Chapter 118: Not as bad as Han Chuijun back then
Chapter 118: Not as bad as Han Chuijun back then
There was silence in the hall.
Their eyes met, and everyone in the hall looked at the young man who was bowing with bloodstained clothes.
Even several true disciples and inner sect elders could not help but change their expressions.
The battle of body tempering and internal strengthening was nothing to them, they had experienced it more than once, but it was a bit shocking that they could win in a round-robin battle.
Even if he has a dragon-shaped bone structure, he has only been learning martial arts for a few years. How long has he been learning martial arts?
Shi Hong frowned slightly, becoming more frightened.
Possessing all nine forms means that he has excellent physique. He can cultivate the hammer technique to perfection within just one year, which shows that he has excellent talent.
The fact that he can fight against opponents of higher levels shows that he is very courageous.
This is much more terrifying than Qiu Changying back then...
The several true disciples looked at each other and saw the solemnity on each other's faces.
The slight consolation was that after the eight-man round-robin battle, Li Yuan seemed a little unstable.
Although the disciples outside the hall who tried to stop Li Yuan were strong, they could not be considered elite except Gao Gang. It seemed acceptable that they won battle after battle.
"When Old Han was tempering his body to perfection, he once killed eight strong men in one battle. With him in front, it wouldn't be too eye-catching..."
Li Yuan bowed. His injuries were not serious, but he still staggered into the hall. He glanced at the faces of the true disciples and felt a little relieved.
He had searched for intelligence on the true teachings of the Divine Weapon Valley over the generations. Although he showed off a little of his skills today, it was not too exaggerated.
Han Chuijun and Valley Master Gong Yangyu were much more high-profile than him back then, and even not necessarily more high-profile than Valley Master Shi Hong.
"it is good!"
After a brief silence, Ba Wanli was the first to cheer, his voice like a loud bell, waking up everyone in the hall.
Fang Baoluo glanced at Shi Hong, whose expression changed slightly, and his brows relaxed.
"He has strengthened his body through battles and won battle after battle. He is indeed worthy of being called a dragon-shaped bone!"
At the head, leaders of other sects who were invited to watch the ceremony clapped their hands and sighed with approval.
Gong Yangyu smiled and nodded:
"Li Yuan from the Hammer Weapon Hall is extremely talented and friendly to his fellow disciples. He can be the tenth true disciple of the Divine Weapon Valley!"
wow~
In the hall, Feng Zhong stepped out and said loudly:
"The Valley Master has issued an order to grant the new True Transmission Master Li Yuan:
A famous weapon, a dragon horse, an inner armor, a pair of six-spirit boots, a superior martial arts fighting hammer, and three small soul-recovering pills..."
"There is a small mountain on the inner island, three shops in the city, a large house, a thousand acres of paddy fields, a mine, and two hundred taels of gold..."
"You can enter the inner building of the library and the Weapon Casting Valley..."
"...a set of heavy armor for the Divine Guards, and the position of commander of the third battalion of the Divine Guards...with the power to recommend disciples for menial duties and Divine Guards soldiers..."
"You can recruit ten nominal disciples, with the same treatment as outer disciples, and three personal disciples, with the same treatment as inner disciples."
……
Inside the hall, there was total silence, with only the sound of Yi's voice echoing in the wind. Many leaders of small sects had envious looks on their faces.
The inner disciples outside the palace gate were even more jealous. Only Gao Gang, whose face was bruised, sighed.
This set of rewards is as generous as no less than ten thousand taels of gold, and also includes the power to command hundreds of divine guards. This is the real power.
A true disciple of the Divine Weapon Valley, even if he only holds the position for one day, the reward he receives is enough to support a small family.
But this is not possible for the vast majority of the disciples of the Divine Weapon Valley.
Status, treatment, weapons, housing, gold, power...
Li Yuan's heartbeat quickened a little. The treatment of true disciples was indeed much better than that of inner disciples. The gap was like that between officials and clerks.
If you take a portion of this wave of rewards, it will be enough to advance to the fifth level of the Military Commander Scroll!
A real big deal!
