Chapter 46: A Way to Resolve?

  "Outer Gate?" Ning Ruxue furrowed her brow upon hearing Ye Wen's suggestion. She wasn't unclear about the meaning of Outer Gate, but did Shu Shan Sect really have the qualifications to establish an Outer Gate at this point?

  In the Jianghu, any sect that sets up an outer gate is always one of those famous large sects. If there are only a few people on their own mountain, and they don't have a big reputation, how can they possibly establish an outer gate? Even if they put up a sign recruiting direct disciples, it's unlikely anyone would come to pay respects, let alone join as an outer gate disciple.

  In the end, Shushan Sect doesn't have the capital to play those tricks that only big sects can afford. Ning Ruxue thought that Ye Wen would start thinking seriously about how to develop the sect during this period and become more mature as a person. However, looking at it now, there are still many immature ideas.

  "Senior brother, with our Shu Shan Sect's reputation, it's probably very difficult to recruit outer sect disciples..."

  Ye Wen nodded, this he naturally knew, in fact those principles he all understood, but at present the Shu Mountain Sect people were really too few, this situation always made him think of Yue Buqun's leadership under the Hua Shan Sect.

  All of them only have one junior sister by their side, and the large school has not a single disciple. Yue Buqun's kung fu has never been high, probably also related to his constant efforts to think about how to develop the school. By the time Mount Hua Sect recovered some vitality, he had already missed the best period for practicing martial arts.

  Ye Wen didn't want to end up like Yue Buqun, who was miserable. Although currently, the development momentum of his Shu Shan Sect seemed to be much stronger than that of Yue Buqun's Hua Shan Sect, this did not mean that he would definitely be better off in the future than that gentleman swordsman who had been forced to cultivate the Evil Sword Technique.

  What's more, such a large mountain gate, yet there isn't even anyone patrolling around. If someone really wanted to sneak in, they wouldn't encounter any obstacles at all. The only trouble would be that specially built grand high wall. As long as one could climb over it, then it would be up to whoever to cause trouble. Can't have Ye Wen and the others standing guard under the wall every day, can we?

  At that time, no one dared to rush into the Hua Shan Sect. This was because the Hua Shan Sect had long been a renowned major sect in the martial arts world. Although it had declined at that time, its prestige still lingered. Ordinary martial artists were afraid and wouldn't even think of rushing into the Hua Shan mountain gate.

  The Shu Shan Sect can't just do nothing, they don't have any reputation and if people find out that they've occupied such a large mountain and built such a magnificent gate, it's equivalent to openly telling everyone that they're rich! Some guys with ulterior motives will definitely start coveting the silver and wealth of the Shu Shan Sect, and when the time comes, those who come to do some "gentlemanly" business won't be few.

  Although Ye Wen wanted to establish the prestige of Shu Shan Sect at the grand ceremony in a few days, the effect could only be limited to a small number of people. Even some who had not seen it with their own eyes might not believe that an unheard-of sect had any great abilities. It couldn't wait until everyone's eyes turned green and ran to the door before thinking of a solution, right?

  Having said her concerns, Ning Ruxue also realized that this was indeed a trouble. After all, there were not only their family's sect on the Book Mountain, and who knows what evil intentions these neighbors might have. Moreover, the Shu Shan Sect's relationship with some of these sects was not good, so this problem did need to be solved early today.

  "Why not hire some bodyguards?" Xu Xian's idea was simple, and it had something to do with his background. If there were too few people and a lack of guards, couldn't they just spend some money to hire a few?

  But Xu Xian forgot that what he was supposed to be guarding was a martial arts sect, and if a sect couldn't even handle the task of guarding its own mountain gate without having to hire someone...

  Ye Wen naturally wouldn't miss this point, so he just smiled wryly and glanced at his junior brother who didn't respond.

  In addition, Ning Ruxue also looked at herself with an expression of "Are you stupid?", Xu Xian would have understood that he had said something foolish even if he was really a fool, let alone he wasn't a fool, and after careful consideration, he understood the key point.

  As the saying goes, "Literature has no first, martial arts have no second!" If the Shu Shan Sect can only rely on outsiders, it's afraid that in the future, they won't be able to mix in Jianghu anymore. It's better to close up shop early and focus on being a landlord in the mountains.

  "It all boils down to a matter of strength and reputation! If one's strength and reputation are sufficient, then even if the mountain gate is wide open, no one would dare to intrude, after all, nobody wants to provoke someone who is truly powerful."

  The current Shushan Sect has nothing but a large piece of land, and it has built a magnificent mountain gate. This is equivalent to letting a seemingly weak scholar who can't even tie a chicken sit with a large gold brick in a place surrounded by thieves, even if the scholar is not really weak, trouble will still come knocking on the door.

  "How can this be good?"

  Thinking of the current situation, Ning Ruxue couldn't eat her rice, her eyebrows furrowed so tightly they seemed to be twisted into a knot. Even Xu Xian, who was originally not worried, had a bitter look on his face, and he couldn't think of any good ideas either.

  For a moment, the whole table fell into silence. The two young eighth-generation disciples didn't even dare to breathe, standing there obediently - seeing their master's worried face, they didn't even dare to continue sitting down.

