The Dark Alley

Plane-tree leaves sifted copper-coin-shaped patches of light across the ground, spreading over the blue-brick pavement like a lazy river.

Cicadas' cries cut through the stifling heat, gathering between the concrete buildings into a lonely melody.

After Zhao Rui accompanied Sun Tiantian and the other two around campus to take some photos to remember the good times, they agreed to meet once more before school started. Then he rode off.

With that, his high school career had finally come to an end!

It would have been a lie to say he felt no nostalgia, but life stretched far ahead, and he still had a much broader future to venture into.

He had been riding for more than half an hour after leaving school and was almost at his neighborhood when Bai Xuening called.

"Are we friends?"

The girl asked softly.

"Of course we are!"

Zhao Rui replied. Why wouldn't they be? Though they hadn't known each other long, she was a girl he could get along with.

"That's good, then. See you at university!"

Zhao Rui paused, then laughed freely. "See you at university!"

Bai Xuening had always been mysterious, giving people the sense that she was at once close and distant, like a figure hazy in the clouds and mist.

She had transferred into their class in her second year of high school. As soon as she arrived, her beauty and extraordinary bearing aroused the jealousy of quite a few girls.

She had joined the class halfway through, and her temperament was somewhat aloof. She didn't know anyone, either, so the girls had always ostracized her.

He had gotten to know her after accidentally touching a sensitive spot during a class sparring session. That was how they began to interact a little.

But they had only truly gotten familiar with each other starting last month, when they went to spar by the riverbank. In the grand scheme of things, it hadn't been long.

After they finished talking, they each hung up.

Zhao Rui locked his bike and walked upstairs.

Now that he had submitted his college applications, all that remained was to wait for the admission letter to arrive.

Of course, it might not arrive—but the odds were tiny. He still had his second choice as a fallback.

With nothing to do over summer break, and no need to think about school anymore, Zhao Rui devoted himself wholeheartedly to martial arts training.

The radiant sun blazed beneath the vast heavens, illuminating the sun and moon!

Time slipped by unnoticed, and the peach blossoms burst into bloom!

That day, Zhao Rui sat cross-legged by the river, bathing in the first rays of dawn and drawing nourishment from the great river's moisture as he summoned energy from his Guanyuan acupoint and circulated it through his body.

For a moment, the acupoints throughout his body trembled, like tigers and leopards roaring, like drums and gongs pounding. It seemed that internal energy was about to spill out of him.

At that moment, the red sun rose on the horizon. A streak of light pierced through the clouds and slanted down onto the river, glimmering on its surface.

"Ten years of power begin here; I'll shatter the cloud-palace gates and seek the golden tome!"

Zhao Rui snorted. As his eyes opened and closed, glimmers of light seemed to flicker in them, brilliant as the morning sun.

"Master may be unreliable, but this Ethereal Divine Skill truly is as elusive as the clouds!"

Zhao Rui exhaled as he ended his practice, unable to help mulling over what had just happened.

After nearly half a month of sparring, three more advancement points had appeared on the system panel. He had used two to increase his Internal Energy.

He had used the third to experimentally add a point to the Zhongfu acupoint on the Lung Meridian of Hand-Taiyin.

The martial art he practiced, Cloud Hand Plucks Stars, followed the Lung Meridian of Hand-Taiyin, one of the three yin meridians of the hand. The lungs were the mother of moving qi.

Cloud Hand Plucks Stars followed the Lung Meridian, linking the breath of heaven and earth with his own to transform it into clouds. It took in the qi of the great circuit and refined his body through the act of inhalation and exhalation.

Once it reached mastery, the acupoints along the Lung Meridian of Hand-Taiyin could be opened one by one, and a mysterious force of true qi would flow through every gesture.

That was what Li Da Naodai called mastery, anyway. He didn't know what the actual realms were.

When the disciples asked him how many major acupoints he had opened, Li Da Naodai stammered and changed the subject, never giving them a straight answer.

That made everyone think he was probably bragging. Either he hadn't invented the martial art himself, or he was just spouting nonsense.

Even Senior Disciple Brother, who had practiced martial arts for twenty or thirty years, hadn't opened a single acupoint, let alone the other senior brothers and sisters.

In short, no one took him seriously.

But today, right here and now, Zhao Rui had used the system's power to break through an acupoint, then relied on ten years of power to circulate through the Lung Meridian of Hand-Taiyin. Only then did he suddenly realize that it seemed like it really could be done.

There was an unmistakable sensation of connection to the true qi of heaven and earth within the Zhongfu acupoint. It was an indistinct feeling, yet incredibly wondrous.

When he used Cloud Hand Plucks Stars, a misty cloud of qi rose naturally around him.

It wasn't an illusion.

Could Li Da Naodai be one of those legendary masters who hid their light among ordinary people?

Zhao Rui couldn't help wondering. After all, he had seen plenty of hidden masters like that in the novels of his previous life.

But whenever he remembered Li Da Naodai's usual behavior, he couldn't believe it.

Either way, it didn't matter. No matter how impressive he was, could he be more impressive than the system panel?

After finishing his practice, Zhao Rui looked around. There wasn't a soul in sight. Only duckweed swayed gently in the river breeze, while tall reeds lined the bank, rocking to and fro.

He had picked this spot after searching high and low. It was more than ten kilometers outside the city.

The area was all hills and riverbanks, with few villages and hardly anyone around.

It was a perfect place to be alone, experience nature, and temper his inner qi.

After tidying his belongings, he tied his pack to the rear rack of his bicycle and rode along the riverbank toward the city.

It wasn't as comfortable as a car, but getting close to nature was nice, too.

Zhao Rui watched a car flash past him on the road and couldn't help consoling himself.

