"Cough, cough, cough..."
Li Yanshan kept coughing, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth. He swayed and was about to fall when Fang Chen rushed to his side and caught him.
"Uncle Li, sit down!"
Fang Chen was about to help Li Yanshan over to the stone table beneath the Great Elm Tree, but Elder Yun stepped in front of them. He pressed several points around the wounds on Li Yanshan's chest and shoulder, then took a black porcelain bottle from his robes and tossed it to Fang Chen. "Give him the pill!"
"Okay!"
Fang Chen nodded, gripped the stopper with his teeth, and pulled hard.
Pop!
The stopper came free. Fang Chen held the bottle to Li Yanshan's lips and tipped the pill into his mouth.
After swallowing it, Li Yanshan immediately sat cross-legged on the ground and began circulating his energy.
Elder Yun turned toward his room and slowly shut the door behind him. He did not seem worried about Li Yanshan's injuries in the slightest.
A little while later, Li Yanshan stopped circulating his energy and slowly opened his eyes. Some color had returned to his face, and the wound on his shoulder had stopped bleeding.
He rose slowly and moved his body around. He seemed to be all right.
Fang Chen bowed deeply to him. "Thank you for saving me, Uncle Li!"
Fang Chen knew that if Li Yanshan had not intervened, Zhang Tielin would certainly have killed him.
Li Yanshan smiled at him. "What are you thanking me for? You're one of us at Dog Head Ridge now. How could I stand by and watch someone bully you?"
Li Yanshan made it sound easy, but Fang Chen was still deeply grateful. Li Yanshan could have stood aside. No one would have blamed him for leaving Fang Chen to his fate. Instead, he had chosen to face Zhang Tielin head-on and had been wounded for it.
Fang Chen looked at him earnestly. "No matter what, I still have to thank you, Uncle Li!"
"All right, all right. Forget everything else. As long as you call me Uncle Li, I won't stand by and watch you get bullied!"
Li Yanshan smiled at Fang Chen. "Well? Was your Uncle Li impressive back there?"
"Well..."
Fang Chen froze for a moment, then nodded vigorously. "Very!"
He had to admit it. Li Yanshan had been impressive. Despite being only at the third layer of Qi Refining, he had stood his ground against Zhang Tielin at the fourth layer and even wounded him. Li Yanshan had been hurt too, but Fang Chen could tell Zhang Tielin had come off worse.
"Heh!"
Li Yanshan chuckled. "Zhang Tielin's strength is nothing to scoff at. He's just afraid of dying! Once he saw me fighting like a madman, he got scared. He didn't dare kill me. He was afraid the Enforcement Hall would punish him severely and ruin his prospects. If he'd killed me here at Dog Head Ridge today, the compensation alone would have ruined him. His whole life would have been over. That's why he held back when we fought, and I controlled the pace from start to finish!"
Fang Chen thought back over the fight. It had happened just as Li Yanshan said.
Killing a Senior Servant had earned a fine of a thousand Spirit Stones. Killing an Outer Sect Disciple at the third layer of Qi Refining would surely cost far more.
Fang Chen looked at Li Yanshan. "Uncle Li, Zhang Tielin was afraid of dying and being punished by the Enforcement Hall. Weren't you afraid too?"
Li Yanshan smiled. "What's there to fear? Your Uncle Li has nothing left to lose. If anyone comes looking for trouble, I'll fight him to the death!"
At the words "to the death," a fierce glint flashed through his eyes.
He looked at Fang Chen solemnly. "When you face an enemy, you have to be ruthless. Mercy toward an enemy is cruelty to yourself!"
"Mm!"
Fang Chen nodded hard.
Li Yanshan asked, "Why do you cultivate?"
"Me?"
Fang Chen froze. For a moment, he did not know why he cultivated.
Someone else had sold him to the Glazed Sword Sect. He had not come of his own will.
Now he cultivated to grow stronger, to keep others from bullying him, and to have enough to eat. That was all.
Seeing Fang Chen remain silent, Li Yanshan smiled. "Some people cultivate because they fear death. Cultivation can grant them a longer life. Some seek greater power to fulfill the desires in their hearts. Others are forced onto the path. I never planned to cultivate either. One twist of fate after another brought me here."
He paused, then said to Fang Chen, "I meant to take you out and show you around, but I ended up fighting Zhang Tielin and getting hurt. I'll take you once I've recovered. If you have nothing you need to do, stay on Dog Head Ridge. I'm afraid Zhang Tielin may look for a chance to attack you!"
"Mm."
Fang Chen nodded. "Uncle Li, could you teach me some martial arts? I've only just become an Outer Sect Disciple. I haven't practiced any martial arts or sword techniques!"
Li Yanshan's expression turned serious. "Don't learn sword techniques yet. The first thing you need to learn is footwork!"
"Footwork? Why?"
Fang Chen frowned. He wanted to learn sword techniques. Once he did, his fighting strength would surely improve a great deal.
Li Yanshan said earnestly, "Because if you master footwork, you can run when you're fighting someone you can't beat!"
"Run?"
Fang Chen paused. That did seem to make sense.
"That's right. Run. Come with me!"
Li Yanshan nodded and headed toward his quarters. Fang Chen followed him and waited quietly outside the door.
A little while later, Li Yanshan emerged and handed Fang Chen a pitch-black piece of tortoise shell. "This shell contains the Misty Turtle Steps! It's excellent footwork. The shell has exactly one use left. Just scan it with your Spiritual Sense and you'll see the technique recorded on it. Then silently say the three words 'son of a turtle'!"
"Misty Turtle Step?"
Fang Chen frowned at once. The name sounded awful.
"Yes. Go practice it on your own first! I'm going to rest for a while. If there's anything you don't understand, ask me later!"
With that, Li Yanshan went back inside and shut the door with a bang.
Fang Chen looked down at the tortoise shell in his hand and scanned it with his Spiritual Sense.
The shell trembled faintly. Fang Chen felt his consciousness enter a Black Space, where countless golden characters floated. They darted about like a swarm of mischievous fireflies.
Following Li Yanshan's instructions, Fang Chen silently said, Son of a turtle.
The next moment, as if they had received an order, the characters lined up as neatly as a troop of soldiers roused from idleness.
A complete technique soon appeared before Fang Chen. Behind its words were images of human figures glowing faintly gold, each holding a strange pose.
Fang Chen committed the technique's essential points to memory. When he withdrew his Spiritual Sense, the Black Space vanished instantly.
Crack!
A fissure appeared in the tortoise shell in Fang Chen's palm, and it crumbled apart.
Fang Chen recalled the technique he had just seen, then began practicing it on the ground.
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