In a small farmyard in a mountain village on an unknown hill, a middle-aged man put another middle-aged man who was unconscious on the bed and asked the young man next to him:

"Junior Brother Liu Huai, what happened? How did Junior Brother Che get so badly injured? Didn't you make careful arrangements? How did you still get caught up? If you hadn't asked me to come and help you just in case, you would have been killed."

Liu Huai looked at the unconscious Senior Brother Che on the bed and replied helplessly

"Brother Li, I'm unlucky this time. I met a powerful person."

When Senior Brother Li heard the word "powerful", he immediately thought of the talent for swordsmanship.

"A powerful person? Isn't his talent higher than yours?"

"Swordsmanship? He hasn't reached the talent level of the inner disciples of the four major sword sects, let alone the true disciples." Liu Huai shook his head, denying what Senior Brother Li said.

"That's far worse than you, how can you be a powerful person?" Senior Brother Li said dissatisfiedly.

Liu Huai quickly explained: "I'm not talking about his talent in swordsmanship, but his political wisdom, especially his observation skills. I felt like he saw through me with just a glance. He is such a scary person." Having said that, Liu Huai still felt a lingering fear.

"Oh, in that case, I will go back and kill him to prevent future troubles." Senior Brother Li is really a decisive person.

Liu Huai quickly dissuaded him, "Forget it. Qingshan Town has been hit by two demonic traces in a row. It must be under complete martial law now. Don't go and fall into their trap. Besides, his level is too low, so even his intelligence will be in vain. By the time he matures, Master and the others will have accomplished their mission. In the face of the trend of the times, the smarter people are, the better they will know how to make decisions. Who knows, he might become a great general in our Saint Sect in the future."

"Okay, I'll listen to you. He's lucky." Senior Brother Li reluctantly gave up the idea of ​​going to Qingshan Town to kill Li Feng.

…

In a blink of an eye, four months passed, and Li Feng was about to turn sixteen. Li Lei came to Li Feng's courtyard and said helplessly

"It seems that there is no hope for you to enter the Qingyun Sword Sect?"

He Lin looked at Li Lei in surprise and asked, "Why does my uncle have such a strange idea?"

"What's so strange about that? We are under the direct jurisdiction of the Qingyun Sword Sect. With your talent in swordsmanship, it's natural that you would be noticed by the Qingyun Sword Sect and accepted into the sect. How can that be strange?"

He Lin really didn't know how Li Lei came up with such an idea, so he had to explain

"Uncle, what do you think of the Four Great Sword Sects? We have become peripheral forces of the Jade Water Sword Sect. That's all we can be. Even if my sister and I are gone, as long as the Li family exists, we will be a peripheral force of the Jade Water Sword Sect. This will remain the case if nothing goes wrong with the Four Great Sword Sects."

"But we are just a peripheral force?" Li family has just become a noble family for less than ten years, and he really doesn't know much about these things. He also saw this knowledge in the book he recently borrowed from Liu family.

He Lin continued to explain to Li Lei the importance of external forces: "The external family forces are the wings of the four major sword sects and one of the most important components of the four major sword sects. Their selection is very strict and rigorous. Do you think this is just playing house? These are the rules set by the four major sword sects, and they must abide by them."

He Lin discussed the rules and continued, "If an outlying clan is in danger, they can seek help from the sect. If a clan is wiped out, the sect must avenge the outlying clan. This is the sect's obligation. Similarly, we outlying clans also have certain obligations, such as sending outstanding disciples to the sect, safeguarding the interests of the Sword Sect in the local area, suppressing the development of the Demon Sect, and so on."

"Is that so? Why didn't anyone tell us this?"

"Our situation is somewhat special. We are not under the direct jurisdiction of the Jade Water Sword Sect. Therefore, our only contribution to the Sword Sect is to send outstanding disciples. We are not required to do anything else."

"I see. How did you know?"

"Reading! The miscellaneous books borrowed from the Liu family, the heritage of a thousand-year-old aristocratic family, really... you can see it in the book collection."

"What a pity for your swordsmanship talent. Your swordsmanship talent is even higher than Yu'er's."

"Ah? Uncle, who said that? How did you come to such a perception?"

"Isn't it? Your cultivation speed is much faster than Yu'er's! Isn't your talent even stronger than Yu'er's?"

"Uncle, you really are... This is just something we can say at home. If it gets out, we'll be laughed to death."

"Why, your kendo talent is stronger than Yu'er's! This is a fact!"

"Uncle, I remember reading a book that had this record about the inner disciples of the Sword Sect—

"My cousin Kun's cultivation speed is far behind mine. One day, the sword light stopped, and the flying sword hung in front of Kun. Looking at Kun, he praised and said: 'You are a future swordsman. This is an inner disciple of our sect.' I then discussed with the clan leader, and our clan became a peripheral force, under the protection of the sect. Thirty years later, when we met again, Kun was indeed a swordsman."

Uncle, do you understand? Kendo talent isn't determined by your speed of cultivation at the Sword Apprentice level, but by some other talent. This talent determines your future as a swordsman.

This is the condition for the Sword Sect to accept them as inner disciples. As for true disciples, they may inevitably achieve a higher realm than the Sword Master.

I'm cultivating quickly in the Sword Apprentice realm, but such talent is not valued by the Four Great Sword Sects."

"What? It's actually like that! No wonder the folk song collectors didn't come?"

He Lin opened his mouth and wanted to say, even if I also have the qualifications of a true disciple, it is impossible for the Qingyun Sword Sect's envoy to come.

But looking at Li Lei's expression, forget it, let's just keep quiet. However, it really is true that the family's background is too poor, and they don't even know these common sense.

One reason is that they have been a noble family for a short time, and the other is that they are a peripheral family force of the Bishui Sword Sect, and are always incompatible with the peripheral family forces of the Qingyun Sword Sect around them and cannot integrate into them.

They were completely isolated, and no one told them the common sense that the Li family and other aristocratic families knew.

Fortunately, a few months ago, we dealt with the Sun family and the Liu family, and we can bring them in as external aid. It seems that in the future, we need to let our family members interact more with the people of the two families. We need to understand the most basic common sense!

He discussed the matter with Li Lei. As for whether to do it or not, he was leaving soon and couldn't interfere even if he wanted to. What's more, he was too lazy to take care of the family affairs.

In fact, the best way is for the family to leave the direct sphere of influence of the Qingyun Sword Sect and develop within the direct sphere of influence of the Bishui Sword Sect.

Unfortunately, it was hard to leave one's hometown. Li Yu wrote to persuade him many times, but it never happened. He Lin was even more unwilling to spend more time on these trivial matters.

He just arranged for a few trusted people to go to Bishui City in advance and left a few idle people in case of emergency.