Love, Hatred, and Destiny: Li Xiaomei and the Stormstone That Defies Fate

There's a trend in how martial arts manuals are written: the more advanced the technique—whether it's inner cultivation or flashy moves—the less actual text you'll find. Honestly, words just can't capture all the subtle stuff. Take swordplay, for example. A few snapshots can explain a stance way better than a thousand-word essay. Try describing it in pure text and you'll end up with a novel just for one move.

And when you get to the really high-level stuff, even pictures can't keep up. So, martial artists started doodling weird symbols. Like, the 'Ripple Step' manual is just a bunch of footprints. Or the 'Heavenly King Demon-Slaying Blade'—that one was passed down by King Knife himself right before he kicked the bucket. It's just a single slash in your mental sea, but it packs more punch than any epic poem.

In the other world, top martial artists have crazy strong minds. Whether they're writing or drawing, every stroke oozes meaning. So, they don't always need to ditch words. For example, the 'Wedding Dress Divine Skill' on the Southern Wasteland Sacred Mountain—it's written out in plain text. But the moment you look up at those characters, before you even figure out what they say, the sheer vibe just slams into your soul.

Otherwise, how could people who don't read Southern Wasteland script get anything out of it? And if it wasn't such a big deal, why would all those martial arts masters, in such a tense situation, suddenly freeze up like statues?

But in this world, unless you're some super-powered, one-in-a-million freak, most experts just can't pull that off. So, when they want to express something deeper than words, over time they invent their own secret symbols. It's like a private code—unless you're a direct disciple or a mental powerhouse, good luck cracking it.

It's like those notebooks Queen Jill and Teacher Yang use for jotting down their insights. To anyone else, it's just a mess of doodles and gibberish. Only someone like Wu Zhengfeng or the Sword Sage can look at it and sort of get the gist. How much you actually understand? Well, that's all about how strong your mind is.

These secret symbols are basically the heart and soul of a sect's legacy. If the code holds up, it can stay the same for a hundred years or more. Only when someone truly surpasses their predecessors, or finds the old code can't express what they want, do they bother to tweak it.

So, after all that rambling, here's the point: Maggie Monroe and Jill Young were both totally floored when they saw Freewind Sect-style runes carved into the walls of the Tomb Sect’s secret chamber.

"Wait, does this mean Tomb Sect is somehow connected to us?" Jill Young stared up at the ceiling of the stone chamber, studying the runes carved up there. The techniques recorded in these runes were pretty basic—just starter-level lightness and palm skills. But Jill immediately spotted something fishy: "Look here, and here—aren't these Freewind Sect lightness moves?"

"This palm technique here is all about bending and sealing, like locking things up with your fingers. If you master it, you can trap eighty-one birds with just your hand—sounds familiar, right? I haven’t seen it myself, but my master told me about it. It’s a lot like Lydia Li’s signature ‘White Rainbow Palm,’ but someone clearly tweaked it and made a whole new version. Pretty clever, honestly." Wu Zhengfeng was completely absorbed, miming the moves while nodding nonstop. "Whoever came up with this palm skill was a real genius."

Watching someone’s martial arts without permission is a surefire way to get a bad rep in the jianghu. But neither of them really cared about that sort of thing, and honestly, with something this weird happening, not figuring it out would just drive them nuts. So, after checking out this stone chamber, they immediately went to inspect the others.

The tomb is pitch dark, and first-timers can easily get lost. But if you’ve got a good sense of direction, you’ll realize the layout’s actually pretty simple. Each stone chamber is arranged in a neat pattern. The two of them checked each room one by one. Except for one chamber in the middle, which had Quanzhen Sect sword techniques carved on the walls, all the others held the Tomb Sect’s own legacy.

Lightness skills, palm techniques—the similarities just kept piling up. The more they looked, the more suspicious things got, and it really seemed like the Tomb Sect founders had some connection to the Freewind Sect. Finally, Maggie Monroe found a key, decisive piece of evidence: "Quick, look over here!"

Jill Young looked up, her eyes glinting in the dim light. Above her, a whole swath of complex symbols shimmered like stars in the night sky, all reflected in her gaze. The runes seemed to come alive and flow, and Jill instantly understood them, raising her eyebrow: "Heart-Severing, Emotion-Cutting Grand Technique?! Wait, does this mean the Tomb Sect’s ancestor was your master’s disciple? No, something still feels off… What is this, really?"

"It's an auxiliary skill from my Freewind Sect, called the ‘Twelve Thoughts Iceheart Formula.’ It’s all about keeping your mind calm—twelve less, twelve more. You can’t cultivate inner power directly with it, but it’s great for clearing away heart fire and settling inner demons. Legend says it was created by our ancestor, Master Freewind, and only passed down to sect leaders. My master referenced it a lot when creating the Heart-Severing, Emotion-Cutting Grand Technique, so the two are pretty similar." Wu Zhengfeng declared confidently, "I never practiced this formula because we already have the Heart-Severing, Emotion-Cutting Grand Technique, but I’d never mistake it. Tomb Sect and my Freewind Sect are definitely connected. If it’s not stolen, then it’s a side branch. And since Tomb Sect doesn’t even pass down its name, it’s probably a side branch for sure."

People in the jianghu take sect lineage super seriously. If you’re from a sect, unless you come up with something revolutionary, you usually don’t just go off and start your own.

Take the first-generation Child Elder—she was a martial arts prodigy with a wild personality, but she never called herself Freewind Sect, because the sect leader was always Master Cliffless. She didn’t start her own sect, either; she just founded Spirit Eagle Palace and stayed a member of Freewind Sect. Even Lydia Li, who was the Imperial Consort of Western Xia and tough as nails, never branched out on her own.

And then there’s Guo Jing, who doesn’t belong to any sect. He’s a martial arts legend but never thought about founding his own sect, because that’s just how things work in the martial world.

The Tomb Sect ancestors had skills like these, but never said what sect they really belonged to—super suspicious. Legendary manuals and supreme martial arts don’t just fall from the sky, especially since Tomb Sect has mostly women, and it’s even harder for them to master martial arts. Nobody just stumbles on a manual and becomes a top expert without guidance—it’s not even worth imagining.

"If it’s stolen, there’s no way you’d get all the subtle details of the techniques. But if it’s a side branch, why never contact the main sect? It’s just bizarre." Wu Zhengfeng was completely baffled.