Chiyou watched Lang Feng's calm demeanor, then recalled the strength Lang Feng had displayed against his brothers moments ago. Cold sweat abruptly broke out all over him. He knew that if he really rushed in like this, he would have no chance of winning.
No matter what, Chiyou was still a ten-year-old child, and he had his pride. A ruthless thought flashed through his heart. He roared at his two brothers, "Second Brother, Third Brother, use Wind Rises Cloud Surges!"
The moment Chiyi and Chitong heard their eldest brother's words, their hearts both jolted. Their father had repeatedly warned them never to use Wind Rises Cloud Surges unless they encountered danger. This martial art was a self-destructive technique that killed a thousand enemies while injuring oneself eight hundred; even if they defeated and killed their opponent, they would need half a year to recover. But when they remembered how Lang Feng had toyed with them earlier, they could not help growing ruthless. When had they ever suffered such humiliation? Kid, don't blame the three of us brothers for being ruthless!
The three closed in on Lang Feng at once. Chiyi and Chitong leaped to either side of him. All three threw their fists at the same time and shouted, "Wind!"
Lang Feng had been delighted when he saw the three attacking, but then the three of them suddenly used the same move. What was even stranger was that the three moves did not seem very powerful. Yet the three opposite him wore grave expressions, as though this was an extremely deadly technique. What was going on? Even as he wondered, he casually broke the move. It was effortless. He could not help feeling somewhat disappointed in the three brothers before him. These three aren't much after all!
Seeing Lang Feng's disdainful expression, Chiyou sneered inwardly. Enjoy your pride for a little longer. You'll be crying soon enough. He drew back his hands, and the True Qi from their previous move returned to his body. It traveled through his meridians, joined forces with this new move, and shot toward Lang Feng. The three shouted, "Rises!"
Lang Feng watched as the three brothers before him, seemingly in pain, threw another punch at him. Yes, it was the same move and the same three brothers—but not the same power.
Before the fist arrived, its force had already arrived. The surrounding air seemed to grow vastly heavier in an instant. Its power was nearly twice that of before. Lang Feng no longer dared to be careless. He sank his waist, planted his stance, inhaled, and punched, unleashing nearly eighty percent of his Innate True Qi. The fist energies of the three Chiyou Brothers merged into one, and the two streams of fist energy collided with a thunderous boom. Lang Feng and the Chiyou Brothers all staggered back three large steps.
The Chiyou Brothers were bitter inside as well. They had not expected this kid to be so formidable. They could only unleash two moves without suffering repercussions. If this continued, the three brothers really would have to go home and lie down for half a year. Yet they were already riding a tiger and unable to dismount. Their youthful tempers drove all three of them to go all out.
The Chiyou Brothers once again moved their hands along strange trajectories, abruptly drawing them back. Much of the True Qi from their previous punch returned to their bodies.
The Chiyou Brothers endured the searing pain throughout their bodies. Even the agony of their meridians seeming to tear apart could not make them stop. All of this was for one thing—competitiveness. They rapidly struck the True Qi they could no longer bear toward Lang Feng and shouted, "Clouds!"
Looking at the punch before him, Lang Feng smiled bitterly. Now this is a real mess. The power of this punch was at least double that of the second. He wanted to retreat, but he was in the center of the storm created by their moves. There was nowhere to retreat to! Left with no choice, he shouted and gathered all the power in his body into his right fist, then fiercely struck forward. Afterward, he felt as though he had been completely drained.
I watched as the four of them fought with increasing brilliance. Wow, they were all fine seedlings! If they entered Tianxin Sect, would Tianxin Sect not become even stronger? These four were getting more and more outrageous. Were those three brothers over there trying to throw their lives away, using such a move to fight someone to the death? This would not do. If I kept watching, they would be going home to lie down.
With a shift of my feet, my steps became phantoms, and I instantly arrived at the center of both sides' attacks. I spread my hands flat. Under the control of my Golden Core, my True Primordial Energy formed a vortex. The two streams of fist energy that appeared immensely powerful were effortlessly absorbed into my body. They had no effect whatsoever on the True Primordial Energy within me. They were simply too weak. Once converted into True Primordial Energy, they were almost negligible to me; I could absorb that much from outside my body in a single breath.
The Chiyou Brothers knew that the backlash of True Qi would soon follow. They were already injured, and if they suffered another backlash, they truly would have to lie down. They wanted to flee backward, but they no longer had the time—or the inner strength.
Just as the three brothers, who had encountered a great calamity the moment they left the mountains, waited for disaster to descend, their vision suddenly blurred. When it cleared again, a boy who seemed even younger than them stood at the center of the previous attacks. The fist energies had vanished without a trace, as though they had never existed at all.
