Chaos begins when one joins a martial arts school

Chapter 40 Changes in Status
Under the cover of night, Yang Jing quickly returned to the small courtyard in Tongyifang.

The moment Yang Jing pushed open the courtyard gate, his brows furrowed.

The wooden door inside the house was ajar, and there were signs of forced entry at the hinges.

He strode into the house, and by the moonlight, he frowned slightly.

The tables and chairs were overturned, the bed was in disarray, and the wooden box in the corner was open, with clothes scattered all over the floor, clearly having been thoroughly searched.

“They must be from the Righteousness Gang.” Yang Jing immediately understood.

It seems that Zhao Meng and Qian Bao sent people to search his residence, most likely looking for the Dayun Gang's valuables.

Unable to find the valuables, the two men took matters into their own hands, intending to capture and interrogate him, but they underestimated his strength and were killed by him.

Yang Jing didn't rush to clean up. He scanned the room and confirmed that apart from the mess, there was no other damage.

He then turned and walked into the courtyard, his gaze falling on the old locust tree.

He picked up the shovel from the corner of the wall, walked to the locust tree, and dug a pit.

He had considered that even having his own courtyard might not be safe, so he divided the gold, silver, and ginseng he had obtained from the Dayun Gang into three parts: one part was placed on the roof beam of his old home, one part was buried under the locust tree in the courtyard, and the last part was carried with him for daily use.

Beneath the soil, a sturdy wooden box lay quietly.

Yang Jing took out the wooden box, opened it, and saw that the gold bars, silver ingots, and the old ginseng wrapped in brocade were all intact.

This was his spoils from Xu Tai of the Dayun Gang, and it was his most important savings. He had deliberately hidden it in this most inconspicuous place, but unexpectedly, it actually managed to evade the Righteous Gang's search.

Yang Jing breathed a sigh of relief, closed the wooden box again, carefully buried it back in the pit, and tamped the soil down with his feet, restoring it to its original state, with no trace of digging visible.

After doing all this, he returned to the house without immediately cleaning up the mess.

Anyway, nothing was lost, so this little bit of chaos is insignificant.

He walked to the table, sat down, poured himself a glass of cold tea, drank it, and gazed calmly at the night outside the window.

The Righteous Gang has already traced him back to him and even considered searching his residence. It seems that his decision last night was indeed correct. If he hadn't broken through to the Dark Force realm in one fell swoop, he would have been in real danger today.

Now that Zhao Meng and Qian Bao are dead, the Righteous Gang is leaderless, which eliminates one potential threat.

Lost in thought, Yang Jing took out the two money bags he had obtained from Zhao Meng and Qian Bao from his pocket, poured the silver onto the table, placed the small porcelain bottle on the table as well, and then threw the two money bags aside, intending to burn them later.

Yang Jing gathered the silver coins on the table, feeling a sense of weight and solidity in his hands.

He picked up the small porcelain bottle containing the dark red pills again, examined it in the moonlight. The medicine had a strong fragrance, but he couldn't guess its specific effects. He could only put it in his pocket for the time being, and wait for an opportunity to secretly inquire about it at Liu's Medical Clinic.

Yang Jing looked at the silver and small porcelain bottle on the table, pursed his lips, tapped his fingertips on the table, and began to calculate the wealth of the Righteous Gang in his mind.

Zhao Meng and Qian Bao didn't carry much silver with them. As leaders of a gang, their savings must have been more than that, but most of it wasn't on their person. So, the Yiqi Gang headquarters probably had quite a lot of savings.

But... should we plunder the headquarters of the Righteous Gang? The thought was quickly suppressed.

The place is crowded and noisy. Even if he is now at the hidden level, it would be very difficult for him to sneak in quietly under the noses of the many members of the Righteousness Gang. It would not be difficult to break in, but it would inevitably cause a great uproar in the city. If the government really wanted to investigate, he would inevitably get into trouble.

