Breaking Limits in Martial Arts: Grinding Your Way to Becoming a Martial Saint in a Chaotic Era

The further you go outside the city, the sparser the population becomes, and the more difficult the roads become.

The dirt road was full of potholes, and the wheels crunched over the gravel. The driver would occasionally shout "Whoa!" and pull on the reins to avoid the potholes.

Sun Ping leaned against the car floor, closed his eyes, and his breathing gradually became even.

Xu Qing lifted the carriage curtain and glanced outside. The grass on the field ridges had long since turned yellow, and a few farmhouses could be seen sporadically in the distance, with wisps of smoke rising from their chimneys. Beyond this stretch of road was the fork in the road leading back to Blackwater Bay.

The driver had been driving for over a decade and knew the way well; Xu Qing didn't need to say anything, he already knew where to go.

But before they reached the fork in the road, he suddenly pulled on the reins.

"Whoa—"

The carriage suddenly stopped, and Xu Qing leaned forward slightly, frowning. Just as he was about to ask a question, he suddenly heard a rapid sound of hooves and wheels crushing gravel coming from the road on his right.

He turned his head and saw a blue-curtained carriage speeding towards him from that road, as if it were fleeing for its life.

The carriage rushed to the fork in the road, its front wheels ran over a large rock, and the carriage lurched violently, overturning completely to the side of the road. The curtain was flung open, and a scream came from inside, followed by the old driver's scream of agony.

At the same time, three men, panting heavily, caught up with the carriage.

The leader was a burly man with a fierce look, wearing a dirty short jacket and carrying a short knife. Behind him followed a man with a thick beard and triangular eyes, both of them carrying weapons.

The burly man saw the overturned carriage, paused for a moment, then grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth: "Run! Why aren't you running anymore?"

He took a few deep breaths, turned his head and saw Xu Qing's carriage. His gaze sharpened, and he walked over, knife in hand, waving his hand menacingly: "What are you looking at? Get lost!"

The bearded man followed behind him, but leaned closer and whispered, "Brother, we're already here, why not just rob them all? Look at that old man driving the cart, he looks so poor, and the people sitting in the cart don't seem like high-ranking officials. It's all the same whether we eat one piece or two."

The burly man squinted at Xu Qing's carriage. The curtain was made of worn-out blue cloth, faded from washing, and the driver was an old man in patched clothes, his neck hunched, trembling with fear. It certainly didn't look like the pomp and circumstance of a wealthy person in the city.

He nodded, raising his chin: "Second brother, third brother, go, stop the carriage too. Remember, take the money, then stab someone, be quick and efficient."

The bearded man with triangular eyes responded and walked towards Xu Qing, knife in hand.

The driver turned pale with fright, dropped the whip in his hand, his lips trembled and he couldn't speak. He curled up into a ball, wishing he could crawl under the cart.

Sun Ping was startled awake. He opened his eyes groggily, and when he saw what was happening, he tensed up and instinctively shrank closer to Xu Qing, his voice trembling, "Senior Brother Xu... Senior Brother Xu..."

Xu Qing sat in the car, watching the two people get closer and closer, and sighed inwardly.

He didn't want to cause trouble. He could simply go back to Blackwater Bay, have a good rest, see his second uncle and aunt and Xiu'er, hear Xiu'er call him "brother," and eat a bowl of food cooked by his second aunt—how wonderful that would be! But trouble had come knocking on his door, and he couldn't refuse.

The bearded man walked to the front of the carriage, reached out to pull at the curtain, his five filthy fingers gripping the blue cloth, and yanked it open: "Damn it, all of you get down here! Hand over your valuables! If I'm in a good mood, I might spare your lives—"

Before he could finish speaking, Xu Qing reached out from behind the curtain and landed a fist on his wrist.

The force wasn't great, but it carried a subtle, skillful touch. The bearded man felt a numbness in his arm, as if he'd been bitten by a snake, and his entire arm went numb. The knife in his hand clattered to the ground.

He froze for a moment, not yet reacting, when Xu Qing landed another punch, lightly on his chest. It wasn't hard, like being pushed. But the bearded man's face instantly turned deathly pale, a muffled groan escaped his throat, and he slumped down limply as if all his strength had been drained away.

Seeing the situation was turning against him, the man with the triangular eyes raised his knife and stabbed. The tip of the dagger gleamed coldly, aiming straight for Xu Qing's ribs, swift and ruthless.

Xu Qing dodged to the side and struck the man's elbow with a palm strike. The triangular-eyed man's arm snapped with a "crack," the knife flew out, and Xu Qing landed another punch on his ribs. The triangular-eyed man didn't even utter a sound, slumped to the side, fell to the ground, twitched twice, and then lay still. From beginning to end, Xu Qing didn't even get up.

The burly man was squatting beside the overturned carriage, reaching out to lift the curtain. Hearing the noise, he turned around and saw his two accomplices lying on the ground. One was leaning against the wheel with his eyes rolled back, while the other lay motionless on the ground.

His expression changed drastically, and he stood up abruptly, his hand gripping the knife trembling.

He saw Xu Qing jump off the car. A young man, dressed in a light gray cloth robe, with nothing hanging from his waist, was clean from head to toe, but his eyes were as cold as a river in winter.

The burly man swallowed hard, then turned and ran.

Xu Qing had run less than ten steps when he picked up a pebble from the ground and tossed it casually. The pebble struck the bald man squarely in the back of the knee, and he fell to his knees with a thud, his face contorted in pain. The knife in his hand flew far away.

