The Martial Saint begins by collecting corpses.

The Great Sheng Dynasty, Heishui County.

In early autumn, the morning breeze was slightly cool. In a small house at the very back of a dilapidated alley, Lu Ming, lying on the bed, felt a chill and slowly woke up.

Feeling a slight throbbing in his head, he gritted his teeth and sat up, a hint of hatred flashing in his eyes.

He had been awakening his past life wisdom for several months. In this life, his parents had died, and his family's land had been sold to the landlord long ago. Penniless, he had no choice but to wander the streets and set up a team to collect corpses.

Because everyone said that corpses might turn into zombies, and people were hesitant to collect them, Lu Ming didn't believe in such things. He would collect corpses for people, and the things on the corpses would belong to him.

And so, life gradually got better.

However, a few days ago, a man named Zhao Meng suddenly emerged and directly took away his business, because he bribed the government and monopolized the entire city's corpse collection business.

He had originally planned to give him the official jobs while secretly taking on some private work to make a living, but who knew that this person would be unforgiving once he gained power, and a few days ago sent someone to beat him up in the dark.

He would have died if his brothers hadn't discovered him in time and come to his rescue.

"Damn Zhao Meng..." Lu Ming thought bitterly, vowing to avenge this grudge.

He then turned his gaze and saw a man lying by the bed. The man seemed to have heard him wake up and quickly raised his head. His face was quite thin, with sunken cheeks, making him look somewhat like a monkey.

When the man saw that he had woken up, he said happily, "Brother, you can finally get up. Here's a pancake, brother, eat it first."

He picked up a package of oiled paper from the corner of the bed, opened it, and saw a meat pie inside. It smelled of meat, but it was cold and not hot at all.

The henchman, nicknamed "Monkey," swallowed hard, his face showing obvious craving as he looked at the meat pie.

Lu Ming's heart sank:

"Monkey, we don't even have money to buy meat patties anymore?"

The monkey smiled wryly:

"Brother, your house was ransacked by Zhao Meng. Ah Lang and Da Hu's place are also being watched. All our money has been taken. This is my house."

"Now it's not just Zhao Meng and his gang, but also the Blackwater Gang. I heard they took money from Zhao Meng and are relentlessly attacking us!"

"Brother, we have no bodies to collect now. Nobody dares to collect them for us. What should we do?"

Lu Ming's face darkened. "Zhao Meng is trying to wipe us out completely."

squeak~

Just then, someone pushed the door open and entered.

The monkey's expression changed. He turned around and saw a strong, honest-looking man. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"Big Tiger, you scared me to death! Why did you open the door so quickly? What happened?"

Da Hu looked at Lu Ming on the bed and saw him sitting on the bed eating a half-eaten meat pie. His face lit up with joy and he said:

"Big brother, you're all better now!"

Lu Ming swallowed the cold, hard meat pie and said:

"Da Hu, were you on guard duty outside just now? What happened?"

Upon hearing this, Da Hu finally realized what was happening and immediately said:

"Brother, this is bad! The Blackwater Gang has discovered this place. I just saw two Blackwater Gang members watching outside, and now Ah Lang is on lookout. Let's go quickly!"

Lu Ming then noticed his dagger beside his pillow. He swallowed the last bite of meat pie, casually wiped his mouth with his sleeve, grabbed the dagger, stood up, and a sinister smile appeared on his face:

"Leave? Why leave? The monkey said there were no corpses to collect, but now we have one!"

He cut the remaining half of the meat pie in half and gave it to Big Tiger and Monkey:

"Eat while walking."

As he spoke, he walked out the door with a cold expression.

The monkey and the tiger exchanged a glance, and without saying a word, they stuffed the meat patties into their mouths. Looking around, the tiger grabbed a carrying pole, and the monkey picked up a sickle.

At the alley entrance, a slightly hunched young man with a fierce expression was warily scanning his surroundings when he suddenly saw Monkey and Tiger striding towards him. He immediately cursed:

"Why are you all out here? Is our eldest brother alone in the house?"

The monkey quickly whispered, "Wolf, Big Brother has decided to make his move. He's scaled the wall to cut off our escape route."

Ah Lang's pupils contracted slightly: "Take action? Then how will we clean up the mess?"

Big Tiger roared, "We're already in this state! If we don't act now, are we going to be forced to our deaths? We might as well leave the city!"

Ah Lang paused for a moment, then a fierce glint flashed in his eyes: "Let's go! Let's fuck him!"

The three of them walked quickly outside. The alleys here were interconnected. After leaving the small bamboo alley where the dilapidated house was located, there were alleys in front, to the left, and to the right.

Led by Ah Lang, the two walked to the left. Just as they reached the corner, they heard a muffled groan.

The three looked closely and saw that Lu Ming had already made his move. He covered one of the men's mouths and noses tightly, pinned him against the mottled earthen wall, and plunged the dagger in his hand into the man's abdomen.

Sizzle! A white knife went in and a red knife came out. The man's eyes widened, and he tried to block it with both hands.

Lu Ming's eyes hardened, and he stabbed again!

The red knife shook the man's hands off, stabbed deeply inside, then pulled out, stabbing again! It stabbed him seven or eight times.

There was another man from the Blackwater Gang in the alley, who was stunned. Seeing his companion being stabbed, he hesitated for a moment, then turned and ran.

However, he had only run a few steps when his body suddenly froze. Big Tiger, Wolf, and Monkey were walking toward him menacingly.

The man's expression changed drastically:

"I'm from the Blackwater Gang..."

boom!

Da Hu's carrying pole struck him hard on the head, blood seeping from his forehead, and his eyes became dazed.

The monkey gritted its teeth and wildly swung its sickle, leaving several bloody marks on the man's face and body.

Ah Lang stepped forward and covered his mouth and nose to stop him from screaming. He then tightly gripped the man's neck with his other hand and said coldly:

"I'm killing those scum from the Blackwater Gang."

The man kicked his legs wildly and struggled a few times before becoming still.

Lu Ming turned his head and saw this scene. He nodded slightly and was about to let go of the person he was holding when he suddenly saw a gray light flash across the person's body.

Immediately afterwards, several pieces of information flashed through his mind.

[Gain martial arts experience.]

[Acquired martial art: Mighty Fist.]

[Obtained incomplete bone structure.]

Ok?

Lu Ming was startled, and then he felt that some martial arts experience suddenly appeared in his mind. He clenched his fists and naturally gained some insights into punching.

However, this person's experience was rather shallow. After all, he was just a low-level member of the Blackwater Gang. If he were stronger, he wouldn't have been able to sneak up on him.

But this did not diminish his excitement.

He had already "seen" a large golden seal deep within his mind. The seal was blank, without any carvings.

From the information it transmitted, he knew that this was the Heavenly Heart Seal, a supreme treasure of heaven and earth, which recognized him as its master in the unseen realm.

This thing allows him to gain some of the corpse's cultivation experience and martial arts skills from its previous life, as if it represents the heavens reclaiming some of the abilities from the corpse.

This is great stuff!

Lu Ming turned to look at the other corpse killed by the three monkeys, a hint of anticipation appearing in his eyes, and walked over without hesitation.

He had just reached the corpse when he saw a flash of gray light, which he then swallowed.