Chapter 886
Chen 94: Do you know about the Eight Palms of Dragon Capture?
The sleeping quarters were even more rudimentary, just an empty mine shaft, without blankets or pillows. Everyone could only sit on the ground. Fortunately, these people were all accomplished cultivators, so their need for sleep was probably not as strong as before.
The bald, blind man gave them very little rest time, only two hours. After those two hours, they would begin their next round of work.
Chen Jie found a spot near the deepest part of the cave, leaned against the wall, closed his eyes, and pretended to sleep.
Soon, more and more people came into the cave, and noise began to rise.
However, everyone was tired after a long day, so after chatting for a few minutes, they leaned against the wall and started to sleep. Just then, amidst a commotion, Liu Xiaoshan walked in surrounded by a group of people.
Liu Xiaoshan had clearly become the leader of this small group. He led his team to scan the cave, his eyes full of disdain, and he cursed them as a bunch of cowards.
In the eyes of these people, they were just a bunch of cowardly lackeys, while they were resounding rebels.
At that moment, one of them spotted Chen Jie, who was already deep inside the cave. Many people in Liu Xiaoshan's team knew Chen Jie, since they had entered the underground mine together.
At this moment, one of them saw Chen Jie and took a step towards him. Seeing this, Liu Xiaoshan grabbed him and said, "What are you doing?"
“Brother Xiaoshan, don’t worry about him. The kid is weak and incompetent, and looks like he’s easy to bully. We kindly tried to get him to join us, but he refused. Since he’s so shameless, I’ll teach him a lesson. He’ll know that in this world, if you don’t stick together, you’ll only get bullied.”
Hearing this man's words, Liu Xiaoshan said, "Don't be impulsive. We're all on the same side. Why make things so tense? Our enemy isn't him, but..."
As he spoke, Liu Xiaoshan pointed outside. Upon hearing this, the troublemaker frowned and said, "Brother Xiaoshan, don't get involved in this. I'm going to teach this kid a lesson today."
Upon hearing this, Liu Xiaoshan frowned. He didn't want to teach Chen Jiu Si a lesson. To be honest, he had a good impression of Chen Jiu Si, but now he was the leader of this small group.
In order to maintain this small group, he cannot say anything that would hurt the members, otherwise the group will immediately fall apart, and that would be a very bad situation.
Liu Xiaoshan frowned and said, "Just teach him a lesson, don't make things worse. Everyone has their own difficulties, so if he doesn't want to participate, he doesn't have to."
"That won't do. Why should he? They all participated, but he didn't. How is he superior to me?"
Without waiting for Liu Xiaoshan, they headed straight for Chen Jiu Si, who was leaning against the cave wall with his eyes closed.
He knew those people were coming for him, but he remained motionless until they stopped in front of him.
The leader looked down at Chen Jie and said, "Brother, I heard you're pretty arrogant."
Upon hearing this, Chen Jie almost burst out laughing. What kind of talk was this from back then, from street brawls? What did it have to do with these ascendants? Did they lose their minds after ascending?
Chen Jie thought for a moment, then slowly opened his eyes, glanced at the leader, and uttered only one word: "Get lost!"
Hearing Chen Jie insult them like that and tell them to get lost, the group of men were furious. The leader roared, "You brat, are you tired of living?"
As he spoke, several people around him also became indignant. Chen Jie looked up at them and said, "Let me give you one more piece of advice: it's not too late to get out now."
"Get the hell out of here."
Upon hearing Chen Jie's words, the leader flew into a rage, and then several men swung their fists, all striking at Chen Jie.
At this moment, everyone watched as this person raised his fist to strike Chen Jie, but no one stopped him.
This punch did not carry any energy, because it was sealed by Steward Sun when his dantian descended.
Therefore, this punch, accompanied by the sound of wind, struck Chen Jie. In reality, they were more like ordinary people fighting in the mortal world.
But they chose the wrong opponent; Chen Jiu Si was not one to sit idly by and wait for his doom.
Along the way, Chen Jiu Si has experienced countless trials and tribulations, and his strength is not solely due to the sealed internal energy within his dantian.
Even though his dantian was sealed, he still possesses considerable combat power because he has a skill called the Eighteen Dragon-Capturing Palms.
This palm technique has been with him for decades, originating in Mianshui County. Back then, his single move, "Dragon Battle in the Wilds," shook the entire martial arts world of Mianshui County.
