Chapter 50: Rice Noodles

"Little Wang! Go back home and bring the cook who knows how to make rice noodles! We're having rice noodles for dinner!"

As soon as Wang Yuyan arrived at Canhe Villa, she heard Shi Fei telling her to go back and summon the estate's cook.

She said, "Cousin, you want to eat rice noodles? I literally just came from home!"

Shi Fei looked at her and said, "It won't take you much time to make a round trip. Hurry up and go!"

Thus, Murong Xing and Duan Yu watched as Wang Yuyan obediently went to make arrangements for someone to return home.

She had come by boat, and naturally, she was not alone.

"The Goddess Sister seems really afraid of Master Murong!" Duan Yu whispered to Murong Xing from a corner.

Murong Xing replied, "No one in Swallow Workshop is not afraid of him."

"Why is that?" Duan Yu said, "Master Murong just looks a little strange, but he's actually a pretty good person."

In his eyes, Master Murong was merely an eccentric who liked to sleep.

"Ha? You actually think he's a pretty good person?" Murong Xing sneered and said, "After you've been here long enough, you'll find out."

After Wang Yuyan arranged for someone to head back, she walked over to Shi Fei. She watched as A Bi used a hot towel to soften Shi Fei's stubble and then gently shaved his beard with a small blade.

Master Murong's face was covered in a rugged beard, clearly neglected for a long time.

"Cousin, I ran into an opponent today, and they are so strong!" Wang Yuyan said.

Shi Fei asked, "How strong?"

Wang Yuyan said, "That person is Qiao Feng, the leader of the Beggar Sect. His palm techniques are immensely fierce and powerful, on par with my own. Furthermore, he possesses the ability to project his true qi outward and transform it into sword qi."

"Oh?" Shi Fei blinked with innocent eyes and said, "I know that fellow. He is peerless in both palm and sword techniques, and right in the prime of his life. It's completely normal that you couldn't beat him."

He certainly wouldn't admit that Qiao Feng's mastery of swordsmanship had anything to do with him!

Wang Yuyan frowned in contemplation, recalling her exchange with Qiao Feng, and said, "My palm techniques were on par with his, but we only exchanged a single move in swordsmanship before stopping, so there was no definitive outcome."

"Since he is peerless in both palms and swords, his swordsmanship must undoubtedly be extraordinary as well!"

"I wonder what method there is to defeat him?"

"Or rather, is there any way to break his sword qi?"

Shi Fei said, "Of course there is!"

"What is it?" Wang Yuyan asked.

"It's our family's *Skill of Transference*!" Shi Fei said, feeling A Bi's razor blade tracing along his jawline.

"The *Skill of Transference* is a martial art that allows one to borrow the opponent's force to strike back, specifically designed to counter techniques that project true qi outward."

"No matter how bizarre or tyrannical another person's true qi may be, the *Skill of Transference* can reflect it back completely intact."

"Once practiced to the realm of Great Accomplishment, one can even comprehend the legendary 'Draw Nine Pies at Once', which can rebound several times the enemy's strength!"

"Truly an essential martial art for walking the pugilist world, killing people, and plundering treasures!"

Duan Yu, who was drinking tea with Murong Xing on the side of the courtyard, secretly glanced at Wang Yuyan while saying to Murong Xing, "Is your Murong family's ancestral martial art really that powerful?"

Murong Xing chuckled dryly and said coldly, "If it were really that powerful, would I still be getting brutally beaten by Mother... I mean, Cousin?"

Wang Yuyan glanced at Murong Xing and said, "But Brother Xing's *Skill of Transference* isn't all that impressive!"

"He just hasn't practiced it to perfection," Shi Fei said. "If you want to learn it, there's a copy on the third bookshelf in the study."

"I've read it, but I have no interest in it." Wang Yuyan had frequented Shi Fei's study since childhood. Well-read and deeply knowledgeable, she was familiar with the martial arts of the entire world.

Naturally, she had also read the *Skill of Transference*.

