Chapter 65: Accompanying the Guest and Exchanging Courtesies

The martial arts practice field was a mess, and the stone wall that spanned the center had collapsed with a boom.

The rocks were shattered into unrecognizable pieces, and the ground was covered in rubble and sand, leaving nowhere to step.

Li Hao looked at the ground of the practice field:...

A thoughtful expression appeared on his face; it seemed Zhou You's ultimate technique was practiced well and was beginning to show its power.

Having heard the Hall Master teach the Wind-Chasing Three-Fold Technique earlier, he was shocked, but not envious.

Because the Thousand-Army Breaking Evil Fist, passed down in Li Hao's family, also contained an ultimate technique of immense power.

Li Hao's father was an officer in the City Gate Guard, and for his Jinli Level, he had exchanged his accumulated merits for an ultimate technique, and had received permission to pass it on to his descendants.

"General Unloading Armor Great Draping."

It was a lethal military technique with its own unique power; once mastered, it was enough to stand out among Jinli martial artists.

Li Hao practiced bitterly day and night, deliberately using the stone wall as a partition specifically to avoid letting Zhou You see it.

Unexpectedly, without realizing it, Zhou You had already mastered a technique not a whit weaker than his own.

"Wind-Chasing Three-Fold Technique."

Li Hao looked at the mess everywhere and began to value this sparring partner, Zhou You, even more.

He thought about going to find Zhou You to ask if he was willing to spar with him.

The power of the Wind-Chasing Three-Fold Technique could serve as the "jade from another mountain" to hone his family's ultimate technique.

"Zhou You isn't in his room?"

"A guest has arrived, and the Big Senior Brother told him to go over and accompany the guest."

Li Hao was stunned on the spot when he heard this news—accompany a guest?

He was just an Apprentice; what kind of guest was he supposed to accompany, and was he even qualified?

"Hahaha, Wang Laohu, old Mao has come to visit!"

"I didn't have anything good on hand recently, so I brought you two catties of tea leaves."

A loud voice made the roof tiles hum and vibrate, and the echo reverberated in the corner of the Inner Courtyard.

Zhou You looked at the owner of the voice out of the corner of his eye: a tall, thin old man with eyebrows as thick as wild grass.

Don't let his unremarkable appearance fool you; his status was not ordinary.

Jiba Martial Arts Hall was a major martial arts hall in Gongliang City, with great influence, on par with the Jianxiong Martial Arts Hall.

The tall, thin old man was the Hall Master of Jiba Martial Arts Hall, Mao Laoliu, and also one of the famous martial arts masters far and wide.

His visit today originally had nothing to do with Zhou You.

Zhou You had been sitting at home perfectly fine, planning to go out and purchase a batch of stones to repair the stone wall before Li Hao returned.

He hadn't expected the Big Senior Brother to call him to the Inner Courtyard, saying he needed to accompany a guest.

"Accompany a guest?"

Zhou You was shocked at the time; did he even have a chance to appear in such a high-end social activity?

He only learned later that it was an order from the Hall Master, Wang Jianxiong, so even if he didn't understand it, he had to obey.

Zhou You arrived at the Inner Courtyard and stood at the very edge, because everyone present was an Inner Court Disciple, and he was the one with the lowest seniority.

What was it called to sit at the end of the table? His current situation was exactly that.

Zhou You kept his mouth shut; in reality, no one was talking to him either.

Being in the circle of Inner Court Disciples, except for Shen Sijing whom he knew, he wasn't familiar with a single one.

He watched quietly and suddenly discovered a situation: it seemed Wang Jianxiong and Mao Laoliu were in agreement in appearance but not in heart!

"Here, wild tea from the mountains; it's not worth much money, but its value lies in its rarity."

Mao Laoliu introduced his tea leaves, "One of my beloved disciples went into the mountains to pick it, and it can only be found on the most dangerous cliffs."

"Hey, Wang Laohu, I heard that the hunters in the mountains have been raising their prices lately, and the tiger goods they sell you aren't cheap anymore."

"That shouldn't be, you just wiped out the Dazhuang Fist, and your momentum is high; do a few hunters dare to challenge you?"

Wang Jianxiong said indifferently, "Those who eat from the mountain don't live long; I don't haggle with them."

