Chapter 1: Carefree Youth

  Luofu is a famous mountain in the world, located slightly east of the central land. The mountain stretches for thousands of miles, with high peaks and beautiful water, layered ridges and majestic scenery. The landscape behind the mountain is even more strange and wonderful, with deep mountains and vast marshes, where dragons and snakes are born, and dense forests and secluded valleys, which are mostly inhabited by tigers, leopards, wolves and other beasts.

  Of course, Lu Fu is most famous not for his landscapes but for the Lu Fu school.

  When today's practitioners are as numerous as the hairs on an ox, famous mountains and great rivers have many practitioners or sects occupying them. The Taoist methods and immortal arts naturally emerge in layers without end. Although practitioners emphasize clearing their minds and reducing desires, once this matter involves people, it naturally becomes complicated.

  Every sect and school has its own orthodoxy, heresy, and demonology. All kinds of contradictions and hatreds are boiling like water, and the reasons for this are as if a big bucket of feces had been poured into the boiling water, emitting an unbearable stench.

  After thousands of years of killing, merging, and survival of the fittest, and after the decisive battle between good and evil a hundred years ago, the evil demons retreated and were defeated, guarding the desolate border lands.

  On the other side, the land is desolate and barren, with treacherous mountains and evil waters. Fierce beasts and birds congregate in groups, and poisonous substances accumulate. The barbarian tribes are not subject to imperial rule, and many places have rarely been visited by humans. Although the environment is perilous, even the righteous path cannot penetrate it. The evil demons and external devils have managed to survive there for over a hundred years, and have gradually recovered some of their vitality.

  In the Central Plains, various sects have also grown and developed over the centuries, forming a large Orthodox Cultivation force led by the Two Gates, Three Sects, and One Valley.

  Lufei Pai is one of the three schools.

  Among the many sects, the Luofu Sect is an old-fashioned cultivation sect that was opened 4,000 years ago. For 4,000 years, each generation has been able to produce some figures, so all along, the Luofu Sect has had a considerable influence in Zhongtu. After 4,000 years of development, it can be said that its foundation is strong and its strength is immeasurable, squeezing among the powerful two gates, three sects, and one valley.

  The wind is high and the clouds are light, with no clouds for thousands of miles.

  Luofu Mountain, on the green pine flat, came wave after wave of crisp and clear laughter like silver bells, mixed with cries like a yellow oriole leaving its nest, "Third Master Brother, you lost again!"

  With a sound, two figures, one in red and one in white, ran out of the pine forest. The one running in front was a white-clad youth about fifteen or sixteen years old, with a clear brow and bright eyes, holding a sword with a green blade that flashed as it moved, obviously an extraordinary sharp weapon. Behind him, chasing after him, was a fourteen- or fifteen-year-old lovely girl in a red dress, also holding a sword.

  "9th Brother, you can't keep up, look at my sword!"

  The little girl's sword shone like a rainbow, flashing several beautiful sword flowers as she attacked the white-clad youth. The white-clad youth smiled and turned around, dancing his sword as he fought with the little girl. The two of them leapt and fell, their movements becoming increasingly urgent. All that could be seen were two flashes of cold light and a whirlwind of snow swirling across the green pine platform. Suddenly, the figures parted, and a white shadow flew towards a towering pine tree at the front of the platform, accompanied by a flash of cold light, like a shooting star. Then came the sound of a branch being severed, as a large branch on the south side of the pine tree was cut off. The trunk of the tree shook violently from the impact, and pine needles fell like rain. Along with the pine needles, a fat body also fell to the ground.

  "Ouch, ouch!" The stout figure struggled to get up from the ground, with a gloomy face. "Ninth Brother, Little Sister, can't you two find somewhere else to practice your swords? Always coming here and disturbing my peaceful dreams!"

  This is a short and chubby young man, about the same age as that white-clothed young man, but he is obviously half a head shorter, but his waist is at least one circle bigger than that of the white-clothed young man.

  That red-clothed girl, upon seeing the young man, had an even thicker smile on her face. She rushed forward, charging in front of him and said, "Fifth Brother, you're lazy again, sleeping instead of practicing! I'll go tell Fourth Uncle and have him punish you!" As she spoke, she reached out to pinch his ear.

  That chubby boy, although his body was quite large, but his movements were very agile. With a flick of his fat waist, he dodged to the side and shouted, "You can go or not, Master is probably fighting with the wine jar now, no time to care about me!"

  That girl didn't pinch the fat boy's ear, and stomped her foot in annoyance. "Ninth Brother, let's catch him!" she said, flashing a shadow, and again approached that chubby boy.

  The white-clothed youth heard the girl's words and didn't slow down either. The two of them attacked from front and back in a pincer movement.

  That fat boy, seeing this scene, didn't panic either. He shrunk his head and twisted his body, slipping out of the gap between the two like a loach.

  "You two, don't go too far! If you continue to bother me, don't think about eating the delicious food I grill!"

  As soon as the words came out, both of them stopped at the same time. Especially that girl, her big black eyes sparkled with intimidating sparks, and she stared at the short and fat boy with a flickering gaze.

