Chapter 36

(Forgot the time with family on New Year's Day, sorry. Starting tomorrow, the update schedule will be basically normal. Here, I ask for recommendation votes and collections. Wishing everyone a happy New Year, a happy family, and good health and well-being.)

A month has passed!

Since being escorted from the capital Chang'an to the Wu Dang Xian Yao Valley, a whole month has passed!

For ordinary people, a month might not change much, but for Su Qiniang, the changes and events of this month are enough to surpass the excitement of the fifteen years he has lived before.

The Xian Yao Valley is in turmoil!

Most of the convicts on probation are like ants on a hot pan, at a loss.

They find it hard to imagine how Su Qiniang suddenly transformed from a convict on probation to the successor of Qingyang Peak, one of the seventy-two peaks of Wu Dang.

Although Su Qiniang's current status is still that of a convict on probation, he no longer needs to stay in the Xian Yao Valley. Even if he fails to establish his foundation within the next five years and is eventually escorted back to the capital by the Ministry of Justice to be executed, from now on, according to Wu Dang's rules, he will continue the lineage as a successor, with a status equivalent to an elder of a peak, second only to the peak masters and the lineage patriarchs.

Even a mountain chicken turning into a phoenix is not as legendary as this!

On this day, when the news reached the Xian Yao Valley, no one had the heart to practice in the morning. After reading the Daoist book passed down from the Golden Summit of Tianzhu Peak several times and confirming it was correct, many convicts on probation had red eyes.

Some gritted their teeth, some sneered, some looked at him with ill intent, and most of them stared at the most dilapidated thatched cottage in the corner.

At the morning practice, Su Qiniang did not come out.

He was packing his belongings, which were not many, but he did it very carefully. He folded several old Xuan paper and hemp paper from the crevices under the table and put them in his bag.

He took off his tattered robe and put on a clean dark blue cloth robe. This was one of the few things he brought out from the high walls of Chang'an, a total of three cloth robes, all sewn by his mother, Su Shi, with her own hands this year. Before yesterday, even though his clothes were tattered, he was reluctant to change them. The thorns and brambles on the mountain not only tore the fabric but also his spirit.

"Without the support of power, the teachings of sages are like rootless floating weeds. Many of us scholars lack this, which is why we cannot achieve anything, and even after ten or twenty years of hard study, we cannot rise to prominence."

Su Qiniang straightened his clothes, and his disheveled black hair was carefully washed with cold water. His eyes were bright and clear, no longer clouded as before.

"The Confucian scholars wrote books and established teachings, and also practiced martial arts, archery, and horsemanship, so the contention of the hundred schools of thought only lasted a few decades. Although many classics were produced, they could not match the Confucian scholars' dominance in both literature and martial arts. In the Han Empire, only Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism stand together."

Taking a deep breath, Su Qiniang put on his backpack, straightened his back, and discarded all his past.

One's perspective determines one's actions, and principles govern the heart. The initial joy of obtaining the "Mihun Dafa" has now settled.

True and false, yin and yang, reality and illusion, only martial power remains constant.

Power makes principles into rules!

This is Su Qiniang's current thinking.

...

By the lakeside.

Daoist Jingdu stood tall, his eyes calm, and his dark face showed no emotion.

In front of the dilapidated thatched cottage, dozens of people had gathered.

Many of the convicts on probation looked at him with ill intent. Many of them had been in the valley for more than two years. Even if they occasionally picked some rare herbs in the mountains, an opportunity like Su Qiniang's was something they could not even dream of.

Today, leaving the Xian Yao Valley, Su Qiniang will no longer have any connection with them.

Crack! Crack!

Someone was cracking their knuckles, and the joints made a crisp sound. In the Xian Yao Valley, as long as no one died, no one would interfere.

"Even outside the Xian Yao Valley, he is still a convict on probation!"

This was said by the owner of the ninth thatched cottage by the lakeside, a young man in a coarse short robe, his face dark and a sneer on his lips.

