The First Venerable of the Prosperous Age

The two traveled several kilometers in the carriage without realizing it, and after passing through a thicket of trees, they arrived at a village.

The two were already exhausted, and since it was already dusk, they decided to rest in the village for the night before continuing their journey.

Upon arriving at the village entrance, one sees about a dozen children gathered under a large pine tree, all listening intently to an old man speaking beneath the tree.

But then the old man, sitting under the tree and waving his round fan, said, "With the sound of war drums and the judge's order, the Kaiyuan Martial Arts Tournament began."

"The hero, dressed in red armor, charged alone towards his four opponents in the fog, wielding an eighty-pound Seven Star Hammer in his left hand and an eight-foot Moon-Piercing Spear in his right."

"His three teammates, though lightly equipped, still couldn't keep up with Hero Tsuru in the slightest."

The old man spoke while gesturing with his hands and feet, and the children watching were also very interested, afraid that they might miss something if they were not careful.

Lu Xiaosan thought to himself, "He Lai? Is that the fisherman who just got lame? How come he sounds so powerful in this old man's words? Well, I'll listen to what he has to say."

The old man stroked his beard and continued, "The hero Helai thrust forward with his spear, and the two black-clad enemies in front of him met the attack head-on with their swords, both of them being forced to retreat step by step."

"The other two enemies in black swung their swords down from mid-air, but when Hero Hei swung his hammer with all his might in his left hand, both of them flew backward and fell to the ground, unable to hurt Hero Hei in the slightest!"

"That's amazing, He Lai is a hero!"

"Yeah, that's incredible!"

The children cheered, and the old man smiled smugly. Only Lu Xiaosan and Wen Ying were confused and didn't know if it was true or not.

The old man suddenly sighed and said softly, "Originally, He Lai Hero was more than capable of taking on four opponents by himself, but his teammates insisted on joining in. Who would have thought that they would be captured by the enemy when they weren't paying attention? The enemy then used this to blackmail He Lai Hero, demanding that he give up."

The surrounding children all exclaimed "Oh!" in unison, as if they wished they could personally go up and help the crane-like hero.

Did he eventually give up?

The old man suddenly smiled and said proudly, "If Ruohe gives up like this, then he won't be the hero that people talk about."

The children watching couldn't help but light up, excitedly shouting, "And then? And then?"

"In the blink of an eye, the hero He Lai somehow produced another sandalwood dragon bow. In the blink of an eye, he had already shot a giant red arrow into the distance. At the same time, he swung his spear in his right hand, striking a boulder that flashed past him!"

"Almost simultaneously, the arrow and the spear each shattered a stone, and the surrounding environment changed accordingly: the vast grassland just now turned into the snow-capped peak of a mountain with snow falling all around."

Lu and Wen were both shocked. "What kind of logic is this?"

The children watching paid no attention to any of this; they simply blinked their innocent big eyes, waiting to hear how their hero would save the world.

The old man continued, "On the snow-capped mountain peak, the kidnapper let out a scream and grabbed his teammate as he fell from the mountaintop, about to be smashed to pieces."

"Huh?!" The children started to worry about the man again.

The old man continued, "At the critical moment, Hero Crane flew a rope loop at the two of them, and the two were caught by the loop around their ankles. His teammates also took the opportunity to get rid of the enemy."

"Just as the man was about to fall, Hero Crane conjured up a rope and saved him."

Most of the children cheered, but one child said, "Why did Hero Crane save that bad guy? Wouldn't it have been better if he had just fallen to his death?"

The old man said, "True heroism lies in punishing evil, promoting good, and saving the world, not in engaging in violence and fighting, and always trying to kill the other party."

"Besides, this is just a competition, not a life-or-death feud!"

The children watching all nodded in agreement.

Lu Xiaosan thought to himself, "What this old man said is true, but is it really a good thing to be so merciful to the enemy?"

The old man chuckled twice and said, "Of course, that's all in the future. The most important thing is that even if Hero Helai saves that person, it won't affect the outcome of the competition. So why not do a good deed? Hahaha."

Lu Xiaosan couldn't help but laugh to himself, "After all that talk, it turns out he just wanted to brag about Helai. I wonder what he was thinking."

The old man spoke eloquently, gesturing passionately as he recounted how He Lai led his mentally challenged teammates to fight against a horde of enemies. The children listened, jumping up and down with excitement.

At the most crucial moment, the old man said, "The hero Helai is carrying two teammates in his left hand and two more on his back. His legs are being held tightly by the enemy, so he can't move. He only has one hand left to fight off the enemy."

The children watching were all completely absorbed, waiting to hear how the hero Helai would turn the tide and win.

Unexpectedly, the old man frowned and said, "Hero Helai held on for a long time, but in the end, his arm was controlled by the enemy's grappling technique."

"Ah! How could this be?" The children below clenched their fists, both anxious and scared, their hearts in their throats.

