The Martial Saint of the Defiled World

The green silk sleeves are cool in June; where in the world is there not the legendary Emperor Fuxi?

It is now mid-June in Tianjin Port, and the sun is already showing signs of becoming scorching.

Jiang Shaosheng, however, did not feel the heat at all, for no other reason than money.

Two months have passed since the warehouse incident, but the memory is still incredibly harrowing.

For Qian Youdao, death, ironically, brought him and Hong Pu together.

In that battle, Humpy survived by sheer luck.

However, the Liu brothers fared poorly; Liu Wu died, and Liu Wen was crippled.

However, the three survivors gained a lot from the warehouse.

Hongpu is now recuperating at home, living a carefree life.

Liu Wen took Liu Wu's remains back to his hometown.

Jiang Shaosheng didn't go anywhere; he just stayed at home practicing his boxing.

He is currently financially secure, healthy, and will not have to struggle for a living for at least a year.

He owes his current carefree life to one person.

This person is Granny Feng, who used to be in charge of delivering meals during the night shift.

The reason why the miasma beast suddenly went berserk that night when Old Zhao sent the man in black upstairs was because Granny Feng drugged the miasma beast in the warehouse while everyone was in the tunnel.

That same night, Granny Feng told him a story from over a hundred years ago.

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That happened during the Qing Dynasty, and she couldn't say exactly which year it was.

I only remember that summer, miasma was rising from the ground, which killed several livestock.

The villagers dared not approach that piece of land, saying that something dirty lived underneath it.

One evening, a very young wandering Taoist priest came to the village.

He was wearing an old Taoist robe, carrying a cloth bag on his back, and holding a bamboo cane in his hand.

He asked for a bowl of water from the well at the village entrance, looked up at the direction from which the miasma was rising, and said:

"There's a crack in the earth's veins underneath, and what's leaking out is earth energy, not dirty stuff. You can't block it; you have to plant a tree and let it absorb it slowly."

The villagers asked what kind of tree to plant.

The Taoist priest took out a seed from the cloth bag; it was jet black and shiny, like a burnt grain of rice.

"This tree is called the miasma-absorbing tree. It absorbs the earth's energy and cannot be exposed to light. After forty-nine days, it will take root, and the miasma will gradually dissipate."

The villagers were skeptical.

The Taoist priest placed the seed on the well platform and said, "This tree has a bit of a temperament; it recognizes people. Whoever plants it will be connected to that family."

"From now on, its flowers, when mixed with the blood of that beast, can save lives, but everything should be done in moderation; if you become greedy, it will be bad."

After saying that, the Taoist priest left.

Nobody knows where he went.

Some villagers took them home to plant, but no matter what they did, they wouldn't sprout.

Some people don't believe in superstitions and still try to plant it, but not after forty-nine days, almost a year, there's still no sign of it.

Later, it was the herb gatherer from the Feng family who picked up the seed.

The Feng family ancestors were herbalists who spent generations in the mountains and knew all kinds of herbs.

Boss Feng picked up the seed, pondered it for three days, and finally planted it.

He dug a deep pit in the ground, buried the seeds in it, and used a bamboo tube to draw water from the hot spring, watering them drop by drop.

For forty-nine days, he went up the mountain to collect herbs during the day and stayed underground at night to guard the seeds. He dared not light a lamp for fear that the seeds would be exposed to light.

Forty-nine days later, the seed miraculously sprouted.

A small seedling, with a grayish-white stem, bare and without leaves.

But Boss Feng noticed that the miasma around the seedling had indeed thinned out a bit.

A few years later, the tree grew to waist height.

Beside the tree roots, a small beast had appeared out of nowhere.

It was gray and looked like a badger. It slept under the tree roots every day and didn't hide from people.

Boss Feng cautiously approached, but the beast merely opened its eyes, glanced at them, and then closed them again to sleep.

This is the miasma beast.

Feng Laoda gradually figured out the tree's temperament.

It inhales miasma, and the miasma beast eats the miasma condensation near the tree roots. The human and the beast live their own lives, without disturbing each other.

The blood of the miasma beast, when combined with the flowers of the tree, can cure miasma poison, strengthen muscles and bones, and even extend the life of a person who is about to die by more than ten years.

