Unparalleled Duo
Chapter 76 - 76 51 Lin Yuancheng

76: Chapter 51 Lin Yuancheng 76: Chapter 51 Lin Yuancheng Snow fell.

Blood also fell.

The snow was cold.

The blood was even colder.

Amidst the stark white snow, a young boy stood.

In his hand, he held a sword.

In front of him, a person lay fallen.

Yet, on the blade of his sword, there was no blood.

The blood was in the sky, on the snow, on his opponent’s body, but just not on his sword.

That day, he learned that as long as your sword was fast enough and your swordsmanship skilled enough, it was possible to kill without staining your sword with blood.

Watching the man in front slowly cease breathing, the youth sighed softly.

That year, Lin Yuancheng was fourteen years old.

And the person lying in front of him was his master.

If there really existed a so-called one-in-a-million martial arts prodigy in this world, then Lin Yuancheng…

was undoubtedly such a person.

He began learning martial arts at seven and held a sword for the first time at eight, and after turning thirteen, he remained unbeaten.

At fourteen, he personally defeated and killed his own master because that year…

his prestigious master in the martial arts community, the “Seven Star Sword” Fan Zhengting, because of recognizing his talent, sought to harm him.

But Fan Zhengting calculated wrongly on one account—he thought that no matter how talented Lin Yuancheng was, as a swordsman who had long been famous in the martial community and also being Lin Yuancheng’s master, he couldn’t possibly lose to a child who had only five or six years of sword training.

He was wrong.

Grievously wrong.

Things that can be measured or calculated by common sense are not considered “talent.”

And people who are bounded or limited by common sense are not considered “geniuses.”

Fan Zhengting’s famed “Seven Star Swordsmanship,” Lin Yuancheng had actually mastered it within a year, and by his second year of learning the sword, he had already surpassed his master in understanding this technique.

In the following years, Lin Yuancheng didn’t learn anything new from Fan Zhengting; he was merely appeasing his master while pretending to learn something new to protect his master’s pride.

After all, Fan Zhengting was the one who picked him up and raised him to adulthood; even without considering the master-disciple relationship, there was still a debt of nurturing.

That’s what Lin Yuancheng thought…

But Fan Zhengting didn’t think so.

Fan Zhengting was always a hypocrite, outwardly full of righteousness and morality, fighting injustice everywhere; but behind the scenes, he accepted bribes, only then to pretend to “uphold justice” by killing and silencing others.

His hypocrisy far exceeded his swordsmanship, handling many matters flawlessly and cleanly behind the scenes, thus earning a falsely good reputation.

And Lin Yuancheng was just one of the many orphans Fan Zhengting had taken in.

Fan Zhengting seized every opportunity to take in one or two such children, and started training them in martial arts from a very young age; ostensibly, he and these children had a master-disciple relationship, but in reality…

these children were his tools.

The obedient ones were groomed as subordinates; the disobedient were quietly dealt with since these children were orphans in the first place without anyone to inquire after them.

Thus, when Fan Zhengting belatedly realized that among these children, there existed a martial arts genius who would inevitably surpass him in martial arts, his first reaction was to kill him.

Even though Lin Yuancheng hadn’t shown any signs of defiance at the time, Fan Zhengting, being the petty person he was, knew well—a person stronger than you will not forever be your puppet.

That snowy night, the snowfall wasn’t heavy, and the moon can still be seen in the sky.

Fan Zhengting called Lin Yuancheng to an open space in the wilderness, claiming he wanted to teach him the essence of his swordsmanship.

Yet, as the two stood ready, before Fan Zhengting’s sword was even drawn, Lin Yuancheng knew that the other was not there to teach him, but to kill him.

Lin Yuancheng didn’t understand people, but he understood swords.

People lie; swords don’t.

A murderous sword doesn’t need to be unsheathed to carry a murderous intent.

“Must it be this way?” Lin Yuancheng asked.

Fan Zhengting smiled, knowing he had been seen through, “What do you think?”

“Perhaps not,” Lin Yuancheng replied.

“Then do you think there’s another way?” Fan Zhengting asked.

“I’ll leave and never return,” Lin Yuancheng replied, “don’t cross my path again, and I won’t kill you, as my repayment of your kindness.”

Hearing this, Fan Zhengting was surprised and angry, “You brat, you’re really looking down on your master, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” Lin Yuancheng coldly stated, “I of course look down on you…

both you as a person and your martial arts.” He paused, “But I am different from you; I am still a person, thus I want to give you one more chance.”

“Save those ghostly words for after you become a ghost!” Fan Zhengting thought the other was provoking him, immediately shouted in anger, and drew his sword to attack.

The Seven Star Swordsmanship, originally a Daoist sword technique that emphasizes the flow through the seven vital points and the movements of the sword mimicking the Big Dipper, each move could generate seven variations, amounting to a total of forty-nine sword moves; and the swordsmanship itself comes with its own set of internal energy mantras, complementing the moves.

Objectively speaking, the Seven Star Swordsmanship should be considered a top-tier sword technique, orthodox in its mental method, comprehensive both internally and externally, with skillful moves and vast variations.

And Fan Zhengting, a nearly first-rate expert, although not innately talented, having practiced such a high-level sword technique for many years, shouldn’t have been weak.

His Sword Qi was solid and powerful, his sword moves quick and sharp.

But all of this, his decades of cultivation, in front of Lin Yuancheng, seemed so clumsy…

so pitiful…

Clang—

At that moment, the sound of metals clashing rang out.

The sword light, under the backdrop of snow and moonlight, flashed like a startled swan.

