I am Jinshan Youxia

Shan Zheng, Tan Gong, and Tan Po exchanged glances, each with their own thoughts.

The three of them came down from the mountain for the sake of Qiao Feng, the leader of the Beggars' Sect. But now, what kind of expression should they wear?

Chapter 23 Heroes' Gathering

Five days later, at the deserted temple.

People from the Shan family, Qingliang Temple, and Shaolin Temple have all arrived.

Xu Chongxiao stared intently at the letter in his hand. After this period of probing, he was certain that these people didn't care about his communication with others, so he became bolder.

From coded messages to sending messages, Zhang Chengyi completely ignored his interactions with others as long as no one tried to take him away.

It felt like I was actually invited as a guest.

[Strange, it's understandable that Qingliang Temple is in a hurry, but why did the Shaolin Temple people arrive so quickly?]

Xu Chongxiao was puzzled. The news of his kidnapping had indeed stirred up the martial arts world, but it was nothing compared to the fact that people all over the world had been killed by his own family's special move.

Even if he has a high seniority in the Beggars' Sect, he is actually just an old guy with no power or influence and not strong enough. Qingliang Temple and the Beggars' Sect will do their best to rescue him for the sake of their reputation. The Shan family has become enemies with Zhang Chengyi.

What is Shaolin Temple after? They arrived even faster than the Beggars' Sect. The situation has become strange after Shaolin got involved.

As the largest gang in the world, the Beggars' Sect's actions have always attracted attention. With the Shaolin Temple's inexplicable involvement, many people in the martial arts world who claim to be chivalrous will inevitably follow suit and join in the fun.

For example, the You brothers from Juxianzhuang, who have always been keen on making a name for themselves, have already started their activities, inquiring everywhere and forming cliques.

Based on his understanding of his junior brother, the Venerable Shenshan, it was highly likely that he was using this as an excuse to take advantage of the situation.

Kang Min and he had prepared so many methods to deal with Qiao Feng, thinking it would be in Jiangnan, but now because of him, they have been hastily drawn back to the Central Plains, and there are too many variables.

That woman was no pushover either.

More people came to rescue him, which should theoretically make him happy. However, the purpose of Zhang Chengyi and his group kidnapping him was unclear, and the reason why Shaolin Temple got involved was also unknown. In addition, with different groups having different intentions, he had a vague sense of unease.

How will this turn out?

Xu Chongxiao noticed someone passing by outside. He reached out and grabbed the letter, squeezing and crumpling it. Fragments of paper fell into the chamber pot. The coded message on the letter was unique to his Qingliang Temple and could not be deciphered by outsiders, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

"Mr. Kang, is Grandpa Zhang here?"

Bao Qianling's voice came from outside after several days of searching without seeing anyone. Kang Guangling, who was guarding outside, replied, "Uncle Zhang has gone out on business and will be back around 5 PM."

Xu Chongxiao stood up, straightened his patched clothes, and went to the door. He opened the door.

Bao Qianling seemed to have something to say, but after seeing his old face, she lost all interest and simply said, "Then I'll wait."

Xu Chongxiao and the thief had nothing to say to each other, and after that night, they grew to dislike each other.

One thought the other was shifty-eyed and good-for-nothing, while the other thought the old man was cowardly and not a hero.

"Elder Xu," Kang Guangling said politely.

For the past few days, Zhang Chengyi has been practicing martial arts transmission with villains in a small courtyard he rented outside the county town with his fifth brother, Xue Muhua.

To be honest, he was initially somewhat resistant to this kind of thing that violated moral values, but the patriarch kindly explained that medical experiments require human dissection and so would martial arts experiments, and so on, and he hypnotized himself into accepting it.

There was no other way; he couldn't accept human dissection for martial arts training, so he volunteered to guard Xu Chongxiao.

Let's just pretend we don't see it and we don't have to worry about it.

Seeing that the old man was reluctant to speak, Bao Qianling grinned, grabbed a pillar next to him, and swam up to the roof like a gecko, saying, "Mr. Kang, please tell Grandpa Zhang that I will come to visit again tomorrow."

