Chapter 31: Ten Years in the Mountains (Part 2)

  Another day with a face full of expectation at the beginning and a face full of disappointment at the end has passed for three years. In these three years, I didn't even kick this old guy once, it's not that I'm stupid, but I thought things were simpler than they actually are.

  I thought it was just a matter of running and dodging, but I overlooked that the ground under my feet wasn't flat, but rather uneven stones of different shapes and sizes. Every step required careful attention to where I placed my foot! But if I focused on watching the stones, I wouldn't be able to dodge the mud pellets. And if I focused on dodging the mud pellets, I'd lose my footing.

  It wasn't until later, after I had practiced for three whole years, that I was able to accurately step on the stones without looking, relying solely on the sensation in my feet and my consciousness. And those mud pellets, they became crystal clear to me, I even felt like I could see their trajectories flying through the air.

  Today, I looked at that old rascal in front of me and thought to myself: Today's the day, you've been bullying me for three years, it's time to settle the score! Just as I was thinking this, I saw that old scoundrel waving his arms at me with a smug look on his face: "Wang Can, little kid, I'm right here, come and fight if you dare!"

  I didn't say a word, silently made an international gesture to him! Afraid he wouldn't understand, I added a Chinese translation: "Fā kè!" Without another word, I lifted my leg and charged at him.

  This old guy's hand speed is extremely fast, averaging three shots per second! I used all my strength, gritting my teeth to prevent a single mud pellet from hitting me! Because the rules between us have changed, from the original three shots to one shot, as long as one shot hits me, that means I lose!

  I made up my mind today to take him down, so I couldn't lose! All the way, I dodged and weaved, walking like a little swan. Seeing that I was only twenty meters away from this old guy, I silently told myself to be extra careful! Because the shorter the distance, the faster the bullet, the less reaction time.

  Ten meters, this is my best record before! This distance basically has no reaction time, relying on instinct! I keep my brain clear, eyes fixed on the bullet in the air, and rely solely on physical instincts to dodge bullets.

  There were only ten steps left, I kept my mind clear of distractions, with only one thought in my head: I'm going to kick him! I walked forward with difficulty, each step as light as a willow branch swaying in the wind. Just as I was about to reach within five steps of him, this old guy suddenly stopped what he was doing!

  His sudden pause threw me off my rhythm, and my body subconsciously paused for a moment too. Just for a fraction of a second, I knew something was wrong! Sure enough, in that brief moment of distraction, a mud pellet came flying straight at me!

  Damn it! I stared at the mud pellet with wide eyes, knowing in my heart that I had lost. At such a close distance, I couldn't even make a dodging movement! Just as I was cursing in my mind, I suddenly felt that the world in front of me had changed!

  Everything in my eyes turned into slow motion! I can clearly see the mud bullet slowly floating towards me, I can see Nai Kun's face frozen with a sly smile, I can see the rubber band on his slingshot slowly falling back down!

  What the hell is going on? Before I could think more, that mud pellet had floated in front of me. Without thinking, I reached out and grabbed it!

  Looking at the mud pellet in my hand, I was completely stunned! I looked at Nai Kun with a surprised face, and he smiled at me with a relieved face: "Good boy, you finally graduated from this one! If you were to drag on for another year or two, I would have kicked you down the mountain!" After finishing speaking, he turned around and was about to leave.

  "Hey, stop right there!" I shouted with a mischievous grin. He was taken aback by my sudden shout and turned around with a foolish expression, asking me "What's up?"

  "Don't play dumb with me, it won't work! I'm not buying this!" I said with a expectant face.

  "You little scoundrel, you really dare to kick me?"

  "True kick!"

  "Alright, I admit defeat! We're the kind of people who face outward when taking a dump in a latrine, we never shy away!" After saying that, he looked at him with a huff and puffed, then fell to the ground with his hands covering his head and shouted: "Come on!"

  I walked up to him with a mischievous grin, tapping my toes, and to be honest, I was a bit hesitant. This old guy may look like he's asking for trouble most of the time, but he's actually very lovable, so I thought to myself, if all else fails, I'll just give him a light kick, that should do it?

  Before I could even think, this old guy suddenly jumped up. At that moment, I was stunned, and all I saw was the old guy's sly smile as he pulled my hand: "Big nephew, I knew you wouldn't be able to take it, so you should call me uncle from now on! But don't worry, I'm a man of my word, not some kind of rascal! I'll get you something good later and make it up to you, and that's that!" After saying that, he didn't wait for my reaction and took off.

  "Hey, you old fellow! I'm fed up with this. I hurriedly chased after him: 'What's the meaning of just two clear? You little old man, stop right there for me!'"

  After five years of laying the foundation, I can finally start learning the real skills. Originally, I thought I would learn the skills of a mountain-moving Taoist, but unfortunately not! In the old way of speaking, this mountain-moving Taoist's craftsmanship was lost by his master's generation, and there is even less left for him. If I were to learn his half-baked, second-rate mountain-moving technique, he wouldn't be worried that I would go out and lose face for him!

  Finally, under my disappointed face, the old Taoist only taught me some fist and footwork as well as some Taoist health qigong. To be honest, at that time I really thought to myself, after all, he wasn't my own grandfather, so he wouldn't give you his most precious things. It wasn't until many years later that I realized, for me, other things weren't very useful, and when it came down to it, I still had to rely on my own fists.

  Today, I was sitting in the house practicing the Zi Wu Hunyuan Gong of the old Taoist teachings. Just then, I heard the door creak and Nie Kun walked in with a large bamboo basket on his back: "Youngster, it's not early anymore, let's go out for a stroll."

