Triggered Entry

Dragon Spring City, the back courtyard of Laifu Restaurant.

Before dawn, Li Qiming was already standing in the open space behind the restaurant, practicing Tiger Roar Fist.

As the lowest-ranking odd-job worker at Laifu Restaurant, he knew all too well that this set of Tiger Roar Fist was the only thing that could turn his life around.

So every day, he got up an hour earlier than the other workers to practice his punches.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...

The young man darted and weaved across the open space, soon drenched in sweat.

An hour passed in the blink of an eye.

Dawn was breaking.

Li Qiming panted heavily. His strength was spent, and he could only slowly bring his practice to a halt.

No matter how hard he worked, only he knew that he'd made not the slightest progress in Tiger Roar Fist.

He couldn't even tell how useless he was without pushing himself.

His face fell, drained of all color.

A trace of dejection welled up inside him.

I'm such an embarrassment to transmigrators...

Li Qiming murmured softly.

That was right: he was a transmigrator. He had arrived in this ancient world, where martial artists and demons coexisted, a full three months ago.

In his previous life, he had been an online novelist. He'd taken just one day off from updating, then drunk himself to death—and transmigrated into the body of an odd-job worker at Laifu Restaurant.

This body had been an orphan since childhood. His predecessor had scraped together some money begging, then spent all his savings to buy a position as an odd-job worker at Laifu Restaurant.

Though Laifu Restaurant was a low-class establishment, it was backed by Dragon Roar Martial Hall.

One perk of working there was the chance to learn martial arts.

His predecessor had learned Tiger Roar Fist at Laifu Restaurant.

He'd suffered all his life, and had thought this martial art would help him rise above his lot and become a martial artist admired by all... But his hopes had been too rosy, and reality too cruel.

After only half a year of practice, his predecessor had worked himself to death.

After all, he had to handle the exhausting, grueling work of an odd-job worker every day, on top of practicing his punches. It was simply too much.

And that was how Li Qiming had gotten the chance to transmigrate into this body.

After arriving, he'd thought he was the protagonist and would become a martial artist in no time. But reality had proven he was only dreaming.

For the past three months, no matter how hard he'd tried, Tiger Roar Fist had made not the slightest progress.

And a Golden Finger? That didn't exist either.

"Today is Shopkeeper Wang's birthday. I heard all the odd-job workers and helpers at the restaurant will get an Qi Nourishing Pill..."

Li Qiming clenched his fists. Qi Nourishing Pills were greatly beneficial to martial cultivation. Plenty of workers had become martial artists after taking one.

This might be his last chance!

"Li Qiming, quit dawdling and get to work! Hurry up and boil some water..."

A supervisor suddenly barked at him impatiently.

Li Qiming came back to his senses and hurriedly threw himself into his work.

The restaurant was hosting a birthday banquet for Shopkeeper Wang today, so the workload was especially heavy. All the workers were bustling about at full tilt.

The minutes ticked by, and soon it was noon.

The whole restaurant was packed with banquet guests, a huge crowd who had come to wish Shopkeeper Wang a happy birthday.

Shopkeeper Wang was a martial artist himself, so it was only natural that the well-wishers kept pouring in.

In the back courtyard.

Li Qiming was chopping wood with a battered ax, his mind elsewhere.

He was waiting for the restaurant's front hall to hand out the Qi Nourishing Pills.

Just then—

"Li Qiming, come on! They're handing out the pills!"

A fellow worker kindly called out to him.

Li Qiming's eyes lit up. He tossed aside the battered ax and hurried toward the restaurant's front hall.

"You're not going anywhere!" Two figures suddenly blocked his way.

Li Qiming recognized them. They were Wang Ba's lackeys. Wang Ba was a minor ringleader among the workers, and he'd already mastered a good portion of Tiger Roar Fist. Relying on his aptitude for martial arts, he was always forming cliques and bullying the weak.

Wang Ba had often bullied his predecessor, and this man had been partly responsible for his death.

"I'm going to collect my pill!" Li Qiming said in a low voice, his heart burning with anger.

The Qi Nourishing Pill was extremely important to him.

This might be his last chance in life to turn things around!

"Boss Wang Ba said you can't leave until you've chopped up these thousand logs!"

The square-faced worker snarled.

"Get back to chopping, or we'll mess you up!" the long-faced worker barked.

Fire smoldered in Li Qiming's eyes. He wanted nothing more than to grab his ax and chop these two lackeys to death.

But he knew that even if he killed them, Wang Ba would kill him.

In this world, human life was worth next to nothing.

"I'll come back as soon as I've collected my Qi Nourishing Pill," Li Qiming said through clenched teeth.

"Heh. Don't worry. Boss Wang Ba already went to collect it for you!"

"That's right. You'd better be grateful! Hahahaha!"

The two played off each other, plainly enjoying his humiliation.

Li Qiming clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles whitened. How could he not know that Wang Ba hadn't gone to collect the Qi Nourishing Pill for him? He was obviously going to keep it for himself!

Wang Ba was going to take his Qi Nourishing Pill!

He was cutting off Li Qiming's only path forward!

Wang Ba, you bastard! You deserve to die!

Though his heart seethed with a thousand resentments, he could do nothing about it.

In this martial world, if he wanted to stay alive, he had to keep his head down and grovel!

Otherwise, he'd die in no time.

The city's gangs and martial artists fought and killed each other every day, turning the streets red with blood.

