Cultivation: Starting from a Fighting Cock

Chapter 90 Senior Sister Zhao Yan
Ji Cheng gave the monkey demon a deep look, then turned and flew away.

He neither blew wind nor breathed fire; he couldn't defeat him at this stage and didn't want to reveal his abilities.

Once he becomes stronger, he will surely return to Monkey Mountain to reclaim the black hammer and teach that monkey a lesson.

Ji Cheng flew so fast that he arrived a hundred feet away in the blink of an eye. Even the third-level monkey demon couldn't stop him and could only scratch its head in frustration.

Below him lay Wuzhen, a place familiar to Ji Cheng, a place he had surveyed countless times under the night sky.

After flying away from Monkey Mountain, Ji Cheng arrived at the riverbank.

He chose a propitious burial site and buried the remains of Ma Yuan and Gou Feng separately, then simply marked the spot with stones.

That was all he, as a junior, could do.

He hoped that his master, Situ Ying, could be saved. He really wanted to see Situ Ying and Huang Cuicui again when he went to the Demon Forging Sect.

Afterwards, Ji Cheng circled over Wuzhen a few times as a peregrine falcon before finally landing on a large poplar tree next to the Zhao residence.

The magpie's nest is still there, but it's long since empty.

Ji Cheng landed on a tree branch where he used to stand.

From here, the most eye-catching thing is the big yellow dog tied to the old persimmon tree in the backyard of the Zhao family mansion.

At this moment, Da Huang was lying on the ground, staring at Zhao Kun's room, wagging its tail slowly with boredom.

The Zhao family members had all gone to bed long ago, and in some rooms, one could even hear the sound of snoring.

Ji Cheng could roughly sense that the spiritual energy in the world seemed to be converging on Zhao Kun's room, which meant that Zhao Kun was probably cultivating frantically again.

He couldn't help but laugh, feeling a pang of sympathy for Big Yellow.

Living under Zhao Kun's watchful eye, Da Huang could only eat leftovers every day. At night, within Zhao Kun's perception range, it dared not sneak out of the Zhao residence. These days, it truly felt like it had no will to live.

Ji Cheng leaped up and glided from the big poplar tree to the old persimmon tree in the backyard of the Zhao family mansion.

Big Yellow looked up and glanced at it, but didn't detect anything unusual about the falcon, so it paid no attention to it.

Ji Cheng wanted to tease Da Huang, so he pooped and it landed squarely on Da Huang's head.

"Wang Wang Wang!"

Big Yellow yelled at Ji Cheng, so angry that it wanted to climb the old persimmon tree.

Ji Cheng chuckled inwardly, glanced at Da Huang, and flapped his wings to fly away.

He only glanced at the Green Bamboo Gang's headquarters and saw the Azure Flame Spirit Rabbit cultivating with Fairy Su.

He then flew to Python Mountain to inspect the area. The python demon was acting normally, coiled up in a circle, practicing the "Azure Origin Breathing Technique".

It seems that nothing happened to the monsters during the few days that Ji Cheng was away from Wuzhen.

That's good. Ji Cheng isn't in a hurry to show himself, after all, he has his own things to do.

After surveying the night sky, Ji Cheng returned to the Cui family home.

"First, refine this wisp of demonic energy."

Ji Cheng continued his cultivation in his demon form, first refining a wisp of demonic energy he had absorbed from a third-tier monkey demon.

These past few days he's been worrying about how to find a suitable reason to separate from Situ Ying and the other four demon hunters and stay alone in Wuzhen.

This situation is exactly what he wanted; he has more freedom now.

If I have a legitimate reason to stay in Wuzhen in the future, and after this matter is settled and I have mastered the internal strength, I will go to the Demon Forging Sect to take a look at the fourth-tier pig demon.

In addition, he would not forget his master's wife's instructions to find a martial arts school to learn martial arts.

Learning martial arts at a martial arts school naturally involves sparring among fellow disciples. Perhaps before participating in the sect's grand competition, Ji Cheng will be able to obtain some new titles.

The next day.

Ji Cheng practiced boxing in the courtyard early in the morning.

Cui Sheng watched for a while, then stepped forward and gave Ji Cheng a few pointers—he was, after all, a martial artist at the early stage of internal strength, so he was more than capable of giving Ji Cheng pointers.

After finishing his boxing practice, while eating breakfast, Cui Sheng said, "Nephew, although your master left you a complete martial arts tradition, without anyone to teach you, relying solely on your own learning and practice will result in slow progress and make it easy to practice in the wrong direction and miss the key points."

