The Great Martial Arts World: Hot Topics and Great Heroes

Upon hearing this, Qiao Feng shook his head: "He has openly and honestly issued a challenge, how can my dignified Beggar Clan be afraid of him?"

Chu Luren: ...

Although he wasn't quite used to these kinds of江湖 (jianghu, a term referring to the world of martial arts and江湖义气, a code of honor among江湖义气), Chu Luren didn't try to persuade him otherwise.

Just then, another little beggar, looking somewhat flustered, came over and reported to Qiao Feng: "Chief! Four troublemakers have broken into the Dayi Branch. Chief Jiang ordered me to seek help from the Daren Branch. I just met Wang Fugui on the way and learned that you are here, so I came to report."

This fifth-bag disciple of the Beggars' Sect was utterly clueless—he actually revealed this news to Chu Luren and Duan Yu.

As expected, Qiao Feng asked somewhat awkwardly, "Who is causing trouble?"

"The Murong family! The two women haven't even done anything yet, but the two burly men are already fighting Elder Chen and the others!" said a member of the Beggars' Sect.

Qiao Feng frowned upon hearing this, sensing that things were not so simple—he had originally arranged to meet Elder Chen and the others in Wuxi City, and then go to Xingzilin together, so how could this have happened…

However, Qiao Feng didn't say anything on the surface. He let the disciples continue to carry out Chief Jiang's orders. At the same time, he cupped his hands to Chu Luren and Duan Yu and said, "I'm really sorry, it seems I didn't drink enough today. If you two brothers are interested in the Huishan appointment tonight, you can come with me to the gang and meet my other good brothers!"

"Yes, yes, let's go. To be honest, brother, those four people you just mentioned... we might know them." Duan Yu also recognized them. Two women and two who liked to fight—weren't they A Zhu, A Bi, Bao Butong, and Feng Bo'e?

Why didn't they go to Shaolin to meet up with Murong Fu? Why did they come to the Beggars' Sect branch to cause trouble?

Hearing that Duan Yu and Chu Luren might recognize the newcomers, Qiao Feng led them together towards the Righteousness Branch in Xingzilin outside the city, with Wang Yuyan following along.

However, Wang Yuyan was not skilled in martial arts, so her pace was inevitably slower. Qiao Feng wanted to know the situation at the Dayi Branch, so he cupped his hands to Duan Yu and Chu Luren and said, "I will go first. My two brothers, please wait."

"Brother Chu, please take Miss Wang with you first..."

Duan Yuzhen wanted to give some instructions, but Chu Luren interrupted him, saying, "Brother Qiao, just go ahead. We won't be too far behind."

Qiao Feng didn't quite understand—he could see that Duan Yu's internal strength was profound, and Chu Luren's footwork also revealed excellent lightness skills, but Wang Yuyan seemed to know nothing about martial arts.

However, Qiao Feng didn't hesitate and took the lead. Duan Yu followed with Lingbo Weibu, looking leisurely and quite dashing.

Chu Luren then directly grasped Wang Yuyan's hand.

"Ah! What are you doing?" Wang Yuyan exclaimed in surprise.

"Pay attention to what's below, just follow along," Chu Luren instructed, aligning his own Laogong acupoint with Wang Yuyan's Hegu acupoint, and vice versa...

"Let go..." Wang Yuyan was in a panic when she suddenly felt a heat in her palm. Two streams of pure internal energy surged into her from the Laogong and Hegu acupoints on her palms and headed straight for the meridians of her legs and feet.

Immediately afterwards, I felt a warmth in my Yongquan acupoint on the sole of my foot, and my body felt much lighter...

Chu Luren started walking, continuing to pull Wang Yuyan along with him.

Qiao Feng had already used his lightness skill and thought that even if Duan Yu and Chu Luren didn't bring any women with them, they would be a step behind him, especially Chu Luren. Duan Yu had profound internal strength and didn't show any weakness until he made a move, but Chu Luren's martial arts could only be felt when he made a move, and he was indeed far from Qiao Feng's level.

However, if it's about lightness skill...

Qiao Feng suddenly heard a sound behind him. Before he could turn around, he saw Duan Yu walking leisurely to his side.

"Hahaha, what superb lightness skill! The Duan family of Dali truly lives up to their reputation!"

