Chaos begins when one joins a martial arts school

Chapter 43 Difficulty
In the carriage.

Yang Jing looked out through the carriage curtain. The night outside the city was much darker than that inside the city. Only a few lanterns swayed at the alley entrances, illuminating the huddled figures of the refugees.

Becoming stronger is not only for oneself, but also to gain more control in this chaotic world.

“Okay,” Yang Jing nodded in agreement, “I’ll give it a try then.”

Seeing that he agreed, Liu Maolin smiled and said, "That's right! With your abilities, you'll pass sooner or later. I'll find some past exam regulations for you later, so you can study them first."

The carriage stopped at the entrance of Tongyifang Street. Yang Jing said goodbye to Liu Maolin and got out of the carriage.

Chengpingfang and Tongyifang are adjacent to the inner city. The area was usually quite safe, but tonight is a different story.

As soon as I turned into an alley leading to my residence, I saw two groups of people gathered in an open space ahead, each holding sticks and knives, facing each other fiercely, looking ready to fight at any moment.

Yang Jing glanced at it, frowned slightly, and moved aside, not wanting to get involved in this mess. Just as he was about to walk around it, he heard one of the men with a thick beard yell at him, "What are you looking at? Are you tired of living?"

The shout was rough and harsh, filled with utter ferocity. Yang Jing paused, his gaze sweeping coldly over the shout.

Just then, a slightly overweight leader in a short jacket next to the man squinted and carefully examined Yang Jing a few times by the light of the lantern at the alley entrance. The more he looked, the more familiar Yang Jing seemed.

When he saw Yang Jing's figure clearly, he suddenly remembered something, his face changed instantly, and his heart skipped a beat, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, his body trembled.

"Snapped!"

Without saying a word, he slapped the bearded man across the face, leaving him dizzy and disoriented.

"You bastard! Can't you see?"

The slightly overweight leader muttered a curse under his breath, then put on a fawning smile, trotted over to Yang Jing, bowed deeply, and spoke with the utmost respect: "It's...it's Brother Yang! I'm so sorry, my men were ignorant and disturbed you, please don't take it to heart!"

As he spoke, he quickly pulled a heavy money bag from his pocket, weighed it in his hand, a look of pain flashed across his face, and then he gritted his teeth and forced the money bag into Yang Jing's hand: "This is just a small token to apologize to Brother Yang, please don't mind it."

Yang Jing squeezed the money pouch, estimating that there were about seven or eight taels of silver inside.

Before he could react, the leader bowed repeatedly and said, "Then we won't disturb Brother Yang's rest any longer. We'll be leaving now!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he waved his hand and led his group away from the alley like stray dogs, without looking back.

Upon seeing this, the leader of the other group, a scarred man, paused for a moment, then seemed to recall some rumor. His expression changed drastically, and he dared not linger any longer. He hurriedly called his men and slipped away silently.

In the blink of an eye, the alley that had been tense just moments before became deserted, leaving only Yang Jing standing there.

He looked down at the money bag in his hand, then glanced in the direction where the two groups of people had disappeared. His brows furrowed even more. Why did these gang members seem... afraid of him?
It seems the news of my breakthrough to the Dark Force realm has already spread?
What Yang Jing was unaware of was that the gangs in Yuhe County always paid close attention to the movements of various martial arts schools, especially large ones like the Sun Family Martial Arts School that were able to establish a foothold in the West District.

Those who can afford to open large martial arts schools must have a master of martial arts with profound internal strength behind them.

That's the pinnacle of combat power in Yuhe County. Which gang would dare to provoke them so easily?

Although the martial arts school has many disciples, the ones that gangs truly fear are the masters who have reached the level of internal energy.

Although these martial arts school disciples who have reached the level of internal strength rarely get involved in gang disputes, no one dares to provoke them. After all, the external strength can break wood and stone, and the internal strength can shatter metal and stone. If a fight really breaks out, ordinary gangs simply cannot withstand it.

Sun's Martial Arts School enjoys a high reputation in the West District, and the surrounding gangs have always been very familiar with the movements of the school's disciples.

The news of Yang Jing's breakthrough to the Dark Force level spread through the martial arts school the day before, and then through various channels to the ears of all the gangs, big and small, in the West District the day after.

To prevent their subordinates from offending this newly promoted master of internal strength, each gang specially commissioned the drawing of Yang Jing's portrait and distributed it to the gang's senior members, repeatedly instructing them: "This person is a newly promoted master of internal strength from the Sun Family Martial Arts School. You must not provoke him."

What also alarmed these gangs was the matter of the Righteous Gang.

After Zhao Meng and Qian Bao died, rumors quietly spread that before their deaths, the two had led a group of people to ambush Yang Jing.

Although there is no concrete evidence to prove that Yang Jing killed Zhao Meng and Qian Bao, the mere possibility of it is enough to make most of the Xicheng gangs carefully consider Yang Jing's worth.

The ability to silently eliminate the two leaders of the Righteousness Gang demonstrates their strength and decisiveness, making them no pushovers.

