Stronger Than The Old Heavenly Master, You Say He Is A Newcomer?

My name is Qiu Zhixing, and I am 98 years old. I have spent more than 90 years in the place where I live.

But I still remember it clearly.

That year, my master, my adoptive father, took our six senior brothers down the mountain to fight devils. Then one day, my master asked me to come back, saying that the martial arts gym needed someone to take care of it.

Before leaving, I pulled the corner of Master's clothes and asked, "Master, when are you coming back?"

Master said: "Come back when the devil is beaten away."

But I waited for 8-90 years for my master and brother, but I never stepped into the martial arts gym again.

I remember Master told me that when I was a baby, Master went down the mountain once, and accidentally picked up me who was abandoned by my parents on the side of the road. It was a drought, and many people would starve to death, let alone raising children.

And my biological parents may be like this, abandoning me.

The master was kind enough to pick it up. Although I was young at the time, I vaguely remember that the master touched his head and said.

"You can call me Master from now on."

Then Master took me back to the mountain.

My master is a martial arts master, because he used to be the coach of the imperial court when he was young, and knew some martial arts, but now the imperial court is gone, and the master settled down here to open a martial arts gym with a little savings from his early years. Although life is a bit bitter , but not starving to death.

In addition to my master, there are six senior brothers who are older than me in the martial arts school. They all have pale faces, but are strong.

When I was five or six years old.

The elder brother told me proudly: "This martial arts hall was built successively over five years under the leadership of the master. The main hall also enshrines the martial arts masters of the master's ancestors."

"In one side hall where the master lives, there are still some ancient books and a room full of herbs, and the other side hall is the residence of several senior brothers and me."

Although life is tough, there is always a place to shelter from the wind and rain. We practice martial arts and calligraphy every day, and the master occasionally teaches us medical skills and herbs.

The senior brothers were beaten almost every day, but I could see that the master didn’t use any strength at all, except when he couldn’t memorize the book even for a few days, he raised the whip several times and then lowered it lightly, sighed helplessly and turned to leave .

Several senior brothers took good care of me. Seeing that I was thin and still growing, they secretly used the time of martial arts practice to catch birds in the woods and roast them for food. Later, the master found out, and we were scolded and punished for copying books.

But that night, there was a little more meat in the glutinous rice paste that we ate. We knew that it was put by the master, but his own bowl was still clear and watery.

Passing by his bedroom once by chance, I heard him muttering to himself:

"Hey, what's the use of being armed in this world, you can't even support your own children."

The senior brothers, like me, were picked up by the master from outside. When I was 5 years old, the senior brother was already 17 years old.

Eldest brother is very good, except for being a little narrow-minded, he is very good. Whenever the master is not around, he will pick up the whip and force us to practice martial arts and calligraphy.

Every time he eats, he saves half of a pancake and puts it in a clay pot in the Patriarch's Hall, and secretly takes a bite when he is hungry.

Later, my second senior brother and third senior brother bumped into him. We took advantage of his time to go to the bathroom and ate it all in one bite.

Then at noon, we all heard the big brother crying sadly in the Patriarch Hall.

The master asked him what was wrong, but he lied and said:

"I was hit by the censer just now."

Later, feeling sorry, my second and third senior brothers and I sneaked to the orchard at the foot of the mountain, stole a few green and small fruits and put them into clay pots.

But it was discovered by Master the next day.

Master asked us:

"Who let it go?"

The elder brother was the first to stand up and admit it.

Master wanted to punish him, and the three of us silently stood up and admitted that the three of us stole the fruit.

That was the first time Master lost his temper.

I can still remember Master's angry face at that time, yelling at us:

"You have to be honest, how can you steal from others? Haven't I taught you that? A poor person has a lot of ambition, no matter how poor you are, you can't steal."

That was the first time I was beaten for nothing but stealing, but we all held back and didn't make a sound, nor were we as stubborn as usual.

The next day Master went down the mountain very early and came back at night, and he even carried half a bag of fruit for us to eat.

We were very happy, but after that time, we never saw the most cherished sword in Master's room again.

The fourth senior brother I admire the most, because he is the only one who can understand those ancient books besides the master, and he often tells us the stories in the books.

The master said that the fourth senior brother is the most talented, if he was born in the past, he might be the number one!

We asked curiously:

"What is the champion, is it delicious?"

Just as the master was about to answer, the third senior brother rushed to ask:

"Is it better than braised pork?"

I still remember Master's speechless and helpless expression.

It is said that the third senior brother met the master on the day when the master came back from the nursing home with two silver dollars in his pocket. When he saw the third senior brother who was as thin as a monkey, he treated him to a meal of braised pork.

Later, the third senior brother and the master came back to the martial arts school. In his heart, braised pork is the best thing, there is no one.

However, he has never eaten it since then, but as the only one of the senior brothers who has eaten braised pork, he has been proud for many years and often brags to us.

Brother Six and Brother Fifth are twins, just like me, they were abandoned shortly after birth, the only good thing is that their parents abandoned them in front of the martial arts hall.

Although the two brothers are twins, they have different hobbies and personalities.

Sixth brother likes all kinds of foreign things, such as cameras, foreign guns, etc., and draws a bunch of messy pictures in the room when he has nothing to do, claiming to make a car with four wheels.

Fifth senior brother likes swordsmanship, he looks forward to becoming a hero like his master in the future, and will draw out his sword to help when encountering injustice, so he practices martial arts most diligently.

The second senior brother is six years older than me. His biggest dream is to be like the fairy in the story, able to fly into the sky and escape from the ground, and break mountains and rivers with a single sword. He also asked the master how to become a practitioner.

When the master got annoyed by being entangled, he replied:

"If I knew how to become a fairy, would I still be here?"

