I'm here in the martial arts world just to find love.

Under the gaze of the woman in red, Jiang Chao drew the seemingly inconspicuous longsword from his waist.

Digging a hole by hand is too slow; you need a suitable tool. And right now, we're in a valley, so the best tool we can find is the sword I brought from home.

Jiang Chao said to the three-foot-long sword in his hand:

"Brother Moye, I'm sorry to trouble you, but I have no choice but to lend it to you again for now."

"Moye" is the name of the green sword in Jiang Chao's hand. Jiang Chao named it after the story of Gan Jiang and Moye, which means that the couple is loving and will never be separated.

Of course, no one in the world can understand this story.

After speaking to Moye Sword, Jiang Chao tossed the longsword in his hand and made a sword incantation with his fingers.

...The sword technique was something he made up himself and it was of no use.

What truly made a difference was the surging true energy emanating from his dantian.

He used his inner energy to control the sword, and the long sword soared into the sky, hovering in mid-air.

The next moment, a loud sword cry resounded throughout the valley.

Su E and Chu Ning, who were supporting Lu Jing, heard the loud sword sound coming from the depths of the valley behind them, and the two women had different expressions.

Su E thought to herself, "Just as I thought."

To cause such a commotion, the young man's swordsmanship must be incredibly outstanding!

Chu Ning was somewhat sullen. She had thought that the difference between her and the young man was only in terms of internal strength and martial arts skills, but she did not expect that his understanding of swordsmanship was also so profound.

She had heard her father say that there was no shortage of talented people in the martial arts world, but those who could cause extraordinary phenomena at a young age were all potential martial arts talents who could reach the level of a Grandmaster above the first rank in the future.

Legend has it that martial arts are divided into nine ranks and eighteen realms.

Ordinary people in the martial arts world are not ranked.

The ninth rank is for skin training, the eighth for bone training, and the seventh for tendon training; these are the three lowest ranks. Many martial artists, limited by their talent and willpower, remain at the skin training stage, unable to advance further throughout their lives, and can only drift aimlessly through life in the martial world, leading mediocre lives.

Even if one manages to break through the Skin Refining Realm and enter the Bone Refining Realm by sheer luck, without the guidance of a renowned master, it will be difficult to achieve great success. As the saying goes, it's difficult to draw the bones of a tiger, and the bones are the hardest to refine.

The strong are easily broken. If one does not know the right way to start and blindly trains one's physical constitution, it is very easy to ruin one's body and become a useless person.

Therefore, those who have mastered bone cultivation in the martial arts world are few and far between.

The saying "the poor study literature, the rich study martial arts" originated from this.

Only those from prestigious families with deep-rooted traditions and renowned lineages can achieve mastery of bone-strengthening techniques under the guidance of their elders.

  

Next comes the Tendon Refining Realm, where only those with strong bones and muscles and abundant internal strength can generate a wisp of martial arts true energy within their bodies.

Thus, she officially entered the sixth-grade marrow and blood realm. Chu Ning was at this martial arts realm, which was the source of her confidence in secretly running away from home, and also the real reason why she recovered so quickly after being seriously injured in Qingxi Town by Su E with medicine and golden needles.

She is currently unable to project her true energy externally; she can only release it through specially made hidden weapons.

Once you reach the sixth rank, a flying leaf can kill someone, and a flying flower can also injure someone.

The Chu family's hidden weapon techniques have brought the advantages of this martial arts realm to their extreme.

Above the sixth rank is the Qi Sea Realm, which allows one to release internal true energy to form protective qi, the martial arts realm that Jiang Chao demonstrated.

Originally, Chu Ning thought that Jiang Chao was only one realm higher than her, which was nothing, after all, the other party was the son of a Grandmaster, a genius prodigy in the legend of the martial arts world who was born with knowledge.

It's not surprising that someone so new to the martial world would possess such a level of martial arts skill.

But now it seems she was wrong; the other party is definitely not as simple as a fifth-rank official!

It is highly likely that she is a master of the same level as her father, Chu Yuanshan, a fourth-grade Vajra Profound Realm expert with all eight extraordinary meridians fully opened!

