Chapter 5: The Lion Man
“Okay, since everyone has finished eating, let’s go to the forest in front of us and start training for a better tomorrow.” Seeing everyone finish eating, I stood up and said haughtily, ‘You two,’ I pointed at the two middle-aged women, ”pack up the things, and the rest of you come with me.”
Accompanied by the moonlight, we walked to the front of the forest. “Everyone sit down,” I said, waving my hand. My spiritual energy slowly expanded, and I concentrated on my eyes. “Do you no longer want to be enslaved? I can give you that. Do you want to avenge your family? I can give you that too. Do you want to see no more slaves in the world? I can give you that too!” The last sentence sounded like a thunderbolt that struck everyone’s heart. Slavery had a history of more than 2,000 years in the empire and more than 5,000 years in human history. Countless people had lost their lives and been exploited under this cruel system. Successive emperors had not failed to try to abolish slavery, but all ended in failure, and even a few emperors were murdered.
With the clever use of mental power and a groundbreaking remark, I successfully influenced the minds of the crowd, and the Yuri siblings were no exception. “Why don’t we join forces and do it? I am the imperial prince, and I have much greater opportunities than you. As long as I have a certain amount of power, I can change the current situation. But power doesn’t just fall from the sky. I need someone to help me. Are you willing?” I stared at the teenager and child.
“I’m willing.“ The first to answer was unexpectedly Lu Weixian.
”I’m willing too!“ The little girl jumped up.
”I’m willing too!”
A smile appeared on my face. “Since everyone has joined, I will now divide you into groups. The teenagers will form a group of their own and be called the Hidden Dragon Group, and the rest of you will form a group and be called the Sleeping Tiger Group. Now you need to strengthen yourselves. Although some of you are a bit older, it doesn’t matter. With my help, you will become strong very quickly. Now I will pass on two kinds of internal martial arts and one kind of martial arts.”
The first is the internal martial art of Tian Xing Jian. This kind of martial art is extremely special in its cultivation. It is not a kind of meditation cultivation, but requires constant movement, and this kind of martial art is cultivated during movement. This, of course, is also something I found in my brain database; the other is a strange technique that divides the mind into two. The martial art is the Zhan Tian Axe, which is a kind of palm-held martial art, but it can also be used with weapons. Everyone listened very carefully, asking me if they didn’t understand something. Even the Yuri siblings, Lu Weixian, and the lion man joined in.
When I saw that everyone had basically memorized and understood the mind method, I said to everyone, “The Hidden Dragon Team and the Sleeping Tiger Team will go into the woods and cut down some trees. We need it for building a house. I require you to keep practicing the Tian Xing Jian mind method without stopping, and when cutting down the trees, you must also be distracted and use the Zhan Tian Axe martial art. The axes are in the village, so everyone go get them yourself. Now everyone split up and get to work.” The members of the Hidden Dragon and Sleeping Tiger teams immediately got to work, and Lu Weixian also joined them, picking up an axe and chopping down a tree.
After watching the members of the Hidden Dragon Team and the Crouching Tiger Team enter the forest to cut down trees and build simple houses, I walked towards the orcs. The Yuri siblings looked at me with surprise and uncertainty, as I must have surprised them with my actions. Without explaining myself to them, I turned directly to the orc leader and said, “I need the strength of your orc tribe, and you need land. Our cooperation will benefit both sides.”
“How can I trust you? You humans are the best at deceiving people.”
“All you want is land, which will cost me nothing. I can give you more land than I give you. Besides, you can only trust me, and no one else will cooperate with you.”
There was silence. I was not wrong. The human race looked down on the orcs. In their eyes, orcs were merely machines that could work. Once captured, they would be sent to the harshest places to do hard labor. Over the centuries, the orcs had sent countless emissaries, hoping to submit to the human race in exchange for land where they could survive, but the human race’s answer to them was to turn them all into slaves.
“When you came out, did you see the Songhua Plain?” I tempted him.
The lion man nodded, his face showing envy.
“That is the gift I will give you.”
The lion man’s nostrils suddenly widened, and he panted heavily.
“I don’t have the authority to promise you.”
“But you will tell the people with the authority,” I looked at him steadily.
The lion man took two more breaths, his face changing from dark to light: “I will go back tomorrow.”
“This is the badge of the imperial bodyguard. You take it first. You leave immediately tomorrow morning. This is my jade pendant. You can take it to Luo Yu, the general of Shanhaiguan, and tell him you are my bodyguard. Ask him to secretly send someone to escort you to Changbai Mountain. You can also ask him for help on your return, but of course you must go to see him secretly, and make sure no one else sees you. Tomorrow I will send someone to inform Luo Zongbing that I have a guard from the Lion tribe who will go to see him. After you return, you can come directly here. I will be here every three days.“ I threw him an iron plaque and a jade pendant (this jade pendant was a gift from Luo Zongbing).