He knew that Ji Cheng's goal was to join the Demon Forging Sect, but Ji Cheng started learning martial arts too late and had no one to teach him, so it would be extremely difficult to achieve.

"Uncle Cui is absolutely right. At my current pace of cultivation, I'm afraid I won't be able to achieve mastery of internal strength before I turn twenty. Yesterday, when my master's wife left, she told me to choose a martial arts school in Wuzhen to learn martial arts. I wonder if Uncle Cui could tell me about the martial arts schools in Wuzhen?"

Ji Cheng was well aware of the situation at the Wuzhen Martial Arts School, but Tu Ergou, whom he was currently playing, was unaware of it, so he had to consult Cui Sheng.

Cui Sheng was a warm and righteous man, and he immediately told us about the Wang Family Martial Arts School and the Niu Family Martial Arts School.

Among them, the Niu Family Martial Arts School remained neutral and did not participate in the power struggle between Zhou Mu and Su Xianzi. Ji Cheng said, "Uncle Cui, then I will join the Niu Family Martial Arts School. Please introduce me to them."

With the introduction of Cui Sheng, a local, it shouldn't be difficult for him to join the Niu family martial arts school.

"No problem. Now that you've chosen the Niu Family Martial Arts School, after breakfast, I'll take you to buy some wine and meat, and personally lead you to their school to formally become their disciple!"

Cui Sheng was truly devoted to Ji Cheng, helping him as much as he could.

He also wanted to build this good relationship, since Ji Cheng was a disciple of the Demon Forging Sect. If Ji Cheng were to be fortunate enough to join the Demon Forging Sect in the future, this would be a reliable connection for the Cui family.

Such good fortune is something most people would beg for but can't even dream of. Cui Sheng, being a worldly-wise martial artist, naturally knew he should cherish it.

After breakfast, Cui Sheng led Ji Cheng to buy ten catties of pork and a jar of fine wine.

Another ten taels of silver are needed.

These are the fees for becoming an apprentice at the Niu Family Martial Arts School.

Cui Sheng told Ji Cheng that the head of the Niu Family Martial Arts School was named Niu Dali, and he was a martial artist in the mid-stage of the Meridian Opening Realm.

The owner has a beloved son named Niu Aniu, who looks to be only sixteen or seventeen years old and is rather silly.

Ji Cheng muttered to himself, "What kind of ridiculous name is this? It doesn't look like someone who's an expert at all."

Soon, the two arrived at the Niu Family Martial Arts School.

The front yard of the martial arts school was a spacious open area where the students practiced martial arts, while the back yard was where the Niu family lived.

The front yard is equipped with all the necessary facilities for martial arts training, including wooden dummy stands, stone blocks, archery targets, and a training ground. At this moment, more than twenty disciples are practicing martial arts, including Zhao Yan, who has just returned to the martial arts school two days ago, and a simple-minded boy with dark skin and strong muscles.

"Uncle Cui, what brings you here?"

Zhao Yan put down her weapon, wiped the sweat from her forehead, and walked over to greet Cui Sheng.

Her gaze naturally fell on Ji Cheng beside Cui Sheng. She frowned slightly and scrutinized him with a critical look.

Ji Cheng was surprised to meet Zhao Yan here. He paused for a moment, then smiled slightly at her.

Zhao Yan, however, was unmoved and her expression grew even colder.

Cui Sheng explained that he had brought Tu Ergou to learn martial arts from a master, and asked where Master Niu was.
“You…you’re here to find my father? Come with me…come with me, I’ll take you there. My name is…Ah Niu.”

The dark-skinned, simple-minded boy chuckled at Cui Sheng and Ji Cheng.

Ji Cheng was taken aback for no reason. Why did this Ah Niu seem somewhat familiar?

"Okay, Ah Niu, then I'll trouble you."

Cui Shengchao smiled at A Niu.

Afterwards, the two followed Ah Niu into the main room and met the owner, Niu Dali.

This was a burly middle-aged man with a muscular physique that was intimidating to look at. His skin was also dark, and his eyes were large, deep, and black, exuding an aura of arrogance.

Ji Cheng vaguely felt that this Niu Dali was much stronger than Wang Zhi and Wang Heng, both of whom were in the mid-stage of the Meridian Opening Realm. No wonder the Niu Family Martial Arts School had been able to maintain a neutral stance in Wuzhen.

Cui Sheng led Ji Cheng and explained his purpose, recounting Ji Cheng's ordeal to the innkeeper in detail.

Master Niu remained expressionless and asked, "You've only been practicing martial arts for four days?"

