Strange Happenings on the Tianjin River, Strength Like an Ox

The days flowed like the water in the Tianjin River: seemingly calm on the surface, with who knew how many hidden currents beneath.

Ever since Qin Geng had got his brand-new rickshaw back, the men from Xu Jin's Shanty and Ma Village Shack had given the Yi He Shantytown men a thorough beating and seized quite a few stands.

South City Restaurant was one of them.

Qin Geng and Li Gou had moved their spot for waiting on fares to South City Restaurant.

South City Restaurant had a fine reputation. In this part of South City, it was about the most respectable place to eat.

It was a prime spot.

The people coming and going were either compradors in long gowns or respectable gentlemen in top hats. Now and then, there were even a few would-be foreigners with Western women on their arms.

Most people who could afford to eat here weren't short of money.

When they hired a rickshaw, they wanted a touch of style. They didn't haggle; what mattered was arriving in comfort and making good time.

Qin Geng's rickshaw was new, its black paint gleaming and its brass fittings polished to a shine. He kept himself neat, too. Though he was only a half-grown boy, his lively bearing put people at ease.

And he gave a steady, comfortable ride. Before long, he was doing better business than the other pullers.

"Sir, take care now. Watch the step."

Qin Geng brought the rickshaw to a steady stop below the steps of the Yonghe Hotel. White towel in hand, he deftly brushed a little dust from the seat after his passenger got out.

"Mm. You pull a good rickshaw, lad. Nice and steady."

The passenger was a portly merchant, flushed from drink and in high spirits. He tossed over a handful of copper coins. "Keep the change."

"Thank you kindly, sir!"

Qin Geng caught them in a flash. Without even counting, he weighed them in his hand and knew the fare had brought him twenty-three wen.

The trip had been to Wealthy Lane in the east of the city, no short distance, but the tip was generous.

By the end of the day, the sun was sinking westward.

Qin Geng parked beneath a roadside tree, took the heavy money pouch from inside his clothes, and counted its contents carefully.

"One hundred and twenty-six wen."

In the past, that would have been a handsome day's pay, worth celebrating with two big slabs of tofu.

Now, Qin Geng looked at the pile of copper coins, and his brows knotted into a deep frown.

The figures didn't bear adding up.

Before, it would have been enough for him to eat well and still save more than half.

But now...

Grrrumble—

His stomach chose that moment to protest like muffled thunder.

It was the side effect of his improving health and martial arts training: hunger.

Qin Geng sighed, picked up the rickshaw, and headed straight for the familiar braised-offal stall in South City.

The stallholder was a big, fat man who grinned when he saw Qin Geng. "Xiao Wu, back again? A jin today, same as usual?"

"A jin. Let the flatbreads soak a little longer."

Qin Geng handed over the money without another word.

Pork offal bubbled in the great steaming pot, its rich brown broth giving off a powerful aroma.

The stallholder swiftly fished out a jin of meat, snipped it into small pieces with heavy shears, poured a generous ladle of broth over it, then scattered minced garlic and cilantro on top.

Qin Geng squatted on a low stool and slurped it down in great mouthfuls.

The meat was tender and the broth rich. Each swallow warmed him from his throat all the way to his stomach.

Half a month ago, a meal this satisfying had been a treat he could afford only once a month.

Now it was his daily fare.

He had no choice but to eat like this.

Ever since he had unlocked the new Martial Artist trade in the Book of a Hundred Trades, his stomach had become a bottomless pit. Ordinary rice and flour barely made a ripple. Only hefty, fatty servings of meat could replace what his training burned through.

But that daily fare was expensive.

He had done the sums.

With his two talents, Divine Stride and Endless Breath, he could run himself ragged all day and earn more than a hundred and twenty wen.

By the rickshaw company's rules, sixty wen went to the company every day, without fail.

That left him with only sixty-odd wen in hand.

And a jin of braised offal each day cost a full hundred wen!

Add his morning flatbread and soy milk, and simply filling his stomach cost upwards of a hundred and ten wen a day.

When he added it all up, a hard day's work left him unable to save a single coin. Worse, he was more than forty wen out of pocket.

