“Hello?”
Chen Cong was focused on practicing his martial arts and boxing. Suddenly, he stopped and took his phone out of his trouser pocket. As soon as he glanced at the caller ID, he clicked the answer button.
“Okay, okay.”
“I’ll report to the army next week.”
…
Hearing Chen Cong’s voice, Fang Qiu cracked a smile.
“So, this talent will work for the state.”
In his heart, Fang Qiu felt it was a pity when he heard him accept the state’s offer.
“Alas, talents are hard to come by.”
Shaking his head, Fang Qiu turned and left.
Fang Qiu had watched Chen Cong strive so hard for his achievements. However, he had been so busy that he couldn’t board at school, so he hadn’t seen Chen Cong practicing martial arts in the mornings in the past year. In Fang Qiu’s view, Chen Cong had undoubted talent in kung fu. He wasn’t even a martial arts practitioner at the very start, but he managed to raise his level to that of a third-class Martial Superior in only two years without anyone’s guidance.
No ordinary person could accomplish so much in such a short period.
Fang Qiu thought back to the past.
A whole lot of people failed to break through from being a martial arts practitioner to that of a Martial Superior.
Fang Qiu had planned to ask Chen Cong if he was interested in making progress in cultivation with him. If Chen Cong agreed, he would send him to He Gaoming as soon as possible.
With his talent, Fang Qiu believed he could easily catch up with He Gaoming.
Unfortunately, the phone call Chen Cong just received shattered Fang Qiu’s plan.
Since the state had offered him a position, Fang Qiu didn’t want to interfere.
It was not good to compete with the state for a talented person.
Moreover, considering Chen Cong’s blunt disposition, he would be able to receive thorough training and accomplish great deeds in the troops. There was no need for Fang Qiu to try to win him over.
After the call, Chen Cong continued to practice his boxing moves.
From the beginning to the end, he didn’t notice the figure that stood a short distance away.
…
“Pitter-patter…”
Leisurely footsteps sounded in the mountain forest located in Yongzhou City, Huaxia’s Xiyuan Province.
From a distance, a young figure carrying a light-red stick, with a flower dangling from his mouth, walked over and looked around his surroundings. It seemed that he was searching for something.
Gradually, he came closer.
“Eh?”
The young man paused and looked at the house which was made of wide pieces of wood, ahead. As he stood before it, he quickly took out his phone and tapped it a few times. Then, he raised his head again to check the wide-plank house, nodded thoughtfully, and said, “Yes, it’s here.”
He smirked as he put his phone back into his trouser pocket, trotted up, and stopped at a flat field before the wide-plank house.
The young man looked at the door, his left hand clasping his waist and his right hand holding a light-red wooden stick on his shoulder.
“Pah!”
He spat the flower dangling from his mouth onto the ground.
“Zhang Jiu, come out!”
The young man shouted toward the wooden house.
There were two young men who were about thirty years old, inside the wooden house.
They sat on the two futons on the left and right sides in an open-concept room, cultivating with their eyes closed.
A hefty, fat man in a tracksuit sat on the left cushion. He was Zhang Jiu, whom the young man outside the door was looking for.
On the right futon sat a young man in casual clothes and his facial features showed that he was of Beijiang origin. His name was Ma Jincheng!
Both of them were famous Wulin figures.
Fang Qiu had met them several times and could recognize them if he were here.
Shouts came from outside the house.
In the room, Zhang Jiu and Ma Jincheng opened their eyes at the same time and looked at each other.
“Brother Zhang?”
Ma Jincheng asked curiously, “You have another guest?”
“No”
Zhang Jiu raised his eyebrows and shook his head, saying, “I only invited you. Has this place been exposed? Could it be that my enemy came here to challenge me?”
“Well, it sounds like he is here to look for trouble.”
Ma Jincheng replied with a smile. Then he quickly stood up and pointed outside the door, saying, “Let’s go out and have a look.”
“Alright.”
Zhang Jiu nodded and stood up.
“Zhang Jiu, come out and fight!”
At this time, loud shouts were heard again from outside the house.
The two of them were startled.
Then they hastened to push the door open and came out.
“Oh, which one of you is Zhang Jiu?”
As soon as they emerged at the door, a bantering voice came through.
“I am Zhang Jiu. May I know your name, Sir?”
Zhang Jiu stepped forward and approached the young man.
“My name is not important. Hurry up, and let’s fight!”
The young man shook his head and added, “After beating you, I’ll have to find Ma Jincheng!”
“Hmm?”
Zhang Jiu was stunned and turned to look at Ma Jincheng who was standing behind him.
“Me?”
Ma Jincheng was struck dumb.
“Are you Ma Jincheng?”
The young man’s eyes lit up as he said with a smile, “That’s great. It saves me the trouble of running around. I’ll get rid of you two at one go.”
After that, he said to Zhang Jiu, “Hurry up. Prepare to fight. Don’t waste any more time!”
“Why should I fight with you?”
Zhang Jiu was puzzled.
“Oh, stop nagging!”
The young man pursed his lips discontentedly and said, “I’m coming!”
The young man instantly prepared to strike: he shoved the stick in his hand behind him, then stretched out his left hand and launched a frontal palm strike at Zhang Jiu.
Zhang Jiu’s face changed color when he saw this.
The young man’s attack came so fast that he had no time to dodge.
He started to panic.
In no time, Zhang Jiu mobilized all the internal Qi within himself. With an amazing burst of energy, he threw a powerful punch at the young man.
