Fishing

Fishing. Second Uncle?

Li Hao was surprised. Li Fu's seniority within the residence was counted from his father's generation; the only people he could call "uncle" were from the Li Family's previous generation.

"Oh."

The old man paid little attention to Li Fu's respectful greeting, merely answering casually. Then his gaze flicked over and saw Li Hao behind him, dressed in brocade with the Dragon Blood Jade Pendant hanging at his waist, as well as the Body Refining Manual in Li Hao's arms.

"I heard our Li Family produced a cripple in the martial path. Wouldn't be this child, would it?" the old man asked casually.

Li Fu was incomparably respectful, cupping his fists and bending at the waist. "Reporting to Second Uncle, it is indeed Hao'er. He is Xingwu Marquis's child. He was born with blocked meridians and cannot practice martial arts."

"Oh, hehe..." The old man smiled faintly. "So he's that stubborn fellow's child. Tsk, is this little fellow planning to refine his body? That's a bitter road."

Li Fu's expression remained respectful. "Body refining is indeed a bitter road, but if we want this child to amount to something in the future, this is the only way."

"Tch."

The old man gave a disdainful light snort. "How much can body refining amount to? Even if he reaches the heights of those few body cultivators in history, so what? Amid thousands upon thousands of soldiers and horses, he'd just be a slightly larger pebble."

Li Fu smiled bitterly, knowing the other party was not wrong, and could only say, "But as a son of the Li Family, if he can die on the battlefield, that is also a kind of honor."

When the old man heard this, his smile vanished. His face abruptly darkened, and he gave a cold snort.

"What dogshit talk is that? Are the sons of my Li Family supposed to die on the battlefield? What honor? I say your brains are broken!"

"Being able to survive the battlefield—that's what you damn well call ability!"

"Uh..." Li Fu was a little dumbfounded by the sudden scolding. He had long heard that this Second Uncle had an eccentric personality, and in his youth had done quite a few things that deviated from the classics and rebelled against the Dao. He had not expected him to truly be so different from ordinary people.

"Is this Li Tiangang's idea, or yours?" The old man seemed a little angry as he asked.

Li Fu said cautiously, "It is the Marquis's and our idea..."

"Hmph, that boy Tiangang really has less and less promise the older he gets."

The old man snorted. "What kind of ability is it to force a child? If he's got ability, let him break through the Three Immortalities himself and step into the Four Establishments Realm. Then he'll be able to defy heaven and change fate."

"No matter what kind of useless cripple, weak-minded fool, or idiot it is, they can all be changed into peerless heavenly prodigies. Instead of making the child work hard, why doesn't he put in some effort himself? Does he know he's incompetent?"

"Ah, this..."

Li Fu was left gaping, not daring to answer.

The Four Establishments Realm? Although it was easy to say, how could stepping into that realm be so easy?

In all of Great Yu, those who had reached that step could be counted on one's fingers.

Beside them, Li Hao could not help laughing inwardly as he listened, thinking this old man was rather lovable.

He had thought this was a stern elder of the clan, who, like Li Fu, would painstakingly and tirelessly give him a proper lecture, saying nothing more than that he had to work hard, endure hardship to have prospects, and so on. He had not expected his words to be so utterly different.

"With our vast Divine General Residence, don't tell me we can't even support one child?"

Seeing Li Fu had no words to answer, the old man snorted coldly. "We were born into death and came out through life, and those children died in battle on the sands. Can that not at least let one junior properly enjoy this hard-won wealth and honor?"

Li Fu trembled with fear and could only nod, uh-uh, not daring to reply.

The old man rolled his eyes at Li Fu, knowing there was no use saying this to a block of wood like him. Since his youth, he had seen far too much, and he also knew the philosophy and style the Li Family had passed down for thousands of years.

However, as his eyes flicked aside, he saw the boy beside them secretly laughing, and could not help raising his brows.

"Little thing, I said your father was useless, and you're still laughing?"

"Old man, I think what you said is right."

"Hao'er!" Li Fu was startled and hurriedly rebuked him angrily. "Don't be so unruly. Is that how you speak to an elder?"

The old man did not get angry. Instead, he froze. "What did you call me?"

"Old man," Li Hao said with a smile. "I can't exactly call you young fellow."

The old man's face darkened slightly. "Did no one teach you how to address your elders?"

"You called me little thing, I called you old man. That should count as even, right?" Li Hao said. "Someone should also have taught you how to address juniors, right?"

Li Fu was so frightened that sweat broke out. He hurriedly covered Li Hao's mouth and said to the old man, "Second Uncle, please don't lower yourself to a child's level. When he was born, the Marquis and Madam went to the Yanbei Battlefield, and no one disciplined him. That's why his nature is a little wild, without much sense of rules..."

