White-Robed Chief

He had always thought that Green Deer Cliff would never have any renegades.

This was because Green Deer Cliff was just as stringent as Tempest Temple in selecting their disciples. Nonetheless, unlike Tempest Temple’s strict rules, Green Deer Cliff emphasized natural learning and freedom so they placed fewer restrictions on their disciples.

More importantly, all disciples of Green Deer Cliff joined the sect at a young age and had been under their instruction ever since. The sect had never accepted anyone older as their disciple.

Moreover, after learning the martial art study of Green Deer Cliff, a person’s inner state would naturally become peaceful and calm so their disciples would never be driven to the point of committing such an extreme act like becoming a renegade.

“A renegade of Green Deer Cliff. Could we have accidentally stirred up trouble?” Li Hanyan asked with a frown.

By now, Xue Ling had defeated her opponent and glided in. “A renegade of Green Deer Cliff? Young Master, this will become a very tricky situation, won’t it?”

Chu Li let out a laugh. “No harm done. He isn’t going to die yet.”

He stretched out a hand and patted the faction master of the Titanium Faction to send a surge of vitality into the man’s body. With this, this man who had previously been on the brink of death was restored to life.

“Are we going to let him live just because he’s a renegade of Green Deer Cliff?” Li Hanyan questioned indignantly, “Isn’t that too unfair?”

“When has anything been fair in this world?” Chu Li replied with a smile, “I’ll be sending him to Green Deer Cliff. Their rules are no less strict than that of Snow Lunar Pavilion. Will he die then?”

“He’ll certainly die.” Li Hanyan nodded.

“Then that’s that,” Chu Li concluded.

“I just wish to see him dead right now!” Li Hanyan huffed and glared at the faction master.

Chu Li chuckled while shaking his head. “It won’t make that much of a difference whether he dies now or later.”

“Young Master, more than ten of them have gotten away,” Xue Ling said.

Chu Li replied, “I’ve already helped you deal with them… Hanyan, go to that table. There should be a secret manual underneath it.”

Li Hanyan followed Chu Li’s gaze and saw the table he was referring to. Then, she walked over to it, flipped it upside down and found a small box stuck to the bottom of the table. She waved her sword to lift the small box and caught it with her left hand.

“A secret manual?” Li Hanyan asked with intrigue, “What kind of a secret manual?”

Chu Li replied, “The martial arts of Green Deer Cliff.”

“It must be very impressive then!” Li Hanyan immediately laughed. “Can we cultivate it?”

“If it were any other martial arts, I’d have to ask you to refrain from doing so since cultivating it would stir up trouble. However, there’s no harm in cultivating this,” Chu Li answered with a smile.

He opened the box and found a thin booklet with only seven pages. On the cover of the booklet, the three huge words “Spirit Crane Fist” were written elegantly and confidently.

Li Hanyan and Xue Ling came over to take a look at it.

“It’s a fist technique.” Li Hanyan instantly lost interest.

She could not bring herself to find any interest in fist and palm techniques because her favorite ones were sword and knife techniques.

On the other hand, Xue Ling became very curious. “I’ve never heard of this spirit Crane Fist. I only know that Green Deer Cliff’s Spirit Crane Technique is marvelous and is on an equal footing with the martial arts of Grandmasters. One can achieve the Enlightened Master’s Boundary by cultivating it.”

Chu Li flipped the manual open and began reading. It contained six fist stances which seemed extremely simple so he could easily tell that it was a fist technique for beginners that carried no power at all.

Xue Ling skimmed through it with him and tried imitating the stances herself before shaking her head, saying, “Young Master, is this really a secret manual?”

Chu Li smiled. “Complicated things are usually unbelievably simple. Perhaps this six-form fist manual contains a mystery. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have hidden it here.”

“But since he has hidden it in such a vulnerable and easily discoverable place, he mustn’t have placed much importance in this fist manual,” Li Hanyan replied.

Chu Li shook his head. “You two go on to Great Virtues Clan. I’ll go to Green Deer Cliff.”

“Young Master won’t be coming with us?” Xue Ling hurriedly asked.

Chu Li replied with a smile, “You two will be able to deal with them by yourselves.”

“… Alright then.” Xue Ling nodded in resignation.

Without Chu Li by their side, she felt a lack of reassurance.

Chu Li picked up the unconscious faction master of the Titanium Faction and vanished before the two women.

Li Hanyan said, “Sister Xue Ling, they’re previously snatched so many things away. Those items must be still hidden somewhere here. How about we look around for them?”

