Chapter 43

Under the joint assault of several major forces, the evil forces did not last long and were quickly eradicated from the mountain city. A new round of interest distribution then unfolded among these forces.

In the dilapidated temple, Bai Xiaosheng listened with a smile to Pei Ji recounting the recent disputes among the major forces, a look of intense ridicule flashing in his eyes. These people truly were like mud that could not be shaped into a wall!

"Alright, don't talk about them. These people..." Shaking his head, Bai Xiaosheng turned to Pei Ji and asked, "Brother Pei, how many disciples of the Beggar Sect are there in our mountain city?"

"1,273!" Pei Ji said without hesitation, much to Bai Xiaosheng's surprise. He hadn't expected such a large number of disciples in this small mountain city.

"Are all these people beggars?" Bai Xiaosheng asked again.

Pei Ji shook his head and said, "Most of them are, but many are not, just like Brother Bai and I, who are not beggars."

Bai Xiaosheng nodded. The Beggar Sect's tradition was such that as long as you were a beggar, you could join the sect, which was the source of its disciples. However, the Beggar Sect did not only accept beggars; they also accepted people like Bai Xiaosheng, who were martial artists. It seemed they accepted anyone, but in reality, the Beggar Sect had its own methods of screening.

"Don't forget, the Beggar Sect is the most well-informed when it comes to information. It's not easy to deceive them in this aspect!"

Listening to Pei Ji's detailed introduction of the Beggar Sect's disciples, Bai Xiaosheng remained silent for a long time.

"Brother Pei, what do you think if we recruit the young disciples of those major forces into the Beggar Sect?" Suddenly, Bai Xiaosheng looked up and asked Pei Ji. Pei Ji was slightly taken aback but quickly regained his composure, his eyes twinkling as he said, "Brother Bai, this method could help improve our relationship with those forces, but..."

"But, if those people join the Beggar Sect, they might harm the sect's interests for their own forces. Is that it?" Bai Xiaosheng finished Pei Ji's sentence, then added, "Have you considered that the Beggar Sect is the Beggar Sect, and a few disciples joining won't change it. Moreover, will they stay in the mountain city after joining the Beggar Sect?"

Bai Xiaosheng's counter-question left Pei Ji stunned, but then he realized it was a good idea. He clapped his hands in approval, saying, "Brother Bai's method is excellent. Let those people join the Beggar Sect but don't let them stay in the mountain city. This way, even if they have other intentions, they won't be able to do anything."

"Exactly, that's what I mean."

After reaching an agreement, they began to summon other Beggar Sect disciples and discussed the matter in detail. Everyone thought it was a good idea and nodded in agreement. Then, the Beggar Sect sent messages to those forces, offering to recommend their disciples to join the sect. These people were overjoyed when they heard this. They had seen the benefits the Yun Family Manor had gained under Bai Xiaosheng's arrangements and were envious. If their disciples joined the Beggar Sect, they wouldn't ask for much, but at least Bai Xiaosheng would be more fair in distributing the benefits!

With these thoughts, these people selected many disciples and sent them to the Beggar Sect's base. After meeting these people, Bai Xiaosheng had Pei Ji take charge of teaching them the rules and then contacted the upper echelons to send people to take these disciples away.

It seemed that Bai Xiaosheng was doing favors for others, but in reality, he used this opportunity to meet many Beggar Sect disciples, understand their backgrounds, and even kept a few for his own use. Although he wasn't sure if these few had any backers, time would eventually reveal the truth.

While Bai Xiaosheng was busy with his plans and running back and forth between the family and the sect, time passed unnoticed. Another three years had gone by. During these three years, he spent most of his time winning over the Beggar Sect disciples, chatting and joking with them in his free time, guiding them in martial arts, and often drinking and eating with the beggars, winning their hearts.

Of course, he didn't forget his martial arts, but he wasn't as intense as in the past few years. He maintained a steady practice to keep himself at peak condition and spent more time studying the Hundred Family Spectrum, researching over a hundred martial arts techniques to improve, understand, innovate, and refine his sword techniques.

Thus, he spent three years, and the mountain city remained peaceful for three years after the eradication of the evil forces.

Today, while practicing his sword techniques outside the dilapidated temple, Bai Xiaosheng felt his sword skills becoming smoother. With a green lighted long sword in hand, he moved, and the sword light flickered. As he thrust the sword forward, the dazzling sword light disappeared, leaving only a long sword piercing through the void.

Simplifying the complex and then complicating the simple!

