0058 Lingbo's Poisonous Steps

"This is..."

Jiang Mingzhe's expression was one of astonishment.

In truth, he had already guessed that apart from the Lesser Li Bu (Steps of Lesser Li), the scroll drawn by Duan Yu could contain nothing else.

Duan Yu turned his head and laughed, "Elder brother, besides the Northern Ocean Divine Art, there is also a set of footwork in this scroll called the Lesser Li Bu. Cao Zijian wrote in his *Goddess of the Luo River*: 'She moves like the startled swan, graceful as the floating dragon, stepping lightly as the ripples of the water.' Clearly, this martial art is most suitable for women to practice. Hehe, for two grown men like us to practice it, kicking up dust and raising the sour smell of sweaty feet, it is inevitably as tragic as feeding peonies to a cow."

Jiang Mingzhe chuckled evilly, shaking his head as he said, "Junior brother, that's where you don't understand. Do you really believe that men's feet are stinky and women's are fragrant? Your unworthy elder brother once heard a very learned person say that, in truth, if a woman's feet were to wear the same shoes and walk the same roads as a man's, when taken off to be sniffed, they would smell six times stinker than a man's! If you don't believe it, you can easily find a woman to test it out."

Duan Yu was currently at that age when a young man "knows the allure of beauty and yearns for the fairer sex," inevitably holding far too many romanticized fantasies about the opposite sex. If you were to tell him that a fairy maiden excreted pink excrement, he would undoubtedly believe it with all his heart.

Therefore, Jiang Mingzhe's proposal of the "Sixfold Foot Odor Theory" was undoubtedly a devastating, head-on blow to this pure-hearted youth.

In reality, the sixfold theory had long since been scientifically falsified. Jiang Mingzhe was merely pulling Duan Yu's leg, having noticed in him a tendency akin to Jia Baoyu's notion that "women are made of water and men of mud," and his mischievous streak had suddenly flared up.

Yet he spoke with such lifelike conviction, providing both a source and exact figures, and even encouraging him to test it himself, leaving Duan Yu with no choice but to believe it.

Duan Yu's beautiful illusion shattered into pieces across his face, and he wailed, "No, no, even if ordinary women have stinky feet, the fairy sister's feet must certainly be fragrant."

Jiang Mingzhe burst into hearty laughter, throwing an arm around Duan Yu's shoulders. "As for the affairs of you newlyweds, this elder brother won't pry too much. Tell me instead how this Lesser Li Bu is to be practiced."

Hearing the four words "Lesser Li Bu," Duan Yu's mind instantly conjured up the image of a pair of tiny feet exuding a green, stinky miasma, and he could not help but retch dryly.

He hurried over to the lakeshore and splashed his face vigorously several times before returning with a bitter expression. "If my brother wishes to learn this set of footwork, you must first memorize the directions of the Book of Changes. Look, this is Guimei, its hexagram formed by Zhen above and Dui below; this is Wuwang, its hexagram formed by Qian above and Zhen below..."

He had studied the Book of Changes with profound depth. Speaking of a subject he loved, he finally managed to temporarily forget the tiny, green-vapored stinking feet. Speaking aloud as he wrote with a tree branch, he marked out the positions of all sixty-four hexagrams and explained the meaning of each.

"Wuwang represents Heaven above and Thunder below. The virtue of Heaven is utmost sincerity, and when Thunder stirs, it sounds. This serves as a warning to those who act recklessly; they must follow the rules and regulations. As the *Xugua Zhuan* states: 'There being no recklessness [Wuwang], there can be accumulation; hence follows the hexagram of Great Accumulation [Dachu].' Therefore, this step must be trodden towards the position of Dachu. Dachu means..."

Jiang Mingzhe listened intently, nodding continuously.

Without Duan Yu, had he tried to learn this footwork on his own, he probably would have had to mechanically follow the diagrams, strictly forcing himself to figure it out step by step according to the painted lines.

Now, with Duan Yu's explanations, not only did he learn how each step was taken and how it changed, but even the reasons *why* it was taken that way and *why* those transformations occurred were expounded clearly, all grounded in the Book of Changes.

Although Jiang Mingzhe could not comprehend every single detail, he vaguely grasped the underlying principles of transformation. With this extra layer of intuitive understanding, memorizing the footwork became vastly easier.

The transformations of this footwork were so intricate and complex that even Duan Yu could not commit them all to memory; after describing a few steps, he would have to flip back to check the scroll.

Fortunately, this section of the scroll contained no depiction of the fairy sister's form, only countless footprints and interlocking green lines. Duan Yu had no fear of Jiang Mingzhe seeing them, so he pulled him along to study them together and then replicate them on the ground.

Unnoticed, the moon rose to the zenith, casting the shadows of their moving figures onto the small stone wall, which in turn projected them onto the large stone wall—a truly magnificent spectacle.

