Chapter 485 Taking up the Broadsword to Protect Those in Need
“I’m in noodle heaven if there is one!”
After finis.h.i.+ng 10 bowls of beef noodles at one go, Li Mu wiped his mouth with satisfaction.
At that moment, something suddenly occurred to him and his face froze.
“Fu*k! I don’t have any money with me. What should I do?”
“I’m the G.o.d of Broadswords. How can I dine and ditch here?”
“Now this is awkward.”
Fortunately, those who ran the noodle restaurant were an old couple in their 50s. They had kind eyes and a benevolent face. As soon as they saw Li Mu’s expression, they understood what was going on.
The middle-aged man, who already had some white hair and was wearing a dark blue ap.r.o.n, smiled at Li Mu and said, “Son, I’ve been selling noodles in the old district of Jade Gate City for at least 15 years, but I’ve never seen anyone eat my noodles like you. It’s obvious that you’re not here to beat the check. Haha, you must have been starving, but you have no money with you? Haha, it’s okay. You can come back and pay me when you are in easier circ.u.mstances.”
Li Mu was rather embarra.s.sed.
“What a mess have I made!”
After he suddenly returned to Earth, Li Mu hadn’t yet gotten used to it.
“Son, you must haven’t had meals for three days and three nights, am I right?”
“Judging by your dressing style, you can’t be from the martial arts world, can you? Nowadays, it seems that more and more people are skilled at martial arts!”
“Ha, young man, you’re lucky to have met Old Zheng. He is a good-natured man at New Street. If it were someone else, I’m afraid he would have already called the police.”
The rest of the diners in the restaurant also laughed and turned to look at Li Mu.
Apparently, the way Li Mu devoured bowls of noodles had shocked the other diners and so they all studied Li Mu with curiosity.
“Thank you very much, Uncle Zheng. I was indeed very hungry, but I won’t owe you any money. I’ll go to the ATM to get some money and come back in a minute.” Then, Li Mu got out of that restaurant in a hurry.
He strolled up and down the street and finally went to a jewelry shop. He pushed the door open and went in.
In the shop, two women in their 40s were chatting at the back of the counter. They were talking in the local dialect of Jade Gate City, and Li Mu could barely understand it.
“Madam, does your shop take gold?” Li Mu asked, going straight to the point.
The woman with curly hair took a glance at Li Mu and said, “Yes, but the price we offer is a little cheaper than the normal one.”
Li Mu nodded. He rummaged in his storage s.p.a.ce and took out a gold ingot that he had brought from the Divine Land and put it on the counter.
“Such a big piece?” The curly-haired woman was startled.
The other woman also stood up. She went to the counter, surveyed Li Mu a few more times, and questioned, “Boy, where did you get this gold? If it’s stolen goods, we can’t accept it.”
Li Mu smiled and said, “Don’t worry. There is absolutely no problem with the gold.”
“Then, wait a second. I’m calling our manager here to examine it.” The curly-haired woman turned around and went out from the back door of the jewelry shop.
Li Mu waited patiently.
Meanwhile, he was also feeling and exploring the laws of heaven and earth on Earth.
The laws of heaven and earth in this world were obviously different from that on the planet of the Divine Land. If a martial artist of that world came to Earth, he would probably lose even nine-tenth of his strength, and his realm and combat capability would be greatly reduced as well.
Li Mu’s strength had also been affected.
He felt that his combat strength was probably still less than one-third when he was in a peak state.
But even though the laws of heaven and earth were different, as Earth and the planet of the Divine Land were in the same universe, their laws all led in the same direction. After all, the source of the Way was the same. As a figure standing at the peak of the martial arts field on one planet, how wise and observant Li Mu was?
“It’ll take me at most a year to get back to the peak level. That’s not a big deal.”
Even with only one-third of his strength left, he was already able to dominate this planet. He would have no problem even if he was fighting against a powerful country. On today’s Earth, his strength was basically invincible.
Therefore, Li Mu was not worried at all.
He was very relaxed at the moment.
“Eh?”
Li Mu’s countenance suddenly altered slightly.
Because just now, to his great surprise, he found that he could feel faint wisps of Spiritual Qi flowing in the air.
Although compared with that on the Divine Land, the fluctuation of Spiritual Qi was much weaker, it was still quite abnormal, for Li Mu remembered that there was not even a little shred of Spiritual Qi on Earth before he left.