"Brother Qiao, you flatter me. Actually, Brother Chu and I discovered this lightness skill in a secret realm. It's not a family heirloom. If I hadn't been with my sister... cough cough, if I hadn't been with Miss Wang, Brother Chu should also have..."

Duan Yu was speaking when the two heard a sound behind them. They turned around and saw...

Chu Luren was seen pulling Wang Yuyan along, with a faint phantom of a Kun fish appearing around them, enveloping both of them. Despite having someone who didn't know martial arts with him, his speed was no slower than theirs!

Although Chu Luren's internal strength was not as good as Duan Yu's or Qiao Feng's, his mastery of "Kun Soaring Through the Void" surpassed Duan Yu's understanding of Lingbo Weibu. After all, Chu Luren had specifically delved into this move at Tianlong Temple.

Even though they are all "mastered," the differences are significant. Chu Luren even suspected that if he were to focus on comprehending martial arts like "Kun Swimming in the Void," he would eventually develop "momentum" or even "mindset"...

Moreover, Kun swimming in the void can form a Kun fish force field. In addition, Chu Luren also possesses "Dancing the Universe", which can control the foreign finger force left in other people's bodies to a certain extent, and can simulate the Beiming True Qi to a high degree!

In summary, Chu Luren used the nature of the Northern Darkness True Qi to continuously channel his inner force into Wang Yuyan's body, then helped her slightly circulate her lightness skill. More importantly, by coordinating with his Kunyu Force Field, he managed to move someone who knew nothing about martial arts.

Chu Luren saw this in an animation when he was a child, and now he tried it out—this is the dolphin running method!

"Only today do I realize how vast the world is, and how many extraordinary people and events there are!" Qiao Feng exclaimed in amazement upon seeing this, never expecting such a feat...

Chapter Seventy-Six: A Story in the Apricot Grove

Wang Yuyan felt a warm current flow into her palm as Chu Luren held her hand, causing her face to flush red.

But when she looked at Chu Luren, she saw that he had a clear and bright face, without any hint of romance. Wang Yuyan couldn't help but scold herself for having wild thoughts.

Furthermore, Wang Yuyan also hoped to arrive as soon as possible to avoid deepening the misunderstanding between Bao Butong, Feng Bo'e, and the Beggars' Clan, so she did not struggle but instead cooperated fully.

Although it was mostly Chu Luren exerting their strength, Wang Yuyan rarely engaged in such strenuous exercise, and for a moment she felt a surge of energy. Fortunately, she soon arrived at the Beggars' Sect branch in the Apricot Grove...

When the four arrived, they saw Azhu and Abi standing anxiously to the side, as if saying: Stop fighting!

However, while Feng Bo'e and a Beggar Clan elder were having a great time fighting, Bao Butong was also keeping quiet, urging the other three Beggar Clan elders not to rush in.

The elders who were fighting Feng Bo'e were none other than Elder Chen Guyan, one of the Ten Elders of the Beggars' Sect. They were skilled in using a strange weapon, and it was a very unusual one among strange weapons—a burlap sack!

The Northern Beggars' Sect originally had four elders, and the Southern Beggars' Sect also originally had four elders, in addition to two elders who passed on skills and enforced the law. Four years ago, at the Mount Tai Conference of the Northern and Southern Beggars' Sects, Qiao Feng not only impressed Hong Qigong with his martial arts and character, but also repelled the Qing army that had come from afar specifically to ambush the Beggars' Sect Conference, and personally covered the retreat of the disciples of the Northern and Southern Beggars' Sects...

At this point, the Northern Beggars' Clan also accepted Qiao Feng's order to become the clan leader, and Hong Qigong himself was demoted to "Second Clan Leader". Originally, there were ten nine-bag elders, who were also known as the "Ten Elders of the Beggars' Clan", which was somewhat intended to rival the Ten Elders of the Sun Moon Sect.

However, the Beggars' Sects of the North and South were not only long-term separate, but also located within the borders of the Song and Qing dynasties respectively. Although the Northern Beggars' Sect was more inclined towards the orthodox Song court of the Han dynasty, communication was ultimately inconvenient, and they did not merge completely so quickly. They claimed to be united to the outside world, but in reality, they still had some independent intentions.

The four elders present at this moment were none other than the original four elders of the Southern Beggars' Sect—Song Qingxi, Xi Sanqi, Wu Changfeng, and Chen Guyan!

Chen Guyan, in particular, wielded a burlap sack and was skilled in the external Tongbei Quan style, earning him the nickname "Long-Armed Old Man".

