Those two simple words made Han Shuangjiang's breath catch in her throat.
Last night had brought a heavy rain, but today was a beautiful day. The sky was clear for thousands of miles, the sun brilliant and dazzling.
The foxy-faced man stood against the light and calmly gave his answer. Then, he even grinned at her.
The World Protagonist, still in her "novice protection period," felt her body tense up slightly.
"He killed someone when he was still an ordinary person?"
The emotional impact of this was far greater than that of a cultivator killing someone!
Beneath her full chest, her heart began to beat faster. In her daze, Han Shuangjiang didn't even realize that Chu Huaixu had continued to walk forward.
"What are you standing there like a fool for? Let's go," he called out.
The cold-faced girl pursed her lips, and her body instinctively hurried to catch up, appearing rather obedient. Realizing this, she quickly slowed her pace.
Chu Huaixu glanced at her from the corner of his eye and couldn't help but smile.
...
...
Medicine Mountain was one of the three peaks of the outer sect and could be roughly divided into three areas: a spiritual herb zone, a residential zone, and a commercial and lifestyle services zone.
In the outer sect, there were senior in-name disciples who taught mundane martial arts to others.
Initially, the four formations in the outer sect's Scripture Pavilion were set up to screen for the best among those in the aperture-opening stage and provide them with high-quality cultivation techniques. This wasn't because the Dao Gate was stingy and unwilling to make good things widely available. It was purely because the higher the grade of a cultivation technique, the greater the difficulty. If one's aptitude wasn't enough, forcing it would only hold them back.
But who would have thought that where there's a policy, there's a countermeasure?
A small number of people realized that mundane martial arts had their merits; they could allow the physical body to exert greater strength, which was beneficial for breaking the formations!
The competitive dogs of the Xuanhuang Realm immediately sprang into action. At first, no one bothered to practice this low-end stuff. But as this trend gradually fermented and couldn't be stopped, it eventually forced the Scripture Pavilion to upgrade the formations and increase the difficulty!
When the vast majority of people had learned mundane martial arts, the original standards could no longer serve as an effective screening method. If someone said they had learned martial arts before coming up the mountain, what could you do?
Fine, fine, let's just treat it as the disciples using mundane martial arts to build a foundation before they formally learn [Arts].
As time went on, a martial arts learning industry chain was formed, which in turn increased tax revenue.
Chu Huaixu led Han Shuangjiang, asking for directions along the way, and soon they arrived in front of a courtyard.
"Why did so many people recommend we learn from this Senior Brother Liu?" he was somewhat perplexed.
Is his reputation really that good?
The cold-faced girl, Han Shuangjiang, on the other hand, acted like a little housekeeper, focused only on comparison shopping and asking about prices along the way. Little did she know that the outer sect was long past the stage of price wars. Nowadays, the prices for learning martial arts were all more or less the same.
Chu Huaixu had told her this from the beginning, telling her not to waste time comparing, but she refused to believe him. Now that she found out he was right, she was still muttering to herself, "So expensive! How can it be so expensive!"
Walking into the courtyard, Chu Huaixu called out loudly, "Senior Brother Liu! Is Senior Brother Liu here?"
The door to the house quickly opened, and a man who was slightly handsome walked out. He wore a white robe, with fine golden thread patterns on the cuffs and collar. At a glance, it was made from high-quality fabric. With the terrible prices in the outer sect, just this outfit alone would cost a lot of money.
"Is his business really that good? Has he made a fortune?" Chu Huaixu wondered.
This young-master-like in-name disciple with the surname Liu was slightly stunned when he saw the two of them clearly. The man was tall and handsome; the woman, even through her veil, gave the impression of being a beauty. Although the clothes they wore were relatively ordinary and not expensive, a unique temperament emanated from them.
Based on the principle of heterosexual attraction, his attention was more focused on Han Shuangjiang. There was no helping it. She gave off an icy feeling that kept people a thousand miles away, yet she had a fiery figure.
Although her chest was not as magnificent as Elder Nangong's, and couldn't be called a sensational wave, it was still full and clearly substantial, far beyond that of an ordinary person. Her slender, willow-like waist further accentuated the charming curve of her hips. Below her full buttocks was a pair of astonishingly proportioned, long, jade-like legs. Just now, as she walked gracefully towards him, her swaying posture was like lotuses blooming with every step, captivating one's heart.
The colder and more like an ice mountain she was, the more it stimulated the desire to conquer in some men, making them want to see her completely transformed into a stunning creature.
The in-name disciple named Liu Chengqi couldn't help but sniff hard, as if he had caught a whiff of fragrance. After seeing Han Shuangjiang, he immediately understood why these two had come to his courtyard and felt that more and more people on Medicine Mountain were becoming sensible.
"Junior Brother and Junior Sister look unfamiliar. You must have been recommended here by someone, right?" he said, a smile on his face that was like a spring breeze.
