Chapter 22 “Jade Flower Hand”

Meanwhile still inside the martial shrine, Ling Yue was completely unaware of the arrangements made by the family head and the others.

It’s been four to five hundred years since the martial shrine was first established. As soon as she entered this place, her sight was quickly dazzled by the furnishings across the board. And to the side of the door was an incense stick made out of Vitality Condensing Grass placed inside a gold plated cauldron, making the residents feel refreshed upon entry.

Inside the boundaries of Da Xia, normal medical and scholarly books are usually printed on paper, but martial techniques on the other hand will only be carved onto stone tablets for preservation.

As such, there are many stone tablets placed along the shelves inside the martial shrine, small and large, they are constructed from a variety of different materials. And unlike the adults, the children of the Ye clan cannot directly take out the stone tablets here and can only make a copy when needed.

Giving a quick run down, Ling Yue found the kungfu techniques on the first floor to be of very poor quality, making them insignificant to her eyes.

Not hesitating, she made her way upwards to the second floor. There aren’t a lot of stone tablets here, probably around twenty ninth grade techniques by a rough estimate. Even so, these twenty tablets were accumulated through the hard work and efforts of many generations of the Ye family.

Giving a scan across the shelves, Ling Yue quickly found the Lightning Burst Fist tablet among the many here. What’s more, after making a round through the floor, she also located some other techniques like the Blazing Fire Whip, Bone Crushing Claw, and Sky Clearing Footstep and so and so on.

Despite the variety, these martial techniques didn’t interest Ling Yue in the least.

“Squeak.” While Ling Yue remains hesitant over her indecision, Little Squeak had by then snuck up to one of the shelves. Using his tiny little paws, Little Squeak rummages through the bunch and pushes a thumb sized tablet down to her.

Hurrying to catch the tablet before it lands on the floor, Ling Yue then grabs for the little trouble maker before second uncle finds out.

“Jade Flower Hand.” With only a glance at the martial tablet in her hand, Ling Yue’s mouth curled into a smile.

(The name of the technique should be flower pinching jade crushing hand, but that’s just poor naming scheme at its finest and I ain’t going down the same path as Law of the devil again)

Every generation of the Ye family are martialists, how come there’s something as artsy as this here?

Because of that reason, Ling Yu’s attention was deeply attracted to it. Surprising her, the technique inscribed on this stone was in fact an eighth grade!

According to the stone tablet, it’s said that if the Jade Flower Hand was to be mastered, the strength it produces would far exceed that of the average eighth grade technique out there.

There may be only a one word difference between an eighth grade technique and a ninth grade technique, but in reality it was huge. If both martialists were to engage in combat using the same cultivation level, it’s a certainty that the one with the eighth grade martial technique would come out on top.

Her mother had mentioned this before. The “Heaven Sundering Strike” move used by Ye Gu during the competition that day was in fact an eighth grade technique.

So why?

The second floor should only contain ninth grade martial techniques while the eighth grades are reserved solely for the third floor. This thing shouldn’t be here.

“That is the Jade Flower Hand. It may be an eighth grade martial technique, but other than our family founder, none have managed to learn this move through the years. In the hands of ordinary people, this technique can’t even compare to a regular ninth grade martial move, hence the reason why it’s placed here.” Because Ling Yue was inside the martial shrine for so long, Ye Huang Shu had come inside to check up on her.

Back when this Jade Flower Hand technique was first placed inside the second floor of the martial shrine, many of the Ye family’s descendants have flocked to learn it.

But as time passes, one month, two month, almost every attempt at learning it became moot. Eventually this martial technique was deemed incomplete and was not the same as the one used by the family founder.

The Ye family’s founder, also a legendary figure, was said to have come to Autumn Maple Town alone without baggage. Through hard work and his own capability, the founder forged the foundation of the Ye clan in this region and was rumored to have dealings with the royal court of Da Xia.

Pity, after the death of the founder, the glory of the Ye Household began to wane over the years and can now only be regarded as a force of power inside this small little town. As for this Jade Flower Hand, it was said to be the iconic move used by the founder and was considered to be invincible.

Ye Huang Shu had also been attracted by this technique during his youth, but after half a year of fruitless result, he can only resentfully give up.

“Ling Yue, I see your punches are not bad, but your footwork needs work. Why don’t you choose one of the footstep tablets over there.” Ye Huang Shu kindly advices her.

“Second uncle, thank you for your kindness. However, I still want to learn this Jade Flower Hand technique.” Making her decision, Ling Yue copies the content down and left the martial shrine.

“This child’s talent is not bad, pity she’s somewhat self-centered and won’t listen to her elders. With that temperament, she’s bound to suffer a bit in the future.” Seeing his niece won’t listen, Ye Huang Shu would of course be a little displeased and can only shake his head in disappointment as he returned the tablet onto the shelf.

After leaving the martial shrine, Ling Yue wasn’t in a hurry to return home. Instead, she pulled out her copy of the martial manual and began going through it.

“So strange… The founder also knows about the spirit force?” Ling Yue mutters to herself.

Through her exceptional intelligence, Ling Yue only needed one glance to notice the oddity in the last phrase recorded on the stone tablet from earlier. To her surprise, the phrase held a lot of similarities to the spirit force cultivation methods written inside Mr. Red Mist’s codex.

Not everyone in this world can utilize the spirit force, which was the main reason why so many of the Ye family’s descendant couldn’t learn this Jade Flower Hand technique. To bring out its full potential, this move requires the user to use both the Yuan energy of a martialist plus the spirit force to make it work.

“Flower” means to subdue the enemy with the spirit force while the “Jade” part refers to the user attacking the enemy’s vital key points with their Yuan energy. One part subdues and the other part attacks, leaving no room for retaliation.

As she read through the content of her copied manual, Ling Yue unconsciously began to gesture her hands in coherent to her reading. Unknowingly, she had begun practicing the technique on a nearby tree close to her.

Like a butterfly, Ling Yue’s hand began gesturing up and down around the tree. Through the Yuan energy packed into her fingertips and the spirit force wrapped around the trunk, a powerful synergy was taking place between the two.

With a whisking motion, Ling Yue’s hand lightly and skillfully swiped across the tree trunk.

As if an enormous amount of Yuan energy had transferred over to the tree from her fingers, the roots of the tree began to uplift itself out of the soil despite her not using any strength at all. Then without indication, the entire tree became affixed to her hand.

Squeezing a little, the next thing she knew was the waist sized tree trunk crushing under her immense hand force and cracking in two like an axe had clobbered through it.

Oh my goodness, so amazing!

Ling Yue was left speechless by her own doing. As expected of an eighth grade martial technique, there’s no doubt this will be an amazing move to learn. What’s more, when this Jade Flower Hand technique shoots out, there’s no commotion made by the Yuan energy used, making it good to catch the enemy off guard.

From behind, Ling Yue overheard a series of quick steps coming her way. Not wanting to find out who’s coming, she hurries to hide herself.

“God dammit! Who’s the little bunny that chopped the family head’s newly planted Boxwood tree!” From the courtyard, only the voice of a servant yelling at the sky could be heard.

The boxwood on the ground has already been torn asunder. Not wanting to be punished, Ling Yue stuck out her tongue in guilt and fled the scene.

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