Chapter 41: Ma Mengqi Transmits the Hammer Technique

  Six days later, Donglai County, Qingzhou.

  "Meng Qi, younger brother, no need to see me off, I'm taking my leave now!" Guan Ning bowed his fist in farewell to Ma Chao.

  "Take care, Young Master An! " Although Ma Chao felt a little reluctant to part with him, he had already gotten used to the scene of separation after experiencing it too many times.

  "Take care, younger brother!" With that, Guan Ning mounted his horse and headed towards Beihai.

  Jian Yong left, Ma Chao and Cui An also mounted their horses and departed together.

  Ma Chao arrived in Donglai. His intention was to look for Taishi Ci, but he only knew that Taishi Ci was a person from the Donglai prefecture and did not know which specific place.

  So he didn't have much hope of finding someone in a county with hundreds of thousands of people, which was indeed similar to looking for a needle in the ocean. Taishi Cai was only twelve or thirteen years old at that time and not a famous person, and after asking around for a long time, no one had heard of him.

  Ma Chao gave himself two days, and if there was no news from Tai Shi Ci within those two days, he would leave with Cui An to somewhere else and wouldn't waste any more time. As expected, the two days passed, and still, there was no news from Tai Shi Ci, Ma Chao didn't feel particularly regretful either.

  If he were to gather all the talented people under his command, it would actually be meaningless. Without an opponent, it's lonely. These are indeed his true thoughts. What can be easily obtained ultimately lacks a lot of fun. Ma Chao knows that his road ahead will still be very long.

  Since there was no news of Taishi Ci, Ma Chao didn't linger and set out on the third day with Cui An. This time he was heading to Beihai, but he wasn't afraid of running into Guan Ning, as Guan Ning had returned home. The Zhu family in Beihai was what Ma Chao wanted to avoid, thinking that as long as he didn't go there, it would be fine.

  But if he really met elsewhere, he had also prepared a lot of excuses to fool him. Guan Ning was a gentleman, and he couldn't think that Ma Chao would have so many ideas to deceive him.

  Before leaving the territory of Donglai, Ma Chao saw an ironwork shop in the city. The ironwork shop was nothing special, but Ma Chao suddenly remembered something. So he dismounted his horse and entered this ironwork shop without hesitation.

  After entering the blacksmith's shop, Ma Chao found that there was only a young man hammering iron, "Where is your master?"

  The young man didn't even lift his head and continued to knock, "I'm the only one here!"

  Ma Chao nodded slightly in disappointment and was about to turn around and leave, but the long-handled iron hammer placed at the corner of the wall caught his attention.

  Ma Chao raised an eyebrow and thought to himself, "It can't be this coincidental, right?"

  "Is your surname Wu An?" he asked the young man.

  The young man continued to knock, but this time he didn't say a word. However, Ma Chao noticed that the young man's movements had slowed down significantly, and with that, Ma Chao had an idea.

  "You are the Wu'an State of Beihai!"

  The young man stopped what he was doing and looked at Ma Chao with surprise and vigilance, "Who are you?"

  "Ma Chao's horse is coming!" Ma Chao said with a smile.

  The young man obviously hadn't heard of it before, "You're not someone sent by the Wang family?"

  Ma Chao was taken aback after hearing this, what's with the Wang and Li families? It seems like there's some hidden truth here.

  "No, I've never known anyone from the Wang family!"

  After hearing Ma Chao's words, the young man finally relaxed. In fact, he also felt that Ma Chao and his men had no malicious intentions, otherwise they would have taken action to capture him long ago. He wasn't quite sure about Ma Chao's martial arts skills, but the fierce-looking big man beside Ma Chao was definitely a master. If they were to take action, he would certainly be in trouble.

  "You're not from the Wang family, then how did you know I'm Wu An Guo?" The young man, who was indeed Wu An Guo, asked Ma Chao.

  "It's what it told me!" Ma Chao pointed at the iron hammer in the corner of the wall.

  "Earlier I asked you if your surname was Wu An, and your reaction confirmed that you are indeed Wu An Guo. And as far as I know, in Qingzhou, the only person who uses a single-handed iron hammer as a weapon and has the surname Wu An is... it seems like there's no one else but you, Wu An Guo!"

  Wu An Guo believed what Ma Chao said without a doubt, but if he thought carefully about it, there were still many flaws in what Ma Chao said. However, Wu An Guo didn't have time to think too much at this moment and didn't consider too much.

