Republic of China: From Street Performer to War God in a Chaotic Era

At midnight on the edge of the French Concession, the wind and snow had stopped, but the chill was becoming increasingly biting.

The shards of glass on the second floor of the Western-style building were still falling in the cold wind. Detective Zhao's body lay on the carpet, and the smell of blood wafted out through the hole.

Lu Guan reattached the [Hidden Rat] shadow puppet to his chest, instantly concealing his aura, and leaped down from the second-floor window.

"Clatter."

His feet landed steadily on the snow in the yard, like cat's paws, without even splashing a single snowflake.

Just as he was about to climb over the two-meter-high iron fence, a burly, dark figure suddenly emerged from the direction of the outhouse on the side of the Western-style building.

This was a man wearing a black leather jacket with a front opening, his face full of fierce features, and he was holding his belt in his hand.

As he walked, he cursed and breathed white vapor onto his hands.

This man was the personal bodyguard that Detective Zhao had hired from the martial arts school at great expense; he was nicknamed "Iron Ox".

Tie Niu had just finished urinating when he looked up and saw the shattered glass scattered all over the floor of the study on the second floor, as well as the wide-open broken window.

Using the remaining light from the streetlights outside the Western-style building, he suddenly caught sight of Lu Guan, who was about to climb over the wall.

Even though Lu Guan was in a state of "concealment" at the moment and had no trace of human presence, a living person wearing night clothes standing in the snow could be clearly seen by anyone who wasn't blind!

"broken!"

Tie Niu's heart skipped a beat.

Although he was a rough man, after so many years in the underworld, how could he not understand what had happened? He had only been taking a dump when his employer had his throat slit!

With his employer dead, his job as a bodyguard was completely over. If the French Concession police investigated, he would be in deep trouble.

Fear lingered in Tie Niu's mind for only a moment before transforming into greed and ruthlessness.

As Zhao's bodyguard, he knew all too well how much money Detective Zhao had embezzled from the people.

That study was always stocked with small yellow croakers and silver dollars!

"Since this thief in black was able to sneak in unnoticed, he must have made off with all the money."

Tie Niu's eyes instantly turned bloodshot; he decided to go all the way.

As long as we kill this black-clad thief in front of us, steal the money, and disappear into the chaotic black market of Tianjin, who the hell would want to be a bodyguard who's someone else's dog?

"Stop right there, you little thief!"

Iron Bull let out a low roar and stomped his foot hard.

With a "bang," the frozen ground beneath his feet was trampled into a deep pit.

Using the powerful recoil, Tie Niu, like a mad boar, charged straight at Lu Guan's back with a stench!

"court death."

Lu Guan immediately withdrew his hand, which had been resting on the wall.

He turned around, and a cold glint appeared in his eyes behind the mask.

Since their whereabouts have been discovered, the only option is to kill them to silence them.

"boom!"

Lu Guan did not back down. The blood and qi that had just been suppressed in his body erupted like a flood.

With his inner strength surging, the veins on his right arm bulged like a dragon, and he met Tie Niu's powerful punch with a simple, devastating blow.

There were no fancy moves, not even the essence of Bajiquan was used; it was purely a collision of flesh and internal force.

"Crack—"

The two fists collided, creating a loud sonic boom that caused the snow on the surrounding branches to fall in a flurry.

Lu Guan felt as if his fist had hit a thick layer of cowhide.

The powerful force was largely neutralized by a layer of net-like blood and qi the moment it pierced the opponent's skin.

"The skin is like leather, and the blood and qi form a network..."

Lu Guan's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately figured out the other party's background.

Minor achievement in Ming Jin!

This Iron Bull was actually a master who had already surpassed the initial stage of Ming Jin and had trained his skin to be as tough as cowhide!

"ah--"

Compared to Lu Guan's composure, Tie Niu was utterly terrified and even let out a muffled groan.

He thought that with his minor mastery of the Ming Jin cultivation level, coupled with his thick, impervious skin, dealing with a petty thief who only knew assassination would be a piece of cake.

But who would have thought that the power of blood and qi contained in the opponent's punch was like that of an ancient ferocious beast!

That's too fierce, too violent!

Tie Niu felt a strange force tear through his proud blood and qi defense network as if it were destroying dry branches, and then crashed into his internal organs along his arm.

"Thump thump thump..."

Iron Bull's towering body was actually forced back five or six steps by Lu Guan's ordinary Beng Quan, each step leaving a footprint more than an inch deep in the snow.

He felt a sweet taste in his throat, and a trickle of blood oozed from the corner of his mouth.

"You... what kind of monster are you?!"

Iron Bull's eyes were practically bulging out.

The opponent's skin membrane was clearly far inferior to his own; logically, he should have just entered the Ming Jin realm.

But this guy is definitely not a martial artist who has just entered the Ming Jin realm.

This aura, surging like a dragon and cracking like a bone, was even more terrifying than those masters who had reached the peak of Ming Jin that he had ever seen!

How could this kid's energy and blood be so excessively vigorous?!

"The skin of a Ming Jin Xiao Cheng (a martial arts master) is indeed thick. However, it's just a skin."

Lu Guan shook his slightly numb right hand, his tone indifferent.

He has already figured out the extent of Ming Jin Xiao Cheng's abilities.

If he relied on his exceptional "dragon tendons and tiger bones" bone structure and ordinary Bajiquan techniques to slowly wear down the Iron Bull, he could eventually beat it to death.