"Huh? This old man with long arms uses Tongbei Quan (a style of Chinese martial arts), but this sack..." Wang Yuyan frowned upon seeing Chen Guyan's skills.

"What's wrong with the burlap sack?" Chu Luren asked, puzzled.

"This sack has the power of the Dabie Mountain Soft Whip Thirteen Styles, and also incorporates the style of the Ruan Family Eighty-One Three-Section Staff of Jinghu North Road, but inside... perhaps I'm mistaken." Wang Yuyan didn't explain in detail.

"The explanation is so vague, could the idiom be 'vague and unclear'?"

Chu Luren's sudden lame joke sent chills down Duan Yu's spine!

Wang Yuyan looked at him helplessly, and at the same time a little embarrassed... "Yuyan" is an ambiguous name. Chu Luren had always called her "Miss Wang" before, but of course, he wasn't really calling her "Yuyan" now.

However, the mere mention of "Dabie Mountain Soft Whip" and "Ruan Family Three-Section Staff" was enough to distract Chen Guyan. Chen Guyan was eccentric and had done things that disgraced his family in the past, so he changed his name and fled. He was always worried that others would expose his past, so he was not as good at making friends as the other elders and usually appeared aloof.

Seeing that Chen Guyan was distracted, Feng Bo'e was about to use his "bite your dog's head" move to break one of his legs, but Chen Guyan took the opportunity to exchange blows with a punch.

At this moment, they were at a branch of the Beggars' Sect. How could Feng Bo'e dare to exchange blows with an elder of the Beggars' Sect? He quickly withdrew his attack, but Chen Guyan saw through his weakness and tried to put a sack over his head. Feng Bo'e tried to block it with his hand, but his hand was also put over the sack...

However, with such a small hand and such a large sack, it was naturally impossible to trap the sack. Feng Bo'e withdrew his hand and pulled it out, but he felt a numbness on the back of his hand. He could vaguely see through the open opening of the sack that it was full of small scorpions the size of fists!

Upon seeing this move, Wang Yuyan immediately exclaimed, "That's it! It has some resemblance to the 'Qiankun Yiqi' technique of that anti-Mongol rebel from Nanyang!"

"Young lady, don't talk nonsense." Chen Guyan couldn't help but turn and glare at Wang Yuyan.

"The anti-Mongol rebels in Nanyang... are they the 'unspeakable' monk Budai?" Chu Luren realized this at this moment.

There must be some other disagreement. Although "Shuobude" is one of the Five Wanderers of the Ming Cult, apart from the likes of the Emei Sect, no one should be fixated on this. It's not a shameful thing to be related to Shuobude.

Elder Chen's face was gloomy at this moment, but in fact few people paid attention to him. On the contrary, Qiao Feng was on the other side, stopping Elders Song, Xi and Wu from setting up the Dog-Beating Formation.

“Ah, Brother Feng! What are you doing…” Abi then changed her address to “Brother”.

"Brother Bao, stop hitting him! Fourth Brother has been poisoned!" A'Zhu shouted hurriedly.

Feng Bo'e's arm turned purplish-black. He was fine just a moment ago, but now he collapsed, and it was clear that he was barely breathing.

"Elder Chen, please detoxify him first," Qiao Feng said to Chen Guyan as soon as he saw the situation.

"Chief Qiao, that scoundrel Murong Fu killed Deputy Chief Ma, making him our mortal enemy. Now his men are coming to provoke us. Can't we kill him as a sacrifice?" Elder Chen said indignantly.

“We must avenge Brother Ma, but we don’t know whether Murong Fu was responsible. Besides, we haven’t even met Murong Fu yet. What would it look like to kill his men first? We need to detoxify first!” Qiao Feng said solemnly.

Chen Guyan wanted to say something, but he was intimidated by Qiao Feng's imposing manner and dared not disobey. He then took out the antidote.

A'Zhu and A'Bi quickly thanked Qiao Feng, developing a great fondness for this leader of the Qiao Clan, whom they had never met but who was always on par with their young master.

Qiao Feng had already noticed something was wrong—the four elders, Song, Xi, Chen, and Wu, had not gone to Wuxi to meet him, and now... they seemed to be subtly rejecting him!

Qiao Feng was an upright and generous man, but he was also meticulous and had a bad feeling.

Just then, a series of rustling footsteps sounded all around, coming from all directions...

