Chapter 117: No Inferior to Han Duijun of Those Days

Inside the great hall, silence reigned.

Eyes met; the gazes of everyone in the hall fell upon the bowing, bloodstained youth.

Even the several True Inheritances and Inner Gate Elders could not help but shift expression.

A Body Tempering battle against an Inner Strong was nothing to them — they had each endured it more than once — but to win a wheel fight was somewhat chilling.

Even if he had a Dragon Form root bone, how many years had he trained in martial arts? How long since he entered the sect?

Shi Hong's brow furrowed slightly, his alarm growing.

Possessing nine forms meant his root bone was exceptional; reaching Great Completion of the hammer art in a single year showed his talent was outstanding.

Being able to fight across realms in a wheel battle meant his courage was sufficient as well.

This was far more terrifying than Qiu Qiu Changying back in the day…

The several True Inheritances exchanged glances, each seeing the solemnity on the others' faces.

A small comfort was that, after fighting eight men in a wheel battle, Li Yuan's figure seemed somewhat unsteady.

The disciples outside the hall who had stepped in to block Li Yuan were also Inner Strong, but apart from Gao Gang, few could be called elite — winning battle after battle was perhaps not so unacceptable.

"When Old Han reached Great Completion of Body Tempering, he had a record of slaying eight Inner Strong in one battle. With him as precedent, it won't stand out too much…"

Li Yuan bowed. His injuries were not severe, but he still staggered into the hall. A sidelong glance swept over the True Inheritances' expressions, and his heart settled slightly.

He had searched through the intelligence on every True Inheritance of the Divine Weapon Valley across the ages. Though he had shown a bit of his hand today, it was not so exaggerated as to be excessive.

Han Duijun and Valley Master Gong Gong Yangyu had been far more high-profile back then — and might not even have surpassed that Young Valley Master Shi Hong.

"Good!"

After a brief silence, Ba Ba Wanli led the cheers, his voice like a great bell, jolting everyone in the hall awake.

Fang Fang Bao Luo glanced at Shi Hong, whose expression had shifted slightly, and his brow smoothed out.

"Body Tempering battle against Inner Strong, winning battle after battle — worthy of a Dragon Form root bone!"

At the head of the hall, sect masters of other sects who had been invited to observe the ceremony clapped and sighed, full of praise.

Lord Master Gongyang Yu smiled and nodded:

"Hammer Bingtang's Li Yuan — his endowment is profound, he is fraternal with his fellow disciples — let him be the Tenth True Inheritance of Divine Weapon Valley!"

Crash—

Inside the great hall, Feng Feng Zhongyi strode out and declared in a clear voice:

"By the Valley Master's decree, the newly promoted True Inheritance Li Yuan is granted:

One famed weapon, one flood-dragon horse, one inner armor, one pair of Six-Spirit Boots, the superior Wu Gong Bingtang Combat-Slaying Hammer, three Soul-Preserving Minor Return Pills…"

"One small mountain on the inner isle, three shops in Fucheng, one grand residence, a thousand mu of paddy fields, one mine, two hundred taels of gold…"

"Access to the inner floor of the Scripture Pavilion, access to the Weapon-Forging Valley…"

"…One set of Divine Guard heavy armor, appointment as commander of the Third Battalion of the Divine Guards, captaincy of the Third Squad… authority to recommend menial disciples and Divine Guard soldiers…"

"Permission to take ten registered disciples, with treatment equal to Outer Gate disciples, and three direct disciples, with treatment equal to Inner Gate disciples."

……

Inside the great hall, all was quiet; only Feng Feng Zhongyi's voice echoed. Many sect masters of smaller sects showed naked envy.

The Inner Gate disciples outside the hall were even more envious. Only Gao Gang, his face black and blue, heaved a sigh.

The bounty of this set of rewards was no less than ten thousand taels of gold, and it came with authority over a hundred Divine Guards — this was true real power.

A True Inheritance disciple of Divine Weapon Valley, even if he held the seat for only a single day, received rewards enough to support a small clan.

But this had nothing to do with the vast majority of Divine Weapon Valley disciples.

Status, treatment, weapons, residence, gold, authority…

Li Yuan's heart rate quickened. The treatment of a True Inheritance disciple far surpassed that of an Inner Gate disciple — the gap was like that between an official and a clerk.

Taking a portion of this reward would be enough to push the Soldier Register up five ranks!

A truly grand gesture!

"Thank you, Valley Master!"

Li Yuan bowed once more, and in his heart he slightly understood Qiu Qiu Zhengxiong's indignation.

Divine Weapon Valley has twelve True Inheritances; the Inner Gate and the Valley Master's line each hold two slots. He had taken one of Qiu Qiu Zhengxiong's slots — the loss could not be called

small.

