Autumn wind swishes.

It wasn't even past noon, and in front of the New Tiger Palace, the Jiangning foothold of "King Yama" Xu Zhaonan and "Great Brightness Sect Leader" Lin Zongwu, the line of people coming to present their cards and pay their respects stretched into a long queue. As for the procession coming to pay their respects to the Holy Sect Leader, it filled almost the entire street.

Various strangely dressed "gods," dragon and lion dance teams, kneeling in worship, playing and singing, set off the entire scene to be incredibly lively.

This was the grand scene after Lin Zongwu fought the Five Directions Arena. Although the madmen under Zhou Shang launched their revenge yesterday, it was Xu Zhaonan's side that sounded the horn, and even after the skirmish with Zhou Shang, they were still methodically preparing to fight the "Million Soldiers Arena," which was enough to prove how strong the "King Yama" faction's foundation was in the city.

The religious followers, already driven by fanaticism, were instantly filled with enthusiasm. Some of the more active members, who already possessed some martial arts skills, couldn't wait to volunteer for battle, directly overthrowing all the heterodox demons in Jiangning under the leadership of the invincible Holy Sect Leader, and seizing the title of "Orthodox Fair Party."

Meanwhile, various small and medium-sized forces already in the city, as long as they were optimistic about Xu Zhaonan, eagerly submitted their pledges of allegiance. Xu Zhaonan began to receive them one by one, making them line up in the street to demonstrate his power to the "audience" in the entire city.

Half a street away, the residences facing the New Tiger Palace were now used as the "King Yama's" reception area. In a large house with a martial arts field, "Heavenly Saber" Tan Zheng sat on a chair beside the field, watching the figure in the distance shuttle and leap through a dense array of long and short wooden stakes. With each wave of the arm, the punches were sometimes agile and sometimes fierce, causing wood shavings to fly from the solid stakes.

The figure weaving through the wooden stakes was shirtless, his peak physique in his thirties displaying rippling muscles without an ounce of fat, perfectly combining strength and agility. He was none other than Li Yanfeng, the current generation of "Monkey King" who had come to Jiangning from Tongshan.

Tan Zheng and Li Yanfeng were meeting for the first time in Jiangning, but after fighting side by side on the morning of the seventeenth, they had developed admiration for each other's martial arts. Moreover, Tan Zheng had had a connection with the previous Monkey King, Li Ruoque, so their relationship had become close. Li Yanfeng called Tan Zheng "Uncle," and Tan Zheng acknowledged this highly skilled nephew with honor.

Li Yanfeng was currently practicing the essence of Great and Small Monkey Fist and White Ape Tongbei Fist. In the few days after arriving in Jiangning, he had sparred with Lin Zongwu twice. In the second instructive exchange, he had received many pointers from the latter on techniques to increase the destructive power of the White Ape Tongbei Fist. At this point, his understanding of this fist art had reached a new level.

As soon as the round of punches was finished, Tan Zheng couldn't help but stand up and applaud, "Excellent! With this improvement, the White Ape Tongbei Fist will surely shine brilliantly in your hands, nephew. In the future, you may become a grandmaster of a generation, glorifying posterity."

Li Yanfeng wiped the sweat from his forehead, not arrogant, but cupped his hands and said, "Uncle Zheng is too kind. Coming to Jiangning this time, I am grateful to Sect Leader, Uncle Zheng, and all the seniors for not being bound by sectarian views, and for their careful guidance. If anything is truly left behind in the future, it will surely record the broad-mindedness of all the seniors, which has made the martial world flourish today."

Before Li Yanfeng practiced his fist art, Tan Zheng had also demonstrated his understanding of saber techniques once. At this time, he waved his hand with a smile.

"Not being constrained by one person or one lineage, and breaking down sectarian views, is the general trend. More than a decade ago, when the Central Plains fell, the martial world of Lin'an spoke of the merging of north and south, but it was ultimately just a gimmick, which led to the destructive force of the Jurchen's fourth southward invasion. This is a lesson for all martial artists in the world. We can't do that now. It just so happens that Sect Leader, this grandmaster, has arrived to hold the line. This will surely be passed down as a good story."

