Taking a Disciple

Leaving Peach Blossom Island in the East China Sea, Wang Ming intended to go to Dali to see if he could obtain the One Yang Finger.

On the way, he casually found a tavern to eat, rest, and continue this journey.

He ate and drank leisurely while listening to the conversations of the people in the tavern to pass the time.

Novels really did not deceive people; taverns truly were the best places to gather intelligence.

It was not strange to think about it; people meeting good friends were naturally in a good mood, and their level of trust in their friends was inherently high. Added to that was a bit of alcoholic stimulation, so they would begin to vent about their encounters, show off what they had seen and heard, and unconsciously blurt out some words they usually shouldn't say.

Of course, the premise was that you needed a certain foundation of internal energy, otherwise trying to gather intelligence in a tavern was sheer nonsense.

Just think about it, with someone speaking softly two meters away from you, it would be a miracle if you could clearly hear the content you wanted to know in a noisy tavern. Sometimes people would speak loudly, but generally, that was useless content.

Wang Ming was listening with great relish to a customer at the neighboring table and his friend bragging about the methods he used to seduce the wives and daughters of wealthy families, as well as the gold and silver he obtained from those wives and daughters. The man was even imparting his experience to his friend with great loyalty. The subtext of every word was sharing blessings and hardships together.

Wang Ming also listened intently in secret, his horizons practically broaded. He hadn't expected ancients to have so many clever tricks either, and he planned to find them for some financial relief after leaving the tavern.

Bang!!!!!

A series of collisions between tables, chairs, bowls, and chopsticks suddenly came from beside his ear, mixed with the painful cries and wails of a man.

Seeing this situation, Wang Ming also stopped eating and turned his attention over there.

He saw a pretty young girl standing in the arena, holding a long sword with murderous intent in her brows. Her appearance was not a bit inferior to Huang Rong's; her temperament was just different, each having its own merits.

Huang Rong's temperament was lively and spirited, while this woman gave off a cold and fierce feeling, though it still didn't affect her beauty.

"Shameless scoundrel, heartless man who preys on good families' daughters," the woman was still cursing.

Wang Ming also saw it. The ones being beaten were precisely the two gentlemen who had just been discussing seducing wealthy wives and daughters and preparing to live off a woman.

As a result, this girl overheard their conversation, and directly took action.

Those two men hadn't figured out what was going on before they were beaten up. They were also acquainted with the current circumstances; regardless of the reason, they decided to get through the present moment first, so they quite shamelessly knelt on the ground and begged for mercy.

Seeing this scene, he thought it would just pass like that. After all, although Wang Ming had blood on his hands, generally he wouldn't kill easily either.

At first, Wang Ming only planned to find a secluded place to teach them a lesson, cripple them, and ruin their faces by the way so they would be unable to lure ignorant women into being deceived, and let it go.

Unexpectedly, this young girl was quite decisive. She thrust a sword into a man's chest, killing him on the spot.

Still feeling unsatisfied and about to continue giving the remaining people a sword as well, a group of people rushed out from afar.

"Stay your hand!"

The woman glanced at them. Unaffected by the decision of the people who came out, she still sent that man to reunite with his companion with one sword.

"Preposterous wicked woman! How dare you commit murder and violence in front of our Beggar's Sect."

They were also angered by the woman's actions. Seven or eight Beggar's Sect disciples surrounded the woman in the middle, and then greeted her with their Dog Beating Staffs. Their coordination was quite tacit, resembling a set of staff formations that sealed off the woman's escape route. In the formation, the woman's situation was fraught with danger as she parried left and right, yet all attacks were blocked.

Wang Ming carefully counted the cloth bags on the clothes of these Beggar's Sect disciples. Two of them were even six-bag elders of the Beggar's Sect, and their martial arts could be considered experts in the pugilistic world, probably about the same as Ke Zhen'e!

Just when everyone thought the woman would be captured like this,

unexpectedly, the situation reversed in a split second. The woman suddenly changed her moves, her swordsmanship becoming extremely fierce. Moreover, she was refined and detached, with graceful and elegant posture, stepping forward like an immortal floating on air.

The three ordinary disciples were injured and fell to the ground within a few turns, having no combat capability for a short time.

Because of those three missing people, flaws appeared in the staff formation. The woman easily broke the staff formation, and both eight-bag elders were injured and fell to the ground.

