Chapter 1056: The technique of hooking and distancing has no form, the Ning family's blade is peerless

Dozens of people were already seated in the hall; it was a proper aristocratic family banquet.

Those seated were all Confucian scholars or dressed in Daoist attire. There were no evil sect demons with rings through their noses or tattooed faces, not even rogue cultivators or monks.

Everyone exuded a noble Daoist aura, and what they practiced were all authentic scriptures and spells of the Daoist sects.

Don't look at the Ning ancestor as someone who practiced earth and wood techniques, with incomplete five elements, which couldn't be considered top-tier scripture.

But the Ning family also had ancestral classical studies, named "Three Stabs and Five Hearings."

It was a divine ability imprinted on the legalist supreme treasure, the Punishment Cauldron, and was a scripture created by the Ning family ancestor, the legalist Yin Spirit cruel official Ning Cheng during the time of the Immortal Han Emperor Wu.

"Three Stabs and Five Hearings" was originally a legalist method of clarifying virtue and being cautious with punishment, listening with ears and watching with eyes, a method of the Heavenly Eye that perceives all things and sentient beings.

But in Ning Cheng's hands, it transformed into the "Hooking and Distancing" of observing prisoners and capturing eyes.

Listening to testimonies to refine "Abdominal Slander."

The tongue blooming with the true words of "Drawing the Rope and Striking the Roots," which could force the guilty to expose their hidden evils.

When cultivated to the Great Completion, a single thought could cause all living beings to grow "hidden blade patterns" under their ribs; if they violated the law or the Han statutes, their skin would split and flesh would tear.

Later, because this scripture's reputation was so foul, the Ning family covered it up in every way, finding many inheritances from the Daoist and Buddhist schools to fill the gaps.

When Brother Qian Chen took his seat, a Ning family junior came to show off his skills.

A Ning family disciple at the Penetrating Law cultivation level refined a pair of iron hooks. These hooks had a unique shape, bending forward like an eagle's claw, but with a distance branching out; thus, the double hooks were one in front and one behind, advancing to hook, retreating to hook.

He stood in the hall and threw the hooks into the air, and the iron hooks connected to a rope disappeared without a trace.

A moment later, he brought back a person—it was a peer who had been walking by, looking bewildered, hooked into the hall, only then laughing and scolding as he stood up to salute the ancestor and guests above.

The dignified and reserved scholar saw the Ning family junior's performance and nodded, clapping and laughing: "Truly a good skill."

He asked the hooked Ning family disciple: "Being pulled by this object, why were you so obedient? Was there secret cooperation?"

The man looked aggrieved: "I wasn't secretly cooperating with Third Brother; it's just that once hooked by that iron hook, my whole body went limp, and I couldn't muster any magic power..."

The Ning family disciple called Third Brother said triumphantly: "If I hadn't held back, this hook wouldn't just have made you unable to muster strength; it could have pierced your collarbone, locked your dantian Qi sea, and sealed your spiritual sense!"

The scholar shook his head and smiled, turning to ask the Ning family ancestor: "What does Brother Ning think?"

The Ning family ancestor nodded with satisfaction: "It's a good magic treasure! An iron hook with a distance of four feet can penetrate acupoints and hook guests' acupoints! The rope is even more useful, used for earth wells and baskets, hooking and pulling architectural objects, lifting them to the beams; the uses in construction are endless!"

Once the Ning family ancestor opened his mouth, it was all about earth and wood!

On one hand, he saw that this iron hook magic treasure was used by the Mohists in the past for siege warfare, specifically for breaking through acupoints and siege magic treasures.

On the other hand, he thought of using it to destroy enemy buildings—hooking and pulling!

And for his own construction—a crane!

With all kinds of application scenarios, he had turned a unique magic treasure into a construction tool, which could be considered his specialty!

Hearing this, the guest was also helpless.

He had to speak up and comment seriously: "This spell of yours, the iron hook is just an appearance; its foundation is the 'Hooking and Distancing' technique from your Ning family's ancestral scripture."

