The pressure dragging down his body wasn’t too strong. For a child of eight years old like him, it was as if he was carrying a burden that was around five pounds in weight. It wasn’t really something light, but it wasn’t something heavy either. It was just right as it was in the range of what a normal person could bear. However, to bring this kind of pressure with him as he climbed a mountain, he was afraid that instead of being ‘a little tired’, he would be ‘extremely tired’ ah!
Tightly pursing his lips, Xu Zi Rong scratched down another mark against Xu Zi Yan in the little book in his heart. He stretched out his arms and his neck before arranging himself to be in a more comfortable posture. Then, he began to climb the mountain with his ‘burden’ on his back.
Walking along the stone steps, Xu Zi Rong’s footsteps became more and more heavy.
Big droplets of sweat began sliding down his forehead. Originally he thought this was going to be a very effortless mountain hike, but now it seemed that it wouldn’t be so easy.
He had forgotten that the him right now wasn’t the strong blood devil from before who could do anything. He was now just an eight year old child. Although he had coincidentally and smoothly sensed spiritual energy yesterday, right now he was but a weak little child.
Step by step……
Xu Zi Rong’s red lips had already lost the blood in them. He was bowing his waist to bear the pressure, and his sweat was dripping into his eyes and stinging them.
His eyes became blurry, and the peak of the mountain seemed to get farther and farther away. He didn’t understand why he wanted to continue doing this. With his current skill, even if he didn’t enter the martial arts training hall, Xu Zi Rong could still practice the Blood Sea Heart Sutra by himself.
There seemed to be a voice that kept asking him in his mind: why bother? Why should he waste time in the Xu family? There were destined to only be your stepping stone. You only needed to find a safe place, kill a few rabbits, and then you could directly enter the first layer of Qi Condensation Stage. When you were strong enough, these people from the Xu family would be the same as livestock waiting to be slaughtered, and you could kill them off at any time.
Xu Zi Rong’s face silently became serious. His exquisite little face revealed a sharp kind of beauty.
He bit his lower lip and looked at the blurry mountain peak, his heart overflowing with a dense, unwilling feeling.
Forget his last life where he didn’t have an opportunity to come here. In this life, Xu Zi Rong obviously had such a good chance. Would he really give up just because he couldn’t bear the trial?
If that was the case, even he would look down on himself! Because this would clearly prove that he really was a waste!
Fiercely closing his eyes, Xu Zi Rong took a deep breath before opening them again.
He once experienced so much torture before and it still didn’t shake his goal of becoming strong. What was a little mountain hike to him?
Step by step, heavy and slow footsteps moved determinedly in the direction of the mountain peak. What Xu Zi Rong didn’t know was that currently, Xu Zi Yan was coldly facing down a yellow-faced, beefy man.
“Why?” Xu Zi Yan looked extremely angry. He long knew that it wasn’t easy to climb up this mountain, but the pressure Xu Zi Rong had to withstand went way beyond his expectations.
The yellow-faced person give him a glance. “Young Master must have forgotten, this is a part of the rules.”
“What rule!” Xu Zi Yan yelled angrily. The original him and this person was always at odds, so he deeply thought that the other was just taking the opportunity to retaliate.
The beefy person’s face didn’t change, and he instead laughingly said: “Young Master is the Master’s son who has amazing talent. In the future you are destined to enter a big martial arts sect. The martial arts training hall of course wouldn’t dare to disrupt Young Master’s cultivating. But this Xu Zi Rong doesn’t have talent as great as yours. In accordance to the rules of the Xu family, if one of these bastard children brought from the outside world wanted to enter the martial arts training hall, they must withstand two times the pressure to be eligible.”
“But he is only eight years old!” Xu Zi Yan remembered that Xu family really did have this rule, but that was always for a ten year old child.
The yellow-faced, beefy man glanced at him before throwing out the words: “Then Young Master can wait until he is ten years old before bringing him back.”
Xu Zi Yan became suddenly angrier. This year he was twelve years old, but Xu Zi Rong was only eight.
When Xu Zi Yan was fifteen years old, he was just in time for the disciple recruitment opening from the Xu family patron’s Liu Guang Sect. With his talent, there was no doubt that he would be recruited by Liu Guang Sect, but at that time Xu Zi Rong would only be eleven years old. If he only started cultivating when he was ten years old, for his Tri-Spirit Vein, even if he cultivated day and night he would at most break into the third level of Qi Condensation Stage. This kind of cultivation level would for sure not be accepted by the Liu Guang Sect.
If they did not allow Xu Zi Rong to go with him, Xu Zi Yan was worried that once he left, Xu Zi Rong would be bullied by the other people in the Xu family. If it was really bad, what could he do if Xu Zi Rong became the blood devil again?
Did you want him to end up like the original Xu Zi Yan, and hear how Xu family fell whilst he was cultivating in Liu Guang Sect?!!
Of course that wouldn’t be okay! When he leaves the Xu family, he must bring Xu Zi Rong along with him and save his little brother from being brought up crooked.
After all, with the personality of Father Xu, he really doesn’t trust him!!
