Chapter 52: Sparring

Xiao Changhe looked indifferent, but a flash of anger crossed his eyes. However, his attempt to hide it was pointless. No matter what he said next, Jiang Qing seemed completely uninterested and had no desire to talk to him.

He felt frustrated, yet there was nothing he could do.

Both he and Jiang Qing were children of martial artists. He was three years older than Jiang Qing, and as children, they were often seen as the perfect pair. But as they grew up, he became a bit undisciplined and neglected his martial arts training, causing him to drift apart from Jiang Qing.

Little did he know, the young girl he once knew had blossomed into a stunning beauty. Now that he wanted to get close to Jiang Qing, she had already heard some rumors about him—how could she possibly pay him any attention?

Over there, Jiang Qing heard the noise and watched as Zuo Zhicheng was once again at a disadvantage. Her anger flared, and she shouted, “Zuo Zhicheng, beat him up!” She immediately left Xiao Changhe standing there alone.

A Fei moaned, “Senior Sister, you’re so biased!”

The surrounding students were already used to this. After all, it was normal for a beginner to be timid and hesitant to strike during their first fights. In their eyes, Zuo Zhicheng was clearly the weakest novice in the entire martial hall—someone who could be easily defeated.

But just as he was distracted by talking, Zuo Zhicheng stopped his passive defense. He threw three quick punches in a row, hitting A Fei in the stomach, chest, and face. The rapid attacks caught A Fei off guard, and he fell to the ground.

Zuo Zhicheng rubbed his fists and thought to himself, This rate of progress should be okay, right? I remember beginners usually get bold enough to fight after just a dozen or so days.

The surrounding students fell silent, somewhat surprised as they looked at A Fei lying on the ground. They hadn’t expected Zuo Zhicheng’s flurry of attacks to knock him down so easily. In truth, A Fei was just an ordinary person. Even if Zuo Zhicheng beat him, it shouldn’t have caused such a stir. However, the contrast between Zuo Zhicheng’s earlier hesitance and this sudden burst was just too stark.

But when they saw Zuo Zhicheng’s “flushed cheeks,” his heavy breathing, and the furious glare he directed at A Fei on the ground, they “understood.” It seemed Zuo Zhicheng had gotten angry from being hit and just exploded.

Jiang Qing, however, was the first to start clapping. Smiling, she said, “Not bad, not bad. Everyone, continue practicing. Zuo Zhicheng, come here. I noticed some issues with my earlier moves—let me give you more guidance.” Meanwhile, she thought to herself, Zuo Zhicheng’s martial arts aptitude might be average, but his talent for fighting seems pretty good.

A Fei scrambled up from the ground, fuming. “Wait, that didn’t count! Zuo Zhicheng, let’s fight again!”

But Jiang Qing was worried that Zuo Zhicheng’s sudden burst of “fighting spirit” would fade. She immediately put on a stern face and said, “That’s enough for today. A Fei, you practice with Xiao Huang for now.”

Then, Jiang Qing took Zuo Zhicheng to the side and began instructing him. Their so-called instruction was basically them trading punches and kicks according to set sequences, making it look like a choreographed fight from a movie.

These were the various fighting techniques passed down by previous generations. Once all these moves became instinctive, one could freely combine and execute them during a fight. Naturally, this was much more structured than the purely instinctive brawling of street thugs.

Zuo Zhicheng performed quite well in this regard. As they exchanged blows, he was always able to demonstrate the techniques of Sumeru Long Fist just as they had practiced.

While instructing him, Jiang Qing chuckled softly and said, “So, how does it feel to knock someone down? Let me tell you, the key to fighting is not being afraid. Just use everything you’ve trained in normally.”

“Come on, I’ll teach you a few more moves today. Then I want you to use them all on the others.”

“Senior Sister, I feel like you’re teaching me how to bully people.”

“Stop talking so much.”

As they practiced and chatted, Jiang Qing couldn’t help but smile from time to time.

But Xiao Changhe, watching them trading blows and occasionally laughing and joking, felt unhappy. In his eyes, Zuo Zhicheng was taking advantage of Jiang Qing. He already considered Jiang Qing his quarry, so seeing Zuo Zhicheng with her made him increasingly irritated.

However, seeing that Jiang Qing had no intention of paying him any attention, he didn’t want to embarrass himself further. He snorted coldly and left.

By dinnertime, all the students and others from the martial hall had left.

Jiang Tianzheng said to Jiang Qing and Zuo Zhicheng, “You two, in a few days, come with me to Chaoyang Martial Hall.”

Jiang Qing’s eyes lit up with excitement. “Dad, are you all teaming up against the Sea Dragon Gang? I heard many people have died recently.”

“Hmm…” Jiang Tianzheng said with concern, “It’s Blood Rakshasa. That madwoman is an outside expert hired by the Sea Dragon Gang, and she’s extremely powerful.”

Jiang Qing asked curiously, “What about Blood Rakshasa? How does she compare to Ghost Fist? I’ve never heard of her before.”

Jiang Tianzheng replied, “If we compare Blood Rakshasa and Ghost Fist, I’d say Ghost Fist is no match. Although he’s strong and killed the Sea Dragon Gang’s Four Heavenly Kings, Blood Rakshasa is insane. Rumor has it that when she was raiding Newman settlements in the Northern Wasteland, she once charged alone into a Newman military formation, killed over a hundred people, and then calmly walked away.”

The so-called Newman People were one of the indigenous groups of the New Continent. They were mostly slender and handsome, but their society was less developed, still relying mainly on farming and hunting. Naturally, they became the primary targets for capture and exploitation when Great Qi began colonizing.

Hearing such shocking news, Jiang Qing widened her eyes in disbelief. “She actually charged straight into a Newman military formation?” But then, after a moment’s thought, she grew worried. “So if she’s coming here now, doesn’t that mean she’s after Ghost Fist? Isn’t Ghost Fist in danger?”

