From the fusion of Tongbei Quan to the Longevity Martial Saint

Around noon, Fang Qing put away the beast hide that had been tied to the wooden dummy.

They walked directly to a nearby restaurant.

Two days ago, Yang Jiumei kept pestering Fang Qing, saying she wanted to eat out.

For these low-level salt farmers, many of them are actually tied to the salt fields for their entire lives.

In the Great Qian Dynasty, even if you were just a few miles away from the salt fields, you would still need a travel permit.

Therefore, many people spend their entire lives confined to the salt fields.

Yang Jiumei was the same; she had never eaten out at a restaurant since she was a child.

Fang Qing had received a lot of help from Uncle Yang's family in the past.

In particular, Yang Jiumei would share her share of eggs with Fang Qing every few days.

Fang Qing also regarded Yang Jiu Mei as his own younger sister.

Fang Qing immediately booked a table at a fairly large restaurant near the Shanhe Boxing Academy.

When Fang Qing arrived at the restaurant, he saw Uncle Yang and his family waiting somewhat nervously in front of the restaurant.

This building was incredibly luxurious; they had never seen anything like it before, and they were all so nervous that they didn't know where to put their hands.

When Yang Zhi's wife, Madam Yang, saw Fang Qing approaching, her face immediately lit up with a fawning expression.

Now that Fang Qing has become a member of the Salt Patrol Reserve Battalion and is also a cook, Yang has long treated Fang Qing differently and has been trying to please him.

Fang Qing led Yang Jiumei and the others into the restaurant.

The waiter in charge of greeting guests immediately led Fang Qing and his group to the second floor.

Fang Qing originally wanted to book a private room.

However, Yang Zhi was worried that the private rooms would be too expensive, so he directly pulled Fang Qing to sit in the main hall.

At this moment, Yang Jiu Mei's bright, sparkling eyes curiously surveyed the layout of the restaurant's main hall.

Especially on the second floor, there is a specially opened space.

An old man telling stories was sitting behind a table, drinking tea and eating pastries to replenish his energy during a break between stories.

Since Yang Jiumei had finally managed to get out for a meal at a restaurant, Fang Qing naturally wouldn't be stingy.

Although it wasn't a feast of delicacies, there was still plenty of wine and meat, so we ordered a large table full of food.

When Yang heard the waiter say that this table of food would cost eight qian of silver, her eyes widened in disbelief.

Yang Jiumei, on the other hand, ate heartlessly and greedily until she was so full that her eyes rolled back in her head.

At this moment, Yang nudged Yang Zhi with her elbow:

"Honey, did you tell Fang Qing about our daughter's situation?"

Upon hearing his wife's words, Yang Zhi frowned, put down his chopsticks, and lowered his voice, saying:

"Back when Qingzi was still at the saltworks, you watched your daughter like a thief every day, not allowing her to have any private contact with Fang Qing."

Ha, now things are all good. Qingzi has entered the Shanhe Boxing Academy, become a member of the Salt Patrol Guard Reserve Battalion, and can even speak with important figures like Lord Gu.

Now you're trying to get your daughter to marry Fang Qing.

"I can't bring myself to say something like that, where you treat people differently based on their status."

Upon hearing this, Madam Yang immediately became anxious.

Fang Qing has now become a figure who can stand on equal footing with the Salt Patrol Guard.

He was arguably the most promising young man she had ever met in her life.

If we could marry our daughter to such a golden son-in-law, the ancestral graves of the Yang family would be emitting auspicious smoke.

However, Yang had mentioned this to Fang Qing privately several times before, and Fang Qing frankly stated that he only regarded Yang Jiu Mei as his younger sister.

There is absolutely no romantic feeling between men and women.

This directly put Yang's family in their place.

Now, Madam Yang is hoping that her uncle, Yang Zhi, can use his influence to speak up and try to win Fang Qing back.

Little did she know that her man would fall silent every time the topic came up, frantically piling food and meat from his plate.

I couldn't be bothered to pay any attention to her.

This left Mrs. Yang anxiously watching from the sidelines, unable to do anything about it.

