A glimpse of opportunity: Start by marrying a mermaid bride.

When Zheng Xuan arrived at Song Jin'ao's home, the atmosphere was extremely tense. All the nominal disciples had been driven away, leaving only three direct disciples.

Chen Shouyi, Chunping, and Li Ziping stood there. Chen Shouyi looked sorrowful, Chunping was expressionless, but Li Ziping was indignant, saying, "Ungrateful bastards! Those Zhang brothers are all ungrateful bastards! Master treated them so well, yet they dared to betray the sect. They're worse than pigs and dogs!"

Li Ziping continued to berate Song Jin'ao, whose brows furrowed and eyes were filled with resentment.

He had just gone to find those two beasts, but unexpectedly he was stopped by the Gong family. The brothers Zhang Mingde and Zhang Mingliang burned the disciple contract in front of him, and from then on, they owed each other nothing.

This disciple betrayed the sect, which is a major taboo in the sect. He would be despised by the entire martial arts world. Disciples who betray their sect will not have a good ending, and the consequences will be very serious.

However, after Zhang Mingde and Zhang Mingliang defected, they were taken in by the Gong family of the Bagua Sect and became their personal disciples. Then, these consequences were eliminated. As long as the Gong family spoke, who in the entire Tianjin martial arts world would dare to disrespect them?

Song Jin'ao was thoroughly humiliated. Zheng Xuan then entered the room and looked at Song Jin'ao.

"Uncle-Master Song, you were looking for me?"

Song Jin'ao looked at Zheng Xuan and asked, "You know about Zhang Mingde and Zhang Mingliang's matter?"

Upon hearing this, Zheng Xuan immediately nodded and said, "I have heard about it. Uncle Song, please don't be too angry. Everyone has their own destiny. They will surely suffer retribution for their actions."

Upon hearing this, Song Jin'ao said, "A great man is bound to have an unvirtuous wife and unfilial children. What does it matter if two apprentices run away?"

After saying this, Song Jin'ao continued, "The reason I called you here today is to ask you a question: do you want to become my personal disciple?"

Upon hearing this, Zheng Xuan immediately clasped his hands in a fist and said, "I would like to."

"Alright, Shouyi!"

Song Jin'ao called out to Chen Shouyi, then said, "This is a name card. Write your name on it, offer me a cup of tea, and you will be my apprentice."

Looking at the name card handed to him, Zheng Xuan took the pen and wrote his name on it.

Chunping handed over a cup of tea. Zheng Xuan took the tea, offered it to Song Jin'ao, and Song Jin'ao took a sip and said, "Alright, Ah Xuan, from now on, you are my personal disciple."

At this point, Song Jin'ao said, "That brother surnamed Zhang is gone, which makes room for you. Good thing, good thing."

He said this, but his voice trembled, clearly indicating that the Zhang brothers' defection was not as peaceful as he had imagined.

He forced himself to stay calm and turned around, saying, "Shouyi, tell Ah Xuan about your fighting style and killing moves. Ziping, come with me. There are only ten days left. Use this time to try to break through your inner strength. The Red Jade Lingzhi will be yours."

As he spoke, he led Li Ziping to the backyard to prepare a special meal for him.

He abandoned Zheng Xuan, after all, in his opinion, Zheng Xuan's talent was worlds apart from Li Ziping's, and Zheng Xuan did not practice very hard, so it would be very difficult for him to achieve anything in a short period of time.

There's no value in training them; the only one who can truly turn the tide in the martial arts examination is Li Ziping, a prodigy.

Chen Shouyi then came to Zheng Xuan's side and whispered, "Sigh... Now we can only rely on Ziping. If Ziping can't get into the top four, all of Master's plans will fall through."

"The Bagua Sect is truly ruthless; they tried to undermine our defenses before the martial arts examination even began..."

As Chen Shouyi spoke, Chunping, who was standing to the side, remained silent, and for a moment the atmosphere in the entire courtyard became extremely tense.

