The Great Martial Arts World: Hot Topics and Great Heroes

"Tsk tsk tsk, so this must be pressure from the royal family?"

"The Marquis must have had no choice. I heard that the Dragon Guard Manor was ordered to stay home and reflect on its mistakes because of its poor performance in the recent assassination attempt by the Japanese!"

……

Chu Luren's expression wasn't too good as he listened to the surrounding discussions—he hadn't expected Zhao Wushi to pull such a stunt!

Indeed, Chu Luren's "merits" were clearly written down, and the most important eight-character evaluation was also written in large characters in the title. However... what Chu Luren did not expect was that he not only regained his place on the Heavenly Ranking, but was also directly promoted to second place on the Heavenly Ranking!

Before Qiao Feng's accident, Zhao Wushi was ranked second. After Qiao Feng's accident, Zhao Wushi took over as the second-ranked official. Now, Chu Luren is ranked one place higher than Zhao Wushi.

Chu Luren was only thinking that Zhao Wushi's expression would be quite interesting since the number one manor in the world would have to re-enter the Heavenly Ranking, but he overlooked the wicked schemes lurking in Zhao Wushi's heart...

Indeed, they are all "heroes and pillars of the martial world," so it would be unreasonable not to put them back on the Heavenly Ranking. However, Zhao Wushi's move not only put Chu Luren in a difficult position, but also indirectly harmed the royal family.

Wasn't the goal to get into the Heavenly Ranking?

Sure, not only can you get in, but you'll also be ranked second on the Heavenly Ranking. There's nothing more to say this time, right?

Chu Luren absolutely refused to believe that this was Shangguan Haitang's idea...

In this way, everyone immediately sees "Second on the Heavenly Ranking - Red and White Tai Sui Chu Luren," and no matter what merits are used to cover it up later, it cannot extinguish the doubts.

Although this was damaging to the reputation of "Number One Manor Under Heaven" and "Heroic List," the added fuel to the fire by some tabloids naturally led to most of the resentment and doubt directed at Chu Luren and even the current royal family.

Of course, Shenhou's move was brilliant, and Chu Luren was not without a way to deal with it!

"What happened to Chu Taisui? Chu Taisui even exposed Shaolin's conspiracy!"

"That's right, I think they're just some lay disciples from Shaolin Temple, spreading rumors about Master Chu everywhere."

"Shaolin people, don't go too far, otherwise I'll also know many of Shaolin's ugly deeds, and you... are you slandering Master Chu because you have a grudge against Wudang?"

"You used to say that he didn't care about the Song Dynasty, but now everyone surnamed Zhao is saying that Hero Chu is the 'backbone of the martial arts world,' and now you, a beggar, have the audacity to criticize him?"

Dressed like a young master, Chu Luren silently covered his mouth with his fan, then let out the sounds of passersby from all directions.

In short...

Those who slander the people of Chulu must be backed by Shaolin, the Beggars' Sect, those damned bald monks, those damned beggars!

Although it's in Jiaxing, not in the central city of Lin'an, the effect of Chu Luren's influence is somewhat less, but in any case, we should just follow this line of thinking from now on.

When Chu Luren returned to the inn, he found Yun Luo was furious.

"I'm so angry! What kind of nonsense are these tabloids writing? And what was Shangguan Haitang thinking, putting you second on the Heavenly Ranking? Did you bribe him behind my back?" Yunluo was dissatisfied because many people suspected that Chu Luren had gotten in through her connections.

"They're mainly targeting me. Besides... I think Master Shangguan can't make such a decision himself. It must have been the Divine Marquis who gave the order. The fact that the Emperor wasn't saved by the Divine Marquis's people this time seems to have displeased the Divine Marquis." Chu Luren was subtly guiding Yun Luo to be wary of the people she should really be wary of.

Upon hearing this, Yunluo frowned and said, "Royal Uncle? He... but without you, that Shangguan Haitang wouldn't have been able to save my brother at all!"

"Maybe he thinks it's acceptable." Chu Luren didn't elaborate too much, lest Yunluo's hostility towards Shenhou be too obvious and put her in danger.

Yunluo seemed to understand, but in her heart, compared to Zhao Wushi, Chu Luren was definitely the one she trusted more, even though her uncle was more authoritative.

Just then, Yunluo's eyes lit up and she said, "Hey, there's a lot of information about you written here. You seem to have... a lot of female friends? Is the one you're going to help this time also some kind of 'heroine'?"

