Martial Arts: Starting with Upgrading the Dilapidated Temple

Instructor Lin squatted down beside Lai San and pressed his thick fingers under his ribs.

"Ouch—" Lai San screamed in agony, almost fainting.

"Two ribs are broken." Instructor Lin stood up as he described Lai San's condition. He turned and looked Xu Hao up and down. "Never trained before?"

Xu Hao stood to the side with his hands at his sides, his breathing had calmed down: "No, I was just hitting randomly."

"The fact that you can break ribs by blindly hitting someone shows that you've got some ruthlessness."

Coach Lin patted Xu Hao's shoulder with such force that Xu Hao's body slumped to one side. "Fighting isn't like embroidery; knowing how to find weaknesses is a skill."

The servants who had been watching the spectacle all changed their gazes towards Xu Hao.

Xu Hao was usually a quiet, unassuming boy who only knew how to sweep the floor, but unexpectedly, he turned out to be a ruthless fighter.

"Next, Li Da, Ma Gan." Coach Lin didn't waste any words and pointed to the field.

Ma Gan glanced at Lai San, who was still convulsing on the ground. He had lost his usual arrogance, and his legs were cramping.

He met Li Da's fierce gaze and swallowed hard. "Brother Li, shall we... shall we stop here?"

"Go to hell!"

Li Da thought of his wife waiting for him to get her medicine.

He didn't put on any show of bravado at all; he just yelled and charged forward with his head down.

Relying on the brute strength he had developed from years of carrying heavy loads at the dock, his feet pounded on the ground, making him no different from a wild boar that had gone mad with bloodshot eyes.

The stalk was so frightened that it let out a strange cry and turned to run away, but it was no match for him.

"Bang!"

Li Da crashed solidly into Ma Gan's back.

Ma Gan flew out like a tattered sack, landing face-first, leaving two bloody marks on the muddy ground. He groaned twice and then lay still.

"This 'Wild Boar Ramming a Tree' move is a bit crude, but it works," Coach Lin commented, waving his hand to signal for the man to be dragged away.

In the end, only Luo Bao and Jia Wu remained.

These two people didn't get along in the shop, and now, for the sake of a chance to survive, they were even more hostile towards each other.

The moment they clashed, the two were rolling around in a heap.

There are no tricks or routines, just the most primitive tearing.

Luo Bao was short and wanted to try a sweeping leg kick like in the opera, but he lost his balance and stumbled as soon as he swung his leg out, landing hard on his backside.

Jia Wu was overjoyed at the sight and pounced on Luo Bao, straddling him and punching him.

"Go to hell!" Luo Bao was also furious. He grabbed Jia Wu's thigh tightly with both hands and bit hard into the soft flesh on the inside of Jia Wu's thigh.

"Ouch—!" Jia Wu's voice cracked from the pain, and tears and snot instantly gushed out. He swung his fist and started punching Luo Bao's back without thinking.

Luo Bao refused to give up, freeing one hand to hook two fingers and gouge out Jia Wu's eyeballs.

"I'm going blind! Let go! Let go!" Jia Wu was terrified and desperately tried to tilt his head back, but Luo Bao grabbed his hair tightly with his other hand, and two dirty fingers were about to pierce his eye sockets.

"stop!"

With a shout, Instructor Lin stepped forward and separated the two like picking up chicks.

Luo Bao still had a strip of cloth torn from Jia Wu's pants in his mouth, his mouth was full of blood, and his eyes were as fierce as a wild dog guarding its food.

Jia Wu clutched his groin, hissing in pain. His crotch was soaked; he didn't know if he had wet himself from the pain or from fear.

Instructor Lin glanced at Jia Wu with disdain, then at Luo Bao who was still spitting out strips of cloth, and finally his gaze swept across the entire room.

"That was an ugly performance, all lowlifes." Coach Lin sneered, but didn't curse. "But in this world, winning is all that matters. Anyone with a shred of shame would be dead in a mass grave by now."

He turned around, cupped his hands in greeting to the owner sitting on the grand chair, and pointed to Xu Hao, Li Da, and Luo Bao.

Mr. Chen put down his teacup, his gaze lingering on Xu Hao for a moment longer before he nodded.

"Those who stay will receive two hundred coins per month."

Upon hearing this, Li Da and Luo Bao's eyes instantly turned green, and they swallowed hard.

Two hundred coins! You only get twenty coins a month working yourself to the bone in the odd jobs shop, this is ten times more!

Even the others who were not selected had eyes full of jealousy and regret.

"Alright, go back to the shop and pack your things. We'll be at the Chen residence's side hall at 3:45 PM." Instructor Lin waved his hand, dismissing everyone, and then had a group of men from outside the guardhouse led in.

These were twenty or thirty men recruited from outside, all of them burly and some with scars on their faces.

Xu Hao glanced back as he left.

The men had already started fighting. With a flash of light, one man clutched his arm and retreated, blood dripping from between his fingers onto the yellow earth.

Coach Lin stood to the side, commenting expressionlessly, showing no intention of stopping the session.

Xu Hao withdrew his gaze, and the joy that had risen in his heart because of the doubled monthly salary instantly cooled down.

Two hundred coins bought not just strength, but life.

It turns out that these few menial servants were just there to make up the numbers; the real core fighting force was the group of ruthless people behind them who had seen blood.

Back at the servants' shop, the atmosphere was somewhat somber.

Those who were not selected received fifty coins as severance pay and packed their bedding in dejection.

These days, life outside is even harder without this broken roof for shelter.

Xu Hao had nothing to pack and went straight to Manager Wang.

Manager Wang was sitting on the threshold smoking a pipe, with a packed package at his feet.

Seeing Xu Hao approach, the old man tapped his pipe, his cloudy old eyes narrowing into slits.

"You were selected?"

"Um."

"Once you're inside the mansion, keep your eyes peeled." Steward Wang exhaled a puff of smoke. "Listen more, talk less. Don't think you can get away with anything just because you have some brute strength. There's a lot more to this than meets the eye."

Xu Hao didn't speak, but solemnly bowed to Steward Wang.

If it weren't for the old man giving him a bowl of ginger soup, his body would have rotted away in the mass grave long ago.

After leaving the shop, Xu Hao didn't go directly to the Chen residence, but instead turned a corner and went to the Martial Temple by the ferry.

The afternoon sun was scorching, and the old beggar was picking lice with a stone at the temple gate.

Upon seeing Xu Hao return, the old beggar didn't even lift his eyelids: "Oh, so you've been promoted?"

Xu Hao took out ten coins from his pocket and placed them in the old beggar's hand.

The old beggar paused in his picking of lice, his cloudy eyes darting around as he stared at the few copper coins: "What does this mean? Giving alms to a beggar?"

"I'll buy you some information." Xu Hao squatted down and lowered his voice, "If any unfamiliar faces start staying at this temple, or if there's any news of any major events at the ferry, please do me the trouble of hanging a broken kite on the old poplar tree outside the back wall of the Chen family mansion."

The old beggar chuckled, reached into his sleeve and tucked the copper coins into his sleeve with lightning speed, like a magician: "Alright. With these copper coins, you can hang anything, from kites to your underwear."

Xu Hao ignored his banter and got up to go into the temple.

I picked up the broom in the corner and started sweeping carefully, beginning from the feet of the statue.

Cleaning progress: 105/500

Looking at the slowly ticking numbers in his mind, Xu Hao felt a little more at ease.

This martial temple is his root; even if he enters the Chen family mansion, he cannot abandon this blessed land.