New World

Wang Ming resolved the Songshan Sect in The Smiling, Proud Wanderer World and felt there was no further need to stay.

Everything he needed to take was already in his hands.

If he were to stay any longer, only Shaolin, Wudang, and Black Wood Cliff would hold any value.

Referring to how Shaolin martial arts were left with backdoors in Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, the Shaolin and Wudang of this world were likely in a similar situation; the obvious risks of venturing there to steal were not proportional to the rewards.

As for going to Black Wood Cliff, Wang Ming had even less of such thoughts.

He had long since heard about the circumstances of Linghu Chong descending the mountain and deduced that the Dongfang Bubai of this world was not that delicate Dongfang Bai, but rather a ruthless person for whom "thriving sexual desire brings disaster, and castration brings eternal cure."

Ascending Black Wood Cliff was likely a choice born of lost sanity.

Wang Ming was not like Linghu Chong, who was interested in Miss Ren and willing to risk his life against the number one expert of the era just to win a beauty's smile.

At the same time, Wang Ming was not the sort of martial arts maniac who casually decided life and death as well as superiority in every duel; Wang Ming only liked spars without mortal danger and calculated, pre-planned fatal strikes.

The existence of Black Wood Cliff was actually more beneficial to the Mount Hua Sect.

Songshan had been crippled by Wang Ming this time, and the Alliance Leader of the Five Mountains would mostly fall into old Yue's hands. With the Sun Moon Holy Cult acting as a target, Mount Hua would not be targeted with the full might of Shaolin and Wudang.

Dongfang Bubai only wanted to hide in her boudoir to embroider, so what impact could the Sun Moon Holy Cult, controlled by the fool Yang Lianting, have on old Yue?

To make the harmonious development of the martial world easier to achieve, Wang Ming even purposely and painstakingly eliminated the ambitious Ren Woxing to prevent him from stirring up trouble.

Since he had decided to leave, he intended to send his remaining manuals to Yue Buqun as the sect's foundation.

Yet, upon careful thought, he abandoned this notion.

Old Yue had the "Purple Cloud Manual" and "Illusion Sword" in his hands. If he practiced well, going toe-to-toe with Dongfang Bubai was not out of the question, so having one more or one less made little difference.

Do not think it impossible!

The The First Under Heaven world could be considered a high-wuxia world, whereas The Smiling, Proud Wanderer was practically nearing the Age of Dharma Ending.

The strength of "Illusion Sword" was not a whit inferior to the "Sunflower Manual".

The remaining few martial arts were different from "Illusion Sword"!

They had an extreme demand for internal energy.

At this moment, Wang Ming's "Indestructible Vajra Body" was stuck and unable to advance an inch; the heaven and earth vital energy in this realm was far too thin, insufficient to let Wang Ming continue onward.

The thinness of heaven and earth vital energy was a very important reason why Wang Ming decided to leave.

"Scattering Flowers All Over the Sky" had been used at Songshan this time, and its recognizability was much higher than that of "Illusion Sword", so giving it to old Yue might just court disaster.

Those manuals obtained from the Songshan Sect could all be said to be stolen goods.

Giving old Yue "Hegemon Under Heaven" would be far too absurd.

Having reached this point, Wang Ming could also be considered to have resolved his karma with Yue Buqun and Mount Hua, so Wang Ming left without any attachments.

Well, Wang Ming had no time to think about the affairs of that world anymore.

Upon arriving in the new world, what met his eyes was endless yellow sand and the vast desert, along with the scorching blazing sun overhead.

Aside from the boundless yellow sand, not a single person was to be found, and he had nothing on his person except for the clothes on his back.

He walked aimlessly through the desert for three days, nearly dying because there was no water to drink. Fortunately, heaven leaves no dead ends; Wang Ming had walked in one direction for those three days and reached a place where people gathered, being picked up and brought back by passing travelers, or else he truly would have died of thirst and hunger.

And then he would have refreshed a record by the way—the bizarre death record of a transmigrator.

After waking up, he discovered he was living in a yurt and learned from Li Ping's mouth where he currently was.

