9 Heavenly Thunder Manual by Deng Tian (九转雷神诀 - 邓天)

[omgitsaray]

Ch 20 - Alluring Guest At Night

"Sister Ying Ying’s admiration of you is like an endless surging river, so I brought her here to meet you, get to know each other a bit." Liu Hao's voice wasn’t that loud, just loud enough for them both to hear each other.

*Splash!*

“Master! Stop playing around!" Liu Hao took a cloth from the side, wiping the juice from his face with it.

"You stop playing around! That's a dirty dish cloth!"

“Ah crap!”

“What are you doing? Bringing such a beautiful girl to my home in the middle of the night!”

"Master, you still don’t understand?" Liu Hao raised an eyebrow, with a malicious smile, then said: "Previously, we were together at a bar drinking, she then asked me some things about you.”

“How does she know about me?”

"She was there during your awesome performance at the competition! Then she asked me to give you a call, to see if you were free, and then we came. I also want to know what she’s up to.” Liu Hao made an evil smirk.

"What on earth were you thinking! Don’t do stuff like this!”

"What are you so afraid of! You possess all the charms and qualities of what a man should have, handsome looks, nice body, very powerful, these are very typical things that women are attracted to.

Lei Yu started frowning, not replying to his nonsensical disciple, then went out holding the juice. He then handed the juice to Cui Ying Ying.

“Thank you!” The soft sweet voice made Lei Yu’s body experience a numb feeling, like it was quietly attacking his spirit.

“Excuse me…” Although Lei Yu felt that asking this was a bit difficult, but he still asked anyway. “Is there something I can assist you with this late at night?”

As the small mouth sipped the cup of juice, Cui Ying Ying sweetly smiled and said: "I’m really attracted to you, I hope to become friends with you.”

"Ah!" Lei Yu opened his mouth and his jaws dropped to the ground.

"I saw your competition the other day, you’re so powerful, just by raising your hand you were able to break that guy’s arm." Cui Ying Ying apparently was still reminiscing that day's match.

“Thank you.”

“I also know your life story, being kicked out from a prominent family would be really difficult for one to accept, but that's okay, you are very strong and persistent, I really admire you.

“Thank you.” Lei Yu did not know what else to say.

"At school, I have thousands of people chasing after me, but I’ve never really paid any attention to them. It has nothing to do with family rules and such, it’s just that I think they are a group of inferior people, they don’t possess any real ability or anything outstanding, but you’re different.”

"I'm sorry, I... right now, I don’t intend on having a girlfriend!" Lei Yu had to stress that this issue had nothing to do with Cui Ying Ying being not beautiful enough. As higher-intellect mammals such as humans being faced with such an impulsive confession, one may just blurt out what they really wanted. But for Lei Yu, he could not because inside his heart, there was already someone very important.

"It doesn’t matter." Seeing Lei Yu with an embarrassed expression, Cui Ying Ying laughed: "We can slowly get to know one and another for now. I’m going to leave now, Liu Hao, what about you, are we leaving together?”

“Oh? Uh, sister Ying Ying, you go ahead and leave first, I still have to talk to master about some stuff.”

Sweetly smiling, Cui Ying Ying slowly strutted her long beautiful legs towards the front door. Lei Yu even forgot to see her off, but she did not seem to care too much, opening the door and leaving by herself.

"Master, you’ve really won the jackpot! I did not expect sister Ying Ying to be so direct! This is something I’ve never seen in my entire life!" Liu Hao had a weird grin on his face.

“You *******! Why didn’t you give me some advance notice of this introduction?”

"I was thinking, if I didn’t say anything and you were cultivating while completely naked, then that scene with sister Ying Ying..." Liu Hao squinted his eyes, daydreaming what a splendid show that would have been.

“You’re courting death!” Lei Yu turned around, raising his hand ready to strike, "Ouch! Mercy master! I now know I was wrong! Ouch!”

Liu Hao did not stay for too long, he was there only to briefly introduce Cui Ying Ying to Lei Yu.

This beautiful young girl was a second year student at the Tenglong University. Normally there would be quite a few guys going after her, but she just ignored them all, she was considered the school’s ice queen. How many people wished they could use their flames to melt that layer of ice, but the results were quite predictable.

Cui Ying Ying’s family could not be compared to the four major forces in prestige, but in the country of Tenglong, they were considered not bad. The had a national chain of jewelry stores and the store names all contained "Cui Ying" in them.

In the eyes of all the students, this wealthy princess was similar to a sparkling diamond. Not only did she have an appearance that stimulated a man’s urges, but she also had a prominent family.

Lei Yu was a bit puzzled, this son of the Governor chased after him desperately because he wanted to learn his martial arts. Strangely this Cui Ying Ying was also attracted to him because of his strength. It seems like becoming strong is indeed a good thing. When his thoughts switched to Ai Er, Lei Yu firmly shook his head.

After getting rid of those distractions, Lei Yu squeezed the jade pendant hung around his neck. After exhaling a long breath, he removed all his clothes and sat down cross-legged.

His internal energy was vast and endless, this torrential momentum of energy circulated throughout his meridians. Although this way of cultivating was considered a bit crazy for a typical practitioner, if one was to accidentally fracture a meridian, then it will become an irreparable fault of themselves. Lei Yu was not afraid of this because he had the mysterious green energy guarding and escorting, paving a smooth path without any barriers.

While absorbing the trace spiritual energy in the air, Lei Yu’s body suddenly trembled, “this... what is going on?”

A warm energy from the outside began entering into his body. And this energy did not have any impurities whatsoever, so the yellow bead’s assistance was not needed at all. Lei Yu carefully experienced this pure energy, and then was surprised to find out that it came from the jade pendant.

Rejoicing in his heart, Lei Yu concentrated onto the pure energy entering his body, and with ease, Lei Yu was able to control it.

The Sea of Energy inside his dantian continuously devoured this energy, similar to a ghost that died of hunger would never get full in the afterlife, absorbing the energy like crazy. (T/N: Chinese belief of why people should always die with a full stomach)

Lightly spitting out some turbid air, in this dark night, the piece of jade pendant gave of a crystal clear emerald green light. Lei Yu’s consciousness was involuntarily drawn to the jade, the ground and the sky suddenly rotated, plunging him into a world of darkness.

Lei Yu looked all around, there was nothing but darkness and he was standing all alone in the midst of it. Such a scenario would indeed cause one to feel some surprise and fear mixed in, but this was only within his awareness so Lei Yu was not at the point of being too afraid yet.

Within the dark space, a small light suddenly appeared. This light gradually became brighter and Lei Yu subconsciously took a few steps forward. This was a full moon!

“Would there be any relevance with the ‘moon’ word on the jade pendant?”

Under careful observation, Lei Yu determined his conclusion was correct. The full moon gradually rose higher up into the air, and its soft warm light shone a white beam directly onto Lei Yu. A warm and comfortable feeling covered every inch of Lei Yu’s entire body.

It was because of this comfortable feeling that Lei Yu could not miss out on this opportunity, he started to absorb it. This soft and warm energy being absorbed into Lei Yu’s dantian would actually cause his cultivation level to have a tremendous growth.

This was the power of a full moon? Why would it appear within this piece of jade pendant? Lei Yu could not figure out these questions, but since it helped him improve his level, why not just ride the wave to wherever it goes.

Absorbing this soft and warm energy into his body gave him a kind of excitement. Because of this kind of unprecedented comfort, Lei Yu focused all his efforts onto the feeling. As time progressed, his internal energy gradually increased at frightful speeds, and eventually Lei Yu’s abdominal area began to have a bloated feeling.

“Oh no! I have to immediately stop absorbing!”

If he did not immediately stop, then his internal energy being at maximum capacity could make his whole body expand, there was a chance he would explode! Lei Yu had read about this experience before in some scrolls. How much internal energy one could sustain was based on their strength. If one’s strength was not up to par and there was too much internal energy, then that energy would become uncontrollable. That person would ultimately die from self explosion.

“How come I can’t get out?" Lei Yu's head was covered in sweat, he could not figure out how to withdraw his consciousness from the jade pendant.

[omgitsaray]

Ch 21 - Clearing Away The Clouds

The warm energy continued entering his body. It appears this warm energy was an nightmarish illusion and the most scary thing behind all of this was the fact that it was continuous and unceasing. If his consciousness doesn’t break away from this soon, his life will likely end today!

Lei Yu messed up big time! No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t do it. "What should I do? What should I do? Do I really want to give up my life at this point?”

The most surprising thing to Lei Yu was that they mysterious green energy that had always been protecting him was now hiding somewhere, not even the slightest hint of its whereabouts. If this powerful energy did not help him out, then the consequences would be disastrous.

At the most crucial moment, inside his mind a powerful yellow energy suddenly exploded forth. This force was like a sharp sword, cutting off his consciousness with the full moon within the jade pendant.

Lei Yu suddenly awakened from the trance, his hands on the ground supporting his body while he gasped for air. Sweat was continuously dripping from his body onto the wooden floor.

When gasping for air, Lei Yu felt his body tremble. After calming his breathing, he monitored his internals once again, his consciousness deliberately bypassing the jade pendant that was resting against his chest.

Inside his dantian area, the powerful energy was constantly surging around forming a vortex, and in the middle of the vortex, Lei Yu was able to see and electric net like threads slightly shimmering. A loud “Ka cha" sound was heard, startling Lei Yu.

Clearly remembering he was still in the mid-stage of [Integration], from the current changes he could detect inside his body, and according to the cultivating methods imprinted into his mind, it was similar to being in the fourth stage [Energy Suppression]. What on earth was going on?

The purple energy inside his dantian area began to settle down as the lightning elements calmed down. Like a machine suddenly unplugged, it was lifeless inside, not even a slight tremor, it was now completely different from the past.

Lei Yu swallowed hard, attempting to control his internal energy, his consciousness reaching the Sea of Energy in an instant. His internal energy actually moved around easily according to his will, his control had actually improved by a lot! This meant his advancement was actually true and not in error. The [Energy Suppression] stage was in fact being of stillness, “using calmness to react to an action, waiting carefully to adjust to any scenario.” (T/N: Chinese idiom)

Lightning has a powerful gravitational force, thus the need for mutual attraction of an opposite reaction force in order for his lightning infused internal energy to not leak out.

Meanwhile, Lei Yu noticed that not only were there changes in his Sea of Energy, there were changes in his bones as well. His bone density actually felt heavier.

“What’s going on?”

Under careful observation, Lei Yu realized that the makeup of his skeletal structure had completely changed in nature, now his bones had metallic elements infused inside. In the [Energy Suppression] stage, it required the Yin and Yang to complement each other, undergoing attraction and friction. Making the dantian’s Sea of Energy as the focal point, the bones in his skeletal structure as a counter force, forming an attraction force, this made the emerging internal energy hide his vital status.

Heavily exhaling a breath, he stopped monitoring his internals. Lei Yu stood up, lightly jumped a few times and did not have any heavy feeling. It seems that his bones containing traces of metallic elements inside did not cause too much of a burden. And even though his bones became a bit heavier, this did not cause any reduction in agility for his body.

Lei Yu was overjoyed, "f*cking hell, I had one foot in the grave, scared the crap out of me!”

Lei Yu screamed out this sentence, but thankfully the soundproofing in the apartment was pretty good.

Lei Yu grabbed the jade pendant dangling on his chest, he wasn’t sure if he hated or loved this thing. He almost died from self explosion while being trapped in there, but the benefit it brought allowed him to directly breakthrough a bottleneck. If it wasn’t for the yellow bead’s power that exploded forth at that instant, he maybe a pile of rotting meat spread all over the ground right now.

Lei Yu's current strength - although not at the same level as the Lei family’s master or elder, but if in the same generation as him, he was absolutely sure that no one would be his match

Tidying up everything, he was used to washing up before leaving the house. Lei Yu’s mood was quite good, kind of like having the feeling that he could fly. Making a breakthrough meant he had just become stronger a bit, and this pleasant feeling for him was not something everyone would understand or comprehend.

Outside the military compound gate, Nuo Hu and Ai Er were standing there waiting for Lei Yu.

“I see that you’re in high spirits, your mood is quite good!" Nuo Hu said while raising his eyebrows.

“Why are both of you here?” asked Lei Yu slightly surprised. Ai Er rarely came here so this was a rare encounter.

"Is there a reason why you’re so happy?” Asked Ai Er with pouted lips, slightly unhappy.

“Ai Er, what’s wrong?” Asked Lei Yu a bit confused.

"Is it because last night, a hot girl visited your home that caused this happy attitude? Despicable! Forget about you!" Ai Er pushed her hair back, turned around and stormed away.

“What... what’s going on?" Lei Yu was speechless

“Little Yu, you… *sigh*, what should I say to you?” said Nuo Hu shaking his head.

“Oh my god, you’ve all made a mistake! I… this... “ Lei Yu did not know how to explain at this moment.

"Shortly before, someone named Cui Ying Ying called Ai Er’s cell phone." Nuo Hu then said: "She told Ai Er she wanted a fair competition to see who would get you, after this, do you think Ai Er was happy? For such a long time, did you not know that Ai Er had always liked you? And it just so happens that you appear in this elated mood, you tell me what Ai Er would think?"

Lei Yu was scratching his head with both hands, his mind was suddenly plunged into chaos, while his brain felt like a pot of glue.

"Nuo Hu, you guys misunderstood me! I..." Lei Yu forcefully shook head, "I’m happy because my cultivating level went up a stage, why wouldn’t I be in a good mood right?" Lei Yu slightly frowned, "it must be that bastard Liu Hao who gave Cui Ying Ying, Ai Er’s cell phone number, in fact... I also like Ai Er but just did not know how to tell her, I... I..."

“Go chase after her.” Nuo Hu patted Lei Yu’s shoulder. Lei Yu took a deep breath, then ran after the direction Ai Er went towards.

Dragon Group’s training ground. Ai Er was leaning against a wall, her eyes were a bit dejected and did not know what to think.

“Ai Er, don’t be angry!”

Seeing Lei Yu, Ai Er turned her head away from him, her pink little face was a bit swollen, and was still very cute. Lei Yu was a bit startled, then said: "I didn’t know what you were angry about just then, but now I know, in fact…” Lei Yu lowered his eyes and scratched his head, even though at this point, he still didn’t know what to say?

“In fact what?" asked Ai Er with her clear big eyes staring at Lei Yu.

"In fact..." Lei Yu took several deep breaths, then said: "In fact, that day at the airport picking you up, I had already fallen for you, but I’ve never had the courage to tell you. Just then, Nuo Hu said you also… you also…”

“I also like you!”

Ai Er stepped forward, wrapped her arms around Lei Yu’s neck with such ferocity, face blushing red, then dove into the embrace of Lei Yu.

Lei Yu was in a daze, standing there not knowing what to do. He did not think Ai Er would be this forward, it seems his most sensible choice right now is not to say anything.

Lei Yu raised his arms, lightly resting on Ai Er’s narrow waist in an embrace, enjoying this very comfortable feeling. They could feel each other’s heartbeat and Lei Yu experienced an unspeakable happiness.

In a distance, countless soldiers were looking with jealous and envious stares.

"Let me take you home?" Asked Lei Yu while gently stroking Ai Er’s hair.

Ai Er nodded, in reality her heart beat was jumping around in chaos. Lei Yu borrowed the car keys in Nuo Hu’s hands, then drove Ai Er back home.

“The two of you must be really pleased right now!" Said a teenager approaching the two.

“Xiao Fei?”

"What? Surprised? I just bought a villa here, very honored to become neighbors with you." Said Xiao Fei with his eyes gleaming, relentlessly glaring at Lei Yu with his deep sunken eyes.

"Despicable, such a stalker!" Ai Er then angrily went into the house.

"Lei Yu, I know you've had a miserable life experience, but do you really have to bother Ai Er day in and day out relentlessly? Shouldn’t you think about your status, what makes you qualified to be with her?" Said Xiao Fei forthrightly.

Lei Yu turned around with a blank face and coldly said: "People who insult me will regret it later on, and aren’t you just relying on the power of the Eagle Group’s commander for your status?"

[omgitsaray]

Ch 22 - Genius Of The Lei Family

Lei Yun Tian = Lei Yu’s father
Lei Tian = the one that got his arm broken by Lei Yu at the competition

------------------------------------

"My status is more higher class than yours!" Xiao Fei angrily responded.

“Right, higher class, isn’t Nuo Hu higher class than you? Why do you have to put up a face that makes people disgusted with you?”

Xiao Fei’s cold deep eyes were full of anger now, "get away from Ai Er, otherwise I will give you a horrible death.”

"Get lost! I don’t have time to waste on you!" Lei Yu ignored Xiao Fei’s anger and provocation, walking around him and leaving.

"You just wait and see!" Xiao Fei’s anger completely exploded at the walking away Lei Yu. When he was abroad, he went to school together with Ai Er. A year ago Ai Er returned home, so after begging and pleading, Xiao Fei finally convinced his family to allow him to return home. But now a Lei Yu came out of nowhere, the beauty that was almost within his grasp was intercepted by another person. Xiao Fei promised that he would not let this go without a fight.

---------------------------------------------------

Lei Yu is currently with Dragon Group, which is just one of the many forces belonging to Martial Sect. Inside Martial Sect, all the large and small military units were actually set up by the families of different ancient martial clans. But nevertheless, all these military units are lead by the most powerful Shangguan family.

Although the elite members of Dragon Team only had eighteen members, adding the newly joined Lei Yu this past year made it nineteen. Everyone worked hard continuously cultivating, and Lei Yu cultivated by himself had reached the [Energy Suppression] mid-stage, which also happens to be the mid-stage of the rank Fourth Order Warrior. If he was able to attain the rank of the Sixth Order Warrior, which according to his cultivating methods imprinted in his mind, would be the [Detachment] stage, then what should he do after that? Would that mean he would no longer have any further cultivation methods? But he shouldn’t dwell on this too much because ever since he improved with the help of the jade pendant, he had relaxed his cultivating schedule a bit. Lei Yu sat down cross-legged, and as usual, went into his consciousness, but this time he did not dare to use it to enter the jade pendant. Although the gains were enormous and improved his cultivation greatly, this was still a bit too dangerous for him.

