Unparalleled Duo
Chapter 68 - 68 45 Sleeping Techniques Part 1

68: Chapter 45 Sleeping Techniques (Part 1) 68: Chapter 45 Sleeping Techniques (Part 1) August 15th, 9 a.m to 11 a.m, Bogui Building, third floor—”Si Hui Inn”.

Even during daylight, the light inside was still very dim, and the air was always filled with an eerie scent.

That strange fragrance was not like spices, nor like cosmetics, and even less like the natural fragrance emitted by flowers and plants…

If one had to describe it, it was more like a natural odor from some animal, and it smelled sickening.

“Master, Mr.

Wu has arrived,” You Jing skillfully led Wu up to a bedroom door and reported through it with a voice neither high nor low.

After a short while, a man’s voice came from inside, “Let him in.”

Receiving the order, You Jing pushed the door open.

But he himself did not step forward at all.

Instead, he stood beside the door, turned his head to Wu behind him, and said, “Please.”

Wu steeled himself, swallowed, and then stepped through the door.

Ever since he became Shen Youran’s trusted aide, Wu came here several times every month, but even today, he still found entering this place hair-raising.

The room’s interior was even darker than the corridor outside.

Even a martial artist like Wu could only barely see the outlines of the objects in the room, with no details visible whatsoever.

Of course, this was precisely what the master of this place wanted—he didn’t want anyone to see his face clearly.

“Mr.

Wu pays his respects to the Lord,” Wu walked a few steps further inside, paused to bow, and didn’t advance any further.

Almost simultaneously with his words, the door behind him was shut by You Jing.

In the dark, one’s hearing became sharper, so Wu soon clearly heard You Jing’s footsteps as he walked away.

“Ah, Wu…” After You Jing had left, the master hidden in the shadows finally spoke slowly, “Youran, how have you been lately?”

Wu stood in place, replied respectfully, “Reporting to the Lord, thanks to your blessing, the Young Master is doing well.”

“Uh-huh,” Lord hummed thoughtfully and then asked, “He sent you.

Is there something he wants to tell me?”

“Yes,” Wu replied, “The Young Master sent me to report to you, the plan is going very smoothly; yesterday, between 7 a.m.

to 9 a.m., he had already placed the sprout of the ‘Extreme Joy Gu’ in the tea, causing everyone to drink it, and until today at 9 a.m.

to 11 a.m., twelve hours have passed, and no one has noticed anything amiss…

So the Young Master asked me to come here while everyone is focused on the martial arts competition, to report to the Lord.”

Lord chuckled softly upon hearing this.

After a brief silence, he finally replied, “No, not ‘everyone’.”

This sentence made Wu shudder, his scalp tingling, “Lord!

I…”

“I know you’ve triple-checked that you weren’t followed.” The Lord knew what Wu was about to say and replied before he could speak, “I don’t blame you and I’m not suspecting you, don’t be afraid.”

He had only said half of it when the footsteps of You Jing outside resumed.

Tap, tap, tap…

The footsteps were neither fast nor slow, approaching from afar.

Thump, thump…

thump, thump…

But if one listened carefully, one would realize that there were other sounds besides the footsteps—a very faint sound of liquid dripping onto the floor.

At this moment, Wu felt a chill down his spine; time seemed to pass very slowly, as if You Jing’s dozen steps to the door had taken an hour.

“Master,” You Jing arrived at the door, stopped his steps, and said, “Would you like to take a look?”

Thump, thump…

thump, thump…

The footsteps of You Jing had stopped, but the dripping sound had not.

“Let’s take a look,” replied the Lord.

As soon as he spoke, You Jing reopened the door.

Wu also turned his head slightly to glance at the doorway with the corner of his eye.

In the dim light, You Jing stood backlit at the entrance, his hand holding a still-dripping human head.

That is to say, in the span of Wu and the Lord’s brief exchange, You Jing had killed someone, severed their head, and the entire process made less noise than his own footsteps.

“One-on-one, the person used the inner strength of the Five Spirits Sect,” You Jing, while presenting the head to the Lord inside the room, said, “Average power, seems to be a character not worthy of note.”

“Uh-huh…

good,” the Lord responded absently, staring at the head in the darkness for a moment, then turned to Wu again, “Ah, Wu, if there’s nothing else, you can go back.

Also, send my regards to Youran, tell him he’s doing very well…

Tomorrow at 7 p.m to 9 p.m., everything shall proceed as planned.”

“Yes.” By the time Wu replied, cold sweat had already dripped from his forehead to the tip of his nose.

Although the other party had said he could leave, Wu was still half scared until he really walked out of this place.

“Oh, right.” Just as Wu was about to turn around and leave, the Lord suddenly added a sentence in a chilling tone, “Regarding the Five Spirits Sect tracking you…” He paused slightly, as if to scare Wu further, then continued, “…you don’t need to worry about it.

After all, You Jing has already taken care of it for you.

If you’re willing to tell Youran, do so, if not, then don’t.”

“No no no…” The few seconds of pause had nearly frightened Wu out of his wits, but after the Lord finished speaking, Wu quickly replied in panic, “That was my negligence; how can I dare to hide it from the Young Master?”

“Heh…” the Lord chuckled because he got the response he wanted, “All right.” He then slightly raised his voice and said to You Jing at the door, “You Jing, see the guest out first…

and remember to clean up the floor afterward.”

…

Let’s return to the subject of the Justice Sect.

