Martial Arts: Starting from a Seemingly Real System

Lonely sails far and wide, and only the Yangtze River flows.

The surface of the Yangtze River is vast and misty, with few ships passing by. There is only one passenger ship sailing alone against the current.

It was the twelfth lunar month, with a freezing cold wind, making land travel difficult, so Qiao Rui and Tian Jing took the water route into Sichuan, boarding a large passenger ship from Xunyang and sailing upstream on the Yangtze River. Although the journey was slow, it was comfortable and peaceful. They disguised themselves as an ordinary couple and pretended to go to Sichuan to seek refuge with relatives, mainly to prevent Lu Batian or the Beggar Gang from learning of his injuries and sending people to rob and kill him along the way.

Now Qiao Rui's reputation has gradually spread. Word of his extraordinary lightness skills, his ability to kill "a red apricot" thousands of miles away, his unrivaled palm power, his "Dragon Subduing Palm" that killed "Paishan Palm" Tian Shiguang and "Yinsha Palm" Hou Zijian. Some gossipers even gave him a nickname, "Dragon Subduing Palm" Qiao Rui.

In addition, once the "Dragon Subduing Palm" was exposed, the Beggar Gang determined that the death of Liu Dabiao, the leader of the Qingmu Hall in Daye Branch, was also caused by Qiao Rui.

By this calculation, as many as three Beggars' Sect masters died at the hands of Qiao Rui, and this is an irreconcilable mortal feud. If Qiao Rui could be let off easily, where would the Beggars' Sect's face be? Who would take the Beggars' Sect seriously in the future?

According to Lao Chen, the Beggars' Sect has issued a hunting order for Qiao Rui, and anyone who sees him must report it. If he is captured and killed on the spot, there will be a generous reward.

The passenger ship was huge and had a large number of people, so Qiao Rui and Tian Jing simply stayed in the cabin and were too lazy to go out. They were extremely low-key and cautious. Qiao Rui was a martial arts fanatic, but now he was in poor health and could not use his internal energy, so he guided Tian Jing to practice the "Emei Nine Yang Gong" or to break down each other's moves without using internal energy. In their spare time, they would read books and play chess, and they were quite content.

Since ancient times, the Yangtze River has served as a natural barrier between the north and the south. Because there are not many ferry crossings and nowhere to land, passenger ships stop at every ferry crossing. The time may be long or short depending on the size of the ferry crossing, so that people can transfer or purchase daily necessities.

On this day, we sailed to Aokou Ferry in Daye City, a large ferry crossing. The boatman informed us that the boat would stop here for half a day, so the passengers went ashore to get some fresh air and have fun, to avoid the boredom of staying on the boat all day.

Tian Jing took Qiao Rui's arm and slowly walked into Daye City. It was freezing cold, and the two of them were wearing cloaks with hoods, covering themselves tightly so that they were not easily recognized.

The second time they came to Daye City, the two bought some food and daily necessities. Qiao Rui whispered about the Beggar Gang's arrogant behavior that day. Finally, they came to the second floor of the restaurant. They found a clean table and sat down. They asked the waiter to heat a pot of hot wine and ordered a few side dishes. They ate and talked.

Qiao Rui told Tian Jing about the unrestrained and detached Wudang "Tianquan Palm" Feng Feiyan, the elegant and kind "Yuheng Xiao" Lin Wenyuan, and the beautiful and lively popular actress Zhao Lingying. Finally, he talked about "A Red Apricot", saying that this guy was extremely cunning. Everyone was looking for him all over the city, but he disguised himself as an ugly man with a dark, thin, hunchbacked and pockmarked face, and drank in this restaurant openly. Later, he instigated everyone to make trouble at the city gate to leave the city.

Tian Jing listened with great interest, smiling sweetly from time to time, her pair of peach blossom eyes were watery and curved into crescents, captivating and fascinating.

At this time, three men with sticks came up from downstairs. They sat at a table, laughing and talking loudly. "Waiter, bring us some good wine and food!"

"Okay! Master Ma, Master Wang, and Master Zhu, please wait a moment!" The waiter seemed to know these people and hurried down to make arrangements.