He was covering the shortfall with the five silver dollars Shopkeeper Lu had given him and the one he had taken from Lai Tou.

But even six silver dollars wouldn't last long at this rate.

Qin Geng knew perfectly well that this was only the beginning.

For now, he was only practicing stances and toughening his body. Meat alone could just about make up for it.

Once his martial arts improved, the Xingyi Dragon and Tiger manual Zhou Yonghe had left said he would need Bone-Strengthening Powder to nourish his blood and temper his bones.

That stuff wasn't priced in wen. It was priced in silver dollars.

One dose cost a silver dollar. At one dose a day, that was thirty silver dollars a month.

Thirty silver dollars...

Qin Geng turned the number over in his mind and felt his jaw ache.

And if he wanted to advance to Bright Force after that, medicinal tonics wouldn't be enough. He would need medicinal baths in Dragon-Tiger Decoction. The cost of that was astronomical.

Pulling a rickshaw could never support a Martial Artist.

"I'd better start thinking of another way to make money."

Full at last, Qin Geng wiped his mouth, returned the empty bowl to the stallholder, and plunged into the gathering darkness.

Night fell, and the bustle of Ping'an County Town gradually faded.

Qin Geng returned to Xu Jin's Shanty and greeted his uncles and elders. Then, saying he was going out for some air, he made his way to the abandoned threshing ground.

There was no one around. Only autumn insects cried mournfully in the grass.

Qin Geng took off his shirt, baring a lean but sturdy back.

The late-autumn wind already held a chill. It blew cold against his skin, but he seemed not to notice.

"Opening stance."

He spread his feet, settled his breath deep in his abdomen, and assumed the tedious, difficult Three-Body Stance.

His breathing followed his movements, drawing in and letting out.

The jin of braised offal and five flatbreads he had just eaten were rapidly turning, through his wondrous talent, into surging warmth that nourished his muscles, bones, and skin.

But martial arts training was far harder than pulling a rickshaw.

As a Carriage Driver, he gained experience as long as he ran. It was simple and direct.

A Martial Artist, though, had to improve through slow, painstaking work.

An hour passed.

Qin Geng was drenched in sweat. His legs were so weak they hardly felt like his own, and his muscles trembled faintly.

The screen of light in his mind flickered.

[Trade: Martial Artist (Level 1)]

[Experience: 2/10]

"That's far too slow..."

Qin Geng dropped onto the ground and panted. Looking at the experience bar, which had risen by only one point, he gave a helpless laugh.

A whole night had left him worn out, and all he had gained was one point of experience.

But that was only a complaint. Deep down, Qin Geng was excited.

At this rate, reaching Level 5 and unlocking Dragon Spine Through the Back would take half a year at most.

Day after day passed as he kept at it.

One day, the sky was overcast, as though rain was on its way.

As usual, Qin Geng waited for fares outside South City Restaurant.

Near noon, two burly men came out of the restaurant.

They wore short, front-buttoned jackets, with broad belts around their waists and trouser legs rolled high to show thick black leg hair.

Their skin was dark and glossy from the sun, and they carried the fishy smell of river water.

One look told him they were laborers who had spent years making a living on the docks. From the way they held themselves and walked, they were probably men of the Grain Transport Gang.

"Rickshaw! North City Wharf!"

One of the men beckoned, his voice as loud as a cracked gong.

"Right away! Hop in, gentlemen!"

Qin Geng's eyes lit up, and he hurried over with his rickshaw.

The two looked fierce, but North City Wharf was a long trip, and there were two of them. He could ask at least thirty wen for it.

Besides, his rickshaw was roomy enough for them to squeeze in.

The two climbed aboard, and the rickshaw sank sharply under their weight.

"Get moving! And keep it steady!"

"Don't you worry!"

Qin Geng gripped the shafts with both hands and pushed off. The wheels rolled toward the north of the city.

Along the way, the two Grain Transport Gang men made no effort to avoid speaking in front of the rickshaw puller. They simply chatted between themselves.

"I'm telling you, Third Brother, the river's been getting less and less peaceful lately."