“What has happened?”
If the Spiritual Qi had existed on Earth five years ago, Li Mu could have practiced the Xiantian Skill and the Zhenwu Boxing on Earth, instead of having to be teleported to the Divine Land by the old faker.
“Could it be that the Spiritual Qi is also recovering on Earth?”
“Or has something else happened?”
Li Mu came to register that there might be some changes on Earth that he had not expected.
Previously in Uncle Zheng’s noodle restaurant, some people teased that Li Mu was from the martial arts world. At that time, Li Mu thought that he was just joking after watching too many martial arts dramas. But now, when Li Mu thought about it carefully, he reckoned that man might be telling the truth.
Because even though the Spiritual Qi on Earth was still very thin and in wisps, it was enough to change some martial artists’ physical qualities and support some rather low-level martial arts Cultivation Method. The skills to fly over eaves and vault over walls and internal strength, which Chinese people had been yearning for, could now be cultivated.
Just as Li Mu was musing, the curly-haired woman returned to the counter with a bald man.
The man checked the gold ingot professionally and tested it with a machine for a while. Then, the bald man said in disbelief, “This is pure gold. It’s very rare… Buddy, this piece of gold is very valuable. Do you have anything else like this?”
Li Mu shook his head.
“Well, I guess that’s not what I can pry.” The bald man smiled. He knew that he should not pose more questions. Then, he said, “Let’s say, I’ll take this piece of gold with the normal price instead of driving it down. Young man, if you still have such impressive goods in your hand, you can come to me at any time.” As he said this, he handed over a business card and added, “I’m w.a.n.g Li, General Manager of Good Fortune Jewelry Shop.”
Li Mu smiled back. He took the business card, unceremoniously pocketed it, and said nothing.
Half an hour later, a backpack with millions of cash was finally handed over to Li Mu.
The bald middle-aged man could not understand why this young man required cash rather than a more secure bank card. After all, there had been several robbery incidents about Jade Gate City recently. Yet, since the guest asked him to do so, he felt no need to ask more.
Carrying the backpack filled with cash, Li Mu randomly picked a shopping mall and bought a set of Li Ning sports suit, and changed into a pair of sneakers. All his old clothes were put back into the storage s.p.a.ce.
After dressing up, Li Mu stood in front of a mirror in the shopping mall and examined himself. He was surprised to see a tall and slender college student, full of heroic spirit, in the mirror. At first glance, that young student was definitely a handsome man with a seemed thin figure but actually quite muscle-built, and he had the air of a national athlete.
Li Mu was very satisfied with his new image.
After he dressed up, Li Mu marched down the road and came back to the Lanzhou noodle restaurant to pay the bill.
However, the moment Li Mu arrived at the door, he saw a group of people gathered at the doorsteps, and the sound of crying and shouting came out from the noodle restaurant.
A harsh, arrogant, and domineering voice was heard.
“Zheng, you are an old businessman at New Street. As we are old neighbors, I won’t blackmail you. But your daughter owes 230,000 yuan to our boss, Zhao. If you pay it off today, we’ll all be fine. But if not, I don’t think your restaurant can be kept in business anymore. And your daughter will have to go to the Jinbi KTV and be a waitress to pay off the debt.”
Several young men in quite flashy clothes quickly hoisted chairs to the door and blocked the doorway of the noodle restaurant.
The man in their lead was in his 20s. He wore sungla.s.ses, combed his sleek hair backward, and looked rather skinny. With a golden necklace hanging around his neck, he pointed at Uncle Zheng’s nose and swore.
Uncle Zheng smiled obsequiously at his said and pleaded again and again.
In the restaurant, there was a girl who looked to be 16 or 17 years old. She appeared to be a student. Her black short hair trimmed just to her ears, and her clothes were neat and clean. She looked quite delicate. But at that moment, her face was written with fear, and she trembled in the arms of Uncle Zheng’s wife, crying and shouting, “I didn’t borrow your money. You grabbed my hand and pressed the fingerprint on the loan receipt. Dad, mom, I really didn’t borrow any money…”
The crowd watching the scene sighed but no one did not dare to say anything.
After hearing s.n.a.t.c.hes of their conversation, Li Mu had a rough idea of what was going on.
