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

Newspapers fluttered in the training ground.

The smell of ink mingled with the exclamations of the teenagers.

A piece of ink-stained newspaper was swept by the wind and landed at Lin Ji's feet, the large characters on the front page glaringly obvious:

The signing of the International Martial Arts Treaty is imminent; a small-scale competition will be held in Jiangcheng in three days.

"We really have to ban weapons! If we lose this preliminary battle the day after tomorrow, we'll have to fight the foreigners ten against ten a year from now. If we lose, the whole country will have to ban weapons!"

"It has been confirmed that the Thirteen Protectors will be leading the attack this time."

"Are the Thirteen Protectors really that powerful?"

"The Thirteen Protectors are all masters of internal strength! Haven't you heard? They'd beat any foreigner to a pulp!"

……

For a moment, the students who were originally playing around were filled with panic, indignation, and even more so, they were fantasizing about how the Thirteen Bodyguards, these masters of internal strength, would defeat the foreigners.

Under the long corridor at the back of the training ground, Gu Yanqiu leaned against a vermilion pillar, while two or three instructors beside him were cursing each other.

Even Li Jingzhi, a self-proclaimed scholar, couldn't help but spit out a curse, his pointer striking the railing with a loud crack.

"What a disgrace! It's an utter disgrace! Back in the Boxer Rebellion, Wang Wu, wielding only a single sword, stormed the embassy! How many brave men of the martial world fought back with their bare hands against foreign guns!"

"Now look what's happened! The foreigners' ships and cannons are docked in the harbor, and we're forced to break our own back?"

"What else can we do?" An old man stroked his long, half-white beard, holding a thread-bound book in his hand:

"The revolutionaries in the south are too busy to take care of themselves, the presidents in Beijing in the north are busy fighting for power, the foreigners in the foreign concessions are showing off their power, and the spineless cowards in the police station treat foreigners better than their own fathers."

"This isn't a bet! It's clearly a demand for us to kneel!"

Gu Yanqiu's cold eyes returned from afar, now blazing with fury:

"Foreigners are never afraid of warlords causing trouble; they are afraid that we ordinary people still have backbone and spirit."

"Banning weapons will sever the backbone of the nation! Now the Thirteen Protectors are standing up, but what about ten years from now? Twenty years from now?"

……

Lin Ji stood in front of the gatehouse, holding a broom, sweeping the newspapers at his feet into a dustpan, and watching the students in the martial arts training ground.

There was no bet at all; it was the foreigners who figured out the government's weakness and, under the guise of a martial arts competition, openly and legitimately crippled the martial arts community.

Banning weapons would extinguish the last vestige of national pride.

"Three days! That's fast!"

"I have to speed things up," Lin Ji thought to himself, sweeping the broom in his hand again, as if he were an outsider.

That night.

After all the lights in the martial arts hall were extinguished, Lin Ji closed the vermilion gate and began to brew the medicinal soup as usual.

While the herbal medicine was being simmered, Lin Ji leaned against the stove, closed his eyes to rest, and the words that Instructor Li had taught his students during the day floated into his mind.

"To strengthen the bones, first strengthen the spine..."

"Qi and blood enter the bones and transform into marrow..."

His martial bones trembled, and in no time, Lin Ji had grasped the bone-refining method clearly, pondering to himself:

The torso and bones are connected to the internal organs, so rashly refining the bones can easily damage the foundation. The arms are flexible and controllable, so it's better to start by understanding the way to refine bones from the arms.

The situation will change in three days; the more strength one has, the more initiative one gains.

Lin Ji picked up the casserole and drank the thick, blood-red, scalding hot medicinal soup in one gulp.

The medicine entered his stomach and transformed into a surging heat wave, spreading along his blood vessels to Lin Ji's limbs and bones.

Lin Ji lowered his waist and assumed a horse stance, cupping his hands in a circle, and used the Tai Chi breathing method to stabilize the surging agitation within his body.

While the medicine is at its most potent, raise your left hand, press down on the ulna of your right arm, and repeatedly rub and twist along the joint.

Lin Ji gradually increased the force of his palm strike until a piercing pain shot through his bones.

He then changed his palm into a fist and hammered along the seams of his right arm.

"Thump, thump, thump—"

A dull hammering sound echoed in the room. Lin Ji's martial arts allowed him to precisely control the force of the hammer blows, and fine cracks began to appear on the surface of his right arm bones.

The periosteum vibrates and heats up under repeated pounding, and the medicinal power of the decoction seeps into the bone crevices, nourishing and repairing the damaged bone little by little.

The originally loose bone tissue becomes denser through a cycle of continuous destruction and repair, and the loose bone gaps gradually narrow.

Inside the gatehouse of the martial arts hall.

Sweat dripped down Lin Ji's white stubble, splashing onto the ground and leaving watermarks.

