CHAPTER 122: CHAPTER 105: MAKING FRIENDS THROUGH MARTIAL ASSOCIATION

Within Medicine King Hall, the chattering of excited voices filled the air. Despite the frosty weather of the winter season, the clerks’ and apprentices’ faces glowed with excitement as they surrounded a young man in their midst.

It was Junior Brother Chen Ku. He was only seventeen this year, yet he had already become one of the top ten young masters in the city.

The key was that this ranking did not merely list the young people of Baojiao County, but included the many Dragon Tiger Leopards from the Prefecture City who had entered Baojiao County. The significance of this list was, needless to say, extremely high.

Having such a young prodigy among them, right in Medicine King Hall, how could they not feel honored?

Chen Ku, however, looked at the list with a slight frown.

To be honest, ever since I was reborn into this Martial Path world, I’ve always adhered to a policy of safety and stability, accumulating resources and fortifying defenses. Things like being on or off a list hold no attraction for me. As the old saying goes, "In literary arts, there is no first place; in martial arts, there is no second place." This is especially true for young people. It’s the time for competing for fame and profit. Assigning such rankings to young people, whether they like it or not, makes them targets. They become subject to public scrutiny and judgment, which concerns their own honor and disgrace. Being involved is not a good thing. Especially the rankings on this list. In my view, they are particularly insidious.

In this list, the undisputed number one young master of the city was none other than Thirteenth Young Master Xie Qingfeng from Firewood Iron Shop, who had already joined the ranks of the elder generation in terms of strength.

Thirteenth Young Master Xie, twenty-eight this year, was a rare Fourth Realm Meridian-Opening expert in the city. He had cleared all his meridians, slowed his pulse and heartbeat, and with all his internal organs clean and orderly, he was someone who could live to the extreme limits of human lifespan without doing anything.

Xie Qingfeng, now twenty-eight, practiced Firewood Iron Shop’s centuries-old ultimate skill, "Sun Change Nine Swords." He had entered the First Realm at the tender age of fifteen. By twenty, he roamed the four prefectures and eight counties, leaving behind the reputation of a handsome young master with unparalleled swordsmanship, not just in Baojiao County but also in other prefectures and counties.

One could say that Thirteenth Young Master Xie was virtually the authentic standard for Baojiao County’s younger generation. Once established, no one questioned Thirteenth Young Master’s fame and strength.

Even if numerous well-known young experts from the Qiu Dragon Mansion had arrived in the city at the start of the year, none managed to outshine Xie Qingfeng.

But it was different below Xie Qingfeng.

The second place was already not a young person from Baojiao County, but a young man from the Qiu Dragon Mansion known as "Yu of the Blade."

Yu of the Blade was known in Qiu Dragon Mansion as "Divine Blade Yu." Nobody knew his lineage or who his mentor was, only that he possessed Bladesmanship fast as lightning, and at just twenty-five, he had already slain an elder expert of the Four Realms Meridian-Opening.

Following Yu of the Blade, the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth places were basically all young experts from the Prefecture City.

Only in seventh place did a young person from Baojiao County appear.

It was Ning Jiuzhen, the first genius among this generation of disciples from the Fish and Dragon Association. She was the direct heiress of the Ning Family, one of the eight major clans in the city of Baojiao County. She never interacted with the outside world or made friends, always staying within the Ning Family’s building on Eastern Street, never stepping beyond her own doorstep. But everyone knew she was an exceptional female talent with an extraordinarily beautiful appearance.

The eighth place was the son of Official Shangguan, Shangguan Qian, who was also just eighteen this year but had already stepped into the Realm of Inner Qi Perfection. As the son of the city’s foremost figure, his reputation in Baojiao County was not prominent, but no one doubted Young Master Qian’s talent, Root Bone, or strength.

Chen Ku was ranked ninth.

Tenth place was Zhao Chuanzu from the "Ancient Elephant Sect" of the Prefecture City. It was said he cultivated a martial art known as "Nine Dragons Union," a rare and secret ultimate skill within the Ancient Elephant Sect, seldom seen in the Martial Forest.

The eleventh place was Qu Feng from the Firewood Iron Shop in Baojiao County.

...

Inside Medicine King Hall.

While everyone was discussing the list, looking at Chen Ku with admiration and pride, a person walked in from outside the hall and said to Chen Ku, "Junior Brother Chen Ku, this list has a malicious intent; don’t fall for its trap."

Chen Ku looked up.

He saw the newcomer, dressed like him in embroidered silk robes, but with a distinctive difference: his breast was embroidered with a tuft of flowers hiding the character ’fortune’ within it.

The man was around thirty years of age, with a mustache.

"It’s Senior Brother Lan!"

"Pay respects to Senior Brother Lan."

The clerks and apprentices in the front hall, upon seeing the newcomer, immediately composed themselves and saluted Lan Fuxi with solemn respect.

"Senior Brother Lan."

Chen Ku also greeted the arriving man with a salute.

Lan Fuxi was a direct disciple Third Shopkeeper Cao Shouxiong of Medicine King Hall had accepted ten years ago. Now thirty, he had attained Mystic Barrier cultivation.

I have some positive feelings towards the Third Shopkeeper, who climbed up from the bottom, but I don’t know much about this Senior Brother Lan. I also sense some malice within this list... but I’ll feign ignorance for now.

He asked, "Senior Brother Lan, why do you say the list is malicious?"

"Can you really not see it?" Lan Fuxi said gravely to Chen Ku. "This list deliberately highlights one young person from each force in the county, setting them up as targets. Indeed, its purpose is to incite internal strife among the young. Take you, Junior Brother Chen, for example. It’s true that you now have Inner Qi Cultivation, but within our Medicine King Hall...

"Huo Xiaoxia, a disciple of Elder Nong; Second Shopkeeper’s disciple Zhang Renfeng; and the Store Manager’s heir Kou Ming...

"These three—our senior sister and brothers—are all under thirty, yet their cultivation has mostly reached the Mystic Barrier Realm."