The sun had already set. The gurgling stream flowed through the mountains.
On the hillside by the stream, the place that was sheltered from the night wind by a big rock had turned into a small kitchen.
The firewood was burning in the newly built stove. Fragrant rice was being cooked in the iron pot. On the fire beside the iron pot, the yellowing roasted fish and frogs were being skewered on bamboo or wooden skewers.
The little monk swallowed his saliva and sat cross-legged at the side. He looked at the youngster opposite him with admiration as he took out salt, dogwood, and other powders from the medicine box. When the fish and frogs were almost done roasting, he sprinkled them on them with a dreamy technique. Suddenly, an even more exotic fragrance seemed to be emitted.
"Ah … Amitabha. Benefactor, you have cooked so much rice. What are you going to do tomorrow … "The little monk swallowed his saliva.
"Do you eat very little?"
"I, I …" The little monk stammered.
"Alright, we are all martial arts practitioners, so we need to eat well occasionally. I originally wanted to have a sumptuous meal tonight. You are lucky to have met me."
The little monk was dumbfounded as he watched the other party open the small cloth bag beside him and take out half a roasted duck. After a while, he said, "Benefactor, are you also a martial arts practitioner?"
"How is it? You can't tell, right? I am a doctor, so I learned the Five Animal Frolics. "
"Ah, I know. There are tiger, deer, bear, ape, and bird."
"No, it's cat fist, horse fist, panda fist, monkey fist, and chicken fist."
"Uh … but my master said …"
"Is your master a doctor?"
"No, he is a monk."
"That's why he knows what the Five Animal Frolics is. Next time you see him, you should have the courage to correct his mistakes." The youngster tore at the roasted duck. "… By the way, aren't you monks not allowed to eat meat?"
"Amitabha. Master said that it is natural for all living beings in the world to hunt for food. It is in line with the principle of the Great Way. In order to satisfy one's hunger, what one eats is irrelevant. Since all things are empty, then meat and vegetables are also empty. As long as one doesn't fall into greed, there is no need to kill. Therefore, we can't use nets or hooks to catch fish. But if we just want to eat, we can catch fish with our hands. "
"Oh … your master is quite something …"
"Haha, he's a fatty …"
The small rice bowl used to solicit alms was filled with rice. Then, it was piled with grilled fish, frogs, and roast ducks. The little monk held it in his hands and his stomach growled. The youth opposite him also scooped the food in his own bowl. The two silhouettes under the light of the fire made a few gestures of satisfaction. Then, they lowered their heads and started to eat with big mouthfuls of food.
"… Where's your master?"
"Master has gone into the city to eat good food. He said that if I follow him, it will not be beneficial to my cultivation, so he told me to go alone. If anything happens, I am not allowed to use his name."
"Oh. Your master is quite something. "
"Haha … Benefactor, what's your name?"
"Me? Hey! That's amazing. " The figure on the stone wall stood up. Under the illumination of the fire, it seemed especially tall and big, baring its fangs and brandishing its claws. "My name is — Dragon!"
The voice paused for a moment. "Ow!"
"Heavens!"
An imposing voice reverberated in the night.
"Ah …" The small monk widened his eyes. "Dragon … Dragon …"
"That's right, dragon! Arrogant! Tian! " Long Aotian said as he squatted down to eat. In order to keep a low profile, he said, "You can call me Brother Long."
"Brother Long." Under the temptation of the food, the small monk showed his potential to be an excellent follower. "Your name is so murderous and powerful."
"Hehe, I don't need you to tell me."
It was not easy to travel far in troubled times. Ning Ji had been out of the southwest for two or three months. Because of his innocent face, he had cheated a lot of adults of food and drinks. He rarely met a traveler who was younger than him like the small monk. In addition, the small monk was good at martial arts, which gave him a good impression. Therefore, Ning Ji acted like a domineering big brother in Jianghu. The small monk was really innocent. From time to time, under the influence of his domineering aura, he showed admiration in his eyes and then ate the rice.
They exchanged information while eating. After a while, Ning Ji learned that the small monk was originally from Jindi. When the Female Immortal went south last time, his mother passed away and his father went missing. Later, he was adopted by his master, which gave him a chance to survive.
The small monk's master should be a famous martial artist. This time, he took the small monk along the way to the south. Along the way, he had sparred with many people who were said to be good at martial arts. He had even done a few heroic deeds. This was the travel trail of most people from the Green Forest. When they were near Jiangning, they separated.
