Wild Desolate Art

Outside the teahouse, silence reigned.

Passersby and the teahouse owner were all dumbfounded.

The young master of the Xu Family being beaten like a grandson—if it weren't broad daylight, they'd have thought they were dreaming.

The key point was, that kid was way too bold. Wasn't he afraid of Xu Family retaliation?

Xu Liansheng was pondering the same question in his mind.

As a direct descendant of the Xu Family, since childhood, no one but his parents had dared lay a finger on him.

Yet today, of all days, he'd been beaten by some nameless brat?

After a moment of stunned disbelief, Xu Liansheng snapped back to reality. Furious as he was, he wasn't stupid. The other party could casually slash out sword light and send over a dozen Xu Family disciples at the early Nourishing Origin stage flying with one strike—that strength was absolutely beyond his ability to contend with.

So he suppressed his rage and demanded, "Who the hell are you? If you've got the guts, leave your name."

Shen Zhou, though holding only a small wooden sword, exuded an aura as fierce and terrifying as a dragon overlooking an abyss. He hoisted Xu Liansheng up, raised an eyebrow, and said, "This young master's name stands firm, never changed. I'm called Yang Guo. What do you want?"

The three little ones behind him: "!!!"

Here we go again!

At least it wasn't 'Shen Zhou' this time.

Xu Liansheng's gaze sharpened. "You're from the Yang Family?"

The teahouse owner and passersby were startled.

The Yang Family?

One of the five great families of Flying Bird City, the Yang Family?

No wonder.

This was a clash of dragons and tigers!

Shen Zhou had no clue about any of that. He just thought the guy had a screw loose, so he slapped him again without hesitation and scolded, "I told you my name's 'Yang Guo.' If I'm not from the Yang Family, am I from your Xu Family? Idiot!"

"You..."

Xu Liansheng's face was flushed red from the beating, his eyes burning with a desire to kill. "Yang, you're ruthless. I'll remember this debt. One day, I'll make you pay it back double!"

Shen Zhou raised his hand and slapped him once more, lecturing, "Still putting on airs with me? You're in my hands and you dare throw threats? Do you really think I wouldn't kill you?"

Xu Liansheng's head snapped to the side, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth, rage boiling inside him. He wanted to curse, but when he turned back and met Shen Zhou's murderous gaze, his eyelids twitched, and he instantly calmed down.

By the rules of the great families, junior members could brawl and feud, but it was all about face-slapping and losing dignity—minor matters. Even at their worst, they never escalated to murder.

After all, they were all among the five great families; a real fight would only end in mutual destruction.

But he could also tell that this 'Yang Guo' in front of him wasn't just strong—he was the reckless, hotheaded type. Once that kind of person lost his temper, he truly didn't care about consequences.

Even if the Xu Family settled the score later, what good would it do if he was already dead?

Thinking this through, Xu Liansheng had no choice but to swallow his pride and back down. Gritting his teeth, he said, "Fine, I admit defeat. Yang Guo, what do you want to let me go? Name your terms."

Shen Zhou was the kind who wouldn't move if you pulled him but would back off if you pushed. Seeing the other party voluntarily surrender, his expression softened, and he flashed a sly grin. "So you're not an invincible little brat after all. I thought you'd stay stubborn to the end. Since you're begging me to spare you, don't blame me for setting terms. Throw down anything valuable you've got on you, and we'll see if it's enough to buy your life."

Xu Liansheng's fists clenched and unclenched, clenched and unclenched, his face cycling through red and white, feeling utterly humiliated. After a long internal struggle, he reluctantly yanked off his money pouch and tossed it onto the table.

The pouch opened, revealing a bag of gold leaves.

Each leaf was worth a hundred taels of silver, and there were no fewer than thirty in total.

Then he pulled out two jade bottles: one of Nourishing Origin Pills, used to boost cultivation—three pills total; the other held healing pills, about a dozen of them.

Finally, when he took out a square object wrapped in brocade from his chest, he hesitated for a moment, but gritted his teeth and threw it down too.

Done with all that, Xu Liansheng couldn't bear to stay a second longer. He turned and left. Only after his group of heavily wounded subordinates had mounted their exotic horses did he look back hatefully at Shen Zhou and say, "Yang, this isn't over. We'll see about this. Hyah!"

The group had come swaggering in and left in disgrace. The stark contrast left many onlookers wide-eyed.

"Huh? Did I say he could leave?"

"A young master from a great family goes out with just this little stuff? Not even a storage pouch or a ring? And they call themselves a great family. Pfft, how embarrassing!"

Shen Zhou inspected the items on the table as he grumbled.

The teahouse owner and passersby broke out in a cold sweat, thinking: Storage pouches and rings were high-grade goods, rare even among the five great families. How did this 'Young Master Yang' talk about them like they were common cabbages?

A Dai and the others didn't find it strange, though. They were used to Shen Zhou's brash personality. It seemed he had his own unique understanding of this world.

And it was that understanding that made Shen Zhou's thoughts seem so oddly refreshing at times.

But San Mazi spoke up with some worry, "Zhou Boss, we haven't even entered Flying Bird City yet, and you've already beaten up someone from the Xu Family. What do we do after this? We're bound to run into trouble."

Shen Zhou waved it off dismissively. "What's there to fear? The one who hit him was 'Yang Guo.' What does that have to do with me, Shen Zhou? And look, now we've got money. Once we enter the city, we won't have to waste time challenging dojos. That means we've saved ourselves a lot of trouble.