But in the end, this martial arts technique still ended up with Chen Jiu Si.
Later, Chen Jiu Si used this martial art to fight in the south and north, east and west, defeating Zhang Shi Cheng, Zhu Chong Ba, the Yuan court, and the rebel army.
Later, he basically mastered this technique and made it his instinct.
The true prowess of this technique lies in the fact that it is a form of external training. External training techniques, in this context, mean that they can be activated without internal energy, relying entirely on the physical strength of the body to forcefully execute the technique.
Back when Chen Jiu Si was ambushed by the Tang Clan, he was struck by Dan Shi, which prevented the flow of his internal energy. Even so, he was still able to defeat his opponents one by one with the power of the Eighteen Dragon-Capturing Palms.
Today, his dantian was sealed by Deacon Sun of Qingmu Valley, which only meant he couldn't use the internal energy within his dantian.
This did not have much impact on Chen Jie's Eighteen Dragon-Capturing Palms.
Just then, the man struck down with a palm, and Chen Jie suddenly raised his hand, emitting a series of dragon roars in the next moment.
Immediately afterward, Chen Jie grabbed the other person's wrist and unleashed the power of the Eighteen Dragon-Capturing Palms. In the next moment, Chen Jie actually swung the person up and slammed him hard to the ground.
With a loud bang, dust flew everywhere, and the man was thrown to the ground, coughing up blood and unable to get up.
This scene left everyone around speechless.
Everyone stared wide-eyed, unable to believe what they were seeing.
How could this person be so powerful? Wasn't his dantian power sealed?
With his dantian power sealed, how could he still be so powerful? Impossible, absolutely impossible.
At this moment, everyone looked at Chen Jie, who simply crossed his arms and coldly glanced at the group: "Those who still want to make a move, hurry up."
“I wouldn’t mind beating you all up to look like him.”
Chen Jie's words sent a chill down everyone's spine. Liu Xiaoshan also saw the terror in Chen Jie and slowly began to reflect on his actions.
He was actually a martial artist who practiced external martial arts.
Yes, Liu Xiaoshan saw through Chen Jie's abilities; only a martial artist skilled in external martial arts could achieve such a feat. Even with his dantian sealed, he could still unleash terrifying combat power.
However, although those who practice external martial arts are powerful, few who ascend to immortality choose this method because it is time-consuming and laborious, not rewarding, and has a very low ceiling, which is not enough to meet the needs of ascension.
Therefore, very few ascendants start with external martial arts techniques. But what he didn't expect was that today he would encounter a powerful external martial arts practitioner.
Liu Xiaoshan then slowly approached Chen Jie and said, "Brother Chen, this is all a misunderstanding."
Chen Jie glanced at Liu Xiaoshan: "Whether it's a misunderstanding or not, you know very well. Brother Liu, I don't know how much of what I said to you today you took to heart, but if an organization can't even manage its own people, how can it talk about achieving great things?"
Upon hearing Chen Jie's words of piercing insight, Liu Xiaoshan's face immediately darkened. How could he not understand the unspoken meaning behind Chen Jie's words?
He's not stupid; he knows that if everyone in an organization doesn't listen to orders, then that organization is just a shell, has no reason to exist, and has no ability to act at all.
But the organization had already been formed, and he was the leader. What could he do?
He finally managed to gather everyone together, so why would he disband them again?
He wished everyone could be like Chen Jiu Si. But is that even possible?
There are differences between people, even among those who have ascended to immortality.
Besides, given the current situation, we are at their mercy. If Liu Xiaoshan doesn't resist today, he will die of old age in this mine tomorrow, just like that old man.
Liu Xiaoshan didn't want to die here. Although he now understood that his organization was incredibly disorganized and just a bunch of rabble, he couldn't abandon it because he had run out of cards to play. This organization was the last card he could play.
Liu Xiaoshan absolutely cannot sit idly by and wait to die. Even if it means death, it's good to have fought back.
Looking at Liu Xiaoshan's changing expression, Chen Jie felt that he should have understood what he said. Since he understood, what happened to him from now on was up to him alone.
As the saying goes, good advice is hard to persuade a damned ghost, and Chen Jie has done his best.
At this moment, Chen Jie glanced at the old man mixed in with Liu Xiaoshan's group.
The old man was also looking at Chen Jiu Si at this moment. Their eyes met, and the old man lowered his eyes, turned his body slightly to the right, and turned away from Chen Jie's direct gaze.