"The so-called 'Hooking and Distancing' was originally a legalist technique for investigating thieves. Hooking means reaching; distancing means closing. Making the opponent have no doubts, knowing without asking, so that no one knows how it happened, closing their techniques—this is distancing!"

Brother Qian Chen nodded slightly; aristocratic families, if nothing else, had very orthodox learning.

This "Hooking and Distancing" technique was indeed orthodox legalist learning.

The so-called hooking refers to bypassing heavy defenses to strike at unexpected places; distancing refers to closing and surrounding the opponent's defenses.

Finally, forming an inescapable hook, pulling the enemy over.

It is both a divine ability spell, a technique for interrogation, a method of reconnaissance, and a military strategy.

Hooking reaches into their hiding places, making them unable to escape; distancing closes their tracks, making them impossible to spy on.

During the Immortal Han period, the legalist Yin Spirit Zhao Guanghan was extremely proficient in this technique, evolving it to the level of an exclusive Great Divine Ability.

He widely cast hooks, hanging iron hooks in the void, formless and imageless—this is hooking.

And the lines were hidden and concealed—this is distancing.

Once activated, thousands of hooks would lift the person and pull them before him.

Even a heavily armed army could be secretly laid with millions of hooks by him. When the hooks were silent, they would hook onto the armor straps, weapon slings, and even the mouths, necks, collarbones, wrists, and thighs of the soldiers, all hooked by those countless formless hooks.

Only then would Zhao Guanghan suddenly tighten those formless lines, lifting the army up, hanging them with ten thousand hooks, like a school of fish being caught.

And in interrogation, he would first talk casually, turning various key points into hooks, hidden beneath calm waves.

Until the suspect was hooked more and more, forming "distancing," which is a closed loop of evidence.

Only then would he fiercely pull the rod, pulling up those hooks one by one, hanging the suspect's words up, forcing them directly to the flaw.

Under Brother Qian Chen's command, there were also those proficient in this technique.

That was the Ear Dao God!

Its attainment in the art of fishing was extremely deep, and it had self-taught this way of hooking and distancing. Every stroke of its pen was a hook hanging down.

And it was also formless and imageless, hidden in the void. Whenever it wished, feeling the time was right, it could pull the rod.

The monks of Qinglong Temple suffered greatly from it; the Great Snow Mountain Dharma Master could testify how difficult this technique was to deal with.

"So this iron hook of yours is an appearance; its essence is still the 'Hooking and Distancing' technique, but you haven't refined it to the level."

"You haven't reached the realm of refining formless laws into formful hooks, and then refining formful hooks into formless ones, let alone the realm of the 'vast net of heaven, sparse but not leaking,' splitting the legal net into countless formless legal lines, tied to the hooks!"

"In the past, when your ancestor Ning Cheng wanted to calculate someone, he had to first observe their flaws."

"Until their divine abilities, spells, and cultivation path flaws were all clear in his chest, he would use legalist profound techniques to refine formless laws into legal decrees targeting that person's flaws."

"Then he would scatter them among their words and actions, hanging the hooks of legal decrees on them bit by bit, and finally tighten them with the legal net, never missing!"

"The later legalist great power Zhao Guanghan cultivated this technique into a Great Divine Ability. With every gesture, he could scatter formless hooks."

"Primordial Qi, Gang malevolent Qi, laws, and even formless Great Dao could all be hooks, scattered across the world. Emperor Xiao Xie Xuan ordered him to capture thieves, rebels, and demons. He sat in Chang'an, scattering hooks across the world, and with a casual pull, he hooked the demons, rebels, and rogue cultivators hiding within the Immortal Han territory to Chang'an."

The Yang family's great cultivator waved freely, projecting countless silk threads falling down, and those threads all had hooks at the ends.

He waved his hand, and countless silver hooks drifted and disappeared.

But everyone in the hall knew that the silver hooks were still there, just hidden in between.

Everyone was terrified, feeling that countless hooks were hanging down from the void, already hooking their clothes and even skin. As long as the guest in the seat of honor pulled, they would be torn, covered in silver hooks, and lifted into the air alive.

The silver hooks fell before Brother Qian Chen, and just as they were about to touch him.

