Chapter 86

Le Zhongping clutched his chest and said, "It's you, Zhonggui! You gave me a big scare. How did you learn to play such jokes? Scaring people to death, you know!"

Li Yi's face remained expressionless as he replied, "Scaring people to death? So you do know this principle."

Le Zhongping's ears twitched, sensing something unusual in the words. He flicked his sleeve and said, "I don't know what you're talking about!" and started to walk away.

"Stop," Li Yi said coolly. Le Zhongping shrank his neck and stopped, somewhat guiltily asking, "What for?"

Li Yi snorted and said slowly, "Playing the zither is like a string; it shouldn't be too tight or too loose. If it's too tight, it will break; if it's too loose, it will sound bad. Practicing the zither is the same; it needs a balance, and you shouldn't slack off!" He was referring to what Le Zhongping had just said to Lu Zheng.

Le Zhongping, upon hearing this, felt a jolt in his heart and chuckled, "Ah, Zhonggui, you heard that too. Those few words I said were really good, very high-level, right!"

Li Yi circled him slowly and nodded, "Yes, very good, very high-level! Great for putting on a show, changing the subject, scaring my student, and then running away!"

Indeed, Li Yi was targeting him. Le Zhongping immediately argued, "Hey, let's be clear! In that situation, if I didn't change the subject, what else could I do? You didn't see how Lu Zheng was. Should I have told him, 'Don't worry, you want to learn supernatural powers, right? Both your teacher and I have promised someone else, so we can't teach you now. Just forget about it.' Is that what I should have said?"

Li Yi said, "Scaring people is just that, no excuses! You could have just said you need to ask me, the teacher, and pushed it onto me. Would he dare to ask me? Why did you need to use the zither practice to lecture him!"

Le Zhongping knew Li Yi was very concerned about Lu Zheng. In the past, he had hidden it, but now he was nitpicking over such a small matter. Le Zhongping said, "Alright, alright, I was wrong. Next time, no matter what, I'll push it onto you. But, Teacher Lu Zheng, can you consider the fact that I've been running around various dangerous places in the cultivation world to collect medicinal herbs for your good student? Can you let this small matter go, please?" As he spoke, he made a pitiful expression.

Li Yi was somewhat satisfied and said, "That's better. I stopped you to ask how the collection of medicinal herbs is going."

Le Zhongping, relieved that he was finally letting him go, said, "Do you still doubt my ability? Although those herbs are hard to find, I've almost collected them all, just a few more difficult ones left!"

Li Yi frowned and asked, "Which ones are still missing?"

Le Zhongping casually listed a few names: "The Fragranceless Wood, the Blue Rhinoceros Bone, and the Snow Desert Flower."

Li Yi pondered and said, "The Daoist Sect of the Wind has Blue Rhinoceros Beasts, so that's not a problem. The Snow Desert Flower is in the Hundred Flowers Valley. Haven't you been there? Is it not in season?"

Le Zhongping said, "The Wind Sect will naturally give the Blue Rhinoceros Bone, but isn't it because of the old Taoist's face? I don't want to see that old thief's face too early. This matter is already decided, and I plan to do it last. The Snow Desert Flower blooms once every thousand years, and the one in the Hundred Flowers Valley has only grown for three hundred years. But this isn't the hardest. The hardest is the Fragranceless Wood, which is only found in the entire cultivation world in the..."

Li Yi said, "The Spirit Land of Wushan! Are you afraid to see her? This time, I'll go instead. It's also a good opportunity to see if the realm of 'beyond all methods' is real."

Le Zhongping quickly clapped his hands and said, "Great! It's settled then." He turned and walked away, as if afraid Li Yi would change his mind.

"Wait!" Li Yi called him back.

Le Zhongping asked in surprise, "Isn't everything settled? What else do you want?"

Li Yi rolled up his sleeves and raised his head, "Now, let's talk about you telling my two students about the Jade Silk Cloud!"

Le Zhongping immediately put on a sad face, "You already forgave me, didn't you? Don't come near me, or I'll run away from home and never come back!"

The next day, when Lu Zheng woke up, he suddenly realized that Mr. Le had deliberately changed the subject last night to divert attention from his desire to learn supernatural powers. Realizing this, Lu Zheng felt a bit disheartened, thinking Mr. Le wouldn't teach him supernatural powers. As for his teacher, Lu Zheng shuddered at the thought; he didn't have the courage to ask.

Over the past few days, Little White had become less hostile towards Lu Zheng, but there was no real progress. Lu Zheng still couldn't touch a single hair on Little White. Last night, Mr. Le had explained Little White's background, and Lu Zheng understood why Little White was so proud and wouldn't let him touch him. What was strange was why Little White was so close to Xin'er. However, this made Lu Zheng give up on the idea of feeding Little White with beans.

