Chapter 1666: The Master of the Thousand Changes Gate

  Li Yingying's four junior sisters were rescued, and they came together to pay their respects to Li Yingying, saying: "Senior sister, we were wrong, please punish us!"

  Li Yingying smiled slightly and said, "The matter of punishing you will be handled by Master, my task is to rescue you from Old Zou's place. Now that you're all out, you can go back."

  Li Yingying's junior sisters said in unison: "Yes, senior sister!" Then they left Zou Lao's house one after another and flew away.

  It was only then that I had the time and opportunity to ask Li Yingying: "What illegal things did they do? Why did Old Zou take action and catch them all?"

  Li Yingying glanced at Zou Lao's house and said as she walked out, "Have you heard of the Jianghu Punishment Order?"

  I shook my head: "I wasn't a Jianghu person before, and I've never heard of Punishment Order."

  Li Yingying said: "This Punishment Order has been in existence for a long time in the Jianghu, its main purpose is to punish those who rely on force to do evil in the Jianghu. Zou Lao is the master of this generation's Punishment Order, also known as the messenger of the Punishment Order. The messenger of the Punishment Order is... just like the head of the law enforcement department in the government. However, the master of the Punishment Order only takes care of matters within the Jianghu and will not interfere with ordinary people's affairs."

  I understand now that this Old Zou is actually the head of the Public Security Bureau in the Jianghu, specializing in punishing those who break the law and discipline.

  Li Yingying's next words shocked me: "My four junior sisters were sent out by our master to gain experience and investigate the sudden appearance of Japanese ninja in China. We didn't expect that after they went out, they would be seduced by the external world's temptations and use their martial arts skills to do things that violate the rules. As a result, they were caught by Zhou Lao's disciples. I brought you here today to rescue them because I received a message from Zhou Lao saying that these junior sisters have been punished and won't commit any more wrongdoing. My master is currently in closed-door meditation and can't come to take my junior sisters back, so he sent me a message to come and get them. According to the rules of the Punishment Edict, it's necessary for the senior member of the offender's sect to come and take them away. Otherwise, if a junior member comes to take them away, they must challenge the eleventh disciple of the Punishment Edict's master. Only after defeating the eleventh disciple can they take the person away. If the junior member who came to take them away is not strong enough and loses, they can only wait three years before coming again."

  I slightly furrowed my brow: "In that case, if we can't beat those middle-aged men today, your junior sisters will have to wait another three years here?"

  Li Ying nodded: "They did something wrong, they must accept the punishment. Zou Lao has always been very fair, even if it was one of his former apprentices who made a mistake, he would still have to accept the punishment. I heard my master say that Zou Lao's apprentice had his powers abolished and was expelled from the sect."

  I secretly admire Zou Lao's character, but I also can't help feeling sorry for that errant disciple. It's only human to make mistakes, and punishment is necessary when one does wrong, but must they really have their powers abolished? For a cultivator, having their powers abolished is no different from being dead.

  Li Yingying continued: "This time, thanks to your help, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to rescue my sisters alone... How do you want me to repay you? Should I put in a good word for you with my cousin, or..."

  I forced a smile, intending to say "never mind", but then I thought better of it and said: "Then thank you, but the truth about my marriage to Ying'er, you can't tell Chen Jing or anyone else!"

  Li Yingying smiled slightly: "I know, I won't ruin your big deal."

  "I said with a clenched fist: 'Then I'll leave it to you, hoping your older cousin will listen to you...' After a pause, taking a glance at the time, I continued: 'I have to go, take care of yourself!'"

  Li Yingying nodded and was about to speak when a voice suddenly came from behind her: "Yingying, please ask Jin Cang to stay!"

  Li Yingying heard this voice and was both startled and delighted. She immediately turned around and said: "Master, how did you come?"

  As Li Yingying spoke, a person suddenly appeared in front of her. This person looked no more than thirty years old, with a beautiful face and a pretty appearance. However, his face was as if covered with frost, without any smile, making people feel particularly estranged, with a sense of rejection that kept others at bay.

  This man is Li Yingying's master, so he must be the leader of the Qianbian Gate. So I didn't dare to lose my manners, took a step forward and respectfully said: "Wudang disciple Jin Cang has seen the gate owner."

  The master of the Qianbian Gate has always been very mysterious, and it can be said that the dragon is invisible. Today, he took the initiative to come out and asked to meet with me, but I don't know what's going on.

  I muttered to myself, the master of the Thousand Changes Gate had already said: "No need for formalities, I and your master are also acquainted, in terms of seniority I am still junior to your master. Moreover, you just helped me with the Thousand Changes Gate, which makes you my benefactor."

  Her words were polite, but her tone was very cold, as if these words weren't spoken by her.

