Entrustment

After Hong Mingquan finished speaking, he brushed past Chen Ming and went into the mourning hall to keep vigil, giving him no chance to ask any questions.

Chen Ming could only bury his doubts in his heart.

After a while, the time came.

Huo Qianqian, Zhao An, and the other direct disciples helped carry the coffin out the door. The guests followed behind, forming a long procession to see Huo Chengkun off on his final journey.

The funeral procession did not stop until it had passed beyond the South City Gate.

In the end, Chen Ming and the others watched as Huo Qianqian, the direct disciples, and some of the Disciples-in-Name carried the coffin away, vanishing at the end of the official road.

Huo Chengkun's coffin was to be sent to a place called Xiaoshui, where he would be buried alongside his late wife.

Hong Mingquan had also been in the funeral procession, yet he had just told Chen Ming to visit him that night.

That was what Chen Ming found strangest.

There was another matter. He had noticed that Sun Shicai, the fourth disciple, was absent from the funeral procession. Not even attending his master's burial was somewhat indefensible.

Once the funeral procession had gone far away, the crowd began to disperse.

Some people began whispering that with Old Huo gone, the vast Huo Manor would probably scatter like stars and clouds.

"Actually, with the strength of Old Huo's disciples, if they were willing to work together with one heart, Huo Manor's influence would not be the slightest bit weaker than before. What a pity..."

Clearly, many people had seen that Huo Chengkun's disciples all harbored different thoughts.

"Heh, Old Huo's fourth disciple is clearly still in the city, yet he did not even come for something as important as his master's burial. He truly is..."

"Old Li, mind your words. That man is now a Patrol Envoy of the Six Doors."

"So what? Such an unfilial man is beneath contempt."

"..."

Chen Ming did not continue listening and left directly.

Deng Manor.

Deng Ziyang was drinking alone to drown his sorrows. When he saw Chen Ming enter, he said happily, "Senior Brother came at just the right time. Come, have a few cups with me."

Chen Ming walked over and sat across from him. With a sigh, he said, "I never expected Master Huo's death to hit Brother Deng this hard."

"Bullshit!"

Deng Ziyang slammed his cup onto the table, his face full of fury. "I'm simply unwilling to accept it. That day, that old bastard refused to take me as his disciple, and I swore in my heart that one day, I would grind all his disciples beneath my feet right in front of him!"

As he spoke, he began gritting his teeth. "But that old bastard actually died just like that. Tell me, isn't that infuriating?"

Chen Ming refilled the empty cup before him and said, "He may be dead, but his disciples are still here. He will not be able to see it in the future, but all the people in the city will."

Deng Ziyang drained his cup in one gulp. "Heh, that really lets him off too easily."

Chen Ming consoled him a few more times, and Deng Ziyang gradually let it go.

"Just so happens, there's something I'd like to ask your opinion on." Chen Ming took the opportunity to change the subject. "I want to open a martial hall specifically to teach children the foundations of martial arts. Is there anything I should know about it?"

"Open a martial hall?"

Deng Ziyang frowned. "Forgive my bluntness, but with Senior Brother's strength and character, if you were willing to marry a wealthy merchant's daughter, then with her family's wealth, obtaining a more profound cultivation method would not be difficult. Then, if you devoted yourself to cultivation for another ten years, you might even reach Sixth Rank. That is a broad road leading straight ahead. Why go through all that thankless trouble of opening some martial hall?"

Chen Ming naturally knew that the life plan Deng Ziyang described was indeed a shortcut for poor youths like him to leap across social classes.

Back on Earth, plenty of people took that route too, commonly known as phoenix men.

But if one had a choice, who would want to be a phoenix man?

He said, "Back when I studied martial arts at Huo Manor for several years, I could never grasp the essentials. Whenever I asked the instructor, he simply ignored me. I squandered several years that way and learned nothing. Only after leaving Huo Manor and practicing over and over by myself did I gradually understand the trick of it..."

"I think there must be countless slow-witted people like me in this world. So I want to open a martial hall, so that children like me will not waste their time because they encounter unscrupulous instructors."

As Deng Ziyang listened, his expression grew somewhat complicated. "You... why are you always doing foolish things? You just love doing this sort of thankless work."

Suddenly, he recalled Huo Chengkun once saying that a martial artist needed to possess a childlike heart. Perhaps it was precisely because Chen Ming had such a pure childlike heart that his cultivation had advanced by leaps and bounds.

Chen Ming said, "Then I ask Brother Deng to teach me."

