Unparalleled Double Harmony

Chapter 462: There is a good show in Cangzhou

It’s the end of the Shen hour, and we’re still on the top of this mountain.

It was almost time for dinner when Huang Donglai came back with a dozen porters carrying loads.

Some people may wonder, twenty servings of braised beef in soy sauce and five jars of good wine should be enough for three people... Why did Huang Donglai bring so many people?

Oh, are you really going to take as much as the abbot says?
What if you find that something is damaged or substandard after you get to the mountain? For example, a jar of wine is accidentally spilled, or a pack of braised beef is not fresh... What will you do then?
To take a step back, even if there is nothing wrong with the items, can you guarantee that the abbot will not find fault with them, saying there is a problem, and then ask you to make another trip?
Knowing that the abbot wanted to "teach a lesson" to the two juniors, Shuang Xie, Huang Donglai must do this job in a more efficient manner.

What's more, since it's Brother Sun's banknotes that are being spent, will Huang Donglai save it for him?
So, as soon as Huang Donglai arrived in the town, he hired a group of strong porters and asked them to follow him to raid all the shops, restaurants and taverns in the town, and only then did they load more than ten full loads.

Don't be fooled by the tattered bamboo baskets on both ends of the poles. In fact, each basket is padded with two layers of cloth, and the cloth contains exquisite and sturdy food boxes, which are filled with the best food that can be bought in a short period of time.

Huang Donglai bought up everything, including peaches, apricots, plums, chestnuts, dates, persimmons, chickens, ducks, fish, meat, cattle, mutton, and geese... both raw and cooked. The abbot and his men could smell the fragrance emanating from the cloth from more than ten meters away.

"Brother Fang, I have brought you something to apologize for my mistake. I hope it suits your taste." Huang Donglai was still very polite when he returned to the pavilion.

"Hmph..." The abbot, although his mouth was watering and his heart was beating, still had to keep his face, "I asked you to bring some braised beef and wine, but you brought so much here, isn't that redundant?"

"Brother Fang is right..." Huang Donglai knew that arguing with him would be a trap, so he didn't argue with him at all. He just went along with what he said and continued to retreat. "Of course, I also considered this before coming here, so I informed those brothers who were carrying the loads in advance. What we can't finish today will be given to them. Now, if you don't want anything except the braised beef and wine, I'll let them take it all away now..."

"Oh~ Then there's no need for that." Upon hearing that the cooked duck was about to fly away, the abbot's face was a little crooked. Not only did he quickly stop Huang Donglai's "return" operation, but his tone of voice also softened a little, "It's already been carried up, right..." He paused here and glanced to the side, "Besides, I see Brother Hai hasn't eaten or drunk for most of the day..."

Hai Cangfeng saw that Brother Fang was asking him to give him a way out, so he gave it to him: "Ah... yes, I'm hungry too." After giving him a way out, he also played the role of peacemaker, "Brother Sun, Brother Huang, you two haven't eaten for a long time, come sit together... We are all friends, don't be so serious, actually Brother Fang is no longer angry, he was just joking with you guys."

The two sentences of Hero Hai can no longer be called steps, they are simply slides. The abbot naturally has to follow them: "Well... Brother Hai is right. We are all children of the underworld. Who would care about such a small matter, right?"

To make a long story short, of the food that was finally carried up the mountain, the few people picked out about 30% to keep according to their own preferences, and the remaining 70% was given to the porters to take down the mountain.

If we talk about the biggest beneficiaries of the abbot's incident, the porters were the ones who benefited the most. Not only did they get more wages for this trip, but they also got so many good things. So when they left, they expressed their gratitude profusely.

In the blink of an eye, it was already two quarters past the hour of You.

The four people in the pavilion had already finished three rounds of drinks. At this point, the abbot began to talk nonsense again: "Alas, a meal for the rich is ten years of food for the poor."

Although his sigh sounded a bit like he was taking advantage of the situation, it was also from the bottom of his heart, because the cost of Sun Huang's meal today was indeed enough to cover his food expenses for ten years.

"Brother Fang, what you said... Are you a little short of money recently?" Huang Donglai answered naturally. After all, anyone with eyes could see that the abbot was poor.

"Why? You want to give me alms?" The abbot said something unpleasant right away, "Then I have to make it clear. If it was at noon, I would have asked you two to spend dozens of taels of silver to compensate for my half bag of braised beef. But now, since I have already eaten this meal, I will not ask you for a penny."