"Five years without establishing a foundation, and it's still a dead end!"

"Pity that the Qingyang Peak lineage fell to a waste like Su Qiniang."

"The 'Qingyang Sword,' 'Ganyi Yuanheng Step,' 'Zelei Palm,' 'Xiuming Knife,' 'Qingguang Sword,' and so on, which of these is not a top-notch martial art? If we had obtained the lineage, we could have made it great, but it fell to Su Qiniang..."

Many convicts on probation clenched their teeth, their eyes growing colder, like a single rat ruining a whole feast.

"Is the Xian Yao Valley a place where one can come and go as they please!"

This was said by a muscular young man with bulging muscles, who appeared much older than the others, nearly thirty years old.

The owner of the seventh thatched cottage by the lakeside, whose father once held a sixth-rank position in the Golden Hall, but whose mother was injured by demons in her early years, leaving him with insufficient innate energy and a weak body. Despite later supplements, he could not keep up with the cultivation speed of others in the valley. He was only able to be on probation for over twenty years due to a favor from a high-ranking official in the court. His status and position in the valley were earned through hard work.

At this moment, only eight of the nine thatched cottages by the lakeside were gathered here.

"The young lord has already left the valley."

"At the morning practice, the young lord took a 'Zhan Yao Ling' and went down the mountain."

Some convicts on probation were talking to each other, their eyes filled with respect.

"The young lord's 'Guishé Gong' is nearly at the seventh level, and he is like Li Qinghe, seeking the eighth to tenth levels of 'Guishé Gong' and unwilling to try to establish a foundation with the seventh level, opening the dantian."

"The eighth level foundation-building skill is said to be almost on par with a third-rate martial artist who has just entered the Kai Tian realm. The physical strength and qi are not just that of a fine horse, but of a celestial horse raised in the heavens to pull the chariots of the gods."

Many convicts on probation showed envy. The eighth level of 'Guishé Gong' is not easy to achieve. They had contact with some outer court disciples and obtained some information through various relationships. Even among the over a thousand outer court disciples, those who could establish a foundation with the eighth level of 'Guishé Gong' were few, and those who could do so with the ninth level were even rarer, like morning stars, with only a handful, all of whom were sought after by the various peaks and lineages, with the potential to become top-notch figures in the future.

As for the final tenth level of 'Guishé Gong,' it had never been heard of. Even throughout the history of Wu Dang, only a few of the Three Mad Daoists had reached it.

"Throughout the world, and even in the surrounding countries and demon realms, the tenth level foundation-building skill is often just a legend. Even those who fail halfway are remembered in martial history, with their own biographies in the annals..."

...

Half an incense stick later.

"What is this! Hiding inside and not coming out!"

A young man coldly rebuked, very impatient. He clenched his fist and took two steps forward, delivering a punch.

Bang!

The rotten wooden door shook violently, but to everyone's surprise, it did not shatter under the young man's powerful punch.

Then, the young man trembled like a sieve, and his entire body was thrown back, landing three zhang away, his bones and muscles feeling as if they were dislocated. He tried to struggle to his feet but could not.

What!

Many convicts on probation were immediately shocked, and with a creak, the rotten wooden door slowly opened, revealing a figure behind it.

A Su Qiniang they had never seen before!

"Su, Su Qiniang?" someone murmured, not believing it.

No tattered clothes, no muddled eyes, no hunched back, and no signs of decline!

A person, just standing there, like an ancient mountain, with the undulating ridges as his spine.

His eyes, like ink-dyed jade, like the brightest stars in a winter night, illuminating the heart.

And that dark blue robe, like the solitary white stroke in a master's ink painting, standing alone, proud and defiant. (Forgot the time with family on New Year's Day, sorry. Starting tomorrow, the update schedule will be basically normal. Here, I ask for recommendation votes and collections. Wishing everyone a happy New Year, a happy family, and good health and well-being.)