Deng Ziyang said, "Since you want to open a martial hall, I naturally will not stop you. But opening one is no easy matter. There are deep waters involved..."

When Chen Ming left the Deng Family, he was still digesting the information he had just learned from Deng Ziyang.

"Fortunately, I specifically came to ask Deng Ziyang before opening a martial hall. Otherwise, I would have stirred up trouble."

Ancient times were unlike Earth. Beyond the laws of the state, there were also clan rules. Likewise, every trade had its own rules.

In Qingfeng City, there was a Martial Hall Guild whose members were the city's twelve martial halls. They had established a rule that was really just an excuse to band together and keep others out of the trade.

There were two ways to open a new martial hall.

The first was to have three established martial halls jointly guarantee you.

He could forget about that one. Not to mention himself—even Deng Ziyang did not have that kind of face.

The second was to accept the guild's test: fight three matches, and as long as one won all three, one could obtain the qualification to open a martial hall.

There was also a hard requirement: one had to possess at least Eighth Rank cultivation before opening a hall and taking disciples.

Of course, if a dragon crossing the river possessed sufficient strength, such as a Sixth Rank expert, then naturally no one would dare utter half a word of objection.

"This is the martial world."

Chen Ming felt that he had finally touched one corner of the martial world, and his heart stirred with eagerness.

Still, he should first raise his cultivation to Eighth Rank.

After night fell, Chen Ming still went to Huo Manor for the appointment.

When he knocked on the door, the gatekeeper who came to answer seemed to have aged ten years. Huo Chengkun's death had undoubtedly affected the servants of Huo Manor the most.

Chen Ming did not say he had come looking for Hong Mingquan. He only said he had left something behind and had come to look for it.

The gatekeeper did not suspect anything and let him in.

He went straight to the courtyard where Hong Mingquan lived.

"Fifth Senior Brother."

He called out from outside the courtyard.

"Is that Martial Uncle Chen?"

A somewhat childish voice came from within. Then a lantern emerged from the house, held by an eleven- or twelve-year-old boy.

It was Hong Mingquan's son, Hong Zilin.

Chen Ming asked, "Zilin, is your father here?"

"Greetings, Martial Uncle Chen."

Hong Zilin came over and opened the gate. "My father is not here. He asked Martial Uncle to come because he has a favor to ask. Please come inside and speak."

Seeing how the boy acted like a little adult, possessing maturity and steadiness far beyond his age, Chen Ming was not overly surprised.

In this era, many children matured early, especially children from poor families.

Several of the little ones learning martial arts from him already acted like little adults.

"All right."

Chen Ming followed him inside and found Hong Mingquan's wife, Li Shi, in the inner room as well. He quickly saluted her. "Greetings, Sister-in-Law."

Although people of the martial world were not so particular about rules, it was still highly improper for him to remain in a room with another man's wife and son in the middle of the night.

He asked, "May I know why Senior Brother Hong asked me to come?"

Hong Zilin said, "Martial Uncle Chen, this is a letter my father wrote. Martial Uncle will understand after reading it."

Chen Ming accepted the letter. After opening it, he skimmed through it at three lines a glance, only then understanding why Hong Mingquan had called him here.

Hong Mingquan wanted him to help look after his wife and son.

The letter said that this trip might take ten days or half a month. He did not know whether that Martial Aunt would come back to Huo Manor to kill, so he wanted to entrust his wife and child to Chen Ming.

Chen Ming found it strange. His friendship with Hong Mingquan had not reached the point where Hong Mingquan could entrust his wife and child to him, had it?

Who knew whether Hong Mingquan was not simply grasping at straws in desperation.

Although this matter was somewhat troublesome, he truly could not refuse.

There was no helping it. Hong Mingquan was offering too much.

He had actually proposed the Five Elements Saber Technique as payment.

This saber technique was far more profound than the Bagua Saber Technique. It was Huo Chengkun's signature saber art.

It was one of the things Chen Ming needed most urgently.

The Bagua Saber Technique was still too crude. It could only bully poor-background martial artists like Zhuang Xiaotian and Guan Peng. Against disciples of prestigious clans, it would not be enough.

Hong Zilin had already respectfully presented a thick manual. "My father asked me to give this to you, Martial Uncle."

Chen Ming accepted it, flipped through it, then tucked it into his robes. "Are you coming with me now, or should I pick you up tomorrow?"

Hong Zilin said decisively, "We'll leave now."

Before long, mother and son emerged carrying their bundles.