The middle-aged man in front of him looked a little shocked. It seemed that he didn't expect Tianjihong to be so outspoken. "Oh? This is quite interesting. You little guy has never met me. You don't even know my name. You just rush to come to me to become my disciple. It doesn't look like you are so sincere. Impulsive." The middle-aged man's voice was strong, and his piercing eyes looked back and forth at Tianjihong's appearance, as if he wanted to find something different in it. "To tell you the truth, I am Li Ming, a martial artist from Dongyun City, nicknamed 'Gang Wushou'. In the Dongyun Martial Arts School, I do not make a living by recruiting and teaching apprentices. On the contrary, I prefer to take on some escort tasks. Ji traveled around in this martial arts world to expand his horizons. It's not that no one wants to be my disciple, but my evaluation standards for apprentices are quite different. They all failed to meet the standards I set and finally had to give up. Until Today I just gave serious guidance to a disciple."
Tianjihong couldn't help but feel happy when he heard such words; after hearing this, at least he didn't drive him away in person, but instead followed his words and mentioned the matter of accepting a disciple. In this way, it was obvious that the other party was interested in him. , want to give myself a chance. As for the strict entry standards he mentioned later, Tianjihong hadn't had time to think about it in detail, but thinking about it was better than saying it would require a large amount of money.
"Thank you, Senior Li, for giving me this opportunity. I really sincerely want to become your disciple, but I am short of money and don't know if I can afford the apprenticeship fee. Senior, you might as well tell me your criteria for accepting a disciple, so that I can have the confidence to complete it." !" Tianjihong said decisively.
"Hey, you are very brave, boy. This alone is much better than the mediocre people who came to me before. Don't worry, I don't like the three melons and two pieces in your hand. You don't need to worry about the cost. ; However, if you want to complete my entrance examination, it will probably be much harder than it is for you to earn money to collect the apprenticeship fee!" Martial Master Li Ming also became interested. He had stayed in Donglin Village for so long. Due to some annoying things on the road before, a boy like this suddenly appeared out of thin air today and wanted to be his apprentice, which relieved his depressed mood. "Let me ask first, what is your boy's name?"
"Well, my name is... Tianjihong." Seeing that this matter was promising, Tianjihong didn't want to deceive his future master, so he still gave his full name. In fact, the more important thing is that in such a small village, the other party can learn his real name from the villagers just by asking casually. It is even said that if he practices martial arts in the village in the future, he may encounter shouting on the street on weekdays. The villagers with their own names would be a little embarrassed to explain to the master then.
"Okay, boy Tianjihong, listen carefully." Li Ming said to him with a smile. However, this expression matched his strong figure and calm eyes, but Tianjihong couldn't help but shudder, and suddenly his heart I feel like I am a fat sheep being targeted by a wild beast. "It's getting late today, so you go home first. The first thing tomorrow is that at 9 o'clock in the morning, you come to the open space next to the inn today to meet me. Remember, I must see you here when 9 o'clock comes. People, you must not be late! Otherwise, you can just leave."
"Mao Shi, no problem! I will be here waiting for your arrival in advance tomorrow." Tian Jihong, who was a little surprised, obviously didn't understand why he agreed to meet at such an early time. His home is still quite far away from here, and I'm afraid it will be too late. If there is no light, you have to get up and go. However, he did not complain. Since he had decided to become a master today, he should abide by the master's words. If you can't even do such a small thing, how can you talk about practicing hard in the future?
"Yes, it seems that you are really confident, so I'll see you tomorrow. As for the red tape about apprenticeship and paying for the apprenticeship, just skip it. I am just a martial artist and don't care about these. And before you are qualified to get started, , you can just call me Master Li; my own cultivation is not very advanced, and I cannot bear the word "senior"." Li Ming said as he packed his bags and prepared to leave.
"Okay, let's meet Master Li at 10:00 tomorrow." Tian Jihong said goodbye to Li Ming and happily walked home, ready to tell his brother such good news.
The sky is getting dark, and the path home is already a bit difficult to distinguish with the naked eye. Fortunately, Tianjihong was already familiar with the roads in the fields. After about a quarter of an hour of trekking, he could already see the candlelight of his home not far away.
However, when he was still more than a hundred meters away from home, Tianjihong, relying on his familiarity with the environment, vaguely felt that something was wrong. As the uneasiness in his heart gradually deepened, Tian Jihong immediately stopped and hid behind a big tree on the roadside and looked around carefully, trying to find some clues in this dark field of vision.
