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

night.

Under the dim moonlight, in the ancient Taoist temple, Zhao Zheng stood expressionless beside the incense burner, listening to the rapid knocking that broke into the temple.

"say!"

Thud! Thud! Thud—

As before, there was no response; all that could be heard was the slightly trembling gate of the Taoist temple amidst the repeated knocking.

Seeing no signs of yin energy or malevolent aura, Zhao Zheng's nostrils twitched as he sniffed the air. He squinted and stepped forward.

Twenty seconds later,

Outside the Taoist temple, in the alley diagonally opposite.

You can see the main gate of the Taoist temple from there!

┴┤_●)

For safety and peace of mind, Zhao Zheng did not choose to open the door, but instead climbed over the wall to the alley diagonally opposite the Taoist temple.

Zhao Zheng, expressionless, cautiously peeked half his face out from behind the Taoist temple gate. What he saw was a swarm of bats constantly crashing against the gate.

The bats' impacts made a thumping sound, much like people banging on a door. Zhao Zheng watched the group of bats constantly ramming against the Taoist temple gate without any surprise in his eyes, because he had already smelled a faint fishy smell before, and now he saw the bats ramming against the door.

He immediately concluded that someone had deliberately smeared eel blood on the gate of his Taoist temple to attract bats in order to frighten and disgust him.

"The trick is a bit old..."

Zhao Zheng muttered to himself, after all, according to what his master had said, this kind of bat-knocking-on-the-door trick was an outdated way to scare people.

After muttering to himself, he discovered another problem: the new talent he gained from the "Chart of Life's Many Faces" seemed to have brought more than just a reduction in his fear of pain...

"I'm being a little too calm..."

Zhao Zheng felt the changes in his own emotions and frowned slightly, even though he sometimes couldn't understand himself.

However, he roughly knew what kind of person he was; he was just an ordinary person, a person who was both timid and bold.

He might be startled by a dog suddenly barking on the street, and similarly, he might pick up a stick and chase after a dog if it tries to bite him.

"It seems my current state is more suited to surviving in this world..."

Zhao Zheng, reflecting on his unusually calm emotions, came to a conclusion that he didn't know whether to call good or bad.

He looked around and, instead of rushing back to the Taoist temple, quickly strolled around the vicinity of the temple.

Although it is true that his Taoist temple is located in the eastern part of the city next to the concession, its location in the eastern part of the city is a bit south, so far south that it is close to the poor area in the south of the city, and therefore it is not very lively!

Okay, I'll tell you the truth.

This place is practically half a slum!

Otherwise, he wouldn't have said that his Taoist temple doesn't usually get many visitors. Of course, this is also related to the fact that the dozen or so streets nearby are mostly residential houses with few shops.

Similarly, because of this, even though it's only a little past nine o'clock at night, there's already no one around.

It was very quiet and dark. Compared to the brightly lit and almost sleepless concessions to the east, it was so dark here that you had to carry a lantern to go out at night.

Of course, there were also those who carried lanterns.

However, it's rare.

Ahem, getting off topic. Zhao Zheng, who hadn't spotted any strangers, gripped the box gun hidden in his sleeve—the only thing that gave him a sense of security besides magic—and prepared to return the way he came. But after only two steps, he stopped in his tracks, drawn by a sound.

"Huh? Instead of going to the Eight Great Hutongs to ride those down-on-their-luck nobles late at night, they're here playing on the fence. What kind of weird hobby is that..."

Standing in the shadows of the alley, Zhao Zheng raised an eyebrow in the moonlight as he looked at the man perched on the wall not far away. However, when he saw the man on the wall pulling another man up, his brows furrowed.

One minute later.

Having successfully taken down the two thieves who had scaled the wall, Zhao Zheng took the money he had taken from them and scaled the wall to enter the burglarized courtyard.

Zhao Zheng stared blankly through the crack in the window at the old woman sitting on the floor in the dimly lit room, holding an unconscious man and calling out, "My son, my son."

With his innate keen eye fully activated, Zhao Zheng confirmed that the man was alright, and then threw all his money and valuables into the container.

Although his innate insight is temporarily unable to see the essence of all things as his master described due to limitations in his realm and personal strength, it is still not difficult for him to see whether a person's vitality is fading.

Zhao Zheng ignored the old woman's voice inside the house and instead climbed back over the wall the way he came, looking at the two thieves he had knocked unconscious on the ground.

"If I leave directly, will those two retaliate against this old woman and her family? What if they die because I let them go tonight...?"

Zhao Zheng was filled with countless thoughts, and various possibilities and consequences kept surfacing in his mind, causing him to frown involuntarily.

"Should we just kill them?"

As soon as the thought crossed his mind, Zhao Zheng immediately abandoned it. Putting aside the fact that he had never killed anyone, the two thieves who climbed over the wall had no grudge against him, even though they had stolen from and injured people.

Moreover, even thieves who climb over walls are born of parents; what if they have an eighty-year-old mother and young children to feed?

What if these two people happen to be the breadwinners of their respective families? If he kills the other, wouldn't that be tantamount to taking the lives of the other's entire family?

"I'm still too kind..."

Zhao Zheng sighed inwardly, dragged the two thieves who had climbed over the wall to a corner in the shadows, grabbed their arms and stomped on them.

After four cracking sounds of bones and four abruptly stopped screams, he looked with a sigh at the two thieves on the ground, whose arms and legs he had just broken.

"I'm so kind..."

Zhao Zheng sighed, saying that it was only because he had considered things so thoroughly that he could have done so. Anyone else would probably have killed them outright. He only broke one of their arms and one of their legs because he was worried that these two thieves were the breadwinners of their respective families.

Leave one hand and one foot so the other person can work!

"Fine, I won't make you thank me since you're all unconscious..." Zhao Zheng muttered to himself.

After muttering to himself, he looked around to make sure no one was there before returning to the Taoist temple. However, he reappeared shortly afterward, and only left after confirming that no one was around.

After a while, Zhao Zheng reappeared next to the two thieves who had climbed over the wall. He looked around and muttered to himself.

"Looks like there really aren't any accomplices left..."

Zhao Zheng turned and left, but before leaving, he kicked each of the two thieves who climbed over the wall. As for the reason for kicking them, there was no reason. He just kicked them because he wanted to!

Zhao Zheng returned to the Taoist temple along the same route. After climbing over the wall into the courtyard, he went to the kitchen, found half a jar of rice vinegar, and put it down at the temple gate.

"Don't let me find out who did it!"

Looking at the gate that was still being battered by bats, Zhao Zheng muttered to himself, then drew another bucket of water from the well in the yard.

Zhao Zheng did not rush to open the door. Instead, he listened carefully for a while to make sure that no one was outside before opening the door with his left hand holding the pistol.

Watching the bats scatter as he opened the door, Zhao Zheng raised his sleeve, frowned, covered his nose, and took a few steps back.

No other meaning.

He's just afraid of the virus!

Those who know, know how terrifying bats are!

Zhao Zheng activated the Golden Light Divine Mantra, which was at the minor completion stage, and his body was quickly covered by a layer of golden light that appeared very faint under his deliberate control.

Feeling uneasy, Zhao Zheng ran back into the bedroom and found the alcohol and spray bottle he had bought from the Western medicine shop in the concession.

After spraying the Taoist temple gate with alcohol, Zhao Zheng began to clean the eel blood that had been smeared on the gate with vinegar and water.

"Speaking of which, did the guy who applied this eel blood do it while I was away, or is his agility exceptional, or perhaps he has a spell to conceal his presence...?"

As Zhao Zheng cleaned the gate of the Taoist temple, he was thinking to himself. The more he thought about it, the more his brows furrowed. After he finished cleaning the gate, he filled several buckets with water and rinsed the gate and the area in front of it several times.

After doing all this, Zhao Zheng closed the door and waited for a while. When he found that the bats had stopped knocking, he carried the bucket, the spray bottle inside the bucket, and the empty jar to the kitchen.

Just as Zhao Zhenggang arrived at the incense burner in the center of the courtyard, it seemed as if the sound of an old man breathing came from a corner of the courtyard.

"Hah...hoo...hah...hoo..."

"..."

Zhao Zheng looked expressionlessly toward the direction from which the sound of what sounded like an old man's breathing came from. What came into view was a small bamboo grove in the corner of the west wall of the courtyard, which looked somewhat eerie under the moonlight and breeze.

And beside the small bamboo grove, there was a grave mound and a tombstone, a grave from which came the sound of an old man's breathing—the grave of Master Zhao Zheng.

"Hah...hoo...hah...hoo..."