Chapter 353: Chapter 351 No One Understands Forbidden Battle Techniques Better Than Me
Although he had accepted these two disciples, Le Yuxin honestly could only take things one step at a time. He had no confidence that he could actually help these disabled teens achieve greatness.
The regular faculty of the Imperial Academy were basically the best educators in Huiyao. Even with their skills, they had been left stumped. So what could Le Yuxin, an ordinary college graduate who had never even tutored anyone, possibly accomplish? His greatest teaching accomplishment growing up was getting his own little sister to call him by his name, instead of "hey" or "you there."
He didn’t have confidence, but it wasn’t like Le Yuxin was completely out of ideas.
His solution had nothing to do with Zero Unit’s past life, but was inspired by the experiences of Two, Three, and Four.
It wasn’t on purpose, but Le Yuxin suddenly realized that except for One—Qian Yuliu—all his dead stands-in had practiced Forbidden Battle Techniques.
Yin Yin’s Hidden Sword Technique, Zhengwei’s Qin-Ri Harmonized Qi Combat Technique, Le Yin’s Blood-Drinking Eight Rice Flow... In a way, Le Yuxin could puff out his chest and say, "No one understands Forbidden Battle Techniques better than me."
After all, a normal person would go nuts from cultivating just one Forbidden Battle Technique. Even the strongest-willed can’t handle more than one—but Le Yuxin had inherited the memories of training in three, and thanks to the tuning effect of the Ice Blood Physique, aside from being a bit less degenerate, his mentality was more or less intact. It was like he’d been granted a god-level environment for researching Forbidden Battle Techniques.
After hearing all the details about Shi Wen and Laiya’s Nightmare Disease, he instantly knew what he had to teach them.
Forbidden Battle Techniques.
The main reason the Imperial Academy teachers didn’t want to teach Shi Wen was that they had their concerns—there were some extreme methods of teaching they absolutely refused, not just for fear of harming Shi Wen, but also getting their own hands dirty.
One of the academy’s strictest rules was: teachers are forbidden to pass on Forbidden Battle Techniques—break this and you’re out, no second chances. Among all their commandments, this one was especially severe. Teaching Forbidden Battle Techniques meant crossing the academy’s red line and being collectively cast out.
The taboo of these techniques wasn’t their power, but their cruelty in training and the unavoidable psychological distortion inflicted on practitioners.
Word was that back before the academy had this rule, some faculty secretly experimented with Forbidden Battle Techniques on students as lab rats. The result: a generation of battle maniacs with warped minds and colossal power, running rampant like asuras razing the land. Their legacy of horror stretched on for decades, hurting thousands upon thousands.
Many forbidden fighters, after losing touch with reality, actively tried to create more of their kind, picking orphans and raising them to be the same. Assassin organizations inheriting the Hidden Sword Technique, for instance—included Yin Yin and others like him. Most of them couldn’t have children thanks to their "glorious" practices, so if they wanted a legacy, orphans were the only option.
But the few assassins who survived rarely thought "let’s spare the next generation from this pain." Instead, more often, their attitude was, "Let them suffer everything I went through."
Sword Concealers were the prime example of forbidden warriors. If normal people lived for "love"—striving for loved ones, favorite things, or the world itself—then forbidden fighters basically survived for "hate," eager to scorch all happiness with their own suffering.
The Imperial Academy, unafraid of regime change or imperial power, nearly vanished from history because of this incident. If their staff hadn’t spent decades purging these deranged alumni and burning every record of such techniques, their legacy would’ve been lost forever.
Even Le Yuxin knew that Shi Wen and Laiya had no hope with normal combat techniques—the only sliver of a chance lay with the forbidden kind. Principal Cha Huan definitely understood this too.
But even that loud old man Cha Huan wouldn’t break school law, which said everything about how forbidden these arts were here.
Shi Wen might just have been grabbing at straws—but he’d grabbed the right straw.
In this whole academy, Le Yuxin was the only one actually willing to teach them.
First off, even if Le Yuxin did something reckless, he was also in the Sword Hunt competition here. As long as he didn’t directly harm other staff or students, Cha Huan would have to wait until the game ended to kick him out.
Second, Le Yuxin didn’t care about his reputation. After all, Unit Four might not last long anyway, and with how deadly the Sword Hunt was, who knew if anyone would even discover Shi Wen and Laiya were training in forbidden arts before Le Yin killed Zhengwei and Qian Yuliu?
Third, Le Yuxin didn’t care if Shi Wen and Laiya ended up hating him.
One fun fact about Forbidden Battle Techniques was, "killing the master" came standard. Because the pain was so unspeakable, disciples often blamed their mentor—and hating the master helped them endure. In the end, betraying or killing their teacher was expected.
Yin Yin was a product of standardized assassin training. He once wanted to assassinate his own handler, but by the time he could serve clients, the mentor was already dead, so he missed the chance.
