An Zeng, Skinny Du, and the others tidied up a bit before leaving the sect for the Martial Arts Academy.
Just as she was about to leave, An Zhe suddenly saw a person standing not far away. Although it was midsummer, she seemed to be shivering from the cold.
She was so lonely, just like an unremarkable wild flower by the roadside, quietly blooming her own beauty, but with a bit of inferiority.
Ding Ningdong.
""Are you looking for me?"" he asked.
Ding Ningdong nodded slightly and then took a deep breath, ""I … I just want to tell you that my father found someone to attack you during the martial arts exam. That person"s name is Lang Jing.""
""Perhaps he will make his move at other times as well. He is a lunatic … You better be careful, I"m leaving.""
An Xuan said, ""Thank you. If your father finds out that you"ve come looking for me like this, you"ll feel wronged.""
Ding Ningdong shook her head, ""I"m not afraid. Anyway, he already planned to marry me off, so it wouldn"t be too hard for me.""
""I just want to tell you, I... am different from my big brother and the others.""
When she had finished, she turned and ran away, her figure growing more and more lonely.
An Zeng watched Ding Ningdong run away, feeling a little suffocated in his heart.
It seemed that kind-hearted people would always encounter various kinds of tribulations.
Ding Ningdong said that her father was planning to marry her off. Her eyes were filled with unwillingness and grievance.
She could not control her own fate. She struggled carefully, but she could not struggle out of that strange and merciless circle.
After An Zaiyue and the others left the sect, the large men from the Heavenly Enlightenment Sect also began to leave one by one.
They walked out onto the street, still in the same arrogant and domineering posture.
These malevolent men were meticulously helping the elderly cross the road, helping the children to go to the academy. At the same time, they also saw someone unreasonably teaching them a lesson in an unreasonable manner.
Recently, this had become the norm for the Heavenly Enlightenment Sect, so much so that the nearby residents were used to having these burly men to uphold justice.
In the end, if anything happened to any family, they would not report to Fang Shoufu, but would instead seek help from the Heavenly Enlightenment Sect.
To such people, An Zhe had only one att.i.tude. Where to go, where to go, the Heavenly Enlightenment Sect was not a yamen.
Some people would say that she only came to him because she was truly wronged. Why don"t you go along with it?
An Zhan told his subordinates that the unified reply to such questions was … Why should I care?
I can help people on my own, because I like it.
I can help no one, either because I like it.
If everyone treated the Heavenly Gate Sect as a yamen, then what did the yamen regard the sect as?
As he walked, he tidied up the information about this honorable person, who was also a celebrity.
This year, in March, he went to the entrance of the Grand Cauldron Academy alone and announced that he wanted to challenge Su Feiheng.
He had stood outside the Grand Cauldron Academy for three days and three nights. Originally, he thought that Su Feihun would accept the challenge, but Su Feiheng didn"t even spare him a glance.
Then, he went to the Supreme Court to challenge Feng Xiuxiu, but she ignored him.
In April, he knelt outside Empyrean Heavenly Palace for two days and two nights, claiming to be a once-in-century genius, begging the King of Yan to give him a chance to serve his country and become a general.
He did not want to leave until he had seen the King, but he could not bear the scornful looks of the grown-ups from the past, so he left.
In May, he had made his own ring in the street, claiming to accept the challenge of anyone under twenty, and he would be a slave to anyone who could beat him.
After being in the ring for three days, no one defeated him, because no one fought against him.
During the month of June, when the Martial Arts Academy"s entrance exam was about to start, he ran over to the academy to challenge Nie Qing.
Nie Qing was the strongest member of the last batch of students in the academy. Some people called him and Su Feiheng from the Great Cauldron Academy as the three prodigies of Grand Dao Academy, Feng Xiuzhu.
He shouted outside the Martial Arts Academy for the entire day. In the evening, Nie Qing came out of the Martial Academy and casually lifted up the several hundred jin heavy horse rock and casually threw it dozens of meters away. He then clapped his hands and left.
After that, Lan Jing stood there in a daze for half an hour. He lowered his head and left the Martial Arts Academy with heavy footsteps.
Later on, he inquired about Nie Qing"s age and heard that Nie Qing was 18, Su Feihun was 19, and Feng Xiuzhu was 17.
Thus, he embroidered a line of words on his own clothes, number four under the age of twenty.
That was why when people mentioned him later, he was nicknamed Number Four Under Heaven.
It was a strange man, and most people said he was mad.
A lunatic who, in order to become famous, could do anything he wanted.
When An Zeng really saw this person, he suddenly felt that this person was rather pitiful.
Lang Jing stood at the gate of the Martial Arts Academy, wearing a set of coa.r.s.e clothes.
Although the clothes were very, very old, and there were many patches on them, they were very clean.
He stood in front of the Martial Arts Academy with a knife in his arms.
His trousers were too short to reach his ankles.
He wore a pair of cloth shoes with holes in them, but they were also very good for mending.
Thus, An Zhe felt that this was not a lunatic, but a pitiful person who wanted to change his life through his own efforts.
Lang Jing"s strength was definitely not weak. Otherwise, he wouldn"t have gone to challenge Su Feihu and Nie Qing, who were both favored by the heavens.
Since his cultivation was not weak, he could rely on being a guard or something else to make his life better.
However, he did not. This meant that he had an almost perverted sense of self-respect.
He felt that he should not do the low things, that he was going to be a man.
An Zaihai looked at the veneration, and after a simple observation, he made an evaluation … pitiable, not worthy of respect.
""You are the one fighting?""
Lang Jing crossed his arms around his sabre and said, ""I am Lang Jing, I want to challenge you.""
In four ways, the chin is covered with stubble, so it looks older than its age.
