Seven-Tenths Strength

"Another helping hand?"

Hearing those familiar words, Chen Luo could not help looking at his master.

Last time they had "lent a helping hand," his junior sister had nearly died. So hearing "lend a helping hand" This Time, he hesitated instinctively.

"Go ahead without worry. Your Senior Martial Uncle's kung fu is far beyond what junior sister apprentice can match." Crippled Ma saw through Chen Luo's thoughts and immediately said with a smile.

He had great confidence in his Grandmaster-level senior brother apprentice.

He also felt it was time to tamp down his talented disciple's arrogance. When young people had too smooth a road, it was all too easy for them to suffer losses. He himself was the best example.

"Strike with your full strength. I'll sit right here without moving. If you can make me shift even a fraction, I'll acknowledge you as a genius."

Ruan Jianglong had also seen Chen Luo's concern and smiled along with him.

Leaving aptitude aside, this martial nephew had a decent temperament. It was just a pity he had stayed too long in a small place and had never seen the great world beyond, utterly unaware of the weight carried by the word "Grandmaster."

Relying on his Grandmaster-level strength, Ruan Jianglong had built such a vast Foundation in a Prefecture City like White Dragon City.

"Do we really need to lend a helping hand?"

"Don't worry. A Grandmaster is far beyond any martial artist you have encountered before."

Since both his master and Senior Martial Uncle had assured him so firmly, Chen Luo set his mind at ease.

The gap between junior sister apprentice and him was growing wider and wider. She could no longer help him accurately gauge his strength, but Senior Martial Uncle was perfect. A Grandmaster expert who practiced Black Tiger Fist—his bearing alone showed how formidable he was. Perhaps even Daoist Lichen, who had pursued him before, was no match for Senior Martial Uncle.

Having thought it through, Chen Luo immediately steadied his stance. The force of Black Tiger Fist began circulating inside the body. His hands formed tiger claws, while his legs bent into a crouch.

The Internal Qi inside the body surged like a river. The otherwise unremarkable air around the body also took on a presence like Ruan Jianglong's. That presence condensed like tiger might, and the two men facing him sensed it at once.

"Good!"

Ruan Jianglong revealed a delighted expression as well.

Putting aside how well he had trained the fist art, this tiger bearing alone meant he had already grasped the essence of Black Tiger Fist.

Along with the stirring of his Internal Qi, the bones Inside Chen Luo's body crackled like bamboo shoots after rain. His realm had originally only been at Bone Forging, but when he mobilized his full strength, it actually drew out a thread of Pale Blue Energy, abruptly raising his might to the level of a Grandmaster.

Then came a tiger roar, and his figure vanished in an instant.

"Hmm?"

Ruan Jianglong, who had been sitting there so confidently, changed expression and sprang to his feet. He thrust out one hand and pushed his junior brother apprentice, Crippled Ma, aside. At the same time, a black crouching tiger emerged around his body. His fist force unfolded as he met Chen Luo's one punch head-on.

Boom!!!

With an explosive blast, black airwaves rolled outward, sweeping up great clouds of dust.

Ruan Jianglong's hasty response had left him wholly unable to imagine that this martial nephew would be so ferocious. His hastily unleashed fist force shattered in a single blow. The black crouching tiger lasted only a breath before being cleaved apart. The force exploded, and the fist force struck squarely into his chest. In mid-air, he was driven by the fist force of an ash-black fierce tiger all the way into the courtyard wall behind him before finally coming to a stop.

Bang!

A muffled sound rang out, and the scene fell silent at once. The table, chairs, and stools where Ruan Jianglong and Crippled Ma had been sitting lay overturned everywhere. Never mind his earlier promise of not moving half a step—even the ground beneath his feet had been scraped away by that punch.

"Master, I held back This Time. I only used Seven-Tenths Strength."

Only after sensing that Ruan Jianglong had not suffered any substantial injuries did Chen Luo turn to Crippled Ma, whose backside was still planted on the ground, and speak.

This Time, he had learned his lesson from last time he had "lent a helping hand" to junior sister apprentice and used only Seven-Tenths Strength.

