Comprehending Myriad Techniques as Woodcutter

Chapter 173: Chapter 147: We Will Meet Again

That night, Xie Yuan lay on his floor pallet in the outer room, his eyes wide open, unable to fall asleep.

As he thought about the secrets and stories he had heard during the day, an indescribable feeling welled up within him, and he could only sigh softly.

’Beautiful women suffer cruel fates... That sounds a bit ominous. But these two young women... one’s family background is more prestigious than the other, yet her life story is even more tragic...’

Xie Yuan shook his head, a sense of pity stirring in his heart.

Situ Qin’s background was incredibly profound, her status so complex that there was likely no one else like her in all of Great Li. The pressure she carried was immense. Her father had been unjustly killed and her mother had gone mad. And while she still had a relative in her uncle, the Emperor—a powerful backer—he was the very man who had personally ordered her father’s execution...

Beyond that, the eight great families were covetously eyeing the King of Pingxi’s bloodline. Anyone else would have likely buckled under such pressure long ago, either becoming unruly and unpredictable or simply giving up in despair.

But in his time with Situ Qin, Xie Yuan had only found her to be cheerful and charming, generous and righteous, even a little playful. There was no hint of her tragic past, save for the occasional flashes of resentment and disdain she showed toward members of the great families.

’So strong...’ Xie Yuan was touched, and he let out a long breath.

As for the other, Mu Chaoyun, her life before the tragedy had likely been one of nothing but peace and comfort, free from worry.

A cultivation genius from a great family, she spent her days tending to flowers and plants, reading, and practicing her skills, living a peaceful and contented life with her family deep within the secluded Beidu Mountain.

Then, inexplicably, her world was turned upside down overnight. Her entire family was killed, and she alone escaped with her life, not even knowing how it all came to be. All she could do was flee in terror.

’After shaking off her pursuers, she risked returning to her clan to recover the bodies of her family, only to run into the very merchant caravan that had always delivered their supplies... now looting the dead. If that were me, I’d have flown into a bloody rage.’

Xie Yuan shook his head, recalling Mu Chaoyun’s story of how she had once again ended up being pursued by a Grandmaster.

Her pursuers had been quiet for a long time, so she gambled that they were no longer on her trail. She couldn’t bear the thought of her family, wiped out, their bodies left exposed on the desolate mountain. She took an immense risk to go back and retrieve them for burial—it wasn’t a rational decision, but it was an understandable one.

In the end, she didn’t run into the peerlessly powerful enemy she had been fleeing. Instead, she found the merchant caravan that had always delivered supplies to the mountain. They had taken advantage of the broken defensive formation to enter the Mu family’s ancestral lands and were plundering everything in sight, not even sparing the belongings of the dead.

Mu Chaoyun saw many of her kin stripped naked, denied even a shred of dignity in death. Enraged, she attacked.

However, the caravan belonged to the Golden Dragon Trading Company, a major firm on the Yanzhou border. They were a powerful force, and this time they even had a Grandmaster leading them. Moreover, they had discovered the secret of the Black Celestial Book from clues left behind in the ancestral land.

Though she fought with furious purpose and managed to severely wound the trading company’s Grandmaster, her own recent breakthrough had been a desperate, unstable one achieved during the initial calamity. The battle aggravated her injuries, and she was forced to flee for her life once more.

The Golden Dragon Trading Company operated between the Central Plains, the borderlands, and the Western Regions, and likely had connections with Lu the Third. Mu Chaoyun speculated that their Grandmaster had contacted this notorious bandit leader, an expert tracker, to hunt her down. After a long and circuitous chase, they had finally caught up to her today.

For now, the pair wanted to keep the Black Celestial Book for themselves, so they hadn’t spread the news. But as time passed, word of the Mu family’s destruction would inevitably get out. When it did, she would have far more than just those two on her tail. And the mysterious, powerful enemy who had appeared and vanished so abruptly remained a dark shadow hanging over her.

Mu Chaoyun didn’t know who this enemy was. Though their attack came right before the caravan’s arrival, her intuition told her they weren’t connected to the trading company. If the Golden Dragon Trading Company possessed that kind of power, it would have long been one of the top firms in all of Great Li.

