He is like an old farmer. If the cattle and sheep on the ranch are not good-looking, sick or depressed, he will slaughter them in advance... because he never raises useless waste on his farm.
Only the seventy-two sages, each with special talents, could survive to the end and avoid being slaughtered by the Martial Saint.
Because of his challenge, Qiao Zhong was favored by the Martial Saint and was recruited to assassinate the emperor... But this favor was limited.
If Qiao Zhong didn't survive the assassination attempt on the emperor, it would be because he was weak.
If Qiao Zhong practiced martial arts but still failed to escape from the Heavenly Prison, it would still be because he was weak.
Therefore, Wu Ji would not attempt a prison break... Moreover, the Heavenly Prison is a strictly controlled place, and a forced prison break would most likely fail, not to mention a wanted criminal like Qiao Mu who had violated the rules of the Immortal Sect.
This is the imperial capital, not Nanzhou.
As soon as Emperor Yonghe, who was on a secret visit, showed up in Nanzhou, he would be surrounded and killed by the Wu Ji Society.
But now that the location is in the imperial capital, the situation is reversed.
Even Wu Qiankun, the Little Martial Saint who is said to be the closest person to a Martial Saint, cannot act recklessly in the imperial capital.
Although the Great Yan Dynasty has been in turmoil over the past forty years, its foundation remains, and the Sword of the Human King is one of them.
"I understand." Wayne frowned and said in a low voice:
"You don't really care about Qiao Zhong's life or death, you are just doing it to fulfill the last wish of the Martial Saint."
"I really don't like you bloody rats." Wayne turned his head and stared at Wu Qiankun with eyes as sharp as a knife. An inexplicable pressure began to emerge:
"Is the last wish of the Martial Saint so important?"
"Or is it that the Martial Saint is not dead at all?"
Wayne had seen the Martial Saint with his own eyes in his early years. It was because he knew the man's style of doing things that he doubted whether the Martial Saint's death was true.
After all, how could a figure like the Martial Saint attack the Immortal Gate and take risks himself when he was not sure of the outcome
However, Wu Qiankun remained calm in the face of Wayne's witnessing pressure:
"The Martial Saint is dead. This is an indisputable fact. After all, man proposes, God disposes."
"The dead are gone. Don't think of him as a savior who has planned everything. He is not the last hope of the human race warriors... Of course, this hope has been shattered now."
This hope was extinguished by the Martial Saint himself... Wu Qiankun said silently in his heart.
After the death of the Martial Saint, whether all the horses were silent or a hundred schools of thought contended with each other, we can only witness it with our own eyes.
After all, a single flower does not make spring, but when all flowers bloom, the garden will be filled with spring.
This may be a long dark age, soaked in blood and fire, when the immortals will live high in the clouds and the human world will be turned into a furnace.
Wu Qiankun has now begun to take over the great cause of the Wu Ji Association. The higher he stands, the farther he can see, and he gradually begins to understand the ideas of the Martial Saint.
“Let’s get back to the topic and talk about Qiao Zhong… Since the prepared skills cannot be used, we can only find another one.” Wu Qiankun said.
"In your Wu Ji Society, do you have top-notch martial arts that can be practiced by a disabled person with broken meridians?" Wayne asked.
"I do have martial arts skills, but not the top ones yet. Maybe I will soon," Wu Qiankun replied.
"Not yet?" Wayne frowned. Wu Qiankun's ambiguous response made him look a little unfriendly.
What about the riddle man in front of him
Believe it or not, he will immediately shoot an arrow through the clouds, gather the army of the imperial capital, and send you to the Heavenly Prison for vacation tonight
Wu Qiankun seemed to notice Wayne's displeasure, but he didn't care too much and just continued to explain:
"The Wu Ji Association's arsenal contains all the martial arts from the old days, but none of them are suitable."
"Just because it's not in the arsenal doesn't mean it's not in Wu Ji."
"Wayne, weren't you imprisoned in the Heavenly Prison? Didn't you ask about Hai Wuya?"
Hai Wuya is ranked sixtieth among the seventy-two sages of the Martial Saint.
The so-called seventy-two sages are not a ranking based on martial arts skills, because pure martial arts skills are not very important to a martial saint. No one is stronger than him anyway.
Martial arts skills are only one aspect of measuring the seventy-two sages. What really allows the seventy-two sages to survive the hands of the Martial Saint is their unique skills and amazing talents.
