Mortal Mirror

Li Ergou looked at the madman with disbelief, his voice trembling slightly as he said, "You, what you're saying, is it true? Randomly teaching martial arts techniques, if discovered, is punishable by death. Aren't you afraid?"

The madman chuckled a few times and said, "Of course I'm not afraid. Those rules are for ordinary people, but I am alone. I am the sect, and the sect is me."

At that moment, the madman suddenly seemed grand and impressive in Li Ergou's eyes. But then he thought, this guy is a madman, could he be fooling me?

A sect, isn't a sect a very large organization? Isn't he just trying to deceive me by saying that?

For a moment, his heart was in turmoil, wondering whether to believe this guy's words. If people knew he believed a madman, wouldn't he be laughed at?

Seeing Li Ergou not speaking, the madman said, "This isn't the place to talk. Come with me."

With that, he picked up the little girl, and with a wave of his hand, the food on the table vanished instantly. Li Ergou's eyes widened, and his heart was ecstatic. At that moment, he understood that this madman was indeed capable.

That one move was enough to explain everything, so he didn't think much and hurried to follow behind the madman.

After passing several houses, a dilapidated courtyard appeared in front of them. This courtyard was not small, a three-section compound. However, it seemed uninhabited for many years, with everything in disarray, dust everywhere, a completely abandoned residence.

Following the madman all the way forward, they entered the third section of the courtyard. This place had been tidied up a bit and was relatively clean. Standing in the courtyard, the madman suddenly stopped. He turned to look at Li Ergou and said, "Before that, I need to tell you something."

Li Ergou nodded, listening intently.

The madman then waved his sleeve, put his hands behind his back, and revealed the demeanor of an expert, saying, "My name is Zhuang Xiaoyao, and I am a disciple of the Xiaoyao Palace. Unfortunately, the Xiaoyao Palace has only had one direct line of succession for many years.

This is because the founder had a saying that each Palace Master of the Xiaoyao Palace can only accept up to three disciples. Each disciple, if male, must be tall and mighty, elegant and handsome, with extraordinary bearing.

If female, they must be beautiful enough to topple kingdoms and captivate cities.

The most important thing is that, regardless of gender, their natural endowments must be very good, preferably the kind that is amazingly rare and unparalleled. Therefore, the Xiaoyao Palace has a small population. My master spent countless years to find someone like me."

Li Ergou was very excited, thinking that this guy was going to violate the founder's rules and accept me as a disciple. If so, wouldn't I become the head of a sect from now on? This change is too big, he couldn't absorb it all at once, slowly, he needed to take it slowly, too excited.

He eagerly anticipated Zhuang Xiaoyao saying, 'I want to accept you as a disciple.'

Zhuang Xiaoyao looked at Li Ergou's expression and couldn't help but frown, feeling that he seemed to have misunderstood something. He quickly said, "The reason I'm telling you these things is because I see that you are a kind-hearted young man. I originally intended to accept you as the thirty-second generation disciple of my Xiaoyao Palace, but your appearance, your natural endowments, alas, it's hard to say."

Li Ergou was immediately dumbfounded, thinking, aren't you giving me great hope and then pouring cold water on me? If you're not going to accept me, why do you have to insult me in a roundabout way? He couldn't help but feel angry, thinking that this guy is really just a madman, his thoughts are different from normal people.

Forget it, I won't bother with a madman.

After lamenting to himself, Zhuang Xiaoyao said again, "However, I can make an exception and teach you some basic cultivation methods. I don't know if you're willing."

Li Ergou's eyes lit up. Hope was extinguished, but then there was a little comfort. Although he didn't care about the position of sect leader, he would be delighted if someone taught him martial arts techniques.

If Zhuang Xiaoyao hadn't told him in advance that he wouldn't accept him as a disciple, he would have knelt down to Zhuang Xiaoyao in excitement.

He quickly said, "Yes, yes, yes, I am willing."

Zhuang Xiaoyao nodded slightly, very satisfied, and said, "Well, in that case, I want to ask you, do you know what martial arts are?"

Li Ergou was stunned. Wu Shenxian and Lu Changsheng had both told him about this question, but he still couldn't figure it out. He had a vague understanding of it, so he told the truth, "I don't quite understand martial arts, but I do know that this path is very difficult. If you practice to a powerful level, you can reach the peak in one step, and destroying the heavens and extinguishing the earth is not a problem."

Zhuang Xiaoyao smiled slightly and said, "What you understand is just the surface. Martial arts is a way of cultivation that uses martial arts to pursue the Dao of Heaven. Its spirit is to stop war with martial arts, born to protect and guard, pursuing a spirit of 'if not me, then who?', and being one with heaven and earth.

This is the ultimate state that a martial arts cultivator should pursue.

You must also remember that the path of martial arts is extremely difficult. If you choose this path, there is no turning back. You can only move forward all the way, unstoppable, so that the courage in your heart will become stronger and stronger.

Martial arts cultivators are never afraid of death, but of cowardice. Once you are cowardly, this path is cut off.

Only by moving forward bravely, only with the determination to split the heavens and the earth, can you have a smooth path."

Li Ergou listened in a daze, but he understood a little. Zhuang Xiaoyao told him that cultivating martial arts is not for fighting, but for protecting the common people. The Xiaoyao Palace has a really high vision, but he doesn't know if their disciples are all like this, or if they are all crazy like this gentleman.

He thought to himself, Zhuang Xiaoyao said again, "Forget it, you may not be able to understand all of this, I will first teach you some of the most basic cultivation methods, so that you won't have elixirs but not know how to use them."

Li Ergou nodded, happy in his heart, thinking that this guy had been rambling for a long time, and finally some real stuff was coming.

Zhuang Xiaoyao moved his wrist, wanting to open a folding fan to show off, but then he realized that he had been crazy for so long that the fan had rotted, and he couldn't help but laugh.

He could only grab the dandelion seeds that happened to be flying by to ease the embarrassment. Holding the dandelion seeds in his hand, he slowly said, "If you want to cultivate martial arts, you should first know how many realms there are in martial arts.

As far as I know, there are currently eleven realms in martial arts, namely, Refining Essence, Refining Qi, Tempering Bones, Quenching Meridians, Changing Blood, Refining Body, Innate, Opening Apertures, Connecting to Heaven, Summit. These are the ten great realms of martial arts. If you cross the summit, you can transcend the mundane and reach the eleventh realm of martial arts, the 'Martial God Realm.'"

At that time, you can rampage across the world, invincible, and few in the world will be your opponents.

And those realms I mentioned, you can infer from the first realm to the second realm.

But I don't think you need to think too much, your natural endowments, alas..."