"Old Huang, do you take me, Wang Ju, for a fool?"
"Who knows whether you've let your lust cloud your judgment?"
Wang Ju gave a cold snort. "I, Wang Ju, can swear to heaven: if I had anything to do with this, may I be struck by lightning and die a horrible death!"
"And besides, I, Wang Ju, am no fool."
Only after Wang Ju had finished speaking did Huang He calm down a little.
He realized that he had let his anger cloud his mind and lost his reason.
It was mainly the succession of events that had left him so troubled.
But even so, Wang Ju was still a suspect.
After all, that old rabbit had a truly terrible reputation.
The two had originally been discussing an important matter, but they ended up parting on bad terms.
And so, the two family heads became estranged.
The next day.
Lu Li appeared at the Martial Academy.
He practiced the Azure Wave Palm.
Suddenly, he heard a burst of startled cries.
Lu Li followed the crowd's gaze.
He saw Huang Haitao staggering toward them, his face as pale as paper and his breathing weak. He had clearly suffered serious injuries.
"What are you all looking at? Get back to training! Keep staring and I'll kick you all out!" Huang Haitao was in a foul mood.
After this mess, he could forget about being valued by the Huang Family or joining its inner circle.
Not only that, his monthly stipend of two hundred taels had been cut in half, and the other martial masters had mocked him for quite some time.
He had lost all face!
Originally, he had planned to bring the Fifth Young Master back after handing over the Inner-Qi Realm martial art and pills, and he would have benefited from it too, with his status rising alongside the young master's.
But the heavens had other plans, and everything had fallen apart. Huang Haitao was destined to become an outsider.
He was unwilling to accept it.
He could do nothing about the Fifth Young Master's stupidity, but he hated the Tendon-Refining martial artist who had appeared out of nowhere so much that he wanted to eat his flesh, drink his blood, and grind his bones to dust!
He sat in a reclining chair, clenching his teeth in anger.
"Martial Master Huang is a Tendon-Refining Realm expert. Who could've beaten him up like this?"
"Martial Master Huang must have run into an expert. Anyone who could beat him up this badly must be from a family, right?"
"Could the Huang Family have run into a powerful enemy?"
Everyone discussed it among themselves, finding it hard to believe.
In their minds, Tendon-Refining Realm martial artists were lofty, untouchable beings!
Whoever had beaten Martial Master Huang up like that had to be incredibly powerful.
People like them, born with dirt under their feet, could never hope to reach such heights in their whole lives!
Li Qing and the other two were also aghast. They couldn't believe they had encountered an expert like that and still made it back alive.
Noticing Huang Haitao's dark expression, no one dared breathe too loudly. They all obediently looked away.
Soon, the end of the month arrived.
[Martial Art: Elephant Strength Bull Demon Fist (Tendon-Refining Realm 0/900) One practice per day; 70 years to master...]
Lu Li had advanced the Elephant Strength Bull Demon Fist to the Tendon-Refining Realm.
The tendons inside his body swelled again. When Lu Li pinched his skin and flesh, he could clearly feel the thick tendons within, coiled like hidden dragons beneath the surface.
Once they unleashed their power, they would surely erupt with tremendous strength!
The Elephant Strength Bull Demon Fist was even better than the Tiger-Subduing Fist.
Each stage added another five hundred pounds of strength.
Lu Li's strength had now reached a staggering four thousand five hundred pounds.
That was a full fifty percent more than before!
With the two martial arts combined, Lu Li was confident he could at least fight a fair match against an Organ-Refining Realm martial artist!
Lu Li suddenly threw a light punch. The wind from his fist rippled, and its immense force cracked through the air.
It was like a giant elephant roaring, shaking the heavens and earth.
Lu Li was like a keg of explosives. Once he erupted, nothing could stop him!
People said the martial path was arduous, harder than ascending to heaven.
Yet he had reached this point in just one month, all told.
Thinking back to the beginning, Lu Li couldn't help feeling a little smug.
But the next moment, he suppressed that feeling.
"No, I can't get carried away yet!"
