The Great Martial Arts World: Hot Topics and Great Heroes

"You should take your junior sister and leave! I'll deal with these two!" Chu Luren said, taking full responsibility.

After all, judging from Di Yun's appearance, "Hollow Cabbage" will be his daughter in the future, so it's not really appropriate to ask him to take action now.

"Chu, Chu Taisui! My husband... Although they are utterly wicked, please give them a quick death!" Qi Fang couldn't help but plead.

"No, no! Wait, I don't want to die quickly... My wife, please beg Chu Taisui to spare my life! It was my lust that led me astray, I shouldn't have framed your senior brother and separated you two... Spare my life, and I will remember you and Brother Di for the rest of my life! I will pray for your long and happy marriage and that you have a son soon!" Wan Gui was terrified after learning Chu Luren's identity.

Seeing her husband in such a state, Qi Fang was so disappointed that she refused to look at him anymore. Seeing this, Di Yun, holding the child in one arm, helped his junior sister out with the other...

Chapter 663 Treasure

Di Yun was an honest man, and Chu Luren was a good man, so naturally they would not mistreat the Wan family father and son.

Chu Luren even healed the injuries of several Wan Zhenshan disciples... and then ordered them to build the Wan family father and son into the wall.

After they dismissed the servants of the Wan family, Chu Luren kept his promise and did not kill anyone, but only set a fire—if they hadn't been fighting for the gold and silver in Wan Zhenshan's secret chamber, they wouldn't have failed to escape in time.

After settling matters with the Wan family, Chu Luren went directly to the office of the Provincial Governor of Jinghu South Road—that beast Ling Tuisi was nothing but a menace if kept alive.

Unexpectedly, Chu Luren's search turned into a disappointment. Ling Tuisi was not in Jiangling. He then went to Qunyu Academy and learned that Ling Tuisi had been inspecting his jurisdiction for the past two months.

The martial arts world is divided into many categories, such as the martial arts world of Hunan and the martial arts world of western Hunan. However, the "Jinghu South Circuit" of the Song Dynasty's administrative division is extremely large. Jiangling Prefecture is almost at the northernmost part of the Jinghu South Circuit. Ling Tuisi went to the south to inspect the area.

Chu Luren was a very busy man and didn't have time to wait for him. He just asked Qunyu Academy for a list of his "crimes" as an official in the local area. As usual, they were not confidential matters, but just rumors circulating among the people.

The difference between these and mere rumors is that what the Qunyu Academy recorded were all actual victims, and that they had visited the sites at least once. They were not just pure legends. However, as for concrete evidence... sorry, there wasn't any.

However, for people in the underworld, this is enough; it's not like they're going to sue him.

As for why the Qunyu Academy specifically collected this?

When Chu Luren thought Ren Yingying was in charge, she didn't think much of it. But now that she knows it's the sect leader's sister, Chu Luren keeps wondering if this is preparation for the uprising.

If they obey, they'll be kept alive; if they don't, their crimes will be publicized and they'll be killed.

Whether it is or not, it has nothing to do with Chu Luren now. We just need to wait until we happen to meet him, then take his head and write down the evidence of his crimes on the city wall.

Of course, I only write about murder, arson, and utter depravity. After all, this is the kind of person who would even bury his own daughter alive. If we include all the minor crimes and evils, even the walls of Lin'an wouldn't be enough to write about.

……

When I saw Di Yun again, he and his junior sister were sitting by a stream outside the city, wading in the water barefoot, and reading a collection of Tang poems—mainly looking at the black butterfly tucked inside!

This is a butterfly that Qi Fang cut out after hearing the story of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, and she put it in an "old book" along with the shoe pattern.

As for "water spinach"?

At this time, it was entrusted to the four sword attendants for safekeeping...

Just as the two were reminiscing about their peaceful past and were about to verbally envision the future, Chu Luren's voice suddenly rang out: "Brother Di..."

"what!"

The two exclaimed in surprise. Qi Fang hadn't even held onto the "old book" properly when it fell into the stream!

Qi Fang hurriedly went to retrieve it...

"Brother Chu, what brings you here?" Di Yun was still somewhat flustered.

"I've come to say goodbye, as I must continue my journey to Wudang." Chu Luren had already been delayed for a day.

"Brother Chu's kindness is beyond my ability to repay. I only wish to be your servant in the next life..." Di Yun said, expressing the highest form of gratitude.

However, Chu Luren interrupted him, saying, "Alright, I don't want to be such a stupid ox or horse in my next life either."

After a pause, Chu Luren took the initiative to ask, "I think Little Water Spinach has good aptitude; she can be accepted into the Lingjiu Palace."

It wasn't that they really saw how talented the little kid was; it was just that Chu Luren was afraid of embarrassing them, so he suggested that they could adopt Little Hollow Cabbage—the Lingjiu Palace was full of older sisters who spoke nicely, and the children all liked them.