In the afternoon, Chen Shouyi taught Zheng Xuan the fighting techniques and killing moves of Bajiquan.

The gameplay isn't actually difficult; it's just a matter of adding some small tricks and modifications to the basic techniques.

As the saying goes: A true teaching can be conveyed in a single sentence, while a false teaching can fill countless volumes.

The same applies to Bajiquan. All the techniques can actually be explained in just a few words. After Zheng Xuan understood, he suddenly had a clear understanding. The parts of the practice that were awkward before became clear after this explanation.

After teaching the fighting techniques, what remains are the three deadly moves of Bajiquan, which can only be truly learned by direct disciples.

The "Standing Cannon," the "Tiger Climbing the Mountain," and the "Eight Extremes Collapse."

These three deadly moves are terrifying; they are deadly once they are used.

There's a saying in Bajiquan: "Three moves and one spear," which refers to these three major killing moves and one killing spear move.

Bajiquan is skilled in the Six Harmonies Spear, and Zheng Xuan also knows it. The final killing move in the Six Harmonies Spear is the Returning Spear.

This time, Chen Shouyi passed on all his skills to Zheng Xuan on behalf of his master. Zheng Xuan was secretly shocked when he saw these three moves. They were indeed powerful and deadly moves. Zheng Xuan studied them with exceptional diligence.

Especially during his practice, he discovered that his Ming Jin skill, Stacking Force, could be combined with the Standing Heaven Cannon. If it was used, it would be a triple cannon force, extremely powerful and fierce. Could it be that his awakened Stacking Force also conforms to the Bajiquan style?

Li Ziping's skills, Mountain Collapse and Eight Extremes Collapse, are considered the best combination skills of the Eight Extremes Sect. Perhaps he can even fuse another skill!

There should be potential in this area.

Zheng Xuan practiced and pondered at the same time, and for a while he actually got into the practice.

Seeing that Zheng Xuan was lost in thought, Chen Shouyi didn't disturb him and left on his own.

Zheng Xuan had been practicing his boxing in the courtyard until it got dark. At that moment, Chen Shouyi came out to light a lamp and saw Zheng Xuan practicing his boxing.

"Junior brother, still practicing?"

Chen Shouyi asked a question, and Zheng Xuan replied, "Hmm."

"Don't overwork yourself. Our talent can't compare to our junior brother's. Just do your best."

After saying that, he returned to the courtyard. Just then, Song Jin'ao came out with his hands behind his back and said, "Master, Junior Brother Zheng is really hardworking."

Upon hearing this, Song Jin'ao glanced at Zheng Xuan, who was practicing his boxing techniques, and said, "What's the use of working hard now? There are only ten days left until the martial arts examination. We can only rely on Zi Ping."

Upon hearing this, Chen Shouyi said, "Alas~ It's all my fault for being useless. If I had seen earlier that the Zhang brothers were ungrateful wretches, I wouldn't have made you suffer like this, Master."

Song Jin'ao said, "This is not your fault. I was too eager for quick success. I should have carefully selected my disciples, but in order to complete the mission of the Protect the Nation, I did not test their character and took them in. Now they have become a scourge, which is retribution."

After saying that, Song Jin'ao glanced at Zheng Xuan and said, "Don't worry about Xuan these next few days. You must take good care of Ziping's logistics so that he can focus on his breakthrough without any distractions."

Upon hearing this, Chen Shouyi immediately agreed.

Now Song Jin'ao has placed all his bets on Li Ziping alone.

Zheng Xuan was left unattended, which was fine. On the first day, Zheng Xuan familiarized himself with the three killing moves with Song Jin'ao. After that, he went home and continued to practice his boxing underwater while visualizing the portrait of the patriarch. After nine months of visualization, coupled with consuming the Ice Heart Lotus Root that he had stolen from Zhao Erbiao, Zheng Xuan found that his corpse retriever sequence had loosened, and he felt that he would break through to the eighth rank soon.