Chapter 21: Touch It, and You'll Know
“Simple two characters,” made Han Shuangjiang’s breath falter slightly.
A heavy rain had fallen last night, but today was fine.
The sky was clear and the sunlight brilliant.
The Fox-faced Man stood facing the light, and calmly spoke that answer, then even flashed her a grin.
The world’s protagonist, still in his “newbie protection period,” felt his body tense a little.
“He killed people when he was still just a normal person?”
The emotional impact this caused was actually far greater than a cultivator killing!
Under her swelling chest, her heart had begun to pound.
To the point that in her daze, Han Shuangjiang didn’t realize Chu Huaixu had continued to walk forward.
“Why are you standing there slack‑jawed? Let’s go,” he called out.
The cold-faced girl pressed her lips together, then instinctively quickened her pace, showing considerable obedience.
When she realized this, she hurriedly slowed her steps.
Chu Huaixu glanced at her from the side and couldn’t help but smile.
……
……
Medicine Mountain was one of the three outer‑gate peaks, and could roughly be divided into three zones.
They could be understood as: the herbal medicine zone, the residential zone, and the life‑service commercial zone.
In the outer gate, senior enrolled disciples taught mortal martial arts to outsiders.
Originally, the outer‑gate Scripture Pavilion had set up four magic arrays to filter out top Qi‑Opening Stage practitioners and provide them with high‑quality techniques.
They did this not because Dao Gate was stingy and unwilling to share good materials.
It was simply because the higher the level of technique, the greater the difficulty, and if one’s aptitude wasn’t strong, learning them would only hold one back.
But who would have thought that “policies from above” would lead to “countermeasures from below.”
A small number of people realized that mortal martial arts had value—they could make the flesh stronger and help break magic arrays!
The warlocks of Xuanhuang Realm immediately sprang into action.
At first, no one practiced that low-tier stuff at all.
As the trend gradually fermented and tougher to suppress, eventually it actually forced the Scripture Pavilion to upgrade those arrays, raising the difficulty!
Since the vast majority had learned mortal martial arts, the initially set standards could no longer effectively filter anyone.
If someone said they had learned martial arts before climbing the mountain, what could you do?
Fine, fine, let it serve as a basic foundation of mortal martial arts before disciples officially learned Dao techniques.
As time passed, a martial arts industry chain formed, which further increased levies.
Chu Huaixu led Han Shuangjiang, inquiring along the way, and before long they arrived in front of a courtyard.
“Why have so many people recommended learning from Senior Brother Liu?” he asked, slightly puzzled.
Was his reputation really that good?
That cold-faced girl, Han Shuangjiang, behaved like a little housekeeper, comparing goods and asking around for prices all the way.
Little did she know, the outer gate had long ago passed through the competitive phase of price wars.
Nowadays, everyone’s martial arts tuition prices were much the same.
Chu Huaixu had told her from the start not to waste time comparing, but she hadn’t believed him.
Even after realizing he was right, she still muttered in her heart, “So expensive! How can it be so expensive!”
Upon entering the courtyard, Chu Huaixu called out in a loud voice: “Senior Brother Liu! Are you there?”
The door to the house opened quickly, and a somewhat handsome man walked out.
He wore a white robe, with gold‑thread patterns at the cuffs and collar.
At first glance, it was made from top-quality cloth.
With the outer‑gate’s horrible prices, just his attire would cost a lot.
“He must be doing wildly good business,” Chu Huaixu thought.
This noble-son-like enrolled disciple surnamed Liu, upon seeing their faces, was slightly taken aback.
The man was tall and handsome, and even the girl behind the veil seemed a beauty.
They wore fairly ordinary clothes, not luxurious, but their unique temperament was striking.
Based on the principle of opposites attract, his attention was more focused on Han Shuangjiang.
He couldn’t help it—she gave off a cold, unapproachable vibe, yet had a provocatively appealing figure.
Her bust was not as grand as Elder Nangong’s, not a huge wave, but it was still swollen, clearly well‑endowed, not comparable to ordinary people.
Her slender waist, capable of being encircled with a hand, further accentuated the charming curve of her hips.
Beneath her plump hips, there was a pair of remarkably long, jade‑like legs.
When she had just walked forward with graceful steps, she had swayed with elegance, as if each step created a lotus, stirring hearts.
The more she acted like an icy beauty, the more it aroused some men’s desire to conquer, wanting to see her turn completely into a mesmerizing beauty.
The enrolled disciple named Liu Chengqi couldn’t help but sniff deeply, as if he smelled a fragrance.
When he saw Han Shuangjiang, he immediately understood why the two had come to his courtyard, thinking that people at Medicine Mountain really were becoming more understanding.
“Junior Brother, Junior Sister, you look unfamiliar—did someone recommend you here?” he said with a smile that felt like spring breeze.