However, Di Yun hadn't considered this at all, and said somewhat embarrassedly, "I'm sorry to disappoint Brother Chu! My junior sister and I only want to retire to the countryside and don't want Kongxincai to get involved in the martial arts world in the future. So let's not go to Lingjiu Palace."

Since Di Yun has already said this, it seems he is ready to start a new life with his family of three, so Chu Luren naturally has no objections.

"Huh? Senior brother, there are words on this!" Qi Fang picked up the old book and was about to see if she could shake it dry when she suddenly noticed the words on it.

The solution to the Liancheng Treasure Chest

Tool 1: The Liancheng Swordplay;

Tool 2: *Selected Tang Poems (Specific)*;

The Liancheng Swordplay, also known as the Tang Poetry Swordplay, uses verses as clues. The sequence of moves in the Liancheng Swordplay is determined by finding the corresponding poems in this "Selected Tang Poems (Specific)". After wetting the poems with water, numbers will appear. Find the words corresponding to the numbers in the poems and then connect them together to understand the sequence...

If you only know the "Liancheng Sword Technique", the numbers in the ordinary "Selected Tang Poems" are not available, and knowing only the order of the poems is naturally useless. If you only have this "Selected Tang Poems (Special)", you can only get a string of disordered Chinese characters.

However, Ding Dian learned about the numbers in the "Selected Tang Poems (Specific)" from Mei Niansheng and told Ling Shuanghua that, theoretically, once you know these numbers, anyone who knows the "Liancheng Sword Technique" can use the ordinary "Selected Tang Poems" to decipher the code, even if they don't know how to recite Tang poems.

"Huh? This number is..." Di Yun also noticed that it looked familiar.

Although he didn't have a photographic memory, he still recognized the numbers he copied from Miss Ling's coffin lid. He didn't keep any for himself and gave them to Chu Luren.

“Brother Chu, this seems to be related to the treasure as well… Wait! Junior Sister, this book is… the one you used to hold shoe patterns, right? Did you tell Master about it back then?” Di Yun suddenly realized something.

"I... just thought it was an old book, so I didn't mention it to my father." Qi Fang also vaguely realized something.

Recalling the strange behavior of his father and master during that period, the two remained silent.

After a while, Di Yun handed the "Selected Tang Poems" to Chu Luren and said, "Brother Chu, you should keep this book too! It must be related to that harmful treasure. Only a hero like Brother Chu can control this treasure and not be harmed by it."

Chu Luren guessed that Di Yun must have come to believe that he was a hero after visiting Qunyu Academy with him...

"Alright." Chu Luren accepted it.

There was no specific mention of the "Tang Poetry Swordplay," after all, Qi Changfa did not teach his disciples the authentic swordplay, and the order was completely wrong—not to mention his disciples, Wan Zhenshan did not even teach his own son!

In the original work, Di Yun directly copied the numbers onto the city wall to lure out Wan Zhenshan and his son, intending to take revenge. However, he ended up luring out his master, who had been faking his death for a long time.

Chu Luren didn't think that much about it. Having the "Selected Tang Poems" in his hands would, firstly, prevent others from learning about the treasure from it, and secondly...

Chu Luren remembered the code words in the original work. The first few words were "Tianning Temple, south of Jiangling City". He couldn't remember the rest, but it was to guide everyone to worship Buddha. The last four words were "rebirth in the Pure Land". It was full of malice. If you really went to look for it, even if you found the treasure, you would only "rebirth in the Pure Land".

Finding twenty-six disordered characters in a Tang poetry anthology is meaningless to outsiders, as there are far too many possible permutations and combinations. However, for Chu Luren, as long as he verifies the characters "Tianning Temple, south of Jiangling City, west of the city," he can confirm that the treasure of the great Jianghu is also in this temple!

"If anyone comes looking for you about this treasure in the future, just say that the treasure is with me. Also... no matter who comes looking for you, be careful," Chu Luren reminded him.

As for the treasure, even after confirming its location, Chu Luren did not intend to dig it up immediately.

Even if he wasn't afraid of poison, he couldn't possibly carry all that stuff by himself, and what use would the Chu Lu people have for so much money?

Let's wait until Murong Jiu or someone else needs the money before taking it out...

Chapter 664 Crisis

Chu Luren spent a day in Jiangling, and when he arrived in Xiangyang, he naturally had to pay a visit to Guo Juxia.

Because of the unusual movements of the Mongol Yuan army in Wangjing and the covetousness of the Golden Wheel Monk in the martial arts world, the imperial court has not yet taken action against Guo Juxia!

Of course, life wasn't easy for Guo Juxia either. The heroes of Xiangyang were under strict surveillance, so... their numbers were greatly reduced.

