Cultivation: Starting from a Fighting Cock

Chapter 39: Spreading branches and leaves

"Qian'er, Kun'er, Yan'er, come, take a rest and have a bowl of lotus seed soup."

Madam Zhao brought over a soup of white fungus and lotus seeds that had been simmering overnight, feeling extremely sorry for Zhao Kun practicing his boxing.

"Thank you, mother."

"Thank you, ma'am."

Zhao Kun and Zhao Yan carefully accepted the bowl handed to them by Madam Zhao. It was still a little hot, and Zhao Yan touched her ear.

Zhao Qian continued practicing his boxing; he wouldn't rest until he finished the entire set of techniques.

Madam Zhao smiled and said, "Seeing you brothers and sisters so harmoniously warms my heart. It's just a pity that our family isn't very large."

Madam Zhao's words implied that she was urging Zhao Qian, Zhao Kun, and Zhao Yan to get married and have more children for the Zhao family.

Zhao Yan smiled and said, "Zhao Kun is getting married soon, so you should encourage him more!"
Upon hearing this, Zhao Kun coughed again.

Madam Zhao sighed silently. Alas, with Kun'er in this state, it's uncertain whether he can even have children.

At this moment, Master Zhao came out of the house and said with a smile:
"If our Zhao family are truly descendants of an immortal master, then we must have more children. Only by having more offspring can we hope to have descendants with spiritual roots!"

"To revitalize the family, we need a descendant with spiritual roots. All of us—me, my elder brother, and you three juniors—are wasting our time. No matter how hard we try, it's not as good as having a descendant with spiritual roots!"

Master Zhao felt that they should have more children so that the Zhao family could grow and prosper. He thought that when there were a hundred or two young people, one or two descendants with spiritual roots would surely emerge.

The Zhao family is indeed not very large now. The three younger generations, Zhao Qian, Zhao Kun, and Zhao Yan, need to work harder.

"Heh, why don't you have more children yourself?"

Zhao Yan retorted with a cold laugh, "If you want to have a child, go have one yourself. Haven't you always wanted a son?"
"Hey, I..."

Master Zhao hesitated, feeling quite aggrieved, thinking to himself, "If I could still have children, I would have done it long ago."

The group debated the topic of having more children for a while, and then Master Zhao joined in.

Zhao Qian became the target of everyone's urging to get married, and everyone was eager to introduce him to potential wives.

In the end, even Zhao Yan laughed.

Zhao Qian will not need to go to the county government office for the time being; he will stay at home for the foreseeable future.

Recent events have caused a slight shift in Zhao Qian's mindset.

He began to realize and accept his mediocrity.

Although he was quite talented in martial arts, that was in Wuzhen. When he went to Zishui City, he found that there were many people stronger than him, and he was nothing special.

Having seen the world, especially through observing some older martial artists around him, he seemed to see the limit of his own life's potential.

He sighed inwardly, realizing that even if he worked hard his whole life, that would be all he could achieve.

"Father, Mother, if there is a suitable girl, I would like to meet her."

At this moment, hearing everyone trying to persuade him, Zhao Qian wavered. He felt that perhaps it was the right thing to do to let the Zhao family have more descendants.

"Good, good, good! This martial arts fanatic has finally figured it out!"

"Oh my, that's wonderful! I'll go find one for you right after I finish eating!"

Mr. and Mrs. Zhao were overjoyed. After so many years, their eldest son had finally relented on the matter of marriage.

Zhao Yan also smiled and said that there was a senior sister at the Niu Family Martial Arts School who was a good match for you, and that she would introduce you two to each other if there was a chance.

Zhao Qian forced a smile and nodded.

After breakfast, everyone in the Zhao family went about their own business.

"Oh my, my darling, you must have been cooped up for so long! Come on, let's see if your fighting skills have gotten worse?"

When Master Zhao arrived at the backyard, he first squatted down in front of Ji Cheng and touched the feathers on his body, and found that Ji Cheng seemed to have become even more robust.

He released a fighting rooster from its cage and arranged for it to fight Ji Cheng to test Ji Cheng's strength.

This fighting rooster is also a golden rooster breed, and it's the kind that's very aggressive.

