Martial Dao: Peace by Force

Chapter 127: Chapter 104: New Martial Skill

”I-It’s... over?”

Miss Ling’s beautiful eyes were wide, her hand frozen inside her bag where she was gripping her gun.

She had been about to pull out the gun to intimidate them, but it turned out she wasn’t needed at all.

She couldn’t help but look at Wan Ze.

’How many times have I seen him fight now?’

’But every time feels like the first, making my heart pound.’

’Is this the Martial Dao?’

Suppressing the turmoil in her heart, Miss Ling quickly put down money for the meal and hurried over.

She saw Wan Ze crouching beside Tong Yuan, calmly patting him down for something.

”Wan Ze, what... are you doing?”

”Getting money.” Wan Ze said as he pulled out Tong Yuan’s wallet, took out a stack of cash, placed it on the wooden table, and shouted to the couple hiding in the kitchen:

”Boss, sorry about the mess.”

With that, he lifted Tong Yuan and tossed him out the door like a bag of trash.

He was an eyesore.

”Let’s go,” he said, turning to Miss Ling.

Miss Ling followed closely behind. As she passed by He Ji’s body, she suddenly jogged over, then quickly jogged back, happily handing a wallet and a small booklet to Wan Ze. ”I like looting bodies when I kill monsters in games, too... These are all for you.”

Wan Ze couldn’t help but smile. He didn’t refuse.

The money wasn’t important. What mattered was the booklet He Ji carried, which contained the Martial Skills he practiced and his notes on them. Now just wasn’t the time to study it.

”What now?” Miss Ling asked in a low voice.

”Let’s get in the car first,” Wan Ze said.

BUZZ BUZZ!

His communicator vibrated right on cue.

It was a call from Zhai Jia.

”...Ah Ze, I’ve already contacted the Tong Family... If they dare to touch you, I’ll drag an artillery regiment over to their mining district for ’drills’! Just wait, I’m already driving over.”

”No need to come.” Wan Ze tilted his head and glanced at the two figures on the ground. ”I just finished eating and dealt with two guys from the Tong Family on the side... One was Tong Yuan? I think that was his name. Tong Run’s younger brother.”

Zhai Jia was clearly stunned for a moment. Then, his tone turned vicious. ”So what if you took them out! If the Tong Family has the guts, they can come after me! What kind of tough guys pick on you? It’ll take me half an hour to get there, but I have a friend in the An City border patrol. I’ll have him go protect you first.”

”Brother Jia, are you worried the Tong Family will still come after me?” Wan Ze suddenly raised an eyebrow.

’If that’s the case, I don’t mind pulling out the problem by its roots.’

Zhai Jia sighed. ”Normally, the Tong Family wouldn’t have the nerve... At most, they’d target me and Brother Yu. But now that Tong Yuan has fallen at your hands, I’m afraid someone in the Tong Family might get desperate.”

”Get desperate?” Wan Ze’s expression darkened. ”Then I’ll have to trouble your friend to take Miss Ling home first.”

Zhai Jia immediately grew anxious. ”Don’t do anything reckless! The Zhai Family is the one with the grudge against the Tong Family, not you... Listen to me, don’t get involved.”

Wan Ze fell silent.

Zhai Jia softened his tone, consoling him. ”Ah Ze, I appreciate the thought, brother. Leave the rest to me... I’ll definitely give you a satisfactory resolution.”

Wan Ze never liked getting involved in these kinds of disputes. If they hadn’t come looking for trouble, he wouldn’t have acted.

The Tong Family... To his former self, they were indeed a behemoth.

But now, they weren’t enough to make him back down.

In the end, it was just a squabble between the younger generation, and he had simply been unfortunately dragged into it.

His actions were perfectly reasonable.

But Wan Ze wasn’t looking for a moment of satisfaction.

If all his actions earned him was their resentment, he might as well teach them a permanent lesson in what it means to feel awe.

...

After much persuasion, Zhai Jia finally managed to talk Wan Ze down.

After hanging up, he let out a long breath and immediately called Zhai Yu. ”...The Tong Family targeted Ah Ze in An City...”

”Then what are you wasting time for! Give me the address, I’ll go pick him up!” Zhai Yu’s voice was resolute.

