There is still a relationship of fate between people. When Yan Liqiang first entered the Sword God Sect, among the four people he met in the Discipline Courtyard, Ma Liang disliked him as soon as he entered, and the other three had a rather indifferent relationship with him. Apart from knowing each other's names, they had almost no intersection.
Ma Liang and the other four were all from the branches of the Sword God Sect in various states. They came to the sect headquarters because of their outstanding performance or various connections. Yan Liqiang was with them directly after he entered the Sword God Sect. In addition, Yan Liqiang was younger than them and had almost nothing in common with them. What they talked about the most was the things they had done in the branches in various states. Yan Liqiang, who had no such experience, was naturally excluded by the others when they were chatting enthusiastically.
Yan Liqiang arrived at the foot of Tianqiao Peak and became familiar with Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng in just one day.
Because they had someone they could curse together - Huo Bin, and because they had experienced the same persecution, the three of them quickly became friends.
Of course, there are more than just Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng doing odd jobs in this small valley below Tianqiao Peak. Among them are several outer disciples who have been doing farm work here for a long time. Each of those outer disciples is in their fifties or sixties. Because they violated the sect's rules, they were imprisoned for decades and their martial arts were abolished. Then they were released when they were old and thrown here by the Sword God Sect to do farm work every day. To put it nicely, it is to let them enjoy their old age and not die in prison. To put it bluntly, it is to let them fend for themselves until the day they die. They will never be able to leave the Sword God Sect again.
Although they were still wearing the grey clothes of outer disciples, those people were already old and could no longer practice any martial arts. Their lives now were exactly the same as those of the old farmers in the mountains. The small valley in front of them and the vegetable fields and orchards were their entire world.
In addition to those old men, there are usually many outer disciples who are arranged to perform some temporary chores in this valley, such as digging fields, loosening the soil, fertilizing, watering, weeding, harvesting, picking, planting vegetables and other farm work. These farm work may take one or two days at the shortest, or three to five days at the longest. For the disciples of the Sword God Sect, doing these farm work is not only doing chores, but also allows them to get in touch with the ground and learn a few things, so as not to become fools who don't know the difference between grains and are lazy.
There are only three people like Yan Liqiang, Gu Zexuan and Zhao Huipeng who have been left here for a long time in the entire Tianqiao Peak.
Yan Liqiang worked hard all day and finally cleaned up the room he lived in. At noon, he ran to a market in the Sword God Sect and bought himself a few sets of gray clothes for outer disciples. He also bought some cheap cotton cloth, linen cloth, needles and thread, scissors, towels, porcelain cups, salt, toothbrushes and other daily toiletries...
By the way, Yan Liqiang also bought a small clepsydra for timekeeping. This small clepsydra was also the most expensive of all the things, and it cost Yan Liqiang more than two taels of silver. After buying these necessary things, Yan Liqiang only had less than one tael of silver left.
The rules in the Sword God Sect are strict, but they are not rigid and closed. It is a small society. Here, outer disciples have to prepare everything by themselves, except for the two basic sets of gray clothes, a sect disciple identity card, a free residence and two free meals a day. If they don’t have them, they have to pay for them in the sect’s market.
In the Sword God Sect, outer disciples, inner disciples, and elite disciples do not receive any subsidies or income. The kind of thing that allows one to learn the Sword God Sect's secret martial arts while having the Sword God Sect provide you with free food and lodging and also pay you is simply impossible in this world. Only when one reaches the level of direct disciple and has made enough contribution to the Sword God Sect can one receive ten taels of silver from the Sword God Sect every month. If one can advance to a core disciple, then one will receive thirty taels of silver every month.
Therefore, in the Sword God Sect, except for those disciples from wealthy families who have abundant financial resources and no worries about money, many disciples of the Sword God Sect have to practice in the sect while finding ways to make money - if you have no money, you can hardly take a single step even in the Sword God Sect.
This is also the reason why the servant named Huo in the Gray Hall likes silver.
After buying those things, Yan Liqiang took the time to use his half-baked sewing skills to make a mask, a headscarf, two pairs of gloves, two sleeves, and two overalls with the purchased fabrics. Fortunately, he had good drawing skills, so when processing those things, he just spread the fabrics on the table, drew the general shape with charcoal pencils, and then cut and sewed them according to the pattern, and they were basically usable.
That night, Yan Liqiang went to bed earlier than usual. He looked at the time on the clepsydra and fell asleep when it was almost nine o'clock in the evening.
The next day, Yan Liqiang got up before four in the morning. After washing up quickly, he didn't even practice the Yi Jin Jing. He took the things he had prepared, went downstairs, picked up two wooden barrels downstairs, filled them with cleaning tools, and left the yard.
