Sword from Songshan

Chapter 3 Entering the Mountain
"Hey~! Isn't this Nanxing? Let's go to the county town together?"

"Tian Dong, are you going into the mountains? Why are you so diligent recently?"

Before dawn, at the entrance of Shihe Village, a group of villagers were already preparing to leave for the county town to sell medicine. Just then, two figures walked out of the village. When they got closer, they could see clearly that they were Lu Nanxing and Wang Tiandong.

The two people, who used to go to the city more than ten times a month, suddenly changed their nature in the past two months. Not only did they not go to the city unless necessary, but they went into the mountains early and came back late every day. They were even more hardworking than Li Gancao, who had five children at home.

However, the two of them still practiced martial arts every night while one read by candlelight.

For a moment, the villagers were all puzzled, and when they happened to meet each other, they couldn't help but make a few jokes.

"No."

"Next time."

Facing the teasing of the crowd, Lu Nanxing and Wang Tiandong had no expression on their faces. They responded faintly and walked straight towards the dark mountains in the east.

“This road is really difficult to walk on!”

Walking on the rugged path, Lu Nanxing suddenly sighed softly.

It’s not that he has changed his personality, but that things are different now.

In the past, he was keen on going into the city just to peek at the martial arts candidates practicing martial arts. Now, he has learned all 36 moves of the Eagle Claw grappling technique.

As for stealing other people's skills, there are only a few masters in such a small county. Even if there are others, they are not as defenseless as the martial arts candidate, and Lu Nanxing can easily spy on them.

Another thing is that skills are not about quantity but about quality. Instead of practicing a few tricks here and there, it is better to focus on practicing the eagle claw grappling technique well.

Even if you can't become a top master like Yin Tianzheng, at least you can make a living.

As the saying goes, one trick can conquer the world, and the same is true in the martial arts world. Those famous figures often have a special martial art. For example, the Thirteen Guardians of Songshan, you can tell what they are good at just by listening to their nicknames.

Now that he has the basic martial arts skills, Lu Nanxing has to consider the next step, joining a sect!

As an ordinary citizen, even if he had martial arts skills, he could only gain some advantage when arguing with others, but he still could not escape the oppression of the government and gangs.

If you want to change your destiny, you must first complete the transformation of your identity!
Joining a sect is exactly this transformation.

And these thirty-six moves of Eagle Claw grappling techniques are Lu Nanxing's stepping stone.

"Songshan Sect!"

In fact, Lu Nanxing had already made plans and even decided which sect he wanted to join.

It is nice to sit under a big tree and enjoy the shade, so the stronger the sect, the better.

However, the general famous sects are very strict in recruiting disciples. Religious sects such as Shaolin, Wudang, and Emei have even more restrictions.

Apart from some old-time powerful people, the Five Mountains Sword Sect is the most powerful in the martial arts world today!
Among them, the Hengshan Sect only accepts female nuns, so Lu Nanxing doesn't have to worry about it.

After the dispute over sword energy, the Huashan Sect has not recovered yet and has been adhering to a policy of streamlining. Now, there are only 20 to 30 disciples in the sect, and it is extremely difficult to join.

The Taishan Sect, as a Taoist sect, is similar.

Only Songshan and Hengshan still have some hope.

Of course, both families are equally cautious when it comes to their core disciples.

But in addition to the core disciples, they will also recruit some peripheral disciples.

The outer disciples of Hengshan Sect are mostly used to maintain the sect's industries in Hengyang City. Relying on the reputation of Hengshan Sect, they can become local tycoons if they do well, but it is extremely difficult to obtain the true teachings of Hengshan Sect.

The Songshan School is different. As long as you have real skills, you will be valued!

For example, the Thirteen Guardians of Songshan who were feared in the martial arts world, not all of them were Zuo Lengchan’s junior brothers, and several of them joined later.

Moreover, the Songshan School will accept almost anyone who has solid martial arts skills and a clean background.

Although this was due to Zuo Lengchan's ambition, it must be admitted that in terms of sect system and policy, the Songshan Sect was indeed much more progressive than the other four.

No wonder Zuo Lengchan has been able to sit firmly on the position of leader of the Five Mountains.

It just so happens that Songshan is not far from Shihe Village. In ancient times, it was inconvenient to travel by horse and carriage, and the journey was extremely important. The Songshan School was truly chosen by heaven!
"Money."

However, there is still a hurdle standing in front of Lu Nanxing.