Every word was barbed, carrying a thick scent of gunpowder.

Zhou You broke into a cold sweat; what if they started fighting on the spot!

He scanned the group Mao Laoliu had brought; hmm, they were basically all Qi-Blood martial artists.

There was an exception, though...

It was a wild and fierce-looking youth, whose body hair was far thicker than an ordinary person's, looking exactly like a savage.

The youth was very sharp; Zhou You looked at him one too many times and was discovered, and the youth glared fiercely at Zhou You.

Zhou You saw wildness and cruelty in those eyes; those were unique characteristics of beastliness.

The wild youth was the only Jinli martial artist among Mao Laoliu's many disciples.

"Mao Laoliu, thank you for the tea leaves."

Wang Jianxiong puffed on his pipe and said loudly, "Yan'er, Uncle Mao has brought tea leaves; stew a pot of tea eggs for your old man another day."

Tea eggs, he really knew how to eat!

The Hall Master had a sharp temperament; he struck back without changing his expression.

Mao Laoliu's expression at that moment was quite spectacular.

A crisp female voice rang out, "Alright, Father."

The one who came was Wang Jianxiong's only daughter, Wang Yan, who had always been regarded as the apple of his eye.

"Uncle Mao."

Wang Yan was a beautiful and lively girl, wearing a pearl hairpin on her head, and she bowed to Mao Laoliu with grace and poise.

Mao Laoliu sighed, "How did a rough man like your father produce such a precious daughter?"

As he spoke, he pulled a finger-sized piece of jade from his sleeve, "Take this to carve a little trinket."

The jade's surface had a thin layer of stone shell, but it could not hide the emerald green jade light; one look and it was clearly no ordinary item.

Wang Jianxiong knew his goods and nodded, "Accept it, it's a good thing."

He then said to Mao Laoliu, "Mao Laoliu, you give me two catties of lousy tea leaves, yet you are willing to gift my Yan'er a fine piece of jade."

"Tell me, what are you here to ask me to do today?"

Mao Laoliu suddenly spoke up, "Mao Lang, come here."

The ambitious youth's ears pricked up; this movement was exactly like a wild beast such as a fox or a wildcat.

Hearing this, he immediately bypassed the other fellow disciples and leaped in front of Mao Laoliu, "Master."

"This is my newly accepted disciple, Mao Lang."

"Those wild tea leaves were picked one by one by him as he climbed dangerous cliffs, to show filial respect to me, old Mao."

Mao Laoliu waved his hand, "Dear niece, the tea-boiled eggs are ready, don't forget to give me two."

"Uncle Mao, my father was just joking; he can't bear to waste the good tea leaves you gave him, he's saving them to savor slowly."

After introducing Mao Lang, Mao Laoliu asked casually, "When the Dazhuang Fist came to challenge the hall, your three consecutive victories were a normal performance, and I am not surprised."

"It's just that I heard the first match was a fresh face; could it be that you also just accepted him?"

It's my turn, Zhou You perked up upon hearing this.

"Ahem, that's right, just an Apprentice who just entered the sect, he hasn't learned any real skills yet."

"What kind of foundation does the Dazhuang Fist have? Is it worth me picking out my best student to deal with them?"

Wang Jianxiong beckoned nonchalantly, "Zhou You, come over and meet Hall Master Mao."

Zhou You understood; being called over to entertain guests was precisely to deal with this kind of situation.

He stepped forward and bowed respectfully to Wang Jianxiong with cupped hands, "Hall Master Mao."

Mao Laoliu glanced at Zhou You, saw nothing particularly outstanding, and nodded at him.

"Mao Laoliu, this disciple of yours is somewhat interesting!"

Wang Jianxiong looked Mao Lang up and down, but discovered something unusual.

Mao Lang was full of wildness, his muscles and joints were strangely prominent, and his eyes faintly flickered with a brilliance different from that of an ordinary person.

Mao Laoliu had been waiting for this sentence and laughed heartily, "My disciple killed a Beast Charm with his own hands."

Hearing this, Wang Jianxiong's eyes sharpened, "Really?"

"Naturally it is true, truer than pure gold."

Looking at Mao Laoliu's smug expression, Wang Jianxiong understood that this old fellow had come over on purpose to show off.