Chapter 185 Small Town Teahouse
Just as Zhu Chengwu, Wang Taoshan, Yang Yanwu and Lu Shangjun were slowly advancing towards Xuzhou City in the territory of the Ming Dynasty, the aftermath of the formation of the Yang Lei Zhenyan in the Elbrus Mountains finally slowly hit the six dynasties including the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, the Ming Dynasty was the first of the six dynasties to be impacted.

The relevant news has even spread from the top of the dynasty to the people.

Zhu Chengwu, the greatest master of the Ming Dynasty twenty-five years ago, who vied with the previous king for the throne, has reappeared in the world.

Zhu Chengwu, Marquis of Fu'an in the Ming Dynasty, confirmed that after his trip to Nanzhu Kingdom, he did not suffer a mutual defeat with Narcissus, nor did he fail in his attempt to become a grandmaster. Instead, he was waiting in the Elbrus Mountains for the Yang Lei Zhen Yan to take shape and appear in the world.

Twenty-five years have passed, and the strength and combat power of Zhu Chengwu, Marquis of Fu'an, who was once the number one master of the Ming Dynasty, has become even more powerful!

Not only did his realm reach the undisputed supreme master (grand master) level, but his combat power also greatly improved again.

The Grand Master realm is already the ultimate foundation of a dynasty. Even among the six great dynasties, not every dynasty has masters at the Grand Master realm as their ultimate foundation.

The ultimate foundation of some dynasties is just a powerful master who briefly possesses the combat power of a grand master.

For example, the Qing Dynasty, Ming Dynasty and Yuan Dynasty.

The Qing Dynasty became one of the six great dynasties thanks to the "couple" of Baishan and Heitu, who could temporarily suppress ordinary grandmasters together.

The reason why the Yuan Dynasty was able to maintain its status as one of the six dynasties after losing the fertile land of Central Plains was that the three great national masters - Ba Siba, Meng Chixing and Si Hanfei worked together, had a high degree of trust in each other, and could compete with ordinary grand masters together.

After the death of Taoist Sanfeng, the Ming Dynasty was still able to occupy a fertile land and maintain a high voice among the six dynasties. This was due to the number of masters who ranked first among the six dynasties in the Ming Dynasty.

It is precisely because the Yuan Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty, and the Qing Dynasty had no true grandmasters in charge, so the Yuan Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty, and the Qing Dynasty among the six dynasties jointly occupied the Eastern Continent among the four continents in this world, while the other three dynasties each occupied one continent.

Although the Eastern Continent is the richest and most abundant of the four continents, it is still not three times or more ahead of the other three continents.

The geographical distribution of the six dynasties shows the gap between the Yuan Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty and the other three dynasties in the deterrence of the maximum-yield "nuclear weapon" of the Supreme Master.

Precisely because the Ming Dynasty did not have true grandmasters, twenty-five years ago, Zhu Chengwu became the most mainstream master in the Ming Dynasty without any hindrance after suppressing the four great masters of Shaolin and demonstrating combat power at the grandmaster level or even slightly beyond the grandmaster level.

Otherwise, if the Ming Dynasty had a true grandmaster-level expert, it would be impossible for Zhu Chengwu to become the number one expert in the Ming Dynasty so easily!
Twenty-five years ago, Zhu Chengwu already had the combat power of a grandmaster level or even slightly beyond the grandmaster level. Twenty-five years later, Zhu Chengwu's combat power was greatly improved again.

After this news came out, many people in the six dynasties' first reaction was to question it.

You have to know that the top master (grand master) is already the normal limit of this world.

Even if Zhu Chengwu, the Marquis of Fu'an in the Ming Dynasty, broke through from an ordinary master to a supreme master, they did not think that Zhu Chengwu's combat power would be improved much.

This has nothing to do with anything else, it’s just the experience of previous generations and the upper limit of the world.

Not everyone is Shaolin Bodhidharma, Wudang Sanfeng... these peerless monsters who can slightly break the world's upper limit!
But when the specific performance of Zhu Chengwu in the formation of Yang Lei Zhen Yan in Elbru Mountains was reported, all doubts were temporarily put to rest and disappeared!
Everyone in the six dynasties was shocked by the fighting power Zhu Chengwu displayed when the Yang Lei Zhen Yan was formed in the Elbru Mountains.

