Crippled Ma

Crippled Ma's home was even more dilapidated than Chen Luo's Third Uncle's. It was just a single tiled house, the sort that looked ready to collapse when the wind blew. Next door, someone burned boilers, and when the uncle and nephew arrived, the neighboring boiler was belching black smoke.

Crippled Ma sat alone at the entrance, holding a file as he repaired someone's iron pot. The file scraped across the bottom of the pot again and again, showering a large area of black iron filings onto the ground and exposing the damaged spot.

"Crippled Ma, I came to see you!"

Chen Laosan called out from a long way off as he looked at Crippled Ma working over there.

Crippled Ma did not move at all when he heard the voice. He continued filing the iron pot. The patch in the nearby furnace had nearly burned through, and he clamped it out and placed it over the hole in the pot. Then came a clanging burst of hammering.

Only after he had completely repaired the iron pot and set it aside did Crippled Ma raise his head to look at the uncle and nephew.

His gaze mainly fell on Chen Luo.

Because Chen Luo was an unfamiliar face.

Perhaps it was only psychological, but when Crippled Ma's gaze swept over him, Chen Luo instinctively tensed up. The hairs all over his body stood on end. It felt like walking through a forest and being targeted by a ferocious beast.

"My nephew, Chen Luo! The Old Chen Family's sole heir for three generations."

Chen Laosan's words broke the atmosphere. At the same time, he did not forget to set the gifts in his hand on the nearby tabletop.

"Speak."

Crippled Ma finally shifted his gaze away. His voice was somewhat low, and his face was as expressionless as a wooden man's.

"My nephew wants to learn martial arts."

After sitting down, Chen Laosan skipped all pleasantries and stated his purpose straight away.

Crippled Ma's movements paused for an instant at those words.

Then, as if he had heard nothing, he went on with his work. Chen Laosan was in no hurry and simply waited nearby. Only after Crippled Ma had repaired every iron pot and sickle in his hands did he speak again.

"Why do you want to learn martial arts?"

He was speaking to Chen Luo. Chen Laosan did not interrupt from the side.

He knew Crippled Ma's temperament.

"I want to become stronger."

Chen Luo voiced his wish.

Ever since arriving in this world, he had never felt safe. Especially after learning that this world possessed the Martial Dao, that sense of insecurity had only grown stronger. He desperately wanted to master strength so he could protect himself and the people around him.

"Learning martial arts does not necessarily make you stronger. In times like these..."

Crippled Ma seemed to recall something and said that much. But then he fell silent again. He quietly gathered up his tools, placing the used iron tongs against the corner of the house and putting the file into the nearby toolbox.

"Come tomorrow. I'll teach you one shichen every day. How much you learn will depend entirely on yourself."

Just when Chen Laosan thought this time would end in failure, Crippled Ma picked up his toolbox and rose to return indoors. As he was closing the door, a voice drifted out from within.

It worked!

Chen Laosan let out a breath of relief.

Chen Luo was filled with excitement as well!

No matter what Crippled Ma's temperament was like, to the current Chen Luo, this was his only chance. So long as he could step through the gates of the Martial Dao, he believed that he would surely carve out a road to the heavens. Learning martial arts with those incomplete brains was a last resort. For a beginner, that choice was still far too risky. A flaw in the details could get someone killed through training.

By the time they finished dealing with this, dusk had already fallen.

When the uncle and nephew returned, the nearest street was still sealed off. Yamen runners came and went as they searched, as if they were looking for someone.

Chen Laosan was cautious by nature, so he immediately led Chen Luo home by a detour.

"Old Man Liu! Two bowls of noodles, extra toppings and less chili!"

Neither uncle nor nephew knew how to cook. When they reached the alley outside their home, Chen Laosan took Chen Luo to sit before Old Man Liu's Noodle Stall, rapped the tabletop with his hand, and shouted loudly.

They were old acquaintances, so Old Man Liu knew it was the two of them as soon as he heard the voice.

A moment later, Old Man Liu brought over steaming bowls of noodles, specially adding a piece of braised meat to each.

"We'll settle it all together after we eat."

Chen Laosan replied, then pulled a pair of chopsticks from the Bamboo Tube. After stirring the noodles twice, he began wolfing them down. Chen Luo was no slower, and before long, he was full.

Old Man Liu had run his Noodle Stall for Over Twenty Years. His noodles were famous for being generous.

Let alone the fact that the uncle and nephew had added braised meat.

Full of food and drink, Chen Laosan tossed two large coins onto the table and took Chen Luo home.

Chen Laosan had lived like this for years. When he had money, he spent it, never shortchanging himself. Chen Luo learned that from his Third Uncle too—whatever he did, he never treated himself poorly. At worst, he would be a bachelor for life. It was not as though he had never been one before!

When they got home, Chen Laosan took out his key. Just as he was about to open the door, he spotted a black bamboo tag that had fallen beneath the bronze lock.

Hm?

The instant he saw the bamboo tag, Chen Laosan's expression changed.

"Third Uncle, do you need help?"

Chen Luo recognized this kind of bamboo tag. It was the mark left behind when the Corpse Burier received work. Chen Luo had watched from the side whenever Chen Laosan got a job before, so he had naturally seen similar bamboo tags. But this was his first time seeing a black one, and he could not help being curious.

