Chapter 56: Just How Skilled Are the Masters?

Lately, Lu Chenyue’s tutoring has been strict to the point of being ruthless.

In Iron Forest Fortress, her stern rebukes could frequently be heard:

"Your breathing is disrupted, do it over."

"Your dantian is not settled, do it over."

"Your mind is restless and impatient, do it over."

If, at the very beginning, Lin Chuan had been full of enthusiastic aspirations to become a martial arts master, after all these days of training, his initial resolve had started to waver somewhat...

Mainly because he had yet to experience that legendary sensation of mastery.

"What do you take internal energy to be?"

One day after morning practice, Lu Chenyue finally offered an explanation.

"Those half-baked practitioners in the pugilistic world spend ten years and achieve nothing more than a superficial grasp. A true master must temper their flesh and blood all over again."

Seeing Lin Chuan’s half-comprehending expression, she couldn't help but shake her head.

"Do you want to know just how formidable a true master can be?"

"I do," Lin Chuan nodded.

Lu Chenyue sighed and walked over to the leather sandbag in the corner of the training field.

"Watch closely..."

Before her voice had even faded, Lu Chenyue’s posture shifted abruptly.

Lin Chuan only felt a blur before his eyes as three muffled, thunder-like explosions rang out in rapid succession.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

By the time he focused his gaze, Lu Chenyue had already withdrawn her stance, the hem of her skirt tracing half an elegant arc in the air.

As for the leather bag stuffed with sand and earth behind her, it was now leaking fine sand with a rustling sound.

Three ferocious rips gaped across its surface.

"Commander! What's wrong?"

Hu Dayong hurried over with a squad of combat soldiers.

Seeing that it was Lu Chenyue standing before Lin Chuan, they all came to an abrupt, synchronized halt.

Exchanging glances, they tacitly turned around and walked away, their footsteps even more hurried than when they had arrived.

Lin Chuan stared blankly at the sandbag.

He had personally overseen the making of this leather bag. It was crafted from thick cowhide, capable of withstanding even ordinary swords and sabers without the slightest scratch.

"Had I harbored the intent to kill that day, you certainly wouldn't have survived," Lu Chenyue said, shaking her wrists with a softened gaze. "It was just that so many people were protecting you with their lives... which made me hesitate."

As she spoke, a sudden warmth rose to her cheeks.

In the hay shed that day, Lin Chuan's desperate look and burning aura had inexplicably made her heart flutter.

Yet seeing Lin Chuan’s current dumbfounded expression... still gave her a small sense of satisfaction.

*Hmph, scared now, aren't you!* she muttered inwardly. *Let's see if you dare go around groping blindly again in the future...*

Lin Chuan didn't notice her expression. Gazing at the shredded leather sandbag, he finally believed... that martial arts masters truly existed in this world.

This confirmed realization inexplicably filled him with excitement, and the look he cast toward Lu Chenyue carried a new warmth and fervor, which startled her all over again.

After another half day of practicing the breathing techniques, Lin Chuan collapsed onto a stone pier by the edge of the training ground, sweat pouring down like rain.

When he paused to rest, Lin Chuan suddenly remembered something.

"By the way, I have a question..."

"Hm?" Lu Chenyue raised an eyebrow.

"How do you take on assassination jobs?" Lin Chuan wiped the sweat from his face and asked, "Do you belong to some sort of assassin organization? How does it operate?"

"Smack!"

Lu Chenyue's scabbard tapped against his shoulder. "Focus on your breathing circulation."

"I'm just curious..." Lin Chuan rubbed his shoulder, his tongue refusing to rest. "For instance, is it like... I get placed on Old Dog Zhang’s bounty board, and whoever accepts the bounty gets paid by him?"

"...Ah?"

Lu Chenyue's expression suddenly turned peculiar.

"Ah, I guess not then," Lin Chuan said thoughtfully. "Then how does it work? How did Old Dog Zhang find you?"

"Who do you want to kill?" Lu Chenyue narrowed her eyes.

"I don't want to kill anyone!" Lin Chuan quickly waved his hands. "I'm purely curious, seeing as so much silver was spent."

Hearing the word "silver," Lu Chenyue suddenly felt rather awkward.

A few days ago, when she heard that Squire Zhang had been sending silver out of the territory and was killed by the border troops, she had been dazed for a while.

