Chapter 622: Expanding in Troubled Times, Continuing to Swallow Dragons

Troubled times are the most fertile soil for martial artists!

Countless talents from the countryside and towns have gathered in Fucheng to seek opportunities; not only are the martial arts halls on the surface thriving, but the underground black-market fist fighting is also incomparably prosperous.

Industries that require the consumption of human lives are fed until they are bloated and greasy, presenting a deformed, robust state.

News came from the arena that the Blood Tiger Jiang Hua broke through his realm during a fist fight, becoming a Primary Martial Master.

Yet during this period, the number of opponents who died under his fists reached a full hundred, many of whom were greenhorns who had entered the trade in a rush.

Martial arts halls on the surface have even more people lining up every day to join; besides Apprentices and Disciples learning boxing, there is no shortage of desperate Martial Masters recommending themselves, hoping to hang their names under the martial arts halls to teach boxing and make a living.

In reality, there is a profession called 'Boxer', which is a type of Martial Master trade.

After all, not every Martial Master has the opportunity to open a martial arts hall; other Martial Masters also need to eat, and besides working for wealthy families, some rely on teaching boxing for a living.

If they don't have their own martial arts hall, they hang their names under other martial arts halls, which is equivalent to renting a venue to collect tuition fees, while regularly offering a cut.

Lu Zhigang didn't even need to step out personally; the Poison Martial Artists who didn't follow the rules were wiped out by other Poison Martial Artists working together, and the gaps were all filled.

In the, the 'no, one wrong version!'

Other Poison Martial Artists were jealous of his exorbitant profits and not only actively reported him to Chan Juaner but also took the initiative to team up and kill him.

"Hmm, if I let Ying Feng swallow 7 more Poison Dragons, I can break through to the Strong Martial Second Heaven."

The signboard of Daqian Martial Arts Hall holds a not-insignificant status in Fucheng's martial arts circles; no matter how one evaluates it, Daqian Martial Arts Hall has a place.

The Poison Dragon Realm that Lu Zhigang recently practiced was sacrificed to the Ying Feng Swallowing Dragon Art; as the Poison Dragon was devoured, the effect was immediate.

What kind of place is the land beneath his feet? The Wanli Zhaohai, a geomantic treasure land for practicing poison arts! He didn't believe it; if he swallowed another one, ten, or twenty, Ying Feng would surely be able to develop to the level of a fledgling! Therefore, the importance of creating a force has become even greater. Lu Zhigang's three great generals—Inner Disciple Chan Juaner, adopted daughter Lu Chongsheng, and Servant Lineage Qiu Dajun—were forced to take the lead, initially setting up a makeshift team.

Currently, the novice period has passed, and the speed of improvement has officially entered a plateau.

Still the same saying: even the worst order is better than chaos.

Coupled with several secret treasuries and Medicine Fields interrogated from the corpse of Du Taiyue, Lu Zhigang quickly re-cultivated the Seven Step Poison Sand Palm to the level of Primary Martial Master; this time it wasn't a shortcut, but a genuine breakthrough.

Just like that, Lu Zhigang's 'governing by doing nothing' approach allowed the Wandu Swamp Sea to enter a new stage of development after its collapse.

Countless wealth and Duli were handed over to Lu Zhigang through the cut-taking method, filling his treasury.

Lu Zhigang's force had just opened, and with only a few subordinates, he was stretched thin.

After painstaking research, he spent ten days and ten nights, finally getting inspiration from the name of the technique itself.

Calculating the resources on hand, he could at least repeatedly practice the Poison Dragon Realm more than 10 times; at the very least, the Strong Martial Second Heaven was a sure thing.

When the martial arts hall gates are wide open, one must be mentally prepared for guests to arrive.

Although his entire set of techniques had been converted to the Ying Feng Swallowing Dragon Art, his old foundation remained, so it wasn't difficult to pick up the Seven Step Poison Sand Palm and re-cultivate it to the Poison Dragon Realm.

Possessing such power, he could handle the introduction of some outsiders.

There was no help for it; there were too many things to do—practicing boxing, refining medicine, and studying Seal Script; one person split into three wouldn't be enough.

