"Don't revere me. Become my true believers."
Zeng Shen muttered to himself, poured plenty of cat food into the bowls in front of them, then turned and left his divine domain alone.
He planned to buy some cat beds for them to sleep in at the edge of the forest.
Without delay.
He focused his mind slightly and opened the divine domain gate.
He returned to the center of the abandoned hospital's lobby.
After stepping through the divine domain gate, Zeng Shen focused his mind slightly and softly said, "Close." The gate before him vanished.
"So that's how you open and close the divine domain gate."
After reviewing how to use the divine domain gate, Zeng Shen turned and climbed over the abandoned hospital's large iron gate, then headed toward the park plaza, intending to visit the shopping street.
[Warning! You are about to approach a group of enslaved humans. They have been stripped of their divinity and reduced to cheap labor for a third-tier fire deity. Your appearance may provoke this third-tier fire deity's hostility. You may even be enslaved, stripped of your divinity, and made into the deity's slave.]
When Zeng Shen reached the park plaza, he heard the system notification and briefly paused, looking curiously at a group of elderly men and women nearby.
At that moment.
They were following an old man dressed in a gray tai chi outfit, carefully imitating his tai chi movements.
The old man had a kind, benevolent face, but his movements were fast, fierce, and disciplined, giving him something of a master's air.
"I wonder which of them will become the third-tier fire deity?"
Zeng Shen fell silent and quietly walked past the elderly men and women.
But soon.
A familiar young man's voice suddenly rang out behind him:
"Master Ma, that's him! He said your Primordial Xingyi Taiji Fist was garbage, not even as good as his daily jogging. I couldn't stand it, so I argued with him, and he attacked me when I wasn't looking."
[Warning! The host has attracted the attention of a third-tier fire deity. In the deity's presence, the host will inevitably be robbed of divine energy and reduced to a slave! Host, flee immediately.]
The urgent system notification sounded, and Zeng Shen stopped in his tracks.
I've been noticed?
What should I do?
Will they try to extort money from me?
With all sorts of thoughts running through his head, Zeng Shen turned and looked toward the voice.
The young streamer whose face he had slapped into a swollen mess in the abandoned hospital was pointing at him, shouting to the old man teaching tai chi.
"So this old man is the third-tier fire deity."
"You really can't judge a book by its cover."
"He looks like such a nice person, teaching people tai chi here every day. Yet after the catastrophe, he actually becomes vicious enough to enslave all these elderly men and women."
Zeng Shen shook his head slightly.
But soon, he came to understand.
In plenty of disaster movies, normally gentle people could become twisted and deranged in the face of great calamity, all for the sake of survival.
Let alone in real life.
While Zeng Shen was thinking this, the old man surnamed Ma approached him, followed by a crowd of elderly supporters. From the looks of it, they meant to stand up for the young man.
"Are you the one who called my Primordial Xingyi Taiji Fist garbage?" Master Ma asked with a hostile expression.
"I never said that." Zeng Shen shook his head.
"But you did beat up this young apprentice of mine, didn't you?" Master Ma asked.
"Do you know why he deserved it?"
"Even if he did something wrong, you shouldn't have beaten him like this," Old Ma said sternly.
"Then what do you want to do?" Zeng Shen frowned slightly.
"It's simple. Didn't you say Primordial Xingyi Taiji Fist was garbage?" As Master Ma spoke, he spread his legs into a horse stance. "Then let's spar, and I'll show you just how powerful my Primordial Xingyi Taiji Fist is."
"Huh? Spar?"
Zeng Shen understood. Old Ma wanted to show off his skills.
Without delay.
He waved a hand and refused. "Let's forget it. If I so much as touch you and you drop to the ground to extort money from me, I'll have nowhere to turn."
Master Ma grew angry.
"You're saying I'd extort money from you? Even if something does go wrong, I won't blame you for it."
"I'm still not sparring with you."
Zeng Shen turned to leave as he spoke.
"Stop."
An old woman who was a devoted fan of Master Ma blocked Zeng Shen's path. "Young man, are you looking down on our Master Ma? If you dare walk away like this, believe me, I'll sit down right here and extort every last penny you have."
"Ma'am, I'm genuinely afraid of hurting your Master Ma."
Zeng Shen said.
The old woman ignored what Zeng Shen said, sat straight down on the ground, and began wailing. "Oh, help! He's hitting people! Come and look..."
Seeing this, Zeng Shen blurted out, "Damn."
"Fine, stop crying. If you want me to spar, I'll spar."
"But let's be clear. I don't hold anything back in a fight. I'll go all out, so don't blame me if you get hurt."
Zeng Shen directed that last sentence at Master Ma.
"What a joke. I've run the Martial Arts Hall for years. When boxing champion Tyson challenged me, I sent him packing with a single move. As if I'd need a youngster like you to hold back."
Master Ma chuckled and assumed his tai chi stance again.
"Master Ma even fought a boxing champion?"
The elderly men and women nearby began chattering all at once.
"Of course! I heard Master Ma say the boxing champion wanted to become his disciple and offered a hundred million in tuition, but our Master Ma still refused."
"Master Ma truly is a hidden expert. His tai chi has long since reached perfection, and this youngster thinks he can hurt him?"
"Exactly. Young people these days could use a lesson."
"That's right. Otherwise, they'll never learn their place."
Hearing Master Ma's words and the stories being told around him, Zeng Shen couldn't help growing serious.
He didn't want to get beaten up.
So.
Right then and there, he spent 20 faith points to use Agility Enhancement, increasing his agility fivefold.
Under everyone's astonished gazes, he lunged behind Master Ma at a speed none of them could follow and delivered a vicious kick to his backside.
Thump!
A faint impact sounded.
The kick sent Master Ma crashing into the young streamer, using him as a cushion. The two of them tumbled a meter away and lay sprawled on the ground.
"Ah! Master Ma, are you all right?"
"Quick, press under his nose!"
"I'm fine! Stop pressing! Help me up."
Amid the confusion, a group of old women helped Old Ma to his feet.
Once he was helped up, Master Ma was utterly bewildered.
Wasn't that far too fast?
If Little Li hadn't cushioned his fall, he figured he would have been the one knocked unconscious.
An old woman nearby saw Master Ma standing motionless and asked with concern, "Master Ma, are you really all right?"
"I'm fine. That was just an accident. He attacked before anyone said to start. He has no martial ethics at all," Master Ma said.
"Exactly! No martial ethics! He attacked before anyone said to start," echoed the old woman who had been sitting on the ground wailing.
At the same time.
She turned to Zeng Shen and said, "Young man, you have no martial ethics. You can only attack after we've said to start."
Zeng Shen hesitated, then said, "Then... shall we try again?"
"Yes, we absolutely must try again," the old woman said.
Hearing this, Master Ma suddenly pushed through the crowd and looked up at the sky. "Ah!" he exclaimed. "I just remembered there's something I need to take care of at the Martial Arts Hall. Young man, let's spar another day."
With that, Master Ma turned and hurried toward the park gates without looking back, ignoring the old women calling after him.