It involved not only gold and goods, but the Divine Guard army as well.

A hundred-man Divine Guard, led by a True Inheritance disciple, was a force capable of attacking cities and seizing territory…

"Mm."

Lord Master Gongyang Yu nodded, swept his gaze across the hall, then waved his hand for Li Yuan to be seated. The True Inheritance was settled; it was time for the banquet.

Li Yuan, however, did not hurry to sit. After responding to Ba Ba Wanli's and Fang Fang Bao Luo's congratulations, he pointed at the unconscious Inner Gate disciple on the ground:

"Valley Master, this senior brother's hair and beard have gone white — could it be premature graying?"

A Dragon Form root bone was as if it had one more breakthrough limit than an ordinary superior root bone. He had fought the Inner Strong disciples without any disadvantage, and at first had not even activated the Soldier Register — until that old fellow suddenly erupted…

"Bai Jing!"

Ba Ba Wanli snorted coldly and looked toward Qiu Qiu Zhengxiong:

"That old fellow entered the sect earlier than I did — he must be at least sixty. What do you have to say?"

"Disrupting the True Inheritance Ceremony — by sect rules, his Wu Gong shall be crippled, his status stripped, and he shall be expelled from Zhe Dragon Mansion!"

Shi Hong waved his hand, and men stepped forward to drag the unconscious old man away.

Ba Ba Wanli wanted to stop them, but was held back by Fang Fang Bao Luo. Li Yuan did not stop them either; he merely glanced at the Young Valley Master.

Shi Hong possessed two forms — he could only be considered an ordinary superior root bone. His family background was modest, he had no connections, yet he had been able to surpass Qiu Qiu Changying and become the foremost True Inheritance of his generation. Naturally, this was because his comprehension was exceptional.

He was the only one among all the True Inheritance disciples of this generation to have reached… Meridian Opening.

……

After the reward, Li Yuan followed Lord Master Gongyang Yu to the Ancestral Hall, paid respects to the generations of ancestors, recited the sect rules several times, and only then returned to the grand ceremony.

The Grand Disciple banquet was not as lively as imagined; Li Yuan truly felt Old Han's lack of popularity.

Only Elder Ku Yue spoke a few words with him among the Inner Sect elders; among the Outer Sect elders, only Feng Feng Zhongyi was there; naturally, among the Grand Disciples, only his two senior brothers were present.

However, he had expected this long ago and never intended to force his way into Shi Hong's circle.

He merely raised his cup to drink with Ba Ba Wanli and Fang Fang Bao Luo; during the banquet, masters and elders from other small and medium sects of the Zhe Long Prefecture came to offer toasts.

But these were merely ceremonial clinks of cups; in the end, they all circled back to Shi Hong's side.

"Hmph!"

Li Yuan cared little, but Ba Ba Wanli was quite dissatisfied; yet he did not explode, only making the sound of clinking cups and drinking much louder.

"The Valley Master, Old Han, Qiu Qiu Zhengxiong..."

While accompanying his two senior brothers in drinking, Li Yuan was also pondering.

There are no factions within the valley, only all sorts of strange things; the Divine Weapon Valley is named a sect but acts as a feudal lord, controlling an entire prefecture, ruling over millions of lives, with immense power, and naturally, immense strife.

He also sorted it out: the faction of Valley Master Master Gongyang Yu and Shi Hong is the largest; next are the noble families led by Qiu Qiu Zhengxiong.

Compared to these two factions, Han Han Chuijun appears somewhat isolated, and because of his violent conduct, people keep their distance.

But precisely because of his violent conduct, few dared to provoke him in many previous years.

"Few dared to provoke him in many previous years, yet I happened to run into him?"

Li Yuan felt somewhat speechless in his heart.

Unwritten rules are unwritten rules precisely because only a tiny minority can profit from them.

For example, the promotion to Grand Disciple.

Promoting to Grand Disciple requires defeating all Inner Sect disciples; this is a rule of over a thousand years, while mutual assistance among fellow disciples is an unwritten rule passed down for many years.

For genius disciples who become Grand Disciples upon entering the sect, many only began learning martial arts upon entry; how could they have the strength to defeat all Inner Sect disciples?

Thus, the unwritten rule naturally arose.

Ordinary Inner Sect disciples must defeat all their fellow disciples, but disciples chosen by the Five Great Elders naturally need not do so.

Just as when Qiu Qiu Changying became a Grand Disciple back then, no one obstructed him at all.

He should have been the same; therefore, Han Han Chuijun never mentioned the Grand Disciple ceremony process to him.

Because it was merely a formality.

