Chapter 75

Xiaoming stood at the classroom door, took a deep breath, and firmly gripped the secret letter from his mother.

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When he was young, Bai Yiming paid to enter a dojo to learn martial arts, but the dojo did not teach him properly, causing his qi and blood to twist. As a result, he could not cultivate proper inner strength and was expelled from the dojo without getting his money back or any compensation for the harm he suffered. However, the young Bai Yiming did not give up. Thinking that if he couldn't cultivate inner strength, he could still cultivate external strength, he worked hard to the point of exhaustion. Although he couldn't reach the realm of "sword qi injuring people" without inner strength, he believed he could still achieve a lower level.

And that's what happened. Although in the process, he ended up rolling around and was caught, eventually ending up in the Hao Gate (下汚門), which even the Black Heaven Alliance kept an eye on...

The boy said this, then sighed briefly, looked up at the sun, and clenched his fist. When he saw the boy's hands, Bai Yiming thought to himself, "So these are the real delicate hands," but at that moment...

— I was thinking I should have someone around, so there's no choice. It will hurt a bit, but bear with it.

— Ha ha, kid. Talking to yourself again... Uh!

And then it happened. He was just being beaten. It was like laundry being beaten by the river, or a blanket being beaten to remove dust.

Although the boy was only half his size, he couldn't defend himself at all. The boy just hit him with his bare hands, and before he knew it, he was knocked down and just kept getting beaten to death.

If he had inner strength, he could have made a name for himself in the martial world by now, and even without inner strength, he was proud of his strength among his peers!

"Ugh, uh, uh!"

He had only cultivated external strength, so he was confident in his endurance, but each punch from the boy felt like a knife stabbing his internal organs. By the middle, tears and snot were streaming down his face.

He wanted to beg for forgiveness, but he couldn't say anything other than screams. Then, as if by magic, the boy stopped his hands and feet.

Bai Yiming, who had been crouched and covering his face with his arms, held his breath and slowly lifted his head...

"Ahhh!"

"Are you alive?"

The boy's face was right in front of him, so Bai Yiming screamed. The boy, who looked very refreshed, frowned at the scream and moved his hand again.

His voice was instantly choked. No matter how much he screamed, no sound came out.

"Ah! I should have pressed the mute point earlier. I thought you were going to die from the noise."

'I thought I was going to die!'

Tears were still streaming down his face. But the boy didn't care at all, and after tidying up the boy's pocket, he said:

"I'll release the pressure on your points, but don't scream and answer well. Got it? If not, you'll have to suffer a bit more."

'Have to suffer a bit more?' If this is 'a bit more,' what is real pain?

Bai Yiming wanted to bite his tongue but knew he didn't have the resolve. He just nodded and cried.

"Are you alive?"

"Yes, over there, at the Huanbi Tower..."

"Rich enough to eat and sleep there? Then why did you steal this?"

"No, I don't live there. I... I chase away unruly customers..."

Out of fear and loss of spirit, he automatically used polite language in front of the boy.

'He's not an ordinary expert. How can a child reach such a level? Is he a master who has reversed aging?'

Thinking this, he realized something.

'What?'

Reversing aging.

When a great master achieves a breakthrough, they can return to a young or even childlike body.

Thinking about it, it all made sense.

'Then, could the boy he was with be his granddaughter?'

The boy's delicate face, which looked like he came from a noble family, could be because he was born into one, and the shabby clothes...

'When you get old, you tend to dress casually.'

"Hmm. With your skills... is that possible? Can you chase anyone away?"

"No, I don't have inner strength, but I do have skills!"

"Seems not..."

The words swirled in his mouth, but he didn't have the courage to say them.

"Anyway, Huanbi Tower. Got it. Go wait there. If you run, you'll really die. I don't joke."

"Wait, wait, wait? What, what..."

Suddenly, everything went black. He just wanted to die. What a mess, all because he stole a pocket!

"I think I can use you. You're a bit stupid, but you have some backbone, so you might not be bad."

The way he spoke in front of people was like a great master who had reversed aging.

Tears streamed down Bai Yiming's face.

The threat of being chased was real. Goosebumps ran down his body.

"Really, really, I'm sorry. I'll reflect and donate everything I stole and live that way..."

"You can do that. Anyway, I'm leaving. I said if you run, you'll die. You probably won't want to run when you come back."

The boy said this, smirked, and hit Bai Yiming's back again before standing up.

The pain was like being split in two, and Bai Yiming fainted.

* * *

"Lun! Where did you go?"

"There's a Bingtanghao vendor nearby. I went to buy some. And I found this. It's your pocket, right?"

"Huh?"

Lun looked down at his waist and sighed.

"My training is lacking... I didn't even notice I lost something."

'Just because you have a lot of spirit energy doesn't mean you can sense things well. After all, that's the realm of inner strength and qi sensing...'

So, besides Qinglian Shui and Baiyao Qing, Danmuchen and he had decided to find ways to use the spirit energy, but neither had found a suitable method yet.

"Aiy, young master, let me take care of it."

The nanny quickly took the pocket and put it in her bosom. As Lun, Huailun, and the nanny chatted, Zheng Ying, who had been standing a bit away, approached.

"Young master, is something wrong?"

"Nothing. I just dropped my pocket. Lun found it while buying Bingtanghao."

"...I should have noticed."

"Ah, don't say that. Here, have some."

As Lun handed two Bingtanghao to the two guards, Zheng Ying met Huailun's gaze.

'What, what?'

The look of disdain and inadequacy made Zheng Ying swallow hard.

He should have been upset, but he was strangely tense, like when he was scolded by his teacher.

When he took the Bingtanghao from Lun, the gaze became even more intense, but it disappeared when Lun looked at Huailun.

"By the way, how did you buy the Bingtanghao?"

"You gave me pocket money last time."

"How can you spend it on this? I gave it to you to use..."

"So I used it."

Lun, finding Huailun cute, patted his head—Huailun quickly ran and hid behind the nanny—and bit a red fruit from the Bingtanghao.

"Since we've checked on Yaqing, let's go back now?"

Today, Lun had come to Yaqing to resolve the issue of the herbal shop buying Yaqing's herbs at low prices.

Lun thought it was unforgivable, but Yaqing shook his head.

The herbal shop was the only one that bought his herbs at those low prices. Without them, he wouldn't have been able to survive until he met Lun, so he considered it settled.

'What a joke!'

If the herbal shop had prospered because of his herbs, it would now be ruined, Yaqing said with a naive smile.

However, Yaqing was concerned that someone might harm his grandmother while he was out gathering herbs, so they agreed to move Yaqing's residence into the estate.

"Now, let's go back... Oh? Uncle!"

Lun's eyes widened when he saw an unexpected person.

Shi Banan, coming out of a nearby small dye shop, was surprised and approached Lun.

"Lun, are you out today?"

"Yes, I came to check on an herbalist I hired. How about you, Uncle?"

"Ah, I was looking for some pigments and dyes... I like to choose them myself."

"Did you buy a lot of pretty ones?"

"I got some fine orange pigments this time. Tonghuangfen, very deep and fine, almost like a rich yellow. When I returned to the estate, I saw the golden osmanthus blooming beautifully, so I thought I'd paint it."

Thanks to Lun's spirit energy, the garden, which had been withering, came back to life, and various flowers bloomed. Among them, Lun's favorite was the golden osmanthus.

As a result, Wei Zhiqing cut branches and planted seedlings, taking great care of them.

Lun also put in effort to prevent the flowers from wilting, and now the Danmu Estate was filled with the sweet fragrance and beauty of golden osmanthus.