Turbid World: Martial Arts Master of the Republic of China Era, I Cultivate Immortality!

┴┤_●)

"A terrible romantic entanglement!"

Once Zhao Zheng was certain that there wouldn't be two more Miss Shis on the street ahead, he breathed a sigh of relief and walked out of the alley.

To be honest, what happened just now was absolutely outrageous. He had just chosen to change alleys to avoid the two Miss Shis, and the alley he chose was now completely blocked.

Immediately afterwards, the two Miss Shis almost bumped into him for similar reasons, making him exclaim that he had seen a ghost.

"I just want to cultivate the Tao..."

Zhao Zheng muttered to himself, making sure he wouldn't run into the two Miss Shis again. As he walked toward the street where the steamed bun shop was located, he used the Little Six Ren divination method to calculate whether these two romantic entanglements were man-made.

"Hmm? Not man-made? That shouldn't be the case. I remember when I did my own fortune telling, I predicted that I wouldn't have a wife anytime soon..."

Zhao Zheng raised an eyebrow, realizing that not having a wife didn't mean not having a girlfriend, just as having a husband didn't mean not being single.

Because his thoughts were too jumbled up, Zhao Zheng stopped thinking about them and quickened his pace toward the street where the steamed bun shop was located.

Before long, Zhao Zheng arrived at this street, which was already wide awake even though it was not yet seven o'clock in the morning.

Various shouts rang out incessantly, the oil in the fryer sizzled, and the golden dough balls rolled and tumbled in the oil.

Steam rose from the steamer baskets in the bun shop, the aroma of buns mingling with coal smoke, the meat and sauce fragrance from the braised food stall next door, and the sweet scent of pastries, all of which filled the lungs.

The barber carrying his load on a shoulder pole kept calling out as he whirred and sharpened his razor on the cloth. A passing laborer squatted by the roadside, eating coarse cornbread with pickled vegetables.

A rickshaw driver pulled a well-dressed gentleman past the stall, the rickshaw bell jingling, startling the sparrows that had landed on the fried dough stick basket, and also startling passersby who grumbled and cursed.

Zhao Zheng, who was neither startled nor likely to be bumped into, did not curse, after all, he was a Taoist priest and should be mindful of his words and cultivate good karma.

and also,

He felt these people had terrible tempers!

"Make way, make way..."

A urging voice and the sound of bells startled Zhao Zheng, who frowned and stepped aside to avoid the rickshaw driver. He quickly memorized the man's appearance, deciding to beat him up when he had the chance.

Li's Auto Shop, right? Got it!

Zhao Zheng withdrew his gaze, which quickly swept over the newsboys whose voices had become hoarse from shouting, and lingered for a moment on a few girls in school uniforms clutching their schoolbags.

He then hesitated between the braised pork stall and the steamed bun shop, but ultimately chose the steamed bun shop he had been eating at for nearly two months.

Besides being completely focused on liking 18-year-old women, the man is also very focused on eating and shopping.

Unless the price, taste, or service suddenly becomes outrageous, men generally remain faithful to one woman, just like Zhao Zheng ate steamed buns for nearly two months.

"As usual!"

Arriving at the steamed bun shop, Zhao Zheng said something to Old Zhang, the steamed bun vendor, and then pointed to the street vendor banging a gong and shouting "Don't miss it!" and added, "Pack it up!"

"Alright, Abbot Zhao!"

Old Zhang, the steamed bun vendor, smiled even more warmly than he had the day before. While familiarly wrapping meat buns in brown paper, he said he would go to Zhao Zheng's temple to offer incense another day.

Zhao Zheng smiled and said okay. As the three wrapped meat buns were handed to him, he took the buns, paid for them, and ate them as he walked towards the people performing tricks, or acrobatics, not far away.

"Don't miss it if you're passing by..."

The sounds of gongs, drums, and shouts rang out incessantly. When Zhao Zheng approached, the first thing he saw was a crowd of onlookers gathered in a circle, and a middle-aged man in shorts standing inside the circle shouting, "Go!"

Bang!

click-

After a muffled thud and a series of sharp cracking sounds, blue brick fragments fell into the dust, and bright red blood immediately flowed down the brow bone of a boy who looked no more than eleven or twelve years old with a buzz cut, smearing his very youthful face.

But the boy, seemingly oblivious to pain, grinned, revealing his gapping front teeth. He wiped the blood from his face, bowed to the onlookers, and spoke in a fawning voice.

"Gentlemen, please give me a few..."

"You've already drawn blood and you still want a reward? Why don't you smash this too and then ask me for one..."

A man, seemingly prepared, threw out a similar-looking blue brick, which landed with a thud on the face of the boy.