Black, white, and silver colors burgeoned in the cold night, culminating in a wildly vibrant crimson, ascending into an exquisitely beautiful tableau.

Hiss—

The sound of blood spraying from the wound, like wind blowing through wheat; when you closed your eyes, such a sound seemed like a woman’s hand gently brushing across your skin.

“You…” Fan Zhengting, supporting his body from collapsing with one hand holding the sword and the other covering the wound on his neck trying to slow the blood flow, stared with disbelief at Lin Yuancheng, “this sword technique…

who did you…”

Lin Yuancheng knew what he wanted to ask and thus interrupted directly, “The Seven Star Swordsmanship originally doesn’t need forty-nine swords, just the seven is enough.” He paused, “Those extra dozens of swords are specially reserved for those disciples without much talent, because most people ultimately can’t solve problems with just the original seven swords…

This is what I realized when I was ten.”

As he spoke these words, Fan Zhengting, due to excessive blood loss, knelt down on one knee, gradually unable to sustain himself.

But Lin Yuancheng hadn’t finished speaking yet, “As for the move you just faced, it’s my enlightenment from the real ‘Seven Star Sword’ and is the ‘Eighth Sword’ I developed—just by reversing the flow in the Kaiyang Sword Form, one could achieve such power…

Interesting, isn’t it?”

To him, it might be interesting.

To Fan Zhengting, these words only brought despair and regret.

Shortly after, Fan Zhengting fell.

Lin Yuancheng exhaled softly, sheathed his sword, and left.

Actually, that night when he killed Fan Zhengting, he hadn’t used his strongest swordsmanship; he just felt that using the Seven Star Swordsmanship to kill him seemed ceremonious, so he chose to do so.

The swordsmanship Lin Yuancheng was truly most proficient in, was a technique he developed himself from the ages of ten to thirteen, which he named “Lingqing Tan.”

This melodramatic name also aptly reflected the youth’s mindset of being lonely due to being unparalleled along…

…

After that night, Lin Yuancheng left for distant lands.

Fan Zhengting, cunning as he was, to facilitate the shadowy deeds of his disciples and also to facilitate silencing them, had always kept direct contacts only with his disciples, which meant that after his death all his disciples were like kites with broken strings.

Of course, all these were no longer Lin Yuancheng’s concern since no one in the martial arts community knew his background.

Several months later, Lin Yuancheng arrived at the Cangzhou Xingyi Sect and sought to learn under them.

He claimed he had been an orphan since childhood and had followed an unnamed old Daoist to learn martial arts for a few years.

Now that the old Daoist had died, he wanted to join the Xingyi Sect…

The members of the Xingyi Sect thought this was reasonable.

In this universe, in the world of martial arts, it was quite common to encounter youths who had practiced martial arts for several years and had some foundation in Inner Strength.

Besides, the members of the Xingyi Sect could recognize Lin Yuancheng’s Inner Strength as genuinely orthodox Daoist Internal Strength, hence they believed him and accepted him.

But someone like Lin Yuancheng, wherever he went, would inevitably stand out.

Over two years passed, and he had already mastered nearly all the martial arts of the Xingyi Sect…

Of course, this was one of the reasons he had joined the Xingyi Sect in the first place: It was well-known in the martial arts community that Cangzhou was a land of martial arts, and the Cangzhou Xingyi Sect was famed for having many (although not necessarily superior) secret martial arts manuals.

Later, Lin Yuancheng felt that staying with his fellow disciples every day wouldn’t bring much improvement, so he began to roam the martial arts world, seeking to improve through real combat; not long after, he earned the nickname “Cangzhou Little Hero.”

Prior to this, Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai had encountered a group led by “Kang Haijiao” in the Dragon King Cave, who had been dealt with by Lin Yuancheng.

However, Lin Yuancheng felt that this group was far too lowly to be his first kills in his official venture into the martial arts world…

They didn’t qualify, so he gave them a chance.

To this day, Lin Yuancheng’s name was also somewhat legendary in the martial arts community.

In this Youth Hero Conference, he was the “top seed,” at least in the eyes of most of the seated Sect Leaders, Lin Yuancheng’s strength was not at the same level as his peers.

For instance, the match for the top eight in the second round earlier, Lin Yuancheng took down Di Gui, nephew of the Cao Gang Gang Leader Di Bujuan, with a single move, a scene that left Feng Shunfeng and Feng Shunshui looking pale…

They were not only distressed that their brother’s nephew was defeated so quickly, but also faintly felt that they themselves likely to be defeated just as fast.

Thus, it goes without saying, Little Hero Lin’s strength was indeed formidable.

Chunkong facing him, to be honest…

had less than a twenty percent chance of winning; if it had been Lei Buji who advanced, and Lin Yuancheng had not used a sword but fought bare-handed, then it might still have been an even fifty-fifty chance, and that could have offered a very exciting matchup.

But assumptions, after all, are just assumptions.

Therefore, the first match of the semifinals didn’t bring any groundbreaking combat.

With a clear difference in their existing strengths, Chunkong facing Lin Yuancheng who was armed with a sword with his bare hands, was quickly defeated—after five moves, the sword was pointed at Chunkong’s neck.

Chunkong quite straightforwardly surrendered with an “Amitabha,” and Lin Yuancheng also courteously bowed to Chunkong before stepping down from the stage.

Since the match ended so quickly, Sun Yixie barely had any rest before cursing inwardly and returning to the platform.

His opponent, Miss Song, who had been waiting for a while, immediately leaped onto the platform, holding a knife and saluted with a fist, “Please!”