"Thank you, Valley Master!"
Li Yuan bowed again, and began to understand Qiu Zhengxiong's indignation a little.
There are twelve true teachings in the Divine Weapon Valley, with two quotas for the inner sect and the valley master's lineage respectively. I took up one of Qiu Zhengxiong's quota, so this loss is no small one.
It's not just about gold, silver and other valuables, it also involves the Divine Guards.
A hundred divine guards, led by a true disciple, are a force that can capture cities and territories...
"Ah."
Gong Yangyu nodded, glanced at everyone in the hall, and then waved his hand to let Li Yuan take a seat. The true teachings had been decided, and it was time to start the banquet.
Li Yuan was not in a hurry to sit down. After responding to Ba Wanli and Fang Baoluo's congratulations, he pointed to the unconscious inner sect disciple on the ground:
"Valley Master, this senior brother's hair and beard are all white, could it be premature graying of hair?"
The dragon-shaped root bone seemed to have one more limit-breaking ability than the ordinary superior root bone. He had no disadvantage in fighting with the inner-strength disciple. At first, he did not use the palm weapon scroll until the old guy suddenly attacked...
"White shock!"
Ba Wanli snorted coldly and looked at Qiu Zhengxiong:
"This old guy got started earlier than me, he must be sixty years old, what do you think?"
"You disrupted the true teaching ceremony. According to the sect rules, you should be stripped of your martial arts, stripped of your identity, and expelled from Zhelong Mansion!"
Shi Hong waved his hand, and someone came forward and dragged the old man, whose life or death was unknown, away.
Ba Wanli wanted to stop him but was stopped by Fang Baoluo. Li Yuan did not stop him either but just glanced at the young valley master.
Shi Hong, who possesses two forms, can only be regarded as an ordinary person of superior physique. He has an average family background and no connections. However, he was able to surpass Qiu Changying and become the number one true disciple of the contemporary era. Naturally, it was because of his excellent comprehension.
He is the only one among all the true disciples of this generation who has a meridian connection...
……
After the reward, Li Yuan followed Gong Yangyu to the ancestral hall, paid homage to the ancestors of all generations, and recited the sect rules several times before returning for the ceremony.
The banquet of the true teachings was not as lively as imagined, and Li Yuan truly felt how popular Lao Han was.
Among the inner sect elders, only Elder Ku Yue had a few words with him, and among the outer sect elders, only Feng Zhongyi and his two senior brothers were the only true disciples.
However, he had anticipated this and had no intention of forcing himself into Shi Hong's circle.
He just raised his cup and drank with Ba Wanli and Fang Baoluo. During the banquet, there were also leaders and elders from other small and medium-sized sects in Zhelong Mansion who came to toast.
But it was just a polite clink of glasses, and in the end they went back to Shi Hong.
"Humph!"
Li Yuan didn't care much about it, but Ba Wanli was quite dissatisfied. However, he didn't get angry, but the sound of clinking glasses when drinking became much louder.
"Valley Master, Old Han, Qiu Zhengxiong..."
While Li Yuan was drinking with his two senior brothers, he was also thinking.
There are no sects in the valley, and all kinds of things. The Divine Weapon Valley is called a sect, but in reality it is a group of princes. They own a prefecture and rule over millions of people. Their power is enormous, and naturally, there are many fights.
He also gathered the groups together. The lineage of Valley Master Gong Yangyu and Shi Hong was the largest, followed by the children of the aristocratic families headed by Qiu Zhengxiong.
Compared with these two clans, Han Chuijun seems a little lonely, and people stay away from him because of his violent behavior.
But because of his violent behavior, few people provoked him for many years.
"I haven't messed with him for many years, but I happened to run into him?"
Li Yuan was speechless.
The reason why unspoken rules are unspoken rules is naturally because only a very small number of people can benefit from them.
For example, promotion through true teachings.
To advance to the next level, one must defeat all the inner disciples. This has been the rule for more than a thousand years, and helping each other among fellow disciples is also an unspoken rule that has been passed down for many years.
