Volume 1: The Return of the Ancestor Chapter 7: Jade Collection, East Mountain Bandits
This was the first time Wu Yue had been to a county town since he was a child.
When she was on the street before, she felt overwhelmed. When she entered the clothing store and saw the colorful silks and satins, she felt a little dazzled.
Just as she couldn't take her eyes off those beautiful women's clothes, she heard Su Yan's voice transmission: "Two robes are enough for the master, but you need to buy a few sets of men's clothes in addition to women's clothes. After all, it's more convenient to travel in the martial arts world as a man, do you understand?"
Is this about a woman dressing up as a man?
Wu Yue was a little excited after hearing this. Without thinking too much about whether what Su Yan said made sense or not, she immediately nodded to show that she understood.
The shopkeeper of the clothing store saw a ragged girl carrying someone on her back and wanted to ask the shop assistant to drive her away. However, when he saw the sword at the girl's waist and the exquisite small wooden box in her left hand, he changed his mind and greeted her in person, "What kind of clothes do you want to buy, young lady?"
Wu Yue was already dazzled by the selection and had no idea which one to pick. Just as she was about to ask the boss for a recommendation, she heard Su Yan's voice.
"That aqua blue one suits you, and that sky blue one is just right for a man who practices martial arts..."
Wu Yue felt strange being told by her master personally which clothes to buy.
Then I felt inexplicably happy and sweet inside.
So, she followed Su Yan's request and bought four sets of women's clothes, four sets of men's clothes, some close-fitting underwear, and two very nice-looking brocade robes.
Afterwards, she asked the clerk in the clothing shop to help Su Yan put on the robe, and she changed into men's clothes in the fitting room. Then she paid the full amount of silver and left.
Wu Yue knew the principle of not showing off one's wealth without Su Yan's teaching, so she had taken out a separate portion of the silver in the carriage long ago, so as not to make people greedy after seeing the silver in the box.
When the owner of the clothing store saw Wu Yue wearing a sky-blue men's suit with her hair tied in a single bun, looking very heroic, he thought to himself: She is indeed a female warrior. Fortunately, I didn't chase her out before, otherwise if she made a scene, my shop would be in trouble.
For ordinary small businessmen, martial artists are not easy to deal with.
After leaving the clothing shop, Wu Yue followed Su Yan's instructions and went to the carriage shop to change for a better carriage, and hired an honest coachman in his fifties.
Then, she asked the driver to drive the cart to visit several drug stores in Sangqiu County and bought a lot of medicinal herbs.
Then he rented a small courtyard at Yuelai Inn in the south of the city and lived there.
…
Zhang Laifu has worked in the famous Pingchuan Carriage and Horse Company in Dongjun for twenty or thirty years. As he has been driving a horse-drawn carriage all over the country all year round, he has seen a lot. Although he does not know martial arts, he can be considered a half-man of the world.
Having been a coachman for so many years, he thought that his eyes were well trained and he could basically tell who the customer was at a glance.
But today this guest really made him confused.
'This girl is definitely not from the city, but she doesn't look like a farmer in the countryside either. Could she be a disciple from some martial arts sect who came out to gain experience?
But the master would definitely not be comfortable with such a pretty girl training alone, so she should be carrying the elders in the master's sect, right?
However, her senior master seemed unable to move at all and had been sitting cross-legged the entire time. If it weren't for his good complexion, he would have looked almost like a corpse.
She bought so many medicines in the city, could it be that the two of them encountered a strong enemy and the master was seriously injured?
"Uncle Fu."
Wu Yue walked out of the main house and called out, bringing Zhang Lai Fu back to his senses.
Zhang Laifu quickly responded: "What's the matter, young lady?"
Wu Yue handed over the gauze bag in her hand that was one foot long, and said, "Uncle Fu, please help me. Put this medicine bag in the big pot in the kitchen and boil it with water. Use a high fire to boil it. Add water from time to time to ensure that the water in the pot always covers the medicine bag. It must be boiled for a full hour and a half before stopping... Uncle Fu, do you understand?"
Zhang Laifu was tactful and didn't ask what he was doing. He just nodded and said, "I understand. I'll do it right away."
The rent for the courtyard was not cheap and it had its own small kitchen with firewood prepared inside, so Zhang Lai Fu didn't need to go out.
Wu Yue returned to the main house and prepared other medicinal materials according to Su Yan's instructions.
"According to my summary, martial arts in the world can be divided into three paths: refining qi, refining the body, and refining the spirit. Most martial artists in the world today focus on refining qi, which is also known as cultivating true qi.
Except for some people who have poor talent in Qi training but happen to have the opportunity to practice body training, there are only a few warriors who use body training as a supplement.
Because people's cultivation resources such as time, energy and even the wealth they can control are limited, if they want to advance in Qi and body training at the same time, their progress will often be slow, and they may even be stuck at a lower level for the rest of their lives.
As for the soul-refining technique, it is only a guess from some rumors. There is no martial arts tradition of soul-refining in the world today, so it is difficult to research its details. "
While Wu Yue was processing and preparing the medicinal materials as required, Su Yan was giving instructions via voice transmission.
Wu Yue couldn't help but pause what he was doing and asked, "Master, since Qi and body training are making slow progress, why should I rush to practice this Jade Concentration Technique?"
Su Yan smiled, "What I just said is just a general principle, but everything cannot be generalized. We must understand that special situations should be treated specially."
"Special treatment for special cases?"
