All the gods began by cultivating the Iron Shirt technique.

In the eastern part of Xiangyang City, there is a small courtyard with two sections in a market area.

Clang! Chant!

The long sword was drawn from its sheath, accompanied by a humming vibration, and a bright flash of light sliced ​​through the air amidst a crisp whistling sound.

The blade light was extremely fast, like a bolt of lightning. Although it was only a single strike, the blade light directly enveloped the space about ten feet in front of it.

Before the streak of light faded and the blade's gleam dissipated, another identical blade of light appeared from the side.

The blade strikes were relentless, flashing one after another like a storm. The chilling blades appeared and disappeared amidst the continuous flashes of light, like black lines of death hidden in a gale. As soon as an enemy entered the range of the blades, they would be strangled to death by the lines of death within them.

hum!

With another tremor, the continuous flashes of light vanished instantly, revealing the gleaming blade. The blade came to a sudden stop before a sapling in the yard, as if an invisible barrier surrounded the sapling, preventing its advance. The blade remained perfectly still, stopping three inches from the sapling.

However, although the blade stopped, the fierce wind it carried was like a wild horse that broke free of its reins, instantly piercing through the sapling's young stem and splitting it in two.

call!

Yang Pan let out a long breath, looked at the half-broken branch lying in the mud, and with a flick of his wrist, he reversed his grip on the outside of his right arm and held the long sword.

"The Gale Blade Technique is indeed ferocious, especially with the addition of internal energy, its speed is even faster, and the blade is invisible. It's just a pity that it still lacks a lot compared to the exquisite maneuvering of Instructor Zhao back then."

Arriving at the stone table in the courtyard, Yang Pan picked up the teapot and took a big gulp.

Seven days have passed since Yang Pan switched to practicing the Small Heavenly Circuit Qi Gong. During these seven days, after breakfast, Yang Pan would go outside the city to search for the Bodhi Snake. Regardless of whether he found it or not, he would always return to the city by noon to ask the disciples of the branch for advice on swordsmanship. He would then start practicing his internal energy after dinner at dusk, and would only rest when he was completely exhausted.

Although Yang Pan was busy for seven days, he felt fulfilled. After all, the feeling of constantly increasing his strength was fascinating to him, and he hardly cared about anything else.

With such dedication, Yang Pan's gains have indeed been gratifying.

Firstly, regarding the transformation of internal energy, although Yang Pan was not able to harvest the Bodhi Snake every day in the seven days, he still obtained four snake gallbladders.

With the help of snake gall, Yang Pan not only successfully converted all his internal energy early on, but also added a little more to it.

In terms of quality, it far surpasses the previous internal energy, and in terms of quantity, it has also returned to the previous level, or even been stronger.

Not to mention that the internal energy flow of the Small Heavenly Circuit Qigong is extremely fast, and in the past few days, his meridians have also been subtly widened.

Now, the flow of internal energy is instantaneous, without the slightest delay.

The Pericardium Meridian of Hand-Jueyin and the Heart Meridian of Hand-Shaoyin have been completely stabilized, and now we are working on opening up the third meridian.

As for his methods of fighting, Yang Pan is now naturally focusing on the "Whirlwind Saber Technique." This saber technique suits his personality perfectly, and it has seventy-two styles and three hundred and ninety variations.

The so-called gale is to unleash 390 different moves all at once in an instant, enveloping the enemy and leaving them with nowhere to retreat.

Unfortunately, even with basic sword techniques and the Five Tigers Severing the Gate Sword as a foundation, Yang Pan would still need years of dedicated practice to master this sword technique.

At present, he can only unleash a maximum of seventy-two variations of moves in an instant, and although the sword light is as dazzling as splashed ink during the process, Yang Pan is not yet able to control it at will.

He had envisioned that the final strike would land three inches deep without harming the sapling, but the result was not as expected, indicating that he still needs to practice.

"It's too early to master swordsmanship, and accumulating internal energy is a gradual process. You should go out for a stroll these next couple of days."

With his strength steadily increasing, Yang Pan no longer felt the anxiety he had when he first arrived in this world.

After all, with his current strength, even if he were to roam the martial world now, he would have some ability to protect himself.

Moreover, cultivation does require a balance of tension and relaxation. Before coming to Xiangyang, I had planned to use the Beggars' Sect's intelligence network to learn more about the affairs of the martial arts world. Now I can finally put that plan into action.

After resting for a while, Yang Pan left the courtyard and headed towards the city center. He now rented a courtyard for himself; although the Beggars' Sect branch offered accommodation, it was still quite inconvenient for cultivation.

Fortunately, Yang Pan brought a lot of money with him to Xiangyang. Even after renting these two small courtyards, the remaining money was enough for him to live a carefree life without doing any work for half a year.

Although Yang Pan had been oblivious to what was happening outside his window these past few days, he still had some understanding of the changes in the city. After all, he went out of the city every day, and it was during this time that Yang Pan noticed that there seemed to be more martial artists coming to Xiangyang City.

He had been so focused on cultivation that he hadn't bothered to inquire about it before, but now that he finally had a chance to relax, he naturally wanted to find out more.

It was midday at Xiangfeng Inn.

The inn was already doing good business, but in recent days, with even more martial artists coming to Xiangyang, when Yang Pan entered the inn, he found the entire lobby on the first floor filled with martial artists carrying swords and knives.

