What do you mean I'm a ghost story?

Chapter 21 Asking for help
"Grandmaster!"

"Master, you've arrived!"

"Master, do you have a girlfriend yet? I have a granddaughter..."

As soon as Xia Qing arrived at the fitness park, she was immediately surrounded and eagerly watched by a group of elderly men and women.

Clearly, the afterglow of last night has not yet faded.

Everyone was just getting interested in him.

"Thank you, thank you, no need..."

Xia Qing responded helplessly to the group of enthusiastic elderly men and women, and it took her quite a while to calm them down.

But he still gets glanced at from time to time.

So Xia Qing simply ignored all of that and started practicing her boxing.

"Your Tai Chi Chuan style reflects the weakness of its own lineage in this world, lamenting the extinction of the martial arts path for all, and desires to establish a school and spread its teachings throughout the world."

Another notification suddenly appeared from the Tai Chi Chuan manual.

"Are you trying to start your own school of thought? I don't even want to talk to you about that."

Xia Qing rolled her eyes, ignored her, and continued practicing her boxing techniques.

Many of the elderly people who were doing their morning exercises around them also put aside their usual routines and quietly started learning from them.

They looked like they were doing something sneaky, and when Xia Qing looked away, they pretended to look up at the air.

"Grandpa, you don't need to do that. If you want to learn, just follow me and practice."

Xia Qing was both amused and exasperated. She chuckled and slowed down her boxing practice.

Leaving aside his flamboyant habit of showing off his Tai Chi skills in front of others, he himself didn't really intend to hide it.

It's not like we're in some ancient martial arts world where we have to hide any martial arts manuals.

Tai Chi Chuan is a very normal martial art, which only uses physical strength, just with more skillful application of energy.

If we're talking about real combat, the Xia Kingdom is not lacking in such practical martial arts.

Even the most exquisite boxing techniques still depend on basic skills.

Being in different weight classes and lacking physical training, they will ultimately only be good for show.

This thing is completely useless to modern people. If they get carried away with it, they'll only end up killing, injuring, or going to jail.

It's better to perform with a set posture, which is both entertaining and profitable, so naturally no one is willing to put in the effort to practice anymore.

The reasons for the gradual disappearance of martial arts, opera, acrobatics, and so on are basically the same.

There's nothing much, it's just that it's no longer needed, and I no longer have to make a living from it.

Don't be fooled by how enthusiastically these elderly folks are practicing now; they're mostly just caught up in the moment after seeing his performance. I doubt many of them will actually stick with it.

There probably won't be anyone who can also balance physical training and carefully study actual combat.

After all, even the nationally promoted and beneficial radio calisthenics are not practiced seriously by many people.

However, at least for now, everyone's enthusiasm is still high.

With Xia Qing taking the initiative to speak, the elderly men and women were even happier, and those who were originally too embarrassed to follow along and learn from her joined in.

They lined up in neat square formations, seemingly rehearsed from either square dancing or calisthenics.

Dozens of people followed Xia Qing, slowly practicing the unique and elegant Tai Chi style.

For a time, it was quite a sight.

"Oh dear, it's all your fault! You were so slow and dragged your feet, we missed the master's instruction!"

When the belated old man Zhang entered the park and saw this scene, he felt as if the sky had fallen.

The master was actually teaching them boxing.

As a result, I missed it!
I was the one the master was instructing yesterday, a genuine Tai Chi practitioner who had been practicing for over a decade!
I didn't even get to learn the authentic Tai Chi from the master.

It's like missing out on a fortune!

In his anger, he vented all his frustration on his slow-moving son.

He slapped a man in a suit on the back of the head directly from behind.

Of course, I didn't use any real strength; I was just making a show of it.

"Dad, if you're really superstitious, you should find a monk or Taoist priest. You've found someone who practices kung fu, which doesn't fit at all." The square-faced middle-aged man in a suit wasn't angry, but rather somewhat helpless and amused.

"What do you know? This is a true master! A real expert!"

Upon hearing his son's words, Old Zhang became even more agitated, his beard bristling and eyes wide with anger:
"Look at those monks and Taoist priests, don't they all practice martial arts? Aren't real masters readily available more reliable than those swindlers?"

"Okay, okay, whatever you say."

Under the pressure of bloodline dominance, the middle-aged man in the suit had no choice but to back down and surrender.

Old Zhang didn't bother arguing with his son any longer. After glaring at him, he hurriedly blended into the crowd.

Not daring to cause any disturbance, I followed the very end of the line and began to learn.

Unfortunately, before he could learn even two moves, Xia Qing had already finished his round of punches and called it a day.

"Master, may I speak to you in private?"

Once the group dispersed, Old Zhang immediately approached Xia Qing.

"You're late, do you want to learn it again?"

Xia Qing saw that it was Old Man Zhang and guessed his purpose. At the same time, she followed him to a place that was a little away from the others.

"No, no, I wanted to ask..."

Old Zhang hesitated for a moment, finding it difficult to speak, before finally saying, "Master, I think you must be a true master. I wonder if you know anything about exorcism or anything like that?"

"I don't understand, goodbye!"

Xia Qing immediately clasped his hands in a fist salute, ending the conversation.

Just kidding, he doesn't know if there are ghosts in other people's houses.

But the old man must have some at home.

After all, both the Money Dart Technique and the Tai Chi Fist Technique had sensed the strange nightmare aura yesterday, and the Tai Chi Fist Technique was awakened because of this.

He hasn't even dealt with the nightmare that's haunting him yet, so how could he possibly be in the mood to court disaster and provoke another one?

"Hey, Master, Master, aren't martial artists supposed to uphold martial ethics, help the weak and punish the strong, or be compassionate and save the common people? I've really encountered something unclean..."

Old Zhang was a shrewd old man. Seeing Xia Qing's reaction, he knew there was hope. He immediately disregarded his dignity, grabbed Xia Qing's hand, and began to plead with a pitiful expression.

However, Xia Qing was determined to leave, and her physique was even stronger, so she simply dragged the person away.

"Wait, money! Give us the money! We're willing to pay the master a fee for his services."

In the end, it was Old Zhang's son, who was very adept at "social skills," who reluctantly spoke up in support.

"How many?"

Xia Qing's firm and powerful steps immediately paused.

“Five thousand… no, ten thousand. I can give the master ten thousand as a deposit. If the problem can be truly solved, I will give him another twenty thousand afterwards.”

The man in the suit looked like a successful person, judging from his appearance and demeanor. He asked for five thousand, and when he saw that Xia Qing's expression didn't change much, he immediately changed his offer to ten thousand.

"Then we can have a proper chat."

Xia Qing turned around with a serious expression.

He suddenly realized that provoking another nightmare wasn't such a bad idea.

After all, he was already worried about how to get the money quickly.

If I can get 30,000, the Money Dart Technique can probably be upgraded again, and my ammunition will immediately become plentiful.

Once this job is done, all problems will be solved.

As for facing another nightmare.

First of all, this nightmare is not the one I encountered, so it couldn't possibly know that I could break free from the bewitching, and therefore wouldn't be on guard or prepared.

If we can catch it off guard by spending a fortune, we might be able to eliminate it directly.

Most importantly, since you're hiring yourself to do the work, it's reasonable for the employer to pay part of the cost in advance, plus reimburse the cost of 'weapons and ammunition', right?

With these two points as a foundation, although risks still exist, these risks are not insurmountable.

This is also a good opportunity to probe and understand the details of the nightmare.

Having learned from this nightmare, it will be much easier to plan when you go looking for the one that's haunting you again.

(End of this chapter)