"The Beggar's Sect has a big reputation, but your martial arts are really not that great! To think you'd dare meddle in your grandma's business, be smarter in your next life."

This woman's conduct had always been to cut weeds and eliminate roots, leaving no future troubles. Since these people had forged a grudge with her today, there was no reason to let them go. Just as she was about to swing her sword to kill them,

an unfamiliar middle-aged man suddenly appeared, blocking the space between the woman and the injured Beggar's Sect disciples on the ground.

The woman took a palm strike from the middle-aged man and was instantly repelled seven or eight steps. If the tavern wall hadn't been right behind her to block this momentum, she would have had to retreat a few more steps before she could stop.

The woman instantly knew she was no match for the person before her, so she forcibly suppressed the churning blood qi in her body and asked,

"Who are you, sir? I wonder how this young woman has offended you."

"No offense, it's just that I have old ties with Chief Hong, and I'd hate to see his disciples die before me."

"Since these people have old ties with senior, then this matter is let go. This junior will take her leave first."

The woman had also mixed in the pugilistic world for a period of time, and she knew that whoever had the bigger fist made the rules here. Therefore, she didn't want to talk much and only wanted to slip away early.

"Wait, what is your name? Who is your master?" Wang Ming suddenly asked.

Wang Ming was truly very strange; the Eagle Shooting Heroes World actually had a woman with such formidable martial arts, whose skills were even stronger than Guo Jing's and Ouyang Ke's.

"This junior's name is Li Mochou, and I have no master."

In order to go out and see Lu Zhanyuan, Li Mochou had violated the rules of the Ancient Tomb and was expelled from her sect, so now she was unwilling to report her master's name. Moreover, she also knew that her sect basically never left the Ancient Tomb and had no reputation in the pugilistic world, so reporting it would be of no use at all.

Wang Ming suddenly understood; he had actually forgotten about her. The disciples taught by the true First Under Heaven of this era were naturally extraordinary.

He thought to himself: Thinking of Li Mochou's life in the original work, I remember the description was that at first Li Mochou was a gentle and lovely woman, and only later, after being hurt by relationships, did she become ruthless and eccentric. Was she scammed by Lu Zhanyuan so early?

He looked Li Mochou up and down for a moment.

Li Mochou's natural talent was actually very good, even surpassing Guo Jing and Huang Rong; Little Dragon Girl and Yang Guo were somewhat inferior compared to her.

Li Mochou hadn't obtained the true transmission of the Ancient Tomb Sect's martial arts, nor did she have the fortuitous encounters of Guo Jing and Yang Guo to obtain martial arts like the Nine Yin Manual, yet her later stages were not weak compared to Huang Rong at all.

Furthermore, she even created a set of martial arts called Three Noes and Three Unhands, transforming the Jade Maiden Swordplay into the Whisk Skill, the power of which was even above the original swordsmanship.

Seeing that Wang Ming was not speaking and was staring at her strangely, Li Mochou felt that gaze made her have the feeling of being seen through by him without a single secret, making her quite uncomfortable.

"Senior! If there is nothing else, this junior will take her leave first," Li Mochou said with a fluttering heart.

"Your martial arts are so formidable at such a young age, your talent must be extraordinary. Are you interested in becoming my disciple?" Wang Ming said such a thing out of nowhere.

It left Li Mochou stunned for a moment, but she sobered up immediately. She wasn't a sweet, naive girl; she knew the pugilistic world was dangerous and there was no such thing as a free lunch.

"Thank you for your high regard, Senior. This junior actually lied just now; I have a master. Please forgive this junior for not being able to comply."

"Oh! All right then, I can't snatch someone else's beloved disciple either."

Hearing this, Li Mochou was overjoyed, thinking she could finally get away from the person before her. Being with him gave her no sense of security.

"I happen to lack a maid to carry my sword for me, so it will be you."

Having said that, he subdued Li Mochou, who hadn't reacted yet, and took her away from the bustling area.

After waking up, Li Mochou's first reaction was to check her clothes. Discovering they hadn't been undone by anyone, she instantly heaved a sigh of relief.

Wang Ming saw Li Mochou's actions in his eyes and couldn't help a burst of disdain.

