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

The night was dark and gloomy.

The atmosphere in the British Concession area in the south of the city was several times more somber than during the day, with tension permeating the streets and alleys.

The slaughter of an entire squad of soldiers in the street thoroughly enraged the Western elite in Jiangcheng, and an order was issued to seal off all entrances and exits of the concession.

Lin Ji, hunched over, leaned on a tree branch stripped of its bark and walked slowly forward, completely ignoring the tense atmosphere in the concession, heading straight for two Western soldiers who were much taller than him and carrying guns.

"stop!"

Lin Ji slowed his pace and stopped in his tracks.

He supported himself on his lower back with one hand and used his cane with the other, slowly raising his cloudy eyes to look at the two Western soldiers:

"Sir, what is it?"

The soldier with the gun suddenly took a step forward.

The leather boots made a cold sound as they landed on the bluestone ground.

His eyes sharpened as he stared intently at the several Jiangcheng citizens around Lin Ji, who stood with their heads bowed in a low voice, and he shouted sternly:

"A new decree for the concessions is about to be issued, prohibiting unauthorized persons from entering or leaving the concession area at will."

He had barely finished speaking.

The low pleas of the people echoed through the alley.

"Sir, my home is in the south of the city. My daughter-in-law just gave birth, so I went to the west of the city to buy two fat fish for her to help her recover. Please, have mercy and let me in."

"Sir, this is a gift from me. Please accept it. My family also lives in the concession. I just heard about the new decree and I'm going to look for a new place today."

……

The crowd either flattered or made requests.

The foreigners' eyes fell on Lin Ji.

Lin Ji was dressed in tattered clothes, his eyes were cloudy and lifeless, and he was holding a cane, looking half-dead. The foreigners looked at him with disgust.

"And you, old man?"

Lin Ji was momentarily stunned, as if he had just come to his senses:

"I...I...alas, there's a severe drought outside the city this year, and there's no harvest. I have relatives in the city, so this old man has come to beg for some food. I'm not afraid of starving to death myself..."

The foreigner looked at Lin Ji with disdain and contempt. Before Lin Ji could finish speaking, he waved his hand impatiently and said:

"You and that half-buried old man can't cause any trouble, so get inside."

Lin Ji quickly bowed and, leaning on his wooden stick, took two steps inside. His unsteady gait drew snickers from the soldiers behind him.

The soldiers ignored Lin Ji and turned to question the next group of people.

"Knock knock—"

Two clear car horn blasts, accompanied by the roar of a car engine, pierced the already not-so-quiet night sky at the end of the alley.

Several brand-new black Buick sedans drove in one after another, their bright headlights hurting everyone's eyes.

Upon seeing the cars, the Western soldiers on duty instantly became respectful, their faces displaying various expressions, and they all stood by the roadside and saluted respectfully.

Lin Ji's eyes flickered slightly, and he deliberately feigned panic. He stumbled and staggered back to the center of the Western soldiers, gripping his wooden stick tightly with fear in his eyes.

"Sir, what... what is this lump of iron? It's terrifying."

Seeing this, the Western soldier on duty wore a smug look on his face, raised his chin, and spoke with an air of superiority:

"You old fool, you're really ignorant. You've never even seen a car before. This is for transporting people. The person sitting inside is the president of the Guanghua Provincial Capital FAMAS Chamber of Commerce. He came to the Jiangcheng Concession specifically to conduct an on-site survey and prepare to establish a branch there."

He lowered his voice, a smug tone in it, and swept his disdainful gaze over the Jiangcheng residents who hung their heads, awaiting inspection.

"Isn't your China gradually making martial arts the backbone of the nation? People often spend years or even decades cultivating. Well, this sir has brought a new kind of medicine. No need for arduous training, just one dose will be enough to crush the so-called Ming Jin martial artists you talk about, and the side effects are negligible."

The foreign soldier paused:

"It won't be long before the entire Chinese martial arts world becomes a laughing stock."

Lin Ji leaned on his cane, his eyes blank, seemingly not understanding what the foreigner was saying.

However, he began to make plans in his mind.

A blood transfusion drug with no side effects?

They want to lure people with shortcuts.

The ban on weapons is a form of suppression, while the allure of exotic blood potions is equally strong.

One inside and one outside, Chinese martial arts, if not abandoned, are crippled.

"No!"

"We can't let them succeed so easily!"

Lin Ji thought to himself.

"Get out of here, you old bastard!"

Seeing Lin Ji in a daze, the Westerner was too lazy to waste any more words on him and shoved Lin Ji toward the depths of the south of the city.

Lin Ji, his body hunched over, moved his lips slightly and murmured:

"Unorthodox methods are ultimately just paper tigers."

He spoke very quickly, his breathing was unclear, and the Western soldiers behind him thought that this old senile man was just freaked out by the Western objects and was talking nonsense, so they ignored Lin Ji.

Leaning on his wooden stick, Lin Ji walked towards the British Consulate he remembered.

We traveled through several streets and alleys.

Western soldiers patrolled the streets and alleys.

The gleaming blades and heavy spears made it difficult for the people in the city to even breathe.

"Hey, tell me what this is all about? I've lived in this south of the city for almost seventy years, and just before I'm about to die, my house was sealed off by a bunch of Westerners."

At the entrance of the alley, an elderly man with half-white hair and beard sat on the ground, his hands trembling uncontrollably.

"Mom, Dad's not home, where are we going to stay tonight?" The still-childish boy tugged at his mother's clothes and cried.

The woman, cradling her innocent, unaware-of-the-world infant Yaya, spoke, wiped away tears from the corners of her eyes, swallowed hard, and pulled the child to her feet.

"Don't cry, Xiao Bao. Mom will take you to the north of the city to find your maternal grandfather."

The doors of countless residents along the street were all sealed off, and innocent people were driven out of their homes in the middle of the night, leaving them homeless with their families.

……

Just as Du Qingyi said.

These foreigners had been impatient for a long time.

Before the new decree was even issued, they began to clear out the Chinese in the concession.

Lin Ji remained silent the entire way.

They walked forward with light, slow steps.

The cloudiness in his eyes faded, leaving only a chilling coldness.

Not long after.

The consulate that had occupied the largest manor in the south of the city for its own use appeared before Lin Ji.

The manor was brightly lit, and one could vaguely see one- or three-story buildings standing in the garden.

The car lights in front of the park were dazzling, and the crowd was so dense that it was impossible to move. A group of Jiangcheng residents who had not yet suffered the pain of being driven away gathered around to watch the excitement.

"Fuck!"

"Scatter! Did you hear me? Scatter now!"

Western soldiers, armed with guns, roughly pushed and shoved the crowd, forcing a path through the tightly packed people.

Lin Ji mingled at the back of the crowd, his hunched back making him completely inconspicuous.

His gaze pierced through the gaps in the crowd and landed on the center of the road where the crowd had been pushed apart.

At the entrance of the consulate estate.

A bright red carpet was laid out for at least ten zhang (approximately 33 meters).

A middle-aged man in his forties, dressed in an elegant suit and with a perfectly tied tie, stepped into the manor gates accompanied by Zack.

He looked at the noisy crowd around him with a contemptuous disdain in his eyes.

Even Colonel Zack had an arrogant look on his face.

Lin Ji's gaze settled, and he thought to himself:

"Is this the president of the FAMAS Trading Company? We absolutely cannot let those alien blood potions flow into Jiangcheng, or Jiangcheng's martial arts will be finished!"

Just as Lin Ji was about to leave the crowd, he heard a roar.