The man on the left lit a Camel cigarette and frowned. "Last night, another one of our gang's grain boats capsized near Xiashaokou."

"Capsized?"

The man on the right widened his eyes. "There wasn't any wind or swell last night. How did it capsize?"

"Who knows?"

The man on the left lowered his voice, fear creeping into it. "The brothers who came back said it felt like someone was pulling on the bottom of the boat, dragging it over by force. When they hauled it up, the hull was covered in deep claw marks. A water ghost did it."

The man on the right laughed. "A water ghost? More like men playing ghosts. I'll bet some rival is using dirty tricks again, making up strange tales to grab our gang's territory. These days, what won't people do for profit?"

The man on the left objected. "It really wasn't a trick."

"My second cousin's boy serves on the River Patrol. He saw the thing with his own eyes. Hair all over its body, nails like knives, eyes bright red. Those foreigners called it rabies. Nonsense! It was plainly a corpse come back to life!"

"The old hands in the gang say the river god's angry. Those foreign devils have been digging and building wherever they please, laying railways and putting up bridges. They've dug right through Tianjin's Dragon Vein. Its dragon energy has leaked away, and it can't hold the unclean things down anymore."

"Damn those foreign devils. They're no good at all!"

The man on the right cursed bitterly. "Wasn't there something strange in the west of the city a few days ago, too? They say someone saw paper figures hopping down the street in the middle of the night. Scared a night watchman to death."

"Ah, there are more demons and monsters every day. You and me, we're just trying to earn a living. We'd better be careful when we take a boat out at night from now on."

Up front, Qin Geng's heart gave a jolt.

So it wasn't just the mountains? Now even the Tianjin River was unclean?

The foreigners had severed the Dragon Vein...

Demons and monsters were growing more numerous...

The Grain Transport Gang men's words weighed on Qin Geng's heart like a great stone.

Qin Geng had thought his encounter with a zombie was a freak occurrence. Now it seemed some terrifying change was sweeping the world, nothing like what Master Zhu Xin had told him.

Without the skills to protect himself, he might one day become part of one of these "strange happenings" out in the wilderness.

"..."

Qin Geng kept his head down and pulled, his feet moving faster. He paid no heed to the conversation behind him, as if he were deaf.

A little over half an hour later, they reached North City Wharf.

The river wind struck his face, carrying a salty, fishy smell.

The wharf rang with voices, workers' chants rising and falling.

"Here we are, gentlemen."

Qin Geng brought the rickshaw to a steady stop.

The two laborers jumped out. Seeing Qin Geng's face unflushed and his breathing easy, they both paused in surprise. "Well, I'll be. You've got strong legs, little brother. You ran the whole way like it was nothing."

They readily paid him thirty wen, then hurried deeper into the wharf.

Just then, a crisp notification sounded in Qin Geng's mind.

[Trade level increased to Level 15]

[Please choose:]

[1. Upgrade talent: Divine Stride (Level 1) to Divine Stride (Level 2)]

[2. Upgrade talent: Endless Breath (Level 1) to Endless Breath (Level 2)]

Qin Geng stood in the river wind and considered for a moment.

For now, Endless Breath (Level 1), together with the large amounts he ate every day, gave him enough stamina.

Speed was another matter. In a world growing more dangerous by the day, being able to run fast was what counted.

Besides, the stance training in Xingyi Dragon and Tiger emphasized a firm foundation.

Greater speed would naturally mean more explosive power in his legs, which would help his martial arts training too.

Not that Endless Breath was unimportant. He would get another upgrade at Level 20 anyway; he simply had to choose which one came first.

"I choose Divine Stride (Level 2)!"

The thought had barely formed.

Boom!

A surge of heat, fiercer than the last one, shot through both his legs.

For an instant, his legs felt lighter, as light as two gusts of wind.

The burning sensation in the soles of his feet grew even stronger.

Qin Geng tried running a couple of steps.

Whoosh!

The moment he lifted a leg, he shot two meters forward.

"So fast!"

Qin Geng was wild with joy.

His speed had increased by at least another thirty percent!

If he ran flat out now, even the mounted patrolmen probably couldn't catch him.

