Gou Zai Xianwu Wenjing Search for Opportunities

Chapter 96 This Autumn, the First to Reach the Top Will Prevail

Early the next morning.

Lin Yuan practiced his boxing for a short while, warmed up, and finished his training when he was slightly sweaty. Tomorrow was the Autumn Competition, so it wasn't suitable to push himself too hard.

He went to call Xu Bin to have breakfast, but the kid had disappeared again. He went to the cafeteria to eat alone, and then saw Xu Bin chatting with someone.

Xu Bin hurriedly ran over and surrounded his table, whispering, "Uncle-Master, when you were practicing your boxing this morning, Feng Lang had a small meeting with the other three families, and Jing Lang went too."

"Oh?" Lin Yuan took a bite of the donkey meat bun; the soup was very fragrant.

Fortunately, the temple usually does not prohibit alcohol and meat, but there are exceptions, namely, those who abstain from alcohol and meat on fasting and ceremonial days.

Xu Bin asked curiously, "What are they discussing?"

"Eat more, grow taller." Seeing Liang Feng approach, Lin Yuan quickly stuffed a steamed bun into Xu Bin's mouth and called out loudly, "Feng Lang, have you eaten?"

Liang Feng nodded in response, gesturing for him to come aside for a private chat. He then didn't hide anything: "I got the news this morning that tomorrow's autumn competition will test climbing the Thousand-Foot Ladder. In previous years, this would have been decided long ago, but this year they said it would be stricter, and we only heard about it today."

In previous years, there were five most common exam questions, and the Thousand-Foot Ladder was just one of them.

"A thousand-foot ladder?" Lin Yuan recalled Zhang Dengyun's memory of the explanation of this competition. Each person carried a large stone on their back and started climbing the mountain from the foot of the mountain. The first person to reach the Taoist temple would win.

Liang Feng immediately explained the details of the Thousand-Foot Ladder, which perfectly corroborated what Lin Yuan knew.

Lin Yuan climbed that thousand-foot-long mountain path once this year when he went to burn incense. The stone steps were five or six feet wide in some places and less than three feet wide in others. Many parts of the mountain path were very steep.

No matter who is carrying a large rock, their martial arts skills will be diminished. If they are attacked from both sides on the mountain path, even the most skilled martial artist will risk being overturned.

If the mountain path is blocked by a group of people, it will be very difficult for those behind to get through.

The Taoist temple's attitude was to let Qiu Bi's disciples attack and compete against each other.

After Liang Feng finished explaining the details, he mentioned the suggestion made by the Zhang and Li families to gather all the bone-forging martial artists from the four families together, so that everyone could still stick together.

Liang Feng had some concerns about this, and the reason was simple: among the many children of the Zhang and Li families, excluding those who were disqualified for taking the exams on their behalf, there wasn't even one who had reached the Bone Forging Realm. The Zheng family, on the other hand, had one, Zheng Zhi, who was at the early stage of the Bone Forging Realm.

The Liang family has one Liang Zhe, who has just entered the Bone Forging Realm, and together with Lin Yuan, they have two. On paper, the Liang family is the strongest, but they have to carry a bunch of burdens, which will inevitably increase unpredictable risks.

"Feng Lang, your concerns are valid!" Lin Yuan, having formed an idea, began to fan the flames. "Which of those who didn't get the early qualification spots doesn't have connections and backgrounds? The reputation of their powerful families alone isn't enough to intimidate them. There are many of them; if they all recklessly charge in and try to wear us down, what are your chances of stopping them? If you can't, and someone stabs you in the back and abandons you, how will you cope?"

"Sigh, two fists can't fight four hands. There are only three martial artists among us. If we are surrounded, it will be difficult to protect ourselves, let alone care about others." Liang Feng sighed. He understood the situation better than anyone else, but he was too embarrassed to abandon his allies.

As expected, it's time for the "better you than me" situation to come again!

There are no unbreakable allies, only eternal interests.

Lin Yuan smiled knowingly. To ensure his victory, he immediately adopted Master Xu's cunning strategy, saying, "Feng Lang, why don't we secretly join forces with the Zheng family? The three of us Bone Forging Martial Masters can form a triangular battle formation on the mountain path, allowing us to attack or defend as needed. We only need six spots, leaving eleven for them to compete for. Those who get the spots later will likely not dare to directly attack us."