Unfortunately, comparisons are odious. When Liu Chengqi stood in front of Chu Huaixu, who could rank second on the [Must-Try Companion List], his own insignificant handsomeness was simply not enough.
"Senior Brother Liu, we did indeed ask some fellow disciples, and everyone recommended we come here to learn martial arts from you," Chu Huaixu said verbally, while secretly tossing an [Information Probe] his way to see what he was made of.
Oh-ho, a six-aperture expert! My apologies, my apologies.
On Medicine Mountain, outer sect disciples who had already entered the first realm or higher disdained to teach mundane martial arts for profit; it was too degrading. As for the in-name disciples who were close to opening all nine apertures, they wouldn't waste their precious time. They were all busy trying to break through, like high school seniors cramming for their final exams, with no time to be private tutors. Therefore, the people in this group of martial arts instructors were at most at the six or seven-aperture level.
The only thing that felt off to Chu Huaixu was that in the basic information displayed by the system, this Senior Brother Liu's status was: Spirit Embryo (Damaged).
"Whoa, looks like he's got a story," he thought.
Liu Chengqi smiled and took two steps forward, his voice gentle and carrying the legendary vocal fry. "Recommended by others? That's just my fellow disciples overpraising me."
"Junior Brother, Junior Sister, my surname is Liu, Liu Chengqi. You can call me Senior Brother Liu."
"The martial art I am best at is the 'Heaven and Earth Infinite Eight Trigrams Palm'. One session is one hour, and the fee is 10 taels of silver per person."
At this point, he glanced at the frowning ice-mountain beauty, then suddenly changed his tune. "However, teaching one person is the same as teaching two. Junior Brother, you pay ten taels of silver, and for the first session, I'll teach you both together, hands-on."
The moment his voice fell, he saw the ice-mountain beauty's brow indeed relax.
Hearing this, all Chu Huaixu could think was: "'Heaven and Earth Infinite Eight Trigrams Palm'? Never heard of it." However, mundane martial arts were much like the aperture-opening stage techniques; their names were all ridiculously domineering. When he was asking around outside, he had heard people teaching things like the "Heaven and Earth Single-Slash" and the "Great Wasteland Heaven-Imprisoning Finger". If you didn't know better, you'd think they were some kind of Heaven-grade [Art]!
However, he hadn't expected this Liu Chengqi to pull a buy-one-get-one-free stunt. More importantly, there was a problem with his wording.
"Why is it 'I' pay ten taels, and not 'we' pay five each?"
Although he was indeed the one paying, it just didn't sound right. It had a hint of borrowing flowers to offer to the Buddha. Or was it that he had misjudged the relationship between him and Han Shuangjiang and was giving him a chance to show off?
But in any case, saving money was definitely a good thing.
Chu Huaixu immediately paid ten taels of silver, wanting to see what this "Gibberish Eight Trigrams Palm" was all about.
Liu Chengqi began to briefly introduce the martial art, then started to demonstrate it. He went from the first form all the way to the ninth. The strength of this mundane martial art was indeed not bad; it could be considered a high-grade martial art. Most importantly, the set of moves looked very cool, elegant and unrestrained.
After the demonstration, Liu Chengqi began to teach the first form—Eight Desolates Roaming Dragon!
He said he would teach hands-on, and he really did teach hands-on.
"Junior Brother, this part needs to sink a little lower."
"Right, and here needs to be a bit higher."
He would press on Chu Huaixu's waist one moment, then lift his arm the next...
In addition, he also explained all the key points in detail. Since it was just a martial art, Chu Huaixu immediately heard the system prompt: "[Ding! Liu Chengqi is teaching you the first form of the martial art 'Eight Trigrams Palm'. Do you wish to learn?]"
"[Yes]." The ten taels of silver were not spent in vain.
After learning it, Chu Huaixu was about to make a move, to open their eyes and fiercely show off as a martial arts genius. Unexpectedly, Liu Chengqi directly skipped over him and said, "Junior Brother Chu, you can digest this on your own first. I'll explain it again to Junior Sister Han."
At this moment, the cold-faced girl was at the side, earnestly copying the moves. As she performed the not-quite-standard Eight Desolates Roaming Dragon, the curves of her body were fully displayed. Seen from the side, her full buttocks made her robes bulge. A breeze blew past, lifting a corner of her veil, revealing lips that were red and tender, pressed tightly together.
Liu Chengqi's heart wavered, and he was a man of his word.
If I say I'll teach you both hands-on, then I'll teach you both hands-on!
He had already put his hands on Chu Huaixu just now, so now it was naturally this beauty's turn.
"Junior Sister, that's not how [Eight Desolates Roaming Dragon] is done. Your waist also needs to sink a little lower," Liu Chengqi said, still wearing his spring-breeze smile, as he reached out his large hand towards her waist.
Han Shuangjiang was listening very intently and didn't react at first.
"Tsk! Why are you getting all handsy?" A voice came from the side, and Liu Chengqi's wrist was caught in the firm grip of a large hand.