Chapter Thirty-Seven On the Day of Closing Doors

  We didn't know how long we had been sitting, I felt like I fell asleep, and when I woke up, it was Ze Heng calling me. I opened my eyes to see the car stopped in front of a dark mountain. "Let's walk for another segment, the car can't go up" Hearing Ze Heng say this, I softened, "Still have to walk..." My whole body was soft, and I hadn't recovered from being messed with by Chang Shang and Nie Xun just now...

  Zehong dragged me to follow his fellow disciples, now it's early morning, pitch black, I don't know how they knew the way, turning and twisting, passing through grasslands and forests... "Zichuan, slow down, if you take a wrong step and fall into some hole, I won't care."

  "I'm going, and there's a hole!" Was Ze Huan intentionally scaring me? I only felt that I was lost in the dark and followed them, but being startled by Ze Huan made my spirits lift, and I carefully used my foot to part the weeds in front of me.

  "Yes, this mountain often has wild beasts and the like."

  "What's in the cave?"

  "Have you seen a rat catcher? It's ten times bigger than it."

  Are you kidding me? Anyway, I've mustered up the spirit and followed them on their wild goose chase.

  "We're here." This was undoubtedly the sentence I most wanted to hear. I saw two lanterns shining at the end of the forest, and as we approached, it became clear that it looked like a temple gate, with a slightly old feeling. However, the signboard on the temple gate was quite new, with the inscription "Guan" in clerical script, and there were also two wooden boards on either side, with the right one reading "Guan Xing Yi Ju Lin Tian Xia" and the left one "Men Sheng Zheng Qi Qi Yi Shen".

  "How come your sect is so rundown..." I felt like the walls around me were all broken when I walked in... The courtyard was overgrown with weeds, and right in front of me was a huge statue of Guan Yu! At least 8 meters tall, standing vividly in the main hall!

  "Our sect is in decline? Haha, just kidding, come with me!" The others chuckled and Ze Heng pulled me into the main hall, "Don't be surprised!" I was led by Ze Heng through a curtain and what I saw was completely different from the courtyard before!

  What entered my line of sight was the broken walls and crumbling houses that I had just seen. Even the courtyard had become much larger! The trees stood neatly in rows, just like a traditional Chinese quadrangle courtyard with many rooms. In front of the main hall, there was a statue of Guan Yu.

  "Zi River, just a front desk, our sect's residence is still in the back." Yan Dengfeng said with a steady tone.

  "Why make things so complicated?" Ze Heng replied quickly "Our master said that one should be low-key..."

  Is this still low-key? Low-key your ghost!

  "Zi Chuan, you will sleep in this house tonight." Yan Dengfeng led me to a room and pushed open the door. I saw that the interior was decorated with an old-fashioned style, giving off a somewhat ancient atmosphere, but it was also quite clean. I lay down on the bed directly, feeling especially comfortable.

  "Ah, it's pretty good now."

  "Alright then, have a good rest tonight and we'll talk about it together tomorrow."

  Yan Dengfeng had just walked out when Ze Hong rushed in. "Why aren't you sleeping? It's already so late!" He scared me half to death as he rushed in.

  "Haha... those of us who are in charge are quite formidable."

  Did he rush in just to tell me this? "Awesome! Can't you go rest now, I'm dead tired!" It's already past 3 am! Isn't he tired at all?!

  He's finally gone! I'm lying in bed and it feels like the bed is the most comfortable thing now!

  "Zihe! Zihe! Wake up!" Ze Sheng shook him awake early in the morning. "What's going on? I'm not fully awake yet!" He fell asleep as soon as he lay down last night, and now he was woken up feeling quite comfortable...

  "My senior brother asked me to call you to get up and watch him practice...". This Ze Heng!! I reluctantly got out of bed, put on my shoes, and followed Shi Teng out to the courtyard. "Haha, Zi Chuan, come take a look!" Ze Heng ran over after seeing me come out. "I said you're practicing, what do you want me to watch for..." I remembered and got angry.

  "Junior brother! Drop!" I heard Ze Heng's voice fall, and Shi Tian suddenly appeared out of nowhere with a straw man, throwing it into the air. A burst of knife energy slapped my face, making me sober up a bit. Ze Heng jumped in mid-air, somehow chopping at it, and the straw man turned into shredded paper, falling to the ground. "Zi Chuan! How is it?"

  "Huh? Then what?" Ze Hong heard me say "then what", his face immediately fell, "I show you something so awesome and you just give me a 'then what'!!"

  "Ah, otherwise I'd say something and you'd be useless..." I leaned against the pillar, looking at Ze Hong. "Zi Chuan, my junior brother is like this." I didn't know when Yan Dengfeng and Huang Baoxi appeared beside me, "Senior brother! How can you talk like that?" Ze Hong looked embarrassed.

  "Come on, come on, we're the five brothers who know you have the most talent, isn't that enough?" Huang Baoxi praised Zehong, and Zehong was humble this time "No way, my senior brothers are much more powerful than me."

  "Huh? Is that so?" I hadn't even finished listening to Yan Dengfeng's sentence when I saw him kick the two sticks at his feet over with great force. The two sticks flew over, and Ze Hong dodged one and caught the other, then hit the first one back out. Yan Dengfeng caught the other stick, and the two of them stood facing each other.

