Xianyu asked

Chapter 1 Jade Pendant
Nostalgia.

Yongzhou.

Yangshan Village.

Huaying was squatting by the stream, stirring the half-muddy river water with her sleeves rolled up, slowly poking into the water enduring the biting cold.

Finally, with a splash, a piece of black mud was fished out of the water by her.

This is an old piece of mud, dark brown, entwined with some withered water grass roots, and exudes a faint fishy smell.

"Sure enough, there's something in there."

Huaying blinked her eyes, looked carefully at the lump of mud she was holding in her hand, and keenly discovered the objects inside.

It was a jade stone wrapped in grass roots and wrapped in mud with only a small corner exposed.

The color is very light, grayish, and if you don't look closely, you might mistake it for an ordinary stone.

In order to observe more carefully, Huaying put the mud into the water and stirred again. Soon, as the stream became more and more muddy, the full appearance of the jade was revealed.

It's not jade, it's jade pendant.

It is about the size of a child's palm, round, with patterns carved on it, without the slightest brilliance, and looks very simple.

It was the first time for Huaying to touch a jade pendant. In the past, she had only seen it on the ornaments worn by the nobles in the town. It was much more beautiful than the one she is holding now. It also emits a faint fluorescence.

"Who could have left it here?"

Huaying looked left and right, this is the creek closest to the village, and there are mountains in the distance. Usually, no outsiders come here, only the villagers of the village come here to carry water and wash clothes. The most she sees are some Small animals in the mountains.

It seems that this jade pendant should have been left here for a long time.

"Take it home later and show it to your parents!"

Huaying didn't think much about it, she carefully put the jade pendant in her arms, got up and walked towards the other side of the stream.

"Daniu, don't eat, go home."

A green cow grazing by the river heard the cry, turned its head and mooed at her, as if responding to something.

Hua Ying giggled, turned over and rode on, and drove the green bull to the village.

There seemed to be some big event today, as soon as Huaying came back to the village, she felt the extraordinary noise, villagers were coming and going everywhere, and they all looked very happy.

She stopped an acquaintance nearby and asked, "Gouba, is there a happy event in our village? Why are the adults in such a hurry?"

Gouwa is a little fat man with a runny nose, only seven or eight years old, and half the height of a cow, so he can only raise his head and say, "Sister Erya, go home quickly, your mother is looking for you everywhere. There are people from our village!!"

Erya is Huaying's nickname. In her village, the children all call each other by nicknames, and never call each other by their first names.

"Anyone here?"

Huaying was very curious, who came to make the adults in the village so nervous?
Huaying couldn't figure it out, so she had to rush to the house. As soon as she arrived at the door, she saw a plainly dressed woman looking around anxiously at the door.

"mother."

"Girl, you're back. Come on, go to the entrance of the village with your mother." The woman hurried forward with small steps.

"Mother, who is here in our village, why are you in such a panic?"

"I'll tell you about this later. Go to the entrance of the village first. Don't be late. If you are late, you will delay the matter!"

As soon as Huaying got off the cow's back, she was dragged away by her mother before she could ask clearly, and the cow didn't bother to tie it up.

Fortunately, she walked and asked along the way, and finally figured out what happened.

There are people coming from the village, people from Huadaomen, who come here to select disciples, this is a rare event that has not happened in decades.

Yangshan Village is located in a remote area, close to the mountains, and it is a sparsely populated area. It is not uncommon for a big faction like Huadaomen, which dominates a county, to recruit disciples in such a poor mountain village.

Huaying didn't know much about Huadaomen. She had never left the village since she was a child, and the farthest she went was to the town to see a doctor. She had never seen the ups and downs in the rivers and lakes.

To her, it was just a very distant thing.

What's more, the recruitment of disciples by Huadaomen seems to have nothing to do with her.

"Girl, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! I heard from your father that if you can become an introductory disciple of the Huadao Sect, you will have no worries about food and clothing for most of your life! If you are lucky, you can learn a martial arts from a master's sect. In our Qingyang Town, he can be regarded as a respectable person." The woman was rambling.

Qingyang Town is the largest town with a radius of [-] miles. It is [-] to [-] miles away from Yangshan Village. It is the place where the villagers in this small mountain village often deal with each other. They usually go to Qingyang Town to sell some mountain products or to see a doctor.

"Mom, can I do it?" Huaying looked down at her body with a low voice.

She has been weak and sick since she was a child, and she doesn't look like she can practice martial arts.

"Hey, you have to try it no matter what. I heard that these sects value 'qualification' very much. As long as the qualifications are good, they will be accepted."

When the woman said this, she was also very uncertain. How could she, a peasant woman in a mountain village, know what "qualification" is.

