Sword drawn from the constellations, poison as its edge.

Chapter 50 First Test of Talent
Some of these men were carrying knives, some were carrying swords, and one of them was holding a pair of judge's pens. Their faces were full of ferocity and malice, as if they wished they could cut Jiang Mingzhe into eight pieces.

Jiang Mingzhe sighed inwardly: They are willing to kill even a mere retainer like me just because they hate the Duan family. It seems that the martial world is truly a bloody place. No wonder Azi is so afraid of my soft heart.

Thinking of this, a wicked smile curled at the corner of his mouth.

Since we've entered the martial world, it's better to start killing early.

He ducked low to dodge a knife and a sword, then leaped out, tilting his body to avoid a judge's pen. He unleashed a "belly-piercing hook," his three fingers like hooks, fiercely probing into a man's abdomen.

With the force of his internal energy, the skin of three fingers split open and penetrated into the flesh, feeling only the softness of the fat and the toughness of the muscles.

Jiang Mingzhe suppressed his discomfort, spun around in a flash, dodging the blade that slashed out from the side, and at the same time, retracted his claws and tore open a large piece of flesh.

Another person swung his knife horizontally, but Jiang Mingzhe neither dodged nor yielded, his bloodied claws heading straight for his opponent's face.

The opponent was shocked and swung his sword back. Jiang Mingzhe quickly retracted his blood claws, and his right claw emerged from under his left arm, its three fingers piercing the heart with a thud. This was the fourth move of the centipede claw, "Heart-Piercing Thrust".

At this moment, the man whose stomach had been ripped open let out a long, miserable scream. His companion looked over and saw that, at some point, the blood flowing from this man had turned bluish-black, clearly indicating that he had been poisoned.

The remaining three dared not fight any longer, turned and fled, yelling repeatedly, "This guy's tough! This guy's tough!"

Jiang Mingzhe didn't chase after them. He looked down at his hands, which were covered in the enemy's blood. Then he looked at the two people on the ground. One was dead with his eyes wide open, and the other was rolling around screaming in agony, his intestines spilling out onto the ground. He couldn't help but feel a wave of nausea.

Although he had prepared himself mentally beforehand, he was still extremely uncomfortable with killing someone for the first time.

However, with a formidable enemy still present, he dared not let anyone see his presence. He forced himself to suppress his nausea, secretly circulating his internal energy to quell the urge to vomit, and kept his eyes as cold as possible as he looked at the group of enemies.

The Three Yin Centipede Claw, in terms of its own quality, is far inferior to the Dragon Subduing Palm or the Dugu Sword. However, it is a divine skill that ordinary martial artists would find difficult to master even if they stood on tiptoe.

Although Jiang Mingzhe had only been learning for a short time, his way of thinking was far ahead of his contemporaries, and his understanding of the moves was already extremely profound. Now, he showed his skills for the first time and shocked the entire audience.

The group seemed to be led by the two old women. One of them was extremely fat, with white hair and a face full of fleshy muscles. She had several short knives stuck in her waist. The other had a wrinkled face, a wide and short face, and two squinty eyes that looked like they were cut by a knife. She was leaning on an iron cane.

The two exchanged a glance and stepped out simultaneously.

The fat woman drew two knives and sneered, "You little beast, your martial arts are quite good. No wonder you can be a retainer of the Duan family. But the higher your martial arts are, the happier the madam will be if we take your head back."

Jiang Mingzhe looked at her carefully, frowned, and said, "Strange, very strange."

The fat woman said coldly, "In the martial arts world, it's common for the many to bully the few. What's so strange about that?"

Jiang Mingzhe shook his head and said, "I'm not saying this is strange. I'm saying that you have a stable lower body, which means you are highly skilled in martial arts. If you are highly skilled in martial arts, you must practice diligently. But if you practice diligently, how come you have gained so much fat?"

The fat woman was initially pleased to hear Jiang Mingzhe praise her martial arts skills, but she was unexpectedly enraged by this unexpected turn of events, and screamed, "Fat my ass!"