The abbot's logic is not reasonable, but it is self-consistent.

Like many people who behave in a perverse way, he has his own principles.

You say he is kind and righteous... He was the one who beat some juniors so hard that they couldn't get out of bed for a month because of a little friction, and even "confiscated" their weapons to exchange for money.

You say he is unkind... But he didn't throw away any of those pawn tickets that he would never be able to redeem in his lifetime, and as soon as Hai Cangfeng mentioned it to him, he immediately remembered who the other party was referring to, where the things were pawned, and could quickly find the corresponding tickets.

This shows that the abbot had actually anticipated the possibility that "what if the things he confiscated were very important to others", so he kept those receipts to leave room for others to get them back.

He is such a contradictory person.

It’s like he was an enlightened monk willing to selflessly save people one second ago, and the next second he would hire eighteen big men to beat you up every time he saw you just because you pissed him off.

"As expected of you, Brother Fang. You are so tough." On the other side, Sun Yixie flattered the abbot after hearing his words, and then changed the subject, "But then again, as the saying goes, 'a penny can make a hero fall'. Money is something you can dislike, but you can't live without it..." He paused, "Of course we won't 'give' you, Brother Fang, but if we have something that we want to ask Brother Fang for help, and we can earn some money by the way, Brother Fang won't refuse, right?"

"Hmm? You are a smooth talker, you are good at speaking." The abbot thought what Sun Yixie said was quite interesting, so he asked, "Why? You want to pay me to do something?"

"Yes, that's exactly what we meant." Seeing that the other party had taken the bait, Sun Yixie admitted it with a smile.

But after hearing this, Huang Donglai was confused: "Ah? What's going on? Why don't I understand what you are saying?"

Of course he didn't understand, because this matter was brought up by the information shared by Hai Cangfeng and Sun Yixie when he was going down the mountain.

Now that Huang Donglai asked this, Sun Yixie briefly repeated to him the information he knew.

So what is this all about?

This is indeed a major event that involves the entire martial arts world - the Murong family and the Baquan Sect have agreed to negotiate in Cangzhou in order to compete for the right to host the next "Young Heroes Conference" next year, and the date of the negotiation is set for half a month later.

Some people may ask, why do we have to compete for the hosting rights for next year's competition now?
Oh, won’t it take time to prepare?
Let’s talk about these two families again… Those of you who have read the previous documents must be familiar with the name “Baquan Sect”. In the Dazhu martial arts world during the Yongtai period, the Baquan Sect was a first-class sect whose status was no less than that of Shaolin, Wudang and other century-old sects, and its base was in Cangzhou, Hebei.

Huo Ming, the head of the Naha Boxing Sect, was also a frivolous character when he was young. At the age of sixteen, he made a name for himself in the martial arts world with his unique skill "Five Thunder Piercing the Heart Fist" passed down from his ancestors.

However, Huo Ming's father was not satisfied with his son's high-profile style.

Although Huo's father was also a first-class master with unique skills, he had no idea of ​​becoming famous. He simply opened a small "Huo Family Martial Arts School" and lived a peaceful life in Cangzhou, a martial arts town full of martial arts schools.

But Huo Ming, the "young master", would run away from home at any time. He would not be home for several months and would come back covered in injuries. When asked, it was known that he had gone out to "roam the world and do justice".

This went on for five or six years, and finally, Huo Ming offended some people he shouldn't have offended, and his enemies came to visit him.

It is true that both he and his father are good at martial arts, but in this world, you cannot solve everything just because you are good at martial arts - siege, assassination, kidnapping, poisoning... For those who really want to seek revenge on you and will do whatever it takes, there are plenty of ways to overcome the gap in martial arts.

In the end, the result of this vendetta was that all those who came to seek revenge on Huo Ming were killed, but Huo Ming's family... his parents, his wife who had been married for only a few years, and his child who had just learned to walk, were all killed as well.

Only then did he finally understand some of the words that he had heard his father say countless times but had never been able to understand. Unfortunately, it was too late.

After that, the name Huo Ming disappeared from the world for a while.

Some said he committed suicide out of grief, some said he went to live in seclusion in the mountains, and some said he was in mourning for his family and therefore did not see anyone...

And in fact...except for the fact that he didn't commit suicide, all other guesses were basically correct.

