Chapter 51: 50 Mountain Rain is About to Come, Feet Firmly on the Ground

50 Mountain Rain is About to Come, Feet Firmly on the Ground

"Teacher Guan, good morning!"

In Guan Lei's small courtyard, Tang Zhao greeted Guan Lei with high spirits.

Although it had only been one day, Tang Zhao felt as if he hadn't seen this master for a long time.

Compared to the turbulent nightlife, practicing martial arts in the small courtyard was much more comfortable. Guan Lei was truly the most normal and easiest person to get along with. Tang Zhao had always hoped to return to the right track.

Even if that track only had half a month left.

Early this morning, he sent Wei Zhangle to find the Land Inspection Division. He didn't see Si Liyu, but he did see Peng Yiming. Upon hearing Wei Zhangle's situation, Peng Yiming was pleasantly surprised and kept him in the front courtyard to wait for the Town Guardian to return. Tang Zhao returned to the Grape Courtyard alone.

Although the surroundings were filled only with little spiders with unfamiliar faces and unfathomable minds, Tang Zhao was still in a very good mood. A friend's matter, while not entirely his responsibility, was still a weight on his mind. Now that one thing had been cleared up and the outcome was not bad, he felt a bit lighter, so his greeting was even more high-spirited.

Guan Lei nodded and said, "Good, very spirited. I heard you practiced diligently yesterday and did not slack off."

Tang Zhao humbly said, "You were only gone for one day; if I slacked off, would that be right? Even for my own sake, I cannot waste time. How was last night? Are you alright? Is the Manor Master alright?"

Guan Lei's expression darkened slightly, and he said, "I am fine, and the Manor Master is fine. The girl Yuan Qing, whom you know, is also fine. I won't mention the others since you don't know them. A lot of people died in the villa, one-third of the front villa was destroyed, and there are still many stubborn traces that haven't been cleared yet. I am considered half a guest, so I don't need to participate in the follow-up matters, just keep an eye on you. They will clean up the villa's affairs themselves; I can only say there is still more turmoil to come. You, go practice."

Tang Zhao felt a bit heavy-hearted, but he followed orders and went to push the large stone to practice "Ant Strength."

While supervising his martial arts practice, Guan Lei said slowly, "The events of that night have nothing to do with you, and nothing to do with me. It is the Black Spider Villa's own business; it is best for us guests not to even ask. But I thought about it carefully, and it might not be unrelated to you—focus on your practice, I am talking and you are listening, what are you looking around for?"

Tang Zhao hurriedly focused his mind on pushing the stone. When Guan Lei said it had to do with him, he immediately thought of the Judge, the dungeon, the Time Jar, and a series of keywords. Being a thief with a guilty conscience, his breathing became disordered, which Guan Lei noticed.

Fortunately, he realized it in time; Guan Lei did not suspect him, and an ordinary person would not suspect him either.

Guan Lei indeed did not suspect him, thinking only that he was distracted. He corrected his posture once more and then said, "The villa suffered such a great loss, mainly because they released the Fierce Beast, but it definitely started because of an external enemy invasion, burning, killing, and looting. The leader was Tie Xiezi, the master of Iron Scorpion Castle."

Tang Zhao had known this for a long time; he was at the scene and had even stepped on several scorpions. He had a question he had always wanted to ask: "Tie Xiezi? Scorpion? Is that..."

Guan Lei said, "You guessed it? That's right, scorpions are also poisonous insects. Iron Scorpion Castle is also part of the Five Poisons Society; this was an internal feud."

Tang Zhao was impressed. He was not only impressed that the Five Poisons Society had no scruples about internal feuds, but also impressed that Guan Lei spoke of it so calmly, as if he were talking about a trivial daily matter.

He remembered that Guan Lei was also a member of the Five Poisons Society.

Guan Lei seemed to see Tang Zhao's surprise and said, "This kind of thing is common. In the Jianghu, vendettas are not like the power struggles in the imperial court; what matters is being open and aboveboard. Whoever plays dirty in secret is the one looked down upon. Instead, this kind of direct assault, where everyone relies on their own skills, leaves the outcome to fate. It's not like Black Widow hasn't been to Iron Scorpion Castle, and Black Spider Villa hasn't been attacked once or twice. They go back and forth without ever wiping each other out completely."

Tang Zhao knew that the Jianghu was a place of blood and rain, but to have open, armed combat in every internal feud? Raising Gu with poisonous insects was one thing, but weren't these all people? People cannot come back to life after death; could this be a long-term strategy? Qualified Disciples were not leeks that could be harvested and grown again, available in any quantity?

