One person: Longhushan security guard, stopped the Ten Elders until they cried!

Ding ding ding ding—

Ding ding ding—

"It's so noisy!!!"

Zhou Yan kicked the blanket away and turned over in a huff.

Open your eyes and glance at your phone.

Seven o'clock in the morning.

The key point is... this blood pressure-raising clanging sound has been going on for over two hours!

"Looks like I went too lightly... I'll be more careful next time!"

Reluctantly, she got out of bed, washed up, and got dressed.

"Master Zhou, you're awake!"

As soon as I opened the door, I saw Qiu Rang sitting by the roadside.

Judging from the looks of it, they've been waiting here for quite some time.

"The cult leader asked me to give this to you..."

As Qiu Rang spoke, he stood up and handed over a black and red food pouch.

"What's this?" Zhou Yan raised an eyebrow and reached out to take it.

Qiu Rang didn't answer, but nodded with a smile.

Zhou Yan sent out a wisp of Qi to investigate.

It was also a chaotic cubic space... but it looked much larger than the one he had 'won' from Qiu Rang.

It was completely empty inside.

At the very bottom, however, lay quietly an earth-yellow-covered thread-bound book...

Divine Craftsmanship?!

Zhou Yan withdrew his Qi and glanced at the prematurely white-haired man in front of him.

"That's right, just as you thought!"

Qiu Rang chuckled, "The cult leader said that you have fulfilled your promise, so of course he will not go back on his word."

As he spoke, he glanced around and deliberately lowered his voice:

"The reason I didn't bring it out last night was because there were outsiders present, and I was afraid it would cause you unnecessary trouble..."

Zhou Yan remained calm and tucked the food pouch into his robes.

Who said that Lao Ma, that deadbeat tech geek, doesn't understand social etiquette?

That's pretty smart!

Seeing Zhou Yan looking over, Qiu Rang straightened his chest and continued:

"Master Zhou, rest assured, this matter is now only known to you, me, and the leader!"

"You can rest assured about me... The cult leader has given me a second life, and no matter what, I will never betray him!"

Zhou Yan nodded, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

His loyalty is commendable.

The prerequisite is that you have to be able to endure the company's lenient treatment!

"Alright, I'll accept it then!"

"Alright!"

After saying goodbye to Qiu Rang, Zhou Yan wandered aimlessly around the village.

Logically speaking, he should have already obtained one of the Eight Extraordinary Skills, the Divine Machine Hundred Refinements.

And considering the timeframe, the company's temporary workers could arrive at any moment!

His most sensible course of action right now is probably to take Lu Linglong and her brother and leave...

Although doing this will result in gaining fewer general-purpose skills, it will save you a lot of trouble!

Good morning, Master Zhou!

"morning…"

"Hello, Master Zhou!"

"good…"

"Woof woof woof!"

Along the way, the villagers he encountered greeted him politely one by one.

Even Comrade Chen Junyan, who was baring his teeth yesterday, is now sticking out his tongue, wagging his tail, and rubbing against Zhou Yan's leg with a fawning expression.

Only Fu Rong...

Zhou Yan had barely uttered the word "Fu" when the other person slammed the kitchen door shut with a deafening bang!

Clearly, this swordsman had no interest in talking to him.

Zhou Yan squatted down and was rubbing Chen Junyan's head.

A system notification sounded in my ear simultaneously:

[Ding~ Successfully checked in for three days, rewarded with five years of general power!]

"Go play by yourself!"

Zhou Yan patted Chen Junyan on the back and stood up.

Fine, I'll stay a few more days!

It's fine if we didn't know each other before...

Now, he's just going to pack up and leave, letting his "older sister" take the prison horse back to be brainwashed, controlled, and have it wrecked.

Young Master Zhou can't do it!

Ding ding ding ding—

The clanging of the blacksmith was still deafening, and Zhou Yan gave up his plan to stay and wait for breakfast (definitely not because he was afraid of being poisoned by the cook).

"Let's find a quiet place and learn a new skill!"

call out--!

clap clap clap...

A solitary figure sat by the river.

A girl with squinty eyes and a light blue ponytail was sitting on a bare rock, throwing pebbles she picked up into the river again and again.

On the opposite bank of the river, Wang Ye and Zhang Lingyu, dressed in black and white tracksuits respectively, were practicing Tai Chi facing each other.

Standing beside the two were Lu Lin and Lu Linglong, a brother and sister.

Upon seeing Zhou Yan approach, Lu Linglong jumped up on the spot, excitedly greeted him, and even made a face at him from afar.

"Something on your mind?" Zhou Yan didn't go over, but sat down next to Zhuge Qing.

Whoosh—slap slap slap!

Zhuge Qing continued to skip stones aimlessly.

He had a long blade of grass dangling from his mouth, looking rather listless.

"No, what could be on my mind?"

huh~

"They barely stepped out of the mountains before Qimen was completely crushed, and then in the blink of an eye, Wuhou Shenji was also completely crushed..."

"Then I wanted to get a closer look at their amazingly crafted giant iron ball, but as soon as I crawled inside, I got blown up into a sea urchin..."

Zhuge Qing stopped what he was doing and turned to look.

His squinting eyes were filled with utter despair.

"Now I understand why my ancestor had to visit me three times before he would come out of the mountains... What's so great about outside these mountains anyway!"

