Chapter 154: Letter Of Challenge
Now Lu Lin could no longer dodge easily. It was impossible for him to keep his feet off the ground, and small dodgings and shifts wouldn’t work either. Every time, he had to use all his strength to barely dodge the two guards’ front-and-back pincer attack and up-and-down strikes…
Such consumption was too great. Lu Lin risked his life, dodging more than a dozen attacks, but finally his movement lagged, and he was ruthlessly struck on the calf! But this guy was extremely tough, actually enduring the blow forcefully, holding steady without moving an inch!
Immediately after was another club strike. Lu Lin still held strong, then the third club, the fourth… He took a full dozen or so strikes before he could no longer support himself and fell to the ground. The two heavy iron locks also crashed down, kicking up countless dust.
“One incense stick…” Lu Wei glanced at Lu Lin, not concealing the appreciation in his eyes.
Lu Lin finally breathed a sigh of relief, finally feeling the pain in his legs, making a hilariously grimacing face.
Lu Wei ignored him no longer, turning his gaze to Lu Yun, the only one left in the field. This genius disciple in the Vice Sect Master’s mouth was holding a pair of the heaviest iron locks level with both hands, his feet almost not leaving the ground, only his body swaying like dry grass in the wind, looking precarious, yet always barely grazing the edge of the two guards’ attacks, avoiding their big clubs.
The two guards, seeing they had struck for so long without touching Lu Yun at all, felt some anger rise in their hearts. No longer caring if they might injure him, they all used full cultivation, wielding their wooden clubs so fast that only afterimages could be seen, attacking Lu Yun from front and back without leaving him a single gap!
Who knew that Lu Yun would twist his waist slightly, his body spinning like a top behind one of the guards. The two guards immediately crashed into each other. It was already impossible to retract their moves, so they could only grit their teeth and clash head-on. With a bang, neither dodged the other’s club, both crying out in pain as they fell to the ground.
“Good!” Lu Song and Lu Bai, seeing this, felt extremely satisfied and actually shouted “good” together loudly.
“You two, go up too!” Lu Wei grinned ferociously. The two guards who had just dealt with Lu Lin raised their wooden clubs and pounced toward Lu Yun. The two fallen guards ignored their pain and quickly got up. Four of them surrounded Lu Yun from all four sides, four wooden clubs whistling as they wove an airtight net, leaving him nowhere to escape!
Only to see Lu Yun let out a long whistle, unexpectedly leaping more than a zhang high into the air, dodging the four wooden clubs’ attacks. Then, with a tap of his toe on one guard’s top of the head, he jumped out of the surrounded again.
The four guards were stunned, Lu Lin and the other two were stunned, and Lu Wei was equally dumbfounded! Lu Yun was holding iron locks weighing over three hundred jin! This was absolutely not something an ordinary Black Rank could do; it required true qi throughout the body to be extraordinarily abundant, at Black Rank Peak where one could impact the Ren and Du Meridians at any time!
Lu Wei stared dead at Lu Yun. If this kid could continue repeating such actions, it wouldn’t be just Black Rank so simple…
However, after jumping out of the surrounded, Lu Yun tossed the iron locks to the ground and raised his hands in surrender. “I have no strength left.”
“Here it comes again, damn you…” Lu Lin and the other two saw him playing slick again and couldn’t help but shout noisily.
Lu Wei said nothing more, though. He vaguely guessed that Lu Yun might be hiding some secret on his body, and that secret was the real reason Lu Xian took him as a disciple. But Lu Wei had no intention of probing deeply; that might displease the Vice Sect Master.
‘No matter what, for the Lu Clan to produce a top expert is nothing but beneficial with no harm.’ Lu Wei thought so, then said flatly, “That’s it for the morning. Go eat.” Saying so, he glanced at Lu Song and Lu Bai, chuckling strangely. “You two continue practicing here.”
“Sigh…” Lu Song pretended to sigh, but his actions were not sloppy at all. He and Lu Bai picked up the stone locks again, shouting loudly to the guards holding clubs, “Again!”
Their true qi had not recovered much, so naturally they couldn’t persist long and were constantly knocked down. But every time they were knocked down, they immediately crawled up, gritting their teeth and persisting to continue.
