The Zoo

Bang! Bang!

His legs slammed into the tree continuously. Chi Qiaosong was working hard on the 12 Paths Spring Kick. Before this, he had already practiced several rounds of Crazed Bull Heavy Fist and Yu Sword Skill.

And he had also guided the Purple Cloud Serenity several times to regulate the Qi in his body.

He always felt that the successful completion of these introductory physical martial arts might not be the limit. He wanted to use the benefits of spirit roots' upgrades, combining internal and external skills together to push forward and challenge the limit.

However, no matter how hard he sweated over the practice, he didn't feel the limit whatsoever.

Either completion was already the limit, or the opportunity for enlightenment could only be given but not worked for.

When it was completely dark, Chi Qiaowu came over with a flashlight to tell him it was time to go home for dinner. The farmhouse was only a place to practice martial arts and sleep. There was no stove to do the cooking.

"Let's go."

Chi Qiaosong kept busy while he was still thinking about it on his way.

There were three kinds of martial arts in this world: the advanced martial arts that brought peace to the world; the intermediate martial arts that ensured individual peace and health; the beginner martial arts that could defend against attacks.

Beginner martial arts corresponded with external skills, which was the bay tree that grew in the field. Intermediate martial arts corresponded to internal skills, that was, the Saturn peach tree, which grew in the field. But he did not yet know what advanced martial arts corresponded to and what other spirit roots would grow in the field.

Furthermore, in addition to the spirit root source that corresponded to the three martial arts foundations, were there other spirit root sources waiting to be discovered?

He already had an external spirit root, the Rainbow Gourd Vines, which could produce spirit treasure gourds; what magical uses would this spirit treasure possess? If other external spirit roots were to be found, what would they do?

All in all, everything made him look forward to what the future might bring.

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"It's still the same thing, Chi Qiaosong. I don't think you are suited to practice the Fierce Tiger Heavy Fist; you get the forms but not the essence. Why don't you talk to Chief Hao and switch to another type of martial arts?"

Chi Qiaosong would inevitably hear this kind of negative comment in the military academy when he followed Xu Jingyang in practicing the Fierce Tiger Heavy Fist.

However, he had been working at it for a month and had not yet gotten the hang of the Fierce Tiger Heavy Fist. Although he looked pretty impressive when he went through the motion, he lacked the spirit to make the moves come alive.

"Mr. Xu, what about Xi Longlong?"

"Better than you." But after Xu Jingyang finished saying that, he added in disgust, "But, it's all relative... There really aren't many students with good potentials in this class; so much worse than the next county."

Chi Qiaosong did not deny that his own martial arts talent was less than ideal.

But he didn't give up. "Mr. Xu, be patient with me. I think the Fierce Tiger Heavy Fist is very suitable for me, I'm just stuck at a juncture, and I haven't found a way to break through it yet."

"You are pretty confident about yourself. But let me tell you from my experience as an instructor. Sometimes you get stuck at a point and are stuck there for the rest of your life."

"No, I have a feeling that I'll be able to get past it soon."

He refused to believe that he couldn't grasp the tricks of the Fierce Tiger Heavy Fist.

As long as he could get a hold of a little bit of its spirit, he could pile on with fertilizers and get to the achievement of the Fierce Tiger Heavy Fist.

"It's up to you, but I'm going to be brutally honest with you. You didn't pay enough, so I'll teach you another week, at the very most. You know what to do when the time is up, right?"

"A week, I feel, is enough."

"Hey, I didn't realize that you are so good at bullshitting." Xu Jingyang took a sip of tea from the teacup and waved his hand. "Class is over."

After the class finished and just as he was wiping off the sweat.

Li Weiwei was already waiting for him outside. "Qiaosong!"

"Have you bought the tickets?"

"I got them."

"I'll give you the money for them."

"You don't need to."

"Take it, or we can't be friends." Chi Qiaosong handed the money over to him.

Li Weiwei had no choice but to take the money, but then he grinned. "If you consider me your friend, then okay, I'll take the money." He had been trying hard to befriend Chi Qiaosong just to be considered a friend.

That afternoon, the two got on the bus and went straight to the Fuliang City Zoo.

They didn't arrive at the station until well after dark.

"This bus is really rickety; it is not so good. I heard that Pingjing City and Songhu City both have subways, and they say that it's really like a railway underground. The trains can run under the city buildings. My goodness, they say it's fast and stable." Li Weiwei looked very envious just for the thought of it. "Qiaosong, say, when do you think we will have an underground railway like that in Fuliang City?"

