Fishing

Second Uncle?

Li Hao was surprised. Li Fu's seniority within the residence was reckoned from his father's generation. Anyone he called uncle could only belong to the Li Family's oldest generation.

"Oh."

The old man paid little attention to Li Fu's respectful greeting, merely giving a casual acknowledgment. Then his gaze shifted to Li Hao, who followed behind him in brocade robes with the Dragon Blood Jade Pendant at his waist, and to the Body Refining Manual in the boy's arms.

"I heard our Li Family produced a child with a Martial Dao Wasteland Physique. Is this him?" the old man asked casually.

Li Fu bowed with his fists clasped, showing the utmost respect. "Yes, Second Uncle. This is Hao'er, Marquis Xingwu's son. His meridians have been blocked since birth, so he cannot practice martial arts."

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

Li Fu remained respectful. "Body refining is a bitter road, but if we want this child to amount to anything, it's our only choice."

"Pah."

The old man gave a disdainful 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 of troops and horses, he'd only be a slightly larger pebble."

Li Fu smiled wryly. Knowing the old man was not wrong, he could only say, "But as a son of the Li Family, even dying on the battlefield would be an honor."

At those words, the old man's smile vanished. His expression abruptly darkened, and he snorted coldly.

"What bullshit. Are sons of our Li Family supposed to die on the battlefield? What honor? I think you've all lost your minds!"

"Coming back from the battlefield alive-that's what I call fucking ability!"

"Uh..." The sudden reprimand left Li Fu dumbstruck. He had long heard that this Second Uncle had an eccentric temperament and had done plenty of things that defied convention in his youth. Sure enough, he was nothing like ordinary people.

"Is that Li Tiangang's thinking, or yours?" the old man asked, seemingly somewhat angry.

Li Fu answered cautiously, "It's what the marquis and all of us think..."

"Hmph. That brat Tiangang really grows more useless with age."

The old man snorted. "What's so impressive about forcing a child? If he's so capable, let him break through the Three Immortalities himself and enter the Four Establishments Realm. Then he could defy heaven and change fate."

"No matter whether the child's useless, crippled, dim-witted, or an idiot, he could turn him into a peerless prodigy. Instead of making his child work harder, why doesn't he put in some effort himself? Does he know he's incapable?"

"Ah, well..."

Li Fu was left utterly speechless and did not dare respond.

The Four Establishments Realm? It was easy enough to say, but how could entering that realm possibly be so simple?

The people in all of Great Yu who had reached that stage could be counted on one's fingers.

Beside them, Li Hao could barely suppress his laughter. He thought this old man was rather endearing.

He had expected a stern family elder who, like Li Fu, would tirelessly lecture him about working hard, enduring hardship to get ahead, and so forth. He had never imagined the old man would say the exact opposite.

"Can't our great Divine General Residence afford to feed a single child?"

Seeing that Li Fu had no answer, the old man snorted coldly. "We've risked our lives, and those children died on the battlefield. Can't we at least let one of the younger generation enjoy this hard-won wealth and privilege?"

Li Fu trembled with apprehension and could only nod with a few stammered sounds, not daring to answer.

The old man rolled his eyes at Li Fu, knowing it was useless talking to a blockhead like him. He had seen far too many since his youth and knew all about the beliefs and ways passed down through the Li Family for hundreds upon thousands of years.

But as his gaze shifted, he noticed the boy beside them snickering and raised an eyebrow.

"Little thing, I'm calling your father useless, and you're laughing?"

"Old man, I think you're right."

"Hao'er!" Li Fu jumped in fright and hurriedly scolded him. "Mind your manners! Is that any way to address 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, can I?"

The old man's expression darkened slightly. "Has no one taught you how to address your elders?"

"You called me little thing, and I called you old man. That should make us even, right?" Li Hao said. "Surely someone taught you how to address your juniors too?"

Sweat broke out on Li Fu's brow. He hurriedly covered Li Hao's mouth and said to the old man, "Second Uncle, please don't hold it against the child. The marquis and his wife went to the Yanbei Battlefield when he was born. With no one to discipline him, he's grown a little wild and doesn't know his manners..."

The old man raised an eyebrow and gave a light snort. "The child does have a point. Let's call it even."

Li Fu froze, then immediately sighed with relief. "Thank you for your generosity, Second Uncle!"

