Martial Master

Xu Donglai saw this and sprang to his feet, striding away without lingering for even a second.

Before leaving, he swept Zhou Hu with a gloomy, silent glance, then fixed his eyes on Zhao An for a moment. The icy killing intent and boiling fury in his gaze looked ready to break free at any moment.

But according to the rules, Zhao An had passed the Three Trials. There was nothing more Xu Donglai could say.

After the Python Gang members had left, Zhao An drew a deep breath and pulled the Big Ring Blade from where it was lodged in Dazhuang's face. Blood splashed all over his hand.

His gaze settled steadily on Zhou Hu.

Xu Donglai had let him off, but the Tiger Head Gang's leader had yet to say a word.

"Zhao An, when did you become so proficient with the Black Tiger Blade Technique?" Zhou Hu asked mildly, showing no sign of anger or delight.

"I practiced diligently every day, and eventually made some progress," Zhao An replied calmly.

Seeing how coolly Zhao An answered, Zhou Hu raised his brows. "You seem to resent me. Do you blame me for not protecting you just now?"

Zhao An did not answer. He was more concerned with what level of strength he would need to kill Zhou Hu, that big Red Name.

At present, he was probably incapable of it.

At the very least, he would have to cultivate Internal Breath first.

"Zhao An! What kind of attitude is that? How dare you show disrespect to the gang leader!" A Tiger Head Gang officer slammed the table and pointed at Zhao An, berating him.

"Think about it! If the gang leader hadn't been here, Xu Donglai would've chopped you into pieces and boiled you in oil or roasted you over a fire!"

"After all, you're the one who made this mess! Hurry up and kowtow to apologize! You think you're so impressive after what you just did, and now you're looking down on everyone?!"

"..."

With a single remark from Zhou Hu, the whole hall erupted in scolding and reproaches aimed at Zhao An.

Only the adviser, Hao Wei, stepped forward to smooth things over on Zhao An's behalf.

"Zhao An passed the Three Trials today and blunted the Python Gang's momentum. He brought glory to our Tiger Head Gang, so his merits can offset his faults.

"Leader, Zhao An is still injured. Let him go back and recover early." Hao Wei cupped his hands toward Zhou Hu and offered his advice.

"Mm." Seeing that his adviser had spoken, Zhou Hu heeded him and did not make things difficult for Zhao An any further.

Once they had left the hall, Li Gou'er and Zhao Chunzi both breathed a sigh of relief. At some point, their backs had been soaked with cold sweat.

"It really was like taking a trip through the gates of hell. Good thing Master Hao spoke up for us," Li Gou'er said gratefully.

"Yeah, Master Hao really is a good person." Zhao Chunzi nodded repeatedly, without giving it much thought.

"I'm just afraid the Python Gang leader will come looking for trouble again..." Li Gou'er was thinking further ahead. He had also seen Xu Donglai's ugly expression before he left.

Today, they had made the gang leader lose a great deal of face. This grudge was sure to stick.

"Don't worry. Our Brother Zhao is amazing. If one comes, he'll kill one; if two come, he'll kill them both!" Zhao Chunzi said with a grin.

Unlike Li Gou'er, who was all frowns, Zhao Chunzi sounded confident, utterly sure of Zhao An's strength.

"You really are fearless because you're ignorant. You've never seen how terrifying real Martial Masters are!" Li Gou'er shook his head.

"So what? You think Brother Zhao can't beat one?" Zhao Chunzi shot back.

"..." Li Gou'er fell silent at once.

No matter what he thought, he didn't dare say it in front of Zhao An and risk upsetting his big brother for nothing.

Zhao An wasn't annoyed. After all, Li Gou'er's concerns were reasonable.

As long as the Python Gang remained a threat, it would keep lurking like a venomous snake in the shadows, ready to lunge at him at any moment.

"Martial Masters..."

Zhao An's memories from his past held little information about Martial Masters. He had barely even seen any with his own eyes.

He only knew that one had to cultivate Internal Breath to be called a Martial Master.

And to cultivate Internal Breath, one had to practice a ranked martial art.