A pair of thirteen!
Zhu Chengwu, the Marquis of Fu'an in the Ming Dynasty, faced the siege of thirteen Grandmasters Yang Shen of the same level, and he actually defeated them by forcing three of them to surrender and seven to be killed. Only the last three Grandmasters seized the opportunity and escaped successfully while Zhu Chengwu was chasing the other Grandmasters Yang Shen.

When hearing Zhu Chengwu's specific achievements, no one dared to believe it.

You have to know that they are thirteen Grandmaster Yang Shen, not thirteen random cats and dogs. Moreover, everyone knows that the combination of martial arts and spirit refining is that one plus one is greater than two.

But when they learned who the three Grandmaster Yang Shen who surrendered were and the identities of the seven Grandmaster Yang Shen who died on the spot, everyone who heard the news had to believe it.

Now that the specific name has been revealed, the possibility of Zhu Chengwu's specific performance in the formation of Yang Lei Zhen Yan in the Elbru Mountains being falsified is extremely small!
Moreover, the Qing Dynasty has the White Mountains and the Black Soil, two of the Five Great Masters of the Song Dynasty, the West Poison and the East Evil, and the Yuan Dynasty has the Mongols... These are all famous masters, and no one dares to make up stories about them at will.

If you lie about the death of such a notorious Grandmaster Yangshen-level figure, once it is false, you will be exposed in an instant!
It will also completely offend those important figures in this world!

As long as the Qing Dynasty, the Yuan Dynasty and the Song Dynasty did not refute such rumors immediately, it can be almost confirmed that the news about the formation of the Yang Lei Zhenyan in the Elbrus Mountains is true.

“The recent event of the formation of Yang Lei Zhen Yan in the Elbru Mountains has spread throughout the six dynasties, and Lord Fu’an of the Ming Dynasty has been crowned as the number one master of the six dynasties.

Today, I, Old Man He, will take the liberty of taking advantage of Lord Fu’an’s reputation and have a chat with you about one of the people involved in the formation of the Yang Lei Zhen Yan in the Elbrus Mountains, this martial arts legend of our Ming Dynasty!
Do you know who Marquis Fu'an is?
He was the eldest son of the Empress Dowager. He was less than 30 years old, or to be precise, he became a grandmaster at the age of 28. In the same year, he defeated or injured the four great Shaolin masters, causing the Shaolin Temple, one of the two great masters of the martial arts world, to close its doors to visitors for nearly 20 years. He was an unparalleled evildoer!

To talk about the life story of this martial arts legend, we have to start from the very beginning. It is said that when Fu'an Hou was born from the womb of the Empress Dowager, the whole room was filled with light and auspicious signs descended from the sky..."

In an ordinary small town in the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Chengwu and his companions, who had just arrived here, heard a storytelling segment about Zhu Chengwu himself in a teahouse.

The fact that the news of the formation of Yang Lei Zhen Yan in the Elbru Mountains could be spread in a short period of time was not due to the three masters who escaped with luck, but to Wang Taoshan, Yang Yanwu and Lu Shangjun who surrendered to Zhu Chengwu.

For the three masters who had escaped the disaster by chance and who came from different positions and regions, it was of no benefit to actively publicize Zhu Chengwu's strength.

But this is not the case for Wang Taoshan, Yang Yanwu, Lu Shangjun and Zhu Chengwu himself. The more they publicize Zhu Chengwu's strength, the more the world can understand the general trend.

In that way, Zhu Chengwu's subsequent actions will be easier!
Zhu Chengwu will have more time and energy to strive to become a master unprecedented in history.

Zhu Chengwu’s strength now is completely different from what it was twenty-five years ago!

Twenty-five years ago, before he defeated the four great masters of Shaolin Temple, Zhu Chengwu could only be regarded as a possible future trend. Even after defeating the four great masters of Shaolin Temple, Zhu Chengwu, who became the number one master of Ming Dynasty, could only be regarded as half a trend.

Because although Zhu Chengwu was invincible in single combat at that time, once Grandmaster Yang Shen formed a large scale, it would still be possible to defeat Zhu Chengwu.

However, today, twenty-five years later, is different. He single-handedly defeated the combined forces of thirteen Grandmaster Yang Shens, including several undisputed top three-level Grandmasters of the Qing Dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty.

