Urban Martial Saint

The outside world is full of turmoil, yet here in Shenchuan City, it’s eerily calm, almost unnervingly so.

A few days ago, Shenchuan City was bustling with daily activity, but now, everyone from Sha Men has left. On the side of the Seven Steering Committees of the Hong Alliance, Ao Wuchang has taken Aomuhan, Chen San, and Chen Si away, leaving no one to oversee things. Although Li Qianqiu has arrived, apart from the first meeting with Ye Qing, he hasn’t appeared again. The entire Shenchuan City is remarkably peaceful for once. However, this peace brings a mysterious feeling, like the calm before a storm.

Ye Qing stayed in Shenchuan City these days without leaving, just to guard against those monks attacking again. Yet, these days there hasn’t been a peep from those monks, while Ye Qing and his folks have been tense for several days. Especially Li Lianshan, who, after being captured by those monks last time, is now both furious and highly vigilant, keeping a group of brothers with him every day to prevent a sneak attack from those monks.

This noon, as usual, Ye Qing went to the orphanage directly after lunch. During these days in Shenchuan City, he spent most of his time at the orphanage.

The orphanage was well managed by the old principal Wu Yian. With funds from the Capital already in place, everything here is going well. Thanks to media support from various sectors, the situation of the orphanage has greatly improved. In less than a month, over seventy children have been reunited with their parents. This private orphanage has finally come into public view, with even influential media outlets visiting for interviews.

Of course, Ye Qing left the interviews to Wu Yian. Ye Qing wasn’t the kind of person who liked to be in the limelight, and he didn’t want too much attention from the outside world.

After making a few rounds of inspection on the progress of the orphanage’s construction, Ye Qing went straight to Broom Star’s residence.

Broom Star wasn’t in Shenchuan City. Last time, Ye Qing had sent Broom Star to Sha Men, entrusting them to take care of him. Because Ye Qing had left Shenchuan City for other matters during that period and was afraid that Broom Star might be captured by the monks, he felt reassured leaving him under Sha Men’s watch. Unexpectedly, Sha Men’s care was too thorough, and when they collectively moved out, they took Broom Star along as well.

Ye Qing wasn’t particularly worried with Broom Star being with Sha Men. Although the Bloody Monk had killed countless people and was seen by everyone as a murderous demon king, Ye Qing had a fairly good impression of him. The Bloody Monk belonged to the kind of person with principles who also spoke with credibility. With him taking care of Broom Star, Ye Qing wasn’t worried about Broom Star’s safety.

In the orphanage, Broom Star had a room to himself, and there was another child with the same treatment, who was Ding San’s son.

After learning about White-haired Ding San’s situation, Ye Qing arranged for his son to stay in this individual room. Because Ye Qing had a vague feeling that although White-haired Ding San was now completely controlled by his murderous nature, he still had something he cared about. And the only thing he cared about was his son. If Ding San’s sanity were ever to be restored, it might only be possible through his son.

These days, whenever Ye Qing finished his work in the orphanage, he would come to sit in Broom Star’s room for a while. For some reason, whenever he sat in this room of Broom Star’s, he experienced an inexplicable sense of tranquility. It was as if everything outside was shut out of this room, and only in here could he truly calm down, without having to think about anything outside.

Broom Star’s room was very tidy, all of which was taken care of by himself. Honestly, such orderliness shouldn’t be something a child only five or six years old could achieve, but this Broom Star exuded a distinctiveness that was unlike other children, almost like an adult, managing everything in an orderly manner.

Since arriving in Shenchuan City, Ye Qing has been busy with all sorts of things, and truth be told, he rarely found the time to sit quietly and calmly. It wasn’t until he accidentally entered Broom Star’s room a few days ago that he finally found some peace, and since then, he would often come here to sit.

The room’s furnishings were quite simple. Originally, the facilities were good, but for some reason, Broom Star later had all of them removed, like the sofa, TV, air conditioning. In his room, there was only a bed, a chair, and a desk, nothing more, completely different from the other rooms in the orphanage.

There were a few books and a notebook on the desk. Ye Qing idly picked up the notebook after sitting for a while, curious to see what Broom Star had written in it.

However, upon opening the notebook, Ye Qing immediately felt a headache. It was full of strange symbols. Furthermore, Ye Qing had seen these symbols before; they were the Buddhist texts carved on the Dragon Blood Wood.

After the previous incident, Ye Qing realized that Broom Star was actually well-versed in Buddhist texts, a fact that greatly surprised Ye Qing. These Buddhist texts were something only enlightened monks could master. If one wasn’t fated with Buddhism, trying to learn even a bit was impossible. Broom Star being so young yet already adept at Buddhist texts, could he be someone fated with Buddhism?

