Sword drawn from the constellations, poison as its edge.

Chapter 246 Guiding the Eight Friends
Eight people stood in a row in front of him, staring angrily at Jiang Mingzhe. They were the eight outcasts whom Su Xinghe had driven out of the mountain gate, the Eight Friends of Hangu.

The eldest son, Kang Guangling, loved playing the zither; the second son, Fan Bailing, loved playing chess; the third son, Gou Du, loved reading; the fourth son, Wu Lingjun, loved painting; the fifth son, Xue Muhua, was a divine physician; the sixth son, Feng Asan, was a skilled craftsman; the seventh son, Shi Qinglu, loved growing flowers; and the eighth son, Li Kuilei, loved singing opera.

The eight men had previously blocked Jiang Mingzhe's path, and after exchanging a single blow, Jiang Mingzhe had a general idea of ​​their martial arts skills.

Among the Shaolin Xuan generation, those who are in the middle ranks are chosen. Kang Guangling can contend with Yi Xuan. Any two of Fan Bailing, Gou Du, and Wu Lingjun together are enough to contend with Yi Xuan. The remaining four, even if they join forces, are mostly no match for Yi Xuan, provided that Shi Qinglu does not use poison.

Seeing that the old woman had left, the eight people searched for Abi. As they walked out of the temple, they encountered Jiang Mingzhe's group. Kang Guangling immediately stopped them, showing considerable courage.
Abi quickly replied, "No, no, Azi and Ling'er were just playing around with me."

Kang Guangling said angrily, "These young women are hanging out with this devil surnamed Jiang, so they must not be good people either. They might even be demons from the Xingxiu Sect. You are not allowed to play with them. Come here now."

Azi retorted angrily, "So what if it's the Starry Constellation Sect? I see all of you men and women acting crazy and mad, you don't seem like good people at all."

Kang Guangling said proudly, "How can we not be good people? Humph, my eight siblings and I have refined tastes and extraordinary tastes. Good people like us are extremely rare in the martial arts world."

Azi retorted, "What elegance and extraordinary talent? How dare you show off in front of us? Do you know that my junior brother is a famous talent in Qufu? He can write poetry even better than the top scholar. Do you think we're bragging?"

Upon hearing A Zi's words, Gou Du, one of the Eight Friends, immediately perked up and shouted, "I don't believe that the little devil taught by Ding Chunqiu can write any poems. He probably just bought them to fool an ignorant little vixen like you! If he's so capable, let him write one in front of me. By the way, my eldest brother should come up with the topic so that he doesn't have any stockpiled poems."

The eight of them were quite skilled at talking amongst themselves, and before Jiang Mingzhe could even respond, they had already started talking about how to set the questions.

Azi was furious, her face flushed with anger. She grabbed Jiang Mingzhe and said, "Fine, fine, big ginger, you can show them what's what. Once they're speechless, I'll poison them all!"

Abi was terrified and hurriedly grabbed Duan Yu, saying, "Young Master Duan, please beg Azi to spare them from being poisoned!"

Duan Yu said smugly, "Azi is just scaring people. She's just a little girl, how could she be so vicious?"

Kang Guangling, not to be outdone, boldly declared, "Alright, then I'll set a topic! Hahaha, what topic should I set? Hmm, with all eight of us siblings in front of you, this little vixen dares to praise this little devil as a genius? Wouldn't that be like showing off one's skills before an expert? Do you think I'm going to use 'showing off one's skills before an expert' as my topic? No way! My topic is... talent!"

Jiang Mingzhe was just about to come up with a whole bunch of excuses when he heard this topic and quietly swallowed them back.

He shook his head and sighed, "You say you are talented, but now the Northern Liao and Western Xia are eyeing us covetously, and the court is rife with factional strife. Your talents are of no benefit to the country or the people; you are nothing but useless. So, truly talented people are still too few in this world. I have to say—"

He put his hands behind his back, straightened his chest, raised his head, and said loudly: "The vitality of the land depends on the wind and thunder, and the silence of ten thousand horses is truly lamentable. I urge Heaven to rouse itself again and send down talents without regard to convention!"