“What should we do with those things if we find them?”

“We’ll hand them over to our faction.”

“Hmm, alright then.”

The two of them started searching through the Titanium Faction excitedly.

…

Xiao Yueling looked at the faction master of the Titanium Faction at her feet and frowned. “Xue Ming?”

Chu Li asked, “Aunt Yueling knows him?”

“An outer cliff disciple of Green Deer Cliff,” Xiao Yueling replied with eyebrows knitted together. “Why is he so seriously injured?”

“I fought him,” Chu Li replied. “Aunt Yueling, do you know what he’s been up to these days?”

“I haven’t returned to Green Deer Cliff in a long time. I’ve been here all this while. What happened to him?” Xiao Yueling asked. “Xue Ming has a remarkable aptitude and is an intelligent boy. It’s been twenty years since I last saw him!”

“He’s now the faction master of the Titanium Faction. The Titanium Faction had been involved in all kinds of evil, including plundering and killing others. He and another Grandmaster have been taking the lead. There have been eight more innate master and sixty-two acquired masters working with them. Although the faction isn’t very well-established, they’ve been behaving in a very outrageous manner.”

“Has such a thing actually happened?”

“Can there be renegades in Green Deer Cliff?” Chu Li asked in confusion. “Aren’t your disciples supposed to have a peaceful temperament?”

“The human heart is a mystery, and is very hard to fathom,” Xiao Yueling replied while shaking her head. “Since they were completely isolated from the outside world while growing up in Green Deer Cliff, they’ve been able to maintain an innocent temperament but as they enter their twenties, these kids will start becoming more extreme and impulsive in their behavior. If they aren’t careful, they can cause disaster.”

Chu Li raised an eyebrow at this. “So martial arts can’t keep their innate tendencies under control.”

“Yes.” Xiao Yueling sighed. “There’ll always be disciples who yearn for the secular life that exists outside the mountain who’ll try to escape to the outside world.”

“That makes them renegades, right?”

“They won’t be considered renegades just yet.”

“How do you deal with them?”

Xiao Yueling replied, “Within ten years, they can still return to the mountain. As long as they don’t commit crimes, the sect will still take them in but they will have to become outer cliff disciples and slowly work their way, step by step into the inner cliff.”

They were both sitting in Xiao Yueling’s Taoist temple, each seated on a cattail hassock while holding a cup of tea. The aroma from the tea pervaded the quiet and peaceful hall.

“What if they’ve committed any crimes?” Chu Li questioned.

“Then they’ll be punished according to the sect’s rules which are much stricter than national law,” Xiao Yueling replied.

“Why hasn’t he been punished then?” Chu Li scoffed. “Do you know how many innocent lives have died at his hands?”

Xiao Yueling replied, “This must’ve been an oversight on the sect’s part.”

Chu Li shook his head and sighed. “Because of an oversight, so many innocent lives have been lost. Green Deer Cliff is truly impressive!”

Xiao Yueling slowly said, “No one wishes to make such a mistake but how can we, as humans, not make any mistakes? Naturally, the sect will look into this matter.”

“Well then, I shall leave this guy to you, Aunt Yueling,” Chu Li muttered with a sigh. “I found a fist manual at his place.”

While he was speaking, he took out the Spirit Crane Fist manual from his inner pocket.

Xiao Yueling glanced through it and frowned. “How bold of him. He had put the fist technique down on paper!”

Chu Li chuckled. “This was written by him?”

The three words on the cover page had been written in such a confident and elegant manner. The handwriting did not seem to belong to the Faction Master of the Titanium Faction at all.

“The martial arts of Green Deer Cliff are all passed down through enlightenment and would `never be recorded on paper,” Xiao Yueling stated. “Who else could it be if he wasn’t the one who wrote it?”

“This Spirit Crane Fist is the Spirit Crane Technique?” Chu Li asked.

Xiao Yueling shook her head.

Chu Li went on to say, “There are only six forms in this manual. It’s just so simple to the point where it seems unworthy to be related to the Spirit Cranes.”

“This is the basic technique in cultivating the Spirit Crane Technique,” Xiao Yueling replied. “It’s useless for you to learn it… Chu Li, I know you wish to learn the Spirit Crane Technique but that’s impossible. The Spirit Crane Technique can only be cultivated by our disciples at a young age. Once they’ve passed the age of eighteen, it’ll be near impossible for them to cultivate it.”