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

Anping County, Chengnan

In contrast to the prosperity of the east side of the city, the roads in the south side were all dirt roads riddled with potholes, and the crooked shacks were crammed together, with the mud walls mottled and cracked, patched up with tattered wooden planks.

The thatched roof was riddled with holes and rustled in the wind. There were no rotten vegetable roots in the corners, only filth that emitted a foul stench.

Thin, sallow-faced women squatted by the door, mending tattered clothes as soon as the sun rose. Vendors at the alley entrance called out weakly. In the corner, ragged beggars huddled together, covered with something that was hard to tell whether it was cloth or wood.

Ding-a-ling—

The crisp sound of copper bells, accompanied by the sound of horses' hooves and dust, brought a tall white horse galloping through the air. The people on the street saw only a tall white horse galloping in.

Behind the horse was a magnificent Western-style carriage, its wheels rolling steadily over the mud as if on flat ground. The sight made the woman who was sewing stop, and the children forget to fight over it.

The beggar straightened up and stepped back, even swallowing back the vendors' shouts. For a moment, the whole street fell silent.

Only the tinkling of copper bells could be heard, the bells hanging around the horses' necks. Inside the carriage, Xiang Yu frowned, looking at the group of people who dared not look at him with suspicion, and asked them a question.

"Junior brother... is this really Anping County?"

"You used to live in the mountains?"

Zhao Zheng asked a question, but Xiang Yu did not speak. He just frowned and looked at the ragged people.

After a while, the carriage slowed down. Zhao Zheng looked at the porridge shop not far away and told the servants to stop the carriage. He pointed to the porridge shop and spoke to Xiang Yu.

"You go ahead, I won't go!"

Why?

"Because I'm a kind-hearted person!"

"???"

Does your kindness have anything to do with not going?

Xiang Yu was puzzled, but he didn't insist that Zhao Zheng get off the carriage with him. After all, he had only come here to familiarize himself with the route.

After all, there are still matters concerning the Ren family to attend to later!

As soon as Xiang Yu got off the carriage, he saw a long, winding line of refugees and other people who looked like refugees in the distance. The line stretched as far as the eye could see.

These refugees were all hunched over, their tattered clothes covered in mud, and their withered hands tightly gripping broken bowls with chips.

They stared greedily at the porridge pots on the stove in the porridge stall, swallowing their saliva frantically, their legs trembling as if they were about to fall, which made Xiang Yu frown deeply.

The question lingered in my mind once again.

Is this really Anping County?

Inside the porridge stall, several servants of the Zhao family, dressed in the same clothes as the coachman Er Gou, kept taking bowls from each other, scooping up thin porridge, and handing it out.

The elderly woman in line took it and quickly ran to the side to sip it slowly, savoring every last drop.

But the next man, who was relatively stronger than the other refugees, took the porridge and said angrily, "Damn it, why is it getting thinner and thinner? You've made a mess of it..."

The man suddenly stopped cursing because Xiang Yu, who was much stronger and a head taller than him, came up to him with a grim expression.

Seeing Xiang Yu clench his fists, looking like he'd hit him if he dared to say another word, the man chuckled sheepishly and, without even asking if the porridge was too thin, took the bowl of porridge to the side.

Upon seeing this, Xiang Yu snorted coldly. Just as he was about to introduce himself to the servants at the porridge stall, he saw them smiling and saying...

"This humble servant greets Master Xiang. The young master told us last night that Master Xiang would come to help, and we will rely on Master Xiang from now on..."

They have no shortage of people to distribute porridge; what they lack is someone like Xiang Yu, who looks tough and can keep the situation in check.

"No trouble at all, no trouble at all..."

Xiang Yu gave a shy smile. Just then, he saw Zhao Zheng come to his side and point to a soup kitchen not far away where there was also a line of refugees, saying, "That's one too. Go take a look and come back. We still have to go to the Ren family later..."

"Oh, junior brother, your eyes?"

Xiang Yu nodded, looking at Zhao Zheng's slightly reddened eyes with a puzzled expression. Zhao Zheng said expressionlessly.

"I'm a kind-hearted person!"

"Junior brother, have mercy!"

Xiang Yu paused for a moment, then looked at Zhao Zheng with a serious expression and exclaimed in admiration. Zhao Zheng nodded after a moment of silence, walked into the shed, went to the stove, picked up some firewood and threw it into the pot.

Frankly, he is not compassionate.

His soup kitchen is modeled after Feng Haoren!

After finishing his rant, Zhao Zheng watched as the flickering of the Passing on the Flame talent slowed down slightly as he added firewood, and he felt the discomfort in his eyes subside a bit.

After Zhao Zheng added firewood to the pot in the second porridge stall, the discomfort in his eyes finally subsided completely.

Almost at the same moment, Zhao Zheng saw tiny, dense specks of light, similar to the essence of the sun and moon but even smaller, flying out from the burning firewood at the bottom of the pot.

Dense points of light flew out and entered Zhao Zheng's eyes. Although he felt no discomfort, he also felt nothing. Puzzled, he left the porridge stall and went to the carriage.

Zhao Zheng looked at the no longer flickering flame of the Passing on Talent and the line of refugees who had drunk porridge and whose bodies had improved slightly because of Yu's characteristic, and sighed inwardly.