Outside, the sky was full of stars, and in the valley only the sounds of insects chirping and frogs croaking could be heard. At this time, even those who had practiced martial arts in the morning had not gotten up yet, and the entire mountain road of the Sword God Sect was silent.
Holding these things, Yan Liqiang ran quickly towards Tianqiao Mountain.
Just when he was halfway through running, a cold snort appeared in Yan Liqiang's ear, "Stop, who is it?"
Along with the cold shout, a figure suddenly jumped down from a big tree on the roadside like a flying leopard, and stood in front of Yan Liqiang with a swish, pointing a long sword at Yan Liqiang.
The man in front of Yan Liqiang was in his twenties, with sharp eyebrows and bright eyes, and looked quite heroic. He was wearing a black swordsman's uniform that represented the inner sect disciples, and stared at Yan Liqiang with shining eyes.
Yan Liqiang was also startled when this person just landed, but after seeing the person's attire clearly, Yan Liqiang breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that he met the disciple who was on duty and guard at Tianqiao Peak at night.
"Brother, I am a disciple on duty. I am going to clean the toilet on Tianqiao Peak?"
"You said you were a serving disciple, do you have a badge?" The man stared at Yan Liqiang without relaxing at all.
"The badge is in my arms. I'll take it out and show it to you, brother!"
"Don't use your right hand, use your left hand, and move slowly. Don't let me misunderstand, otherwise the sword in my hand will not have eyes..." the man said coldly.
Unexpectedly, this person was so cautious. Yan Liqiang did not dare to make any jokes. He slowly took out his badge with his left hand and let the person see it clearly under the moonlight. Only when he saw that person put the long sword that was pointing at him back into the sheath did he put the badge away.
The man took a look at the various cleaning tools in Yan Liqiang's hand and frowned slightly, "Why are you here to clean so early?"
Yan Liqiang smiled and said, "I just joined the Sword God Sect. This is my first time doing this job. I am afraid that if I don't clean it well, the brothers and elders on Tianqiao Peak will be unhappy. So I came earlier so that I can work longer and try to clean the toilet more cleanly!"
The man's expression suddenly eased a lot, "Well, go ahead!"
"Thank you, Senior Brother!"
Yan Liqiang said goodbye to the senior brother who was on duty and continued to run quickly towards Tianqiao Peak. The man looked at Yan Liqiang's back and said nothing. He flashed and jumped onto the big tree beside him.
Tianqiao Peak is not a high peak. From the ground to the top of the peak, it is only more than 500 meters. If you walk on the mountain road, it is only more than two miles. The toilet on Tianqiao Peak is in a bamboo forest outside Tianqiao Hall at the top of Tianqiao Peak. Fortunately, there are no women on Tianqiao Peak. This toilet is only used by men on Tianqiao Peak. The toilet is public, large and exquisite. A large sect like Jianshen Sect will naturally not be stingy in these places. The entire toilet is inlaid with white marble. There are two urinals and more than 30 squat pits in the toilet. Each squat pit has a wooden partition and partition door...
The air in the toilet is naturally not good, and it definitely smells bad.
There were two large water tanks in the toilet, but the water in the tanks was almost empty and there was not much water left.
After looking at the condition of the toilet, Yan Liqiang placed his tools under the bamboo forest outside the toilet, then took two wooden buckets and ran down the mountain. When he came to the stream at the foot of the mountain, he fetched two buckets of water, then turned around and ran up the mountain with the water.
Yan Liqiang was practicing his "Nine Palaces Wind Shadow Step" while running. The mountain road was rugged and he was carrying two buckets of water. It was a good time to practice "Nine Palaces Wind Shadow Step". He had to carry the two full buckets of water up the mountain quickly and try to spill as little water as possible. This tested Yan Liqiang's body movements, footwork, eyesight, hand strength and perseverance.
The first time he delivered the two buckets of water, Yan Liqiang tripped over a step in a place on the mountain road that was shaded by trees and had low visibility, and a lot of water in the buckets spilled out. Coupled with the shaking on the road, the two buckets of water in his hands were only half empty by the time he got to the top of the mountain and poured them into the two water tanks outside the toilet.
After delivering the trip, Yan Liqiang continued to run down the mountain. This time, he felt that the two buckets of water in his hands were not heavy. When he was returning, he remembered the Shaolin monks fetching water in the movies in his previous life. He simply laid his arms flat, held the two buckets flat, and continued to run up the mountain...
As soon as my arms were laid flat, the two buckets of water seemed to have increased many times in weight. Also, because my arms were flat and the buckets were raised high, after I started running, if my steps were unstable, the water in them would be more likely to spill out.
The second time, the amount of water Yan Liqiang sent to the mountain was much less than the first time.
After pouring the remaining water from the two buckets into the water tank, Yan Liqiang continued to run down the mountain without saying a word...
(End of this chapter)