Chapter 129: Chapter 76: You Rascal, You Don’t Know How to Save Me Any Face

By the time he woke up, his parents had gone to work and his younger brother had gone to school.

All that was left was a table laden with a hearty breakfast.

Zhao Rui took a bite of the stir-fried shredded potatoes. The familiar taste instantly filled his mouth, awakening a flavor called home.

He stretched, leaned back lazily in his chair, and felt an exceptional sense of peace.

After eating and changing his clothes, Zhao Rui hopped on his bicycle and headed out, making his way to Jimin Medicine Hall.

Now that he was on break, he had to report back to his Sect.

Parking his bike next to the familiar black-lacquered door, Zhao Rui pushed it open and strode into the Martial Arts Hall.

The familiar shouts of training came from inside. His junior brothers and sisters were diligently practicing their Martial Arts, throwing punches and kicks.

“Second Senior Brother! I’m back.”

Zhao Rui said with a smile to his Second Senior Brother, who was supervising everyone’s training at the front of the hall.

“Zhao Rui? You’re on break?”

Second Senior Brother laughed heartily, walked over, and looked him up and down. “Tsk, tsk,” he said. “You’ve bulked up. Put on some muscle.”

“Looks like the food at your school is pretty good!”

“Of course! We get stir-fry every meal! Where’s Master?”

Zhao Rui chuckled.

“In the back.”

Hearing this, Zhao Rui was about to go pay his respects to his master first.

But then he heard his Second Senior Brother add with a laugh, “Master took on a new young apprentice. You’re not the youngest anymore.”

“Huh!”

Zhao Rui’s face lit up with a smile. “That’s great! Finally, someone will be calling me Senior Brother.”

With that, he quickly darted into the backyard.

Sure enough, he saw his master, Li Cunxin, holding a small bamboo cane and tapping it against a young girl who looked to be about thirteen or fourteen.

“Straighten your arms, bend your knees…”

Seeing the familiar scene, Zhao Rui was instantly reminded of what he was like when he first started learning Martial Arts.

“Master!”

Zhao Rui called out in a clear voice.

“What are you shouting for? I saw you ages ago. You’re on break.”

Li Cunxin rolled his eyes, his tone a mix of feigned annoyance and genuine amusement.

“Yeah, I’m on break! Master, have you been well lately?”

“Couldn’t be better. Without you bunch of disappointing disciples to get me angry, I’m in great shape!”

Li Cunxin harrumphed. Seeing his young disciple turn her head to look at Zhao Rui, he lifted the bamboo cane and gave her a light tap. TAP.

He tutted, “What are you looking at? Call him Senior Brother!”

The little girl, looking aggrieved, said in a clear, sweet voice, “Senior Brother!”

“Hey, what a good girl. Later, I’ll teach you a powerful technique!”

Zhao Rui raised an eyebrow. ’This kind of “Senior Brother” was different from how they said it on the Martial Arts Team.’

’Crisp and sweet. It sounded nice.’

“Wow, thank you, Senior Brother!”

The little girl was overjoyed to hear that.

“You think your Martial Arts are so good that you can teach this and that? Go take a break for a bit!”

After speaking, Li Cunxin clasped his hands behind his back and slowly ambled into the house.

Zhao Rui smiled at his new junior sister, then followed him inside.

“Why are you back so early? Didn’t you go watch the tournament?”

Li Cunxin crossed his legs, picked up the teapot, took a sip straight from the spout, and smacked his lips twice before asking.

“My Level isn’t high enough, so there’s not much point in watching. Besides, I mainly just missed you.”

Zhao Rui said with a sheepish grin.

“Missed my ass. You went off to university, and I thought you’d given up on Martial Arts. Come on, let your master see what you’ve learned!”

Li Cunxin shot to his feet, and without waiting for Zhao Rui to agree, he struck out with a Clouds Parting and the Sun Shining Through.

“Master, that’s a sneak attack!”

Even as the words left his mouth, Zhao Rui’s hands didn’t slack in the slightest. He caught Li Cunxin’s chopping palm with one hand, then pulled and pushed, smoothly transitioning into the Prajna Palm technique.

He instantly dissipated his master’s Force.

Li Cunxin’s pupils dilated slightly, and a smile crept onto his face. “Again!”

His Cloud Hand Star-Picking had long since reached the stage of Integration and Mastery. He could retract and extend his strikes as if they were his own limbs, moving as he pleased.

His moves were no longer bound by rigid forms.

Zhao Rui met each move with a counter, his Prajna Palm executed with flawless perfection.

The two went back and forth for fifty or sixty moves before Li Cunxin let out a great shout. He channeled his Inner Strength into his palms, and wisps of True Qi immediately began to emanate from them, like clouds of mist on a mountaintop.

“Master, you’re getting serious!”

Startled, Zhao Rui quickly focused his strength and shot both his palms forward to meet Li Cunxin’s Palm Force head-on.