It was not until seven years later that Huo Ming returned to the world.

After seven years of settling down, his character and sophistication have become completely different from what they were back then, because he has figured it out: In life, if one cannot endure for the sake of his family like his father did, then he will do whatever it takes to become the biggest and most powerful one, making his power so great that no one dares to come and seek revenge.

So, that year he returned to his abandoned ancestral home, reorganized his family business, and founded his own sect.

The name of the school was taken from the new set of boxing techniques he developed during those seven years - "Ba Quan".

This set of boxing techniques is divided into eleven levels. When you first start practicing it, you can easily get started and your strength will improve extremely quickly. Most people only need to learn for about three years to reach the third level.

At this time, the boxing styles of those practitioners were very sharp and powerful. Compared with the disciples of other sects who had only practiced for three years, the disciples of Ba Quan Sect could not say that they would win for sure, but the advantage was 80:20.

But starting from the fourth level, the difficulty of practicing the Baquan will rise sharply. In the process of practice, one will begin to encounter the obscure obstacles unique to superior martial arts. In order to break through these difficulties, one must gradually overturn some of what one has learned before, and continue to move forward in "self-doubt" and "self-denial"... and this process will continue for a full seven levels.

During this period, the practitioner's boxing style will also change, becoming like a sharp blade that is "getting duller and duller". It may feel like the boxing skills are getting stronger, but when they attack, they gradually become less noticeable.

When a practitioner reaches the peak of the tenth level, after breaking through the seven barriers of shock, doubt, regret, anger, sorrow, awakening and enlightenment contained in the theory of Ba Quan, he will be able to step into the eleventh level of "Ba".

At this time, the true face of this boxing style, which is domineering and unparalleled, will be revealed.

If the first three levels of Tyrant Fist are compared to firecrackers with a relatively loud sound, then the fourth to tenth levels of Tyrant Fist are silent cannonballs with gradually increasing power, and the eleventh level of Tyrant Fist is like the overwhelming Mount Tai and the thunder that falls...

It can be said that this is both a style of boxing and Huo Ming’s life.

After he turned thirty, Huo Ming became famous with his self-created unique martial arts, and the Baquan Sect also grew steadily under his leadership.

After nearly twenty years of development, the Baquan Sect has reached its current status.

Nowadays, when people in the martial arts world mention Master Huo, they say he is the "King of Boxing", and many people recognize him as such.

Then, let’s talk about the Murong family…

Ever since the family fell into decline due to the "Wanyuan Sect's invasion of the Central Plains" incident fifty years ago, this formerly prominent family has fallen into silence, until they were spotted by official forces more than ten years ago, and they made a comeback.

Nowadays, when people in the martial arts world mention the Murong family, although they can be considered a famous martial arts family with a long tradition, everyone's impression of them is more like "the civilian white gloves of court officials running the gambling industry."

This created a very awkward situation: the underworld believed that they were no longer a purely underworld force, but the government did not consider them to be their own people either.

The current head of the family, Murong Shu, also known as "Shengtian Banshou", is in a similar situation to their family. He is a person who "dabbles in everything" but is "not well received everywhere".

He is good at playing the piano, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry, and songs... He has also achieved fame, but if you really want to talk about how high his artistic attainments are, or whether he can become the top scholar in the imperial examination, that's impossible.

As for his martial arts, and the gambling skills he had to study for the sake of his family business... let’s put it this way - he is the best fighter among gamblers, and the best gambler among martial artists.

It's okay to say that he is an all-rounder, but he is not at the top level in any aspect.

It is not difficult for everyone to see from here that the right to host the "Young Heroes Conference" would never have been the turn of the Murong family.

But...what a coincidence, there have been a few things happening recently that happened at the right time for them.

First, there is the fourth child of the Murong family, that is, the fourth brother of Murong Ji, the eldest son of the Murong family mentioned in the previous article. He is seventeen years old this year. Next year, he is of the right age to participate in the Youth Heroes Conference (those between sixteen and twenty can participate).

For Murong Shu, this was undoubtedly an opportunity.

The Murong family has cooperated with the government over the years, and their power has expanded rapidly. Now, every larger county and city north of the Yangtze River has a branch of their "Huan Yi Pavilion", which is literally a chain of casinos. What kind of business is this casino? It's a money printing machine... No matter how much you share the profits with those corrupt officials, as the actual operator, the profits are still amazing.