The Lei family household, Lei Yun Tian’s office.

“Master (of the family), the child Lei Yu, are you sure you don’t intend on dealing with him? Asked an elderly person with white hair.

Lei Yun Tian shook his head, “not time yet, definitely not time yet.”

"You should be able to see the situation with Lei Tian was quite clear, especially when Lei Tian himself said that his arm was broken in an instant. This destructive power is not something an ordinary person is capable of, besides, there were traces of a lightning power, could it be..."

"I’ve already thought about this point, the problem is that day, I was the one that gave the order for him to be kicked out of the family. If we go back on our words now, then our family will definitely lose face!" Lei Yun Tian was helpless, the decision that day was too arbitrary.

As a descendant of the Lei family, who happens to have the ability of lightning, there’s only one possibility right now - the original "lightning" brand. In the Lei family, this brand appeared on the third generation’s master of the family, but ever since he had passed away, the brand never appeared anymore in the descendants. Based on Lei Tian’s description, it is likely that Lei Yu could be the Lei family’s ultimate genius that appears once every 10,000 years. That day, Lei Yu was suspected of not having a pure enough family blood line so the flame brand did not appear on him, now thinking about it, not only the master of the family Lei Yun Tian, even the white-haired Elder felt a bit embarrassed. They forced a person who could’ve been the successor to lead their Lei family to the next higher level, right out of the family’s door.

“So master, what are you waiting for?” asked the Elder.

"We have not seen with our own eyes whether Lei Yu is the so called ultimate genius, and also no one has actually seen whether he has the lightning brand or not, so this matter cannot be settled yet."

"Isn’t that easily solved? I’ll just send someone to investigate quietly and then we’ll know?”

"That’s fine then, but this situation should be conducted in secrecy so the other family members do not know about it. You should know, Lei Yu has currently joined Dragon Group, every move we make should be extra careful. This situation should only be known between you and I, pertaining to Lei Tian…, warn him that if he spreads this secret out, then he will be punished according to the Lei family’s rules!”

“I understand.” The Elder turned around and left the office.

Lei Yun Tian looked up and sighed, "I am such a fool! That days decision has really made me beyond regretful. Perhaps it’s all too late now, but I just hope Lei Yu does not hold this grudge against me!”

Lei Yun Tian was completely clear about Lei Yu’s performance ever since he was young. Towards the family, the child did not have any disloyalty. Even when he was identified as not having the family’s brand, he would still put in a lot of effort into improving himself, proving his existence to others. Now that he was kicked out of the family, he wasn’t sure if Lei Yu would hold a grudge or not?

Little did they know, during times unknown to Lei Yun Tian, the little Lei Yu suffered so much humiliation in those five years and survived countless beatings. Even the truth behind Lei Yu jumping off the cliff, he knew nothing of. He had always thought it was the results of Lei Yu being too weak. If he had only knew the truth, then perhaps he would not put any hope in bringing him back into the family.

Unaware of what was happening, Lei Yu continued going on with his life like before. But off to the side, there was a pair of eyes staring and following him wherever he went.

After several days, the person arranged by the Elder to investigate whether Lei Yu had the brand or not, did not make any progress. Mainly he was unable to enter the restricted area of the Dragon Group’s military grounds, since this was a dangerous action he should avoid.

This man hurriedly went into a store to buy something before ending up in front of Lei Yu’s home. While Lei Yu was still at Dragon Group, he picked the lock and opened the front door.

It was currently in the evening, Lei Yu was holding onto Ai Er’s hands, arriving at the front entrance to his home.

"You two are really like love birds!" A voice could be heard by the two. Turning around to look, a voluptuous figure appeared in front of them.

“Cui Ying Ying? Why are you here by my house?” asked Lei Yu.

"You're the one that called me?" Ai Er’s eyes were shimmering, looking at the person in front of her dressed in a sexy mature attire.

"Little girl, I did not expect you to form a relationship this quickly, this truly surprises me." Cui Ying Ying laughingly said.

Lei Yu suddenly became dumb, standing there not knowing what to say. He could not just start cursing her out, after all, Cui Ying Ying did not treat him with malice.

“Brother Yu, let's go, just ignore her.” Grabbing onto Lei Yu, Ai Er angrily walked towards the main entrance of the apartments.

"Hey! I am not giving up, you have to watch your lover carefully, don’t let me steal him from you! Ha ha..." a silvery laughter entered their ears

"Why is she like that? She’s so despicable.”

"Okay, do you think I’ll be so easily taken away by her? Silly girl, let’s go, I’ll take you home?"

“I don’t want to! I want to go to your house!”

"You can’t joke around like that, I..." Lei Yu suddenly felt everything was spinning around, what was happening to this generation? How could girls become more forward than boys?

"I’m just kidding with you, dummy!" Ai Er made a funny face, then ran off in a good mood.

The two ate dinner, then bidding Ai Er farewell, Lei Yu returned to his apartment and stretched around, "time to cultivate!"

After some warm up movements, Lei Yu took off his clothes leaving only his underwear on. Sitting cross-legged on the ground, he began to circulate his internal energy.

Across from Lei Yu’s apartment was a hotel, and inside a guest hotel room...

"He really does have a lightning brand!" A middle-aged man stared at the computer screen, his eyes revealed a look of shock.

"Looks like our decision that day was a complete blunder! Ugh! Should not have, should not have!" Sighed the white-haired Elder.

"You can leave now, but remember, you are forbidden from mentioning this to anyone!" said Lei Yun Tian to a young man.

"Yes!" The young man left the room filled with shock. No one would think that the useless trash without the pure blood of the Lei family lineage, considered a bastard child, would actually become the Lei family’s most pure blooded person and possess “the” original lightning brand.

“Master, what should we do now?” asked the Elder.

“What do you think?”

The Elder thought for a moment and then said: "Since we’ve determined he is the foundation of our Lei family, then we should do everything possible to re-invite him back into the family. Right now, we can’t consider the issue of saving face, we can’t miss this opportunity!”

"I was thinking the same thing, but how do we explain this to all our family members? Could we say that we both got drunk that day and made a bad decision?" Lei Yun Tian suddenly became worried again.

"Now is not the time to consider these things, this original brand and its importance to the Lei family, you master, should understand it. If we lose it, it means that in the next one thousand years, or even ten thousand years, we may never see this miracle happen again.

[Laoren]

Thanks for your hard work

[omgitsaray]

Ch 23 - Surprise Guest

Indeed, the emergence of such a brand would mean that the in the history of the Lei family, this would be the fourth clan member to have this brand. The laughable thing was that they made such a stupid decision that day.

"Lei Yu of course does not want to go back, he himself should know what it means to possess that brand since he has seen countless ancient scrolls pertaining to this subject. Since he has not returned to the family, that means he does not forgive us.”

Ten years ago, Lei Yu did not have the family’s brand, Lei Yun Tian felt powerless. Now that Lei Yu had the family’s most pure blooded lightning brand, Lei Yun Tian felt even more powerless. Doesn’t this whole course of event feel like the heavens are playing a joke on our family?

"How about... how about we go directly to him, and ask his opinion?

“What if he refuses?”

"Trying is better than not doing anything right?" said the Elder.

"Ugh!" After a long sigh, Lei Yun Tian said: "Fine then, but it looks like he is currently cultivating, it is a taboo to interrupt people cultivating so lets wait until he finishes, then we’ll go.

The Elder nodded his head meaning he agreed.

The young man that the Elder sent to investigate did not achieve any results after days of following Lei Yu. He could only go to a store to buy some wireless pinhole cameras to install in Lei Yu’s bedroom and bathroom. When Lei Yu took off his clothes to cultivate, that’s when this previous scene took place.

Lei Yu focused on his dantian as the center of his attention, nothing distracting him at all, after breaking through and reaching the [Energy Suppression] stage, Lei Yu became more skillful in controlling his internal energy. It was similar to holding onto a string and flying a kite. Leading his internal energy to circulate, each step he took was very careful. He was afraid of any further accidents, not like before where he would just carelessly force through every meridian point.

Lei Yu was worried that if another accident occurred, and if that powerful unknown green energy did not show up to help like before, then he would be in big trouble. Being careful is better, it’s best to rely on his own since he can always count on that. Lei Yu has learned his lesson ever since the jade pendant situation.

The internal energy inside his Sea of Energy did not move at all, but when it does move it’s pretty much earth-shattering. Mixed with threads of lightning and loud noise, as if the clouds in the sky was warning people a storm was about to come. The internal energy inside his dantian and within his bone structure had a trace of lightning that was near invisible being attracted to them. It was because of the bone structure that the internal energy was able to be still like it was lifeless, but then explode forth capable of astonishing others.

Lei Yu slowly exhaled a breath, the internal energy flowing to the heart vessel was the most noteworthy of places. The heart vessels are where the human body houses its most vulnerable meridians, it is the center point where all meridians gathered. What made Lei Yu rejoice the most was during the process, the green energy once again appeared, protecting and escorting all the way, helping Lei Yu heal all the damaged areas. Without realizing it, he shouted out "*******, you should’ve came out earlier!”

With the appearance of the green energy, Lei Yu felt his worry go away. When cultivating before, the thin internal energy was easy to enter into the heart vessels, now the thickness of his internal energy had been doubled, but he still had to be careful.

After breaking through the [Fusion] stage and reaching the [Energy Suppression] stage, Lei Yu had always been consolidating his internal energy, so he did not continue to follow the methods imprinted on his mind to circulate that internal energy. Today is the first time he is controlling this internal energy that is double the power than previously. Lei Yu was naturally a bit nervous, but fortunately that green energy was following.

After breaking through the first line of defense, the complex heart vessels structure caused Lei Yu to pause a good amount of time. Finally selecting the target, then condensing his internal energy together by using the energy from the rear, forming something similar to a crowded line, he opened the flood gate and pushed forward.

The soldiers guarding the heart vessels were a lot stronger than the other meridians, but after several confrontations, Lei Yu was still unable to break in. Slightly gasping for breath, the condensed internal energy he previously gathered together doubled in size again, this time Lei Yu was determined to ruthlessly breakthrough.

However, Lei Yu’s entire body system could be considered more powerful than before. Having experienced the [Body Refining] stage, whether it be his meridians or his bone structure, his muscles or his skin, they’ve all become much more tough and powerful than an ordinary person.

Clenching his teeth, Lei Yu readied himself for the finale, making his internal energy instantly burst forth towards the meridians of the heart vessels. Sure enough, the heart vessels were unable to handle the pressure from the instantaneous momentum. After struggling for a few minutes, a fracture broke open.

A heart-piercing pain transmitted from his chest to his brain. Lei Yu’s breathing increased, but his eyes were still tightly closed, he could not afford the slightest disruption. His heart vessels suffered a fracture from the impact, which for a typical cultivator would mean the signs of imminent death. The majority of people that were unable to breakthrough, would be stuck on the same level unable to progress to the next rank. Lei Yu had the unknown green energy protecting and escorting, naturally did not realize just how terrible his situation was.

Lei Yu felt a terrible tightness on his chest, and even felt that he was unable to breathe. Every inhale of breath was a small amount, but exhaling was a lot. This condition could be considered extremely serious.

Sure enough, the green energy started its powerful force, holding Lei Yu’s own purple energy back, it then instantly rushed forward, wrapping around the fractured heart vessels and blood vessels. At the same time, a thin thread was pulling a blood vessel, attempting to reconnect it to its original place, but it was not that easy. After several more attempts, it finally succeeded. From the cluster of green energy that had wrapped around the fractured areas, a separate energy split off to nourish the recently fixed blood vessel.

When Lei Yu’s whole body became stronger, the mysterious green energy all became more powerful as well. Previously, it required one to two hours of repair time, however today, it only took a few minutes for it to complete. Meridians that had gone through being repaired became much tougher than before. After Lei Yu’s breathing became normal, he made a second attempt, this time the breakthrough went very smoothly, even Lei Yu had no idea it could be this easy.

The newly broken through heart vessels required a follow-up internal energy, but it was too far from the dantian. The most straightforward way was to draw the trace amounts of spiritual energy from the surrounding air, by extending out multiple threads from the Sea of Energy, then forming them as one. This whole process actually required the yellow bead inside his brain to help out. So with the fastest speed, turning the outside spiritual energy into a gas, then the newly entered energy inside the body had its impurities removed.

After the entire process was completed, Lei Yu was completely drenched in sweat. Apart from the floor covered in sweat, there were also the dirty impurities removed from his body.

At this time of day, the sky had already started to become bright. Lei Yu rushed into the bathroom to scrub away like his life depended on it. Lei Yu had faced these disgusting impurities everyday, he was already sick and tired of it, but it was all in the name of cultivating so there was nothing he could do about it.

One could only say the city's pollution was too severe, even the spiritual energy in the air was invaded by the pollution. That night not too long ago he had cultivated in the unnamed paradise, the impurities left on his body was not as much dirt as today’s.

After washing up, he changed into a set of clean clothes. Putting away some textbooks into his backpack, he was ready to leave.

*Ding Dong*

At this time, the doorbell rang. Lei Yu blinked "what time is it now? Who would come by? It shouldn’t be that ******* Liu Hao right?”

Putting the backpack on the sofa, Lei Yu went to open the door. He had originally wanted to mockingly laugh at the person but then his face froze, his whole body was motionless as if this moment, time stood still.

[omgitsaray]

Ch 24 - Accepting The Challenge

Unknown how much time had passed, Lei Yu finally woke up from his trance like state. With a pair of haunting eyes, he stared at the two familiar faces but unemotionally attached to, “what do you two want?”

"Can we chat with you for a bit?" Lei Yun Tian’s speech almost came out in a hiss through his clenched teeth.

Thinking for a moment, Lei Yu let the two men into the house

"What do you want to talk to me about?” Asking straight to the point. Lei Yu’s attitude was like talking to a stranger, his tone did not show what mood he was in. The ten year ago Lei Yu who always stuck to his father’s side was now completely different in the eyes of the two men.

"Little Yu, I know you’ve hated me for many years, right?" Lei Yun Tian said hesitantly. He still wasn’t completely sure of what Lei Yu thought about the whole situation.

"Nope! You and I have become estranged. Two years ago we no longer have any relationship, so why would I hate you?" Lei Yu's eyes were filled with anger, there were some things that could not be forgotten, especially those etched into the core of his being.

The Elder on the side sighed while shaking his head, he also did not know what else to say. The atmosphere was filled with dead silence.

After a while, Lei Yun Tian clenched his fists hard, then said: "I know for the past many years, it was all my fault, because of our negligence on the day of your baptism, this has caused today’s mistake. As your father, I hope you can forgive me." As a commander-level figure in one of the major forces of the country of Tenglong, to say these types of words to a youngster around twenty years of age, this shows how much he values Lei Yu’s importance.

“Mistake? A mistake that lead me to being kicked out of the family? A mistake that allowed everyone to cast me aside and give me dirty looks?" Lei Yu’s chest showed his breathing quickening, becoming very emotional.

“Little Yu, return with us, you are our family’s future hope!”

“Impossible!" Lei Yu suddenly stood up from the sofa and shouted: "I, Lei Yu, have nothing to do with the Lei family!”

"But your surname is Lei after all!”

“There are so many people in this world with the surname Lei, would they all happen to belong to your Lei family?”

“Lei Yu!" The Elder’s eyes were filled with anger, "watch your words! How could you say those words to the master of the family?”

Lei Yu turned his head, coldly looking at the Elder, "you two came into my home and aren’t allowing me to speak freely? This place does not belong to your Lei family, and originally, I did not have such deep hatred of the Lei family. It was all because of you, because of your grandson, resulting in how things turned out today. Your grandson Lei Yun bears the greatest responsibility.”

“Lei Yun? How could that be?”

"You go ask him yourself, I do not want to explain it." Slowly exhaling, Lei Yu then said: "I know you've already seen my brand, and I’ve also seen the family’s ancient scrolls. In the past, I’ve tried many times to prove that I was not a coward, wanting to prove to my father how powerful I had become. But time and time again I was shot down with indifference, and then even kicked out of the family. Since I've already left the Lei family’s main gate, I have never thought about going back again. I am sorry, you two please return, I still have training to do at Dragon Group.” After Lei Yu made that statement, he raised his hand in a gesture towards the door inferring that they please leave.

Lei Yun Tian and the Elder glanced at each other, their eyes filled with helplessness were quite obvious. Shaking their heads, they turned to leave. But things were far from simple, as a genius in the Lei family that only appears once every thousands of years, they were not going to give up this easily.

Sending off Lei Yun Tian and the Elder, Lei Yu leaned his back against the door. His heart was unable to calm down. That day’s shame was brought on by the family, and while he was at the lowest period of his life, the person that helped him the most was his childhood friend. And the members of his family, especially his own father did not even say one single word to him during that period. How could Lei Yu be not be utterly disappointed?

Wearing his backpack, and like always, Lei Yu jogged to the direction of Dragon Group. While on this path, Lei Yu was preoccupied with many thoughts.

"Little Yu, today is the date you’ve joined Dragon Group for a full year. You need to be careful, maybe someone will come and challenge you.” Nuo Hu laughingly said while patting Lei Yu’s shoulder.

"That's even better, someone challenging me would mean I would learn something new from it, exactly what I want” replied Lei Yu with a forced smile.

They two arrived at Dragon Group’s most special villa. Inside was where Dragon Group’s elites were gathered. One could say they were the elites of the elite, everyone had extraordinary strength.