Reflecting on the monk’s attempted kidnapping of Broom Star last time, Ye Qing found it even stranger. Logically, those monks belonged to Brahmanism and certainly weren’t child traffickers, so why were they capturing so many children? Moreover, among all the children at the orphanage, why did they specifically take Broom Star? Could it be that they were searching for those fated with Buddhism?

Ye Qing was unaware of Brahmanism’s belief in the reincarnation of the True Buddha and naturally couldn’t fathom the reasons behind it. However, this incident made him increasingly curious about Broom Star, as the child seemed to harbor too many secrets.

The notebook was densely packed with Buddhist texts, but Ye Qing couldn’t understand any of it. After flipping through a few pages, he put it back in its place. These things, perhaps Shijia, that old fellow, might be more proficient. But Ye Qing hadn’t seen that old bald guy Shijia in a while. Like Old Wang Ba, Shijia would always hover around when nothing was happening. But once something came up and you needed to find them, they were nowhere to be seen, which was the main reason why Ye Qing always wanted to kick their faces.

Particularly that old fellow Old Wang Ba, ever since Huangfu Ziyu was kidnapped, Ye Qing hadn’t seen him again. He only said that Huangfu Ziyu was fine and then vanished, instead sending a Handsome Fatty Wang to mess with Ye Qing several times. If it weren’t for that Handsome Fatty Wang, Ye Qing wouldn’t have made so many enemies. So, whenever this matter crossed his mind, Ye Qing’s teeth would itch with hatred, wishing he could get Old Wang Ba to punish him severely.

”Ye Zi, there you are.” While Ye Qing was lost in thought, Zhao Chengshuang walked in from the doorway, saying, ”Hey, why’s your phone turned off? I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

”My phone is on,” Ye Qing replied in surprise, taking it out and checking, ”Weird, why is there no signal?”

”No signal? That can’t be,” Zhao Chengshuang said as he pulled out his own phone. ”The signal here has always been good, how could it be lost now?”

However, when he saw his own phone, his jaw dropped, ”Oh shoot, there’s really no signal. What’s going on? I just called you when I was on the way here, how come there’s suddenly no signal? Yesterday when I came here, the signal was perfect, how could it be gone today?”

A sense of impending danger struck Ye Qing’s heart; he quickly stood up, urging, ”Get downstairs!”

”For what?” Zhao Chengshuang looked puzzled, not understanding why Ye Qing was suddenly so urgent.

”No time for questions, hurry up and run.” Ye Qing grabbed Zhao Chengshuang and dashed out.

Not knowing what was happening, Zhao Chengshuang still followed Ye Qing, dashing down the stairs. They only stopped when they reached the ground floor, where Ye Qing glanced around and ran into a first-floor office.

”Ye Zi, what’s gotten into you?” Zhao Chengshuang panted after Ye Qing, saying, ”By the way, I came to find you for something.”

Having already entered the office, Ye Qing grabbed the landline phone, dialing as he asked, ”What’s up?”

”Su Kaicheng came, he said he needs your help,” Zhao Chengshuang replied.

”What!?” Ye Qing’s eyes widened, just as the phone sounded busy with only beeping noises, still unable to connect.

”Damn, even the landline has no signal? How is that possible!” Zhao Chengshuang’s eyes widened in disbelief. It’s one thing for a mobile phone to lose signal, but how could a landline also have no signal?

”You just said…” Ye Qing looked at Zhao Chengshuang, urgently asked, ”Su Kaicheng is here?”

”Yes, he’s about to arrive and he said he needed to see you,” Zhao Chengshuang checked his watch, saying, ”He called half an hour ago, so he should be here by now. I’ve been looking for you for half an hour.”

”Where?” Ye Qing asked urgently, ”To the orphanage?”

”Yeah, where else would he go?” Zhao Chengshuang replied, ”He worked strongly to support the orphanage, of course, he’d come visit!”

”Trouble!” Ye Qing clapped his hands, turning to sprint out, urging as he ran, ”Quick, find a way to contact Su Kaicheng, tell them not to come!”

”Why?” Zhao Chengshuang hurriedly chased after, asking, ”He said he’s coming, you’re saying he can’t. How is that okay? People might think we have something shady going on if we don’t let them see it!”

”Shady my ass!” Ye Qing stopped in his tracks, speaking in a low voice to Zhao Chengshuang, ”I suspect someone intends to harm him!”