But this is the French Concession, and a detective has just died here. The longer this drags on, the more unpredictable things will become.

He doesn't plan to continue playing.

"A swift and decisive victory."

Lu Guan took a deep breath, put his feet one in front of the other, and suddenly sank down.

"roar!"

The moment Lu Guan assumed his stance, Tie Niu's pupils instantly shrank to the size of pinpoints.

In his perception, the boy in black suddenly disappeared, and standing there was a blood-soaked, fierce tiger with a soaring and tragic will to die!

Bajiquan's single-style killing move... Fierce Tiger Climbs the Mountain!

The essence of fist!

"No--"

Tie Niu roared angrily. He finally realized what kind of person he had offended.

That's the essence of martial arts!

In the martial arts world of Tianjin, those who can comprehend the "intent of the fist" are all masters who have established their own schools, even those who are half-step into the Transformation Realm or even Grandmasters of the Transformation Realm!

How could a grandmaster who has mastered the essence of martial arts possibly engage in such a heinous act as breaking and entering to commit murder?!

"You're a Grandmaster?! Forgive me..."

Tie Niu's pleas for mercy were still stuck in his throat when Lu Guan's attack arrived.

The pinnacle of "The Fierce Tiger Climbs the Mountain"!

Without holding back at all, Lu Guan shot forward like a cannonball, skimming the ground.

A shoulder, an elbow, a fist!

"Bang! Crack! Boom!"

Three consecutive sounds of bones and flesh shattering rang out in the snowy night.

Tie Niu's prized "leather-like skin" was like a paper lantern in the face of Lu Guan's devastating three strikes, which were infused with the pure Yang Tiger Fist intent.

The first blow, the iron shoulder, shattered his sternum.

The second strike, a deep elbow, shattered his defensive stance.

The third strike, a powerful and destructive punch, pierced his jaw and instantly pulverized his cervical vertebrae.

Tie Niu's massive body, weighing over two hundred pounds, was blasted off the ground by this terrifying force. He tumbled in mid-air for a moment before crashing heavily into the corner of the courtyard wall like a lump of mud.

It twitched twice, then fell silent.

"Thump."

Lu Guan withdrew his fist and slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air mixed with white mist.

He walked to Tie Niu's body and, without any hesitation, rummaged through his black leather coat for a while.

"Poor wretch."

Lu Guan curled his lip.

Although Tie Niu was a master of the Lesser Completion of the Ming Jin realm, he only carried a dozen or so silver dollars in loose change and didn't even have a single gold bar.

It seems that the bodyguard's job is far less lucrative than that of the police detective.

Lu Guan casually stuffed the dozen or so silver dollars into his pocket and once again activated the [Rat Shadow] shadow puppet in his heart.

"Disappeared!"

His figure once again merged into the darkness.

Then, with a light tap of his toes on the top of the wall, he climbed over the iron fence and disappeared into the intricate alleyways of the French Concession.

……

When we returned to the dilapidated courtyard of Fujuban, the sky was already faintly turning light.

Lu Guan removed his night clothes and carefully put away the blood-stained shadow puppet called "Rat Shadow".

He lit the kerosene lamp and poured all of tonight's spoils onto the old camphor wood opera box.

"Clang, clang..."

The dimly lit backstage area was illuminated by a burst of gold and silver light.

Lu Guan sat cross-legged on the bed, carefully counting the windfall.

The twelve small yellow croakers he smuggled from Detective Zhao, plus the dozen or so silver dollars on Tie Niu's body, and the remaining money he had originally seized from Greyhound.

Fourteen small yellow croakers in total, plus more than 160 silver dollars!

In an era when one silver dollar could buy thirty catties of good white flour and sustain a family for half a month.

This amount of money is absolutely staggering!

That's enough to buy a nice mansion with a large courtyard in this southern city, and you can eat white flour and meat every day, living the life of a wealthy man for several years.

"No matter how much money you have, it's just worthless paper if you don't live to spend it."

"That Detective Zhao was rich, wasn't he? I still stabbed him to death on a Persian carpet. That Tie Niu was good at martial arts, wasn't he? He still turned into a pile of mud because of his greed."

"In this strange and unpredictable place called Tianjin, only one's own martial arts skills are the foundation for survival."

Thinking this, Lu Guan repackaged the money and tied it tightly to his body.

He is currently stuck at the peak of the initial stage of Ming Jin, only a thin veil away from achieving Xiao Cheng.

Tonight's match against Tie Niu made him deeply appreciate the formidable strength of "skin as tough as leather".

If it weren't for his extraordinary talent and mastery of Bajiquan's killing moves and fist intent, an ordinary martial artist of the same level would definitely suffer a great loss when facing Tie Niu.

"I must break through to the Lesser Mastery of Ming Jin as soon as possible!"

Lu Guan made up his mind.

He dared not touch the medicine he had previously obtained from Manager Zhao of Juyinglou again, as it was laced with the aphrodisiac of a fox spirit, a deadly poison.

He needs to find truly clean, aged, top-quality old medicine to thoroughly strengthen his foundation of qi and blood.

As soon as it was light, Lu Guan changed into an ordinary cotton-padded coat, put on a felt hat pulled low, and headed straight for the no-man's-land at the border between the French Concession and the Japanese Concession.

There, lies the largest and most murky underground black market in Tianjin.