Uncle Li

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The children's blank stares gradually turned to shock, then to an uncontrollable sense of pride. At a grand banquet, before thousands of nobles and even their female relatives, he had made a ruler who had revived his realm dance like an entertainer for amusement, while another king answered with poetry. The vast grandeur displayed in that single short line nearly rushed straight at them.

Mighty Great Qin, rising like the morning sun!

"You little brat..."

The old man yanked Wang Anfeng over and said angrily, "I raised you for nothing all this time, and this is how you treat me?!"

Wang Anfeng scratched his head and answered honestly,

"Uncle Li, no matter how hungry you are, you can't trick children out of their food. My father said that a gentleman does not eat food thrown at him in contempt..."

"And besides, I'm the one raising you, aren't I..."

"You... you, you, you!"

The old man was choked speechless, so angry that his beard bristled and his eyes bulged. At last, he raised a hand and gave the boy a hard rap on the head. A trace of surprise flickered almost imperceptibly in his eyes. Instead of withdrawing his hand, he pressed it onto Wang Anfeng's head, forcing him to sit on the ground, then mussed up his black hair as though petting a cat. The faint furrow between his brows slowly smoothed out, and he grinned as if nothing had happened.

"Let's continue. That brat interrupted us. We won't talk about courtly anecdotes next. Let's talk about the joyful world of rivers and lakes, where green blades boiled wine, and speak of the many wandering heroes who roamed beneath heaven!"

"Okay, okay!"

"I want to hear about the Green Lotus Sword Hero, peerless in both poetry and swordsmanship!"

"No, we should hear about the Peerless Divine Thief who walked through empty air!"

Whether boys or the quieter girls, the moment they heard the words "rivers and lakes," their eyes nearly lit up. Wang Anfeng, pinned to the ground by the old man, was also slightly stunned. For some reason, he began to feel a trace of anticipation toward the affairs of the martial world that had never interested him much before. He did not struggle, merely sat beside the old man. The latter cast him a sidelong glance, chuckled, and used the wine gourd in his hand as a storyteller's block, slamming it down heavily. His brows and eyes swept across the crowd as he declared in a rolling cadence,

"Today, we shall speak neither of the Green Lotus Sword Hero nor the Peerless Divine Thief. We shall speak of the many sects behind those masters and heroes who wander through the mortal world!"

"With the realm at peace, our Great Qin has Seven Great Sects standing across these vast lands of ten thousand miles. Masters emerge from them in endless streams, and all have names upon the Peerless Ranking Under Heaven. Every generation has its own splendor, and every generation surpasses the last. Speaking of the Sword Dao, the Tianshan Lineage draws upon the cold, piercing chill of Tianshan—aloof and razor-sharp. Sword wielders across the land revere it as a holy ground. Then there is One Leaf Pavilion amid the mountains and waters, skilled in the Confucian arts of brush, ink, mountains, and rivers to repel enemies. Their disciples are not only handsome in appearance, but also proficient in the six arts of a gentleman, each possessing their own derived supreme techniques."

"Below the Seven Great Sects, the number of sects is beyond counting. Their paths of cultivation each have their own characteristics, yet none can escape the roads laid down when the Martial Saint discussed martial arts thousands of years ago."

The old man paused slightly. His gaze swept across the children's faces, and only after seeing the longing in their eyes did he smile and continue slowly. "The beginning is Foundation Establishment, divided into internal and external paths. External martial arts place the physique first, making one's blood and vitality vigorous and robust. Once cultivated to great success, one can often use flesh and blood to withstand blades and swords head-on. Internal martial arts, meanwhile, use breathing and meditation techniques to nurture a strand of internal energy within the body. When that internal energy is abundant, the force of one's fists and feet is no less than that of an external martial arts expert, while one's movements and shifts are even more nimble."

"Unfortunately, though internal energy is powerful, it will eventually be exhausted. External martial arts experts possess physical strength comparable to beasts beyond the mountains. When the two contend, if an internal martial artist cannot subdue his opponent before his internal energy runs dry, his life will be in grave danger. If an external martial artist cannot defeat his opponent with firm bridges and steady horses, then he can only endure it head-on and exhaust the other's internal energy, leaving himself with but a single thread of hope for victory."

Wang Anfeng fell into thought at those words. Feeling the warm current within his body, he suddenly understood. It seemed Master Yuan Ci cultivated the internal path and did not place importance on the physique. The old man beside him glanced at him and smiled faintly. He did not continue explaining the later realms of cultivation, instead changing the subject to the young heroes of the martial world whose exploits had already spread far and wide during the Foundation Establishment stage. He spoke so vividly that his tongue seemed to bloom with lotus flowers, and the children below listened as though intoxicated.