Zhai Jia quickly explained the whole story.

After hearing him out, Zhai Yu breathed a sigh of relief. ”It’s good that he’s okay... But the Tong Family crossed a line this time.”

”Yeah, damn it. They just had to drag Ah Ze into the grudge between our two families! That waste of space Tong Run—once his leg heals, I’ll fucking break it for him again!” Zhai Jia cursed.

...

...

Wan Ze looked at Miss Ling, who had been following silently beside him. ”It’s fine now.”

”I... was worried about you.” Miss Ling looked up at him, then quickly lowered her gaze. After a moment’s hesitation, she said softly, ”From your conversation just now, were you dragged into this because of your friends?”

Wan Ze nodded, his expression calm.

After getting confirmation, Miss Ling was stunned for a moment, then her cheeks flushed with anger. ”They’re so shameless! If they have the guts, they should go after the real targets. What’s the point of giving you trouble? They’re just bullying the weak and fearing the strong—”

Halfway through her sentence, she glanced at the unconscious Tong Yuan on the roadside and immediately changed her tune, huffing, ”But they ended up messing with the wrong person. Serves them right!”

Hearing this, Wan Ze just smiled faintly, his gaze sweeping over the data panel in his vision that no one else could see.

He hadn’t even needed to use his ”Tiger and Wolf Momentum” to deal with those few from the Tong Family.

He just didn’t quite understand why Brother Jia and Brother Yu hadn’t completely crushed the Tong Family over the years... Perhaps there were deeper entanglements behind the scenes.

Wan Ze wasn’t one to get to the bottom of things. He had no intention of getting involved in the conflicts of these prominent families, so he didn’t ask any more questions.

Before long, people from the Tong Family did indeed arrive in a hurry, efficiently cleaning up the scene.

The middle-aged man in the lead walked over from his car, crossing the still-dusty street, carrying two briefcases. He placed them in front of Wan Ze.

”Mr. Wan, the Tong Family has no intention of making an enemy of you. It’s just that the two young masters have been spoiled since childhood... Our boss thanks you for teaching them a lesson. This is a small token of our appreciation. Please accept it.”

As he spoke, he gave Wan Ze a deep bow, holding it for several seconds before straightening up and leaving quickly with his men.

That bow was both an admission of fault and a sign of submission.

Wan Ze retracted his gaze. The Tong Family’s explanation was a real eye-opener.

’I beat up two of their sons, and they send me money as a result?’

However, Zhai Jia would handle any subsequent trouble.

He picked up the two briefcases, and after hefting them a couple of times, he knew it was a considerable amount of money. He didn’t stand on ceremony.

He pulled open the car door.

Miss Ling obediently sat in the driver’s seat, turning to watch as Wan Ze sat beside her and opened the two briefcases. They were filled with crimson banknotes, enough to dazzle the eyes.

”A pretty sight?” Wan Ze asked.

She nodded. ”A very pretty sight!”

Wan Ze chuckled. ”I’ll treat you to a feast tonight.”

”Okay, okay!”

Miss Ling giggled. Today’s events felt so surreal... She had thought she might run into trouble because of the painting, but instead, through a strange twist of fate, she’d been targeted by the Tong Family of An City.

The engine rumbled, and the car began its journey toward Holy City.

Wan Ze closed his eyes, Nourishing the Spirit, and began to think about the painting.

That was what he truly cared about.

He just never expected that after only one night, Miss Ling’s room would be empty, cleaned out so thoroughly it was as if no one had ever stayed there.

But at the front desk, she had left a folded note.

”Something came up suddenly. See you around if fate allows, little brother.”

There was even a little stick-figure smiley face drawn at the end.

”This woman...”

Wan Ze crumpled the note in his hand, so angry he almost laughed.

The last time they parted, she had sworn up and down that she would give him more clues about the painting when they next met.

And what happened?

This so-called ”next time” was just an empty promise she left behind after disappearing without a word.

’Just great!’

However, merely half a day later, just as Wan Ze was about to set the matter aside, Miss Ling appeared again.

Standing before him, Miss Ling’s face was slightly pale, her eyes filled with terror, and her hands unconsciously clutched the hem of her clothes.

