Great Dao Simplification System

Tianchu Dynasty.

Qingzhou City.

Qin Shuang stood in the main hall of Fusheng Restaurant, watching helplessly as creditors carried things out.

He had been a graduate of East University on Earth. While delivering takeout to pay his mortgage, he had worked himself to death. When he woke, he had somehow crossed into this world of martial arts and become the young shopkeeper of Fusheng Restaurant, whose parents had both drowned.

With nobody to manage the restaurant, a sixteen-year-old young master couldn't keep things under control.

Three days had passed.

Creditors from all over had cleared out the restaurant. All that remained was the three-story wooden building and a courtyard behind it.

Just then, a burly man wearing an eyepatch appeared at the entrance with five thugs. The one-eyed man's gaze was vicious, like a bloodthirsty wolf, and Qin Shuang felt a powerful pressure from him.

Having absorbed the original owner's memories, Qin Shuang recognized the one-eyed man before him as Liang Chang, a hall master of the Flying Eagle Gang. The gang charged businesses on its turf a monthly cut in place of protection money. Fusheng Restaurant's cut was fifty taels of silver, payable on the last day of each month.

"Young Shopkeeper Qin, Old Qin borrowed a thousand taels of silver from me to keep his business afloat before he died. A father's debts fall to his son. At the end of the month, you'll pay me along with the monthly cut!"

Liang Chang walked into the hall, pulled a promissory note from his robes, and unfolded it in front of Qin Shuang.

"A-a thousand taels of silver?"

Qin Shuang furrowed his brow and took the note to inspect it. The debt was written clearly in black and white, with a fingerprint and signature to back it up. It really was a promissory note for a thousand taels of silver.

"There are eight days left until the end of the month. I'll come collect then. If you can't repay me, I'll take this restaurant as collateral."

Liang Chang took the note back, tucked it into his robes, and left with his thugs after tossing out those words.

"I transmigrated into a mountain of debt right off the bat. How... unlucky can I get?!"

Qin Shuang stared at the completely empty restaurant, his brow knitted with worry.

He had no idea whether Liang Chang's promissory note was genuine.

But Qin Shuang had said nothing in response. He knew all too well that he was weak right now. Hall Master Liang Chang knew martial arts and had five thugs with him. If Qin Shuang went head-to-head with them, he'd be the one to suffer.

"Ding! Host is facing a crisis. The Great Dao Simplification System has been successfully activated!"

Just then, Qin Shuang's mind shook, and a golden panel appeared.

[Great Dao Simplification System]

[Host: Qin Shuang]

[Realm: None]

[Martial Arts: None]

[Function: The Great Dao lies in simplicity. Any martial art or cultivation method can be simplified for rapid mastery!]

"Hm? My cheat finally showed up?"

Hearing the voice in his mind, Qin Shuang's eyes lit up and his spirits soared. As someone who had transmigrated, how could he not know that the arrival of a cheat meant his glorious days were about to begin?

Now that his cheat had activated, his dreams from his previous life—vaulting over rooftops, lying in a beauty's lap, and waking to command all under heaven—could finally come true!

"Any martial art or cultivation method can be simplified for rapid mastery?"

Qin Shuang studied the panel, a thoughtful look in his eyes.

He had a system now, but no martial arts.

"The first thing I need to do is get my hands on a martial art!"

Qin Shuang quietly weighed his options.

Ordinary people who wanted to learn martial arts had to go to one of the city's martial arts schools or training grounds. But those schools were a rip-off: enrollment cost ten taels of silver, and he didn't have a single copper coin.

"Hm? Under the jujube tree in the backyard?"

Searching through his memories, Qin Shuang vaguely recalled seeing Old Qin bury something beneath the jujube tree a year ago. With that in mind, he shut the front door, slid the bolt into place, and went to the backyard.

The crooked jujube tree stood against the wall, its trunk about as thick as a bowl. Qin Shuang found a piece of stone and started digging furiously beneath the tree, sending dirt flying.

"There really is something here!"

When Qin Shuang had dug three feet down, the stone went "clunk" against something hard. He quickly scraped away the dirt around it, revealing an iron box about two feet square.

Qin Shuang picked up the box. Having been buried underground, its edges had rusted a little.

"Silver! The deed!"

Qin Shuang smashed the box open with a stone. Inside was a bundle a little over a foot across, wrapped in two layers of oilcloth and five layers of oiled paper. When he unwrapped the paper, he found the property deed, a palm-sized crimson-red token, ten gold leaves, and twelve silver ingots worth fifty taels each. There were also more than thirty taels' worth of loose silver.

The token had a handle and resembled a burning flame.

"Now I have the silver to get some martial arts!"