  It's just that standing still for a long time, both feet can't help but go numb. Yuen Ning is fine, after all, he comes from a martial arts family, although he hasn't practiced any profound kung fu, at least there's some foundation, so standing for this period of time doesn't count as anything for him. Zhou Zhiruo suffered instead, after all, she hadn't practiced any kung fu, and in the past half year, she had eaten a lot of bitter fruit, her body still not fully recovered, so she could only stand for a while before she couldn't hold on anymore.

  Although she bit her teeth and didn't dare say anything, her body involuntarily swayed a little, just hitting the stool beside her leg, making a slight noise. If it wasn't for Yue Ning's quick hand to support her, this little girl might have been tripped over by the stool.

  The two of them made a slight noise, but in such a quiet environment, it was particularly noticeable. Ye Wen turned his head to take a look at the two disciples, and seeing that they didn't seem to be doing anything out of the ordinary, he didn't pay much attention to it. However, this one glance caused a flash of inspiration in his mind, but it was vague and unclear, so he took another two glances, trying to figure out what that fleeting thought had been about.

  "Is it Zhi Ruo? No, she shouldn't have anything to do with her! That's... Yue Ning?"

  Thinking of Yue Ning, Ye Wen vaguely grasped something, but what exactly it was still eluded him.

  "Yue Ning... Yue Ning..." He couldn't think of anything related to Yue Ning, so Ye Wen shifted his thoughts to matters related to Yue Ning. Suddenly, his mind became clear.

  "Yue's family... Yue Hang! Yue Shan Pawnshop!" Thinking clearly, Ye Wen unconsciously slapped the table and laughed: "Right! How could I forget that?"

  His sudden movement startled everyone in the room, and Ning Ruxue was so frightened that she almost jumped up. Later, she realized that her reaction was a bit too extreme, but she blamed it on Ye Wen's sudden shout: "Brother, what's wrong with you?"

  Ye Wen smiled and waved his hand in apology, then asked his apprentice: "Ning'er, what's the usual background of the escorts and porters at your family's escort agency?"

  Yue Ning didn't know what his master meant, and respectfully replied: "They are all idlers recruited by Master in the county town, and some are Jianghu people who came to join us voluntarily!"

  Ye Wen asked again: "So your family's escorts have many who are not affiliated with any school? What kind of martial arts routines do they use?"

  It's likely that others wouldn't be clear about this, but Yue Ning had been training with the other escorts in the escort agency since he was young. Some people would also give guidance to this young master, so Yue Ning was very familiar with the origins of most escorts' skills: "The escorts who came to join us all had their own skills to begin with, and each person's lineage is different. A few are even from outside the region! As for those escorts who were promoted within our agency, they only learned some basic punches and kicks, or received guidance from my father or Uncle Gong Sun!"

  Ye Wen nodded slightly, it seemed that the escorts of Yue Shan Escort Agency were indeed as simple as he had expected, with uncomplicated composition and background. In that case, his previous thoughts might actually be feasible.

  Having asked this, Ye Wen didn't say anything more and instead turned to his junior sister and Xuan Xian saying: "Our outer sect disciples have a place to go!"

  This sentence made Ning Ruxue inexplicably puzzled, but Xu Xian seemed to have thought of something, although he didn't speak either, and just sat waiting for Ye Wen to announce the answer.

  Who would have thought that Ye Wen didn't have the slightest interest in explaining, perhaps to show off his superiority, he pretended to be mysterious, after saying that sentence, he casually waved his hand to signal everyone to continue eating, and then he didn't speak again. After finishing dinner, he went back to his room directly, Ning Yuxue was furious, staring at his back with wide eyes.

  He didn't really pretend to be mysterious, it's just that although the matter had a result, whether it succeeded or not was still uncertain. Before things made substantial progress, he simply didn't need to say everything. If the matter succeeded, then it would be fine, but if it didn't succeed, it would make him appear impulsive and lacking in stability.

  He returned to his room, sat down and cultivated his inner energy, then carefully recalled the insights he gained from practicing the cotton palm today. He couldn't help but try out the techniques of using force in his room again, and by the time he finished, it was already deep into the night. He turned over and fell asleep on his bed.

  On the second day, Ye Wen was gone for a whole day again, and didn't even go to check on the sect's construction projects. He only returned in the evening without anyone calling him, ate dinner, and then went back to his room and closed the door, not coming out. Ning Xue didn't know what her senior brother was busy with either, but she also didn't ask too many questions. Over the past half year, she had gotten used to Ye Wen's mysterious behavior.

  When the day stipulated by him for the workers had passed, Ye Wen thought of going to take a look at the progress of the project. He walked through the previously reserved doorway and came to the front of the main hall. Ye Wen saw that the originally chaotic front yard was now completely new, with stone slabs paved directly connecting the main hall and the gate.

  At the same time, a high and new wall around the courtyard also made the front yard look like a front yard, no longer empty and frame-like as if it were in the wilderness.

  Seeing the results of their work, Ye Wen nodded and praised: "Not bad!" Then he gave out some silver coins as a reward and settled part of the wages for some temporary workers who were called to come down the mountain and return home.

  After finishing all these things, he began to look forward to tomorrow's grand entrance ceremony!