This past year, Lei Yu continued to grow. Every level of growth was gained by his sweat and by his hard work which were inseparable. It was from the large amount of blood and sweat that was exchanged for the current Lei Yu.

During the past year, a lot of people knew that Lei Yu was the type to hide his strength. There were some who were very prideful, unwilling to admit his strength and wanting to challenge him. But because of Lei Yu’s entry to Dragon Group was less than a year, they had to keep waiting. And the day has finally come, a few of the elites slowly made their move, seeing Lei Yu’s eyes give off a significant change in his manner.

Dragon Group had an unspoken rule - Dragon Team members were allowed to challenge anyone, but the challenge was restricted to only within the ten plus Dragon Team members themselves. If the person being challenged refuses, then they will be identified as the Dragon Team’s coward. Of course, one was also able to challenge the Commander of Dragon Group Nuo Yi Long, the Deputy Commander Nuo Yi Feng, or the Senior Officer Fan Hong Chang. But to this day, no one had dared to challenge the three. If one was to really ask who would dare to challenge them, then it’s possible that only Lei Yu would have the capability. But currently, no one knew what level of strength Lei Yu had reached to this point.

Reaching the [Energy Suppression] stage, Lei Yu’s ability to hide his strength had reached a greater degree. This was actually the most important point because hiding one’s strength, at the most crucial moment, one could surprise the opponent unexpectedly and overwhelm them.

Sure enough, once the two entered the training hall on the second floor, a large 1.85 meter tall (6ft 1in) male came forward. Lei Yu recognized this large male, his name was Hu Li. On a typical day, he would train abnormally hard, and had already reached the Third Order Warrior rank. His entire body was covered in thick defined muscles which one could tell contained a surprising amount of strength.

“Hu Li, is something up?” Seeing someone blocking them, Lei Yu lifted up his head to ask.

"Lei Yu, today is the day you’ve joined Dragon Group for a full year, I’ve waited for this day for a long time. Today, I want to challenge you!" Hu Li’s rich and loud voice spread throughout the hall and all eyes were turned towards them.

Although Lei Yu had a premonition that someone would challenge him, he just didn’t expect it to be this quick. He also understood that he could not refuse. If someone refused, then everyone will consider him/her a coward. Of course Lei Yu did not want to bear with such a reputation inside Dragon Group.

“I accept your challenge!" said Lei Yu with a smile.

"Good, very good! I will arrange the competition for you two." At this time, Nuo Yi Long came in from another door.

"Commander!" Shouting in unison, everyone lined up neatly in the center of the hall.

"Tonight, I'll arrange the competition for you two here, but you both should know the rules of Dragon Group, you are the pillars of this country, Dragon Group’s elite, I do not want anyone to suffer irreparable harm, therefore, watch yourselves in today's competition, accidents will not be tolerated, do you two understand?” Asked Nuo Yi Long.

Lei Yu and Hu Li replied in unison: “Understood!”

Nuo Yi Long had always been interested in Lei Yu, not only because of Nuo Hu introducing him to Dragon Group, but more importantly there were two things: the first was the lightning brand on his upper arm; and the second being Lei Yu’s mind and internal strength had exceeded an ordinary person. Exactly how did he cultivate those?

After a day of training, Lei Yu did not choose any exercises that made him lose too much stamina, nor did he go through weight training. He wanted to retain his strength in order to meet tonight’s competition.

Going against someone that was a mere Third Order Warrior rank, Lei Yu had a high certainty of winning. But no matter who the opponent was, he must always be cautious, he must not be overconfident, there is often a fine line between winning and losing. This point Lei Yu understood clearly that anywhere and anytime, unforeseen circumstances may happen.

[omgitsaray]

Ch 25 - Fighting Hu Li

Night time, it’s already around ten o'clock. Most of Dragon Group’s soldiers had already returned to their dorms while it was very lively inside the villa.

The training hall on the second floor had been vacated to allow a large open space, covered with a layer of blue carpet. In the center of the carpet were written two large eye-catching characters "Dragon Group". Surrounding those two characters was a life-like dragon.

"Today is Lei Yu’s one year anniversary of entering Dragon Group." Fan Hong Chang was standing in the center of the blue carpet, he then continued saying: "He also received a challenge. It has already been a decade since Hu Li joined Dragon Group. Everyone is familiar with Hu Li, one step at a time, he went from the Wild Wolf Team to the Lion Team, after a long and harsh journey, he entered Dragon Team. Going through continued hard work, he has reached the strength of a Third Order Warrior. Today’s competition is very special, let us all be witnesses to their strength!”

Cheers erupted everywhere. Even though there were only ten plus or so people present, the atmosphere here was no less than a 10,000 person concert. Also at this time, Lei Yu and Hu Li both entered the main hall at the same time.

Both of them had a bare upper body, lower body wearing Dragon Group’s military issued camouflage pants. The pants had some pale colors in it and were actually designed with some fashion sense.

As the two entered, cheers erupted once again. The two belonged to entirely different body types: Hu Li’s whole body was full of bulky muscles filled with explosive force; and Lei Yu had a very masculine toned muscles. Although it was unlike Hu Li’s muscles that gave off a bear-like feeling, it still contained a wild explosive power, just like a black panther lurking in the darkness of the night.

"I’m not going to say anymore useless words, the competition begins, be careful of your actions, causing any major disabilities are not allowed, understood?" Once Fan Hong Chang’s words ended, they both ran forward to get ready.

Lei Yu did not move, only watching Hu Li who had begun to exert some strength. His entire body was surrounded by a pale yellow light, the muscles on his body began to expand again as if they had become blocks of hard stone.

Lei Yu casually stood on the side, waiting for his opponent’s strengthening. Although his current appearance gave people a very casual feeling, the power of lightning within his body was surging non-stop. The dantian region’s trace internal energy were being absorbed by the meridians, while the rest of his internal energy were surging around, circulating through his four limbs, upper and lower body, as well as all parts of the body.

At this point, Lei Yu had completely become an electricity conductor, anything that encounters him will be subject to a bombardment of lightning.

After they were finished with preparing, they both rushed towards each other. At this time, the entire audience were holding their breath, this was not an arena competition, nor was this an underground life or death struggle, therefore there weren’t any unruly shouts or clamor, everyone here had dignity and class.

Having to admit, Hu Li’s strength was very powerful. After Lei Yu raised his hand to ward off a punch, his body was helplessly knocked backwards. Forcing Lei Yu to have such a reaction, one could see how powerful this Hu Li was.

Hu Li was not better off, when his punch came in contact with Lei Yu, a numbness passed through his fist, causing his movements to be somewhat slower. His eyes revealed a look of surprise, he did not see Lei Yu charge up any special moves, so why would he experience such a strong sense of paralysis? Could it be related to the brand on his arm?

Thinking to this point, Hu Li had a an idea. Since once his fist touches his opponent, he will suffer a paralysis effect, then why not just use his feet, with the military boots as protection, it can definitely play the role of insulation.

Seemingly slow but in reality it was extremely fast, without hesitation, Hu Li raised his right leg. A standard text book side-kick stance was taken, then a kick was completed in a blink of an eye, a kick that was precisely aimed at Lei Yu’s chest area.

If Hu Li's speed was considered extremely fast, then Lei Yu’s speed could only be described as the speed of lightning. Simply withdrawing a step to the right, he easily dodged Hu Li’s heavy kick, followed by approaching his left side. When there is only one leg on the ground, a person’s balance will be affected to some extent. Lei Yu simply went for Hu Li’s left leg that was supporting the body, gently hitting his knee joints, causing Hu Li to instantly fall to the ground. This beautiful series of moves by Lei Yu was pulled off in perfection.

The audience could not help but start boiling with excitement, the moves Lei Yu made were seen clearly by everyone, only one word could describe it, "fast!”

If one was to say that Lei Yu’s actual strength relied on the power of lightning, then his speed was the outcome of relying on said lightning.

Hu Li who did not have enough time to react to the attack fell to the ground, but immediately slapped the ground with his hands to stand back up. He looked at Lei Yu and observed his facial expressions appeared to be more focused. Although he did not receive any damage from blow to the joint, but he had to recognize his opponent’s superior speed. He could only use the power of his strength to contend with the opponent, since this was Hu Li’s forte. The cultivating methods he received from Dragon Group happened to be strength-based methods.

Raising his huge fists, he went forward and smashed it downwards. The air around his fists gave of a “whirring” noise as it went down, this punch could be described as containing all of Hu Li’s power. Even if he had to suffer the paralysis feeling from striking Lei Yu, Lei Yu will not be better off receiving the punch.

After all, Hu Li’s thought process was a bit too simple. Lei Yu was indeed going to rely on speed to win. High strength could generate a lot of speed and a large collision was dependant on that speed. But if a weak punch was thrown, as long as there is enough speed behind it, the power of that punch would no longer be considered weak.

Let’s use an example of two cars in a collision, if the speed of the cars were slow, there would be at most dents and scratches. But if cars were travelling at high speeds, then the results of that crash could be easily imagined.

While Hu Li’s fist was still travelling forward through the air, Lei Yu made a quick decision. Slightly lowering his head, raising his right hand, then condensing a hint of lightning power, using the fastest speed possible, he threw a punch hitting Hu Li in the abdominal area. Lei Yu’s timing was really good, if one was to be hit in the stomach with a high force, then it will make the person lose their breath (getting the wind knocked out of them), completely losing the ability to fight. Even if the force wasn’t too great, it could still make the opponent temporarily stop their current action.

"The results of this competition is very obvious." Nuo Yi Long excitedly stood up. This competition was quick and simple, the opponent merely threw out some punches and kicks and it’s already over.

Withdrawing his fist in the air, Hu Li did not show any signs of anger after his defeat. He smiled and said: "I never would have thought you would be this powerful, you have my admiration, thank you for going easy on me."

Lei Yu laughed and patted Hu Li’s shoulders, "if you were my enemy, I will definitely not go easy on you, but we are brothers in Dragon Team, naturally I would not use all my strength, aren’t we all family?”

"Your statement about being a family is great! Lei Yu, you have not disappointed me!" Fan Hong Chang happily ran forward, disregarding his status as Dragon Team’s instructor.

“Woa!”

Lei Yu left a not too bad record in Dragon Team which gave him a lot of idle time. But what Lei Yu wanted most were more battles, because only when one constantly fought, then they would able to grasp more techniques and guidance.

Gradually, Lei Yu tried to challenge other members of Dragon Team. At first, there would be one or two members accepting the challenge, but in the end, even though accepting the challenge, they would all be knocked down or admit defeat within the first round. This situation made Lei Yu quite helpless, but in the meantime, there was one person silently watching in the background, and this person was scarcely seen by Lei Yu.

Dragon Team’s treatment of their members were really quite good. Being with them for only one year, Lei Yu was able to purchase a good car and also move to a new place. This was primarily due to the space inside the military apartments weren’t sufficient. Sometimes at night he would want to try out some new combat methods but due to the lack of space, he was unable to practice.

Lei Yu bought a residence within the urban areas of the city that was close to the Dragon Group headquarters. The place was indeed not small, a full two hundred square meters (2152 sq ft) of living space. Half of the space was used for normal living while the other half had become a practice/cultivating area (dojo like). Whether it be cultivating his internal energy or refining his combat skills, Lei Yu would be there. And Lei Yu’s house also became a place that Liu Hao would often come by.

In today's society, gun battles with bullets flying everywhere, relying on personal strength as a unique weapon is something ridiculed by others. But the geniuses among them are actually the most scary people in the world.

--------------------------------------

In Lei Yu’s hands was the spike that was pulled from the unnamed beast’s back. His mind constantly replaying a scene, that day he was chasing the cub, why would it suddenly disappear? And the picture carved on the boulder, what could it mean?

[omgitsaray]

Ch 26 - Ice Queen Beauty

It was natural that he could not figure it out. Currently he was a bit hungry so Lei Yu decided to simply go out, ready to find a random restaurant to eat at.

The city’s night was illuminated with lights throughout. About one street away from Lei Yu’s house, there was a street filled with snack stalls (street market). Compared to other streets, it was way more lively here.

Randomly selecting a relatively clean stall and sitting down, Lei Yu looked around. The signature dish of this stall was a noodle dish, by adding some tasty side dishes and drinking a glass of beer, this will be such a relaxing idea.

"Where should we hang out tonight?”

"The Rose Park is not bad, the girls there are super cute, and quite a few of them are university girls."

The voices came from behind him but Lei Yu did not turn around, just eating his midnight snack minding his own business.

"Right, I know of a few university girls that are quite cute, especially one called Cui Ying Ying. Listening to those two people chatting, it appears that Cui Ying Ying is one of the school’s beauty.

Hearing to this point, Lei Yu felt surprised. Isn’t Cui Ying Ying the one that came to his house in the middle of the night, the daughter of some jewelry store magnate? Did someone have their eyes on her? He couldn’t help eavesdropping, carefully listening to the sounds of conversation behind him.

"This piece of news is reliable, I heard that her family is very rich, if someone amongst our buddies could get her, then we would not have to worry about money for the rest of our lives."

"Come on, what are you guys waiting for? Hurry up and eat so we can go look!”

Hearing the name Rose Park, Lei Yu’s first impression was of an entertainment place where illegal transactions took place. After listening to them chat for a while, he then realized it was just a bar. Many young men and women enjoyed frequenting those establishments in the evening to pass their time. What they seeked there were some excitement away from their mundane lives.

Those young adults that prefer nightlife enjoy meeting up with people of the opposite sex; or they would meet up to play with whatever games that were currently popular; or they were just there for unclean thoughts. Those sitting behind Lei Yu were obviously of the latter.

In any case, they were considered acquaintances. Even if Ai Er despised this Cui Ying Ying, how could he turn a blind eye if he knew she may be in danger?

The first time Cui Ying Ying came to his house, Liu Hao mentioned they both drank at a bar first before coming over. It seems this Cui Ying Ying enjoys clubbing so this matter of her being targeted is highly likely.

Quickly eating their food, the people behind all left together. Lei Yu also paid his bill and followed behind them.

Rose Park was not far away from their current location, it was only about a ten minute walk before getting there. The neon lights on the front door were flashing constantly while the large name Rose Park up top was particularly conspicuous.

Following along with four other people and entering, the bar in general was a quiet and elegant place, but after ten o'clock at night, the place will begin to go crazy. The DJ would be spinning music shockingly loud; countless young men and women were wildly moving their bodies; even some of the opposite sex who were dancing would start grinding each other's lower parts to seek a more exciting thrill. (T/N: it appears that a bar and a club are the same thing, unlike in the U.S.)

In the corner of the bar, a girl wearing tight-fitting white clothes with a skirt was sitting there, her small mouth sipping a glass of wine. On the side, there were a group of young people that wanted to approach and greet her but were shot down by her cool gaze, it seems that her mood wasn’t very good today.

These four people were able to quickly locate this girl. Wanting to go to that direction, Lei Yu also followed behind.

"Brother Hui, there’s the chick, look at that fine piece of ***, her figure is fcuking damn attractive!" Since the music was so loud, one of them shouted this into the ear of a fat guy which allowed Lei Yu to hear very clearly.

"Don’t you see? All the men have been rejected by her scolding, it seems like she’s an ice queen beauty, not bad, I really like it." The fat guy rubs his unshaven chin with his right hand, nodding with a weird smile.

Lei Yu could determine from seeing her back that this was the Cui Ying Ying he was acquainted with. She was indeed very attractive, especially in this environment. Cui Ying Ying was like a clear crystal amongst a ground of weeds, but this crystal’s outer appearance was exceptionally cold, very hard for people to approach.

After the four discussed something amongst themselves, they set off going forward.

"Miss, you seem to be very lonely, are you in a bad mood? Do you want me to drink with you?" The fat guy from before leaned on top of Cui Ying Ying’s table, the look on his face could only be described as shameless.

"Get lost!" Cui Ying Ying openly scolded, but even though her delicate and charming eyes expressed wrath, it looked particularly enchanting.

"Damn! You are sure fcuking spicy, not bad, I really like your hot temper. After I conquer you, the accomplishment would feel so great!" The fat guy nonchalantly looked at his other three buddies laughing as he said this.

"Miss, brother Hui is an important well-known figure, drinking with our brother Hui is actually your good fortune.”

"Right, isn’t your family very rich? Matching it with brother Hui’s strength, that can be called a match made in heaven!" These ruffians knew Cui Ying Ying’s family had money, but did not know to what extent of wealth she had so they dared to say such things.

"I’m going to say it once more, get lost!" Cui Ying Ying was obviously in bad mood, meeting several flies who had verbally harassed her, she once again scolded them.

"Fcuk, I gave you face but you won’t accept it! Fellow brothers, grab her and drag her to the back alley, watch how I will give her a good time!" The fat guy seeing such an attractive beauty, coupled with her hot temper, he could not resist anymore, directing his buddies to ready to take action.

Inside the bar, scenes like this happened plenty of times, so of course it was not something surprising. But for such a great beauty to be treated like this was the first time, so for a lot of people looking over, they had surprise on their face.

Lei Yu was about to intercept them but right at this moment, a good looking twenty something year old male came over from the side. "Don’t you guys know how to be tender to the fairer sex? You should be more gentle to such a beautiful girl, don’t go near if you aren’t capable, why would you resort to force?

“Fcuking brat, you dare to disturb my scene?" The fat guy frowned, throwing out a punch directed at the male’s face.

*Pak* The male fell to the ground clutching his face in pain rolling back and forth. The atmosphere in the bar really started boiling up, some people even started shouting in excitement.

Those men that were previously rejected by Cui Ying Ying saw that the ice queen beauty was about to be dragged away, also cursed: "Bastard, who do you think you are acting all high and mighty?”

Looking at the young man lying on the floor, the fat guy spit a few mouthful of disgusting phlegm at him "you don’t know what death is, you dare to interfere in my affairs!”