Zhou Yan listened to his complaints, forcibly holding back his laughter.

"I saw that the grass in this area was urinated on by a dog yesterday."

"Pfft—! Spit, spit, spit!"

Zhuge Qing was furious and kept vomiting!

Even though I know the other person is probably just talking nonsense...

But it's better to believe it exists!

"To be honest, are you willing to help Lao Ma with the furnace because he promised you the Divine Crafting Manual?"

Pooh--!

Zhuge Qing, who was spitting wildly, paused for a moment.

Soon, things returned to normal.

"Brother Zhou, you..."

"Don't rush to deny it, and there's no need to explain anything," Zhou Yan waved his hand.

"You've suffered setbacks since you left the mountain, whether it's Feng Hou or Shen Ji... It's only natural that you want to see them for yourself!"

Zhuge Qing sighed and bent down again to pick up a flat pebble.

Whoosh!

"You really can't hide anything from you... Brother Zhou!"

Suddenly, he remembered something and turned around.

"How come I remember... you said there was a supreme path that leads directly to the ears of Heaven, and you wanted to point it out to me?"

"I was just about to tell you this!" Zhou Yan smiled mysteriously.

Zhuge Qing immediately became serious!

To be honest, compared to the person in front of him, all those Feng Hou Qi Men and Shen Ji Bai Lian techniques were like little brothers to him!

We're all about the same age.

If there's one person he can't figure out the most since coming down the mountain, it's Zhou Yan in front of him!

How did they acquire all these skills?

Zhuge Qing never knew whether the other man's words were just a perfunctory response...

Today we'll finally have the answer!

"I remember you asking me back then if I knew the key to Wuhou Qimen Dunjia... exactly where it lay?"

Zhuge Qing took a deep breath. "Don't laugh at me... I've been thinking about this ever since that day."

"Four plates, eight trigrams, six harmonies, Kan, Zhen, Li, Dui... no matter how I try to deduce it, I'm still completely clueless..."

As he spoke, a rare serious expression appeared on his face.

Even his squinty eyes opened a crack, a rare occurrence, as he bowed and clasped his hands in greeting to Zhou Yan.

"Please teach me, Brother Zhou!"

On the other side of the river, Lu Linglong was about to approach and greet Zhou Yan.

Upon seeing this scene, he abruptly stopped in his tracks.

"I didn't tell you before because the time wasn't right... But now, it's about time!"

Zhou Yan lowered his voice and said mysteriously:

"The key to Wuhou Qimen lies neither in directions nor in the Eight Trigrams."

"It's in its name!"

As Zhou Yan spoke, he used his finger to make a sword.

On the bare stone surface, two characters were carved stroke by stroke—

"Marquis Wu"!

Zhuge Qing's pupils widened in shock!

He muttered to himself, "The key to Wuhou Qimen Dunjia... isn't Qimen... but... Wuhou?"

"good!"

Zhou Yan smiled and patted his shoulder:

"I have two secret techniques... one is called 'Strategy,' and the other is called 'Essay Writing'..."

You must know, at the very end of all art, lies the grand building of government offices!

"Think about it... Once you get ashore, with your abilities, it shouldn't be difficult to become a section chief in a special department that's good at everything, right?"

A casually drawn-up document—[The decision to permanently ban Wang Ye, a former disciple of Wudang Mountain…]

"Isn't this much better than any random metal clapper or earthen cart?"

What are you doing? Don't look at me like that... I don't have those two books here, go buy them yourself!

"Holy crap!"

Zhuge Qing was so frightened that he leaned back in shock, staring at Zhou Yan in disbelief.

"A poet? Brother Zhou!"

He had painstakingly studied it for so long, thinking it was some profound and miraculous method of divination that could defy fate.

So you want me to take the civil service exam?!

Criticism aside...

Zhuge Qing suddenly felt... that it seemed to be really feasible!

Borrowing the east wind, borrowing the east wind...

If you can borrow this favorable wind, why bother practicing Qi?

Just then.

Then came another familiar rattling sound.

On both sides of the stream, everyone stopped what they were doing and looked towards the village entrance.

In this remote and impoverished place... has someone else arrived?

Soon, a figure stumbled and ran over quickly.

"Master Zhou! Master Wang..."

The villager who brought the news was panting, "A...a group of strange-looking people have broken in!"

They were holding up small flags, saying they were tourists... The cult leader was busy forging iron and ignored everyone... You...

Wang Ye, Zhuge Qing, and the others were taken aback.

Who would come here for tourism!

"Let's go take a look!"

Lu Lin had only taken two steps when her body suddenly stiffened!

"Ah! Him..."

Everyone looked over in confusion.

Lu Lin pointed to the spot where Zhou Yan had just been sitting, her mouth agape, stammering for a long time without managing to utter a complete sentence...

"He...you...you all..."

"Huh? You mean Brother Zhou?"

Zhuge Qing put his hands in his pockets, looking completely at ease.

Wang Ye shrugged: "It's just teleportation, you'll get used to it."

Lu Lin looked at her younger sister with a blank expression.

Lu Linglong gave a wicked smile and looked back at her cousin with exasperation at his lack of ambition:

"You're making a fuss over nothing!"

She shook her head and left first.

My older cousin was left all alone, bewildered in the wind...