Chapter 124: Stepping onto the Right Track, Breaking Ten Thousand Imminent

When the first ray of Heaven's light at the horizon broke the dawn, the sounds of scattered rooster crows and dog barks rose from all corners of the city.

At this moment, inside the Guangwu Hall, over a hundred applicants were all sprawled out, snoring away, completely unaware that it was dawn.

But when a ray of sunlight shone through the window, Peng Yidao, who was sleeping in a corner, was stimulated and couldn't help but open his eyes.

However, after sitting up, his gaze was vacant and his mind chaotic; he stared blankly at his surroundings for a good while before finally coming to his senses:

"Strange."

Last night, he vaguely remembered having a rather long and spectacular dream.

In the dream, Jinjin was actually breached by the Japanese invaders from the east, and the entire city was slaughtered; he seemed to be fighting side-by-side with many unfamiliar faces, experiencing betrayal and slaughter, and ultimately sacrificing himself heroically.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but look at the thin, dark youth Zhou Li, whom he had only just met yesterday, not far away, and his face couldn't help but look strange:

"Dreaming is one thing, but how did I dream of this kid? How bizarre."

Although the long dream last night was strange, after waking up now, he only remembered a few scattered fragments, among which was Zhou Li's face, making him unable to understand why he would fight side-by-side with such a rustic kid in his dream.

And as he woke up.

On the straw mats, more applicants woke up one after another, including Zhou Li, who was under Peng Yidao's gaze; he also opened his sleepy eyes, then sat up and looked around blankly.

Subsequently, he turned his gaze to Peng Yidao:

"Brother Peng, you're awake too?"

Peng Yidao nodded:

"Awake. How did you sleep last night?"

Zhou Li immediately scratched his head: "I slept quite well, and even had a strange dream. I dreamed of you, Brother Zhou."

Hm?

Peng Yidao's eyes flickered, and he immediately asked: "What did you dream of?"

Zhou Li racked his brains and said:

"I dreamed that Jinjin City was somehow breached by the Japanese invaders from the east. I seemed to be fighting side-by-side with Brother Zhou and many others to ambush the invaders, but I can't recall the specific details."

To think he had the same dream as me?

Upon hearing this, Peng Yidao was suddenly struck with horror, subconsciously thinking of the Hall Master Lu who had arranged for them to sleep here.

He immediately turned his gaze to the other side, where the two wealthy young masters who had mocked Zhou Li yesterday had just woken up, and he couldn't help but ask them:

"Xu Pengfei, did you have any dreams last night?"

A look of astonishment and confusion immediately appeared on the round face of the wealthy young master called Xu Pengfei:

"Peng Yidao, how did you know we had dreams... No, wait, how do you know my name is Xu Pengfei?"

His crony beside him was also stunned: "Strange, how do you know his name is also Peng Yidao?"

Peng Yidao was just about to continue questioning them about the specific content of their dreams, but at this moment, the hall doors suddenly opened, and then an elegant and otherworldly figure stepped inside.

The person who arrived was naturally Lu Yuan.

"Hall Master Lu is here!"

"Greetings, Hall Master Lu!"

Seeing Lu Yuan arrive, everyone present who was already awake hurriedly stood up, bowed, and offered greetings;

Those who hadn't woken up were hurriedly kicked awake by their companions, then stood up with sleepy eyes, looking over with nervousness and anticipation.

The crowd gathered, and Lu Yuan stood with his hands behind his back, looking around, and smiled:

"Everyone slept quite well last night, and this assessment basically has its results. Next, those whose names I call may stay and become the first batch of Gatekeepers of Guangwu Hall; those whose names are not called may leave on their own."

The results are out already?

The hundred-plus people present were suddenly in an uproar, their faces full of nervousness and anticipation.

Including Peng Yidao in the crowd, he also looked at Lu Yuan with awe, his thoughts racing.

Last night's dream was extremely bizarre, and it seemed many people had experienced the same dream. He was also a person who had traveled far and wide and was well-informed, so he immediately suspected this had to do with Lu Yuan.

After all, he had heard that besides the martial path, there was also the path of Daoist Arts that specialized in the mind and spirit. It was said that at a high level, this path could cloud a person's will and make them fall into illusions. Last night's dream might very well have been cast by this Hall Master Lu to assess their character!

However, the path of Daoist Arts was obscure and profound, and it was extremely difficult to achieve anything, let alone reach the terrifying level of making so many people sink into the same dream. He completely could not imagine that besides his innate Godly Strength and peerless Sword Technique, Lu Yuan actually possessed such god-like means.

While his thoughts were still racing, Lu Yuan had already begun calling names:

"Peng Yidao, Zhou Li, Guo Erdan, Shi Zhanyun."

"Shang Wenxin, Yang Ping, Yang Haiqing, Wang Fei."

At this, Peng Yidao felt a pleasant surprise in his heart and let out a sharp sigh of relief, while Zhou Li, hearing his own name, looked as if he had been turned into a fool, his face completely dazed.