He lunged forward, slashing horizontally with his left sword and thrusting vertically with his right. Jiang Mingzhe took a half step back, contracted his chest and abdomen, and swiftly extended his claws, using the "wrist-pecking" technique to attack the fat woman's wrists.

The fat woman ignored him, as if she hadn't seen anything. Jiang Mingzhe immediately sensed something was wrong, but then he heard a whoosh as the short-faced woman's dragon-headed cane came crashing down. If Jiang Mingzhe didn't react, he would be sending his wrist to the cane.

Jiang Mingzhe quickly leaped backward, his twin swords flashing as he tried to escape, but the fat woman suddenly released her left hand, sending the short sword flying out with a whoosh, shouting, "Take this!"

Jiang Mingzhe had just landed when the knife was already at his chest. Seeing that he couldn't dodge in time, his left claw sprang up like lightning and grabbed the back of the knife. He had made good use of the eighth move, "Wrist Wrapping Style," and avoided the danger of being pierced through the heart.

The short-faced old woman cheered and immediately exclaimed, "This lad has excellent martial arts skills! Let's all join forces and defeat him, breaking one of the Duan family's arms. The madam will surely reward him handsomely."

Seeing the two old women about to attack, he quickly retreated a few steps and shouted, "You fat old hag, behold my Formless Divine Sword!"

However, the situation was urgent. The full name of the Heavenly Demon God-Demon Bone-Eating Formless Sword Qi was too long, and the enemy would probably attack before the words were even finished. Therefore, an abbreviation was used instead.

With a tug of his right claw, he unleashed the "poisonous gas sword" once more, standing proudly and arrogantly on the spot, shouting: "My martial arts are Buddhist secrets, and I am reluctant to kill people easily. If you know what's good for you, get lost!"

The two old women stopped in their tracks, their eyes widening in surprise. They stared at Jiang Mingzhe for a moment, then scrutinized the "Formless Sword Qi." The plump woman asked her companion, "Is it?"

The short-faced old woman smiled slightly: "No mistake, apart from the old master's disciples, there is no other way in the martial arts world to integrate poison into internal energy. Hehe, this little monkey is quite clever. He condensed a stream of poisonous gas and swung it around to brag, saying it was some kind of Buddhist secret technique. The old master is a Taoist. After hearing this, the eldest brother slapped him across the face."

The plump old woman chuckled, "That's true, but it's just the two of us. If it were someone else, they might actually have been scared away. Hey, was that the Three Yin Centipede Claw that the little monkey used just now?" The short-faced old woman nodded, "That should be right. But this kid doesn't stick to any particular moves and improvises them. The old master has certainly gained a fine disciple. No wonder he's willing to let him roam the martial world."

The two old women chattered away, revealing all about Jiang Mingzhe's situation. Jiang Mingzhe was stunned for a moment before suddenly remembering their identities—servants of the Lady of Gusu!
Then he remembered that in the original novel, Duan Yu borrowed Mu Wanqing's horse and encountered this group of people chasing him all the way from Suzhou. That's why he and Mu Wanqing ran away together and met the Crocodile God of the South Sea. The Crocodile God took a liking to the back of Duan Yu's head and insisted on taking him as his disciple. He then fought off the group of people.

Lady Wang was the daughter of Wu Yazi and Li Qiushui, but she was raised by Ding Chunqiu, so she called him "father". The "old master" that the two old women were talking about should be Ding Chunqiu.

Perhaps these two old women were sent by Ding Chunqiu to take care of his daughter back then. With this connection, it's no wonder they know the Xingxiu Sect's kung fu.

He had already seen through it all, but pretended not to know. He withdrew his poison technique and hesitated before clasping his hands and saying, "Since you two seniors recognize my background, could you perhaps be a friend of my master, the Starry Sky Immortal?"

Upon hearing this, the two old women shook their heads vigorously, saying in unison, "No, no, no, how could we lowly servants be worthy of being the old master's friends? When our family suffered a great calamity, it was the old master who saved us and taught us martial arts so that we could serve the young lady."