The remaining three individuals did not stop their actions, still pulling onto Cui Ying Ying’s arm. One of them wanted to take this opportunity to squeeze her round *** a bit, but was suddenly stopped by an outstretched hand.

Those several people got a little surprised, looking at a youngster standing in front of them, the fat guy turned around, "fcuking hell, another person that doesn’t know their place!”

The sudden appearance of this person was not Lei Yu, but was someone else. Lei Yu stood at his original spot smiling and not saying a thing.

[omgitsaray]

Ch 27 - Appearance of Liu Hao

"Fcuker, you’re seeking death!" The ruffian with his hand caught was struggling to pull his hand away, wanting to grab the neck of the youngster that suddenly appeared. The youngster stepped back a little, grabbed a bottle from the table that Cui Ying Ying had previously drank from and smashed it down on the ruffian’s head.

*Clang!*

The breaking of the bottle sounded throughout, the excitement in the bar completely increased at this time. The DJ on the front stage immediately turned off the music, standing there watching with interest. Then several security guards came from the outside, led by a middle-aged man wearing a black suit. He appeared to be the manager of the place.

"Kiddo! I see you’re looking to die!" Said the fat guy after seeing his underlings actually get hurt. Angrily approaching them, the manager went up to the fat guy and said: "Brother Hui, it’s not right for you to cause trouble here, at least give me some face.”

"Fcuker, if I give you face, who’s going to give me face? Don’t you see that my buddy was hit by a bottle and was wounded by someone?" Said the angry fat guy.

Cui Ying Ying seeing the arriving people, forcefully broke off from being held by the two people, and ran behind the youngster, "Liu Hao, let's go, don’t get involved in this.”

The person that appeared wasn’t a stranger, it was Lei Yu’s disciple, the Governor’s son Liu Hao.

“Sister Ying Ying, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, let’s go!” Cui Ying Ying pulled Liu Hao’s arm, wanting to leave.

"You want to leave? Do you have the ability to go?!" Those previous ruffians that were holding onto Cui Ying Ying ran over and shouted: "You want to leave after hurting my buddy? Fcuk, we’re having such bad luck today!”

Without waiting for what the other two were going to do, Liu Hao rushed forward like an arrow. Within a blink of an eye, the two were knocked to the ground, unable to get up. This caused the entire audience to stare in silence, everyone’s eyes were round and wide, they were unable to see what exactly happened.

If there were cultivators within the audience, they would naturally know what Liu Hao did, but unfortunately, Liu Hao who had already reached the rank of Second Order Warrior, how could his actions be observed by the ordinary people here?

Although Liu Hao did not have the special power of lightning like Lei Yu, because he received cultivating methods, Liu Hao still had some internal energy circulating inside him. But according to his own personality, although he was able to be improve gradually, but his improvement speed compared with Lei Yu would be considered comparing heaven and earth.

After everything was messed up by Liu Hao, the fat guy whom people referred to as brother Hui suddenly became dumbfounded. He has heard that in this world there exists some special people, yet he did not expect to actually hit the jackpot and meet one today.

"Can we go now?" Liu Hao did not look at anyone else, just staring at the fat guy asking the question.

"Who is causing trouble at my place?" Came a vigorous voice from the outside crowd. The fat guy was the first to react; Lei Yu also looked over following the sound of the voice.

The fat guy ran towards this person, with a smile: "Brother Gui, I'm sorry, there was a ***** that didn’t know her place, I originally wanted to teach her a lesson, didn’t expect some random guy to run out." After saying that, his finger pointed towards the location of Liu Hao and Cui Ying Ying.

"Bastard!" Cursed the person known as brother Gui: "Who do you think you are? You better scram right now!”

The fat guy was actually a regular at Rose Park, and the boss in front of him, brother Gui, was usually quite friendly with each other. Occasionally them two would drink together, and although their relationship could not be considered close, they were still friendly with each other. He did not expect that for the sake of these two young man and a woman would create a falling out between them. He then asked: "Brother Gui, what do you mean? I believe I have never pissed you off, why aren’t you giving me any face?”

"Have you not caused enough trouble in my place? I know you are in control of some areas, but this place is not yours, I told you to scram so just scram, don’t interfere with my conducting of business." After saying this, he went towards Liu Hao and Cui Ying Ying. Cui Ying Ying was actually quite close to this brother Gui, that’s why she often came to this place to drink. As for Liu Hao, he has visited this place a few times, their identity was naturally know to brother Gui. One was the world famous jewelry tycoon’s daughter while the other was the Governor’s son, neither of them was someone he could afford to offend.

But unfortunately this fat guy was unable to recognize Mount Tai in front of him (unable to recognize someone of importance). Still not giving up, the fat guy said: "Brother Gui, calling you brother Gui is giving you face, if you don’t give me a good explanation today, don’t blame me for not recognizing you anymore!”

"What do you want then?" Brother Gui wasn’t a newbie in the underground world, in such a busy downtown area and was able to establish their own place is not something anyone can do.

"You just wait and see." After saying that, the fat guy reached for his cell phone. In this area, there had never been anyone that dared not to give him a bit of face, let alone calling him a bastard, making him extremely angry. From his pocket, he took out his cell phone and began to dial a number, "gather several hundred brothers, I’m currently at Rose Park!”

"You actually have the guts? You dare to call people to mess with my place?" Cursed brother Gui.

Seeing this volatile situation, all the people in the bar were starting to leave. There were only a few dozen people that stayed behind hoping for a good show, they wanted to see this once in a lifetime scene.

"You’re not giving me face, today I will let you know the meaning of fear!" Ever since he was young, this fat guy had already hung around the bad crowds in this area. After ten plus years, he had met a lot of people, setting up his own little gang, the number of underlings under his control were quite impressive. Based on manners, calling him brother Hui was to give him some face, but this has really caused his ego to get out of control. He had completely forgotten what character brother Gui was. Even though brother Gui was just a minor figure inside Ming Sect, what sort of status did the Ming Sect’s name carry? As one of the four major forces in the country of Tenglong, even a minor figure inside Ming Sect, in the eyes of ordinary people, he was as mighty as Mount Tai.

"Brother Gui, no need to call for more people, this is a perfect opportunity for me to try out my moves." Liu Hao stopped the brother Gui who was just about to make a call.

"Don’t think that just because you’ve wounded a few of my brothers, you’ve become superman. Kiddo, just wait a bit and you will become meat paste!" As the fat guy’s voice faded, Liu Hao angrily rushed forward.

This fat guy was utterly clueless, he was the only one left standing while his other buddies were injured quite heavily. Yet, he was still so boastful, wasn’t it obvious that he was asking to be beaten?

After only a couple of moves, the fat guy’s face was black and blue and blood was coming down from his nose. Clutching his nose and pointing at Liu Hao: "It looks like you want to die! You are courting your own death!”

The people present seeing the fat guy’s embarrassed face all began to laugh. Lei Yu was also laughing, standing at the rear of the crowd laughing non-stop.

A short while later, outside the walls of Rose Park, one could clearly hear the squeels of motorcycles and cars braking quickly to park. This was followed by a noisy group of people rushing in.

“Brother Hui!”

“Brother Hui! We’re here!”

Now that there were helpers on scene backing him up, the fat guy was immediately filled with spirit. Ignoring the blood flowing from his nose and pointing to Liu Hao, "take care of him for me!”

A dozen or so people rushed up, all with vicious intentions. These underlings did not really have hobbies, fighting and brawling to them were as simple as a family dinner. It may be the mentality of a young person, thinking that these types of acts were what impressed others.

Liu Hao was not flustered nor in a hurry, he did not move at all after seeing those dozen or so people rushing towards him. While seeing this, Cui Ying Ying and brother Gui standing behind Liu Hao were sweating enough for the three of them.

[omgitsaray]

Ch 28 - You Cannot Afford To Offend

The opponents were using knives but Liu Hao wasn’t afraid. After following Lei Yu for such a long time, his master’s teaching was focused on the fitness of one’s body and the speed of one’s body. Naturally he was not worried, even if a knife came at him, he could easily deflect it.

That was the reason why Lei Yu had still now shown himself. He was completely clear on what abilities his disciple possessed, if his disciple wasn’t even able to defeat these ordinary people, then he might as well just not teach him anymore.

Sure enough, in less than three minutes, none of the dozen plus people were able to stand up anymore. Although presently there were over a hundred plus people crowded around the bar, no one dared to step forward.

The fat guy became anxious, he had never encountered a situation like this before. But relying on the fact that he had more people, he was not afraid, "fellow brothers, he is only one person, do not be afraid, everyone attack at once, I doubt he will be able to survive!”

After a scream of acknowledgement, the hundred plus people started surging forward. Without waiting for these people to make the first move, a disturbance arose at the rear of the crowd, followed by screams of agony without stopping. Because there were too many people here, the ones in front did not know what was happening.

Four or five people had fallen to the ground unable to get up, while two of them had become unconscious.

Once Lei Yu heard the fat guy telling all the people to rush forward together, he suddenly began to worry. Even if Liu Hao was already quite tough, but under the simultaneous attack of all these people at once, he may not be able to handle it. Moreover, there was a Cui Ying Ying next to him, so it was best to attack first to avoid any possible accidents.

Shortly after, a path was opened up within the crowd. Lei Yu slowly walked up from behind to the front. When Liu Hao and Cui Ying Ying saw who this person was, the fat guy was actually the first to speak: "Fcuk, there’s always a busybody not minding their own business, but this year there’s especially a lot of them!” (T/N: Chinese idiom)

"Great!" Brother Gui could not help it anymore, he certainly admired Liu Hao after seeing how strong he was. But with so many people rushing forward at once, if Liu Hao and Cui Ying Ying suffered any injuries, then this minor figure of Ming Sect would not be better off, it was even possible that he would be punished by the upper ranks.

"Hui, stay your hands, this is Governor Liu’s son, how many extra heads do you have?”

Previously everyone's attention was drawn to Lei Yu but after hearing this statement, everyone suddenly backed down. The fat guy’s voice stammered and said: "Governor Liu’s son? It… it can’t be right?”

The Governor’s son is not someone these ruffians would dare to offend. Just a simple offense could make them go to jail and eat the public system’s food for two years, which was something perfectly normal. Plus, the things these shady government officials did on a routine basis would never come to the light of day. (T/N: eating public’s food = food paid by taxpayers)

An underling went up to the fat guy’s ears and whispered: "Brother Hui, I heard the son of the Governor became the disciple of a master and learned some very powerful martial arts, just looking at his fighting ability, it shouldn’t be false.”

"Fcuking shit! Why didn’t you mention this earlier!" The fat guy slapped the top of his underling’s head.

"I, I did not know before!”

"My apologies young master Liu! My eyes did not recognize Mount Tai, I’m sorry, I’m really sorry! I do not know this… this lady was your friend.”

Brother Gui laughed, "friends? They are truly friends, but I forgot to introduce to you, this lady here is the daughter of Cui Ying Corporation’s Chairman, could you afford to offend her?”

"I was possessed!" This was the first sentence out of the fat guy, then he began to get scared. If a power was big enough, it could make him go to life in prison. One could also use money to get him killed, this scene was definitely something a small fry like him could not afford to offend. (T/N: being possessed is an excuse they make when they realize they messed up big time)

"There’s also one thing you seem to have forgotten." Brother Gui softly said: "You should also remember that I am a member of the Ming Sect? You dare to mess with a place belonging to the Ming Sect?”

At this time, the fat guy finally remembered, suddenly taking a few steps back, slightly dumbfounded. Where did he get the guts to act like this? Daring to provoke these three powerful characters, wasn’t he courting death himself?

"Do whatever you want to me, but let my fellow brothers leave!" The fat guy simply threw that request out, but he really had no other way.

"You're quite loyal, not bad, not bad." Lei Yu who had not said anything until now nodded his head and laughed.

"Who do you think you are? This is not the time or place for you to interrupt us!" Screamed the fat guy angrily. While speaking halfway with these three characters he dared not to offend, and out comes some random kid?

With a rapid speed, Liu Hao had already rushed over in an instant. Raising his hand and slapping the fat guy’s mouth, "fcuker, you dare you curse at my master?”

The fat guy who was slapped started seeing stars, then forcefully swallowed some saliva. "What is going on today? It looks like my brains are really muddled up big time!" The fat guy clearly remembered, just then his underling told him that the Governor’s son had gotten himself a very powerful master. Since Liu Hao was already this strong, then his master must be out of this world.

"That’s enough, stop causing problems, just all disperse" said Lei Yu waving his hand.

Like a wish granted from heaven, the fat guy cried out: "Thank you, thank you! Fellow brothers, quickly disappear!”

The two to three hundred people without any sort of organization or direction were actually able to withdraw from the bar within two minutes - this was indeed miraculous to behold. One could see how badly they wanted to leave this place where so many outstanding people had gathered.

After the storm, the bar once again opened for business. Brother Gui simply spoke some polite words before he and the other security all left in a hurry.

"You went to the bar alone tonight without calling me? How dangerous!" said Liu Hao looking at the Cui Ying Ying who did not say a word.

"That’s right, in the future it’s best to frequent these places less often. Even if you have to come, just bring Liu Hao with you, at least it will be a bit safer" said Lei Yu on the side.

"I don’t need you guys to look after me!" Cui Ying Ying lifted up her head and completely drained the glass of wine.

“Sister Ying Ying, if there’s something upsetting you, just tell us about it, why bother drinking alone?”

Looking at the slightly drunk Cui Ying Ying, this made her even more attractive. With all the right curves on the body plus a beautiful face, she definitely would arouse a man’s desire and make them have impulsive thoughts.

"Lei Yu," putting down her glass, Cui Ying Ying whom was filled with sadness softly said: "Every night I would be in front of your house, but your life is too disciplined, you never go out after ten o'clock, why? Why do you put all your time into Dragon Group and on your little girlfriend, not giving me any chance to get close to you? Why?"

Once these words came out, the two suddenly realized... "Master, then you’re in the wrong, how could you treat my sister Ying Ying so coldly?" While saying this, Liu Hao was continuously using his eyes to give Lei Yu signals.

"Uh..." Lei Yu suddenly became dumb, not knowing what to say.

“I am going home.” Cui Ying Ying immediately stood up, getting ready to leave.

“I’ll take you!” said Liu Hao.

“No! I don’t need you to take me, Lei Yu, are you willing to take me home?”

“This…”

“If you’re not willing, forget about it!" Filled with anger, Cui Ying Ying turned to leave first.

"I’ll take you home okay? I’m giving into you." Lei Yu shook his head helplessly.

Liu Hao took a taxi to leave on his own. Lei Yu drove Cui Ying Ying’s convertible sports car towards the direction of the upscale residential district.

"I’m not going in, go back and get some rest, drink this..." Mid sentence, Lei Yu looked at the already asleep Cui Ying Ying, helplessly shaking his head again, supporting and helping her out of the car.

He escorted her the entire way until reaching the bedroom, making Lei Yu feel really helpless. To help someone, might as well help them all the way to the end since this was out of his control. Looking at the Cui Ying Ying lying on the bed, her image as a virgin beauty was now gone. She was originally wearing a miniskirt and in-between her legs revealed a spring of happiness. Lei Yu forcefully swallowed hard, a rush of blood immediately surged towards his manhood.

[omgitsaray]

Ch 29 - Have Some Self-respect

Shaking his head, he was about to turn and leave. Cui Ying Ying suddenly woke up as if she came out of a nightmare, "don’t go!”

"Just go to bed and rest up, I need to hurry back." Lei Yu did not want anything to happen here, if this was to spread out, then even if he had a thousand mouths, he would not be able to explain it satisfactorily to Ai Er.

"Can you not give me a bit of your time? Why are you always avoiding me to this extent?" With some reddish glow on her cheeks, Cui Ying Ying stood up from the bed.

“You’re not drunk? I thought…”

"If I did not pretend to be drunk, would you have escorted me all the way back to my bedroom?" Cui Ying Ying lightly stepped forward, her smooth and tender hands rested on Lei Yu’s shoulder, her mesmerizing eyes revealing a look that was hard for one to refuse.

Hurriedly breaking away from her grasp, Lei Yu took a step back, "I’m really going back now.”

"Is it that I’m not beautiful enough? I’m not pretty enough compared to your little girlfriend huh?”

"You are both pretty." Lei Yu did not know how to exactly answer this question, he could only feel that his face was getting red and hot.

At this time, Cui Ying Ying put her hands in front of her dress, she gently made some flicking gestures around her chest area and the hidden buttons were undone. A pair of soft and white bouncy things appeared more evident. Although they were wrapped up with a piece of cloth (tube shirt), but it could not hold back a woman’s fiery strength. (T/N: I think it means it cannot hold back the shape of a woman’s secret weapon)

Lei Yu suddenly backed up two steps again, his body tightly backed up against the wall. His hands were also against the wall, as if the other person was an extremely hard to deal with enemy.

During his life or death battle against the unknown black beast, Lei Yu did not feel that much fear. But today, because of the moves by a girl, he, a dignified ranked Fourth Order Warrior, had the pressure of wanting to flee with his tail between his legs.

"Hurry up and put on your clothes!" Lei Yu said anxiously, his eyes did not even dare to take one glance at the super sexy beauty before him. Lei Yu felt something was strange, within such a big house, there was only Cui Ying Ying living here alone.

"You don’t like my body?" Cui Ying Ying’s face was flushed, her delicate hands flourishing in front of her chest area while gently walking forward.

"I don’t like you like this!" Lei Yu exhaled heavily, "I do not know the real reason why you like me, but I do know you're not such a casual woman. Liu Hao told me about this so I hope you do not destroy the image I have of you, please have some self-respect!" Once finished, Lei Yu opened the door and left without looking back, leaving Cui Ying Ying alone.