Thus, without Yang Jing's knowledge, he had become a force to be reckoned with in the gang circles of the West District.

The leader of that group had just seen Yang Jing's portrait and heard rumors about the Righteous Gang. Upon seeing the real person, how could he dare to act recklessly?

Apologize, give money, and leave as quickly as possible; that's the safest option.

Although the other gang didn't get a clear look at Yang Jing, seeing how wary their rival was, they quickly guessed what he looked like and naturally didn't dare to linger.

Yang Jing was still unaware of these intricacies. He carried the money bag and walked towards his home, soon arriving at the gate of the small courtyard.

He took out his key to unlock the door, then pushed open the courtyard gate. Yang Jing bolted the gate shut behind him, went into the main room, sat down at the table, and poured out the bag of silver.

Moonlight streamed through the window lattice onto the table, illuminating eight heavy, one-tael silver ingots.

"That's not bad, enough to buy eight or nine pounds of wild beast meat."

Yang Jing smiled and put the small silver ingots away.

After finishing, he stretched his body. The beast meat in his belly was still radiating warm energy, which flowed through his blood vessels to his limbs and bones, giving him inexhaustible energy.

"I might as well take advantage of this momentum and practice my internal strength again," Yang Jing muttered to himself as he walked to the open space in the courtyard.

With a lowered waist and a straight stance, the starting posture of the Mountain-Crushing Fist is slowly adopted.

As soon as the fist was thrust out, he felt the internal energy within his body was more active than usual, as if it were echoing the heat in his abdomen, surging and flowing through his meridians.

"drink!"

With a low shout, he unleashed a "Stone-Splitting" move, the force of his fist carrying a faint whooshing sound as it passed by.

This punch no longer pursues brute force, but instead concentrates hidden energy on the fist surface, which suddenly explodes the moment it hits the air, as if an invisible stone explodes in front of you.

As the moves progressed, the energy within his abdomen was rapidly mobilized, transforming into wisps of warm current that continuously nourished the circulating internal force.

The internal energy that usually requires deliberate guidance to flow was now flowing as smoothly as a boat going with the current, and each punch was more rounded than the last.

Under the moonlight, his figure moved nimbly and tumbled in the courtyard, his Crashing Mountain Fist moves flowing continuously, sometimes like a heavy hammer striking a rock, sometimes like an undercurrent surging.

Sweat quickly soaked his clothes, but he felt no fatigue at all. Instead, he felt a sense of exhilarating comfort. The energy from the two pounds of beast meat was being efficiently converted and integrated into his muscles, bones, and internal strength.

After an unknown amount of time, when the final move, "Returning to the Mountain," was completed, Yang Jing exhaled a long breath of turbid air, the air column carrying a faint white vapor.

He looked down at his fist and could clearly feel that his internal energy was more refined than it had been in the evening, and that it was flowing more freely.

Yang Jing's mind stirred, and the next moment, the panel appeared before his eyes—

【Bengshan Quan Dacheng (11/1000)】

【Surging Waves Legs (7/500)】

After breaking through to the Dark Force level, the value of the Mountain Crushing Fist also changed, with the upper limit increasing from 500 to 1000.

"I still have a long way to go before I can break through to the Transformation Realm," Yang Jing thought to himself.

However, he was full of ambition at the moment.

Many martial artists, after putting in all their effort to break through to the hidden strength level, lose their energy and relax.

The reason is that they felt that breaking through the Dark Force was already extremely difficult, and the hope of breaking through the Transformation Force was slim, or even hopeless.

In this situation, they naturally lost their previous enthusiasm for martial arts training and instead used their strength and status as masters of internal energy to seek personal gain.

After practicing the "Surging Waves Kick" for another half hour, Yang Jing took a cold shower and went back to his room to sleep.

The next day.

As dawn broke and the old locust tree in the courtyard was still shrouded in morning mist, Yang Jing had already gotten up.

He didn't touch the old ginseng, but instead planned to go to Liu's medical clinic to pick out some complementary herbs. Using ginseng alone would be a waste of its potential; only with proper combination could it achieve the greatest effect.

In the pot in the kitchen, the leftover bear meat from last night was cooked until tender, and its aroma wafted out through the crack in the door.

Yang Jing filled a large bowl and devoured it in a whirlwind. It took him nearly two pounds of wild beast meat to feel full.

After breaking through to the Dark Force realm, his appetite increased significantly, now consuming nearly two pounds of wild beast meat per meal, and sometimes even more. Fortunately, he is now financially well-off.
After tidying up, Yang Jing locked the courtyard gate and headed towards the Sun Family Martial Arts School in Chengping Ward.

Just two street corners later, I saw several men in short jackets with knives at their waists gathered at the base of a wall. They looked like members of some gang.

The group was chatting and laughing when they caught sight of Yang Jing approaching. Their laughter stopped abruptly, and their faces instantly became tense. Their eyes darted around, and they all instinctively shrank behind the wall.

Two men were squatting on the ground smoking pipes. When he approached, they sprang up abruptly, said nothing, turned around, and disappeared into the depths of the alley, moving as fast as mice seeing a cat.

