Chapter 182: Chapter 181: The Birth of Bu Jing
Translator: 549690339
The whole event started over a trivial matter.
A Bu Family disciple and those from other aristocratic families in Bu Wu City were drinking and were captivated by the beauty of a songstress. Both the Bu Family disciple and another aristocratic disciple expressed their amorous feelings towards the songstress, each of them intending to buy her freedom.
It took a considerable sum to buy her freedom and thus the two disciples began piling silver notes onto the table, competing to see who had more money and hence the right to claim her.
Eventually, the accumulated sum was more than enough to buy ten songstresses, let alone one.
One of the aristocratic disciples admitted defeat, unable to surpass the other in wealth. In frustration, they broke out into a brawl, resulting in the entire floor getting wrecked and both of them nursing severe injuries.
The Bu Family Clan Leader and the other Aristocratic Family Clan Leader, having heard about this incident, were determined to ensure justice for their respective clansmen.
In a world where everyone practices martial arts, justice is resolved through fists.
The showdown between the two clan leaders of the two leading aristocratic families in Bu Wu City had to be grand and spectacular.
Thus, a combat ring was set up in Bu Wu City. Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the two grandmaster-level clan leaders stepped up, their fierce fight causing the platform to crack.
The Bu Family Clan Leader seemed to be under the weather that day, unable to display even half of his martial art skills. The aristocratic clan leader seized this opportunity to land heavy blows, and it seemed as if the Bu Family Clan
Leader was about to be beaten to death.
At this moment, an old figure with white hair and beard appeared from the Bu Family. With a simple palm strike, he brought the aristocratic clan leader to his knees, blood streaming from his seven orifices.
“I’ve been in reclusive training for three hundred years, only to come out and find the younger generation so incapable? They can’t even withstand ten percent of my power.”
The old figure from the Bu Family scanned the crowd and praised: “Using your lifespan to cultivate martial arts, and pursuing the martial way, is admirable. Even if it costs you your life by the age of forty, seeking the martial path is commendable! ”
“I am not alone in walking this path. There are successors in the martial world!”
The crowd was thrown into an uproar.
Being able to bring down a clan leader in a single move clearly indicated that he was at the top echelon of martial artists. Yet, this was not the most shocking part.
The most astounding thing was – how could anyone look like this?
His body stooped, completely covered with white hair, brows, and beard, a face full of wrinkles, and so thin he looked like skin and bones.
Could this really be a human?
People were more inclined to believe him to be a demon or ghost rather than believing he was human. They couldn’t possibly imagine a human living till the age of three hundred.
“So the Bu Family indeed has someone from three hundred years ago!” Someone suddenly came to a realization, having deduced the core strength of the Bu Family from their actions of selling medicinal pills and books.
This was exactly Jiang Li’s intentional plot.
The commotion caused by Bu Jing’s appearance was not enough. In a world without live broadcasting, his display of prowess in Bu Wu City only managed to convince people in the city that someone could live up to three hundred years looking like that.
Once they left Bu Wu City, the story would travel by word of mouth and when it reached other places, people would consider it a joke. They would not pay much attention to its authenticity and not take it seriously.
Only when people were provoked to deduce the truth, would Bu Jing’s real strength be fully recognized when revealed publicly.
“What did he mean? Are our martial arts techniques cultivated through consuming our lifespan?”
“How could that be? Just because he said he lived for three hundred years, does it mean it’s true? I bet this person just put on a display, something no one has ever seen before, to appear interesting.”
“And one of the highest of martial artists performed as a clown for your entertainment?”
Amongst the living there were only six top-rate martial artists, fewer than those from three hundred years ago. For citizens, these top-notch figures were esteemed individuals so how could they possibly make fun of it?
“Do you believe whatever the top-rate martial artist says is true? That’s ridiculous. Would you believe in the Twelve Heavenly Kings or this creature who just showed up out of nowhere? This creature claimed our martial arts techniques come at the cost of our lifespan. If we consider this to be true, then doesn’t it mean the Heavenly Kings are harming us? Is that possible?”
