Martial Arts Awakening, Bloodfire Fist Master

Zhang Qingshan looked pleasantly surprised and thanked Lao Xu, saying, "Thank you, Brother Xu."

Seeing the excited and joyful look on Zhang Qingshan's face, Old Xu, instead of showing any embarrassment on his own troubled face, waved his hand dismissively:

"It's nothing special. It was just a sudden idea of ​​that county militia captain that made each of us print a booklet. I practiced it a few times, but I didn't learn anything. Even if I kept practicing, I'd probably only be like Zhou Biao, no match for two kitchen knives."

Without immediately responding to whether to load it, he thanked Brother Xu again before taking the books back into the house.

It's probably because my second uncle came yesterday and said something to them. People in the countryside have this habit of confiding their suffering to others so that they know how hard things are for them.

Although it was considered "airing dirty laundry in public," the result was good. Unexpectedly, it moved Old Xu, who also had this item.

Behind them came the disgruntled voice of Old Wang's wife, Song Hui: "You old Xu, you pity Zhang Ge'er for getting ten copper coins every day, but why didn't you pity my Xiao Chuan the year before last? We're not having an easy time shoveling manure every day."

"That Zhang brother has a certain talent, does your child have that? Even if you give him the booklet, he won't budge. Tell me honestly, isn't that right?"

"You!" Song's wife was so angry that her teeth itched, but when she thought of her son's simple and timid appearance, she had nothing to say.

Old Liu laughed and said, "I never expected that you, Old Xu, had been a county militiaman. You haven't been fighting or suppressing bandits, have you? Look, even Qingshan has closed his doors to learn your unparalleled secret techniques."

Old Xu filled another bucket with water before replying sullenly, "What kind of war was this? We helped those powerful people clear wasteland for three years, and all we got were a few meals of meat. We didn't even become city gate guards. We were just like the landlord's long-term laborers."

Inside the room, Zhang Qingshan continued to smile silently. Old Xu might not be a master, but the system's improvement was real. He had finally gotten what he had been searching for for more than two months.

At this moment, my heart feels like a parched field receiving rain and dew, or like a withered tree branch sprouting new buds. It's even more wonderful than when I gritted my teeth and bought a meat bun not long ago.

When you think you've reached a dead end, a new path opens up before you; you may plant flowers with care, but they may not bloom; you may plant willows without intention, and they may thrive!

The reason for closing the door was in case anything unusual happened.

I couldn't wait to examine the book. It was about the size of an adult's palm, and the words "Mighty Fist" were printed on it with crude ink.

Turning the pages of the book, which felt like they could fall apart at any moment, I saw six pages in total, each printed with action images and two simple lines of text.

The written language and speech of this Great Yan Dynasty are about 70-80% similar to the traditional Chinese characters of his previous life. Zhang Qingshan could roughly understand them by guessing and making assumptions.

The six pages contain six boxing techniques. The names seem different from Zhou Family Boxing, but the images are exactly the same.

Zhang Qingshan had just learned the second punch of Zhou Family Boxing. According to Zhou Biao, one punch is learned every month, and it takes exactly six months to graduate.

"A unique vessel for truth? This is it?"

"Is there something extraordinary about this booklet? Or is it that everything recorded in this world related to martial arts is a carrier of truth? Is martial arts the truth of this world?"

After pondering for only a few seconds, he stopped worrying about it. [System, equip me!]

The next moment, the book in my hand disappeared, and one of the sections on the panel changed:

[Host: Zhang Qingshan]

[Realm: None]

[Talent: Chaos Enchantment]

[Spirit Enhancement Gauge: Mighty Fist]

Aside from the changes to the panel, I didn't notice anything else.

Suddenly, Zhang Qingshan thought of something and focused his attention on the Spirit Enhancement Gauge Mighty Fist [Uninstall?: Yes/No]

Fortunately, it wasn't a one-time fixed decision.

The consciousness clicked on the Talents section again—[Ding, a Spirit Empowerment target has been detected. Empowering the Mighty Fist requires ten days. Empower?]

Need I say more? "Yes!"

[Talent: Chaotic Enchantment (Note: Currently being infused)]

......

The days passed by.

The young men carrying bags at Qingshui Wharf seemed to be getting more and more silent. When collecting their wages, Master Ma always mentioned becoming a long-term indentured laborer for the Qingshui Gang. First, he tempted them with various promises that as long as the Qingshui Gang was around, he would have food to eat every day. Then, he threatened and suppressed them in various ways.