"This child...!!"

Ruan Jianglong had originally wanted to force himself to maintain the dignity of an elder Senior Martial Uncle, but upon hearing those words, he could not hold back any longer and spat out a mouthful of blood on the spot.

When he looked at Chen Luo again, it was as though he were looking at a monster.

What genius? This was plainly a freakish monster!

"Y-you-you!! You broke through to Grandmaster?!!" Crippled Ma was completely dumbfounded, even forgetting to help up his senior brother apprentice, who had rolled aside.

"I only broke through not long ago."

Chen Luo wore an honest, simple expression.

Strictly speaking, he could not truly be considered a Grandmaster. Pale Blue Energy belonged to an Immortal Cultivator's power, but he could not clearly explain the details, so he simply treated himself as a Grandmaster.

"Forget it. Go rest first."

Crippled Ma held it in for a long while, unable to think of how to respond. This strangely familiar feeling made him feel as if he were dreaming.

He could hardly say that Chen Luo should not beat up his Senior Martial Uncle like that, could he? It had been the two of them who asked him to strike with full strength. Lending a helping hand had also been Ruan Jianglong's own suggestion. The kid had even held back three-tenths of his strength, which was already giving them plenty of face.

But when had Martial Dao become so easy to break through?

If someone could become a Grandmaster after practicing for a few months, then had he spent his entire life practicing his way into a dog's belly?!

"Alright."

Chen Luo was not stupid. Naturally, he understood the situation and knew he had to leave Senior Martial Uncle some face.

So he went out, found an escort from the Tiger Might Escort Agency, asked for the location of the Guest Room, and left with him.

"Junior brother apprentice, tell me honestly. Has this kid truly practiced martial arts for only a little over a month?"

Once there was no one else around, Ruan Jianglong stopped putting on a brave front. Sitting cross-legged on the ground, he smoothed out the congested qi within him, and only then did his condition ease. Chen Luo had indeed not lied. At the final moment of their exchange, he had held back. Otherwise, Ruan Jianglong's injury would not have been as simple as coughing up blood.

"He truly has only practiced for a little over a month. I taught him for half a month. Aside from the first few days of that half-month, he practiced on his own afterward."

Crippled Ma wore a bitter smile. He knew what his senior brother apprentice was thinking.

But he himself had not figured out the answer to that question.

"If that is the case, then I suspect your disciple may possess 'that kind of aptitude.'" Ruan Jianglong's eyes flickered as his thoughts began to stir.

The reason he had been able to cultivate Black Tiger Fist into Grandmasterhood was because he had encountered a stroke of fortune several years ago.

It was also through that encounter that he learned the world was not merely what they saw before them. Later, relying on the prestige of that "immortal master," he established a firm foothold in White Dragon City, this Prefecture City, making even the Important Figures of the prefecture dare not provoke him.

A large part of why the Tiger Might Escort Agency had developed to this extent was because he had received guidance from that "immortal master" and shared a thread of incense affinity with him.

"Senior brother apprentice means..."

Crippled Ma's expression shifted. Before Chen Luo had arrived, the two Senior Brother Apprentices had been discussing precisely this matter in the courtyard.

"Only that can explain it. In this world, some people are born different from us." Ruan Jianglong had already begun considering how to build a good relationship with this martial nephew.

Unlike his junior brother apprentice, Crippled Ma, he had been skilled at borrowing influence since childhood. On the surface, he seemed simple-minded and brawny, but in truth, he understood Yue Kingdom's rules better than anyone. Those people "above the heavens" were the true foundation.

"Junior brother apprentice, you really are lucky."

At this point, a trace of envy appeared on Ruan Jianglong's face.

Why had he never encountered such a disciple?

"What luck do I have? I've already become a cripple." Crippled Ma smiled bitterly and patted his leg.

Only he himself knew what kind of days he had lived through these past years.

"What is lost in the east is gained in the mulberry trees of the west. Perhaps someday, senior brother apprentice will have to rely on your disciple to save his life." Ruan Jianglong said it half-jokingly.