Taoist Priest Qixia hurriedly grabbed two believers and put them in front of him.
The sledgehammer continued to move forward as it pierced through the first body. The second person was sent flying into the air, and his back hit the incense burner before his momentum stopped.
The copper incense burner was actually dented by the impact, and the incense ash mixed with blood splashed onto the banner that read "The evil world should be destroyed."
Xu Yunfan stepped forward, and the floor tiles cracked with every step he took.
The remaining believers were intimidated by his aura, and their hands holding their weapons could not stop shaking.
A young believer suddenly threw away his steel knife and ran towards the mountain gate crying.
"waste!"
Taoist Priest Qixia swept his whisk across, and the steel needle at the end of the whisk pierced the back of the deserter's head.
When he turned around, he saw Xu Yunfan close at hand, and the smell of sweat mixed with blood hit his face.
"Wait, wait!"
Taoist Priest Qixia suddenly ripped open his robe, revealing a dense pattern of acupuncture points tattooed on his chest: "If you kill me, the thirty-seven points in Qingzhou..."
The dull thud of a heavy hammer smashing a skull cut short his threat. Xu Yunfan placed one foot on the head embedded in the floor tile and shook off the sticky red and white substance on the hammer.
"Noisy and boring."
In just a few breaths, there was no one standing in the entire Qixia Temple. Those who had taken drugs were smashed to pieces by his sledgehammers, leaving them lifeless.
The night wind swept across the hills, carrying the smell of blood.
Xu Yunfan bent down to pick up the blood-stained banner, wrapped the golden hammer in the jar and put it on his back. At this moment, all the believers in the Qixia Temple had already scattered in fear and disappeared.
When he turned around, Xu Yunfan caught a glimpse of the half-filled roster in Taoist Qixia's arms. He flipped through it and saw a page that read, "On July 15th, send twelve boys and twelve girls to the Cangwu Courtyard."
All other kinds of supplies were recorded in detail, most of which were sent to a place called Lianshan Town, at the junction of Qingzhou and Wuzhou.
"The Incense Sect..."
Xu Yunfan pondered for a moment, and did not put the half of the list into the brazier. Instead, he put it in his arms, picked up the merit box, turned around and left.
This is all money. A rough estimate is that the silver notes and silver taels would amount to about three or four thousand taels of silver.
After placing the slightly heavy donation box on the horse's back, the chestnut horse snorted outside the temple gate. Xu Yunfan then jumped on the horse and rode away.
Three days later, in Changyi City, the capital of Qingzhou, the Changfeng Restaurant and the Changfeng Tavern had the same owner.
The carved wooden window of the elegant room on the second floor was half open, and a few rays of twilight fell obliquely on the green jade table.
Xu Yunfan looked at the clear wine glass in front of him.
"Brother Liu, try this steamed spirit fish. Although I've only had it a few times, it tastes great."
When all the dishes were served, he raised his hand to remove the bamboo cover, and a white mist wrapped in a strange fragrance rose into the air.
The sea bass on the plate had a jade-like luster all over its body, and cloud patterns appeared faintly at seven inches of its body. It was the Changyi specialty "Qingyundu" - this fish was born in the depths of the Duhai Sea in Qingzhou. Eighty taels of silver could only be exchanged for four taels of fine meat, making it an excellent tonic for martial arts practitioners.
It is extremely beneficial for the martial artist realm, can strengthen the bones and muscles, cleanse the blood, and long-term consumption can subtly change a person's aptitude.
Unfortunately, this kind of excellent spiritual fish is extremely rare and can only be eaten when crossing the sea. You will only see one occasionally, and it will not survive for more than two hours if you leave the sea. Today, Xu Yunfan is lucky.
"Okay, okay!"
Liu Tianyun was overjoyed: "I have been working for the master for a long time. I have eaten this spiritual fish for about four or five years."