Let alone her, even if you ask all over Yangshan Village, you probably won't be able to find anyone who knows about it.

This word only spread throughout the village half an hour ago.

Hua Dao Sect directly let out a voice, saying that it only accepts disciples with good aptitude, and those with bad aptitude will not be accepted at all.

Ever since, each family thought about it, and called their dolls of the right age, ready to test the situation together.

Huaying is not the only child in the family, she has two older brothers, but unfortunately they have already grown up, at this age, it is impossible to even think about joining Huadaomen to practice martial arts.

On the contrary, Huaying, although she is a girl, is quite suitable for her age. She just turned nine years old this year, and she just meets the age requirements for the new disciples of Huadaomen.

Eight to 14 years old is the best age to start practicing martial arts and lay a foundation. Beyond this age, no matter how talented one is, it is difficult to achieve success in the future.

Not long after, Huaying followed her mother to the entrance of the village. Many villagers had already gathered here, forming a dense area.In addition, her father was also there, but the two elder brothers did not show up. This time should just happen to be working as a helper in a neighboring village.

"Girl, come here quickly." A middle-aged man was beckoning, not very tall, with a kind face.

Huaying walked over and obediently stood beside her.

In addition to her father, Huaying also saw many children standing at the entrance of the village in twos and threes, laughing and playing.

Gou Wa, Er Leng Zi, Er Niu, San Lai Zi, Da Niu, etc. are all her playmates in normal times, and they all came here with their parents and elders at home.

Besides these villagers, there were also several tall and straight strangers in uniform, each holding a sword.

Just as Huaying was secretly looking at it and thinking about it, the leader of these people, a man in black in his forties, suddenly took a step forward, looked around at the villagers, and said loudly:

"Fathers and elders, today, I Huadaomen specially came here to open the mountain gate and received such warm treatment. I would like to thank Zhang in advance. Next, if there are children who are willing to worship under my sect, please ask Take a step forward, and those who pass the test can become my disciples!"

This person is gorgeously dressed and has an extraordinary appearance. I am afraid that his status in Huadaomen will not be very low.However, although he is a well-known disciple of the Dapai in Jianghu, he speaks very politely without any pretensions, and won the respect of many villagers for a while.

"Senior, my child has such...what kind of 'talent', and is willing to join the noble family."

"Senior, my baby has been smart since she was a child. She can read and write as soon as she is young. She is definitely good for martial arts!"

"My baby knows how to fight, and one can fight several! When he goes crazy, he even beats his father! It's definitely right to accept him!"

The villagers scrambled to push their dolls out, as if they were afraid that they would not be able to get the entry spot.

"Everyone be quiet, all the children are lined up according to their height, and the short ones stand forward."

The man in black presided over the order of the field calmly, and arranged for two other disciples in blue to be responsible for the investigation.

Soon, there were more than 30 school-age children lined up in sequence, most of them were boys, and only a few were girls.

Huaying is also among them.

Although her age is not very old, girls at this age will be taller than boys of the same age, so they are ranked at a relatively low position. The people in front of her are all seven or eight years old. There are also some one or two.

Then, under the order of the man in black, the two youths in blue began to check the qualifications of these children one by one.

"Zhang Daniu, no pass."

"Li Erzhu, no pass."

"Sun Ergou, pass."

"Han Tie, pass."

"."

As time passed, under the shouts of the two youths in blue, the children who passed the test were arranged together, and those who failed returned to their parents in despondency.

At this moment, Huaying looked at the dwindling line in front of her, feeling very nervous, and her hands were already sweating thinly.

The number of people who passed was too small. She watched one child after another leave. Only a few children passed the test.Moreover, the few girls in the team were all unsuccessful.

When inspecting boys, the two blue-clothed youths would even touch the top of their heads and arms a few times. When it was girls, they didn't even look at them. It seemed that they didn't think about it at all, and completely ignored them.

Could it be that this Huadao Sect only accepts male disciples?

Huaying didn't expect much about whether she could pass the test, so she didn't dare to think about it.

Soon, two youths in blue came to her place.

"Name."

"Flower."

Huaying no longer had expectations in her heart, and slowly announced her name.

however.

"Huaying. Not allowed."

One of the youths in blue looked at it, shook his head, and immediately sentenced him to death.

Hearing this, Huaying let out a sigh of relief, feeling secretly disappointed at the same time, suddenly felt a sense of peace of mind.

In this way, I don't have to leave my parents alone, which is good.

"Wait a moment."

At this time, the big man in black who had been watching from a distance swept his gaze over, and suddenly called to stop Huaying from leaving.

(End of this chapter)