Chapter 26: The Alley in the Dark of Night

The sycamore leaves filtered the sunlight into a scattering of copper-colored coins, forming a lazy, flowing river across the blue-brick path. The shrill cries of cicadas pierced the stagnant heat, coalescing into a desolate symphony amidst the concrete buildings.

Zhao Rui spent some time with Sun Tiantian and their two friends, capturing photos to commemorate their fleeting youth. After making a pact to meet again before the start of the semester, he hopped on his bike and left the campus.

With that, his high school life had officially come to an end.

To say he felt no nostalgia would be a lie, but the road of life is long, and he had a much broader future to conquer.

Leaving the school, he rode for over half an hour. Shortly after he arrived at his own residential complex, a call came through from Bai Xuening.

"Are we friends?" the young girl asked in a soft voice.

"Of course we are!" Zhao Rui replied. How could they not be? Though their time together was short, she was a girl he enjoyed spending time with.

"That's good. See you at university!"

Zhao Rui was slightly stunned for a moment, then laughed with a carefree air. "See you at university!"

Bai Xuening had always been a mystery, giving off an elusive, ethereal vibe that made her feel like a cloud one could never quite grasp. She was a transfer student who arrived in their second year of high school. Because of her beauty and extraordinary temperament, she immediately drew the jealousy of many girls in the class. Having joined midway and possessing a somewhat cold personality, she had no existing friends and was consistently ostracized by the other girls.

He had only become familiar with her after a class sparring session, where he had accidentally brushed against a sensitive part of her body, leading to some small interactions. If one were to count when they truly became acquainted, it was only since they began sparring at the riverbank last month; all in all, the time was quite brief.

After finishing their conversation, they both hung up. Zhao Rui locked his bike and headed upstairs.

With his college applications submitted, all that remained was to wait for the acceptance letter. Of course, there was a chance he might not receive one, but the probability was extremely low, especially with his second-choice school as a backup.

With nothing to do during the summer break and no need to worry about school, Zhao Rui threw himself heart and soul into his martial arts cultivation.

The brilliant sky shone, illuminating the sun and moon! Time slipped by unnoticed, and the peach blossoms bloomed!

That day, Zhao Rui sat cross-legged by the riverbank, bathing in the light of the morning mist and the nourishment of the great river. He channeled the energy from his Dantian, circulating it throughout his body. For a moment, the acupoints within his body vibrated, sounding like the roar of tigers and leopards, or the rhythmic beating of war drums, with inner energy faintly overflowing.

At that moment, the red sun rose on the horizon, and a ray of light pierced through the edge of the clouds, slanting across the surface of the river.

"Ten years of cultivation begins here; I shall tread upon the clouds to seek the golden chapter!" Zhao Rui let out a cold snort. As he opened and closed his eyes, a sharp, brilliant light flickered within them, as radiant as the morning sun.

"Though my master is unreliable, this Ethereal Divine Art is truly transcendent in its essence!" Zhao Rui stopped his practice and exhaled, contemplating the situation.

After nearly half a month of sparring, he had gained three more advancement points on his system interface. He had used two of them to increase his internal strength, and one to tentatively unlock the Zhongfu acupoint on the Taiyin Lung Meridian of the Hand.

The martial art he practiced, "Cloud Hand Plucking the Stars," followed the Taiyin Lung Meridian of the Hand; the lungs are the mother of all energy movement. "Cloud Hand Plucking the Stars" specifically utilizes the lung meridian, connecting the energy of the heavens and earth with one's own to transform into clouds, absorbing the primordial energy of the universe to refine his own body. Once mastered, all the acupoints along the Taiyin Lung Meridian would be opened, allowing him to exert incredible, mysterious strength with every movement.

However, this "mastery" was only what "Big-Headed Li" had mentioned; he himself did not know the specific level of attainment. Whenever the students asked the master how many vital acupoints he had opened, Big-Headed Li would stutter, look away, and change the subject, never giving a straight answer. Because of this, everyone assumed he was likely bragging—either he hadn't created the martial art himself, or he was just talking nonsense. Even the senior disciple, who had been practicing for twenty or thirty years, hadn't opened a single acupoint, let alone the others. In short, no one took it seriously.

But today, at this very moment, Zhao Rui used the power of the system to successfully breach the acupoint. After circulating his decade of internal power through his Taiyin Lung Meridian, he was shocked to realize that it actually worked.

There was a distinct sensation of connecting with the energy of the world from the Zhongfu acupoint—a hazy, marvelous feeling. When he performed "Cloud Hand Plucking the Stars," a sense of ethereal mist truly seemed to manifest of its own accord.

It was no hallucination.

"Could Big-Headed Li be one of those legendary masters hidden in plain sight?" Zhao Rui couldn't help but wonder. After all, in the novels of his past life, such reclusive experts appeared quite often. But then again, whenever he recalled Big-Headed Li's usual behavior, Zhao Rui felt it was unlikely.

Whether he was or not didn't matter. No matter how impressive he was, could he be more impressive than the system interface?

Zhao Rui finished his practice and looked around. The area was deserted, save for duckweed swaying gently with the wind in the river and tall reeds rustling on the banks. He had chosen this spot carefully; it was over ten kilometers outside the city. The surrounding area consisted of hills and riverbanks, with very few villages or people. It was perfect for someone to contemplate nature and polish their internal energy.

After simply packing his gear and strapping his bag to the back of his bicycle, Zhao Rui rode along the riverbank toward the city. Although it wasn't as comfortable or enjoyable as a car, being close to nature had its own charm, he consoled himself as he watched a car flash past him on the road.