  I felt strange, but I wasn't foolish enough to say it out loud. I put down the fist I was holding and smiled: "Master of the door, you're being polite, previously I was rescued by Li Yingying, this time helping her with one arm's strength is just repaying her kindness, I don't dare consider myself your benefactor."

  Li Yingying smiled slightly and said: "I am a doctor, saving people is my duty. If you help me rescue my fellow sisters, that would be a great kindness to us..."

  I knew there was no need to say more about this matter, so I just nodded: "What does the master of the door want me for?"

  The master of the Qianbian Gate said, "It's like this, I received a call from Yingying saying that you would help her rescue those useless disciples of mine. I know you're a high-ranking disciple of Wudang, so I wanted to come and see your skills."

  I frowned slightly: "What do you mean?"

  Li Yingying said at this time: "Master's meaning is that she wants to know what kind of state you have reached now."

  "I've now reached the third layer of Wudang Heart Method, but I still have a long way to go before entering the Hua Jing state."

  The master of the Thousand Changes Gate slightly hesitated before saying, "Is that so? That's not bad either... As far as I know, the Wudang Heart Method only has three levels of realm, where did this 'Entering Harmony Realm' come from?"

  I smiled and said: "You don't know this, but the fourth layer of this technique was created by one of my junior sisters, and currently, very few people in the martial world are aware of this!"

  "Self-created?" The master of the Thousand Changes Gate was somewhat surprised, his facial expression didn't change, but his tone clearly conveyed surprise: "Your junior sister self-created it? Who is that, do I know them?"

  I glanced at Li Yingying and shook my head, saying: "You probably don't know her. My junior sister is called Nangong Qianlan, she's the granddaughter of my master and also his disciple. The relationship is a bit complicated, but she's indeed a Wudang disciple and my junior sister."

  "It turned out to be the granddaughter of the empty-handed sect leader, no wonder I didn't know...” The master of the Qianbian Sect nodded: “The Wudang Heart Method is one of the highest heart methods in the martial arts world. Now that it has entered the realm of Hua, it must have surpassed many other sects' heart methods."

  I knew that the master of the Thousand Changes Gate was right, but I still had to be polite: "You're too kind, our Wudang's mental discipline isn't even worthy of being called the highest in the martial world."

  The master of the Thousand Changes Gate nodded slightly, seemingly in agreement with my idea. She then said: "My name is Linghu Yuxian, you really don't need to treat me as your elder. Now I want to try out your skills, get ready."

  I slightly furrowed my brow, intending to decline, but Li Yingying kept making eyes at me, urging me to agree. So I had no choice but to say: "Please instruct me, Master Lenghu."

  Linghu Yuxian nodded slightly, her figure moved swiftly, and in a flash of lightning, she appeared beside me. She looked like a stunning beauty, but unexpectedly, her first move was so fierce that I almost couldn't dodge it.

  Linghu Yuxian was slightly surprised and said lightly: "Concentrate your spirit!"

  I knew I was wrong, so I nodded and became fully attentive.

  Linghu Yuxian waited until I was ready before making another move, her attack speed was very fast, her movements were good, I almost had no power to fight back, and could only passively defend.

  However, with my current skills, it would be difficult for Linghu Yuxian to defeat me in a short period of time, so we fell into a protracted battle from the start.

  Perhaps knowing that I had just gone through a battle, Lü Fox Jade did not use her full strength to attack me, but instead used exquisite moves to probe me.

  I knew she didn't have any malicious intentions, so I didn't use my strongest power to attack her. I just countered her moves and tried to protect myself.

  Our fight looks fancy, but none of it has any killing power, just like those Jianghu tricks. However, Linger Yu Xian is testing my skills, and there's no need to insist on taking action that would harm people.

  Li Yingying watched me and her master fight from the side, seemingly feeling that I wasn't going all out, and suddenly shouted: "Jin Cang, my master is very powerful, you can attack with full force."

  I listened to Li Yingying's words and knew that I couldn't hide anymore, so I started using my physical strength, treating it like an enemy, and launched a full-scale attack.

  My transformation caused Qianbianmen's leader, Linghu Yuxian, to be slightly surprised, but her skills were really good, no matter how I attacked, she could easily dissolve it.

  Time slowly passed, and in the blink of an eye, we had already fought for a quarter of an hour. My attacks were getting fiercer and fiercer, but I still couldn't really defeat Linghu Yuxian. Linghu Yuxian's offense was also gradually speeding up, her figure becoming more and more blurred, until it was hard to see her face clearly.

  This is a very clever move, one that Li Yingying has used before, and I've had the pleasure of witnessing it.

  I gradually realized that Linghu Yuxian's attack power was not very strong. Maybe she didn't use her full strength, or maybe it was just like this, her attacks wouldn't hurt me. So I could attack with all my might, no need to defend.

