With a horse-drawn carriage leading the way and hundreds of horsemen following behind, the Crown Prince and his entourage finally set out on the journey eastward.

In the largest and most luxuriously decorated carriage in the middle of the team, Fang Hao, Jiang Ni, and Li Chungang were either sitting or lying down, and the atmosphere was a bit awkward.

Jiang Ni, holding the secret book in her hand, kept reciting a sword-fighting secret book. She and Fang Hao had an agreement that she would get ten cents as a reward for every word she recited, so Jiang Ni was very interested at the beginning.

However, as Jiang Ni read on, she discovered that there were many unfamiliar characters in these ancient seal books that she was completely unfamiliar with. Every time she read them wrong, Fang Hao would deduct money from her.

This made Jiang Ni very angry, and she passively learned hundreds of unfamiliar characters. Therefore, every time she read, she pronounced the words particularly heavily, as if she was biting Fang Hao’s flesh.

Fang Hao closed his eyes and thought deeply. He listened, sometimes nodding and sometimes shaking his head, even though this book “Qiancao Jian Gang” was a good book on swordsmanship highly recommended by Nangong Pushe.

But in Fang Hao’s opinion, the excessive pursuit of techniques has led to the loss of the basics.

“That’s all bullshit!” Li Chungang said rudely, picking his toes.

Jiang Ni, whose rhythm was interrupted, glared at the old man fiercely. Seeing that Li Chungang had taken off his shoes, he pretended to be fierce and said, “Old man, put your shoes on quickly, they stink!”

Li Chungang kept his distance from Fang Hao, but was particularly fond of Jiang Ni. He forced a smile on his old face and said, “I’ll put it on right away, little girl. I’m not talking about you. I’m talking about the person who wrote the book, who is full of nonsense and misleading young people.”

After hearing this, Fang Hao opened his eyes and asked, “Senior, do you also think that there is something wrong with Du Sicong’s book?”

Li Chungang looked at Fang Hao and said sarcastically, “Aren’t you a swordsman?”

Fang Hao smiled and said, “Old senior, you should know that swordsmanship and saber techniques, when practiced to the extreme, lead to the same goal. Are you saying this to deceive me because I am incompetent?”

“Yes, you have such a rebellious spirit. Sword and saber techniques are really no different to you.” Li Chungang said: “What do you think is wrong with this “Thousand Herbs Sword Guide”? “

“To blindly pursue strange and bizarre changes in moves and not summarize the artistic conception of the sword until the end of the article, in my opinion, seems to be a bit misguided,” said Fang Hao.

“That’s right. The kid named Du stood in the snow for three days and three nights. I reluctantly gave him three pointers, which led to the last part of the Thousand Herbs Sword Guide. Unfortunately, his foundation was already established, and it was difficult to change it.”

“It’s a pity indeed. If he could understand the truth that ‘grass, trees, bamboo and stone can all be made into swords’, his cultivation would not be restricted and it would not be so difficult to improve.” Fang Hao commented.

“Grass, wood, bamboo and stone can all be made into swords? He is far from it.” Li Chungang said.

“It’s indeed far from it.” Fang Hao commented.

The conversation between the two interrupted Jiang Ni’s plan to study and make money. She pouted and said, “Did you finish what you said, old man?”

“That’s all, that’s all.” For some reason, Li Chungang was very nice to Jiang Ni, even a little doting. He just said, “Girl, do you want to learn sword from me?”

Jiang Ni refused and said, “I won’t learn it!”

“Why not learn?” Li Chungang said, “Back then, the number of swordsmen who wanted to learn from me was so large that they lined up from Beiliang all the way to the East China Sea.”

Jiang Ni snorted coldly and said, “If I agree to learn sword from you, I might be dead before tomorrow.”

“Is there such a thing?” Li Chungang squinted his eyes and looked at Fang Hao and said, “Xu boy, is this true?”

