Chapter Nineteenth: The Selection Conference

  "You just said your brother-in-law is a martial artist, and martial artists practice the unified Great Power Vajra Qigong of the military. This Great Power Vajra Qigong is the most basic introductory method, how could it possibly allow you to cultivate Fire Attribute?!"

  In the end, a hint of sharpness slipped out between his words.

  "I started practicing Dali Jin Gang Qigong, and after I got the qi sensation, my sister's husband taught me to practice a Li Huo Xin Fa!"

  "What is the Li Huo Xin Fa?!" Old Xing's face changed color upon hearing these four words, "How could your brother-in-law understand the Li Huo Xin Fa?!"

  "He said this Flame Heart Technique was his spoils of war from the battlefield, taken from an enemy he had killed!"

  "This makes sense!" Old Xing nodded, seemingly thoughtful. "This Li Huo Xin Fa is the introductory mental method of the Southern Fire Worship Mystical Sect. Many disciples of the Fire Worship Mystical Sect have practiced it. The relationship between the Fire Worship Mystical Sect and the imperial court is like fire and water, conflicts often arise. It's not surprising that your brother-in-law obtained it, but what's surprising is that he dared to let you practice this martial art. Although Li Huo Xin Fa is rough and shallow, it's still an introductory mental method for internal energy of the Fire Phase. Its subtlety in absorbing and transforming fire-attributed yuanqi is quite remarkable, not something that can be compared to the coarse and powerful Golden Vajra Qi Gong. Isn't he afraid that you'll go mad from practicing this and get burned to death?!"

  Xiao Baozi heard this and couldn't help but smile bitterly to himself, this was not what Wang Tianlei had taught him, it was clearly something he had learned on his own. However, such things could not be spoken of out loud, all he could do was stand there and smile wryly.

  "But it's also good this way, your cultivation of the Departing Fire Heart Method is in line with our school's martial arts, and your foundation is also laid extremely well, which has saved me a lot of worry!"

  The little leopard listened to him and later, the old Xing head's tone actually revealed a joyful intention. Listening to his words again, it didn't seem like something an ironworker should say, but rather like a sect's transmission elder. He couldn't help but raise his head in astonishment.

  "You shouldn't be surprised, your brother-in-law taught you martial arts and must have also told you some things about the Jianghu, right?!"

  "He said he knew some things, but actually he didn't know much!"

  "This is natural, it's a matter of the world, complex and complicated, he's just a soldier, how would he know so many things?" Old Xing said with conviction.

  "Could it be that Master, you are actually a great expert?!" Little Leopard asked in a low voice, with an air of mystery on his face, which made Old Xiang laugh.

  "Master, what are you talking about? I'm just an ordinary disciple of the Wu family, can't be considered a master!"

  "Where's home?!"

  "Yes, the Wu family, it's this very Wu family ironware shop owner, Yunzhou Wu family!" As soon as the Wu family was mentioned, Old Xing's demeanor changed abruptly, and his originally slightly hunched back straightened up. "Come, Little Leopard, let me tell you about the Wu family's affairs!"

  Yunzhou Wu family is the world's recognized smelting family, with iron business all over the world, and can be said to be rich enough to rival a country. In order to keep such wealth, it naturally requires strong martial arts and a powerful backer.

  The Wu family is not lacking in either of these two things.

  It's worth mentioning the origin of the Wu family. Five hundred years ago, the ancestor of the Wu family was just an ordinary blacksmith, but he had a high talent and extraordinary wisdom, and was taken in as a disciple by the master of the Tianlong Dao at that time.

  This Tianlong Sect is one of the three major sects of Great Jin, and it is also a top-notch sect in the world. The sect has many masters, and at the same time, it is also a strong supporter of the imperial family of Great Jin.

  The ancestors of the Wu family were admitted to the gate wall, after years of hard work, their martial arts skills became great, and they became one of the top nine-grade strongmen in the world, laying the foundation for the Wu family.

  As for martial arts, the Wu family has a traditional martial art that has been passed down from their ancestors. Once mastered, it can make one a 9th rank strongman. As for backing, the Wu family has the Tianlong Sect behind them. Moreover, some of the young and outstanding disciples of the Wu family are often sent to join the Tianlong Sect. Who dares to provoke them?

  So over these few hundred years, Wu's family business has grown bigger and bigger, slowly developing into the current Wu's family.

  Someone asked, what is the relationship between this Wu family and the Tianlong Sect, it was 500 years ago, why do they still need to protect them now?

  It all starts with business, and when it comes to business, it's all about the most fundamental thing - money.

  This Tianlong Sect is one of the top sects in the world, with a large family and a big appetite. Even martial arts masters need to eat, and eating requires money. Cultivation requires spiritual medicine and resources. Where does this money, spiritual medicine, and resources come from?

  Can't be going down the mountain all day and night, even if it's going down the mountain, this world is so big, no matter how many people are in Tianlong Dao, they can't find it all!

  So, like Tiān Lóng Dào, these large and powerful sects have many subsidiary forces that help them accomplish all of this.

  It's like a landlord collecting rent from tenants, the landlord has a lot of land, but they won't cultivate it personally, there are too many lands that the landlord can't finish cultivating alone, so they have to rent them out to tenant farmers. However, at the end of each year, the landlord's harvest is always much more than the long-term workers, it's just this principle.

  This Wu family is a subsidiary force of the Tianlong Tao in the secular world, one of the tenants of the Tianlong Tao. Don't look at their business being big and making a lot of money, but a considerable part of it has to be paid as respects to the Tianlong Tao, which can also be considered as a disguised protection fee.