"You little punk, watch how you ride! Spit!"

Just as he was riding, a car turned from a side road, cutting off Zhao Rui’s bicycle as it passed through the intersection. As they crossed, the driver poked his head out the window and spat at him.

"Pah!"

The glob of phlegm, weak and pathetic, landed directly on the car door, leaving a damp trail down the side.

"Damn it!" Zhao Rui was furious. He stopped his bike, picked up a stone from the roadside, and threw it with all his might at the car’s side-view mirror.

With a sharp *crack*, the stone hit the mirror dead-on, shattering it into pieces.

The car screeched to a halt, and the doors flew open from the inside. But the moment the occupants poked their heads out and glanced at the broken mirror, they immediately scrambled back into the car. With a heavy foot on the gas, they sped away, the speedometer instantly jumping to a hundred miles per hour.

"Damn, ran into a martial artist!"

Zhao Rui, the perpetrator, felt a bit embarrassed. In his rage, he had forgotten he was a martial artist himself, acting as he would have in his past life—throwing a rock just to scare them, thinking it wouldn't actually hit anything. He never expected that, with his current internal power and immense strength, he wouldn't just break a mirror—he could have punched a hole straight through the car door.

Zhao Rui clicked his tongue, feeling a lingering sense of fear. His temperament was still unstable; his spirit was not firm enough. This was the drawback of having two lifetimes of memories fused together—his soul would often drift, causing him to forget his current reality.

However, Zhao Rui had one advantage: he was good at thinking and reflecting. Knowing his own weaknesses, he could now train with more focus.

Zhao Rui mounted his bike and was about to turn onto the main road when he suddenly caught sight of a group of people rushing out of a nearby alley, wielding machetes. Their aggressive demeanor gave him quite a start. Fortunately, as soon as this group left the alley, they hurried into another dark passage, followed immediately by the sounds of hacking, slashing, and chaotic screams.

Zhao Rui’s expression turned grim. Although he had encountered the "Fire Cloud Cthulhu" causing trouble at the Xiaoyao Pavilion before, where many had been killed, he had been far away and surrounded by others, so it hadn't left much of an impression. But this was completely different. It was like watching a gangster movie and finding it thrilling, but seeing people actually waving blades at each other in front of you was an entirely different feeling.

"Help!"

Just as he was feeling horrified and nauseated, wanting to get away as fast as possible, two people burst out of the alley, covered in blood, stumbling and running for their lives. Their chosen path of escape, however, was headed straight toward Zhao Rui.

Zhao Rui had recovered from his initial discomfort. He quickly grabbed his bike with one hand and, with a single bound, leaped to the side of the road.

The two men had already been slashed several times; they were barely holding on. One of them reached the center of the road and, exhausted, collapsed with a heavy *thud*, blocking a car approaching from behind. The other man didn't hesitate for a second and kept running.

At that moment, their pursuers arrived—a dozen or so fierce thugs wielding knives. The momentum was terrifying.

Standing on the side of the road, Zhao Rui felt his hair stand on end. *Is this really a peaceful world?* he thought. *How can it be this brutal only ten miles outside the city?* Although these people were clearly just common thugs without internal power, their savage posture was far beyond the quiet, settled life within the city.

Just as Zhao Rui prepared to ride away, the sound of police sirens echoed in the distance, and a patrol car came racing toward them. The group of thugs immediately stopped and scattered like birds and beasts.

"Freeze!"

The patrol car arrived in a flash, its tires screeching as it came to a sudden halt. The doors flew open, and a young policewoman in a crisp uniform jumped out, pistol raised. Several other officers followed, stepping out from the other doors with weapons drawn.

The thugs had no intention of listening and bolted. The officers didn't open fire; instead, they gave chase on foot.

Zhao Rui crouched slightly, grabbed a handful of small pebbles from the ground, and gave his wrist a subtle flick. In an instant, the pebbles shot out like bullets, striking the Huantiao acupoints of the fleeing thugs. Their legs instantly stiffened, and with cries of pain, they tumbled to the ground.

Seeing this, the officers pounced, pinning the men's arms behind their backs and dragging them to the roadside.

Zhao Rui didn't linger. He leisurely mounted his bicycle and continued along the road toward the city.

By the roadside, the female officer, having finished calling for reinforcements, looked around with beautiful, puzzled eyes. Aside from the passing cars, she didn't find anything unusual and could only shake her head in confusion.

...

That night, the stars were embedded in the curtain of the sky, and clouds veiled the silver moon.

Zhao Rui, dressed in black and wearing a mask, strolled into an old urban village within the city. This was the exact spot he had passed by after finishing his advancement exam. The sides of the road were still piled high with various types of trash, and the buzzing of flies and mosquitoes made the already dim, yellow streetlights seem even gloomier.

"Brother Hong? Why did you choose to meet in a place like this?" Zhao Rui looked at the young man with a scar on his face, who was standing under a streetlight, puffing on a cigarette, and walked over quickly.

Brother Hong cast a cold, sharp glance at him and casually flicked the cigarette butt to the ground. "Follow me."

Zhao Rui gave a soft "oh" and followed closely behind.

The two circled around a small path and gradually delved into a narrow alley. The sides of the alley were lined with shops, and various snack stalls emitted clouds of steaming heat. Many customers were scattered in front of the storefronts—all of them with shirts off, revealing dragon and phoenix tattoos, behaving in a crude and casual manner. Shouts and curses rose and fell one after another.

Brother Hong said nothing, walking straight past the crowd. Zhao Rui dared not look around too much; he only cast a couple of glances before looking away.