Chapter 2 The Master and Disciple in the Mountain Stream
Here is a mountain stream with extremely beautiful scenery, which is quite rare in this vast dense forest. There is a small waterfall flying down from the air to form a pool.
Next to the pool is a dilapidated thatched house. In fact, it would be untrue to say it is a thatched house, but it seems appropriate to say it is a doghouse. At first glance, it seems that it has been abandoned for a long time.
But there happened to be a rocking chair outside the shabby kennel that was as shabby as the kennel, and an old man of about sixty years old was nestled in it with his whole body.
The old man seems to be still dreaming, and drool will flow from the corner of his mouth from time to time. Occasionally, he will make strange screams. Listening to this sound, he must be having an erotic dream.
"Hehehe, don't run! Stop, stop. Where are you running! Hehehe!"
The old man was still immersed in his dream, and from time to time he would scratch the air with his hands.
"Old man, I cut down the ninety-ninth big tree."
In the dense forest in the distance, there is a boy of seventeen or eighteen years old, holding a wooden knife in his hand, and next to him is a tree that he chopped down.
The old man suddenly woke up from his dream when he heard the child's cry and sat up.
"Er Gou, didn't I tell you that your master has the habit of taking a nap? What is it called, howling in mourning? You should pay for the girl who returned to Menglou."
The old man cursed immediately after being woken up, without any regard for his age of nearly sixty years old and without any shame at all.
"Old man, you are the only relative I have, and you are not dead, so who should I mourn for?"
This young man also looks like a scoundrel, and seems to have completely inherited the old man's shamelessness.
"You bitch, why are you cursing your master to death? I raised you so much, your conscience must have been snatched away by a dog. Today, run the sword technique ten more times for me."
The old man's angry voice echoed in the mountain stream.
This young man is naturally the child who was rescued on a rainy night, and this old man is naturally the one who saved him.
After the two left, they came to this place and almost never went out. Even if the old man went out occasionally, he never took the child with him.
…
Jiang Ergou is the name of this child. Ever since the child became sensible, he has always hated this name, but his master was unwilling to change his name. So, he no longer called him master, just old man.
Shouting. But the old man didn't care, he just always called himself in the name of his master.
In fact, it's not that the old man sometimes doesn't want to change his name, but every time he sees Ergou feeling uncomfortable because of his name, the old man feels particularly comfortable.
"Ergou, Ergou, is the food ready?"
The old man was still lying in the rocking chair, his nose twitched, as if he smelled something.
"It's cooked, it's cooked. Get up and eat it. It screams and doesn't wake up when you have an erotic dream. When it's time to eat, your nose is sharper than a dog's."
"Hey, hey, how can you be smarter than a dog? Ergou, don't you look down on yourself?"
The old man smiled mischievously.
"Do you still want to eat?"
Ergou raised the bowl with vegetables and pretended to throw it out.
"Eat, eat, eat, why don't you eat? People are like iron, and rice is like steel. If you don't eat for one meal, you will feel hungry. Hehehehe."
The old man gave in immediately and showed no sign of being a master.
"Old man, I have a question for you."
"You say it, you say it, I'm listening!"
The old man answered vaguely while consuming the food which didn't taste very good.
"You said, right now, I am your only disciple, and I have never heard you say that I have any senior brothers or anything like that. Why were you able to come up with a name for Ergou in the first place? Even if it doesn't work, I will too.
Big dog, if you have a younger junior brother in the future, he should be a second dog."
The boy was once again depressed because of his name. Although this was not the first time in so many years, it would definitely not be the last time.
The old man's chopsticks used to chop the rice paused inadvertently, and then
Start eating again.
"What's wrong with Ergou? I've wronged you. You're such a fool. Calling you Ergou is just flattering you."
"Then I'm not..."
"Okay, okay, have you read the military book? Do you want to eat? If you don't want to eat, go read the book."
When Ergou heard this, what he wanted to say was suppressed in his heart again, and he lowered his head to eat.
…
The cool moonlight shines into the mountain stream, making the scenery in the mountain stream even more beautiful. However, the two people living in the mountain stream do not look like they are elegant people who can appreciate the scenery.
Snapped.
"Damn, why are there so many mosquitoes in this broken mountain stream? Believe it or not, I will use my sixty years of internal strength to kill you."
"Old man, you have been practicing martial arts since you were born. You still have sixty years of internal strength, so let me boast."
"Hey, kid, don't believe it. There is a saying in the world called menstrual cleansing and marrow removal, which happens to start from the mother's womb. Using medicinal food to nourish the child's meridians through the mother's body, do you think this counts as starting from the mother's womb?
Start practicing martial arts here."
"Hey, come on, don't say I don't believe it. Even if this is true, it has nothing to do with you."
Ergou naturally didn't believe it and looked at the old man with a mocking look.
"You kid, you know nothing. Your master grew up in a honey jar back then."
"I don't believe it anyway"
Ergou said, turned his face to the side, and began to concentrate on dealing with the mosquitoes sucking his blood from his body.
"You idiot, if you don't believe me, today's twenty, no, thirty times of the Sword Technique has worked well. Why don't you go and practice it with me?"
"Cut, just practice."
Although the young man curled his lips in disdain, he still took the posture to practice seriously. After all, you can be careless about anything, but you must be serious about practicing.
…
"Old man, tell me, I'm obviously practicing sword skills, why don't you teach me how to use a sword, but you want me to practice swordsmanship?"