And after calling out twenty-seven names in one breath, Lu Yuan said indifferently:

"These twenty-seven people may officially enter the sect today; the others who were not called may return."

At this, some were happy and some were sad. Those whose names were called were naturally ecstatic, waving their fists in excitement and almost cheering out loud;

While those who were not called had stiff expressions, some were dejected, and some were in complete disbelief, as if they had never expected to be eliminated.

In extreme unwillingness, Xu Pengfei in the crowd braced himself and hurriedly raised his hand:

"Hall Master Lu, why were we eliminated? What is the logic behind this sleep? Could you explain a little, Senior?"

Most of the other eliminated people also hurriedly pleaded:

"Yes, yes, this was just sleeping, how could we be eliminated?"

"This junior has practiced martial arts since childhood and now has the strength of Three Realms Bone Forging, and I also passed the civil service exam to become a scholar. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say I am skilled in both literature and martial arts, how could..."

"What exactly is Hall Master Lu's standard? Let us die knowing the reason!"

"Hall Master Lu, please give this junior another chance!"

Facing these dozens of anxious and unwilling people, Lu Yuan only had a faint expression:

"The results are set. Do not be noisy anymore. Those I just called, come out and drive these people out for me."

After his order, Peng Yidao, Zhou Li, and the others, who were still in pleasant surprise and excitement, did not hesitate and immediately began to execute it, pushing and driving away those unwilling applicants with Great Strength.

Among the pushing and shoving, there was no lack of hot-tempered and highly skilled martial artists among these applicants, yet with a legendary figure like Lu Yuan standing to the side, not a single person dared to act out; they either left honestly and dejectedly, or were carried out directly amidst their pleas.

In particular, Xu Pengfei and his good friends, who had mocked Zhou Li as a "mud-legged peasant" just yesterday, were now as devastated as if they were mourning their own parents, while in contrast, Zhou Li wore an expression of triumph.

Watching this group being driven away, Lu Yuan remained calm and composed, a smile on his face.

His assessment last night was naturally the Earthly Fiend Art that caused Peng Yidao and the others to fall into the same dream: Dream Grafting.

【Dream Grafting】: Causes one to have a dream of a yellow millet, capable of weaving dreams or entering and exiting them freely, to the point of being able to influence reality.

The function of this Dharma Technique is to weave and control one's own dreams or those of others, and one can enter and exit them freely, or transfer and graft multiple people's dreams together to create a collective dream.

Last night, he had actually used the Invisibility Technique to stay in the hall, using himself as the hub to open up a dream, and then, in batches, pulled the applicants into the dream he had woven to conduct the examination.

Influenced by Dream Grafting, no one could realize they were dreaming, so in the dream, they would basically act according to their true hearts and natures, while Lu Yuan, like a god in the dream, looked down upon the whole situation to observe them.

Although the dream he fabricated had many loopholes and was not perfect, these applicants were all so immersed in it that they could not distinguish reality, thus easily testing their general character for screening.

Of course, this method also had its limitations.

The people screened out, though possessing a heart of blood and courage, were not necessarily people of outstanding ability.

However, ability can be cultivated, but a spineless person is basically incurable.

For instance, in the dream, more than two-thirds of the people chose to kneel and beg for mercy when facing a desperate situation; most of these were children of wealthy families with comfortable backgrounds. Although even an ant clings to life, the newly founded Guangwu Hall truly did not need such weak-willed people.

Just like that, after Peng Yidao and the others drove away all those who were eliminated, they returned to stand respectfully before Lu Yuan, full of joy.

With such a group of subordinates, Lu Yuan, who finally no longer had to be a commander without troops, scanned the crowd:

"You are the first batch of Gatekeepers under my tutelage. In daily life, you may simply address me as Hall Master."

"The rules of Guangwu Hall are very simple: respect your teacher and the Dao, keep yourself clean and upright, and do not commit crimes, bully the weak, abandon righteousness for profit, or betray your country for glory. If anyone violates these, the light punishment is expulsion from the sect, and the heavy punishment is me personally cleaning house. Do you all understand?"

While the disciples were excited and thrilled, they felt a sudden sense of awe, and then shouted in unison:

"We understand!"

Afterwards.

Although the first batch of disciples had been screened, Lu Yuan was not in a hurry to teach them Martial Arts, but instead arranged for these people to stay temporarily in the dormitories in the back courtyard of the hall.

Of course, those whose homes were nearby could choose not to live in the hall, but the vast majority of these twenty-some people chose to stay, ready to listen to orders at any time.

And in the following two nights, a second and third batch of applicants arrived one after another. Lu Yuan followed the same procedure, using the Dream Grafting Technique to select fewer than fifty people from these two hundred-plus individuals.

Counting the first batch of twenty-seven people including Peng Yidao, all the qualified candidates who passed the second screening were no more than eighty; calculated, those whose performance in the dream met his wishes were less than one-fourth.

And although the number of recruits did not reach expectations, Lu Yuan did not mind; after all, striving for excellence is much better than making up the numbers, and these people could still play a huge role if cultivated well.

