My Martial Dao Has No Bottlenecks

Chapter 12: Chapter 12: Triple Kill

One day later, Liang Cheng stood before the wharf warehouse, a Wooden Token from the Martial Arts Hall hanging at his waist.

The Steward sent by the Town Protection Station was a man with triangular eyes named Liu Qi. His polite words carried a probing tone: "Young Hero Liang, you are young and promising. From now on, we’ll be counting on you here at the wharf."

Liang Cheng nodded. "I’ll do things by the book."

His task was simple: patrol the wharf’s cargo area daily, mediate disputes, and apprehend thieves. There weren’t many opportunities for a fight, but he had to keep his eyes and ears open to prevent any incidents.

However, trouble started at noon the very next day.

A commotion erupted over at the fish market. When Liang Cheng rushed over, he saw a dark, skinny fisherman surrounded by three ruffians, his fish basket overturned on the ground.

"You old bastard, this month’s wharf fees are due!" the lead ruffian yelled, kicking the fish basket over.

The fisherman knelt and kowtowed. "Master Chen, the catch was small this month. Please give me two more days. Just two days, I swear I’ll..."

"Two more days?" The ruffian grabbed him by the collar. "Then what the hell am I supposed to tell the Station? Who around here doesn’t pay their wharf fees?"

The onlookers watched from a distance, but no one dared to step forward.

Liang Cheng walked straight over. "What’s going on?"

The ruffian turned around. Seeing it was a Disciple from the Martial Arts Hall, he immediately let go and forced a smile. "Master Liang, this old timer owes his fee and won’t pay. We’re just doing things by the book."

Liang Cheng looked at the fisherman. "How much does he owe?"

"Th-thirty cents."

Liang Cheng took out thirty cents from his robes and handed them to the ruffian. "It’s settled."

The ruffian was taken aback. "Master Liang, this..."

"Or would you rather I write a note for you to collect the money from the Martial Arts Hall?" Liang Cheng asked, his tone flat.

The ruffian’s expression changed. He hurriedly took the money. "It’s settled, settled!"

With that, he and his men slipped away.

The fisherman was about to kowtow again, but Liang Cheng helped him up. "From now on, just bring me a few fish from your catch for my drinks. We’ll call this an advance payment."

The fisherman left, thanking him profusely.

On the second floor of the adjacent warehouse, Liu Qi watched through a crack in the shutters and said to the person beside him, "This Liang Cheng certainly knows how to handle people."

"Master Qi, should we..."

"No need," Liu Qi said, narrowing his eyes. "He’s one of Yang Wei’s Disciples, and he’s young. He might just become someone important in the future. It’s better to build a good relationship with him than to make an enemy."

That evening, as Liang Cheng was heading back to the Martial Arts Hall after his shift, he paused at the entrance to an alleyway.

Deep within the alley, two dark figures were whispering.

"The Black Reef Island side is starting to apply pressure. We have to gather enough people before the end of the month."

"How many more are we short?"

"We need at least three more skilled fighters. After Liu Biao went missing, the heat is on, so it’s not a good time to be looking for more desperados."

Liang Cheng held his breath, concealed behind a wall.

"Hurry up and push them! Don’t mess this up!"

The voices faded as the two hurried away.

Liang Cheng waited until they were far away before slowly walking out of the alley.

’There’s definitely something going on here, but it has nothing to do with me. For now, I should just focus on my Cultivation. Strength is the only thing that truly matters.’

When he got back to the Martial Arts Hall, he heard the THUD! THUD! of someone hitting a training pile.

It was Big Head.

Liang Cheng stood in the shadows, watching Big Head strike the wooden pile again and again.

His posture was wrong and his force was scattered. He was just stubbornly muscling through it. Sweat had soaked most of his coarse cloth shirt, and his shoulder was already bruised black and blue.

’Such tenacity... If I didn’t have the Mayfly Life Chart, would I be just like him?’

"Your core is collapsing," Liang Cheng said suddenly.

Big Head froze. He turned to see it was Liang Cheng and quickly stopped. "Brother Cheng..."

"Pile training isn’t a fight to the death," Liang Cheng said, walking over and pressing a hand to the small of his back. "Right here, you have to keep it taut when you exert force. You relax on impact, scattering seventy percent of your power and injuring your back."

He demonstrated as he spoke, his back slightly arched and his shoulder resting lightly against the wooden pile.

"Watch closely. You don’t just slam your shoulder into it. You use your waist and legs to channel the force up your entire spine."

As he said this, he twisted at his waist and hips.

"THUD!"

The wooden pile let out a muffled sound and didn’t move an inch, but dust rained down from its surface.

Big Head’s eyes widened. The strike had looked light, yet all the force had been driven deep into the pile.

"You try again."

For the next hour, Liang Cheng went out of his way to instruct him, correcting Big Head’s mistakes.

"For the next few days, practice exactly as I’ve told you. If your Pile Skill still doesn’t improve, then never mention the words ’martial arts’ again. Just go home."

After saying his piece, he turned and headed for the back courtyard, not waiting for Big Head’s reply.

’I can help him for now, but not forever. Ultimately, Big Head has to rely on himself.’

...

