The destiny of all heavens begins in the Red Chamber

This is the power that can only be unleashed when one's martial arts training reaches the level of "Transformation of Internal Energy".

At this moment, the old Wudang Taoist priest and Jia Huan were engaged in a fierce battle.

With fists and palms flying and energy overflowing, they could come together or separate at will, bringing all kinds of martial arts skills to a superb level.

Sometimes, when fists and palms collide, they produce a dull, booming sound!

Sometimes, however, it happens silently, as if the clashing fists and palms are merely an illusion.

The intense competition lasted for about half a cup of tea's time!

Suddenly, a muffled thud was heard, and Jia Huan staggered back seven or eight steps.

The old Taoist priest from Wudang did not give chase; he simply stood there with a smile on his face.

"Young friend, you have great talent! Your mastery of the Taizu Long Fist is probably beyond compare!"

"The Taoist priest is even more powerful. His Wudang Cotton Palm alone is enough to leave me helpless!"

Jia Huan regulated his breathing and said admiringly, "If I were to use internal force, it's hard to say whether I could even last ten moves!"

The premise is that he doesn't use other methods!

He never expected that the old Wudang Taoist priest who suddenly appeared in front of him would actually be a top-notch martial arts master!

It seemed that inviting him over through the Jianghe Gang leader was just a way to give him a hard time.

Of course, Jia Huan wasn't particularly wary!

His true strength lay in his military tactics and killing skills!

If he had a weapon, even if the old Wudang Taoist priest possessed top-tier martial arts skills, he could still easily defeat Jia Huan and escape. He was confident in that.

Of course, he didn't think the situation would be that serious!

At this moment, he became even more curious about the internal energy of the Laughing at the World.

In the world of Dream of the Red Chamber, they are also beings who cultivate internal energy, true masters of both Buddhism and Taoism, and they are all quite old.

However, due to the differences in their worlds, the feeling Jia Huan experienced between the two, as well as the power they wielded, were not entirely the same, and therefore could not be compared.

In the world of Dream of the Red Chamber, internal energy is more focused on nourishing the body and mind, while the most important martial arts for killing are the Qi and Blood Martial Arts!

The internal energy techniques used to dominate the world are nothing more than killing techniques, there's not much to say about them.

I just don't understand why this old Wudang Taoist priest came all this way.

He could clearly sense that when the old Wudang Taoist priest made his move, he did not carry any malice or murderous intent.

This is the main reason why Jia Huan was willing to exchange martial arts skills with him; otherwise, he would have directly used his most secret techniques, and he wouldn't risk his life.

As for cooperation with the Jianghe Gang, if a fierce conflict were to break out, what else is there to say?

"Hehe, young friend, there's no need to doubt me. This old Taoist has no ill intentions!"

The old Taoist priest from Wudang chuckled and said, "But the Jianghe Gang's matter is unprecedented. I want to probe your background, young friend, and see if you can withstand the pressure in the future!"

"Oh, how thoughtful of you, Taoist priest!"

Jia Huan's heart stirred, and he naturally understood the meaning behind the old Wudang Taoist's words.

If the Jianghe Gang and the Beggars' Gang's Huarong Xiangtang cooperate in business, they can definitely make a lot of money if things go smoothly.

Given sufficient incentives, the surrounding forces of Wudang Mountain along the Yangtze River in Hubei Province will certainly not sit idly by and will want to get involved and share the spoils.

At that time, the interests involved were enormous.

The Wudang faction can naturally coordinate the surrounding forces of Wudang along the river in Hubei Province.

But can the Beggars' Sect's Huarong Xiangtang withstand the attempt to steal their spoils from the Beggars' Sect headquarters?

Without a doubt, the power of the gentry and landlords in the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty was quite formidable, especially those in the Hubei and Hunan regions, who were even more powerful.

Just like the wealthy salt merchants of Yangzhou in the world of Dream of the Red Chamber, the landlords and gentry of Hubei and Hunan provinces in the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty controlled nearly 30% to 50% of the grain output of the entire Ming Dynasty.

Once the Wudang outposts along the river have tasted success, they will simply cooperate with the Beggars' Sect's Huarong Xiangtang as usual.

In business dealings among powerful factions in the underworld, trust is an extremely important factor!

It can be said that at this time, the Beggars' Sect's Huarong Xiangtang was the face and benchmark of the Beggars' Sect when doing business with the peripheral forces of Wudang on the other side of the river.

Clearly, the old Wudang Taoist priest did not want any major changes to the leader of the Beggars' Sect's Huarong Incense Hall.

The old Taoist priest of Wudang knew better than Jia Huan, the leader of the Huarong branch, what kind of people the Beggars' Sect leaders were.

It's not that there are no trustworthy people, but the old Wudang Taoist priest doesn't want to gamble with luck.

Therefore, he directly invited Jia Huan to cross the river and did not hesitate to test the waters.

The result of the test naturally surprised and even made the old Wudang Taoist quite envious.

Jia Huan's martial arts skills, even just his fist and foot techniques, have already reached the level of a near second-rate martial artist in the martial arts world.