Therefore, the current Murong family is far richer than all the powerful sects in the world combined.

Well, since money is no longer a problem, Murong Shu's next step is naturally to restore the reputation of their famous martial arts family, because from his point of view, he certainly will not be willing to let the Murong family's name be equated with official lackeys for generations to come.

Assuming that the new Young Heroes Conference could be organized by their Murong family, then with their current wealth and power, they would definitely be able to make it unprecedented and impress their fellow martial artists.

Then, on the basis of being the organizer, they would do some harmless little shady things and let their own Fourth Young Master... not to mention winning the championship, but just getting a slightly better ranking and getting some attention, that’s not too much, right?
If these two things can be achieved, the Murong family will surely become famous in the martial arts world, so it is reasonable for Murong Shu to want to compete for the hosting rights.

Secondly, the current situation in the martial arts world did give him an opportunity to fight for it...

Because something went wrong at the last Young Heroes Contest, so the next organizer, which was supposed to be chosen after the last contest, is still undecided.

Originally, Leader Di of the Cao Gang wanted to do it very much, but the Zhengyi Sect that had problems in the previous term was one of their four sects and three gangs. If his Cao Gang said they wanted to continue doing it without separating the two, it was inevitable that people would talk behind his back.

Furthermore, Gang Leader Di has been quite busy recently because his carrying performance in the Wujian Villa incident last year has earned him a good reputation. Therefore, the leader of the Qingyuan Zhongyi Sect, Lu Yan, proposed to give the position of "Chief Sect Leader" to Di Buyan, which should have been replaced long ago but has been delayed (mainly due to the disruption by Shuang Xie).

Of course, he alone couldn't make the final decision on this matter; the leaders of the four sects and three gangs had to inform each other. However, due to some situations that happened at the "Seven Heroes Meeting", Shao Dejin, the leader of the Xingyi Sect in Cangzhou, was a little upset and refused to reply to letters from some leaders; as for the Hunyuan Star Gate...no one in the entire sect could be contacted, so the matter was delayed for several months, and the handover was only recently completed.

If you now ask Boss Di to distract himself from preparing for the Young Heroes Conference, he may not be free.

Therefore, Murong Shu felt that the timing was quite appropriate, so he came out and said, why not let the Murong family do it?
As soon as he said this, the atmosphere in the martial arts world became very subtle.

It’s not that everyone started cursing and saying that they were lackeys of the government, but there were indeed many people who felt that…is it appropriate for you, a family that hasn’t shown its face in the underworld for many years, to run it?

And for this kind of thing, everyone knows, when no one jumps out, no one says anything, but once one person jumps out, another person will immediately come out and say...it's better for me to do it.

Look, Huo Ming jumped out.

It wasn't like he had any grudge against the Murong family, but this time the Murong family wanted to hold the event in Cangzhou, which made Huo Ming very upset...

According to Huo Ming's idea: Although I also know that your Murong family's influence is spread all over North China, and choosing Cangzhou may not be targeting me, it is most likely because this place is suitable. But this is the territory of my Baquan Sect after all. I am the largest sect in the local area, and usually, so many sects and martial arts halls in Cangzhou, big and small, are inferior to me. Now you are planting a flag here, and they are all watching. If I don't show any expression, won't this group of people poke me in the spine?

In this way, the two sides started arguing over the hosting rights and prepared to negotiate.

Huang Donglai listened to Sun Yixie's brief account of the situation, raised his eyebrows, and continued: "So you want to join in the fun, right?"

"That's right." Sun Yi said jokingly, "It's a good opportunity for us to go visit that kid Lei Buji."

"Hmm..." Huang Donglai nodded and didn't think there was anything wrong with it.

"So you said you wanted to pay me for help..." The abbot then asked, "Do you want me to be your bodyguard?"

"Yes." Sun Yixie answered without thinking.

"What?" The abbot sensed something strange in his words, "Why do you need a bodyguard if you're going to watch the fun? Besides, you two are both good at martial arts, so why do you need me, who is even better at martial arts, to be your bodyguard?" He paused for half a second, stared at Sun Yixie with a squint, and said with a slightly changed tone, "You kid...are you planning to stir up trouble?"

Actually, even if I don’t explain this question, you all should know the answer.

Therefore, this time they go, they will lead to that - entering Cangzhou where the two harmonies settle the chaos, and stepping onto the stage where the six kings will compete against each other.