Volume One, Chapter 42: Shadow’s Shock

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In the Fan family courtyard, Fan Xiu leaned heavily on his knees, gasping for breath.

Everyone else could only stare at him helplessly.

Fan Shoucheng frowned. “Xiu’er, are you trying to torture yourself? Why on earth did you decide to learn martial arts?”

Fan Yuan nodded. “Exactly. Just concentrate on your studies, Fan Xiu.”

His Second Uncle, Fan Shouyan, said earnestly, “You simply aren’t suited for martial arts.”

With her arms folded, Shadow said, “Fan Xiu, now you know how exhausting it is, don’t you? What do you think? If you’re scared, you can say so. I promise I won’t laugh at you!”

Xiao Ruoqing, seated by the main-room doorway, also looked at Fan Xiu helplessly.

What had gotten into this fellow? Why had he suddenly decided to learn martial arts from Shadow?

“Who says I can’t?”

Fan Xiu refused to yield. “I’m going to learn martial arts! Liu Yue, you won’t be able to defeat me!”

“I advise you to give up,” Shadow said. “Martial arts must be practiced from childhood. You’re already too old. It’s too late for you to start now. Even if you force yourself to learn, your strength won’t improve very much. At best, you’ll be somewhat stronger than an ordinary person.”

Fan Xiu frowned. “You’re lying to me, aren’t you?”

“I’m not! Adults have poor reaction speed, awareness, and adaptability. It’s even more impossible for them to develop internal energy!” Shadow replied.

“Impossible?” Fan Xiu said flatly. “There’s no such thing as something that can’t be learned—only methods that haven’t been found. As long as the method is right, nothing is impossible!”

In his previous life, how many special-forces soldiers had begun training from childhood?

Hadn’t most of them developed their skills only after joining the military?

Wait!

Fan Xiu’s eyes suddenly lit up.

“Liu Yue,” he said, “do you know any simple, straightforward techniques?”

“There are no fixed techniques in martial arts. In battle, one must adapt to circumstances. All I have are killing techniques.”

Shadow gave a cold laugh. When she spoke of killing techniques, her expression turned icy.

The others felt nothing in particular, taking it merely as Shadow’s exaggeration.

But when Li Chuntao heard those words, she suddenly recalled how decisively and viciously Shadow had struck when facing the three men. Her face went pale.

The killing techniques Shadow spoke of were genuine killing techniques.

“Excellent!” Fan Xiu said excitedly. “That’s exactly what I want! Come on, teach me one move first. I’ll give it a try!”

“Very well. Watch carefully. I’ll demonstrate it only once.”

Shadow picked up a branch from the ground and walked to the center of the courtyard.

The branch in her hand suddenly traced a strange arc before stopping in midair.

Li Chuntao instinctively took a step backward.

Shadow had used that very move in Zhiyuan County to kill one of the men outright!

“How was that?” Shadow asked Fan Xiu. “Did you understand?”

“I did.”

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Fan Xiu took the branch from her and tried to demonstrate the move himself, then raised his eyebrows at Shadow.

“How was that?” he asked with a cheeky grin.

After watching him, Shadow gave a disdainful snort. “What you just did—how is it any different from a juggling act?”

Fan Yuan scratched the back of his head. “I don’t see any difference either.”

Fan Xiu’s face darkened.

What the hell?

A juggling act?

Shadow continued, “Whether a martial technique is effective depends mainly on how force is generated. What you just did was completely meaningless!”

“Just you wait!”

Fan Xiu suddenly dropped to the ground and began doing push-ups. After three, he could no longer continue.

He immediately switched to sit-ups.

When he could no longer manage those either, he got up and began running laps around the courtyard.

Shadow frowned. “Fan Xiu, what are you doing? Have you become addicted to performing tricks?”

As he ran, Fan Xiu panted heavily. “Heart-rate control! I need to raise my heart rate first!”

“What does that mean?” Shadow asked, frowning.

Everyone present, especially Xiao Ruoqing, stared at Fan Xiu in confusion.

Even Xiao Ruoqing, despite being an empress, had no idea what Fan Xiu meant by heart-rate control.

Still running, Fan Xiu replied, “Once your heart rate rises, the amount of blood supplied throughout your body increases. That improves muscle reflexes and the brain’s reaction speed.”

Back at university, his instructor had told him that heart-rate control was the foundation of all exercise.

Once one mastered it, many forms of physical activity could be performed with twice the results for half the effort.

Extreme sports, in particular, required raising the heart rate beforehand.

With that, Fan Xiu stopped and wiped the sweat from his face.

“That should be enough. I’m probably at one hundred and seventy now.”

He then picked up the branch from the ground and looked toward Shadow. His eyes instantly sharpened.

“Watch closely!”

The branch in Fan Xiu’s hand suddenly swept through the air at astonishing speed, tracing a strange arc before stopping directly in front of Shadow.

“This…”

Shadow’s eyes widened, disbelief filling them.

Fan Xiu’s move was nowhere near her level, yet it already possessed a fifth of the essence of the technique she had demonstrated.

If he had been holding a blade, very few people would have been able to block that strike.

Caught off guard—

a single move would have been enough to kill!

And Fan Xiu had never practiced martial arts before.

Was this the heart-rate control he had just mentioned?

Could it truly have such a terrifying effect?

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“How was that?” Fan Xiu asked, lifting his chin proudly. “Little Sister Liu Yue, was my move acceptable? Wasn’t it impressive?”

“Barely acceptable,” Shadow said with a nod.

A look of surprise appeared on Xiao Ruoqing’s face.

She knew exactly how formidable Shadow was.

Shadow had not become the commander of the entire Blood Feather Guard merely because of her relationship with Xiao Ruoqing. She had fought her way up from within the Blood Feather Guard itself.

Ordinary people did not even qualify to enter her field of vision.

Yet Fan Xiu, who had never practiced martial arts before, had relied solely on the heart-rate control he had just described and actually received Shadow’s verdict of “barely acceptable.”

How many secrets did Fan Xiu still possess that she knew nothing about?

“Of course! Do you even know who I am?”

Fan Xiu gave a smug chuckle and lowered his arm.

But the moment he moved it, his expression suddenly changed. The corner of his mouth twitched, and he did not dare move another inch.

“Hmm? What’s wrong?” Shadow asked.

Fan Xiu sucked in a sharp breath. “I think I… I twisted my waist. I can’t move.”

Shadow: “…”

Everyone: “…”

“Fan Xiu!”

Fan Yuan cried out and hurried over to support him.

“Don’t move!” Fan Xiu said quickly. “Don’t touch me. It hurts—ow, ow, ow…”

Xiao Ruoqing covered her forehead, her face filled with helplessness.

Only moments ago, she had thought Fan Xiu was impressive.

In the blink of an eye, however, his true nature had been exposed.

He had managed to twist his waist while swinging a little branch!

It seemed his frail body was worse than she had imagined.

Meanwhile, at the county office—

County Magistrate Liu Zhengjun stared at the three corpses Li Siyuan had delivered and felt a terrible headache coming on.

He had not even finished investigating the case involving Scarface Zhang.

Now there were three more victims.

Who had killed them?

Could some habitual murderer have come to Zhiyuan County?

If another person died, his career as county magistrate would be over!

“Have you identified these three men yet?” Liu Zhengjun asked.

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