A short while later, gently buttoning up her hidden buttons on the shirt, she sighed: "Are you really that unique? What should I do then?" Cui Ying Ying firmly shook her head: "Why did I commit such actions? Was I really drunk?" Thinking about the actions she just made, her face started feeling red and hot. But after recalling Lei Yu’s words, this so called princess of a wealthy family became more resolute and determined.

Escaping from Cui Ying Ying’s house, Lei Yu walked for some distance before hailing a taxi, and then hurriedly returned back to his house.

"What on earth just happened? If I let Ai Er know about this, she would eat me alive!" Lei Yu sat on his bed, remembering the erotic scene that just happened. His lower part began to “rise” up again. He rushed to the bathroom to splash cold water onto himself, then went to sit down preparing to cultivate.

Having already reached the [Energy Suppression] stage, Lei Yu’s strength is equivalent to the rank of a Fourth Order Warrior. Within the country of Tenglong, he could be regarded as one of the few top masters. As for the future of his cultivation, the degree of difficulty in improvements becomes greater. The time and effort he needs to put into improving grows exponentially the higher he climbs up. Since the beginning, Lei Yu had never thought of giving up. Since he wanted to become strong, wanting to stand in the position of the best of the best, then the effort he expends needs to be greater than others.

"For the battle date in three years, currently more than a year has passed by. I don’t know the current strength of Cai Zhong, whom is a branch leader of Ming Sect." Lei Yu dared not to neglect his training. Although normally inside Dragon Group; he was able to gain quality training during the past year; especially since he was inside Dragon Team for the full year being able to challenge any member of Dragon Team. But he still could not forget this opponent of his that was comparable to his own strength. Due to his miraculous encounters, his strength has surged. But who can say Cai Zhong’s strength has not increased either? Since he has gained good fortune, he has to assume other people could also have found good fortune. At least that’s what Lei Yu was thinking.

Internal energy slowly spread out from his dantian’s Sea of Energy region. Ever since he had broken through the stages, Lei Yu had become more careful in monitoring the changes to his body. If any abnormality was detected, he will focus his consciousness into it to investigate. It was no long the previous First Order or Second Order power he was controlling. The higher the ranks he climbs, the more careful he had to be, each step he took had to be careful and considerate.

Circulating his internal energy according to his cultivating methods, the energy flowed slowly inside his body’s meridians. Each time it passed a meridian point, there would be subtle changes. This change belongs uniquely to the power of lightning’s effect. After passing through the [Body Refining] stage, regardless of any time, as long as Lei Yu was in his cultivating state, his internal energy will formlessly and slowly refine his body, creating a constant and endless reinforcement.

The first changes were to Lei Yu’s bone structure - his bones contained metallic properties making it exceed the ordinary hardness of steel. If he were to suffer attacks that did not contain any internal energy, then he would not get hurt under those normal circumstances.

His purple internal energy slowly crawling forward, the unknown green energy inside his body was constantly following, taking the role as a protector and escort. And inside his head, the yellow bead as always was busily doing its own thing. Those three energies were each performing their duty, making everything appear in good order.

After a night of cultivating, apart from making Lei Yu more energetic, there wasn’t much improvement in his strength. But just this alone had already made him very satisfied; at least all aspects of his body were functioning normally.

It’s hard to blame Lei Yu because whenever he cultivates, he is filled with worry and fear. The green energy inside him is simply an unknown, although it has played the role in helping him repair fractures, who knows when it will suddenly go crazy one day? One thing for sure is that Lei Yu was unable to control this energy because it was just too powerful.

There was also the yellow bead - until now, Lei Yu still did not know what it was. Since it was something very beneficial to Lei Yu, he was reluctant to exclude or abandon it. Just like the jade pendant resting on his chest, although it was extremely dangerous to use, it did cause an unprecedented rapid increase in his strength. Moreover, it was something left to him by his mother, and even if it was dangerous, Lei Yu will always wear it on his neck.

The sky was getting light. Lei Yu was used to washing off the dirt from his body now. Putting on some clean clothes, he wore his backpack and was ready to jog back to Dragon Group.

Halfway there, “beep beep” sound of a car horn was heard. The incoming person was none other than his sworn brother Nuo Hu.

“Come on, I’ll drive you there!”

“No need, I prefer jogging.”

“Come on, we have a mission today!” said Nuo Hu.

“A mission?” Lei Yu was surprised, after joining Dragon Group for such a long time, he has never received any missions.

"That’s right, my father already told me to rush there as soon as possible so that I could bring you along. Last night, they had a meeting with their superiors and my father did not even come home at all.”

“What kind of mission? Why would it be in such a rush?”

"I don’t know, but I heard it’s not a simple task.”

Getting into Nuo Hu’s car, those two hurried towards Dragon Group headquarters.

[omgitsaray]

Ch 30 - Special Assignment

Inside a villa within Dragon Group. When Lei Yu and Nuo Hu arrived, the villa's lobby was already filled with the elites of Dragon Team.

As the deputy commander, Nuo Yi Feng came to the first floor and to the right of the stairs was a small door. Inside was a conference room. Although the door was small, the inside of the room was extremely spacious; able to accommodate twenty to thirty people was not a problem at all.

Everyone was sitting around a circular conference table. At this time, the door opened and two people came in from the outside. The first one everyone was familiar with, the Dragon Group’s commander Nuo Yi Long; the other was slightly older, although a head full of gray hair, his whole body gave off a majestic aura along with eyes filled with dominance, this was not something one could learn to imitate.

They two sat themselves at the front of the table. "Let me introduce this person to all of you, a senior official of Martial Sect, Chief Shangguan Rong.”

“Greetings to the chief!” A unified loud shout showed Dragons Team’s elite were full of energy; their imposing manner was like the waves of the Yangtze River.

"Today's task is very special; it’s completely different from the past." Shangguan Rong then said, "we received from the superior's, that in a distance of about two hundred kilometers or so, an emergency has emerged in that area. We do not know where it came from, but an unknown wild beast that’s extremely destructive has emerged. Fortunately, the place the beast appeared at was not populated so there weren’t any casualties. But we can’t guarantee what may happen in the future."

"Chief, this mission’s objective is the beast?" Lei Yu had never received an assignment before, so he naturally did not know the rules and procedures of speaking out in a conference, thus he cluelessly blurted out the question. But when he heard the two words wild beast, he suddenly remembered that he had encountered one before, but it was still a cub.

“What is your name?” asked the Chief.

“Lei Yu!”

"Interrupting the Chief during a conference is considered extremely rude!”

“Sorry Chief!”
　　
Frowning and looking at Lei Yu a few times, Shangguan Rong continued saying: "Your task is to pick out two elite of the elites, coordinate with two elites from Eagle Group, then capture this wild beast. Unless it comes to a last resort, capturing it alive is the preferred outcome.

“What??”

Inside the conference room, discussions abound suddenly erupted. Everyone was discussing who were to be picked.

"Everyone quiet down!" Nuo Yi Long waved his hands and all the elites instantly stopped their loud discussion. "Last night we had already met and discussed this - a helicopter on routine patrol discovered it; since this is the first time an unknown wild beast has appeared in the country of Tenglong, we have to capture it alive for research. Unless it’s at a life or death situation, do not kill the beast, is that understood?"

“Understood!”

Nuo Yi Feng then said: "Is there anyone amongst you that are willing to volunteer for this mission? There are only two spots available.”

Although the elites did not say anything, inevitably everyone had their own thoughts. At least no one was willing to blindly volunteer to charge ahead first since nobody knows exactly how strong this wild beast was. Why would one offer to voluntarily undertake such an arduous mission?

Ming Sect’s Shangguan family were obviously using Dragon Team as cannon fodder, this was most evident to Nuo Yi Long and Nuo Yi Feng. There were so many experts inside the Shangguan family, why would they not use their own personal strength to complete the mission but instead, send their heavyweight military regiment Dragon Group and Eagle Group? Their purpose was obviously to preserve their own personal power.

The Shangguan family were in charge of Martial Sect, which meant they were in charge of all of Tenglong country’s military forces. This prideful family is not going to care about anyone complaining and give up their current strategy because in their hearts, the lives of Shangguan family members were more valuable.

The conference room was filled with silence, the atmosphere felt like a slow death, no one wanted to become the wild beast’s lunch.

Shangguan Rong’s eyebrows had gradually begun to lock up, the enthusiasm or lack thereof from the Dragon Team members made him disappointed.

"I’ll go!" Lei Yu suddenly stood up, he had been worried whether that wild beast was the cub or not. He had already killed its mother, if something was to happen to the cub, then his heart would not be able to bear with the guilt.

“Good, very good!” Shangguan Rong originally was still blaming Lei Yu for being rude, but was now laughing.

“I would like to know what unique characteristics does this wild beast have?” asked Lei Yu.

Nuo Yi Feng naturally had some concerns for Lei Yu’s safety, but because a member of the Shangguan family was present, she did not want to open her mouth to say anything. She replied: "Based on the report of intelligence personnel on scene, the whole body of the wild beast is black, there are multiple spikes on its back, and it looks extremely ferocious!”

Nuo Yi Feng wanted used the term “extremely ferocious” hoping to shatter Lei Yu’s thoughts of going. Lei Yu's life story and encounters is well known to Nuo Yi Feng, a child that has suffered a pitiful life, yet his background and lack of experience was of no use to them yet. But the next words that came out of Lei Yu almost made everyone fall out of their seats.

"For this mission, is it okay for me to complete it alone?

"No!" Nuo Yi Long and Nuo Yi Feng both stood up at the same time. Originally wanting to speak up, Nuo Hu was actually surprised by them. He would have never thought that his father and his aunt would have such a big reaction.

"Commander, I think in this situation, having too many people go would make the wild beast more oppressive, so having a lot of people is not necessarily a good thing." Lei Yu was worried the little wild beast may be killed by other people.

“I will go with you then!” Nuo Hu stood up.

The most worrisome situation has happened; the two that wanted to bravely participate were exactly the two that Nuo Yi Long and his sister did not want them to go. Yet it happens that the two would volunteer.

"He is indeed the son of Dragon Group’s commander, such courage!" At this time, Shangguan Rong also stood up. "I think this decision is final, Eagle Group should have results pretty quickly as well. Combining your strengths, your success rate should be quite high.”

"But..." Lei Yu did not want to let the Eagle Group participate, but a small soldier like him could not make too many demands. Without waiting for anyone else to say anything, Shangguan Rong was the first to leave the conference room.

But this situation cannot be all blamed on the Shangguan family, Eagle Group and Dragon Group were the two military regiments closest to the appearance of the wild beast, there would be no reason to look for another military group that’s further away right?

“All of you withdraw; Lei Yu and Nuo Hu stay behind.” Nuo Yi Long heavily sat down, waving his hands to imply for everyone to leave.

The only people left in the conference room were Nuo Yi Long, Nuo Yi Feng, Lei Yu, and Nuo Hu.

"You guys are really too impulsive! It is impossible to estimate a safety factor for this kind of mission, what should we do if an accident occurs? Do you guys not understand what exactly the Shangguan family was expecting from this mission?" Asked Nuo Yi Feng while frowning.

Lei Yu will never forget the people that have treated him well. Regardless of the reason why these two were so concerned for their safety, either to ensure the strength of Dragon Group or for the sake of their personal safety, Lei Yu will remember it with his heart.

“Just let me go alone, this will be considered training to me.”

“No, how can I be assured if you go alone? I’m going with you!” Said Nuo Hu.

"I don’t know how to deal with you two anymore." Said Nuo Yi Long in a powerless manner. "We will be unable to accompany you two on the mission so you will have to count on yourselves.”

“Don’t worry, we will be careful!” Nuo Hu and Lei Yu both said.

Nuo Yi Feng took off a bracelet from her wrist and gave it to Nuo Hu, "this thing you should know what uses it has, when in a dangerous situation, it can at least protect the two of you." As the aunt, how could she not take care of her nephew?

After a series of instructions, Lei Yu and Nuo Hu were both ready to go.

“How confident are you?" Asked Nuo Hu while driving the car with Lei Yu.

"I’m not sure." Lei Yu tapping his legs: "But I don’t think we’ll have too much of a problem.”

"The Shangguan family are like this, letting others do the manual task while they sit in their office. Once the task is accomplished, they will run to the leaders and ask for credit and rewards, we’ve grown accustomed to it now" said Nuo Hu with indifference. "Anyway, since this situation has become the burden of Dragon Group and Eagle Group, the success of capturing the beast will be credited to them, failure in capturing or accidently killing the wild beast, the responsibility will be on our heads, this is fcuking bullshit!"

"Come on, you and I are still a long way from the destination. Once we arrive, we still have to join up with Eagle Group members."

This incident is not considered too big since it has not disturbed that many people yet. Only assigning Tenglong country’s two elite groups - Dragon Group and Eagle Group; and then dispatching select elite troops of each group. If they were unable to ascertain the level of danger in this mission, then the safety factor could not be predicted, then normally Lei Yu and them would not be sent out. In case the wild beast were to enter a populated city, then the consequences would be disastrous.

The two drove to the edge of a forest about two hundred kilometers or more away from the city. With Nuo Hu’s driving skills, the time spent driving was about two hours; it would be impossible for Lei Yu to do this if he were to drive.

"Should be in the front, we should arrive once we pass this forest." Lei Yu pointed to the forest in front and the car slowly stops at the edge.

"Greeting you two, I am a member of Eagle Group, called Hui Wei Tao" came a voice not too far away. Lei Yu and Nuo Hu turned around to look; a soldier dressed in a camouflage uniform then came over.

[omgitsaray]

Ch 31 - Fight Over A Dispute

“Hello, I am Nuo Hu.”

“My name is Lei Yu.”

“How come you are alone? Aren’t there supposed to be two people?” Asked Nuo Hu.

"Can’t help it, I was forced to perform this mission, other members were not willing to come. Were you two also forced to come here?" This Hui Wei Tao had a helpless look on his face.

Lei Yu and Nuo Hu both slightly smiled without actually replying.

Those three people discussed some simple strategies then walked deep into the forest. This place was no different than before, one could hear beasts growling and birds chirping everywhere. The visibility inside the forest was getting low so those three were walking quite slowly.

"Three directions, Hui Wei Tao, you go to the right side, Nuo Hu will go to the left, and I’ll go forward." Lei Yu waved his hands at the prearranged paths.

Seeing Hui Wei Tao going off into the distance, Lei Yu quickly went in the direction towards Nuo Hu, "follow me!”

“Why are you…?”

Accompanying Lei Yu for a period of time, they arrived at the edge of a small river. Following the familiar path, going around and entering another entrance of the forest, they arrived at the place where the cub was born.

"That’s strange, where did it go?" Lei Yu looked all around with an urgent look on his face.

Seeing Lei Yu’s actions, Nuo Hu became more hesitant, "little Yu, you seem to be very familiar with this place?”

"It’s not the right time to explain, we’ll talk more after we find it." Lei Yu did not stop, continuing to walk forward, Nuo Hu could only keep following.

“Oww!”

“Aggh!”

A scream of a beast and then a scream of pain, that sharp contrast immediately made the forest animals excited, startling countless birds and animals.

“Not good!" The two ran at high speeds towards the direction of where the voices came from.

When seeing a beast with its whole body covered in shiny black fur, forepaws stepping on where Hui Wei Tao’s head was supposed to be, Nuo Hu could not hold back a burst of nausea. Hui Wei Tao had already become a corpse, and his neck clearly showed signs of being cut with something sharp. Fresh blood was pouring out; it appears to be caused by the spikes on the wild beast's back.

“Little Yu! What should we do? Asked Nuo Hu grabbing onto Lei Yu.

The moment Lei Yu saw the wild beast, he was immediately surprised. The wild beast’s physique was very large, exactly the same as the mother he had fought before. The most obvious characteristic of this wild beast was that one of its eyes was actually blind.

"You stay here and don’t move!" Lei Yu pulled Nuo Hu’s arm and then went forward on his own.

"Don’t go over there!" Seeing the ground all bloody, Nuo Hu wanted to catch up. Lei Yu suddenly shouted back: "Don’t move!”

Seeing Nuo Hu standing still, this assured him to return looking to the front. The wild beast’s upper and lower teeth were tightly clenched; a single ferocious looking eye would give anyone the chills if they saw it right now.

When Lei Yu was about to approach the wild beast, a “swishing” sound suddenly came from the sky. Looking up, a few strands of white light similar to lightning rushed down towards them, the target being the black wild beast. The white lights stabbed into the ground, and only afterwards did Lei Yu realize they were swords. The swords did not directly attack the wild beast, the twelve swords stabbed into the ground was used to form a cage. At the end of the swords, a flow of milky white internal energy was seen. This energy appears to play the role of a seal.

With the sudden appearance of the swords, the wild beast became extremely angered, howling into the sky. Extending its claws, it started swiping at the swords. The toughness of the swords appear to be beyond the wild beast’s expectation, helpless, it started using the spikes on its back. That was obviously not effective; the twelve swords only slightly trembled before restoring its calm.

Lei Yu looked all around, where did the swords come from? Why did it suddenly appear trapping the beast in the middle?

"Swish, swish” sounds of leaves rustling came from deep inside the forest. Three figures then rushed out from within the forest.

One old and two young people, all dressed the same in old traditional Chinese clothes, the type you tie around, not button up. It appears these people were also martial arts cultivators.

“Who are you people?” Asked Lei Yu to the three that suddenly appeared.

"You guys should be soldiers sent by Martial Sect to perform this mission right? Not bad, you guys have some courage, seeing the death of your companion and still able to keep going, it seems like the people raised by Martial Sect aren’t all trash." Said the old man gently stroking his long white beard.

“Who are you people exactly?” Asked Lei Yu once again.

These three people in front of him gave off an aura, relying on his own power of lightning, he was able to determine that the old man had the strength of a Fourth Order Warrior while the other two had the strength of a Third Order Warrior. And from the weapons they used and the clothing they wore which were hard to tell apart, they should belong to one of the four major forces of Tenglong country... "Celestial Court!”