"A lot? Not really, I haven't paid special attention to the men and women. But it's true that this trip to Peach Blossom Island is to find one... no, two heroines. If Ouyang Feng really comes, there might actually be a conflict," Chu Luren said honestly.

Yunluo pursed her lips, then asked, "When do we set off?"

"I've carved a secret mark at the corner of the city. Someone will come to pick me up tomorrow. Just wait at the dock... Please look after Little Red Horse for me," Chu Luren instructed.

"Wait! What do you mean?" Yunluo was taken aback by what she heard.

"This time we might run into Ouyang Feng, the Western Poison. If we really fight, I might not be able to take care of you. Wait for me in Jiaxing." Chu Luren knew what Yunlu was unhappy about.

"Ouyang Feng, the Western Poison? Who's stronger, Ouyang Feng or Cao Zhengchun?" Yunluo retorted.

"Cao Zhengchun is probably more powerful. Ouyang Feng... is probably about the same as that Yagyu Tajima-no-kami, but for you, Ouyang Feng is more dangerous." Chu Luren wasn't going to fall for this little girl's tricks!

She may not be afraid of Cao Zhengchun, but Ouyang Feng may not give the Song princess any face.

"Those two heroines, are their martial arts skills better than mine?" Yunluo asked, unconvinced.

Upon hearing this, Chu Luren thought for a moment—Huang Rong's martial arts skills might not be higher than Yun Luo's, and as for Mu Wanqing... she's definitely not as good as Yun Luo!

Putting everything else aside, although Chu Luren thinks Yunluo's martial arts are just for show, he has so many "famous teachers" guiding him, so he wouldn't have much of a problem facing Yun Zhonghe or even Yue Laosan on his own!

In the original work, Yunluo was also capable of taking on several Earthly Fiend spies by herself.

"Not really..." Chu Luren nodded upon hearing this, convinced by Yun Luo, but still emphasized, "However, if you insist on coming along, remember to follow my instructions!"

"Don't worry, don't forget, we have experience working together!" Yunluo said confidently.

However, she then remembered the story of secretly eating salted fish while working with the Japanese, and blushed with embarrassment.

"Wait for me, I'll go find someone to look after our horses." Chu Luren said as he stood up. He wasn't comfortable with horses like the heroes in the original story, who never cared about them.

Half an hour...

"Remember to use the best fodder, especially for Little Red, it must be mixed with raw egg yolk... I'm not saying this, but our Qunyu Academy needs to expand its business in all aspects in the future, so that we can make breakthroughs and develop!" Chu Luren was silently developing new functions of Qunyu Academy that no one knew about.

Chapter 284 Visitors from the Western Regions

Chu Luren and Yun Luo drifted at sea for several days before finally seeing Peach Blossom Island. There were few places to land on the island, and the only decent-looking small port was set up as the entrance to a mysterious formation...

"Aba, aba aba!" The mute servant on the island called out to the Chu Lu people, and anxiously pointed towards the port, where a large ship was moored beside the pier.

Chu Luren couldn't hear sign language, but he still managed to say through gestures and guessing, "You mean, when you left Peach Blossom Island, this ship wasn't here yet, is that right?"

“Aba.” The mute servant nodded vigorously.

"Move ashore," Chu Luren ordered solemnly.

"What's wrong? Have the enemy already come knocking?" Yunluo asked hurriedly.

"Most likely, you should hide on the boat for a while," Chu Luren said seriously.

"Hiding in bed again?"

"ferry!"

"Oh……"

Although Yunluo was a little hard of hearing and his thoughts were somewhat unpredictable, he didn't cause too much trouble. Upon hearing this, he obediently hid in the cabin and only looked out from the corner of the window.

As the small boat that came to pick up Chu Luren approached the harbor, someone from the large ship shouted, "Who goes there? Can't you see we're here? Move aside..."

"Aba, aba aba," the mute servant shouted to several men dressed in white Western Region-style clothing on the large ship.

"So he's mute? Wait, could he be from Peach Blossom Island? Stop him!"

"Wait a minute! The Master and Young Master have been inside for almost a day and haven't found a way into the island. Why don't we tie this man up and then go in to find the Master?"

As the white-clad Western Region travelers were whispering amongst themselves, Chu Luren displayed his lightness skill, leaping directly from his small boat onto what appeared to be a large ship belonging to the White Camel Manor.

