me, he hardened his heart and began to walk in a circular pattern, with each step slower than the previous. He didn’t make eye contact with the Divine Crocodile, and instead just struck out at the latter’s chest with a palm.

The Divine Crocodile saw that there was no strength at all behind his blow. With a loud laugh, he slanted his body slightly and returned a claw attack against Duan Yu’s shoulder and head. But he didn’t imagine Duan Yu’s footwork would be so incredibly profound and ever-changing that the two moved their positions at exactly the same moment. As the two ran into each other, the Divine Crocodile’s chest was somehow right where Duan Yu’s finger was. Duan Yu clearly saw the location of his acupoints, and with his right hand immediately seized the enemy’s Shanzhong acupoint, while his left hand grasped the opponent’s Shenque acupoint.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to use his internal energy at all. Although Duan Yu had grabbed two of the opponent’s acupoints, if the Divine Crocodile just ignored him and shrugged him off without the use of internal energy, there would be nothing Duan Yu could do at all. But when the vital acupoints of the Divine Crocodile were seized, the Divine Crocodile’s heart suddenly leapt, and he extended both his hands in a frontal attack against his enemy.

This attack actually served the purpose of defense. He was attacking Duan Yu’s eyes. In martial arts learning, this was considered “an attack which absolutely must be defended against”. No matter how strong the enemy was, he would still have to retract his hands to defend himself, and thus the person originally in danger would have escaped from the dangerous situation. Originally, this was a brilliant way of fighting. Unfortunately, Duan Yu didn’t understand anything about fighting an enemy. As the opponent’s claw attack arrived, he didn’t think to immediately let go and retreat backwards. His two hands remained firmly attached to the Divine Crocodile’s acupoints.

This mistake which Duan Yu made became a benefit for him instead. As a result, the Divine Crocodile’s internal energy was thrown into turmoil, the flow of which was being blocked at two separate major acupoints. At the same time, once again his internal energy began to flood out of him from his Shanzhong acupoint. As his fingers reached a distance of six inches away from Duan Yu’s eyes, they became disobedient and refused to budge a single inch further. Taking a deep breath, he once again tried to generate his internal energy.

Duan Yu suddenly felt an enormous surge of energy coming towards him from the Shaoshang acupoint on his left thumb. The Divine Crocodile’s internal energy was very powerful, on a totally different level from those seven low level disciples of the Wuliang sect. Duan Yu felt his entire body tremble and his footing became unsteady. He knew that the situation was extremely dangerous. As soon as he removed his hands from his opponent’s acupoints, his life would be in jeopardy. Although he felt extremely uncomfortable, he just forced himself to ignore it.

Duan Zhengchun and Duan Yu were no more than a meter or two’s distance away from each other. Seeing his son’s face grow more and more red, Duan Zhengchun struck out with his forefinger towards the Dazhue acupoint on his son’s back. The Dali Duan dynasty’s “Solitary Solar Finger” [Yiyangzhi] was world-renown; it really was nothing to trifle with. A sudden surge of warm, soft energy streamed towards Duan Yu, arousing the internal energy which already resided in Duan Yu’s body.

The Divine Crocodile’s entire body was shaking violently, and he slowly fell down. Duan Zhengchun supported his son and kept him standing. Duan Yu’s internal energy began to circulate and smoothed out again. The energy from the Divine Crocodile’s Shoutaiyingfei acupoint slowly and unhurriedly began to collect in the ocean of internal energy in Duan Yu’s body. For the moment, Duan Yu was unable to speak.

Duan Zhengchun secretly used his “Solitary Solar Finger” to assist his son, and with their combined efforts, managed to subdue the Divine Crocodile of the Southern Seas. Everybody in the pavilion understood this, of course, but there would nonetheless be no way for the Divine Crocodile to deny that he had lost to Duan Yu.

But this man’s ability really was incredible. As soon as Duan Yu’s hands left his acupoints, with a deep breath and circulation of his energy, the Divine Crocodile leapt to his feet. Narrowing his pair of bean-like eyes, he glared at Duan Yu. An utterly strange look was on his face, a mixture of astonishment, sadness, and wrath.

