Martial Dao: Peace by Force

[Skill Ultimate Satisfaction Conditions: Stagger an enemy 10,000 times]

...

Wan Ze sheathed his sword and glanced at the conditions for the Ultimate mission.

Stagger an enemy ten thousand times...

"Good thing it’s not ’kill ten thousand people.’"

He chuckled, though it was hard to tell if it was in self-mockery or relief.

Thank goodness.

It was only ten thousand times.

Swinging his sword a few hundred to a thousand times a day, it would only take ten days to half a month.

He placed the sword back on its rack, his gaze sweeping over his personal attributes at the bottom of the panel.

...

[Physical Strength: 1.53]

[Intelligence: 1.35]

[Agility: 1.35]

[Endurance: 1.44]

[Power: 1.57]

[Coordination: 1.36]

...

Wan Ze stared quietly for a few seconds, feeling neither excited nor relieved.

He silently averted his gaze and went back to his training.

...

...

「The next morning.」

"RING RING RING..."

The school bell rang, shattering the campus’s quiet atmosphere as noise erupted from every corner.

By the horizontal bars in a corner of the athletic field, Zhou Xianchuan scurried over to Wan Ze, his face alight with excitement. He leaned in, lowered his voice, and grinned uncontrollably. "Ah Ze, I’m close! I’m really close this time! Master Qin told me himself yesterday. He said my qi and blood are almost condensed enough. Blood Tempering First Transformation—it’s going to happen this week!"

"Congratulations." Wan Ze smiled, genuinely happy for him.

"Hehe, our dojo will have another member in the Blood Tempering Realm soon..." Zhou Xianchuan was already lost in visions of the future, his chin slightly raised and a dreamy look in his eyes. "You think I could become like Master Qin someday? Take on a few disciples, give them pointers now and then, and have people on the street address me as ’Master Zhou’? HAHAHAHA..."

He was reveling in his fantasy when he caught sight of a figure in the distance. He immediately stiffened and stammered awkwardly, "S-Senior!"

Sun Fan walked over with a smile, her ponytail swaying gently on her shoulder. "What are you talking about? I could see you looking all excited from a mile away."

"N-Nothing!" Zhou Xianchuan’s face flushed red, and his gaze darted around. "We were just... just talking about what to choose for P.E. class. You have P.E. too, Senior...?"

He stammered.

Wan Ze watched from the side, trying to hold back a laugh.

’This fatty only dares to show his true feelings in front of me, his sworn brother.’

’The moment Sun Fan shows up, he turns timid as a quail.’

"Yeah, I don’t have class this afternoon, so I came to get some exercise." Sun Fan didn’t press the issue. She turned to Wan Ze, her eyes crinkling with a bright smile. "That move you used to break my technique yesterday, I thought about it all night... I think I’ve figured out a counter. Want to practice again tonight?"

"Sure," Wan Ze agreed readily, then glanced at Zhou Xianchuan. "Want to join us? I can help you practice and solidify your qi and blood."

"M-Me too?"

Fatty Zhou froze, then quickly waved his hands. "No, no! I’m about to advance, right? Master Qin said I have to be stable during this period and shouldn’t fight recklessly... It’s mainly because I’m afraid I might not be able to hold back and end up hurting you."

The fatty paused, cleared his throat, and tried to make his tone sound casual and unconcerned.

Wan Ze: "???"

He stared at Zhou Xianchuan in silence for two seconds.

’Wow, man. Just... wow.’

Sun Fan covered her face. It was too cringe-worthy to watch.

The three of them walked side-by-side toward the lake.

Zhou Xianchuan held it in for a moment but eventually couldn’t stop himself from talking. "Oh, right. My second uncle came over for dinner last night, and he brought something up."

"What is it?" Wan Ze asked.

Zhou Xianchuan lowered his voice mysteriously. "My uncle said there’s a small dojo up north that got challenged a while ago. The challenger practiced Long Arm Fist, was in his twenties, and at the Blood Tempering First Transformation. He walked in and said he wanted to ’ask for pointers.’ The hall master was a straightforward guy and immediately took up a stance to face him... and guess what happened?"

"Three moves. Just three moves. The Long Arm Fist practitioner was sent flying right out the main gate and couldn’t get up from the side of the road for a long time."

Wan Ze listened quietly.

Zhou Xianchuan, getting excited, continued, "My uncle said that when the hall master was young, he practiced Baji in the Northwest. He fell on hard times for some reason and opened a small dojo to make a living. He usually kept a low profile, and all the neighbors thought he was just an ordinary martial arts teacher. After that one fight, several nearby streets found out a true master was hidden in their midst."

"And then?" Sun Fan asked.