Wang Ming's intentions toward Li Mochou were very pure; he was simply thinking that if she continued to wander blindly in the pugilistic world, she would not only ruin her own life but also destroy countless innocent passersby.

In this era, three wives and four concubines was a normal state; basically, the majority of men met Li Mochou's definition of a heartless man. Letting her loose would only result in a storm of blood.

Thinking that she was still young and had gone astray, he wanted to see if he could turn her back.

As for what you, the esteemed readers, might think—whether he would talk one way and act another—that would not happen.

Anyway, Wang Ming didn't plan to find a woman in this world. With his system, he could basically achieve eternal life. If he found a wife, would he have to watch helplessly as her youthful beauty turned to white hair and she became a pile of bones in a tomb when the time came?

That would only be adding needless trouble.

Fairies and demonesses of the future world were his goals.

On the road, Wang Ming directly took out his own sword case and made her carry it, which instantly scared her little face pale white.

She didn't even persist for an hour before kneeling on the ground, begging him to take her as his disciple and refusing to be a sword-carrying maid anymore.

Cough, cough!

In the end, he agreed. Making her carry the sword was just a joke to scare her; how heavy could it be?

Depending on her internal energy, she could barely carry it, but needless to say about that walking speed.

Taking Li Mochou as a disciple also made Wang Ming dismiss the plan to find Duan Zhixing, changing it to traveling far and wide while teaching his disciple.

This day, Li Mochou went out to fetch water and hadn't returned for a long time. Wang Ming thought she had run away, so he tracked her by her traces.

As a result, he saw in the distance a brocade-robed man being supported by someone. He looked injured and was still incessantly directing the group of people ahead who were holding fishing nets to besiege a single person.

Looking closely, the person being besieged was precisely Li Mochou. Under the encirclement of that group of people, Li Mochou's situation was fraught with danger, and she was gradually failing. Her hair was disheveled,

and there were also several wounds on her body, making her look quite disheveled.

Wang Ming didn't think much and leaped out, executing a move of Thousand Flowers Scatter Money.

Then, a group of people either died or were injured.

Seeing that her cheap master had arrived and instantly subdued the people who had just besieged her, Li Mochou got up and delivered a sword strike, slitting the brocade-robed man's throat. She had almost fallen into his hands just now, and only seeing him cold would vent her anger.

Wang Ming didn't pay attention to Li Mochou. After putting the remaining people through a round of interrogation, he finally figured out the cause and process.

Turns out they had met while fetching water by the river, and then the brocade-robed man saw the exquisitely beautiful Li Mochou and was stirred by lust, stepping forward to chat her up.

It could also be considered her bad luck that Li Mochou had just been dumped by Lu Zhanyuan, so she viewed everyone as a heartless man. Coupled with the unconcealed lewdness flowing in the brocade-robed man's eyes and his somewhat frivolous words, she started a fight over a disagreement.

Right, Wang Ming also learned from the mouths of these people that the brocade-robed man was none other than Gongsun Zhi, the fickle, lustful, and promiscuous master of Jueqing Valley in the Condor Heroes.

Gongsun Zhi's martial arts were mediocre, and Li Mochou defeated him within a few moves. However, he hadn't expected Gongsun Zhi's backing fishing net formation to be quite formidable, almost causing Li Mochou to capsize.

Thinking about it, it was normal; the fishing net formation was something even Zhou Botong had been caught by, so it was no surprise that Li Mochou was made to suffer.

Reminded by this matter, Wang Ming also recalled the place called Jueqing Valley. Without another word, he had the remaining people lead the way to Jueqing Valley, as Wang Ming decided to take over that property.

It didn't matter in the past when Wang Ming had no fixed abode and ate in the wind and slept in the dew, but now it was inconvenient with a little disciple in tow.

Furthermore, his strength was only a fraction behind the Five Greats, but when reporting his identity, he felt quite devalued.

Look: Peach Blossom Island Master, Dali's Emperor Duan, Beggar's Sect Chief, White Camel Mountain Master, Quanzhen Sect Master—look how much style that had.

Even that loser Qiu Qianren was the Iron Palm Gang Leader.

The most important thing was that Wang Ming needed a place to properly settle down. He had quite a few martial arts manuals, but the actual strength manifested from them was far too little. This was actually the main reason why Wang Ming abandoned going to Dali; he wasn't lacking in this single martial art.