Still, it was a lead. Mu Chaoyun had said that after she left, she would head to Yanzhou and begin her investigation with the Golden Dragon Trading Company.

Xie Yuan sighed to himself again. He now fully understood why Mu Chaoyun was sometimes so cold and extreme in her words and actions.

From her bearing, he could tell her natural disposition was a tranquil one. To have endured such a catastrophe without becoming a completely different person was a testament to her mental fortitude. ’And I, who never experienced her suffering, even tried to lecture her on how to act. We even argued about it... Sigh, that was out of line.’

He stole a glance at the folding screen. Through it, he could faintly make out a slender silhouette sitting cross-legged in the inner room, and a gentle feeling bloomed in his heart.

’I’ll go find her something tasty to eat again tomorrow.’

Over the next few days, Mu Chaoyun supervised Xie Yuan’s training with even greater attentiveness.

Perhaps it was because they had shared their personal histories. After listening to Mu Chaoyun’s story, Xie Yuan—whether out of politeness or something more—had taken the opportunity to tell her everything: about how he and his elder brother had depended on each other to survive, and about his feud with the Zhang Brothers and Yu Chunsheng.

Mu Chaoyun, for her part, listened quietly. She showed no impatience with these village feuds, which must have seemed trivial and insignificant to a Grandmaster from a great clan like herself. In fact, she listened with particular care.

Neither of them had ever spoken of these things in such detail to anyone else. While Xie Yuan had told Situ Qin much of his story, he had only glossed over the deepest enmities, not wanting to spoil the mood amidst the zither music in the Situ Mansion’s exquisite waterside pavilion.

They now had a much deeper understanding of one another, and for a time, it felt as if they were true family, sharing a home.

In her training, Mu Chaoyun was no longer just supervising him from morning till night. She often became hands-on, either correcting his posture or giving him a painful lesson to make sure he remembered. It made Xie Yuan wince, but it also taught him just how exacting the eye and standards of a Grandmaster truly were.

But with a female teacher and male student, their training often involved close physical contact. This proximity frequently stirred strange feelings in Xie Yuan. Seeing Mu Chaoyun’s earnest and placid expression, however, he didn’t dare profane the peaceful atmosphere. He struggled to rein in his wandering thoughts and focus on his training.

[Chopping Wood: (8848/10000)]

[Golden Bell Shield - 3rd Layer: (756/2000)]

[Body-Nourishing Art - 4th Layer: (1096/4000)]

[Eight Trigrams Mountain-Shaking Fist - Mastery: (119/2000)]

[Moon-Cutting Axe - Mastery: (1/2000)]

[Celestial Concealment Skill - Initiate: (301/1000)]

[Black Celestial Book: (87/100)]

[Rushing Wolf Saber Skill - Perfected]

"Hah!"

Xie Yuan brought his axe down in a chop that seemed powerful enough to split a mountain. A sharp wave of energy shot out across the yard and slammed into the wall, carving a deep gash into it.

He stood the axe upright, thumped its butt heavily on the ground, and let out a long breath, looking around with a self-satisfied air.

’The Moon-Cutting Axe has reached a new realm!’

’That wave of axe energy might not be that powerful, but it’s a rudimentary ranged attack! I’ve never been able to do that before!’

"Your posture is precise, and your power delivery is refined. To be able to generate such force with a single chop shows that your axe technique has advanced to the next stage. Your training these past few days has borne some fruit."

Mu Chaoyun, who had been standing quietly nearby, remarked coolly.

"It’s all thanks to Master’s excellent guidance!"

Xie Yuan chuckled.

For the past few days, Xie Yuan had been playfully calling Mu Chaoyun "Master," but she would correct him earnestly every single time.

"I am not your master."

She shook her head, her gaze drifting to the gash on the wall. A peculiar light flickered in her eyes.

"Projecting energy from a blade’s edge—and eventually, blade-lights and sword-auras—is a characteristic of the Qi and Blood Metamorphosis Realm. The fact that you’re already grasping the basics means your talent... is actually quite good."

