Republic of China era: A hundred-year-old still practicing martial arts? Is that right?

The Republic of China, 1912.

Dog Tail Alley.

At the book rental stall at the alley entrance, an old man with a full head of white hair and a hunched back was fiddling with a shadow puppet in his hands while tilting his ear to the side.

"Hmm, ouch, ouch!"

"Uncle Zhang, I've never seen you use this much force when you're chopping pork!"

"Hehe, just you wait and see, I'll show you just how powerful I am."

……

Three seconds later, the cat's meow abruptly stopped, and the last creak of the wooden bed echoed in the alley.

A hint of disdain flashed in Lin Ji's cloudy old eyes.

"Bah, that son of a bitch Zhang the butcher, he's usually a master at chopping meat and hiding it, but I didn't expect him to be so useless."

"Old man Lin, what are you muttering to yourself? Hurry up and keep acting!"

In front of the book stall, seven or eight naked children were squatting, all looking up with expectant eyes at the shadow puppet show in Lin Ji's hands.

The leader was a chubby boy of about ten years old, wearing a silk jacket. He was Liu Yuanbao, the foolish son of Liu Dafu, a famous wealthy man in the poor alley of Gouwei Lane.

Liu Dafu was incredibly wealthy, yet notoriously stingy. He couldn't even afford to buy a decent house, but he was willing to spend lavishly on his two children. Not only did Liu Yuanbao look like a steamed bun, but it was also said that he sent his daughter abroad to study.

"Yesterday we were talking about how Supreme Treasure got the Moonlight Box, but how come he traveled back in time? And is Fairy Zixia still alive or dead?"

Liu Yuanbao was so anxious that he scratched his head and cheeks.

"Are you too old to remember the rest of the story?"

Lin Ji snapped out of his reverie, his withered fingers fiddling with the old shadow puppet box in front of him, and slowly began to speak.

"I know you're in a hurry, but don't rush. This old man is exactly one hundred years old today... You little brat, you have no respect for your elders at all."

"One hundred years old!" exclaimed a skinny, snotty-nosed child nearby. "My grandpa only lived to fifty-three before he died! Old man Lin, why aren't you dead yet?"

Even a young girl chimed in.

"Yes, yes, my mother says that old man Lin is a demon who has become a monster. He's lived to such an old age and still isn't dead. He might be a monster in disguise!"

Liu Yuanbao waved his hand and reprimanded the leader with the air of a big brother.

"Nonsense! If Old Man Lin were a monster in disguise, he would have already captured you little brats and stewed you into soup!"

He turned to Lin Ji and fawned, "Grandpa Lin, please, have mercy and keep acting! I'll kowtow to you, okay?"

Lin Ji chuckled, revealing a few sparse, yellow teeth.

These children speak without thinking; an elderly person standing nearby would probably be furious.

But he's lived for a full hundred years, what nasty things hasn't he heard? This isn't even enough to tickle him.

"Okay, let's continue the performance."

Lin Ji tugged on the string on the box of picture cards, flipping through the cards one by one, each depicting a strange figure, while muttering to himself.

"Now, it is said that Supreme Treasure put on the golden headband and transformed into the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, arriving riding on auspicious seven-colored clouds. He was truly skilled! He punched the fierce tiger of the Southern Mountain and kicked the dragon of the Northern Sea, possessing seventy-two transformations and thirty-six supernatural powers..."

The picture on the card depicted a classic scene from "A Chinese Odyssey" based on his memories from his previous life. Although the drawing was rough, the story was novel and interesting, and there was no other one like it in the whole city.

Liu Yuanbao and the group of little kids were so engrossed in watching that their mouths were wide open, and they didn't even notice the snot running into their mouths.

"Wow! This Monkey King is incredibly powerful! Is his martial arts skill at the Bone Refining Realm or Grandmaster level?"

A young man who usually loved listening to stories about martial arts interjected with a question.

Lin Ji didn't even lift his eyelids, and answered casually.

"What do you know, kid? When gods fight, that's called divine combat. How can you possibly confine them to the rules of ordinary martial arts?"

"Refining skin, flesh, and bones is nothing more than the crude martial arts of the Jianghu. Once you reach the Ming Jin level, you dare to call yourself a martial arts master. If you reach the An Jin level, you can establish a sect and become a grandmaster. As for the Hua Jin level and above... tsk tsk, in this world, you probably haven't even heard of it."

Just as the scene was reaching its most heart-wrenching moment—when Supreme Treasure releases Fairy Zixia's hand—Lin Ji abruptly slammed the movie box shut.

"Alright, that's enough for today."

Liu Yuanbao, whose eyes were practically popping out of their sockets, panicked upon seeing this: "Hey, hey, why did you stop performing? I gave you ten copper coins!"

"Ten copper coins?" Lin Ji scoffed. "Ten copper coins to see the finale? Dream on. A whole silver dollar, not a penny less. Line them up here, and this old man can act for you all day."

After saying that, he put the copper coin in his pocket and patted his empty belly.

"Besides, today is my 100th birthday, so I need to pack up early and go back to enjoy my retirement."

"What's so great about a 100th birthday celebration..." Liu Yuanbao muttered.

Lin Ji, with his sharp ears, heard everything clearly, but he wasn't annoyed; he just smiled meaningfully.

"Hehe, the world is in chaos these days. The revolutionaries in the south are making a ruckus, General Yuan in the north is sharpening his sword, and foreign warships are blocking the outskirts of Tianjin in the east. Who knows when things will get out of hand."

