Start with a red name

Chapter 94 Two Choices: Listen to the Sound and Strength

“What’s next?
"Does the neighborhood have any other plans for us?" Geng Xuan asked.

Chen Rongshan looked at Geng Xuan and said:

"There is something I haven't told you. During the time when you went into the mountains for the autumn hunt, Master Fan Qifan personally told each of our families that he wanted to recruit more children from the families and expand the number of guards in the Kangle Group."

Geng Xuan was surprised and asked, "It's not easy for the local authorities to agree to such a request, right?"

This sounds like they want to suck blood from each family and expand Kang Le Ji.

Kelifang is not a subsidiary of Kang Le Ji, so why should it cut its own flesh to enrich Kang Le Ji? !

Chen Rongshan waved his hand and said:

"Of course, things are not that simple. In order to achieve this goal, Master Fan has also shown enough sincerity.

First of all, as long as the children come from various families, even if they join Kangleji and become a member of the guard team, they will not be mixed with the current black robe guard team, but will be organized into a separate team.

In order to distinguish them from the black-robed guards, they are now temporarily designated as blue-robed guards.

All treatments are the same as those given to the black robe guards, according to the cultivation and strength of those joining the team.

All internal affairs of the Blue Robe Guard will be handled by us ourselves, and other leaders of Kangle Group are not allowed to interfere.

In addition, the more important point is that as long as the size of the Blue Robe Guard exceeds 100 people and the overall strength is not inferior to the Black Robe Guard, we can send a chairperson to participate in all aspects of the decision-making of the Kangle Group. "

Geng Xuan thought to himself that this last point should be the reason why so many people in the neighborhood were interested.

This means that everyone is eligible to share the big cake of Kangleji.

It is no longer the kind of cake that lies on the table and is divided by others.

Apart from anything else, with this qualification, each family can sell the huge amount of supplies harvested during the autumn hunt at a higher price.

You know, in the past, the bargaining power of the neighborhoods in this regard was very weak.

According to the regulations of Kangle Market, in order to maintain the order of the market, the corresponding materials can only be sold to the corresponding guilds.

It would be strange if the price was not suppressed, but if the Lifang could have its own chief with the help of the blue-robed guards, it would be equivalent to having the right to formulate the rules of Kangleji.

Then this restriction can be removed, and Lifang can look for buyers more freely. When the guilds understand this, they will naturally raise the price in order to facilitate the transaction.

It can be said that at this moment, a leader who can fully represent the interests of the neighborhood can be directly linked to huge amounts of silver and money.

And what is the price Lifang paid?
It is a guard team that nominally belongs to Kangleji, but the actual control is still in the hands of Lifang.

From this perspective, it is completely understandable that after Master Fan expressed this attitude, other masters would unite to challenge him.

This is literally cutting into their flesh, not just a metaphor.

In the end, the one who was ruined was the martial arts school that had the least interest involved and most likely would not suffer any loss.

Master Peng used his death to unify the attitudes within the neighborhood.

Who can I ask to explain this?

"There should be other conditions, right?" Geng Xuan asked.

Chen Rongshan nodded and said:

"Master Fan made two requests.

First, when it comes to matters not related to the neighborhood, our leader must stand completely on his side and support his decisions.

In return, he will try his best to stand on the side of the neighborhood when it comes to neighborhood affairs.

Second, when Kang Le Ji is invaded by foreign forces, the Blue Robe Guards must stand with Kang Le Ji. "

The first one is nothing to say, but the second one...

Geng Xuan looked at Chen Rongshan and asked uncertainly:
"Uncle Chen, didn't you say that Kang Le Ji had a feud with a gang called Wuyou Palace some time ago?

Master Fan is doing this because he wants us to stand in front and act as a shield?"

Chen Rongshan nodded and said:

"Ah Xuan, it's great that you thought of this.

We raised this point at the time.

Master Fan also admitted that his biggest goal was to take advantage of our momentum, rather than really wanting us to rush to the front and fight.