As soon as the brick fell and the conversation ended, the already sparse clinking of copper coins on the ground also stopped.

The commotion was incessant, with everyone urging the teenagers to hurry up and perform another Iron Head Kung Fu routine. But the teenagers seemed frozen in place, staring at the blue bricks on the ground with pale faces.

"What are you standing there for? Smash it!"

The carpenter, whose face was as black as the bottom of a pot, saw the blue bricks on the ground. He kicked the boy in the back of the knee, making him stumble. He cursed, "You little brat, hurry up! Can't you see everyone's getting impatient?!"

The boy staggered from the kick, forced a smile onto his pale face, picked up a blue brick from the ground, and looked at the crowd with his bloodied forehead.

"Gentlemen, watch closely..."

bang——

click-

Another muffled thud and a sharp crack, another splash of blood. Zhao Zheng stared expressionlessly at the large shards of blue brick on the ground, the swaying body of the half-grown child, and the forced smile on his face.

Suddenly no longer hungry, Zhao Zheng tossed the unfinished bun to a beggar on the roadside and squeezed into the crowd to throw two silver dollars.

He then went up behind the man who had thrown the brick, reached out and pinched the back of his neck, and left with his newly met friend.

Ten seconds later,

In an empty alley.

Zhao Zheng felt much better as he looked at his good friend, whom he had woken up and then knocked down with a brick. After checking him over and making sure he wouldn't suffer any lasting effects, he breathed a sigh of relief.

He thought for a moment, then flipped the other person over so that his face was on the ground, and then woke up his good friend by stomping on him.

The man woke up cursing, but quickly turned to a sheepish grin as he saw the pistol pointed at his face and said, "You... let's talk this out, let's talk this out..."

"How many is this?"

Zhao Zheng held up two fingers and asked in a low voice. After hearing his good friend say two and confirming that his good friend was really okay, he said, "Close your eyes."

Seeing his good friend obediently close his eyes, Zhao Zheng kicked away the brick with satisfaction, put away the box gun, took out a small silver bottle containing enough medicine to buy a dose of anti-inflammatory medicine, threw it down, and turned to leave the alley.

A few dozen seconds later, the man got up from the ground, scratching his still-aching head and looking at the little silver dog on the ground in a daze.

He was beaten.

But the person who hit him gave him money...

The man cursed the madman in his heart, quickly picked up the small silver ingot from the ground, put it away, and left the alley while clutching his aching head.

……

Su Family Martial Arts School

courtyard.

"Huh? Why did they leave?"

Zhao Zheng looked at the seven students who had voluntarily left the courtyard with surprise. Cheng Qingqing said from the side, "Because they didn't pay their tuition."

"You can't even speak properly, Zheng-ge'er, it's like this..."

Li Feng began to explain, but there wasn't much to say. In short, it all boiled down to one word: money. Because these seven students had only paid for the boxing course, they couldn't continue learning the swordsmanship course.

So they went to another courtyard to practice martial arts!

"Is that so..."

Zhao Zheng nodded, understanding dawning on his mind. Cheng Qingqing looked at the seven students walking out of the courtyard and said, "Actually, Wei He and Chen Qing have good talent, it's just a pity they don't have money..."

"Wei He? Chen Qing?"

Zhao Zheng's eyelids twitched, and the image of two ordinary-looking boys among the seven students flashed through his mind.

"Does anyone in their family make a living by fishing?"

"No, right?"

Cheng Qingqing looked at Li Feng uncertainly, after all, she hadn't interacted with him much. Li Feng asked in confusion.

"Zheng-ge, do you know those two? Do you also think Qingqing is pretty..." Li Feng said, winking and making faces.

"???"

Zhao Zheng slowly typed out a series of question marks. After a while, he realized that he had made a mistake in the names and genders of the two people.

However, just to be on the safe side, he casually asked, "When those two were practicing the Surging Wave Fist, did they break through at the very last moment?"

"It seems that's really true..."

Cheng Qingqing thought for a moment and said, Li Feng retorted, "It's not just a possibility, it's a fact. Especially this Wei He, around the 20th of last month, she only managed to break through to the Lesser Completion stage of the Surging Waves Fist in the last few days..."

"Oh right, we all thought she didn't have any talent for martial arts, but she still managed to break through..."

"But it's no use that she broke through. Master Su said that generally speaking, if a person cannot master a martial art to the minor level within three months, then that person basically has no talent in martial arts. She broke through in the last few days, which confirms that her talent in martial arts is very, very poor..."

Cheng Qingqing and Li Feng took turns explaining, and Zhao Zheng felt a strange sense of déjà vu, which made him subconsciously ask a question.

"Is Chen Qing the same?"

"I don't know. Like Wei He, she's a quiet person and doesn't usually talk to us..."