Chapter 21: Touch it, and you’ll know.
The simple two words made Han Shuangjiang’s breath catch.
A heavy rain fell last night, but today was a beautiful day.
The sky was clear, and the sun shone brightly.
This fox-faced man said this answer calmly, bathed in the sunlight, and then flashed her a grin.
The world’s protagonist, still in their “newbie protection period,” felt their body tense up slightly.
“He killed someone when he was still an ordinary person?”
The inner impact of this was far greater than a Cultivator killing someone!
Beneath her swelling chest, her heart began to race.
In a daze, Han Shuangjiang didn’t even realize that Chu Huaixu had started walking forward.
“What are you standing there for, stupidly? Let’s go,” he called out.
The cold-faced girl pursed her lips, her body instinctively quickening her pace, appearing quite obedient.
Realizing this, she quickly slowed down.
Chu Huaixu glanced at her from the corner of his eye and couldn’t help but smile.
Medicine Mountain was one of the three peaks of the Outer Sect, roughly divided into three areas.
They could be understood as: the medicinal herb area, the residential area, and the living services and commercial area.
In the Outer Sect, senior registered disciples would impart mortal martial arts to outsiders.
Initially, the Outer Sect’s Scripture Pavilion set up four Magic Arrays to select outstanding Cultivators in the Meridian-Opening Stage and provide them with high-quality Cultivation Techniques.
This was not because the Daoist Sect was stingy and unwilling to share good things with everyone.
It was purely because higher-level Cultivation Techniques came with greater difficulty, and learning them without sufficient aptitude would actually hinder one’s progress.
But who would have thought that there would be countermeasures to policies?
A small number of people realized that mortal martial arts also had their merits, capable of making the physical body unleash more powerful strength, which was beneficial for breaking through the Magic Arrays!
The diligent students of the Profound Yellow Realm immediately took action.
At first, no one practiced this low-level stuff.
As this trend gradually brewed and despite repeated prohibitions, it eventually forced the Scripture Pavilion to upgrade the Magic Arrays, increasing the difficulty!
If the vast majority of people learned mortal martial arts, then the originally set standards could no longer be used for effective screening.
What could you do if they claimed they had learned martial arts before climbing the mountain?
Alas, it was better to consider it as disciples laying a foundation with mortal martial arts before formally learning [Spells].
As time passed, a martial arts learning industry chain was formed, which in turn increased tax revenue.
Chu Huaixu, with Han Shuangjiang, quickly inquired all the way and soon arrived in front of a courtyard.
“Why do so many people recommend finding this Senior Brother Liu to learn from?” he asked, somewhat puzzled.
Was his reputation that good?
Han Shuangjiang, the cold-faced girl, acted like a little busybody, spending the entire journey comparing prices and inquiring about costs.
Little did she know that the Outer Sect had long surpassed the stage of internal competition driven by price wars.
Nowadays, the prices for learning martial arts were all roughly the same.
Chu Huaixu had told her this from the beginning, telling her not to waste time comparing, but she didn’t believe him.
Now that she realized he was right, she still muttered in her heart, “So expensive! How can it be so expensive!”
Walking into the courtyard, Chu Huaixu shouted loudly, “Senior Brother Liu! Is Senior Brother Liu here?”
The door to the house soon opened, and a slightly handsome man walked out.
He was wearing a white robe with fine gold thread patterns on the sleeves and collar.
At first glance, it was clear this was made of superior fabric.
Given the exorbitant prices in the Outer Sect, this attire alone must have cost a lot.
“Is his business that good? Has he gone crazy?” Chu Huaixu thought.
This registered disciple named Liu, resembling a young nobleman, was slightly startled after seeing their appearances.
The man was tall and handsome, and the woman, even behind a veil, exuded a presence that suggested she must be beautiful.
Although their attire was ordinary and not luxurious, a unique aura radiated from them.
Based on the principle of attraction between the sexes, his attention was more focused on Han Shuangjiang.
After all, she gave off an icy demeanor that kept people at a distance, yet possessed a fiery figure.
While her chest wasn’t as vast as Elder Nangong’s, creating “magnificent waves,” it was noticeably full and certainly out of the ordinary.
Her slender waist, easily grasped, further accentuated the alluring curves of her hips.
Below her voluptuous hips were a pair of disproportionately long, elegant legs.
As she gracefully walked forward just now, her swaying gait was like a lotus blooming with every step, stirring the heart.
The colder she appeared, the more she ignited the desire for conquest in some men, making them want to see her completely transform into a temptress.
The registered disciple named Liu Chengqi couldn’t help but sniff the air, as if catching a scent.