Halfway through the banquet, Lord Master Gongyang Yu and the several great elders departed one by one, and the other Grand Disciples also dispersed accordingly.

When only Li Yuan and the other two remained at the table, Fang Fang Bao Luo suddenly lowered his voice: "I heard that a few years ago, the Valley Master injured his internal organs while practicing martial arts..."

When the three of them were alone, Fang Fang Bao Luo suddenly lowered his voice: "I heard that a few years ago, the Valley Master injured his internal organs while practicing his art…"

Ba Ba Wanli, drunk, did not hear; Li Yuan's gaze sharpened, feeling somewhat enlightened, yet also somewhat unlucky.

"Since ancient times, the Valley Master position has been held by the strong..."

Fang Fang Bao Luo said no more, gave Li Yuan a deep look, then dragged Ba Ba Wanli away; without sending this big fellow back, he truly could not rest easy.

Fang Fang Bao Luo did not say more. After taking a deep look at Li Yuan, he dragged Ba Ba Wanli away — if he didn't send this big fellow back, he truly couldn't set his mind at ease.

Li Yuan twirled his wine cup, understanding in his heart.

Lord Master Gongyang Yu was born with thirteen great dragon forms; for over seventy years, he has steadily suppressed the Five Great Elders; even as strong as Old Han could not shake him.

But if something happened to him, whether it be Shi Hong or the other elders, no one would be able to suppress Old Han anymore...

"Old Han's popularity is so poor that no one agrees to let him become Valley Master?"

Li Yuan felt speechless in his heart.

But he was also very clear that this involved huge interests, absolutely not just a matter of popularity.

The Zhe Long Prefecture and its subordinate commanderies and counties have a population of no fewer than ten million households; the annual tax revenue is a vast amount of silver.

The Hidden Dragon Prefecture and the commanderies and counties under its jurisdiction had a population of no less than ten million households, and the annual tax revenue was a sea of silver.

Putting down his wine cup, Li Yuan swayed to his feet; aside from feeling a bit sorry for his newly bought clothes, overall, he was very satisfied.

Stumbling out of the main hall, he immediately spotted several Grand Disciples drinking together in the darkness not far away.

"Shi Hong, the Young Valley Master..."

……

……

On one side of the main hall, in a pavilion beside the tree shade, maids held lamps, a stove warmed wine, and several great Grand Disciples were drinking lightly together.

"Dragon Form bone structure is truly incomparable to ordinary superior bone structures; without even completing body tempering, he can fight Inner Strength practitioners; once he reaches Inner Strength, won't he be able to fight Form Transformation practitioners?"

A youth dressed in white put down his wine cup and glanced at Li Yuan's departing back.

His name was Ding Zhi, another Grand Disciple under Lord Master Gongyang Yu; among the Ten Great Disciples, he ranked second only to Ba Ba Wanli.

"Senior Brother Ding speaks in jest; the gap between Body Tempering and Inner Strength is merely a thousand jin of force; Dragon Form bone structure can fully bridge that gap, but the gap between Inner Strength and Form Transformation, how could bone structure possibly bridge it?"

"Senior Brother Ding is joking. The gap between Body Tempering and Internal Strengthening is only a thousand jin of force, and a Dragon-Shaped Root Bone is more than enough to make up for that difference. But the gap between Internal Strengthening and Form Transformation — how could any root bone possibly bridge that?"

That person wore a black long robe, with a pitch-black treasure blade placed beside him; his voice was cold; his name was Long Sheng, a Grand Disciple of the Gunbingtang.

"It is only because there were few elites outside the hall today; if Senior Sister Fang, Junior Brother Sha, or anyone else had been present, how could he have been allowed to fight across a realm?"

Several Grand Disciples clinked cups and drank; their words were not lacking in cold sneers.

Only Shi Hong frowned in silence, holding a cup of wine in his hand for a long time without drinking.

"This fellow's talent is good, but having just completed Body Tempering, reaching Form Transformation in ten years is already remarkable; how could he threaten you?"

Ding Zhi clinked cups with him, joking with a slight drunkenness:

"If you are truly worried, why not..."

"If you're really worried, then how about…"

"Withdraw."

Shi Hong waved his hand, dismissing the attending maidservants.

Seeing this, the smiles vanished from the faces of the others. Ding Zhi's smile also stiffened, and the wine-flush drained from his cheeks by more than half:

"S-Senior Brother, you're not really going to…"

"Han Han Chuijun has only gone to quell the rebellion, he hasn't died."

Shi Hong glared at him, draining the wine in his cup in one gulp.

"Han Han Chuijun…"

The mood of the small banquet instantly turned Solemn, and the breathing of the several True Disciples quickened slightly.

