Martial Arts: Starting from a Seemingly Real System

Pengli Lake!

Located on the south bank of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the lake area is vast and ranks second in the world!

It is the preferred waterway from the Yangtze River to the secondary capital Longxing City. Therefore, the lake is dotted with ships, including cargo ships, passenger ships, cruise ships, fishing boats, and various sizes and shapes. It is very bustling with the traffic.

As the saying goes, if you live by the mountain, you can eat from the mountain; if you live by the water, you can eat from the water. The Pengli Lake has a busy water transport system, and it has supported countless fishermen, boatmen, coolies, and hangers-on.

There are many docks along the entire water area, and ships travel frequently. Every time a ship docks, a headman will come to contact them. After the remuneration is negotiated, the headman will command the coolies to help load and unload goods and carry luggage.

It seems busy and chaotic, but in fact it is quite organized. No one rushes to take on work, and no one cuts prices to grab orders. All this stems from a gang.

Zeyun Gang!

The only gang in the Pengli Lake area, it controls all labor services at the docks in the entire area. All boatmen and laborers are not allowed to go into the water to take jobs without permission. They need to pay a certain fee before the Zeyun Gang will arrange jobs for them.

On a secret island deep in the Pengli Lake, is the headquarters of the Zeyun Gang.

Three people sat opposite each other. The one at the top was a young man with handsome appearance and luxurious clothes. The two middle-aged men at the bottom were also dressed extraordinary, but their faces were dark and yellow. They were the leader of Zeyun Gang, Li Fu, and the deputy leader, Wang Gui.

Deputy gang leader Wang Guizheng had a drooling face and said to the young man in the upper position in a flattering manner: "What is the purpose of your visit, sir? Didn't you pay the tribute a few days ago?"

"The tribute has been reduced for two consecutive months, and the headquarters is very dissatisfied with this!" The handsome young man held the tea bowl, gently blew the tea leaves floating on it, and said indifferently.

When gang leader Li Fu heard this, his face looked a little unhappy. He and Wang Gui looked at each other, and Wang Gui looked at the young man with a wry smile.

"Your Excellency, since the 'Dragon Subduing Palm' Qiao Rui came down from Shu Mountain, he has been going downstream and destroyed countless pirate dens and gangs at the ferry docks on both sides of the river. If we impose too heavy taxes and oppress the boatmen too harshly, Qiao Rui may think we are some evil force and wipe us out!"

"Humph, then you are not afraid of the wrath of my gang. Have you forgotten who allowed the Zeyun Gang to dominate Pengli Lake?"

The young man snorted coldly, his eyes fierce, and scolded: "You have not paid the full tribute several times, even the master can't excuse you. When the time comes, our leader will be furious. Have you considered the consequences?"

"Don't dare, don't dare!"

Wang Gui's face was grim. He wiped the sweat off his forehead and asked cautiously, "Does the lord have any good advice for me?"

The other party came to the island at this time, definitely not to deliberately question us, but must have other instructions.

Seeing that Li Fu and Wang Gui were very frightened, the young man decided to stop while he was ahead and smiled faintly.

"You have worked hard over the years, and everyone has seen it. Even our gang leader often praises you, but the shortage of supplies needs to be resolved as soon as possible!"

Placing the tea bowl on the table, the young man said nonchalantly, "Isn't it just Qiao Rui? You are worried that he will cause trouble, so why not strike first?"

Li Fu and Wang Gui were both shocked when they heard this, "You two are really good at scheming!"

Li Fu stared at the young man with a serious expression, his eyes flickering in a complex and unintelligible manner.

The young man appeared calm and at ease.

After a while, Li Fu made up his mind and gritted his teeth and said, "Do you have a detailed plan on what to do?"

"Haha!" The young man relaxed when he saw Li Fu yield, and then whispered his plan...

Longkou Ferry is located at the junction of Pengli Lake and Longjiang River. After crossing Longkou Ferry and going south along the Longjiang River, you will reach Longxing City, the secondary capital of Daxia.