Both of them swayed from the impact. The cloud-like qi shot out from between their palms, knocking the teacups off the table and shattering them on the floor.

“Good lad! You’re Level 7?”

Li Cunxin was overjoyed. He had never imagined that his disciple would jump several levels just by going to university.

“Yeah, Level 7!”

Zhao Rui nodded. Level 7 was merely the intensity of Inner Strength he was displaying; his actual level was far beyond that.

“It seems going to university really is useful.”

Li Cunxin frowned, seemingly regretting that his other disciples hadn’t been able to get into university.

With that, he looked over at his youngest disciple, who was peeking from the doorway, and shouted, “How are your grades?”

The little junior sister, who had been enjoying the show, didn’t expect her master to ask about her studies. She stammered, “They’re… they’re okay, I guess!”

“What do you mean, ’okay’?”

Li Cunxin’s eyes widened in displeasure. “You’ll be getting tutored by your senior brother over winter break!”

“Ah!”

“Ah!”

Zhao Rui and his junior sister cried out in unison.

“What are you ’ah’-ing about! You two chat for a bit. I’m going to tell your master’s wife to make some extra dishes for lunch!”

After speaking, Li Cunxin clasped his hands behind his back and walked toward the side hall of the inner residence.

Once he was through the doorway and around a corner, he quickly pulled out his hands and rubbed them vigorously, grumbling in annoyance, “That brat, he doesn’t know how to save some face for me at all!”

’But still, his strength… his progress is incredibly fast!’

’It seems my sixth disciple is the type to accumulate power slowly and then burst forth. I might have been pushing him a bit too hard usually.’

Li Cunxin muttered to himself as he stepped into the side hall.

Back in the main hall, Zhao Rui chatted idly with his new junior sister as he got a broom and helped her clean up the broken teacups.

His junior sister’s surname was Xia, and her name was Xia Siyun. She was only in her second year of middle school and was at Level 2 in the Martial Dao. Her talent was quite good, better than Zhao Rui and the others’ had been, at least.

“Senior Brother, you’re so amazing. I feel like you’re much stronger than First Senior Brother and the others. They don’t dare to spar with Master like that.”

“And, I heard you’re a student at Dongqi University.”

Xia Siyun looked at Zhao Rui with pure adoration, her pretty eyes curving into crescents.

“If you train hard with Master, you can be too.”

“Really? I’ll definitely do my best!”

The little girl’s eyes shone with light. She couldn’t help but clench her slender fists, full of motivation.

Zhao Rui’s arrival, especially the great improvement in his Martial Arts, made Li Cunxin extremely happy, and he specially called all his other disciples over.

They had a lively reunion lunch together.

When the other senior brothers and sisters heard that Zhao Rui was already at Level 7, they were all dumbfounded and found it incredible.

The First Senior Brother, who had been training the longest among them, was only at Level 8. Zhao Rui was already close to catching up to him.

“University really is a wonderful place!”

Everyone couldn’t help but exclaim in unison.

For Martial Arts Hall disciples like them who weren’t students, their paths were more or less set for life. If they wanted to improve, they could only rely on the slow grind of time, increasing their Power bit by bit like water dripping through stone.

It was nothing like the progress of Martial Arts Students like Zhao Rui, who had guidance from experts at the Grandmaster Realm, advanced Martial Arts to break through bottlenecks, and competitions to hone their skills.

In a way, there was no difference between them and the disciples of major Sects; they were all the best of the best.

“There’s no hope for you lot. You’d better just focus on raising the next generation!”

After speaking, Li Cunxin affectionately picked up a chicken leg with his chopsticks and placed it on his granddaughter Xin’Er’s plate.

Everyone pouted but didn’t dare to argue.

…

Zhao Rui stayed at Jimin Medicine Hall until after three o’clock before leaving on his bicycle.

He hadn’t even made it home when he got a call from Yang Fan.

“Luo Min advanced!”

Yang Fan said, his voice filled with excitement. After the break started, he hadn’t returned to Lin City, but had instead gone to watch the Martial Dao tournament in his own city.

His university was a third-tier school in some city in Dongqi Province. He wasn’t studying proper Martial Dao either; he was just there to get a diploma.

Although he couldn’t advance any further in the Martial Dao, his love for a lively scene hadn’t changed.

Before the break even started, he had already made plans with his university classmates to go watch the tournament live.

Of course, he had called Zhao Rui about it too, but Zhao Rui wasn’t interested.

“Oh, I know that. What’s the big deal?”

Zhao Rui laughed. Qin Rui and the others told him about the tournament every day, so he knew the moment Luo Min had advanced.

“I have to go to Jeju and cheer for her in person! Are you coming or not?”

“You’ve got too much free time. I’m not going. I want to relax during my break.”

“You’re no fun! I’m not talking to you anymore. I’m going to go buy a ticket.”

Yang Fan hung up as soon as he finished speaking.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep