Devouring Evil Martial Arts, Eliminating Demons from All Heavens

Chapter 516 Hero Wu Erlang, Elegant Words of the Central Plains
The eighth-ranked person possesses two sets of martial arts skills.

One set is the Beggars' Sect's signature martial art, the "Eighteen Subduing Dragon Palms," which was already famous in the Tang Dynasty and underwent a major improvement during the Northern Song Dynasty.

That was at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty. The hero Wu Erlang captured Fang La with one arm and then went into seclusion at Liuhe Temple.

Many people thought that Wu Erlang would spend the rest of his life in seclusion, living a life of Buddhist meditation and reclusion.

Little did they know that Wu Erlang had another extraordinary encounter. He was approached by the Iron-Armed Hero who had taught him martial arts in his early years. The Hero said that Wu Erlang had undergone many trials and tribulations, which greatly improved his mindset. He had developed a true hero's heart that was "transcendental yet reluctant to leave the mortal world".

With this state of mind, he could cultivate the prototype of the divine skill created by the Iron-Armed Hero in his later years, so he took out the marrow jade and the secret manual.

After Wu Erlang swallowed the marrow jade, he practiced the secret manual and his old injuries were completely healed.

That set of secrets was derived from the Book of Changes.

It is said to "nourish the righteous energy of heaven and earth, gather the omnipotence of the four directions, and when collected, it becomes mysterious; when released, it fills the universe."

This skill originally did not have a formal name, but the general outline contained the words "Six Harmonies," and it just so happened that it was cultivated and perfected in the Six Harmonies Temple.

Therefore, the divine skill was henceforth named "The Six Harmonies of the Book of Changes".

After mastering his martial arts, Wu Erlang, feeling restless, picked up his staff and began to roam the world again. He abandoned his former reputation and adopted the name "Liuhe" to uphold justice and help those in distress.

He was known to the world as the Six Harmonies Divine Beggar.

The leader of the Beggars' Sect at that time was distressed because there was no outstanding successor in the sect. When he heard about this divine beggar, he specially sought him out, presented him with the "Eighteen Subduing Dragon Palms", and invited him to become the leader of the Beggars' Sect.

After repeatedly declining, Wu Erlang took on the heavy responsibility and devoted his life to reforming the gang's rules and sweeping away its decadence.

The founder of the Eighteen Subduing Dragon Palms also drew much inspiration from the I Ching, but it is an external palm technique. It does not require meditation or qi cultivation, but only practice moves. When you reach a certain level, internal energy will naturally grow.

Wu Erlang verified and greatly improved the "Six Harmonies Heart Method" and the "Dragon Subduing Palm" to make them a perfect match.

From then on, only the leaders of the Beggars' Sect throughout history were able to learn both of these divine skills.

However, sixty years ago, Kublai Khan intervened in the affairs of the Beggars' Sect, and the then-leader of the Beggars' Sect was seriously injured and fled.

Although Shepherd Shepherd learned the Six Harmonies Heart Method, he failed to learn the Dragon Subduing Palm, and from then on, the Beggars' Sect lacked the inheritance of the palm technique.

"...That year I was begging in the mountains when an earthquake struck, causing a flash flood. The floodwaters brought up a large block of ice from the mountainside, and inside the ice was an old beggar. I clung to that piece of ice and managed to survive the flood."

The eighth voice was slightly hoarse as he said, "That was the Beggar Clan leader from sixty years ago. After being seriously injured, he used ice to protect himself. He was also my old mentor."

The old gang leader's old injuries were beyond repair, and the master and disciple only spent three days and three nights together.

The eighth-ranked disciple received his master's dying instruction, but found it difficult to use, so he had no choice but to wander the martial world and diligently practice his palm techniques.

Two years ago, he met a strange man who said he could use his own powers to buy treasures.

The eighth level cultivator had used twenty years of his cultivation to buy a piece of marrow jade.

In this way, although his foundation of power was reduced, thanks to the benefits of consuming the marrow jade, he could still actively utilize the remaining power.

However, his mindset was still not right. To unleash his full fighting power, he needed to boost his morale.

Phrases like "You are a blessed man" and "When you fight a dragon in the wild, misfortune turns into good fortune" are often used to describe you.

In fact, they were all his mentor's dying wishes.

After hearing these words, Chu Tianshu blinked twice, his eyes moving slightly faster than usual.

The leader of the Beggars' Sect at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty wasn't surnamed Qiao? That's not all.