  In this way, my attack power was strengthened again, forcing Linghu Yuxian to speed up her pace once more.

  It turned out that she was really not using her full strength, and now that I'm pushing her, she can't help but speed up, the whole person is like a shadow, completely presenting a blurry state, I couldn't see her clearly.

  I know that I and Linghu Yuxian can maintain invincibility at most, but it's hard to win, so I also put down the mentality of seeking victory, and instead launched a strong attack, wanting to truly understand Linghu Yuxian's strength.

  Linghu Yuxian is after all a veteran master, with much richer combat experience than me. Plus her strength is obviously stronger than mine, so even when I've used up all my energy, she still has some left to spare.

  Luckily her goal was to test my abilities rather than defeat me. Otherwise I might have failed long ago.

  After another ten minutes, Linghu Yuxian finally stopped. She said calmly: "Your kung fu is very strong, and you can fight evenly with me, worthy of being the eldest disciple of Wudang."

  I immediately stopped, clasped my fists and said: "Lord Leng Hu, you're overpraising me. Actually, I'm not your opponent..." Paused for a moment, changed the subject and said: "If you're interested in Wudang's inner energy method, you can go find my master directly. My talent is poor, I couldn't learn the fourth level of the inner energy method, so I couldn't defeat you, now I also don't know how to talk to you."

  Linghu Yuxian sighed: "Our Qianbianmen has its own heart method, it's impossible to change and repair the Wudang heart method. I'm just interested in that junior sister of yours, a young person can actually create her own heart method, this is a big deal!"

  I remembered Nan Gong Qian Lan, who had just met me and then parted ways. I also admired her talent: "My junior sister is indeed a genius... She is now serving as the martial arts instructor at the Dragon Guard, if you have time, you can go find her."

  Linghu Yuxian shook her head: "I don't have any dealings with people in the government. If you hadn't helped my disciple Yingying, I wouldn't have shown up to see you either."

  I remembered my task and said: "Since that's the case, I can only wait for my junior sister to return to Wudang, and then I'll let her come find you."

  Linghu Yuxian nodded: "Alright, I'll wait for your junior sister!"

  I didn't think that my polite words would be taken seriously by Linghu Yuxian, so I had to say: "I'll definitely pass it on to my junior sister." Pausing for a moment: "Linghu Sect Master, I still have a task at hand, I need to go pick up my friend..."

  Linghu Yuxian said: "You go, I won't delay you. Yingying, help me see off Jin Cang."

  Li Yingying nodded obediently and turned back to me saying: "Senior brother, please!"

  I was stunned, I didn't expect Li Yingying to be so well-behaved in front of Linghu Yuxian, not at all like her usual self.

  Li Yingying sent me on my way, then bid me farewell: "Brother-in-law, I promised you that I would help you with something and I will definitely make it happen. However, I feel like you helped me out a lot, so I'll just put in a good word for you with my sister. It seems like you got the short end of the stick. So, I'm allowing you to ask me for one more favor."

  I was taken aback and felt it was quite strange. However, I had just been through two battles and my body was tired, so I didn't think much of it: "There will be plenty of opportunities to ask for your help in the future."

  Li Yingying smiled slightly: "Are you still blaming me for dragging you as a laborer?"

  I shook my head: "How could it be? You've helped me before, you're my friend and Chen Jing's cousin, I should help you."

  Li Yingying looked at me and suddenly sighed without saying a word.

  I was even more puzzled and had no choice but to ask: "Is there something difficult that you're struggling with? If you need my help, just say it directly and I'll do my best."

  Li Yingying seemed to have hesitated for a moment, and finally said with determination: "What I mean is, although you are my sister's husband, but... we can still be friends."

  After she finished speaking, she suddenly lowered her head, changing from the previous obedient and domineering attitude when we were together before.

  I was taken aback for a moment, and suddenly felt that the Li Yingying I knew before had disappeared. The Li Yingying by my side now seemed like another person altogether.

  But I indeed inexplicably felt a little excited in my heart, and I didn't know what the reason was. Was it because Li Yingying had accepted me as her friend and sister-in-law now? Or was there some other reason?

  In short, I feel like my relationship with Li Yingying is getting closer and closer.

  Li Yingying probably didn't know what I was thinking, seeing that I wasn't speaking, she directly said: "No matter what you think, this is just how I think. I'm leaving, my master is still waiting for me to go back."

  I nodded slightly and said "take care".

  Li Yingying looked at me again and silently turned around to go find her master.

  I set out alone and headed straight for Wudang to find Ying'er.

  Ying'er is my nominal wife, and it's only right that I go look for her. It's just that now, every time I think about the awkwardness after seeing Ying'er, I can't help but feel a little afraid.

  I don't know what others would do in this situation, anyway I now have no idea what to do.