In addition to a clean identity and martial arts skills, to join the Songshan Sect and become an outer disciple, one also needs a donation of one hundred taels of silver!

Considering the current status of the Songshan Sect, one hundred taels is not a lot.

For those who have been in the martial arts world for many years, one hundred taels is not much. But for Lu Nanxing, it is a huge sum of money!
Normally, he could only earn a little over two taels of silver a month by collecting herbs, but now the Yellow River Gang was squeezing him out, and it was less than two taels. Lu Nanxing spent less on food and clothing, and even if he tried to be frugal, he could save at most two hundred coins a month.

One thousand coins could be exchanged for one tael of silver, and one hundred taels was equivalent to one hundred thousand coins. It would take Lu Nanxing for forty or fifty years to save up the money!
"Oh~!"

Thinking of this, Lu Nanxing sighed again.

The martial arts world in novels is full of heroic spirit, but only when you are really in it do you realize that a penny can make a hero fall.

At present, he has no other way to make a living, so he can only work hard to collect herbs and save as much money as possible.

Lu Nanxing was worried about money, and the same was true for Wang Tiandong.

Before, he was only interested in going to the city, just to read books at the bookstalls, and occasionally buy an old book and read it over and over again at home.

But if that’s all, how much knowledge can be gained?
Recently he felt that he had reached a bottleneck.

If you want to continue to improve, or even pass the imperial examination, you need a teacher to teach you.

The imperial court had official schools in various places, but the number of places was limited, and it was definitely not a threshold that ordinary people could enter.

As a result, he could only focus on private schools.

Wang Tiandong had already inquired about it. There was a Mr. Wang in the county town who was very knowledgeable. Three years ago, one of his students even passed the imperial examination and became a Jinshi!
If he could enroll in Mr. Wang’s private school, Wang Tiandong believed that he would have the potential to win the imperial examination!
However, Mr. Wang's reputation is growing. Not only in Xiangfu County, but even in Kaifeng Prefecture, people come to study under him, so the threshold is much higher.

How high exactly? A gift of fifty taels is required to become my apprentice!
Fifty taels, Wang Tiandong calculated that he would need twenty to thirty years to save up!

There is no other way at the moment, so I have to try my best to collect herbs.

"You go over there, and I'll go over there."

"it is good."

After walking for more than half an hour, the two entered the mountains and searched for medicinal herbs on the left and right.

However, the two will not be too far apart.

The deep mountains and old forests are full of various dangers. If no one is looking after you, you may die here if you are not careful.

The father of Lu Nanxing's original body died because he went into the mountains alone and fell into a valley without anyone to rescue him. After that, his mother saw that life was hopeless and left the original body sleeping late one night and ran away.

As a result, the original body became an orphan and had to go into the mountains to collect herbs at a young age.

Although he already knew many herbs, his body was still young and he could not endure the hardship of going into the mountains and fell ill. Eventually he died and was possessed by Lu Nanxing, whose soul had traveled through time and space.

It was just daybreak and the sun had not yet risen. The dew in the mountains was very heavy, and soon Lu Nanxing's trouser legs were wet.

Fortunately, it is midsummer now and the weather is not freezing cold.

Lu Nanxing ignored him, bent down, and searched carefully in the messy mountain area.

"What a nice Gastrodia elata."

It was not until nearly half an hour, as we gradually went deeper into the mountains, that we finally found a mature Gastrodia elata nearly two feet long under a big tree.

Lu Nanxing's face was full of joy. He hurried forward, took out the medicine hoe from the backpack, squatted down and dug carefully.

Gastrodia elata has the effect of calming the liver and extinguishing wind. It can be used for headaches, dizziness, and numbness of limbs. It is a good medicine.

It has no roots or leaves, and its main medicinal part is the tuber buried in the soil.

"good."

After a while, he dug out the entire piece of Gastrodia elata and weighed it casually. It was about two or three taels. Lu Nanxing nodded with satisfaction.

Then he stood up and prepared to look for other medicinal herbs.

Crash~crash~!

But at this moment, a burst of broken sounds suddenly came.

When I looked up, I saw a snake sticking out from under a pile of rotten leaves less than two meters ahead.

When the snake saw Lu Nanxing, it raised its head slightly and took a threatening and attacking posture.

At the same time, the full picture emerged from under the rotten leaves. It was more than one meter long, with black and white horizontal stripes on its back.

This is a coral snake, extremely poisonous!
(End of this chapter)