  Of course, the existence of Tiān Lóng Dào is only as a backing for the Wú family. It's impossible for Wú family to have Tiān Lóng Dào intervene every time they encounter something, or else Tiān Lóng Dào would be exhausted. Therefore, Wú family also has its own military power, and it's very strong martial arts.

  The ancestors of the Wu family were born in the Tianlong Way, and they practiced the Nine Dragon Divine Fire Technique of the Tianlong Way. This Nine Dragon Divine Fire Technique was naturally passed down, and apart from this Nine Dragon Divine Fire Technique, there is also a 99-81 route chaotic wind hammer method that he suddenly realized during his self-refining process, with boundless power. The Nine Dragon Divine Fire Technique and the Chaotic Wind Hammer Method have now become the Wu family's ancestral divine technique.

  The Wu family's power is unmatched, but the actual number of clan members, including distant relatives, is only a few thousand at most. Moreover, these clan members are not necessarily capable of achieving great things. With so many people in the household, conflicts and troubles abound, and internal strife never ceases. The relationship between the main family line and the side branches has also become increasingly complicated. Therefore, it's necessary to introduce new blood from outside to replenish the family, gradually making it similar to the various sects in the martial arts world that widely recruit disciples.

  So in a sense, this Wu family can be considered the best among tenant farmers. In addition to farming the landlord's fields, they also have some land of their own and are wealthy peasants among tenant farmers.

  He is no longer an apprentice, relying on the wealth and power of the Wu family, hundreds of years have recruited countless apprentices, among them, selecting those with good qualifications and high IQ to enter the door, practice the introductory exercises, and then select the excellent ones from them to practice more profound exercises.

  And what is called a master craftsman is an apprentice who has been taught the basic skills of entry-level work, but cannot be further trained as a disciple.

  These people have been taught the introductory techniques of the Nine Dragon God Fire Skill, and they have some understanding of the control of fire elements. At the same time, they were also taught the first nine moves of the Chaotic Wind Hammer, as well as the Ancestral Smelting Method of the Wu family's ancestors. This hammer technique naturally contains extremely profound smelting methods. When combined with the Nine Dragon God Fire Skill, although their martial arts skills are not high, in terms of smelting techniques, they are far superior to ordinary blacksmiths.

  These people are the backbone of the entire Wu family and the elite. Old Xing is one such person, who after retiring at his age, serves as a master while shouldering another mission - selecting talents and injecting fresh blood into the Wu family.

  The little leopard in front of me is a very suitable and even rare talent.

  At the age of eight, he has already cultivated internal energy, and it is still the internal energy of the fire element. It has a similar effect to the Nine Dragon God Fire Skill. When practicing the basic skills of hammering method, he even entered a state of enlightenment, which shows that he has extremely high potential in this hammering method. If such a person is not well cultivated, it would be a loss for the Wu family.

  The little leopard stood quietly and listened as Old Xing told the whole story from beginning to end, silently calculating in his heart.

  "Looks like Old Xing wants me to join the Wu family, huh? Thinking about it, the Wu family isn't a bad choice. As the saying goes, 'under a big tree is a good place to take shelter'. The Wu family has a large business and being able to stay under this big tree isn't a loss for me. Plus, I'll have someone teaching me martial arts for free, not bad, not bad!"

  "Did you understand all these words I said?!"

  Just as he was lost in thought, Old Xing's voice entered his ears.

  "Little one understood!" The little leopard hurriedly said.

  "Understood is good, what's your idea?!"

  "But let Master decide!" Little Leopard hastily said, at this time, even if there were other ideas, they couldn't be expressed.

  "Ah!" Old Xing nodded in satisfaction, his expression also becoming more serious. "You just now outside, met my requirements, used a hammer to knock through the wooden stake, from now on you don't need to follow them and practice anymore. You've practiced the Li Huo Heart Method and have also cultivated the Li Huo Inner Energy, this is really too good, it's saved me a lot of trouble. I will pass on to you the entry-level techniques of the Nine Dragon Divine Fire Skill and the Nine-Style Hammer Method. By the way, your brother-in-law comes from a military background, so the fist method you practiced with him should be the Breaking Thousand Armies Fist, right? This set of fist methods has a strong killing intent, it's very effective in battle arrays, but one-on-one, its power isn't that great. I will pass on to you another fist method... As for the physical training fist method..."

  When it comes to practicing the body's fist method, Old Xing's expression turned gloomy. You can continue to practice the Bear Demon Fist Method in the army. If two years later, when you are ten years old, you pass the family selection, you will have the opportunity to learn the Bone Tempering Fist Method.

  "Tempering bone fist?! " Little Leopard's eyes lit up, the Bear Demon Fist was a skin-tempering fist technique, and he had already practiced it to the limit that his current body could withstand. However, as for tempering bone fist techniques, he had never touched upon them before. Although Tai Chi Fist also had the effect of tempering bones, its movements were generally slow, and the results were really too slow.

  "Master, if I pass the selection, can I learn the Bone Forging Fist?"

  "Hmm, as long as you pass the selection, you'll become an inner disciple, and naturally, you'll have the opportunity to cultivate even more profound Bone Fist techniques!"

  "What is the Zhen Xuan Conference?!"

  "The Zhen Xuan Conference is a selection of elite disciples held by our Wu family every year for all apprentices. All apprentices over the age of 10 are eligible to participate, but the selection process is very strict. You have a good foundation, but you can't be careless. In the next two years, you must study hard and understand?"

  "Understood, young master!" Dog Egg said respectfully.