Yanzhou Impressions (Part 2)

At dawn, the merchant woke up in bed and, as was his habit, glanced out the window. His face suddenly turned terrified.

Right downstairs at the Yuelai Inn, a dozen or so martial arts practitioners dressed in yellow robes were performing an extremely distorted and bizarre "dance" that sent chills down one's spine just by watching it.

"Jinglin! Jinglin!"

"What's wrong, Dad?" Hearing his father call him, the young businessman immediately came out of the cubicle. Seeing that his father looked like he had just woken up, he asked in confusion:

"Dad, are you having a nightmare?"

"No, downstairs..." The old merchant pointed to the yellow-clad figure "practicing dance" downstairs. Looking at the cloak twisted like tentacles and the limbs extending from incredible angles, it was as if a group of demons were dancing wildly.

"Ah, they're doing their morning exercise!" Jinglin glanced out the window and said matter-of-factly.

"Isn't it common for martial arts practitioners to get up early to practice their skills? Escort Chief Lin and the others also get up to practice on weekdays!"

"But this..." The old merchant looked at the strangely posed men in yellow robes, his lips twitching as he spoke.

"This doesn't look like martial arts practice at all! It looks more like those Fang Cult performing shamanistic rituals!"

"Oh my god, Dad! Don't say that in front of them, you'll make enemies!" Jinglin rushed forward and covered his father's mouth. After making sure no one heard, he whispered:

"Doesn't the Golden Crow Sect's Sunset Fist look old and decrepit? Those who were laughed at have all been killed! I asked Escort Chief Lin before, and he said that the skills these people practice are only average against ordinary martial artists, but they are extremely effective against the Demonic Cult Demonic Person. Combined with that yellow robe, they can basically restrain the Demonic Cult arts."

"I even paid the waiter to inquire about it, and he said that this is the <Heavenly Demon All Forms Fist>, and their footwork is called <Ascending Profound Settled View Steps>. Right now, it's just a demonstration, and it looks like a dance, but this footwork is said to be used in conjunction with numerology. In actual combat, every step can land in the enemy's blind spot, which is quite miraculous!"

"Is that so?" The old merchant gradually calmed down after hearing his son's explanation. However, Yanzhou was still a place ravaged by the Demonic Cult Demonic Person, and he couldn't be careless. So he immediately said:

"Give us a heads-up, we'll set off after breakfast."

"Understood." Jinglin nodded, then helped his father change his clothes before leading the bodyguards guarding the door to the main building of the inn.

There were about ten people in the hall now, but perhaps because the disciples of Xuanjun were all outside practicing in the morning, there were no yellow-robed figures in the hall. Some of them even had obvious physical deformities, which made the old merchant feel a little more relaxed.

This at least proves that this is indeed Yanzhou.

Just then, two martial arts practitioners dressed in tight-fitting clothes entered the inn after the waiter asked, "Are you here for a meal or to stay the night?" They ordered a table of food and sat down at a table not far from the group, where they began to have a rather heated conversation.

"Brother Zhou, I thought about it for half the night last night, and I feel that your understanding is still problematic. The essence of life and death energy should lie in this transformation. Although life energy is powerful and useful, we cannot discard the fragile death energy."

"But this death energy is the energy of decay, merely the foundation for awakening life force. Cultivating it requires not only a great deal of nourishment but also depletes one's essence and blood. When I first started practicing, my cultivation even regressed, and I almost couldn't suppress the demonic energy within my body!"

The martial arts expert, whose right arm was half covered in snake-scale-like skin, retorted, but his friend pulled out a book and said:

"This <Mandrake Longevity Method> explains it very clearly: life and death are the cycle of the human body. Only when dead flesh decays can life appear. Without this decaying energy, rotting flesh will inevitably grow. Those of us who have been tainted by the demonic energy of Monster Cultivator have had the mechanism of death energy completely destroyed by the demonic energy. Without the decaying energy, we cannot metabolize dead flesh, which is why we have all sorts of strange appearances!"

"Dad, what are they talking about?" Jing Lin suddenly felt that "these Jianghu people are actually more educated than himself, a serious person who went to private school", and he doubted life for a moment.

The old merchant was also slightly surprised, and beckoned to the waiter, saying:

"What are these two guests discussing? It's so difficult to understand! And they're discussing such Secret Transmission in public. Isn't it a bit inappropriate if someone overhears them?"

Upon hearing this, the waiter smiled and said:

"Sir, you flatter me. The two guests were merely discussing the <Mandrake Longevity Method>. This method was created by Xuanjun in his research on the principles of demonic energy circulation. It is a medical book and also the General Outline of the <Xuanjun Secret Scripture>. It can be found in most bookstores in Yanzhou. If you are interested, I can also sell it here for only fifty coins."

"Only fifty coins? You can buy the General Outline of the Xuanjun Secret Scripture?" Jing Lin's eyes widened in disbelief. He knew that even after the destruction of the Tianya Pavilion in Qingzhou, the most basic of the leaked manuals cost five taels of silver, and those once-secret secrets, even just copies, would fetch thousands of taels. The Mysterious Lord was still in good health; how could the sect's scriptures be sold so cheaply?

"Of course! Master Xuanjun is a first-rate grandmaster in terms of both temperament and character. After he created this divine skill, he taught it in Jining City. Anyone who wants to learn can become his disciple. He also built a Xuanjun Pavilion, which is not only a sect but also a library. The reason why this General Outline costs fifty coins is because of printing and transportation costs. When you go to Jining, you can go directly to the Xuanjun Pavilion to borrow it."

Hearing this, the bodyguard who had been mostly silent finally couldn't help but speak up:

"With martial arts manuals being distributed so indiscriminately, what if someone who doesn't understand the techniques reads them and practices them incorrectly?"

"Hey, that's true, but since the old master Xuanjun is in Jining City, anyone who has any questions about cultivation techniques can go and ask him for advice. If the question is insightful enough, it might even be copied down and made into a 'public gazette' called <Xuanjun Hundred Solutions>."

"Most of these martial arts practitioners first research and discuss on their own, accumulating questions, and then periodically seeking guidance from the Xuanjun Pavilion. However, after half a year, most common questions can be found in the <Xuanjun Hundred Solutions>. I've heard that many martial arts practitioners consider it an honor to submit questions that can be included in the <Xuanjun Hundred Solutions>!"

Hearing the waiter's words, the Escort Chief Lin) Lin felt somewhat incredulous, finding it vastly different from the martial arts world of Yanzhou he had imagined. Jing Lin even exclaimed:

"If you hadn't told me this was martial arts training, I would have thought it was the Imperial Academy in the capital..."

However, these words seemed to provoke Escort Chief Lin(bodyguard/escort). He frowned, glanced at the martial arts practitioners who were eating and talking about scholarship, and felt irritated. He immediately asked the waiter:

"Waiter, are there any martial arts practitioners in Yanzhou who can spar?"