Brother Qian Chen waved his hand casually, dispersing the silk threads and silver hooks surrounding him and Ning Ning Shimei Ning...

The Yang family great cultivator just glanced in Brother Qian Chen's direction and continued to point out to the Ning family junior: "This spell of yours is poorly cultivated; you cannot refine a formless hook with your own magic power."

"So you chose a piece of Nether Ghost Iron and refined it into a spirit hook magic treasure, which is also a clever idea."

"You have sacrificed several laws of the Dao into it, capable of making legal decrees like shackles, locking and capturing those hooked by the iron hook, rather than refining poisonous insects to trap the enemy. It is also a principle of mastering the learning of a hundred schools to penetrate one, the scripture is purified, and you haven't gone astray!"

"But, there are two major flaws that are even more obvious: one is that the principle is not pure enough, and the other is that knowledge and action cannot be unified!"

"Your primordial Qi hook is weak and useless, so you just give up?"

"The iron hook magic treasure can make up for the 'Hooking and Distancing' technique. It is weak and powerless in the early stages, but once the hook is pulled, if it doesn't hit, you alert the enemy, and the spell is mostly wasted. To want to pull the hook, you must ensure the iron hook hits!"

The Yang family great cultivator asked rhetorically: "Can you?"

The Ning family disciple was sweating profusely and bowed: "Junior... cannot! To tell the truth, this hook can only be used to ambush clan members when they are completely unprepared. Going out to fight enemies, it is difficult to use."

"Therefore, the most important thing in the 'Hooking and Distancing' technique is testing."

"The primordial Qi hook turns formless, constantly testing in secret. Until the hooks form a distance, seeing their flaws, only then does your iron hook come, lifting them up."

"You can hook your clan members because you have already secretly practiced the 'Hooking and Distancing' technique."

"For the sake of this one hook, you have surely had hooks in your words when observing your clan brothers on weekdays, and your actions have surely been probing, peeping at their flaws, until you suddenly launched an attack just now, naturally succeeding!"

"Don't you think your words and actions are hooks?"

"You cannot cultivate the 'Hooking and Distancing' technique because your understanding of this is too shallow. Remember, every move, every word, every action is a hook, with sharpness hidden, drawn but not moved—this is 'Hooking and Distancing'!"

The Ning family disciple below suddenly realized and bowed deeply.

Brother Qian Chen whispered to Ning Ning Qingchen, who was listening: "I didn't expect the Hongnong Yang clan to be so proficient in legalist learning!"

Ning Ning Qingchen noticed Brother Qian Chen exhaling, her earlobe turning slightly red, and she also whispered back: "Although the Yang clan is from a military family background, they rose by seizing Xiang Yu's legal body and peeping at part of his inheritance, which is criticized."

"But their family inheritance has spanned hundreds of generations in the Immortal Han, with Yin Spirit True Immortals emerging one after another, and Yang Spirit great cultivators passed down from generation to generation."

"Whether an aristocratic family has classical studies, the Yang clan, since the 'Four-Knowing' True Person Yang Zhen, has penetrated a hundred schools, known as the 'Confucius of Guanshi,' and was a great clan in the Immortal Han."

"During the Immortal Han, Confucianism and Legalism were both promoted, and there were many legalist classical inheritances. It is not strange that the Yang family has this secret transmission!"

Brother Qian Chen nodded. For such a great aristocratic family, a little inheritance flowing out to create a small aristocratic family like the Ning family was not strange at all.

Don't look at the Ning family's ancestral classical studies being legalist scriptures; the Yang family's inheritance was more complete than the Ning family's, their military inheritance was higher than the Li family's, and their Confucian studies and Daoist scriptures were more perfect than those of the great Confucian scholars in the court or the Zhenyue Palace of Mount Hua!

After all, the Yang family were the Four-Generation Grand Tutors during the Immortal Han; who could know the law better than them?

How did Xiang Yu's inheritance compare to Li Guang's?

The classical inheritance of Confucius of Guanshi.

Their origin traces back to the Yangshe clan of the Jin state nobility, receiving a part of the "Nine Heavens Profound Scripture."

But after a hundred generations of inheritance, it had also reached the time when their destiny was waning.