Zhu Chengwu can now fully represent the general trend!
After all, even among the six dynasties, the thirteen Grand Master Yang Gods are almost half the number of Grand Master Yang Gods in all the major dynasties.

Grandmaster Yangshen are the ultimate foundation of all major forces. Each major force has its own stance. Even the kings of the six dynasties can hardly mobilize half of the grandmasters of their respective dynasties.

Haven’t you seen that even in the Ming Dynasty, which had the largest number of Grandmasters and Yangshen-level experts, when it was suppressing the threat of the Demon Cult, the Ming King of that generation tried his best but only dispatched seven Grandmasters.

Twenty-five years ago, in order to deal with Zhu Chengwu, Zhu Chengwu's father and brother coordinated with many parties and used pretexts to repay their kindness, but they only mobilized five masters.

People's minds are complicated, and it is very difficult to unite the yang spirits of the masters with different thoughts to form a joint force. But Zhu Chengwu is different. Now Zhu Chengwu is at least equivalent to thirteen yang spirits of the masters.

With such power, how could Zhu Chengwu not become a trend? How could he not represent the trend?

It is precisely because there is no rival in the world that Zhu Chengwu did not object when Wang Taoshan tentatively proposed to publicize Zhu Chengwu's achievements and reputation.

Zhu Chengwu even took the initiative to slow down in order to observe the reactions of the major forces in the Ming Dynasty.

After seeing Zhu Chengwu's attitude, the remaining three, Yang Yanwu and Lu Shangjun, naturally knew what to do.

If they can't do their own homework, they can copy it. As masters, Yang Yanwu and Lu Shangjun must be able to do it.

In addition to mobilizing the power of Shuoqing Temple to publicize the formation of Yang Lei Zhenyan in the Elbrus Mountains and reignite the popularity of Zhu Chengwu, Wang Taoshan can also influence all the spiritual forces in the Ming Dynasty.

During these years when the suppression by martial arts became increasingly severe, the connections between the spirit-refining sects became increasingly close.

As a rare Yang Shen master in the field of spirit refining, Wang Taoshan has a great influence in the entire field of spirit refining.

If it were other matters, the various spirit-refining sects with slightly different stances might have needed to discuss and consider it, but after finding out that it was to make Zhu Chengwu famous and learning about Zhu Chengwu's true battle record, the various spirit-refining sects went all out without hesitation.

With combat power like Zhu Chengwu's, he is destined to become the ruler of the Ming Dynasty, so they need to gain favor with Zhu Chengwu.

And because of Cui Shuyun, Zhu Chengwu's existence might become an opportunity for the Shenlian lineage to change the current situation.

In addition to the power of the spirit refining lineage launched by Wang Taoshan, the power of the aristocratic family launched by Yang Yanwu should not be underestimated.

With similar strength and status, and similar reasons, Yang Yanwu mobilized not only the Yang family, the great family from which he came, but also many other families and their affiliated forces that were on good terms with the Yang family.

In addition to Wang Taoshan and Yang Yanwu, even Lu Shangjun tried his best to mobilize his relatives and friends in order not to leave a bad impression on Zhu Chengwu.

As friends and relatives of master-level experts, they have their own influence.

It is precisely because the three great masters worked together that Zhu Chengwu, whose popularity had declined for more than 20 years, regained his fame and popularity overnight. In any small town, one can hear topics and discussions about Zhu Chengwu.

After deciding to let go of their pride, the experienced Wang Taoshan, Yang Yanwu and Lu Shangjun threw it away completely. In order to compete with Zhu Chengwu and show their loyalty, they acted extremely ruthlessly and showed no mercy to themselves.

When promoting Zhu Chengwu's reputation, he even took the initiative to use his own reputation as a master as a springboard to help Zhu Chengwu become famous.

Human nature is selfish!
No matter who you are, no matter how high your position is or how powerful you are, you will always unconsciously favor yourself and protect yourself when promoting to the outside world. This is human nature.

Although most of the things publicized by Wang Taoshan, Yang Yanwu and Lu Shangjun were facts, the fact that they actively publicized things that slapped and trampled on themselves showed that Wang Taoshan and the other two were worthy of being masters with strong wills.