The young man's mood was always restless, but after half an hour, he couldn't stop asking questions again.
"You have asked me this question several times. Tell yourself."
"I should have done it a thousand times."
The young man tilted his head and thought seriously for a while.
"Then you still ask me, if you don't know, it's in vain. I will tell you when it's your turn to know. Now, practice your sword honestly."
When the young man heard this, he smiled knowingly. Every time he asked this question, the old man would give the same answer. But he would still ask. It was as if this had formed a habit. If the young man hadn't asked it again
If so, you won't be able to sleep.
"Old man, you said that when I chop down a hundred trees with a wooden knife, you would take me out to travel around the world, but is it true?"
"Why, you're impatient. There's still a tree. Take your time. When it's time to take you out, I won't forget it."
"Then who is not impatient? Every time you go out and come back, you will deliberately tease me."
The young man was scratching his head and fidgeting.
"Hahaha, don't you want to meet those fairy heroines in the world? Don't worry, when you meet, you will know that those fairy heroines are just the same.
He's just a mortal who eats his shit. By the way, you kid, are you looking for a wife? Hahahaha."
Every time the old man came back, he would tell the young man about the heroines and fairies he saw along the way, how graceful their figures were, and how delicate their faces were. They were taller where they should be, and taller where they should be.
.
"No, no, no, I didn't go down the mountain to meet those fairies and heroines. I have been waiting for this day for a long time."
The young man put his hands on his hips and raised his head, looking upright. But his reddish face had long betrayed his little thoughts.
"Old man, you said that I have almost chopped down a hundred big trees, so am I considered a master in the world?"
Finally, the boy broke free from the dream of the fairy heroine sister, put down his hands, and supported his little face. He was full of longing and fantasy.
"Come on, what are you thinking about? When you chop down a hundred big trees, you will barely be considered a master."
"Old man, what is top quality? You didn't tell me before when you didn't let me go down the mountain. Now, I'm going to travel around the world soon. Please tell me. Otherwise, I won't be the one who gets slapped in the face.
, but you.”
"Okay, your master, I will tell you."
The old man calmed his thoughts and spoke slowly.
"Actually, before the previous dynasty, there was no specific hierarchy in the Jianghu. Everyone practiced on their own, until Emperor Taizu of the previous dynasty adopted the nine-grade official position system. The Jianghu has been reluctantly followed for hundreds of years.
This is the nine-grade system."
"Then old man, I am not talking about the first or second grade. I don't think I am the third grade. I should have the strength of the fourth grade anyway."
"Didn't I tell you that by the time you chop down a hundred trees, you will barely be considered to be in the first grade, that is, the ninth grade."
The old man was very impatient and finished answering the young man's words. He continued without waiting for the young man to speak.
"Actually, the divisions between the seventh and ninth grades in the world are still not very careful. It's just my own feeling. Only when you reach the sixth level can you be regarded as a small master at the bottom of the world. This kind of person can barely do it.
We have reached the point where we can release our inner strength to the outside.”
"Old man, that's not right. I can also release my inner strength and external strength. How can I be at the ninth level? I should be at the sixth level."
"Hmph, what do you mean by releasing your internal force to the outside? At most, it is just a negligible layer of internal force attached to the knife. If you can release your internal force to the outside, it can only split a tree as thick as two people with one knife.
Already."
In fact, the boy's strength is quite good. It only took three days to build the ninety-ninth big tree. It has been almost ten years since the boy cut down the tree. When he cut down the first tree, the boy was quite powerful.
It took half a year.
When the first tree was cut down, the little boy dragged the wooden knife that was not much shorter than him at that time and was excited for several days.
His strength is probably between the eighth and seventh levels. However, these two masters and apprentices who depend on each other have always disliked each other. The younger one is always unwilling to believe what the older one says, but what about the older one?
I just don't want to tell the truth to my little one.
After a while, the old man continued.
"As for going higher up, the gap between the fifth and sixth grades is not that big. If the mind method level is higher, it is not impossible for the sixth grade to kill the fifth grade."
"As for those who reach the fourth level, they can be regarded as small masters. Small sects in the world usually only have one or two fourth-level masters to support the sect. Even in those slightly larger sects, they can be regarded as the mainstay.
"
"As for the third-grade to first-grade people above the fourth grade, they are the characters who really stand in the clouds. The third-grade is okay, in this mixed world, you can still see them occasionally, but the second-grade is mostly supported by big sects, royal families and nobles.
As for the first-grade ones, hehe, they are really rare. If there are those above the first-grade ones, don’t even think about them.”
The old man finished what he had been saying in one breath, as if he wanted to pour into his mind all the experience he had lacked in the past ten years.
"Old man, you are a master of several levels!"
"Your master and I are naturally above the first level."
"Humph, you stinky old man, you lied to me again."
"Hahaha, okay, okay. That's it for today. Read a book for me. You haven't even read a few of the military books I prepared for you."
"Old man, we are not people in the world. Why are we reading military books? Do you still want me to be a general?"
"It's called a soldier who never tires of deceit. You know, who said that the art of war can't be used in the arena. Let me tell you, there are just as many colorful souls in the arena as there are in temples and battlefields."
"The rivers and lakes are wide, the rivers and lakes are wide, and there are many people who have drowned in them."
The old man muttered this sentence softly at the end.