Liang Feng's eyes lit up, then he asked hesitantly, "Would it be inappropriate for me to do this?"

Lin Yuan knew that all he wanted was a way out, so he immediately suggested, "Since Li Jing can send his third brother to play the good cop, why don't you send a member of the Liang family to play the bad cop, Feng Lang? Let him do the offending part, and you can play the good cop in the end. Just say that your intentions were good, but your brothers didn't agree."

Liang Feng slapped his thigh: "Brilliant!"

On that day, Liang Feng claimed to be ill and did not go out, only playing chess with Lin Yuan for entertainment. He secretly sent his brother Liang Zhe to make contact with Zheng.

Zheng Shi didn't want to bring a burden on her, so she immediately agreed and sent Zheng Zhi to secretly meet with Liang Feng to confirm the matter.

The Liang and Zheng families immediately formed a secret alliance, abandoning their former allies, the Zhang and Li families.

Because the two families acted discreetly, neither Zhang nor Li knew anything about it.

In the afternoon, Xu Bin ran back and said that the Zhang and Li families were enjoying the scenery and drinking at the lakeside pavilion. Many people had come to support them, including the Liang and Zheng families. There were more than 30 people gathered, making it a very lively occasion.

Lin Yuan smiled slightly, placed a black piece on the chessboard, and said with a smile, "Thank you for giving me the piece, Feng Lang."

Liang Feng's mind wasn't on the game. He glanced at the chessboard, then chuckled and said, "Forget it, I'm not playing anymore."

When Lin Yuan discovered that he was playing the villain, he was actually a little uneasy, after all, he was still young.

The next day, at the hour of Mao (5-7 AM).

In the courtyard in front of the Hall for receiving pilgrims, a group of young people gathered.

Master Wu, leading the other Taoist masters and elders, stood outside the hall and announced loudly: "Today is the Autumn Festival; we will ascend the thousand-foot ladder!"

Upon receiving the signal, Master Gao immediately pointed to the rows of bamboo baskets beside him: "Each bamboo basket contains a stone, weighing half a stone. Each person should carry one bamboo basket and go up the mountain from behind the hall. You must not unload the bamboo basket midway, and you must not take shortcuts."

During the competition, participants may attack each other, but may not intentionally kill anyone. The first seventeen to reach the top will be the winners.

The boys immediately became noisy. One shi equals ten dou, one dou weighs about ten jin, and half a shi weighs about sixty jin.

"Silence! Next, we'll call on people to come forward and collect their bamboo baskets, then wait in the backyard."

Master Gao immediately opened the roster and called out names in order to receive the bamboo baskets.

Since the names were called in order, the bamboo baskets were also placed in order, and the Taoist boy instructed each boy to carry the bamboo basket in order.

However, the order of names on today's roll call was quite different from the day before. All four great families' first-place winners were listed at the front, without exception.

Lin Yuan suspected there was something fishy about the bamboo basket, but he didn't care; sixty pounds wasn't a heavy weight for him.

When it was his turn to step forward and carry the bamboo basket, he found that it was a little light, seemingly less than sixty pounds.

He went to the backyard, where the first-come-first-served spots from the four great families were already waiting at the entrance to the mountain path.

The one standing guard was Master Qian, who tilted his head and didn't look at the crowd, while the young Taoist boy beside him kept collecting the silver envelopes handed over by each of the boys.

Lin Yuan was no exception; he handed over the silver envelope for the first-place winner and then approached Liang Feng and the others. At the same time, the four members of the Liang family and the Zheng family also slowly moved closer together.

After the first group of winners had gathered, they waited for a while before the other boys came to the backyard carrying bamboo baskets.

Once everyone has gathered.

Just then, a firework shot into the sky from the front yard. Master Qian waved his hand and immediately gave permission: "Let's go!"

The thirteen members of the four prominent families, holding the first-place spots, set off first. Just as they entered the mountain path, two young disciples suddenly jumped out from the side, blocking the path and preventing the other youths from climbing. They pointed at the fastest runner among the youths and said, "Qiu Bi can't carry weapons! Search him!"

The boy who was stopped looked bewildered: "I didn't bring any weapons. I was searched this morning!"

"You say you didn't bring it? Search me!" The two Taoist boys searched him, but blocked the mountain path.

The boy behind couldn't leave and was so anxious he wanted to jump up and down, but he didn't dare to curse the Taoist boy and the Taoist master. He could only keep begging the Taoist master to let the boy pull the boy aside and deal with him.