‘I must quickly close the gap with Lu Yun, or how can we happily play together in the future?’ Lu Song’s whole body ached terribly, supported only by a single thought.
‘Fourth Brother is so formidable; if I, the Older Brother, am too lackadaisical, it’ll be too embarrassing!’ Lu Bai was even more determined.
Seeing the two so desperate, Lu Yun and Lu Lin looked at each other, the latter grinning. “Share fortune and hardship together.”
“Just what I wanted.” Lu Yun nodded. The two didn’t leave the training field either, picked up iron locks, and practiced together with their two brothers.
Watching this scene before him, Lu Wei couldn’t help but recall more than a dozen years ago, how he and Older Brother, Lu Xia, Lu Xin, and a few close brothers willingly suffered together, endured hardships together, without any complicated thoughts…
But in the blink of an eye, at their current age, everyone had their own calculations, and they could no longer return to that state with each other…
‘I hope these kids can keep going like this…’ Lu Wei was somewhat sentimental in a daze for a long time. When he came back to his senses, he saw Lu Song and Lu Bai with ashen faces and chaotic breathing, clearly having long reached their limits.
“Enough, overdoing it is as bad as underdoing.” Lu Wei raised his hand slightly. The four guards immediately stopped, saluted the four, and said respectfully, “Offended.”
Lu Song and Lu Bai let go, dropping the stone locks. Their faces were deathly pale, unable even to lift a finger.
Seeing the two about to fall to the ground, Lu Yun and Lu Lin hurried over, each supporting one.
“Don’t rush to eat. Quickly meditate and circulate qi,” Lu Wei instructed in a deep voice. “There will be great benefits!”
Lu Yun and Lu Lin hurriedly helped the two sit down, adjusted their postures, and the two desperately mobilized the faint trace of true qi just born in their dantian, laboriously circulating it through a heavenly cycle. They only felt everywhere the true qi passed was like being pricked by needles or cut by knives, unbearably painful.
But after the earlier torment, their tolerance for pain had greatly increased. With that stubborn willpower, they completed one heavenly cycle of true qi circulation. On the next circulation, the pain gradually lessened, and their expressions gradually relaxed.
Only then did Lu Yun and Lu Lin relax, also sitting cross-legged nearby to regulate their breathing and circulate qi.
.
After an unknown time, Lu Yun was interrupted from circulating qi by a thunderous sound and slowly opened his eyes. Looking up at the sky, he saw the autumn sun warm and bright, and he couldn’t help but wonder, “How can there be thunder on a clear day?”
“It’s rumbling here…” Lu Lin had long stopped circulating qi, pointing at his belly with a bitter smile.
“Oh…” Lu Yun realized, and with Lu Lin’s reminder, he also felt starving.
At this time, Lu Song and Lu Bai also opened their eyes, thick joy appearing on both their faces.
“What, real progress?” Lu Lin widened his eyes.
“I feel the true qi circulation much smoother!” Lu Song nodded heavily. Lu Bai also said in a deep voice, “Not sure if it’s an illusion, but I feel my meridians have strengthened!”
“Of course not an illusion,” Lu Wei laughed proudly. “Martial artists must constantly break their own limits. I was forcing you to reach your limits, creating opportunities for breakthroughs.” Saying so, he gave Lu Yun a glance. “Pity some people just don’t appreciate it; really disheartening. Alright, go eat.”
Lu Yun smiled embarrassedly, pulled up Lu Song and Lu Bai with Lu Lin, and the four headed to the dining hall together.
At the dining hall, the meal had gone cold. The four were all starving, didn’t bother having the servants reheat it, and wolfed it down indiscriminately.
Right in the midst of devouring, a Martial Guard Department manager came in and presented a dark blue letter to Lu Wei. Lu Wei glanced at the letter and tossed it to Lu Yun with a laugh. “People fear fame as pigs fear fat; this saying is spot on.”
Lu Yun picked up the letter to examine it. Lu Song and the other two craned their necks over, and seeing the letter, laughed. “So it’s the challenge letter from the Investigative Bureau!”
“Let me see who’s seeking humiliation.” Lu Lin snatched the letter, opened the envelope, and saw the challenger’s name, immediately widening his eyes. “Xie Bo, it’s him!”
