Chapter 313: Acquaintance
āDid you kill someone last night?ā
When Li Hongtu suddenly appeared at the edge of the pool looking Yan Liqiang with an unprecedented and serious gaze, Yan Liqiang couldnāt help but pause. He had just arrived at the waterfall and had barely been shaking his Dragon Spine Steel spear for less than two minutes.
He looked at Li Hongtu in confusion, wondering if he was joking with him. āNo, Master. Why would I have killed someone last night? It has been a long while since I last fought with anyone!ā
āWhen did you last kill someone?ā
āProbably when I was escorting Lord Sun back to the Imperial Capital. Why?ā
āWeird, that shouldnāt be the caseā¦ā Li Hongtu frowned at Yan Liqiang and gave him a suspicious look. āI was just listening to you shaking your spear in the house and it obviously sounded different from yesterday. Itās tinged with this extra murderous rage today. You wouldnāt be able to make this kind of sound if youāve never killed with a spear technique. Moreover, you didnāt kill only one person. Killing just one person wouldnāt be enough to draw such murderous rage out from your spearā¦ā
Yan Liqiangās heart skipped a beat as he gulped. āI practiced the entire day in Deer Villa yesterday, Master. How could I possibly kill anyone without going out? Perhaps you are mistaken, Masterā¦?ā
Yan Liqiang was telling both the truth and a lie. Of course he didnāt kill anyone in reality. However, he had indeed killed many people with his spear technique in the Heavenly Realm.
āHow can I be mistaken?ā Li Hongtu glared at Yan Liqiang. āTell me, will a mouth that has eaten meat still look the same as a mouth that hasnāt eaten any meat?ā
āUrmā¦ Is there any difference?ā
āOf course there is! A mouth that has eaten meat will still have grease in it no matter how much you wipe it. Even if there is none, you can still find the piece of meat in your stomach. A mouth that has not eaten any meat will not be stained with grease and no meat will be found even if you cut open your stomach. Likewise, cultivating a spear technique before killing anyone with it is a certain type of feeling. After killing someone with the spear technique, cultivating it will feel different. There will be subtle changes in your grasping strength, your stance, the distance between your fingers, the shaking rhythm, and your state of mind. These changes can be observed through the sounds. Other people may not catch the murderous rage in your spear technique, but you canāt hide it from me. Now, explain yourself honestly ā did you or did you not sneak out from the Deer Villa last night after dark to kill someone?ā
Li Hongtuās words nearly had Yan Liqiang kneeling before him.
Yan Liqiang couldnāt even hear the difference in the buzzing noises he made from spear shaking today and the previous few days. However, he was aware that after gaining some experience from killing people with the spear technique recently in the Heavenly Realm, there were some changes in his grasping strength, his stance, the distance between his fingers, his rhythm, and his state of mind. Yan Liqiang merely felt that he could move better by making such adjustments. Little did he expect these subtle changes to immediately be picked up by Li Hongtu. Damn, that was really too terrifying.
āMaster, I swear to the Heavens that I really stayed in Deer Villa the entire day yesterday without going out. If you donāt believe me, you can go ask around to find out if anyone was murdered with the spear technique around the Imperial Capital last night. Oh right, now that you mention it, I remember I was dreaming last night for some reason. I dreamt that I was a soldier on a battlefield. I was holding an ashwood spear and fighting a tough battle with my enemies. In my dream, I killed many with my spear technique. The dream was so real that it was still vivid in my mind when I woke up this morning and it felt as though I had experienced it myself. I wonder if this could be the impact of this dreamā¦?ā
āAh, you had this kind of dream?ā Li Hongtu stared at Yan Liqiang in shock. He only lowered his head after a good while and seemed to be thinking deeply as he stroked his beard while murmuring to himself. āHmmā¦ that sounds possibleā¦ Though a little too far-fetchedā¦ā After pondering for a moment, he lifted his head again and asked him skeptically, āHave you ever had such a strange dream before?ā
āFrequently!ā Yan Liqiang nodded seriously. The expression on his face was akin to a witness swearing an oath on the holy bible in court. āI frequently have violent dreams like these. They are all so vivid that itās like they actually happened. I canāt forget about them even after waking up. I had another strange dream in the past that caused an incident. Now, nearly everyone in my hometown knows that I have strange dreamsā¦ā
Yan Liqiang unobtrusively and secretly shifted the conversation to another topic. As expected, Li Hongtuās curiosity was immediately piqued as soon as he heard Yan Liqiang. āWhat strange dream was that?ā
āI met an old man in my dream who taught me a method to save a drowned person. I didnāt expect it to actually work and I managed to save people with it!ā Yan Liqiang recounted the incident where he rescued someone in Pingxi Prefecture back then. To Yan Liqiang, this incident was a mere platitude that had been overused. The lie had been repeated so many times that even Yan Liqiang almost believed it himself. To Li Hongtu, hearing the tale for the very first time was both interesting and shocking.
