Training Grounds
"How many people are there in the inner hall, can they compare to our outer hall? In the same batch as us, we have more than 20-30 of them, but only five. Moreover, we've all been training in the deep mountains and forests for three to five years, killing countless wolves and leopards. How can those guys from the inner hall who have always stayed in the county city compare to us? In a fight, I alone am enough to take down two or three of them."
Yang Yicheng shouted angrily, very dissatisfied with Feng Xiao's shrinking back.
"Ordinary disciples in the inner hall don't count for much, but what about the law enforcement disciples of the inner hall? They are in charge of maintaining order and have always been biased towards the inner hall's disciples. If they catch us secretly fighting, we'll definitely get a severe beating."
Feng Qi's law enforcement disciples, Yang Yicheng furrowed his brow.
Inside the Medicine King Hall, there are two types of disciples. One type is ordinary medicine-making disciples who wear white clothes and are responsible for making medicine or taking care of the storefront in the county town. They are mostly from wealthy families. The other type is core law enforcement disciples who wear brocade clothes and have been studying martial arts wholeheartedly since childhood. Their martial arts skills are not ordinary, and their backgrounds are even more profound, often coming from powerful and aristocratic families.
The outer disciples of Yaodao Hall wear green robes and most of them are ordinary civilians with no background.
The disciples of both the inner and outer halls looked down on each other and often quarreled, but none of them dared to provoke those law enforcement disciples.
When the inner and outer disciples have a dispute, the Jin Yi Zhai disciples usually lean towards the inner disciples. Many times, the inner disciples are arrogant and overbearing, relying on the support of the law enforcement disciples.
Ye Qin thought for a moment and calmly said to the four of them:
"This matter is not urgent, let's try to avoid the inner hall's Jin Yi Zhi Fa disciples for now. Recently, there have been a large number of outsiders in the county town, and it's inevitable that some chaos will ensue. Our Medicine Hall can't just sit back and watch those people cause trouble, we must take action to maintain order. I reckon that even the most skilled Jin Yi Zhi Fa disciples will be deployed to quell the unrest. We can take advantage of their absence to pick a fight with those inner hall people. Given the arrogant nature of the inner hall disciples, they'll definitely accept our challenge."
"Big Brother, Third Brother, aren't you acquainted with many brothers and friends in the hall? You can invite them to come and help. And Fourth Sister, Fifth Sister, you two also invite some female disciples from outside the hall to come and help. Since we're going to have a fight, let's thoroughly teach the inner hall disciples a lesson, so they won't forget it easily later on. This matter will be handled by Big Brother."
"Alright, let's do it this way."
Yang Yicheng nodded heavily and agreed to it. He had also made friends with many wine-and-meat brothers in the pharmacy, basically all of whom were outer sect disciples, without any inner sect people. Inviting some outer sect disciples to help out was completely problem-free.
As for Feng Xiao, his social connections are not as extensive as Yang Yicheng's, and he knows quite a few people, but it's hard to say if he can bring in some helpers.
Qian Ruxiu and Sun Ying nodded in agreement, they knew many fellow female disciples from other sects.
Ye Qin still had a small abacus in her heart.
Those outer sect female disciples would never sit idly by and watch Sun Ying be humiliated, most of them would come forward to help. As long as those female disciples were willing to take action, they could definitely bring along a batch of male disciples who admired them, rushing to protect their beauties. By then, the number of outer sect people would increase, what could those inner sect disciples with high martial arts skills do? They would still only get beaten up.
"Let's set the time within ten days, choose a day for the law enforcement disciples to go on a mission during this period, and have a match with the inner sect disciples." Ye Qin settled the matter.
Among his five fellow apprentices, Ye Qin was considered the most opinionated one.
Yang Yicheng is bold and impulsive, although he also has his own ideas, but he does things a bit hastily and gives people an unstable feeling. Feng Xiaoli tends to shrink back when faced with situations, often not daring to take charge. Qian Ruoxiu, although having her own ideas, is after all a woman, lacking in momentum. Sun Ying has a weak personality, often needing others to make decisions for her.
Ye Qin usually doesn't talk much, but he is calm and composed. Once he makes up his mind, the other four are more than half willing to follow him. The matter of fighting with the inner disciples was settled. They had ten days' time, which was ample, and they weren't in a hurry to take revenge immediately.