When he asked for his name, the small monk hesitated. "Master said … I'm not allowed to say my Dharma name when I'm here, I …"
He was a little embarrassed when he said this. Ning Ji nodded in understanding. "Your master is something …" This kind of famous martial artist would usually have a lot of social activities when they arrived in Jiangning and would encounter a lot of flattery. When he arrived here, he separated from his disciple and did not allow the small monk to use his name. On the one hand, he wanted the small monk to experience real experience. On the other hand, he had enough confidence in his disciple's martial arts skills.
There were many taboos in Jianghu. Ning Ji was very "knowledgeable" about things that the other party did not want to say. On the other hand, when he said that he came from the southwest, the small monk's eyes widened again. He asked repeatedly about how the Southwest Black Flag Army defeated the Female Immortal.
His parents died and disappeared when the Female Immortal went south last time. Therefore, he hated the Female Immortal the most. He also admired the Black Flag Army that could defeat the Female Immortal. Seeing his expression, Ning Ji was even happier. He talked to the small monk about all kinds of things on the battlefield, pointing out the country and inspiring words. He even waved a branch with fire and wanted to draw a marching map on a big rock. He even skipped a few mouthfuls of food.
The two finished all the food and talked about each other's affairs by the campfire. Occasionally, they jumped and danced. When Ning Ji talked about what happened on the battlefield, he naturally borrowed someone else's name. He often said "a friend of mine". The small monk listened attentively and shouted, wishing that he could kneel down in front of the hero of the Huaxia Army. Only when he talked about the details of the fight and martial arts, he showed a considerable level of accomplishment.
When Ning Ji talked about the fight with the Female Immortal scouts on the battlefield, he naturally said the names of the moves casually. Sometimes, he just used an alias like "yellow dog peeing" or "lion hitting the wall". Hearing the description of the moves, the other party could actually guess many correct plots and moves based on some clues.
Of course, every time this happened, the domineering Long Aotian would slap the small monk's head. "Am I the doctor or are you the doctor? If I say the yellow dog pees, then it's the yellow dog pees! If you talk back to me again, I'll flatten your head! "
The small monk covered his head and squatted at the side. He chuckled and said, "Oh …"
It was the night of the 14th of August. The round moon rose in the sky, and the sparks spread. The two teenagers were happily telling stories by the big rock. There were many things that happened in the southwest. The small monk kept asking questions, but it was impossible to tell them all. Ning Ji said, "You will know when you have time."
The small monk nodded. "Yes, I will go in the future … After my mother died, maybe my father went to the Huaxia Army."
After he was taken in by his master, he experienced wars, killings, and all kinds of dangerous tests where he almost died. His impression of his father had long faded. However, after wandering in Jianghu for all these years, he still remembered the idea of looking for his father. Perhaps if he found his father, he would have a complete family, and he could settle down.
When he said this, he felt a little sad. Ning Ji took a branch and said, "Well, baldy, since your master doesn't want you to use your original name, I will give you a new Dharma name. Let me tell you, this Dharma name is awesome. It was given by my father. "
The small monk nodded repeatedly. "Okay, okay."
He sat cross-legged and watched the other person write three dark, crooked words on the rock with a branch: Sun Wukong.
"What is this?"
"This is the most powerful monkey in the world."
"It's a monkey …"
"The most powerful monkey …"
Beside the stream, on the hillside, next to a big rock that was filled with a warm aura, Long Aotian's ferocious figure was reflected on the stone wall. He told his friends stories about monkeys in an exaggerated manner. After a while, the young monk also opened his mouth wide and let out a cry of surprise.
"Let me tell you, I won't give this name to ordinary people. When you travel in Jianghu and do chivalry, I know it's you who did it when I heard this name … "
The bonfire crackled and burned. In this duckweed gathering, sparks occasionally rose into the sky and gradually intertwined with the stars …
…
The light dust flew into the night sky and floated over a short distance of the hillside. It turned into dull ashes and fell into the stream. The stream turned into a small river, and the small river twisted and turned into a big river. Under this sky, it extended into a mighty and intertwined waterway.
More than ten miles away from this inconspicuous hillside, the Qinhuai River, a branch of the waterway, flowed through the ancient city of Jiangning. Thousands of lights were spreading across the land.
In the west of Jiangning, clusters of torches burned fiercely, illuminating the messy streets with scattered light and shadows. This was a night market opened after the Fairness Party occupied Jiangning. The surrounding shops along the street had signs of being smashed, and some even had black ashes from being burned. Some of the shops had new owners, and there were also wooden sheds that were built crookedly in the surroundings. The craftsmen of the Fairness Party had set up stalls here. Due to the increasing number of outsiders, it was quite lively for a while.