This is because they feel guilty.
Chen Jie ignored him. He knew that his performance today would definitely be exaggerated by the old man and told to that bald blind man.
But he wasn't afraid. He neither caused trouble nor resisted; he simply stayed there obediently, posing no threat to the bald blind man. However, if the bald blind man wanted to get rid of him, he would have to put in some effort. He was a master of external martial arts, and everyone in this mine had their dantian sealed; who could easily kill him?
Therefore, he was not afraid to reveal a little bit of his strength. In fact, revealing a little bit of his strength would make his life better, at least preventing that bald guy from easily provoking him.
Chen Jie then looked at Liu Xiaoshan and said, "That's all I have to say. I've said everything I needed to say. Alright, you can take him away now."
Upon hearing this, Liu Xiaoshan clasped his hands in thanks to Chen Jie and said, "Thank you for your kindness, Brother Chen."
Chen Jie didn't say anything, but simply hugged his shoulders, closed his eyes, and continued to rest against the cave wall.
Seeing that Chen Jie was no longer in the mood to talk to him, Liu Xiaoshan didn't waste any words. He then directed his men to lift up the man who had just provoked him and move him to another part of the cave.
Then a group of people sat down on the ground and rested on the other side of the cave, occasionally whispering among themselves. At the same time, some people pointed and gestured towards Chen Jie's direction.
Chen Jie saw it all, but he didn't care. What he needed to do now was conserve his energy; the rest was none of his business.
And so, Chen Jie squinted his eyes. Time passed slowly, and the cave became quiet.
In the latter half of the night, Chen Jie felt he had rested enough, so he quietly reached into his storage ring, took out a piece of dried meat, put it in his mouth, and chewed it slowly to replenish his body's nutrients.
After his dantian was sealed, his body could no longer rely on his internal energy to provide energy, and he could not reach the state of fasting. Therefore, he had to eat to obtain energy.
Eating only coarse grain buns all day long, which have no nutritional value and no high-quality protein, is unbearable for the body.
The human body is essentially an energy-consuming machine. Cultivators can utilize energy such as Qi and True Qi to keep the body functioning and maintain it in an excellent state.
However, their dantian is now sealed, so they can't circulate any energy, including qi, true qi, and internal force. They can only replenish their physical depletion through food.
This is where the importance of high-quality protein sources like meat, eggs, and dairy products becomes apparent.
In his previous life, Chen Jiu Si saw many fools advocating that vegetarianism was good, but people who don't eat meat, eggs, or dairy have no strength.
The people of Qingmu Valley only fed these miners wild vegetable porridge or mixed flour buns, with the aim of preventing them from having enough power, or even recovering their own power, thereby harming the management of the entire Qingmu Valley.
Only a group of people who are weak and incompetent are the easiest to manage.
Chen Jie didn't want to become one of their managers, so he secretly ate some dried meat to replenish his energy.
As the process progressed, Chen Jie felt a sense of satisfaction. Sometimes, food can not only fill one's stomach and provide energy, but also give one a sense of fulfillment.
After eating for a while, Chen Jie realized that no one else had seen him. So he quietly closed his eyes and rested for a bit longer, when the sound of a gong rang out outside.
"Get to work, get to work, all of you stop slacking off."
The miners' supervisor shouted, urging the others to hurry up and get to work, and not to waste time.
Chen Jie then slowly emerged from the mine shaft and followed the main group towards the mine.
Just as Chen Jie was about to go down into the mine, the bald man walked over, glanced at Chen Jie, and said, "Come with me."
Seeing this, Chen Jie didn't say anything, but simply followed the bald man over.
On the other side, the bald man looked at Chen Jie and said, "Kid, I heard you're a body-strengthening martial artist?"
Upon hearing this, Chen Jie thought to himself that the old man was really fast at transmitting information. Thinking of this, Chen Jie looked at the bald man and said, "That's right, I am indeed a body-training martial artist."
The bald man looked at Chen Jie and said, "So, how about it? Interested in joining us?"
Upon hearing this, Chen Jie looked at the bald man and asked, "Join you? What are the benefits of joining you?"
Upon hearing this, the bald man said, "If you join us, you won't have to work in the mines."
Upon hearing this, Chen Jie frowned. If he wasn't allowed to work in the mine, how was he supposed to steal ore? He couldn't agree to that.
Thinking this, Chen Jie said to the bald man, "I won't join." (End of Chapter)