Indeed, this Li Ping was the mother of Guo Jing, the great hero who stood For the Country and the People.

When Guo Jing was playing games with others, he discovered Wang Ming collapsed on the ground and called the adults to bring Wang Ming back. Once his body recovered, he learned that this system transmigration location was near the Mongolian region, close to the tribe of Genghis Khan Temujin, and he had almost been screwed to death.

Even with internal cultivation, one still cannot withstand nature!

Wang Ming had been screwed quite badly this time; it was the sandy desert this time, but would it be among tens of thousands of troops the next? The boundless ocean? A scorching volcanic crater?

Ah! I hope I am just overthinking it, please do not screw me over like this.

Wang Ming originally intended to head for the Central Plains once he recovered. After all, in The Legend of the Condor Heroes World, the main fortuitous encounters were all in the Central Plains of China, but after careful analysis, he felt that going to the Central Plains in this lifetime held no advantages.

The ceiling battle-power of The Smiling, Proud Wanderer World, Feng Qingyang and Dongfang Bubai, were merely at the Innate Realm, and moreover, they were still somewhat inferior compared to Hong Qigong and the others (not counting battle-power rankings).

The Central Plains Five Greats of Condor were presumably all in the mid-to-late stages of the Innate Realm, and Wang Chongyang should have broken through to the Innate Realm. His own strength was merely at the threshold of the early Innate Realm, making it utterly impossible to roam unhindered through the Central Plains martial world.

This realm was categorized by Wang Ming himself; after all, this was not a game where there could be a battle-power ladder chart telling Wang Ming who was strong and who was weak.

He could only categorize it himself to give his heart a rough idea of who could be provoked and who could not.

Wang Ming's categorization was:

Most people in the martial world actually relied on daring to fight and scrap and a ruthless drive to make their way through the rivers and lakes; these were essentially that unranked batch.

Third-class: Possessing certain martial arts stances and moves, at the lower-middle level of sects. For example: the Four Ghosts of the Yellow River, Yang Tiexin, Guo Xiaotian, Mu Nianci.

Second-class: Possessing complete martial arts inheritances, but having failed to practice them to the ultimate peak, such as: the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan, Sha Tongtian, Peng Lianhu, Wu Xiuwen, Wu Dunru.

First-class: Martial world people who had cultivated internal energy. For example: the Seven Disciples of Quanzhen, the four major disciples of Peach Blossom Island, the fishermen, woodcutters, farmers, and scholars.

Innate Realm: Internal cultivation achieved success, able to reach the point where internal energy left the body. For example: Ren Woxing, Yue Buqun.

These first-class, second-class, and third-class figures could actually all be considered part of the Innate Realm.

Because these practices all refined true qi through the method of refining essence to transform into qi, they were collectively termed the Innate Realm.

Yet the gap between first-class, second-class, and third-class figures and experts whose internal energy could leave the body was far too vast; they were simply not of the same kind.

For instance: the first-class Seven Disciples of Quanzhen combined could only fight Huang Yaoshi, and that was even with the additive bonus of the Heavenly Dipper Array.

Hence, it was simply better to categorize them separately.

If each realm was divided into early, middle, and late stages, Wang Ming himself was currently only at the early Innate Realm.

Being able to absorb a bit of the spiritual qi between heaven and earth was the basis for stepping into the Innate Realm.

Yet this realm still required eating, and the main source of internal energy remained food and medicinal herbs.

The realms beyond he had temporarily not defined, since he had not even seen them himself.

During a conversation with Li Ping, upon learning that Wang Ming had read books, she invited Wang Ming to tutor Guo Jing in basic literacy, right on the spot having Guo Jing kneel down to take him as his master.

This was Mongolia; trying to find someone capable of teaching Guo Jing to read and write was truly exceedingly difficult.

Initially, Wang Ming was unwilling, wishing to go to the Central Plains to seek fortuitous encounters.

Yet Guo Jing had saved his life, making it hard to refuse.

After careful consideration, going to the Central Plains at this time was also not a good opportunity, though it could allow him to fish in troubled waters.

