I am a prince in Zhutian Films

Chapter 529 No destruction, no establishment
After staying in the village for five days, the three people and one horse left the village.

Before leaving, Xu Fengnian and Zhou Chengan cleaned up the abandoned house together.

They left quietly, without disturbing anyone in the village. It wasn't until the old village chief went to deliver breakfast that he learned the three had already left, and a letter and a hundred-tael silver note were left on the table.

From then on, the once remote mountain village was free from hunger, and even produced many famous martial arts heroes. The abandoned house became the village's shrine to longevity, where Zhou Cheng'an was enshrined.

It's approaching noon.

Xu Fengnian was about to ask Lao Huang to go find something to eat when Lao Huang suddenly clutched his stomach and said, "Young Master, I need to go to the toilet..."

Before he could utter the last word, Xu Fengnian waved his hand and said, "Go quickly! Go quickly!"

Immediately afterwards, Zhou Chengan suddenly spoke.

"Let's go together."

Old Huang was stunned for a moment, while Xu Fengnian burst out laughing.

"This kind of thing still needs to be..."

Before he could utter the word "start," his smile vanished instantly, and his gaze darted back and forth between Zhou Cheng'an and Lao Huang.

Immediately afterwards, Xu Fengnian asked, "Old Huang, you wouldn't happen to be a martial arts master as well, would you?"

That makes sense. It's impossible for Xu Xiao to leave himself with no backup plan and just travel the world with an old man who doesn't know martial arts.

However, when Xu Fengnian saw Lao Huang's toothless, goofy grin, he overturned his own idea, as he found it hard to associate Lao Huang with a martial arts master.

"Pfft~~"

Suddenly, a fart was heard.

Old Huang's憨笑 (simple and honest smile) suddenly turned into embarrassment.

"Go, go!"

Xu Fengnian was certain that Lao Huang was just an ordinary stable boy. Disdainfully, he flicked his long sleeves, trying to drive the stench towards Zhou Chengan.

With a sweep of his long Taoist robe sleeves, Zhou Cheng'an dispelled the stench, making Xu Fengnian nauseous.

Then, he strode after Lao Huang.

Previously, he had been seriously injured by taking the Dragon Essence and using Heavenly Thunder to refine his body. Xu Fengnian had helped him once, so Zhou Chengan felt that helping him once was not excessive.

There was only one assassin this time.

He was a well-known assassin in the martial arts world, and his swordsmanship had reached the level of a second-grade minor master.

Ten days ago, someone offered him one hundred taels of gold and a book on swordsmanship to kill someone.

He agreed without hesitation. After all, assassins like them, who were unaffiliated, unorganized, and without any sect or organization, might never encounter such an opportunity in their entire lives, so they had to cherish it if they did.

His name is Duan Yexing!
The person who had been secretly protecting Xu Fengnian a few days ago was seriously injured because of him, so Lao Huang decided to take matters into his own hands and get rid of him.

However, when Zhou Chengan came out, Lao Huang knew he didn't need to do it himself.

"Master Zhou, be careful, the opponent is a second-grade minor grandmaster."

The Snow Martial Arts have nine ranks. The lowest rank is to wound the armor without breaking it. The highest rank is to break through six or less pieces of armor. The third rank is to break through eight or nine pieces of armor.

The second rank is called Junior Master.

Now that Zhou Cheng'an has lost all his true energy, he is no different from an ordinary martial artist. However, he had previously killed a second-grade minor grandmaster with a single punch, which made Old Huang unsure of his true strength, so he spoke up to remind him.

"Ah."

Zhou Chengan nodded to Lao Huang and slowly walked forward.

Seeing this, Lao Huang said nothing more and turned back.

On the other side, Duan Yexing gripped his knife tightly and strode towards Xu Fengnian's location.

Then, he was stopped in his way by a young Taoist priest in a blue robe.

"Go back. He's not someone you can kill."

Duan Yexing sized up Zhou Chengan and asked, "Is the Daoist Master from Longhu Mountain or Wudang Mountain?"

As he asked the question, his hand had already gripped the hilt of the knife.

In fact, Zhou Cheng'an didn't care which mountain he came from. Once he made up his mind to do it, there was absolutely no possibility of retreating without a fight.

The reason for asking this question is that the Liyang Dynasty reveres Taoism and suppresses Buddhism, so both martial arts practitioners and ordinary people are wary of Taoist priests in robes.

Among all the Taoist priests in the world, Wudang and Longhu are the most respected.

If it were a Taoist priest from Longhu or Wudang, Duan Yexing, a second-rank minor master, would naturally have to show some mercy, since there is a fundamental difference between injuring and killing.

The injury isn't serious.

If he were killed, he himself would likely face certain death as well.

Zhou Chengan shook his head: "Neither."

No, then he doesn't need to be polite.

"You little Taoist priest had better not block my path to wealth, or my knife won't hold back."

Zhou Chengan remained calm and kindly said, "Leave now, and I won't kill you."

Duan Yexing smiled coldly: "Fine, if you can withstand one of my blows, I'll retreat."

Before he finished speaking, the knife was already drawn.