Mu Wanqing shouted, “Yue Number Three! It seems to me that you really are willing to be a bastard son of a turtle! Are you ready to kowtow to your master yet?” The Divine Crocodile angrily roared back, “I’m going to blow your mind and do something you don’t expect at all! Fine, I’ll accept him as my master. Yue Number Two will definitely not be a bastard son of a turtle!” While speaking, he suddenly immediately knelt down on the spot. Dong, dong, dong dong. Dong, dong, dong dong. His head knocking against the ground, he kowtowed to Duan Yu eight times in a row. Loudly, he proclaimed, “Master! Your disciple, Yue Number Two, is paying his respects to you!”

Stupefied, Duan Yu didn’t immediately respond. Not waiting for him to answer, the Divine Crocodile jumped to his feet then flew to the top of the pavilion. There was an “Ah!” cry from the top, followed by a “peng” sound. Suddenly, a person dropped from the top of the pavilion. It was one of the imperial bodyguards, and fresh blood dripped from his chest. His heart had already been torn out by the Divine Crocodile. His arms and legs flailing madly, he hadn’t died yet. It was an extremely frightful sight. Although this bodyguard’s martial arts was not as good as that of Chu Wanli and the others, it wasn’t ordinary either. Unexpectedly, the Divine Crocodile was able to easily rip his heart out as quickly as another man might lift his hands. Even though the Four Great Bodyguards were nearby, they were unable to save him. The faces of every person present changed color.

Mu Wanqing angrily said, “Husband Duan, this disciple you have taken acts too outrageously! Next time you meet him, you need to teach him a lesson.” Duan Yu’s heart was thumping frantically. “I won only because I was lucky, and because my father lent his aid. If I see him again, I’m afraid that it will be my heart that gets torn out by him. What ability do I have to discipline him?”

Gu Ducheng and Fu Sigui took out the corpse of the guardsman. Duan Zhengchun issued orders to provide for his bereaved family, and to arrange for a proper burial.

That Mr. Huo, who was 70% awake and 30% drunken, was so terrified that his body was trembling nonstop. He also withdrew.

Emperor Baoding said, “Yu’er, that set of footsteps you learned was derived from Fuxi’s 64 trigrams, was it not? Who taught it to you? He must truly be a brilliant master.” Duan Yu replied, “I learned it by accident in a mountain cave. I don’t know if I learned it properly or not. Will uncle please instruct me?” Emperor Baoding asked, “How exactly did you learn it in a mountain cave?”

Duan Yu then explained how he fell into the Wuliang mountain ravine and entered the cavern, and discovered the painting with the instructions for the “Graceful Steps on the Waves”. With regards to the jade sculpture and the paintings of naked women and what not, he naturally did not bring them up. These naked paintings of his Dear Goddess, how could he show them to his uncle, aunt, father, and mother? And if Mu Wanqing found out that he was infatuated with his Dear Goddess, she would be furious. Leaving out details in a story would be like Confucius whittling away at unnecessary parts of the Spring and Autumn period, just the wish of the storyteller.

After Duan Yu was finished, Emperor Baoding said, “Within this sixty four trigram footwork is hidden a first-class internal energy. Try walking the entire thing from the beginning.” Duan Yu said, “Yes!” After a moment’s thought, he began the footwork. Emperor Baoding, Duan Zhengchun, and Gao Shengtai all had very profound internal energy. But despite that, they were only able to understand twenty to thirty percent of the profound secrets of the internal energy method hidden within the footwork. After finishing all sixty four trigram footsteps, Duan Yu had walked in a circle, and was back at his original position.

Emperor Baoding exclaimed, “Superb! This set of footwork has no equal under heaven. That Yu’er was able to learn it is his incredible good fortune. Tonight, your mother will return to her palace. Yu’er, be sure to drink a few cups of wine with your mother.” Turning his head, he said to the Empress, “Let us leave.” The Empress, rising to her feet, agreed. “Yes, let’s.”

Duan Zhengchun and the others respectfully escorted the Emperor and the Empress out, all the way to the outside of the decorate arch of the South-Subduing Palace.