Chiyou looked at the child before him. The child was smiling at the three of them. He did not feel that the person before him was some little brat. From her, he sensed a certain bearing: a pure and unworldly bearing, a bearing that looked down upon all beneath heaven. Yes, it was the bearing of an immortal. Though he had never seen an immortal before, he believed that if immortals existed, they would be like the person before him. Suddenly, something stirred in his heart. He immediately fell to his knees and said sincerely, "I beg you to accept me, Chiyou, as your disciple!"
When Chiyi and Chitong beside him heard their eldest brother's words, they recalled how the child before them had effortlessly broken their killing move. They had truly been filled with admiration and worship. Only then did they react, immediately kneeling as well. "I beg you to accept me, Chiyi (Chitong), as your disciple."
I looked at the three brothers. They were truly clever. The moment they saw me display peerless martial arts, they wanted to take me as their master. In truth, I had long wanted to accept them as disciples. But if I simply accepted them like this, would that not make me, the true number one expert under heaven, lose too much face? Accepting disciples so easily?
Seeing that these three fellows wanted to acknowledge his second brother as their master, Brother Lang Feng laughed inwardly. These three are truly clever. They immediately saw that my second brother is a peerless expert and dropped to their knees to beg for apprenticeship. I should give them a proper lesson. Otherwise, it would be letting them off too easily.
Lang Feng stepped forward, looked at the three brothers, and said slowly, "It is not impossible for you three brats to take my second brother as your master, but what you did just now made me very unhappy!"
Only then did the Chiyou Brothers remember that the one they had fought so bitterly just now was their future master's elder brother. At least, that was what they believed. If they wanted to become their master's disciples, they first had to satisfy their master's elder brother.
"Forgive us. The three of us brothers failed to recognize Mount Tai and offended Martial Uncle. We beg Martial Uncle to show magnanimity and not lower yourself to the level of us juniors," Chiyou said at once. The other two immediately put on ingratiating smiles as well.
Brother Lang Feng had not yet truly been steeped in society's great dye vat, nor had he ever received such flattery. A few words from the Chiyou Brothers praised him until he could no longer tell east from west. He immediately beamed, and his earlier idea of teaching the three brothers a lesson vanished completely. The more he looked at the three boys, the more he liked them. Since they respected him so much, how could he not help them?
Brother Lang Feng immediately walked up to me and said with a grin, "Second Brother, these three boys have quite good martial arts and outstanding aptitude. Most importantly, they know how to respect their elders. They're much better than your eldest disciple, Li Da. Just accept them!"
When I heard that, I thought of my eldest disciple, Li Da. That brat Li Da had indeed become more and more outrageous. Only when he saw me did he show even a little restraint. Toward everyone else, he always acted like a rascal, making me, his master, lose a great deal of face. When I returned, I would definitely teach him a proper lesson. Otherwise, it would be terribly embarrassing when he met outsiders in the future.
Seeing Brother Lang Feng's pleading expression, then turning back to see the Chiyou Brothers' earnest looks as they sought a master, I thought they would surely be much better than Li Da in the future. Fine, I would not make things difficult for them. In any case, these three were all talented martial artists.
I looked at them and said mildly, "To enter my sect, first, you must not reveal the secrets of my sect to outsiders. Second, you must not betray the sect. Otherwise, there will be no mercy in killing you. Do you understand? Do you still wish to take me as your master?"
When Chiyou heard this, he thought it was far too easy. Only an idiot would learn peerless martial arts and tell others about them. As for betraying the sect—why betray a good sect? He immediately said, "This disciple Chiyou pays respects to Master."
Chiyi and Chitong beside him had been startled by the words "no mercy in killing you," and it took them a while to recover. Those two rules were not difficult for them at all. Then they heard that their most respected eldest brother had already become a disciple. They immediately kowtowed and said, "This disciple Chiyi (Chitong) pays respects to Master."
I looked at the three fellows, smiled faintly, and said, "All right, all right. You three are now disciples of Tianxin Sect. Now come with me and take a look at this National Martial Academy!"
The three brothers answered in unison, "Yes." They immediately rose and ran to my side, not daring to step ahead of me in the slightest.
Seeing how restrained they were, I smiled. Though it showed their respect for me, this was not the result I wanted. I looked at them and said:
"From now on, don't be like this. I do not want to attract anyone's attention. I only came to this academy to take a look. Act normally—just treat me as your friend."
"Yes, Master." The three thought it over and understood. Three big boys calling a little boy their master would make it hard not to attract attention.
"Let's go inside and take a look." I led the way toward the Azure Dragon Continent's sacred land of martial arts. The four big boys behind me, their hearts somewhat stirred, also walked into the National Martial Academy.
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