Under the dim light of the yellow oil lamp, Lin Ji's arms were swollen and red, with bulging veins under his skin.

Ordinary martial artists need to be soaked in a special medicinal soup and repeatedly pounded with a wooden mallet and sandbag for more than a month before they can barely forge a bone.

Lin Ji, however, was completely different.

With the support of his martial arts skills, his bone repair speed is extremely fast, more than a hundred times that of an ordinary person.

Lin Ji clenched his fist, his strength gradually increasing until the sound of bones cracking was clearly audible.

Before the pain subsided, the newly formed cracks healed under the powerful medicine, becoming even tighter and harder than before.

The sky was turning a pale white, like fish bellies.

As the morning light streamed through the window and fell on Lin Ji's arms, an unprecedented power surged from them, as if an energy flowed around them.

"Only when you refine your bones to a deep level and your qi and blood seep into your bone marrow can you generate the first wisp of qi sensation. This is the threshold for you to reach the Ming Jin (manifest strength) level."

Li Jingzhi's words from yesterday flashed through Lin Ji's mind.

Lin Ji lowered his stance and slammed his fist down onto the bluestone floor inside the room.

"Thump!"

Blue stones flew everywhere!

A fist print, half an inch deep, was clearly left on the ground.

Lin Ji only felt a slight numbness between his fists and palms.

After a brief conjecture, Lin Ji made up his mind: with the blood-replenishing prescription, it was only a matter of time before his entire body underwent bone tempering.

Looking down at the empty cloth bag under the bed, I realized that the last packet of herbs had been used up yesterday.

"I'll take advantage of my day off to buy another batch of medicinal herbs," Lin Ji thought to himself, wiping the sweat from his face.

"Tap—tap—"

There was a sound at the door, and a small face peeked in. Bai Xiaonian, carrying a cloth bag, stood on tiptoe, looking anxiously, completely oblivious to the herbal residue on the stove.

"Grandpa Lin, let's go! I want to see my sister as soon as possible."

Lin Ji packed up the cloth bag containing the medicine, his tone calm: "So rushed? Aren't you afraid she'll see the injury on your face?"

Bai Xiaonian froze abruptly, subconsciously touching his swollen cheek, and said stiffly, "What are you afraid of? Just say you fell while practicing martial arts."

As he spoke, he quietly tucked the injury on his face into his collar, his voice muffled: "She has sharp eyes; if she sees it, she'll definitely cry again."

Lin Ji remained silent, picked up his cloth bag, pushed open the door, and left the gatehouse: "Let's go."

Push open the door to the courtyard.

Bai Yu'er was sitting in the courtyard mending clothes.

The courtyard was several times cleaner than when Lin Ji lived there by himself.

Hearing the door open, Bai Yu'er looked up sharply, and the moment she saw Bai Xiaonian, she paused in her needlework.

"Little New Year!"

"sister."

The siblings quickly walked together and embraced tightly.

Bai Yu'er stroked the bruises on her younger brother's face, tears streaming down her face uncontrollably.

"How did you get hurt again? Did they bully you again?"

"No! I accidentally fell while practicing martial arts!" Bai Xiaonian said firmly, reaching out to wipe away the tears from Bai Yu'er's eyes.

"Sister, don't go out to work anymore. I'm strong! I can earn money to support you."

Bai Yu'er was about to shake her head.

Bai Xiaonian looked somewhat helpless: "Sister, a martial arts ban is coming! In three days, the Thirteen Protectors of the City are going to have a martial arts competition with foreigners!"

"If we lose this preliminary battle, we'll have to fight ten against ten foreigners a year from now."

"If I lose again, the martial arts academy won't let me recruit any more students. If I haven't reached the required rank yet, I'll have to switch to academic subjects and I'll never be able to practice martial arts again..."

"A whole year! What a waste of time. I'd rather go work hard at the docks and earn some money to support you."

These words struck Bai Yu'er like a bolt from the blue.

The color drained from her face instantly, and she swayed, almost falling in the yard.

"Why are weapons banned? Why are weapons banned?"

Bai Yu'er remained where she was, her eyes vacant once again.

All her efforts and her only hope were utterly shattered by the arms ban!

Bai Xiaonian panicked and was about to offer some comfort when Lin Ji suddenly spoke up, his voice low but steady as a stone landing: "It can't be stopped."

The siblings both looked up at him at the same time.

Lin Ji didn't explain much, but simply looked up at the two of them and said, "Even if the sky doesn't fall, there are tall people to hold it up."

He himself is not tall yet, but he will be soon. If he still can't be tall soon, then he will live a little longer!

After saying that, Lin Ji silently turned and went into the house, putting the wig, beard, and felt hat he used for disguise into a cloth bag, preparing to find a secluded corner to change his appearance before going to the city to buy medicine.

I just went out.

suddenly.

A long, snow-white leg suddenly blocked her way.