After hearing the tale, Li Hongtu stared at Yan Liqiang with a strange gaze. He put his hands behind his back after a good while and spoke solemnly. āIfā¦ If you have another strange dream like this next time, it would be best that you keep it to yourself. Got it?ā
Yan Liqiang secretly breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed like he managed to get away this time. āGot it, Master!ā
āGood. Carry on with your cultivation thenā¦ā
As soon as Li Hongtu turned around and Yan Liqiang picked up his spear to start shaking it, a voice suddenly drifted into their ears.
āAh, Li Hongtu, Li Hongtu. Just when I was wondering why you hadnāt come to disturb me recently, I see that you have apprenticed such a talented discipleā¦ā Following the voice, Yan Liqiang thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. An old man suddenly appeared on top of a big pine tree by the pool. Dressed in clean, white silk robes, he had a head full of silver hair and a face that had the rosy glow of a babyās cheeks. He gracefully perched on the pine tree needles, swaying gently, looking as divine as an immortal.
āYou, the one surnamed Ji! What are you doing here at my place? Scram!ā At the old manās appearance, the expression on Li Hongtuās face immediately grew anxious for some reason. He even shot a glance at Yan Liqiang.
Surnamed Ji? Could this be the person on that other bronze paiza that Eunuch Liu had given to him?
āDonāt you worry, Li. I am not here to find you!ā The old man surnamed Ji ignored Li Hongtu. He turned his head to Yan Liqiang instead and started sizing him up. āDid Liu give you two bronze paizas, with the character Ji engraved on one of themā¦?ā
Yan Liqiang couldnāt hide the fact, so he nodded.
āGreat. From today onward, you shall be my disciple. You may call me Master from now on. I will teach you the ultimate archery technique!ā The old man nodded, then announced his newly-formed relationship with Yan Liqiang without even waiting for his consent.
āJI, YOU SNATCHED MY LITTLE YING AWAY BACK THEN AND NOW YOU ARE SNATCHING AWAY MY APPRENTICE AGAIN! I-Iā¦ IāVE HAD ITā¦!ā Li Hongtu bellowed in extreme rage and charged at the old man surnamed Ji.
Li Hongtu was so fast that all Yan Liqiang saw was a blur.
An explosion thundered. He didnāt see Li Hongtu striking out, but the big pine tree suddenly exploded. The tree trunk and countless pine needles were blown into fragments that scattered all over the place. Even the spot where the pine tree once stood turned into mud that splattered everywhere. The tree had been completely uprootedā¦
Amidst the flying fragments, a white figure slowly rose into the air like a cloud and yelled back, āThe one Little Ying likes is obviously meā¦!ā He then raised his palm at Li Hongtuā¦
Another explosion rang out like a thunderclap at ground level. A few trees in the surroundings were blown to pieces by the violent impact. Even the pool of water Yan Liqiang was in vibrated during the explosion.
In just the blink of an eye, both sides had exchanged a few blows in front of Yan Liqiang. In the midst of the confrontation, Yan Liqiang even had a misconception. Both of them were actually moving so fast that he couldnāt even catch their moves with his eyes. However, it felt like they were moving very slow too. This contradictory feeling made the onlooker dizzy and nauseous as though one was experiencing motion sicknessā¦
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At this moment, it was as though the trees and rocks around them were chucked into a silent pulverizer. They were reduced to fragments and flying dust while both of them were fighting.
āAre you two only going to stop fighting when Iām dead?ā A long sigh came from somewhere a bit further. The two old men stopped fighting when they heard the voice. After exchanging glances, the barely audible words, āLittle Yingā, escaped both their lips at the same time. The two then dashed toward the source of the voice at lightning speed, vanishing from Yan Liqiangās sight in a flash.
Yan Liqiang stood on the rock in a daze and looked at the mess around him, feeling as though he had just been dreamingā¦
He stood on the rock and pondered for a while. In the end, he gave up on the idea of chasing after them. Instead, he picked up the Dragon Spine Steel spear and resumed shaking itā¦