The court lackeys of the eight-hour workday

Chapter 278 Breakthrough
While they were talking, the old man had already walked outside the mountain gate. He did not dodge or avoid, nor did he look at the evil masters surrounding him. He looked straight ahead and walked straight into the gate.

The huge rock stood on one side of the mountain gate, and Liu Chengxuan and the others were standing on the path he had to pass. As the old man got closer and closer, the suffocation that Liu Chengxuan and Wen Lianrong felt became stronger and stronger. When they were several feet away, they almost had to use their true qi to assist their breathing. Even Qi Shuyun, who had already stepped half a foot to the top, had an ugly look on his face.

"Ah."

Just when they could hardly hold on any longer, they heard An Ziyang's disdainful sneer from behind them.

"So majestic."

Swish!
An Ziyang grabbed the sleeves of the two people from the Huanhua Sword Sect with both hands, and nudged Qi Shuyun with his elbow to wake her up, then pulled the two people aside.

After leaving the old man's front, Liu Chengxuan seemed to have finally poked his head out of the water. He took a deep breath and gasped heavily, his face filled with confusion.

"Master An, this, this..."

"Heaven."

An Ziyang smiled.

"And he is not one of those who cultivates himself, but one who kills his way through. Hero Qi is fine, but you two have a weaker foundation in inner strength and have not been traveling around the martial arts world for long. Naturally, you cannot withstand his momentum when your true qi is connected to yours."

"Heaven..."

Liu Chengxuan murmured.

"Does the realm above the top that Bashu Sword King Pavilion talked about really exist?"

An Ziyang chuckled.

"What are you talking about, Master Liu?"

He reached out his hand and patted the boulder, making a popping sound.

Liu Chengxuan suddenly realized. Yes, the sublime state of the heavenly being was right in front of him, so why should he make a fuss? But then he frowned.

"Master An...if this old man is also at the Heavenly Man level, if we let him in, will there be trouble?"

"Just him? Ha!"

An Ziyang sneered.

"You think this meat paste under the stone is a celestial being?"

Before he finished speaking, Liu Chengxuan's face suddenly changed. He raised his hand to stop them, but it was too late. Although they avoided the road facing the mountain gate, they did not go far away and were still on the side of the mountain gate. An Ziyang had his back to the mountain gate, and he and Wen Lianrong were opposite An Ziyang.

A tall shadow was cast from behind An Ziyang, almost covering him completely. The old man had stopped behind An Ziyang. An Ziyang did not lower his voice when he spoke, but raised it as if on purpose. Not only the old man, but also the evil master who followed the old man and wanted to go in together could hear it clearly.

Liu Chengxuan's hand was already on the hilt of the sword.

An Ziyang smiled, waved at him, and turned to look at the old man behind him.

"Why, old man, you don't accept it?"

The old man frowned and looked at An Ziyang without saying anything.

An Ziyang's realm was clear to Tianren. Even the hidden traps on his body could not pose any threat to Tianren. If he were somewhere else, he would not even look at An Ziyang.

But if you add the stone beside him, it would be different.

The old man turned his gaze to the stone and the two stumps extending from under the stone. After a while, he looked at An Ziyang again.

"Do you know who wrote this?"

He said, his voice rough and harsh like stone that has been sanded.

An Ziyang smiled.

"Why," he glanced at the evil masters who followed the old man and wanted to go in together, "Didn't they tell you the rules here?"

He stretched out his hand and invited.

"If you want to meet the person who made the rules, it's easy."

"From here, you can enter the first courtyard. Tomorrow, you can see him from afar. If your hearing skills are good enough, you can hear the rules he established for this martial arts world."

"If you can get through the second courtyard, you can have a seat when you enjoy the moon tomorrow."

"If you can get through the third courtyard, you can see him."

An Ziyang smiled.

"These are the rules. Of course, you don't have to follow them."

The old man said nothing.

"please."

An Ziyang smiled.

The old man walked towards the mountain gate.

Seeing that he had entered the door, Liu Chengxuan's shoulders suddenly relaxed, his hand dropped from the hilt of the sword, and cold sweat flowed down his temples. He looked at An Ziyang in doubt and said.

"Master An, can you defeat a master at the Heavenly Man level?"

"Of course not."

An Ziyang shrugged.

"Dealing with Tang He almost used up all the stuff I had on me. Even if I prepared in advance and could choose the location and time at will, these evil things could not pose a threat to the gods. Small ways are small ways. If I can deal with a top-notch one, that's the end of it."

"Then you still..."

"Oh, let's divide it into different places."

A smile appeared on An Ziyang's face.

"If I run into him in the martial arts world, I will definitely leave without saying anything. If he offends me, I can only swallow this loss for the time being and wait until later to find a way to deal with him. But, right now, even if there are ten celestial beings, I still won't take them seriously."

He straightened his back and said proudly.

