stjorthotic Chapter 7 Martial Arts Master
Chapter 7 Martial Arts Master
Upon seeing this, Xu Donglai abruptly stood up and strode away without lingering for even a second.
Before leaving, his eyes were gloomy as he silently swept over Zhou Hu, his gaze lingering on Zhao An for a moment. His cold killing intent and boiling rage seemed to be barely contained.
But according to the rules, Zhao An had passed the three tests, so there was nothing more he could say.
After the Python Gang members left, Zhao An took a deep breath and pulled out the large ring knife that was stuck in Da Zhuang's noodle shop. In the process, he accidentally splattered blood all over his hand.
His gaze was fixed on Zhou Hu.
Xu Donglai let him go, but the leader of the Tiger Head Gang has not yet spoken.
"Zhao An, when did you master the Black Tiger Saber Style to such a high level?" Zhou Hu asked Zhao An calmly, his emotions hidden.
"Practice diligently every day, and you will eventually achieve something," Zhao An said calmly.
Seeing Zhao An's cold tone, Zhou Hu raised an eyebrow. "You seem to hold a grudge against me. Is it because I didn't protect you just now?"
Zhao An did not respond; he was more concerned with what level of strength would be needed to kill Zhou Hu, a person with a high reputation.
Right now, he probably can't do it.
At the very least, one must first cultivate internal energy.
"Zhao An! What kind of attitude is this! How dare you disrespect the gang leader!" A leader of the Tiger Head Gang slammed his hand on the table and pointed at Zhao An, shouting.
"Don't you realize that if it weren't for the gang leader, you would have been torn to pieces and boiled alive by Xu Donglai long ago!"
"In the end, isn't this all your own doing?! Hurry up and kowtow to admit your mistake! You think you were so powerful just now, and now you're so arrogant?!"
"..."
Zhou Hu's words provoked a barrage of angry rebukes and criticisms of Zhao An from the crowd in the hall.
Only the advisor, Hao Wei, stepped forward and said a few words to smooth things over for Zhao An.
"Zhao An passed three tests today, which dampened the spirits of the Python Gang. In the end, he brought honor to our Tiger Head Gang, so his merits and demerits are balanced."
"Chief, Zhao An still has a head injury, let him go back and rest as soon as possible." Hao Wei cupped his hands to Zhou Hu and suggested.
"Hmm." Zhou Hu listened to his advisor's words and did not continue to make things difficult for Zhao An.
As they stepped out of the lobby, Li Gou'er and Zhao Chunzi both breathed a sigh of relief, their backs soaked with cold sweat.
"It truly felt like we'd walked through the gates of hell. Luckily, Master Hao spoke up for us," Li Gou'er said thankfully.
"Yes, Master is a really good person." Zhao Chunzi didn't think much of it and just nodded repeatedly.
"I'm afraid that the leader of the Python Gang will come looking for trouble again in the future..." Li Gou'er thought further ahead and also saw the ugly look on Xu Donglai's face before he left.
Today, this gang leader has lost so much face; this feud is now firmly established.
"Don't worry, our Brother Zhao is very powerful. He'll kill one if one comes! He'll kill two if two come!" Zhao Chunzi laughed.
Compared to Li Gou'er's worried expression, Zhao Chunzi seemed very confident and had great faith in Zhao An's abilities.
"You're truly ignorant and fearless; you've never seen the power of real martial arts masters!" Li Gou'er shook his head and said.
"So what? You think Brother Zhao can't beat him?" Zhao Chunzi retorted.
"..." Li Gou'er immediately shut up.
No matter what he thought in his heart, he didn't dare to say it to Zhao An's face, lest he upset his elder brother for no reason.
Zhao An was not annoyed by this, after all, Li Gou'er's concerns were not without reason.
As long as the threat from the Python Gang remains, it will always be there, like a venomous snake lurking in the shadows, ready to strike at any moment.
"A martial arts master..."
In Zhao An's past memories, his understanding of martial arts masters was not deep, and he had not even seen many martial arts masters in person.
He only knew that one could be called a martial arts master only if one cultivated internal energy.
To cultivate internal energy, one must learn martial arts of a certain rank.