Li Yanfeng nodded, "I heard that Sect Leader's southward journey this time, in addition to the matters in Jiangning, is mainly to train a team of elite soldiers for Mr. Xu, in order to compete with the Black Flag's so-called 'special forces' in the future. Will Uncle Zheng participate in this matter?"

Tan Zheng's nickname was originally "Heavenly Saber of Hebei." In the past, he was active in the Jin region. Later, when Grand Sect Leader Lin's resistance against the Jin failed, and he failed in his power struggle with the "Descended Mystic Maiden," he was suppressed and turned to the Jiangnan region. Because the term "Hebei" in Jiangnan was ridiculed, he simply changed it to "Heavenly Saber," which was even more domineering, and he had been following Xu Zhaonan for a long time. At this time, he nodded.

"The affairs of the court have always been above the martial world. Once you enter the army, there's nothing to hide. Mr. Xu is broad-minded and has always been generous to martial artists. Over the past year or so, we've been exchanging ideas for a long time, and the gains have indeed been far greater than before. Now that Sect Leader has come, everyone has a backbone, and I will definitely participate. I don't know what you think about this, nephew."

"In Tongshan, I have also opened up the sect and taught the villagers martial arts. I hope that when foreign enemies come, everyone will have the power to resist. This time, I have also accepted the position of protector of the Great Brightness Sect. Once Mr. Xu's momentum is established, I will surely echo it from Tongshan. One day, the two sides will merge, or Sect Leader and Uncle Zheng will have gained something in this method of training soldiers, I hope you won't forget your little nephew. The essence of Great and Small Monkey Fist and White Ape Tongbei Fist, I can write it down now and give it to Uncle Zheng."

He clasped his fists, his words generous. Tan Zheng patted his fist with a smile, and whispered, "What would I do with it? Find an opportunity and give it to Sect Leader. Sect Leader won't be greedy for your fist art. On the contrary, if you have this sincerity, you can get Sect Leader's careful guidance. Wouldn't that be a good thing?"

He paused and added, "...This matter can be done earlier. Right now, everyone's attention is still on the situation in Jiangning. They haven't paid attention to the future of opening up the sect and exchanging ideas for training soldiers. If you wait until Sect Leader announces this matter and everyone presents their secret manuals, it will be too late."

Tan Zheng offered his selfless advice, and Li Yanfeng immediately thanked him with a solemn expression. After a moment, hearing the bursts of excitement coming from outside, he whispered:

"But Uncle Zheng, I really don't understand the current situation in the city. You see, there is still the saying of vertical and horizontal alliances in military strategy. Now, there are five great families of the Fair Party in the city, plus the 'Great Dragon Head' waiting to take over, making it six or seven families. Although our 'King Yama' side is strong, it stands to reason that we can't defeat the other four families joining forces. It's fine for Sect Leader to fight Zhou Shang, since no one is compatible with him, but why do we have to step on them one by one? Taking the first shot will put everything on our shoulders. I don't know what Mr. Xu is thinking. Could there be some inside story we don't know?"

After Li Yanfeng finished these questions, he watched Tan Zheng's reaction out of the corner of his eye. Tan Zheng shook his head with a smile, "I can't say for sure about this matter. With Sect Leader's divine skills, going to the arena one family at a time is invincible. But why do we have to fight? That really makes people hesitate. Perhaps Mr. Xu is confident in facing four at once, or... he has already united with the other families to put on a show to paralyze others?"

Tan Zheng's saber skills were good, but he had obviously not investigated this matter in depth. Seeing this, Li Yanfeng's eyes showed a slight disappointment. As the deputy envoy of Liu Guangshi's mission to Jiangning, although he didn't necessarily have to be loyal to Liu Guangshi, he certainly had to be loyal to himself. If he couldn't grasp the full picture of where Xu Zhaonan's boldness in starting things as soon as he entered the city came from, he would always be a little worried. Of course, since Tan Zheng didn't understand, he would have to consider asking someone else.