Li Hao pried Li Fu's sweaty hand off his mouth and wiped the cheek it had touched with his sleeve. Then he glanced at the old man's fish basket and asked, "You only caught one? It's so small. Who's that supposed to feed?"

The old man said indifferently, "I don't fish for food. Fishing is a pleasure. You're too young to understand."

"If it's a pleasure, your fishing skills must be pretty poor."

Li Hao said, "You caught just one. How's that any different from coming home empty-handed?"

At the mention of coming home empty-handed, the old man reacted as though someone had trodden on his foot, even more fiercely than before. He glared at Li Hao.

"What does a wet-behind-the-ears brat like you know? I wasn't fishing seriously today, and I went to New Lake. I wasn't familiar with the water. Just wait until tomorrow and see how many I catch for you!"

As though to make his case more convincing, he lifted the basket up to Li Hao's face. "You think this is an ordinary little fish? It's a monster! If I let it out, this fellow might not even be able to beat it!"

Clearly, "this fellow" meant Li Fu beside them.

Li Fu looked embarrassed. What did this have to do with him?

"Second Uncle, if it's such a dangerous monster, please keep it a little farther from Hao'er..." he said cautiously.

The old man snorted coldly. "Once it's in my basket, do you think I'd let it turn the heavens upside down?"

"A monster?"

Hearing that, Li Hao grew curious and examined the little fish in the basket.

The fish was only as long as a chopstick, with a golden back and crimson belly. Strangely, the skull above its eyes had backward-pointing scales that resembled eyelashes.

When Li Hao leaned over to look, the fish seemed to notice this ignorant human child too and glared viciously at him.

Li Hao could distinctly sense hatred and murderous intent in its eyes. He exclaimed in wonder. This was his first time seeing a monster up close.

"Sir, are your fishing skills really that amazing? You can actually catch monsters? How about teaching me?" Li Hao looked up and asked.

If he remembered correctly, fishing was one of the arts listed on his panel.

There were also carving, painting, playing the zither, and others.

He had thought fishing meant merely catching fish. He had never imagined that, in this world, one could catch monsters too.

How was that any different from practicing martial arts?

The old man paused, and his eyes lit up involuntarily.

"You want to learn fishing?"

"Yes. May I?"

"Yes, of course!"

The old man immediately burst out laughing. "It's rare to find someone with a discerning eye, unlike these blockheads. Why practice those lousy body techniques? I'll teach you fishing. Tomorrow, I'll take you along to see how good my fishing skills are. I'm certainly not boasting. Today, I just wasn't familiar with New Lake..."

Even at the end, he was still explaining himself. Clearly, Li Hao's remark about coming home empty-handed still rankled, and he wanted to prove himself.

"Ah, well..."

Li Fu stood beside them, stunned. He had finally managed to get Li Hao to settle down and practice martial arts. How had the boy been lured away?

"Second Uncle, Hao'er really has a talent for body refining. In just three short months, he mastered a Lesser Body Technique. He's definitely a promising seedling. You-you can't hold him back!"

By the end, Li Fu was forcing himself to press on. At worst, he would get beaten up and spend half a month in bed.

"What talent? Even if he succeeds, how strong could he become? Could he match ten thousand Li Family troops?"

The old man snapped, "You insist on making such a delicate, adorable child refine his body until the sun bakes him into a little charcoal lump?"

I won't turn into a little charcoal lump... Li Hao silently told himself.

Having said his piece, the old man could not be bothered with Li Fu anymore. He snatched the Dragon Spine manual from Li Hao's hands and shoved it into Li Fu's arms.

"Go on, get lost. What rubbish. What future is there in practicing this? Hao'er, was it? Come along. Haven't eaten yet, have you? I'll slaughter this monster and give you something nourishing."

"Yes, yes."

Li Hao nodded repeatedly, delighted.

"Second Uncle, you... you can't do this!" Li Fu's calls from behind them sounded utterly forlorn.

After being led away by the old man, Li Hao got a taste of just how audacious this Second Uncle of the Li Family was. His cooking spot was actually on the terrace of the Listening Rain Pavilion's Seventh Floor, where the Li Family's most precious manuals accumulated over thousands of years were stored.

And now, not far from those manuals, which might have been older than either of them, a cooking fire burned.

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

The "xiu" in his name meant rest, as in resting and recuperating.

It was also... the "rest" in never resting until death.

(End of chapter)