"Then is there any further need to ask? Didn’t Martial Sect teach you juniors that when you see members of Celestial Court, you need to avoid and step aside?”

Lei Yu did know some things about Celestial Court, but he personally had never been in contact with a member before. The three in front of him were clearly of Celestial Court, but they suddenly entrapped the wild beast, what exactly were their intentions?

"Dragon Group of Martial Sect are undergoing a mission, why did you people suddenly appear?" From the back, Nuo Hu came forward and asked.

Everyone was disregarding the roar of the wild beast and its resistance. These three people seemed to be very confident in their swords’ ability in caging the beast.

"You guys can go back and report to command that Celestial Court is taking over the situation." After saying these words, the old man turned and walked toward the wild beast’s direction, with an overbearing proud look on his face.

"You wish!" Lei Yu narrowed his eyes. If something was to happen to the wild beast, he would definitely feel guilty about it. This wild beast is most likely the cub from the other time, although the injury to its blind eye were similar to what Lei Yu had caused to its mother back then, Lei Yu believes that this cub’s injury was an accident.

"Oh? Looks like you’re trying to prevent Celestial Court members from accomplishing their task? The old man slowly turned around, the two younger people beside him had faces filled with anger. It looks like the relationship between Martial Sect and Celestial Court were like oil and water.

"Enough with the bullshit, we were the first to discover the wild beast, and our companion has died because of it, you guys better step aside!" Nuo Hu naturally had a bad temper so he would never allow someone to insult Martial Sect. There were internal strife but that was family business, once they encounter an enemy, they would band together and work against them.

"This is troublesome, looks like we have to settle you two first." The old man waved: "You two go take care of them, they are buzzing around like flies.”

One can hardly blame the old man for being so confident, thinking his underlings were able to get rid of Lei Yu and Nuo Hu. Their companion behind them had died in the hands of the wild beast, so based on his estimation, Lei Yu and Nuo Hu could not be much stronger.

The two heeded the old man’s words, stepped forward a few steps. As if they were suicide soldiers, they obeyed the old man's words without hesitation. Pulling out a sword strapped to their back, their mouths muttering some unknown chant. Their swords suddenly started flashing a bright light; a sharp internal energy similar to a bone chilling wind blew towards where Lei Yu and Nuo Hu were standing.

"I’ll take care of it!" After a shout, Lei Yu shot forward like an arrow, his arms containing the power of lightning had a slight amount of suction ability, particularly noticeable when it came to metallic objects. The sword in the hands of the two gradually became harder to control as Lei Yu got closer to them, the swords began to vibrate non-stop.

[omgitsaray]

Ch 32 - Shangguan Xi Hong

The eyes of the two had a look of surprise, and the old man on the side suddenly fiercely opened his eyes. Lei Yu’s speed was too fast, his speed almost matching a gust of wind. "Bang bang" sounds of metallic objects colliding, the swords those two had in their hands landed on the ground. Their bodies were also forced back five steps by the power of Lei Yu’s arm.

Lei Yu directly used his fists to collide with the two swords, one could not imagine this inhuman person was just standing there after the clash.

"Martial Sect had such a powerful junior? Which military group are you guys from?" The old man openly asked after seeing Lei Yu’s display of power.

"Dragon Group!" Without waiting for the old man to speak, Lei Yu then said: “Let go of the wild beast.”

"Let it go? Are you kidding with me? Isn’t your goal here to capture it as well? Such a valuable thing is not something only Martial Sect wants!”

Lei Yu frowned looking at Nuo Hu at his side, then looked at the old man and asked: "Valuable thing? What do you mean?”

“Ha!” The old man stroked his beard again then laughed: "Are you actually an idiot, when you were given the mission, didn’t your superiors tell you to capture it alive instead of killing it?”

At this moment, Lei Yu and Nuo Hu only now recalled it was indeed true, their superior’s order was to make their best effort to capture the wild beast alive, unless it was a last resort, they were not to kill the beast. Does this mean the wild beast possesses something of great value? Then why would the Shangguan family members not come themselves? They do not lack masters capable of it.

“You said it was valuable, exactly which part of it is valuable?” Asked Nuo Hu.

"There’s no harm in telling you, would I, a dignified Fourth Grade Celestial, fear you kids of snatching it away from me?" The old man then proudly said: "I will not speak of anything else, this wild beast, do you know its name yet?" Looking at Lei Yu and Nuo Hu’s expression, he was certain they did not know. He then said, "this wild beast is called an Ink Beast; it is an ancient magical beast, considered one of the four demonic beasts. Its sworn enemy is the magical beast Qilin.

Hearing these words, Lei Yu’s heart suddenly skipped a beat - sworn enemies with the Qilin. Would there be any relation to when he saw that battle scene in his mind amongst the backdrop of where the sky met the earth? Quelling the questions in his heart, he continued listening to the old man.

"The extinction of the magical beast Qilin was caused by the Ink Beast because an Ink Beast needs to consume the Qilin’s spiritual bead in order to survive to the present. And in the entire world, there aren’t any Ink Beasts left except for this one, so tell me, how valuable do think it is?”

Since consuming the Qilin’s spiritual bead allows it to live until now? So does that mean within the Ink Beast’s body, they have a longevity pill? Then that definitely means it is a heavenly treasure.

"That means I definitely cannot allow you guys to get it!" A distant voice could be heard, suddenly, a huge pressure came from somewhere. Lei Yu and the old man were able to tolerate it, while Nuo Hu and the two youngsters immediately frowned. Looking at their faces, it seems to be extremely uncomfortable for them.

The pressure gradually disappeared, followed by the emergence of a middle-aged man, dressed in black impressive clothing, his athletic physique unequalled. Just walking by Lei Yu, his aura gave off an oppressive feeling.

“Who are you?" Frowned the old man, feeling the immense strength of the newcomer.

“Shangguan Xi Hong!” The middle-aged man's voice had penetrating effect, startling and scattering the surrounding beasts, showing how powerful his internal energy was.

"You are Martial Sect’s Shangguan Xi Hong?!" The old man said with bulging eyes, "despicable!"

"Despicable? Are you, a little Fourth Grade Celestial, actually qualified to say I’m despicable? You’re courting death!” With an explosive shout, Shangguan Xi Hong’s single palm condensed a rich yellow internal energy, launching a palm strike through the air. The yellow internal energy came out like surging waves, directly aiming for the old man.

*Bang!* An extremely strong palm strike hit the chest of the old man. From the impact of the attack, the old man’s body flew out backwards landing in the grass, blood spraying out from his mouth.

"Strong!" This was the first impression Lei Yu got. Was this the person in charge of all matters in Martial Sect, in charge of the entire military of Tenglong country, the master of the Shangguan family, Shangguan Xi Hong? This was without a doubt the strength of a Sixth Order Warrior.

"You two kids back up a bit, I'd like to see why this trash of Celestial Court thinks he is qualified to boast in front of my Martial Sect." Shangguan Xi Hong waved his hand implying to Lei Yu and Nuo Hu to back up. This sense of awe-inspiring dominating appearance made Lei Yu and Nuo Hu slightly startled.

The old man on the ground struggled to get up and the two youngsters hurriedly approached to support his arms. Compared to dying, how much worth was the demonic beast? Even if he had gotten the spiritual bead of longevity, what use was it here? In front of a Sixth Order Warrior, wouldn’t he still instantly die with no ashes remaining? This the old man could still comprehend, “you are ruthless! We Celestial Court will not let this go so easily! We’ll leave!” While supporting the old man, the two youngsters and he quickly left the area.

Once the three left, Lei Yu coldly said: "Chief, since you were already here, why did you watch Eagle Group’s Hui Wei Tao get killed without lifting a finger?”

"What a joke!" Shangguan Xi Hong turned around and said, "as a warrior, when facing an opponent you believe you cannot overcome, you must carefully probe the situation. Are you telling me that while in Dragon Group, Nuo Yi Long and them did not teach you this?”

This was obviously treating his men as cannon fodder, it looks like everyone's opinion was not wrong, Shangguan family members saw their own lives as more valuable compared to others.

“But…”

"There is nothing left here! Your mission has been accomplished; you can go back and report to command!" With those final words, Shangguan Xi Hong walked towards the direction of the wild beast.

It seems to be able to sense the immense strength of Shangguan Xi Hong, the wild beast within the cage of swords frantically roared and struggled. But it was useless, no matter how hard it struggled, it was unable to break out.

Both feet planted firmly on the ground, the surrounding area started shaking and waves of yellow internal energy came out from Shangguan Xi Hong. The twelve swords seemed to come alive; each of them took off from the ground into the sky, flying off into the distant. The direction was exactly where the three Celestial Court members were headed. And the internal energy sealing the wild beast disappeared without a trace.

This so called demonic Ink Beast realized its cage had been broken, so it desperately moved in the opposite direction of Shangguan Xi Hong to escape.

"Demonic beast! Where do you think you’re going?!" Once again condensing a powerful yellow internal energy on his palm, using the same technique like the one he dealt with the old man from Celestial Court, he threw a palm strike. A ferocious and powerful energy flew straight at the Ink Beast.

*Howl!* A loud sharp cry of pain, the Ink Beast instantly fell to the ground, its body thrashing around, Two of the spikes on its back was split into two due to the power of the energy, and blood kept flowing out.

Walking forward, wanting to finish off the Ink Beast with another palm strike, but at this moment, Lei Yu’s body intercepted with the speed of lightning, blocking Shangguan Xi Hong’s path.

“What are you doing? Move aside!” Shouted the angry Shangguan Xi Hong at Lei Yu.

“You can’t kill it!”

"You are not qualified to tell me what to do!" Knowing that the Ink Beast possessed a spiritual bead capable of eternal life, he only had to kill the Ink Beast and extract it, no longer needing to capture it alive.

[omgitsaray]

Ch 33 - Demonic Ink Beast

“You cannot kill it!”

"Move aside!" A strong forceful impact blasted Lei Yu's body out of the way. Shangguan Xi Hong then with extreme speed released forth his internal energy attacking the Ink Beast. It seemed like the Ink Beast was no longer in extreme pain; with its single red eye, it stared fiercely at Shangguan Xi Hong whom was the person that was ending its life. Right after the attack, the body of the Ink Beast began to blur and become illusory, turning into a black gas like substance, and then dissipated into the air without a trace. The meridian point between Lei Yu’s eyebrows briefly flashed a black light; he then felt his mind go blank before becoming unconscious.

“Chief, you…” Nuo Hu hurriedly rushed to Lei Yu’s body supporting it, then looking at Shangguan Xi Hong in front of him.

"Such rotten luck, I wasted so much effort and didn’t think the legend would actually be fake! It originally never had any spiritual bead of longevity!” Stamping one foot on the ground, Shangguan Xi Hong flew into the air, disappearing in the depths of the forest.

---------------------------------------------

In a world of darkness, Lei Yu seemed to have once again gone inside the space of the jade pendant, but currently, the sky did not have that round moon. Lei Yu cautiously walked forward.

“You killed me time and time again, why?”

"Who is it?!" Lei Yu looked all over but there was only darkness and only the sound of his voice, he simply could not see anything. At this time, inside the world of darkness flashed a red light. This red light steadily approached Lei Yu.

"It’s you! How can you be here?" Lei Yu was surprised to find that in front of him was the Ink Beast previously killed by Shangguan Xi Hong. And the red light was actually the Ink beast’s eye. But why did it appear within his subconscious mind?

"The line where the sky meets the earth; after recovering from the battle, perhaps this was destined; the day I defeated the Qilin, I received the spiritual bead of longevity. As the flow of time passed by, I, the Ink Beast was no longer the king of the world. I was actually sealed inside a boulder for ten thousand years!”

"I really cannot understand what you’re talking about..." Lei Yu looked at the pondering beast in front of him.

"The day that I was able to break free from the seal, my strength was at only 10 percent of my peak power, who would have thought I would run into you. And you, you’re the one that killed me and extracted the spiritual bead of longevity from my head!”

"Are you saying I have the spiritual bead of longevity? That yellow bead?" Lei Yu was suddenly shocked. Could it be this yellow bead that assisted him in clearing away impurities was what Celestial Court and Martial Sect fought over to gain, the spiritual bead of longevity?

"That’s right! You were supposed to die!" said the Ink Beast sitting on the ground. "After being killed by you and having the spiritual bead of longevity removed, if you had only waited a while longer to absorb it, then I could have relied on the trace connection with the spiritual bead to resurrect. But because of your curiosity that day, you happen to absorb it. *Sigh* But fortunately inside my body still had trace amounts of the spiritual bead’s energy, allowing me to use the power of self-breeding for my rebirth. Coincidentally you appeared again, rescuing me from the body’s stomach. Tell me; does this count as killing me once but then saving me? Unfortunately, this time I have been truly destroyed."

"So that’s what happened!" Lei Yu then hurriedly ask: "So are there any methods for you to revive again?"

"Impossible!" Said the Ink Beast. "You killed me then saved me, so we should be considered even. But today you helped me by speaking on my behalf, so let’s consider the spiritual bead of longevity a present I gift to you.”

"This... this doesn’t sound too good right?" Lei Yu thought back to the day where the Ink Beast resurrected and came out of its own stomach, thinking about it made him a little sick. If he ever died and the only way to resurrect was using that method, then he’d rather just die permanently.

"Many people sought but failed to attain the bead, yet you don’t want it? They why did you dig it out of my head that day?" The Ink Beast asked in a hateful tone.

"I..." Lei Yu was suddenly dumbstruck. That day, he only killed the Ink Beast in order to protect himself. And it was because of his curiosity that made him extract the unknown bead. He did not expect it to be a spiritual bead capable of longevity.

"Enough talking about this. Although I’ve been destroyed, the Ink Beast species should not be allowed to become extinct in this world." The Ink Beast then said, "I need to borrow your body to nurture a new beast."

“Screw that, no way!”

"You need to quickly improve your strength, so I will then be able to awaken and appear once again. But you shouldn’t count on any good fortune because I will not help you in anyway. My spiritual energy is too weak, I need to sleep. Maybe in a few years, or maybe in a thousand years, everything depends on your karma... “The voice of the Ink Beast gradually disappeared and Lei Yu gained back control of his consciousness. Searching within his body, he was unable to find any traces of the Ink Beast’s spiritual energy.

In a hazy condition and feeling his face being wiped with something, it was kind of warm and felt very comfortable. Lei Yu then gradually opened his eyes.

“Ai Er?”

“Brother Yu! You’ve finally woken up!”

In front of Lei Yu was Ai Er. Seeing Lei Yu awaken, Ai Er was immediately filled with joy. "You scared me to death; you've been unconscious for a long time.”

"Ai Er, where am I?" Lei Yu sat up; felt a slight headache and began kneading his head.

"Don’t get up, you should rest well, I'll tell them you're awake." With that, she then rushed out.

Shaking his head, his headache seemed to have lightened a bit. "I somehow had gotten the spiritual bead of longevity? How could this be? Why did I become unconscious?" Lei Yu blinked a few times thinking about everything. "Fcuk! The Ink Beast is inside my body!"

“Little Yu, you’re awake!” The door suddenly opened and Nuo Hu, Air Er, Nuo Yi Long and Nuo Yi Feng came in.

“I’m fine now.” Lei Yu scratched his head and hurriedly got off the bed.

“You’ve been unconscious for seven days; it’s great that you’re okay now.” Nuo Yi Feng smiled as she said that.

“Seven days?! No way!”

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Everything was the same as always. Every day, Lei Yu would train his body at Dragon Group headquarters, and then he would cultivate his internal energy at home. And occasionally, he would go out on dates with Ai Er or accompany her to go shopping.

One and a half years later, Lei Yu was currently calculating the date. The three year battle date he had with Cai Zhong will arrive in approximately two months. This past year, it was unfortunate for him because his improvement speed was too slow. He was only able to advance from the mid-stage of [Energy Suppression] to the late-stage. It seems he is still very far away from breaking through this bottleneck.

At around the same time, in a sealed dark chamber.

Black smoke filled the entire chamber, the smoke was swirling around pushed by a strong wind. A deafening howl could be heard, filled with resentment like it came from the depths of hell.

Smoke gradually dissipated, and the howling gradually stopped. A young man dressed in black was sitting cross-legged in the center of the chamber. His long hair obscured his face; one was simply unable to clearly see what he looked like.

“It’s soon nearing the three years’ time. Lei Yu, I worked hard for the past three years just for this day. I have finally reached the Fourth Stage of the Demonic Realm; I'd like to see whether you can oppose me!”

The chamber’s door opened and the man clothed in black left.

“Cousin, were you able to succeed?”

"Yes, now we wait for the duel in two months time." The person in black was none other than Cai Zhong, the northern branch leader of the Ming Sect.

[omgitsaray]

Ch 34 - Uncle Liu Shishi

"Cousin, I inquired around, that guy joined Dragon Group and has some association with Martial Sect" said Zhao Han.

“Oh? Martial Sect?”

“That’s right cousin, you were behind closed door training so you haven’t heard what’s been happening on the outside.”

"It seems like we need to change the way how our contest will be held." A red light briefly flashed in Cai Zhong’s eyes while he coldly laughed.

On the other side.

"Instructor Fan, are you alright? You’re actually challenging me?" Said Lei Yu with his eyes wide in surprise.

"What's the fuss about? You still don’t know about your own evaluation after joining Dragon Team. Within the two plus years you’ve joined, ever since you’ve defeated Dragon Team’s strongest member Chen Chao, no one has dared to challenge you anymore. If it weren’t for the other team members pressuring me, did you think I want to challenge you?" Fan Hong Chang also looked helpless. This instructor appears to be thoroughly discredited since it was the Dragon Team members that put him in this embarrassing situation. Challenging Lei Yu, if he happens to lose, then he will no longer have any face in the team. If he did not challenge Lei Yu, then the team members will say he was a coward.