A flash of cold light, and Zhou Chengan had the knife in his hand.

Duan Yexing exerted all his strength, his veins bulging, but the knife remained completely still.

"Let go," Zhou Chengan said calmly.

Upon hearing this, Duan Yexing, knowing he was no match for Duan Yexing, loosened his grip on the hilt of his sword.

"As the saying goes, things don't happen more than three times, so you must seize the first two opportunities, otherwise others may not give you three chances. You can leave now."

Upon hearing this, Duan Yexing knelt down and kowtowed three times without saying a word, then hurriedly left.

In fact, if a real fight broke out, it would take Zhou Cheng'an quite a bit of effort to kill his opponent given his current strength.

This second-rank minor master is quite capable.

Although his physique has now reached the strongest Vajra Realm, he is unable to fully unleash the power of the Vajra Realm.

When Xu Fengnian saw Zhou Chengan return carrying a sword without a scabbard, he was stunned for a moment, and then he started talking nonsense again.

"Did you poop that out?"

After a while.

Xu Fengnian glanced at Zhou Chengan with a resentful look, then glared angrily at Lao Huang: "He hit me, and you not only didn't help, but you also stood by and laughed?!"

Old Huang smiled sheepishly upon hearing this, revealing his missing front tooth.

"You're still laughing? I'll teach you to laugh..."

The master and servant started playfully fighting. Zhou Cheng'an ignored them, used his knife to trim the branch Xu Fengnian was using to fish, and then leisurely chased after them.

The three men and one horse walked until evening without encountering any villages, so they had to find another dilapidated temple to rest.

After a simple dinner in the dilapidated temple.

"Cheng'an, this knife of yours is no good."

Xu Fengnian glanced at the knife beside Zhou Cheng'an and said with a hint of showing off, "Do you know who the number one knife master in Liyang is?"

Zhou Cheng'an, sitting cross-legged on the hay, did not respond, but simply closed his eyes and uttered two words softly.

"go to bed!"

Seeing that Zhou Cheng'an had closed his eyes, Xu Fengnian deliberately raised his voice and said in a storyteller's tone, "It is said that the number one swordsman in Liyang..."

He didn't continue speaking because Zhou Chengan opened his eyes and looked at him with a half-smile.

Xu Fengnian knew very well that if he continued talking, he would definitely be met with a beating, so he wisely chose to shut up and obediently lay down on his pile of straw.

Zhou Cheng'an, who was meditating with his eyes closed, was not calm at this moment, because the decision he was about to make was far too important. He was going to abandon his cultivation in this life and start cultivating his internal energy anew.

Having fought a second-grade minor grandmaster today, Zhou Cheng'an knew that even if he had no true energy left, he could still fight against someone below the first grade.

Since that's the case, it's better to have a short, sharp pain than a long, drawn-out one.

Moreover, retraining his Taoist internal energy cultivation would also help him achieve the strongest Finger Profound Realm.

Old Huang, who had been dozing off, suddenly opened his eyes wide and looked at Zhou Cheng'an when he felt the powerful true energy emanating from him.

He sensed something amiss and couldn't help but think to himself, "This Taoist priest Zhou is truly a ruthless person."

At the very least, he certainly couldn't dissipate his internal energy on his own.

……

the next day.

When Xu Fengnian woke up, he saw Zhou Chengan sitting cross-legged with a pale face, and he was startled.

"Cheng'an, what's wrong with you? Are you sick again?"

Hearing Xu Fengnian's rather worried question, Zhou Chengan, who was meditating with his eyes closed, gave a response.

"fine."

Upon hearing this, Xu Fengnian immediately felt relieved. He wanted to make a sarcastic remark, but then felt it was unlucky to be beaten up so early in the morning. So he showed off his fishing branch to Lao Huang and said with a smile, "Lao Huang, you're out of food, aren't you? I'll go get two fish and we'll make fish soup."

Actually, they found some food yesterday, so they wouldn't go hungry for at least today. It was only because Zhou Chengan looked so pale that Xu Fengnian thought of getting some fish to make fish soup.

Old Huang naturally understood his intention, but he didn't say anything. He just reminded him, "Young master, be careful not to get your pants wet again."

"I know, just you wait and see, I'll definitely bring back two big fish."

Xu Fengnian twirled his spear, but lost his grip and smashed it directly onto Zhou Chengan's head.

In the past, he could have easily caught not only this tree branch, but even a flying arrow.

Unfortunately, he was at the most critical and weakest point of his power dissipation, so he could only open his eyes and look at Xu Fengnian.

Without saying a word, Xu Fengnian picked up a tree branch and ran away...

"Master Zhou, you are truly... ruthless!" Old Huang hesitated for a moment before uttering the last word.

After he finished speaking, he gave Zhou Chengan a thumbs-up to express his admiration.

Zhou Chengan gave a wry smile: "Senior, I'm just saying that you can't build something new without destroying it."

Old Huang nodded and smiled, "Master Zhou, you can just call me Old Huang, just like the young master. There's no need to call me senior. I'm just a stable boy."

“Then you can just call me by my name,” Zhou Chengan replied.