"The *Skill of Transference* requires one to be familiar with the characteristics of all martial arts under heaven and be able to infer other things from one instance," Wang Yuyan continued. "Only then can one rebound the opponent's moves."

"It's simply like taking off your pants to let out a fart! Anyone who practices this must have something wrong with their brain!"

"Ha!" Shi Fei chuckled softly.

Just as Wang Yuyan had said, the *Skill of Transference* required one to be familiar with the traits of all martial arts in the world and draw inferences from one instance in order to borrow force and rebound it.

But once you were already familiar with the opponent's martial arts traits, wouldn't it be simpler to just find their flaw and kill them right then and there?

What was the point of rebounding their attack back at them?

It was entirely redundant.

There was no other explanation for it other than showing off and putting on airs.

Murong Longcheng, who had created this martial art years ago, possessed cultivation that allowed him to roam the world unhindered, which was why he invented such a skill meant to "defeat the weak with strength and crush the opponent's spirit."

However, what Wang Yuyan wanted at this moment was a way to defeat a formidable enemy, not a pretentious technique like this.

This was also the reason why she disliked the *Skill of Transference*.

"Suzhou is too small, and the opponents you've encountered so far have all been beneath your notice," Shi Fei told Wang Yuyan. "It's rare for you to encounter a well-matched opponent, and now your mind is in turmoil."

In the two years since Wang Yuyan mastered her martial arts in Suzhou, she had essentially been invincible.

Meeting a match of equal strength had caused her to overthink.

"Don't think too much. Even a single person, placed in different environments and different states of mind, will exhibit different combat capabilities."

Shi Fei continued, "So, just fucking fight—that's all there is to it."

"Fight?" Wang Yuyan asked, puzzled.

"Right! A true supreme master is someone who dares to do what ordinary people dare not do," Shi Fei reminisced. "When you fight your way to the peak, you won't think about anything at all."

"Your body and your will will drive you, compelling you to fight without stopping."

"Thus, you unleash extraordinary power, allowing you to defeat formidable enemies!"

"Nurturing battle through battle and fearing no strong foe—that is the way of the strong!"

Hearing this while sipping his tea, Duan Yu felt his hair stand on end. He said to Murong Xing, "Is it really okay for Master Murong to teach the Goddess Sister like this?"

Murong Xing replied, "Only a fool would believe his words, and Cousin is no fool."

Listening to Shi Fei's words, Wang Yuyan frowned in deep thought. Well-read as she was, she knew that believing entirely in books was worse than having no books at all, and believing entirely in people was worse than trusting no one.

Other people's words belonged to them, not to her.

Ever since she broke free from the shackles of her family in her youth, she had decided to be the master of her own destiny rather than obey others.

Therefore, she turned and headed back to Shi Fei's study to see if the books held the answers.

When dusk fell and the lanterns were lit, A Bi called her to come eat. She and A Zhu did not see eye to eye with each other, so the two rarely spoke.

The meal that evening was indeed Yunnan rice noodles.

As early as the Song Dynasty, Yunnan already had food similar to rice noodles.

Today's rice noodles featured a chicken broth base, topped with shredded eel, accompanied by pickled mustard greens and spices such as pepper, making it taste tart, spicy, savory, and fresh.

After taking a bite, Duan Yu felt it tasted almost identical to what he ate back home.

The food of his hometown stirred up a wave of homesickness.

Were his father and mother doing well?

Were they still worrying about him?

Having been away from home for so long, were they doing alright?

At this thought, Duan Yu could not help but daze off.

"Does this taste make you homesick?" Shi Fei asked with a light chuckle as he watched Duan Yu spacing out mid-meal.

Duan Yu's eyes welled up with tears, and he said nothing more.

He truly missed home.

After the meal, Wang Yuyan said to Murong Xing, "Brother Xing, this afternoon, someone called me a fool!"

Murong Xing shook his head repeatedly and said, "You must have heard wrong!"

"Cut the crap! Meet me at the backyard martial arts arena!" Wang Yuyan rubbed her palms together and told him.