Liu Tianyuan picked up the tenderest part of the fish belly. When he took a bite, the sweet and refreshing energy rushed straight to his head. Just as he was about to praise, he saw the young man opposite him stroking the wine glass with his fingertips, his eyes lowered, and his mood was not very excited.
"But are you in trouble?"
Liu Tianyuan put down his chopsticks.
He remembered that when he first met this young man in the forest two months ago, although the young man had a weak aura and bloody lines on his skin from overexertion that almost broke his flesh, his spirit was so eye-catching. Now, he seemed a little uninterested.
After toasting and drinking, and after five dishes and three rounds of wine, and after the spirit fish was eaten until only the bones were left, Xu Yunfan put the wine glass on the table and exhaled.
Seeing this, Liu Tianyun couldn't help but ask, "I haven't seen you for a few months. Why do you look so sad?"
"In the past few months, I have visited seven or eight sects within a 500-mile radius of Changyi, but without exception, they all rejected me."
Xu Yunfan rubbed his brows and said helplessly, "Either they dislike me for practicing other martial arts, or they think I'm too advanced and that my motives for joining the sect are impure. They say that the Second-in-command martial artist is here to pay his respects, and I'm afraid he's just going to step on his plaque to get in..."
"puff..."
Liu Tianyuan choked on a mouthful of wine, and the wine drew a silver line in the air. If he hadn't thought quickly, the whole table of dishes would have been covered with his saliva.
He stood up suddenly, and his black brocade robe overturned the wine pot. The liquid dripped down the corner of the table and bloomed red plum blossoms on the floor.
He slammed the wine glass in his hand on the table and stood up with his hands on the table.
"You are actually a second-level martial artist?!"
Xu Yunfan nodded, a little surprised: "Brother Liu, don't you know?"
"How could I know that?"
In the silence of the room, the bronze bells on the eaves tinkled in the night wind. Xu Yunfan nodded blankly, a few strands of hair falling in front of his forehead, and in the candlelight, the childishness of youth could be vaguely seen between his brows.
Liu Tianyuan stared at the face that looked no more than twenty years old, and vaguely recalled that he had toiled day and night for ten years before he finally reached the threshold of training. He was already thirty years old at that time, and now he had only achieved great success in training tendons and some success in training bones. He was still a long way from achieving great success in training bones.
Is there no way to become a disciple?
Those sects are really wasting talent. They don't even accept such a genius. They are really blind.
"Those old bastards..."
He clenched his knuckles until they cracked, then suddenly grabbed the jar of wine and drank it headfirst.
Xu Yunfan's lips trembled when he saw this scene. This jar of wine was medicinal wine, brewed with rare herbs that replenished qi and blood. It was the signature of Changfeng Restaurant, and many warriors flocked to it. If it were not for Liu Tianyun's relationship, he would not have been able to get it. This alone cost him thirty taels of silver.
The amber nectar flowed down his neck and soaked through his clothes, but it could not extinguish Liu Tianyun's anger.
Such an amazing talent was actually turned away. I'm afraid the elders of various factions must have been blinded by the miasma!
"Alright, alright, don't be so angry, Brother Liu, I'm fine, I'm fine!"
Xu Yunfan hurried forward and snatched the jar of wine. He took a look and saw that Liu Tianyun had drunk half of the five-jin jar of wine.
"Alas, if..."
Liu Tianyun sighed and sat down. He scratched his head, pondered for a moment, and said, "Brother Xu, do you know where I come from?"
"Brother Liu, please explain."
"I was born in Wuzhou, and I learned the Heavenly Cicada Power, the unique martial art of the Heavenly Cicada Sect. Someone like you... would be wasting your talent by going to those sects in Qingzhou. The Heavenly Cicada Sect in Wuzhou was once a first-class sect renowned throughout the Great Zhou..."
As he spoke, Liu Tianyun took out a token engraved with thundercloud patterns from his arms and handed it to Xu Yunfan.