Chapter 4: The Struggle Among Young Men

  Time flies, and on a certain morning a month later, Mu Chengzhi went to the Red Maple Martial Arts Hall to teach martial arts, Lin Hui also went to the market to exchange the woven fabric for some household items, leaving Mu Feng alone in the courtyard practicing his skills.

  Since breaking through to the initial stage of Lian Ti, after tasting the sweetness of practicing martial arts, Mu Feng's enthusiasm for practicing has been rising, and he hasn't gone out to play in over a month, instead staying in the yard to continue his bitter practice.

  The master of the Hong Feng Wu Guan had actually agreed to let Mu Feng go to the Hong Feng Wu Guan to learn martial arts and waived all fees, but "Mu Feng" was slow to join the ranks of warriors and proactively applied to withdraw from the Hong Feng Wu Guan, staying in his own courtyard to practice.

  A figure emerged silently from outside the courtyard and appeared behind Mu Feng, suddenly throwing a punch at Mu Feng who was practicing his skills.

  Feeling the attack from behind, Mu Feng turned around and also swung out a fist. The two small fists collided, making a loud "bang" sound, causing quite a commotion.

  However, the opponent's strength was obviously much higher than Mufeng's. The figure didn't waver at all, but instead, Mufeng retreated seven or eight steps in a row.

  A robust and slightly chubby-faced young man stood in front of Mu Feng, with a slightly silly smile on his face, who was none other than Mu Feng's only friend, Yang Zhan.

  Yang Zhan lives near the Mu Feng's house, his father Yang Sheng is also a martial artist of Red Maple Martial Arts School, and their family condition is slightly better than Mu Feng's. The two families are quite close, so Mu Feng and Yang Zhan have a good relationship.

  "Mu Feng, how did you become so powerful now?" Mu Feng's performance made Yang Zhan somewhat astonished.

  Yang Zhan and Mu Feng were of the same age, but he had already reached the middle stage of the Refining Body Realm, which was quite impressive among his peers. He originally wanted to tease Mu Feng a bit, but the result turned out to be beyond his expectations.

  Although he had left some strength, Mu Feng still surprised him. The Mu Feng three months ago would have been knocked down with just a light punch, but now it only made Mu Feng retreat seven or eight steps.

  "After three days, one should look at each other with new eyes. Can't you even understand this?" Mu Feng's mouth corners slightly curved upwards, forming a slight arc.

  "Cut it out, stop showing off your pretentious words in front of me. With my mid-stage cultivation level, I can easily take you down with just one casual strike." Yang Zhan sneered, somewhat disdainfully.

  "Boast, you'll die if you don't boast!" Although Mu Feng said this with his mouth, he knew in his heart that the difference between the early and middle stages of Body Refining Realm was indeed very large. One person taking on ten others wasn't impossible.

  "Why didn't you go to the martial arts hall to practice? Are you slacking off? Be careful, I'll tell Uncle Yang." Murong Feng said with a smile.

  "It's okay, yesterday I won fifth place in the small tournament at the martial arts hall, and Master Meng allowed us to take a rest day." Yang Zhan explained hastily, seemingly afraid of his father.

  "Speak up, what's the matter? Don't disturb me while I'm practicing." Murong then gave the order to withdraw. Although Murong was now only a fourteen-year-old youth, in his mind he was already an adult and looked down on such childish brawls, and indeed had some distance from Yang Zhan.

  "Didn't you find a cave in Luoshen Peak before and said you'd take me inside to explore?" Yang Zhan looked around cautiously, making sure that the Mu Chengzhi couple was not at home, then leaned over to whisper to Mu Feng.

  As soon as he heard the three words "Luoshen Peak", Mofeng was shocked. Since his transmigration, he had never been to Luoshen Peak. In the memories left by "Mofeng", there were fragments about Luoshen Peak, but they were not very complete, as if a memory had been erased.

  As for that cave, Mu Feng didn't know its exact location either, how could he take Yang Zhan there?

  Mo Feng thought for a moment and then shook his head, saying: "I'm not going, my parents don't allow me to go to Luoshen Peak again."

  This time, Mufeng did not lie. Since Mufeng's physical recovery, Mu Chengzhi had warned him three to five times that he could no longer go to Luoshen Peak.

  Jianmu Feng didn't want to go, Yang Zhan was somewhat angry: "Mufeng, you're too ungrateful. We agreed before that you'd take me there, now you're backing out and have no sense of loyalty. If you won't go, I'll go myself."

  Muttering a couple of sentences, seeing that Mu Feng still hadn't responded to him, Yang Zhan's face turned red with anger as he turned around and was about to leave.

