Chaos and monsters begin with the red dragon's clone.

As dusk approached, Zhang Xun changed into a blue robe representing the inner courtyard and left the boxing academy, heading out onto the street.

The main street of Dongluo Town is formed by the intersection of two main streets, paved with stone slabs. Shop signs line the streets, and men and women dressed in gray work clothes are coming and going. Some wear long clothes, some wear short clothes, and most of them have signs indicating their workshops, restaurants, or family affiliations, just like the blue-clad fighters of the boxing academy.

The town is surrounded by a dozen or so small workshops, such as grain mills, mills, and oil mills. Their products are mainly supplied to the inner city, and the wages are meager. For example, Yao Cuiling, the mother, works at the Gao family leather workshop, which is enough to support the two of them. The father and elder brother do not work as carpenters, and they cannot afford to support the father's martial arts training at the boxing academy.

On the way back, I happened to pass by a butcher shop, where some scraps of meat were laid out on the counter, in different colors of red, yellow and black.

I recall Senior Brother Zhao saying that I should eat nourishing foods.

Zhang Xun's heart stirred, and he turned and went into the shop.

A middle-aged butcher in his forties, wearing a black round hat, stood behind the table, waving a branch with strips of cloth tied to it to shoo away mosquitoes and flies. When he saw Zhang Xun glance at his clothes, he greeted him warmly.

"You want to buy meat, right? This is marigold meat, freshly delivered by Sun's butcher shop this morning. We also have red-haired wild boar meat, yellow-spotted snake meat, unicorn deer meat, and white bat meat. These are all exotic animal meats, suitable for martial arts training and as a tonic, with excellent effects..." The middle-aged butcher pointed to various kinds of meat with a twig and talked about them.

Zhang Xun had heard of exotic beast meat, which was either raised in the inner city or hunted in the foggy area. It was very beneficial to the country, but the price was high. This was the first time he had ever seen it.

Which one is cheaper?

"This one then." The middle-aged butcher picked up a piece of dark red meat.

Snapped.

Put it on the table.

"Black tongue mutton, 800 coins per catty, no bargaining."

So expensive?

Zhang Xun's heart skipped a beat. He only had a hundred or so coins in his bag, which was far too little to buy anything. It was almost half a month's wages for a workshop worker.

Just as he was about to speak, a familiar chanting sound suddenly came from the street to his left.

"To be reborn in the Pure Land, in the land of emptiness..."

"To be reborn in the Pure Land, in the land of emptiness..."

First, the leader reads it, and then a large group of people follow suit.

Then came the sounds of chaos from the street.

"These cultists are crossing the street again!" The middle-aged butcher's expression changed, and he hurriedly came out from behind the table to close the door.

Zhang Xun's heart tightened and he followed up to help. This sect had emerged in the last year and had grown rapidly by recruiting many poor people. He spent his days at the boxing academy and at home, and as someone who had lived an extra life, he knew how powerful this thing was, so he didn't dare to come into contact with it.

The shop door closed, plunging the place into complete darkness. Soon, light began to pierce through the crack in the door.

A group of people dressed in white led the way, followed by people of various colors, carrying a black sedan chair as it passed by.

The black sedan chair was empty; instead, it contained a clay sculpture of a child with a mutilated body.

The clay sculpture is dark and smooth, but covered with fine cracks, like a finely crafted porcelain doll that has been broken and pieced back together, missing pieces on the left and right, revealing its imperfections and wear and tear. It sits on a lotus platform, its face innocent and full of joy.

But Zhang Xun looked at it and for some reason felt uneasy, as if something was amiss.

I only felt inexplicably relaxed after the group had gone far away and I could no longer hear them.

"These guys are acting strangely, and the government isn't doing anything about it. They must have been infiltrated!" The middle-aged butcher breathed a sigh of relief.

"Does the shopkeeper know what that clay sculpture of a boy is?" Zhang Xun recalled the street parades he often saw, but he had never seen a religious group carrying a sedan chair.

"That's the Blissful Child worshipped by the Rebirth Sect. They say that sincere worship can protect you from evil spirits. It parades through towns and only comes once every month or two." The middle-aged butcher clearly didn't believe it.