After all, the heroes of Xiangyang were originally a group of Jianghu people who were inspired by Guo Juxia and brought their own provisions. They certainly wouldn't be like the loyal minister who believed that "all the thunder and rain are the emperor's grace."

Upon discovering that the imperial court was wary of them, many people left in anger—although the imperial court had bestowed some rewards in previous years, the chivalrous men of Xiangyang were not really lacking in such rewards!

Many of the heroes who remained were also worried about Guo Juxia.

Chu Luren couldn't help with these matters either. Before leaving, Chu Luren told Guo Juxia that if the Golden Wheel Monk dared to act recklessly in the martial arts world, Guo Juxia only needed to spread the news of the Heroes' Gathering, and he would definitely rush there!

As for the Mongol army...

Chu Luren had no choice.

It's not like Song Ting can hold the group back while he lets the Righteous Alliance brothers fight to the death, is it?

Leaving aside whether they can stop them, the Righteous and Righteous Alliance would probably disband on the spot. That's not how an alliance leader should act!

……

After making a promise to Guo Juxia, Chu Luren once again came to the Sword Tomb in Daheishan outside the city.

The enormous ugly eagle immediately approached Chu Luren, making a lot of noise and whimpering. It seems that it has also sensed something.

Chu Lu Ren tried his best to use language that the birds could understand, speaking and gesturing, with Xiao Hong translating, to tell Chou Diao that Teacher Dugu passed away peacefully... no, he passed away contentedly!

"Teacher Dugu said your hometown is in the Tianshan Mountains, right? How about I take you back there later? I know a place with lots of beautiful female vultures..." Chu Luren felt that the ugly eagle might need to relieve its sorrow over the passing of its old master.

The ugly eagle fanned him away with its wings, clearly not wanting to respond.

Chu Luren thought it might be embarrassed, so he instructed it, "Then you stay here for now and don't wander off. I'll come back to pick you up in a while... or I might ask someone else to pick you up."

After completing the task assigned by his teacher, Chu Luren took away the four sword boxes.

Although there are only three swords inside, the Purple Star Soft Sword was thrown away by Master Dugu long ago, but the sword intent in the box is still there.

The sword intent, sword energy, and sword combined with the sword are definitely twice as strong as Chu Luren's internal strength, and can further enhance the durability of "Sword Control True Qi" when controlling the sword.

Normally, to achieve this, one simply needs to hold a sword for a long time, carrying it while adjusting one's breathing each day, gradually aligning it with one's spirit and temperament.

However, for Chu Luren, the Four Swords Box left by Master Dugu can accelerate this process.

Chu Luren's strongest sword skills were learned from these four sword boxes. Naturally, using these sword boxes, which still contain residual sword energy, to nurture the sword energy can have an "accelerating" effect.

In this way, it can, to some extent, make up for the lack of control over "Sword Control True Qi" when it is not accompanied by "Eight Styles of Famous Swords".

"I'll keep this one." Chu Luren hesitated for a moment, not giving the sword case of the Xuan Tie sword to Zhu Jian, after all, it was quite heavy, weighing over eighty jin.

Although the four sword attendants also practice martial arts, you can tell from their physiques that they don't practice hard skills. Always carrying a weight of over 80 pounds still has some impact on them.

However, Zhu Jian was unhappy: "We sisters are following along, what kind of talk is it for the Lord to carry it himself? Besides, all the sisters have it, why does the Lord look down on us servants?"

"No, it's just that this sword is heavier," Chu Luren said helplessly.

Finally, unable to resist Zhu Jian's insistence, Chu Luren handed her the sword case of the Xuan Tie sword. Fortunately, they had horses for transportation most of the time, and... the weight of eighty or ninety pounds was not much for the four sword servants if they weren't carrying it all the time.

In the days that followed, while the four sword attendants were practicing, Chu Luren noticed that they often carried sword cases and were subtly influenced by the sword intent and sword spirit within them.

So while instructing the Four Sword Attendants on their sword techniques, Chu Luren also had some new ideas.

Of course, this idea can't be rushed yet. First, I need to continue to intensify my cultivation and unlock my Dao Embryo. When I get to Wudang, I can ask Master Zhang for guidance. Second, I also need to get the "Purple Star Soft Sword" and the wooden sword needs a replacement. Even though the Chrysanthemum Sword is affected by the wooden sword case, my internal energy is not enough to hurt people with the wooden sword. When I get to Wudang, I can see if there is a suitable one there...

They continued north and arrived at Wudang Mountain in just a few days.

Because they were delayed for two days, and Song Yuanqiao and Zhang Songxi were worried about the outcome of the martial arts competition, they rode at full speed, while Chu Luren was not in such a hurry, so he arrived at Wudang several days later than the two of them.

When Chu Luren arrived in Wudang County, he sensed that the atmosphere was somewhat strange...