  Although the Luofu Sect does not prohibit meat, it is after all a Taoist sect, and its diet has always been mainly vegetarian, with very few exceptions. However, this fat boy's master in Mount Luofu was an exception, known as Drunken Sword, but actually just a drunkard.

  His greatest hobby is not cultivation, nor is it teaching his disciples, but wine.

  Luofu Mountain has wine, but not much, so he often goes down the mountain himself to find wine. However, he is not picky, and drinks both the fine wine that costs a thousand taels of silver per cup and the inferior wine that costs only a copper coin per jug. After having an apprentice, this habit remains unchanged. In the past, when Xiao Pangzi was young, he would carry him down the mountain to buy wine. Now that Xiao Pangzi has grown up, he is also liberated, and goes down the mountain even more frequently.

  Originally, it should be normal, under the influence of this drunkard master, this little fatty should also be a drunkard.

  However, in this world, there are still many people who can emerge from the muddy waters unscathed. This little fatty seems to be naturally uninterested in wine, no matter how his depraved wino master tries to entice him. Of course, saying he doesn't touch a drop is a bit of an exaggeration, but every time he drinks, he absolutely won't exceed three cups. If it's more than that, it's because his depraved master forced him to drink, and he'll just vomit it back up. After several rounds of this, his master finally decided to let his unique wine-drinking technique be lost forever.

  However, Xiaopang didn't like drinking, but he loved good food, and his talent in this area was far greater than his talent for cultivation. When following the wicked master down the mountain, what he liked to do most, apart from eating, was to sneak into people's restaurants and watch the masters cook. From being chased and hiding in the kitchen for a day and night without being discovered, he developed a skill for hiding and dodging. Naturally, when he returned, the small animals on Luo Fu Mountain suffered greatly.

  From the wolf and tiger to the leopard, from the flowers and birds to the insects and fish, all became his spare ingredients. For this, I don't know how many times he was punished, but fortunately, there was a ruthless master behind him covering for him.

  He realized that although his apprentice couldn't continue his own legacy of drinking, he could stand on his own and would definitely achieve great things in the future. Thinking back to that rainy night eight years ago, he had "coincidentally" been passing by the valley, "coincidentally" encountered Kong Zuo's family who were being robbed, and it was also a coincidence that except for this little guy, everyone else died. It just so happened that he had inexplicably felt kind-hearted that day and saved him. Several coincidences added up to three words: fate!

  So, for this apprentice, it's actually quite good, the requirements are not high, so he has developed Kong Zhuo's current personality and appearance, day and night, not practicing well, except for stealing food and sleeping, getting fat like a pig. Therefore, among the third-generation disciples, he was the first to get the nickname "Luo Fu's Pig"!

  However, he has a good temper, and when people say this about him, he doesn't get annoyed. Day and night, he's always laughing and joking around, occasionally bringing a few close friends to Qing Song Ping to roast some rabbits, wolves, stew some snake soup, or fry some bird eggs. With his continuously improving cooking skills and gentle personality, he gets along quite well in the Luo Fu Sect. Although his cultivation isn't great, he also doesn't cause any trouble. Even though people call him the "Pig of Luo Fu", he's still quite popular among the other disciples.

  The young man in white is called Fang Shaobai, and he is the only disciple of Zhou Qing, one of the five swordsmen of the Luofu Sect. The red-clothed woman is Zhou Xue, the only daughter of Zhou Qing.

  This Luo Fu sect has a long history, and there are many people in the sect. Now, in the generation of Ling Jia Shangren, the master's brothers have 19 people, but the most famous is the Luo Fu Wu Jian, led by Ling Jia Shangren. Fuyun Jian Zhou Qing is one of them, while Kong Zhuo's master, known as Zui Jian, although there is a sword character in his name, he is not among these five swords.

  Among his fellow disciples of the same generation, only Luo Fuwu's Five Swords had formal apprentices. If it weren't for him running into that miserable case eight years ago when he came down from the mountain, he probably wouldn't have a single formal apprentice like the other few fellow disciples.

  The rabbit meat on the rack was burning fiercely, emitting a fascinating aroma that made people dizzy. Kong Chuai skillfully took out a small package from his bosom, and shook out a large pile of powder-like things, carefully sprinkling them on the almost burnt rabbit body. Fang Shaobai was slightly better off, while Zhou Xue couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva beside him.

  "Eldest Martial Brother, I love eating your meat the most!"

  Kong Zhuo, who was sprinkling seasonings on the rabbit, heard this and his hand trembled involuntarily, "What?"

  Zhou Xue also realized her own slip of the tongue and stuck out her tongue, "Hehe, I mean, I love eating Wu Shixiong's roasted meat the most!"

  "This is almost right!" Kong Zhan nodded, "This fatty meat of mine is sour and doesn't taste good!"

  The three of them burst out laughing at the same time.

  The sky gradually darkened, and the three siblings sat around the bonfire, eating roasted meat and watching a round moon slowly rising from the west. The gentle breeze brought a unique flavor.

  In the distance, a middle-aged man with a wine gourd in his hand walked and drank while approaching this side. When he arrived at the edge of the forest, he saw three people sitting opposite each other inside, chatting and laughing. He couldn't help but stop in his tracks, curve the corners of his mouth, and gently shake his head, as if afraid to disturb them. Then he turned around and left.