Chapter 13

As they headed south, the suffering of the people became even more obvious. What they saw along the way also made Fang Chen, Elder Xu, and the others fall silent.

Fang Chen rode on his horse and looked at the ruins of some villages he passed by. He could not help but sigh. “The world rises and falls, and the people suffer…”

Xu Mianfeng, who was dressed in a long robe embroidered with profound patterns, slowly opened his eyes from his sleep. He could not help but glance back at Fang Chen with a strange expression.

Fang Chen seemed to have sensed something and did not care. He just looked at these dilapidated houses in a daze.

It had only been less than a decade since the world was established. Although the various countries that had once been suppressed by Great Yan’s powerful force had been destroyed on the surface, the aristocratic families and imperial nobles who were concerned about their old master had still been lying low for a long time.

For as long as Fang Chen could remember, he had encountered more than a hundred assassinations in the Zhenbei Mansion.

After leaving the Northern Heavens, he did not know how long he could hide his whereabouts.

The Whole Unitary Sect was located at the border between the Northern Heavens and the Great Yan. He would only be truly safe after arriving at the sect.

Before he arrived, he did not know how many pairs of eyes were staring at him.

Fang Chen looked at the heartless Old Fang in disdain.

Old Fang, who was riding on his donkey, saw his young master looking at him. He quickly put down the wine pouch in his hand and chuckled at Fang Chen.

Two rows of big yellow teeth were exposed and his smile was foolish and naive.

Fang Chen retracted his gaze and rubbed his aching forehead. He felt that the person his father had arranged for him was really unreliable.

They still had to rely on Elder Xu Mianfeng for their safety along the way.

Fang Chen looked at Elder Xu Mianfeng, who was leading the way alone and muttered to himself softly, “This Elder Xu is said to be the junior brother of the Sect Master of the Whole Unitary Sect, Li Qingyu. Even Father is very polite to him. He must be a top-tier expert.”

“My phone is almost out of battery. I can take advantage of the fact that I’m bored on the way to talk to him. If I can build a relationship with him earlier and have a chance to get some of his trump cards for free, I’ll make a killing.”

With this thought in mind, Fang Chen lightly clamped his legs on the pure-blooded Northern Heavens Night War Horse under him and quickly walked forward with Xu Mianfeng.

“Elder Xu.”

When Xu Mianfeng heard this, he had a calm expression on his face.

“What can I do for you, Your Highness?”

“Elder Xu, you’re too polite,” Fang Chen said with a carefree smile. “When you’re outside, call me Fang Chen. Little Fang… Elder, if you think it’s convenient, you can call me Little Fang.”

Elder Xu said slowly, “Young Master Fang…”

Fang Chen said firmly, “I told you to call me “Little Fang”. If you keep talking to me like this, I’ll be angry!”

The corners of Xu Mianfeng’s mouth twitched slightly. The other party’s words just now had changed his mind. Now, he was seeing such a shameless face. This prince was really unfathomable.

Xu Mianfeng coughed lightly. “Little Fang… Just say what you want to say.”

Seeing that Elder Xu was so understanding, Fang Chen’s smile immediately brightened.

Over the past few days, Fang Chen had actually noticed it.

This Elder Xu Mianfeng put on airs as if he had forgotten his feelings and was untainted by the world. However, he was indeed a kind-hearted person deep down. Otherwise, he would not have given the travel expenses that his father had given him to the poor before he even left the Northern Heavens region.

Fang Chen smiled. “Elder Xu, actually, I’ve only decided to learn martial arts in the past two days. I don’t know much about martial arts. Do you have time to give me some pointers?”

Xu Mianfeng nodded and spoke, “There are nine levels of martial arts in the world. Every three levels is a watershed.

From the ninth-grade to the seventh-grade, it was called the lower three grades. Some people also called it the external three grades.

It was very easy to reach the lower three grades. Ordinary people could break through the lower three grades through some external training, just like the most common practice of piling, carrying weights, resisting beatings, and so on. As long as they studied hard for more than ten years and practiced to the extreme, they could continuously break through the lower three grades and become an outer sect expert.

Most of these outer sect experts were gathered in ordinary martial arts factions and armies. They often appeared in the eyes of the commoners in the city and were not mysterious.

The sixth to fourth-grade were the middle three grades. This was not something that could be achieved by simply using external skills. Even if someone accidentally used external skills to break through, their potential was limited. Every step forward was harder than ascending to the heavens.

This was because from the middle three ranks onwards, if one wanted to achieve it more quickly and conveniently, one had to cultivate both internally and externally. Other than the strength of one’s physique, one also had to strengthen one’s inner body. At this time, one had to borrow internal cultivation methods.

Every Internal Cultivation Technique was a treasure that had been passed down for a long time. Most of them were grasped by sects that had thousands of years of martial arts heritage and were never taught to outsiders.

In other words, in order to reach the middle three grades, one needed an inheritance, which meant that they had to find someone to teach them cultivation techniques.

Of course, even if one entered the middle ranks, if he really wanted to improve, he still needed the patient guidance of a master and the combination of his martial arts talent and natural ability to advance further on the path of martial arts.

It could be said that the number of people in the middle three ranks was much less than in the lower three ranks.

For example, the twelve prefectures of the Yan Kingdom were divided into counties, cities, and towns. A sixth-grade martial artist was an absolute expert in a county. A fifth-grade martial artist was as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns. Usually, they were existences at the city lord level in a city. As for fourth-grade martial artists, they were basically military officers of the imperial court or sect masters of second-grade factions in the martial world.

Above that were the top three grades.

Top-tier experts in the top three grades were rare even in the martial world, let alone in the cities.

This was because if one wanted to cultivate to this realm, one had to be able to endure loneliness, stabilize one’s mind, and find a blessed land.

Therefore, experts from the top three ranks usually exist in those top forces.”

At this point, Xu Mianfeng deliberately paused for a moment before saying, “Just like our Whole Unitary Sect, we can be considered a top faction. There are also a few high-level experts in the sect.

“Also, your father is a second-grade expert. It’s said that he has many upper-grade experts under him.”

At this point, Xu Mianfeng clearly saw that Fang Chen was in shock, so he did not continue and let Fang Chen digest everything he had just said.

Fang Chen was indeed feeling a little uneasy.

After truly realizing the gap between the ninth-rank martial artists, he naturally had a certain psychological comparison with the strong and powerful forces.

As for the Whole Unitary Sect, he already knew that it was a top-notch force. However, Fang Chen had never expected that they would be so strong, especially his father, Fang Tianhuai.

“Damn, is Dad that awesome? Why didn’t I see it before? I thought he was only a fourth-grade at most.”

After hearing this news, Fang Chen really suspected Fang Tianhuai’s motive for sending him to the Whole Unitary Sect.

After all, if it was just to find a good master, his father, a second-grade peerless expert, should be able to teach him. In addition, father and son were connected and would definitely not hide anything. Wouldn’t teaching be twice as effective?

Fang Chen wished he could rush back to the Northern Heavens and question Fang Tianhuai if he had deliberately chased him out.