Boss Feng never told anyone; he just used it secretly.

He lived to be eighty-eight, without illness or disaster, and passed away without any pain.

The Feng family has lived a peaceful life for three generations, tending to this tree.

The Qian family moved in later.

The Qian family had made a fortune doing business in another county, moved into the village, bought land, and built a large house.

The old master of the Qian family was a shrewd man with a keen eye and a sharp nose.

In his second year in the village, he noticed something was wrong with the Feng family.

That family that collected medicinal herbs lived a more peaceful life than anyone else; three generations of them lived long lives, and none of them got sick.

Old Master Qian sent people to keep an eye on the Feng family.

After keeping an eye on it for half a year, they finally discovered the underground cave.

That winter, the Qian family led a group of people to block the exit of the underground cave.

The eldest brother, Feng, had already died by then. The second brother, Feng, who was in charge of the household, was the great-grandfather of Granny Feng.

He looked at the Qian family and knew he couldn't hide it anymore.

Grandpa Qian said, "Give me that tree, and I'll give your family a way to survive."

Feng Lao Er refused.

He said the tree was given by a Taoist priest and planted by the Feng family, and had nothing to do with the Qian family.

Old Master Qian smiled and ordered his men to tie up Feng Lao Er. Then, in front of him, he dragged out the Feng family members one by one.

Of the thirteen members of the Feng family, twelve died.

Only Feng Lao Er's seven-year-old son survived, as his mother stuffed him into the cesspool.

When he crawled out, he saw his father, mother, and sister all lying on the ground, frozen solid.

He didn't cry.

He knew he couldn't cry, because if he cried, people would hear him.

he's gone.

I wandered into an unfamiliar place and was eventually taken in by someone.

From then on, he changed his surname and given name, and never told anyone about it.

On his deathbed, he called his son to his side and said:

"Our family name is Feng. There is a tree underground that belongs to our family. It was stolen by someone surnamed Qian. Remember this, but don't seek revenge. The Qian family is too powerful for us to handle. But this story must be passed down."

It was passed down from generation to generation, for six generations.

By the sixth generation, only one daughter remained.

That is, Granny Feng.

Granny Feng had known about this since she was a child.

This is what her grandfather told her before he died.

"That tree belongs to our family. The miasma beast originally recognized our family, but now the Qian family is hogging it and using it to prolong their lives. Our family of twelve is buried under that ground, and no one has ever burned a single piece of paper for them."

Grandma Feng was twelve years old that year. She asked her grandfather, "Can we get it back?"

Grandpa shook his head: "We can't get it back. But remember, our family doesn't owe the Qian family anything; it's the Qian family that owes us."

Granny Feng remembered it for the rest of her life.

She married at eighteen. Her husband was an honest man who treated her well, and they had a son.

The man died when his son was three years old; he died of illness.

She raised her child alone for three years.

The child died when he was six years old.

That year, there was a plague that killed many people, and her son didn't make it through.

Granny Feng buried the child and sat in front of the grave for a day and a night.

The next day, she realized something.

She has no hope for the future.

The things that need to be done must be done.

It took her decades to finally find out where the Qian family had moved the tree.

She spent another year infiltrating the warehouse of Fuchang Goods Store in Yulin Lane and became a food delivery woman.

She had to put in a lot of effort to get this job.

Looking back now, Jiang Shaosheng finds it quite ironic.

He and Hongpu had praised Qian Youdao for his kindness and willingness to give Granny Feng a job to make a living.

Jiang Shaosheng sat on the steps by the door, a cool breeze emanating from the green silk in his sleeve.

He suddenly realized something.

Qian Youdao died of greed, Granny Feng lived on hatred, and the Liu brothers pursued profit...

Everyone is driven by desires, like rivers flowing into the sea, unable to control their own destiny.

At this moment, however, he had plenty of money in his pocket and no worries about anything. He had neither to ask for nor to compete for anything, and thus became an outsider.

It turns out that true peace and coolness in this world are not found in one's sleeves, but in one's heart.

The June wind swept through the hall, and he squinted at the sun, feeling for the first time that even in this scorching world, there was a place where people could rest.