They were all True Disciples of a sect, and naturally knew that, between those of the same Yi Xing realm, the gap between one person and another could be vast.

It wasn't like those unorthodox practitioners outside, who, thinking themselves at Yi Xing, assumed the gap between themselves and Han Han Chuijun was small…

"Senior Brother, have you ever seen Elder Han take action?"

Long Sheng asked.

The other True Disciples were also very curious. From the day they entered the sect, their elders had warned them never to provoke Han Han Chuijun, yet to this day they still had no idea just how high his Qi Ren Wu Gong truly was.

"No. Inside or outside the sect, anyone who has seen him fight—apart from Master and Elder Qiu—is all dead…"

Shi Hong shook his head: "Even Master hasn't seen him fight in thirty years. All we know is that, when he had only just achieved Yi Xing, he killed a Tongmai expert."

"Yi Xing killing Tongmai?!"

The several True Disciples' hearts all trembled. The gap from Nei Zhuang to Yi Xing was enormous—how could the gap from Yi Xing to Tongmai be any smaller?

Tales of crossing realms to fight after Yi Xing, they had only ever heard from jianghu rumors.

Those people, without exception, were all great figures who shook Daozhou.

"Yes, Yi Xing killing Tongmai…"

Shi Hong's expression grew solemn, but there was one thing he did not say.

Han Han Chuijun had once, as a Yi Xing, killed a Tongmai—and that had been over fifty years ago.

……

After the small banquet dispersed, Shi Hong came to a quiet, secluded small courtyard behind Daodadian.

The early summer night was rather cool, but upon arriving here, he could feel scalding waves of heat rushing toward his face.

'Is Master's qi and blood really this vigorous? Has his internal organs truly been injured?

Shi Hong bowed and waited. Before long, he received a response.

Within the small courtyard, flowers and grasses were planted, with an old tree and a mountain spring. Lord Master Gongyang Yu sat cross-legged beneath the tree, his breathing nearly imperceptible.

"Master!"

Shi Hong bowed.

Lord Master Gongyang Yu slowly opened his eyes. The courtyard seemed to brighten for an instant. Looking at the lowered-head Shi Hong, he asked:

"What do you think of that Li Yuan?"

"Dragon-shaped root bone, exceptional talent—surpassing Junior Sister Qiu, and… surpassing me."

Shi Hong sighed softly, found a clean spot, sat down on the ground, and said quite frankly:

"This disciple is no match for him."

"His root bone may not stop at nine forms; perhaps it is already close to the Great Dragon Form!"

Lord Master Gongyang Yu spoke:

"In the past hundred years, within the valley, those whose talent surpassed his are perhaps only this old man and Han Han Chuijun!"

Shi Hong's heart trembled, his breathing growing somewhat rapid.

Even when he had broken through to Tongmai, he had not received such an evaluation from Lord Master Gongyang Yu.

"Perhaps, he is already not far from Han Han Chuijun."

Lord Master Gongyang Yu gazed at the scattered stars in the night sky:

"If I had met him ten years earlier—no, five years earlier—this old man would have personally taken him as a disciple, taught him the sect's ultimate learning, and named him Young Valley Master."

Shi Hong's eyes dimmed slightly, but in his heart he breathed a sigh of relief.

"A pity, it is too late."

Lord Master Gongyang Yu felt a touch of regret, then asked:

"Do you know the relationship between this old man and Han Han Chuijun?"

"This disciple… does not."

Shi Hong shook his head.

"Within a single prefecture, there are tens of millions of households, and the number of sects and factions, large and small, is beyond count. Outside are the other three great sects, inside is the prefecture government office…"

Lord Master Gongyang Yu spoke of the difficulties of managing the sect. Shi Hong had heard it many times, and could only continue listening.

"Han Han Chuijun and I are each other's outward face and inward substance."

Lord Master Gongyang Yu rose and paced beneath the tree: "As the master of a sect, there are many things this old man finds inconvenient to say, and inconvenient to do.

But these things must be done by someone. Do you understand?"

"This disciple understands."

"You do not understand! If you truly understood, you would not have targeted Li Yuan today!"

Looking at Shi Hong, a hint of disappointment flickered in Lord Master Gongyang Yu's eyes:

"These past few decades, the valley has suffered somewhat from a lack of fresh talent.

Among your generation of True Disciples, apart from you, Elder Qiu Ying, and Ba Ba Wanli who are barely passable, the rest cannot bear the weight of the sect, cannot bear the weight of a single prefecture, let alone three prefectures?"

"Li Yuan's talent is no less than Han Han Chuijun's. In the future he will surely be your right arm—yet you cannot tolerate him?"