"The bones have eighty-one apertures and are originally of top quality. Unfortunately, the three critical occipital bones were soaked into the black gold by the residual force of the heavy hammer. What a pity. We have forked the road with Rong Bing. There is no turning back. You should leave now."
Inside the White Ape Gate of Changmei Mountain, a bearded man with extremely long arms and legs, especially his arms that almost touched the ground, and bare feet that were almost as long as his palms, stood inside the gate and looked Xu Yunfan up and down.
"Honestly speaking, with your level of muscle and skin perfection, a master of the second-level martial arts training, you can also be a worshipper in our place."
Xu Yunfan asked, "Can I practice White Ape Sect martial arts?"
The bearded man shook his head slightly: "No, the White Ape Sect's martial arts require practice from a young age, constantly stretching the muscles and bones, only then can one develop a spirit ape body. Your body is already fixed, your muscles and bones are already formed, and if you want to practice... it's harder than climbing to the sky.
Xu Yunfan clasped his fists politely and said, "Thank you for letting me know, Sect Master."
Looking at Xu Yunfan's back as he turned and left, the bearded man twisted his beard and shook his head slightly. At such an age, his martial arts practice was not systematic, which was a pity for such a talented person.
"Brother, I heard from my disciples that there are people from outside the mountain who want to become my disciples. I remember that the day for accepting disciples has not yet arrived."
A slightly weak voice sounded behind the bearded man. Turning around, it was Liu Xiong, whose face was pale, his breath was weak, and his steps were unsteady.
"Junior brother, go and rest. Recovering from your injuries is more important. You don't need to worry about these things. I'm just a latecomer who came to learn from you. Although I have good aptitude, I missed the chance to shape my white ape body."
The sect leader frowned and stepped forward to support Liu Xiong.
"Don't hang around if you have nothing to do. That divine weapon is not so easy to fight for. The old demon Buddha of the Thousand Buddha Temple is probably already entrenched in Qingzhou. We have to find a way to report this to Zhongzhou and ask them to send people to deal with it. We should stay out of it."
"yes..."
At the foot of the mountain, Xu Yunfan stuffed the last handful of alfalfa into the chewing gum of the chestnut horse.
The fierce horse, which he had brought from Changyi at a cost of nearly a hundred taels of silver, rubbed his palm affectionately, its mane gleaming dark red in the twilight.
In the past two months, this chestnut horse carried him to measure nearly 500 miles in radius of Changyi. The horseshoes were polished to a shine on the stone slabs of the official road. It was a rare good horse.
Difficult.
Just as Liu Tianyun said, these sects attach great importance to background, and most of them prefer to cultivate from a young age. Many martial arts require a pure body and a square physique to learn. They are not like Xu Yunfan, who got a kung fu and forced himself to practice it with the attribute panel.
From Qinglian Mountain to Cangwu Peak, the same arrogant faces are hidden behind those towering sect archways.
Last night I heard at the inn that a young man from a noble family was carried up the mountain in a sedan chair by twelve inner disciples just by handing in a visiting card. For a person like him who came from an unofficial family, even the servants in the outer courtyard had to investigate the innocence of three generations. Most people like him who came from an unknown family and had martial arts and considerable strength were not that strong.
For ordinary martial artists, if they practice martial arts in a way that conflicts with their original skills, it is not certain whether they can achieve anything. Even if they do, they will end up twisting and turning themselves into weird people.
He started learning Buddhism lately and had no family background, so he had no chance of success.
But these days he also understood why it was said that the sects of the Great Zhou Empire occupied one-third of the world. Along the way, Qinglian Mountain, Cangwu Mountain... These sects occupied a very large area. Not only the entire mountain, but even hundreds of thousands of acres of land at the foot of the mountain belonged to the sect.
There are more than a dozen sects in Qingzhou alone that do not pay taxes or grain. No wonder Li Haomiao looked extremely unhappy when he talked about these sects, not to mention the situation of the nine top sects in Da Zhou.
These, in a sense, are countries within a country.
After feeding the grass and taking a sip of water from his water bag, Xu Yunfan thought to himself, maybe he should lower his standards a bit and try out some small sects with unique features?
Small sects are in a weak position in Qingzhou. According to the requirements of the Great Zhou government, third-class sects need to pay grain and taxes. With such restrictions, their situation is naturally not as good as those of large sects.
"Brother, I see you are going to Rongbing Dao to become a disciple?"
Just as he was getting on his horse and preparing to go to a nearby small sect, a square-faced, righteous man with a knife flashed out from the woods and walked up to Xu Yunfan with a smile on his face. The hem of his black tights was stained with grass debris, but his smile was three times more enthusiastic than that of the innkeeper just now.
Xu Yunfan was a little surprised and didn't say anything for a while.
"take it easy."
The man shook his empty hands and said, "My name is Zhang Tiehu, and I'm the outer sect steward of Qixia Monastery. I was just at the foot of Lianbao Mountain when I saw you inquiring about the different sects' rules for accepting disciples in a restaurant..."
He suddenly lowered his voice: "But you want to find a legitimate sect to settle down?"
The mountain wind blew up debris all over the ground, and Xu Yunfan stared at the bronze waist badge swaying around the other person's waist.
The card was carved with cloud patterns, but the two characters "Qixia" in the center seemed to be newly carved, with traces of old characters that had not been polished away still remaining in the corners.
Xu Yunfan asked, "I wonder what the meaning is?"
"Of course, of course there are some rules. I specialize in this business, so I naturally understand the ins and outs."
"Three hundred taels as a referral fee, guaranteeing you entry directly into the inner gate."
Zhang Tiehu took a half step closer and slipped out a half-length sheepskin scroll from his sleeve. "Although Qixia Temple isn't among the Thirteen Schools of Qingzhou, the 'Thirteen Styles of Flowing Clouds' was a martial art that would have garnered the attention of everyone back then. Although it's declined in popularity now, it's still quite famous in Qingzhou..."
Xu Yunfan looked up and down at the man holding the knife. Judging from his appearance, he was not even a martial artist. At most, he had achieved a small level of success.
He has encountered many men like him in terms of martial arts in the past month.
In other words, in the Qingzhou martial arts world, most of these wandering knights are at this level. There are martial artists who have achieved great success through practice, but they are few.
Traveling around Qingzhou, I found that most martial artists were practicing in these sects, or had settled down in the city. There were only about 10 to 20 people walking on the road, and most of them were walking with a purpose, not like those wandering knights who were wandering aimlessly.
To be able to master a martial art, one needs good qualifications and sufficient resources to achieve success, which naturally has its roots.
The iron tiger in front of me is quite interesting.
"A deposit of fifty taels." After pondering for a moment, he released his hand and counted out the silver. "The rest will be settled when we get back into the mountains?"
"No problem, that's as it should be!"
Zhang Tiehu took the silver with a smile on his face, bit it and looked at the teeth marks on the silver.
"Brother, no... Junior Brother, from now on we are brothers from the same sect!"
The corner of Xu Yunfan's mouth twitched slightly, and he nodded slightly: "Please lead the way, brother."
As dusk deepened, the two men leading the horses passed through a mass grave, walked along a narrow path, and circled into a barren mountain.
Zhang Tiehu suddenly stopped and pointed at a few sparks in the distance.
"arrive."
Xu Yunfan looked up and saw the fire hanging halfway up the mountain, like a few red lanterns hanging in the night.