Guan Lei continued, "The Five Poisons Society is not a tight organization. Everyone just gathers under the command of the Master of Awakening of Insects—" he cupped his hands upward as he spoke, "—waiting for a call. As for their individual relationships, because of conflicting interests, they are even worse than ordinary people. Actually, it's not that they can't coexist peacefully, it's just that they can't be too close. Iron Scorpion Castle and Black Spider Villa are in the same county; they are too close."

Tang Zhao's heart stirred. He suddenly felt that the "Master of Awakening of Insects" might be a Sword Guest, and perhaps the sword was named "Awakening of Insects."

Intuition, just intuition.

Guan Lei suddenly said seriously, "Most importantly, do not mention the Land Inspection Division outside, especially in front of the villa's Disciples."

Tang Zhao said, "What's wrong with the Land Inspection Division?"

He wanted to say, wasn't that Fierce Beast, the Black Spider, settled by the Land Inspection Division? Without the Land Inspection Division, wouldn't the Black Spider Villa's losses have been more than one-third?

Guan Lei explained, "The struggle between Black Spider Villa and Iron Scorpion Castle also has a cycle. Now it was supposed to be a short period of peace. Tie Xiezi suddenly launched an attack, catching Black Spider Villa off guard, and they lost their heads when they released the Fierce Beast. Thinking about it afterwards, it is very likely that Tie Xiezi was wary of the Land Inspection Division and the villa joining forces against him."

Tang Zhao wondered, "If he was wary, why attack? Isn't that a provocation to the Land Inspection Division?"

Guan Lei said, "There is some wariness, but more of it is anger. Anger that Black Spider Villa broke the Jianghu rules and colluded with government officials, which is a betrayal of the Five Poisons Society. Don't find it strange; Jianghu people, especially those in the underworld, think this way. When he came, it was somewhat in the spirit of 'cleaning up the sect,' and he felt he was in the right. As for the provocation, the people of the Five Poisons Society are unruly; they want to slap the Land Inspection Division in the face to show off their power as local hegemons. Because this is Yuxia Jun, on the edge of Yunzhou, the government has no prestige. They have always been like this."

His expression became a bit strange: "The people here have never been beaten by the Land Inspection Division."

Tang Zhao pondered: Is this... why, have you been beaten?

Guan Lei said, "It's not just Iron Scorpion Castle; even within Black Spider Villa, there are people who think this way. Manor Master Yin accepted the Land Inspection Division, and many people were dissatisfied. Now that the villa has suffered another disaster, more people are blaming the Land Inspection Division. If the Land Inspection Division hadn't come, how could there have been this disaster? Moreover, that night, Officer Xing happened to take the Manor Master and a group of the villa's experts out to do business, which gave people the chance to sneak in. Some even insist that the Land Inspection Division and Iron Scorpion Castle colluded from the inside and out with ulterior motives, so the hostility is extremely high. The Manor Master could barely suppress it."

Having said this, he stopped talking.

There was one thing he didn't say: it wasn't just others who were suspicious; even Guan Lei himself was a little suspicious.

Xing Ji took several experts, including Black Widow, out to handle business, and something happened in the villa that very night. If you call it a coincidence, it is too coincidental.

Of course, there was no evidence, but the Jianghu was never a place that spoke of evidence. If there was suspicion, one could have a fight, or at least turn hostile and kick people out.

But Xing Ji had no intention of leaving, and the Land Inspection Division was as arrogant as ever, further infuriating the people of the villa.

Now, except for Black Widow who had not expressed her stance, everyone from top to bottom was seething with resentment. If it weren't for Black Widow's extremely high prestige, just for her shielding the Land Inspection Division, even she would be finished.

Tang Zhao said worriedly, "Then what will happen?"

Guan Lei said, "The people of the Land Inspection Division don't need to worry. Firstly, they haven't turned hostile on the surface, and secondly, they aren't afraid even if they do. Actually, those people underneath have self-awareness; they have been testing them openly and secretly these days and have long known they are no match. What is feared is that someone might use underhanded tricks, such as killing one or two key figures to ruin the Land Inspection Division's mission and vent their anger."

Tang Zhao pointed to himself: "Me?"

Guan Lei snorted, "Actually, analyzing the pros and cons, harming you is a matter of doing harm without any benefit. But there are not that many sensible heroes in the Five Poisons Society; there are plenty of unscrupulous bastards who will do anything to win a moment's pride. In the future, do not eat anything given to you by others; beware of someone poisoning you. It is better to not eat or drink anything except what is here with me."

"Furthermore, someone might use the juniors in the Grape Courtyard to provoke you. Those kids don't know the stakes involved; many of them act recklessly at the instigation of others. Half-grown, hot-headed youths—it's useless to tell them anything good or bad. If they say they'll stab you, they'll stab you; even if the Heavenly King himself came, there would be no way to stop them."

Tang Zhao thought for a moment and said, "Poisoning is indeed hard to guard against; I can only be doubly careful. If it's just people from the Grape Courtyard coming to provoke me, I'm really not afraid."