In the morning, after shooting a hundred arrows, Lu Zheng felt his arms and legs were sore and numb. He put down the bow to rest and noticed Little White standing quietly on the side, seemingly watching him shoot. Lu Zheng was surprised that Little White would pay attention to him, thinking it was like the sun rising in the west. He called out, "Little White!"

Little White immediately neighed in response. Lu Zheng was delighted; Little White was actually willing to acknowledge him. He wanted to go over and get closer to Little White but thought better of it. This horse had a strange temper, so he decided to be cautious and not push too hard, in case he did something Little White disliked. So, he greeted Little White and started to stretch his muscles.

Now, his archery was almost perfect, but he didn't know why he always felt strange after shooting, with his limbs aching. Lu Zheng assumed it was due to overexertion and didn't pay much attention. He developed the habit of stretching his limbs after every hundred arrows.

He bent down to stretch his legs, raised his hands to the sky, and started running around the target to loosen his sore muscles. Suddenly, a white shadow darted past, and Little White ran over, accompanying Lu Zheng and quickly surpassing him, running a kilometer ahead.

Lu Zheng thought his running around to loosen his muscles had annoyed Little White, so he moved to the side to avoid him. But when Little White saw he wasn't chasing, he ran back and surpassed Lu Zheng again, running ahead. Lu Zheng realized Little White wanted to race with him.

How could he possibly outrun the king of horses? But since Little White wanted to play, he decided to join in. Lu Zheng shouted, "Little White, I'm catching up!" and ran after him.

Little White, seeing Lu Zheng chasing, neighed happily and sped off. With a few flicks of his hooves, he left Lu Zheng far behind, disappearing from sight. No matter how fast Lu Zheng ran, he couldn't catch up to Little White.

After running for a while, Lu Zheng gradually felt exhausted and stopped to catch his breath. Little White had already run off somewhere, so he decided to go back to practice archery. Just as he turned, he heard the sound of hooves, and Little White came running back, having completed a lap around the training ground. Little White looked very proud, as if saying, "How can you run so slowly!"

Seeing this, Lu Zheng had an idea to tease the arrogant horse. He suddenly sprinted past Little White and laughed loudly, "Ha ha ha, I've surpassed you!"

Little White, not expecting this, quickly turned and ran back, catching up to Lu Zheng and neighing, "See, I've surpassed you again!"

Lu Zheng's lips curled into a sly smile. He suddenly stopped and shouted, "Now, let's run back, and see who gets back first!" He immediately turned and ran back as if he had the wind at his heels.

Little White was running ahead, afraid that if he turned back, Lu Zheng would cheat again. Suddenly, he heard Lu Zheng's shout and turned to see him running back.

This kid is too cunning! Little White neighed and quickly turned to chase back, determined to catch up. His speed was so fast that the horsehair on his back stood up in the wind!

After running back for a while, Lu Zheng heard Little White's angry neighs. It seemed Little White was angry at being teased. Lu Zheng chuckled to himself, "Stupid Little White, you run with your legs, but I run with my mind, ha ha!" He laughed triumphantly, waved at Little White, and ran even faster. But after a few steps, a gust of wind hit him from behind, and a white shadow flashed past him!

Lu Zheng looked up and stopped involuntarily. It was Little White, galloping like the wind, his body like a cloud, passing by Lu Zheng. What made Lu Zheng stop was the sight of Little White's muscles rippling from his buttocks, like waves, as he ran, creating a continuous undulation.

Lu Zheng had seen this before, when he secretly observed Little White during his archery practice. At the time, he was curious but didn't think much of it. But this time, it made him think. He wondered why Little White's muscles moved so orderly, starting from the buttocks and rippling like waves, while his own buttocks never seemed to move.

Thinking about this, Lu Zheng tried running a few steps, feeling the changes in his body. Indeed, when he ran, only his thigh muscles were moving, and his buttocks were just being pulled along, with no movement in the buttocks muscles.

Lu Zheng found this very strange. Just as he was thinking, Little White neighed, having not seen Lu Zheng catch up, and came back to find him. Lu Zheng started running again, closely observing Little White.

After a few runs, he realized that when Little White ran, it wasn't his four legs that were doing the work, but his buttocks. When the buttocks muscles contracted, his four legs extended; when the buttocks muscles relaxed, his four legs contracted. Lu Zheng suddenly understood why Little White's four legs were so slender, while his body was so robust, especially his well-developed buttocks. Little White wasn't relying on his legs but on his buttocks to move his entire body.

Could it be that Little White could run so fast because he used his buttocks muscles? And could it be that he couldn't run fast because he used his legs?

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**End of Chapter**