Zhengwei taught himself, but ended up resenting his uncle for giving him the Qin-Ri Harmonized Qi Technique—especially after seeing his uncle getting laid one night, while he was stuck training a virgin’s art; blood rushed to his head, and he snapped his uncle’s neck in rage.
Le Yin learned the Blood-Drinking Eight Rice Flow from Qin Xiao, and wanting to kill that guy was nothing new. But Qin Xiao never gave Le Yin the chance—Le Yin, with nowhere to vent his pent-up hate, and even feeling indebted to Qin Xiao, started to romanticize his suffering, telling himself he was loved, and convinced himself he wanted to fulfill Qin Xiao’s plans.
If Le Yuxin were to teach them forbidden arts, corporal punishment would be the only way to force them through training—being hated was only natural.
If there were any other options, Le Yuxin wouldn’t want to teach them Forbidden Battle Techniques either.
But they were out of options.
More importantly, they were very well suited for it.
"Laiya," Le Yuxin put his arm over the girl’s shoulders and asked warmly, "have you ever learned the Sword-Wielding Combat Technique?"
"Nope." Laiya shook her head, "Sword-Wielding demands too much eyesight, I can barely see. I learned—"
"Then you’ll learn Sword-Wielding from now on."
In a flash, Le Yuxin thrust two fingers into Laiya’s eyes and yanked them out, bloody threads trailing. Laiya screamed, clutching her eyes and collapsing. Shi Wen rushed over, his hands clawing as energy gathered, "You—"
"Stop using Desolate Bite on me." Le Yuxin casually broke his energy burst, twisted his wrist, and slammed Shi Wen to the ground like a salted fish, "Biting Battle Technique is my specialty. When you use it on me, it feels like an insult."
"You, you..." Shi Wen’s back went numb from the throw, coughing up blood, his face twisted with hatred and terror. He hurried to Laiya, "Laiya, what happened? Let me see, let go of your hands!"
"I, I can’t see anything." Laiya opened her eyes, empty and unfocused, "I’m blind again."
"I just cut your optic nerves. Of course you can’t see." Le Yuxin pulled out a handkerchief and offered it, "Wipe off the blood."
Shi Wen slapped his hand away, glaring at him like at a monster, "Why would you—"
"Why did I do that?" Le Yuxin said calmly, "Didn’t I warn you just now that my classes are dangerous—might even get you killed? Mr. Shi Wen, have you forgotten you’re in class already?"
"Or are you expecting me to pull out a manual, have you both follow along, and boom, you level up—by noon, you’re a pro, by evening, a grandmaster—if that’s the case, I have to say, you kids should stop reading those ’lucky miracle’ novels. Might as well read some racy ones—they’re at least more practical."
Shi Wen shouted, "So you blinded Laiya for a class!?"
"Exactly." Le Yuxin said quietly, "I once read a technique in a book, a Sword-Wielding variant called ’Wish-Fulfillment Sword-Wielding.’ Step one: blind yourself."
This technique was one Zhengwei bought while collecting Forbidden Battle Techniques, and Le Yin also learned its details from Qin Xiao. At least it was real—there were loads of ’Forbidden’ manuals being peddled on the market, half of which were total bullshit. They weren’t painful enough to work; all you got was pointless suffering.
Le Yuxin looked around, then picked up a stick from the ground—clean and straight, just like the ones he could play with all afternoon as a kid.
"Catch."
He tossed the stick. Even though Laiya couldn’t see anything, she heard the sound and snatched the stick out of the air.
"Practice Sword-Wielding with this branch for now."
Shi Wen still wanted to complain, but Laiya grabbed him.
"Mr. Hongle." Her breath was steady, but her voice still shook, "I... don’t really know Sword-Wielding. Can I get my eyes fixed first, and learn the technique later—"
"No." Le Yuxin replied coldly, "After a nerve cut, your eyeballs will last about three days. Go to the campus Medical Bureau after three days for treatment, and while they’re at it, have an officer stitch your eyelids shut. From now on, you’re never allowed to see light again."
"Can’t do Sword-Wielding? Then listen while others practice, and don’t stop till you learn."
"’Wish-Fulfillment Sword-Wielding’ had a nice name, but its cultivation was nothing but darkness and blood. Step one: take away your normal vision, and let you rot in endless darkness, tormented by the unknown and loneliness."
"But that wasn’t enough—otherwise, every blind person could master forbidden arts, right?"
"Step one, ’Blindness,’ was just the appetizer. Step two, ’Uselessness,’ was the cruel part. You had to survive and study the art with no sight, learning to fend for yourself. It was a constant beatdown, shattering your self-worth, stamping in the realization that you’re just a useless loser."
"Most broke at this point, turning into trash. The manual especially stressed: the only way to save a disciple was to give them a goal—power, lovers, money, whatever. Something to wake them up."
"But all those options cost money, and Le Yuxin liked free stuff, so he picked the most straightforward one: hatred."
"As long as the cultivator kept pushing herself, setting ever higher standards, her spiritual power would slowly twist and evolve. She’d never grow a normal eye, but her training speed, reactions, spiritual power—all of it would rocket up. She could even abuse flash effects—while others were blinded by the light, she’d be totally immune."