Their conversation reached this point, and Li Yanfeng, after his martial arts practice, had put on loose martial arts clothing. At this time, a servant came over and reported something to Tan Zheng in a low voice. Tan Zheng was slightly surprised, then chuckled and looked at Li Yanfeng.

"Uncle Zheng, what is it?"

"You had someone spread a message in the city a few days ago?"

"...Um." Li Yanfeng thought for a moment and nodded, "It's just a small matter, entrusted to a brother under Xu Longbiao, Master Xu. What's wrong?"

"Today, two groups of people went to inquire about this matter, causing some minor disturbances. The first group had three people, two men and a woman, one of whom was a cripple. They interrogated people for information and found out about you. These people claimed to be Shi Baofeng's subordinates."

"Shi Baofeng..." Li Yanfeng frowned, then relaxed, "...I think I know what's going on. Uncle Zheng, do we have to give way to them?"

"No need." Tan Zheng shook his head readily, "There have always been rifts between the five great kings of the Fair Party. With your current status, nephew, it doesn't matter whether you give Shi Baofeng face or not. If it were an ordinary person, I would advise him to beware of the other party's revenge, but with your martial arts skills, nephew, I don't think it matters."

Tan Zheng said this, then paused: "Of course, if nephew, you just had some misunderstandings with them and want to set up a peace banquet, I can come forward on your behalf."

His words covered all possibilities. On the one hand, he believed that Li Yanfeng was qualified to have friction with them, and on the other hand, he said the solution if he didn't want to have friction. However, he did not inquire about what had happened. Li Yanfeng shook his head with a smile: "I won't hide it from Uncle Zheng. It's some problems that occurred in Tongshan..."

Regarding the friction that occurred in Tongshan and the purpose of him releasing the message in the newspaper, none of them were too big of secrets. He was just doing things casually, so he spoke casually at this time. Tan Zheng suddenly understood: "No wonder... Who were the second group of people who came looking for you? Can you guess, nephew?"

"Hmm?"

"This person claimed to be Long Aotian." Tan Zheng smiled, "He gave himself a title, saying it was called...Martial Arts Alliance Leader, hahahaha."

Li Yanfeng was slightly stunned, then laughed out loud. Since martial arts novels had become popular and widespread, there were countless self-proclaimed martial arts conferences and ambitious people secretly calling themselves martial arts alliance leaders.

The two laughed for a while, and Tan Zheng said, "This person, as nephew said, is not old, but his kung fu is indeed good. Later, he ran away all the way, and the people who were chasing him also discovered that he had an accomplice, a young monk of twelve or thirteen years old, called 'Wukong'...This kind of ambitious person who calls himself the martial arts alliance leader has very little possibility of coming from the southwest with a mission, but a twelve or thirteen year old, a fourteen or fifteen year old dare to venture out, the possibility of having a family background is also there."

Li Yanfeng said: "The letter sent from home said that this young man had threatened to come to Jiangning to settle accounts with me in person. I originally thought he was talking big, hehe, I didn't expect him to actually come. What a young hero..."

He said these words, but there was a faint surge of fierceness in his eyes. This kind of arrogant teenager killed his sister and brother-in-law's family in Tongshan, killed his two guest officials, and he was worried that he couldn't find him, but he didn't expect that the other party would dare to come to Jiangning. This was a sign that he really didn't regard him, the "Monkey King" Li Yanfeng, as an important figure. At this moment, he couldn't wait for that teenager to come to his door. If he didn't peel off this teenager's skin and make him suffer for three days and three nights, he would be unworthy of this reputation.

The fierceness in his heart was not seen by Tan Zheng. Tan Zheng put his hands behind his back and shook his head with a chuckle: "A young man of fourteen or fifteen years old, even if he is a genius, is unlikely to pose a threat to you now. But those few from the Shi family, since you don't plan to negotiate peace, you should pay a little attention to them in the future. Of course, you don't need to care too much. Just remember, everything has Sect Leader and the brothers in the sect to support you. Even if Shi Baofeng comes to you in person, he can't do anything to you."

Tan Zheng's words were generous, and Li Yanfeng nodded.