  "Huh?" "It's nothing, they're just practicing." I was about to intervene, but it would be bad if the master brothers fought. Huang Baoxi explained to me like this. Is that what you call practicing?

  "Be careful, young brother!" Dēng Fēng said as he picked up the stick and rushed over. His speed was incredibly fast; if it were me, I would have been hit long ago. But Zé Hóng inserted the stick into the ground and suddenly flew upwards. He raised the stick high above his head and swung it downwards. Would he be hit? I couldn't help but feel tense.

  "Haha, junior brother, you've made progress!" I saw Deng Feng suddenly stop and hold his staff at shoulder height, rigidly blocking Ze Huan's attack! Deng Feng's staff was deformed but didn't break! "Roar!" I saw Feng Feng let out a roar and with one foot, he sent Ze Huan flying back.

  "Master brother let me be..." The two of them stopped, and it turned out that I had been injured from practicing like this a long time ago.

  "By the way, I was just thinking about this question, Zehong, who did you say helped us inform your senior brother?" As they finished practicing, Ze Heng and I sat on a bench resting, while Shi Teng and Zhi De were busy getting food.

  "I don't know either, I'm quite curious too. I asked my senior brother last night and they said there's no clue at all."

  "That's really strange! Never mind, since someone is helping us but not letting us know, then we'll just don't know." Let it go, if that person wants to help, they'll help. When the time comes for them to let us know, they naturally will come out."

  "Ah! Subekawa, why did the Mumei powder work on you?" "Yeah, I haven't even talked to Sazanka about this question, because the effect of the Mumei powder only appeared these few times. I'm also curious, so I told Sazanka about what happened with Mumei."

  "Is this really happening? Zikawa, I've heard my master mention it casually before. He said that there are a few things in the world that defy heaven: No-Cause Powder, Qilin Blood, Longevity Skin... and something else I don't quite remember. He told me that these things seem to be connected to something, anyway they're very important. Since you have the No-Cause Powder on you, you should be more careful usually."

  "Hmm, my master also told me that I know the troubles of Wu Yin Fan. From Pan Tai to Chang Sheng, Nie Xing, I don't know what will happen next."

  Unconsciously, I've been stuck here for over a decade. Nothing much has happened these days, just watching them practice their skills every day, and later they dragged me along with them. "You guys can practice on your own, why drag me into this?" I don't have their physical strength, can't withstand this kind of torture, but they didn't care about that, insisted on dragging me to practice, saying it's good for strengthening my body, especially Zehong said "Learn some skills and you'll be much more formidable in a fight!"

  My master also taught me some boxing and kicking, I feel like it's enough... I miss Zhang Ting, from the beginning to closing time, I called her, but when I saw my phone, I was desperate, there was no signal at all! Is this what they call a mountain? It's been over ten days since I last contacted Zhang Ting, she must be very sad... I'm also very sad.

  "I want to go back and see her." I said, smoking a cigarette with Ze Hong, worried about Zhang Ting, not knowing if she had been bullied in the days when I was not around.

  "Ah... let's wait a bit longer, by then we'll be back, and the Yin Soul Sect might not even think of it." Ze Heng understood my heart and comforted me.

  "Hmm..."

  "Kokawa! Today, let me see the results of your efforts these past few days!" Today, Ze Heng brought me to the mountains, I don't know what he wants to do. "What are you doing?" Ze Heng led me into a thicket and crouched down, I don't know why he's doing this. "Shh~"

  He didn't let me speak, so I squatted in the bushes with him, annoyed. "What's that noise?" I heard a sound like a pig getting closer and closer... I whispered to Ze Heng, "You watch..." Ze Heng didn't say anything to me either, just letting me quietly observe.

  "Are you waiting just for a wild boar?" I saw the source of the cry, like a pig, making a crying sound, only with longer body hair, brownish-black in color, and was sniffing at something with its nose pressed to the ground.

  "Here! On top of the river!" Ze Heng pushed me out with his hand, and I appeared in front of that wild boar before I knew what was happening. "Hey! What are you doing?" I saw that the wild boar sensed this movement and raised its head to stare at me... Its mouth wasn't closed, and it was even drooling onto the ground as it looked at me...

  "Go catch that wild boar..." When I heard Ze Heng say this to me from the grass, I was desperate. "Even if you want me to catch it, give me something to use!" I had completely lost to him, did he bring me here to catch a wild boar just to see the results of my training? What's the connection?!

  "I'm going!" I saw the wild boar running towards me, with its snout raised and coming straight for me. I turned around and ran, but none of the pigs could run faster! "I'm dying of pain!" I was knocked flying by the pig! "It's still coming!" Seeing the wild boar continue to charge at me, I was scared!

  "Soldier! Advance in a hurry, like flying clouds and rising fog!" What would my master think if he knew I used the soldier's trick to dodge the wild boar?

  Anyway, as long as I don't let the wild boar butt me, I kept dodging and weaving. The boar seemed to be tired too and stopped to catch its breath. "I can't take it anymore!" Ze Heng suddenly jumped out of the grass and punched the wild boar's head. Thud, I saw the wild boar lying on the ground...

  "Nima, you can't get up early!"