His waist was very straight, but his back seemed slightly bent.
He was not hunchbacked, he was merely being pressured by something to the point that he found it hard to breathe.
He had thick eyebrows and big eyes, slightly thicker lips, and a straight nose.
If he hadn"t been carrying a knife in his arms, everyone would have thought he was a farmer.
""Why did you challenge me?""
""Because you are famous. If I win against you, I will be more famous than you,"" Lang replied.
People who think you"re a talent, they think I"m a talent. ""
""So of course, you didn"t take the money to challenge me.""
Lang Jing was a little excited. ""I am doing this for my own future, why would I ask for money?""
""I, I can"t buy it with money!""
""That"s why they only gave you an empty promise.""
Lang Jing obviously wasn"t a person who knew how to lie, so after hearing An Zaiyue"s story, he became a little embarra.s.sed. ""No … No one asked me to kill you, I just wanted to challenge you.""
""I accept your challenge.""
Lan Jing was stunned for a moment. He didn"t think that An Zhe would actually accept his challenge.
He had tried to challenge the three prodigies, but no one had responded.
Su Feihun and Feng Xiuxiu didn"t even see him, and Nie Qing only used a piece of rock to shatter his self-esteem.
Then one night, Lang Jing tried it out. That piece of horse stone was no less than 500 Jin, no matter what he said, he wouldn"t be able to throw it as far away as Nie Qing.
So when Anjou said I would accept your challenge, he didn"t quite believe it.
Originally, Lan Jing had already made preparations. If An Zhe didn"t accept the challenge, he would stop An Zhe from entering the Martial Arts Academy.
""How?""
Anjou asked.
Lan Jing kicked the ground with some uneasiness. ""Let"s … fight, I"ll fight you.""
An Xuan nodded. ""I"ll leave it here. There"s still some time before the Martial Arts Academy exam.""
Lang Jing looked at An Zeng, ""You don"t have a weapon, and I don"t need one either!""
He stabbed the knife into the ground with a loud bang. The handle of the knife started to shake violently. The blade"s body shook and reflected the sunlight to the point where it was swaying back and forth.
""I"ve been cultivating since I was young and have started challenging cultivators in the Great Solar Town. I"ve already traveled through all the counties under the rule of the Yan Country"s Fang Gu. I"ve never met an opponent below the age of twenty.""
Lan Jing clasped his hands. ""I"m best at punching and kicking. You have to be careful.""
An Zhe made a gesture of invitation, ""Do it.""
At this time, many people had already gathered outside the Martial Arts Academy.
Soon, more and more people came out from the Martial Arts Academy to watch the fun. Everyone was saying … that An Zhe had started fighting again at the gate of the Martial Arts Academy.
Nie Qing was also present, and he didn"t know why he had come.
When he had heard about the dispute earlier, he had felt that An Zaiyue was nothing more than a kid who did not know the difference between the two.
However, the more important the people of the War Department and the Martial Arts Academy were, the more curious he became.
Thus, when he heard that An Zhe had once again been fighting in front of the Five Courtyard"s entrance, and that he had accepted Lang Jing"s challenge, he couldn"t help but walk out.
This was because he knew of Lang Jing"s strength. He had once said to his friends in private … that if one was below the age of twenty, Lang Jing might not have any opponents within the Ascending Realm.
Nie Qing didn"t know whether he was here to embarra.s.s himself or not, or not to embarra.s.s the War Department and the Martial Academy.
At the same time, there was a restaurant called Zuiyue Restaurant less than a hundred meters away from the entrance of the Martial Arts Academy.
On the second floor, a youth with a sword on his back sat by the window.
He wore a black Daoist robe. The sleeves were rolled up to reveal a snow-white undergarment. He looked neat and tidy.
He carried a wooden sword on his back. It did not have a sheath, so it was naturally not sharp.
The wooden sword was tied up with an apricot yellow rope, and there were some words written densely on it.
She had delicate features and was more beautiful than a girl.
His fingers were long and white and clean, and his nails were neatly trimmed. When he clenched his fists, they would never get in his way.
He was in a restaurant, but he didn"t drink.
He turned his head to look at the Martial Arts Academy with some expectation in his eyes.
Across the street from this restaurant was a famous brothel called the Jun Xin Tower.
It was said that the Jun Xin Tower was an estate owned by the later generations, so it could be opened up in a place not far from the Martial Arts Academy.
And this Jun Xin Tower, it was said that there were many flower-like girls inside, all specially trained to seduce the young talents of the Martial Arts Academy.
Of course, this was all a legend. He didn"t know what kind of background the Jun Xin Tower had.
However, the young lady of the Jun Xin Tower was indeed famous. Not only was she good-looking, but she was also talented.
On the second floor of the Jun Xin Tower, a window was opened, and a young man wearing a light shirt stood at the window.
He was carrying a gla.s.s of wine that wafted from the second floor to the street.
He had a good body, and the corners of his muscles were sharp under his thin shirt.
He had a very bright and handsome face. Beneath his sword-like brows, his eyes seemed to be sharp enough to see through everything.
A woman with disheveled clothes came over from his back. Under his water sleeves, her sleek and slender arms hugged him from behind.
The young man from the Jun Xin Tower raised his cup while the young Taoist from Zuiyue Pavilion raised it in response.
The meaning in the eyes of the two were the same … So you are here as well.
Nie Qing, who was leaning on the stone lion at the entrance of the Martial Arts Academy, seemed to have sensed something as he turned his head to look into the distance.
Thus, he saw Su Feihun in the brothel with his clothes half undone, and he also saw Feng Xiuzhu in the restaurant, who was currently drinking tea. Of course, he also knew that those two were also looking at him.
Then, the three of them couldn"t help looking at the other person …"