"Yes, Yanfeng will never disgrace our Great Brightness Sect... Of course, if they really want to assassinate or fight, they can come. Uncle Zheng, you see, you also said that there are two men and a woman, and a cripple in the middle. What can they do to me even if I let them attack together?"

"That's right." Tan Zheng thought for a moment and smiled, "Two men and a woman, a cripple."

"Haha."

"Hahahaha..."

The two laughed heartily and were both happy.

Of course, after turning around, Li Yanfeng privately found a connection and had someone pass the news of the "Five-Foot Yin Demon" Long Aotian's arrival in Jiangning to the people on the "Equal King" side. His martial arts were strong and he had power behind him, so he wasn't afraid, but being able to give the enemy some eye drops was to increase the power on his side. This was his consistent principle.

After all, in the current Jiangning City, the force that most wanted to find that Long Aotian was ultimately Shi Baofeng's subordinates - this matter was related to the face of the Shi family. It was not too late for him to wait until they fought before taking action to capture the young man and torture him properly.

And even if things didn't develop like this, if Shi Baofeng insisted on pursuing his small actions of spreading the news, then so be it. After all, two men and a woman, a cripple...

In the way of martial arts, except for being slightly inferior to Leader Lin at this time, who had he been afraid of in this life?

******

Ding, ding, clang, clang...

It was afternoon, and the sound of weapons clashing rang out in the dilapidated courtyard.

Liang Si'yi wielded her sword, the "Seven Displays of Peacock Mingwang" danced with howling wind, and You Hongzhuo controlled his single saber, dodging and blocking by the side. After fighting like this for a while, Liang Si'yi's forehead was slightly sweaty, but You Hongzhuo did not show any signs of fatigue. His steps were light, and when he reached a certain point, he sheathed his saber and walked to the side. Liang Si'yi stopped and adjusted her breathing.

You Hongzhuo poured a bowl of water and handed it to Liang Si'yi.

"Your Peacock Mingwang Sword is too domineering and is only suitable for use on the battlefield. If you encounter someone who plays rogue, you will run out of strength after fighting for a while. Also, the Peacock Mingwang Sword is originally a pair of swords. You changed it to a saber, which actually weakened the thrust, stab, and point techniques in the swordplay... Well, actually, this change was made for the sake of going to the battlefield, right?"

You Hongzhuo had a meeting with An Xifu, and last night they made a night exploration to Wei Xuwens residence, but for a while didn't find the whereabout of Miao Zheng taken by Wei Xuwen.

Although the two sides had a certain degree of trust at this time, they were all veterans who had been walking in the martial world for many years. An Xifu would not let You Hongzhuo see all of his main force, and he could not ignore other things just for the sake of rescuing Miao Zheng. Therefore, the person who contacted You Hongzhuo and partnered with him was still the slightly emotionless and uncommunicative Liang Si'yi. After meeting in the afternoon, the two sides had a slight exchange of blows to understand each other's details for the convenience of future cooperation.

After You Hongzhuo finished speaking, Liang Si'yi nodded: "When practicing swordsmanship, I didn't think about private fighting. In fact, the pair of Peacock Mingwang Swords consumes more stamina."

She briefly introduced the Peacock Mingwang Sword. In fact, the pair of swords in Wang Yin's hands were quite heavy. When fighting the enemy, he chopped and waved all the way, like a peacock spreading its tail, which was dazzling. And the few killing moves mixed in it were converted from chopping into thrusting, stabbing, pointing, and slashing. The killing move of the peacock tail closing after spreading often caught people off guard, but the power required under inertia was actually greater.

Liang Si'yi's figure was taller than the average woman, and her hands could be considered strong and powerful, but the past inheritance of the Peacock Mingwang Sword should have been a one-on-one inheritance in the general martial world, or at most one-to-few. When Wang Yin was in the north, he took in dozens or hundreds of adopted sons and daughters in order to have people available, so the supervision of each person's martial arts may not have been so detailed. He had to simplify some of the fine killing moves in the Peacock Mingwang Sword, or even directly supplemented it with saber techniques, and went in the direction of broad and open moves.