This was Bai Xiaosheng's cultivation of his sword techniques and moves, and today, he succeeded. Watching his long sword, one strike seemed to have countless follow-ups, but after the thrust, only one sword remained, making it impossible to discern how his sword technique worked.

In three years, Bai Xiaosheng had progressed from simplifying the complex to complicating the simple, reaching the realm of mixed sword techniques. It took him six years to reach this step, and he couldn't say whether it was good or bad. He didn't know who to compare himself to. Linghu Chong? That guy started practicing sword techniques in his teens and took over a decade to reach this realm, while Bai Xiaosheng reached it in six years, which seemed satisfactory.

However, thinking of Linghu Chong's rapid progress on the Cliff of Reflection, Bai Xiaosheng still felt immense pressure. That kind of progress was unimaginable, changing every day.

The improvement in sword techniques was visible, but the improvement in internal energy was not, only Bai Xiaosheng could feel it. In these three years, his internal energy had improved, not as fast as before, but he had reached the realm of internal energy circulation.

In his martial arts realm, he had just reached the third step, the Great Perfection. However, his Great Perfection was just a touch, as his internal energy had just formed a meridian circulation, and the energy from one cycle could not continue to the next. He still needed to accumulate more internal energy to reach true Great Perfection.

"Internal energy cultivation is indeed too slow!" Holding the long sword, Bai Xiaosheng sighed lightly. He was 23, and there were still four years until the beginning of "Heavenly Dragon." He believed that in four years, he could reach Great Perfection in internal energy, but his internal energy would still be far inferior to those old masters. Compared to people like Xiao Feng and Xu Zhu, who were on par with the old masters, he was still inferior.

This made Bai Xiaosheng unhappy. He had thought of ways, but elixirs were too fantastical; this was a martial arts world, not a fantasy world. The method he thought of was to use the system's time travel function to go to other times and practice at three times the speed. However, what frustrated Bai Xiaosheng was that after six years, the stone door still couldn't be pushed open. This system was truly a headache!

Finding a secluded place, Bai Xiaosheng's body flashed, and he entered the system again. He walked to the grassland, stood beside the large green stone, and began to display his sword techniques. His sword techniques were sometimes fast, sometimes slow, seemingly fast yet slow, both fast and slow, making it hard to distinguish reality from illusion, leaving people puzzled.

On the large green stone, as Bai Xiaosheng's sword techniques were displayed, a series of scores appeared. These scores flashed quickly, making it hard to see clearly, but we could vaguely see that most started with "9," some with "8," and none below that.

This was the benefit of reaching the realm of mixed sword techniques. At this level, you begin to understand the essence of sword techniques, which is your own interpretation of the sword. With this understanding, various sword techniques can be naturally performed, achieving great effectiveness.

In simple terms, you understand the essence of sword techniques. There are countless sword techniques in the world, each with different meanings, but the essence remains unchanged. With the support of the essence, you can comprehend the deeper meaning and perform the techniques with nine-tenths of their power. The next level, the realm of no technique, can be seen as the realm of man and sword becoming one, or the realm of sword intent.

At this point, you are the sword, and every movement is a sword technique!

However, Bai Xiaosheng had yet to comprehend this realm and thus couldn't explain it.

After finishing his sword techniques, various scores from the large green stone appeared in Bai Xiaosheng's mind. He smiled in satisfaction, raised his long sword, and a streak of green light shot out, piercing the grassland and creating a deep hole.

Sword Qi!

This was a powerful move that Bai Xiaosheng had developed over the past three years. Unfortunately, his internal energy was insufficient to retain the sword qi on the sword, forming a sword glow like Zuo Bu Fan. To compensate, he imitated the One Yang Finger and the Six Pulse Sword, using the long sword to shoot out sword qi, achieving immense destructive power.

However, this move was very draining on internal energy. With Bai Xiaosheng's current internal energy, he could only use it three times. This showed that his move was still imperfect, far inferior to the One Yang Finger.

Using this move, Bai Xiaosheng held his long sword and walked step by step up the mountain path. Soon, he arrived at the waterfall and looked up. Taking a deep breath, he flashed and dove into the waterfall.

The first time he dove into the waterfall, Bai Xiaosheng suffered greatly. At that time, he couldn't withstand the pressure of the waterfall and would have been crushed if he hadn't dived in. Now, with his internal energy and strong body, the pressure of the waterfall was no longer a hindrance. He walked step by step into the waterfall, letting it wash over his body.

One step, two steps, three steps, four steps... With a splash, the pressure on Bai Xiaosheng's body suddenly eased, and he entered a pitch-black environment. He raised his head and looked at the stone door in front of him.

This is it!