During this time period,

the Eastern Heretic Huang Yaoshi was on Peach Blossom Island, mourning sentimentally before his wife's coffin, and the island was densely laid with mechanisms;

the Western Venom was eating dumplings with his sister-in-law at White Camel Mountain Villa, and White Camel Mountain was crawling with snakes and insects, harboring all sorts of bizarre poisons;

the Southern Emperor Duan Zhengxing should currently be feeling the weight of the hat upon his head within the Dali imperial palace, with the military guarding things strictly;

the Northern Beggar Hong Qi was wandering who knows where, and Beggar's Sect disciples were also spread across the world—not someone to be provoked.

Wang Chongyang was presumably the ceiling, and it was unknown whether he was dead or not; anyway, not provoking his bad luck was the right choice.

Practicing internal energy in the desert at this time and waiting for an opportunity was also not bad, and he could concurrently teach Guo Jing to read.

Although Wang Ming was considered a martial world person, he had not read few books either; Yue Buqun, that Gentleman Sword, had indeed put effort into the cultural standards of his disciples. Guo Jing was not taking the imperial examinations, so teaching him was still not a problem.

A few years later, the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan also arrived in the desert, found Guo Jing, and began teaching him martial arts.

Among the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan, only the eldest, Ke Zhen'e, and the second, Zhu Cong, had martial arts that barely touched the threshold of first-class experts, while the rest were merely second-class experts.

Wang Ming had originally wanted to teach Guo Jing martial arts himself, as he truly looked down upon the martial arts of those few, but thinking of Guo Jing and Yang Kang, Wang Ming felt that letting the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan teach was also not bad.

The moral character they taught was without issue. As for martial arts, did the protagonist's martial arts matter?

The protagonist was responsible for living day by day; everything else was the business of the heavens. Along the path of fortuitous encounters and cheats, houses, carriages, and women would naturally come as he walked.

Wang Ming did not smuggle any private agenda into his teaching usually; how the master had taught him back then was how he taught Guo Jing, as Wang Ming did not wish to change Guo Jing's personality.

Wang Ming remembered a famous saying: "Actions form habits, habits shape character, character determines destiny."

Setting aside his protagonist status, Guo Jing's personality might look rather foolish, but Guo Jing relied precisely on sincerity to touch every single noble person in his life.

Without this sincerity, then Guo Jing was nothing at all; he was merely the son of the penniless widow Li Ping, and his brains were not particularly agile either. Without sincerity, he would just be an ordinary person among the masses.

Guo Jing relied on sincerity to touch Jebe and touch Temujin, which made his mother's days in Mongolia comfortable.

Guo Jing's sincerity touched Huang Rong, and Huang Rong could be said to be Guo Jing's human-shaped cheat.

If Wang Ming had taught Guo Jing to be as clever as Yang Kang, would Huang Rong still have liked Guo Jing?

Would Guo Jing have been willing to spend money like water for a beggar girl he had just met?

Hong Qi seemingly taught Guo Jing martial arts for the sake of fine food, but in reality, he saw that Guo Jing was honest and did not worry that he would commit evil deeds; otherwise, you could see whether Hong Qi would have taught him.

All these years, Wang Ming had consistently watched Guo Jing being taught martial arts by the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan from the perspective of an onlooker. They did not know Wang Ming knew martial arts, nor did Wang Ming intend to expose it, usually wearing a set of scholarly robes so they truly regarded him as a man of letters.

Whenever Wang Ming watched the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan being driven to beat their chests and stamp their feet by Guo Jing's speed of learning martial arts, looking at him as if he were rotten wood incapable of being carved, an incessant streak of disdain could not help but arise in his heart.

Guo Jing's aptitude had been checked by Wang Ming; it could be said to be that of an peerless genius, only the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan did not know how to teach.

The martial arts of the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan were simple and not profound; why did Guo Jing learn them even so slowly?

Because Guo Jing's natural talent lay in his physique; his meridians were extremely resilient and thick, making cultivation of internal energy yield twice the result with half the effort. It could be said Guo Jing's aptitude was even higher than Linghu Chong's.

