A Martial Saint in Chaotic Times: Starting with Grinding Proficiency

Deep in the Blackwater Alley, the moonlight was fragmented by the narrow eaves.

Zhou Yuan's figure blended into the shadows, each step silent, like a lone wolf lurking in the night.

He quickly found his target.

In front of an abandoned shack at the corner of the alley, Wang Laizi and his two henchmen were gathered around a bonfire, the firelight illuminating their greedy and ugly faces.

"Damn it, what bad luck! My luck's terrible today, I only won this little bit!"

One of his henchmen threw a handful of copper coins on the ground, cursing and swearing.

"Alright, stop howling."

Wang Laizi pulled a money pouch from his pocket and threw it on the ground.

"The outsider we robbed today is quite fat; he'll keep us happy for a few days."

The weasel-faced lackey immediately sidled up, fawningly saying, "Brother Lai is really something! But when are we going to go after that little wench Zhou Ting?"

A lewd smile appeared on Wang Laizi's face as he licked his chapped lips.

"No rush, I've figured it out these past few days."

That kid leaves before dawn and doesn't come back until dark every day.

Tomorrow morning, after he leaves, we'll go straight to his door!

His sister, that cripple, can't possibly run away, can she? When the time comes, once the door is closed, the three of us brothers will be...

"Hehehe..."

The three thugs let out lewd laughter that sounded particularly jarring in the quiet night.

Zhou Yuan's murderous intent boiled over completely.

He stopped hiding and stepped out of the shadows.

"who!"

The henchman was the first to notice the commotion and turned around abruptly.

When they saw that the person who came was Zhou Yuan, all three of them were stunned. Then, Wang Laizi's face was filled with a cruel grin.

"Hey, speak of the devil, and he appears. What, were you eavesdropping on our conversation?"

He slowly stood up, clenching his fists, his knuckles cracking.

"Kid, you've got a path to heaven but you choose the path to hell. Today I'll show you what happens when you offend your scoundrel grandpa!"

Before he finished speaking, he moved and threw a punch at Zhou Yuan's face.

This punch was powerful and heavy, carrying a vicious gust of wind; it was the ruthlessness honed through street brawls.

But in Zhou Yuan's eyes, this punch was ridiculously slow and full of flaws.

He didn't even bother to dodge, and threw a punch in response.

Mountain-Shaking Fist!

"Bang!"

The two fists collided, producing a dull cracking sound.

The sneer on Wang Laizi's face froze instantly, replaced by extreme terror and pain.

He felt as if he had crashed into a wall, an unparalleled force coming from the other's fist, instantly crushing his finger bones and spreading down his arm.

"ah--!"

A heart-wrenching scream pierced the night sky.

Wang Laizi's entire right arm was twisted at an eerie angle and hung limply down.

The other two henchmen were terrified; they had never seen anything like it.

Without pausing, Zhou Yuan drew his wood-chopping knife at the same time Wang Laizi screamed in agony.

A cold light flashed.

Wang Laizi's scream abruptly stopped as a fountain of blood spurted from his neck. He clutched his throat, staring at Zhou Yuan in disbelief, before swaying and collapsing heavily to the ground.

Blood splattered on Zhou Yuan's face, warm and sticky.

He ignored them and turned to look at the remaining two thugs.

The two men were terrified and turned to run away in a panic.

"A ghost!"

Zhou Yuan took a step and moved like an arrow, catching up with the one running behind him in just a few steps.

The machete was stabbed into his back, twisted, and then pulled out.

The man collapsed to the ground, twitched twice, and then fell silent.

The last of the weasel-faced lackeys were so frightened that their legs went weak, and they knelt on the ground, kowtowing with tears streaming down their faces.

"Hero, spare me! Grandpa, spare me! It wasn't my fault, it was all Wang Laizi's fault... he forced me to do it!"

Zhou Yuan walked up to him, and drops of blood dripped from the tip of the wood-chopping knife.

"Spare me?"

His face remained expressionless as he swung his sword down.

A head rolled off.

After doing all this, Zhou Yuan stood between the three corpses, breathing heavily. His stomach churned, but he forced it down.

The body's reaction to killing for the first time is far stronger than expected.

But in this world, if you don't kill, you'll be killed.

He crouched down and searched the three people for a moment before finding two money bags.

When they poured it out and counted it, the loose silver and copper coins totaled more than ten taels.

This windfall is enough to allow him to cultivate in peace for a long time.

After putting away the silver, he didn't go home. Instead, he picked up his wood-chopping knife and headed straight for the Caohe River.

The icy river water washed away the blood and grime from his body and the machete in his hand, gradually calming his wildly beating heart.

Is this the power of martial arts?

His mere, untrained stance training and fist techniques were enough to allow him to easily kill three strong, adult men.

If one were to achieve mastery of skin refining, or even reach a higher level, what kind of scene would that be?

When Zhou Yuan returned home, it was already dawn.

As usual, without disturbing his sister, he quietly returned to his room and lay down fully clothed.

He didn't get up until it was fully light, and as usual, he quietly left the house and headed to the martial arts school.

At the alley entrance, the Song family's general store was already open.

Song Tao was carrying a bag of rice when he saw Zhou Yuan walking over. He was about to say something sarcastic, but he swallowed the words back down.

He met Zhou Yuan's gaze.

Calm, indifferent, like a bottomless ancient well.

Song Tao felt a chill run from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head. His hand went limp, and the bag of rice crashed to the ground with a "bang," scattering everywhere.

"you……"

Song Tao had barely uttered a word when Zhou Yuan walked past him without even glancing at him.

Only after Zhou Yuan had walked away did Song Tao come to his senses, his back already covered in cold sweat.

He muttered something under his breath as he watched Zhou Yuan's retreating figure: "So what if he joined a martial arts school? What's with all the swagger? He should take a good look at his own abilities!"

"What's all the yelling about so early in the morning?"

A graceful figure emerged from the general store; it was Song Fang. She had finished getting ready and was preparing to go to the Feiyun Embroidery Pavilion in the inner city.

She heard her brother muttering and looked in the direction he was looking, only to see Zhou Yuan's departing figure.

"Did he go to learn martial arts?" Song Fang asked.

"Yeah, sis, do you think he's gone crazy from the shock of your broken engagement? Does he really think he can make something of himself?" Song Tao scoffed.

Song Fang remained silent for a moment, a strange emotion flashing through her mind, but she quickly suppressed it with reason.

Learning martial arts can indeed lead to success, but it requires amazing talent and a huge amount of money.

The Zhou family is in such dire straits that they can barely afford to eat, so how can they afford to practice martial arts?

This was nothing more than a momentary impulse of a young man.

Song Fang gently shook her head and smiled, a smile tinged with self-satisfaction and aloofness. "I won't be home for dinner tonight. Tell Dad yourself."

"Okay, sis!" Song Tao immediately put on a smiling face.

He had recently heard that his sister was getting close to a talented disciple of the Black Tiger Martial Arts School in the inner city.

That's the biggest martial arts school in the inner city!

Once they get on this bandwagon, the Song family's good days are just around the corner.

……