Currently, he is not short of money. Now that he has broken through to the Dark Force level, it will be much easier for him to make money in the future. After all, the Righteousness Gang is just a gang formed by Ming Force martial artists. Even if he has some money, it is not that important to him now.

Since that's the case, it's better to avoid trouble.

Having figured this out, Yang Jing stopped worrying and put the silver and porcelain bottle into his purse.

Then he got up, left the main room, went into the kitchen, cut a piece of bear meat weighing about a pound, put it in a pot, and while lighting a fire under the stove, he threw Zhao Meng and Qian Bao's money bags in to burn. Then he boiled the bear meat in water and ate it along with the soup.

Warm energy flowed throughout my body, but it felt noticeably weaker than when I was in the Ming Jin state.

Now that his cultivation level has improved, the nourishing effects of ordinary beast meat are significantly less than before.

"It seems we need to use that old ginseng as soon as possible."

Yang Jing touched his stomach and thought to himself.

I started consuming that old ginseng in a couple of days, and I estimated that its effects would be much stronger than those of ordinary wild beast meat.

As night deepened, only the chirping of insects remained in the courtyard.

Yang Jing walked into the courtyard, lowered his waist and stood at attention, slowly unleashing the "Mountain Opening" move, officially beginning to study the Mountain Collapse Fist at the level of internal strength.

The force of the punch no longer pursues the fierceness of the obvious force, but hides the hidden force at the turning point of the move.

He deliberately slowed down, feeling how the internal energy meandered along his spine, and how it suddenly burst forth just before the fist touched him, carrying a skillful force that could penetrate stone and gold.

The "Entanglement" technique that Sun Yong had taught him during the day was gradually becoming clearer through repeated practice. When he threw a punch, his internal energy was divided into three streams: one struck the surface, one penetrated the interior, and the last one could even circulate slightly within his body, with a long and lingering aftereffect.

The moonlight shone on him, casting his shadow long and short.

Once, twice, three times... Yang Jing was completely immersed in the fusion of fist techniques and internal energy. It wasn't until more than an hour later that he slowly withdrew his fist, exhaled a long breath of turbid air, and the column of air actually condensed in the air without dissipating. After a while, it turned into white mist and dissipated.

"The intricacies of internal energy are indeed unfathomable." Yang Jing felt the increasingly harmonious internal energy within his body, and a flash of enlightenment appeared in his eyes.

This training session gave him a clearer understanding of internal energy and he gained a lot from it.

Yang Jing stood with his fists clenched, slightly out of breath, his internal energy flowing continuously.

It was late at night, but his mind was clear. So he decided not to rest and changed his stance, practicing the "Surging Waves Kick".

Although he hadn't practiced this leg technique for long, his understanding was profound. Having mastered the "Crushing Mountain Fist" to the level of Ming Jin and even An Jin, his progress in cultivating the "Surging Wave Leg" was rapid, and he was almost at the threshold of Ming Jin.

At this moment, with internal strength at his side, his understanding of "strength" was far beyond what he had ever experienced before. Between kicking, stomping, sweeping, and stomping, he deliberately guided his internal strength to sink into his legs, attempting to pry open the key to his external strength.

After countless rounds, when he unleashed his "Waves Slapping the Embankment" kick, his right leg swept through the air, suddenly producing a faint whistling sound.

"Om-"

A surge of heat rushed from his groin to his toes, and Yang Jing felt a jolt throughout his body, as if something had shattered.

When I looked up again, the surrounding scenery seemed clearer, and my legs felt light as a feather, yet contained immense power.

The "Surging Waves Kick" has finally broken through to the Ming Jin level!

He tried to take a step, and in a flash, he was already more than ten feet away, almost half as fast as before.

With a gentle push as her toes touched the ground, she floated up like a willow catkin, landing silently without disturbing even the chirping of insects in the corner of the yard.

Trying another "going against the current" move, alternating between legs, his figure weaving through the courtyard, leaving three or four afterimages in his wake. The transitions in his footwork were several times smoother than before, as if they were truly like waves crashing against the shore, continuous and without any hesitation.

