Gao Wu Da Ming: Starting as a military household and ascending to the rank of Martial Saint

On a late autumn evening, about two weeks after the market opened, Ghost Calculator and Night Owl hid among the branches of a tall tree on the north side of Shenshan Market, silently watching the martial artists from Juyi Martial Arts School practicing in the distance.

After a long silence, Night Owl looked somewhat puzzled and said to Ghost Calculator, "These are the people who killed so many of your gray wolves on Tumen Mountain, and also killed your Ghost Pupil."

Ghost Calculator sighed softly, "I also think that Ghost Tong's death was truly unjust."

"It's not just unjust, it's downright unreasonable!" Night Owl said, sounding somewhat agitated. "Of all the people here, apart from Master Ji Shouyi who has some strength, the rest are practically useless. They don't have any Confucian scholars to bless them, so what makes them think they can kill your giant wolf and its cub?"

Ghost Calculator didn't speak. He watched as a young man walked out of the martial arts hall room, then pointed at him and said, "According to Hu Nan, the one who killed Ghost Eye was this Yu Shaowu."

"We've been observing this person these past few days," Night Owl said dismissively. "His internal energy cultivation is even inferior to Ji Shouyi's. Even if he has good talent, he's at most at the fourth level of the Body Tempering Realm. How could he possibly kill your Ghost Pupil with a single blow?"

"You mean, Hu Nan is lying?" Gui Suanpan said in a deep voice.

"I don't know," Night Owl said. "The boss said I'm an idiot, only knowing how to kill, not how to make money. Whether Hu Nan is lying or not is your analysis, you cunning schemer. However, from my perspective on killing, if the two of us go down now, we can kill all these people in no more than an hour."

"That won't do." Ghost Calculator shook his head and said, "The Boss has already sent word. We need to wait for Hu Nan to resolve Lu Shiguang's investigation first."

"When will this be resolved?" Night Owl said. "If Hu Nan had the ability to deal with Lu Shiguang, he wouldn't be so afraid."

The cunning man smiled slightly and said, "He can't solve it, but Master Xiaoshan can. Just wait and see. In Shanxi, a military commissioner is nothing; there are many officials with higher ranks than him."

Night Owl still sounded worried. "But what if they suddenly escape while we're waiting?"

"Don't worry, they can't escape." Ghost Calculator sneered, "No matter how hard these people cultivate, they're destined to become wolf food. Unless they can become peerless masters in the next few days."

"Alright." Night Owl looked at the martial arts school in the distance, his gaze fierce, but his tone was somewhat annoyed. "When we can start fighting, I'll take Ji Shouyi, and you can take Yu Shaowu. We'll each take one, so you can't take mine."

"Don't worry," said the cunning schemer. "I have no interest in killing. My life's goal is to make our stronghold rise."

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At this moment, inside the Juyi Martial Arts Hall, Yu Shaowu appeared to be punching a wooden stake, but his attention was focused on a large tree in the far distance.

Two people were sitting prominently among the dense foliage, brazenly observing the Juyi Martial Arts School.

The others in the martial arts school couldn't see it, but he could see it clearly with his keen eyesight.

Under the watchful eyes of these two men, Yu Shaowu felt as if he had thorns in his back.

Judging from the clothing of the two men through the dense foliage, Yu Shaowu did not believe they were government officials. Moreover, government officials were people who valued their status; if they had any designs on the martial arts school, they could simply send someone to investigate, and would certainly not waste time on that big tree.

Therefore, Yu Shaowu guessed that these people were either bandits from the Lüliang Mountains or assassins hired by Hu Nan or the bandits.

Whoever it is, staring at the martial arts school for so long is clearly up to no good, and may even be plotting to kill.

At this point, Yu Shaowu might have been able to escape on his own, but he knew he couldn't bring himself to do it.

Moreover, his internal energy had reached a critical juncture.

After nearly a month of refinement, four meridians out of the twelve primary meridians—the Lung Meridian of Hand-Taiyin, the Pericardium Meridian of Hand-Jueyin, the Triple Energizer Meridian of Hand-Shaoyang, and the Heart Meridian of Hand-Shaoyin—have all broken through the barrier.

These four meridians correspond to the lungs and heart, which not only greatly enhances his cardiopulmonary function, but also allows him to freely use Qi at the four acupoints on his fingers: Shaoshang, Zhongchong, Guanchong, and Shaochong.

In other words, when fighting with someone, as long as your fingers make any physical contact with the opponent, you can unleash your penetrating force.

Although Ji Shouyi had cultivated four more meridians than Yu Shaowu, he possessed the Bone-Penetrating Strength technique, and he was confident that he could severely damage Ji Shouyi's meridians and muscles with a single move when Ji Shouyi was off guard.

Even so, he was still not very confident that he could deal with the two people in the tree.

After practicing internal energy cultivation, Yu Shaowu knew that the person who could monitor him from such a distance must have such strong eyesight that they might have already cultivated the Shen Ting acupoint in the Du meridian.

The acupoints on the Ren and Du meridians are usually practiced last. In other words, these two people should have already opened all twelve of their regular meridians.

If that's the case, then their cultivation level is at least above the seventh level of the Body Tempering Realm.

The difference in their cultivation levels is still quite significant. Even if I possess the Bone-Piercing Force, I probably still wouldn't be able to defeat them.

Thinking of this, Yu Shaowu stopped driving the wooden stakes and went into the training ground.

At this moment, Ji Shouyi was instructing two disciples with some basic skills on how to walk the Yihe stance. Seeing Yu Shaowu arrive, he smiled and said, "Junior brother, you've come at the perfect time. Would you be interested in walking on the stance? Let everyone see what the most standard Yihe stance looks like."

Yu Shaowu smiled slightly and said, "With my senior brother here, how could I possibly be qualified to make a fool of myself?"

As he spoke, he approached Ji Shouyi and said softly, "Senior Brother, there's something I'd like to discuss with you."

Seeing that his expression was a bit off, Ji Shou told the two disciples to practice on their own. He and Yu Shaowu then entered the room and went into the secret chamber.

"Junior brother, what happened?"

As soon as he entered, Ji Shouyi asked with great concern. He had a vague premonition that the officials who were killed might be related to Yu Shaowu.

The junior brother came to see me so solemnly, perhaps to confess to me.

Although this junior brother's current strength is not as good as his own, considering his previous feat of shooting down the giant wolf, killing these people is not impossible.

Yu Shaowu said in a deep voice, "Senior Brother, it seems we've been targeted. And those two people are definitely stronger than you and me."

Then he told Ji Shouyi about his discovery.

Ji Shouyi asked in surprise, "Junior Brother, you haven't cultivated any meridians related to eyesight, so how can you see so far?"

It was indeed difficult to explain at this point, but Yu Shaowu had the Yu family name as an excuse, so he said, "My Yu family has always had excellent eyesight, and my grandfather was even known for his ability to see a thousand miles. When Japanese pirates came to attack from the sea under the cover of fog, he could still see through them at a glance."

Ji Shouyi was well aware of the Yu family's abilities, and since it was a family tradition, it was probably 90% true.

The enemy is now in the shadows, while they are in the open, and the enemy's strength should not be underestimated. After some thought, he asked, "Then, junior brother, what do you think should be done about this?"

Yu Shaowu said in a deep voice, "I think the best course of action is to report this matter to the authorities."

"Report to the authorities?"

Ji Shouyi was even more surprised, thinking Yu Shaowu was joking. After all, the prefectural government and the bandits in the Lüliang Mountains were in cahoots; what use would reporting it to the authorities be?