Chapter 3: A Youth’s Heart Like Iron
The three watched Madam Lu leave the front hall, put on shoes and depart, yet the atmosphere inside the room remained stagnant.
The events from ten years ago had left a huge scar in everyone’s heart. All they could do was try their best not to touch it, but Madam Lu insisted on bringing it up repeatedly, as if afraid they would emerge from the shadows and welcome new life!
After a long while, Lu Xin let out a long sigh and said to Lu Yun, “Yun’er, don’t take it to heart. Your mother is just like this; there’s no way around it…” He truly had no way to deal with it; otherwise, he wouldn’t have gone years without daring to employ even a single servant, just afraid she would suddenly lose control and say things she shouldn’t.
“Younger Brother…” Lu Ying also looked at Lu Yun with heartache. Although the two had no blood relation, after ten years of living together day and night, Lu Yun had long become her own flesh-and-blood little brother in her heart.
“Mother has been much kinder to me these years…” Lu Yun forced a smile, not wanting Lu Xin and Lu Ying to worry. But his hands hidden in his sleeves were tightly clenched into fists, veins bulging on the back of his hands.
“Mm, you are a good child…” Lu Xin looked at Lu Yun, at a loss for words amid a thousand things to say, so he could only force a smile and say, “Let’s eat quickly.” With that, he picked up his bowl and began eating with chopsticks.
The brother and sister also picked up their chopsticks and ate in silence, but this meal was tasteless as chewing wax; no one tasted any flavor.
After the meal, Lu Ying poured tea for her father and younger brother, took a light sip of the emerald green tea soup, and Lu Xin softly asked Lu Yun, “Has your body had any abnormalities lately?” Hearing her father ask this, Lu Ying also looked at Lu Yun with concern.
Lu Yun seemed to have completely calmed down, shaking his head with a faint smile. “Father, don’t worry. I have no abnormalities.”
“Good as long as there’s none.” Lu Xin seemed to set aside a worry and instructed, “That cultivation method is too unorthodox; never touch it again.”
“Father, rest assured; I understand.” Lu Yun nodded in agreement.
.
Before nightfall, some bailiffs came to pick up the Commandery Lieutenant. The brother and sister saw their father to the doorway. Lu Xin took the straw cloak offered by Lu Yun, looked at him with a complex expression, wanted to pat his shoulder, but never extended his hand. He let out a long sigh and said, “There is an assignment at the yamen. I won’t be home for a while; you two must take good care of Mother and not stoop to her level.”
Lu Yun noticed Lu Xin’s action and couldn’t help but dim in expression, lowering his head and saying, “Father, just rest easy. Mother is usually very good.”
Lu Xin nodded, draped on the straw cloak, stepped on the mounting block, and flipped onto the horse. The bailiffs then led the horse out of the alley, and the sound of hooves gradually faded into the rain.
Only when Lu Xin’s figure was no longer visible did the brother and sister turn back. The gatehouse was already lit, and under the dim yellow light, Lu Ying examined her younger brother’s handsome, clear-browed face. Lu Yun, looked at by her, felt somewhat guilty and said, “What?”
“You really haven’t practiced that cultivation method again?” Lu Ying stared tightly into Lu Yun’s eyes, afraid of being deceived by him.
“Of course.” Lu Yun chuckled, moved his arm a bit, and said gently, “We’re together every day; Elder Sister should know best if I’m normal or not.”
“No problem during the day, but who knows at night.” Lu Ying habitually propped her chin with her finger, looking uneasy. “These next few nights, I have to watch you!”
“Elder Sister…” Lu Yun’s mouth twitched, embarrassed. “What joke are you making…”
“What’s wrong? When you were little, didn’t you sleep in the same bed with me every day?” Lu Ying said matter-of-factly.
“But I’m sixteen now!” Lu Yun said helplessly. “Is that still appropriate?”
“Uh…” Lu Ying’s pretty face reddened, also realizing it was improper, but she still wouldn’t yield verbally. “In my eyes, you’re still that little brat who needs me to coax you to sleep!”
“Say whatever you want…” Lu Yun rubbed his forehead, unsure who exactly hadn’t grown up.
Lu Ying finally gave up the plan. The brother and sister parted at the end of the corridor, and she still worriedly instructed Lu Yun: in any case, absolutely never practice that kung fu again.
Lu Yun naturally agreed repeatedly until he returned to his room. Once he closed the door, the mild smile on his face vanished completely.
Lu Yun’s room was furnished extremely simply: one bed, one low couch, one low table, one cabinet. On the couch were neatly stacked books, and on the low table were brush, ink, paper, and inkstone along with an incense burner—nothing else besides.