Whenever he went out, he saw corpses lying in the street, blood pooling all around them.

This world was cruel. The lives of ordinary people were as cheap as ants and weeds, and anyone could slaughter and trample them at will!

Three hours later, the birthday banquet ended, and the sky gradually darkened.

Li Qiming was still chopping wood in the back courtyard. Wang Ba was making life difficult for him, and even though the webs between his fingers were bleeding, he still had to keep chopping.

In this martial world, the weak had no rights at all.

"Hmm?"

Li Qiming suddenly noticed that the two workers who had been watching him had left.

He immediately dropped his ax and headed for the front hall.

The guests had all left. Dozens of tables were still piled with leftovers. A bunch of workers stood drooling, their eyes glowing green... To them, these scraps were already a rare delicacy.

A dozen or so workers swarmed the tables and began fighting over the food, grabbing whatever they could. They were afraid that if they moved too slowly, the others would eat it all.

"Quit grabbing! That chicken leg's mine!"

"This braised pork tastes amazing!"

"Damn, whose shoe is this? No wonder it's so tough!"

Li Qiming walked in, but he didn't join the others in fighting over the food. His eyes were fixed on a young man at the entrance, gnawing on a pig's trotter.

The man was the tallest and burliest of all the workers.

It was Wang Ba!

"Wang Ba! Where's my Qi Nourishing Pill?" Li Qiming strode forward and demanded.

He'd spent all afternoon thinking it over. If he backed down this time, his path in life would be cut off. If all he had to look forward to was a lifetime of cowering, he might as well die and be done with it!

"Heh." Wang Ba spat out a bone, then patted his belly. "Your Qi Nourishing Pill's already in here."

"What, you want to eat it?"

"Then wait till I shit it out."

His lackeys burst into laughter.

"Hahahahahahaha!!!"

Wang Ba's laughter rang out without the slightest restraint!

Li Qiming gritted his teeth and was about to pull the dagger tucked up his sleeve.

Just then—

Squelch.

A steel blade, cold as ice, burst through Wang Ba's chest and pierced his heart.

His laughter cut off abruptly. The half-eaten pig's trotter fell from his hand, and his body pitched forward, crashing to the ground.

He was dead!

Li Qiming froze. Wang Ba was dead—just like that, without warning!

"That laugh was so ugly, and you still dared to laugh that loud? You really deserved to die!"

A burly man with a full beard strode in from outside the restaurant. He wiped the blood from his steel saber on Wang Ba's body, then slid it back into the sheath at his waist.

He was the one who had killed Wang Ba.

And his reason? He'd found Wang Ba's laughter too grating.

"Ah, Fourth Master, these youngsters don't know any better. Please don't take offense! Your private room on the second floor is ready!"

Shopkeeper Wang suddenly appeared, his expression full of deference.

Shopkeeper Wang was a martial artist. The only people he'd bow and scrape to like this were martial artists even stronger than himself.

"Hmph."

The burly man snorted and leisurely made his way upstairs.

Shopkeeper Wang looked at Wang Ba's cooling corpse and said to Li Qiming, who was still standing there in a daze:

"You, hurry up and dispose of his body. We don't want it attracting flies."

"Yes."

Li Qiming came back to his senses. He could only lower his head and answer through gritted teeth.

He couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart. Martial artists truly stood above everyone else. They could take a life just like that. To them, killing was as ordinary as eating and drinking.

And in Shopkeeper Wang's eyes, the reason Wang Ba's body needed to be dealt with wasn't that he was a person. It was that the corpse would attract flies and hurt the restaurant's business.

This world...

After Shopkeeper Wang and Fourth Master went upstairs, the once-bustling front hall fell utterly silent.

The workers were all terrified.

A few of them had even wet themselves.

Li Qiming shook his head, stepped forward, grabbed Wang Ba by the arm, and dragged him out of the restaurant.

He didn't dare delay Shopkeeper Wang's order for even a moment.

Wang Ba, oh Wang Ba, you spent every day bullying people. You got what you deserved!

As he thought this, Li Qiming had already dragged Wang Ba's corpse into an empty alley beside the restaurant.

Just as he was about to turn and head back—

Words suddenly appeared before his eyes.

[Touching a corpse has revealed entries.]

[1. Tiger Roar Fist Entry Level: martial arts experience/ordinary.]

[2. Ten taels of silver: money/ordinary]

[3. Laifu Tavern odd-job worker: identity/rare]

[4. Fine Qi Nourishing Pill: pill/exceptional]

"This is... a Golden Finger?"

Li Qiming froze, then immediately understood. This was his Golden Finger!

He'd never imagined he had to touch a corpse to activate it.

He'd seen plenty of corpses on the street before, but who in their right mind would dare touch one?

Li Qiming's heart surged with excitement. He finally had a Golden Finger—but what did it do?

He studied it carefully and soon understood.

As long as he touched a corpse, he could obtain entries. By choosing an entry, he would receive the corresponding reward.

"This is fantastic! All I have to do is keep my head down, grow stronger in secret, and touch corpses..."

Li Qiming immediately felt that this Golden Finger suited him perfectly. Keep touching corpses, then look back one day and—he'd be invincible?!

Just thinking about it filled him with eager anticipation.

Li Qiming calmed himself and looked at the entries revealed by Wang Ba's corpse.

There were four entries in total. Which one should he choose?