Chapter Nineteen: Secrets of the Southern Border

  The first ray of sunlight in the morning pierced through the darkness before dawn, and the thin fog that shrouded the small mountain gradually dispersed. The village at the foot of the mountain rose with a few wisps of smoke, and the sounds of chickens and dogs could be heard.

  After finishing the Wudang Mian Zhang, Song Qingchu sat in the main hall with a cup of clear tea. It had been three days since he discussed Jianghu secrets with Lan Cai'er, and although she had left, what he had learned in these few days had completely overturned his understanding.

  Song Qing always thought that the events in "The Legend of the Condor Hero" were not detailed, but she had a general understanding of what happened. However, it turned out that she had oversimplified everything.

  This world has too many secrets unknown to people, just like this strange Jianghu.

  Don't mention Song Qingchu, even if it's Zhang Sanfeng, I'm afraid no one has heard of it.

  According to Lan Caihe, the so-called Qimen Jianghu is a place that is different from the traditional Wulin Jianghu. If the Wulin Jianghu mostly walks on the right path, fighting openly and honestly, then the Qimen Jianghu takes the cunning path, using every trick in the book.

  Let's not talk about the distant ones, just talking about what Lan Cai'er said about the four major forces in Nanzhong, except for the Dali Duan family being a martial arts family, the other three families are all Qimen forces.

  The Miao family, Shi family, and Zhong family all date back to ancient times, especially the Miao family which dates back to the legendary Chi You.

  The Miao family is famous in the Qimen world for raising Gu and using Gu. The way of Gu insects is strange and unpredictable, harming people in a subtle way, and if you're not careful, you'll get caught up in it. After all, what kind of lethal power can a small insect have? It's precisely this mindset that has led many heroes to fall victim to it.

  As for Shi Jia, it is a technique of using stones to strike, please divine and embody the transmission of heaven. The technique of striking with stones, please divine and embody is to borrow the power of legendary gods and ghosts. On that day, the black-clothed leader borrowed the power of the legendary Wu Sheng Guan Yu. However, the technique of striking with stones, please divine and embody has a very high requirement for oneself, after all, every time the power is exerted, it exceeds one's own strength, which puts too much strain on the body, so the user needs to have a strong physique.

  Generally speaking, the people of Shi Jia are all outsiders with exceptional skills. In order to attain a higher level of mastery in the art of stone striking, they must invite the gods to possess their bodies. To do this, they need to temper their bodies to have the strength to accommodate mystical powers.

  It's a pity that if the body were tempered like this, there wouldn't be so few external family masters in Jianghu.

  In addition to cultivation that can make one's body stronger and stronger, there is also the Heaven and Earth Treasure. Some of the Heaven and Earth Treasures can make a person's body reach an unimaginable level.

  The legendary 'Golden Nut' has such an effect. And this time, the Shi family's people chased and killed Lan Caihe because Lan Caihe sat on Yuweng for a while, taking advantage of their battle with the guardian beast of the Golden Nut to snatch it away.

  It doesn't matter, although Shi and Miao families are both among the three major forces of Nanjiang Qimen, they have been openly and secretly fighting each other without stopping.

  The rivalry between peers is even more common, and if the Shi family gets the Golden Nut, it means that the Shi family will have a genius, which is unacceptable to the Miao family.

  Don't look at the black-clothed leader Shi Zhan's stone-beating technique, it was ruined by Song Qingxue's divine intervention, this is just his stone-beating technique not being practiced to perfection.

  The Stone Strike technique is divided into five levels. The first level is like the Black Clothes Leader, with a long casting time and not very powerful, equivalent to a third-rate master. As you go up, the casting time gets shorter and the power gets bigger. Legend has it that if you practice the Stone Strike technique to the fifth level, you can instantly summon the gods and its power is comparable to the innate masters of the martial arts world. However, even the most powerful elder in the Shi family has only practiced it to the fourth level so far.

  Once the Golden Walnut is obtained, a young generation of the Shi family will emerge with immense potential and can instantly master the Shi family's Stone Strike Technique, elevating it to the second peak. This is also why Lan Caihe wants to take it by force.

  As for the people of Shi's family chasing and killing Lan Caihe, it was even simpler. One reason was to retrieve the Golden Fruit, and the other was that Lan Caihe was one of the few geniuses of the Miao family in recent years. If they could kill him, it would also be a fortunate event for the Shi family.

  It can be said that 'man's plan is not as good as heaven's plan'. Just when they were about to succeed, unexpectedly 'a sudden appearance of a Cheng Yaojin', rescued Lan Caihe. It really is 'divine calculation cannot defeat heavenly fate', the will of heaven will not destroy Lan Caihe, alas, alas.

  What? You say that Qimen World has such a powerful force, why is it rarely heard of in the Central Plains martial arts world? Why haven't people from Qimen World caused chaos in the Central Plains?

  You don't know this, but speaking of which, I have to mention the last of the four major powers in Nanzhong, the Zhong family.

  The Zhong family was a clan of corpse-refiners and corpse-drivers, whose power once dominated the entire southern border. Unfortunately, they did not know their place in heaven's order, and foolishly tried to defy heaven's will. Taking advantage of the chaos caused by the Five Barbarians in the Central Plains, they attempted to enter the Central Plains, but unfortunately were reduced to ashes overnight.

  It's not just the Zhong family of South Xinjiang, the Mi Zong of Western Regions, and the Shaman of North Wilderness that have never extinguished their desire to enter Central Plains. Unfortunately, it seems that there are some constraints, according to Lan Cai'er, people from the Qimen sect cannot take the initiative to deal with people in the Jianghu.

  But even so, it has never stopped the people of Qimen from wanting to enter Central Plains. Especially the Western Secret Sect, from the Northern Song Dynasty's Xixia State Master Jiemo Zhi, to the Southern Song Dynasty's Mongolian State Master Jinlun Fa Wang. Each time was ambitious and wanted to conquer Central Plains. Although they all ended in failure, but with the Mongols entering Central Plains, Qimen's influence gradually infiltrated in. If it weren't for these people fearing the legend that Qimen cannot actively deal with Wulin people's oath, I'm afraid the current Wulin Jianghu would already be a bloody and violent place.

  Lan Caihe left after recovering from his injuries at Song Qingxue's place. To thank Song Qingxue for saving his life, Lan Caihe gave the golden apricots he had snatched to Song Qingxue.

  When Song Qing heard that Jin Jian Guo could strengthen his physical body, he was somewhat moved, after all, Song Qing originally planned to go to Xiyu to find the Longxiang Panruo Gong.

  But there has always been some hesitation, after all, the dragon elephant-like magic is too difficult to practice, even if it is a genius like Jinlun Fa Wang, who was only able to cultivate to the tenth level when he was over fifty years old.

  But now that I have Golden Acorns, it's different. After taking the Golden Acorns myself and practicing the Dragon Elephant Art, my progress will definitely be twice as fast.

  However, Song Qing didn't get the Golden Fruit for nothing. As a person who raised Gu insects, Lan Cai'er was not interested in the things inside the martial arts secret book, but she had a special fondness for various poisonous insects. So Song Qing told her about the venomous snakes in Jianmo Valley.