Late at night, everyone had gone to sleep. The whole courtyard was quiet, and there were faint sounds coming from the back garden.
Looking for the sound, I saw a young man in the depths of the back garden. He was moving his body, and for several cold winter nights, drops of sweat were left on the boy's body.
The boy was practicing so focused, but he didn't know that someone was approaching quietly from behind.
The man stood on tiptoes and walked slowly towards the boy's back quietly. But the boy was concentrating on practicing his attacks and didn't even know it.
Suddenly, the man suddenly grabbed the boy's shoulders and whispered: "Young Master, I must have caught him now."
When the boy was touched by this person, he shivered violently and couldn't help but tremble. Only when he heard this person's voice did he recover, took a deep breath, and whispered: "Xiao Lian, it's you.
."
The girl smiled sweetly, picked up the handkerchief on her body and wiped the boy's sweat, and said slowly: "I just heard the news, so I came to your room and wanted to add some extra bedding for you. Who would have thought that you were not in the house and ran away?
If you go to this deserted place in the back garden and practice martial arts secretly, if the owner of the house finds out, you will be punished."
The boy smiled playfully and said hurriedly: "You little girl, you are so weird. If it were anyone else, you might sue her, but if it were you, I wouldn't believe it even if I beat you to death."
Hearing the boy's words, Xiaolian covered her mouth and giggled.
The boy practicing in the garden is the son of the head of the Zhou family, named Zhou Rui. When he was fourteen years old, Zhou Rui suddenly contracted a strange disease. He had a high fever, but his hands and feet were surprisingly cold. His father Zhou Renjun visited famous doctors from various places.
He tried to treat his son's illness, but no improvement was seen. A year later, Zhou Rui suddenly recovered and was no longer ill. Zhou Renjun was afraid that his son's old illness would relapse, so from then on he banned his son from practicing martial arts and only allowed him to
Read, write and rest at home.
Zhou Rui was not a kid who could stay at home, so he sneaked into the back garden in the dead of night to practice kung fu. Sometimes he would get so excited that he wouldn't go back to his room to sleep until the rooster crowed the next day.
Who would have known that today, while practicing secretly in the yard, the little maid who took care of him caught him.
Xiao Lian touched Zhou Rui's forehead with some worry and said: "Young master, you still have to be careful in everything and don't damage your body through training. If you continue to be ill for another year, Lian'er's eyes will be red from crying."
Zhou Rui looked at Xiaolian with a smile and said with pity: "How could I be willing to make you sad? Look, I'm okay." After saying this, he punched a few times involuntarily.
Xiaolian looked at Zhou Rui waving his fist and asked with some confusion: "I don't want you to practice martial arts anymore, so why are you working so hard to practice martial arts? It's better to study hard and get the number one scholar in the future.
Based on our family background, it is possible to be granted a title of marquis or knight."
After saying this, Zhou Rui became unhappy and looked at Xiaolian with a ferocious look in his eyes. The two looked at each other, which made Xiaolian's heart feel chilly and she shuddered involuntarily.
Seeing that Xiaolian was scared, Zhou Rui explained: "How do you know what I am thinking? On this continent, martial arts is the foundation for building a family and a country. How can a scholar be respected? What's more, my Zhou family is one of the eight great families protecting the country.
For one, I have prided myself on martial arts for generations, and many capable people have emerged. How can I be a humiliating civil servant?"
A smile appeared on Xiaolian's face and she said: "The young master has great ambitions, Xiaolian, I will never understand in this life."
Zhou Rui raised his head, looked at the moon in the sky, sighed and said: "In two months, it will be the day for the four sects to select disciples. I don't know if I can pass the exam this year."
Xiaolian looked panicked and asked hurriedly: "Young master, do you want to participate in the selection? But the head of the family has explicitly prohibited you from participating. If they find out, they won't break your legs."
Zhou Rui didn't panic, pinched Xiaolian's nose with his hand, and said with a smile: "Of course I have my own way."
After the two of them talked, Zhou Rui had no intention of practicing anymore and returned to the house alone. He lay on the bed and tossed and turned, but he still couldn't fall asleep. What happened to him felt like it happened yesterday, and it stayed in his head for a long time.
Wander.
The strange illness two years ago seemed to outsiders to be a disaster for Zhou Rui, but to Zhou Rui, it was indeed a blessing. From the outside, Zhou Rui seemed to be ill and lay in bed in a coma.
He was about to fall asleep. But in fact, Zhou Rui had a very long dream.
In the dream, Zhou Rui himself seemed to have become a peerless master, and he met various martial arts masters, competed with these people in various martial arts, and saw the essence of various martial arts. After waking up, the scene in the dream was vivid in his mind.
, just like what happened in reality.
Later, Zhou Rui told his parents what happened in the dream, but no one believed it. But since waking up from the dream, Zhou Rui's ability to understand the essence of various martial arts has greatly improved, and he can never forget many books after reading them.
The speed of cultivation has also been greatly improved.
Sixteen years old is the minimum age limit for joining a sect, and the conditions for recruiting disciples of the four major sects are extremely strict. Only the new generation of young talents from the entire continent can be selected.
According to Zhou Rui's qualifications and his step-by-step practice, it would be absolutely impossible for him to join the four major sects and become their disciples at the age of sixteen. However, since his serious illness, Zhou Rui's practice speed has increased day by day, and he can feel it with daily practice.
Some progress has been made.