Gou Du, Wu Lingjun, Shi Qinglu, and Li Kuilei were all stunned for a moment, and involuntarily exclaimed, "What a wonderful poem!"

Li Kuilei was still called out in a Peking Opera style.

Kang Guangling blinked, exasperated, and shouted, "This poem doesn't count! It doesn't count! The poem is well-written, but the meaning is wrong. Who says our talents are of no benefit to the country or the people?"

Jiang Mingzhe pursed his lips and shook his head, saying, "Guangling San is lost forever, and there are no kindred spirits in the world. You old man, you pride yourself on your highbrow music and the fact that you are not appreciated by the world. You do not have the broad-mindedness that Bai Juyi could understand. What good is this to the country and the people?" Kang Guangling was stunned.

Jiang Mingzhe said slowly, "I'll teach you a lesson. For example, if I had your skills, I would write a few inspiring pieces of music and spread them among the troops to boost morale. Wouldn't that be wonderful? If you are willing to do so, it would be beneficial to the country."

Although Kang Guangling was old, he was still innocent and honest. Hearing that what he said made sense, he nodded repeatedly and subconsciously said, "If we want to make it exciting, the best thing to do is to use the pipa..."

With a flick of his fingers across his chest, he actually began composing a piece of music.

Jiang Mingzhe pointed at Gou Du and said, "You scoundrel amuse yourself with your classical Chinese all day long. What good is that to the world? If I were you, I would write novels, about loyalty, filial piety, chastity, and heroism, and use their stories to inspire people, so that people know that there is righteousness in the world and that those who offend China will be punished no matter how far away they are. That would be a worthwhile use of your knowledge."

Gou Du blinked repeatedly and exclaimed, "Wow, this, this really works!"

Jiang Mingzhe then pointed to Wu Lingjun: "When he writes a book, you draw pictures. You draw portraits of all the characters in his book so that people can admire them. You also draw those moving scenes on paper so that people can imagine them. If you print and publish them, even the children in the village will be inspired to read. Isn't that a great deed of yours?"

Wu Lingjun nodded repeatedly, shaking Gou Du's hand and saying, "Third Brother, this is a brilliant plan!"

Jiang Mingzhe then pointed at Feng Asan: "Judging from the axe you carry, you must be a skilled craftsman. I advise you not to think about making some stupid gadgets every day to kill people. You should focus on studying agricultural tools. If you can improve them to make farming and weaving more efficient, then you will truly be worthy of being a disciple of Lu Ban and a great craftsman of a great nation!"

"A master craftsman of a great nation!" Feng Asan couldn't help but murmur to himself, his eyes shining brightly.

Jiang Mingzhe then pointed at Shi Qinglu: "You are the same. Although flowers and plants are pleasing to the eye, since you have the ability to study plants, why don't you study how to cultivate high-yield grains? If you succeed, your merit will be comparable to Shennong, and you will also win a victory for women all over the world."

Shi Qinglu clenched her two small fists tightly, pursed her lips, and widened her eyes, clearly extremely excited.

Jiang Mingzhe looked at Li Kuilei, who preemptively said, "I understand. I will adapt the story written by Third Brother into a play, which will be sung for generations to come to educate the people!"

Jiang Mingzhe nodded: "If you can achieve this, then you can be considered truly talented. I would be willing to admit that I am showing off my limited skills in front of you."

Azi laughed and said, "Da Shengjiang is truly talented. These good-for-nothings have all become talents after he taught them!"

Fan Bailing and Xue Muhua said anxiously, "Who said that? How could the two of us benefit the people? He hasn't even said that yet! It's clear that his abilities are only ordinary."

Mu Wanqing sneered, "No, I think it's because you two are too useless. Even Jiang Lang doesn't know what to do. Even someone as capable as Zhuge Liang of Shu Han couldn't help that good-for-nothing A Dou."

Xue Muhua's face turned red with anger, and he shouted, "My medical skills are superb, how could they be of no benefit to the world?"

(End of this chapter)