Martial Arts Hall

A young man holding a folding fan strode quickly out of the inner courtyard. Ignoring Gao Fei, he immediately questioned his second uncle, Gao Linyue.

As Gao Fei wondered what was going on, discussions rose from the people nearby.

"Second Young Master of the Lin Family, Lin Shaoxiong. A disciple the master took in not long ago."

"Shh! He's a petty villain. Don't let him set his sights on you."

"Don't doubt it, yesterday..."

Gao Linyue said nothing. He looked at his nephew as though saying: You caused this mess yourself, so deal with it yourself.

Gao Fei glanced at the newcomer. His face was pale, his qi and blood depleted. At a glance, he was the sort of debauched young master who squandered his life in pleasure.

Based on his experience from his previous life, people like this were generally the sort who bullied the weak and feared the strong.

Without a word, he stalked viciously up to Lin Shaoxiong and stared into his eyes.

He had thought the other man would back down, but he had run into a tough one. Lin Shaoxiong only grew more arrogant, pointing at Gao Fei's face.

"What? My brother's dog dares bare its teeth at me? You want to hit me? Come on! Hit me right here... Ah!"

Gao Fei did not hesitate. He raised his hand and delivered a heavy, powerful slap across the man's face.

They both had cheat abilities—who was going to indulge him? Gao Fei felt that this fellow had probably caused trouble more than once or twice.

At full strength in the mid-stage Blood-Qi Realm, that slap carried more than five hundred jin of force.

Lin Shaoxiong did not even have time to react before the slap sent him straight to the ground, his head smashing hard against the stone floor.

He never could have imagined that the man who had once been meek and submissive before him, too afraid even to speak loudly, would truly dare to strike him.

Seeing everyone around him staring, Gao Fei spread his hands and explained with an innocent expression.

"Everyone heard him. He told me to hit him, so I did..."

Someone had already rushed over and helped the unconscious Lin Shaoxiong up. Blood slowly seeped from his mouth and nose.

One person pinched the philtrum beneath his nose, and only after quite a while did he come around. Yet he did not get up. He merely glared viciously at Gao Fei without saying a word.

Watching Gao Fei make his move, Gao Linyue's mouth fell open in shock. It took a long time before it slowly closed again.

Then a colleague's voice reached his ears.

"Wasn't your nephew always tagging along with his brother? Why did he suddenly fall out with his brother's younger sibling?"

"I don't know!"

The people around them also began whispering about the relationship between the three, all waiting to watch a good show.

"Here they come! The show begins—the master's disciples are coming out..."

"Shh! Keep it down!" The speaker pointed in Gao Fei's direction.

"As if I'd be afraid of him..."

The discussion died down.

Five more people emerged from the inner courtyard—three men and two women.

When one young man saw Lin Shaoxiong's back as he had just gotten to his feet, he angrily rebuked him.

"I told you to reserve a table at Four Seas Residence for a full demon feast. What are you still doing here?"

When he saw the five-fingered mark on his face, the swollen half of his cheek, and the bloodstains still not wiped clean from the corner of his mouth—

"Who did this?"

"Me!"

Gao Fei admitted it openly. "He told me to hit him, so I did. Everyone can testify for me. Isn't that right?"

"That's right!... Mm!"

The voices around them were sparse. A few people answered loudly, while most merely nodded in agreement.

The two Lin brothers had been arrogant for so long that everyone was happy to see them suffer a setback. Besides, it had been the truth to begin with.

The martial arts hall's monthly tuition was not cheap. Those who could train here were all from the elite class of the entire county town.

Even as a successor of the Lin Family, he did not dare offend every last one of them. With someone taking the lead, the others had no objection to following along.

Seeing that things were going badly, Lin Shaoxiong, the person involved, hastily tried to explain. But his lips were numb, and his speech was not very clear.

"N-No, it wasn't like that. That kid snatched all the remaining Qi-Blood Soup and drank it. I said a few words to him, and then he hit me..."

