Huaiguo.

Yongzhou.

Yangshan Village.

Hua Ying squatted by the stream, rolled up her sleeves and stirred the half-muddy river water, enduring the biting cold and slowly probing into the water.

Finally, with a splash, a piece of jet-black mud was fished out of the water.

It was an old piece of mud, dark brown, with a little wilted aquatic weed root entangled, and a faint fishy smell.

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

Hua Ying blinked, carefully looking at the mud in her hand, and keenly spotted the object inside.

It was a piece of jade wrapped in mud wrapped in grass roots, revealing only one small corner.

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

In order to observe more closely, Hua Ying put the mud back into the water and stirred, and soon, as the stream became more and more muddy, the full appearance of the jade was revealed.

It's not jade, it's jade.

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

Hua Ying is still the first time to touch the jade pendant, in the past she has only seen it on the ornaments worn by the nobles in the town, it is much more beautiful than the one she has in her hand now, the green one is very good-looking, and some will emit a faint fluorescence.

"Could it have been who left it here?"

Hua Ying looked left and right, this is the closest stream to the village, and there is a big mountain in the distance, usually no outsiders will come here at all, only the villagers of this village will come here to fetch water and laundry, and the most she sees are some small animals in the mountains.

It looks like this jade pendant must have been lost here for a long time.

"Wait a minute, take it home and show it to your parents!"

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

"Big cow, don't eat it, go home."

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

Hua Ying grinned, turned over and rode up, and drove the green ox to the village.

It seems that there is something big today, as soon as she returns to the village, Hua Ying feels that the noise is extraordinary, and there are villagers coming and going everywhere, and her expression is happy.

She stopped an acquaintance nearby and asked, "Dog baby, is there a happy event in our village, why are the adults in a hurry?" ”

The dog baby is a little fat man with a runny nose, but at the age of seven or eight years old, he is only half the height of a cow, so he can only tilt his head and say: "Sister Erya, go home quickly, your mother is looking for you everywhere, someone from our village is here!" ”

Erya is Huaying's nickname, and the children in their village call each other by their nicknames, never by their big names.

"Someone's coming?"

Hua Ying was very curious, what kind of person could make the adults in the village so nervous?

Hua Ying, who couldn't figure it out, had to hurry to her home, and as soon as she arrived at the door, she saw a plainly dressed woman anxiously looking around at the door.

"Mother."

"Girl, you're back, quick, go to the village with your mother." The woman hurriedly stepped forward.

"Mother, who is there in our village, why are you panicking?"

"I'll tell you about this later, go to the village entrance first, don't be late, it'll be delayed if it's late!"

Hua Ying just got off the cow's back, and before she could ask clearly, she was dragged away by her mother, and the cow didn't even bother to tie it up.

Fortunately, she asked questions along the way, and finally figured out what was going on.

There are people from the village, and it is the people from the Huadao Sect who come here to select the beginner disciples, which is a miracle that has not been encountered for decades.

Yangshan Village is located in the middle of nowhere, close to the mountains, and is a sparsely populated area, and it is not uncommon for a big faction of rivers and lakes like Huadaomen, which is based on a county, to recruit disciples from such a poor small mountain village.

Hua Ying has no knowledge of Huadaomen, she has never left the village since she was a child, and the farthest is only to go to the town to see a doctor, where have she seen the ups and downs on the rivers and lakes.

To her, it was just a very distant thing.

What's more, the matter of the Sword Transformation Sect recruiting disciples doesn't seem to have anything to do with her.

"Girl, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! I heard your father say, if you can become an introductory disciple of this sword transformation sect, you won't have to worry about food and clothing for most of your life! If you are lucky, you will learn a martial art from a master, and you will be regarded as a person with a head and a face in our Qingyang Town in the future. The woman babbled and complained.

Qingyang Town is the largest town within a radius of 100 miles, and it is twenty or thirty miles away from Yangshan Village, and it is the place where the villagers in this small mountain village most often deal with.

"Mother, can I do it......" Hua Ying looked down at her body, and her voice was low.

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

"Alas, you have to try it anyway, I heard that these sects value 'qualifications' very much, as long as the qualifications are good, they will accept them."

When the woman said this, she was also very uncertain, what exactly is 'qualification', where does she know what a peasant woman in a mountain village knows.