“If they meet…” Jiang Tianzheng frowned, “I’m afraid Ghost Fist will die.”

Zuo Zhicheng, standing nearby, listened to all this without speaking. The intelligence he had gathered during this time was more detailed and complex than what Jiang Tianzheng knew.

Blood Rakshasa’s identity was not simple. Behind her stood a powerful organization called Dìyù Gate. Dìyù Gate’s reach extended into the New Continent’s trades of drugs, human trafficking, weapons, and even warfare.

From the current situation, Zuo Zhicheng guessed that the Sea Dragon Gang was likely a peripheral force of Dìyù Gate.

However, precisely because they didn’t know this, the martial halls in Xinlu intended to band together against Blood Rakshasa. Of course, this was also inevitable due to the escalating situation, Blood Rakshasa’s aggression, and possible instigation by other gangs.

Especially Chaoyang Martial Hall’s ambiguous relationship with the Hundred Families Association—they were probably the ones actively pushing for this.

Over the next few days, Jiang Qing took over the task of instructing Zuo Zhicheng. Under her guidance, Zuo Zhicheng “improved remarkably” and seemed to grow more accustomed to sparring. Occasionally, he would have a sudden inspiration during practice and execute some very clever moves, making Jiang Qing increasingly convinced of his talent in this area.

As a result, his record against A Fei shifted from losing every time to winning more often than not. This seemed to ignite A Fei’s competitive spirit too; he started coming to the martial hall at 1 p.m. every afternoon and didn’t leave until 5 p.m.

Jiang Qing felt a great sense of accomplishment from her coaching success and became even more enthusiastic about instructing Zuo Zhicheng.

As for Zuo Zhicheng’s true strength, through continuous day and night training, it reached 37% of the Purple Innate Qi.

Several days later, after dinner, Zuo Zhicheng first saw Xiao Lan home, then hurried to Chaoyang Martial Hall to meet up with Jiang Tianzheng and Jiang Qing.

Xinlu Port, being near the sea, had thriving commerce, which inevitably led to conflicts within and between industries over markets, transportation, raw materials, and other resources. Combined with the numerous gangs, martial halls originally emerged from the need for merchants to protect themselves and their property.

Naturally, the more prosperous commercial streets had more martial halls, and the ones stationed there were more famous. Chaoyang Martial Hall was located on Fulu Street, the most bustling street in Xinlu Port.

Zuo Zhicheng walked into the courtyard of Chaoyang Martial Hall. Whether in terms of size, decoration, or scale, it far surpassed Haoran Martial Hall.

The courtyard alone was almost twice the size of Haoran Martial Hall. It was filled with young people from all eighteen martial halls in Xinlu, gathered in small groups either chatting or sparring.

A staff member said, “Friend, the masters of the eighteen martial halls are having a private discussion in the meeting hall. Please wait here.”

Zuo Zhicheng nodded and began looking for Jiang Qing; she should have been waiting here too.

He didn’t find Jiang Qing, but he did see Xiao Changhe standing with several other young men, pointing in his direction. Just as Zuo Zhicheng thought about avoiding them, they had already approached.

A brawny man with dark skin greeted him, “I am Chang Qi from Yanwu Hall. I heard you are Master Jiang’s newly accepted personal disciple?”

“Um, I’m just someone who serves tea…” Before Zuo Zhicheng could finish, Xiao Changhe cut in, “This is Brother Zuo Zhicheng. I say, Brother Zuo, don’t be so modest. Everyone, I’ve seen him practice. He’s already grasped about thirty percent of Master Jiang’s skill. Moreover, for this young brother to catch Master Jiang’s eye, his natural aptitude must be extraordinary.”

Another young man, a plump one, added, “Yeah, since Master Jiang opened his martial hall, he’s had countless students, but this is the first personal disciple.” This was Zhou Xingyun, the senior disciple of Yanwu Hall, who was on good terms with Xiao Changhe.

Yet another tall and sturdy young man grew curious, thinking to himself, This Brother Zuo seems to have lost an eye. I wonder what’s so special about him that Master Jiang accepted him as a personal disciple. This was Wang Qiang from Xinlu Boxing Club. He had extremely high martial arts aptitude and particularly loved sparring, already making a small name for himself throughout Xinlu Port.

Seeing the crowd getting worked up, Xiao Changhe smirked and slowly backed away, as if the matter had nothing to do with him anymore. In truth, he just didn’t like Zuo Zhicheng and wanted to use others to embarrass him a bit.

According to Xiao Changhe’s inquiries, Zuo Zhicheng was merely a laborer. If everyone found out, it wouldn’t be a big deal. But now that all eyes were on him, assuming he was a personal disciple, only to later learn he was just a laborer—imagining Zuo Zhicheng’s shame then made Xiao Changhe smile.

And if anyone questioned it, it had nothing to do with him; it was just a misunderstanding.

The young martial artists surrounded Zuo Zhicheng, showering him with praise. Then the brawny man named Chang Qi cupped his hands and said, “I’ve long heard that Master Jiang is known as the Divine Fist of Xinlu. Since Brother Zuo learns from Master Jiang, I wonder if you could give us some pointers?”

As the saying goes, in literature there’s no clear first place, but in martial arts there’s always a second. When a bunch of young martial artists gathered, sparring was inevitable. As soon as Chang Qi said this, everyone got excited and automatically cleared a space for the two of them.

Looking at Chang Qi, who didn’t have a trace of Innate Primordial Breath, Zuo Zhicheng felt a bit helpless and scratched the back of his head. Is it really okay to bully an ordinary person? But these past few days, I’ve “improved remarkably”—I should be able to beat him… right?