There are many talented disciples who receive the true teachings as soon as they enter the sect, and there are also some who only learn martial arts after entering the sect. How could they have the strength to defeat all the inner sect disciples?
Unspoken rules naturally arise.
Ordinary inner sect disciples have to fight all their fellow disciples, but this is not necessary for the disciples that the five elders want to recruit.
Just like when Qiu Changying became the true disciple, no one tried to stop him.
He should have done so, so Han Chuijun never mentioned the process of the true transmission ceremony to him.
Because it was just a formality.
Halfway through the banquet, Gong Yangyu and several elders left, and the rest of the true disciples also dispersed.
When only Li Yuan and the other two were left at the table, Fang Baoluo suddenly lowered his voice and said, "I heard that the Valley Master injured his internal organs while practicing martial arts a few years ago..."
"Ok?"
Ba Wanli was drunk and didn't hear it, but Li Yuan's eyes fixed on him, with some understanding, but also some bad luck.
"Since ancient times, the position of Valley Master has been held by the strong..."
Fang Baoluo didn't say much. After taking a deep look at Li Yuan, he dragged Ba Wanli away. He couldn't rest easy without sending this big guy back.
"The position of Valley Master?"
Li Yuan turned the wine glass and understood. Gongyang Yusheng has thirteen dragon forms and has been suppressing the five elders for more than seventy years. Even a strong man like Lao Han cannot shake him.
But if something happens to him, no one, whether it's Shi Hong or the other elders, will be able to suppress Old Han...
"How unpopular is Old Han? Why doesn't anyone agree with him becoming the Valley Master?"
Li Yuan was speechless.
But it is also clear that huge interests are involved here, and it is by no means just a matter of popularity.
The population of Zhelong Prefecture and its subordinate counties is no less than 10 million households, and the annual tax revenue is a huge amount of silver.
Such huge benefits...
Putting down the wine glass, Li Yuan staggered to his feet. Apart from feeling a little sorry about his new clothes, he was generally satisfied.
As he staggered out of the hall, he immediately saw several true disciples drinking together in the night not far away.
"Shi Hong, Young Valley Master..."
……
……
On one side of the main hall, in a pavilion under the shade of a tree, maids were lighting lamps and a stove was warming wine, and several great disciples were having a drink together.
"The dragon-shaped root bone is really incomparable to ordinary superior root bones. He hasn't even completed the body tempering, but he can fight against the inner strong. When he becomes inner strong, won't he be able to fight against the shape-changing?"
A young man in white put down his wine glass and glanced at Li Yuan's departing back.
His name was Ding Zhi, another true disciple of Gong Yangyu. Among the ten true disciples, he was second only to Ba Wanli.
"Brother Ding, you are joking. The difference between Tempering the Body and Strengthening the Body is only a thousand pounds of strength. The Dragon-Shaped Bones can make up for the difference. But how can the gap between Strengthening the Body and Changing the Shape be made up by the Bones?"
Some people shook their heads and laughed.
The man was wearing a black robe, with a pitch-black sword placed at his side. His voice was cold. His name was Long Sheng, and he was a true disciple of the Stick Soldiers Hall.
"That is to say, there are not many elite soldiers outside the palace today. If Junior Sister Fang, Junior Brother Sha and the others were here, how could they allow him to fight against a higher level?"
Several true disciples clinked their glasses and drank, with some sneers in their conversation.
Only Shi Hong frowned and remained silent, holding the glass of wine in his hand for a long time without drinking it.
"This kid has good talent, but he has just tempered his body. It is already amazing that he has changed his shape in ten years. How can he threaten you?"
Ding Zhi clinked glasses with him and joked in a slightly drunken manner:
"If you're really worried, why not..."
"Go back."
Shi Hong waved his hand and dismissed the maid who was serving him.
Seeing this, the other people lost their smiles. Ding Zhi's smile also froze, and the drunkenness immediately dissipated:
"Master, Senior Brother, you don't really want to..."
"Han Chuijun just went to quell the rebellion, he is not dead."
Shi Hong glared at him and drank the wine in the glass.
"Han Chuijun..."