Ji Cheng did not hide anything and replied, "Reporting to the master, today is the fifth day, and I also practiced my boxing this morning."

It's rigorous enough.

Show me a set of boxing techniques.

"Yes."

Ji Cheng arrived at the front courtyard, and the disciples dispersed to make room for him.

Under the gaze of twenty or thirty eyes, Ji Cheng spread his legs apart, bent his knees and squatted down, his toes pointing outwards like tiger claws gripping the ground, his center of gravity sinking to his lower abdomen, his upper body leaning forward, his waist and back straight like a bow, and his head slightly raised.

He was demonstrating the Tiger Stance, and using it as his starting stance, he executed six moves of the "Tiger Roar Killing Fist" in one go.

"good."

The owner of the restaurant casually uttered two words, instructing his wife to accept the wine, meat, and silver brought by Cui Sheng.

This disciple was thus accepted.

After a simple apprenticeship ceremony, Master Niu glanced at Zhao Yan and said, "Zhao Yan, you've only been back at the martial arts school for two days and are in the rehabilitation period. In the early stages, you will be in charge of training Tu Ergou in boxing."

"what?"

Zhao Yan was taken aback. She looked at the owner of the restaurant, then at Ji Cheng.

"Senior sister, please guide me in the future!"

Ji Cheng then bowed and smiled at Zhao Yan first.

Since it was her master's order, Zhao Yan had no choice but to agree, even though she was unwilling.

Seeing this, Cui Sheng smiled like an aunt and said to Ji Cheng, "Nephew, you can stay here and practice your martial arts peacefully. If you have any difficulties, tell me. Uncle Cui will do his best to help you. After you finish practicing, remember to come home for dinner tonight."

"Okay, Uncle Cui, thank you." Ji Cheng bowed to his father-in-law.

Afterwards, Cui Sheng greeted the owner of the restaurant and Zhao Yan, and then left with a smile.

As I walked down the street, just as I passed Zhao's pharmacy, a servant of the Zhao family came towards me.

"Master Cui, my master invites you to his residence for a chat."

"Okay, let's walk."

Cui Sheng smiled and soon arrived at the Zhao residence.

"Brother Cui."

"Brother Zhao, hahaha, what brings you here?"

Master Zhao and Cui Sheng, these two close friends, smiled and greeted each other, then quickly took their seats and served tea.

The two should have addressed each other as in-laws, but since Zhao Kun and Cui Xiangxue's marriage did not go through, they tacitly avoided mentioning it, not wanting to damage the relationship between the two families.

After exchanging pleasantries, Master Zhao inquired about the four demon hunters and Tu Ergou.

In the past few days, everyone in Wuzhen has known that several demon hunters have been staying temporarily at the Cui family's house. It is said that yesterday evening, these demon hunters suffered heavy losses on Monkey Mountain in the west, with only one and a half people surviving.

Master Zhao then wanted to find out the details from Cui Sheng, who was in the know.

Cui Sheng sighed. There was nothing to hide, so he told him the whole truth.

"I hit it off with Brother Situ at first sight. Brother Situ's disciple is my disciple. In addition, I have received instructions from Master Huang. I treat Er Gou as my own son. Just now I took him to the Niu Family Martial Arts School to become a disciple. It's quite a coincidence that Zhao Yan is teaching him boxing and martial arts right now."

Cui Sheng meant that our two families have a long history, and from now on Tu Ergou can be considered a member of the Cui family. He hoped that the Zhao family would not treat Tu Ergou too formally.

“Brother Cui is an upright and righteous man, whom I have always admired. Tu Ergou is Brother Cui’s nephew, and therefore also my nephew, Zhao Chongwen. It’s quite a coincidence that he and Yan’er practice martial arts together…”

"Brother Cui, in my opinion, why not host a banquet at your residence tonight to entertain you and your nephew Er Gou? It would also be a good opportunity to introduce our Zhao family relatives to Er Gou. What do you think?"

Master Zhao was motivated by two reasons: firstly, he saw that Tu Ergou had a pitiful background, and secondly, he knew that Tu Ergou had such a connection with the Demon Forging Sect. Therefore, he intended to get to know him and make his acquaintance.

According to Cui Sheng, Tu Ergou has no problems with his character and has a good talent for martial arts; he just started learning martial arts too late.

Regardless, in Master Zhao's eyes, Tu Ergou was worth befriending, so he prepared to host a banquet at his home.

This would also be a good opportunity to introduce Zhao Qian, Zhao Kun, and Zhao Yan, the three younger members of the Zhao family, to Tu Ergou.

(End of this chapter)