Wu Qizheng was the son of the Martial Saint, and inherited his strangely strong body, so he was exceptionally strong. Moreover, he had long been thinking about hiding his weaknesses, which was why he ranked third from the bottom among the seventy-two sages.
"You mean, Hai Wuya might have some skills that are suitable for Qiao Zhong?"
Wayne now looked at Hai Wuya with a new respect.
The arsenal of the Martial Saint is famous for its inclusiveness. It contains both the essence of the old martial arts and the strange new martial arts created by the Martial Saint.
Even the Martial Saint couldn’t find a top-notch martial art suitable for Qiao Zhong, but Hai Wuya might have it
"Maybe there is, maybe not. You should ask him, not me." Wu Qiankun's eyes were deep.
The Martial Saint was far ahead of everyone else in the art of martial arts, and he was too powerful, so the entire Martial Arts Association was guided by the will of the Martial Saint.
What the Martial Saint said was right, and even if others knew they were wrong, they might not dare to point it out to his face.
Therefore, in the entire Wu Ji Hui, there can only be one martial arts path, and that is the martial saint’s way of refining the spirit.
But Hai Wuya is quite special.
Although he is one of the seventy-two sages, he is in the Imperial Capital's Sky Prison, a small environment isolated from the outside world.
No matter how powerful the Martial Saint is, he can hardly influence him inside the Imperial Capital's Heavenly Prison.
Therefore, he is free to explore new directions in martial arts, rather than following the path of the Martial Saint.
This is not just closed-door thinking or paper talk.
Because Hai Wuya was indeed a genius who had been ranked fourth in rank, he had a rough life and was rich in experience. Although he was imprisoned, he was able to read a lot of books and did not work in isolation.
Hai Wuya is one of the seeds of martial arts identified by the Martial Saint.
This seed does not germinate immediately, but will benefit future generations.
A new martial art that is different from the modern martial arts of the martial saints and the ancient martial arts of the old martial arts world is bound to be imperfect. It requires a long time and countless practitioners to improve it bit by bit.
Perhaps many people will go astray and die due to practicing this imperfect technique, or they may find that it is a dead end halfway through.
In Wu Qiankun's opinion, Qiao Zhong, a condemned prisoner who is doomed to die, is a perfect candidate to be the explorer of this new martial art... or the sacrifice.
Chapter 118 Mayfly of Heaven and Earth
"Shadow Step? This seems to be the light skill of a thief?"
"That's right." Qiao Mu nodded, recited the formula of the Shadow Step technique from his memory, and taught it to Fang Yuan.
This stealth step cannot be exchanged for a few days of roast chicken, but also involves a condition: money, the money that Qiumu will get after he is released from prison.
Fang Yuan claimed that his family had fallen into poverty and that his enemies and creditors took the opportunity to oppress him, so he was forced to sell his ancestral home to his enemies.
Even so, after selling the ancestral home, there was still some spare money on hand, otherwise he would not have to bring roast chicken into the prison every day.
As a death row prisoner in Tianlao, Qiao Mu's money and property had naturally been confiscated long ago. Although he still had some savings in Nanzhou, he was now penniless in Zhongzhou.
Qiao Mu thought that after he was beheaded, he would have to have some money on hand, and now he was just preparing in advance.
To the jailer Fang Yuan, Qiao Mu's words sounded like the words of a dying hero: he wanted to teach Fang Yuan martial arts in order to leave some money for his family...
It is indeed a case of a tiger falling from grace and a hero becoming old.
"But why is it the flying thief's lightness skill?" Fang Yuan was lost in thought.
Qiao Mu seemed to see what he was thinking and just smiled and said:
"What's wrong with Qinggong? You can't beat the aliens in a head-on fight. You can only rely on Qinggong to dodge."
Several images of warriors being burned to ashes in the fire flashed through his mind, and he felt a little depressed.
The Shadow Step was taught to him by Captain Qian of Heyang Prefecture, but it is of a high rank and is difficult to master. At that time, Captain Qian was only able to gain entry to the skill but had not yet reached the mastery level.
It depends on how much he can grasp and how good his comprehension is.
Just as he finished speaking, there was a commotion outside the prison, and the sound of footsteps came closer and closer.
There was a young and handsome Taoist priest in green clothes, walking straight towards Qiao Mu.
"The immortal from the Da Dao Sect has arrived..." a jailer whispered.
"Why did the Immortal Master of the Dao Sect come to this prison? Our prison is not a good place."
"I heard that this Taoist Immortal is the new disciple of the Immortal Qingyi."