Yang Jing touched his nose, feeling both amused and exasperated.

It seems that the news of his breakthrough to the Dark Force realm has truly spread.

But are these people really that afraid? He's not a man-eating tiger.

Recalling the reaction of the group of people in the alley last night, and looking at the situation before him, Yang Jing roughly understood that this was the weight of a master of internal strength, enough to make these low-level gang members fear him. Moreover, breaking through to internal strength also represented his status in the martial arts school. He had the martial arts school backing him up, and there was also a master of external strength standing behind him.

He shook his head and stopped thinking about it.

It's better to be feared than to be looked down upon.

At least, there will be fewer unnecessary troubles when walking on the street from now on.

As the sunlight gradually dispelled the morning mist, it shone on the bluestone path, casting a long shadow of Yang Jing as he walked steadily toward the martial arts school.

Besides practicing boxing today, I also need to find time to go to Liu's Medical Clinic to finalize the medicinal herbs.

The path of martial arts requires not only practicing boxing techniques, but also learning to utilize the resources around you.

After a short while, Yang Jing arrived at the martial arts school.

He took off his shirt, threw it on the wooden stool by the wall, and then began practicing his boxing.

Time passed slowly, and Yang Jing was gradually perfecting the internal force of the Mountain-Crushing Fist when he suddenly heard someone calling him from behind. He turned around and saw Liu Maolin walking over with a small booklet covered in blue cloth.

"Senior brother," Yang Jing called out.

"Here, the training ground test information." Liu Maolin handed him the booklet. "It contains information on the training ground tests for the past five years, as well as an analysis of the abilities of those who passed in previous years. Take a good look at it."

"Okay, thank you, senior brother." Yang Jing nodded, took the booklet, walked to the stone bench by the wall, sat down, and began to read it in the morning light.

I just finished practicing my boxing, so I'll take this opportunity to rest and clear my head.

As his fingertips traced the paper, he silently assessed his own strength.

Although he had only just entered the realm of Dark Force, his foundation was far more solid than that of ordinary martial artists who had just broken through.

This may be related to the panel; without bottlenecks, every step is taken steadily and reliably.

After his last breakthrough, he fought against Liu Maolin. He only relied on his newly formed internal strength to withstand 90% of the opponent's attack. At that time, the "Surging Waves Leg" had not yet entered the realm of external strength, and he did not even deliberately use his body techniques or speed.

If he had gone all out at that time, with the speed of his Swift Wave Kick, he was confident that he could have fought Liu Maolin to a draw, or even gained the upper hand.

Now that his Thunderous Kick has reached the Ming Jin level, his speed and power have increased significantly, and he is confident that he can win if they fight again.

Unbeknownst to him, his newly acquired internal strength had already surpassed that of the veteran internal strength disciples in the martial arts school.

The second martial art, "Surging Waves Leg," played a crucial role in this, as its combination of punches and kicks significantly enhanced his combat abilities.

Looking at the records in the booklet, Yang Jing frowned slightly.

It is clearly written above that the drill ground test is a real-world test.

In previous years, those who passed were mostly martial artists at the peak of internal strength, and most of them were extremely strong in actual combat.

In some years, even those at the peak of internal strength were eliminated, demonstrating the rigorous nature of the training.

"In the entire martial arts school, only Senior Brother Xu Hong has reached the peak of Dark Force," Yang Jing muttered to himself.

He had witnessed Xu Hong's strength; he was calm and experienced. Even after breaking through to the Dark Force realm, he still devoted all his energy to martial arts training and reached the peak of the Dark Force realm early on. However, the bottleneck before reaching the Transformation Force realm was like an insurmountable chasm, firmly blocking his way.

According to Yang Jing, his senior brother Xu Hong had also participated in the examinations in recent years, but had failed every time.

Xu Hong seems to have specially practiced a leg technique for this year's school field test, but he has not yet broken through to the Ming Jin level, so the improvement in his strength is limited. It is unknown whether he can make the list in this year's school field test.

Yang Jing continued reading the booklet, and what alarmed him even more was the pass rate of the training ground test.

Nearly two hundred people apply each year, but only a maximum of six people are accepted, and sometimes as few as three.

This means that the vast majority of martial artists participating in the training ground test will fail, including those with internal strength.

"This is fucking too difficult." Yang Jing closed the booklet, secretly clicking his tongue, and tapped lightly on the cover with his fingertips.

To pass, our current strength is still far from sufficient.

I must improve myself as much as possible in these twenty-odd days. At the very least, I need to raise my internal strength level and refine my fist and leg coordination to be more exquisite before I can have a better chance of success.

He looked up at the center of the front courtyard, where the sunlight was just right, and several disciples were practicing their skills diligently.

Yang Jing stood up, put the booklet in his pocket, and although the pressure was great, it also stirred up the tenacity in his bones.

It's precisely because it's difficult that we should take the plunge.

He put the booklet into his old cloth bag, got up and went to the field to continue practicing his boxing. With the difficult test ahead, he had no time to slack off.

(End of this chapter)