Chapter 18: There are four great meddlesome things in life

More than ten days later.

In the Jiangnan region, a youth in a green robe was leisurely boating on the lake. Not long after, a small boat behind him sped past from the side.

A gentle yet slightly urgent female voice vaguely came from the cabin:

"Old man, if you reach there as quickly as possible, I will give you double the silver."

In the middle of the lake, Zhuang Buran heard the old boatman laugh and say:

"Alright, miss, please sit steady."

Immediately, only the distant shadow of the boat remained.

Zhuang Buran just watched the surrounding scenery on his own, and faint frog croaks sounded from within his body, clearly practicing and playing at the same time.

And in a state of quiet meditation, practicing the internal organ refining method of the 'Toad Technique', thanks to the Quanzhen internal energy method he had learned earlier.

After about half an incense stick of time, Zhuang Buran heard a burst of fighting sounds. Looking over, he saw that the previous boat had encountered water bandits.

He saw many fierce-looking water bandits surrounding a beautiful girl of fifteen or sixteen, dressed in an apricot-yellow dress.

On seven or eight boats not far away, there were even more water bandits surrounding a big man holding a blade.

Zhuang Buran remained unmoved, and the boat he was riding continued to move forward slowly.

"Big brother, someone else is coming!" the thin man next to the blade-wielding man called out.

"Although we are bandits, we also pay attention to not leaving empty-handed." The blade-wielding man waved his hand:

"This little girl is a bit thorny. I'll watch first. You take a few brothers to deal with that green-robed kid over there."

"Alright."

The thin youth did not hesitate at all. The girl surrounded here looked delicate and gentle, but her hands were not ambiguous at all. In one encounter, she used hidden weapons to kill and injure more than ten brothers.

And now, they had been unable to take her down for a long time, which was truly dangerous. He had just been worried in his heart, but fortunately, a great savior had arrived immediately. This green-robed youth had delicate skin and tender flesh; he looked like a rich young master who had run away from home.

Immediately, the thin youth took a few people and drove another small boat to ram the slow-moving small boat.

"Kid, stop! Surrender immediately, and I will let you suffer a little less."

"Jianghu scum come to the door voluntarily—how can there be suffering?"

Zhuang Buran struck out with a palm, exerting force through the air. The thin youth's head suddenly caved in. Hearing a "plop," he fell into the lake. The others had not yet had time to react.

Several small needles as thin as ox hair sank into their hearts, and they all died and fell into the lake.

Several consecutive "plop" sounds instantly attracted the attention of the blade-wielding man, who couldn't help but frown:

"What kind of bad luck did I have today?"

He turned his head and ordered:

"You go deal with that little girl, I'll go chop that kid to death."

"Yes, big brother."

The remaining water bandits swarmed toward the beautiful girl, while the blade-wielding man soared into the air, tapped the water surface lightly, arrived before the small boat, and then swung his blade down fiercely:

"Kid, die!"

Zhuang Buran's gaze was peaceful. The 'Dragon Subduing Eighteen Palms' was particularly good at fighting armed men without weapons. He raised his hand in a stance of 'Dragon Battles in the Wild'. By the time the palm wind swept to a distance of one zhang, the blade-wielding man's body stiffened instantly and he smashed heavily into the lake water.

"Not good, big brother is dead, run quickly."

The many water bandits surrounding the girl did not know who had shouted in terror. Just as they were scattering like birds and beasts, the green-robed youth not far away walked on the lake as if on flat ground, running like the wind.

In twenty or thirty breaths, a thick smell of blood permeated the air. One could see corpses on every boat, and floating corpses on the lake, even staining the surrounding lake water a layer of blood color.

Only the green-robed youth remained unstained, standing quietly and calmly at the bow of the boat.

Seeing this, the girl's pretty face was first filled with doubt, then she used her not-so-bad lightness skill to come to Zhuang Buran's side and said softly:

"Mochou thanks the young hero for his help."

Zhuang Buran raised an eyebrow:

"Your surname is Li?"

"Does the young hero know me?" Li Mochou asked back in a daze.