He made it clear at the time that what he wanted was a "momentum", and he didn't really want us to fight with Wuyou Palace or other forces.

As long as we don't retreat halfway and become deserters, if we really face a powerful enemy in Kangleji, we will feel that we are no match for them and can retreat back to the neighborhood without caring about the fate of Kangleji."

Geng Xuan nodded, having completely understood Master Fan's intentions.

"Do you want me to join the blue robe guards?" Geng Xuan asked.

Chen Rongshan nodded:
"We already have 20 guard positions available in the market. Our original plan was to convert these positions into real positions, with both you and Chen Zheng joining the Blue Robe Guards.

Apart from anything else, as long as you can become a blue robe guard, you won’t have to worry about training resources anymore.

Of course, this is different from the original situation where you could just register your name and pass. You need to go through some basic assessments to confirm that you have the ability to do this job.

Ah Xuan, you don't have to worry. With your archery skills, even if your cultivation is lacking, it is enough for you to become a blue robe guard."

Geng Xuan asked:

"Uncle Chen, you said this was the original plan, so is there a new arrangement now?"

Chen Rongshan nodded.

"The disappearance of Master Li has shaken the entire neighborhood. We are now searching for him with all our might.

However, judging from some signs discovered so far, even if he could be found, he would not be able to stay in the position of abbot.

This requires us to quickly find a new abbot!"

Geng Xuan also nodded, but a puzzled look appeared on his face.

"But what does this have to do with me? You can't choose me to be the abbot, right?"

Chen Rongshan laughed and shook his head.

"Of course it can't be such a joke."

"If we just look for a lord who can temporarily take his place, that would naturally be easier.

But after discussion, this simplest solution was rejected by everyone. "

"Because this means that there are only a handful of qualified people who can be put forward for everyone to choose. Not only are they older, but they are also the losers who competed with Li Qun for the position of abbot.

Not only is his current cultivation level inferior to Li Qun's, but even if the market gave him more resources, it would be difficult for him to advance to the Marrow Refining Realm.

In other words, if we were to choose a monastery master from among these few, we would have to accept a defective product who is inferior to Li Qun in every way."

When Geng Xuan heard the word "defective", he felt like laughing.

He thought to himself that what he said was really wicked. Those people were really unlucky. They had already failed in the competition with Li Qun, and now they were being publicly humiliated again.

Chen Rongshan, however, showed no sign of smiling and looked extremely serious.

“If so, when Master Chai and his group pass away, we will probably face a very dangerous situation. Changpingfang can’t even produce a person who can slightly shock the Marrow Refining Realm.

This situation must not happen!"

Geng Xuan nodded. This was indeed a very serious problem.

From a broad perspective, practitioners can be divided into four categories according to their age.

Those under 20 years old are in one category, those in their twenties and thirties are in another category, those in their forties and fifties are in another category, and those over 60 years old are in the last category.

I won’t talk about those under the age of 20, just work hard at practicing.

Those over sixty years old may have had a glorious past, but the laws of life are here. Even if their cultivation is not low, their true combat effectiveness will be greatly reduced.

Apart from anything else, their "lack of energy" and "exhaustion of vitality" mean that they can only be used for deterrence and cannot be put into actual combat. Otherwise, they are "fast-moving consumer goods" that will consume one or even several of them in one battle.

Those who really play the role of pillars are those in their 40s and 50s.

Including Li Xun, Chen Rongshan, Liao Lei, Xue Ju, and other hunting team leaders with rich experience and good combat capabilities, are all in this category.

Even if their strength is slightly weaker, they can still stand out in other aspects and even be indispensable.

Together, this group formed the core of Changpingfang.

Now, the most critical and core Li Xun suddenly disappeared. Even if someone else in this group is forced to take his place, the quality of this "pillar" will be greatly reduced.

Thinking of this, Geng Xuan already had a vague idea of the arrangements in the workshop.

“After discussion, it was decided that the abbey would start the training program for the new abbey master ahead of schedule.

Because the change was sudden, in principle all the young men in the neighborhood who are under 35 years old and over 18 years old and have some cultivation experience are eligible to run for election.