Upon seeing Han Shuangjiang, he immediately understood why they had come to his courtyard, thinking that more and more people on Medicine Mountain were sensible.
“Junior brother and sister, you look unfamiliar. Someone must have introduced you, right?” he asked with a smile that made people feel as comfortable as basking in spring sunshine.
Unfortunately, comparing goods makes you discard the old, and comparing people makes you want to die.
Standing before Chu Huaixu, who ranked second on the “Must-Eat List for Companions,” Liu Chengqi’s own slight handsomeness was clearly insufficient.
“Senior Brother Liu, we did ask some fellow disciples, and they all recommended coming to you for martial arts,” Chu Huaixu said, while privately sending out an [Information Probe] to gauge his capabilities.
Well, he was a cultivator of the Six-Orifice stage!
My apologies.
On Medicine Mountain, Outer Sect disciples who had already reached the First Realm or even stronger realms disdained imparting mortal martial arts for profit; it was too demeaning.
As for registered disciples who were close to opening all nine orifices, they wouldn’t waste their precious time and were busy breaking through, like students cramming for the college entrance exam, and had no time to be private tutors.
Therefore, this batch of martial arts instructors could, at best, be at the Six or Seven-Orifice stage.
The only thing that felt odd to Chu Huaixu was that in the basic information displayed by the system, Senior Brother Liu’s status was: Spiritual Embryo (Damaged).
“Ho, it seems he has a story,” he thought.
Liu Chengqi smiled and took two steps forward, his voice gentle and carrying the legendary “bubble sound”: “Recommended by others? That’s the fellow disciples praising me too highly.”
“Junior brother and sister, my surname is Liu, Liu Chengqi. You can call me Senior Brother Liu.”
“My most proficient martial art is the ‘Boundless Heaven-and-Earth Eight Trigrams Palm.’ The fee is 10 taels of silver per person per hour.”
Having said that, he glanced at the ice-mountain beauty with furrowed brows and suddenly changed his tone: “However, teaching one person is the same as teaching two. Junior brother, if you pay ten taels of silver, I’ll teach both of you hand-in-hand for the first hour.”
As soon as he finished speaking, he saw that the ice-mountain beauty’s brows had indeed relaxed.
Chu Huaixu’s only thought was: “Boundless Heaven-and-Earth Eight Trigrams Palm? Never heard of it.”
However, mortal martial arts were similar to Cultivation Techniques for the Meridian-Opening Stage, with names that were increasingly domineering.
When he was inquiring outside earlier, he had heard that some people taught things like “Heavenly Saber Slash” and “Great Desolation Prison Finger,” making one think they were some celestial-level [Spells]!
But he hadn’t expected Liu Chengqi’s buy-one-get-one-free tactic.
More importantly, his phrasing was problematic.
“Why should I pay ten taels, and not five taels each?”
Although he was indeed the one paying, it just didn’t sound right, like he was offering borrowed flowers.
Or was he misjudging my relationship with Han Shuangjiang and giving me a chance to show off?
But regardless, saving money was always a good thing.
Chu Huaixu immediately paid ten taels of silver, eager to witness this “Boundless Heaven-and-Earth Eight Trigrams Palm.”
Liu Chengqi briefly introduced the martial art and then began to demonstrate.
He demonstrated from the first to the ninth form.
The intensity of this mortal martial art was indeed not bad; it could be considered a superior martial art.
Most importantly, it looked very cool and graceful.
After the demonstration, Liu Chengqi began teaching the first form—Roaming Dragons of the Eight Desolations!
He said he would teach hand-in-hand, and he truly did.
“Junior brother, you need to sink down a bit more here.”
“Yes, and here you need to go up.”
He would press on Chu Huaixu’s waist and lift his arm.
In addition to this, he also explained the intricacies in detail.
Since it was just a martial art, Chu Huaixu immediately heard the system prompt: “[Ding! Liu Chengqi is teaching you the first form of the martial art ‘Bagua Palm’. Do you wish to learn?]”
“[Yes].” The ten taels of silver weren’t spent in vain.
After learning it, Chu Huaixu planned to demonstrate once, to impress them and flaunt his talent as a martial arts prodigy.
To his surprise, Liu Chengqi skipped him and said, “Junior Brother Chu, you digest it yourself for now. I’ll explain it further to Junior Sister Han.”
At this moment, the cold-faced girl was standing aside, diligently imitating him.
As she performed this not-so-standard Roaming Dragons of the Eight Desolations, her body’s curves were fully displayed. Viewed from the side, her full and shapely hips made her robe bulge.
A gust of wind blew, lifting a corner of her veil, revealing lips that were rosy and tender, tightly pursed.
Liu Chengqi’s heart was shaken