  "Excuse me, is there something I can help you with?"

  "Of course I have! One of the reasons I came to Qingzhou is to find you!"

  "Looking for me?" Wu Ankou was perplexed, he didn't understand what this young man wanted with him.

  "Ah, it's you! Good things have fallen on your head!" Ma Chao said with a hearty laugh.

  "All right, what good thing? The young master is joking, what good thing could I have?" Wu Ankou said seriously.

  "Are you using a hammer?"

  "Isn't it obvious, young master? Haven't you seen it all already?"

  "That's you!"

  "Please speak clearly, young master!"

  "It's all my fault, it's all my fault... things are like this..."

  Ma Chao then passed down the hammer method of his ancestor Ma Yuan, and also spoke out about finding a successor. However, he didn't tell the whole truth, at least not about the matter of the drumming golden hammer.

  After hearing Ma Chao's words, Wu An Guo was so excited that he almost lost his sense of direction. Who is Ma Yuan? He is the General Fubo of the Great Han Dynasty and a meritorious minister who founded the country.

  Wu An Guo also uses a hammer, and the person he admires most is Ma Yuan. Now that he hears he might be able to learn Ma Yuan's hammer techniques, how can he not be excited? However, excitement aside, his questions still haven't been answered, so it's too early to get worked up.

  "This, Marquis. Are these things you said true?" Wu Ankou looked very excited.

  "Of course, as long as you're willing, I'll pass on the ancestral hammering technique to you, and that would also fulfill one of my ancestors' wishes!"

  Ma Chao said it was true, perhaps after Wu An Guo learned Ma Yuan's hammer method, his martial arts might become first-rate, but compared to this talented person, Ma Chao was more happy that the ancestors' martial arts had someone to inherit, and also achieved the ancestors' wish.

  Ma Chao came from his previous life to the Eastern Han, his soul was not the original one, but his body was. Ma Yuan was not his own ancestor, but he was the ancestor of this body, so from now on, he had fully and completely entered into the role.

  If it were in the past, he might still often think of his previous life and miss many things from his previous life. But from now on, Ma Chao is just Ma Chao, the Ma Chao Ma Mengqi of the late Eastern Han Dynasty, who shoulders a huge responsibility!

  "Will do, of course!" Wu Ankou hastily replied.

  "Good!" Ma Chao then asked Cui An to bring over the package on his horse, opened it, and took out the volume of hammer techniques that he had obtained from Ma Teng's hand, which was naturally a copy made by Ma Teng himself.

  Ma Chao gave this volume of hammering method to Wu Ankang, and Wu Ankang was so excited that he couldn't speak. He only liked to use hammers, but he didn't have a good teacher to guide him, and he relied solely on brute force, his level was not even up to par. Now, fortunately, he got Ma Yuan's hammering method, which is truly the blessing of heaven. However, looking at this volume of hammering method in front of him, Wu Ankang frowned.

  "Prince, this... I..."

  "If you have something to say, just say it, what's with all the hesitation!"

  "Your Highness, I'd like to, but unfortunately I'm illiterate!" Wu Ankou said with embarrassment.

  What's wrong? Can't read? Ma Chao didn't fall, sigh, forget it, help people to the end, send Buddha to the west. He immediately made a decision.

  "It doesn't matter, being illiterate doesn't matter either."

  Ma Chao paused for a moment, then continued: "From today on, I will read the Hammer Method to you every day. You must memorize it, and how much you understand is up to you. As for me, I know very little about the Hammer Method, so don't expect anything from me!" Ma Chao said helplessly.

  As expected, Wu An Guo didn't understand much when Ma Chao read it to him, and his expression was somewhat disappointed. Fortunately, with Ma Chao reading it for him, the problem of not being able to recognize characters was solved.

  "Everything is up to you, young master!" From then on, Wu An Guo had to rely on Ma Chao's help. Moreover, it was someone else who had given him the ancestral hammer method, so he humbled himself and referred to himself as a small person, all of which was voluntary.

  So, Ma Chao and Cui An began to instruct Wu Anguo. Why is there still a matter of Cui An? Because Ma Chao knew that Cui An's understanding of weapons was much stronger than his own, it can be said that he was proficient in everything, so of course he had to pull him over to do the hard work.

