Martial arts ascend to the gods

Chapter 301 (Second)
Zhou Leng exchanged information with the Demon Spirit Master and rushed back to the human camp to pass the information on to Li Yuanhe.

Li Yuanhe didn't say anything else, only that the Eagle Alliance guy named Miller was very strong, and that Zhou Leng should be careful.

However, Miller left the camp again and did not meet Zhou Leng.

Rao Mingxian walked over.

The two exchanged a smile and sized each other up.

Rao Mingxian said, "I haven't seen you for a few days, and you've gotten even stronger. Your aura... tsk tsk, you're starting to look like a master."

Zhou Leng said, "Don't just talk about me. Your body has grown at least an inch taller than before you came in. Look at your shoulders, they're bulging, you've grown a lot of muscle."

"Alright, enough with the mutual compliments. How was it after you came in?"

The two started chatting.

After chatting for a while, Rao Mingxian suddenly turned his head to look to the left front, then turned back to his head, his expression unchanged.

Zhou Leng looked over curiously, and there stood a person.

I've seen him on the youth ranking list. He's ranked over a thousandth, Rao Mingjun, the number one in the youth development stage of Rucheng.

Rao Mingxing's older brother.

Their eyes met, Rao Mingjun nodded slightly, and Zhou Leng nodded in return, looking at Rao Mingxian.

Rao Mingxian ignored it and continued as before.

Zhou Lengxin felt a sinking feeling and continued chatting intermittently.

"Do you want to form a team?" Rao Mingxian asked.

Zhou Leng shook his head and said, "I'm used to being alone, and besides, I have other things to do, so I can't team up."

Rao Mingxian said regretfully, "Alright, you go ahead with your work."

Zhou Leng said, "Next, there might be a major battle with the Demon Alliance. I might not participate, so be careful. If you can't win, just run away; there's nothing shameful about it."

"Don't worry, I'm not that kind of old-fashioned person."

"I'm going to find a place to cultivate. After I finish, I'll investigate the whereabouts of the Demon Alliance. We'll talk later."

Zhou Leng bid farewell to Rao Mingxian, found a secluded spot in the camp, pitched his tent, went inside, arranged the star conch shell, and began his cultivation.

Zhou Leng had developed a habit of placing the Star Conch around him whenever he cultivated.

Outside the tent, Rao Mingxian walked to Rao Mingjun's side.

"Is he Zhou Leng?" Rao Mingjun asked.

"It's him."

“You’re right, he’s very strong. As the number one in Rucheng, I didn’t feel any chance of winning when I saw him, which is very strange,” Rao Mingjun said.

“After all, he is our senior brother.” Rao Mingxian looked at Rao Mingjun, hoping that he could turn hostility into friendship.

"Find an opportunity to continue trying to get information out of him, and also see what his attitude is towards the Rao family. You said before that the Guhe Sect might recruit more disciples in the future, and I also have a chance. Does Zhou Leng have any veto power?" Rao Mingjun stared at Rao Mingxian.

“I’m not sure about that. It will be a collaboration between the Ancient River Sect and the human forces, so he shouldn’t easily reject it,” Rao Mingxian said.

"One should always be wary of others. The fact that Xiao Xing didn't come in suggests that he might have done it secretly."

"Big brother, it's not that bad. Second brother simply doesn't have the talent for martial arts."

“You do.” Rao Mingjun hates it when people say his younger brother is no good.

Rao Mingxian was so embarrassed by the rebuttal that he remained silent.

Rao Mingjun sighed and said, "Mingxian, it's not that I'm targeting Zhou Leng, but the Rao family is in dire straits right now, so we have to be careful. A dozen years ago, when the Zhao family was at its peak, would I have cared about Zhou Leng and Zhou Re? Even if he were a Xiantian, I wouldn't have given him a second glance. But things are different now."

"I see."

"Go and find out more when you have time. If he's hostile towards the Rao family, I need to make plans as soon as possible, don't you think?"

Rao Mingjun stared into Rao Mingxian's eyes.

Rao Mingxian nodded silently.

Rao Mingjun turned and left, while Rao Mingxian gritted his teeth slightly and then slowly let go.

After finishing his cultivation, Zhou Leng felt completely refreshed.

Having consumed many medicinal fruits over the past few days, the bones that were injured by the monstrous serpent leader have fully recovered.

Stepping out of the tent, I did some simple warm-up exercises, then slowly practiced a few sets of boxing, and my body felt increasingly comfortable.

Especially when practicing the Wave Palm technique, the palm technique is divine, and now when I practice it, I have a completely new understanding.

It gives you a feeling of returning to simplicity.

Every move and style seems no different from the past at first glance, but when used, it feels completely different.

Under the combined effects of the cultivation method and the medicinal fruit, the growth is obvious.

Although there is still a gap between him and Li Shenkong and Shen Anzhi Nu, he has already entered the top tier of the first echelon.

The gains from the Ancient River Trial were unimaginable.

Zhou Leng drank some nutritional fluid and started his morning jog.

A short while later, Rao Mingxian caught up, and the two jogged side by side.

Neither of them spoke at first.

As dawn broke, Rao Mingxian asked, "Zhou Leng, have you encountered any difficulties recently?"

"Yes, many. For example, I discovered that not only are the three Guhe disciples so powerful that it's despairing, but even the Deep Dark Wrath, who is not as strong as Li Shenkong, is not someone I can catch up with in a short time. I always feel that my own strength is insufficient and my cultivation is too slow."

"Then what are you going to do?"

"Practice diligently, grow little by little, catch up step by step. There's no other way. What about you?"

"Me? I'm used to the difficulties in martial arts, and I know my achievements are limited. My greater difficulties come from... my surroundings."