Su Yan subconsciously wanted to nod, but then he remembered that he couldn't control his body.
Then he said: "For example, you have the guidance of the master and the help of Peiyuan Dan , plus your good physique and comprehension, so you have made rapid progress in Qi Refining.
But this also causes your practice to reach a bottleneck in a short period of time. If you want to make another breakthrough in Qi Refining, you can only wait.
In this case, you can definitely spare the time and energy to practice physical training, and there is no shortage of resources for the time being, so why not practice?
Your practice of "Cui Yu Gong" does not hinder the progress of "Wu Ji Gong". On the contrary, it can improve your strength in another way.
"Cui Yu Gong" is a body-building exercise that is more suitable for women, which was summarized by the master based on many body-building exercises and women's health-preserving methods. It currently has seven levels. As long as you complete the first level of "flesh training", it will be enough for you to have a strength comparable to the fifth level of the acquired realm.
Besides, the first level of Cui Yu Gong is not difficult to practice. It only requires seven medicinal baths, taking internal strengthening medicine for half a month, and practicing for half an hour every morning and evening."
At this point, Su Yan paused, and seeing that Wu Yue was listening attentively, he continued, "And there is another benefit of the Jade Concentration Technique, which is to nourish the body and maintain the complexion."
Su Yan originally thought that Wu Yue would be very surprised when he mentioned this benefit, but Wu Yue just nodded slowly in thought.
After being slightly puzzled, Su Yan "looked" at Wu Yue's youthful and beautiful appearance again, and then he suddenly realized that a girl like Wu Yue has not yet experienced the horror of time, and naturally does not know how tempting the beauty-preserving effect of "Cui Yu Gong" is to a girl.
An hour and a half later.
Wu Yue used two wooden barrels to carry the medicinal soup prepared by Zhang Lai Fu to the bedroom in the main house and prepared to go in.
Su Yan sat cross-legged in the hall, and “seeing” this, he reminded again: “This medicinal bath is quite painful, but you must endure it and soak for more than an hour.”
Wu Yue smiled slightly, "Master, don't worry, I will definitely hold it in."
She entered the bedroom, closed the door, poured the medicine into the bathtub, added a few scoops of cold water to make the temperature hot enough to burn but not to damage the skin. Then Wu Yue took off her clothes, stepped into the bathtub and sat down.
"Uh~"
The scalding water temperature and the feeling of ants biting quickly all over her body made Wu Yue almost jump up and scream.
But thinking of Su Yan's instructions, she frowned, clenched her teeth, clenched her fists and held back...
The next day, after breakfast, Wu Yue and Su Yan sat in the carriage and left Sangqiu County.
The carriage left from the north gate of the county town, but after running on the official road for an hour, it turned west and went deep into the Dongshan Mountains.
As far as Su Yan knew, the continent where Daliang was located did not seem to be very big.
Because Daliang is known as the largest and most powerful country here, its territory is only equivalent to three Northeasts in Su Yan's previous life.
Dongshan County is located in the easternmost part of Daliang and is named after the Dongshan Mountain Range.
The Dongshan mountain range is a long arc running from north to south with a slight concave shape towards the east in the middle.
Gou County and Sangqiu County are both on the east side of the mountains, while Su Yan has to pass through Sanjiang County west of Dongshan County to go to Yunchuan County.
Yunchuan is full of towering mountains and streams, and Kunwu Mountain, where the Wuji Dao was founded, is one of the mountains in Yunchuan.
In the afternoon, the carriage had passed the western part of the Dongshan Mountains and suddenly stopped when it reached a mountain path.
Zhang Laifu looked unhappy, and before Wu Yue could ask, he said, "Girl, it seems we have encountered robbers."
Wu Yue lifted the car curtain and saw that the pipeline in front was blocked by two large horizontal trees , which was obviously man-made.
Then she heard a burst of scattered footsteps from behind, and then a dozen disheveled men rushed out from the woods on both sides and blocked the carriage's retreat.
Most of the dozen men were holding wooden spears or harpoons, and only the three leading men were holding worn-out swords.
Seeing Wu Yue jump off the carriage, the three leading men's eyes lit up immediately, and one of them shouted: "Get out of here, old man! We want this woman and the carriage!"
With the experiences of killing Qin Sanshun and kidnapping Huang Yuanwai, Wu Yue was not too afraid even though it was his first time encountering bandits.
Seeing Uncle Fu looking over and Su Yan in the car not saying anything, Wu Yue prepared to go up and drive away the group of bandits.
However, just as she grasped the hilt of the sword, she heard another thunderous roar -
"Hey ! You bunch of cowards, how dare you come and steal my business while I'm having dinner? Don't you want to live?!"
As the sound came, a short-haired man who was over two meters tall, with a bronze complexion and bulging muscles ran out from the woods on the roadside in front of the car.
The big man, holding two stone hammers, came out without even looking at Wu Yue, and rushed straight towards the group of bandits.
The group of bandits were like mice seeing a cat. They didn't dare to say a word and ran into the forest as if they were escaping for their lives and disappeared.
The big man then turned to Wu Yue, and clinked the two stone hammers in his hands, staring and shouting seriously: "This mountain is opened by me, and this tree is planted by me. If you want to pass through, leave money for passage!"
It was the first time for Wu Yue to encounter such a thing, and she was stunned by the drink.
Seeing this, the big man frowned and said, "Don't you know the rules? Leave the food and money behind, and I will move the tree in front of you and let you go!"