Jiang Mingzhe feigned surprise: "That's my senior sister, but I remember Master saying that she lives in a manor on Taihu Lake in Suzhou. How did you two seniors end up here?"

The short-faced old woman said, "The old master mentioned to you that the young lady lives by Taihu Lake? Oh my, the old master even tells you about his family affairs in detail, which shows that the young master must be his most favored disciple."

The fat old woman interrupted, "You don't need to tell me that, otherwise how could you be released to work at such a young age? But young master, please forgive my bluntness, you are clearly a disciple of the Xingxiu Sect, how did you become a retainer of the Duan family? Alas, it's fortunate that I recognized your poison skills, otherwise, if I had hurt you, how would I have explained it to the old master?"

The two old women held Ding Chunqiu in high esteem. Upon discovering that Jiang Mingzhe was his favored disciple, they immediately addressed him as "Young Master," subtly showing a desire to curry favor. This could be considered as "respecting both Ding and Jiang."

Jiang Mingzhe feigned righteous indignation: "Hmph, Master said that the Duan family of Dali are not good people. They once made my senior sister sad. Since he is of a high seniority and cannot interfere in the affairs of the younger generation, he sent a junior to deal with the Duan family."

The short-faced old woman exclaimed in surprise, "Oh dear, young master, please forgive my bluntness, but if the Duan family of Dali were easy to deal with, my young lady would have slaughtered their entire clan long ago. However, the Duan family is the royal family of Dali, possessing formidable power, and their family's martial arts are extremely formidable, especially the One-Finger Divine Skill, a renowned martial art. With your current martial arts skills..."

He shook his head as he spoke, the meaning of which was clear even though he didn't say it aloud.

Jiang Mingzhe smiled and said, "Two seniors..."

The two old women waved their hands together: "What seniors? Young master, please don't be so polite. If you think highly of us old women, just call us Granny Rui and Granny Ping, that will suffice."

That's right, it's Grandma Ping and Grandma Rui!

Upon hearing their names mentioned, Jiang Mingzhe remembered their titles: the one with the dragon-headed staff and short face was Granny Rui, and the fat old woman with the knife was Granny Ping.

He readily agreed: "Alright, Granny Rui, Granny Ping, in terms of martial arts, I am certainly no match for the Duan family's masters. However, a true man would rather fight with wits than with strength. Why do I claim to be their retainer in the martial arts world? It is to ruin the Duan family's reputation and provoke some formidable enemies for them. Once I have stirred up the waters of the Dali martial arts world, it will be easier for me to make my move."

The two old women were both surprised and delighted: "Oh my, this method is brilliant! No wonder you are the old master's outstanding disciple!"

　"Cao Cao Transmigrates to Wu Dalang" once sat at the top of the new book chart for half a day; "Swordsmanship at Emei, I Am the Edge" also sat at the top. At that time, I never imagined that one day even getting on the new book chart would become a luxury.

　　The book was released on June 20th, and it took a full twenty-three days to enter the bestseller list, ranking 97th.

　　If even a little data is lost, it will be pushed out.

　　I don't want to go out; I want to go up.

　　But all in all, it's only seven days; it will automatically be removed from the list after a month.

　　This book is written very slowly, about 3 hours per chapter. In addition to "Li Yunlong's Sword in the Northern Song Dynasty", I write two chapters of "Swordsmanship" and one chapter of "Li Yunlong" every day. That's basically my full-fledged effort.

　　But I don't want to be squeezed out; I want to move up.

　　So starting today, I will update three times a day, and I will ensure both quality and quantity. After the book is published, I will try to update four times a day.

　　I was a terrible student; I didn't study hard. Later, I worked in advertising creative, just coasting along with my talent.

　　I've had moments when I gave it my all, but I've never had the experience of consistently giving it my all over a long period.

　　Now I want to surpass the version of myself that wasn't hard-working enough.

　　I hope you guys will support me: vote, monthly pass, follow the chapter, and comment. The more the better.

　　Finally, to borrow a line from Ai Fugen's lyrics:
　　My brother helped me stir up trouble!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)