“It was probably true in the past, but now, little clay figurine, if you want to learn, just go ahead.” Fang Hao said. But Jiang Ni turned his head away and said, “No!”

If Jiang Ni didn’t want to learn martial arts before, it was because she was afraid of Xu Xiao behind Fang Hao, who would kill her without hesitation.

The reason why she didn’t want to learn martial arts now was because she was afraid that she would be separated from Xu Fengnian.

She hated Beiliang and Liyang, but was afraid of being separated from Fang Hao. The complicated bond made her want to maintain the status quo.

“You little girl!” Li Chungang said helplessly, “It’s not your fault. After so many years, even I almost forgot who I am. Who would remember the wooden ox and horse?”

“Old Sword God Li is being too modest. If I, Li Chungang, had not been born, the sword art would have been dark forever. Everyone knows your name. If the martial arts rankings were to be re-arranged, Sword God Li would definitely be on the list,” said Fang Hao.

“Martial Arts Rating List? Does that thing still exist?” Li Chungang became interested.

“Of course there is, and the person number one on the martial arts ranking list right now is an old acquaintance of yours!” Fang Hao said.

“Is it Wang Xianzhi?” When mentioning his old enemy, Li Chungang’s eyes flashed.

“It is Wang Xianzhi. In addition, there are Peach Blossom Sword God Deng Tai’a, the invincible official Cao Changqing and others. What’s interesting is that this old fellow Wang Xianzhi always modestly claims that he is only the second in the world. Therefore, the first place in the martial arts evaluation list was vacated, and Wang Mingyin, who was ranked tenth in the world, became the eleventh.” Fang Hao explained.

“The second best in the world? It seems he still remembers what happened back then.” Li Chungang murmured.

Decades ago, when Wang Xianzhi was still a rising star and challenged Li Chungang for the seventh time, Li Chungang could have killed him with his swordsmanship, but because he valued his talent, he held back at the last moment.

It now seems that Wang Xianzhi knew everything about what happened back then and kept it in mind.

“However, there are so many masters in the world, and the martial arts ranking list has not been updated for many years. I think the top ten masters in the world are very fake.” Fang Hao said.

Li Chungang smiled and said, “Oh? Tell me about it.”

“Let’s not talk about anything else. The martial arts ranking list does not list the hermit masters from the Longhu Mountain Liangchan Temple and the Wu Family Sword Tomb. Therefore, people like the Four Heavenly Masters, the Saint Monk Longshu, Li Dangxin, Wu Jian and others cannot be on the list. There is also the Liyang’s number one swordsman Gu Jiantang in the court, the human-cat Han Diao Si, who can kill celestial phenomena with his finger. If a real fight breaks out, Wang Mingyin and his ilk are no match for them.”

Fang Hao said: “These are just the masters in the Liyang Dynasty. Don’t forget, there is also Beimang! I heard that the military god of Beimang, Tuoba Bodhisattva, is not inferior to Deng Tai’a in terms of martial arts. There are also veteran masters like Deng Mao and rising stars like Hong Jingyan, who are no worse than our Liyang Dynasty.”

The overall quality of masters in Beimang naturally cannot be compared with that of the Liyang Dynasty, but it cannot be ignored, especially since most of the masters in Beimang come from the imperial court and are more easily commanded by the Queen of Beimang.

Unlike the Liyang Dynasty, the Liyang Emperor could not control any of Wang Xianzhi, Deng Tai’a, Cao Changqing and others.

“You know quite a lot,” said Li Chungang.

“Of course. I have the ambition to conquer the world and sweep across the land. I will learn from all the masters in the world, whether they are in the temple or in the grass.” Fang Hao said word by word, “Then when the time is right, I will surpass them one by one!”

“Good boy, with your confidence, you are very much like me back then. But everyone can brag, so let me see if you have the ability to do it.” Li Chungang said.

At the same time, Lü Qiantang, who was leading the way, suddenly reined in his horse, as an uninvited guest had blocked his way. (End of this chapter)