The atmosphere at the small banquet suddenly became solemn, and several true disciples began to breathe a little faster.
They are all true disciples of the same sect, so they naturally know how big the gap between them can be when they all change their forms.
It's not like those wild people out there who think they are shapeshifters and think that the gap between them and Han Chuijun is not that big...
"Brother, have you ever seen Elder Han take action?"
Long Sheng asked.
The other disciples were also very interested. Since they had joined the sect, they had been warned by their teachers not to provoke Han Chuijun, but they still had no idea how good his martial arts skills were.
"No. Everyone inside and outside the sect who saw him take action, except for Master and Elder Qiu, is dead..."
Shi Hong shook his head: "Even Master hasn't seen him take action for thirty years. I only know that when he changed his form, he killed a master of Tongmai."
"Change your form to kill Tongmai?!"
The hearts of several true disciples trembled. The gap between Internal Strength and Transformation is huge, so how could the gap between Transformation and Opening Meridians be small?
They had only heard about the deeds of changing shape and fighting on higher levels from rumors.
Those people were all big names in Daozhou.
"Yes, Yixing kills Tongmai..."
Shi Hong's expression became solemn, but there was something he didn't say.
Han Chuijun once used Changing Shape to kill Tongmai, but that was more than fifty years ago.
……
After the small banquet, Shi Hong came to a quiet courtyard behind the main hall.
The early summer night was quite cool, but when he got here, he could feel the scorching heat blowing towards him.
"Master's Qi and blood are so vigorous, has his internal organs really been damaged?"
Shi Hong bowed and waited, and soon he received a response.
In the small courtyard, there were flowers and plants, old trees and mountain springs. Gong Yangyu sat cross-legged under the tree, his breathing almost nonexistent.
"Master!"
Shi Hong bowed.
Gong Yangyu slowly opened his eyes, and the courtyard seemed to light up for a moment. He looked at Shi Hong who was looking down, and asked:
"What do you think of Li Yuan?"
"Dragon-shaped bones, excellent talent, better than Junior Sister Qiu, and also better than me."
Shi Hong sighed lightly, found a clean place, sat on the ground, and said calmly:
"The disciple is not as good as him."
"His bones may not be limited to the ninth form, perhaps they are close to the dragon form!"
Gong Yangyu said:
"In the past hundred years, perhaps the only ones in the valley with better talents than him are me and Han Chuijun!"
Shi Hong's heart trembled and his breathing became a little rapid.
Even when he broke through the Tongmai, he did not receive such evaluation from Gong Yangyu.
"Perhaps, Han Chuijun is no worse than that."
Gong Yangyu looked at the stars in the night sky:
"If I had met him ten years earlier, no, five years earlier, I would have personally accepted him as my disciple, taught him the unique skills of our sect, and made him the Junior Valley Master."
Shi Hong's eyes dimmed slightly, but he felt relieved in his heart.
"Unfortunately, it's too late."
Gong Yangyu felt a little regretful and asked:
"Do you know the relationship between this old man and Han Chuijun?"
"Disciple, I don't know."
Shi Hong shook his head.
"In this prefecture, there are tens of millions of people, and there are so many sects and forces, big and small. There are three major sects outside, and there is a government office inside..."
Gong Yangyu talked about the difficulties of being in charge of a sect. Shi Hong had heard it many times and could only continue listening.
"Han Chuijun and I are the inside and outside of each other."
Gong Yangyu stood up and paced under the tree: "As the leader of a sect, there are many things that I can neither say nor do.
But these things have to be done by someone, do you understand?"
"The disciple understands."
"You don't understand! If you understood, you wouldn't target Li Yuan today!"
Looking at Shi Hong, Gong Yangyu's eyes were somewhat disappointed:
“In the past few decades, the valley has been in a period of transition.
"Among the true disciples of your generation, except for you, Qiu Changying, and Ba Wanli, the rest of you can't support a sect, or even a prefecture, let alone three prefectures?"
"Li Yuan's talent is not inferior to Han Chuijun. He will definitely be your assistant in the future. Why can't you tolerate him?"
(End of this chapter)