"Your internal energy is much stronger than that of ordinary women, but in terms of saber techniques, I always feel that there is room for improvement... Miss Liang, don't think I'm being presumptuous. When I went south this time, I went to the Southwest China Army and learned some domineering saber moves. We can exchange some ideas in the middle..." The two sat under the eaves of the dilapidated yard, and when they talked about saber techniques, You Hongzhuo felt a bit garrulous.

"Okay." Liang Si'yi was concise and to the point.

"Well, then I'll just say a little bit about my views. I think that Commander Wang asked you to change a sword into a saber in order to better allow you to keep the chopping moves in the swordsmanship, but the essence of saber techniques is not used like this... If you want to understand this point carefully, I think you might as well consider practicing a single saber in peacetime... Look, your move just now is like this..."

You Hongzhuo wielded a single saber in the yard, and after a while, he took a wooden stick as a sword and demonstrated with both hands. Liang Si'yi had practiced the Peacock Mingwang Sword for many years, and her own martial arts and comprehension were extremely high. Occasionally, when she saw something that moved her heart, her arms and wrists would move along with it, or she would practice in the yard with You Hongzhuo. Although she didn't say much, the moves she practiced were in place, which made You Hongzhuo very happy.

The two exchanged ideas for a long time, and felt that both sides had improved, so they sat down in the yard to drink water.

Liang Si'yi looked at him: "How did you practice your saber techniques?"

"Me?"

"Yes." Liang Si'yi nodded, "Excuse me."

"Oh, that's nothing." You Hongzhuo smiled, "Actually... I just practiced blindly myself..."

"Internal strength is from childhood." Liang Si'yi said.

"Yes." You Hongzhuo nodded and was slightly silent, "...Our family... used to practice something called You Family Saber Technique, which is actually like a wild style. My father... didn't tell me anything about the origin of the saber technique before he died. Anyway, I've been practicing stupidly since I was a child. I hadn't fought with anyone when I was ten years old, and I hadn't hurt anyone, but later... something happened, I remember... it was the eighth year of Jianshuo..."

You Hongzhuo recalled the past, but at this time, he talked about the death of his parents in a light tone, talked about his first time killing someone, and the feeling when he was enlightened. Later, he wandered the martial world and got some guidance from masters, such as Mr. Zhao and his wife of "Black Wind Double Fiends". After that, he experienced various fights, all of which were experiences accumulated in bloody killings, but at this time, it seemed to be said lightly.

For some reasons, he didn't mention Luan Fei and the matters of sworn brotherhood. The afternoon sun shone into the dilapidated courtyard, and Liang Si'yi listened quietly, her eyes were like flowing waves, and several times she seemed to want to say something, but in the end she didn't.

They then stood up and simply fought each other again...

******

Long Aotian wandered around the city with the young monk. They went to see the old Su family house, which was the former residence of the heart demon, and ate simple snacks at several roadside stalls. They didn't return to the Wuhu Inn, where the little pride was living, until dusk.

Martial Arts Alliance Leader Long Aotian was generous and ordered three large basins of dishes, a big fish, a tofu, a vegetable, and a lot of rice. His spending money like water made the young monk stunned, and even the innkeeper came over to persuade him: "If you can't finish it, you can eat less. I'll give you a small fish..."

Long Aotian slapped the table: "We martial arts practitioners have a large appetite. Give me the food if I give you money. If you keep nagging, I'll tear down your broken shop."

His face was cute, and although he had reached the "adult" age in this era, his glaring eyes when he didn't plan to really kill someone didn't have much deterrence. The innkeeper's hot face was met with a cold butt, and he walked away with a smile.

In fact, the innkeeper was mainly afraid that he would reveal too much wealth and attract the covetousness of others. But our Long Aotian had already figured it out - he had long wanted to fight in the inn and establish his prestige, so he didn't mind revealing his identity as a "martial arts master."

It's just that his appearance was kind, and the twelve or thirteen year old monk opposite him was even more obedient. At this time, when he made a fuss, some of the traveling greenwoodsmen in the inn turned their heads to look, and only felt that they might be some children brought by elders with a background who were planning to come and cause trouble. Not a single one came - mainly because it was a bit embarrassing to cause trouble for them.