“It truly isn’t possible. The Heavenly Kings are our saviors, they freed us from the clutches of the old martial artists. Why would they harm us?”
“I certainly believe in the Heavenly Kings.”
Hearing people calling him a monster, Bu Jing felt both grief and ridicule.
He never imagined there would come a day when people would fail to recognize an old person and rather consider him a monster.
Such a ridiculous situation.
“There are only six of the highest-ranking martial artists? Why so few?” Ah Bu, hiding in the crowd, was puzzled.
Theoretically, with everyone practicing martial arts, the number of martial artists could be thousands or even tens of thousands times more than what it was three hundred years ago. It was expected to have a few hundred top-tier martial artists, or at least several dozen. So, why were there only six?
Jiang Li shook his head: “The highest martial arts realm requires the combination of essence, energy, and spirit. After consuming a lifespan, the essence diminishes, energy wanes, and spirit weakens, making it exponentially difficult for the three to coexist. Considering that we still have six top-tier martial artists in such circumstances, it is already quite numerous.”
“Putting pressure on others, blocking their progress, fearing subversion, and making people submit. What a disgrace to the Twelve Heavenly Kings!” Yu Yin had no respect for the actions of the Twelve Heavenly Kings and had no good impression of them.
Yu Yin believed the dissemination of martial arts secrets by the Twelve
Heavenly Kings not only accelerated the changeover speed, altered history, and projected a grand image, but also served an ulterior motive to prevent people from reaching a higher realm. They were afraid of the increasing number of martial artists and possible breakthroughs that could threaten their rule.
Jiang Li and his companions were at the pinnacle of martial arts in the state of Jiuzhou and they were never worried about lower rankers catching up and shaking their position.
All three of them had the heart of a strong man, unafraid of challenges. They believed the more people challenged them, the better.
The more challenges they faced and overcame, the stronger they proved to be.
“My Lord, shall we act?” someone whispered to the Bu Wu City Lord.
“What the hell are you going on about? You think you can take down the highest martial artist?” The Bu Wu City Lord’s face changed colors, “Report this to the court, let them determine the next course.”
Today’s event was orchestrated by the Bu Wu City Lord himself.
The court had noticed the Bu Family secretly selling books and promoting old martial arts, hence they wanted to suppress the Bu Family, but they were not clear about their strength. The Bu Wu City Lord guessed the court’s intention and allowed the aristocratic clan leader to deliberately stir up a conflict and start a war with the Bu Family, thereby finding out the true strength of the Bu Family.
The Bu Wu City Lord had a well-thought-out plan. After getting to know the Bu Family’s secrets, he planned to catch them off guard, capture the Bu Family, and gain favor from the court.
Now that the Bu Family’s secret was out, the Bu Wu City Lord found it overwhelming.
Both were Grandmaster martial artists, but how could the Bu Family produce a top-rated martial artist?
At this point, gaining the court’s favor was out of the question. He could only report it and let the court send their top-rated martial artist to take care of the Bu Family.
“You have my sympathies for the injury, anything serious?” The Bu Family Clan Leader fed the aristocratic clan leader a pill, and his injury miraculously healed.
The aristocratic clan leader was astonished: “Is this magical elixir also from your ancient forebears?”
The Bu Family Clan Leader laughed, but did not respond.
It was a great healing pill provided by Bai Hongtu.
“Brother Bu, is this person… really someone who has lived since three hundred years ago?” the aristocratic clan leader asked, lowering his voice.
As a matter of fact, the aristocratic clan leader received two invitations. One was from the Bu Wu City Lord, who asked him to intentionally pick a fight to uncover the Bu Family’s core strength. The other was from the Bu Family Clan Leader, asking him to start a fight so people could see the strength of the Bu Family.
The aristocratic clan leader found it quite surreal that both plans happened to coincide perfectly, so he simply agreed to both.
He was actually very curious to see exactly what hidden strength the Bu Family possessed.
Upon seeing it now, he realized it was indeed extraordinary..