According to the official history of the Great Desolation, not long after, their clan would be usurped by the Puliuru Yang clan of Yang He Jian.

Of course, Yang He Jian's lineage really did have some Yang family blood, but it was just a branch that was exiled when the Six Towns were founded. Now, they didn't even have family classical studies and could only follow the Xianbei people to practice martial arts and cultivate military techniques!

Brother Qian Chen had seen through some of the foundations of the great aristocratic families.

He teased Ning Ning Ning Shimei: "Heaven knows, earth knows, you know, I know... The 'Four-Knowing' True Person Yang Zhen, who was proficient in heavenly calculation techniques, how did he let this saying be known by you and me?"

Ning Ning Ning Shimei lowered her head slightly and said: "Why are you like that Yang Xiu?"

Sure enough, the Yang family great cultivator opposite tilted his ears, his gaze already looking toward Brother Qian Chen's side. He saw his fingers move slightly, as if he were lifting something.

At this moment, Ning Ning Qingchen's thread of affection moved, as if something had hooked a strand.

She was shocked to realize that the "Hooking and Distancing" scattered by the Yang family great cultivator, after being swept away by Brother Qian Chen's sleeve, had actually been placed again without her noticing.

Brother Qian Chen exhaled by her ear just now, quietly blowing it off her shoulder.

The Yang family great cultivator hadn't noticed at all. At this moment, he pulled the hook, as if wanting to hook Brother Qian Chen's mouth to show a slight punishment.

But his hand felt light and empty, and he was shocked.

At this time, Brother Qian Chen stood up and raised his cup toward the seat of honor. The Yang family great cultivator felt a sharp pain in his ear, and he saw one of his ears being lifted as if hooked by a large hook.

The Yang family great cultivator couldn't help but stand up, stumbling and knocking over the table in front of him, rushing into the hall as Brother Qian Chen lifted his hand.

"Brother Yang!"

The Ning family ancestor was suspicious and asked.

Among the juniors sitting beside the Yang family great cultivator, Yang Xiuzhi was the most shocked, staring wide-eyed as his clan uncle jumped along with Brother Qian Chen's movement, simply like a fat fish hanging on the fishing line in his hand.

He stood up in a hurry and also knocked over the table in front of him.

He jumped into the hall and also covered his ear, jumping up, singing: "Dance and leap, to entertain the host; leap and dance, to entertain the guests!"

Everyone in the hall, whether they understood or not, had to stand up and dance along.

Dancing at a banquet was also a proper aristocratic ritual.

Although the Yang family great cultivator's dance was a bit strange, the Yang family had been Grand Tutors for four generations; who knew what kind of ancient sacrificial ritual he was dancing?

The Ning family ancestor also saw it and didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He looked deeply at Brother Qian Chen and also clapped and danced: "Brother Ju is too polite! Come, everyone dance and leap..."

Ning Ning Qingchen signaled Brother Qian Chen with her eyes, dancing with crane steps and willow hands.

Brother Qian Chen waved his hand and was still pulled to the side.

After the host and guests had their fill, everyone sat down again. At this time, the Yang family great cultivator Yang Ju had a gloomy face, covering his face with his hand, pretending to drink, but actually trying to remove the hook from his ear.

But Brother Qian Chen just smiled. In the art of "Hooking and Distancing," the Yang family didn't understand enough.

Since he knew that words could be hooks, why didn't he think that the saying "Heaven knows, earth knows, you know, I know" was a hook?

Heaven knows, earth knows, you know, I know—it comes out of my mouth and enters your ears.

It is the most secret line in the world!

Coming out of the mouth and entering the ear, it can be a hook...

Yang Ju's ear didn't move; it wasn't that his earlobe was hooked, but as he listened to that sentence, a thread of heavenly secrets fell, hooking from his ear into his brain, hanging onto his spirit.

If it weren't for a slight punishment, it wouldn't be difficult for Brother Qian Chen to hang him up and hook out his spirit.

It wouldn't even be difficult to hook out all his memories with this hook, making him an idiot.

Yang Ju continued to drink, quietly looking up and asking his nephew beside him: "Who is this person? What is his background?"

