Martial Arts: Starting with Upgrading the Dilapidated Temple

Xu Hao asked for leave and left the Chen residence. He deliberately walked quickly around two streets, and when no one was around, he quickly slipped into an alley and changed out of his guard uniform.

When he came out again, he was wearing a coarse linen short coat covered with patches, a tattered straw hat pulled down low, and a steel knife at his waist was wrapped tightly with tattered strips of cloth, making it look like a long fire poker.

At this moment, the Sunset Ferry was filled with the sounds of wind and the cries of panic.

The canal gang men who used to wear short jackets and show off their muscles are much less common now. In their place are a group of salt gang members with weapons at their waists and sinister eyes.

Most of the homeless people on the roadside huddled in the corners, their eyes fixed intently on the packages of passersby, like a pack of hungry wolves ready to pounce at any moment.

Xu Hao lowered the brim of his hat and walked among several porters.

As he approached the dilapidated temple, the listening talisman on his chest trembled slightly.

A cacophony of insults, mixed with the dull thuds of heavy objects striking flesh, all blew into his ears on the wind.

"Old man, still got some backbone?"

Xu Hao paused, then darted to the window, skimming along the dilapidated temple's weathered exterior wall.

He peered through the narrow crack in the window and the sight inside the temple made his eyelids twitch.

The statue lay to one side, and the ground was a mess.

The little beggar, Stone, huddled in the corner, his head covered in blood, motionless, his fate unknown.

The old beggar was surrounded by three men dressed in blue uniforms from the Salt Gang, with a large foot pressing down hard on his withered palm.

"Ah—!" The old beggar convulsed in pain, his old face contorted in agony, cold sweat soaking his messy white hair.

"Speak! Who was that kid practicing his boxing here the other day? Did he go to the Chen residence?"

The leader was a one-eyed man who was playing with a boning knife in his hand, waving the tip in front of the old beggar's eyes. "If you don't talk, I'll gouge out your eyes and soak them in wine."

The old beggar trembled, his mouth full of blood and foam, but he chuckled, revealing a set of broken, yellow teeth: "Sir... what are you saying? This dilapidated temple is full of rats and gods, where would you find any young martial arts practitioners?"

"If you want to learn martial arts... cough cough, how about this old beggar teaches you a set of 'Sleeping Arhat Fist'?"

"Go to hell with your Arhat Fist!" One-Eyed Dragon roared, kicking the old beggar right in the chest.

Outside the window, Xu Hao's fingers slowly tightened around the hilt of the knife.

It turns out it was because of myself.

A few days ago, he broke through to the Skin Polishing Realm in the temple. Although the commotion was not big, it still left a trace in the eyes of those who were interested.

Unexpectedly, the Salt Gang, those mad dogs, actually followed the clues and came looking for us.

What was even more unexpected was that this greedy old beggar would keep his mouth shut to this extent for the sake of the promise he made.

"Since you want to be mute, I'll grant your wish." The one-eyed man's eyes flashed with ferocity as he raised the boning knife in his hand, ready to stab downwards.

"Squeak—"

The wooden door of the dilapidated temple, which had only recently been repaired, was pushed open with a light touch.

"Gentlemen, with such a fiery temper, aren't you afraid of burning down this sacred land?"

Xu Hao leaned against the door frame, arms crossed, the "burning knife stick" wrapped in rags hanging loosely at his waist.

Under the straw hat, his face was obscured, but his voice carried a hint of nonchalant laziness.

The three people in the temple paused and turned their heads in unison.

Seeing that it was a thin, poor-looking boy, the one-eyed man's tense nerves instantly relaxed, and he sneered, "Where did this stray dog ​​come from? Are you blind? Get lost, don't delay my business!"

The salt gang member closest to the door had a fiery temper. Without a word, he grabbed his knife and charged forward, yelling, "Get lost!"

The blade whistled as it hurtled straight for Xu Hao's face, clearly indicating that no one was going to be left alive.

Xu Hao didn't move.

Only when the blade was less than three inches from his nose did he, as if just waking up, slightly shift his feet.

This step is not a retreat, but an advance.

At that instant, the blessings of the dilapidated temple, a blessed land, erupted with a thunderous roar.

Xu Hao felt his blood and qi flowing like mercury throughout his body, and everything around him seemed to slow down.

The man's ferocious expression, the trajectory of the blade cutting through the air, and even the opening revealed under his armpit were all clearly visible.

"Clang!"

A clear, resonant sound of a blade ringing out.

No one saw how Xu Hao drew his sword.

A flash of cold light streaked across the sky like a bolt of lightning, and the man holding the knife froze in place, a thin red line suddenly appearing on his neck.

"Ugh..." The man hissed like a bellows in his throat, his hands clutching his neck, blood gushing uncontrollably from between his fingers. Then his body went limp and he collapsed to the ground like a rag doll.

"Third brother!" The remaining two were shocked.

Xu Hao flicked the blood off his knife, a slight smile playing on his lips beneath his straw hat: "Remember in your next life, a knife is for killing, not for scaring people."

Before he could finish speaking, the other person had already approached like a ghost.

The first move of the "Cloak and Saber Technique" is "Splitting Mount Hua with Force".

The name sounds tacky, and the moves are extremely wide and sweeping.

But with the added strength of Xu Hao's perfected skin-smoothing technique, this strike unleashed the power to split mountains and shatter rocks.

The second man hastily parried with his sword.

"when!"

Sparks flew everywhere.

The man felt a tremendous force surge through his arm, his thumb and forefinger splitting open instantly, and the steel knife flew out of his hand! Xu Hao's momentum didn't diminish; he continued his downward strike, directly cleaving the man's chest.

With a crisp crack, his sternum shattered.

The man opposite didn't even have time to scream before he was sent flying backward, crashing into the base of the statue and dying instantly.

In the blink of an eye, two people died.

The one-eyed man was so frightened that he forgot all about the old beggar and turned to jump out of the back window.

"Trying to run away?"

Xu Hao flicked his toe, and a sharp blade flew out from the ground, striking the one-eyed man precisely in the back of his knee.

"Ouch!" The one-eyed man stumbled and fell flat on his face. Before he could get up, a foot had already stomped heavily on his chest.

Xu Hao looked down at him, blood still dripping from his steel knife, his voice icy: "Did Sun Niqiu send you?"

The one-eyed man stared into the emotionless eyes opposite him, his crotch instantly soaked with sweat, and he stammered, "Young hero, spare my life! Spare my life!"

"I'm just a gofer; it was Master Sun... no, it was Sun Mudfish who sent me to investigate..."

"puff!"

Xu Hao raised his knife and brought it down.

The one-eyed man's pleas for mercy abruptly stopped; his head lolled to the side, and he fell silent.

"I know he sent you, I was just confirming." Xu Hao wiped the blood from his knife onto the corpse's clothes. "Stop talking so much nonsense, you'll just die faster."

The temple fell silent again, save for the old beggar's heavy breathing.

Xu Hao sheathed his sword, turned around and walked to the old beggar. He squatted down, took out a bottle of wound medicine from his pocket, and threw it to him.

"Old man, you'd risk your life for a few taels of silver?"

The old beggar picked up the medicine bottle with trembling hands, wincing in pain, but still managed a smile that looked more like a grimace: "Well... I haven't paid yet. In our line of work, it's all about reputation. Once I've taken the deposit, even if the King of Heaven himself comes asking, I'll be speechless."

Xu Hao looked at the old beggar's hands, which were bruised and purple from being stepped on, and remained silent for a moment. He then took out a five-tael silver ingot from his pocket and gently placed it in the old beggar's muddy hands.

"Take it, keep this to yourself."