Normally, Ji Cheng walks around in the yard, and it often tries to peck at him through the cage, acting extremely fierce.

As soon as Master Zhao released it from the cage, it raised its neck and launched a fierce attack on Ji Cheng.

These mindless birds are truly oblivious to life and death, only acting on instinct.

Ji Cheng dodged and countered twice in a row, finishing him off cleanly and efficiently.

【Titles: Turkey Shooter (3/40), One-Legged Rooster, Wind-blown Chicken】

[Bloodline: Golden Rooster (65%)]

[Realm: Mid-stage Demon Transformation] [Talent: Observation, Listening, Inquiry, and Palpation]

The number following the title increases, indicating that it counts as a win.

Even if it's not in a cockfighting arena, it counts.

Ji Cheng had a sudden thought: should I take the initiative to find another fighting cock tonight for a one-on-one duel?
With this in mind, he decided to give it a try tonight.

Master Zhao threw the still-breathing fighting rooster to the kitchen, ordered the servants to clean it up, and stewed it for lunch.

Then, Master Zhao carried Ji Cheng to the Green Bamboo Gang's cockfighting arena.

Ji Cheng won three consecutive matches at the cockfighting arena, helping Master Zhao win fifty or sixty taels of silver.

【Titles: Turkey Shooter (6/40), One-Legged Rooster, Wind-blown Chicken】

[Bloodline: Golden Rooster (65%)]

[Realm: Middle stage of demon transformation]

[Talent: Observation, Listening, Inquiry, and Palpation]

Yes, this is the progress Ji Cheng wanted, and he's already looking forward to his next title.

at night.

When the big yellow dog went to steal chickens, Ji Cheng went with it.

This chicken farmer kept a large wolfhound, but Dahuang had been in and out of the place dozens of times and had long since taken the wolfhound as its underling. So it dared not bark, but instead wagged its tail at Dahuang and Ji Cheng.

Ji Cheng picked out a black-footed chicken from the coop that looked like it could fight.

As soon as it was released, the black-legged pheasant proudly launched an attack on Ji Cheng.

That's how fighting cocks are; they have no reason to fight. They're super-masculine and will start a fight with any other fighting cock they see.

Ji Cheng didn't hesitate either, snapping the black-footed chicken's neck with a single claw, just like crushing a chick.

Unfortunately, the number following the title did not increase.

"It seems I can't initiate a cockfight?"

Ji Cheng wasn't disappointed; it couldn't possibly be as simple as he thought.

If you could start your own cockfight, you could rack up hundreds of victories in one night.

That would be invincible.

For the next two days, Master Zhao took Ji Cheng to the Green Bamboo Gang's cockfighting arena.

This place is under the jurisdiction of the Green Bamboo Gang. Now that Fairy Su is showing some favor to the Zhao family, no one dares to have any crooked thoughts even if Second Master Zhao wins money.

【Titles: Turkey Shooter (11/40), One-Legged Rooster, Wind-blown Chicken】

[Bloodline: Golden Rooster (65%)]

[Realm: Middle stage of demon transformation]

[Talent: Observation, Listening, Inquiry, and Palpation]

Good, good, the new title is already a quarter complete, very efficient.

In fact, Ji Cheng hoped to fight a few more matches every day; he could do it perfectly well, without any problem.

Master Zhao, however, doted on him and worried that he might get injured or even die from the high intensity of the fight. He only allowed him to fight three times a day at most, believing in the saying "things should not be done more than three times".

As Master Zhao continued to win money, the Zhao family's life gradually improved.

Master Zhao summoned his two sons to discuss reopening the pharmacy and restarting the medicinal herb business between Wuzhen and Zishui City.

……

Wang Family Martial Arts School

"You mean, Zhao Chongwu of the Zhao family is obsessed with cockfighting and has won a lot of money at the Green Bamboo Gang's cockfighting arena?"

Ever since Su Qing intended to protect the Zhao family, Zhou Mu has been worried about how to force the Zhao family to hand over the Foundation Establishment Pill.

At that moment, upon hearing a report from one of the leaders of the Snake Gang, he suddenly had an idea.

"Manager He, please tell me about Zhao Chongwu in detail."

"Yes, Young Master Mu, Zhao Chongwu was quite a..."

(End of this chapter)