Only when one possesses the Vajra-like strength, with one's internal energy and blood as vigorous as a furnace, can one unleash such terrifying power in fist techniques!

A fourth-rank official in his teens... Just thinking about it makes one feel a deep sense of powerlessness.

Thinking of this, the girl, her thoughts in turmoil, looked forlorn and murmured to herself:

"Jiang Qilin, what kind of monster are you...?"

After hearing the girl's murmur beside her, Su E did not say anything. In her opinion, the path of martial arts is all about talent.

Some people are born to be chosen by heaven, and can reach the top without much effort, leaving others far behind.

Clearly, that young Jiang, who looked quite young, was this type of person.

But what truly determines a person's potential is not just talent, but also character. The great demons of Evil Valley, hated by everyone, were all exceptionally talented.

However, their actions are utterly despicable.

No matter how high one's skills are, if one's moral character is flawed and one's actions are immoral, if one only acts as one pleases and regards all living beings as worthless, then such a person, even if he is a master of martial arts, is nothing more than a heretic and evil figure in the eyes of righteous people, a great scourge to the world.

With mixed feelings, the two women left the valley and returned to the bamboo forest to await the return of the tide.

the other side.

Jiang Chao was unaware that his actions had left a very deep impression on the two women traveling with him.

He simply drew his sword and dug a pit to bury the corpses, allowing these unfortunate people who had been afflicted by the Gu spell to rest in peace.

Regarding martial arts, he didn't know what ranks there were. He only knew that although he was strong, he was only at the beginner level in the martial arts world.

It's okay to roam the streets, but you can't be too reckless.

After all, he wasn't his father, Jiang Buwen, the martial arts grandmaster who had already left a great name in the martial arts world, whose status was terrifyingly high, and who was a top figure in the martial arts world known to everyone.

He was just a greenhorn, nothing more.

After burying the people, Jiang Chao recalled Mo Xie and sheathed it before looking at the red-clad woman who was standing there blankly.

"Let's go, we should get going."

It was still early, and there was still some time before evening. Jiang Chao was also getting a little hungry.

Even after experiencing something extraordinary, one still needs to eat, sleep, and rest—a habit Jiang Chao has developed over the past decade or so in the mountains.

There was only dry food in the carriage. Jiang Chao had gotten tired of it these past two days, so he decided to hunt some wild game to improve his meals before meeting up with Lady Chu and the others.

Unfortunately, there were no wild animals near the valley. Perhaps due to the influence of the Gu worms in the bodies of those martial artists fighting each other, all the wild animals in the vicinity had run away.

Jiang Chao circled around the valley but couldn't find any edible wild game.

They had no choice but to give up and, with the woman in red, returned to the vicinity of the bamboo forest by the same route.

When he saw the carriage, a fragrant aroma wafted towards him.

"Grilled fish!"

A campfire was lit near the carriage, with several small fish, each about the size of a palm, on it.

Lu Jing, who had woken up at some point, was carefully flipping the fish skewered on a bamboo stick.

Seeing Jiang Chao return, and the woman in red following not far behind him, Lu Jing, though he had already learned about this from Su E and the female knight-errant Chu, still felt somewhat frightened.

Shrinking his neck, the boy swallowed back the greeting that was about to come out.

Jiang Chao, however, didn't care. After all that busy work, he was already starving.

He quickly stepped forward, picked up a bamboo skewer, brought the grilled fish on it to his nose, sniffed it, and immediately started eating it.

After finishing the two grilled fish, Jiang Chao finally showed a satisfied expression.

He wasn't actually full, but he held back to eat in order to take care of the others.

The boy looked at the other three and smiled:

"Judging by the time, we've already been delayed on the road for three days. There are still four days until the martial arts tournament officially begins. It's about a six-day journey from here to Yunmeng Mountain. We need to hurry on our way."

The speed he referred to when he said "traveling speed" was the speed of a horse-drawn carriage, not a horse-drawn carriage.

If traveling on horseback, a six-day journey can be shortened to three days without any problem.

Therefore, the boy's words clearly meant that Su E and Lu Jing should abandon the carriage and ride horses with them.