“Perhaps my life is simpler, and my surroundings aren’t as complicated as yours,” Zhou Leng said.

Rao Mingxian sighed and said, "I'm facing a dilemma. There are two options, and they both seem acceptable, but I don't want to choose either. Do you have any suggestions?"

"I don't know the specifics, so giving random suggestions would only mislead you," Zhou Leng said.

“Then, if you don’t want to offer suggestions, you can share your thoughts,” Rao Mingxian said. Zhou Leng thought for a moment, gazing ahead at the mountains that looked like forests under the sunlight, the grass glistening faintly.

"I'm guessing it might be something to do with your family. Do you know what I thought of when you asked me that?"

Rao Mingxian shook his head.

"I remember when someone jumps off a building, some people who try to persuade them always say things like, 'Think about your family, think about your parents, think about your children.' I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with saying that, but whenever I encounter this situation, I'm always puzzled."

Why does no one ever advise those who are about to jump off buildings to think about their own actions?

"I'm not a life coach. If I had to say something, I could only talk about my feelings last year when I was in the hospital reading Zhao Sheng's Miscellany."

Zhao Sheng said that martial arts and life are the same.

"When martial arts cultivation reaches a certain depth, one must look inward, whether it is physical introspection or spiritual inner awareness."

"People are the same way. Many times, you should consider your own feelings first. Don't worry about what I think, or even what your grandfather thinks. Just figure out what you want first, and then do it."

"You should live for yourself first. If you don't even live for yourself, I will be very sad as your friend."

"If I had to give you one piece of advice, it would be to be kinder to yourself. Everything else is secondary."

Zhou Leng had wanted to say something ever since he learned about Rao Mingxian's past, but he never had the chance. Today was the perfect opportunity to say it.

Rao Mingxian turned his head and looked to the side.

After a long while, he turned back, smiled, and said, "I don't understand everything, but I roughly understand a little bit."

"I only understand one thing," Zhou Leng said.

The two ran for half an hour before turning back.

After having breakfast, Zhou Leng bid farewell to his friends and set off alone.

Rao Mingxian followed Rao Mingjun and many others to form a large team, and they began to search for treasure and hunt monsters together.

As evening approached, Rao Mingxian's team spotted a group of people emerging from the foot of the mountain ahead.

Both stopped and looked at each other.

Rao Mingxian's side consists of pure humans.

On the other side, besides the demonized warriors of the Demon Worship Cult, there were also some sirens and demons.

The human side tried to remain calm, but their hearts were pounding.

The monsters opposite whispered among themselves.

Then, Shen Jun took out the demonized megaphone and greeted the human team with a smile.

"Greetings, fellow humans. There are quite a few of you. I've done the math, and the difference in strength between us isn't significant. If we were to engage in a full-blown battle, we'd both suffer heavy losses. How about we each return the way we came?"

After the human team quickly finished their discussion, Rao Mingjun took out the demonized megaphone and said, "Great minds think alike. Both sides are intelligent beings, so there's no need to risk our lives fighting for the pie up there."

Shen Jun laughed and said, "Our invincible Lord Dark Wrath is recruiting heroes to prepare for the assault on the highest mountain. If any of you are interested, you can contact us. At least before we attempt to reach the highest mountain, we can shake hands and make peace."

"Alright, I will pass this message on to the human races in various places."

Both sides put away their demonized megaphones and slowly retreated.

Rao Mingxian walked for a while, then used stealth mode to open the Demonized Wristwatch and glanced at the series of newly received messages.

He stared at the last sentence.

"After the battle, young man, cooperate with our operation. Your whole family must pledge allegiance and return to the Demon Worship Cult. This is an order."

Rao Mingxian turned off the magical wristwatch and silently followed the group.

Rao Mingjun glanced at Rao Mingxian and continued walking.

Not far away, the Demon Worship Cult's group also turned back.

Azure Scale asked, "How is it? Any news about Zhou Leng?"

Shen Jun said, "Zhou Leng is still in the human camp today. He left in that direction, but it's uncertain whether he has changed direction."

As Shen Jun spoke, he looked at the map and pointed in a direction.

Azure Scale said, "That seems to be the direction of the orc camp. Hopefully, he won't be killed by the orcs first."

Shen Jun asked, "Shall we go or not?"

"Let's go take a look; there's plenty of time."

The monster party headed towards the orc camp.

After leaving the human camp, Zhou Leng first ran to a nearby mountain, wanting to test his strength by hunting a few strange beasts.

As a result, the strange beasts were all incredibly clever; they either didn't come at all, or when they did, there were hundreds of them in a flash.

Zhou Leng turned and ran.

Fortunately, the beast had to guard the mountaintop, so it stopped chasing after a while.

Zhou Leng tried several mountains, but the beasts there were all equally uncivilized, so he had to give up.

As night fell, Zhou Leng ran slowly, searching for monsters. If he found none, he would go to the highest mountain to gather intelligence.

Suddenly, the ground shook slightly.

Zhou Leng realized it was a battle and moved towards the direction of the tremors.

We traversed the undulating slopes, reached a high point, and looked ahead.

Under the pitch-black night, one group fought and retreated, while the other group pursued them relentlessly.

The two were far apart; in the past, Zhou Leng wouldn't have been able to see them clearly.

Zhou Leng is now at the peak of his vitality stage, and can be seen clearly even from a great distance at night.

The group that fought and retreated was a mixed humanoid force, consisting of giants, dwarves, magic masters, and treants.

Several of them were old acquaintances.

The Mountain and River Oak and the Melting Hammer are still there, as are the several Tree People we rescued before.

(End of this chapter)