Unexpectedly, after some observation, Tianjihong finally sensed something abnormal, but it was a faint whisper coming from a distance. The direction of the voice was about twenty meters away from him. According to Tianjihong's judgment, the speaker should be hiding in the tall grass not far behind him. It sounded like there were two or three people; and judging from the volume of the voice, Judging from the fact that his position had not changed, the other party should have stayed where he was and had not found any trace of him; however, he was still too far away at this time, and his voice was intermittent and blurry, and it was impossible to hear clearly what they were discussing.
In such a silent night, several guys hiding in the wild grass and whispering appeared. Tianjihong naturally would not be naive to think that these people were just passing by. In his opinion, these guys were probably not serious. people. Thinking that not far away was his own home and his young brother waiting for his return, Tian Jihong's heart was already in his throat.
The first thing that came to his mind was that these people might be members of the Shigure Sect, who had found the whereabouts of himself and his younger brother and were about to take action; but this idea was quickly dismissed by him: the other party If they were really the pursuers of the Shigure Sect, as monks, they would have never failed to detect the movements of a mortal like Tianjihong just now, and there was no need to lurk in this wilderness to discuss plans. With the strength of the Shigure Sect, Most likely he had sneaked into his home without anyone noticing.
From this point of view, Tianjihong judged that most of the people talking in the darkness were mortals and did not understand cultivation. At this time, he couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief. Although he still doesn't think these guys are good people, at least for him, if they don't know how to practice, with his own strength, even if they really mean to harm him, Tianjihong will still be able to deal with them.
Thinking of this, Tian Jihong, who had always been bold and cautious, immediately decided to quietly approach the area to hear what these people were planning and to find out whether they would threaten his and Xiao Fei's safety. At this moment, he was so determined that he didn't even dare to breathe. He slowly bent down with his hands and feet and climbed out in the direction of the sound. In the silent darkness, Tian Jihong seemed to be able to hear his own rapid heartbeat. Although he had never experienced such a thrilling scene before, the danger when his family was surrounded and suppressed by enemies in Nanyue Village was not as dangerous as it is today. But now that he no longer has the protection of his parents, and is now alone and crawling close to several guys of unknown origin, one can imagine the tension and anxiety in Tianjihong's heart.
Fortunately, no trouble occurred due to his cautious progress. As the target position got closer and closer, the friction sound of Tianjihong's hands and feet against the ground as he crawled was also covered up by the increasingly clear voice. He was able to arrive not far away from a few people as planned without anyone noticing. . When he was still seven or eight meters away from the sound, Tianjihong stopped moving forward to avoid being discovered. At this moment, he could basically hear clearly what the people in front of him were saying. While he was holding his breath and listening intently, Tianjihong could distinguish the voices of three people over there. They all sounded hoarse and harsh, like the crow of a crow. A voice mixed with a strong dialect first said:
"...Okay, fifth brother, stop grinning. I told you it was just a little skin injury. I just let you cry and howl all day long. Damn it, I didn't expect this idea to be so tough. Even the eldest and second brothers took action personally. After being beaten like this, the second brother lost his life in vain at the hands of the old man who wielded the knife. Now the three of us have managed to escape and hide here, and I don’t know if those guys are still chasing us! "
"Grandma, I told my second brother at the beginning that there were experts in this group, and those who tried hard with them would probably suffer a loss. But he refused to listen and insisted on running to stop the goods of the caravan, and then he ended up in trouble. What happened to Shou Yi Chu was that he also tricked our three brothers. We don’t know how to practice like they do, and we look down on people all day long. What’s the result? We’re not going to die in front of us. , Bah!" At this time, another person was cursing in a low voice.
"Hiss...forget it, Seventh Brother, we are already lucky to be able to survive at this point." The third person who spoke seemed to be injured. As he spoke, he kept sucking in air-conditioning to soothe the wound. Pain. "Look at what you, fifth brother, and I are like now. What can you complain about?"
"Okay, I have time to complain here, let's discuss what to do next." The guy who spoke first seemed to have some authority among the three, and sounded like the leader; at this moment As soon as they saw him speaking, the other two people immediately became silent. "I don't think that old guy with a knife will let us go so easily. We managed to take advantage of the chaos and snatch a few packages from the caravan's cargo boxes, but who knew that the guy immediately started chasing after us in a hurry? A few of us chopped all the way. If we hadn't handed the package to the eldest brother later to distract the old man, the three of us would have gone on the road with the second brother at that time. Although the few of us finally escaped from the mountains and hid in Outside this village, we can’t rule out that those people are still searching for our whereabouts, especially that nasty old thing!”