  "Without me, do you know where that cave is?" Mu Feng's mind stirred, and he grabbed Yang Zhan to ask.

  "Didn't you take me there once before?" Yang Zhan said with a still puffed up face and an unpleasant tone.

  "Alright, I was just teasing you earlier, can't I go now?" Mu Feng said with a pretended helpless tone.

  Yang Zhan was after all just a fourteen-year-old boy, and immediately turned from anger to joy, saying: "Really? Then let's hurry up!"

  Afraid that Feng would change his mind again, Yang Zhan dragged him out of the door, but just happened to meet Lin Hui who was returning from the market. Lin Hui saw the two of them rushing out of the door and asked: "Where are you going?"

  "Auntie, I'm going out to play with Mu Feng." Yang Zhan said and then dragged Mu Feng around the corner, disappearing without a trace. Lin Hui watched their backs disappear, shaking her head with a helpless smile.

  The two of them walked quickly to the southern end of Hongfeng Town, which was the only path leading to Luoshen Peak.

  However, the two of them soon saw that four boys were beating up another boy by the side of the road. The boy was lying on the ground with his whole body curled up into a ball, his hands covering his head, and the four boys were punching him, while he let out continuous cries of pain from his mouth.

  "Not good, something's happened, that damned Jiang Meng again." Yang Zhan cursed, while pulling Mu Feng to quicken their pace.

  "Jiang Meng, stop right there!" Yang Zhan shouted loudly, rushing forward and punching the four young men back, shielding the one who had fallen to the ground behind him.

  Those four young men were forced back by Yang Zhan's punch, but they didn't make another move. Instead, they took two steps back in a coordinated manner. The leading young man sneered: "Yang Zhan, mind your own business."

  Yang Zhan turned his head and said to the young man who was lying on the ground: "Hou Bao, are you okay?"

  "I'm fine, thank you Brother Biao." The young man got up from the ground and looked fearfully at the four boys opposite him.

  Mufeng also got to know the young man present through these two months of contact.

  The boy who was beaten was named Hou Bao, thin and weak, timid and afraid of trouble, but his cultivation was not weak either, reaching the early stage of the Great Perfection of Refining the Body.

  However, Mu Feng didn't have a very good impression of him. He was the typical kind who would fawn on those stronger than himself and bully those weaker than himself. Several times he had even coldly ridiculed "Mu Feng".

  However, Hou Bao was a distant relative of Yang Zhan's, and as his elder cousin, Yang naturally couldn't ignore him.

  The young man in the lead was Jiang Meng, with a strong and sturdy physique, but his eyes occasionally revealed a hint of venom, making it clear that he was not a kind person. The three people behind him were all his younger brothers.

  Hong Feng Town has a group of young people, the largest number is led by Jiang Yong and Jiang Meng brothers. They are also the sons of local families in Hong Feng Town who are relatively wealthy and powerful. The Jiang family is also the first family in Hong Feng Town, which is because the Jiang family produced a strong Shaper Boundary cultivator.

  When a martial artist reaches the peak of the Hua Qi state, they have the opportunity to enter the third layer of the martial arts realm - the Zao Xing state. A martial artist in the Hua Qi state is already considered a top-notch expert in Red Maple Town, but a martial artist in the Zao Xing state can be called an invincible strongman in town.

  For nearly a decade, Hong Feng Town had not produced a strong Shaper, but this situation was broken by Jiang Wen of the Jiang family. Jiang Wen entered the Shaping Realm several years ago, and the Jiang family prospered because of him.

  As the Jiang family rose to power, the Jiang clan also became increasingly arrogant. The group of young people led by the Jiang brothers seemed to look down on Feng, Yang Zhan and others, often deliberately provoking conflicts with them.

  "What's going on?" Yang Zhan turned his head and asked Hou Bao.

  Hou Bao quietly recounted the events. It turned out that when he met Jiang Meng and others, a young man on the opposite side deliberately bumped into him, but Jiang Meng said he was looking for trouble, so he beat himself up.

  "Jiang Meng, are you intentionally picking a fight? Do you think Hou Bao is easy to bully? If you want to fight, then let's fight." Yang Zhan said angrily after understanding the situation. Jiang Meng was also in the middle of the Refining Body Realm, so Yang Zhan wasn't afraid of him at all.

  "Alright! Since you've delivered yourself to my doorstep, I'll teach you a lesson." Jiang Meng rolled up his sleeves and a hint of sinister smile flashed across his face.

  The two men glared at each other, and the atmosphere on the scene suddenly became tense.