As the sound faded into the distance, Xu Chongxiao thought to himself, "As expected of a low-class person," but on the surface he said seriously, "I would like to see Sect Leader Su."

Kang Guangling nodded and said, "Come with me."

The two walked one after the other through a long corridor and archway, and soon saw Su Xinghe playing chess with the monk Huiming.

The saying goes, "A true gentleman observes a game of chess without speaking." Kang Guangling was indeed a gentleman, and Xu Chongxiao considered himself one as well. The two of them quietly watched the entire game from the sidelines.

"A close call, a close call indeed."

The monk Huiming sighed and then said, "Since Elder Su has a guest, I will not disturb him any longer." With that, he got up and left.

"Elder Xu, please." Su Xinghe asked leisurely as he picked up the chess pieces.

He didn't hate this kind of life. He had endured thirty years of waiting in silence, and nothing else was worth his emotional fluctuations.

With his master well and the future of the Xiaoyao Sect promising, he picked up his hobbies again.

Unfortunately, even though his disciples specialized in a particular field of study, their skill level was still slightly below his. Since they were all taught by him, there was no fun in playing against them. Fortunately, the monk Huiming had some knowledge of chess, so he played a few games with him in the afternoon, which served as a form of entertainment.

Xu Chongxiao sat down, looked at the empty chessboard, picked up a black piece, pondered for a long time, placed the piece, and asked:

"Does this old man know what exactly Mr. Zhang is after?"

Su Xinghe calmly placed the white piece and said, "I advise Elder Xu not to be so stubborn."

"For you and me, some things are matters of life and death, but for some people, this world is just..."

"It's just a game."

-------------------------------------

Inside the main hall of Gyeongbokgung Temple.

"Dong! Dong! Dong!" The bells rang continuously, signaling the arrival of distinguished guests.

Inside the hall, the monk sitting at the head of the table looked to be in his seventies, short in stature, holding prayer beads in his hands, and chanting sutras with his eyes closed.

Inside the hall, the monks were seated according to their seniority. On the right were members of the Shan family and Shan Zheng, who was leaning on a cane. On the left were a group of people dressed as beggars. Near the entrance, groups of wandering swordsmen, dressed in various styles and armed with different weapons, watched in twos and threes. No one spoke, only the sound of the bell echoed.

Before long, the abbot of Gyeongbokgung Temple, accompanied by four monks, came out from the back hall. The five of them bowed to the Buddha statue and then sat down.

As the bell stopped ringing, the old monk sitting at the head of the table opened his eyes. His gaze was extremely sharp, as if it could cut a person in half. He opened his mouth and uttered a loud voice that did not match his short stature: "The arrival of Master Xuannan, the head of the Bodhidharma Hall of Shaolin Temple, is truly an honor for our temple."

"I dare not accept such praise." Xuan Nan clasped his hands together in a gesture of respect, knowing that the other party was trying to intimidate him, and said, "You flatter me, Venerable Shenshan."

The Venerable Master Shenshan showed no emotion, threaded his prayer beads back onto his wrist, and said, “Our senior brother Xu Chongxiao was captured by thieves, and fellow martial artists from all walks of life have come to help. I would like to express my gratitude on behalf of senior brother Xu.”

"Sir, please speak your mind. I'm a rough man, I don't care what kind of birds those so-called Golden Mountain Knights are. If you want to fight, then fight; if you want to kill, then kill!"

"Yes, yes!"

"With so many heroes here, even a single spit from each of them could drown that damned bastard!"

The idle people in the middle of the street started to jeer.

"Please be patient, everyone."

The voice of the Divine Mountain Master easily drowned out the crowd. He was born with a loud voice, superb martial arts skills, and profound internal strength. Such actions naturally gave many martial arts practitioners a taste of their own medicine.

He paused, and waited until the noise subsided before saying, "The day after tomorrow, the Beggar Clan leader, the great hero Qiao Feng, will arrive. At that time, our temple will hold a [Heroes' Gathering]..."

Chapter 24 Transfer of Skill

The next day, in the morning, in a small courtyard outside the county town.

"Do you think Grandpa Zhang needs a few more unlucky guys before he can master the skill of transferring power?"