"Well, that’s fine then, I could actually learn some fighting techniques from you” said Lei Yu with a smile.

"How could you say these words so carefreely? Let me ask you, what level of strength have you actually attained? You Lei family members... uh no, I meant you special people are too mysterious, I cannot tell at all." Fan Hong Chang realized he said the wrong thing, thus hurriedly changed his statement.

"It's a secret, but don’t worry Instructor Fan, I should not be a difficult opponent for you." Lei Yu smiled and then said: "This match is at night right?”

"Ten o’clock, second floor training hall, I've already told the other members to prepare for it.”

“Understood, see you tonight.”

Leaving the gates of Dragon Group, he has been jogging every day, he rarely drove at all. Coincidentally Nuo Hu left early today; he wasn’t able to hitch a ride. Looking at his watch, it was currently a bit later than six o’clock. There was still quite a bit of time before the ten o'clock match, Lei Yu didn’t really have anything else to do.

He went to a busy downtown area where it was very lively and crowded. It looked like something had happened. Lei Yu then joined the crowd to also engage in its liveliness, wanting to see exactly what was going on.

The crowd surrounded a person who was huddled on the ground, his body constantly shaking. Lei Yu got a closer and cried out in surprise: “Uncle Liu!”

After this shout, the crowd of people turned to look at Lei Yu. A good-hearted person then said “young man, quickly take him to the hospital, did he have some serious illness?”

Lifting up Uncle Liu, Lei Yu rushed out of the crowd, stopping a random taxi, they then rushed towards the hospital.

Uncle Liu had already been inside the operating room for two hours yet there weren’t any news of what was going on. Lei Yu was pacing back and forth in the hallway, his heart filled with unease. "How was this possible? Why would uncle Liu become like this? What exactly happened?" Once again looking at his watch, it was already past eight o’clock. If there still weren’t any news with what’s going on with uncle Liu, then even if his teammates considered him a coward, he will not attend tonight’s match.

Every second of every minute went by, Lei Yu’s heart feel more and more uneasy. Looking up, the operating room lights went off. Lei Yu quickly ran up as the door opened, the doctor then came out.

“Doctor, what’s going on? How is the patient?” Lei Yu anxiously asked.

*Sigh* The doctor helplessly shook his head, "I’m sorry, we tried our best, if you have anything to say, you should say it to him soon. I believe he doesn’t have much time left.”

“What?!” Lei Yu could feel a ringing buzz in his head. His mind went blank, "how could it be like this? What exactly happened?”

At this time, a few of the nurses came out of the operating room pushing uncle Liu. Lei Yu followed behind them, arriving at a hospital room.

Looking at uncle Liu’s hollowed out face and his sunken eyes, Lei Yu felt like needles were stabbing into his heart. Since he was young, the Lei family household had cast him aside, despising him for being a bastard. It could be said that uncle Liu alone took care of all of his daily necessities. Sometimes he would openly berate those that had ridiculed Lei Yu. Lei Yu would have never thought the person he most respected would become like this, how could his heart not ache?

Uncle Liu’s eyes had some slight movement. Lei Yu hurriedly grabbed his skinny hand which was like twigs. His eyes all red, he said: "Uncle Liu, how did you become like this?”

"It’s you little Yu!" Uncle Liu smiled weakly, "child, don’t cry, it looks like this was destined by the heavens, allowing me to see you on my last breath.”

"Uncle Liu, hurry up and tell me what happened!" Said Lei Yu anxiously.

“Enemies, they were enemies, enemies of your mother.”

“Enemies of my mother? Who are they?” Asked Lei Yu with eyes filled with anger.

"Child, your current strength is not enough to go against them. It’s best that you didn’t know, but you must remember one thing, there is another piece of jade pendant apart from your own, possessed by your mother. When those two jade pendants are close to each other, there will be a strong reaction. Once the time comes, you will understand everything.”

Lei Yu unconsciously touched the jade pendant hanging around his neck. He once again asked, “but when can I get to see my mother? Where exactly is she?"

"Don’t ask too many questions, I *cough cough* there are some things that you cannot know right now. When the time comes, you will naturally understand. Child, just once, can you call me grandpa?” (maternal)

“Grandpa?” Lei Yu was immediately shocked, what exactly is going on?

"Child, twenty years ago, I accompanied your mother to the Lei family household. When your mother left, I was allowed to stay and take care of you. Once you left the Lei family, I was then driven out." Uncle Liu was gasping for breath before continuing: "Back then, your father and your mother had sinned, but you were the one to suffer. Our Liu family apologizes to you, child I… I…" Uncle Liu became faint of breath, he was breathing out more than breathing in. His breathing intensified with short shallow breaths.

"Gran... grandpa! Grandpa!" Lei Yu firmly grasped uncle Liu’s hand; the tears on his face were dripping down involuntarily, dropping onto uncle Liu’s extremely thin arms. "No! Grandpa!" Lei Yu began to wail and cry. He had just learned that the person who had accompanied him since childhood was actually his grandfather, but now he had drifted away from the living world. To this Lei Yu who had been tortured since he was a child was undoubtedly a big blow, this blow he suffered may be considered too great.

Inside the hospital room, the sound of crying gradually stopped. Lei Yu's eyes had become even more intense and terrifying. He suddenly thought of something, and ran out of the room to find the doctor that had performed the operation.

“What happened to my grandpa? Why did he become like this?” Asked Lei Yu.

"We found this thing within his body, but we don’t know what it is, we are currently studying it." From a white container, the doctor used some tweezers to take out a black chip, "this thing is the reason it lead to the death of your grandfather. We discovered it in his brain, and it appears as if it’s been there for a long time. This chip was pressing against your grandfather's nerves. By the time you brought him to the hospital, there was nothing we could do."

Lei Yu then proceeded to store the black chip inside his own wallet.

"You cannot take this away, we still need to study it. It might be something that was grown inside his body, something like a new type of disease" the doctor hurriedly cried.

"You shut your mouth!" Lei Yu angrily said. "If you want to study, go look for someone else to study on. Immediately prepare the death certificate, I want to have my grandpa cremated as soon as possible."

He didn’t need any grand funeral, Lei Yu just wanted to quickly find a permanent place of refuge for his grandfather.

[omgitsaray]

Ch 35 - Mysterious Enemy

Lei Yu's phone kept ringing, but he was sitting on a chair in the hospital hallway in a daze. Lei Yu’s current location was outside the doors to the hospital’s morgue, very few people were here. The dim lighting combined with the night’s cold air gave this place a chilling atmosphere. It even felt a bit scary around here.

"Mother, mother! How should I find my mother?" Lei Yu was firmly clenching his fists, suddenly feeling hopeless. My grandfather's words were very clear, my current strength was not enough to oppose mother's enemies. "I need to put in more effort in cultivating! I need to put in much more effort! That’s right! I must put more effort in cultivating!" Suddenly snapping his head up, Lei Yu recovered from his grief, then finally noticed his cell phone had been ringing non-stop.

"Eighteen missed calls!" Looking at the numbers, it was not just Nuo Hu that called, there were also the phone numbers of Nuo Yi Long and Fan Hong Chang. Lei Yu then remembered, tonight was supposed to be the match where Fan Hong Chang challenged him. But because of the incident with his grandfather, he had completely forgotten about it.

Thinking about it, he then answered the call from Nuo Hu.

“Hello.” Lei Yu’s voice sounded a bit depressed.

“Little Yu, where are you? Did you forget about the important event tonight?”

“Big brother, I think… I think I won’t be able to attend, I’m currently at the hospital.”

“What?! Why are you at the hospital? Did you get hurt?” Nuo Hu’s voice was a bit anxious, from his end of the line, one could hear a lot of noise in the background.

“Don’t worry, I’m okay, I’m coming back now.”

The hospital’s paperwork and procedures needed another day before it could be completed. Lei Yu could only return to Dragon Group and explain to those worried about him about what exactly was going on.

"Little Yu, what happened? How come you were at the hospital?" Nuo Hu was filled with concern after seeing Lei Yu. Even though he and Lei Yu were only sworn brothers, Nuo Hu actually treated him as real younger brother.

*Sigh*

A deep sigh could be heard. Lei Yu was currently sitting in a main hall within the villa of Dragon Group. Next to him were all the people concerned about him, including Nuo Yi Long and his sister, Fan Hong Chang, Nuo Hu, and his beloved Ai Er. Everyone's face revealed an anxious look.

"I found my grandfather. It appears that he raised me since I was young and took care of all my daily necessities; uncle Liu was actually my grandfather."

"Eh? How could..." Everyone was astonished after the explanation. Everyone knew what Lei Yu had to endure growing up - labeled as trash since he was young, being kicked out of the Lei family when he was eighteen years old, and growing up without a mother.

"I just found that out today. This evening, I found my grandfather lying on the street, surrounded by a crowd of people. I then rushed him to the hospital but it was already too late. I was told a black chip was removed from his brain, and it was only around this time that I found out he was my grandfather." As Lei Yu was talking, once again the tears would not stop streaming down. Such a powerful and dignified man would actually shed tears, perhaps only familial love will cause him to be in such a vulnerable state.

Because of what Lei Yu told them, everyone could feel his grief. Nuo Yi Long suddenly asked, "black chip? Did you say a black chip? Do you have it with you? Take it out and let me see.”

"I have it; I deliberately took it from the doctor." After saying this, Lei Yu took out the chip from his wallet and handed it over to Nuo Yi Long.

"It’s really them!" Nuo Yi Long’s eyes became extremely wide after seeing the black chip in his hand.

"Uncle Nuo! Do you recognize this thing? Who does this belong to? Who killed my grandfather? Who are my mother's enemies?" Lei Yu suddenly stood up, his emotional stress was at its limits. But after seeing Nuo Yi Long’s facial expression, Lei Yu began to have some doubt.

*Sigh* Shaking his head, Nuo Yi Long said: "Little Yu, your current strength is not enough to oppose him, this… let’s talk about this in the future.”

“Uncle Nuo! Who exactly is this person, I beg you to tell me!”

"Did you not hear what I just told you? Stop asking about it! Nuo Yi Long’s tone suddenly became angry. Everyone inside the hall was confused, and only his sister Nuo Yi Feng knew why his brother would have such a big reaction.

Nuo Yi Long turned to leave; Nuo Yi Feng smiled at the rest of the people before following in his steps. The people left in the hall were all extremely confused.

In a remote corner of Dragon Group’s military headquarters.

"Brother, did you really have to show such a big reaction?" Nuo Yi Long then said, "little Yu does not understand what’s going on. It’s only because of the death of his grandfather that he would be so eager to find out who the murderer was, why did you exhibit such a big temper towards him?”

"Well, what do you think I should have done then?" Nuo Yi Long’s resolute face now suddenly became dispirited. This was like a completely different person from the mighty and domineering commander of Dragon Group.

"Brother, sister-in-law has died for so many years now; you should stop thinking about it.”

"I did not think... did not expect that our Nuo family’s enemy and little Yu’s enemy is actually the same person, I really hate him! Twenty plus years, these twenty years I have painstakingly cultivated, hoping to break through the Fifth Order Warrior rank, becoming a Sixth Order Warrior. But I’ve been stuck here unable to break through the bottleneck. If I could break through, then I could avenge your sister-in-law!”

"Brother, don’t be like this. I know you feel bad deep inside your heart, suffocating for twenty years, but seeing you like this again, my heart also aches."

"At least there's some hope in this situation." Nuo Yi Long suddenly thought of something as he said this.

“Brother, you mean little Yu?”

“Right, come with me.”

Inside the main hall.

Instructor Fan, I’m sorry, the situation today delayed our match.”

"Let’s put aside my challenge towards you for the time being. Death is final, there’s nothing we can do about it so you should overcome this. I will mention this to the commander, about giving you a one month break; you can take care of things and adjust your life." Fan Hong Chang said this intending to comfort Lei Yu. (T/N: death is final is a Chinese saying to console someone)

"No!" Lei Yu shook his head: "I cannot rest, I need to put more effort into cultivating. Not only did uncle Nuo say it, but my grandfather on his deathbed also said it - my current strength is not enough to oppose this enemy. I need to work harder in improving myself! Even though I currently don’t know who my enemy is, but I cannot give up, I cannot become dissolute! "

“Good! You have ambitions!" Nuo Yi Long’s vigorous and powerful voice came from outside the door.

“Uncle Nuo.”

“Commander.”

“Father, are you okay now?” Everyone hurriedly approached him.

"I'm fine now little Yu." Nuo Yi Long smiled and said "Before I was a bit too emotional, I hope you won’t mind it. Maintaining this dedication and tenacity, I believe that sooner or later, one day you will become a force to be reckoned with. Once you are strong enough, I will tell you everything you need to know.”

“Don’t worry! I can do it!” Lei Yu nodded his head in enthusiasm.

Everything went smoothly after that. The next day, Ai Er and Nuo Hu accompanied Lei Yu to the hospital. There, they completed the paperwork and had uncle Liu cremated and buried in a cemetery.

The soldiers of Dragon Group were currently training with their utmost effort. Lion Team were training without slacking at all. But occasionally, they will gather together to discuss things that were going on.

Outside the villa stood a few of Dragon Team’s elite, all were abnormally alert. It seems like within the main hall, there’s the presence of an important figure.

[omgitsaray]

Ch 36 - Dueling The Instructor

"Why is it that you’ve never mentioned this to me before?" asked Nuo Yi Long.

"Uncle Nuo, this happened three years ago. The duel between Cai Zhong and I is something personal between the two of us, it will not affect Dragon Group or Martial Sect” replied Lei Yu.

"Naive!" Shangguan Xi Hong’s single palm heavily struck the coffee table. “Don’t you know? On the surface, the duel between you and Cai Zhong is a mutual exchange of pointers, but in reality, it’s a contest of power between the two major forces Martial Sect versus the Ming Sect? You better properly explain how this situation came to be!”

“Uncle Shangguan, it is my fault. It was all because of me that caused this problem.” Ai Er stated this in a weak voice and stood up besides Nuo Yi Feng.

“What exactly happened?” Asked Nuo Yi Long with a frown.

“The incident started when…”

"So that’s what happened." Nuo Yi Long and Nuo Yi Feng gave Lei Yu an appreciative look. But Shangguan Xi Hong, Martial Sect’s highest authority figure still with a cold attitude said: "I still don’t even know if you have the ability to fight with Cai Zhong or not. I’ll tell you all frankly; yesterday Ming Sect had already informed Martial Sect that the contest location has been changed. And they have invited the other two major forces - Celestial Court and Lei family to watch the battle. Do you know what they are intending to do? Ming Sect is using this opportunity to demoralize our Ming Sect’s power and influence!”

"Chief, I will fight with all my effort!" Lei Yu said confidently.

"That’s ridiculous! In order to become a branch leader of Ming Sect, do you think your opponent’s strength is weak? This is not something you can depend on your confidence to win! You should know, this is related to Martial Sect’s face, if you were to be defeated, I will not let you off easily!” Shangguan Xi Hong angrily said.

“Little Yu, he…”

"Whatever, you don’t need to say anything more." Shangguan Xi Hong prevented Nuo Yi Long’s explanation. "Freakin stupid! Daring to not ask for my consent before accepting the duel, you better be prepared, or..." *Slams table again* Shangguan Xi Hong left these words before turning around and angrily leaving.

*Sigh* “Little Yu, you really should have told us about this situation earlier, why have you not mentioned it to us all this time?" Asked Nuo Yi Long with a frown.
　　
Lei Yu looked at the several people left here; he wasn’t sure what he should say. Originally it was just an agreement between two people; he did not expect to involve the reputation and strength between Martial Sect and Ming Sect. This was similar to burdening Lei Yu’s shoulder with a 1000 jin item.

"Uncle Nuo, whatever I say now is useless. There’s still a little over a month’s time, I want to devote myself to cultivating." Lei Yu exhaled a deep breath, and then walked towards the second floor’s training hall.

“Brother, do you not have any confidence in little Yu?” Asked Nuo Yi Feng.

"That’s right father, little Yu is currently very powerful, within Dragon Team, he is already the most powerful” said Nuo Hu sitting on the side.

"It’s not that I don’t have any confidence in little Yu, but did you guys know? Before Shangguan Xi Hong came over, we already spoke over the phone. The person called Cai Zhong, whom was a small branch leader, had been promoted to become the Northern Main Hall’s leader. Do you know what it means to be a Main Hall’s leader? You need at least the strength of a rank Fourth or Fifth Order Warrior. Also, Ming Sect mainly cultivates demonic energy; their moves are all sinister and ruthless. Even if little Yu’s strength was equivalent to his opponent, there is no guarantee that some surprise could not happen. Besides, we currently do not have any information pertaining to little Yu’s current strength, and we don’t even know what rank of strength he has achieved." Nuo Yi Long’s fears were indeed reasonable. Demonic cultivators relied on yin energy - they were ruthless and proficient in poison. For someone like Lei Yu who has been mainly relying on the power of strength, it indeed had quite a few drawbacks.

“Then... what about the challenge between little Yu and I, are we still continuing that?" Asked Fan Hong Chang.

Nuo Yi Long thought for a bit, "I think it’s necessary, at least we will get to know the extent of his current strength.”

“When should we do this?”

“We’ll do it tonight.”

"That’s fine, I'll go get ready and notify little Yu." Fan Hong Chang nodded and left.

That night, a space was cleared on the second floor of the training hall. On top of a spacious blue carpet stood Lei Yu and Fan Hong Chang. This match had been pushed back for a few days already, a match that all the Dragon Team members had looked forward to. There was no one absent tonight and the audience also included the two siblings Nuo Yi Long and Nuo Yi Feng, Nuo Hu, and Ai Er.

"Little Yu, it’s time to test your strength" laughed Fan Hong Chang.