"What the hell can you help with, brat? Learn martial arts properly. Don't waste all my painstaking effort."

Chen Laosan cursed as he tucked the bamboo tag into his robes, then opened the door and went inside.

"Go over there by yourself tomorrow."

Seeing that, Chen Luo could only return to his own room.

There were many taboos in the Corpse Burier trade. If Third Uncle was unwilling to speak, Chen Luo would never get an answer out of him. If he asked too much, he might even get a beating from Third Uncle.

That was all wisdom earned through experience.

I'll look into it once my strength improves. Right now, I can't even protect myself.

Lying in bed, Chen Luo could not help recalling the sealed-off street he had seen during the day.

I only hope it isn't anything serious.

He drifted off to sleep in a daze. That night, Chen Luo did not dream and slept exceptionally well.

The night passed without incident.

Chen Luo got up early the next morning.

Strangely, his Third Uncle had Already Long Ago gone out. The courtyard gate was still open, and no one knew where he had gone.

"Auntie Wang, have you seen my Third Uncle?"

After washing up, Chen Luo went to the Old Liu Family's Noodle Stall at the mouth of the alley and asked the woman cooking noodles. Auntie Wang was Old Man Liu's wife. The couple ran night and morning businesses respectively. He had heard that the old pair had bought their son a house in the Provincial Capital solely through their noodle-making skills.

"Your Third Uncle? He went out before dawn. He even took two white steamed buns from me." Seeing that it was Chen Luo, Auntie Wang smiled and said a little more.

Morning business was busy. After those two sentences, Auntie Wang returned to her work.

Chen Luo did not ask further. Only after eating two buns and drinking a bowl of Soy Milk did he set off for Crippled Ma's house.

He had gone there once yesterday with Third Uncle.

He knew the way.

After leaving the alley and arriving at yesterday's intersection again, Chen Luo discovered that the street was still sealed off. Not only was there no sign of it being reopened, but the cordoned area had grown even larger. Several nearby households had been sealed off as well. Specially assigned yamen runners guarded the entrance, and when one saw Chen Luo peering around curiously, he glared directly at him.

"Get the hell out of here! The road's sealed. Take another route!"

Chen Luo shrank his neck at the rebuke and hurriedly took yesterday's route instead.

Could it be some kind of epidemic? If a plague breaks out in this rotten era, it'll cause a huge disaster.

On second thought, Chen Luo felt that was unlikely.

If it really were a plague, the lockdown would not be at this level.

Judging by the way that yamen runner had rebuked him, quite a few people must have tried to take this shortcut that morning. The words of scolding rolled off his tongue with practiced ease.

After passing through the sealed-off area, he reached Crippled Ma's home before long.

Just as yesterday, Crippled Ma was still repairing everyday items for the neighbors. From kitchenware to farm tools, he could even help shoe horses.

After Chen Luo arrived, he said nothing and immediately started helping.

It was not until the sun had risen three poles high that Crippled Ma finally stopped working.

"Come inside with me."

Perhaps because of his performance that morning, Crippled Ma's attitude toward Chen Luo had improved considerably.

He pushed open the Wooden Door.

Chen Luo discovered that Crippled Ma's courtyard was actually larger than Third Uncle's. It looked shabby from outside, but the inside was exceptionally spacious and bright.

Past the inner gate was another separate small courtyard. A Weapon Rack and a sandbag stood to one side. The sandbag's surface was somewhat weathered, as though no one had used it for a very long time.

"To practice martial arts, first practice stances. Watch my movements. Learn however much you can."

Without caring whether Chen Luo had heard him, Crippled Ma began performing a fist routine on his own. He completed the sequence with movements that flowed like drifting clouds and running water, then finished by settling into a stance.

Though one of his legs was crippled, he gave off an utterly steady, firmly planted feeling.

Chen Luo immediately began imitating him.

The fist routine Chen Luo performed the first time could not be called merely unlike the original—it was completely unrelated. He did not hit a single key point correctly, and his breathing was a total mess. Crippled Ma frowned deeply as he watched from the side.

"Practice it again."

Crippled Ma suppressed the anger in his heart and spoke in a low voice.

He knew Chen Luo's aptitude was poor, but he had not expected it to be this bad. After one full run, he had remembered absolutely nothing. He was utter trash among trash!

At those words, Chen Luo immediately Raised Hand and recalled the movements from before as he performed them again.

This time, Crippled Ma pointed out several errors in his movements. Every time Chen Luo stood incorrectly, he struck him with the Bamboo Stick. Again and again, until night fell, Chen Luo finally managed to memorize the entire routine.

"That's enough for today. For the next month, practice your Stance Training properly before coming back to find me."

Crippled Ma tossed the Bamboo Stick in his hand aside and walked away without looking back.

He was afraid that if he watched any longer, Chen Luo would anger his heart condition into flaring up.

"Thank you, Master."

Chen Luo respectfully kowtowed to Crippled Ma before rising to leave.

"Hiss..."

He had not noticed while practicing earlier, but now that he moved, his entire body hurt. Crippled Ma had truly shown no mercy when striking him. Even if he had held back, Chen Luo would not have remembered those movements.

During the Martial Dao's foundational stage, taking a wrong turn in training could get someone killed.