How did Wu Song become the leader of a gang?!
If these were just interesting old news, then another matter was of even greater concern to Chu Tianshu.

"You're saying someone made you use twenty years of your cultivation to buy a piece of marrow jade?"

Chu Tianshu asked, "What was the transaction like? Did he absorb your power?"

The eighth person shook his head: "That person was mysterious, and I don't know if he was male or female. He just pointed with his hand and my power was reduced by a part. Then he pointed with his hand again and I had a piece of marrow jade in my hand."

Chu Tianshu was a little puzzled: "This person has such abilities, why do you seem to have little respect for him?"

The eighth-ranked person scratched his head.

"Although that person acted very mysteriously, I always felt that he didn't have much confidence. Moreover, I later found out that there were imperial experts chasing someone in the vicinity at the time." "It is said that during several battles, that person's strength suddenly increased significantly, but even so, he was unable to eliminate the leader of the pursuers."

Chu Tianshu's heart stirred.

A mysterious figure, not very strong, but with strange methods. Could he be related to the Youdu Order?
Chu Tianshu asked, "Where did you meet that person?"

The eighth-ranked person secretly wiped away a cold sweat and breathed a sigh of relief.

He was actually quite unsure of himself when facing Chu Tianshu.

He started by bringing up old stories and recounting the origins of his martial arts techniques, even mentioning mysterious figures, all to show off his extensive experience, wide connections, and competence.

Since this person in front of me is interested in the mysterious man, I, as the one who made contact with him, naturally have even more value.

"It's in Miao territory."

The eighth person said, "But even if that person's voice is neither male nor female and very ethereal, I can still recognize it."

"That person was most likely not from Miao territory; his speech carried a hint of Sichuan accent, and there was also something else..."

The eighth person frowned deeply, deep in thought.

"It's very similar to the pronunciation of words in opera, but without the deliberate articulation of opera singers. It's as if they were born speaking like that."

When he said these words, he deliberately imitated the Central Plains pronunciation he had mentioned.

Upon hearing this, Chu Tianshu suddenly realized something.

The eighth-ranked speaker, who originally spoke with a hint of Jiangnan dialect and a mixed accent, suddenly switched to Mandarin in the last few sentences.

Chu Tianshu quickly asked, "What is the Central Plains Phonetics?"

The eighth person hesitated: "I heard someone mention it a couple of times while singing opera, but I'm not really sure what it is. It seems to be something specifically for opera singers to practice their voices?"

Sun Liang then spoke.

"The Rhymes of the Central Plains was written by Zhou Deqing, a great scholar of the time. He was said to be a descendant of the great Confucian scholar Zhou Dunyi. He was skilled in music and music theory, but he did not want to serve in the Yuan Dynasty and devoted himself to scholarship."

Sun Liangdao said, "During the Liao, Jin, and Yuan dynasties, the Han people in the north were successively influenced by foreign ethnic groups. They still retained the Chinese language and characters, but they were inevitably affected by some changes in pronunciation."

"This book is specifically about this evolution and has done a lot of planning and correction of pronunciation."

Sun Liang also seemed a little puzzled at this point.

"But this book is ultimately too bookish. Northerners don't actually speak like that in everyday life. Even those who perform in operas all year round will speak with a bit of deliberate affectation when they pronounce these words."

"How could anyone say something like that so naturally?"

Chu Tianshu coughed lightly and switched to standard Mandarin, saying, "Was that mysterious person speaking in a similar tone?"

Sun Liang was speechless.

Eighth-rank's eyes lit up: "Hey, yes, yes, that's it, but that person's voice isn't as nice as yours..."

At this point, he suddenly realized that what he had said seemed somewhat disrespectful, and quickly stopped talking.

Chu Tianshu didn't pay attention; he was just thinking about it over and over again.

If he learned Mandarin from a young age, then the mysterious person might be a time traveler.

The method was mysterious, and the possibility that the person was from another time and possessed another Youdu Token skyrocketed.

However, that person was being hunted down two years ago, and now, the Youdu Token still remains in this world.

Did the other person just happen to re-enter this world, or did they stay in this world all along?
Having learned more about the other Youdu Token, Chu Tianshu had a clearer direction in his work.

Is the function for trading?

He pondered for a moment, then placed his left hand on his shoulder and picked up a tuft of long hair that was a mix of black and white.

"If trading skills are strong, someone like Meteor God and Demon, with profound skills but nearing death, would be the best client, wouldn't they?"

(End of this chapter)