They were all rejected by Zhang Qingshan with evasive answers, or disturbed by Lao Liu's flattering jokes and banter.

Although he refused, Master Ma's gaze grew increasingly hostile. Sometimes, when he lost money, his cold eyes seemed to want to devour him.

Fortunately, Zhang Qingshan and Lao Liu were both quick-witted and never gave the other side an opportunity to retaliate.

Under these circumstances, Zhang Qingshan considered leaving the dockworkers' team. A wise man does not stand under a crumbling wall, but after hesitating, he did not act on it immediately.

There are two reasons.

The first problem is that the only suitable jobs in Qingshui City right now are manual laborers, haulers, and cart pullers. If I want to go to other places to do odd jobs or errands, there are no channels or guarantors. More importantly, there is no freedom like manual labor. If I don't do it, I can only be idle or go back to the village.

Would it attract attention, or perhaps provoke Master Ma, who is known for his ruthless killing?

Of course, if you don't have a cheat code, you can only run away with your whole family to Xiaoqingshan and wait for the storm to pass.

Now that the spirit infusion is about to be successful, it is best to remain unchanged in the face of all changes.

Then there's the second reason, which is also the most important one. He could indeed just leave, but what about Lao Liu? Would Master Ma vent his anger on him? Lao Liu was also resented by Master Ma for protecting him, and Zhang Qingshan couldn't just ignore it.

I also tried to subtly mention it to Lao Liu, but unfortunately, he was determined to take the job of carrying bags.

In this situation, one can only be more cautious.

On this day, Zhang Qingshan was carrying a package of goods with his head slightly lowered and working hard, but his eyes were looking around. A footstep wearing straw sandals quickly approached.

Zhang Qingshan suddenly turned to the side and stared at the other person. It was Qi Dashi, a member of the labor team. He was usually honest and quiet, but he didn't expect him to deliberately bump into him.

Seeing Zhang Qingshan's angry gaze, the man's face flushed red, and he stammered helplessly, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

A cold snort came, and the man trembled again. He hesitated for a moment, then quickly took a few steps and bumped into Old Liu, who hadn't noticed what was happening. Zhang Qingshan was too late to warn him.

"Thud!" A bag of goods fell to the ground.

The next moment, an angry voice rang out: "Old dog Liu, you wretched creature, what's wrong with you! This is top-quality tea, now it's covered in dust. Even if you sold yourself, you old geezer, you couldn't afford to pay for it back."

Actually, there were outer bags, and it didn't fall into the water. Even if the dock floor was a little dirty, it wouldn't affect what was inside.

However, the other party was clearly looking for trouble. In a daze, Zhang Qingshan was even relieved that he had packed valuable tea leaves. Even if Ma Junfeng was looking for trouble, he wouldn't let anyone fall into the river when getting off the boat, otherwise that would have been a disaster.

"Everyone, put your stuff away and get together!"

Old Liu remained stunned, still reeling from the unexpected turn of events, his eyes fixed on Qi Dashi with a mixture of confusion and anger.

Master Ma's fierce eyes swept over the labor team, a hint of disappointment flashing across Zhang Qingshan's face before settling on Old Liu.

He grinned menacingly. "Old dog, you're usually so arrogant."

He touched the whip in his hand and shouted loudly:

"Master Ma, I'm all about rules. The rule of my Qingshui Gang is that anyone who damages the goods will be fined and compensated, or even thrown into the river or buried in a pit. Manager Sun, come here. You're the owner of the goods. Assess the losses. Although my Qingshui Gang has a monopoly on this transportation business, we can't let our customers suffer losses."

Manager Sun and a few other workers were counting and supervising the work when they heard what Master Ma said. They came over and were about to say that since they were all friends, they should just brush off the dust.

But seeing the way Master Ma was staring at the other man, he understood a little. He glanced contemptuously at Old Liu and the other laborers, and said indifferently, "This bag was specially purchased. I hope no dust got in. Old Ma, just name your price."

"Alright, I, Old Ma, am fair in my dealings. Let's name a price. I'll compensate your Chengyi Trading Company with five taels of silver."

"Haha, that's great! I'll treat you, Old Ma, to a meal at Liuwei Restaurant then."