The reason why the formation of Yang Lei Zhenyan in the Elbrus Mountains and Zhu Chengwu's popularity rose so quickly is not only because the Ming Dynasty is Zhu Chengwu's birthplace and has the foundation of the popularity caused by Zhu Chengwu 25 years ago, but also because the Ming Dynasty is also the basic base of Wang Taoshan, Yang Yanwu and Lu Shangjun.

Wang Taoshan and three others used themselves as a springboard for publicity, which made people believe it!

What's more, the three dynasties that suffered the greatest losses in the rumor, the Qing Dynasty, the Yuan Dynasty and the Song Dynasty, did not come out to refute or clarify. Although the rumored performance of Zhu Chengwu in the Yang Lei Zhen Yan formation event in the Elbrus Mountains was unbelievable, after everyone regained their senses, they knew that the credibility of this rumor was not low.

Zhu Chengwu fought against thirteen people at the Elbrus Mountains and won the final victory. Before such record and facts were finally disproven, the major forces in the Ming Dynasty did not dare to control the spread of rumors that were obviously fanned by the three masters including Wang Taoshan and the grand master Zhu Chengwu behind the scenes.

Even after the major forces in the Ming Dynasty discovered that behind these rumors were the shadows of three masters including Wang Taoshan and the grand master Zhu Chengwu, they not only did not stop the spread of the rumors, but instead fanned the flames in order not to offend or please them.

This is also one of the reasons why Zhu Chengwu’s popularity rose so quickly and the formation of the Yang Lei Zhenyan in the Elbrus Mountains caused such widespread discussion.

"Old He, if this Marquis Fu'an you mentioned is so powerful, how come I have never heard of his name since I was born? On the contrary, the name of the dynasty's number one expert, the owner of the Hulong Villa, the Iron-Dare Divine Marquis, is well-known!"

Just as Old Man He was recounting Zhu Chengwu's deeds, a young spectator in the teahouse suddenly questioned.

Wherever he went recently, all he heard was the name and deeds of Zhu Chengwu, the Marquis of Fu'an, which had already made this die-hard fan of Zhu Wusi extremely dissatisfied.

Today he finally couldn't hold back any longer and publicly refuted the storyteller in the teahouse.

"Iron-hearted Divine Marquis? Is that my Thirteenth Brother? I didn't expect that after I disappeared for twenty-five years, my Thirteenth Brother would eventually reach the position he should be in."

After hearing the young man's words, Zhu Chengwu was thoughtful.

Although the young man did not reveal who the Tiedan Shenhou he was talking about, Zhu Chengwu, who had the memories before his reincarnation, understood that the Tiedan Shenhou, the owner of Hulong Villa and the number one master of the dynasty mentioned by the young man, was his thirteenth brother, Zhu Wusi.

However, Zhu Chengwu's thoughtful expression was seen by Wang Taoshan, Yang Yanwu and Lu Shangjun, who were unconsciously observing Zhu Chengwu's expression and trying to figure out his intentions all the time, as a sign of Zhu Chengwu's dissatisfaction.

Also!

The propaganda jointly launched by the three great masters encountered an episode in front of Zhu Chengwu, the person involved.

Regardless of whether this scene was an accident or a low-probability event, Zhu Chengwu could not be blamed for being unhappy.

"Young man, you are still too young! You should know that twenty-five years ago, before Zhu Wusi rose to power, Marquis Fu'an was already the best fighter in the Ming Dynasty!
Moreover, Marquis Fu'an, the number one master of the Ming Dynasty, is recognized by the world, including all the masters and Yangshen!

The title of Zhu Wusi, the best master of the dynasty that you mentioned, is only the best master below the Grandmaster. The two are not at the same level at all and there is no comparison at all!"

Glancing at the change in Zhu Chengwu's expression, Lu Shangjun, a wandering wanderer, finally spoke for the first time before Wang Taoshan, a spiritual cultivator, and Yang Yanwu, a man from an aristocratic family.

Looking at Lu Shangjun who spoke with a hint of complacency, Wang Taoshan and Yang Yanwu were not moved at all.

After their initial thoughts, both of them vaguely realized that the change in Zhu Chengwu's expression just now did not seem to be due to displeasure, but for other reasons!

Therefore, Wang Taoshan and Yang Yanwu, who were thinking about the real reason behind Zhu Chengwu's change of expression, did not speak at the first time!
That’s why Lu Shangjun got there first!

(End of this chapter)