They were a gang of local ruffians. They claimed to be in the so-called online loan industry, but in fact, they specifically hara.s.sed students who had no experience in the world. What they had been doing was basically practicing usury, and they had done all sorts of evil in the city for quite a time.
This time, they somehow targeted Uncle Zheng’s daughter. Today, they suddenly came to the door and claimed that the girl, Zheng Xiu’er, had borrowed their money and showed Uncle Zheng a loan receipt which said the adding the interest Zheng Xiu’er already owed them 230,000 yuan. Now, they insisted on forcing Uncle Zheng to pay the money back…
“What evildoers they are! Aren’t Zhang Junzi and his men afraid of being stabbed in the back one day?”
“Is there anyone who can keep them in check?”
“How? I heard that those bullies have a big company back them up.”
“That’s the Longteng Company. It used to be a real estate company. But now, I heard that they have recruited several Wulin masters, and planned to open a martial art club. It’s said that those martial arts masters can fly over eaves and run on walls. They’ve also mastered the hard kung fu, and are impervious to blades and spears. So, they can do whatever they want.”
“Exactly. I’ve been wondering why more and more people start practicing martial arts in the past few years. And they did achieve something in that field. Unfortunately, there are some sc.u.ms among them. Those bad guys are so audacious that they are capable of anything.”
“Yeah. Weeks ago, several hot-blooded young men graduated from the martial arts school in the west village meddled in the business of this Zhang Junzi and his lot. Because of that, a few days later, a guy nicknamed Invincible Iron Palm hunted them down and broke their legs. Now they are still in the hospital.”
“Why not call the police?”
“The police can’t help it either. This group of b.a.s.t.a.r.ds has been taking advantage of the law. They have the loan receipt and lawyers to help them with the lawsuit…”
The crowd of onlookers gnashed their teeth in anger, but they dared not speak out even though they were furious.
Li Mu shook his head.
He parted the crowd and strode towards the noodle restaurant.
“Uh? Boy, what are you doing? Get lost, get lost, today we’re closed…” A gangster with goatees, wearing a baseball suit and holding a baseball bat in his hand, pointed at Li Mu’s nose and scolded.
Li Mu did not look at him, but turned to Uncle Zheng and said, “Uncle, I’m here to pay the bill. I ate your 10 bowls of noodles just now, but I haven’t paid you yet.”
Uncle Zheng quickly said, “No need, no need. Young man, you’d better leave quickly.” He winked at Li Mu for fear that Li Mu would be dragged in the trouble.
Li Mu, however, went straight into the restaurant and said, “How can I do that? I don’t dine without paying.”
“d.a.m.n you, stinky boy. Are you deaf? I told you to get out of here. Did you hear me… Hey, I think you’re looking for a good beat.” The gangster in a baseball suit bellowed. When he saw that Li Mu paid no attention to him, he got a little irritated. Next, he picked up the baseball bat and threw it at Li Mu’s arm, trying to teach Li Mu a lesson.
“You don’t know who you are dealing with.” Li Mu raised his foot without hesitation.
Bang!
The gangster screamed and was kicked to the air, flying for more than 10 meters before hitting the floor. Bent over and lying p.r.o.ne on the ground, he grunted like a dying dog, holding his belly and vomiting. All the food he had consumed yesterday seemed to have gushed out.
At that, the crowd burst into exclamations.
“A kick could send a man flying more than 10 meters away?”
“That young man must also be a martial arts expert, isn’t he?”
The young man with sungla.s.ses, who was sitting on the stool at the door, abruptly stood up. In a second, half a dozen gangsters around him came over and closed in on Li Mu, each of them holding a weapon in their hands.
“Kid, where are you from? How dare you make trouble for my Longteng Company?”
Zhang Junzi, the young man wearing sungla.s.ses, took off his gla.s.ses and revealed a pair of googly eyes. He had a kind of wicked air about him that indicated his overindulgence in wine and women. He stared at Li Mu and looked him up and down. The kick Li Mu just launched made him not dare to underestimate his opponent.
Li Mu did not bother to speak at all. He raised his hand and gave the gangsters a dozen slaps.
Then, before those gangsters could react, they were thrown to the sky by the slaps as if they were a wooden pole being pulled up. All of them got their teeth knocked off and then fell on the ground, lying beside that gangster in a baseball suit, howling like dogs with broken backs.