"Puny bastard, learn how to ride! Ptooey!"

As he rode along, a car turned in from a road on his right, cutting hard across Zhao Rui's bicycle as it passed through the intersection.

Just as they went by, the driver leaned out the window and spat at Zhao Rui.

"Ptooey!"

The glob of spit barely had any force behind it. It landed on the car door and left a wet streak as it slid down the side.

"Damn it!"

Furious, Zhao Rui stopped his bicycle, picked up a rock from the roadside, and hurled it with all his might at the car's side mirror.

There was a sharp crack. The rock hit the mirror dead on, shattering it into pieces.

The car stopped abruptly. Its door flew open, and the people inside stuck their heads out. After glancing at the side mirror, they immediately ducked back into the car.

Then the driver floored it and sped off, hitting a hundred kilometers an hour in an instant.

"Damn, we picked a fight with someone who knows kung fu!"

Zhao Rui, the one who had started it, felt a little embarrassed, too. For a moment, he had forgotten he was a martial artist. He'd still thought he was like his former self, tossing a rock that wouldn't hit anything, just to scare them a little.

He hadn't imagined that, with Internal Energy now coursing through him and the strength of a thousand catties behind his throw, he could punch a hole straight through the car door, let alone shatter a side mirror.

Zhao Rui clicked his tongue, still shaken. My mind's not steady enough. My spirit isn't firm!

That was the downside of fusing the memories of two lives: his spirit would often drift away, and he'd forget where he was.

Zhao Rui did have one good quality: he was good at thinking things through and reflecting on himself.

Once he understood his own weaknesses, he could train to address them more specifically.

Zhao Rui swung back onto his bicycle and was about to turn onto the main road when he suddenly spotted a group of people charging out of a nearby alley, meat cleavers in hand.

Their menacing appearance gave him quite a fright.

Fortunately, after emerging from the alley, they hurried into another dark lane. A moment later, the clanging of blades and a jumble of shouts and screams rang out from within.

Zhao Rui's expression darkened at once. He had encountered the "Fiery Cloud Evil God" causing trouble at the Carefree Pavilion last time, and plenty of people had been killed. But he had been far away then, with plenty of people around him, so it hadn't stirred much emotion in him.

This time was entirely different. It was like watching a gangster movie and thinking it was damn thrilling, only to see people swinging knives at one another right in front of you. The feeling was completely different.

"Help!"

Just as the sight filled him with dread and disgust, and he was about to get away from there, two men dashed out of the alley, drenched in blood and stumbling as they ran for their lives.

And they were running straight toward Zhao Rui.

By now, Zhao Rui had recovered from his earlier discomfort. He hurriedly lifted his bicycle with one hand and leaped to the roadside.

Both men had already been slashed several times and had barely managed to escape. One made it to the middle of the road before his strength gave out. He collapsed with a thud.

He blocked a car approaching from behind.

The other man didn't stop for even an instant. He bolted.

By then, the pursuers had nearly caught up: a horde of more than ten knife-wielding thugs.

The sight was terrifying.

Watching from the roadside, Zhao Rui felt his scalp crawl. What the hell, was this still a land of peace and sunshine?

He was only ten miles outside the city, and things were already this brutal?

The men were clearly ordinary thugs with no Internal Energy, but their ferocity was nothing like the peaceful, comfortable scene in the city.

Just as Zhao Rui was about to ride away, the sound of police sirens came from nearby. A police car came roaring toward them.

The thugs stopped at once and scattered like startled birds and beasts.

"Everyone, stop!"

The police car arrived in a flash, its tires screeching as it braked hard. The doors flew open, and a beautiful young policewoman in a well-fitted uniform jumped out with her gun raised.

Several more officers climbed out with their guns through the other doors.

The thugs weren't about to listen. They took off running.

The officers didn't fire. They chased after the men instead.

Zhao Rui crouched slightly and picked up a handful of pebbles from the ground, his wrist giving a subtle flick.

In an instant, the pebbles shot out one after another, striking the Huantiao acupoints of several fleeing thugs.

Their legs stiffened at once. With cries of pain, they tumbled to the ground.

The officers saw what had happened, pounced on them, twisted their arms behind their backs, and hauled them to the roadside.

Seeing this, Zhao Rui didn't linger. He leisurely climbed onto his bicycle and rode along the road toward the city.

The young policewoman had called for backup by the roadside. Her beautiful eyes swept around in puzzlement. Aside from the passing cars, she couldn't spot anything unusual.

She couldn't help shaking her head to herself.

Night fell beneath a canopy of stars, and clouds veiled the silver moon!

Dressed all in black and wearing a mask, Zhao Rui strolled into an old urban village in the city.

This was the same alley entrance he had passed on his way back from his promotion exam.

Various kinds of trash still piled along both sides of the road. Flies and mosquitoes buzzed overhead, their swarms making the already yellowed streetlights look even dimmer.

"Brother Hong? Why did you arrange to meet in a place like this?"

Zhao Rui spotted the scar-faced young man smoking beneath a streetlight, smoke billowing around him, and hurried over.

Brother Hong gave him a glance with cold eyes, then casually tossed his cigarette butt to the ground.

"Come with me," he said.

Zhao Rui replied, "Oh," and quickly followed him.

The two of them took a side street and gradually ventured deeper into a narrow alley.

Shops lined both sides of the alley, and the various food stalls steamed with heat. Quite a few customers were scattered outside the storefronts.

They were all bare-chested, covered in dragon and phoenix tattoos, and crude in their casual manner. Their shouts and curses rose and fell without pause.

Brother Hong said nothing. He went straight around the crowd and continued on.

Zhao Rui didn't dare look for long. He only stole a couple of glances before turning his eyes away.