Before Zhou Rui got seriously ill, his strength was at most a warrior at the third level of the Qi Refining Stage. But since he woke up, Zhou Rui carried his parents behind his back and practiced diligently every day. Now he is a warrior at the eighth level of the Qi Refining Stage!
The speed of increase in strength is unmatched by anyone. Even in a big family like the Zhou family, reaching the eighth level of Qi refining stage at the age of sixteen is considered a top master.
Thinking of this, Zhou Hao made up his mind to take advantage of the opportunity of recruiting disciples from the four sects to make a name for himself and let the heroes from all over the world see his abilities. Let them see how majestic the next generation of the Zhou family is.
!
In this random thought, Zhou Rui fell into a deep sleep.
At three o'clock in the morning, the servants in the whole yard were already busy. However, Zhou Rui lay on the bed lazily and refused to get up.
Xiaolian ran into the house in a panic, woke up Zhou Rui who was still sleeping, pointed out the window, and whispered: "Young Master, do you think who is visiting our house today?"
"Who is it?" Zhou Rui asked impatiently.
"It's the admissions sticker sent by the four major sects that you have dreamed of enrolling in!"
"Real or false!" Zhou Rui looked at Xiaolian with wide eyes, and the sleepiness he had felt just now was gone.
Zhou Rui quickly jumped out of bed and said hurriedly: "Hurry up! Help me put on my clothes. I'm going to take a look."
After a while, Zhou Rui changed his clothes and ran out of the room. He ran towards the hall at a trot. When he was about to reach the hall, Zhou Rui deliberately slowed down, pretending to be sick, and took one step.
The trio walked lamely into the house, breathing heavily on purpose.
As soon as he entered the door, he saw a man about forty years old, with a strong build and carrying a huge sword behind him. It looked like the sword weighed a hundred kilograms. If he wasn't a man with such a strong body, he would definitely not be able to play with it.
I deserve this sword.
Zhou Rui's father, Zhou Renjun, the head of the Zhou family, saw Zhou Rui walking in and hurriedly greeted him: "Rui'er, come in quickly and pay homage to your senior."
Zhou Rui slowly walked into the room and looked the man up and down again. The man's temperament was more deeply imprinted in Zhou Rui's mind. He bowed his hands and said: "Junior Zhou Rui, pay my respects to senior."
The man nodded, but there was no smile on his face.
Zhou Renjun introduced Zhou Rui: "This is one of the eight swordsmen of the four sects of the Middle East Sword Sect. He is known as the King Kong Sword whose sword is worth a thousand gold. Han Yi was shocked."
When Zhou Rui heard this person's name, he immediately stood in awe and nodded repeatedly.
There are four sects on this continent, namely, East Sword and West Knife, Southern Fist and North Leg. The four sects have different specialties. However, every three years they take turns hosting a disciple selection meeting. This year, it is the turn of the East Sword Sect to host this meeting.
General Assembly.
Han stood up in surprise, bowed to Zhou Renjun, and said: "The invitation has been sent today, and it is not convenient for me to stay for a long time. I hope that the younger generation of the Zhou family can attend this conference."
Zhou Renjun also returned the gift and said: "Please report back to the head of Dongjian Sect Zhao, our Zhou family will definitely attend on time."
After speaking, Han left the hall in surprise and walked out.
Zhou Renjun looked at the invitation in his hand and then at Zhou Rui beside him. He couldn't help but shake his head and sighed: "Hey, God really doesn't do what I want."
According to the time on the invitation, the date is set on the eighth day of March, which is when spring flowers are blooming. Zhou Renjun passed the content on after receiving the invitation. All children of the Zhou family who are over 16 years old can participate in this event.
Recruitment meeting.
After all, even the Zhou family of the Eight Families of the Protector of the Country, the peerless martial arts within these four sects is something that Zhou family disciples only dream of.
After counting the number of people, a total of sixteen young people from the Zhou family who were of the same age and had good martial arts skills participated in this apprentice recruitment meeting. These sixteen people were all warriors whose internal strength was at the fifth level of the Qi refining stage, and three of them had relatively good martial arts skills.
Others are more outstanding and are the rising stars of the Zhou family.
However, Zhou Renjun's son, Zhou Rui, was not among these sixteen people. Although the Zhou family was well aware of Zhou Rui's affairs, in a world where martial arts is used to judge the world, all kinds of rumors followed one after another.
spread out.
Zhou Rui lay on his bed without saying a word, looking at the roof stupidly. The maid Xiaolian beside him also saw Zhou Rui's thoughts and said comfortingly: "Young master, there is no need to be so sad. I will wait until the master understands you later."
When you are healthy and have nothing wrong with you, I will naturally let you learn martial arts."
Zhou Rui turned his head and muttered: "I'm afraid that by then, people will laugh all the way to my head."
Xiaolian said: "You are the head of the family's child. If anyone in the entire Zhou family dares to laugh at you, I will cut out his tongue."
"Tch, kid. What do you know?" As he spoke, Zhou Rui turned around, turned back and ignored Xiaolian.
Xiaolian pouted her lips and said angrily: "You ungrateful thing deserves to be lying on the bed."
"You!" Zhou Rui just wanted to say something. Xiaolian had already run outside the house and disappeared.
Zhou Rui lay on the bed again and thought to himself: "Tonight, I must practice hard. There are only two months left. I must show some real skills to these people. I am Zhou Renjun's son!"