Until one day, "Master, someone discovered the Ying Sha, one of the Nine Insects, entrenched 2,300 miles away, killing quite a few exploring Poison Martial Artists."

As time passed, the cuts taken from the small fry below became more and more frequent.

To say nothing else, the martial arts hall has a Gong Cauldron to suppress its fortune; in Fucheng, only two places have this honor, and one of them is Daqian Martial Arts Hall. Du Yan Lu Zhigang raised his flag and occupied the land, declaring his inheritance of the original forces of the Wandu Swamp Sea; at first, many people were watching, but Du Taiyue never showed his face, so later events went smoothly.

The master of Daqian Martial Arts Hall, Zhou You, is an even more legendary figure with a brilliant resume; he has listened to grandmasters lecture, associated with Strong Martial experts, and is himself a Senior Martial Master who has never lost a battle in his life.

He himself still needs to bury his head in studying boxing techniques; the Ying Feng Swallowing Dragon Art has immense power, and practicing the most orthodox boxing techniques is unlike poison arts, which have shortcuts.

In the past, the martial arts hall only had a few Martial Masters, making it easy for guests to usurp the host, but now it is different; the total number of Martial Masters in Daqian Martial Arts Hall has reached the 10-person mark, and most of them are a core team cultivated personally, loyal and reliable.

Forgot about this part.

Facing these visiting Boxers, Zhou You signaled Zuo Shier to use his ability to weed out those with ulterior motives and keep the suitable Boxers.

Ying Feng Swallowing Dragon, once it breaks out of its shell by swallowing a dragon for the first time, it can continue to swallow indefinitely, developing infinitely.

A phantom of an Ying Feng spread its wings, its mouth clamping onto the twisting and struggling Poison Dragon; the poison gas evaporated and dissipated, never able to harm it.

Taking a 50% cut on everything, cutting half upon meeting, made the Poison Martial Artists grumble incessantly, and privately they gave him a nickname: 'Lu the Half'.

These three Boxers lived in the Outer Courtyard with several disciples; they didn't compete with the martial arts hall for business, catering to those Apprentices learning boxing for the short term, and usually were responsible for guarding the martial arts hall and driving away madmen who came to cause trouble.

During this time, many Boxers also came to visit, wanting to rely on Zhou You's name to teach boxing.

Such a backer is a scarce resource that everyone flocks to.

He didn't use Du Taiyue's old methods—that was slavery and unacceptable—so he simply opened up the various areas of the Wandu Swamp Sea, letting the Poison Martial Artists move freely to collect minerals, poisonous items, and so on; he only took a cut, and not much, just 50%.

As days passed, the number of disciples in Daqian Martial Arts Hall reached the 6,000 mark, and the number of Martial Masters exceeded two digits.

At first, there were Poison Martial Artists who were resentful that the cut was too high, deliberately concealing income to pay less, and some even spent a lot of money to buy Storage Pockets for smuggling; they were discovered after only a few attempts.

The number of returning Poison Martial Artists increased, and many originally restricted areas were opened, making the collected medicinal herbs and Duli increasingly abundant.

Originally, the number of people under Lu Zhigang was pitifully small, and he had already prepared for the situation where Poison Martial Artists wouldn't follow the rules and would secretly conceal income to withhold the cut, but he didn't expect there to be surprises.

"Chirp!"

Finally, with Qi Qingdi and Zuo Shier stepping forward to preside, Daqian Martial Arts Hall added 3 Boxers.

Sure enough, the best way to control is to let the bottom layer fight among themselves and check each other.

As the hall master, Zhou You became increasingly reclusive, leaving daily affairs to Qi Qingdi and Zuo Shier to handle.

After the Du Taiyue incident, his Nine Insects were left unattended, wandering throughout the Wanli Zhaohai.

As the Poison Martial Artists explored deeper and touched the activity range of the Nine Insects, they immediately hit a wall; in the past, as Du Taiyue's poisonous insect pets, the Nine Insects treated ordinary Poison Martial Artists as snacks, so how could they be polite to them?

Upon learning the whereabouts of the Nine Insects, Lu Zhigang had an idea.

If his Poison Dragon Realm, fused with the Nine Insects through poison pet palm power, were fed to Ying Feng to swallow, wouldn't the effect be even better?

(End of chapter)