Ranked martial arts techniques are often accompanied by a corresponding set of "internal energy" operation methods. This is one of the important indicators of ranked martial arts techniques and the key to cultivating internal energy.
However, it is not easy for ordinary people to get the opportunity to learn advanced martial arts, and developing internal energy requires a certain level of martial arts talent.
This is why, throughout history, there have always been more barbarians than martial arts masters.
Without the help of the Soul Slave, Zhao An wouldn't actually have much confidence in cultivating internal energy.
But now that we have Soul Slaves, everything is naturally different.
Seeing three more souls floating and groaning in the soul pool, he knew he wouldn't have to worry about not having enough soul slaves for the time being.
"I wonder if this soul slave can deduce the complete version of the Fierce Tiger Blade Technique. This entry-level blade technique should at least have 'internal energy' involved, right..."
Zhao An's attention fell on the soul slave bearing the name Xu San in the soul pool.
It seems that this soul slave has made some progress compared to before, and the sword skills he performs are becoming more and more perfect and more and more like the real thing.
In reality, the first day hasn't even passed yet.
After returning to his residence, Zhao An spent the next few days recuperating in his room, only going to the clinic once to have the female doctor change his dressing.
"Thank you for your patronage, five taels of silver." Meng Wanyi had just finished changing her dressing when she reached out to ask for the money.
"Five taels for each change of dressing?" Zhao An was taken aback and questioned.
He thought that the ten taels of silver he paid last time was all he had.
"That ten taels of silver is what you owed me before. The medicine I gave you was of the best quality, using a secret formula that you can't find anywhere else in the entire Lianjiang City. This time, I'm only giving you five taels of silver because you let the Lin family girl go that day," Meng Wanyi said with a light snort.
Zhao An touched the back of his head, which was no longer so painful, and acknowledged that Meng Wanyi had said it was a good medicine.
Unfortunately, he had no money left in his pocket.
"Let's buy on credit," Zhao An said straightforwardly.
"You scoundrel!" Meng Wanyi's thin eyebrows shot up, her teeth itching with anger.
At this moment, Zhao An had a sudden thought and said, "How about I do a business deal with you?"
"What kind of business?" Meng Wanyi asked patiently.
"I imagine you have quite a few patients who refuse to pay their bills at your clinic," Zhao An said.
"How did you know?" Meng Wanyi was taken aback.
"Is that a guess?"
"Indeed, quite a lot," Meng Wanyi admitted.
Actually, it's not hard to guess. This clinic is unattended, the female doctor has no background or support in the city, and she is too easy to talk to. Even if she gets angry and uses some poison, it won't kill anyone.
As the saying goes, a kind person is often bullied, especially someone like Zhao An who's involved in gangs. They're always fighting and killing, and none of them are good people. It's perfectly normal for them not to pay for medical treatment.
"I'll help you get those consultation fees back, and we'll split the profits 50/50 afterwards," Zhao An suggested.
This was a spur-of-the-moment idea of his, mainly because he was short of money.
Extracting the martial arts achievements of the Soul Slave requires energy replenishment similar to the Earth Origin Pill consumed last time.
These kinds of elixirs can only be purchased with money, except through good deeds and making wishes.
Therefore, he had to find a way to make money; he couldn't just continue living in poverty.
Meng Wanyi fell into deep thought.
Meng Wanyi was somewhat tempted.
"But a 50/50 split is too much."
"You should know that without my help in collecting these consultation fees, not a single penny will end up in your hands," Zhao An said, standing up.
"Deal!" Meng Wanyi agreed.
"Accounts".
"Xiao Shao, go and get it for him," Meng Wanyi said.
The doctor next to him agreed, went over and rummaged through the papers, and soon brought back a pile of papers.
Each of these represents an unrecovered consultation fee, and there are at least thirty or forty of them.
"I really don't know how you've managed to keep this clinic running," Zhao An said, shaking his head.
"Let's make this clear first: if there are any poor families inside, then... then forget it. Don't force them," Meng Wanyi added with some lingering concern.
"What if they are poor and wicked people?" Zhao An replied, leaving Meng Wanyi speechless for a moment.
Without waiting for Meng Wanyi to say anything more, Zhao An picked up his large ring-handled sword and stepped out of the clinic.