"Being a good person... isn't easy!"

Watching Xiang Yu get into the carriage, he told Er Gou, who was driving the carriage, to go back to the Taoist temple, and then rubbed his eyes, which suddenly felt a little uncomfortable.

Once the discomfort had completely subsided, Zhao Zheng stopped rubbing his eyes and looked at the panel displaying the myriad aspects of life that had been evoked by his feelings.

[Talent: Keen Insight]

[Introduction: Observing the true nature of reality without seeing or being seen]

【Characteristics: Observing Qi to discern form, breaking through illusion to seek truth】

"Again... Hmm? This time it seems... not growth, but mutation..." Zhao Zheng thought, experiencing the difference between his innate insight and the previous one.

"What's wrong?"

Xiang Yu looked at Zhao Zheng, who seemed to be deep in thought, with a puzzled expression. Zhao Zheng then offered another thought, saying, "I'm wondering how to be someone who is both a bad person and a good person..."

"???"

Bad guys... good guys...

Just like before, Xiang Yu, who didn't understand how these words were put together, once again showed confusion on his face.

Zhao Zheng didn't explain, and Xiang Yu didn't ask. He just frowned and pondered, but soon he was drawn to the strange change in Zhao Zheng's eyes.

"Junior brother, what's wrong with your eyes... wait, junior brother, why does it look like there's a ball of fire in your eyes?"

Xiang Yu stared in surprise at Zhao Zheng's eyes, eyes that seemed to burn with a crimson flame within their black pupils.

"Oh, this? I've gotten stronger again!"

"..."

Never mind, I won't say anything.

Xiang Yu shut his mouth and remained silent, refusing to speak again.

…………

Time flies, the sun sets in the west.

The Ren family.

From the time the burial of Old Master Ren this morning until now, nothing has happened to the Ren family; everything has gone smoothly.

However, the Ren family members felt an indescribable unease, like the anticipation of a storm.

Because of this feeling of unease, Master Ren was no longer angry about the guests not coming for lunch. He just stood at the gate and looked worriedly at Daoist Tianyi, who was watching Zhao Zheng leave.

"Master, isn't it dangerous for Abbot Zhao to go to the back mountain alone? Why don't we have Master Xiang accompany him..."

"Forget it, that kid will only drag Zheng down!"

Master Tianyi spoke calmly, and upon hearing Xiang Yu, who was walking behind him, move his feet, the joy on his face immediately vanished.

"..."

"Ahem, is the altar ready?"

"Um."

Xiang Yu, who came to inform Master Tianyi that the altar was ready, nodded expressionlessly. Master Tianyi, his old face slightly flushed, entered the gate.

"close the door."

"Yes……"

As the servants closed the gate of the Ren family mansion, the lights in all the courtyards of the Ren family mansion turned on at the same time.

Meanwhile, in a secluded alley several miles away from the Ren family, Zhao Zheng, who was running with the help of the magic horse talisman, suddenly stopped and turned to look at his own shadow on the ground.

What came into view was a woman who, in an instant, strangely broke free from the ground's restraints and stood up, transforming from a shadowy figure into a pale-faced woman in red.

The female ghost in red appeared and immediately used her long, narrow, jet-black fingernails to stab at Zhao Zheng's neck.

The speed was so fast that Zhao Zheng's pupils contracted slightly. As he clenched his right fist, he suddenly shouted, "I love you!"

"what?"

The red-clad female ghost's pale but still pretty face froze for a moment, then she saw a dazzling golden light, like the golden light of a great sun.

bang——

As the fist struck, the female ghost's wails echoed as it crashed against the wall. Zhao Zheng stomped his foot, formed hand seals, and chanted a spell in his heart.

"The Supreme Lord Laozi taught me to slay demons, and gave me divine methods. I summoned the Jade Maiden above to subdue misfortune... My feet tread upon the Big Dipper, my left hand supports the Six Jia... The divine master slays without fear of the powerful, first killing evil demons... What demon dares to stand against me? So be it!"

Incantation urgent, incantation complete,

The recitation was completed just as Zhao Zheng rushed towards the red-clad female ghost, and his right hand simultaneously formed the Ghost-Slaying Seal.

With a flick of his fist, imbued with divine power, a chilling and evil-suppressing intent emanated from Zhao Zheng's suddenly rising fist, which then slammed into the female ghost's chest.

bang——

"ah--"

With a piercing scream, the red-clad female ghost's soul slammed into the wall with a thud as Zhao Zheng's fist pierced her chest, causing her to begin to disintegrate.

"I... curse you to never be able to..."

The red-clad female ghost glared at Zhao Zheng with venomous eyes and hurled a curse. Zhao Zheng clenched his left fist again, and with another loud thud, the fist throbbed.

The woman in red was instantly annihilated. Zhao Zheng withdrew his fist, sighing, "Indeed, a man's words are more powerful than a ghost's..."

Zhao Zheng glanced at the normal shadow, his mind quickly flashing through various techniques that could be used to hide in a shadow, such as the Soul-Transferring Shadow Technique and the Shadow-Escape Technique.

Suddenly, Zhao Zheng's ears twitched as he looked up at the fireworks lighting up the night sky in the distance. His figure once again vanished into the alley as a blur.

However, he did not go to the back mountain!