Close to noon, the third round of the martial trials was finally about to end.

Due to the larger number of participants in the earlier rounds, naturally, they took longer, and it was good enough to finish three rounds in a morning; with fewer competitors in the later rounds, proceedings naturally accelerated.

“Next, the last fight of the third round, Guo Cong from Qingyuan Zhongyi Sect versus Sun Yixie from Hangzhou.”

As the sun reached directly overhead, the moderator announced the final round of the morning’s fight.

Sun Yixie’s name was second from the bottom on the right side of the advancement table, so if he kept advancing, he would always be the last to fight in each round.

And his opponent this round, Guo Cong, obtained a reasonable score in the literary test, so he had a bye in the first two rounds, making this his first appearance.

Guo Cong was not like Li Yuan at all.

Li Yuan was more like a stepping stone in both literary and martial aspects in this Youth Hero Conference, but Guo Cong…

to use a modern phrase, was a “seed player”.

Without going into details, just compare the faction Guo Cong belonged to with Li Yuan’s.

The repeatedly mentioned “four sects and three gangs” in this text specifically referred to Cangzhou Xingyi Sect, Luoyang Justice Sect, Qingyuan Zhongyi Sect, Huaian Heroic Gate, Salt Gang, Cao Gang, and Tea Gang.

These seven factions were the backbone of today’s Martial Arts community, and sects like Iron Fist Sect seemed like convenience stores compared to commercial plazas, hardly comparable in scale.

And Guo Cong was the representative of the younger generation from Qingyuan Zhongyi Sect this time.

He had been learning martial arts since the age of five, achieving something by fifteen, and this year, at eighteen, he had learned most of the advanced techniques of Zhongyi Sect.

Many disciples in their thirties and forties could not compete with him; it could be said that he was at his prime, brimming with youthful arrogance and vigor.

Coming to Luoyang to participate in the Youth Hero Conference, it was without doubt that Guo Cong intended to take the title.

Before today, other than Lin Yuancheng from Cangzhou Xingyi Sect, he didn’t take any other competitor seriously.

Of course, after watching this morning’s martial fights, another name, Lei Buji, became a thorn in his side, irremovable once stuck.

Just the thought of possibly facing Lei Buji in later trials made Guo Cong’s legs shake.

But that was another matter.

Right now, he was facing Sun Yixie, whose performance thus far…

obviously did not catch Guo Cong’s eye.

“Ha!”

In the blink of an eye, before the host could finish, Guo Cong let out a light shout, then with a burst of energy, his figure swiftly moved.

His qinggong carried him onto the stage with the speed of lightning, and upon landing, he rooted himself like a plant, with a stance as stable as Taishan Mountain.

Just this one move was enough to show that his martial arts were far superior to those of Li Yuan, whom Sun Yixie had previously faced.

Even many among the martial arts predecessors in the audience couldn’t help but praise, “Excellent skill!”

On the other side…

“Brother Sun, this Guo guy has some skills.

You’re probably in for a tough fight,” Huang Donglai, who knew his stuff, immediately whispered to Sun Yixie upon seeing Guo Cong’s skills.

“Shut your mouth!” Sun Yixie retorted with a slanted grin, “I’m about to step up and fight him, and here you are boosting his morale by cutting down mine.

Are you even human?”

“Damn, unless you have a chance to beat me, you won’t be able to boost your own morale,” Huang Donglai, too, had a dirty mouth, cursing without restraint, “This guy is so strong even I might not be able to beat him, you’re probably going to get knocked out in seconds.”

“Get lost!” Sun Yixie stood up as he spoke, grabbed his trident, took a step forward, and let out a loud shout like he did last round, “Ah—”

But this time he didn’t pole-vault; he just feinted with his weapon, then casually stepped down from his recliner and high platform and walked toward the stage, all the while apologizing to those gathered around the platform, “Excuse me, excuse me, thank you, brother, let me through, sorry for stepping on your foot, sir…”

He made his way through the crowd like this, slowly squeezing past, arriving beside the platform, then going around to the side where the judges sat and climbed the steps, and finally jumped over a gap about a meter wide, landing on the stage.

Originally, Guo Cong had taken center stage with great pride, but Sun Yixie’s antics had disrupted his mood and rhythm.

“Please…” Guo Cong was annoyed, but didn’t even know what he was angry about, nearly twitching as he bowed to Sun Yixie.

“Please!” And after Sun Yixie got on stage, he also set down the trident near the edge closest to him, then went back to the center to return the salute.

After the niceties were over, it was naturally time to fight.

Having previously witnessed Sun Yixie’s unique stance and attacking method, Guo Cong did not act rashly like Li Yuan.

As soon as the fight began, Guo Cong stabilized his footing and adopted a defensive counter-grappling stance, waiting for Sun Yixie to attack.

His reasoning was that Sun Yixie’s powers were certainly weaker than his, and even with some bizarre techniques, it wasn’t enough to bridge the gap in power.

So, as long as he maintained a defending attitude, letting himself be hit a few times, and then seizing the opportunity to grapple Sun Yixie and turn it into a close-combat struggle, Sun Yixie wouldn’t be able to pull off any tricks.

Meanwhile, Sun Yixie, seeing Guo Cong’s stance, immediately understood the opponent’s intention, and thought to himself, “You want to play grappling skills with me, huh…

Heh…

today I’ll teach you how ‘death’ is written (the word is the same in both traditional and simplified, so…)!”