"Immortal Qingyi was an eyewitness to the assassination of Emperor Yonghe. Now he has sent a disciple, but I don't know what he will do."
Amid the discussions, Daozhen walked over with a gentle expression, and stopped in front of Qiaomu's cell door.
"Are you Qiao Zhong?" The young Taoist looked at Qiao Mu carefully.
"Qingyi sent you to supervise?" Qiao Mu said casually. He vaguely remembered this incident.
"No, I'm here to gain enlightenment." The young Taoist chuckled.
Just when Qiao Mu thought that the other party was here to cause trouble, the young Taoist turned his head and looked at Hai Wuya who was reading a book in the cell next door.
Supervising Qiao Mu was just a side job. What really interested him was Hai Wuya.
"Your name is Hai Wuya, right? I heard that you have been studying in the Heavenly Prison for thirty years. Your desire to seek the truth is quite good." The young Taoist asked the jailer to open the cell door, then walked into the cell as if he was an expert, and started flipping through Hai Wuya's books on the floor as if no one was around.
As a disciple of the Da Dao Sect, and the closed disciple of Elder Qingyi, he naturally has privileges.
Tianlao is an important place, and ordinary dignitaries are not allowed to enter or leave at will.
But as a disciple of Elder Qingyi, he is different.
Hai Wuya just frowned slightly and ignored him.
Daozhen casually flipped through a pile of books on the ground, slightly disappointed:
"They are just some ordinary miscellaneous books. Have you just wasted the past thirty years?"
He looked at Hai Wuya, and the information about Hai Wuya that he had obtained from previous investigations came to his mind.
Hai Wuya was a civil servant during the previous emperor's time. After the foreign war, he was demoted and imprisoned for making remonstrances with ministers such as Wang Songhe.
Later, when Emperor Yonghe ascended the throne, he pardoned the minister. Unexpectedly, after Hai Wuya was reinstated, he thought that Emperor Yonghe was wise and decisive, so he went to the palace many times to give advice, and even involved the matter of Yiren.
Although Emperor Yonghe did not kill him on the spot, he ordered him to be imprisoned in Tianlao again.
Two generations of emperors, two times in prison, and it has been thirty years since then.
It is said that the power of the emperor is unpredictable. Hai Wuya is imprisoned in the Heavenly Prison with no clear execution time. It can be said that he may die at any time.
If the punishment is unknown, then the power cannot be measured.
The death penalty with a clear time and the death penalty without notifying you of the time of execution but with the possibility of death at any time due to an imperial edict are two completely different concepts.
If it were an ordinary person, he would most likely be worried and live in fear all day long.
Hai Wuya was the same at the beginning.
But later, he did something that the jailers in the Heavenly Prison could not understand.
He asked his family to bring him some books. He read every day in prison, forgetting to eat and sleep.
At first, the jailers did not suspect anything and thought that this man did it on purpose to attract attention and gain fame, hoping that this would reach the ears of Emperor Yonghe and he would be pardoned.
"Hai Wuya, tell me, is there anyone in this world who can act for thirty years? And in the Heavenly Prison?"
Daozhen didn't seem to care about Hai Wuya's neglect, and just said to himself:
"The life span of mortals is limited, not much stronger than that of mayflies that live in the morning and die in the evening. It is precisely because of their weakness and brevity that they are more resilient."
Hai Wuya is almost eighty years old, not much younger than the Martial Saint.
He had a rough life. He was a Confucian scholar in his early years, a martial monk in his prime, and later, after much effort, he briefly became a second-rank official in the court. But a few years later, he was imprisoned in the Heavenly Prison for half his life.
And what he, Daozhen, likes to observe is this kind of exceptionally tenacious mortal.
In his opinion, Qiao Zhong was naturally one of them, but he had only been in the Heavenly Prison for a short time, so he was more interested in Hai Wuya at the moment.
"You're disturbing me." Hai Wuya put down the book and glanced at Daozhen indifferently.
"Old Joe, can you kick him out?" He called to Qiumu next door.
He was usually taciturn and seldom spoke to Qiao Mu, but at this moment he suddenly started thinking about Qiao Mu who was in the cell next door.
"How could I have that ability? Now I'm just a useless person with all my meridians broken. I just have to accept it." Qiao Mu spread his hands, indicating that he was powerless.
Hai Wuya nodded, but there was no angry expression on his face. He just put down the book, sat cross-legged on the straw mat, and closed his eyes to rest.