"Back then, it must have started from this moment…"

"These scenes, though manifestations of the Refining Love Demon Cave and slightly different, remain so vivid…"

She quietly shook her head and said, "If, at that time, you had simply revealed my information, then what followed... there wouldn't have been so much that followed..."

"After a thousand years... your choice is still the same..."

A thousand years have passed, and I have not changed. You, it seems, have not changed either.

Looking at the man in the picture, deep in thought and comprehension, the figure in red murmured ethereally, "Who knows if you really haven't changed... and whether you can make it to the end..."

With a rare touch of emotion, she continued to watch.

「Several months later, in Leisure Cloud Valley.」

Wang Mu was in a mountain pavilion, practicing the Four Seasons Yin Yang Palm. Because it came from an unusual source and the Hand Technique was incredibly profound, he had not spoken of it to the other disciples of Leisure Cloud Valley, not even to his master. He practiced in secret.

This Hand Technique is truly a strange and wonderful skill! The Spring Time Palm is as gentle and enduring as spring drizzle. The Summer Palm is as fierce and domineering as raging fire. The Autumn Palm is as sharp and swift as the wind sweeping fallen leaves. And the Winter Palm is as icy and bitingly cold as a chill piercing one's soul. Plus, there are the variations of Yin Yang!

The more he practiced, the more Wang Mu felt the profound mystery of this Hand Technique. It even contained Cultivation Methods that aligned with the seasons and could transform his own Inner Strength. When executed, it seemed less like a mere Hand Technique and more like a unique form of Inner Strength. The technique itself was only the external manifestation.

After several months of Cultivation, he gradually achieved small success. Occasionally, he would think of Mu Hongxue.

One night, while he was diligently practicing, a cry for help suddenly came from outside the valley. By this time, most of his fellow disciples in the valley had already retired for the night. However, because he needed to cultivate the Yin Yang Palm at the nexus of Yang's beginning and the Moon's Yin, he could not skip his nightly training and had not yet rested.

Upon hearing the cry, Wang Mu immediately left the valley. He discovered several black-clothed men with strange auras chasing a woman. The woman, plainly featured and dressed like a common villager, was staggering toward him.

Seeing this, Wang Mu did not hesitate. He immediately intervened, engaging the black-clothed men in battle and easily repelling them with his Four Seasons Yin Yang Palm.

After a brief inquiry, he brought the woman back into the valley to report to his master.

Master Carefree said little, merely instructing him to take good care of the woman and asking about her circumstances.

The woman claimed to be Mu Xuehong, a villager from outside the valley. She said her village had been attacked for some unknown reason, and she had fled toward Leisure Cloud Valley seeking help.

Wang Mu diligently cared for her for several days, nursing her back to health. Afterward, Master Carefree accepted her as a disciple, and she became one of Leisure Cloud Valley's female disciples.

A month later, Wang Mu noticed that Xue Hong's eyes and facial contours bore some resemblance to Master Mu Hongxue, whom he had encountered before, though her other features were quite different.

One day, during the second month, Xue Hong asked curiously, "Senior Brother, that Hand Technique you used to save me—I haven't seen any other fellow disciples in the valley use it."

At the time, the situation was urgent, Wang Mu thought. Those black-clothed men were powerful. If I hadn't used that Hand Technique, I wouldn't have been able to save you.

"It's just some miscellaneous martial art I picked up," Wang Mu replied casually.

"Oh..." Xue Hong paused, then suddenly asked, "Senior Brother, I heard that our master's Carefree Divine Skill here in Leisure Cloud Valley is a world-class Secret Skill of Inner Strength. Have any of you learned it?"

"Such Secret Skills require extremely high Comprehension to learn; how could they be passed on lightly?" Wang Mu shook his head. "Master said our Power isn't sufficient yet. We're too young to learn the Carefree Divine Skill—it would be useless even if we did."

Xue Hong looked at Wang Mu for a few moments, then paused again, saying nothing more.

In the following months, Xue Hong demonstrated exceptional Martial Arts Talent. Perhaps it was because cultivating martial arts refined her, but she also grew more delicate and attractive, her charm blossoming into exquisite beauty. This led several of the senior disciples in the valley to frequently seek her out for martial arts sparring.

However, Xue Hong only sparred with Wang Mu, and the bond between them as fellow disciples deepened.

This continued until, one day, an angry shout erupted in the valley: "You Demon, adherent of the Demon Path! How dare you steal our sect's Secret Skill! You're courting death!"

That night, Wang Mu was awakened by the sounds of battle. Before he could react, a figure in bright red burst into his chamber. Upon closer inspection, he saw it was Master Mu Hongxue. However, blood was trickling from the corner of Mu Hongxue's mouth, and his face was pale; he was evidently grievously injured.

"Master Mu? What are you doing here?" Wang Mu was startled. Listening to the commotion in the valley, realization dawned, and he immediately exclaimed angrily, "You... How did you get into Leisure Cloud Valley to steal the Secret Skill? No, outsiders can't normally enter or leave Leisure Cloud Valley; there's a Mysterious Formation outside... You... you're Xue Hong?"

"Heh, it seems that after not seeing you for several months, you're still as astute as ever," Mu Hongxue said with a faint smile, coughing lightly. "Yes, I am Xue Hong. I disguised myself to sneak in and steal the Secret Skill from Leisure Cloud Valley."

"How could you do this?" Wang Mu's expression turned grim.

"Oh?" Mu Hongxue chuckled. "If you hadn't learned the Four Seasons Yin Yang Palm back then, you wouldn't have been able to defeat those black-clothed men. And if you hadn't learned it, you couldn't have saved me. Consequently, I would never have been able to enter the valley…"

Wang Mu was rendered speechless. "..."

"What is your scheme?" Wang Mu asked in a low voice. "Brother Mu, stealing another sect's Secret Skill is a major taboo in the Jianghu! What you're doing is not the act of someone from a Righteous Sect!"

"When did I ever claim to be a disciple of a Righteous Sect?" Mu Hongxue retorted.

"..." Wang Mu was again lost for words.

"As for their Secret Skill…" Mu Hongxue sneered. "The Immaculate Divine Skill is merely so-so. And as for why I wanted to steal it…"

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