Chapter 153: Friends And Brothers
In the afternoon, Lu Ying went shopping in the South Market again and bought a whole bunch of food until Lu Yun’s neck was hung full of things, then she contentedly headed home. After arriving home, she took off her shoes, leaned over to rub her sore and numb calves, and smiled at Lu Yun: “Alright, little brother, you won’t have to worry about me for at least a month. I’ll stay obediently at home and not go out to cause trouble.”
Lu Yun was stunned upon hearing this; it turned out elder sister knew everything…
“Elder sister, don’t worry, such days won’t last too long,” Lu Yun looked at Lu Ying apologetically and guaranteed her: “Soon, no one will dare to have designs on us anymore!”
“Mm!” Lu Ying’s smile bloomed like a flower. She reached out to rub Lu Yun’s head and sweetly laughed: “Elder sister believes you!”
Lu Yun also smiled and nodded.
But after returning to his room, the smile on Lu Yun’s face vanished completely. He sat cross-legged on the low couch, clenching his fists tightly, secretly resolving himself: to let elder sister soon live like an ordinary girl, able to freely go shopping and outing, he must become even stronger and more ruthless! He had to make it so enemies wouldn’t dare entertain even the slightest thought against his family!
.
The next morning early, he appeared by the Luo River Bridge. Lu Bai and the other two were already waiting there. Seeing him, they hurried over to greet him. Lu Lin laughed heartily: “I told you, with old fourth’s temperament, he definitely wouldn’t rest even one extra day!”
“If it were me, I’d definitely rest two more days before saying anything.” Lu Song also grinned as he walked to Lu Yun’s side. Together with Lu Lin, one on each side, they wanted to hook their arms around his shoulders like usual.
“Don’t be rude!” Lu Bai scolded upon seeing this, saying in a deep voice: “Lu Yun is going to teach us on behalf of the master; we must show him respect.” With that, he cupped his fists and deeply bowed to Lu Yun.
“…” The two immediately froze there and hurriedly tried to retract their arms. But Lu Yun grabbed them, draped his arms around their shoulders, rolled his eyes at Lu Bai and said: “If he wants to show respect, let him. We’re not doing that nonsense.”
Lu Song and Lu Bai relaxed upon hearing this, hugged Lu Yun tightly, and burst into laughter: “Exactly, exactly! We’re blood brothers connected by tendons even if bones break—what’s the point of all that formality!”
“Little Bai, Lu Yun and we are blood brothers, so you have to show us respect too.” Lu Song winked mischievously at Lu Bai. The three then left him behind and walked forward laughing.
Lu Bai awkwardly scratched his head, quickly caught up, and kicked each of the three on the butt, laughing and cursing: “Get lost, I’m the older brother!”
“Hahaha!” Lu Song laughed and retaliated: “You just said to show Lu Yun respect, and now you’re kicking his butt!” The four laughed and horsed around together until they reached the Lu Ward doorway, then called a halt, straightened their attire, and walked in.
At the training ground, Lu Wei was already waiting there. Seeing Lu Yun, he laughed: “Why’d you come over? Not going to watch bamboo with your master?”
Lu Yun smiled bitterly to himself, thinking: ‘My master isn’t watching bamboo now; she’s watching me instead.’ But on the surface, he respectfully replied: “The vice sect master is accustomed to quiet; she told me to go every other day.”
“Then you’re still under my charge?” Lu Wei was overjoyed upon hearing this. Rubbing his fists, he sized up Lu Yun: “Now I can properly gauge just what level the peerless genius the vice sect master speaks of really is!”
“Right! You must properly gauge him,” his few heckling friends chimed in from the side: “This kid definitely didn’t show his true skills before—he was deliberately slacking off!”
“Uh…” Lu Yun looked helplessly at the three and sighed: “You all should still show me respect…”
“Get lost…” The three laughed uproariously, ignoring him. “No village after this one!”
But soon, they couldn’t laugh anymore, because Lu Wei’s upgraded devil special training wasn’t aimed only at Lu Yun—it was evenhanded, and none of them could escape.
Before, Lu Wei had just varied the training with all sorts of equipment, but today, live people were added…
When the four, per Lu Wei’s instructions, lifted iron locks or stone locks of varying weights and held their arms level, four Lu Clan guards holding wooden clubs appeared behind them.
Lu Wei sneered at the four bewildered youngsters: “No more just standing dumbly today. You must maintain flat arms under the club attacks, holding at least for the time of one incense stick. Whoever can’t hold gets no breakfast.” With that, he ordered in a deep voice: “Begin!”
As soon as Lu Wei spoke, the four guards simultaneously swung their hard jujube wood clubs at the four’s calves.
“Whoa, for real?!” Lu Song yelped strangely, hurriedly jumping to dodge, but forgot he was holding a pair of iron locks totaling the weight of an adult man’s body. His jump height was naturally less than half usual, and he was swept on the heel, crying out and falling flat on his face.
The other three dodged the strike with a shift, but the second blow came right after. Busy fending for themselves, how could they have time to mock him?
“Get up!” Lu Wei gave Lu Song a glare, not expecting the kid to be so useless.
“Mistake, pure mistake.” Lu Song rubbed his heel, grinned sheepishly as he picked up the stone locks, stood, and said to the club-wielding guard: “Guard big brother, go easy!”
The imperial guard nodded, then swung the club with a sharp whistling wind at Lu Song’s belly—hitting even harder.
Lu Song dared not play antics anymore. He hurriedly circulated his whole body’s true qi, flashed forward to dodge the blow. This time he got smart—no more inefficient jumping to evade. Instead, he dodged and shifted almost without lifting his feet, using minimal effort to avoid the shadowing wooden club.
But with his arms still raising a pair of stone locks, his upper body could barely move. Just his lower body twisted and hopped like dancing, looking utterly comical.
Lu Yun and the other two weren’t much better. On the training ground, the four were chased by the guards’ clubs like spinning tops, rotating on their axes while orbiting—making Lu Wei laugh heartily. While laughing, Lu Wei gloated: “See how long you can spin!”
Sure enough, before half a stick of incense, Lu Song and Lu Bai were nearly done for. Just standing and flat-raising stone locks, the two could already proficiently control true qi consumption without wasting their inner true qi, naturally sustaining a long time.
But under club attacks, flat-raising heavy stone locks while dodging and shifting—they couldn’t control true qi flow at will. Their inner true qi consumed rapidly by instinct, at a speed many times faster than before.
Finally, their steps grew heavier and heavier, unable to dodge the whistling clubs anymore. They were successively knocked sprawling awkwardly. But this didn’t mean Lu Song had caught up to Lu Bai, since the latter’s iron locks were twice as heavy as the former’s stone locks…
The two had empty meridians throughout their bodies, not a trace of true qi left. They could only lie on the ground exchanging bitter smiles—breakfast was off the table…
Lu Wei ignored these two embarrassing guys, eyes fixed on Lu Yun and Lu Lin who were still dodging and shifting. Lu Lin had entered black rank two years ago; his understanding and control of true qi naturally far surpassed Lu Song and the others. Through constantly challenging experts, he’d long comprehended how to control true qi without meaningless consumption amid fierce fighting. So he still looked calm and composed, as if he could hold out much longer.
Not to mention Lu Yun.
“What are you standing around for!” Lu Wei glanced at the two guards who had dealt with Lu Song and Lu Bai, flatly saying: “All together!”
The two guards obeyed, hurriedly raising their clubs again to join the fray. Now, it was two clubs per person…
“Cheating!” Lu Lin yelped.
