Li Tan pinched his nose, grumbling, “I don’t know what happened either; suddenly I just got better.”
“Second elder said you met a master?
Really?”
“Second uncle is right.”
Li Zhen glared at Li Tan without patience, “What you’re thinking, do you think I don’t know? Tell me the truth, what exactly happened.”
Li Tan knew that lying would hardly fool Li Zhen, and he was unwilling to deceive him anyway. Sighing, he slightly begged, “Dad, I’ll definitely tell you when the time is right. I really can’t say anything now.”
Li Zhen looked at Li Tan in silence.
Li Tan felt awkward under his gaze and instinctively turned his head away.
“Alright then, you’re about to come of age, and as your father, I should let go.”
Li Tan immediately felt relieved but wanted to say something to ease the atmosphere when he noticed Li Zhen’s somewhat dejected expression. If it could be described as dejection, it was more accurately self-reproach.
Because of the Lin family?
Li Tan understood and patted Li Zhen’s shoulder, saying, “To me, the Lin family is merely a stepping stone, insignificant.”
Li Zhen was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter, saying, “Enough about that, what did you come back for this time, Tan’er?”
“I missed you.”
“Cut the crap. You, a brat like you, having such thoughts? The sun must rise in the west.”
Li Tan pinched his nose again, grumbling.
Actually, saying he missed him wasn’t wrong; he indeed missed Li Zhen very much.
“Uncle, Brother Li Tan, I’ll go help you make tea.”
Seeing the atmosphere had eased, Li Jiaying was no longer nervous and smiled as she ran to wash the teacups and brew tea.
The two remained silent for a short while before Li Tan got to the point of his visit: “This time I came back for the martial arts competition at Frost Festival.”
Li Zhen asked with slight confusion, “Are you planning to participate in the competition, Tan’er?
And the Lin family didn’t give you a slot?”
“They were originally going to give it to me, but Lin Long, that stingy guy, went back on his word. Anyway, I didn’t come back just to ask for a slot.”
“Then why did you come back?”
“I want to personally select ten people from the clan and cultivate them myself, trying to secure as many of the top ten spots in the competition as possible.”
Li Zhen’s expression suddenly turned serious, “Not that I don’t trust you, but the problem is, there’s less than a day left. What can you do?”
“There’s quite a bit I can do. Conservatively, I can secure half of the spots. What do you think, Dad?”
“Half?”
Li Zhen widened his mouth in surprise, “You’re not kidding me, are you?”
Li Tan naturally shook his head, “When have I ever lied to you?”
Li Zhen scolded, “How many times have you lied to me? Last time you said you were going out to train, but you sneaked off to a brothel.”
“I was young and naive back then. Didn’t everyone have a reckless youth? Weren’t you the same when you were young, Dad?”
“Cough cough, let’s not talk about that. Anyway, there’s only a day left. I’ll have those kids go to the training ground later. Do whatever you want, just don’t hurt them.”
“No problem.”
Li Tan grinned.
“Tea is here!” Li Jiaying came over carrying a tray bigger than her head.
“Hey, what does the clan leader want with us?”
“I don’t know.”
“Don’t know? Be careful or the master will beat you!”
“Oh, Master, please don’t make things hard for me. How dare I speculate on the clan leader’s thoughts?”
“Brother Tian, forget it. This guy probably really doesn’t know. The clan leader should be coming soon anyway. No need to rush.”
“True.”
At the Li family martial arts training ground, led by the household servants, nine young talents who were about to participate in the Frost Festival martial arts competition gathered. These nine were chatting and laughing, surrounding a tall teenager. This tall youth was obviously the outstanding one among them. In the human race, weaker individuals always admired the strong ones.
The leader of these youths was named Li Hantian. In the Li family, his status was roughly equivalent to Lin Cui in the Lin family. He was also a genius, having reached the middle stage of the Later Heaven cultivation at only seventeen years old, and showing signs of breaking through to the peak of Later Heaven.
Even if one set aside the question of cultivation level, he was an extremely formidable presence among his peers at the middle stage of Later Heaven, mastering the largest number of martial arts techniques. He was the eldest son of the Great Elder, who took great pride in him.
Among those surrounding him was a tall youth with striking golden hair.
This person was Li Hantian’s younger brother, Li Kang. He was usually very flamboyant, only slightly restrained in front of Li Hantian.
On the periphery of the group lingered a timid young boy, hovering at the edges as though striving to make himself as inconspicuous as possible.
This person was Li Xiu, the son of Li Tan’s third uncle. Although his cultivation was also at the middle stage of Later Heaven, he was probably the weakest among this group.
There were also various other people, all from the Lin family’s main branch.
Another noteworthy point was that there wasn’t a single female among these people. This unusual situation was closely related to the Great Elder. It seemed he had been shouting for a long time that cultivating women would only benefit other families. Previously, he had only been shouting, but recently, for some reason, with the support of the black-robed man, he had become increasingly brazen. He had bribed many people, and Li Zhen was clearly somewhat unable to control the situation. Although he had made efforts, he had barely managed to get Li Jiaying included.
After these people gathered, they began speculating on what Li Zhen wanted.
Initially, the answers were all over the place, but once Li Hantian spoke, they all turned to the idea of distributing auxiliary cultivation pills.
About a quarter of an hour later, when everyone was getting impatient, Li Zhen finally arrived.
However, there were two people following behind him: a young little girl and a handsome young man.
“Li Tan?”
Li Hantian’s expression became somewhat puzzled.
“What is that waste doing here?”
Li Kang looked at the front with a very unfriendly gaze.
Whenever he saw Li Tan’s face, he thought of his recent setbacks at Li Yang’s place and his younger brother being bullied on the street.
“Clan Leader, why is he here?”
Li Kang didn’t hide his anger while speaking.
Li Zhen answered solemnly, “From now until the martial arts competition starts tomorrow, Li Tan will be your coach.”
This statement immediately caused the air to fall silent.
“Are you kidding?
This waste is going to teach us?”
“Exactly, letting someone who can’t even perform the basic martial arts techniques properly teach us? Isn’t that just messing around?”
“Can this waste, whose dantian has just recovered, really teach others to cultivate?
Then, if I started cultivating at nine, could I go be a mentor at the Feiyu Sect?”
Protestant voices arose one after another. Li Zhen shouted for quiet a few times, but no one listened.
Suddenly, Li Kang’s sharp voice rose above the others.
“Old man, I won’t serve under this. If you want to teach, let him teach that little brat over there. Two wastes helping each other would be great.”
Li Tan, who had been ignoring these voices, felt Li Jiaying’s grip on his clothes tighten, so he somewhat displeasedly shifted his gaze to Li Kang.
“Shut up.”
“What?
Did I say anything wrong?
You, a waste who just started cultivating, what makes you think you can teach us?”
Li Tan glanced at him and asked coldly, “You’re not convinced?”
“Yes.”
“Alright, I’ll give you a chance. If you can withstand three moves from me, I’ll leave immediately.”
“What if I lose?”
“Then you either give up your slot or kowtow to apologize three times.”
Li Kang stared at Li Tan as if he were an idiot, triumphantly shouting to the crowd, “You all heard that, didn’t you? Those were Li Tan’s own words. I didn’t force him!”
Then, he lowered his voice toward Li Tan, “If you have some skill, don’t be so arrogant. Today, I’ll let you know what a beating in the martial world feels like.”
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