The old man slapped his thigh and shouted, "Hey!" "How could the hero He Lai fall? He flipped his elbow three times and used a counter-grappling technique to control the enemy, and then...!"

Upon hearing this, all the children below clapped and cheered.

Lu Xiaosan was very puzzled. "Can a grappling technique be broken like this? Even if your hand is held, can your elbow still flip three times?" After saying that, he tried to demonstrate with his two arms, but he couldn't succeed no matter how he tried.

Seeing him sweating profusely from trying it, Wen Ying couldn't help but laugh and said, "This won't work. I don't think this old man knows any martial arts. He's just saying this to amuse the child."

"Oh……"

When he listened again, the old man began to embellish the story of the crane with dazzling eloquence, and the cheers from below continued for a long time.

Finally, the old man leisurely sat back down under the tree and said, "In the end, Hero Helai lived up to expectations and led his teammates to win the Kaiyuan Martial Arts Tournament championship, hahahaha!"

"He Lai Yingxiong is so amazing. I wish I could meet him in person."

"I want to become a hero like Helai in the future. Enough said, let's start practicing martial arts now." After saying that, the child started punching randomly on the spot.

A little girl next to her, hands on her hips, scoffed, "Hmph, what's so great about being a hero like He Lai?"

Lu Xiaosan nodded in agreement, "Yes, finally there's a child with their own ideas."

But then the little girl suddenly said in a serious tone, "Wouldn't it be better to just marry Hero Hero in the future?"

"Hahahahaha." The children burst into laughter.

Amidst the laughter and merriment, a dissenting voice suddenly broke the silence: "Hmph, you old man, you keep belittling your teammates just to extol how amazing He Lai is? I think you're just talking nonsense. Besides, I doubt He Lai is as amazing as you claim."

"What nonsense are you talking about!" the other children exclaimed.

Lu Xiaosan was delighted. "Whose child is this so brave!" Looking closely, he saw that the person who had spoken was a child dressed in black cloth. He looked to be no more than six or seven years old, even younger than the child next to him.

The child stood ramrod straight and said confidently, "What? Did I say something wrong? That Hero Hero is definitely not as amazing as he makes him out to be. These... *slap!*"

A resounding slap landed. The child who was hit could no longer hold back and covered his face, bursting into tears.

"Good job!" "He deserves to be taught a lesson for his foul mouth." The other children cheered excitedly.

Seeing that someone had helped him vent his anger, the old man fanned himself and watched the spectacle from his spot.

"If you cry again!" The person who had just slapped her was about to strike again, using the same move that the hero He Lai had used in the story.

Seeing that things were going badly, the two stepped forward to stop them.

As soon as Lu Xiaosan stepped forward, a strong stench instantly filled the air, and the children immediately covered their mouths and noses and retreated.

Upon seeing the menacing-looking Lu Xiaosan approaching, the children instinctively hid behind the crying child, pushing him in front of Lu Xiaosan and pleading, "Grandpa, it's him who's crying, please let us go."

"roll!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a large group of children scattered in panic, and some even burst into tears.

Looking again, the old man who had been enjoying the cool air was nowhere to be seen, and only the little boy in black was still crying in front of me.

Lu Xiaosan squatted down and said sternly, "What kind of behavior is this, a real man crying like this? Stop crying."

"Wah!!" The child cried even harder, "Big...brother...brother...you're ugly...and smelly...I don't want...to talk to...big brother..."

Wen Ying patted him on the shoulder from behind, "Let me do it."

Lu Xiaosan stood up, and Wen Ying squatted down to wipe away his tears, saying softly, "Don't be afraid, it's alright, little one, don't cry, don't cry."

Sure enough, the child's crying gradually stopped, and all attention was focused on Wen Ying's beautiful face.

Wen Ying smiled again and said, "Little friend, what's your name? Where do you live? Shall I take you home?"

The child wiped away his tears. "I...I'm called...Anan, I live at..." He was halfway through his sentence when he saw Lu Xiaosan's jealous and resentful face behind Wen Ying.

As if understanding his intentions, the child cried out and ran away, only to be kicked in the butt by Lu Xiaosan as he left.

"You stinking monk, I'll remember you!" Ananda cried out as he ran.

"Huh??" Wen Ying wanted to chase after him, but Lu Xiaosan grabbed her arm. "It's okay, that little pervert must have run home. Don't worry about him."

"Oh..." Wen Ying gently broke free from Lu Xiaosan's hand, watched Anan run back to the village, and then felt relieved.

Lu Xiaosan sniffed himself and began to wonder, "I just washed at the Yellow Crane Tower this morning, how come I smell so bad again after only a few hours?"

Just as he was wondering, he touched the stinking Buddhist beads that were gleaming in his arms and exclaimed in surprise, "Oh no, little golden retriever, there's a monster in this village!"