Among the five branches of the Fairness Party, the one with the strictest rules was the team under the Fairness King, He Wen. If his army broke into the city and occupied it, they could often leave some of the original appearance of the place. The other branches each had their own ways of killing. The Fairness King, Shi Baofeng, was reasonable most of the time, but he plundered gold and silver the most. The army under the High Heavenly King was the most elite, but after three to five days of entering the city, it was normal for the soldiers to vent. The Wheel King had the most followers. Every time he entered the city, he would beat the drums and gongs, and if he wanted anything, he would just use the name of the Ajati Matriarch. As for the Yama King, Zhou Shang, wherever he went, the rich would not be spared. All the splendid places would be burned to the ground. Now, even the 'relatively rich', with a tidy family background, often could not accommodate them anymore.
You Hongzhuo was dressed in a tattered black outfit. He found a seat in the night market and sat down. He ordered a plate of vegetarian meat, a glass of water, and a bowl of rice from the shopkeeper.
While waiting for the food to be served, his gaze swept across the many flags hanging in the darkness around him, as well as the signs of the White Lotus and the Grand Sun everywhere. This was a street under the care of the Ajati Matriarch, who was under the command of the Wheel King. After traveling the martial world for so many years, from the Land of Jin to the Southwest, he had gained a lot of knowledge. However, it had been a long time since he had seen such a strong atmosphere of the Great Light Sect in Jiangning.
He had always held a grudge against the Great Light Sect. His parents and family had died in the hands of these followers. Over the years, he had been relatively fond of getting close to these idiots who believed in the religion. If he saw any conspiracy, he would destroy it.
Of course, it was not to the extent that he needed to destroy anything yet. He rubbed the chopsticks in his hand and recalled the information he had obtained from the Inquirer's Bag.
Along the way to Jiangning, other than increasing his martial arts cultivation, he did not have any specific goals. If he really wanted to find one, it would probably be to investigate the inside story of the Jiangning Meeting for the Minister of the Land of Jin to the best of his abilities.
Right now, the chaotic meeting had just begun. Various parties had set up arenas to recruit people. There were many variables as to who would end up standing on which side. However, he had found a way through the woods and found this well-informed person. At a relatively low price, he had bought some information that might be considered reliable at the current stage as a reference.
The most likely reason for the Jiangning Meeting to erupt was that the King of Justice, He Wen, wanted to kill the King of Hell, Zhou Shang. Mister He Wen required his subordinates to follow the rules, but Zhou Shang was the most unruly. His subordinates were extreme and bigoted. Wherever they went, they would slaughter all the rich families. In many ways, these two people were the most antagonistic within the Party of Justice.
Due to Zhou Shang's extreme actions, there was friction and disagreement between the King of Hell's faction and the other four factions. For example, on the King of Chakravarti's side, the Jackdaw, Chen Juefang, who was in charge of the Undying Guard, was originally a rich family in Jiangnan. He had always been a devout believer of the Great Radiant Church. Usually, he dispensed medicine, donated money, and did many good deeds. After the Party of Justice rose up, the King of Hell's faction charged into Chen Juefang's house and burned it to death. Later, this incident led to thousands of people killing each other at Lake Tai. Because of this, the two sides could be said to have formed a death grudge.
This kind of hatred with the King of Hell's faction had accumulated among the other factions that were willing to accept the rich families and wash their names clean. In the past one or two years, although the King of Hell and his subordinates were known as the evil heretics, because their slogan was the most radical and thorough, they quickly gathered a large number of supporters. They only did destruction, not construction. Every time they arrived at a place, they would wipe clean everyone's belongings before sweeping them to the next place.
Now, Zhou Shang's faction was powerful, and in terms of numbers, it was said that they had already surpassed the King of Chakravarti, who had originally relied on the Great Radiant Church to rise up.
This was the biggest reason why the King of Justice, He Wen, and the other factions were likely to move against him.
Apart from the King of Hell, Zhou Shang, who had become the target of public criticism, there was also the power struggle between the King of Justice, He Wen, and the King of Equality, Shi Baofeng. Back then, although Shi Baofeng had been in charge of the Party of Justice's internal affairs with Mr. He's support, as his base expanded, he was now too big to be shaken. In everyone's words, he had almost become a business entity that was even larger than the Southwest Takeshi. In the eyes of many knowledgeable people, this was an intolerable hidden danger.