"He should be an authentic Daoist disciple, riding a Green-Eyed Jade Dragon from the frontier, wearing Daoist straw sandals, and even more, he has the 'Lankavatara Samadhi Leaf' planted by the Great Snow Mountain Dharma Master himself. In summary, he is probably a high-level expert from Chang'an!"

Yang Wenxiu hurriedly told him everything he knew.

Yang Ju said coldly: "This must be a Yin Spirit great cultivator. To show such disrespect to my Yang family, his background is also mysterious. Although I was rude first, he didn't forgive, and has no gentlemanly demeanor. I thought he was some high-level expert from overseas, but I didn't expect him to come from Chang'an and have a friendship with the Great Snow Mountain Dharma Master?"

He calmed the dark fire in his heart and secretly told himself not to ruin the big picture because of a small matter.

"Still have to test him!"

Yang Ju raised his cup again, facing Brother Qian Chen from afar: "Fellow Daoist, since you came with a good woman of the Ning family, you must be a high cultivator. May I ask which sect you are from?"

Brother Qian Chen smiled: "I am an authentic Daoist disciple, returned after training overseas, and I am about to choose a blessed land near Chang'an to establish a sect!"

As soon as these words were spoken, disciples of two families secretly curled their lips.

Although being able to establish a sect and daring to boast about choosing a spirit land near Chang'an meant he was surely a great cultivator!

But this statement was still too arrogant.

What kind of place is Chang'an? Living in Chang'an is not easy, let alone establishing a sect?

Even a Yang Spirit True Person wouldn't dare to make such a wild claim...

Authentic Daoist disciple?

If that counts as authentic, I'm afraid all the Qi-refining and Core-forming people in the world could be called authentic Daoist disciples.

A rogue cultivator from overseas; his skills are indeed not small, but his tone is even bigger!

Yang Ju said again: "A woman of the Ning family, her face like a flowering tree, clear and beautiful, a beauty! I wish to ask for her for my family's nephew, to unite the two surnames! Seeing the Ning family's children today, they are indeed all outstanding and talented. Why not look at my Yang family's children and ask for a heart..."

Ning Ning Qingchen's expression turned cold, and her original gentleness seemed to change color.

Yang Wenxiu kept pulling on his uncle's sleeve, his face extremely nervous.

The Ning family ancestor lowered his head and asked: "Ning Qingchen, what do you think?"

"Not much!"

Ning Ning Qingchen said coldly: "I am a rogue cultivator by origin; I don't know what 'uniting two surnames' is. I only know that when hearts are cast together, there is a connection, and when two hearts are in love, that is the harmony of union!"

She condensed ice into a blade and placed it on the table: "The Yang family has talent; please discuss it under my blade..."

Brother Qian Chen just smiled, sitting beside Ning Ning Qingchen like a little wife.

His eyes seemed to overflow.

Look, I don't need to do anything at all!

Do you understand the ease of being protected by a Ning Ning Shimei?

Yang Ju was blocked by her and couldn't speak. His original intention was to test Brother Qian Chen, but he didn't expect Ning Ning Qingchen to jump out.

He was momentarily embarrassed.

Ning Ning Qingchen turned her head and said: "Senior Brother, you were right; I should have slashed first."

After saying that, she invited Yang Ju: "Please!"

Yang Ju couldn't laugh or cry, shaking his head: "Ning niece, although you have attained the Supreme Grade Golden Core, fighting a Yin Spirit with a Golden Core, how can that be!"

"This way, we won't lose harmony; let's just compare spells, not fight magic power."

"Just like an aristocratic family competition, following the rites, how about it?"

Ning Ning Qingchen raised her head slightly, lifting the blade of the ice knife in her hand inch by inch, saying: "I need to inform everyone..."

"I am not just a Supreme Grade Golden Core."

"I am not merely a Core Formation of supreme rank."

"Rather, it is a Core Formation of the first rank, unparalleled and unmatched!"

?? Stuck on the writing until now.

? It is the 25th, the extra updates end today; finally, I ask for a batch of monthly votes.

? On the 26th, I will honestly update and not ask for votes!

? (End of chapter)