Wearing only white socks, he knelt sat on the low couch, lit a furnace of incense, and then sat upright there quietly. The incense was true Champa agarwood, with the effect of calming the mind and clearing the heart. Whenever he felt restless, he would light incense and sit silently like this.
But today, even after one stick of incense burned out, he still couldn’t calm the pain in his heart; instead, his expression grew ferocious!
Madam Lu’s words lingered endlessly in his ears. At the time, he had truly wanted to roar out loud: How could I possibly forget? How could I forget that great fire ten years ago! My birth mother was burned alive right before my eyes!
Although ten years had passed—accurately, nine years and six months, three thousand three hundred and four days!—he recalled that great fire every single day! Lu Xin treated him extremely well, and Lu Ying had given him the greatest warmth, but this could not erase the trauma in his heart. Instead, as time passed, that hatred grew ever more profound and unforgettable! The flames of rage accumulated in his five viscera, and over the long years, they had engraved the two words “revenge” onto every bone in his body!
Without avenging this, I swear not to be human!
The flames with nowhere to vent turned into a heavy palm strike on the low table! With a boom, the hardwood low table, hard and heavy, was smashed into flying splinters and shattered into pieces!
A peal of spring thunder crashed, covering the noise inside the room.
Lu Yun’s emotions finally calmed. Ignoring the mess before him, he lifted the cushion on the couch, pressed a few spots on the sofa board, and with a few creaking sounds, a secret compartment about a foot square appeared on the couch. Inside the secret compartment were two booklets, one black and one yellow. Lu Yun picked up the black booklet, gazed at it for a moment, then put it back. Only then did he take out the yellow one and place it properly on his knees.
The book had a cover of yellow silk, with four seal script characters on the cover: Mysterious Yellow Manual. The paper used was extremely expensive; after flipping through it for so many years, it still showed no wear.
This was the thing Xiahou Bubai had desperately sought but never found. Lu Xin had hidden it on Luofeng Mountain and only quietly returned there after fully half a year to retrieve it and hand it to Lu Yun.
This book was passed down from the Founding Emperor who established the Great Xuan Dynasty. The cultivation method recorded in it was extremely profound, utterly different from the martial arts routines of the noble clans, and had always been taught only to imperial family descendants.
What Lu Yun cultivated was the supreme ultimate art recorded in the manual—Imperial Extreme Profound Cave Skill. According to the manual, after reaching Great Perfection, this cultivation method could even aspire to the Heavenly Dao! After Lu Yun began cultivating it, his progress was indeed rapid, one year of his hard practice equaling several years for others, with strength improving extremely swiftly!
But in this one or two years, he had encountered great trouble. Every time he circulated qi at full power, afterward he would suffer unbearable pain. And as his cultivation method grew deeper, the pain doubled!
A year ago, Lu Ying heard abnormalities in his room, pushed the door open, and saw Lu Yun curled into a ball, veins on his body wriggling like earthworms, his whole person like he had been fished out of water. Lu Ying was terrified and quickly called Lu Xin. Lu Xin thought he had suffered qi deviation and wanted to help circulate qi to calm him, but the moment his hand touched Lu Yun, he was struck like by lightning and violently flung back!
Lu Xin was stunned. Four years prior, he had already advanced to Earth Rank Grandmaster. Though without defense, Lu Yun hadn’t targeted him either! How could he be so easily flung away?!
Lu Xin knew this was already a situation he couldn’t resolve and could only watch Lu Yun endure the torment with his daughter, extremely anxious. It took half an hour before it gradually subsided.
Afterward, father and son seriously reviewed this Imperial Extreme Profound Cave Skill. Lu Xin’s view was that this cultivation method was profoundly mysterious, with too many parts needing comprehension without a master to guide; cultivation would definitely go wrong! And Lu Yun’s symptoms were undoubtedly just that—if he continued forcing cultivation, he would certainly suffer qi deviation!
From then on, Lu Xin forbade Lu Yun from practicing this cultivation method again. But Lu Yun’s cultivation of other methods in the manual, as well as the Lu Clan’s hereditary ultimate arts, all progressed slowly, with cultivation even showing signs of regression.
Lu Yun absolutely could not accept such a result. He knew how terrifying his enemies were! Without world-shaking martial arts, there would be no hope at all for revenge!
So what if he endured inhuman pain? It wasn’t even a tenth of the torment from his inner wounds!
So what if qi deviation? As long as he could get his great revenge, then let him enter devilry!
Therefore, he soon firmed his resolve and continued secretly cultivating this Imperial Extreme Profound Cave Skill!
