei was also surprised.

In all these years, he had never noticed anything unusual about it.

Liang Cheng's eyes sharpened. He glanced at Yang Wei, who nodded. Only then did he press his fingernail into the crack and slowly pry.

The Peace Lock split open down the middle, revealing a hollow compartment. Inside was a single, neatly folded, yellowed piece of cowhide paper.

He took out the cowhide paper and unfolded it. The writing was neat, and it began with a warning from an ancestor of the Qiao Family.

"Crossing the Sea True Intent Fragment—Use the body as a boat to cross the sea, Refining Essence and Transforming Qi."

"Duke Jinglan, an ancestor of the Qiao Family, reached the Perfection stage of the True Qi Realm. After cultivating this fragmented technique for three months, his Qi Blood reversed its flow, his Meridians ruptured, and his body exploded, killing him."

"For the next three generations, every True Qi Realm master of the Qiao Family who practiced it died from their body exploding. It was deemed a curse and sealed away. Future generations must be wary!"

Below this were annotations in small script, detailing how to use one's Essence Qi Blood during cultivation to refine and bolster Qi, the pathways of the technique, and the method for striking acupoints.

Liang Cheng quickly finished reading and handed the cowhide paper to Yang Wei. Yang Wei stared blankly, his gaze shifting from the technique's verses to the warning in small script, his hands beginning to tremble slightly.

"So the rumors were true," Yang Wei muttered. "The Qiao Family really did have a method to break through to the True Essence True Aura realm."

"Back then, Yan'Er said this was a cursed object and told me to take it away," Yang Wei muttered to himself. "It turns out she truly believed it was cursed."

Liang Cheng said in a low voice, "The Qiao Family's ancestor died from Qigong Deviation because of this technique, and the family has been in decline ever since. But for her to leave this for you... I'm afraid she was still holding onto some hope."

Hearing this, Yang Wei abruptly looked up.

Liang Cheng paused. "If you had never discovered it, then so be it. But if you did, this was meant as the Qiao Family's compensation to you."

Yang Wei stared at the cowhide paper, his fingers trembling. "She actually left this for me..."

"She trusted you, Master."

Liang Cheng's voice was low. "The Qiao Family declined because of this fragment. She had you take it away because she didn't want it to bring disaster upon Qiao Zhi. She knew that even if you discovered its secret, you would protect them."

"The only one she could trust was you, Master. She just never expected that even after entrusting it to you, the Qiao Family still couldn't find peace."

Yang Wei stared at the cowhide paper, his eyes fixed on the words "Qi Blood reversed its flow, Meridians ruptured, and died." He suddenly remembered the complicated look in Madam Qiao's eyes many years ago when she had pressed the lock into his hand.

There was determination, reluctance, and a profound sorrow.

"So she did still have me in her heart," Yang Wei's voice choked with emotion. "I used to resent her for being so heartless, and the Qiao Family for being so cruel... But it turns out the only one she felt she could trust was me..."

Yang Wei's shoulders trembled as his tears fell onto the cowhide paper.

Liang Cheng waited quietly to the side, not speaking another word.

After a long while, Yang Wei wiped his face. "You've probably memorized the entire Cultivation Technique already, so I won't make a copy for you."

Liang Cheng nodded. Yang Wei then carefully folded the cowhide paper, placed it back in the lock, and closed the secret compartment. The lock looked just as it had before.

"We'll just keep this safe."

Yang Wei took a deep breath. "Yang An is still young. We'll see what his future holds. If he doesn't succeed on the Martial Dao, it's best he never knows about this."

Liang Cheng nodded. "Don't worry, Master. This will remain between the two of us."

Yang Wei nodded gravely, clenching the Peace Lock tightly in his palm.

Outside the window, the sun was setting. As twilight descended, lights began to appear throughout the Martial Arts Academy.

...

「Night.」

Liang Cheng tossed and turned, unable to sleep.

The cultivation technique from the cowhide paper—the Crossing the Sea True Intent Fragment—kept surfacing in his mind.

'With my Mayfly Life Chart, any cultivation technique I practice has no bottlenecks. Success is guaranteed.'

'Should I give it a try?'

But then he thought of the Qiao Family ancestor's warning. 'It's a fragment, after all, and the Mayfly Life Chart doesn't have the ability to complete techniques.' He finally took a deep breath and suppressed the urge.

'As long as I advance steadily, step by step, why take such a risk?'

At this thought, his mind calmed. He sat cross-legged and began a Circulation, letting the Tidal Power of his Broken Wave Technique course through his body until he gradually forgot himself and the world around him.

...

The next two days were peaceful.

Before dawn on the third day, the sound of hurried footsteps suddenly came from outside the courtyard.

A Disciple from the Law Enforcement Hall came rushing over. "Senior Brother Liang, it's bad! We just got word from the City Lord's Mansion—Commander Yue Shan's injuries have suddenly worsened! He can't stop vomiting blood, and Master Lü and the others have already rushed over!"

Liang Cheng's pupils contracted.

"Let's go!"

Liang Cheng grabbed his Zhenxian Saber, nodded to Zhou Hu and Yang Wei, and shot out the door.