Alienated Martial Arts

A few days later.

The sky was bright and heavy fog filled the mountain city.

As usual, Wei Tao got up before dawn, went to a street shop and bought a stack of meat cakes, and filled his stomach with a big bowl of mutton soup.

In late autumn, after several mountain rains, the temperature continued to drop, and a thick layer of white frost was clearly visible on the ground.

Several men in ragged clothes huddled in the corner to keep warm, and from time to time they stretched out their hands to ask for food and copper coins.

Pedestrians passing by covered their mouths and noses, stepped away quickly, and no one even glanced at that corner.

After finishing a stack of meatloaf and two bowls of broth, Wei Tao sighed with satisfaction, stood up and threw a small piece of silver to the shopkeeper. While waiting for change, he casually asked, "Those people are from the desert." Refugees from the state?”

The shop owner stretched out his head and took a look, "The guest officer is right, they have been hanging around a lot these days."

Wei Tao nodded and said casually, "There is no need to change the remaining money. Give each of them a piece of meat pie to warm themselves."

"Sir, I can't do it, I can't do it." The shopkeeper was stunned, but he looked embarrassed.

"Oh? Why can't I do it? I'm not asking you to pay."

"It's not that the villain doesn't want to do good deeds, but as long as the villain gives them soup cakes today, tomorrow there will be a lot of people around here begging for food and money. If it makes a big fuss, even the villain's stall will be closed. It can be lifted."

"I must be worrying too much, husband."

"Don't worry about it at all. The guest doesn't know anything. Some of the people who came from Mozhou continue to flow to the inland, some sell themselves to rich families as slaves, some rely on their own strength to make a living, and the rest But just..."

When the shop owner said this, he let out a long sigh.

"The rest are the factors that affect the security and stability of the city. Is this what my father-in-law wants to say?" Wei Tao said calmly as he took the copper coins recovered by the old man from the shop owner.

"Yes, yes, it's just like what the guest said." The shopkeeper lowered his voice, "The villain also heard that they even formed a gang and fought for a small and medium-sized territory in the outer city, even close to the inner city. More than one of our shops was robbed by them."

"As for the city defense army, if they dare to cause trouble on the edge of the inner city, the city defense army should just kill them."

"Sigh... I'm not just talking nonsense. Most of the city defense troops were suddenly mobilized by the imperial officials from above a few days ago. They haven't come back yet."

"Your Majesty, maybe you haven't walked around the streets much recently. I'm afraid you don't even know what kind of chaos this outer city has become."

The city defense troops were mobilized and have not returned until now?

Wei Tao frowned slightly, and just as he was about to say something, he heard the sound of horse hooves.

He immediately turned around and looked.

The sound of dense horse hooves approached quickly, running wildly along the stone road and heading straight towards the inner city.

A total of more than 20 riders passed by the restaurant. One person at the head was carrying a big, rustling flag with a huge Chinese character "zhou" embroidered on it.

"It turns out to be the Black Cavalry, the most elite force of the Zhou family in the inner city!" The old man, the shopkeeper, exclaimed and quickly lowered his head, not daring to look further.

Huang, Zhou, and Xu, the three inner city masters, put the entire Cangyuan City under control.

In their eyes, most of the so-called various gangs in the outer city are just small characters who can be killed easily.

Wei Tao watched the Zhou family's black cavalry go away, his eyes full of thoughts and doubts.

These knights seemed to have just gone through a hard battle, and their bodies were still filled with the bloody aura that had not dissipated.

And several people were seriously injured.

With his vision reaching the level of blood coagulation in the Red Line Fist, he could tell at a glance that the faces of the knights behind were pale, and their every breath and breath contained a strong smell of blood.

"The city defense troops were mobilized and the Zhou family's martial arts masters returned after a bloody battle. Could it be that something special happened outside Cangyuan City?"

With thoughts in his mind, Wei Tao watched them disappear at the end of the long street leading to the inner city, but he inexplicably recalled that terrifying rainy night.

A scary and crazy woman, as well as Taoist priests and armored soldiers lying dead on the ground.

The dense fog began to dissipate, and the crowd huddled in the corner also stood up at this time, dividing into various directions and entering the street.

Coming out of the shop, Wei Tao walked among the hurried pedestrians and walked towards the Red Line Martial Arts Hall.

Suddenly, he stopped and glanced at the narrow alley to one side.

In the morning when the sun was about to rise, there was actually a group of six or seven people holding red lanterns and marching slowly in an orderly manner in the alley.

His heart moved, and he immediately pretended to be interested in the stall at the alley, walked over and picked up a pair of silver hairpins.

But in the time it took to turn around, the team of lantern-carrying men had disappeared from the narrow alley.

The entire alley was deserted and deserted, except for a black cat speeding across the stone wall.

There are also several pools of sewage flowing freely underground, exuding a turbid stench.

"How much does this pair of hairpins cost?" Wei Tao looked away and looked at the owner of the stall.

"The total weight of two hairpins is six cents. Master, if you sincerely want them, we will only earn you ten cents for the crafting fee."

Wei Tao took out a piece of broken silver and gave it to the stall owner to weigh. He took the pair of hairpins and was still thinking about the line of people holding lanterns.

Looking up at the dim sky, he didn't know why, but he felt an indescribable depression.

The entire Cangyuan City seemed like a slowly decaying mud pond, and like a dense spider web that enveloped all life, making it difficult to escape no matter how hard you struggled.

……………………

A quarter of an hour later, Wei Tao arrived at the martial arts gym.

As soon as he walked in, he realized that today seemed different from usual.

All the registered disciples were practicing silently, no one spoke, and the entire training ground was shrouded in a dead silence and dull atmosphere.

"Senior Brother Seventh, all the senior brothers have arrived and are waiting for you in the inner courtyard." A petite girl ran over.

Wei Tao recognized her as Qi Wuya, the granddaughter of the old leader in Blacksmith Lane, but the clothes she wore marked her as a formal disciple from a registered disciple.

"Have you become an official disciple?" he asked.

Qi Wuya smiled and nodded, "To reply to the Seventh Senior Brother, I just reached the entrance standard yesterday and was admitted into the inner courtyard early this morning and became a direct disciple."

When Wei Tao heard this, he couldn't help but pause in his steps, and asked as if unintentionally, "Teacher is back?"

"Teacher hasn't come back yet. I am being accepted as a disciple by my senior brother. This is also a gathering convened by my senior brother." Qi Wuya smiled again, her eyes curved into crescents, looking pretty and cute.

Wei Tao nodded and asked again, "Did Senior Brother tell me what happened?"

She stopped smiling and her voice was no longer as cheerful as before, "I don't know, it should be related to the Second Senior Sister and the Eighth Junior Brother. Didn't the Seventh Senior Brother hear that something happened to the Silver Wolf Gang?"

"I did hear this rumor, so how are Second Senior Sister and Eighth Junior Brother doing now?"

"The second senior sister was beaten to death, and the eighth junior brother disappeared for no reason... The Silver Wolf Gang has become a thing of the past. The gang members are scattered, hiding and living in fear all day long."

"I understand." Wei Tao asked no more questions and strode towards the inner courtyard.

Qi Wuya followed behind, her eyes falling on the seventh senior brother, and suddenly found that he gave her an inexplicable feeling of oppression.

In the past, only teachers and senior brothers could give her similar feelings.