Before he could even get up, Xu Qing had already walked behind him and patted him on the back. The force wasn't strong, like a familiar person patting his shoulder in greeting. But the burly man felt a tightness in his chest, as if someone had stuffed cotton into his trachea, making it hard to breathe. His vision went black, and he collapsed to the ground, motionless.

Xu Qing was never a soft-hearted person. The moment the three men attacked him, the outcome was already decided.

Before he acted, he had already considered a legitimate reason to kill the three men. He was now practically an official. For a gang of thugs to block the road with weapons and attack a constable was suicidal. The people at the scene were all witnesses.

Xu Qing dusted off his hands and turned around.

Beside the overturned carriage, an old man with white hair was struggling to get up from the ground. He had scraped his forehead, and blood was flowing down his cheek, into his eyebrows, and into the corner of his eye. He wiped it haphazardly with his sleeve, leaving a red stain on the cuff.

He disregarded his own safety, staggering towards the carriage to steady it. Clinging to the carriage shafts, his arms trembled like withered branches in the wind, he cried out, "Miss...Miss, are you alright...?"

The carriage curtain was lifted, and a young woman climbed out.

She was seventeen or eighteen years old, with an oval face, pretty eyebrows and eyes, and her black hair was a little messy. The silver hairpin at her temple was crooked, her clothes were wrinkled and stained with mud, and there was a tear in the hem of her skirt, revealing a white petticoat underneath.

When she got up, one of her shoes had fallen off, and she looked a bit disheveled.

Xu Qing went over and helped the old man right the carriage.

Sun Ping also ran over to help, picking up the scattered bundles and stuffing them back into the cart. One axle was broken, but the wheels could still turn, and the cart could barely move.

The old man, panting heavily, thanked him profusely: "Thank you, young master! If it weren't for you, we would have...we would have..." As he spoke, his eyes reddened and his voice choked. He never imagined that someone would rob him in broad daylight.

The woman stood to the side, put on her shoes, straightened her clothes, tucked her disheveled hair behind her ears, and bowed slightly to Xu Qing. Her voice was clear and melodious, with a touch of scholarly refinement: "Thank you for saving my life, young master. May I ask your honorable name and where you live? I will certainly pay you a visit another day to express my gratitude."

Xu Qing waved his hand casually: "It was nothing, no need to be so polite. The carriage can still run, so you should hurry on your way. We should be able to reach the county town before lunch." After saying that, he turned around and walked towards his carriage.

Sun Ping followed behind, glanced back at the woman, then quickly turned back and whispered, "Senior Brother Xu, that girl is still looking at you."

Xu Qing didn't turn around. He simply called on Sun Ping to lend a hand and carried the two corpses beside the carriage to the roadside.

The woman stood frozen in place, opening her mouth as if to say something, but Xu Qing had already boarded the carriage. The curtain was drawn. She could only see a blurry figure from behind, wearing a gray-blue robe, his back ramrod straight.

She pursed her lips, a strange feeling welling up inside her—this person saved someone, yet wouldn't even leave their name.

"Uncle Fu, go and ask him," she whispered to the old man, her voice tinged with resentment. "At least he'll know who our benefactor is."

The old man nodded and jogged after him.

His legs were already unsteady, and after running a few steps, he stepped on a stone, cried out "Ouch!" and stumbled, hitting his knee on the ground, wincing in pain.

Hearing the noise, Xu Qing peeked out from behind the carriage curtain and saw the old man lying on the ground, supporting himself with one hand and waving at him with the other.

"Young master... young master, please wait... please leave your name and address..."

He sighed and said through the window, "Old man, please don't chase after me. I'm not some young master. I practice martial arts at the Zhao Family Martial Arts School in the county town. My name is Xu Qing."

A gust of wind blew by, stirring up sand and dust from the roadside, which hit the old man's face.

He squinted and tilted his head. His hearing was poor, and he could only make out the four words "Zhao Family Martial Arts School." The word "Xu Qing" was blown away by the wind, leaving only a vague trailing sound in his ears.

"Zhao Family Martial Arts School... Xu Qing." The old man repeated it softly, and then silently repeated it twice more in his mind, for fear of forgetting, "Zhao Family Martial Arts School Xu Qing, Zhao Family Martial Arts School Xu Qing..."

The old man stood up, dusted himself off his knees, bowed deeply to Xu Qing's carriage, and said loudly, "Thank you, Young Master Xu! Thank you, Young Master Xu!"

Xu Qing had already lowered the carriage curtain. The driver picked up the whip, flicked the end, and the carriage rumbled toward the left-hand road, the wheels rolling over the dirt road and raising a cloud of dust.

Sun Ping leaned against the car window, clinging to the sill, sticking half his head out.

He saw the old man still bowing at the crossroads behind him, and the pretty young lady standing beside the carriage, one hand holding the curtain, the other tucking her wind-blown hair, still watching them. The wind blew her skirt up and down, up and down again.

He turned around and glanced at Xu Qing. Xu Qing leaned against the car wall, her eyes closed, her face expressionless, as if nothing had happened.

Sun Ping's gaze became complicated, a feeling he couldn't quite describe welling up inside him. He opened his mouth, as if to ask something, but then swallowed his words back.

The carriage fell silent, with only the rumble of wheels on the dirt road and the rustling of wind through the dry grass in the distance.