"Wish-Fulfillment Sword-Wielding was perfect for Laiya; her weak eyesight added nothing to her life. Better to forgo it entirely."
"But Le Yuxin could never say this. The point of the Wish-Fulfillment Sword-Wielding was relentlessly breaking down the cultivator—never let her even dream of relying on others. Without absolute oppression, her spiritual power wouldn’t do her any good."
When Shi Wen tried to help Laiya up, Le Yuxin walked over and kicked Shi Wen flying, telling him calmly, "You’re not ready for Sword-Wielding? But you must know how to practice basic sword swings. Give me five hundred swings."
"Yes!" Laiya jumped, dropped the stick, then scrambled to her knees and fumbled for it, looking absolutely pitiful.
Shi Wen, after being sent flying, gagged and stumbled to his feet, shouting, "You’re not really trying to teach us! What sort of technique starts with blinding?! This is a Forbidden Battle Technique!"
"What else? If I wasn’t trying out these forbidden arts I’ve collected, why would I take either of you as disciples?" Le Yuxin said flatly, "It’s not like we have some secret parent-child connection, right? Whether you accept it or not, you still owe me by our deal."
"I—"
"Think about it. Even for something like this, I’m the only one in the academy who’d teach you. The rest wouldn’t even consider it. If you turn me down, who knows how long before another crazy teacher comes along?" Le Yuxin shrugged.
Shi Wen pointed at Le Yuxin, hands shaking, wanting to roar loud and proud—then drag Laiya off for treatment.
But at the last second, the words just wouldn’t come out.
Le Yuxin wasn’t in a rush, letting him stew in silence.
"If they really refused to train in the forbidden arts, that would actually be a good sign—it would mean they didn’t have the resolve to hurt themselves. Given a few years, maybe they’d resign themselves to normal, safe lives."
But in the end, Shi Wen bowed his head, gritted his teeth, and said, "Mr. Hongle, please teach me."
Something in that tone said he was already planning Le Yuxin’s execution—teacher-killing, scheduled.
Le Yuxin sighed inside, but kept a straight face and waved Shi Wen over.
"Come here, spar with me for ten minutes. I want to see what you look like when you’re on fire."
Suddenly, Le Yuxin had a feeling and looked toward the distant, sunlit Platinum Tower.
...
...
That night, after watching the burned and battered Shi Wen escorting Laiya into the Medical Bureau, Le Yuxin returned to the teacher’s dorm—and found a new book on his desk.
The Bloody Thorn Eight Rice Flow
He flipped through it, finding it a Blood-Drinking Eight Rice Flow offshoot—but with weird tweaks, like thrice-daily blood chugging (had to be hot!), and always training in a custom iron suit.
The description of the iron suit made Le Yuxin think, "isn’t this just an Iron Maiden?" A hundred and eight steel spikes stabbing the skin—putting it on was like non-stop impalement. Normal folk would pass out from the pain, how could anyone train like that?
The Blood-Drinking Eight Rice Flow was already extreme; this Bloody Thorn version was even crazier. But the martial insight and creative detail in every page screamed "grandmaster"—Le Yuxin, a mere Wind Spirit Moon Shadow Flow martial artist, didn’t have the right to critique it.
If you cultivated per the Bloody Thorn method, maybe you could never ignore pain, but you could stay clear-headed through it. The more it hurt, the sharper your spirit power burned—recovery, stamina, even brute strength would skyrocket, sometimes even doubling your fighting power. You could even use a blood chug to kill the pain instantly.
Le Yuxin pondered, then went upstairs to ask Zhu Yan, "When did Principal Cha Huan stop teaching full time?"
"About ten years ago," Zhu Yan replied, "He said he realized he was getting old—chucked his pen so hard it nearly stuck through a student’s skull. Couldn’t trust his own strength anymore, so he stepped down."
So, over twenty years ago, Cha Huan also taught Qin Xiao.
Le Yuxin nodded, nagged Zhu Yan to hurry up and find the launch code for the Holy Sword Huiyao, and Zhu Yan told him to get lost.
Back in his room, Le Yuxin saw it was still before eight, so he kept reading Bloody Thorn Eight Rice Flow. At eight, he had an appointment to connect with "Yin"—Le Yuxin was actually looking forward to this "internet buddy long-distance bullshitting" kind of chat.
When he got to the book’s last page, he saw a line:
"All the above is just my random speculation. If you have any issues, contact me. My name is on the title page."
Le Yuxin blinked, turned to the title page—blank.
Looking closer, he found a faint impression under the paper, but the words had been erased. Taking a charcoal pencil, he lightly shaded over it and revealed:
"Write your name here, and I might help you out."
It looked like a trade offer, but Le Yuxin instantly read between the lines—this book was all about "taking the blame!"
He couldn’t help but snort, "Old fox."
Erasing the charcoal, Le Yuxin scrawled his own name on the page—
"Zhengwei!"