Alienated Martial Arts

The dark clouds are low and the rain is about to come.

A whirlwind blew by, kicking up a large cloud of dust and adding a layer of dim yellow to the entire long street.

The air is filled with a strong smell of decay, and in this hot and oppressive weather, it goes straight to the forehead, making people sick to smell it.

Vendors on the roadside began to pack up their stalls, trying to get back home before the heavy rain came.

After putting away the few herbs that had not been sold, Wei Tao looked up at the increasingly dark sky and left quickly with the package on his back.

He was just over 1.6 meters tall, with a thin and small build. He was wearing an obviously loose cloth coat, which looked like he was wearing a sack from a distance.

Leaving the long street and turning into an alley, you can return home in a few hundred meters.

Surrounded by dilapidated low-rise bungalows, they are in sharp contrast to the red bricks and green tiles on both sides of the long street.

Not to mention the deep mansions and courtyards where nobles live in the inner city, they are two completely different worlds.

Looking over a puddle of sewage on the ground, Wei Tao frowned slightly, his eyes fell on a severed finger that was soaked and rotten, and he quickened his already slow pace.

It was so quiet around him that he couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

If he hadn't been afraid that the herbs he had worked so hard to pick and dry would get wet, he wouldn't have been willing to take a shortcut through these dark and narrow alleys.

I heard that the Wuyi Gang that was originally entrenched nearby provoked a certain nobleman in the inner city. The leader and several gang backbones evaporated directly, leaving no one alive or dead but no corpses.

This immediately triggered chaos in this area, and the war between several forces will continue until the dust settles over the ownership of the territory.

This is a common phenomenon in outer cities. Various gangs are prevalent, each occupying a territory, or monopolizing a certain industry, forming a fragile dynamic balance in the fighting and killing.

Even among the poor who make a living by collecting herbs and firewood, there are brave and ruthless people who have established a medicine gang.

Although the medicine gang has no territory in the city, they run rampant in the mountains outside the city. The medicine farmers must turn in a certain amount of offerings every month, otherwise their personal safety in the mountains cannot be guaranteed.

This is the Great Zhou Dynasty, the second year of Qianfu.

It was a chaotic era in which the imperial power was declining, the military governors were self-reliant, wars were frequent, and the people were in dire straits.

It has been nearly half a year since Wei Tao came to this Cangyuan City. From the beginning of feeling helpless, to the helpless acceptance later, he still has to work hard to survive. He can no longer see the shadow of the 996 programmer he once was.

He sighed secretly, tightened the baggage on his back, and suddenly stopped in front of a pile of garbage.

Two figures, one tall and one short, jumped down from the wall, blocking his path one after the other.

Each of them held a wooden stick in their hands, with rusty iron nails embedded at the top clearly visible.

"Brother, please lend me two copper coins to spend."

"We are members of the Hidden Sword Society, so we can be considered friends."

He doesn't even have a real sword, and he still has the nerve to say that he is a member of the Hidden Sword Society.

Wei Tao was silent for a moment, but he still took off the baggage on his back, and at the same time spread his palms, revealing two blackened copper coins.

"I have been squatting in the market all afternoon and have only sold this amount of money. If the two eldest brothers don't dislike it, they will take away the herbs in the bag."

"If you ask me to borrow two copper coins, you only have two copper coins. That's bad luck!"

The tall man cursed in a low voice, turned around and walked a few steps, but then turned back, took the two coins from his hand, and spat heavily on the ground.

After the two of them left, Wei Tao's tense body slowly relaxed, he let go of the medicine shovel hidden in his sleeve, and reached out to catch a drop of falling rainwater.

Fortunately, these two people just took the copper coins and left, and did not get angry and attack him.

If he really wanted to use his hands, he might be able to kill one with the shovel hidden in his sleeve, but as long as he was hit by a wooden stick, even if he missed the vital point, the rusty nail could kill him. life.

Heavy rain fell, and everyone and their luggage were soaked to the skin in an instant.

The dried herbs are still wet.

Several days of hard work were wasted.

Wei Tao was carrying the package that was dripping with water, but he didn't feel too sad.

Because life is so difficult, and when you find it hard to accept or even understand, you can only calm down and hold on, hoping for a turnaround.

He thought his turnaround was always there.

But I have never been able to find a way to use it.

It was a golden rune that came with him through time.

Only when he concentrates his energy can he perceive the golden symbol, which is completely imperceptible to others.

It has been spinning slowly, giving itself a gold coin every once in a while.

In half a year, he has accumulated six gold coins, which is one gold coin per month on average.

However, gold coins are also illusory, so there is no possibility of using them.

Otherwise, as long as you can take out one, your life will be greatly improved, and you may even get the opportunity to go to the inner city to make a living, and escape from the outer city, a big quagmire full of danger and oppression.

After being dazed for a while in the rain, he waded through the turbid sewage, walked through the alley, turned two more turns, and finally returned home.

This is a narrow courtyard. The stone house is in disrepair and is leaking. Several small puddles have accumulated on the ground.

The rest of the family had not returned yet, so Wei Tao put down the soaked package, turned to the stove and started a fire.

Pour water, heat the pot, put in a few handfuls of old rice, and cut some wild vegetables that I picked up while picking herbs, and that's enough for dinner.

It is impossible to eat dry rice. On such a night when no work is required, having a bowl of rice soup to fill the stomach is already the result of the joint efforts of the family.

When the aroma of rice began to fill the air, the courtyard door outside creaked.

A middle-aged couple came in with a young girl.

They are Wei Tao's parents and sister. Wei's father and mother mainly make a living by doing carpentry. When they can't find work, they can only go to the mountains to chop wood and collect herbs, struggling to maintain the family's daily expenses.

However, recently my sister Wei Xin found a job in a jade workshop through connections. Calculated, she earns a lot more money than collecting herbs, and it is more stable, so she decided to settle down and live there.

Today was her monthly sleep break. Her parents were worried that it would be dangerous for her to come back alone, so they spent half a day early to take her home from the jade workshop near the inner city.

"The dried herbs are soaked through." Wei Tao placed the dishes and chopsticks on the table and lit the only oil lamp in the house.

Father Wei was startled for a moment, then smiled gently, "If you get wet, just dry it out in the sun. As long as you don't catch the cold, it'll be fine."

Sister Wei Xin took out an oil paper bag from her coarse cloth pocket, and then took out an earthen jar, which exuded a faint aroma of wine.

"Little brother, I received my salary for the first time today, and I bought half a catty of pork head meat specially for you."

Mother Wei washed two wine cups, handed one to Wei Rongxing, and placed the other in front of Wei Tao.

"Drink some soju to warm yourself up, or you won't catch a cold."

Brown rice porridge, mixed with wild vegetables, a mouthful of braised meat and a mouthful of wine.

These things that seemed so ordinary in previous lives turned out to be so delicious on this cold rainy night.

Halfway through the meal, Father Wei, who doesn't drink much, turned red.

For the first time, he picked up half a piece of pig head meat and chewed it carefully. After a long silence, he suddenly said, "The money my family has saved over the years is enough to pay Brother Tao's apprenticeship fee at the martial arts school."

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