“Pa!”
There was a crisp sound.
As soon as their fist and palm met, an enormous force erupted from the young man’s palm. This tremendous force caught Zhang Jiu unawares. It appeared abruptly and lashed against Zhang Jiu’s fist, throwing him off his balance!
The young man merely dealt him a slap.
But it sent Zhang Jiu flying into the air?
Even though Zhang Jiu wasn’t injured, the power the young man displayed left him horrified!
“So, I won already?”
The young man was also at a loss, as if it had never occurred to him that his opponent could barely withstand one attack from him.
“Shall I confirm something with you again?”
Looking at Zhang Jiu, who had been sent flying, whose expression was gloomy, the young man asked again, “Are you really Zhang Jiu? Did you rank tenth on the Young and Talented Martial Arts Practitioner List?”
“Yes.”
Zhang Jiu felt humiliated and his face darkened in shame.
“Then, you must be Ma Jincheng, the ninth on the list, right?”
The young man turned to look at Ma Jincheng.
“Sir, are you here to issue a challenge?”
Ma Jincheng squinted at the young man.
“Challenge?”
The young man thought for a moment, shook his head, and said, “Not really. I’m here to pulverize you. You two are at the bottom of the list, so I will start with you!”
He finished his statement.
Ma Jincheng and Zhang Jiu instantly paled.
“Enough talk! He lost already.”
The young man turned his eyes to Ma Jincheng and said, “Now, it’s your turn.”
“Alright!”
Ma Jincheng didn’t waste any time and instantly readied himself for the fight.
The battle scene was crystal clear to him.
He couldn’t refuse this battle because the young man would start the fight regardless of his decision. In that case, it would be better for him to prepare himself so that he wouldn’t be caught unawares like Zhang Jiu.
With this, Ma Jincheng stepped forward, patted Zhang Jiu on the shoulder, and walked to the opposite side of the young man.
“Come on,” the young man said.
Ma Jincheng narrowed his eyes and instantly gathered all the internal Qi in his body. The vast internal Qi jetted out and wrapped around his fist, where it emitted a powerful stream of aura. Then, without saying a word, he shot his right fist out and dealt the young man a wild swinging punch.
“Ha ha.”
Seeing Ma Jincheng going all out, the young man smirked and welcomed his attack with the same punch as before.
“Bang!”
All of a sudden, there was a loud noise.
The moment the two sides collided, Ma Jincheng, who had exerted every ounce of his energy, was sent flying by the young man’s palm, just like Zhang Jiu.
Even Zhang Jiu was quite taken aback by this brutal scene.
Zhang Jiu remained unconvinced by his defeat, but he was bug-eyed in wonderment when he saw this.
“Ma Jincheng was well-prepared, but how come he couldn’t even take one palm blow from this young man?
“How was this possible?”
They were so frightened that the color drained from their faces.
“So vulnerable?”
The young man looked at his palms and the two people who had been knocked to the ground. Immediately, he shook his head and asked, “The person who came in eighth is named Wang Yu. Do you know where Wang Yu is?”
But his two defeated opponents made no response.
“No comment? I can check it out myself.”
The young man shrugged and turned to leave.
Zhang Jiu and Ma Jincheng looked at each other.
“When did such an unparalleled expert turn up in Wulin?”
Ma Jincheng said in horror.
“He seems to be at only 22 or 23, but I feel he is even better than John Doe.”
Zhang Jiu said, greatly paralyzed with fear.
…
When Fang Qiu took a tour around the University of Jiangjing Chinese Medicine, Zhu Benzheng and the other two roommates finally completed all the exams.
In the end, the three of them passed all the exams.
Seeing their grades improve so rapidly, Fang Qiu felt very relieved in his heart.
They had lunch together.
Zhu Benzheng and the other two bought air tickets to Beijiang and returned to the cultivation base.
As for Fang Qiu, he went to treat patients in the Chinese Medicine Hospital in a remote fourth-tier city. After all, he hadn’t done that for more than a month.
Because of Fang Qiu’s popularity, the Chinese Medicine Hospital issued a strict order — no one was allowed to disclose that Fang Qiu had come to the hospital. Before Fang Qiu left, all of them were forbidden to release photos of Fang Qiu on any kind of social networking platforms, and they were not even allowed to mention Fang Qiu’s name.
Under such circumstances, his one day of seeing patients raced past.
There was no publicity about Fang Qiu’s presence.
However, even when the locals found that Fang Qiu was seeing the patients, the number of people lining up did not decrease in the slightest. As usual, Fang Qiu sat there and saw patients for 24 hours.
Fang Qiu completed his service.
But he was not in a hurry to return to Beijiang. Instead, he changed his appearance as John Doe in secret and bought a ticket to Sala City, as he flew quietly to Zangjiang.
That evening, Fang Qiu landed at the Sala Airport and casually had a meal at a restaurant while closely watching the surroundings. Late in the evening, there were only very few passengers. At this time, he sneaked out of the city and flew straight to the ancient ruin. Along the way, he used his Divine Consciousness to check the surroundings to make sure that no one was following him!
“I wonder if those calculative elders have relaxed their guard a little.”
On the way to the ruin, Fang Qiu murmured to himself.
This time, he paid this special visit to scout around the ancient ruin and looked carefully to see if there was anyone monitoring his moves nearby. If there weren’t, he was prepared to do some excavation at the precious mine!