"Whether you bunch of little brats who haven't even grown any hairs will live to my age is anyone's guess, hahaha."

As he spoke, he stood up unsteadily, his hunched back trembling, and slowly began to pack up his stall.

"Everyone, disperse. Go back to your studies and martial arts practice. Don't spend all day hanging around this old man listening to this lovey-dovey stuff. Do you even understand it?"

The children scattered in a flurry, and Liu Yuanbao ran a few steps before turning back to shout, "Old Lin, you'd better keep acting tomorrow! Don't actually die!"

The alleyway quieted down again.

"I'm a hundred years old..." Lin Ji muttered to himself, his tone tinged with an indescribable desolation. "The ancients said that few people live to seventy, but I've lived to be a hundred. Has the King of Hell forgotten about me?"

Honestly, does he want to die?

It would be a lie to say I want to die.

If one wants to live, what's the point of living for a lonely old man?

Looking back on his life, ever since he transmigrated to this turbulent world, from the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, he had once enjoyed a brief period of peaceful bliss with his wife, Su Yujing, who disappeared without a trace.

Despite living a simple life with a small shop passed down from their ancestors, their lives gradually became more comfortable.

Unexpectedly, a wealthy family surnamed Zhang in the city had long coveted this shop. They secretly colluded with the county government to forge a land deed and filed a lawsuit against him.

In those days, the government offices were always open, but those with reason but no money were not welcome.

He presented the ancestral decree and argued in court, but was instead accused of "yelling in court," and was beaten with twenty strokes of the water and fire rod before being thrown out of the county government office like a dead dog by the yamen runners.

After that, the family's fortunes took a sharp downturn, and misfortunes came one after another.

The son, with a fiery temper, witnessed firsthand the world turned upside down and his father suffered injustice. He abandoned his studies and became a martial arts master, eventually developing exceptional skills through sheer perseverance.

He usually stood up for his neighbors and stood up for them, enduring the exploitation and oppression of local bullies and gentry. In this rotten world, he finally managed to fight his way out of a glimmer of light, but unexpectedly got involved with the reformist rebels.

In the first year of the Tongzhi reign, the Taiping army broke into the city.

The common people suffered as a result. During their escape, the young granddaughter was separated from her family by the war and disappeared without a trace.

During their arduous journey, the grandson contracted tuberculosis. Unable to afford medicine, he died soon after.

The daughter-in-law was already frail, and after being struck by the successive blows of losing her husband, daughter, and son, her spirit and energy completely collapsed. She passed away in less than two years.

His entire family was reduced to just him, a poor old man, enduring the hardships of this rotten world all by himself.

Another fifty years passed, from the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, but in the end it was still a rotten world of warlordism and foreigners running rampant, just a change in name only.

He had also had those thoughts.

When Lin Ji first arrived in this unfamiliar era, he discovered that there was an unopenable book in his mind.

The cover reads "The Book of Reversing Fate," three simple and ancient characters.

This made Lin Ji think that he was the chosen one, the protagonist of a storybook.

In his childhood, he tried practicing martial arts, trying to read, and trying all sorts of strange and unusual methods in an attempt to open that book.

But even after trying it from twenty to thirty, from forty to fifty, the book remained as still as if it had been cast in molten iron.

Now he is a hundred years old, half-buried in the earth, and has long since given up all thoughts of the past.

Practicing martial arts? Can this old body withstand such an ordeal?

Flipping through a book? Dream on.

"I'll just live one day at a time," Lin Ji said with a wry smile, shaking his head. "Maybe one day I'll close my eyes and open them again to find myself back in the world I was in before."

After tidying up a stack of old books on the bookstall, Lin Ji prepared to go home.

Suddenly, a commotion arose from the depths of the alley.

"You bastard, you think you can settle this with two pieces of shredded pork? Do you think I'm a beggar?!"

It was Bai Yu'er's voice.

Lin Ji raised his eyes and looked in that direction.

Bai Yu'er stood in front of the house carrying a piece of fatty pork. Her pretty oval face was flushed, her peach blossom eyes were glaring, and she twisted her exquisite figure, pointing her jade finger at a big, burly man and cursing.

Zhang the butcher, his face beaming with smiles, pulled at his trouser leg and ran out of the alley:

"This pork was just slaughtered today, it's very fresh, a full three pounds, more than enough to pay your bill..."

"More than enough my foot!"

"You think you can get rid of me with three catties of pork? Do you think I'm some country bumpkin who's never seen the world? Back in the day, when I was in the palace..."

Bai Yu'er stood at the door, her brows furrowed with unconcealed exhaustion, and she kept cursing.

Butcher Zhang had already run out of the alley and could no longer hear her voice.

Carrying the meat, she stood at the door for a while, her brows furrowed with worry. Just as she was about to turn around and go back inside, she caught a glimpse of Lin Ji peeking out from the street corner.

Her eyes darted around, then she suddenly put on a smiling face and swayed over.

"Hey, old Lin, I heard today is your 100th birthday?"

Lin Ji was a little confused by her sudden enthusiasm, and nodded: "That's true."

Bai Yu'er leaned against the door frame, her peach blossom eyes slightly narrowed, and she looked at Lin Ji's thin and frail body with a smile.

After a long pause, she smiled radiantly and suddenly spoke.

"Since it's your 100th birthday, we should celebrate it properly. How about... I sleep with you?"

Holy crap!?

Lin Ji was stunned on the spot.

The next second, a soft sound suddenly came from the depths of his mind.

Whoosh!

Is that the sound of pages turning?