What surprised him even more was that the leg techniques and body movements were perfectly integrated.

In the past, his footwork couldn't keep up with the speed of his punches. Now, with the "Surging Waves Leg" technique infused with visible strength, his footwork is as light and agile as a monkey. He can instantly create distance when dodging and follow like a shadow when attacking. It works perfectly with the hidden strength of the Mountain-Crushing Fist. He suddenly spun around and swept his right leg horizontally. The force of the kick even swept several pieces of tile off the courtyard wall, which crashed to the ground with a "thud".

The speed and power of this strike were at least twice as strong as before the breakthrough.
Yang Jing stopped what he was doing, looked down at his legs, and his eyes flashed with excitement.

The entry of "Surging Waves Leg" into Ming Jin not only improved the leg technique itself, but also elevated his overall combat power to a new level.

The internal force fist technique focuses on offense, while the external force leg technique focuses on speed. One is hard and the other is soft, one is dynamic and the other is static, resulting in fewer obvious weaknesses in offense and defense.

At this moment, with the support of the Ming Jin level "Surging Waves Leg", his strength felt even more powerful, making him incomparable to a mere An Jin martial artist at the same level.

His movements were as fast as a ghost, and his punches were powerful enough to penetrate deep into the internal organs. If he were to encounter someone like Zhao Meng again, even if the opponent came prepared, he would be fully confident that he could end the battle within a few moves.

A night breeze swept through the courtyard, bringing a touch of coolness.

Yang Jing took a deep breath to calm his surging blood and stood quietly in the courtyard, his mind filled with a multitude of thoughts.

"This is my advantage, and it's difficult for others to replicate it."

"Everyone's time and energy are limited."

"If you want to go far on the path of martial arts, you can only take one path. Perhaps only when you encounter a bottleneck that makes you despair and that you can't get over it will you start to practice a second martial art."

“Like Master and other martial arts school owners, they most likely have more than one martial art, but each has their own strengths.”

"But as far as I know, although there are a few disciples in the martial arts school who have practiced a second martial art, none of them have broken through to the Ming Jin level. They just practice it simply. For example, Liu Maolin, while practicing the Beng Shan Quan (Crushing Mountain Fist), thought that he had no hope of breaking through to the Hua Jin level in a short time, so he also practiced his family's palm technique."

"But I don't have any bottlenecks. While I am majoring in one martial art, I am more suited to learning other martial arts. With a high level of understanding, even if I only spend a little time practicing, I can make rapid progress and greatly improve my strength."

The next day.

The news of Zhao Meng and Qian Bao's murders spread like wildfire through the streets and alleys of every neighborhood in the western city.

"Have you heard? Zhao Meng and Qian Bao from the Righteousness Gang are dead!"

"Oh? How did he die?"

"I don't know. The body was smashed to pieces, as if it was killed in a revenge attack."

In teahouses and taverns, people were talking about it, but it didn't cause much of a stir.

These days, more and more refugees are gathering outside the city, and people driven mad by hunger are capable of anything.

The city gangs weren't idle either. Today you seize my territory, tomorrow I'll burn down your gambling den. Fighting was a common occurrence.

Let alone the death of two gang leaders, even if a gang is completely eradicated, no one will mention it again after a while.

Some people sighed, simply because they felt that the Righteous Gang rose to prominence quickly, but also fell just as fast.

Not long ago, they had just defeated the Dayun Gang. Zhao Meng and Qian Bao were swaggering around Guang'anfang, walking with an air of superiority. Who would have thought that not long after, they would become two nameless corpses in a dark alley?

"In my opinion, it's highly likely that the remnants of the Dayun Gang hired experts to seek revenge on the Yiqi Gang," a tea drinker clicked his tongue. "Didn't someone say before that the Dayun Gang's valuables were hidden and the Yiqi Gang hadn't found them yet? It must be that the Dayun Gang used that money to hire experts. Think about it, Xu Tai died under mysterious circumstances, do you think his men could swallow this insult?"