”How long do you think it will take for a round trip?“ I asked again. ‘It will not take more than three months.’
”Are you poisoned?” I asked, looking at Baku’s face.
“Not bad.” Baku’s eyes were filled with hatred. You have to know that Baku is one of the best fighters in the Lion tribe. If he hadn’t been poisoned first, he would have been able to exert only half of his strength, and he would have been captured like that.
I threw him another pill, “This can detoxify the poison. I will teach you the detoxification technique. After running it for a maximum of seven times, you can expel all the poison.”
Under the moonlight, the lion man sat quietly on the ground, expelling the poison with his internal energy. In the distance, young people were chopping trees to build a house, while I stood in front of the lion man, with Yuri and his sister standing behind me.
“Any history of the Empire of the Sun that mentions the Empire of the Sun cannot fail to mention this day. On October 16, 1616, Emperor Alexander and the future commander of the Third Army, General Baku, had this historic meeting, which directly contributed to the future agreement between the emperor and the orcs, and as a result, the emperor gained powerful help in seizing power in the empire.” – ‘Empire Storms’ by Lord Public Count
“The backbone of the Kamikaze Special Forces, which would later strike fear into the hearts of the enemy, was born from this group of boy scouts.” – ‘Secrets Hidden in the Ground’ by Hu Zairi
The next day, when I appeared before the Hidden Dragon Squad and the Crouching Tiger Squad, Baku had already gone. I gave the two middle-aged women ten gold coins to go into the city and buy some building materials, and after sending them away, I took my men and horses to the forest. This forest is actually quite large, but after the battle of the Hidden Dragon and Crouching Tiger Squad yesterday, there is now a large open space in the middle.
In order to make them grow quickly, I spent quite a bit of brain power yesterday (actually just the bio-computer searching a bit), and I found a Polygonal Array in the database. There are a total of ten types of spells in this array, each of which can gather several energies in the world. If a person practices in this array for a long time, their skills in a specific attribute will grow rapidly. I set up seven arrays, each of which gathered a certain energy from the heavens and the earth, including the energies of gold, wood, water, fire, and earth, as well as the energies of electricity and light generated by the five elements in harmony. Then I told them the methods for entering and leaving the arrays. I stipulated that the Hidden Dragon Team could only practice in the arrays for two hours a day, and the Sleeping Tiger Team could only practice for one hour a day, and they could only practice in one array each day (the body would not be able to withstand longer periods of practice). Then I taught them the practice method of Taiyi Xuangang, and let them practice Taiyi Xuangang every day while in the formation. I also taught them the Qian Gui Heart Method, and let them practice it while sleeping at night (the characteristic of which is that it can expand spiritual power while sleeping, and also has the function of concealing one’s skills). The rest of the time, they practiced the Tianxingjian Divine Skill and the Zantian Axe.
By noon, several carts had entered the mountain villa, all carrying building materials. Yuriko greeted everyone and helped them unload the materials from the carts, then led everyone in building the house.
Yuli and I sat in the shade of a tree, eating and chatting. After dinner, I went home for a while, found a guard I trusted (I had actually used my psychic power to examine his brain), and sent my letter by fast horse to Shanhaiguan that night. After that, I returned to the mountain villa and continued to supervise their training…
Half a month passed slowly. During this time, I kept supervising their training, which was the core strength of my seizing power. In the meantime, Lu Weixian went back to visit his master several times to learn his master’s stunts. Who knew that on the tenth day, his master disappeared and even left a note saying that he had recovered and went out to scout the enemy. Damn, this old fox really moved fast. I wanted to recruit him as a coach.
After living on the mountain for half a month, it’s time to go back and take a look. I took the Yuri siblings and Lu Weixian, said hello to the five grandpas, and headed back down the mountain to go home.
Once I entered the city, when I reached Huarong Street, I saw a large crowd gathered in front of me. I was curious and hurriedly pushed my way forward. I saw the bailiffs carrying a dead body out, and my heart sank. Could it be that something had happened to Old Zhang? “Captain Wang, what happened?” I asked a bailiff who had just walked out the door.
“It’s you, young master. Alas, more than ten people are dead. Some time ago you told my master that someone was coming to the capital to cause trouble. At the time I wondered who would have the guts to do that, but now I know.“ Captain Wang’s eyes flashed.
”Who?” I was intrigued.
“They are from the Demon-Accepting Society. One of the dead is a man named Silver Sword, who raped many innocent women in Sanxiang before secretly joining the Demon-Accepting Society and disappearing. I never imagined that he would end up in the capital this time. If someone hadn’t killed him first, I wonder which young lady in the capital would be unlucky. One of them is the vice president of the Demon-Accepting Club, and he is said to be the illegitimate son of the president. Most of the others are also from the Demon-Accepting Club. It seems that the Demon-Accepting Club is going to make a big move in the capital. I have to find my brothers to help.“
”Then I won’t bother you, you go ahead.“
Captain Wang nodded and walked away with a troubled heart.