But Master Qian tilted his head, lost in thought, seemingly not hearing anything.

Once the group of winners, led by the four powerful families, had long since climbed the mountain and disappeared into the distance, Master Qian turned around, coughed, and said, "Let them pass!"

"Yes." The two young disciples, having received the order, quickly searched the boy and found a jade pendant. At the same time, they scolded him, "You can't take this. Take it. Go up the mountain!"

"I told you I didn't bring any weapons, but you didn't believe me. Give me back my jade pendant!"

"Stop talking and get out of the way!"

"Hey, don't push me!"

At this moment, on the mountain path, the Liang and Zheng family members huddled together in a small group, and Liang Feng coughed.

Lin Yuan, Liang Zhe, and Zheng Zhi, three martial artists at the Bone Forging Realm, had already positioned themselves. Upon hearing the signal, they immediately launched their attack.

Lin Yuan immediately used the Snake Steps technique, moving through the crowd on the mountain path in the shape of a snake. With a punch, he shoved the Zhang family members aside, and with another palm strike, he knocked down a Li family member.

In order to protect himself, he moved like a dragon, taking the lead in occupying the top position of the "品" shape, with Zheng Zhi and Liang Zhe following behind. The three of them quickly formed a triangular battle formation, directly blocking the mountain road.

The three acted as special agents for each other, protecting one another. If those behind them did not break through the battle formation, they would have no chance of escaping.

The three quickly let Liang Feng and Liang Zheng and his two disciples go up the mountain. The disciples from the Zhang and Li families tried to squeeze up, but they couldn't break through the "品" (pin) formation at all.

-

At this point, Li Jing and the others realized something was wrong, but it was too late.

The Zhang family members immediately chased after him, shouting, "Feng Lang, what are you doing?"

Liang Feng pretended to be sick, keeping his head down and running forward, ignoring messages he had already read.

Liang Zhe stepped forward and loudly replied, "My brother doesn't consider us brothers' feelings, and none of us brothers are convinced by him. So now, I'm in charge at Liang's company. We and the Zheng brothers only need six spots; the other eleven spots are yours."

After saying that, he caught up with Lin Yuan and maintained a triangular formation, securing his position.

This prompted the Zhang family members to immediately erupt in a tirade of curses: "Go to hell! Rinse it!"

"Liang Feng, don't play dead with me!" Li Jing cursed loudly, completely losing his composure as a scion of a noble family, and immediately ordered the others to rush in.

Those who caught up were all members of the Zhang and Li families, but they were all at the mid-to-late stage of the Body Tempering Realm.

As Lin Yuan climbed the mountain, he kept glancing back to help Liang Zhe and Zheng Zhi with their defense.

Seeing that there were many people rushing in, Liang Zhe immediately let two people in and blocked two more behind him. Zheng Zhi quickly stepped in to defend and repelled one of them.

Lin Yuan immediately used a python tail swing to kick the person who rushed up to the side of the mountain.

In a short while, the three men eliminated all five or six people who rushed up.

Seeing that they couldn't get past the three Bone Forging Martial Masters' triangular battle formation, the Zhang and Li families panicked and shouted, "That old scoundrel Liang, dare to speak up?!"

"Zheng Gou, stop hiding behind there!"

The Zhang and Li families argued for a while, but found it was useless, because the Liang and Zheng families, consisting of six people, were climbing the mountain at high speed and had no intention of paying attention to the others.

Li Jing's third brother quickly stopped Li Jing, saying, "Brother, stop cursing! Quickly plead for us and ask for a spot to be admitted first."

"Me?" Li Jinggang had just finished cursing someone, and couldn't bring himself to ask for help, so he spat on the ground in a fit of anger.

Seeing that there was no hope of getting into the top six, the Zhang family members immediately formed a defensive formation, blocking Li Jing and the others behind them.

Li Jing's temper, which had softened, suddenly exploded completely: "You bastard surnamed Zhang! You're inhuman!"

"I'm so sorry, Jinglang! We'll apologize to you when we get up on the mountain!" With that, the Zhang family members ran up the mountain without looking back.

Li Jing's third brother cried out in alarm, "Brother, hurry up the mountain! The men are chasing us!"

At this moment, a large group of teenagers chased after Li Jing, all of them rushing up the mountain with great enthusiasm.

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