The Secret Way of Immortality

Ren Qing silently took out a money bag from his chest. It was heavy, with at least several dozen taels of silver, enough for a family of three to live on for several years.

Although there were many affairs in the yamen, and one could easily die in the line of duty with bad luck, the monthly salary was substantial.

Liu Hu took the money bag and weighed it, then took some of the silver and threw the rest back to Ren Qing. Then, with a plain expression, he nodded: "Enough. Come back in seven days to pick up the knife."

Ren Qing turned to leave, but Liu Hu stopped him just as he opened the door of the blacksmith shop.

"What's the rush?"

"I haven't seen anyone in Sanxiang City use your so-called Great Miao Sword. How do you usually practice with it?"

Ren Qing frowned. Did a knife like this need practice?

Seeing this, Liu Hu sighed, "Wait for me a moment."

He walked into the courtyard outside the blacksmith shop and returned to the house a moment later, carrying a thick tree trunk.

"The body must adapt to this kind of weapon as soon as possible, otherwise you will easily injure yourself when practicing with a real knife."

"I..."

Ren Qing was about to explain when he saw Liu Hu take an axe and split the tree trunk directly, then chop out a rough shape of a knife.

He wisely shut his mouth, waiting for the wooden knife to gradually take shape.

After half an hour, the wooden knife in Liu Hu's hand was lifelike. He swung it simply, nearly hitting Ren Qing.

"This is ironwood. It can be used as a weapon for a short time. However, your Great Miao Sword is indeed not a figment of your imagination, but it is somewhat difficult to use flexibly."

"Brother Liu, let me try."

Ren Qing took the wooden knife, his narrowed eyes with double pupils turning.

He slashed fiercely, then retracted it instantly.

The candlelight on the wooden table not far away was extinguished by the wind of the blade, but the paper beside it remained untouched.

Liu Hu was stunned. It couldn't be considered superb swordsmanship, but it had a kind of... how should he put it, a natural taste.

He watched Ren Qing leave the blacksmith shop, and when he came back to his senses, he couldn't help but chuckle.

He had thought Ren Qing looked down on him, but hadn't he done the same?

The sound of hammering rang out again, and smoke slowly drifted out from the cracks in the doors and windows.

Ren Qing walked onto the street, the appearance of the wooden Great Miao Sword attracting the attention of passersby.

He walked in the direction of the Chen's Bajiquan martial arts hall, turning east and west, passing through several alleys to reach his destination.

The martial arts hall was not large, and even overly remote.

According to Ren Qing's investigation, there were only a dozen disciples in the martial arts hall, all orphans raised by Chen Yongxing since childhood. The latter also had a daughter named Chen Lihua.

Strangely enough, the martial arts hall rarely recruited disciples from the outside in the past, mainly taking in beggars and orphans.

It was clearly an affiliated force of the Blood Dog Gang.

Until a few days ago, the martial arts hall began to recruit disciples one after another, but the owner, Chen Yongxing, suddenly fell seriously ill, causing the martial arts hall's business to be deserted.

Ren Qing walked straight into the courtyard, where more than a dozen people were practicing leg techniques in the open space, constantly kicking wooden stakes.

The crowd looked at Ren Qing with indifferent expressions, and their movements slowed down involuntarily.

Ren Qing was wearing ordinary cotton and linen clothes, obviously here to learn martial arts. He would run away as soon as he mastered the Divine Foot Sutra.

His peripheral vision swept over, and he did not see any aura of cultivators in the courtyard.

Just as Ren Qing was about to ask a question, he suddenly noticed that the body proportions of those martial arts hall disciples practicing leg techniques were very strange.

The legs of the martial arts hall disciples were extremely thick, covered with solid muscles, and without exception, they accounted for more than 50% of their bodies.

If a similar situation occurred with a single person, it might be a coincidence, but since a group of people were like this, it felt a little strange.

An older martial arts hall disciple stepped forward and asked, "Are you... here to become a disciple?"

Ren Qing cupped his fists and replied, "I heard that Master Chen's kung fu is good, so I plan to follow him and learn for a period of time."

"Okay, just come with me."

The martial arts hall disciple nodded slightly, and he led Ren Qing into the house.

The more Ren Qing looked at the other party's movements when walking, the more awkward he felt, so he simply deliberately made physical contact, but the information did not show any spells.

How could the legs be like they'd been mutated, but it didn't seem like they were practicing spells.

Ren Qing came to a room with doubts, and the martial arts hall disciple opened the door and made a gesture of invitation.

He stepped into it, and his nose smelled a faint herbal scent.

The room was sparsely decorated, and a weak man lying on the bed was Chen Yongxing.

His aura was a little unstable, as if he could die at any time.

A fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl was serving Chen Yongxing to drink herbal medicine, but the latter wanted to push it away with his arm, but his strength was slightly insufficient.

After the girl finished feeding all the herbal medicine, she said in a soft voice, "I am Chen Yongxing's daughter, Chen Lihua. Because my father is unwell, I have to come forward."

"Can Master Chen speak?"

"I'm sorry, my father is now unable to take care of himself. If you still want to learn Bajiquan, you can only be taught by my senior brother."

"That's okay."

Ren Qing was extremely calm on the surface, but his heart was filled with unspeakable strangeness.

He had seen Chen Yongxing a few days ago, and the other party showed no signs of illness, and his lifespan was still seven or eight years.

Moreover, as a martial artist, small injuries and illnesses could not have such an impact.

Chen Lihua looked Ren Qing up and down, and after a moment, she said with satisfaction, "Three taels of silver per month, one lesson every three days, but you are not allowed to leave the martial arts hall if there is nothing to do."

Ren Qing agreed, anyway, it wouldn't take long if things went smoothly.

"Wooo..."

Chen Yongxing made a sound, as if he wanted to say something, but was forcibly pressed on the bed by Chen Lihua and could not move.

Ren Qing felt that the martial arts hall was full of weirdness, but he did not detect any half-corpse realm cultivators, so self-preservation was not a big problem.

Moreover, the more chaotic it was, the easier it would be for him to obtain the Divine Foot Sutra.

Ren Qing walked out of the room, and was then led by the previous martial arts hall disciple to the martial arts hall, which was specially used for practicing routines.

There were six registered disciples inside who paid to learn martial arts.

The skin of the crowd was somewhat bruised, and they were sitting cross-legged on futons.

Teaching them was a handsome young man, who asked the martial arts hall disciple about the situation after seeing Ren Qing come in.

Ren Qing noticed that two martial arts hall disciples were standing in the shadows in the corner, as if they were monitoring every move of the martial arts hall.

"I am Jin Bing, how should I address you, junior brother?"

"Ren Qing."

"Junior Brother Ren, rest for a while first, and we will start teaching later."

Jin Bing seemed very polite, and even took the initiative to pour some tea for Ren Qing, it seemed that he was used to it.

Ren Qing found a futon and sat down casually, the other registered disciples looked at him warily, but none of them spoke.

In the inexplicable atmosphere, more than half an hour passed.

Someone knocked on the door outside the martial arts hall, and Chen Lihua's voice came: "Prepare yourselves, it's time to eat dinner."

Jin Bing's expression became terrified, while the two martial arts hall disciples were greedy, and the expressions of those registered disciples varied.

Fear, ruthlessness, helplessness...

Ren Qing didn't know what was going on, but the development of the situation seemed to exceed expectations.

Chen Lihua continued: "Senior Brother Jin Bing, choose one person to eat with us."

Jin Bing trembled upon hearing this, he couldn't help but gag a few times, and said as if he had lost his strength: "You choose yourselves."