Xu Zi Yan’s face ashened. All of the things this yellow-faced beefy man said were part of the rules, and nothing was really out of bounds. Even if Xu Zi Yan was angry, he still couldn’t break this rule. Thus, he could only pray in his heart before he helplessly watched Xu Zi Rong persist step by step in walking to the mountain peak.
The moment Xu Zi Rong placed both of his feet onto the mountain top, Xu Zi Yan immediately rushed over. He hugged the almost collapsing Xu Zi Rong and carefully inspected him from top to bottom before he let out a breath of relief.
Xu Zi Yan turned his head and looked at the yellow-faced man with a bad complexion. “It’s fine now, right?”
The yellow-faced man had no expression on his face. “Since he got through the Deng Xian stairs, of course he has the qualifications now.”
Xu Zi Yan secretly ground his teeth. This kind of guy who was dead-set on the rules was the most hateful. However, most of the time there was usually a need for the existence of people like that.
He held the semi-unconscious Xu Zi Rong and hastily ran toward a small hut. Because there was a chance of getting injured in this martial arts training hall, Xu family deliberately assigned a permanent and famous doctor there.
After Xu Zi Yan left, the eyebrow of the yellow-faced beefy man rose in an undetectable manner.
Although this Young Master had unimaginable talent, his temper was moderately bossy. And, relying on his own status, he would frequently skip the martial arts training hall’s classes. He rarely respected the teachings of the yellow-faced man’s martial arts training hall.
But the performance of Xu Zi Yan today made the yellow-faced beefy man——Xu Mo, feel slightly shocked. If it was before, although this Young Master would not disobey his parents and thus was unable to go against him, he would for sure curse him out. This time, who knew he would merely give him a resenting glare and not say any bad words, it really made him—— his mood feel complicated.
If Xu Zi Yan knew what Xu Mo was thinking about, his face would for sure be covered in black lines: was this the revealing of an M’s trait…..
When Xu Zi Yan learned from the doctor that Xu Zi Rong was just too weary and was feeling weak because of that, he finally let out a breath of relief.
This was just their first day at the martial arts training hall. If it made Xu Zi Rong dislike the Xu family’s martial arts training hall, then that would be troublesome. He could clearly remember how the novel described Xu Zi Rong as the type of person who noted all of his grievances and was extremely mistrustful. Although that novel was from Bai Hua’s point of view and thus might not be credible, combined with Xu Zi Yan’s memories, he could understand it. Because this little child suffered too much when he was young, developing this kind of personality was nothing surprising.
But understanding meant nothing. He could do nothing about how the last Xu Zi Rong was raised, but now he was Xu Zi Rong’s older brother. He would never allow his brother become that legendary little devil!
“Big brother?” Xu Zi Rong leisurely opened his eyes, his watery and wide eyes blinking cutely as he stared at Xu Zi Yan.
In reality, he did not faint. Although the pressure he bore on the mountain was heavy, it still hadn’t hit his limit. Only, at the moment when he reached the top, he saw Xu Zi Yan and his concerned expression. He did not understand why, but it made his mind waver and both his eyes closed.
However, he did not hit the ice-cold ground as planned. Rather, two warm arms tightly held him before they picked him up, and then he was taken to this room full with the fragrance of herbs.
Xu Zi Rong felt very weird, because he could feel that his long frozen heart had felt a glimmer of warmth.
It was really strange. In his last life, he didn’t feel any warmth in all the decades he lived, but now he felt it because of his own enemy.
In his heart, he secretly ridiculed his own weakness. Did he really turn into a small child? He even began looking for things like warmth that wasn’t something of significance.
“Are you okay Zi Rong? Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?” Xu Zi Yan asked softly, his voice still having that crisp sound of youths.
“I’m okay,” Xu Zi Rong shook his head, a flash of confusion appearing in his heart. Revealing a curious expression, he asked: “Big brother, why was it that when I went up the mountain, I suddenly felt as if my body was heavier?”
“Haha,” Xu Zi Yan laughed a bit. “That’s because you were walking on the Deng Xian stairs. It’s a type of magical weapon.”
Xu Zi Rong’s pupils suddenly shrank: magical weapon?!! How did he not know in his last life that Xu family had a magical weapon??
“Is this magical weapon really powerful?” Xu Zi Rong immediately became the picture of an inquisitive child. Faintly, he felt that Xu family had hid a lot of things he didn’t know about.
In his last life, after he wiped out the Xu family, he took all the good things Xu family had been collecting. He soon found out however that there were only a few cultivation tools. Originally he had thought that it was because Xu family wasn’t strong, so there weren’t any good things. But now that didn’t seem to be the case……
No wonder……
Xu Zi Rong suddenly realized. No wonder before he had wiped out the Xu family, Xu Zi Yan’s cultivation speed wasn’t slow and rather fast. In the beginning he had thought that the other had gotten some kind of special opportunity, but now it seemed that he had received Xu family’s secret treasure.
“Of course this magical weapon is very strong,” Xu Zi Yan smiled. “This magical weapon could be used to manipulate different pressures. Cough cough……speaking of this, big brother needs to apologize to you. I didn’t tell you before because I had thought we would bear the same pressure. Although it was a bit uncomfortable, it wouldn’t be enough to make someone faint. However, Xu family’s rules state that if a child like you want to enter the martial arts training hall, you must bear double the pressure.”