「Late at night, on a desolate beach.」

The thudding of an Iron Sand Bag echoed within a reef cave. His skin didn’t change color as it had with the Stone Skin Style; this was merely for tempering his physique.

After finishing his Cultivation, Liang Cheng returned to the Martial Arts Hall.

Early the next morning, Zhou Hu, Zhao Yuan, and three other Disciples set out together. The Town Protection Station had apparently requested help from Yang Wei, who ended up sending the five of them to eliminate a group of bandits.

Zhou Hu was a Dark Force expert. Barring any surprises, he was more than capable of protecting the other four. Had Liang Cheng not accepted the patrol assignment, Zhou Hu would have brought him along.

Liang Cheng didn’t mind. He continued to patrol by day and focus on his Cultivation by night.

「Two more days passed in this way.」

That night, well after Midnight, Liang Cheng was swinging an Iron Sand Bag onto his back when a flurry of chaotic footsteps suddenly echoed from outside the cave.

’More than one person.’

He froze, silently pressing himself into the shadows against the cave wall.

"Quick, this way! Those bastards from the Martial Arts Hall shouldn’t be able to catch up!"

"Damn it, how did Boss Jiao get taken down? The goods are lost, too..."

"Less talk! Find a place to hide first!"

Three dark figures stumbled into the reef cave.

A bit of moonlight filtered in, revealing three soaking-wet men, each one injured. The leader was Scarface, who had a deep gash on his left arm that was still bleeding.

Behind him followed a short man who looked like a monkey, Skinny, and a burly, one-eyed man.

All three of them were armed. Scarface carried a Fish Spear, Skinny held a short blade, and the one-eyed man wielded a chipped axe.

Liang Cheng held his breath.

’Probably Sea Bandits,’ he thought. ’Desperados escaped from Black Reef Island.’

"Let’s catch our breath here for a bit," Scarface said, slumping to the ground. He tore off a strip of cloth to bind his wound. "We have to find a boat before dawn."

Skinny sidled closer. "Brother Feng, what do we do now?"

"What else can we do?" Scarface spat a bloody glob. "Boss Jiao is dead and the goods are gone. We focus on surviving first, then we’ll figure out how to contact our benefactors..."

"If our benefactors find out the goods are gone, will they..." Skinny’s voice sounded weak.

Scarface shot him a glare. "Then we won’t let them find out. We’ll just say the Martial Arts Hall intercepted the goods, and we barely escaped with our lives."

The one-eyed man suddenly spoke up. "This cave smells of medicine."

All three of them instantly became alert.

"Who’s there?!" Scarface grabbed his Fish Spear, blew on a flint to light it, and illuminated Liang Cheng, whose bare torso was smeared with ointment and who was still holding an Iron Sand Bag.

Skinny stared for a moment. "Someone practicing Hard Skills?"

A vicious glint appeared in Scarface’s eyes. "Kid, what did you hear?"

Before the words were even out of his mouth, the one-eyed man was already swinging his axe. Liang Cheng, ever vigilant, advanced instead of retreating and blocked the attack with the Iron Sand Bag in his left hand.

"BANG!"

The axe head sank into the sandbag, and iron sand spilled out with a RUSH. Liang Cheng seized the opening to close the distance, pulling a dagger from the small of his back with his right hand and stabbing straight for the one-eyed man’s heart.

The one-eyed man scrambled back, blocking with the handle of his axe. Scarface and Skinny attacked at the same time, their coordination seamless—the Fish Spear thrusting for the waist and the short blade slashing at the legs.

Liang Cheng’s core suddenly tensed as he activated his Stone Armor Skill with all his might.

"SHIING! SHIING!"

The Fish Spear and the short blade scraped across his skin but only left two white marks behind.

The faces of all three men contorted in shock.

"Hard Skills?!" Scarface exclaimed in horror.

"This one’s a tough nut to crack! All at once, and don’t hold back!"

In that split second, Liang Cheng made his move. He flicked his left hand, flinging the lime powder he had ready in his palm directly into the faces of Scarface and Skinny.

"AHH—!"

The two men clutched their eyes and screamed in agony.

Seeing his chance, the one-eyed man swung his axe horizontally at Liang Cheng’s neck. Liang Cheng ducked and charged forward, the axe blade grazing the back of his head and slicing off a few strands of hair.

He slammed into the one-eyed man’s chest and drove his dagger up through his chin.

"SQUELCH!"

A gurgle rattled in the one-eyed man’s throat as he fell backward. Though his eyes were still stinging with pain, Scarface’s savage nature took over. Acting on instinct, he thrust his spear at Liang Cheng’s chest.

Liang Cheng sidestepped, letting the Fish Spear scrape past his ribs. He grabbed the spear’s shaft with his left hand, fully unleashed his Fierce Bull Force, and slammed a fist into Scarface’s temple, splattering his brains.

Seeing this, Skinny was scared out of his wits. He turned and fled toward the mouth of the cave. Liang Cheng snatched up the one-eyed man’s axe, swung it wide, and threw it.

"THWACK!"

The flat of the axe head smashed directly into the back of Skinny’s skull. He pitched forward onto the ground, motionless.

The cave fell instantly silent.