"I think there are three more. I've seen the body of the last one. The injury to the Lung Meridian of Hand-Taiyin was already very minor."

"Two, I think, given Uncle Zhang's talent."

"Cough cough!"

Su Xinghe silenced his disciples' chatter with a light cough and waited patiently.

He estimated that Grandpa Zhang would only need to kill one more person to master the skill of transferring power, but whether such power transfer could actually be applied to him was debatable.

"Squeak~"

The door opened, and Zhang Chengyi, carrying the unconscious but not yet dead bandit, threw him on the ground, saying triumphantly, "My path has been completed!"

Who wants to go first?

He claimed to be a genius, but by sacrificing twelve lives, he had improved his internal energy cultivation to a higher level. Now that he was proficient in transferring his skills, it was time to strengthen his underlings.

As his gaze swept over, Xue Muhua subconsciously took a half step back, and the others also looked embarrassed.

These past few days, I've seen unfortunate souls who were supposed to have been transferred to this place and ended up with internal injuries and demonic possession being sent out of their rooms. Suddenly, they're being sent to fight. Who can withstand that?

Seeing the atmosphere growing increasingly awkward, and watching their teacher Su Xinghe about to take the risk, the eight of them said in unison:

"Let me do it!" X8

"What's there to argue about?" The eldest brother, Kang Guangling, stepped forward and said, "I'm the senior brother, so of course I should go first."

The others wanted to say something or argue, but Zhang Chengyi ignored them, grabbed Kang Guangling, pulled him into the house, and said, "Then it's you."

He was really confident.

Counting back four, he had already mastered the technique of transferring power, but when transferring power to his own people, he definitely needed to be more careful. So he tried some places where problems might occur, deliberately messing around, and summarized a set of various problems that might arise when transferring power.

Even if it's not 100%, the probability of success is 80% or 90%. And even if something goes wrong, his current control ability can minimize the damage.

The worst consequence would be the loss of internal energy and a period of recuperation due to internal injuries; it wouldn't be fatal.

Anyway, the difference in their martial arts skills, whether they have internal strength or not, isn't that big; they're all too weak.

Incidentally, practicing the transmission of skills had an unexpected benefit. He discovered that as he continuously tried to circulate the Beiming Divine Skill to others, his own understanding of the skill, internal energy, and body's meridians improved by leaps and bounds. In just a few days, he had initially digested and understood the contents of the Beiming Divine Skill. He couldn't innovate, but he certainly wouldn't hold others back.

Then, learning other martial arts skills can be put on the agenda.

Of course, it would be impossible for others to learn his martial arts cultivation secrets. The consumption of internal energy alone would amount to tens of thousands of points. Wu Yazi was already an outstanding all-rounder with over seventy years of cultivation, and his body could only hold a maximum of seven hundred points of internal energy. Where would others get so much internal energy to abuse?

Most importantly, the transfer of internal energy to others is not a one-to-one exchange; there is a loss. The extent of the loss is limited by the recipient's talent and also involves an element of luck.

After Wu Yazi passed on his skills to Xu Zhu, he said that Xu Zhu was blessed with great fortune, far exceeding expectations. He never thought that Xu Zhu could become so powerful in one go. Who knew that this kid was so lucky that he digested more than seventy years of internal energy in one go.

Under such circumstances, practicing the transfer of internal energy is a very luxurious and uncertain thing. Only Zhang Chengyi, who has a supernatural ability, can squander his internal energy at will.

"Click~"

After closing the door, the straightforward Kang Guangling couldn't help but swallow hard. Being straightforward doesn't mean being fearless.

"Relax." Zhang Chengyi reassured him, located the acupoints, placed his hand on them, and channeled his inner energy into them.

Kang Guangling felt a warm current flow into him, and then his body felt as warm as if he were soaking in a hot spring. His internal energy and the remaining snow that had been exposed to the sun quickly melted away and he was soon clean.

A feeling of weakness surged up, and my head was buzzing. Before I could even collapse to the ground, a sudden surge of heat rushed through my body, spreading rapidly along my meridians to all the acupoints, causing a great feeling of swelling.

"Bear with it." Zhang Chengyi's voice came from beside my ear. "If you can bear it, you will receive more internal energy."