Although he didn't intentionally spy, he had passed by the training grounds every day these past few days and could see those people practicing martial arts. His eye for things was no longer what it used to be, and he could roughly gauge their respective levels.

Anyway, with a sword in hand, he wasn't afraid.

This sword was not an Art Tool, but any handy sword or stick. He didn't need the bonus of an Art Tool; relying only on the strength developed by Ant Strength and his solid foundation in Sword Art, he had the confidence to fight those noisy young people in the training grounds.

Whether you call it cheating, stacking resources, or, to be a bit thick-skinned, calling it a natural talent, being able to do in half a month what takes others three years—that's just how overbearing it is.

As for being empty-handed...

He would like to, but he didn't know how to fight empty-handed; he didn't even know how to throw a wild punch. If someone really provoked him, he would just grab whatever was available and use it as a sword.

Guan Lei smiled and said, "Having this ambition is good. A person learning martial arts who doesn't even dare to face an enemy shouldn't be learning martial arts at all. Since that's the case, let's start learning martial arts."

Tang Zhao was stunned for a moment, remembering what Guan Lei said the first time they met: "Fighting others is 'Martial,' training oneself is 'Art'." He said happily, "You are going to teach me moves?"

Because he was too pleasantly surprised, he exerted force vigorously, and the tall rock actually shook, emitting a 'Boom—' sound.

Guan Lei also showed surprise and said, "I was originally going to teach you in advance to deal with trouble, but now it seems your progress is faster than I thought. Rest for a while, then show me your burst."

Tang Zhao followed orders to pause and sat down to cultivate his strength.

While resting, he unconsciously used the method of regulating his inner breath; that was something the Judge had taught him, part of internal cultivation, and it was extremely useful for recuperation and regulation. After he had a trace of inner Qi, although circulating it according to this method was not as good as internal cultivation for gathering Qi, that breath never dissipated, which was also extremely beneficial for external strength training.

Having adjusted his state, Tang Zhao came to the large stone, sank his waist into a horse stance, and pushed his palms forward. He no longer used the usual method of continuous force for Ant Strength, but instead exerted his full burst—

"Ha!"

The large stone began to sway slightly, rumbling and making noise, until it reached a certain critical point—

Boom!

The massive rock was pushed aside entirely, moving forward along with Tang Zhao's force, carving a deep trench into the ground.

"Hoo—"

Tang Zhao pushed for five or six steps before stopping; as soon as he halted, he felt completely drained, his arms numb and aching, gasping for breath incessantly.

However, having practiced with an Art Tool for a long time, he was accustomed to not sitting down immediately no matter how tired he was, preferring to stand there and use Inner cultivation to regulate his breath, gradually recovering.

"Good!"

Guan Lei clapped and cheered, "Not bad, you've even mastered the First Layer of Ant Strength. Mastering the First Layer in half a month—who said you weren't a genius?"

Although this genius was suspected of having resources piled upon him, the fact that his progress far exceeded Guan Lei's expectations showed that he was more than just an average talent, and Guan Lei was also happy that he had misjudged him back then.

Of course, he did not know that Tang Zhao was using a cheat, performing Absorption of the Art Tool's power to transform it into his own, so his progress was naturally faster.

This was still a minor cheat; he had always exercised restraint and hadn't used it many times, so it wasn't eye-catching yet. Once Tang Zhao added the time cheat, that would truly be taking off.

Tang Zhao was incredibly excited; although he was exhausted, the pride in his heart was indescribable.

Half a month is neither long nor short; perhaps those who have practiced bitterly for eight or ten years would look down on his half-month of effort, but he had truly done his best. Not to mention the cheat, just speaking of rising early and sleeping late, enduring hardship and fatigue, practicing day after day without ever slacking off—seeing the results today, the joy of the harvest was beyond words.

At this moment, the hard work of half a month was all worth it!

Guan Lei was also very gratified and said, "Since you have this level of skill, we don't need to use the shortcut method I had in mind. That would hinder your foundation; it's better to proceed step by step. Let's practice footwork first."

Footwork is the essence of martial arts; as the saying goes, "Teach the fist but not the step, teach the step and the master gets beaten." Guan Lei's secret to teaching fist techniques started from the feet.

This footwork still involved walking around the stone, moving back and forth on one side of the stone while pushing it, maintaining a continuous flow of force. This footwork was performed with a pause at every step, stomping the ground with great force; surprisingly, the speed was not slow, and the center of gravity was extremely stable. If not for the jumping practice of these past few days, it would have been impossible to execute.

It is said that this has a name called "Feet Firmly on the Ground."

Thus, Tang Zhao graduated from pushing the stone while standing still and began pushing the stone while walking.