Chi Qiaosong was very familiar with the subway system.

He took it a lot for school and work in his last lifetime.

He said lightly, "Caisang, the provincial capital, may have a chance in ten years or more. As to Fuliang City, forget about it. Its population and economy are not up to par. Building the subway will only be a waste of money and workforce."

Li Weiwei echoed in a low voice, "Yes, our Commander Zhu loves mining the most but is not so interested in building roads."

The newspapers had given Commander Zhu a new nickname recently: Commander Mine.

The labors and efforts that were mobilized to explore the mines in the Great Striding Region had paid off; they did find a lot of resources, including mines for coal, iron, tungsten, natural gas, and rare-earth minerals.

As a result, several mining projects were introduced.

They were preparing to conscript strong candidates from the civilian population and recruit migrant workers to go mining.

In the past, the Chi family would have been living in fear again that someone in the family would be conscripted. Once upon a time, Mr. Chi and Mrs. Chi had both been conscripted and worked six years in hard labor.

Now that Chi Qiaosong had been promoted to a wrestler, his family was exempted from conscription, and they no longer had to worry about being conscripted.

"Mining is a good thing. It shows that Commander Zhu is ready to take root in the Great Striding Region and will vigorously build it up instead of just recruiting troops and warring to make money."

The two of them spoke quietly for fear of being overheard by the others.

The political atmosphere of Daxia Republic was a relatively high-handed one. It preferred those with no business in political affairs to stay out of it. Therefore, although the people were keen to discuss current affairs, they had to be very careful.

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They took a rickshaw from the station and went directly to the only zoo in Fuliang City.

It was almost ten o'clock when they arrived, and the zoo had already closed. Li Weiwei banged on the door of the guardhouse until an old man came out cursing. "Who the hell is it? You don't sleep at night, but come to bother me! The zoo is closed already, and there is nothing to see here!"

"Sir, it's me, do you remember? We had already agreed, and I have the money!" Li Weiwei took out a bundle of cash, which appeared to be at least thirty dollars or more.

"It's you, young man." The old guard was quick to grab the cash. Then, he looked at the two suspiciously, "Don't tell me that this kid next to you is the wrestler you told me about?"

Li Weiwei puffed up his chest and said, "Of course, my brother here is a genius."

Chi Qiaosong took out the wrestler's identification cooperatively.

The old guard looked carefully before he opened the door. "It's fine if you are a wrestler. I'll open the tiger's cage for you, but I'm not responsible for you getting yourself killed in there. In addition, if you kill or harm the tiger, you must pay for it."

"Understood, hurry up."

Chi Qiaosong came to the zoo for the express purpose of experiencing the tiger for himself.

In the practice of the Fierce Tiger Heavy Fist, he got the form but not the spirit. Therefore, he got the idea of experiencing the tiger himself. But, after searching high and low from the First Ridge to the Tenth Ridge, he had seen neither tigers nor leopards.

There were cats in the village, but he couldn't get anything by looking at them, so he decided to try his luck at the zoo.

A tiger in a cage was still a tiger, nonetheless. Maybe after observing it directly close-up, he could comprehend the true spirit of the Fierce Tiger Heavy Fist.

The old guard opened the door to the cage and warned him again with some worry. "Okay, remember, I'm going to lock the door. If you are being bitten to death inside, I'm not responsible for it. If you hurt the tiger, you are monetarily responsible for that."

Chi Qiaosong nodded as he stepped into the tiger's cage.

It was really not a cage, but a small courtyard for the tiger, with only one skinny tiger inside. At that moment, the tiger was sleeping in the concrete shed, and there was a strong urine smell around it.

Click.

The old guard quickly locked the door and waited outside with Li Weiwei.

Chi Qiaosong covered his nose and walked directly into the concrete shed. Under the illumination of the dim light, he could see the scrawny tiger that was sleeping and snoring.

The tiger had lost its innate alertness after being kept in the cage for a long time.

When Chi Qiaosong stomped his foot on the ground a little harder, the scrawny tiger suddenly woke up, quickly got to its feet, jumped to a corner, and stared at Chi Qiaosong with cloudy eyes.

It seemed a little confused and did not understand how this man had come so near it.

It was not time to eat yet!