If he had a weapon and could demonstrate his martial arts skills, he would have reached the second-rate level in the martial arts world, which was quite remarkable for Jia Huan's age.

At this time, the number of top-notch martial arts masters in the Beggars' Sect would not exceed one hand!

Many of the higher-ups are only second-rate in the underworld!

At such a young age, Jia Huan possesses martial prowess comparable to that of a high-ranking member. Coupled with his demonstrated insight and ability, it would not be difficult for him to become a core member of the Beggars' Sect in a short period of time.

And so, the old Taoist priest of Wudang was somewhat relieved, thinking that it was good that the trade between the two sides could continue in a long-term and stable manner.

Jia Huan was naturally unaware of the old Taoist priest's specific thoughts, but he had already realized what was going on and said confidently, "Rest assured, Taoist priest, as long as there are no major changes in the Beggars' Sect, the trade between our two sides in Hengjiang will definitely not be greatly disrupted in the short term!"

After saying this, he clasped his hands in farewell and left by boat with two brothers from the incense hall.

"I never expected that such a young talent would emerge from the Beggars' Sect!"

Looking in the direction Jia Huan left on the fishing boat, the old Taoist priest from Wudang spoke leisurely.

"The sect leader is nothing more than a minor branch leader in the Beggars' Sect!"

The Jianghe Gang leader, who had been carefully serving him, said dismissively, "He's only a fourth-generation disciple of the Beggars' Sect. Who knows how long it will take for him to truly rise to prominence!"

If Jia Huan were here, he would definitely be a little surprised.

How could he have imagined that the old Wudang Taoist who suddenly invited him and even had a good exchange of martial arts skills was actually the newly appointed head of the Wudang sect, Master Chongxu?

This person is definitely one of the top righteous heroes in the world of Swordsman!

Moreover, he was one of the martial arts bigwigs who instigated the fierce battle between the Five Mountains Sword Sect and the Demonic Sect behind the scenes.

His reputation in the martial arts world was comparable to that of Fangzheng, the abbot of Shaolin Temple.

Of course, at this time, Master Chongxu had just taken over as the leader of Wudang Sect, and neither his martial arts nor his cunning had reached their peak.

The reason he was here was that he had just taken over as the leader of Wudang Sect, and naturally he needed to understand the specific situation of Wudang Sect's sphere of influence, at least to have a clear understanding of it.

He happened to be passing by when he was spotted by the leader of the Jianghe Gang, who told him about the shameful things that had happened before.

Chongxu didn't say much about the Jianghe Gang's bullying behavior, which was common practice in the martial arts world.

Unless someone dies or things get too out of hand, he or the Wudang Sect will not intervene personally; otherwise, so many external forces would not agree.

How many formal disciples does the Wudang Sect have?

It's at most a few hundred, no more than that.

With such a small number of people, and having to be stationed at the Wudang Sect's mountain gate, how could they possibly manage the entire Hubei province?

Naturally, they can only rely on external forces; almost all major martial arts sects follow this model.

In The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, the reason why the strength of the Huashan Sect plummeted was not only because of the heavy loss of its high-end combat power, but also because the peripheral forces that originally belonged to the Huashan Sect collapsed.

Otherwise, why would Yue Buqun have difficulty even taking out a few dozen taels of silver?

It's unimaginable that such a thing would happen in any normally functioning martial arts sect.

After learning of Jia Huan's thoughts, Daoist Chongxu began to have some ideas of his own.

If a cooperation could be facilitated between the Jianghe Gang and the Huarong Xiangtang of the Beggars' Gang, it would be a good idea to strengthen the outer forces of Wudang.

As mentioned before, cross-provincial trade like this is basically controlled by powerful local gentry and landlords, or by the white gloves of high-ranking officials and bigwigs.

Even with the strength of the Wudang Sect, it wouldn't be appropriate for them to participate openly and honestly.

On the contrary, doing business with the peripheral forces under his command and the incense halls under the Beggars' Sect would not attract too much attention or influence, which is a very good choice.

If done well, it could even help the Wudang peripheral forces along the river to have greater development potential and strength, which would be a great thing for the Wudang sect itself.

As far as Chongxu was concerned, as long as he made this happen, it would be credited to him as the new sect leader.

Then, the scene that happened earlier occurred!

In other words, Jia Huan was not familiar with many of the big shots in the world of The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, which is why Master Chongxu was able to show off so much in front of him.

"You don't understand!"

The old Taoist Chongxu said leisurely, "At such a young age, to have mastered the Taizu Long Fist to such a superb level, just how amazing is his martial arts talent!"

"If this fellow weren't already a four-bag disciple of the Beggars' Sect, this old Taoist would really have considered poaching him!"

As he spoke, he shook his head and warned the dumbfounded Jianghe Gang leader, "In the future, when doing business with Huarong Xiangtang across the river, don't try anything sneaky, or the consequences will be unpredictable!"

After giving his instructions, he ignored the Jianghe Gang leader's enthusiastic attempts to persuade him to stay and went directly to a nearby Taoist temple to settle down.

Meanwhile, Jia Huan, along with two of his brothers from the incense hall, had already returned to Huarong territory by boat.