Jiang Mingzhe smiled. "If the men of the Divine Nong Sect were to witness this, they would surely consider their decision to attack the Wuliang Sword Sect an exceptionally wise one."

After practicing for a long time, the moon sank westward, dipping behind the peak. Catching a flash of iridescent color on the small stone wall, Duan Yu hurriedly called out for Jiang Mingzhe to look. "Elder brother, look! Is that not precisely a precious sword?"

Jiang Mingzhe quickly looked over. Truly, the shadow of a sword was reflected on the small stone wall—the hilt, the guard, the blade, and the tip were all clearly visible, with rainbow-like halos flowing around them, an indescribably gorgeous sight.

Jiang Mingzhe turned his gaze toward the western peak. Sure enough, there was a cave on the cliff face, and the moonlight shone in through an opening on the far side, faintly casting colorful radiances from within the cave.

After about the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, the sword shadow gradually faded and vanished as the moon moved. Only then did Jiang Mingzhe let out a long breath, branding the location of the cave firmly into his memory.

That entire night, Jiang Mingzhe did not close his eyes. Recalling the principles of the Book of Changes that Duan Yu had expounded, he practiced the footwork over and over again with tireless diligence.

At first, Duan Yu was able to keep him company, but being a pampered young master of wealth and privilege who had already suffered a series of shocks and frights over the past two days, he was utterly exhausted. Before long, he leaned against a tree and went off to search for the fairy sister in his dreams.

As dawn approached, Jiang Mingzhe finally memorized all the footwork of the Lesser Li Bu.

He reviewed all the steps meticulously in his mind, took a deep breath with a sense of anticipation, and stepped forward. He felt his internal energy suddenly begin to circulate on its own, his figure flashing with a swish to a distance of over seven feet away, followed immediately by another flash that shifted him a yard and a half to the side...

For a time, his figure shifted rapidly and mysteriously, starting from the "Mingyi" position, passing through "Bi," "Ji Ji," and so on, until halting at "Wuwang," having precisely completed a grand circle and trodden all sixty-four hexagrams.

"Oh!"

Sensing the unusually vibrant and robust internal energy within his body, Jiang Mingzhe was pleasantly surprised.

The moment he had taken those steps just now, he had felt his internal energy follow the movement, racing swiftly along the meridians in his legs and issuing forth from the Yongquan acupoint. As he moved faster and faster, the vital breath within his body continuously swelled and grew.

Only then did Jiang Mingzhe realize that the brilliance of the Lesser Li Bu lay not merely in its uncanny footwork and blinding speed, but also in the fact that it was a rare form of active internal cultivation!

While walking, one was simultaneously circulating and tempering their inner force. Once unleashed, the internal energy would roll and surge endlessly, allowing one to sustain the movement for scores or even hundreds of miles without flagging.

He could not help but think: This Lesser Li Bu truly lives up to its reputation as a supreme peerless martial art. In future battles, even if he couldn't defeat an enemy, he would certainly be able to outrun them, vastly increasing his margin of survival. Furthermore, embarrassing blunders like losing track of Azhu would never happen again.

The more he thought about it, the more excited he became, and he could not resist running through the circle once more. This time, he deliberately focused on sensing the flow of internal breath within his body. It seemed to be progressing even faster than during ordinary meditation. If not for the fact that it continuously leaked out from the Yongquan acupoint during acceleration, wouldn't this entirely replace seated meditation and cultivation?

As he thought of the inner breath spilling out from the Yongquan points, Jiang Mingzhe suddenly struck upon another idea. After pondering it briefly, it seemed feasible, and he immediately began his third circuit.

This time, as his internal energy circulated, he deliberately forced out the toxic power dormant within his acupoints. Just as he had imagined, a faint bluish-black mist surged up beneath his feet!

As he moved faster and faster, the color grew deeper and deeper, until at last he seemed to be riding upon the clouds and mists, with even his lower legs enveloped in the vapor. In his wake, he left a bluish-black trail that gradually rose and billowed outward.

Looking at the massive expanding ring of toxic miasma, Jiang Mingzhe could not help feeling a jolt of alarm himself. He thought to himself that combining the Starry River Sect's poison arts with the Lesser Li Bu could actually produce such a transformation—could this be considered creating an entirely brand-new martial art?

The Lesser Li Poison Steps?

League of Legends' Singed?

Doesn't that make this martial art a peerless divine skill for clearing out cannon fodder minions!

As Jiang Mingzhe's mind continually envisioned various combat scenarios, he suddenly heard a miserable cry: "Ah, elder brother, I—I can't breathe!"

Oh no!

Jiang Mingzhe's face drained of color in panic: I forgot about my younger brother Duan Yu!