The laborers below stirred in commotion. Five taels of silver! This guy surnamed Ma is clearly extorting money. It's just a bag with a little mud on it.

Five taels of silver, five thousand copper coins. People usually earn a dozen or so copper coins, and they save and save. Even a bachelor Han Chinese man is lucky if he can save ten coins after eating horse feed.

It would take Lao Liu 500 days to save up that amount, and there can't be any unforeseen events during that time.

The key is that in this world, how can people at the bottom not encounter changes? They have to bribe officials here and exploit people there, or they get sick or have problems at home. Maybe they can slowly save up after ten or eight years.

This is an attempt to completely exploit Lao Liu, and everyone looks at him with pity.

"Don't say I'm not giving you a chance. You have ten days. Hand it over within ten days, or you can go to the mill to pay off the debt. Of course, I'm merciful, so you can also borrow money from me."

His gaze was cold and smug; this old peasant in front of him would have to be his servant for the rest of his life.

Unfortunately, that kid...

Old Liu was trembling all over, his face turning pale. "Qi Dashi, why did you want to hurt me?"

Qi Dashi kept his head down and remained silent in the face of the laborers' gazes.

Then Old Liu looked at Master Ma and the steward and said, "Master Ma, Steward Sun, this is just a little dirt on it, it's not worth five taels of silver."

Manager Sun's eyes darted around slightly, then he snorted coldly, "Old Ma, your subordinates have no manners," and stormed off.

Master Ma didn't bother to explain whether it was worth five taels of silver. Instead, he continued to smile coldly and "crack!" The whip in his hand struck the ground, leaving a mark on the compacted soil.

He slowly walked towards Lao Liu, startling the surrounding laborers who instinctively moved away, leaving only Lao Liu and Zhang Qingshan behind.

"Hehe, according to the rules, besides paying compensation, you also have to be whipped and disciplined. It was originally only one lash, but this old dog dared to disobey, so it's two lashes. That means you still owe me, Master Ma, five taels of silver. Otherwise, I would have whipped you to death, and the gang wouldn't have said anything."

Old Liu trembled and begged for mercy when he saw Master Ma's fierce gaze.

"call out!"

A whip flashed and "snap".

"Ah!" With a scream, Old Liu was whipped to the ground, his thin linen clothes on his chest were torn to shreds, revealing a bloody wound.

"Stand up, there's one more lash."

Zhang Qingshan took a deep breath and stood in front of Lao Liu.

He had no choice but to step forward. His chest flesh and ribs were not as thick as his back muscles and shoulder blades. If he were to be whipped again, Old Liu, in his weakened state, might not be able to withstand it.

He didn't dare show anger on his face, but instead bowed deeply, begging for mercy.

"Master Ma, please be magnanimous and spare Old Liu this time."

"Forgive me, if you want to make a living this way, you have to abide by the rules of my Clear Water Gang, but..."

As he spoke, he stared at Zhang Qingshan.

Zhang Qingshan bowed and clasped his hands in greeting, "Master Ma, could you let me take this lash for Old Liu?"

Master Ma was stunned for a moment. He didn't expect there to be such a fool. He was still regretting that he had missed the opportunity to punish him, but unexpectedly, the opportunity came to him.

"Hehehe, good, look, there's a loyal guy here."

The next moment, he swung his arm suddenly.

Zhang Qingshan could only vaguely see a shadow before a sharp pain shot through him, causing him to lose his balance and fall to the ground.

His whole body convulsed in pain, he groaned, and looked down.

Starting from the upper arm of the left arm, a bloodstain ran diagonally down to the chest and waist, and blood began to seep out.

"Hahaha, this is the price. If you're really loyal, then help this old dog pay back his debts. Tsk tsk tsk, two peasants who don't know what's good for them."

Only after seeing Master Ma walk away happily did a few laborers come over to help him.

"Brother Zhang's got guts, Lao Liu, how about it, can you handle it?"

"Let me take you to get some medicine. Sigh, how did we end up being targeted by this fierce horse?"

"Qi Dashi, you heartless bastard, you actually went and became a lackey."

Old Liu struggled to his feet, looked at Zhang Qingshan, and tears welled up in his eyes. "Qingshan, I'm sorry, it's my fault for dragging you into this."

Zhang Qingshan shook his head and gave a bitter smile. "Brother Liu, I've dragged you into this."