When she finally snapped out of it, the very first thought that popped into her mind was: *Does that five hundred taels of silver not need to be returned?*

Coupled with the extra five hundred taels Lin Chuan had voluntarily given her, she now held a thousand taels in silver notes in her possession. It felt genuinely embarrassing to accept...

Every night, she would pull those thousand taels of silver notes out from under her undergarments, examine them several times by the light of the oil lamp, and then carefully tuck them back in.

The thin paper pressed against her skin felt almost as if she were embracing a fortune of silver as she slept.

A thousand taels of silver...

The elders and villagers back in the mountain stronghold could finally survive.

"Uhm... Have you... ever heard of Black Wind Fortress?" She hesitated for a long time before deciding to speak the truth.

"Black Wind Fortress? I've heard of it," Lin Chuan nodded. "Over around the Xiliang Mountains, quite famous."

The Xiliang Mountains were more than two hundred li away and had originally been a vital border stronghold. Three years ago, when the Wolf Rong cavalry drove southward, the garrison commander had fled at the mere sight of them, leaving the common people to either flee south or hide deep in the mountains. Among the dozen or so large and small bandit strongholds, Black Wind Fortress was by far the most renowned.

"So you're from Black Wind Fortress?" Lin Chuan was momentarily stunned.

"Mhm..." Lu Chenyue nodded.

"I heard the chieftain, the 'Black Whirlwind,' is utterly merciless and specializes in robbing the rich to give to the poor?" Lin Chuan grew interested. "Are you close with him?"

"Hm? ...I suppose you could say that." Lu Chenyue's expression grew somewhat strange.

"When will you introduce me so I can get to know him?"

"You want to meet the chieftain? Why?"

"I heard he robs the rich to aid the poor and specifically slaughters the high and mighty Tartar aristocrats—a righteous bandit... It never hurts to know a few such heroes and men of valor..."

"..."

"Well... except his nickname sounds a bit rustic..."

"...Rustic?"

"Mhm... Very rustic! Don't you go telling him I said that..."

"...Oh."

"...The Black Whirlwind, heh. Is he dark-skinned and heavily built? Does he wield a pair of axes?" Lin Chuan continued on his own train of thought. "When he kills people... does he bare his chest, expose his chest hair, and roar: 'Your Grandpa is here—!'"

Lu Chenyue lowered her gaze to the tips of her boots and suddenly let out a soft snort of laughter.

"What are you laughing at?" Lin Chuan looked at her.

Lu Chenyue blushed and blinked. "You can meet the Black Whirlwind, but there's a condition..."

"...Do I need to pay extra?"

"..."

"Hehe, I'm just joking... How much?"

"No money needed... You just need to teach me one thing."

"What thing?"

"It's just..." Lu Chenyue pointed toward the busy people in the distance, "You have so many people here under your command, how do you manage them so well?"

"Hm? Why would you want to learn that?"

"...I just want to learn."

"Are you... some sort of leader in Black Wind Fortress?"

"...Mhm."

"What do you manage?"

"...I manage everything."

"You manage everything? Then what does the Black Whirlwind do?"

"...I am the Black Whirlwind."

"You... ah?"

Lu Chenyue burst into laughter. She loved seeing the baffled look on his face.

She hadn't felt this happy in a very long time...

That bitter winter when the Wolf Rong cavalry broke through Xiliang City. Lu Chenyue remembered when the Tartars entered the village, her master had blocked them alone with a single sword.

She had led the surviving villagers deep into the mountains, hiding here and there until they finally found a hidden valley. They built shacks and called it home.

During the hardest times, even tree bark was gnawed clean. The children were too weak from hunger to even cry, staring at her only with dark, unblinking eyes.

In the dead of night, she had sneaked into the Wolf Rong military camp to steal provisions, killing a squad of Tartars to snatch back half a bag of unpolished rice.

Later, the moniker of the "Black Whirlwind" spread because she always plundered the Tartars on moonless, windy nights while dressed entirely in black.

And later still, people sought her out by reputation, offering heavy sums of silver for the Black Whirlwind to accomplish tasks. In order to keep the villagers alive, she accepted...

It had been as simple a process as that.

...

A few more days passed by just like that.

The day to finally marry Yunniang had arrived.