When Qiao Rui saw these people, his eyes flashed, and he whispered to Tian Jing: "These are people from the Beggars' Sect, let's be careful!"

It turned out that he recognized the sticks used by these people as the dark yellow old bamboo sticks unique to the disciples of the Beggar Gang. Looking at their faces carefully, one of the fat-headed and big-eared men seemed somewhat familiar. Could he be one of the people whose "Lotus Falling Formation" was broken by him that day?

The two stopped talking and lowered their heads to eat, but their minds were always quietly keeping an eye on the three people.

"This time, the leader of Shushan held a ceremony for his last disciple to become his apprentice. He even sent out invitations to heroes all over the world to watch the ceremony. There hasn't been such a grand event in the martial arts world for a long time!" One of the three men with a horse face exclaimed.

"Isn't it? I heard that Shaolin, Wudang, Huashan, Kunlun, Kongtong, Dian Cang, as well as some underworld forces in the border areas have all sent people over there." The man with a monkey head and a dog face nodded and said.

"I don't know who our Beggars' Sect will send. It would be great if our leader could go!" sighed the last fat and big-eared man.

"So what if the leader goes? Can he take you with him?" The man with a monkey head and a dog face looked disdainful.

"What's wrong with taking me with you? There must be someone to accompany you and serve you, right?" The fat and big-eared man was a little angry.

“What are you arguing about!” the horse-faced man shouted. He was a fourth-bag disciple of the Beggars’ Sect, and had opened up seven meridians, becoming a second-rate expert, only slightly inferior to the new hall master. He was the leader’s trusted subordinate, and therefore had considerable authority over the two. Seeing that they stopped talking and looked at him, he said mysteriously, “I heard from the leader that the person who came here is an eight-bag elder, accompanied by the leader’s beloved daughter and the elder’s young disciple!”

"Oh, you came with the leader's daughter? The Eight-Bag Elder you mentioned is probably Elder Jia, right? His young disciple is Lu Yanqing, who is known as the most talented young man in the Beggars' Sect and is deeply favored by the leader's daughter?" The man with the monkey head and dog face asked in surprise.

"Yes, who else but Master Lu can be inseparable from our Miss Du?" said the horse-faced man.

"Hey, Elder Jia of the Beggars' Sect, the 'altruistic' Jia Renyi? This guy is quite interesting. He let two of his disciples get killed, and instead of seeking revenge against that 'Dragon Subduing Palm' Qiao Rui, he even had the leisure to run to watch the ceremony. He is really altruistic to Shushan!" One of the drinkers upstairs laughed softly.

"Who? Are you tired of living and dare to meddle in the affairs of my Beggars' Sect?" The fat and big-eared man looked stupid, but his ears were quite sharp. He slammed the table and shouted angrily.

The horse-faced man stood up and glared at the whole audience, as if he was going to punish them if they disagreed with him. His sinister eyes swept over the drinkers one by one. Under the pressure of the Beggars' Gang, the people upstairs did not dare to look at each other and kept their heads down in silence.

The horse-faced man was feeling proud. He glanced around and was about to sit down to drink when suddenly his eyes lit up. He was stunned for a moment and actually walked straight over.

Qiao Rui frowned slightly, thinking to himself, oh no, could it be that they recognized me?

He gave Tian Jing a wink, and the two of them were secretly on guard.

The horse-faced man walked up to Qiao Rui's desk and asked in a cold voice, "Were you the one who spoke rudely just now?"

Qiao Rui responded calmly: "No!"

"So that's you?" The horse-faced man didn't care and turned to look at Tian Jing.

Seeing this, he couldn't help swallowing his saliva. Just now, he only saw Tian Jing's profile half exposed outside the hood, which made him feel very amazed, so he couldn't help but walk over to find out. Now facing each other, he was even more shocked by her beauty. He thought to himself that among thousands of beauties in the world, only this woman made him feel pity.

Tian Jing was also slightly surprised. Was this person ill and unable to tell the difference between men and women? He said in a deep voice, "The voice that spoke before was clearly a man's. What does it have to do with me?"

Although she had a blank expression on her face and tried her best to remain calm, her voice was soft, gentle, pleasant and seductive.