Chapter 44: Obstruction

That evening, when Zuo Zhicheng and Xiao Lan returned home together, they saw that Old Man Song’s face looked like he had something to say but was hesitating.

But in the end, he said, “Xiao Lan, for the next few days, don’t go to the martial hall.”

“Why?” Xiao Lan still looked innocent and confused as she asked. After all, she had been helping in the kitchen all day and hadn’t seen what happened on the training ground.

Old Man Song said worriedly, “It’s too dangerous. The whole city is spreading the news that Master Jiang killed Black Heart Tiger. The Sea Dragon Gang won’t let this go easily.”

“Ah!” Xiao Lan exclaimed. “Then Master Jiang and the others must be in great danger?”

No matter how Old Man Song tried to persuade her after that, Xiao Lan refused to leave the martial hall. He helplessly turned to Zuo Zhicheng for help, “Xiao Zuo, you help me persuade Xiao Lan too. It’s just too dangerous to stay at the martial hall right now. At least wait until Master Jiang and the Sea Dragon Gang resolve this matter before going back.”

“Wouldn’t that be too disloyal?” Zuo Zhicheng said with a laugh. “Anyway, I will still go and help. I just started learning Sumeru Long Fist and haven’t learned any other martial arts yet.”

“Hmph, Left Big Brother is much better. Father, you’re far worse. When we had trouble before, we hid at the martial hall. Now the martial hall has trouble, how can we stand aside?”

‘But this is different,’ Old Man Song sighed inwardly. ‘Before, it was just Liang Wu possibly harassing Xiao Lan, and Master Jiang’s prestige could handle that. But now, one of the Four Heavenly Kings has died. The Sea Dragon Gang is here for revenge.’

Old Man Song shook his head and sighed, “You guys, you are like newborn calves not afraid of tigers.”

At night, under the bright moon, Zuo Zhicheng quietly got up to practice after Xiao Lan and Old Man Song had fallen asleep.

The Northern Peng Hanging Heaven Style truly lived up to being an Authentic Transmission Martial Art of the South Saint Sect. It not only trained the Innate Primordial Breath throughout the entire body, but it was also very efficient. The only pity was that Zuo Zhicheng could no longer eat Spiritual Power foods, so his progress was much slower compared to when he was in the Ancient Tomb.

By his estimate, if an ordinary person didn’t have Spiritual Power foods, it would probably take seven or eight years of intense training to reach his current level of skill.

And now, as he slowly guided the Innate Primordial Breath through his head, it would probably take at least a year to reach the Grand Completion of Qi Training. But by that time, he estimated the strength of his Innate Primordial Breath would likely improve again.

While sensing the continuous heat released inside his body, his flesh growing stronger with each break and repair, and the proportion of Purple Innate Qi advancing towards the 32% goal.

It seemed the Northern Peng Hanging Heaven Style not only covered a much larger area than other Authentic Transmission Martial Arts, but its efficiency was also unmatched by them. Combined with Zuo Zhicheng’s ascetic-like training, this efficiency became even more terrifying.

While practicing, Zuo Zhicheng thought about what happened during the day.

Originally, he thought eliminating Liang Wu would bring the matter to an end, but unexpectedly, new trouble arose. Information about the Sea Dragon Gang flowed through his mind. Zuo Zhicheng thought, either resolve the conflict between the two, or weaken the Sea Dragon Gang.

Finally, after some consideration, he decided that, indeed, the Sea Dragon Gang was more annoying.

The night passed without incident. Zuo Zhicheng got up early in the morning and, along with Xiao Lan, set off towards the martial hall under Old Man Song’s worried gaze.

But before they got close to the martial hall, they saw Sea Dragon Gang members patrolling back and forth on the road. Zuo Zhicheng frowned, not wanting trouble, so he took Xiao Lan on a detour. But after trying several alternate routes, they found that on every road leading to the martial hall, there were a few Sea Dragon Gang members loitering.

Left with no choice, Zuo Zhicheng had to lead Xiao Lan forward.

A hand stopped him. Zuo Zhicheng looked up and saw a man with a mole next to his nose; it seemed he was the one who followed Li Si yesterday. The man had two other gang members with him, three in total.