”Do you think Captain Wang can fight against those people?” I turned back and asked Yuri worriedly.
“Don’t worry, Captain Wang comes from a family of legendary detectives. Everyone in the underworld is afraid of them. Fortunately, nothing has happened in his jurisdiction yet, or else he would have already arrested the Demon Sect and dismantled it.“
”Really? So powerful? Is that legendary detective family famous?”
“The Divine Detective family slowly formed 1500 years ago, supplying qualified detectives to various countries. It is a neutral force that does not intervene in the mainland’s power struggles. Nearly half of the famous detectives in the world today are from his school, and another third or so are from the Iron Detective School. Each of these detectives has extraordinary skills, but they are secretive. If you really want to talk about kung fu, those who have a reputation for nothing in the martial arts world are simply not their match. This time, Captain Wang has set his sights on the Demon-Accepting Sect, and I’m afraid they’re in for a rough time.“
Oh, I nodded, it seems that this family of constables is not without power.
”Okay, let’s hurry back to the palace, I still have other things to do.” I took the three of them and trotted all the way to the front door.
“Father!“ Once we entered the Palace of Tranquil Heart, I discovered that my father was there too. I quickly jumped into his arms and kissed him over and over again, ‘I missed you so much!’ I still had some business to take care of, so I naturally had to give him a little something to sweeten the deal.
”Little guy, what is it that you want from me? Otherwise, why did you greet me with a fist a while ago, and now you’ve turned into a little mouth?” My father immediately saw through my plan and teased me on purpose.
“I’ve thought of a good thing, and I’ve specially come to ask you to do it.“
”What good thing? You would think of asking your father to do it.“
”Today I saw a lot of lonely homeless people wandering on the street, so pitiful. Father, let’s build a home for the lonely and take them in, shall we?” I began to unfold my plan.
“My dear son, your idea is good, but you have to calculate how much it will cost in a year first. If it’s too much, I’m afraid it won’t work. I’m currently fighting with Long Li Duo Qi for economic power, and I’m afraid I can’t take care of you at this time.”
“Father, I’ve done the math, it won’t cost much. A child only needs two gold coins a year, and a teenager only needs three. If there are 50 children and 50 teenagers, it will cost a maximum of 300 gold coins a year. Besides, when the teenagers can start working, they can also support the orphanage. And the people in the orphanage can also go to the mountains to cut firewood and catch small wild animals to sell, which can also subsidize it.”
“If that’s the case, there’s no problem. I’ll find you a large courtyard to be the orphanage’s address.“
”Thank you, Father.“ I kissed my father again, ‘When will the courtyard be ready?’
”I have to ask the city planning department to check, I can’t give you an answer until tomorrow.“
”It’s not until tomorrow! Where’s my mother?“
”She’s sleeping, come back later.“
”Okay, I’ll go out and play first.”
I took Lu Wei into the residence in Timed Lane first. When we arrived at the inner room, I saw the old man Zhang sitting in a chair, pretending to be leisurely drinking tea.
“Old man Zhang, you killed the people on Huarong Street, didn’t you? I can see that they were all from the Demon-Accepting Society, and even the vice president is dead.”
Zhang Zhengli sighed, “I did it, but almost none of the opponents’ best fighters died. It was all the low-level fighters who died.”
“Didn’t you say that a vice-president died?“ I asked curiously.
”That guy got the job through connections, and his own skills weren’t high, but his demon skills weren’t bad.“
”If you weren’t trying to find out about the enemy, why did you get into a fight with someone?”
Zhang Zhengli did not answer my question, but instead turned to Lu Weixian and said, “Weier, I have passed on all my skills to you, so you should follow Xiaolei from now on. I never imagined that the Demon Alliance would be so powerful. I don’t know if I will return safely, so you will have to rely on yourself in the future. You must be careful.”
Lu Weixian was shocked. “Master, what are you going to do?”
“I’m going to find out who the leader is and bite him when the opportunity arises. Even if I don’t kill him, I’ll take a chunk of flesh.“ Zhang Zhengli’s eyes were full of hatred.
”Why bother? ‘If you don’t kill the snake, it will bite you back’. Besides, you still owe me a debt of gratitude, and if you die without repaying it, I’ll be the one who loses out.”
Zhang Zhengli was stunned, and then he bowed to me, “Xiao Lei, if you have any business, just tell me, I will take care of your business before taking care of mine.”