Mu Chaoyun had been especially strict lately, so hearing her praise him delighted Xie Yuan. He grinned and said:

"It’s all thanks to ’Master’!"

Mu Chaoyun’s brow furrowed slightly. With a mix of annoyance and embarrassment, she said:

"Don’t call me Master!"

She didn’t press the issue, however. After watching Xie Yuan practice for a while longer to solidify his breakthrough, she suddenly spoke.

"I’m leaving tomorrow."

Xie Yuan’s axe froze in mid-swing.

"I see."

Xie Yuan sighed, put his axe away, and said with a faint smile,

"All good things must come to an end..."

"We’ll meet again."

Mu Chaoyun cut in directly.

"Huh?"

Xie Yuan was taken aback.

Mu Chaoyun said coolly,

"You ate the Celestial Cyan Fruit I planted. This matter isn’t over... We will meet again."

Xie Yuan nodded silently, then asked tentatively,

"Why not stay a couple more days?"

Mu Chaoyun paused, her brow furrowing.

"Staying two more days would be pointless. I have to leave eventually. A grown man shouldn’t be so sentimental."

Hearing his beautiful teacher’s words—part lesson, part scolding—Xie Yuan felt a bit awkward.

"I feel like I’m on the verge of a breakthrough with the Black Celestial Book..."

Hearing this, Mu Chaoyun fell silent for a moment before saying icily,

"If you’d said that before, I would have been certain you had an ulterior motive.

"The Black Celestial Book is incredibly profound. No one has ever dared to claim they could definitely comprehend it. Even if you have a flash of insight and think a breakthrough is imminent, you could very well spend the rest of your life feeling that exact same way. Countless people in my clan’s history have already proven this."

She looked at Xie Yuan’s disappointed expression. Her eyes flickered, and she said coolly,

"It’s a waste of time... At most, I’ll stay one more day."

Xie Yuan had thought it was a lost cause. The moment he heard her agree, his spirits lifted, and he immediately held out his hand to ask for the Eight Trigrams Lotus.

Mu Chaoyun casually tossed the Eight Trigrams Lotus to him. She watched him run straight into the house to begin his contemplation, paying her no further mind, and she froze for a second, taken aback.

Xie Yuan remained motionless until evening fell.

Her stomach empty, Mu Chaoyun watched the figure inside the room, her gaze unreadable.

’So... he really only wanted to comprehend the Black Celestial Book?’

Mu Chaoyun pressed her lips together, her expression hardening.

「Early the next morning.」

Mu Chaoyun put on her black cloak, something she hadn’t worn in a long time. She packed the dress Xie Yuan had bought for her into her travel bag and took back the Black Celestial Book.

"Until we meet again."

Mu Chaoyun bit out those four words stiffly, then left the small courtyard without a backward glance, walking further and further away as the members of the Escort Agency pretended not to see her.

Xie Yuan, sporting dark circles under his eyes, said with a dawning realization,

"Why did she seem so unhappy? She didn’t even give me a chance to ask her to stay."

[Black Celestial Book: (96/100)]

He looked at his progress and sighed. He had been so close.

That rate of progress in just one day and night was already unprecedentedly fast; his brain felt fried from the effort. Unfortunately, Mu Chaoyun had been dead set on leaving—even more determined than yesterday—and he had no way of explaining his progress to her.

He was just about to get some proper rest and recover the mental energy he had expended on the Black Celestial Book when his gaze happened to drift to the flowerbed outside the window, and he paused in surprise.

The little garden looked much more beautiful than it had before her arrival. He had never cared much for it, simply letting the odd-jobbers tend to it however they pleased, and he hadn’t paid it any close attention over the past few days.

Only now that Mu Chaoyun was gone did he notice that the flowerbed was now immaculate. The branches were neatly trimmed and the flowers were bright and beautiful, all blooming in a dazzling, pleasant display. It was no longer a useless decoration.

A smile touched Xie Yuan’s lips. He turned and, for the first time in a long while, finally lay back down on his own bed. It was as if a trace of her warmth and a faint, sweet scent still lingered there.

’Even if I didn’t achieve a breakthrough with the Black Celestial Book, getting her to stay one more day was worth it.’

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