"Not necessarily. The Righteous Gang has seized so much territory in the past two years, and the people they've offended could stretch from the east side of the city to the west. Who knows which enemy has come knocking on their door?"

"I heard they went to ambush a martial arts school disciple, but perhaps they were outmatched and were killed by that disciple?"

"How is that possible? Who told you that? If they dared to set up an ambush, they must have been confident. How could they be so easily killed?"

"In any case, you should try not to provoke those martial arts school disciples. You never know when you might offend someone you shouldn't."

"."

There was talk of it, but nobody really went to investigate.

The government officials glanced at the scene and, seeing it was a gang fight, didn't even bother to lift the bodies. They simply ordered them to be dragged away and buried, and wrote "Internal strife among the bandits, dealt with" on the case file, thus closing the case.

The headquarters of the Righteous Gang in Guang'an Ward and its various outposts in other wards were already in complete chaos.

With the two leaders dead, the gang's henchmen scattered like monkeys fleeing a fallen tree. All the valuables were looted, and within half a day, only an empty courtyard remained. Even the flag embroidered with the character "义" (righteousness) at the gate was torn down and trampled into the mud.

Yang Jing saw all of this.

When he passed through Guang'anfang that morning and saw the chaotic scene, he didn't stop walking. However, two members of the Yiqi Gang saw him, turned pale with fright, and then turned and ran away trembling.
For him, the deaths of Zhao Meng and Qian Bao were merely the elimination of a potential threat; as for what the outside world said or speculated, it was none of his concern.

He is now completely focused on his martial arts. His Mountain-Crushing Fist has reached the level of Dark Force, and his Surging Wave Leg has broken through to the level of Explicit Force, which fills him with anticipation for his future martial arts journey!

After circling around Guang'anfang and wasting some time, Yang Jing arrived at the martial arts school, where many disciples were already practicing their boxing in the front yard.

In the past, everyone practiced their own techniques.

But today, as soon as he stepped through the gate, someone greeted him, "Good morning, Senior Brother Yang!"

His voice was loud and clear, with a hint of deliberate enthusiasm.

Yang Jing was taken aback and looked up. He saw several disciples he wasn't very familiar with, who had stopped what they were doing and had respectful smiles on their faces.

He nodded slightly in response, took a few steps forward, and several more people surrounded him, greeting him all at once, their tone of intimacy completely different from their usual demeanor.

"Senior Brother Yang is here!"

"Hello, senior brother!"

As they walked, they were greeted by "Senior Brother Yang" repeatedly. Several disciples who were practicing in the spacious central area of ​​the front yard moved aside to make room for the central area, a place that was usually reserved for core disciples such as Lin Yue and Qi Yun.

Yang Jing walked to the center of the empty space and looked at the gazes cast at him by the disciples, some openly and some covertly. He couldn't help but feel emotional.

He recalled that when he first entered the Ming Jin realm, although he had attracted some attention, it was far from reaching this level.

At that time, many disciples may still have been holding onto a simmering ambition, thinking that if they worked harder, they might be able to catch up, and their wishful thinking had not been completely extinguished.

But internal strength is different. This threshold is too high, and most people will never be able to reach it in their entire lives. Once someone crosses it, it is like heaven and earth, and there is no chance of catching up.

This respect is for the identity of "hidden strength martial artist".

He took a deep breath, suppressed the turmoil in his heart, lowered his waist and stood up straight, and began to practice the Mountain-Crushing Fist.

As the fist struck, the surrounding chatter subsided. The disciples either watched from afar or lowered their heads to continue practicing, but no one dared to approach and disturb them.

Sunlight climbed over the wall, illuminating various parts of the front yard and clearly separating Yang Jing's figure from the outlines of the surrounding disciples.

Yang Jing vaguely sensed that from the moment he broke through to the Dark Force realm, his position in this martial arts school had changed.

(End of this chapter)