I nodded in satisfaction, “That’s right. I don’t have any big business either, except that I have recently recruited a lot of young disciples. I hope you can train them for me. They are all relatively talented, and it won’t take you long. How about two years?”
Zhang Zhengli’s face showed signs of difficulty, “Can it be shorter? Two years is really too long. I’m afraid that if it’s too long, things will change.”
“What’s there to change? You don’t know the specifics of the Demon Seizing Club, and besides, the Demon Seizing Club has just lost someone, so they must be on high alert. You might even fall into a trap if you go there. Why don’t you teach your apprentices first, and take my little brothers along for the ride?“
Zhang Zhengli frowned and fell into deep thought.
”I’m sure Lu told you that I’m the imperial prince?”
Zhang Zhengli nodded, ”I heard from Wei’er.”
“I can use the power of the imperial family to get information for you. That’s much safer than you going yourself, and you’ll get more information than you could ever get on your own. If necessary, I can even get official forces to intervene. And the people you help me train can also help you out in a pinch. With so many benefits, why wouldn’t you do it?“
”Okay, I promise,” Zhang finally nodded after weighing his options.
I was overjoyed, but I kept my emotions under control. ”Okay, let’s go meet my people.”
After meeting my so-called troops on Dragon Mountain, Old Zhang was at a loss for words. “Is this your troop? Aren’t they just a bunch of kids?”
I was a little unconvinced. “Luo Xinchang, step forward and demonstrate the results of your training to Director Zhang. Go, chop down a tree.”
A teenager stepped out of the Hidden Dragon group, picked up an axe and walked towards the dense forest. He swung the axe seven times, cutting a large tree in half.
Zhang Zhengli was taken aback. The powerful force and wonderful placement of the seven axes were nothing, but the most amazing thing was that the seven axes were swung continuously in one breath, without the slightest pause in between. In fact, each of these three advantages is not very surprising, but having all three at the same time, and in a teenager under the age of 15, is amazing. Zhang Zhengli asked himself, even if he were 20 years old, he could only have two of these advantages in an attack.
I smiled with satisfaction and said to Zhang Zhengli, “What do you think of this, Coach Zhang?”
“Alas, I don’t know why you asked me to come now, to be their opponent?” Zhang Zhengli felt that he could not be of any help.
“They have just started practicing kung fu, and they have almost no foundation. I need you to give them a solid foundation; they have no practical experience, and this also requires your guidance; I can’t stay here all day, and once they encounter any difficulties or problems while practicing, they will need you to solve them.“
”Not bad, these people are very talented,” the old man Zhang walked back and forth, looking satisfied, ”how long have they been practicing?”
“Half a month,“ I casually replied. Old Zhang staggered and almost fell to the ground. ‘They have such skills after half a month?’
”It’s half a month. If you don’t believe me, just ask them.“ Seeing that Old Zhang was surprised by my achievements, I was a little smug.
”What kind of kung fu do they usually practice?“
”Taiyi Xuangang, Tianxing Jianxinfa, and Zhantian Axe.“
”What kind of kung fu is this? Can you recite the mantra for me?”
I immediately recited a long passage of the mantra.
I gasped in surprise and Zhang Zhengli said, “There are really such martial arts in the world. I was too narrow-minded in the past. This Taiyi Xuangang is much more advanced than my Jinxuan Qi, and the power of the Zantian Axe is comparable to my Jinxuan Zhan. Xiao Lei, I’m impressed.”
The Yuri siblings next to him had seen a lot of it in the past few days and had long since become numb.
“Xiao Lei, can I practice this kung fu?“ Old Zhang’s eyes were filled with hope.
”Two more years of training,“ I quickly made a condition.
”No problem!“ Zhang Zhengli agreed this time.
”Heh heh,“ it seems that this Zhang Zhengli has a flaw, and in the future I can use some stunts to lure him to work hard for me.
”Okay, Old Zhang, you can now explain the basics to them.”
…
The orphanage is open for business. I found quite a few homeless orphans on the street, brought them to the orphanage, and secretly developed members of the Hidden Dragon Team and the Sleeping Tiger Team. However, before letting them join the Hidden Dragon Team and the Sleeping Tiger Team, I used my psychic power to probe their minds to see if they were controlled by other forces, in order to prevent other forces from intervening. I found three of them suspicious, so I found an excuse to get rid of the three of them. I called the Hidden Dragon Team and the Crouching Tiger Team, which joined first, Team One, and the ones who joined later, Team Two.
I didn’t bring the members of the Hidden Dragon Team and the Crouching Tiger Team from the farm on the mountain to the orphanage. Instead, I often took the members of Hidden Dragon Team Two and Crouching Tiger Team Two to the Dragon Mountain to practice kung fu. After all, it was sparsely populated and had the Gathering Spirit Array, which made practicing kung fu convenient and easy to improve.