"Then I'll take the liberty of calling you Cheng'an. You can focus on your cultivation. I'll go find some ingredients to make soup." Old Huang said, stretching as he went to find a clay pot or something similar.

An hour later.

Xu Fengnian returned with two carp, which were quite large, weighing about two pounds.

"how?"

Xu Fengnian looked at the two of them and asked.

Old Huang gave him a thumbs up, praising the young master for his skill. Zhou Cheng'an laughed and said, "If you had come any later, we could have had dinner together."

Eat it with dinner?!
That's incredibly insulting.

Xu Fengnian was furious: "Zhou Chengan!"

Zhou Cheng'an smiled faintly: "How is it?"

Thinking of the beatings he had endured and seeing Zhou Chengan's rosy complexion now, Xu Fengnian immediately cowered.

"It's nothing special. I was just asking you, do you prefer grilled fish or fish soup?"

Zhou Chengan ignored him and simply closed his eyes.

Old Huang used Duan Yexing's knife to clean the two carp. He put one on the fire to roast and made fish soup from the other.

"Not bad, Lao Huang, your grilled fish skills are impeccable, but what I like best is still your grilled sweet potatoes," Xu Fengnian said lazily, leaning against the haystack.

Old Huang grinned: "I'm glad you like it, young master."

To be honest, Lao Huang's grilled fish skills were just average, but his fish soup was quite good. Zhou Chengan drank a little and then closed his eyes again.

They rested in the dilapidated temple for two days before leaving on the third day.

The three people and one horse continued on their way, and it was four or five days before they encountered any other travelers.

Hearing that there was a duel between martial arts practitioners in the town ahead, Xu Fengnian was excited and wanted to go watch the excitement.

Zhou Chengan didn't care, and Lao Huang tried his best to meet Xu Fengnian's requests, so the three of them and one horse headed straight for the town.

Before entering the town, the three of them took a bath in a clean pond.

After a quick wash, Xu Fengnian, though still not quite the same as the Crown Prince, at least didn't look like a beggar.

Whether it was because of a duel between martial arts practitioners or not, the town was incredibly lively, and Old Huang's mouth watered as he looked at the yellow wine in the tavern.

Xu Fengnian didn't notice, and said excitedly, "Cheng'an, Lao Huang, you two wait here first, I'll go find out where the duel is."

After saying that, he ran away without waiting for their reaction.

Zhou Cheng'an invited Lao Huang into the tavern, where he traded the knife for some food and three jars of rice wine. Lao Huang hugged one of the jars of rice wine and smiled like a daisy.

When Xu Fengnian returned, the two had already been drinking for a while.

"Well, you guys were drinking without waiting for me."

Zhou Chengan sipped his rice wine, ignoring him completely.

As for Old Huang, who was all smiles, he saw Xu Fengnian looking furious and quickly handed him a jar of yellow wine: "Young Master, we've saved it all for you, please drink it."

Seeing this, Xu Fengnian picked up the wine jar and gulped down several mouthfuls before smiling contentedly, "This yellow wine should be boiled with longan, dates, and goji berries...tsk tsk tsk..."

Old Huang didn't say anything, because he was happy just drinking like this.

As for Zhou Chengan, he naturally wouldn't say a word.

He never liked drinking, and he would only take a couple of sips because he saw Lao Huang drinking alone and it was too lonely. Now that Xu Fengnian was back, he finished the wine in his bowl and had no intention of drinking any more.

"Didn't you go to gather information? Where's the information?"

"Oh, right, right, I almost forgot, let's hurry up and get going, the fight is about to start."

Xu Fengnian gulped down the yellow wine in the jar, then pulled the two of them outside, and soon they arrived at their destination.

"One of the duels is a master swordsman, and the other is a master knife user," Xu Fengnian said, recounting the information he had heard.

Old Huang was slightly drunk, and he curled his lip when he heard the words "sword master".

However, in order not to spoil his young master's interest, he still took a few glances.

By this time, quite a few people had gathered around. Old Huang couldn't bear to throw away the wine jar. He tried to pour some into his mouth several times, but couldn't get a single drop out, so he reluctantly put it down.

Seeing this, Zhou Chengan handed over his wine jar, which he hadn't drunk much of, and Old Huang immediately burst into laughter.

Then, while watching the duel in the arena, he happily sipped his wine, as if the duel in the arena were just a snack to accompany his drink.

Because they were all quite tall, especially Zhou Chengan and Xu Fengnian, who stood out like cranes among chickens in the crowd, and could be clearly seen even if they were standing at the very back.

Among the crowd, only the young man on Xu Fengnian's other side was as tall as the other two.

Xu Fengnian only glanced at it before turning his head to watch the fight in the arena.

Zhou Cheng'an, on the other hand, glanced at the young man a few more times.

The man had a sallow complexion and was dressed in shabby clothes, not much better than a beggar. He had an ugly wooden stick hanging from his waist, which, upon closer inspection, looked like a sword.

If nothing unexpected happens, this person should be Xu Fengnian's best buddy.

—Wen Hua, the swordsman with a wooden sword, is undefeated!
(End of this chapter)