"The Holy Child of Elysium?"

Zhang Xun felt a sudden chill, and the sense of security he had felt upon joining the Flying Stone Fist Academy quickly dissipated.

I bought a pound of regular meat, packed it up, and walked just a few steps from the shop.

A scream suddenly rang out from the direction where the Rebirth Sect had gone.

"My child!!"

Then came another round of chaotic shouts.

Zhang Xun dared not linger, quickened his pace, turned from the street into the alley, and jogged towards the slums. He vaguely heard someone calling his name on the way, but dared not pay attention.

It wasn't until I got close to home that I realized I was covered in sweat.

"That's Ah-Xun?!"

"Flying Stone in Blue Robe!?"

"He's become a formal disciple of the Flying Stone Fist Academy?!"

The neighbors exclaimed in surprise when they saw his clothes.

creak.

Hearing the commotion, Yao Cuiling pushed open the door and ran out. Seeing Zhang Xun, she rubbed her eyes in disbelief and asked nervously, "A-Xun, you...you did it?"

Zhang Xun forced a smile: "Mother, it's done."

Yao Cuiling's vision went black for a moment, and Zhang Xun quickly stepped forward to support her so she wouldn't fall. Her eyes immediately reddened, and tears of joy welled up in them as she repeatedly said, "Good! Good! Good!"

For those at the bottom of society, having no connections is the only way out; martial arts training is the only way out. Once you become a formal disciple through martial arts training, as long as things go smoothly, you can escape from the bottom and achieve "class leapfrogging" if nothing unexpected happens.

"Congratulations, Sister Zhang!"

"Ah-Xun is so accomplished!!"

"I heard that in that boxing academy, maybe one in ten can even get the basics down! Ah Xun is amazing! He'll be able to enjoy life from now on!"

The neighbors quickly brought cured meat, eggs, rice, and noodles to congratulate him and make friends.

Yao Cuiling wiped away her tears, feeling that her son had become successful and that all the family's sacrifices and hardships had not been in vain. She accepted the gift with a smile. After a brief exchange, she went inside and locked the door. Even inside, she still felt unreal, pulling Zhang Xun aside and asking him all sorts of questions.

Zhang Xun's mind kept replaying the scene of the Rebirth Sect carrying the sedan chair, and he couldn't feel happy at all. He just gave his mother a perfunctory reply.

After a while, Yao Cuiling's surprise gradually subsided, and she said worriedly, "Ah Xun, I heard that the initial stage of martial arts training is just the beginning, and the later stages cost much more than tuition and nutrition fees?"

"It's alright. The boxing academy will introduce you to jobs after you start, so you can support yourself. Don't worry, Mother," Zhang Xun reassured her. But with such basic skills, what kind of work could she possibly earn? He was also worried.

"Um."

Yao Cuiling nodded, then hesitated and said, "I'll go to your aunt's again and see if I can borrow some more. Now that you've joined the sect, you don't need to worry about not being able to pay it back later."

"It's fine. It's okay if my aunt isn't well-off." Zhang Xun pretended not to know that his mother had been kicked out last time, and he didn't really care. Without the help of his family, including his aunt, he would never have been able to develop such decisiveness. He wouldn't forget his aunt's kindness just because of this incident.

"it is good."

Yao Cuiling smiled; with her son so successful, she was no longer afraid to face her sister-in-law.

"When your father and older brother finish their work and come back, they'll be overjoyed to find out you've become a formal disciple of the Flying Stone Fist."

"They shouldn't go out then. I'll try to find them some jobs in town at the boxing academy." Zhang Xun is now confident of this.

"Mmm." Yao Cuiling was even happier at the thought of her family being reunited and no longer having to live in fear.

After dinner, we had pork from the butcher shop stir-fried with some unknown wild vegetables, served with a bowl of white rice and two large sweet potatoes. It was oily and incredibly delicious.

Zhang Xun lay down on the bed fully clothed. The image of the eerie child statue appeared before his eyes, and he slowly closed his eyes, then…

Swish.

The red dragon opens its eyes in the crater.