It was the time to grow, and the two devoured most of the food and enjoyed the ending slowly. The light of the setting sun shone in from the window next to the inn, and Long Aotian mentioned the matter of the morning: "Humph, the subordinates of King Yama are all bad ruffians!"

They played around in the afternoon. Because they had just met, the little monk dared not say too sensitive topics, so he didn't even ask about the morning. At this time, when "Brother Long" suddenly mentioned it, the little monk's shoulders shrank in fright. He lowered his head to eat and didn't dare to let the other party discover that his master was probably with the "King Yama" group.

Fortunately, the domineering Long Aotian didn't just scold one.

"You saw it in the afternoon, right? What Fair Party? None of the five fools are good. They don't reason, kill innocent people indiscriminately, and slander people's reputations... Well, by the way, what do you mainly want to do when you enter the city this time? Is it just to visit the Su family's house?"

Long Aotian criticized the Fair Party for a while, and the little monk echoed and nodded. When asked the last sentence, he shook his head.

"Actually, there is nothing else."

"Are you going to see your master?"

"I won't see him in Jiangning. This is the little monk's practice."

"Oh..." Long Aotian nodded, "Then I see that your martial arts are okay, barely follow me for a while."

He made an invitation with great compassion. The monk opposite him swallowed the rice in his mouth, then clasped his hands with some trepidation: "Amitabha, actually... the little monk has a question that I want to ask Brother Long..."

"Ask."

"The little monk wants to ask... why does Brother Long want to be that five, five-foot...yin demon..."

He didn't know where he heard this rumor from and finally asked it at this time. Before he finished speaking, Ning Ji slapped a palm on the table. The table only made a muffled sound and had been slapped with fingerprints.

The little monk wasn't amazed by this kind of skill. He was just afraid of offending people. At this time, he whispered: "Actually... the little monk doesn't want to have any opinions on Brother Long's hobbies, but... but the little monk's master also said that lust is a knife on the head, women are not good things, mainly... it hurts the body..."

"That's all slander!" Long Aotian stabilized his emotions and said simply.

"Ah? Is it slander?"

"Humph, that's what those guys in Tongshan did. I've already thought of it!"

Long Aotian's eyes were serious. At this time, he began to talk about his journey along the way. He left the southwest, met a group of scholars and a pair of performing artists, and then arrived in Tongshan, where a series of things happened... The little monk's eyes were obviously relaxed. When he heard about the encounters of Wang Xiuniang, Lu Wenke and others in Tongshan, there was also a trace of blood in his eyes, and he nodded repeatedly: "These bad guys, they should be killed!"

"Humph, they know I'm coming to Jiangning, so they sent people to Jiangning to spread rumors and make trouble, and give me... that kind of nickname. I will never let them succeed. When I leave Jiangning, I will kill back to Tongshan and destroy their whole family! Of course, now that I'm in Jiangning, I have to do a few more good deeds and spread my name as the 'Martial Arts Alliance Leader'..."

"Yes, Brother Long, I'll help you."

"Okay, then you will be the vice-alliance leader of the Martial Arts Alliance in the future, and you'll be called 'Great Sage Equaling Heaven' Sun Wukong."

"Amitabha, it doesn't matter what the little monk is called."

"I've already thought about it. The Fair Party in the city are all not good things. The matter in Tongshan, that Li Jianfeng is in the city, and he will be killed sooner or later. But, that Lin Fatty of the Great Brightness Sect is causing trouble for Xu Zhaonan. In order to let these fools fight each other, we will let him go for now. I've been wandering around the city for the past few days. There is a big villain that we can find first, kill him, and make a name for ourselves."

"Amitabha, good, good." The little monk blinked and looked at him.

"It's that Wei Xuwen, the 'Heavenly Killer'. We'll start tonight and find him, and then I'll personally set the plan and figure out how to do him."

In the setting sun, Long Aotian patted his chest.

The Martial Arts Alliance Leader's plan to make a name for himself was finalized in the fiery sunset.

The monk across him chew on the food in his mouth, he was already knowing of the bad repuration of Wei Xuwen after his entering into the city these days, then he nodded vigorously:

"—Yeah."