Devouring Evil Martial Arts, Eliminating Demons from All Heavens

Chapter 19: Light Rain Returns, Gongs and Drums Arrive

The bandits' bodies were hastily buried over the next two or three days.

Everyone had experience and knew that leaving too many bodies unburied would only harm the people in the town, but they still felt a little resentful when they did this.

After all, he is an enemy, a big enemy.

Those bandits were wiped out in half a night, but fourteen were killed, seventeen were seriously injured, and the remaining lightly injured were not counted.

In the past, the bandits that the town had encountered either negotiated directly with the wealthy, kidnapped them for money, and acted according to the rules of the green forest, or acted like refugees, robbing only a few houses before being easily scared away by the militia.

After the establishment of the Han Military Government, the town has been paying taxes to the city more frequently, and it has been many years since it suffered such a tragic loss.

The dozen or so people who died were all young and middle-aged people, and those who were seriously injured were the pillars of their families.

When the white flags were raised in front of these people's houses, the whole town was shrouded in a somewhat sad atmosphere. Only a few wealthy families in the town were still behaving like human beings at this time.

They took the initiative to purchase compensation for the deceased's family and funeral supplies, and the seriously injured were also taken care of.

When people talk about those good young men, they can't help but sigh. When the militia was on patrol, they would pick up things from the stalls here and take things from the vendors over there without paying, which seems to be a fond memory.

But life still has to go on.

A few days passed, and every sunrise the main street in the town was filled with stalls, and shops opened one after another.

Even though there was a light rain in the early morning and the air was filled with the chill of autumn rain, it did not affect their hawking.

A man in gray clothes and wearing a bamboo hat walked into the town in the colder rain in the mountains. He had no idea what had happened in the past few days.

But he had only walked a dozen steps into the street when he encountered the militia.

"Master Zhong, you're finally back!"

The face under the bamboo hat had a broad forehead, big eyes, a high nose bridge, thin cheeks, and an unshaven beard. He looked a bit fierce, but seemed lazy and listless.

After hearing the militiamen's chatter, his eyebrows arched and he straightened up a little. "Such a thing actually happened. What happened to those seriously injured people?"

"The injured are all fine. Master Chu is not only a good fighter, but he seems to be a miracle doctor. The people who received the medicine he prescribed are all healthy and healthy now."

The militiaman said, "A lot of people want to see him these days, but he lives in the Ma Zhanggui Restaurant and doesn't come out very often."

"Oh, right, Shopkeeper Ma is a half-immortal who knows magic. Master Zhong, you are very close to Shopkeeper Ma. Did you know this a long time ago?"

Zhong Jinqiu listened to their questions without answering. He fished out a dried radish from his bosom, took a bite, and said, "Stop asking around. Let's go to the families who are having funerals first. I'll burn some incense for them too."

He followed the militiamen into a side road.

The sunlight gradually became brighter, and after more than half an hour, Zhong Jinqiu came to the Laoma Restaurant alone, with his bamboo hat slung on his back.

As soon as he entered the door, several tables of guests recognized him and greeted him.

Zhong Jinqiu nodded and glanced around, but didn't see his old friend behind the counter.

The clerk came over and said, "Uncle Zhong, the boss is in the backyard. He hasn't come out much these days."

After revealing that he could cast spells, he would be feared and feared, but also face a lot of trouble.

Those who want to learn skills from a master, those who want to bring the statue home to worship, those who doubt themselves or suspect that people around them are possessed by evil spirits, all come to look for someone when they are old.

Shopkeeper Ma is no longer at the age where he loves the spotlight, and he has been trying to avoid it these days.

The curtain leading from the lobby to the backyard was usually rolled up with a hemp rope and iron hook during the day, but today it was hanging down.

As soon as Zhong Jinqiu lifted the curtain, he saw the shopkeeper Ma squatting in the corner of the backyard. There was a long bench in front of him and a low stool made of tree roots under his buttocks. He was drinking to relieve his fatigue.

"Hey, old ghost, you're back?"

Shopkeeper Ma rubbed his nose, but without getting up, he waved, "Come, come, come, it's a good time to sit down."

Zhong Jinqiu walked to the other side of the bench, sat cross-legged on the stone slab, grabbed the wine jug, and poured a mouthful into his mouth in mid-air.

"I've heard everything that's going on in town. It's hard to tell where someone who practices magic is injured. You haven't done anything in years, so you weren't hurt that day, were you?"

Shopkeeper Ma said with a chuckle, "It was hard to say whether Xiao Chu would get hurt, but he was too fierce. He rushed out of the town and killed both bandit leaders in the woods."

"I just blocked the way for a while and then cleaned up the place at the end."

Zhong Jinqiu glanced at his old friend with a sidelong glance and said, "I heard he's young, knows both medicine and martial arts, and he's new to town, but he's dressed like someone who studied abroad. His background isn't simple, is it?"

Those with a history are often prone to trouble.

"did not ask."

Shopkeeper Ma said calmly, "He's a nice guy, why are you asking so many questions?"

Zhong Jinqiu retracted his gaze: "Alright, you're the best at judging people, so I won't bother with this."

He smacked his lips. "This wine tastes different today. Did you add any herbs?"

Shopkeeper Ma said, "It was Doctor Chu who helped to modify it."

"I know he's a good doctor, but your medicinal wine recipe wasn't easy to come by. How could he even change that?"

Zhong Jinqiu became interested. He took out a dried radish and threw it into his mouth to cover up the aftertaste of the wine. Then he took another sip, closed his eyes and felt it for a while, then nodded involuntarily.

"Hiss, the medicinal effect is a little different. To be able to brew something like this with just these second- or third-rate herbs, you must be quite skilled."