"Okay, finally someone dares to break through. Tomorrow is the banquet, and he will probably be the last one. He is also a celestial being. If you miss this excitement, you will never see it again."

An Ziyang smiled and walked towards the mountain gate.

"Let's go."

The other three looked at each other and quickly followed.

The layout of Songshan Sect is the same as that of an ordinary large sect. After entering the mountain gate, the first thing you see is a square, with some buildings on both sides, which are usually where the outer disciples live. After the square is the main hall of Songshan Sect. Any important events in the sect are held in this square and the main hall.

But at this time, the square was empty. Only under the eaves on both sides of the square, from time to time, disciples of Songshan Sect and Jinyiwei walked by with swords and knives. There were more than a dozen evil masters who followed the old man in, and they were noisy, but these disciples and Jinyiwei did not even glance over.

The old man frowned, and the evil master following beside him hurriedly introduced.

"Senior, although this grand event is held in Songshan, it is not held in the Songshan Sect, but at the top of Songshan Mountain. Most of the disciples of the Songshan Sect have already retreated to the foot of the mountain. Only a few true disciples and inner disciples are left in the sect, and most of them are Jinyiwei."

"The thing that the kid just mentioned about entering and exiting the hall only starts after you pass the main hall."

Hearing this, the old man nodded and walked towards the main hall.

Generally, the layout of a large sect is based on the main hall, and the land in front of the main hall is open to the outside world. This is how the so-called "outer disciples" and "inner disciples" came about. Living in the land in front of the main hall means that you are an "outsider", just a decoration; being able to walk through the main hall means that you are already "one of us", and have walked into the gate, so you are called "inner disciples".

Therefore, after the main hall, there will not be too much spacious space, but instead courtyards are divided out for the inner gate, true disciples, elders and the like to live in.

The old man walked through the main hall, then through a corridor, and finally entered a courtyard.

An Ziyang and three others also followed in.

Just like outside, the original residents of this courtyard had already left, and there was total silence all around, save for the mountain breeze that slowly blew the leaves in the courtyard, making a rustling sound.

Under this tree, there was a cushion with a woman sitting cross-legged on it.

She looked to be in her early twenties, with a pretty face, but she made people feel cold and unfriendly. On her knees was a long sword without a scabbard. One hand was on the hilt and the other on the blade, with her eyes closed. When a group of people walked in, she did not react at all.

Dew slowly slid down the sword and dripped onto the ground.

"Cleanse the sword with your mind."

Liu Chengxuan murmured.

This is a unique way of practice for swordsmen. They use their true qi to block the five senses, leaving only the touch of their fingertips, and visualize their swords in their minds, using their true qi to simulate sword energy and cleanse their meridians. After successful practice, their true qi will become more powerful, and the swords they visualize will become more manipulable.

However, not many swordsmen practice this method.

Because it's too hard.

Almost everyone in the martial arts world knows that the most difficult hurdle in learning martial arts is entering a state of tranquility for the first time.

The best age to practice internal skills is around ten years old, when the tendons and bones have grown and the meridians have not yet completely closed. It is more effective to practice internal skills at this age. However, most people in the martial arts world wait until they are fifteen or sixteen years old, or even in their twenties, before they start practicing internal skills. One reason for this is that good internal skills are hard to find, and the other reason is that the experience of entering into a state of tranquility for the first time is too difficult for a child whose mind is not yet mature.

With the five senses blocked, all the itching and pain that are usually ignored will be infinitely magnified. The sounds of the internal organs moving and the blood flowing are clearly echoing in the heart. Thoughts are constantly rising and falling, but you can't pay any attention to them, otherwise you will immediately exit the state of tranquility, and even go crazy in serious cases. Many geniuses with outstanding talents just can't stand the hardship of internal training, and would rather not make any progress in martial arts than continue to improve.

This method of washing the sword with the mind is ten times more difficult than practicing internal strength. The sword will travels through the meridians, scraping off impurities, and the pain is almost no less than that of torture. And looking at the dew flowing down the sword of this woman, it is obvious that she has been sitting here since last night and has been practicing.

The tenacity of his character is probably better than that of 99% of the swordsmen in the world.

Suddenly, the woman opened her eyes.

Her gaze first turned to an evil master beside the old man, and then to An Ziyang, nodded slightly, and then turned her gaze back to this person again.

"You have murderous intent."

She gripped the hilt of the sword and slowly stood up.

"Do you want to pass through this first yard?" Swish!
The long sword was raised and pointed at the man's face.

"Come."

The man's expression suddenly became extremely ugly. He turned to look at the old man, but saw that he was just looking at the woman without any intention of taking action.

"senior--"

He said.

As soon as he said this, he was interrupted by the woman's cold voice.

"I won't fight him, he can just go right over there."

The man suddenly turned around and looked at the woman.

"Why! Where's your arrogance in killing my brother a few days ago!?"