Qin Shuang picked up the token and felt its weight in his hand. He had no idea what it was for, but didn't dwell on it. He took out the loose silver, then wrapped the deed, gold leaves, silver ingots, and token back up, buried them again, and restored the ground to its original state.

Only then did he lock up and head for East Gate Street.

Qingzhou City, East Gate Street, in the backyard of Good Fortune Casino.

One-Eyed Dragon Liang Chang gave an order to the black-clad young man standing before him. "Jiyao, go keep an eye on that Qin kid from a distance!"

"Yes, Second Uncle!"

Liang Jiyao nodded and left.

"Fusheng Restaurant's building is worth at least fifteen hundred taels of silver!"

"Once I get the deed, I'll have that kid killed!"

Liang Chang narrowed his eyes and plotted in silence.

He was looking forward to it. He had forced the Qin couple to write an IOU, then staged an accident to make them drown. Now he had brought the IOU to Qin Shuang and forced him to repay the debt. If he couldn't, Liang Chang would take the restaurant as collateral and get what he wanted.

Using this method, he had helped the Flying Eagle Gang acquire quite a few properties, while lining his own pockets handsomely. After earning merit time and again, he had even risen to the position of hall master.

The Tianchu Dynasty had been founded on martial might.

Martial arts were revered throughout the land.

Qingzhou City alone had more than twenty martial arts schools and training grounds, large and small: Flying Swallow Martial Arts School, Iron Leg Training Ground, Iron Palm Martial Arts School, Golden Tiger Martial Arts School, Golden Whip Martial Arts School... Golden Saber Martial Arts School... The names were enough to make anyone's eyes swim.

Golden Tiger Martial Arts School stood at the end of East Gate Street. It had black tiles, white walls, and red pillars, with two granite lions at the entrance. Above the doorway, four golden characters reading "Golden Tiger Martial Arts School" gleamed brightly.

An old man around fifty, lean and wiry, sat at the entrance puffing on a pipe. A golden tiger was embroidered on his robe.

"Little brother, for just ten taels of silver, you can learn the Fierce Tiger Fist from our Golden Tiger Martial Arts School and become an expert!"

"Let me tell you, once you've mastered our school's Fierce Tiger Fist, you can join a gang or an escort agency and earn back those ten taels in just a few days!"

The old man's eyes lit up when he saw Qin Shuang pause at the entrance, and he came over eagerly.

"Sir, can I start learning as soon as I pay?"

Qin Shuang knew the old man was exaggerating, but he didn't care. All he wanted was a martial art to put into the system panel.

"Of course. Pay up, and we'll have a martial arts instructor teach you right away!"

The old man tapped his pipe against the doorpost and looked at Qin Shuang expectantly. "Well... did you bring the ten-tael enrollment fee? If you did, I'll register you, and you can start learning right away."

"I did."

Qin Shuang was eager too. He pulled out the ten taels of loose silver he had prepared and handed them to the old man.

The old man took the silver and gave Qin Shuang a set of clothes and a square black wooden token about the size of a palm. His face blossomed like a chrysanthemum. "My name is Jin Yang. Everyone calls me Elder Jin. This is your identity token. You can use it to come and go from the school without a problem. Come with me."

Qin Shuang followed behind Jin Yang, looking at the token as he walked. One side was carved with a tiger baring its claws and fangs, and the number "Two Hundred and Forty-One" was engraved above it. He guessed he was the two hundred and forty-first disciple.

"Hey! Ha!"

"Hey!"

Golden Tiger Martial Arts School covered quite a large area. Behind the main building were three training grounds, each a hundred zhang across and paved with bluestone. Nearly two hundred disciples practiced their forms under the direction of several instructors, their shouts shaking the heavens.

In the middle training ground, seventy or eighty boys and girls practiced their forms while several young men corrected their stances.

"Haoyou, this is Qin Shuang, the new junior disciple. Show him around!"

Jin Yang brought Qin Shuang over to a muscular young man in his late twenties and gave him instructions. Then he turned to Qin Shuang. "This is the school's senior disciple, Liu Hao. You'll learn Fierce Tiger Fist from him. If there's anything you don't understand, just ask!"

"Welcome, Junior Brother Qin!"

Liu Hao wore a sleeveless shirt that showed off his bulging arms. His whole body seemed to brim with explosive strength, but he looked kind.

"Greetings, Senior Brother!"

Qin Shuang cupped his fists and bowed to Liu Hao.

"Mm. I'll perform Fierce Tiger Fist three times. Follow my movements, and ask me if there's anything you don't understand."

Liu Hao nodded to Qin Shuang, led him over beside the boys and girls, and began demonstrating Fierce Tiger Fist one move at a time.

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