On this day, a small passenger ship slowly approached from the north of Pengli Lake. Although the ship was small, there were not many passengers on board, so it seemed a little quiet.

Apart from a few boatmen, there were only four passengers on the boat: a tall and handsome man, a beautiful and quiet woman, a yellow-faced Taoist nun, and half of the boys.

It was Qiao Rui and his group who came from Chengdu.

The four of them went down the river. Qiao Rui kept doing the tasks of the Sky Guard. From the bandits on the river to the underworld gangs along the coast, Qiao Rui killed them all with his sword and the blood flowed like a river, so the journey was extremely slow.

It was late spring and early summer, the moon was bright in the sky and the breeze was cool!

Qiao Rui and Diwu Qingcheng sat leisurely drinking tea. Although he was dressed in a plain silk shirt and looked elegant and leisurely, his aura was condensed and murderous, like a sword unsheathed, with murderous intent all over his body.

On the deck, Tian Jing was teaching Huang Jingxuan some moves, and the fight was very close.

In his spare time, Qiao Rui has taught Huang Jingxuan all the martial arts except "The Dragon Subduing Palm" and "The Free and Easy Soaring Void Art", so that he can constantly improve himself and consolidate his basics. So whenever he has time, Huang Jingxuan will pester Qiao Rui and others to practice with him.

As for the two top martial arts, they have not been taught yet because Qiao Rui is afraid that he will bite off more than he can chew. It is better to practice martial arts step by step.

In the middle of the night, when the moon was bright and the stars were sparse and he was sleeping soundly, Qiao Rui was suddenly awakened by a palpitation. He gently covered the mouth of Huang Jingxuan next to him, then quietly woke him up, pointed to the noise outside and signaled him not to make a sound.

Holding a knife, Qiao Rui carefully opened the cabin door, only to see that the door opposite was also opened. Diwu Qingcheng walked out like a light kitten. The two looked at each other, nodded slightly, and walked out of the cabin one after another.

The night was as cool as water, and the moist wind carried an unpleasant odor. Two boatmen were stealthily carrying jars and pouring something onto the boat.

Qiao Rui frowned slightly and asked, "Why are you not sleeping in the middle of the night?"

Hearing the question, the two boatmen froze, then slowly turned around, and one of them smiled and said, "I'll buy you a drink!"

Suddenly, the two boatmen threw the pottery jars in their hands towards Qiao Rui at the same time, then each took out something from their arms, blew it quickly at their mouths, and threw it towards Qiao Rui again, then turned around and jumped into the lake.

Qiao Rui swung his Cloud Patterned Moon-Chopping Sword forward and hit a pottery jar. Another pottery jar flew past Qiao Rui and towards the Fifth Qingcheng.

Diwu Qingcheng stretched out and swung his long sword, using soft force to send the pottery jar flying.

"Snapped!"

The pottery jar smashed against the cabin wall, and black and yellow liquid flowed all over the floor.

"Oh no, it's kerosene!"

Qiao Rui cried out in surprise, and the pottery jar he hit shattered into pieces. A pungent liquid splashed on him, and then two fire starters came towards him.

"Be careful!" Diwu Qingcheng shouted and jumped onto the roof of the cabin.

"boom!"

Flames suddenly burst out from the ground and Qiao Rui's body.

"Qiao Rui!"

"Master!"

Two anxious voices came from behind.

Qiao Rui groaned, and without thinking, he used all his strength to perform lightness skills to the limit, and jumped into the lake as fast as lightning.

The cold lake water instantly surrounded Qiao Rui, and the flames on his body were immediately extinguished. Qiao Rui breathed a sigh of relief and was about to surface when he suddenly felt something strange in the water flow behind him. He turned around and slashed with a knife.

"puff!"

A strong smell of blood filled the air. Qiao Rui did not even look behind him, but saw groups of people in the lake ahead, surrounding him.

"So many water ghosts are lying in ambush?"