If only my Martial Artist profession could improve as quickly as my Carriage Driver profession.

Qin Geng didn't linger at the docks to pick up passengers.

In Tianjin, every trade had its own territory and rules.

These docks had always been the North City Carriage Company's turf.

If he dared steal work here, he would be breaking a taboo. At best, they would smash his carriage. At worst, they would beat him to death and sink him in the river, with nowhere to seek justice.

He had started learning martial arts, but Tianjin's waters ran deep, snakes lurked everywhere, and formidable men were thick on the ground. Following the rules was still the surest way to live longer.

Qin Geng didn't want to cross some formidable man just when life was starting to look up.

That evening.

After finishing a large bowl of braised offal, Qin Geng went, as usual, to the deserted threshing ground.

The moon shone bright among sparse stars.

Qin Geng settled into the Three-Body Stance again.

This time, it felt completely different.

His toes gripped the ground, sinking into the soil like deep roots.

No matter how his upper body moved, his lower body remained as steady as Mount Tai, without the slightest tremor.

I've got it!

Joy rose in Qin Geng's heart.

His Divine Stride talent really had carried over to his stance training!

With his lower body steadier, the Six Harmonies Breathing Method flowed more smoothly too, and the circulation of blood and qi through his body noticeably quickened.

Much of that sour, strained feeling faded, replaced by a clear, easy comfort.

He held the stance for four hours, until late at night.

When Qin Geng finished, heat steamed from his whole body and his skin glowed red, as though he had just stepped out of a steamer.

[Ding!]

A notification sounded in his mind again.

[Profession: Martial Artist (Level 1)]

His experience overflowed: [11/10].

[Profession level increased to Level 2]

[Profession: Martial Artist (Level 2)]

[Experience: 1/20]

He had finally leveled up!

And that single night of hard training had raised his experience by two points!

That was twice as fast as before!

As his level rose, a warm current surged from his spine and swiftly spread through his body.

Crack, crack, pop!

A string of crisp sounds, like beans frying in a pan, came from inside Qin Geng.

His bones were shifting by tiny degrees, his fascia stretching.

He clenched his fists. A sense of strength unlike anything he had known filled his body.

It was real, solid strength, nothing hollow about it.

"Feels good!"

Qin Geng let out a long breath of stale air. The white plume held together in the darkness and shot a full three feet.

"Time for bed!"

Qin Geng returned to his shanty and slept especially soundly.

The next morning.

Dawn had barely broken, and few people were stirring in the shantytown.

Qin Geng was still asleep when a commotion outside woke him.

"Those sons of bitches!"

"They're fucking animals!"

Those were Uncle Xu's and Uncle Jin's voices, both furious.

Qin Geng jolted upright, threw on his clothes, and rushed out.

"Uncle Xu, Uncle Jin, what happened?"

A group of carriage drivers from Xu Jin's Shanty had gathered at the mouth of the alley, all cursing toward its exit.

Qin Geng pushed into the crowd, took one look, and frowned.

Their shanties stood in the most remote maze of alleys in Ping'an County Town, a slum.

There were no proper streets here, only narrow passages between walls, barely wide enough for one person.

There was only one way to get their rickshaws out to find work.

It was a somewhat wider alley, just broad enough for a rickshaw to pass.

Now its exit was completely blocked by a great bluestone boulder, half as tall as a man and as wide as a millstone.

No one knew where the stone had come from, but it was heavy. Set across the alley mouth like that, it barred not just rickshaws; even a person would struggle to squeeze past sideways.

"Bet those bastards from Yi He Shantytown snuck over and did it last night."

Xu Chun spat. "We took a good chunk of their turf a few days ago. They don't dare come at us openly, so they're playing dirty to make our lives miserable."

"How are we supposed to get our carriages out with that thing there?"

Several drivers paced in anxious circles.

They would have to pay someone to come move it, and all the morning's work would be lost anyway.

"I'll give it a try!"

Uncle Jin rolled up his sleeves and called to Xu Chun. "Give me a hand!"

The two stepped forward and wrapped their arms around the boulder, one on each side.

"Lift!"

They strained together, veins bulging on their foreheads.