"There are four great meddlesome things in life: helping mud, carving rotten wood, flipping salted fish, and scalding dead pigs."

Zhuang Buran answered the question with another:

"Which kind do you think you are?"

"What do you mean?"

"The mud is lying there perfectly fine, but you insist on helping it onto the wall. The rotten wood is rotting perfectly fine, but you insist on carving it into talent. The salted fish is lying there perfectly fine, but you insist on flipping it over. The dead pig is dead perfectly fine, but you insist on scalding it with boiling water. You tell me, aren't these meddlesome things?"

"Since you are unwilling to help me, why did you kill all the water bandits?" Li Mochou's tone was slightly cold.

"If you hadn't mentioned it, Zhuang would have almost forgotten. I just did you a big favor."

Zhuang Buran said righteously:

"So, will you give me some reward?"

"I haven't been down the mountain for long, and I didn't bring any silver with me." Li Mochou looked around:

"These water bandits must have wealth on them. I will help you flip them out, and consider it a reward."

"Since I killed the people, the things should have been mine."

Zhuang Buran laughed dumbly:

"You take my things to thank me?"

"What exactly do you want?" Li Mochou frowned.

"Zhuang has always been fond of martial arts. The movement technique you just displayed is not bad; it can be considered a reward."

"You people outside like to take martial arts as a reward?" Li Mochou's brows furrowed even deeper.

"Yes, that's right."

Zhuang Buran said lazily:

"If I hadn't taken action in time just now, with your extremely shallow combat experience, you would have been seriously injured if not dead. Such a favor of help should be much heavier than a martial art, right?"

"This..."

Li Mochou was ultimately new to the Jianghu. Although she felt that what the green-robed youth said made sense, she always felt something was wrong.

She sighed in her heart:

"Forget it, anyway, in order to find Lu Lang, I have already fallen out with my master and can never go back. From now on, I only wish to fly together with Lu Lang..."

Thinking of this, Li Mochou said:

"I will teach you the movement technique, and from now on, we are even."

"That would be even better." Zhuang Buran truly did not expect her to agree so easily, and replied readily.

The two cleaned up and left on a small boat.

The next day, in the bamboo forest outside Jiaxing.

Li Mochou was holding a cloth bag, and one could only hear the sound of chirping coming from inside the bag.

"Let's say it first: this technique of mine is a martial art that integrates movement and palm techniques. I will explain it once and demonstrate it for you once. No matter whether you have learned it or not, we are even from now on."

After speaking, not giving Zhuang Buran a chance to speak, she recited the key points of darting high and pouncing low, waving, grabbing, and pinching, and then explained the key points of the lightness body lifting technique and grappling technique.

Then she shook open the mouth of the bag, and saw a group of sparrows flying out quickly.

In an instant, one hand swung out, one retracted and one patted, preventing the sparrows from flying away. Afterward, both hands seemed to transform into hundreds or thousands, instantly trapping the sparrows flying in all directions within three feet of her chest, making them unable to do anything no matter how they flew, rolled, or counterattacked.

Although Li Mochou said she was very heartless, her demonstration of every move allowed Zhuang Buran to see it very clearly.

"Alright, this technique is called 'Heavenly Net and Earthly Web Stance'. I have finished teaching it." After Li Mochou released the sparrows in front of her chest, she said decisively.

Zhuang Buran, having watched with his hands behind his back, understood all the key points of this technique and realized the characteristics of the Ancient Tomb Sect's martial arts, secretly thinking to himself:

"Interesting. It doesn't rely on deep internal strength but mainly on rapid techniques. The result is extremely dense, and its power is no weaker than having a sword in hand. It can indeed make up for weaknesses and increase one's own attack speed."

"Tsk tsk, could it be that infatuation is the consistent style of the Ancient Tomb Sect's successors? The martial arts created by Lin Chaoying were just to win against Wang Chongyang without hurting him, so the martial arts created only seek speed and lightness."

"This causes the direction of the moves to be unimaginable, inevitably diametrically opposed to most martial arts in the world, embarking on a strange path of martial arts."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 19 =====