The old man raised his brows slightly, gave a light snort, and said, "What this child said does make some sense. We'll call it even."

Li Fu froze, then immediately let out a breath of relief. "Many thanks for Second Uncle's magnanimity!"

Li Hao pried away Li Fu's sweaty hand from his mouth and used his sleeve to wipe the cheek it had touched. Then he glanced at the old man's fish basket and asked, "You only caught one? It's so small. Who's that enough for?"

The old man said blandly, "This old man doesn't fish to eat. Fishing is a kind of pleasure. You're still young. You don't understand."

"If it's a pleasure, then your fishing skill is way too poor."

Li Hao said, "You only caught one. What's the difference between this and being air force?"

At the mention of "air force," the old man seemed as if someone had stepped on his foot. His reaction was actually even more intense than before, and he glared angrily at Li Hao.

"What does a yellow-mouthed child like you know? I simply didn't fish seriously today, and I went to a new lake, so I wasn't familiar with the water conditions. Wait until tomorrow, and see how many I catch for you!"

As if to increase his persuasiveness, he lifted the basket again and brought it before Li Hao. "Do you think this is some ordinary little fish? This is a demon! If I let it out, this fellow might not even be able to beat it!"

Clearly, the "this fellow" he spoke of was Li Fu beside them.

Li Fu's face was full of embarrassment when he heard this. What did this have to do with him?

"Second Uncle, such a dangerous demon, you should still keep it a little farther from Hao'er..." he said cautiously.

The old man gave a cold snort. "Once it's in my basket, could it still turn heaven upside down?"

"A demon?"

When Li Hao heard this, he became curious and examined the little fish in the basket.

The fish was only as long as a chopstick, with a golden back and scarlet belly. Strangely, on the skull above its eyes, there were reversed scales like eyelashes.

When Li Hao leaned in to examine it, the fish seemed to see this ignorant human child as well and glared fiercely at him.

Li Hao could distinctly sense loathing and killing intent from the fish's eyes, and could not help exclaiming in wonder. This was his first time seeing a demon at such close range.

"Old sir, is your fishing skill really this impressive? You can actually catch demons. Why don't you teach me?" Li Hao raised his head and asked.

If he remembered correctly, among the arts divided on the panel, fishing was also one of them.

In addition, there were carving, painting, playing the zither, and so on.

He had thought fishing could only catch fish. He had not expected that in this world, it could actually catch demons.

How was this any different from practicing martial arts? The old man froze, and his eyes could not help lighting up.

"You want to learn fishing?"

"Yeah. Can I?"

"Yes, of course you can!"

The old man immediately burst into laughter and said, "Rare that you have a Wisdom Eye, unlike these blocks of wood. What lousy body arts are you practicing? This old man will teach you fishing, and tomorrow I'll let you see my fishing skill while I'm at it. I definitely wasn't bragging to you. Today I was simply unfamiliar with that new lake..."

He was still explaining at the end, clearly still brooding over Li Hao's "air force" and wanting to prove himself.

"Ah, this..."

Li Fu stood beside them in a daze, dumbfounded. He had finally managed to make Li Hao settle his temperament and practice martial arts, so how had he been led astray?

"Second Uncle, Hao'er actually has great talent in body refining. In just three short months, he cultivated a low-grade body art to great accomplishment. He is absolutely good seedling. You, you cannot delay him!"

By the end, Li Fu was also speaking through gritted courage. At worst, he would be beaten and lie down for half a month.

"What talent, no talent? Even if he can cultivate it, how strong can he become? Can he withstand the Li Family's ten thousand troops?"

The old man said irritably, "Are you so determined to take such a delicate and adorable child and have him refine his body until he's tanned into a little blackie?"

I won't become a little blackie... Li Hao said silently in his heart.

After the old man finished speaking, he could not be bothered with Li Fu anymore. He snatched the "Dragon Spine" manual from Li Hao's hands and stuffed it into Li Fu's arms. "Go on, get. What lousy thing is this? What prospects are there in practicing this? Hao'er, right? Come on. Haven't eaten yet, have you? I'll slaughter this demon and give you something to nourish your body."

"Mm-hmm."

Li Hao nodded again and again, delighted beyond measure.

"Second Uncle, you... you can't do this!" Li Fu's call from behind was utterly bleak.

After being led away by this old man, Li Hao finally witnessed the boldness of this Second Uncle of the Li Family. The place where he cooked was actually on the seventh-floor terrace of Listening Rain Pavilion; this was where the Li Family's most precious manuals from the past thousand years were stored.

And at this moment, not far from these manuals, which might be older than they were, a cooking fire was burning.

In their conversation, Li Hao also learned the old man's name: Li Muxiu.

The "xiu" of resting and recuperating.

And also... the "xiu" of not stopping until death.