"And then?" Zhou Xianchuan scratched his head. "There is no ’and then.’ The Long Arm Fist guy got up and scurried away with his tail between his legs. The hall master went back to teaching students as usual, collecting tuition, and drinking his tea. My uncle said that’s a true expert for you. It’s not a movie where you spout some threatening lines after a fight. Anyone who’s been in a real fight knows that if he hadn’t held back on that last hit, he’d be spending the night in a jail cell."

As he spoke, he was the first to get sentimental.

"That’s why I think most of the people who go on and on about the ’martial world’ and ’grudges’ have never actually taken a real beating. The ones who have are usually the quietest."

Sun Fan nodded. "That makes sense."

Emboldened by her approval, Zhou Xianchuan quickly added, "My uncle also said that a guy with the surname Dong in North City who collects protection money got cornered in an alley last year and had three ribs broken. They still haven’t found out who did it. The guy, Dong, couldn’t even give a clear description. He only remembers a tall, thin man wearing a mask who didn’t say a word, just beat him up and left. Now *that’s* the mark of a master. Not like those guys who announce their names after a fight, afraid people won’t know it was them."

Sun Fan glanced at him and suddenly asked, "Your uncle has been talking to you a lot about this stuff recently?"

Zhou Xianchuan was taken aback. "Yeah... why?"

"Nothing." Sun Fan smiled, her tone casual. "It’s just that I think I’ve heard of the hall master you mentioned."

Zhou Xianchuan’s eyes lit up. "You know him too, Senior?"

"Mhm. That hall master’s surname is Gu. He was indeed famous in the Northwest back in the day." Sun Fan paused, not elaborating further. She only said, "Something happened later, and he went into seclusion in the city."

Zhou Xianchuan opened his mouth, clearly wanting to ask more, but was too embarrassed to do so.

Wan Ze walked beside them, listening quietly.

Whether it was Hall Master Gu or the man named Dong getting ambushed in an alley, to him, it all felt like watching things through several layers of glass. Not too distant, but... not exactly close either.

He was just thinking.

’To send someone flying out the door in three moves, your hips and waist must sink very low when you generate power. I should try that later.’

The three of them walked along the path by the lake.

The late autumn wind swept across the water’s surface, carrying a faint chill.

The sound of intermittent sobbing drifted toward them on the wind.

Zhou Xianchuan faltered for a second, thinking he was seeing a ghost in broad daylight, and looked up.

Two people were sitting on a bench by the lake.

Liu Yu was handing a tissue to Fang Xiaoxi, who was sobbing uncontrollably beside her, her shoulders trembling.

Seemingly having heard them, Fang Xiaoxi looked up.

She was visibly stunned when she saw Wan Ze and Zhou Xianchuan, and instead of stopping, her crying grew louder.

Zhou Xianchuan only spared them a glance before looking away, the corner of his mouth twitching in a subtle grimace.

He had no love for gold diggers.

Besides, Ke Qing had broken his heart, which made him sour toward everyone.

He didn’t say anything, just gently tugged on Wan Ze’s sleeve. The meaning was clear.

’Let’s go, let’s go.’

Wan Ze didn’t ask any questions. He simply nodded at Liu Yu as a greeting and followed Zhou Xianchuan forward.

Sun Fan, however, fell half a step behind, her gaze lingering on Liu Yu’s face for a moment. She seemed lost in thought, as if she had seen her somewhere before.

Liu Yu hesitated.

She stared blankly at Wan Ze’s back.

She clutched the tissue, her gaze fixed, as if pondering something incredibly puzzling.

She didn’t even hear Fang Xiaoxi sobbing beside her, muttering things like "I regret it so much" and "I shouldn’t have done that."

She just couldn’t figure it out.

Why had her brother, Liu Zhengming, been asking her about Wan Ze so often recently?

She had never heard of them interacting at all before.

When did the two of them... get so close?

...

...

「Evening. The lights in the dojo’s training hall were still on.」

Wan Ze lowered his sword.

Just then, his communicator vibrated.

The caller ID read: [Miss Ling]

When he answered, the cautious tone from before was gone. A crisp, direct voice came through. "It’s me. Where are you now? Let’s meet."

"Give me a minute. I’ll come to your room. Be right there." Wan Ze placed the sword back on its rack and grabbed his jacket.

...

The room was the same as before.

The woman was leaning back in her chair. Her face was drained of color, deathly pale, and it was impossible to know what she had been through, yet a faint smile hung on her lips.

Hearing the door, she looked up. Her smile was brilliant as she blinked, her voice trailing off in a lazy drawl. "Well now, if it isn’t the handsome hero. If you’d dallied a few more seconds, she would’ve come out."