Unfortunately, things were compared by quality, and people by status.
Standing in front of Chu Huaixu, who ranked second on the [Must‑Play‑With List], his tiny bit of handsome looked insufficient.
“Senior Brother Liu, we did ask some fellow disciples, and everyone recommended coming to you to learn martial arts,” said Chu Huaixu, while privately sending an Information Probe to check his level.
Oh ho, he was actually a Six‑Orifice cultivator!
How rude of me.
On Medicine Mountain, outer‑gate disciples who had reached the First Realm or higher looked down on teaching mortal martial arts for money—too beneath them.
As for enrolled disciples who were about to open nine orifices, they wouldn’t waste precious time—they were busy breaking through, like preparing for a college entrance exam, and had no time to be private tutors.
Therefore, those teaching martial arts were at most six orifices.
The only part that made Chu Huaixu uneasy was that the system displayed Liu Chengqi’s base status as: Spirit Embryo (damaged).
“Ah, looks like he had a story,” he thought.
Liu Chengqi smiled and took two steps forward, speaking in a gentle voice, with that legendary bubbly tone: “Did fellow disciples recommend you? They must have flattered me.”
“Junior Brother, Junior Sister, my surname is Liu—Liu Chengqi. You may call me Senior Brother Liu.”
“My specialty martial art is ‘Heaven‑Earth Boundless Bagua Palm.’ One session lasted one shi‑chen, and the fee was ten taels of silver per person.”
At that, he looked at the cold‑beauty’s tightly furrowed brows and suddenly shifted his tone: “But, teaching one person is teaching; teaching two is teaching. Brother, if you pay ten taels, I’ll personally teach both of you together in the first session.”
As soon as he spoke, he saw the cold beauty’s brows relax as expected.
Hearing this, Chu Huaixu thought to himself: “‘Heaven‑Earth Boundless Bagua Palm’? Never heard of it.”
However, mortal martial arts and Qi‑Opening techniques were similar—each name sounded more domineering than the last.
When he had asked around outside, he had even heard people teaching ‘Heaven‑Earth One‑Blade Slash’ or ‘Great Wilderness Prison‑Sky Finger.’ No-observers might think they were high‑level Dao techniques!
But this Liu Chengqi’s buy‑one‑get‑one‑free trick caught him off guard.
More importantly, there was something off about that pitch.
“Why do I pay ten taels, not two people pay five each?”
Although he was paying the money, it felt uncomfortable—like offering someone else's gift as your own.
Or did he misjudge the relationship between him and Han Shuangjiang and give him an opportunity to curry favor?
Regardless, saving money was a good thing.
Chu Huaixu immediately paid ten taels of silver, eager to see this Bagua Palm.
Liu Chengqi began by briefly introducing the martial art, then started demonstrating.
He demonstrated from the first form all the way to the ninth form.
The strength of this mortal martial art was truly impressive—it could be considered high‑grade.
Most importantly, it looked very handsome, elegant, and graceful.
After the demonstration, Liu Chengqi began teaching the first form—“Eight Wastelands Wandering Dragon.”
He meant what he said about hands‑on teaching—he actually taught hands‑on.
“Junior Brother, you need to sink your body lower here.”
“And also raise this part.”
At times he pressed Chu Huaixu’s waist; at other times he lifted his arm…
Besides that, he explained all the subtleties in detail.
Since it was only martial arts, Chu Huaixu immediately heard the system prompt: “[Ding! Liu Chengqi is teaching you the first form of Bagua Palm. Do you wish to learn?]”
“Yes.” The ten taels were not wasted.
After learning it, Chu Huaixu planned to show off once and let them be amazed, pretending to be a martial‑art genius.
Unexpectedly, Liu Chengqi skipped over him and said: “Junior Brother Chu, you digest it first. I’ll further explain it to Junior Sister Han.”
At that moment, the cold‑faced girl was beside him, earnestly mimicking the form.
As she practiced this imperfect form of Eight Wastelands Wandering Dragon, her curves fully unfolded, and from the side, her plump, full hips filled out her robe.
A breeze blew, lifting a corner of her veil, revealing red, tender lips pressed tightly together.
Liu Chengqi's mind wavered, but he remained true to his word.
He had said he would teach both of them hands‑on—and he meant it!
He had already worked on Chu Huaixu; now it was the beauty’s turn.
“Junior Sister, ‘Eight Wastelands Wandering Dragon’ isn’t like that; your waist also needs to sink lower,” Liu Chengqi still wore that spring‑breeze smile, and extended his large hand toward her waist.
Han Shuangjiang listened intently and truly didn’t react at first.
“Tch! Why is he touching her like that?” came a voice in his ear, and Liu Chengqi’s wrist was firmly grabbed by a large hand.
……