"Old Second, let's exchange a few moves and see how much your skills have improved. Can you withstand the beating? Don't get beaten to a pulp by that Wang Ba Danzi from the inner courtyard later!" Yang Yicheng exclaimed excitedly, rubbing his iron palms together as he hadn't seen Ye Qin for half a year and was itching for a fight.
"Master, you're not unaware of my internal skills, which are purely auxiliary techniques. I can carry three to five hundred catties and walk dozens of miles without a problem, but if I were to take your iron fist, I wouldn't be able to withstand two punches. If you want to practice boxing, it's better to find someone else; the training hall in the Medicine Pavilion has plenty of willing opponents." Ye Qin smiled wryly and shook his head lightly.
"Whatever, I knew you'd say that." Yang Yicheng was somewhat displeased, but his fists were itching to move, and he headed straight for the training hall of the Medicine Pavilion.
"Master, why don't I accompany you in practicing a few moves, what do you say?!"
Feng Xiaoxiao let out a strange laugh and followed closely behind.
Qian Ruoxiu and Sun Ying didn't fall behind either. Since that grudge couldn't be avenged now, they might as well go to the training grounds to vent their emotions.
Ye Qin thought for a moment, then calmly walked towards the training grounds.
He didn't want to practice because the "Sitting Forgetting Sutra" he's currently practicing relies mainly on the medicinal power of dew grass to achieve rapid growth. Ordinary practice methods have no effect on his kung fu.
He just wanted to go and take a look at how the four people's kung fu had progressed over the past six months.
Inside the training hall, there were about dozens of disciples practicing, mostly outer sect young disciples between 15 and 20 years old. Their skills were mostly third-rate, or even not up to standard.
These disciples were either practicing their martial arts alone or in pairs, honing their combat skills, with flashes of swords and shadows of fists, feet kicking and punching, while others shouted and cheered, making quite a lively scene.
Ye Qin looked intently at the scene for a while, but furrowed his brow.
Because he found that the martial arts of dozens of young disciples in the field seemed to be very weak, slow and stiff. He could capture their moves with one eye, even every swing of their swords, punches, kicks, and subtle movements were slow, just like a child who had just started practicing martial arts.
Yang Yizhen's iron fist was very powerful and could shatter five bricks stacked flat on the ground with one punch.
But in Ye Qin's eyes, it felt too slow, and he was afraid that before he could even hit anyone, they would have already dodged out of the way.
Feng Xiao's "Tie Yun Zong" has reached the fourth level, and he is quickly jumping around in the training field, very agile and nimble. Among his fellow young disciples who are practicing with him, few can keep up with him.
Ye Qin had always envied Feng Xiao's qinggong. But now, he suddenly felt that Feng Xiao jumping around like this was a bit boring, just like a silly rabbit. If he had a stone in his hand and threw it out... Feng Xiao would probably be lying on the ground humming and whining, unable to jump up again.
Qian Ruoxiu was taking out her frustration on a wooden stake, hitting it with a loud crackling sound. However, her Plum Blossom Hand technique didn't seem as fast as he had imagined before. If she were to practice against herself, he estimated that he could easily catch her quick and nimble hands, rendering her Plum Blossom Hand useless.
Sun Ying's swordsmanship seems to have also deteriorated a lot, the sword body even has a slight tremble, can't even hold the sword steadily, how can she still manage to split people?
The entire training ground, not a single person's kung fu is satisfactory, everywhere is full of flaws and weaknesses. What's going on, have their martial arts skills greatly regressed, or has my own cultivation progressed?
Ye Qin was astonished at the same time, and his heart seemed to be thinking of something.
The power of the "Sitting Forgetfulness Sutra" seems to be much greater than I had imagined. After spending half a year, I was able to complete the first level of cultivation that would normally take ten years, and now I can easily look down on most of my peers.
If I can cultivate the second and third layers, I should be considered a rare Jianghu master. Unfortunately, there is not enough Qingyan stone to cultivate Xiaolu grass and accelerate the cultivation progress.
Ye Qin couldn't help but feel deeply regretful.
Without the herbs, he can only rely on his daily basic meditation to cultivate himself, and this kind of cultivation speed is extremely slow. Without ten or twenty years of dedicated cultivation, it's unlikely that he will be able to break through to the third layer of the "Sitting Forgetting Sutra".