“Instructor Fan, please!” Lei Yu clasped his fists together in respect.

Fan Hong Chang is a descendant of one of the ancient martial arts clans. By using his family’s inherited cultivating methods, he has reached the strength of a rank Fourth Order Warrior in a short thirty plus years. Within the country, he was already considered an outstanding genius.

Most people will often encounter a difficult to breakthrough bottleneck in the third stage of a rank. Highly talented individuals may be able to break through in a year or two, but for the normal people, they may be trapped in the third stage for a decade, twenty years, or even their entire lifetime. Breaking through from the Fourth to the Fifth Order Warrior rank could be considered a critical juncture. Fan Hong Chang has spent quite some time at this critical juncture, unable to break through at all. If we are talking about the hardest part, then it will have to be from the Fifth Order to the Sixth Order. In the country of Tenglong, Nuo Yi Long and Nuo Yi Feng could be considered as top-level figures. Of course, besides the leaders of the four major forces in the country, Nuo Yi Long has been stuck on the Fifth Order rank for over a decade; he is still unable to have an insight in breaking through.

Based on this, the thing we must mention is how absurd Lei Yu’s luck was. The process of him from the Third Order breaking through to the Fourth Order, he relied on the jade pendant left by his mother. While hanging on a thread between life and death, he managed a breakthrough. Perhaps Lei Yu felt the fear of treading the fine lines of life and death, therefore he did not have to experience the hardships in advancing a rank.

"Ahh!" After a burst of shout, Fan Hong Chang’s whole body surged forth a rich white internal energy. Inherent in its power, it was formlessly interacting with the surrounding environment causing ripples in the air, like it was bonding unceasingly with Fan Hong Chang. Inside the main hall, half the air was instantly sucked out, and to a normal person, breathing would be quite difficult. But everyone present weren’t ordinary people so it was natural that they were able to easily withstand it.

Lei Yu as always did not move, but was ready to counter any circumstances, he was waiting for the arrival of Fan Hong Chang’s attacks. The internal energy inside his body was instantly surging around, almost circulating throughout every inch of his body. Having already reached the stage of [Energy Suppression], Lei Yu relied on his power of lightning to hide his true strength to the extent that one would call it almost perfect. Lei Yu was able to give off a feeling to others filled with elusive mystery. And it was this mysterious atmosphere that gave people an illusion that Lei Yu was not a strong individual.

Fan Hong Chang’s body moved, causing a short burst of whistling sound in the air. His move made him similar to a cheetah, at breakneck speeds rushing towards Lei Yu, his fist containing a powerful explosive force. But Fan Hong Chang’s degree of power burst forth after careful consideration, he did not want Lei Yu to suffer any irreparable harm, therefore he held back some power. But his concern was unnecessary; the extent of Lei Yu’s strength was no less than Fan Hong Chang. Already in the late stage of [Energy Suppression], he could easily rely on his body’s ability to generate a gravitational field that could detect the strength of any attack.

His mouth gently curved to a smile, at the moment Fan Hong Chang got close to him, he effortlessly lifted up his right arm, "Bang!"

[omgitsaray]

Ch 37 - Strong Absorption

The instant both their arms came into contact with one and another, Fan Hong Chang’s body was forcefully knocked back a few steps; a look of surprise was clearly shown on his face. The audience on the side including Nuo Yi Long, Nuo Yi Feng, and all the other Dragon Team members were shocked beyond expectations.

If one was to look closely at Fan Hong Chang’s arm, you would see his right hand was slightly shaking at this time. But the cause of this effect, only Lei Yu would understand it. His attacks contained the hidden power of lightning, and in addition to his skeletal bone structure containing trace metallic properties, being in contact will make his opponent’s hand feel numb, especially with the added force of impact.

"Little Yu, you are really strong, it seems that I really need to concentrate in order to fight you or else Dragon Team will see me as a joke." Fan Hong Chang had a brief smile before frowning. Lei Yu's performance has made him feel a little uneasy, this type of strong opponent other than Nuo Yi Long, he hasn’t encountered for a very long time.

The white internal energy on the surface of his body began to surge forth again, enveloping and concentrating on Fan Hong Chang’s eyes, then focusing his will onto his arms.

Those that practice martial arts, those that cultivate internal energy, and those that cultivate demonic energy were all very different. Those that focused on martial arts were strong and powerful by relying on their internal energy to stimulate their bodies, performing a powerful attack in order to kill their opponent. Practitioners of internal energy would rely on their internal energy’s circulation of their life essence, and then expel forth that power out of their body for long range attacks. Practitioners of demonic energy are a combination of both, although not considered a perfect union. Of course, the body of practitioners focused on martial arts were sturdier than those in Celestial Court by double or even triple, which is their clear advantage.

Inside the large main hall, there was complete silence; everyone's eyes were firmly fixated on the two men dueling. One whose internal energy was surging around like a river, the other calm and steady anticipating any moves or changes. It appears the atmosphere of hall was filled with extreme tension. It’s possible that any moment now, an overwhelming flood of ferociously powerful attacks would appear.

Sure enough, the first to move was Fan Hong Chang. Both his legs were on the ground balancing on the balls of his feet, and then his body was like a hare, pouncing towards Lei Yu approaching him through the air. Surrounding his arms were white internal energy resembling two waterfalls that were spiraling straight towards Lei Yu’s location.

This time, Lei Yu had to pay full attention. He understood that Fan Hong Chang had not used his full power yet, but seeing the posture of attack in front of him, this magnificent onslaught attack showed Fan Hong Chang was no longer hiding his cards. Quickly circulating his internal energy, a thin line of energy absorbing within the meridians so that there was a hint of connection to his Sea of Energy, Lei Yu’s response to his opponent was the usual, by using the shortest amount of time in order to bring forth his strongest attack power.

Focusing his internal energy as one instead of spreading it throughout his body, Lei Yu’s right arm was similar to a completely loaded anti-aircraft cannon, ready at anytime to fire off an unimaginably powerful attack.

The figure of Fan Hong Chang was drawing closer, now it was just a short second between them, he had now entered Lei Yu’s attack range. He shifted his stance, not daring to drop his guard, Lei Yu focused on his concentration. Fan Hong Chang’s two white waterfall of internal energy passed by Lei Yu’s ear with a whistling sound, making it unbearable for him. Although the attack seemed to be slow, but this actually took place within a blink of an eye. Fan Hong Chang’s reaction speed was also really fast, once the attack reached empty air, his hand reversed. The attack that was frontal suddenly became a side sweep, directly aiming for the Lei Yu who had dodged sideways.

Lei Yu, who had already stored his power, had use a portion of his lightning power to evade. Adding his shifting footwork on the ground by borrowing the force of his waist, this combined effect allowed him to create another collision between them. Two palms versus a single fist, the two instantly stood their ground after the collision. Staring at each other warily, except without the enmity, Fan Hong Chang was just too shocked with Lei Yu's strength. Is this person in front of him really in his early twenties?

With their fist and palms still connected in a struggle, Lei Yu was currently focusing his entire attention on Fan Hong Chang when his mind suddenly shook. He was feeling slightly faint, but soon regained his concentration. The yellow energy inside his brain, without being controlled, started flowing towards Lei Yu’s right arm. A powerful adhesion force caused Lei Yu and Fan Hong Chang to both shudder at the same time. Lei Yu’s arm would not stop trembling while Fan Hong Chang was not better off, he felt like his internal energy was rapidly leaking out, as if a strong suction power had decided to absorb the essence of his internal energy.

Clenching his teeth, Lei Yu used his strength to wrench his arm away, separating Fan Hong Chang from him. Both their faces exposed an inconceivable expression. Fan Hong Chang’s forehead was beaded in sweat, thinking that was way too dangerous. If Lei Yu continued his struggle between their fist and palms, he would definitely be not able to break free by relying on his own power.

Lei Yu currently felt that there was some kind of power within his body kindling, and that yellow energy after suddenly absorbing had now restored its calm. Inside his Sea of Energy, a portion of energy had been depleted due to the previous strike, but now seemed to have regained some of its lost internal energy. “Could it be…?!”

“Great!” Nuo Yi Long was the first to recover from the surprise, clapping his hands.

Then the audience burst into applause. It was as if all the Dragon Team members had just witnessed a battle of epic proportions. Although they did not personally participate in this battle, those that have crossed paths dueling with Lei Yu know that this mysterious guy is quite deadly. Especially when they go on an all out melee, every contact with him produced a sense of paralysis that was quite unbearable.

“Little Yu, you are very strong, this match, I…”

"We will call it a draw!" Lei Yu interrupted Fan Hong Chang from continuing his words. The latter looked at Lei Yu with gratitude, his expression revealing admiration and shock. Possessing such strength at this young age, plus a thoughtful and generous attitude, there’s no way he could not admire him.

Although the battle between the two only resulted in them clashing twice, yet Fan Hong Chang knew that the first time they made contact, he himself did not use his full power and neither did Lei Yu. The second time they clashed, even though their power were on a similar level, Lei Yu’s body later exhibited an absorption power making his internal energy leak out. There was no way he could continue fighting, but then again, this was Fan Hong Chang’s own thought process.

Lei Yu understood that Fan Hong Chang had exhausted all his internal energy dealing with his attack. If it wasn’t for the spiritual bead of immortality inside his head suddenly activating and absorbing Fan Hong Chang’s internal energy, the two would probably be able to battle it out for another few rounds.

Thus, one could see how fearsome the spiritual bead that everyone wanted to get their hands on was. And it even had this unimaginably frightening ability of absorption, perhaps the scope of this ability was not limited to just this.

"Little Yu, it seems we unnecessarily worried too much!" Nuo Yi Long and others walked towards the center of the stage area.

Nuo Yi Feng laughed, "that’s right, we didn’t expect little Yu to have already reached the strength of a Fourth Order Warrior. Hong Chang is already at the peak of the late-stage Fourth Order rank, we didn’t think the fight between you two would result in an undetermined winner or loser.

"It was Instructor Fan going easy on me, or how else would we draw?" Lei Yu scratched his head and laughed.

"Okay, it’s time to dismiss, we still have training tomorrow." Nuo Yi Long turned around and said this to the ten plus Dragon Team elites.

"Yes commander!" People started to leave, and they left with both surprise and admiration in their eyes while looking at the most recently joined Dragon Team member. After this competition, it had stirred up the fighting spirit of these competitive elites, the spirit of wanting to become stronger.

“After seeing everyone leave, Fan Hong Chang asked “little Yu, what exactly is the current level of your strength?”

Hearing Fan Hong Chang ask this, the few that were left in the hall had some doubts. Nuo Yi Long asked, "isn’t it very clear? Little Yu should be at the Fourth Order rank right?”

"Nope, it shouldn’t be. I feel like I had just returned from taking a stroll through hell. If it wasn’t for Lei Yu promptly withdrawing his arm, I believe I would not have any strength left to be standing here." Fan Hong Chang recalled the scary scene of being absorbed, a chill then ran down his spine.

“What?!” Nuo Yi Long, Nuo Yi Feng, Nuo Hu, and Ai Er all shouted out in shock.

[omgitsaray]

Ch 38 - Liu Hao’s Advancement

"That’s right." Fan Hong Chang then said: "Little Yu’s power had originally been fused with properties of lightning, causing a paralysis effect on people. I intentionally concentrated all my internal energy onto my arm in order to nullify the paralysis effect. It should have been enough to resist it, but an inexplicable force suddenly came from his body. And this force was extremely powerful, containing a strong siphoning action. My internal energy that was beyond my control was then absorbed. Little Yu must have realized such circumstances so he immediately broke off contact."

"Little Yu, do you have any more shocking things you haven’t told us?" Nuo Yi Long’s eyes were filled with surprise, unable to hold in his joy before openly asking.

"Uncle Nuo, this I’m not too clear on, I... I want to go back and rest a bit." Lei Yu did not know how to explain that this force was granted by the Spiritual Bead of Longevity. Which happens to be the objective item from his last mission, but now this thing ended up inside his body. So, there’s no way he can openly tell them all these things right? Even though Nuo Yi Long and them would not eye his prize, but if this information somehow got out, then other people will definitely see him as a prey for hunting.

"Nuo Hu, take little Yu back to rest, we will all disperse as well. I am now very confident with the match against Ming Sect!" Laughed Nuo Yi Long.

Ai Er and Nuo Hu took Lei Yu home together. In order to allow Lei Yu to have adequate rest, Nuo Hu did not do stay too long. Ai Er also only cuddled with Lei Yu for a bit before leaving in a hurry as well.

Returning to his bedroom, Lei Yu sat on his bed. He wasn’t cultivating but only monitoring the internal changes inside his body, therefore he did not have to take off his clothes.

"Why would the spiritual bead suddenly activate such an effect? How come this has never happened before?" Lei Yu was completely puzzled.

When looking at his body with his inner vision, Lei Yu then found out the previously absorbed white internal energy of Fan Hong Chang had disappeared without a trace. He had no clue when did it disappear.

“That’s strange, what’s going on? Didn’t I absorb some of it?”

After careful exploration, he still could not come to a conclusion. The energy he had absorbed silently disappeared without a trace. There was no hint on where to start looking making Lei Yu extremely depressed.

Taking off his clothes, he sat cross-legged on the floor. Lei Yu had always been strict with himself when it came to cultivating, never giving himself a break. Even since he attained the self-named “Lei Yu Divine Arts”, he had never ceased to seek newer heights. Each time he advanced a step, Lei Yu would have a fulfilled feeling.

Ever since he had reached the late stage of [Energy Suppression] which correlated to being a rank of a late-stage Fourth Order Warrior, his improvement speed had gradually slowed down. And there were even times when he felt that he did not make any progress at all, which made Lei Yu very distressed.

Circulating his internal energy, and within the Sea of Energy, his internal energy was floating around in silence. The energy there entirely relied on Lei Yu’s spirit to move it. Reaching the [Energy Suppression] stage allowed Lei Yu to better control his internal energy, and when cultivating, he was able to control the thickness of the flow of internal energy through the meridians in order to safeguard against any dangers. After more than a year, although the unknown green energy continued to follow his own internal energy acting as a bodyguard and escort, the frequency of repairs had decreased a lot; perhaps this was related to Lei Yu’s improvement.

Exactly because of this reason, it caused Lei Yu to have doubts. Did he really have to make his internal energy into a powerful torrent in order to fracture his meridians, so that the green energy could repair it in order for him to improve? No, the idea was quickly rejected by Lei Yu. Those that have reached the late-stage of the Fourth Order rank all have encountered this extremely difficult to break through bottleneck. And it is this thin barrier that hampered the growth of most people making them stay permanently on the Fourth Order rank, unable to break through. This was a threshold; one needed enough patience and insights in order to pass through.

Slowly breathing out a breath of turbid air, by the time he opened his eyes, the light of dawn could be seen in the sky. After stretching his body, he rushed to the bathroom to wash off all the impurities his body had expelled through the night.

“Master! I’ve succeeded!” Hearing this from the end of the line, Liu Hao's voice was very excited.

“What did you succeed at? Speak more clearly!” Asked Lei Yu while blinking his eyes.

"Just wait, I’m coming over right now, oh yea, sister Ying Ying is with me, we are coming over together.”

"Hey! Wait! Hello? Hello? I think I’m going to faint!" Lei Yu shook his head helplessly. This Cui Ying Ying had already gradually drifted out of his life, but now she’s going to reappear again?

Sure enough, in less than half an hour, Liu Hao arrived to his house bringing Cui Ying Ying along. Because during this period, Lei Yu had to concentrate on cultivating his internal energy, wanting his utmost to break through the [Energy Suppression] stage, he did not go to Dragon Group headquarters that often. Of course this was only allowed through the consent of Nuo Yi Long.

It has already been over a year and a half, Lei Yu’s eye widen a bit after seeing Cui Ying Ying once again. Was this the girl that was usually dressed in sexy clothing, causing men to daydream everywhere she went, the same Cui Ying Ying?

At this time, Cui Ying Ying was only wearing jeans and a white t-shirt, completely different than the past where she would be in scantily clad clothing. Her black hair was tied up by a plain black rubber band in a ponytail style. With this getup, she was still a beauty to behold. No matter how much she changed her style, there was no way to hide her looks that could stun a man or her eyes that could steal a man’s soul away.

"Lei Yu, I haven’t seen you in a while" smiled Cui Ying Ying, vividly revealing her charming personality. With the clothes she was wearing, her smile completely expressed her natural beauty, completely dropping her past image of only wearing provocative fashion.

“Yea, it’s been a while, what have you been up to?” Asked Lei Yu.

"I transferred to another school abroad, taking classes in business management. My father wanted me to inherit the family business, so there was nothing I could do. This past year and a bit, I made an effort in changing myself. I haven’t participated in any nightlife activities, nor drank any alcohol. I clearly remembered the words you told me that night before you left. Since you did not like how I was back then, I did my best to change, becoming someone you would like" replied Cui Ying Ying with a smile.

Lei Yu could not help gasping, no way! How could there be such a persistent girl? But Cui Ying Ying’s way of speaking whatever was on her mind instead of playing psychological games was something a lot of men desired. Lei Yu’s heart could not help but throb a bit for her, regarding this girl; he did not know what else to say, so he was only able to give her his usual clueless smile hoping the subject would be put to rest.

“Oh yea!” Remembering something, Lei Yu turned and said “Liu Hao, you said you succeeded, what did it mean?”

"Master, I thought you only cared about reminiscing with sister Ying Ying, forgetting my existence already!“ Liu Hao’s finger rubbing his chin, exposing an evil grin.

“Are you telling me or not?" Lei Yu raised his hand pretending he was going to smack Liu Hao.

"I’ll say, I’ll say it! I’ve finally reached a breakthrough from the second stage onto the third stage; I am now officially a Third Order rank Warrior!" Liu Hao smiled triumphantly.