"Lin Shaoxiong, it is not your place, an outsider, to point fingers at the things of our martial arts hall. This young lady will not accompany you to the banquet this time."

A delicate young woman spoke. Her voice was soft, her skin tender, and a blush like that of shyness colored her face.

As she spoke, she swept her gaze around, glanced once at Gao Fei, then turned and took several steps back into the inner courtyard, giving no one else a chance to speak.

"Since Shi Ya isn't going, then my sister and I won't be going either. Farewell!"

The young man who spoke was the oldest among the five. Dressed in fine brocade, he led the woman behind him quickly out through the main gate.

The woman had fair skin and cool, beautiful features. Aside from glancing at Gao Fei as she left, her eyes seemed unfocused the entire time, as though no one was worth her notice. She did not say a single word.

With their departure, only a youth of sixteen or seventeen remained.

Lin Shaoxiong pressed his lips together and spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva. He looked viciously at Gao Fei, wanting to regain his face on the spot.

"Fine if they aren't going. It'll even save us several dozen taels of silver! Second Brother, help me deal with this brat surnamed Gao!"

Slap!

Another slap landed on Lin Shaoxiong's face. It rang loudly, though he remained standing; it was much lighter than the previous slap.

"Is this how you handle matters?"

After hitting him, Lin Shaokun turned and pointed at Gao Fei. "And you! Don't you know his surname is Lin? He is my, Lin Shaokun's, younger brother!"

"I don't know him!"

Hearing Gao Fei's answer, Lin Shaokun glanced at Gao Linyue standing at the edge of the training ground. Gao Fei's second uncle's chest heaved noticeably a few times before he quickly suppressed it.

"Fine. Remember what you said today! Genius Gao—oh, I forgot. You're only a former genius..."

After saying that, he turned and addressed the last person to emerge from the inner courtyard.

"Junior Brother, let's go eat somewhere more entertaining! Qiu Mei will be leaving the family soon. When the time comes, I'll buy her back as a concubine. You must come often to have fun."

"Hahaha..."

After speaking, he led the way out with a wild laugh, glancing sidelong toward Gao Fei the entire time.

Even after the three of them walked out of the martial arts hall's gates, he still did not get the expression or words he had wanted.

Gao Fei had been thinking the whole time about where to buy Qi-Blood Soup and how to get silver.

He had not paid any attention to those people at all. Whatever happened later, he first had to stay alive.

Moreover, he had no desire to play schemes and intrigues with them. It was not that he could not outplay them; he was simply too lazy—too lazy to rack his brains.

Whether it was a hidden scheme or an open stratagem, what he wanted to do was smash the chessboard over their heads.

Seeing no more excitement to watch, the other martial arts hall students scattered and resumed their own training.

Having just drunk the medicinal soup, this was when its effects were best. No one dared slack off.

Gao Linyue was very busy at the moment. Many new students were asking about body-tempering movements and breathing techniques, leaving him no time to bother with Gao Fei.

"Big Brother, do you really not want Qiu Mei anymore?" Xiao Liu's cool voice sounded.

From his tone, Gao Fei knew that this woman must have been very important to the original owner of the body.

But that had been the original owner. To him, she was a stranger, though he still had to give some perfunctory response.

"Yesterday's me is not today's me. Now I only want money and martial arts. Women are but floating clouds to me."

As he spoke, he assumed a horse stance, making it clear that he did not want to continue the conversation.

After standing like that for only a moment, he actually felt heat in his lower abdomen again.

Half an hour passed.

After fully digesting it, he waited for Xiao Liu to finish training so that Xiao Liu could take him around and help him familiarize himself with the area.

A lean middle-aged man in coarse blue cloth, a black belt cinched around his waist, and a gray cloth vest over it, with a large "Constable" character on his back, strode in through the martial arts hall's main gate.

"Gao Fei, a murder has occurred in Tao Hua Village. The chief constable has ordered you and me to investigate!"