"Although I can throw my weight around in Changfeng County, I'm still nothing when I look at Great Yan, let alone the entire continent."
"Xiantian Martial Artists can project their force beyond their bodies, and their methods are endless."
"Grandmasters can soar through the air, and their tremendous strength is enough to move mountains with their bare hands."
"Great Grandmasters can change the weather with a mere gesture and suppress an entire nation!"
"And beyond them lies the even more powerful realm of the immortals. With a single thought, seas can turn to fields, and the sun and moon can be blotted out. Even the emperor must bow down in worship and kneel before them."
"The martial path is indeed divided into strict ranks."
"If I want true transcendence, I have to become a top-tier expert."
"I've barely begun. I can't even match the experts of the Incense Fragrance Sect, so how can I talk about transcending the world?"
"I can't go around feeling smug and pleased with myself like this."
Lu Li took a deep breath, pressed down the stirring in his heart, and regained his composure, calm and restrained.
The next day, he went to the Huang Family and reported to Huang Haitao that he had finished learning the Azure Wave Palm.
Li Qing and the other two had also finished learning it.
Huang Haitao's injuries had mostly healed. His complexion was rosy, and he had regained his imposing air.
"You four, practice it for me."
At Huang Haitao's words, Lu Li and the others performed the Azure Wave Palm from beginning to end.
Their movements were smooth and natural, clearly showing that they had mastered it.
"Mm, not bad, not bad. All four of you have good aptitude."
"What's most impressive is Lu Li. He's the best of the lot."
Huang Haitao fixed his gaze on Lu Li, his eyes full of approval.
Lu Li replied modestly, "I was just lucky."
Huang Haitao chuckled.
Li Qing and the other two looked rather unhappy.
They remembered how, not long ago, they had taken advantage of Lu Li's aloofness to mock him.
Now the tables had turned, and they had been humiliated in return.
Fortunately, they hadn't mocked him too harshly. Otherwise, they would have been thoroughly disgraced.
The other two felt secretly relieved.
But a trace of resentment flickered in Li Qing's eyes.
He had thought he was the most gifted of them all. He hadn't expected it to be Lu Li!
"Very well. I'll take you to collect your next martial art and assign you positions," Huang Haitao said.
Then Lu Li and the other three followed Huang Haitao away, amid the envious gazes of the crowd.
First, they received a martial art called the Wild Ox Fist.
As Lu Li had expected, it was incomplete and could only take them barely as far as the Skin-Refining Realm.
When practicing martial arts, it was best to choose a complete one.
If you wanted to switch martial arts, you had to choose a new one and start over from the beginning.
For instance, it was just like Lu Li replacing the Tiger-Subduing Fist with the Elephant Strength Bull Demon Fist after mastering the former.
Though he could build on his existing foundation, it would still waste a great deal of time and effort.
Not everyone was as exceptionally gifted as Lu Li.
Lu Li kept his expression neutral, but inwardly sneered. "If they want to improve, they'll need the rest of the Wild Ox Fist."
"Heh, they're trying to bind us tightly to the Huang Family."
"Fortunately, I'm only here to get an identity for appearances' sake."
"Otherwise, if I were still who I used to be, the Huang Family really would have fooled me."
He glanced at Li Qing and the other two. They were poring over the Wild Ox Fist with eager eyes, apparently still unaware of what the Huang Family was up to.
Lu Li shook his head to himself.
Afterward, Lu Li and the others were assigned positions as guards, responsible for patrolling one area of the Huang Family estate.
That area was the Fifth Young Master's territory.
Now that the Fifth Young Master was dead, the courtyards stood empty.
They only needed to go through the motions. There was no need to wear themselves out patrolling.
That left Lu Li with more time to spare.
Who would have thought that killing the Fifth Young Master would bring benefits too?
Once they had patrolled the area, they could head back.
However, they only had so much free time because they weren't official members of the Huang Family and still had to pass an assessment.
A year later, once they had learned the Wild Ox Fist, they would pass the assessment.
Before you continue