  It turned out that Ma Chao was right, and Cui An understood many things he didn't. Wu Anguo was indeed a good material, and he also had his own unique understanding of the hammer.

  With just this trio combination, they almost completely figured out the hammer method.

  During this time, Ma Chao also tested Wu An Guo's strength. Although it wasn't innate divine power, it was still among the best. Ma Chao had some regrets because what Ma Yuan said was that innate divine power would be even better, but now being able to find someone who is not wrong in any aspect is really not easy.

  As for his character, he also passed. Ma Chao thought that Wu An Guo was not a bad person, especially since he ran to Donglai because of the injustice he saw on the road and ended up getting into trouble.

  Originally from a village belonging to Pingzhou in Beihai, his father was an ironworker, so he learned how to work with iron after studying with his father for several years.

  This year Wu An is twenty years old. When he was nineteen, that is to say last year, his parents passed away one after another. He didn't want to be a blacksmith in the village all his life, so he sold everything at home and brought his iron hammer to Pingshou City.

  As a result, in the city, he encountered a rascal who molested a young girl on the street. Wu An Guo, this kid, got hot-headed and came up with a heroic rescue, but who knew that one misstep would lead to him accidentally killing the rascal with one punch.

  There were onlookers who kindly told him that the one he had killed was Wang Dasao, a well-known young master from Ping Shou City. The Wang family in the city was quite influential and powerful. "You've killed the young master of the Wang family, they won't let you off easily, you'd better escape while it's chaotic."

  Wu An Guo was frightened, originally he just couldn't bear to see the daylight molestation of a young girl on the street, who would have thought that doing a good deed would result in loss of life, and the Wang family's power is very great, he can't stay hidden in Qingzhou anymore. So he ran from Qingzhou to Xuzhou, not daring to show his face again in Qingzhou.

  But after the Wang family learned of the news, they had been looking for Wu Ankou all along, but there was no news. Until two months ago, the Wang family didn't know if they had offended someone, and the whole family was silenced. After Wu Ankou heard the news, he waited for another month before daring to return from Xuzhou to Qingzhou.

  He returned to Qingzhou, but he didn't dare stay in Beihai again. He arrived in Donglai and used his last bit of money to rent a shop and open an ironwork store. When Ma Chao recognized him, he was startled. The direct line of the Wang family had been wiped out, but it was inevitable that there would be some relatives left. He thought it was a relative of the Wang family coming to settle scores with him. Later, after taking a closer look, it turned out to be a false alarm, and not only was he not seeking revenge, but he also brought great good news.

  Wu An Guo has been practicing the hammer for over a month now. In this past month, he has worked diligently and made great efforts to learn the hammer technique. As the saying goes, "Heaven rewards those who are diligent," and in this case, Wu An Guo's progress is like heaven and earth compared to before.

  He himself knew that his current martial arts skills were much stronger than before, and he was also deeply grateful to Ma Chao from the bottom of his heart. In his eyes, this young master Ma was his benefactor, if it weren't for him, he probably wouldn't have gotten any decent hammering techniques in this lifetime, let alone making great progress in martial arts.

  Now Wu An has made up his mind, he plans to follow Ma Chao in the future, but he also has a sense of self-awareness, with his current martial arts level, Master Ma may not take him seriously, so he can only work hard to become stronger, and then it will be easier to get along with Master Ma.

  "Wu An, focus on your training! Don't be distracted!" Ma Chao noticed Wu An was holding an iron hammer and spacing out, so he reminded him.

  "Ah! Young master!" Wu Ankou snapped out of his daydream and continued practicing his hammering seriously.

  "Haha!" Cui An glanced at Wu Ankou and couldn't help but laugh twice.

  Wu An Guo was taken aback, "Cui Fu Da, what are you laughing at!"

  Cui An immediately covered his mouth with his hand, and Ma Chao also asked Cui An on the side: "Fuda, what's going on?"

  Cui An had no choice but to whisper a couple of sentences in Ma Chao's ear, and as he listened, he looked at Wu Anguo with a smile on his face.

  Wu An Guo looked at them both strangely and stopped practicing his hammer, asking: "You two?"

  "Good! This..." Ma Chao said, pointing with his hand.

  Wu An Guo looked in the direction Ma Chao was pointing and found that his pants had a hole in them, "Why didn't you tell me earlier!" He said as he ran back into the house.

  Ma Chao and Cui An could no longer hold back their laughter and burst out laughing.