Only when the sun above grew fiercely hot and the calls of parents came from throughout the village did the old man smack his lips in lingering regret and stop speaking. With no more stories to hear, the children picked up the little stools beneath their bottoms and scattered in a rush. The old man lounged lazily in his wicker chair, set the wine gourd on the stone table beside him, and drawled,

"Speak, brat. Where did that strand of internal energy in your body come from?"

Wang Anfeng was slightly startled. He expertly took the old man's gourd, turned around to fill it with another gourd of weak wine from the vat, and answered honestly, "You saw through it?"

"Nonsense!"

Old Man Li glared fiercely at him, pointed at his own eyes, and said irritably,

"This old man isn't blind yet!"

"Your eyes hold a lustrous glow within, and your aura is lively. This is clearly the result of cultivating internal arts, even reaching minor success after True Qi has been born. You brat, you actually hid it even from me. You deserve a beating, a beating!"

"Uncle Li, your eyesight is incredible."

Wang Anfeng scratched his head, handed the wine gourd to the old man, and said with wholehearted admiration, "You knew everything after one look..."

"Tch, of course. Don't you know who I am?"

Old Man Li narrowed his eyes and smugly accepted the wine gourd the boy handed him. Yet a faint cold sweat seeped from his forehead, and he muttered inwardly, Damn it, I nearly capsized in a gutter. If he finds out I only sensed that strand of internal energy after touching his body, I won't be able to save face...

"That was close, that was close..."

He lifted the wine gourd and took a gulp. Old Man Li's brows relaxed. With his right hand resting upon the back of his chair, his white hair flying like a mad lion's mane, he wore the air of a hermit master beyond the world as he asked slowly,

"Confess honestly, brat."

"How long have you cultivated this internal art?"

Wang Anfeng scratched his head and said embarrassedly, "A little over four hours... maybe?"

"I can give you some guidance... Pfft!"

The old man, who had just looked like a transcendent master, sprayed out a mouthful of wine. He immediately began coughing violently, his old face flushing red and startling Wang Anfeng. The boy hurried over and patted the old man's back to help him catch his breath, only for the old man to fling away the wine gourd in his hand and curse,

"Cough, cough, cough! That damned gourd had a leaf in it! It nearly went down my throat, cough, cough, cough!"

His face was full of indignation, but inwardly he drew a cold breath as though he had seen a ghost. Four hours? Four hours?! This brat has never lied, and I never sensed him cultivating internal arts before. Could he really have taken only four hours?

Could this little bastard's talent truly be so terrifying? Comparable to the martial arts geniuses personally taught by the Seven Great Sects?!

Did I misjudge him back then?!

At this moment, Wang Anfeng had already picked up the wine gourd and was washing it with well water. The old man's eyes shifted as they settled on the boy. He wanted to ask where Wang Anfeng had learned his martial arts, but no matter how great a genius one was, it was impossible to cultivate internal arts without a master's protection. Moreover, casually probing into someone's sect and lineage was an absolute taboo in the martial world. Besides, that strand of internal energy was upright and vigorous, clearly not the path of an evil sect. After pondering for a long while, he could only abandon the thought.

Yet as that thought faded, another slowly drifted up. The old man looked at Wang Anfeng's figure, a faint divine light flickering in his eyes.

"Uncle Li, I've washed your gourd clean. This is pork sent over by the Master of the Martial Arts School's family. I'll leave it here for you."

At that moment, the boy let out a breath of relief, turned back after a few steps, and placed the cleaned wine gourd on the stone table. The pork wrapped in oiled paper lay beside it. Then he smiled at the old man and said,

"Uncle Li, I still have some firewood in my room to sell, so I'll head back first. If you run short of anything, just tell me, and I'll bring it over."

"Go, go, go. At my age, do you think I can't survive without you?"

The old man rolled his eyes and waved him away. Curled up in his wicker chair, he watched the boy's departing back, seemingly lost in thought. His eyes were calm and peaceful. The breeze tousled his wild white hair, making him seem to merge with the lonely little courtyard. Then he suddenly sighed, casually picked up the gourd, and took a gulp. His expression stiffened slightly. He smashed the gourd onto the ground and cursed at the top of his lungs,

"Where's the wine?!"

"That Old Li tricked me again! Fine wine tastes like weak wine, and weak wine tastes like well water!"

"I-I'll tear down your shabby little tower!"

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