The community decided to spend a year selecting five candidates based on their character, conduct, and the extent of their strength growth, and then devote all of the community's resources to training these five people.

...Don’t worry about being disadvantaged because of your young age. On the contrary, the younger you are, the more advantages you will have.”

"So, I got a big bargain." Geng Xuan, who just turned 18 this year, smiled.

Chen Rongshan stared at Geng Xuan and said, "Xuan, you decide whether to run for the election or not.

However, if you decide to run for the election, you will have to give up the idea of joining the Kangleji Blue Robe Guard.

And try to stay in Changpingfang so that everyone can see you, reduce the number of times you go out, and avoid having too much contact with Kangleji and other external forces.

If there is a problem in this regard, no matter how good your cultivation talent is, you will be eliminated directly.

Moreover, because there are too many people in the first year, the resources that the town can distribute to each candidate will not be much, and the treatment is definitely not comparable to that of the blue-robed guards. They still have to rely more on family support.

If I fail to be selected after a year, I will lose the chance to be a blue robe guard, and all my efforts will be in vain.

...Which of these two paths should you choose, Xuan, please think carefully about it. "

In fact, Geng Xuan had already made his choice long before Chen Rongshan stated these conditions.

Go to Kang Le Ji.

The reason why he made the choice so quickly was not because the conditions were too harsh on him, but because they were equivalent to tying him up in Changpingfang.

But -

"I am a disaster, Uncle Chen!" Geng Xuan thought to himself.

If he decided to participate in the competition for the position of boudoir master and move closer to this goal step by step, it would be like a "super virus" invading Changpingfang.

Even if Changpingfang didn't die halfway, he would have died on the day he ascended to become the lord of the fang!
There is no luck.

So, for our own ease and for the sake of Changpingfang, let’s just live our own lives.

Although he had a clear choice in mind, Geng Xuan did not answer immediately, but asked: "Brother Zheng, what do you choose?"

Chen Zheng said: "I will withdraw from the guard team and formally form a hunting team."

Chen Rongshan added, "I will continue to stay in the Guard and participate in some management work, taking charge of some trivial matters related to the members of this ward."

Geng Xuan understood that this was indeed the best choice for the Chen family.

"If I become a blue robe guard, do I have to go to work every day like the black robe guards?"

Chen Rongshan shook his head and said:

“How can it be so frequent? Even the black-robed guards don’t go on duty every day.

There are also many black-robed guards who only collect salaries but do not go to work, and only show up at critical moments.

What's more, we are responsible for the work arrangements of the blue robe guards ourselves. As long as we can stand up at the critical moment, we don't need to be accountable to anyone for what we do on weekdays and how to arrange it.

However, it is still different from before, and I still need to show up more often on weekdays and cannot completely disappear from the public."

After understanding the situation more or less, Geng Xuan didn't hesitate any longer and directly stated his choice.

"I'm going to Kangleji."

"Want to think about it again? Don't worry, you can change it before the end of September."

"Uncle Chen, thank you for considering this so carefully for me. However, I have already thought it through very clearly."

"…Well, if you change your mind before the end of September, feel free to tell me."

It was already very late at night, and after the discussion was over, Geng Xuan stood up and said goodbye.

Chen Rongshan stood up to see Geng Xuan out, and suddenly remembered something. He said to Geng Xuan who had already walked into the courtyard:
"Ah Xuan, we'll settle your account after the autumn hunt is over and the farm has processed all the harvest. Please wait a few days, and I'll keep an eye on this matter for you."

"Okay, thank you, Uncle Chen."

……

After returning home, Geng Xuan felt that he was a little too excited and couldn't fall asleep no matter how much he tossed and turned.

I simply got up and entered the underground space again, and Da Huang, who was curled up in the darkness, immediately came to greet me.

Geng Xuan rubbed Da Huang's head, lit the oil lamp on the wall, took out the two treasure chests from Li Xun's underground secret room, and counted them carefully.

The first thing, of course, is to count.

