Under One Person: The Seeker of the Dao in the Lü Family

Chapter 88 Encountering Ding Shian on the Road, You Lose

After descending from Jiuding Tiesha Mountain, Lü Qian headed west towards Shanhaiguan.

He did not go to Fengtian to meet with Lü Ci, who had rushed over.

Lu Qian, the wanderer, has his own path to walk, and Lu Ci, the old man, also has his own deep-seated hatred to avenge.

Both the old and the young have their own paths, and it's not yet time for their paths to intersect.

Lu Qian carried two bundles on his back, walking and stopping along the way without any sense of urgency.

Ultimately, Sun Wukong's journey of 108,000 li to obtain the scriptures was not just about rushing along; he also experienced many hardships along the way, which were beneficial to his cultivation.

Now, although the journey of Lü Qian, this traveler, is of unknown length and duration, the destination is there. If he keeps walking, he will reach it one day.

The local customs and the hardships and setbacks encountered along the way, just like the eighty-one tribulations in "Journey to the West," allowed Lü Qian, the traveler, to gain his own rewards.

At night, the stars and moon hang high in the dark sky, their bright moonlight and dazzling starlight mingling together and spreading across the silent world.

Lu Qian looked at the distant, continuous passes, which were Shanhaiguan, the junction of Northeast and North China.

He came in from there a month ago, and he will come out from there now.

In the darkness, Lü Qian walked calmly, his eyes flashing with what seemed like golden flames.

"I'm back, but this is just the beginning."

He passed through the pass, stood under the gate tower, looked up at the three large characters "Shanhaiguan" on the plaque, and resolutely walked into the distance again.

Lu Qian walked at a leisurely pace, and around midnight, he arrived at a mountain path.

"Come out. Coming here in the middle of the night doesn't seem like the behavior of a good person."

The night wind blew through the leaves that had turned completely yellow, and the hard leaves fell straight down with a rustling sound as they rubbed against each other.

Lu Qian stood on the path, turned his eyes to look into the distance, and in the blink of an eye, a flash of golden light and flames passed by, and he could see the face of the person clearly from afar.

A figure slowly emerged from the distant woods. He was quite robust, with only a few inches of hair on his head.

He moved swiftly, and his eyes gleamed with a sharp light, clearly indicating that he was a skilled martial artist.

"I, Ding Shian, a recluse, have come to seek guidance from [Little Lü Zu]!"

The newcomer was none other than Ding Shian, who had gained considerable popularity by challenging various martial arts schools and sects during this period. He and another rising star of the same age were now being referred to by well-meaning people as the "Two Heroes".

As for Lü Qian, because he was born into the Quanzhen sect and his surname was Lü, he was jokingly called "Little Lü Zu" by busybodies in the circle.

However, since he has not compared himself to the two heroes, it is difficult to determine who is superior among the three.

Upon hearing Ding Shian's address, Lü Qian raised an eyebrow. In the end, the majority of people in this world are ignorant and complacent, even those who have awakened Qi.

Ding Shian stopped twenty paces away from Lü Qian, showing the same courtesy even to Lü Qian, who was younger than him.

He clasped his hands in a fist salute to Lü Qianyi and said in a deep voice, "When you were sweeping away the Quanxing sect, I was in East China at the time. Although I tried to catch up with you, I still couldn't keep up with your pace."

"I have been waiting outside Shanhaiguan for a month this time, sincerely seeking your advice. Please do your best."

Ding Shian has been facing challenges everywhere lately, but he has one worry.

Although others always patiently competed with him, they always held back during the competition, which made him feel both admiration and helplessness.

The word "competition" destined him to fail from the very beginning.

If someone is being kind and going easy on you out of courtesy, you can't force them to use murderous methods in the competition.

This left him somewhat unsatisfied, because his goal was to surpass all people and things that could threaten him.

After an accidental injury when he was a child, Ding Shian felt that he was too weak and that there were many things in the world that could threaten his life.

Therefore, he worked hard to cultivate himself, hoping to gain enough security.

With his exceptional talent and impeccable manners, he successfully cultivated a wide network of connections, and the powerful groups that approached him were always willing to teach him a thing or two.