Ranked martial arts usually came with a corresponding method of circulating "inner energy." This was one of the most important signs of a ranked martial art, and the key to cultivating Internal Breath.

However, ordinary people rarely had the chance to practice ranked martial arts, and cultivating Internal Breath also required a certain aptitude for martial arts.

That was why, since ancient times, there had always been more Martial Savages than Martial Masters.

Without Soul Slaves to help him, Zhao An wouldn't have much confidence in his ability to cultivate Internal Breath.

But now that he had Soul Slaves, everything was different.

Looking at the three new soul forms drifting and sinking in the Soul Pool, wailing in pain, he knew he wouldn't have to worry about running short of Soul Slaves for the time being.

"I wonder if these Soul Slaves can deduce the complete Fierce Tiger Blade Art. A ranked blade art like this ought to have an 'inner cultivation method' too..."

Zhao An's attention turned to the Soul Slave in the Soul Pool bearing the name Xu San.

It seemed that this Soul Slave had made some more progress since before. The blade art it performed was growing more complete, looking more and more like the real thing.

And the first day in the real world wasn't even over yet.

After returning to his lodgings, Zhao An spent the next few days recovering in his room. During that time, he went to the clinic only once, to have the Female Physician change his dressing.

"Thank you for your patronage. Five taels of silver." Meng Wanyi had just finished changing his dressing when she held out her hand for payment.

"Changing the dressing costs five taels too?" Zhao An asked in surprise.

He had thought the ten taels he paid last time covered everything.

"The ten taels were for what you owed me before. I used good medicine on you, a secret formula you can't find anywhere else in Lianjiang City. I'm only charging you five taels this time because I'm giving you a discount for letting the Lin Family Girl go that day," Meng Wanyi said with a soft snort.

Zhao An touched the back of his head, which no longer hurt as much, and accepted that Meng Wanyi's medicine was good.

Unfortunately, he had no silver left.

"Put it on my tab," Zhao An said without the slightest embarrassment.

"You rascal!" Meng Wanyi's fine brows shot up, and she gritted her teeth in anger.

Just then, Zhao An had an idea. "Or I could make a deal with you."

"What kind of deal?" Meng Wanyi asked, trying to be patient.

"I imagine plenty of patients skip out without paying at your clinic, don't they?" Zhao An asked.

"How did you know?" Meng Wanyi stared at him in surprise.

"I guessed. Am I right?"

"There are quite a few," Meng Wanyi admitted.

In truth, it wasn't hard to guess. No one looked after the clinic, and the Female Physician had no connections or backing in the city. She was also far too easygoing. Even when she got angry enough to use a little poison, she wouldn't go so far as to kill anyone.

As the saying went, the kindhearted got bullied. And people like Zhao An, who were mixed up with gangs and spent their days fighting and killing, were hardly decent folk. It was only natural that they would get treated without paying.

"I'll help you collect those unpaid fees. We'll split whatever I recover fifty-fifty," Zhao An proposed.

The idea had come to him on the spur of the moment. He needed money too.

Extracting the Soul Slaves' martial arts results required an energy source like the Earth Origin Pill he had swallowed last time.

Pills of that sort could only be obtained by making a wish with merit points or by buying them with money.

So he had to find a way to make money. He couldn't stay this dead broke.

Meng Wanyi fell into thought.

Meng Wanyi was tempted.

"But a fifty-fifty split is too much."

"You should know that without my help collecting these fees, you won't get a single coin," Zhao An said, rising to his feet.

"Deal!" Meng Wanyi agreed.

"The accounts."

"Xiaoshao, go get them for him," Meng Wanyi said.

The other physician answered and went to rummage around. Before long, she returned with a stack of papers.

Each sheet represented an unpaid medical fee, and there were at least thirty or forty of them.

"I really don't know how you've kept this clinic running," Zhao An said, shaking his head.

"Just one thing first. If any of them are from poor families, then... just let it go. Don't force them to pay," Meng Wanyi reminded him, still a little uneasy.

"What if they're poor and wicked?" Zhao An replied, leaving Meng Wanyi momentarily speechless.

Zhao An didn't wait for her to say anything else. He picked up his Big Ring Blade and walked out of the clinic.