"Sixty silver bars."

"Thirty gold bars."

"That's three thousand six hundred taels."

Add to that fifty blood-replenishing pills and four hundred kilograms of medicinal wine of better quality than any he had drunk before, and the harvest was already considerable.

In addition, there were also some gains from searching Li Fangzhu's body.

Among them, the most valuable one is the long sword he uses as his main weapon.

It’s a pity that Geng Xuan is the least sensitive to this.

The truth is that he has too many idle weapons in his hands, and they cannot be converted into cash in the short term, so no matter how valuable they are, it is difficult for him to be interested.

In addition, there is a bottle of eight blood-replenishing pills and a porcelain bottle containing three essence pills.

After counting all the sundries, Geng Xuan turned his attention to the real highlight -

Those dozen or so books on cultivation techniques.

After flipping through the books again and again, Geng Xuan finally picked out two books from the thick pile of martial arts manuals.

One of the books is called "Ji Shi Jin".

It is a marrow-refining technique.

It's not a family tradition, but a folk tradition.

The master of Changpingfang advanced to the marrow refining realm basically relying on this technique.

Starting from the "Skin Grinding Technique" for refining the skin, to the corresponding techniques for refining the flesh, blood, bones, and even the marrow.

This is a complete set of body tempering methods.

The idea of "Ji Shi Jin" can be accurately summarized in four words.

"Stacked stones are like jade."

This is a completely different approach from the marrow refining of "Wanjun Jin".

Compared with the two, Ji Shi Jin is more delicate, while Wan Jun Jin is more powerful.

For Geng Xuan, this provides him with an additional option for marrow refining.

He hasn't decided which subject to choose yet.

“It would be nice if we could combine them.”

The other is a peculiar skill called "Listening Hammer".

The peculiarity of it is that it is not a combat skill and cannot bring even the slightest improvement to the combat capability of the practitioner.

But Geng Xuan was able to ignore many skills that could improve combat and only choose this one because of this point.

If we have to classify it, this should be an "identification skill" or an "investigation skill".

This is certainly not the kind of "identification" or "detection" where all the target's information is projected into the mind with just one skill.

Instead, the identification or exploration result is achieved through "listening".

This is just like ordinary people know how to judge whether a melon is raw or ripe by tapping the shell of the melon and listening to the echo.

Through the skill of "Listening Hammer", practitioners can judge the quality of a weapon, whether a weapon has hidden injuries unknown to outsiders, or whether the weapon has flaws deliberately hidden in it due to the skill or ulterior motives of the caster... and so on.

Although this skill cannot directly improve combat power, if you can detect these situations in advance and gain some results, it is not surprising that your chances of winning against the enemy will increase several times.

If you can cut off the opponent's weapon with just one sword, then you can easily take advantage of him!

And this is just one of the many uses of the "listening mallet".

Another usage is what Geng Xuan saw Li Fangzhu use. By knocking on the ground or wall, one can determine whether there is a cavity inside or other components other than the wall or rock and soil.

Of course, the depth and accuracy of detection vary greatly depending on the practitioner's level of mastery of this ability.

Once you have mastered this skill to a certain level, you don't even need to prepare a small wooden hammer. You can just tap it lightly with your fingers.

From this perspective, Li Fangzhu's mastery of this skill is still very superficial.

"It's possible that he got this at the last minute, and I don't know where he got it from, just to find the treasures I buried."

What Geng Xuan values most is that if a practitioner can cultivate this skill to the highest level, he or she can comprehend a method of using strength called "listening to sound strength".

At that time, there was no need to tap with your fingers. You just needed to put your hands on the wall or the ground, and you could grasp a lot of information by releasing and retracting the force without anyone noticing.

"If I had mastered the ability to listen to sounds when I was digging the tunnel, I might not have even dug into the tunnel to detect its existence."

Geng Xuan was flipping through "Listening to the Hammer" and had just read less than a page when he saw Da Huang dangling at his feet.

Seeing him looking at it, it looked at him pitifully.

"What are you going to do?"

(End of this chapter)