Therefore, after the second screening was completed, he gathered all eighty or so disciples for an internal martial arts selection competition.

Through this competition, he selected three Dharma Disciples whose martial arts cultivation had reached the Thunder Sound Realm: Peng Yidao, Lin Sheng, and Chen Zhantang.

Among the three, the first two were wanderers of the pugilistic world who had traveled everywhere, both over thirty years old and rich in experience;

The latter was the son of a wealthy merchant in Jinjin. Not only had he reached the Thunder Sound Realm at a young age, but he also held the title of Martial Recommended Scholar, and was proficient in zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting—a rare talent.

After encouraging these three, Lu Yuan immediately passed down the "Guangwu Body-Forging Fist" he had compiled, and instructed them to teach it to the other Gatekeepers as soon as they had mastered it.

After all, among the eighty-plus Gatekeepers before him, only a small portion were highly skilled in martial arts, with very few at the second or third realm, and most only had first-realm cultivation.

Lu Yuan certainly did not have the energy to teach them one by one, and there was no martial arts hall or dojo where the Hall Master, being the strongest, taught personally; it was basically done by senior disciples.

The "Guangwu Body-Forging Fist" he created could currently only be practiced up to the Three Realms Bone Forging; Peng Yidao, Lin Sheng, and Chen Zhantang were all at the Thunder Sound Realm, so naturally, there was no great difficulty in learning it.

At first, they didn't think much of it when they received the task, but after carefully reading the full volume of the Guangwu Body-Forging Fist and practicing it, they discovered that this fist technique, totaling one hundred and eight forms, was far more profound and brilliant than they had expected. Whether it was the philosophy of the fist technique, the tempering of force, or the refinement of the body, it far surpassed any body-forging fist techniques they had ever learned!

This discovery immediately made the three of them incomparably pleasantly surprised, and they began to study and ponder it, forgetting to eat and sleep.

Seeing that everything was slowly getting on the right track, Lu Yuan subsequently became a completely hands-off manager, basically staying in the private courtyard behind the hall to cultivate in silence, rarely showing his face.

And on this day.

Feeling that the gathering of Luck Power in the dark had decreased significantly compared to previous days, Lu Yuan, sitting cross-legged in the quiet room, had a thought and communicated with the Heavenly Book in his mind:

【Divine Ability Master】: Lu Yuan

【Mastered Arts】:

Earthly Fiend-Ingestion (Earth: 3%); Earthly Fiend-Guidance (Earth: 3%); Earthly Fiend-Invisibility (Human: 23%);

Earthly Fiend-Sending Staff (Human: 12%); Earthly Fiend-Medicine (Human: 35%); Earthly Fiend-Earth Travel (Human: 21%);

Earthly Fiend-Generating Light (Human: 32%); Earthly Fiend-Sword Art (Human: 30%); Earth Fiend-Stone Boiling (Human: 28%);

Earthly Fiend-Pot Heaven (Human: 20%); Earthly Fiend-Great Strength (Human: 5%); Earthly Fiend-Sprout Sensing (Human: 3%);

Earthly Fiend-Wind Riding (Human: 1%); Earthly Fiend-Obstacle Clothing (Human: 1%); Earthly Fiend-Dream Grafting (Human: 1%)

【Luck Power】: 8318 units

It had been ten days since he had successively defeated Guanshi Masamune and Aojinniezi at the ceremony.

Before this, the Luck he had accumulated was over three thousand units. Now, as the news spread through small papers to various provinces, his prestige had spread far and wide, shaking the world, and the Luck gathered was much greater than when he had set up the ring at Haihe Square, reaching nearly five thousand units!

In a few more days, breaking ten thousand in Luck could be said to be a certainty.

"I didn't expect it to be breaking ten thousand so soon. It's a pity that lighting up Nine Breaths Serving Qi is still a long way off."

"One hundred thousand Luck Power, perhaps I can only reach it after I successfully rebel and rebuild the mountains and rivers."

Lu Yuan could not help but feel a sense of emotion.

Among the thirty-six Heavenly Gang Great Divine Abilities in the Heavenly Book, the one he was most interested in was still Nine Breaths Serving Qi, and he had few thoughts about the others for now.

After all, Nine Breaths Serving Qi is the supreme Daoist Qi Refining method, which will surely be able to greatly enhance cultivation efficiency, and becoming an immortal through longevity will no longer be a distant hope.

In comparison, the priority of other Heavenly Gang Great Divine Abilities was not that high.

Of course, this did not include the one ranked first, 【Mediation of Creation】.

However, Lu Yuan had long ago tried to communicate with the Heavenly Book, and the feedback he received was that the prerequisite for lighting up 【Mediation of Creation】 was that one must first light up eighteen Heavenly Gang Divine Abilities such as Turning Stones into Gold, Bringing the Dead Back to Life, Huitian Fandi, Moving Stars and Changing Dippers, Reversing Yin and Yang, etc., and the Luck required would exceed a million!

(End of this chapter)