"Where is the person? Why don't you introduce him to me?" Shopkeeper Ma picked up a few peanuts from the plate on the bench, slowly peeled off the skin, and put them into his mouth to chew.

"He's practicing in his room. He really loves boxing. That night there was a bloody battle, which must have been thrilling. But the next morning he didn't even say he'd slow down and started practicing again."

"But don't worry, he'll definitely be out around lunchtime, so let's drink first."

Shopkeeper Ma held his wine glass and whispered, "I've been thinking about that thing we got back then..."

Zhong Jinqiu waited for him to speak, but when he stopped talking after a while, he frowned and said, "What is it? Explain it clearly."

"There's no rush."

Shopkeeper Ma considered it, took a sip of his wine, and said, "Let's wait until you two are together."

In Chu Tianshu's room, he was indeed practicing martial arts.

It is different from the previous boxing and martial arts training with ups and downs, jumping, moving and twisting.

Now he stood on his left foot, bent his right foot and placed it on his left knee, put his hands together and raised them above his head. From his ankles, knees, waist and hips to his shoulders, back, neck and arms, every joint and every muscle rotated in one direction until they were twisted.

His skin was as tight as steel wire, trembling slightly with every breath.

The indoor dust fluttered in the sunlight. Chu Tianshu took a long time to change his posture. His movements were very slow, and every move was like the dance of ghosts and strong men in the temple.

Grab the ground with your toes, lean your body back, and touch the ground with the palms and soles of your hands and feet at the same time. Use your muscles to move from the soles of your feet to the top of your head, over and over again.

Spread out your ten fingers, press the air with both arms, use too much force, and move up and down repeatedly, so that the knuckles will be as protruding as bamboo joints.

The relaxation and contraction of each movement seems to be challenging the limits of the muscles.

It also looks like a barren mountain, a wildfire, and a monster that looks like a human and ape is stretching out its body, dancing slowly and praying, deep and powerful, its shadow imprinted on the rocks, quiet and timeless, yet powerful and ferocious.

It seemed that the training was not as intense as before, but in fact, the muscles in his body were twisted and pressed like copper blocks, mobilizing various parts of his body. His whole body was surging with heat, and his pores were tightly closed, and his skin continued to turn red and hot.

This was the product of his second deduction using the evil spirit material.

The "Ape in the Mountain Subduing Tigers from All Sides" stance!
The evil spirit materials obtained from the battle with the bandits are relatively useful, especially the "Worm-belly Leopard Cat" and the "Crocodile". The former obviously focuses on strengthening muscle strength.

The latter's underwater swimming and long breath holding time may be related to cardiopulmonary function, but it may also be a special ability of water ghosts to breathe underwater.

Chu Tianshu hesitated a little at the time, but the next day he chose to focus on the leopard cat for deduction.

The material used in the exercises is the "Gluttonous Food Passing Fist".

After the deduction was completed, the name of the entire boxing manual did not change, only a set of stance techniques was sublimated from the contained footwork.

After practicing for the past few days, he felt that this set of stance techniques was extremely effective, and the strength in his body was becoming more and more condensed.

From the outside, his muscles did not continue to thicken, but with the same range of motion, the force he exerted increased significantly.

However, according to the token's prompt, the potential of the "Qi Family Lao Tongbei" boxing manual has been almost used up after two rounds of deduction and optimization.

You can continue to use evil spirit materials to deduce and optimize it, but that will not be worth the effort.

Therefore, the next time you deduce, it would be best to collect new materials for the exercises.

Chu Tianshu had learned from Wang Fu that Master Zhong of the militia was also a formidable martial artist. He must have learned the true art of boxing and was also close friends with Shopkeeper Ma.

If you have the chance, see if you can change your skills, or find a master.

He also heard that an acquaintance of the shopkeeper Ma seemed to have come to the yard today, but he did not rush out. He practiced patiently until his stomach protested loudly, and then he stopped.

Dense beads of sweat, the size of soybeans, emerged from his skin one after another as he exhaled. As soon as he wiped them with a towel, sweat condensed again.

Fortunately, in recent days, he always had eight towels and two buckets of clean water in his room, so it was very easy to clean. It didn't take long before he was wrapped in clothes.

Crunch!

As soon as the door opened, the two old men in the yard looked over at the same time.

Shopkeeper Ma sipped the small pot of wine slowly. By noon, he hadn't finished it yet. He smiled and said, "Come out. We'll have lunch in the yard. It's a good time to chat while we eat. Let me introduce myself. This is Lao Zhong!"

Chu Tianshu smiled: "So this is Master Zhong, I should call you senior."

He clasped his fists and bowed slightly, but Zhong Jinqiu's face suddenly changed. He stood up and stretched out his hand, asking Chu Tianshu to stand up straight. Then he clasped his fists and bowed down, bowing even deeper, a great gesture.

Chu Tianshu was stunned, feeling a little puzzled.

"I was hired as a gun and stick master for the militia for a large sum of money. When the bandits attacked, I wasn't there. It's all thanks to you."

Zhong Jinqiu said sternly, "No matter what, you shouldn't be the one bowing to me. I should be the one bowing to you."

Chu Tianshu said: "I live well in this town, of course I can't let the bandits do whatever they want..."

Zhong Jinqiu was about to say something else when he heard a loud sound of gongs and drums outside.

Soon, the footsteps and noisy voices of the crowd drowned out the original gongs and drums.

The clerk opened the curtain, his face full of surprise, and said happily: "Boss, Doctor Chu, please come out quickly."

"I heard that people from the city have come to commend us for our efforts in suppressing the bandits and protecting the town. They want to reward you two in particular. The mayor asks you to come over quickly!"

(End of this chapter)