"I can't beat him."

The woman said coldly.

"The pacification envoy said that I can fight below the top. But I am not allowed to fight above the top."

She looked at the old man.

"You can go to the second courtyard now."

Then he turned to look at the other evil masters.

"If you want to go over there, you can come and give it a try."

"No matter life or death."

"Good!" the man shouted, "There's no need to talk about the moral code of the underworld when dealing with this lackey of the imperial court! Let's fight together!"

"kill!"

The evil masters who followed the old man in rushed forward and killed the woman.

The old man and An Ziyang and three others walked around the battle circle and headed towards the second courtyard.

Liu Chengxuan quickly followed and whispered to An Ziyang.

"Mr. An... isn't she your colleague..."

"You won't stay and help her?"

An Ziyang smiled.

"No need, these people can't kill her."

"Let's go to the second courtyard."

After saying that, he walked into the second courtyard. Liu Chengxuan had no choice but to follow him.

The second courtyard was not as empty as the first one, but was filled with bottles and jars. There were also some jars as big as a person's arms, scattered around.

The stone table in the middle of the courtyard was filled with food. A petite figure was sitting there, occasionally stretching out her little hands to take some and stuffing them into her mouth. When she heard footsteps, she hurriedly put down the food, wiped her little hands on the corner of her clothes, wiped her mouth, then turned around and stood up, smiling at the people who came in.

Liu Chengxuan looked carefully and was stunned again.

This girl was clearly less than 20 years old, her figure had not yet grown up, her face was pretty, her eyes were as lively as a deer, there was still some juice at the corners of her mouth, and she had a shy smile on her face. More importantly, Liu Chengxuan did not feel a trace of true energy from her, and there was no trace of martial arts on her hands.

This is the second gatekeeper! ?
Didn’t they just randomly find a pretty girl to make up the numbers?!

He was about to speak when he suddenly felt an extremely powerful burst of energy erupting from his side.

Liu Chengxuan looked at the old man in astonishment. The old man, who had not been on guard at all when facing the first woman who entered the courtyard, was now directly circulating his true energy. His hands turned blue and black, and it was obvious that he had already used the horizontal training method.

The old man slowly glanced at the bottles and jars in the courtyard, then turned to look at the little girl and said in a deep voice.

"Miao King?"

"Nah."

The little girl tilted her head and smiled.

"The Miao King died a long time ago, grandpa."

"No, you are the Miao King."

The old man shook his head and said in a deep voice.

"There is a smell of Gu soldiers in this courtyard."

"Only the Miao King's Gu worm can drive the Gu soldiers."

The little girl wrinkled her nose in dissatisfaction.

"No, I already said it's not true."

"Forget it, Grandpa, are you a celestial being? Are you cultivating the Sumeru or the Vajra?"

The old man's pupils suddenly contracted.

After a long while, he slowly replied.

"King Kong."

"Then I won't fight you."

The little girl actually turned around and sat down.

"The poisonous insect can't bite through your horizontal training, so I can't beat you."

"Let's go to the third courtyard. I want to eat."

The old man stared at her back for a while before he slowly walked towards the next courtyard.

Liu Chengxuan was surprised to find that the old man was no longer walking in a straight line, but was circling left and right. He looked carefully and found that the old man was far away from the largest water tanks.

He turned and looked at An Ziyang.

"Mr. An, she is..."

"Didn't I use witchcraft when I killed Tang He?"

An Ziyang smiled.

"This is the ancestor of witchcraft. If Tang He were to face her, she would turn into a pool of pus before she even walks up the stairs."

"Brother An is making fun of me again."

The little girl said without turning her head.

"Go quickly, the pacification envoy is awake now. If you are late for a while, he will go to sleep again."

"well."

An Ziyang replied with a smile.

"Let's go to the third courtyard."

After saying that, he walked forward with the three of them.

As the three of them walked out of the yard, they heard a noisy sound coming from behind them.

"Damn, this little girl's sword is really powerful! She almost lost her life!"

"Everyone, you guys hold her back first, Brother Qi and I will go ahead and explore!"

The sound of chaotic footsteps.

"Brother Qi?"

"Brother Qi! What's wrong with you!"

"This, this is! What's going on under your skin? What the hell is going on under your flesh?"

"save……"

“Brother Qi, hold on! I’m going to dig this thing out right now—Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!”

A shrill scream that was not like that of a human suddenly rang out.

Then, there was a sudden silence.

Only the extremely subtle sound of flowing liquid and the sticky sound of soft objects carrying liquid moving and rubbing against each other could be heard behind him.

"Don't look back, Master Liu."

An Ziyang said to the pale-faced Liu Chengxuan with a smile.

"One look at this and you'll be totally unable to eat tomorrow night."

"Let's go on and watch the excitement in the third courtyard."

He said leisurely.

"This old man only goes as far as the third entrance."

(End of this chapter)