"you……"

Before the others could react, Chu Luren swiftly sealed their pressure points. Hearing the commotion, several Western Region guests arrived, but Chu Luren used his Seven Illusions Rainbow Light Finger Technique to immobilize them from a distance.

After stopping more than a dozen people, a disheveled woman stumbled out of the cabin. Upon seeing Chu Luren, she cried out, "Young master, save me! I was tied up and brought onto this ship by these people..."

"Watch out!" Yunluo shouted from the small boat below.

However, she didn't need to remind her. The moment she spoke, Chu Luren had already made his move and immobilized the woman from a distance.

then……

Suddenly, a bright green venomous snake fell from the woman's sleeve!

Seeing that no one else came out for a while, Yunlu used her lightness skill to jump onto the boat next to Chu Luren.

"You're quite cautious, aren't you?" Chu Luren looked at Yun Luo with surprise.

Chu Luren was wary of this woman because he knew that Ouyang Ke kept concubines at White Camel Manor. Later, he saw that although the woman was pretending to cry for help, there was an undisguised air of worldliness between her brows, so he took action directly without letting her get close.

But Yunluo was on a small boat just now, so she shouldn't have been able to see clearly...

"Of course! This person actually called you 'Young Master' against his conscience, he must have ill intentions!" Yunluo said, looking as if she were a princess with discerning eyes.

"Did I let you come up?" Chu Luren scolded, changing the subject.

“You…” Yunlu was about to retort when she noticed that Chu Luren’s expression suddenly changed.

Without bothering to say anything to Yunluo, Chu Luren looked directly towards the cabin, and then... he saw countless colorful venomous snakes swimming out of the hatch and windows.

Even Yunluo, who was usually very bold, became somewhat apprehensive and hid behind Chu Luren.

Chu Luren let out a sharp shriek, the sound wave crashing into the cabin. Instantly... several exceptionally low flute notes were detected by Chu Luren using the Nine Netherworld Soul Sound Technique!

The sound wasn't just quiet; its frequency was so low that it was undetectable by normal human hearing. Perhaps some special techniques could expand the range of hearing, but Chu Luren clearly hadn't practiced them. It was just that the "Nine Netherworld Sound Soul Technique" had a much wider sound range than normal hearing.

"The snake servants inside are directing the snake formation, don't leave my side!" Chu Luren and Yun Luo said, then directly dragged two servants from White Camel Manor into the snake formation.

After probing a few times, the venomous snake abandoned its prey and continued to spread towards Chu Luren and Yunluo.

Chu Luren's eyes lit up. He searched the remaining people and found what appeared to be snake repellent. He casually tossed it over, and sure enough, the snake formation was thrown into chaos...

However, at this moment, the dispersed snakes hesitated again, then gritted their teeth and continued to crawl towards Chu Luren and Yunluo, slightly circling around the area where the snake medicine had been sprinkled!

Chu Luren immediately understood that the snake slaves' flute playing was intended to take precedence over the snakes' aversion to the snake medicine...

As soon as the snake formation approached, Chu Luren swept out with a palm, and the fan-shaped force immediately blew the snakes back.

Chu Luren then grabbed Yunluo's hair...

Yunluo: ? ? ?

“Ah! I’m used to it…” Chu Luren said, then put his arm around the waist, grabbed the hair of a white-robed disciple, and used his lightness skill to leap onto the pier.

By this time, the mute servant had already rowed the small boat ashore...

Chu Luren turned his head and struck twice with his palms – one palm shattered the boarding ladder that had been lowered from the ship, and the other palm broke off a section of the wooden pier that extended into the sea!

The broken section, scattered like wooden stakes and planks, floats on the sea.

The large ship cannot approach the shore and can only disembark from the pier. The pier is not long enough now. People may be able to leap across using light-footed skills, or at the very least, they can swim across. But those long snakes on the ship are probably not good swimmers!

Snakes are notoriously difficult to deal with in the martial arts world—internal force is significantly less effective against them, and a palm strike capable of shattering the internal organs of a tiger or leopard might not be enough to kill a small snake. The only way to kill them is openly…

For example, a palm strike that shatters flesh and skin together would definitely kill the person beyond any doubt. Another example is Chu Luren's "Seven Illusions Rainbow Light Finger Force," which is also particularly effective against long worms.

However, dealing with so many snakes would take some effort, so the Chu Lu people simply trapped them on the boat.

"Speak! Who are you? How long have you been here? What do you want?" Chu Luren shouted, stepping on the chest of the white-robed manor servant he had previously captured.