Along the way, Ding Shian relied on "eating from a hundred families and learning a hundred skills" to achieve a level of cultivation that can be considered top-notch in the world of supernatural beings.

If Ding Shian were talented enough, his path could have become "integrating all methods into one, drawing from a hundred schools to form one school," truly achieving the goal of all methods giving rise to one path, and one path leading to all paths.

However, in Lü Qian's view, Ding Shian was not enlightened at the moment and was still only at the superficial level of "seeking the Dharma," which was completely different from his own pursuit of the core of "seeking the Way."

Ding Shian's obsession with becoming stronger trapped him, preventing him from broadening his path.

Lu Qian never excessively criticizes others' paths, but he is generous in offering guidance, leaving behind a few "Daoist companions" for himself to debate his own path.

For a spiritual practitioner, Dharma, wealth, companions, and environment are all indispensable.

【侣】 refers to a fellow traveler or a like-minded person.

Faced with Ding Shian's challenge, Lü Qian did not refuse and threw the two bundles he was carrying high into the air.

Upon seeing this, Ding Shian's eyes flashed with a burning light. At his level, apart from those long-established old monsters in the world of supernatural beings, the rest were not worth fearing.

The reason he came to find Lü Qian this time was twofold: first, he was attracted by Lü Qian's cultivation level which could sweep away all obstacles in the entire sect; second, Lü Qian's reputation for being ruthless and decisive made him certain that the other party would not hold back or be perfunctory.

Seeing Lü Qian drop his burden, he understood that the other party had accepted his challenge.

The moment the bundle slipped from their hands, both of them vanished from their original positions.

"boom!"

The two figures collided in the middle, and a powerful shockwave swept through the entire forest, causing fallen leaves to flutter and drift everywhere in the woods.

A moment later, Lü Qian's arms turned with his body, and his Tai Chi energy entangled Ding Shian's strength, neutralizing three-tenths of its sharpness.

Ding Shian's eyes changed. With one hand above and the other below, he clenched his fists and thrust them towards Lü Qian. A powerful force accumulated from Lü Qian's legs, along his waist, and up to his shoulders, before surging out with the punch.

Arhat Fist

The force of the punch brought forth gusts of wind, rushing straight towards Lü Qian opposite him, as if trying to break through the Tai Chi force that was both soft and hard with its full-body strength.

Lu Qian did not dodge the incoming fist. He used the "Grasp the Sparrow's Tail" technique to catch the incoming fist, and then followed up with a "Crushing Fist" move, carrying the opponent's fist force back to strike Ding Shian.

Undeterred by his momentum, Lü Qian stepped forward, his fierce momentum amplified, and the force of his Bengquan (a type of fist strike) blasted even more fiercely towards Ding Shian.

The force of the punch compressed the air, carrying the ferocity of a landslide, and slammed towards Ding Shian's face.

The fierce wind arrived in front of Ding Shian in the blink of an eye along with the fist's movement. He stomped his foot, shouting continuously, and his aura became even stronger.

"Ya ya ya ya ya ya".

Iron Wire Fist

This boxing style uses the secret twelve tones to activate one's internal organs, cultivate a breath of true qi, exhale and make a sound, release without releasing, retain without retaining, and strengthen the body's strength.

The muscles on his neck bulged, and he turned his head and bent down to deliver a powerful elbow strike to Lü Qian's chest.

"Tsk, you know a lot, and you use it quite well, but there's still something missing."

Lu Qian swung his fist down, forcing Ding Shian back. As his hands moved up and down, the force rippled like waves, leaving ripples in the air.

"Again!"

In the blink of an eye, the two had exchanged nearly ten blows, their movements becoming afterimages as they darted and weaved through the trees.

As time went on, the surge of energy around Lü Qian became increasingly pronounced, reaching an extremely high level.

As the Taoist robe billowed, a powerful force arose and vanished, only to rise again and again.

Faced with the endless, ever-accumulating force, like ocean waves, Ding Shian gradually became overwhelmed.

"Seven layers of power, this punch is the end!"

With a sudden swing of his fist, which was wrapped in layers of waves, the surging waves crashed towards Ding Shian, engulfing him completely.

Lu Qian reached out and caught the two bundles that fell from the sky, then put them back on his back.

"You lost!"