Yet Guo Jing's comprehension was truly poor, entirely incapable of flexibility—he was just a stubborn blockhead. This poor comprehension did not mean poor memory; Guo Jing was still quite capable when it came to reciting the books Wang Ming taught. Just like how you can recite math formulas, yet you lack the logic to apply them flexibly.

Yet how did these bizarre Seven Freaks of Jiangnan teach Guo Jing martial arts?

In the morning it was Ke Zhen'e's Demon-Subduing Staff, in the morning's latter half it was the Ingenious Scholar's Muscle-Splitting and Bone-Dislocating Technique, in the afternoon it was Han Baoju's Coiling Dragon Soft Whip...

Never mind Guo Jing being unable to learn it; even if Wang Ming went, he couldn't learn it either.

Martial arts in the form of stances and moves required muscles to form a memory, gradually adapting the body's muscles more closely to the exertion of force for that set of martial arts to form an instinct.

If they messed about like this, they fundamentally could not complete the transformation of the body.

Moreover, the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan also followed the path of external martial arts transforming from the outside in, with internal qi generating naturally. Practicing martial arts so absent-mindedly made it fundamentally impossible to practice any single martial art well and generate internal qi.

Guo Jing's personality was also unsuited to martial arts with too many variations; he simply could not handle them.

Yet the straightforward martial arts of the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan were simply unranked; practicing them would not allow one to conquer the world with a single trick either.

During this period, when the Black Wind Twin Fiends appeared, Wang Ming followed behind the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan, watching their fierce battle from afar. That scene fully demonstrated the importance of having a good master and inheritance—seven fighting two, and they had nearly been counter-killed and allowed the enemy to escape.

Although these Seven Freaks of Jiangnan had foul personalities and did not know how to teach disciples, they were indeed good people. Wang Ming secretly assisted them with hidden weapon techniques, allowing them to escape death and injury.

Chen Xuanfeng deserved his death; it was true that he and Mei Chaofeng eloped, but stealing the master's "Nine Yin Manual" when leaving was completely returning kindness with ingratitude. The masters of this era truly provided food and lodging, made arrangements, and yet one would still stab the master in the back like an ungrateful wolf.

When Mei Chaofeng fled, Wang Ming quietly followed, and taking advantage of a moment of inattention, he pressed Mei Chaofeng's sleep-inducing acupoint from a distance. Then he stepped forward, found the "Nine Yin Manual" tattooed on Chen Xuanfeng's body, memorized it, and left. He paid no mind to the fallen Mei Chaofeng on the ground; she had not provoked him, and making a move against a blind widow was beneath his dignity.

After returning, Wang Ming continued to act as if nothing had happened, teaching Guo Jing his classical texts, cultivating internal energy at night, and studying the "Nine Yin Manual".

This was the lower volume, basically consisting of martial arts with immense lethality. These were actually the martial arts of Ming Cult experts and had not been created by Huang Shang, so they were rather unorthodox and not righteous martial arts.

The upper volume was the martial intent comprehended by Huang Shang from thousands of Daoist scriptures. Regrettably, it was unobtainable now, so he would just look over this lower volume first.

The Heart-Shattering Palm, White Python Whip Technique, Bone-Shattering Divine Claw, and Five-Force Hand Wave were all martial arts that surpassed the Purple Haze Divine Skill. Wang Ming wanted to practice them, but unfortunately he didn't dare!

Practicing this without the general outline inherently carried high risks, and without the matching internal energy of the upper volume—having only these stances and force-exertion techniques of the lower volume—it was of little use.

Wang Ming did not lack martial arts, so he had no need to take risks.

Frankly speaking, the Jin-Gu-Huang worlds had indeed been written to death, but worlds written in fanfiction of the heavens were unfamiliar to readers, who would mostly skip past them.

In recent years, there were few film and television works that could truly catch fire, so one could only make do with the classics.

Besides, in his view, those who liked fanfiction of the heavens simply did not want the trouble of guessing worldview settings; what they read were different choices and developments within a relatively fixed framework.

Much like playing Chinese chess, where the rules and pieces were fixed, but the differing deployments of the players yielded different effects.