Chapter 19: Jianghu Struggles

"Senior Brother Han, you really are someone who doesn't ask about affairs outside the window. You don't even know about such a big matter? Even if you were in seclusion, your master should have mentioned it to you." Little Abacus's tone seemed to have become suspicious again.

Han Li didn't say a word upon hearing this, nimbly fished out a waist token from his body, and handed it to Little Abacus.

"Senior Brother Han, what are you doing? Could I not trust you! I felt you looked familiar the moment I saw you; we must have met before, hehe!" He quickly glanced at the waist token with the corner of his eye, and seeing it was real, he hurriedly apologized with a smile.

"Can you tell me now?" Han Li was still concerned about the question he had just raised.

"Of course, of course."

"Terrible, I'm afraid I've offended this guy in front of me." Little Abacus muttered to himself, but he honestly spilled everything out.

It turned out that in recent years, the conflict between the Qixuan Sect and the Wild Wolf Gang had become more intense. The two sides had fought more than a dozen battles, large and small, over several wealthy towns whose ownership was unclear, and both sides had lost quite a few men. Because the members of the Wild Wolf Gang were all trained using the same methods as horse bandits, they were all fearless when fighting and became even crazier after seeing blood. While the disciples of the Qixuan Sect had higher martial arts, they lacked that ruthless streak and were timid in fighting. As a result, it was often the latter that suffered more casualties. After several consecutive battles, the big shots of the Qixuan Sect could no longer sit still and sent out most of the inner sect disciples to participate in the series of fights between the two sides. On one hand, these territories absolutely could not be lost; on the other hand, it allowed the disciples to see the cruelty of the Jianghu and temper themselves, gaining actual combat experience.

As a result, the Qixuan Sect gained the upper hand in some subsequent fights, but the inner sect disciples also suffered too many casualties. Many older senior brothers never returned after going out. Speaking of this, Little Abacus sighed endlessly.

Later, the Sect Masters changed their strategy, letting inner sect disciples first perform some less important tasks and gain experience elsewhere. After gaining a certain amount of Jianghu experience, they would then participate in the fights with the Wild Wolf Gang. In this way, casualties were indeed reduced a lot. Thus, this strategy was officially incorporated into the sect rules in the past two years, requiring all disciples to go down the mountain to gain experience after completing their apprenticeship before they could be granted actual positions within the sect.

Just like that, almost all the older senior brothers on the mountain were sent down the mountain. Now, they were either entangled with the Wild Wolf Gang or had gone to gain experience. Apart from the necessary mountain-guarding disciples, only these young disciples who hadn't completed their apprenticeship were left on the mountain.

Hearing this, Han Li suddenly realized and understood the reason why the mountain was different from before.

"Clang!" With a loud noise, a soft sword flew into mid-air.

Zhao Ziling pressed his right hand's web space, which had been shaken and injured, with his left hand, retreated a few steps with a pale face, and gasped for air.

Just now, under Senior Brother Li's swift and fierce linked blade momentum, he couldn't dodge in time and was forced to use the soft sword in his hand to parry, resulting in his weapon being shaken away by the huge force transmitted from the blade.

"Senior Brother Li, you are indeed powerful. This younger brother admits defeat." Zhao Ziling managed a smile and bowed.

Cheers erupted all around.

"Senior Brother Li, what handsome skills!"

"Senior Brother Li, what a blade art!"

"Senior Brother Li, please give this younger brother some pointers!"

One after another, shouts that didn't want to fall behind rang out across the entire arena, directed at their idol.

Senior Brother Li put away his long blade, a faint blush appeared on his face, and he was just about to say something. Suddenly, his expression changed, and he frowned, as if he had remembered something.

He cupped his fists and said coolly: "I have some urgent matters to attend to, so I will take my leave first."

Turning around, he drifted lightly out of the arena, showing off a handsome light-body technique, and disappeared into the pine forest by the cliff.

"Tsk tsk! Senior Brother Li not only has good blade art, but his light-body technique is also very brilliant."

"Exactly!"

"Exactly!"

Sounds of praise rang out again.

Han Li frowned. This Senior Brother Li's skills were not bad, but he seemed to like showing off a bit; he was probably a bit young and vigorous.

Looking back, he couldn't help but give a bitter smile. He didn't seem to be older than these people, so why was his thinking always so old-fashioned, as if he were already a little old man? It seemed that practicing that set of formulas had made his mindset completely old.

"This Junior Brother, I still don't know your name?" Han Li glanced at Little Abacus standing on the side and suddenly asked for his name.

"My name is Jin Dongbao, but Senior Brother Han can just call me Little Abacus." Little Abacus became excited immediately upon hearing Han Li ask for his name, appearing to think that he had relied on the big tree in front of him.

"In the future, if you get sick or injured, just come find me. I will treat you for free." Han Li patted his shoulder, looked at the crowd in the arena who were arguing again, and walked into the pine forest nearby without looking back.

Jin Dongbao, left in place, was still in a daze, not knowing what he meant for a while.

===== CHAPTER 20 =====