The boulder rocked and rose the tiniest bit off the ground, then slammed back down.

"No good. It's too heavy!"

Uncle Jin waved a hand, panting. "It's got to weigh at least four hundred jin. There's nowhere to grip it, either. We can't get any leverage."

"Damn it, it's too heavy!"

Uncle Jin let go, still gasping for breath.

"Uncle Xu, Uncle Jin, make some room. Let me try."

Just as everyone was at a loss, Qin Geng parted the crowd and stepped forward, eager to have a go.

Xu Chun turned and laughed. "Hahaha! Xiao Wu, what are you getting involved for? Go stand aside. I know you've been eating a lot lately, but eating alone won't help with this thing. You need real strength."

Uncle Jin teased him too. "That's right, Xiao Wu. All that food hasn't made you broad in the shoulders. Don't go wrenching your back."

Another driver chimed in. "Xiao Wu barely comes up to my shoulder. That rock's sturdier than he is."

Everyone laughed good-naturedly.

To them, Qin Geng was still the skinny youngster who needed looking after.

Qin Geng said nothing. He just smiled.

He walked up to the boulder, took a deep breath, and sank slightly at the knees.

Then he bent down and wrapped his arms around its edges. Cold stone pressed against his fingertips.

Seeing that he really meant to try, everyone stopped laughing and watched curiously.

Qin Geng bent over the rough boulder, hooked his fingers into the uneven surface, and planted his feet as though they had grown roots.

"Up!"

The low shout burst from Qin Geng's chest.

Muscles rose across his back, pulling his thin jacket taut.

Crrrk—

His fingers scraped hard against the stone, sending fine powder trickling down.

The millstone-sized boulder that Xu Chun and Uncle Jin together had barely lifted a hair's breadth was rising steadily in Qin Geng's arms alone!

He hadn't just lifted it a fraction. He had picked the whole thing clear off the ground!

"Hngh—"

The muscles in Qin Geng's arms bulged, but his footing stayed as steady as Mount Tai.

Carrying the several-hundred-jin boulder as though it were a bundle of cotton, he strode out of the narrow alley to a weedy patch beyond and tossed it aside.

Thud!

The boulder struck the ground with a heavy boom, and the earth shook three times beneath it.

Qin Geng straightened, dusted off his hands, then turned back with a broad grin.

The alley mouth fell deathly silent.

Several seconds passed before someone sucked in a sharp breath.

"Hiss—"

Xu Chun's mouth hung open, and his pipe bowl dropped to the ground. "Good heavens! Is that even human strength?"

"Did that blow to his head last time really knock something into place?"

Uncle Jin muttered under his breath.

"Must've... I told you, there had to be a reason Xiao Wu eats so much now. It's frightening to watch him eat. He puts away three of my meals in one sitting."

"He was born with the strength of a god! Our shanty's got itself a strongman!"

Shock gave way to wild delight.

In a world where the biggest fist made the rules, having a man in their shanty who could carry a boulder weighing several hundred jin meant those bastards from Yi He Shantytown would have to think twice before bullying them again.

Xu Chun picked up his pipe and looked at Qin Geng with mixed feelings: pride, and a trace of worry.

He stepped forward and squeezed Qin Geng's arm. It was hard as iron.

"You rascal... you really pulled it off."

Xu Chun drew a deep breath. "But don't go shouting about this everywhere. Being strong is good, but it can draw the wrong kind of attention. Understand?"

Qin Geng nodded, his expression still calm. "I know, Uncle Xu. I just didn't want that damn rock keeping everyone from earning a living."

Sunlight filtered through the thin mist at the alley mouth, falling on the boy's slender figure, straight as a pine.

No one noticed Qin Geng's hand tremble slightly at his side. It wasn't from exhaustion, but excitement.

This was strength.

The foundation he needed to stand firm in a world gone mad.

"All right, all right! Stop standing around! The road's clear, so get your carriages out!"

Uncle Xu called out, "Wait any longer and someone else will take all the good fares!"

"Let's go!"

Qin Geng chuckled and took hold of his own rickshaw.

The wheels rolled on, and life went on.