For many of the upper echelons of the Party of Justice, they believed that Shi Baofeng's challenge to Mr. He was worse than Zhou Shang's.
And in this atmosphere where Mr. He "might move against Zhou Shang" and "might move against Shi Baofeng", there was also a kind of public opinion that was gradually rising in private. This kind of public opinion said that the King of Justice, Mr. He, was extremely greedy for power and could not tolerate others. As he was still the leader of the Party of Justice and the strongest faction, this gathering might turn into the other four factions fighting against Mr. He's family. And the public opinion regarding the "desire for power" that was circulating in private was to build momentum for this.
The information provided by the "Inquisitor" was reasonable, but it could only be considered average information. Of course, You Hongzhuo had not been here for long, so he did not expect to receive the other party's heartfelt and top-secret information.
If he could get a general understanding of the situation and slowly look over it, there would always be a chance that he would have a good grasp of the situation. And no matter who was fighting to the death in Jiangning City, he would just be watching the show. At most, he would find a chance to slash the Great Radiant Church a few times. After all, there were so many people, so it did not matter who he slashed. They probably wouldn't care.
While he was thinking about these things, the waiter brought the food over. You Hongzhuo lowered his head and ate a few mouthfuls. The night market beside him was bustling with people, and there were customers coming and going from time to time. A few men in gray and black clothes walked past You Hongzhuo, and the waiter came over to welcome them warmly. He led them to a table not far away.
You Hongzhuo ate and took a few glances. The people in front of him were the so-called "Undying Guards" of the Eight Enforcers under the King of Lun Zhuan. He found it a little funny. Stupid sects like the Great Radiant Church loved to come up with fancy gimmicks, but they were getting more and more out of line over the years. "King of Lun Zhuan", "Eight Enforcers", "Lifeless Army", "Undying Guards" … If he were to slash one of them on the spot, would he still be able to get up on the spot? If he were to die … It was really embarrassing to think about it.
He had been in the pugilistic world for many years, and he only used his peripheral vision to size people up. Others would only think that he was lowering his head to eat, and it was extremely difficult for them to notice his observation. It was also at this moment that You Hongzhuo's gaze froze as the light from the torch flickered. His hands subconsciously slowed down a little.
He saw the weapon on the waist of one of the Undying Guards, who was sitting with his back facing him.
It was a steel whip mace.
You Hongzhuo had once felt familiar with such a steel whip mace. He had even played with it before, and he could even remember some of the essentials of using it.
Many years ago, he had killed his way out of that small mountain village. Before he met Mr. and Mrs. Zhao, he had six sworn brothers and sisters. Among them, the stern eldest brother, Luan Fei, who had a knife scar on his face, was a pugilistic world spy who helped "Master of Chaos" Wang Juyun gather money. He was a pair with the gentle third sister, Qin Xiang, who had a birthmark on her face. The fourth brother was called Kuang Wenbai, and he was good at using a single whip. In reality, he came from a branch of the Great Radiant Church, and in the end … he betrayed them.
He still remembered the scene when his third sister, Qin Xiang, had her arm broken and her head chopped off …
Later on, in Zezhou, he met Kuang Wenbai again after separating from Mr. and Mrs. Zhao, and was sent to prison …
Among the seven sworn brothers, You Hongzhuo had only seen his third sister die before his eyes. Later on, he roamed the land of Jin and protected the female appearance. He also had the opportunity to meet the higher-ups of Jin. However, he had never asked anyone, including Wang Juyun, about what happened to his eldest brother, Luan Fei, or whether his second brother, Lu Guangzhi, his fifth brother, Le Zheng, and his sixth brother, Qian Heng, had managed to escape.
He had always been concerned about the whereabouts of his fourth brother, Kuang Wenbai …
The flames inside and outside the shop crackled. The smell of smoke and dust, the smell of dishes, the smell of dirty water, and the faint smell of decay drifted in the night sky. You Hongzhuo ate his food slowly, his gaze only moving between the steel whip mace and the indistinguishable back view. After a while, he finished eating and gently put down his chopsticks. Then, he rubbed his palms and placed them on his face. He sat there silently with his eyes closed for a long time.
He was excited and could not calm down. He did not know what to do now …
He had originally thought that since he had become so powerful recently, he would not waste his manuscripts anymore. Who knew that he would waste his manuscripts three more times. Some of the manuscripts were written in the wrong direction, and some were edited out. He would post them in the book review and comments section later. Those who were interested could take a look.
(End of this chapter)
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