So all in all, we're not losing out!"

Watching Shen Zhou jingle the bag of gold leaves with a delighted grin, San Mazi was speechless.

If you find this book enjoyable, to avoid losing track next time, please remember to bookmark it.

Could accounts really be calculated that way?

He was more and more impressed by Zhou Boss's way of thinking.

A Dai picked up the silk-wrapped square object and asked doubtfully, "What's inside this?"

As he spoke, he unwrapped the silk, layer after layer, until a book was revealed. On its cover were three gilded characters: Wild Desolate Art.

"Oh, it's a cultivation technique." A Dai was taken aback.

"Let me see..." Shen Zhou, Xi Mei, and San Mazi immediately crowded around.

Shen Zhou took the book and flipped through it, finding not only text but also methods for circulating qi, along with a complete set of illustrations for the 'Wild Desolate Fist'—thorough in every aspect.

San Mazi exclaimed in surprise, "It really is the 'Wild Desolate Art'! This is the Xu Family's clan-guarding technique. Even most direct-line descendants aren't qualified to train in it. Outsiders say that cultivating with this art builds the most stable foundation and greatly benefits body tempering. Once a practitioner reaches full mastery, they can even step directly into the 'Celestial Firmament Realm.'

Countless people outside covet this technique, and now it's just fallen into our hands?"

San Mazi's voice carried a note of disbelief by the end.

A clan-guarding technique—something no amount of money could buy!

Hearing how serious San Mazi made it sound, A Dai frowned and looked at Shen Zhou. "Zhou Boss, since this technique is so important, the Xu Family probably won't let this go easily."

Shen Zhou wasn't worried at all. Instead, he grinned. "No problem. We were just worrying about where to learn martial arts, and now the technique has delivered itself to our doorstep. We'd be fools not to train in it.

But I skimmed through it—this is only a partial version, not complete. Let's practice with this for now. If the Xu Family doesn't come, fine. If they dare to show up, we'll make them hand over the rest of the technique too. That saves us the trouble of switching techniques later."

San Mazi: "..."

A Dai: "..."

Somehow, it felt like the Xu Family was the one in trouble now.

After another day of travel, Shen Zhou and his group arrived at Flying Bird City just before noon the next day.

Gazing at the towering city walls, as sheer as a thousand-ren cliff, and the gate that seemed to reach the southern sky, Shen Zhou and San Mazi blurted out in unison, "Damn, that's tall!"

A Dai slapped his forehead in exasperation. "Zhou Boss, if you can't praise it properly, you don't have to say anything."

Shen Zhou curled his lip. "What do you know? This is called being genuine and plain-spoken. You get that?"

San Mazi chimed in, "Yeah, yeah..."

A Dai: "Uh..."

Xi Mei covered her mouth, stifling her laughter.

The four of them followed the crowd into the city.

Once inside, A Dai and Xi Mei were instantly stunned by the sight before them.

As far as the eye could see, tall buildings stood in neat rows, pavilions and terraces rose one after another, and music and song filled the air from every direction. The streets were packed with bustling crowds—food vendors, street performers, martial artists dueling, clowns putting on shows... a dazzling array of scenes that left them overwhelmed and unable to take it all in.

"Brother Zhou, look! It's so lively!" Xi Mei exclaimed joyfully, then dragged Shen Zhou and San Mazi along to browse the various stalls.

"No wonder it's the largest city in the Southern Prefecture. White Sheep County can't compare at all." Even Shen Zhou couldn't help nodding in admiration, his eyes brightening.

They continued forward with the flow of people, gradually relaxing in the lively atmosphere. Even the fatigue from days of travel seemed to melt away.

Before long, the four spotted a martial arts school with a stage set up at its entrance, surrounded by a dense crowd.

Driven by curiosity, they squeezed in for a look.

At the front of the stage, they saw a burly middle-aged man trying to pull a sword from a massive block of green stone. The blade was buried to the hilt, leaving only a rusted handle exposed—the full sword was hidden from view.

Above the stage hung a banner that read:

The Qin Family has a jewel, awaiting her match; A phoenix among prodigies, only a dragon can claim. Today we raise this stage, a sword-pull to choose a son-in-law; Whoever succeeds shall win the pearl. Enter our door, and become one family; The Qin Family will spare no effort, to lift you to the clouds.

"Oh, I've heard of martial arts tournaments for marriage, but this is the first time I've seen a sword-pull to pick a son-in-law."

After reading the banner, the group found it quite novel. Shen Zhou nudged San Mazi with his shoulder. "Third, what's the deal with the Qin Family? You know anything?"

San Mazi, who prided himself on being from Flying Bird City, straightened his back and put on an air of authority. "The Qin Family? Of course I know.

Years ago, the Qin Family was one of the five great families of Flying Bird City. But over time, their older generation of experts passed away one by one, and no prodigies emerged among the younger generation. The family gradually declined and was replaced by the Xu Family as one of the new five great families.

Since then, the Qin Family has fallen to a second-rate clan. If not for a single 'Celestial Firmament Realm' elder aunt still holding things together, they might have dropped to third-rate."

A Dai looked puzzled. "Even so, a dying camel is still bigger than a horse. If the Qin Family wants to restore its glory, why resort to a 'sword-pull to choose a son-in-law'? Wouldn't it be better to form alliances through marriage with other families?"

San Mazi shook his head. "That, I don't know."