"You useless old fool! If you let our daughter marry Fang Qing, we'd never have to worry about not being able to eat these delicious meals in the future!"

Yang Zhi snorted coldly, shook his head, and didn't say anything more.

Yang Zhi didn't say anything, letting his daughter and Fang Qing take things as they came, which was fine.

If he were to actually ask and Fang Qing refused, he would probably never be able to hold his head up in front of Fang Qing again.

Therefore, Yang Zhi was determined never to mention this matter to Fang Qing, no matter what.

Just then, the sound of a gavel rang out from the lobby on the second floor.

The old man sitting behind the judging desk struck the gavel once, cleared his throat, and then spoke:

"As we mentioned last time, the Liu family, salt merchants, were tyrannical and bullied men and women in our city. They smuggled salt with impunity, truly deserving of the utmost wickedness and condemning both gods and men!"

"As the saying goes, good and evil will eventually be rewarded, and the cycle of karma will prevail."

"Look up and see, who can escape the wrath of Heaven? And look, retribution has come without warning... Salt Inspector Lin, with his keen insight and swift action, dispatched his capable subordinates to seize the Liu family in one fell swoop, uncovering irrefutable evidence of their collusion with the Tiger Beach salt bandits!"

"Upon seeing this, Lord Lin's eyebrows furrowed, and anger welled up within him. He immediately mustered his men and set off day and night for Tiger Beach!"

"The night was dark and the wind was high, with a murderous aura filling the mountains. Lord Lin was eight feet tall, broad-shouldered and thick-waisted, holding a pair of purple-gold urn hammers, which gleamed coldly in the moonlight."

The hammer handle is engraved with four lines of ancient verse:

Purple lightning splits the dawn and dusk, a golden urn holds mountains and rivers.

The salt inspector quelled the demons and monsters, bringing peace to the land!

He led his men stealthily up Tiger Mountain, and indeed:

Men gagged, horses with bells removed, a night raid on the bandit's lair startled even ghosts and gods!

Upon hearing this, the many diners in the audience immediately cheered.

"Those salt bandits of Tiger Beach, who usually commit countless evils, are still dreaming at this moment."

Suddenly, a strange sound rang out, and several night watchmen, desperate criminals, drew their long knives with a series of thuds and charged forward, howling.

"No sooner said than done! Lord Lin roared, like a thunderclap in mid-air, and swung his right hand, the urn-shaped hammer, in a wide arc, smashing down with a 'whoosh'... followed by a series of 'crack' and 'plop' sounds."

"The ringleader, along with his knife, was smashed until his brains splattered, and he died on the spot!"

"The truth is: where the hammer's wind sweeps, mountains and rivers tremble; when bandits' courage shatters, even ghosts and gods tremble!"

……

The old man telling the story was quite skilled.

The entire battle was described in a very exciting way, and cheers frequently came from the audience.

Many people in Yancheng rely on salt for their livelihood.

The salt bandits of Tiger Beach would raid any passing merchant ship, regardless of whether it carried salt or not.

Even geese are plucked for their feathers; they have to shed a layer of skin and pay enough silver to pass through the river in front of them.

This led to every household in Yancheng harboring deep hatred for these salt bandits.

At this moment, upon hearing the storyteller's account of how Salt Inspector Lin defeated the salt bandits of Tiger Beach one by one, and even fought more than ten rounds with the leader of the salt bandits who was at the True Yuan Realm, successfully killing him, the entire storyteller's performance reached a climax.

The next moment, the old man telling the story suddenly opened his fan and lowered his voice mysteriously:

"The Salt Inspector, Lord Lin, is naturally incredibly powerful; every resident of Yancheng knows that."

Everyone who sees Lord Lin has to give him a thumbs up.

"Lord Lin is a military graduate from Jiangnan, and he was the second-place finisher in the imperial examinations back then."

"But many people don't know that the reason we were able to completely eradicate the Liu family of salt merchants and the salt bandits of Tiger Beach this time was..."

"It's all thanks to a resourceful young general under Lord Lin..."

……