Martial artists cultivate their internal energy by refining essence into qi, so these martial artists all have a large appetite.

Yang Pan stood at the entrance of the inn for a while, but all he saw was the waiter running back and forth between the first and second floors, with no one actually serving him.

Yang Pan didn't care about this; he was a familiar face at the inn.

Although he rented a small courtyard, Yang Pan did not hire a cook, so he has been filling his stomach at this inn for the past few days.

Yang Pan arrived at the counter and found the shopkeeper absent. Just as he was about to greet him, the shopkeeper emerged from the kitchen, sweating profusely. Upon seeing Yang Pan, the shopkeeper looked apologetic, cupped his hands, and smiled, saying:

"Master Yang, I am truly sorry, our shop has been extremely busy today. I have been very negligent."

Yang Pan waved his hand dismissively: "It's nothing. It's quite lively here. Does the manager have any empty tables?"

Seeing that Yang Pan wasn't angry, the shopkeeper breathed a sigh of relief and quickly said:

"Please wait a moment, let me ask if there are any left on the second floor. Young man, you..."

Just as the shopkeeper was about to shout, a slightly teasing voice rang out.

"Why go through all that trouble? Why not let this hero share a table with us? We can squeeze in and find a place to sit."

Upon hearing this, Yang Pan frowned slightly and looked toward the direction from which the voice came.

Two young men in brocade robes were sitting by the window in the lobby on the first floor. Each of them had a sheathed longsword beside him.

One of the two men had a rugged, square face, while the other had a handsome face. The one who had just spoken was the handsome young man.

Yang Pan frowned not because he was unwilling to share a table with others, but because the handsome young man had emphasized the word "hero" in his words, and his tone carried a hint of sarcasm.

Yang Pan also knew that people in the martial arts world valued their reputation highly, in addition to their martial arts manuals.

At the age of those two young men, they would at most be called "young heroes" in the martial arts world, and in fact, the only universally acknowledged hero in Xiangyang City was Guo Jing.

Yang Pan was well aware of this, and he also knew that being called a great hero so rashly would attract jealousy.

So when the shopkeeper first called him "Great Hero," although he felt very pleased, Yang Pan still reminded him to just call him Brother Yang.

Today, I guess the other party felt slighted and called out to me casually while apologizing, but I didn't expect it to attract the attention of others.

The young hero spoke clearly, and the other martial artists in the inn naturally heard him. So when Yang Pan looked at the young man, the others in the inn also looked at him, their eyes filled with scrutiny and disdain.

Yang Pan naturally didn't want to share a table with someone who clearly had ill intentions. The other person's sarcastic remarks did annoy him, but it wasn't enough to warrant a physical fight.

Besides, there are plenty of inns in this city; if this one is full, we can just go somewhere else.

Thinking this, Yang Pan prepared to turn and walk out, but just then, the waiter's voice came from the second floor: "Manager, a table has just become available on the second floor!"

Upon hearing the waiter's voice, the shopkeeper hurriedly ran out from behind the counter.

He naturally sensed that the atmosphere in the hall was a bit off, knowing that his casual remark had caused trouble for Yang Pan, so he quickly spoke up:

"Sir, there are seats available on the second floor. Let me take you there."

The innkeeper was sweating profusely, his hands clenched tightly, and his eyes pleaded as he looked at Yang Pan. He was afraid that Yang Pan might start a fight with those two young lads at the slightest provocation, which would bring disaster to his inn.

Unexpectedly, Yang Pan simply nodded slightly, uttered a "good" and then followed the shopkeeper's lead to the second floor.

Seeing that Yang Pan remained silent and showed no intention of responding to the young man's mockery, the martial artists watching silently around them felt disappointed, and their contempt for Yang Pan deepened.

He felt that the other party was all show and no substance, a waste of his big size.

The young man snorted through his nose and then didn't look at Yang Pan again.

"Brother Yang, I'm really sorry for causing you trouble. Consider your meal at our store today free as my apology."

On the stairs, the shopkeeper followed Yang Pan, his voice full of apology.

Yang Pan waved his hand and said, "No need for that, just bring me another pot of your fruit wine, I like it. But you should be careful what you say in the future, shopkeeper, you might get into trouble."

"Definitely! Definitely!"

The shopkeeper nodded vigorously and led Yang Pan to an empty table on the second floor.

The second floor was also full. Yang Pan's empty table was in the middle, towards the back, but he couldn't enjoy the view of the street.

After Yang Pan sat down, he noticed that the shopkeeper did not leave immediately, so he asked:

"Shopkeeper, do you know why there have been so many martial artists coming to Xiangyang City these past few days?"

Upon hearing Yang Pan's question, the shopkeeper, already feeling apologetic, immediately spilled everything he knew.

About seven days ago, a notice was issued in the city saying that Master Guo would be holding a martial arts tournament in the city, and all martial artists in the city could participate. It is said that Prefect Lü will also be there to watch.

Originally, the notice was only circulated within the city, but after it spread through merchants in the past few days, some martial arts practitioners from the surrounding areas of Xiangyang City also came to the city after hearing the news, so the number of martial arts practitioners in the city has increased.

Listening to the shopkeeper's explanation, Yang Pan finally understood the cause and effect. But what about the martial arts tournament? He didn't remember such a tournament in the original timeline.