”I... I don’t know what happened... I woke up in a completely unfamiliar room. The furniture, the view from the window... it was all wrong. My communicator was gone, and there was a brand new one next to me... with no numbers in it.”

She looked up at Wan Ze, bewildered and afraid. ”Wan Ze, am I going crazy?”

Wan Ze felt complicated emotions.

Mostly, it was sympathy.

After all, her experience did sound bizarre and unsettling.

But on the other hand, he found a certain absurd humor in the situation.

He especially thought of when the calm and decisive ”second personality” regained control of this body, only to open her eyes and find that not only had she failed to escape trouble, but she had ended up right back by his side...

’I wonder if that dramatic return will shock the ”big sister” personality into switching again on the spot.’

Seeing her terrified state, Wan Ze poured a glass of warm water, placed it in front of her, and said slowly, ”Sit down first. Have some water and calm down... There’s something I should probably tell you.”

Miss Ling looked at him blankly.

「A few minutes later.」

She stood frozen as if struck by lightning. After a long moment, she looked at Wan Ze in disbelief, pointing at her own head. ”Are you saying... I have a split personality?”

”I’m not sure of the specifics. That day in the basement, it was basically her who took action... She didn’t seem like an ordinary person.”

Wan Ze confessed what had happened.

Miss Ling’s mind was a complete blank. She didn’t know what to say. Helpless, she remained in a state of confusion for a long while before finally looking up. ”Wan Ze, what do you think I should do now?”

Wan Ze refilled her glass with warm water. ”Since you’re here, you might as well accept it. I think the two of you need to have a good talk.”

”Talk?” Miss Ling started, looking up. ”How can we talk? I don’t even know when she’ll appear...”

Wan Ze stood up, took a black notebook and a pen from a nearby drawer, and handed them to her. ”Write down what you want to say... If she’s willing to talk, she should write back.”

’He thought about that day in the basement... Perhaps that woman has her own way of taking care of people.’

Miss Ling stared at the notebook, lost and uncertain.

”...You’re right. She doesn’t seem like a bad person...” she muttered to herself.

What gave her courage was the sudden memory of waking up and seeing the bowl of congee on the table... It had been warm and untouched.

She had just been too panicked at the time to drink it.

Wan Ze chatted with her for a while, making some idle small talk to ease the tense atmosphere.

A moment later, he got up to leave.

He closed the door. The lights in the hallway were bright as Wan Ze walked, lost in thought.

But he wasn’t thinking about the ”Mountain Ghost Patrol Hunting Painting”.

Instead, he was thinking about the gains from his trip to An City two days ago.

The booklet he’d taken from He Ji recorded a rather vicious martial art: the Eagle Claw Skill.

According to its description, if this Martial Skill was cultivated to a high level, one’s ten fingers would become like steel, capable of shattering bricks and stone with ease.

At its peak, a single grab and lock could easily snap tendons and crush bones. It was a vicious technique for close-quarters Capture and breaking through defenses.

Before that, the mysterious Martial Artist he had killed in the basement had yielded a Saber Technique that followed a fierce and powerful path. Its moves were wide and sweeping, emphasizing storing up power for heavy slashes. While not particularly exquisite, its strength lay in its heavy Momentum and ferocious Strength.

Operating under the principle that one can never have too many skills, Wan Ze naturally memorized them all.

But after returning to the martial arts hall, he felt a certain inconvenience.

Practicing the Fist Technique taught by the hall was fine, but if his master or senior brothers saw him practicing these external Martial Skills for an extended period, it would inevitably leave a bad impression.

This gradually gave rise to a thought.

’It’s time I had my own training room!’

He didn’t lack money; what he lacked was a private space where he could practice his Cultivation freely without being disturbed.

Just like the private training room Zhai Jia had built on the top floor of the convention center, many Martial Artists actually had similar arrangements.

Wan Ze stood in the room and slowly assumed a stance.

The moment his body sank, he focused his mind inward, and a light blue data box that only he could see appeared in his vision:

...

[Illustrated Guide: Eagle Claw Skill] (Basic Mastered)

[Skill Intermediate Requirement: Grip hard objects with both hands 500 times]