Every time I heard this, the third senior brother would settle down for a few days, and then continue to ask the same question, and never tire of it.

The second senior brother and the third senior brother and I walked the closest. They are very naughty and are often punished by the master, but every time they can escape punishment as long as I am there.

In their words:

"This brat, maybe he is the master's son!"

But that's what I said in private.

I have always spent my future days in the martial arts hall like this, and then we will grow old together.

until later.

I was sixteen years old.

The war started at the foot of the mountain, and many wounded were sent to the martial arts hall. The small martial arts hall could no longer accommodate them, so there were wounded in all kinds of tragic situations on the hillside in the yard.

The master was constantly busy collecting medicines to save people, and several senior brothers and I made medicine for them to drink every day.

We took out a small amount of rations and boiled bowls of porridge that could look good on people and sent them to them.

Later, many people still died and were buried in the forest behind the martial arts hall.

Since then, I have never seen Master smile again.

One night many days later, Master did not come back very late, and all our brothers and sisters got together so worried that we dared not sleep.

Master didn't come back until late at night, and we saw him walking staggeringly covered in blood.

We hurried over to ask Master what happened?

The master sat on the chair for a long time before he spoke:

"Caijia Town, not far from the mountain, was massacred by ghosts. By the time I arrived, it was already too late. There were corpses with severed arms and legs everywhere. These damn beasts didn't even spare their newborn children. "

Master chased and attacked and killed a few ghost soldiers who were alone before returning here.

The blood on his body was not his, but those devils'.

For the next three days, Master locked himself in the room without eating or drinking. We were very worried about his health.

And in the morning three days later.

Master opened the door to wake us up and told us to gather in the main hall.

Master took us to offer incense to our patriarch, saying loudly:

"Father Master, my disciple Qiu Qingshan tells the ancestors of the past generations that the devils have no way to invade my Great Xia, occupy my land, and slaughter my people. Humans and gods are all angry!"

"Although this disciple is just a warrior, he still has the heart to serve the country and be martyred. Today, he decided to lead his disciple down the mountain to fight the war. The devil will never return to the mountain until he withdraws from the Great Xia. If he fails, he will surely become benevolent."

"I hope that the patriarchs will not be offended. After returning, the disciple will carry forward the martial arts."

subsequently.

Master led us to participate in the war of resistance.

During the two-year war of resistance, I fought from the age of sixteen to eighteen. The fifth brother who practiced martial arts the most had one of his hands broken, and the senior brother was blinded in one of his eyes. Everyone wears more or less hurt.

The only good thing is that although we are hurt, at least we are still alive and can play and joke with each other.

And when I was eighteen.

Once with the army, he will raid the devil's base camp.

Master said to me:

"Zhixing, you are the youngest. Master wants you to go back to guard the martial arts gym first. You have been away for two years. Someone should go back to reopen the martial arts gym and clean up the ashes of the patriarch. It's fine, wait for us to come back!"

No matter how stupid I am, I know how dangerous this raid is, how can I go back alone.

I cried and knelt down and begged Master to take me with me. Although I am young, I have killed many devils. I am not afraid of death!

Master stroked my head and said:

"Silly boy, I know you are not afraid of death, but what if you don't go back to the martial arts hall? Whoever guards the martial arts hall, I promise the ancestor master will go back to reorganize the martial arts hall."

He patted me on the shoulder:

"Don't worry! We'll come back after we drive away the devils, and I'll teach you how to practice martial arts and calligraphy."

Several senior brothers also hugged me reluctantly and wept all over their faces. They all comforted me and said that they would be back soon and would bring me a lot of delicious food, such as braised pork in brown sauce, and make me new clothes.

I went back to the martial arts hall alone.

before leaving.

I have prayed to God and pleaded:

"God, I don't believe in ghosts or gods, and I never believe in you, but this time I beg you, please make sure that Master and the six senior brothers are safe this time."

"As long as you can keep my master and six senior brothers safe, I'm willing to trade my life for it. Please, God, open your eyes. I really don't want my... father and big brothers to die."

I clean the martial arts gym and practice martial arts and writing every day, and I sit on the big rock in front of the door every day waiting for them to come back...

But this wait is more than 80 years! The master and the six senior brothers never came back here.

I remember when I was thirty-one.

A few soldiers that Master had rescued came here and told me that it is said that Master and the others became great generals. They won a sum of money for me and brought me a large piece of meat, saying that it was an agreement that they would give it to me. Eat with braised pork.

I used that money to repair the martial arts hall, but I didn't dare to change it randomly, and kept it as it was, because I was worried that Master would not like it if it changed.

I took out the rest of the money and handed it over to the elementary school at the foot of the mountain, hoping that more children could learn to read and write, so as to add pillars to Daxia and prevent Daxia from being hungry again.

Finally I am old.

But I have never left the martial arts gym. It has been 80 years. Even if I get married and have children, I have never left home.

Because I am afraid.

I was afraid that if I had just left home and Master and the others came back, they would not be able to find me.

...

at this time.

Accompanied by Mr. Qiu's narration, Zhang Wei sat there quietly and listened.

Old Man Qiu looked up at the white clouds in the sky blankly, as if he had returned to the sky in the past.

He murmured:

"I remember Sixth Brother asked my master why he practiced martial arts."

"Master said, in order to strengthen the body."

"Senior Brother Six also asked, is practicing martial arts just to strengthen your body? It's useless."

"Master said that if it is useful, it must be useful when necessary, just like now, practicing martial arts...can protect the family and the country."

in words.

Old Man Qiu didn't know what he thought of, his eyes were flushed:

"Master, brother, it's almost 90 years. When will you come back to defend your family and country? I miss you so much."

...