My Apprenticeship to Uncle Jiu: I Was a Warlord in the Republic of China

Chapter 168: The Innate Eight Trigrams Formation

"As it should be, I greet you, senior brother." Jiang Li bowed to Shi Shaojian as a peer, and Shi Shaojian naturally returned the bow.

If outsiders saw this, they would certainly praise them for being friendly and respectful to each other, but the actual situation is only known to themselves: one person bows because of the other person's power, while the other bows just to show off.

"Junior Brother Jiang, I wonder which county you are the county magistrate of and how many men and guns you have under your command?" Shi Shaojian asked with interest.

Upon hearing this, Shi Jian scolded, "Is this something you should be asking about? You don't even know the rules!"

"It's okay, it's okay, Master, there's no need to react so strongly. We are all fellow disciples, so there's no harm in talking."

Then he explained to the two people, "I am the county magistrate of Teng Teng County, which is 150 miles away from here. I have 3,000 to 4,000 people under my command, but they are all stationed in the garrison and cannot leave without permission, so I only mobilized 1,000 people to come here this time."

When Shi Jian and his son heard that Jiang Li actually had three or four thousand men, they exclaimed in surprise. When they saw Jiang Li looking back, they both felt a little embarrassed.

Fortunately, Shi Jian had seen the world and immediately changed the subject, "My nephew, since you are a disciple of Maoshan, how did you get involved in this war? Wouldn't this affect your future practice?"

"This is a long story. I will explain it to my uncle and brothers later when I have time. Let's first deal with the escaped ghost today!"

As he spoke, Jiang Li stretched out his hand towards the awning about ten meters ahead and made a gesture of invitation.

Seeing this, Shi Jian and his son stopped asking questions, straightened their clothes and strode inside.

But after the three of them took two steps, they heard a conversation coming from inside, "Let's wait for the eldest brother to come before making a decision!"

"So many people are waiting for him, who does he think he is?"

When Shi Jian and his son heard this, they almost exploded with anger, because when they heard the voice they knew that this must be a young man, but he was so disrespectful to his teachers. To say that he was disrespectful was a compliment, this was simply uncultured.

So he pushed open the fence and walked in with an angry look on his face.

As soon as he entered, he saw that everyone's faces were full of surprise. They looked at a young man next to Lin Jiu. He immediately understood that the person standing behind Lin Jiu must be his apprentice, and the words just now should have been said by this kid.

When Uncle Jiu heard Qiu Sheng talking like this, he was about to scold him, but at this moment the fence was pushed open, and the person who came was Shi Jian, whom he and others had been discussing. Seeing this, he immediately stood up and saluted to him awkwardly.

As for why it was embarrassing, it was because I was saying bad things about someone behind their back and someone heard it.

Although he didn't say those words, Qiu Sheng was his apprentice after all, which made him feel a little uncomfortable. For a moment, he forgot to scold and teach Qiu Sheng a lesson.

However, Shi Jian thought that Uncle Jiu was trying to embarrass him on purpose and let such a junior lose face, so he snorted coldly and walked to the chair in front of the incense table in the middle and sat down.

Then he asked angrily, "Who did this?"

"They are my two unsuccessful apprentices, Ah Hao and Ah Qiang." Uncle Jiu explained in a tone that was three points weaker than usual.

Shi Jian naturally would not miss this opportunity and deliberately dug a hole, "What do you mean by unsuccessful?"

"Master, if one is unsuccessful, it's probably because he is stupid or dumb, or his brain is not working well!" Shi Shaojian immediately filled in the blank.

Jiang Li saw that something was not right and immediately stepped forward to help. "Master, you should ask Senior Brother Qiu Sheng to apologize to the Master Uncle. I think the Master Uncle's sharp words at this moment are precisely because of Senior Brother Qiu Sheng's rude words just now!"

When Uncle Jiu and his fellow disciples heard this, they immediately realized that this must be the case. After all, anyone would be unhappy to be ridiculed in person by a junior.

"Qiu Sheng, why don't you apologize to your master uncle? You are totally disrespectful to your elders. Is this what your master taught you?"

Qiu Sheng saw that everyone's eyes were not very friendly, and he also realized that he had offended everyone. He immediately bowed and clasped his fists to Shi Jian, "Master, please don't blame me. I hope you will forgive me."

"Humph, Junior Brother Lin, do you think this is an apology? There is no sincerity at all.

Uncle Jiu frowned upon hearing this, but after all, he was in the wrong first, so he said to Qiu Sheng in a stern voice, "Kneel down, apologize sincerely, and ask your master uncle to forgive you!"

Qiu Sheng was stunned when he heard this. "I just said something wrong. Do I have to kowtow and apologize?"

"Don't you want to listen to your master?" Uncle Jiu asked sternly.

Seeing this, Qiu Sheng finally knelt down helplessly and kowtowed to Shi Jian, "Junior Meng Lang, I spoke without thinking at the time, now I sincerely regret it, please forgive me, Master!"

Shi Jian saw Qiu Sheng kneeling on the ground and kowtowed, then he nodded magnanimously, "Now that looks like an apology. Get up, let's forget about it. Be careful with your words and actions in the future, so as not to offend narrow-minded people and bring disaster upon yourself!"

After hearing this, Qiu Sheng stood up and retreated behind Uncle Jiu.

"Let's not waste time on small talk and now let's talk about how to solve this problem!" Shi Jian said with a proud look on his face.

Upon hearing this, Uncle Jiu clasped his fists towards Shi Jian and said, "I have discussed with my fellow apprentices and decided to use the Xiantian Bagua Formation to capture these ghosts. I wonder what you think, Senior Brother!"

"The Xiantian Bagua formation is suitable. Let's do it this way. It's getting late now. Everyone should prepare and subdue all these ghosts tonight to avoid more troubles!"

Because Qiu Sheng had already apologized, Shi Jian did not hold on to it. He just casually told his fellow disciples to prepare.

But he still asked, "I just don't know, have you discussed who will lead those ghosts out?"

Shi Shaojian was a person who loved to show off, so he immediately stepped forward to take the job, but was stopped by a look from Shi Jian.

Then he made it clear, "It would be great if one person could do the job and take the responsibility!"

Uncle Jiu had nothing to say when he heard this. "Ah Qiang and Ah Hao, this matter was caused by you guys in the first place. You guys should go and lure those ghosts out. It just so happens that you guys are in bad luck right now, so I don't think it will take much effort."

The two did not want to agree at first, but seeing so many people present looking at them with scrutiny, they finally agreed under pressure.

Soon everything was prepared and the Xiantian Bagua Formation was set up smoothly. Ah Hao and Ah Qiang, following Uncle Jiu's instructions, each carried a load of tofu and sold it on the street late at night.

As a result, before they could trick the ghost into eating a piece, the female ghost named Xiaoli tricked them into revealing all their secrets. Because of their bad luck, they were surrounded by a large number of ghosts without realizing it.

Fortunately, Jiang Li gave each of them a few talismans and two magic chicken feathers, which allowed them to break out of the encirclement and successfully lead the ghost into the Xiantian Bagua formation outside the town.