Don't talk about her, even if you ask the entire Yangshan Village, I'm afraid you won't be able to find anyone who knows.

The word had only spread throughout the village half an hour earlier.

The people turned into a knife and let out a voice directly, saying that they only accept disciples with good qualifications, and those with bad qualifications should not be accepted.

So, after thinking about it, each family called their own age dolls and prepared to try the situation together.

Hua Ying is not the only child in the family, she has two older brothers above her, but unfortunately she has already become an adult, at such an age, if she wants to join the Sword Gate to practice martial arts, don't even think about it.

On the contrary, it is Hua Ying, although she is a female baby, but her age is very consistent, she just turned nine years old this year, and she just meets the age requirements of the Huadaomen for new disciples.

Eight to fourteen years old is the best age to lay the foundation for initial martial arts, beyond which it is difficult to achieve anything in the future, even if you are talented.

Not long after, Hua Ying came to the entrance of the village with her mother, where many villagers had already gathered, and a large area of black pressure was pressed. In addition, her father was also there, but the two brothers did not show up, and they should have just gone to the neighboring village to work as helpers at this time.

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

Hua Ying walked over and stood beside each other obediently.

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

Dog baby, two stunned children, two cows, three lepers, big girls, etc., are all her daily playmates, and they all follow their parents and elders at home.

In addition to these villagers, there were several strangers dressed in uniform and holding swords.

Just when Hua Ying was secretly looking at it and thinking secretly in her heart, the man in black who was more than forty years old among these people suddenly stepped forward, looked around at the surrounding villagers, and said loudly:

"Fellow villagers, fathers and elders, today I came here to open the mountain gate and be treated so warmly, Zhang Mou thanked me first. Next, if there are children in each family who are willing to worship under our sect, please step forward, and those who have passed the test can become the initiation disciples of our sect! ”

This person is gorgeously dressed and has an extraordinary appearance, I am afraid that his status in the Transformation Knife Sect will not be very low. However, although he is a well-known son of a big faction in the rivers and lakes, he speaks very politely, without any arrogance, and has won the respect of many villagers for a while.

"This senior, my family's baby is very that... What 'qualifications', willing to worship your door. ”

"Senior, my baby is smart when she is young, she can read and write as soon as she learns, and she is definitely the material for practicing martial arts!"

"My baby can fight, one can fight several! When he goes crazy, he even beats his father! You can't go wrong with him! ”

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

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

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

Soon, there were about thirty or so school-age children lined up, most of them boys and only a few girls.

Hua Ying is also among them.

Although her age is not very old, the girl will be taller than the boy of the same age at this age, so she is ranked relatively low, and the people in front of her team are some seven or eight years old, and there are some eleven or twelve.

Then, under the command of the man in black, the two young men in blue began to check the qualifications of the children one by one.

"Zhang Daniu, don't pass."

"Li Erzhu, don't pass."

"Sun Ergou, pass."

"Han Tie, pass."

“......”

As time passed, amid the shouts of the two young men in blue, the children who passed the test were arranged together, and those who did not pass returned to their parents in frustration.

At this moment, Hua Ying looked at the smaller and smaller queues in front of her, and her heart was nervous, and a fine sweat had already appeared in the palms of her hands.

The number of people who passed was so small that she watched one child after another leave, and only a few passed the test. Moreover, the few girls in the team were all unsuccessful.

When inspecting the boys, the two young men in blue would touch the top of their heads and arms a few times, but when they were girls, they didn't look at them much, as if they hadn't thought about it at all, and completely ignored them.

Could it be that this sword gate only accepts male disciples?

Hua Ying didn't have much expectation of whether she could pass the test, so she didn't dare to think about it.

Soon, two young men in blue surveyed her.

"Name."

"Flowers."

Hua Ying no longer had any expectations in her heart, and slowly reported her name.

However.

"Flowers... Not passed. ”

One of the young men in blue shook his head when he saw it, and directly pronounced the death sentence.

Hearing this, Hua Ying breathed a sigh of relief, secretly disappointed in her heart, and suddenly felt a little relieved.

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

"Wait a minute."

At this time, the black-clothed man in the distance, who had been watching all along, swept his gaze over, and suddenly stopped Hua Ying's departure.