Sword from the Immortal Mountain

Chapter 100 Chapter 100: Entering the city

The carriage left Chishen Mountain, turned back to the official road, and headed towards the prefecture.

This time, the house-breaking case caused by a snake demon delayed our journey for several days.

I don’t know what kind of impact the Red Eyebrow Sect will have on the local area after it disappears.

After reviewing the incident, it is clear that the so-called "snake monster" was just a panic-stricken word among the villagers.

The big snake named "Xiaohong" has a little intelligence, but it is still far from being a real "monster".

Of course, according to the villagers, anything that eats humans will naturally become a monster.

Calculating the time, I have to speed up my journey to avoid missing the provincial examination.

While on the road, he did not delay reading, writing, practicing his lessons, or teaching Ye Yanke.

Ye Yanke was born in a poor family, and his master, the old swordsman, was not some hermit master. The sword skills he learned were simple and practical, and he was good at close combat.

He is a pure warrior and has never come into contact with Taoist magic.

When a warrior reaches a certain level, the Qi and blood in his body will flourish and be revealed externally. This can be sensed by the Dharma thoughts and can even backfire on them.

You should know that the most commonly used means by ordinary cultivators and sorcerers are to seduce, steal other people's minds, confuse their thoughts, and enchant them.

Once you meet someone who is determined and cannot be deceived, you are often at your wits' end.

Therefore, at a low level, when cultivators and sorcerers face off against warriors, they will try their best to avoid being approached by the opponent.

Otherwise, the person would be killed before the Taoist magic could be performed.

In view of this, the orthodox methods of the Xuanmen sect basically involve the cultivation of both martial arts and Taoism, with one first practicing martial arts to lay a solid foundation, and then learning close combat skills.

In addition, martial arts can also lead to spiritual attainments.

However, it requires corresponding high-level methods. For most warriors, the upper limit can reach the innate level and become an innate master, but that is the ceiling.

The level of incarnation above that is out of reach.

This is because after achieving the innate state, the warrior’s age is there, and he is at the point of decline. His Qi and blood begin to fail, and if he does not make progress, he will regress and fall.

The path of a warrior depends on one's energy and blood.

Although Ye Yanke's blood is not strong enough, it is quite pure, enough to show that his foundation is solid, and he has a strong character. His mind will not be easily shaken and he can withstand the temptation of money, beauty, and fame.

If such a person grows up, he will probably become a real swordsman.

Therefore, Chen Jin was willing to give him some advice and guidance.

"You only know one set of swordsmanship now, which is too simple. Real martial arts must include light skills, internal skills, and so on..."

Ye Yanke listened very carefully, wanting to write down every word and sentence Chen Jin said, and then carefully consider and practice repeatedly.

Compared with his hard-working attitude towards study, his comprehension obviously lags behind.

In this regard, you can't force it. After all, enlightenment is something very mysterious.

It’s like some people, no matter how hard you force them to study, they just can’t learn it no matter how long they study; while some others, although they seem to be lazy, actually understand things very quickly and learn them as soon as they start.

Those who have poor comprehension can only make up for their shortcomings through hard work.

This was the reason why Chen Jin sent his cousin Chen Min to Yunshan to learn skills. Even if he couldn't learn the Five Internal Organs Magic Method, it was good to lay a foundation, at least better than many ordinary people.

With this foundation, it will be much easier if Chen Jin teaches her personally in the future.

For the next few days, because we were concentrating on getting on with our journey and didn't think about anything else, nothing happened.

Even if there were, they were just trivial matters and Ye Yanke stepped in to resolve them.

As the journey gets closer to the prefectures and counties, order will become relatively stable.

While on the road, Chen Jin specifically went to inquire about the information about the "Ghost Cult", but found that the situation was not as he had imagined.

When I was in Genshui County in the past, I heard that the Ghost Spirit Cult was developed from the prefectures and counties. I thought such a cult would be very famous and popular in the prefectures and counties. But now it seems that it is not very conspicuous and has not carried out any large-scale preaching or parades.

Even the related temple statues are not common.

There was even news that the Ghost Spirit Cult had committed a crime and was being investigated and suppressed by the county governor, Lord Su. Chen Jin did not find this strange.

For such evil ways, the government, if it has some action, will not sit idly by and allow them to grow. Even if it cannot be banned or killed, it will be suppressed.

Otherwise, all order will be disrupted.

By combining various information, we can infer some clues.

Perhaps Zhan Chun led the team to Genshui County to take the lead and intend to establish a branch temple precisely because the Divine Religion was suppressed in the prefectures and counties and it was difficult to develop, so he wanted to move to the lower counties.

Compared with those in prefectures and counties, the people in county towns are undoubtedly easier to fool.

However, the mission failed. The entire jar was destroyed in Genshui County, and even the sacrificial ghosts noticed that something was wrong and did not show up.

After this incident, most of them would not dare to come to Genshui County again. They might lie dormant in the prefecture or county, or go to other counties.

That's another route.

After thinking through this matter, it’s time to move on to another one.

About the Chen family of Gaozhou County.

In Genshui County, Chenze Township is considered a large Chen clan. However, this "large" is based on the situation of nearby clans. If it is taken outside, it is not big enough and has nothing to do with "large". It is just a collateral branch, and it is divided into several layers.

In the Qian Dynasty, various surnames were like trees and could be divided into ancestral places of origin, main families, collateral families, branches, and so on.

If this is the case, Chen Zexiang is just a small branch on the big tree of the Chen family.

The Chen family, located in the prefectures and counties, is the real backbone and one of the four major branches:

Hall name: "Changle".

The Chen family is so big that it is not a noble family but a powerful family of the dynasty. The population of just one branch is quite prosperous, numbering tens of thousands.

I learned all this from Mr. Hu.

As to whether the Chen family of Chen Zexiang branched out from Changle Hall, it is unknown.

We need to rebuild the family tree and trace back to the origins to find the truth.

This time when Chen Jin came out to take the imperial examination, the village head Chen Jiande kept saying that if Chen Jin could pass, the village would have a chance to revise the family tree.

It is truly a great thing that brings honor to the family.

If he gets the first place in the college entrance examination and is admitted as a scholar, the ancestral tablets of Chen Jin's father will be placed in the ancestral hall; if he passes the imperial examination, the family tree can be directly opened.

A memorial archway for the juren can also be built in Chenze Township.

This has a different meaning for secular etiquette.

But now, the exam hasn't started yet, so it's too early to say those things.

……

On this day, the carriages were rumbling.

The dusty Ye Yanke was in charge of driving the carriage and brought the energetic Chen Jin to the gate of Gaozhou County.

This is a tall and majestic city with majestic city walls, mighty gate towers and flying flags.

Under the flags, weapons and armors were lined up, swords and spears were standing, and a murderous atmosphere was overwhelming.

Seeing this, Ye Yanke couldn't help but frown and asked in a low voice: "Scholar, I have a heavy sword with me, will I be unable to enter the city?"

In major cities of prefectures and counties, as well as important passes, soldiers would check people at the gates to verify their identity documents. Merchants and peddlers would have to pay a fee to enter the city, which was called the city gate tax.

When we arrived at the capital, it was said that there were thresholds set up at the nine city gates, and eunuchs were sitting there collecting money. Even officials and scholars had to pay before they could enter or leave.

Collecting money is a regulation, and there are also restrictions on carrying weapons.

Since Chen Jin was a candidate taking the imperial examination, it was reasonable for him to have bodyguards with him, and his sword did not violate any laws, so there should not be any problems if he entered the city.

However, I didn't expect that an accident would happen when entering the city.

(End of this chapter)