Qiao Feng thought it was an ambush set up by Murong Manor, and that Bao Butong and Feng Bo'e were just scouts sent to entangle them. He couldn't care less about his previous doubts for the moment. He shouted, "Have the Murong family's friends arrived?" and whispered, "Chief Jiang, watch my eyes. There are the fewest people in the south. I and the four elders will cover the rear. You lead the brothers to break out to the south!"

Jiang, the leader of the Righteousness Branch, immediately accepted the order, but the expressions of the elders present were strange...

Just then, you could vaguely make out who they were—they were all dressed in the beggars' gang's tattered clothes, some carrying weapons, others bamboo poles and broken bowls; they were clearly beggars' gang disciples!

There were at least forty or fifty people in each of the four directions, and more than a hundred in one direction. The leader was the leader of the Great Wisdom Branch. When these later disciples saw Qiao Feng, they did not bother to pay their respects...

At this moment, Jiang, the leader of the Dayi branch, also realized something was wrong. Although today's battle was against Yipintang, the Dazhi branch had seemingly deployed all its elite forces, and... no matter how you looked at their appearance, it seemed to have a sense of "encirclement"!

Chapter Seventy-Seven: Chief Chen

"The Dog-Beating Formation!" Chen Guyan called out. Hundreds of disciples, layered upon each other, formed a fortress, with one in front and another behind. Though their clothes appeared tattered, they were actually well-organized and surrounded Bao Butong and the others.

Guided by Chen Guyan's beggar's chant, the Beggars' Sect disciples launched a coordinated attack on Bao Butong. Feng Bo'e, who had just recovered from the residual poison, was also forced to join the fight...

Upon seeing this, Qiao Feng broke out in a cold sweat!

Normally, when the brothers in the gang see him, no matter how many bags of disciples he is, as long as they recognize him, they will come up and greet him with greetings such as "gang leader this" and "gang leader that". Why are these disciples ignoring him today and even looking at him strangely?

Even when faced with a formidable enemy, like when Qiao Feng was surrounded by Ao Bai, known as the number one Manchu in Taishan, along with Qing court officials such as Zhang Zhaozhong and Feng Xifan, and Qing troops covering the entire mountain, he never felt fear. In the end, he led his brothers out and was not forced to sign any treaty of surrender...

However, now that he thought about how many brothers in the gang, including the four elders, were alienated from him and even turned against him, Qiao Feng was filled with fear.

What I'm afraid of isn't being attacked by others, but whether I really have something that makes everyone so resentful of me...

“Brother Chu! Brother Bao and Brother Feng…” Wang Yuyan looked anxiously at Chu Luren, but couldn’t bring herself to ask, since Chu Luren had never had a good impression of the Murong family.

Moreover, unlike the rabble at Tingxiang Pavilion before, the Beggar Clan now has more than 300 people. Their martial arts skills may not be very high, but they are well-coordinated. If they make a move, Chu Luren might also get caught in the crossfire.

"Don't panic. Since it's a matter for the Beggars' Sect, Brother Qiao will handle it himself," Chu Luren comforted him.

Sure enough, just as Bao Butong and Feng Bo'e were being driven into a corner by this "dog-beating formation," Qiao Feng suddenly made his move...

But then Qiao Feng swiftly moved into the formation, and in a few quick moves, he struck Bao Butong's pressure points and slashed Feng Bo'e!

Even this was Qiao Feng, who only used the Dragon Claw Hand technique and did not reveal his Eighteen Subduing Dragon Palms.

For a moment, the Beggars' Sect disciples were intimidated by Qiao Feng's imposing presence and dared not make a move. Although the disciples of the Great Wisdom Branch who came today were all confidants of the Great Wisdom Branch Master and were determined to rebel against Qiao Feng, they had not yet openly rebelled and still had some reservations about Qiao Feng!

Qiao Feng looked around and, seeing that no disciple dared to step forward, casually released Bao Butong's acupoints: "Please, make yourselves at home!"

However, Qiao Feng had already made up his mind to clear the area first, so as not to let the Beggars' Clan lose face in front of their fellow martial artists, and then sort out what was going on within the clan.

Even Bao Butong, with his sharp tongue, understood that Qiao Feng's martial arts skills had exceeded his expectations. This was different from when Chu Luren had gotten the better of him. Just now, he had not only not been careless, but had also warmed up to the perfect level.