“Kid, you’re the one-eyed guy from the martial hall yesterday, right?” The man and his companions laughed mockingly. “Let me tell you now, from now on, you’re not allowed to go to the Haoran Martial Hall. Otherwise, we’ll beat you up every time we see you. Got it?”

He pushed Zuo Zhicheng, shoving him away from the direction of the Haoran Martial Hall.

“I’m going anyway. What are you going to do about it?” Zuo Zhicheng adopted a Sumeru Long Fist posture and said to Xiao Lan beside him, “Xiao Lan, you go ahead first. I’ll hold them off.”

“Left Big Brother…”

“Go quickly.” Zuo Zhicheng saw one of them reach out to grab Xiao Lan, so he threw a punch directly at the person’s arm, knocking the hand away.

Xiao Lan saw them start fighting and hurriedly ran towards the martial hall. “Left Big Brother, hold on! I’ll go get help from the martial hall!”

Meanwhile, the three Sea Dragon Gang members had already surrounded Zuo Zhicheng. The mole-faced young man leading them kicked towards Zuo Zhicheng’s chest, cursing as he did, “Stinking kid, looking for death.”

Seeing the kick coming, Zuo Zhicheng seemed to panic. He closed his eyes and threw a wild punch. As if by sheer luck, his fist landed directly on the opponent’s Yongquan acupoint. The mole-faced young man cried out in pain, holding his lower leg as he sat on the ground.

“Brother Pa, are you okay?”

Brother Pa screamed in pain, “Damn it, beat him to death!”

The remaining two gang members immediately threw wild punches at Zuo Zhicheng. Zuo Zhicheng frantically dodged left and right but still got hit several times on the thickest parts of his back muscles.

Amid the chaotic fight, Zuo Zhicheng panickedly dodged backward but accidentally stepped heavily on one person’s foot. The person cried out in pain and threw a punch at Zuo Zhicheng’s back, but Zuo Zhicheng turned his head and headbutted the person’s chin.

This caused the person to bite his tongue hard. In immediate pain and with blood flowing from his mouth, he fell to the ground, unable to fight back.

The last gang member, seeing this, flew into a rage. With a furious yell, he charged forward and delivered a side kick to Zuo Zhicheng’s waist. Zuo Zhicheng, looking like it was his first fight, closed his eyes and took the hit, then retaliated with a groin kick aimed at the other’s crotch.

The gang member let out a sharp cry, clutched his lower body, and fell to the ground.

Brother Pa had already stood up by then. Seeing this, he yelled angrily, furious that the three of them had been beaten by this kid, which in his view was purely due to bad luck.

Just as the numbness in his leg subsided and he was about to charge forward to teach Zuo Zhicheng a proper lesson, a sharp shout rang out. Jiang Qing had rushed over and stood in front of Zuo Zhicheng.

“Don’t you three have any shame? Three people ganging up on someone who just started martial training.” Even as she said this, Jiang Qing glanced strangely at Zuo Zhicheng as she looked at the two gang members lying on the ground.

Brother Pa looked at Jiang Qing. Even though she was a woman, she was more formidable than ordinary martial artists. He could only glare hatefully at Zuo Zhicheng. “Kid, I remember you.”

After the three left, Jiang Qing glanced at Zuo Zhicheng and said, “Kid, you’re really lucky. You actually managed to beat experienced fighters with wild punches.”

Xiao Lan asked worriedly from the side, “Left Big Brother, are you okay?”

Although Zuo Zhicheng had defeated his opponents using ‘coincidences,’ he looked like he had been kicked and punched several times. But hearing Xiao Lan’s question, he just gave a ‘simple and honest’ smile. “I’m fine. I’m pretty tough.”

“Don’t brush it off. It’s easy to get internal injuries at times like this. When we get to the martial hall, let the old man check you over.” Jiang Qing shook her head, thinking Zuo Zhicheng was enduring the pain and acting fine in front of Xiao Lan.

Nevertheless, the fact that he was still willing to go to the martial hall despite the Sea Dragon Gang’s threats made Jiang Qing view Zuo Zhicheng in a new light.