  I raised my eyes and looked at him, picked up the clothes beside me, and walked out with him. Looking up at the moon in the sky: "It's not time yet, why are we going so early?"

  As soon as I finished speaking, this old guy winked at me: "I'll get you some good stuff, come on, let's start with a toast!"

  After he finished speaking, we looked at each other and burst out laughing.

  Today is the day of my assessment, this kind of ability can't be acquired just by learning and practicing, it needs actual experience. The place we are going to today, I still don't know where it is until now, every time I ask, Lao Dao and Ni Kun will give me a mysterious smile.

  It's been over seven years since I started practicing, and this is my first assessment. To be honest, I'm a little nervous, but more so excited. Humans are like that, afraid of the unknown, yet uncontrollably curious!

  We ran wildly with him in the mountains for more than half an hour, until we saw a large tree in front of us and stopped. Ni Kun pulled out a broken hemp bag from behind the tree, and I skillfully moved stones on the ground to build a stove and start a fire.

  Everything was ready, and I looked at the tattered burlap sack with eager anticipation. Then, I saw Old Niu Ke chuckle to himself, shake the mouth of the sack, and say with a smile: "Gentlemen, please take a look!"

  "Ah yo! Seeing what's in the sack, I couldn't help but exclaim: 'Hei Niangniang!'"

  This black snake is a kind of snake, its whole body is covered with black scales, only on the back there is a thin red line. This snake is non-toxic and timid. It runs very fast, like a gust of wind, some people are bitten by it, but can't see its shadow. I was bitten by this thing that year, in a fit of anger, I chased it for two miles, but couldn't catch up with it!

  I stared at the black thing as thick as a wrist on the ground with a surprised face and asked: "Where did this thing come from?"

  "Behind the old mountain forest!" Ni Kun said with a smug face. I gave him a thumbs up, and he burst out laughing: "This beast is really unlucky! I was originally going to pick herbs in the back mountain, but this little girl was hiding in the grass, ambushing me. Who am I? I managed to bring it back like that!" I couldn't wait for him to finish speaking, and hurriedly urged him to pack up quickly, let's satisfy our hunger first before talking.

  I was eating when my second uncle appeared mysteriously again. Hehe, sometimes I think this old man likes to make a mysterious entrance. He waved at us and sat down beside me. Looking at me with a slight smile: "Wang Can, today is very important for you, for me, and for your grandfather. You'd better be careful, kid. When you first arrived, there were some things that weren't suitable to tell you, and it was even more impossible when your parents were around. Today we're going to get down to business, I have a few things to explain to you."

  I was stuffing snake meat into my mouth, and the old man said a few words that almost choked me. It seemed like this old fellow still had something to tell me! I hastily put down the bowl and chopsticks in my hand, looking at him with a gloomy face, only to see him wave his hand at me, indicating for me to continue eating. Then he also picked up a few wild vegetables from the side and put them into his mouth, crunching away.

  After a brief silence, my second uncle finally spoke to me and said: "Young man, do you know that your family has passed down a precious sword?" I was slightly stunned upon hearing this, a family heirloom sword? Isn't that what they call a legendary treasure?

  I nodded and said I knew, but only a little. The old Taoist smiled: "That knife, to this day I still remember it vividly. Since you've found Zhang Shouyi, that old fellow must have told you how your great-grandfather died. But they all overlooked one question - what happened to the knife afterwards?"

  I was taken aback by this, and thought to myself, "Ah, yes! I had only heard stories about it before, but I had forgotten about that part. What happened to the treasured sword in our house?" Just as I was about to ask, the old Daoist chuckled: "Years ago, not long after your grandfather passed away, I went back to visit him. At the time, I didn't know he had met with an accident. Later, when others told me about it, I went to search for it at the scene of the incident, but unfortunately, no matter how hard I looked around that area, I couldn't find it. Much later, after I returned to Qingheguan, many years passed before I coincidentally stumbled upon it here on Nurul Tiger Mountain. However, I'm not sure if it can still be called a sword!"

  This conversation left me confused, isn't this just a knife? What else could it be? But the old man didn't give me an explanation, he just continued to speak to himself: "It wasn't until I saw the Soul Crushing Stone in your hand that I understood the reasoning behind it. This knife is probably closely related to the Soul Ferry of back then. Now that you've been recognized by the Soul Crushing Stone, it means you have some sort of connection with it. And as a descendant of the Wang family, you have the blood of your ancestors flowing through your veins. Who knows, maybe you really can do it."

  I'm really confused this time, what's the point of not being able to do it? I don't care about anything else, and hurriedly asked him: "Second Master Grandfather, what can be done? This is too confusing for me, you'd better tell me in detail."

  That old Daoist didn't even bother with me, just told me to take out that Soul Grinding Stone. This accursed stone, I'd wanted to get rid of it a long time ago. But this old Daoist wouldn't let me, not only wouldn't let me, but also strictly ordered me to keep it on my person at all times, so much so that from the moment I got it, I've never left it behind.

  I took the stone off my neck, and now it doesn't seem as black and shiny as before, just an ordinary dull black stone. The old man looked at the stone, nodded in satisfaction, then patted his butt and stood up: "When you go in later, hold it in your hand and use it to feel, you'll find it!" After that, he waved his hand at Nie Kun, who was eating with abandon: "Let's go, whether it's good fortune or bad, we have to see the outcome!"