The Advancing Gentle Fist

The Hyuga main house estate.

The spacious courtyard featured a landscape of ponds and hills, adorned with fragrant flora; even with nearly a hundred Hyuga clansmen standing within, it did not feel cramped.

It was hard to imagine that such a vast space was usually occupied by only a few members of the main house.

"The evils of cap... pfft, feudalism!"

Genye stood shoulder-to-shoulder with several children of his age amidst the crowd.

At this moment, all the branch house members were silent as cicadas in late autumn, simply because their clan leader, Hyuga Yuansheng, was currently flying into a rage at the front.

"It is precisely because of your dereliction of duty that my son, Hiashi, nearly lost his life, and the future of the Hyuga clan was almost buried right here!"

Before Yuansheng, several branch house members knelt with their heads pressed to the ground, not daring to even draw a full breath.

Beside him, Hyuga Hiashi, wrapped in bandages, offered a helpless, bitter smile.

"Father, this mission was a result of my own greed for merit and poor command; it is not the fault of the guards!"

Yuansheng let out a cold snort. "Hiashi, you need not defend them. As members of the branch house, failing to protect the main house is, in itself, a fault!"

Just then, one of the kneeling branch house members raised his head and cried out in grief.

"Clan Leader, it is our failure as guards to protect the young clan leader. We are willing to die to atone for our sins!"

"Insolent!" Yuansheng flew into a towering rage. "Did I give you permission to speak?"

"Die to atone for your sins? After committing such a grave error, you think you can just end it with death?"

"Do you think your lives are worth anything compared to the life of the main house?!"

As he spoke, Yuansheng angrily raised two fingers, activating the "Caged Bird" curse seals on the branch house members.

The azure marks on their foreheads lit up.

The next moment, as if struck by a sudden, violent illness, the men clutched their heads in unison and began to howl in agony.

"Ugh, ahhhhh!"

"Brother!" A young girl beside Genye saw this and, acting on impulse, desperately tried to rush forward.

Among the punished branch house members, one was her older brother.

"Mei, have you lost your mind?" Genye's expression shifted, and he instantly grabbed the girl.

However, the next instant, Yuansheng's sharp gaze pierced through the crowd and landed on the two of them.

Crap!

Genye felt a sudden heat on his forehead, followed immediately by an indescribable, piercing pain.

It felt as if someone were forcibly tearing his brain nerves apart, tossing them into a pot of boiling oil, and continuously stabbing them with steel needles.

So this is... the Caged Bird... Damn you, Hyuga Yuansheng!

As the intense pain washed over him like a tide, Genye's consciousness blurred, and he let out a string of profanities.

"Father, the punishment is enough. Please, stop now!"

Hyuga Hiashi wore an expression of unbearable pity as he walked before Yuansheng to plead for them.

"Hmph, without a little punishment, how would they ever realize their mistakes?"

Yuansheng snorted lightly, retracted his power, and looked down at the branch house members collapsed on the ground. "Do you know your wrongs?"

The branch house members gritted their teeth, forced themselves to kneel upright, and replied, "We know our wrongs!"

Genye also gritted his teeth, helped the girl beside him up, and followed suit, whispering, "Genye... knows his wrongs!"

He had been punished indiscriminately simply for holding back a companion.

Just because he had "defied" the main house, and because he was weak!

In this world where the strong were respected and power was supreme, having no strength was a sin.

Genye lowered his gaze, a trace of coldness flashing through his flawless, white eyes.

Hyuga Yuansheng, I will return this humiliation tenfold in the future!

Yuansheng waved his hand impatiently and said with a huff:

"If Hiashi hadn't pleaded for you, I would never have let you off so easily. Why haven't you thanked Hiashi yet?"

"Thank you, Lord Hiashi!" The group hurriedly bowed to Hiashi, feigning gratitude.

Genye followed along with the charade, though he sneered inwardly.

This father and son duo—one playing the good cop and the other the bad cop—had truly mastered the art of buying people's hearts.

After the lecture, the few negligent guards were kept behind, while the remaining branch house members were "invited" out of the main house estate.

Summoned at will and dismissed at a whim—that was the story of their existence.

"Brother Genye, I'm sorry. I dragged you into this just now."

The girl named Mei had tears in her eyes as she bowed deeply toward Xuanye.

"...It's fine." Xuanye took a deep breath and helped the girl stand up.

He was indeed somewhat angry, but seeing the girl so earnest, he found it difficult to say anything more.

Right, perhaps I can try to replicate!

Looking at Mei, whose face was streaked with tears, a sudden thought struck Xuanye.

He and Mei had always been on good terms, otherwise, he wouldn't have instinctively shielded her just now.

At this moment, Mei's favorability toward him shouldn't be low.

While the iron is hot, just do it!

"System, replicate for me!" Xuanye selected Mei and chanted silently in his heart.

[Ding! Congratulations to the host for obtaining the skill "Gentle Fist"!]

[Because the host has already mastered the skill "Gentle Fist," it has automatically merged and upgraded to the skill "Gentle Fist: Double"!]

Holy crap, it dropped!

Xuanye's eyes lit up, and he felt the pain in his body diminish significantly as he immediately opened the skill description.

[Gentle Fist: Double: Based on the original skill, the power is stacked, and the damage is doubled.]

Holy crap, holy crap, doubled!

Aside from "holy crap," Xuanye couldn't think of any other words.

It wasn't a simple increase, but a direct doubling of lethality; this was just too awesome!

"Brother Xuanye, what's wrong?"

Seeing Xuanye suddenly staring blankly into space with a silly grin on his face, drool almost leaking out, Mei placed her slender hand on his forehead with some concern.

Could it be that the punishment from earlier damaged Brother Xuanye's brain? Mei felt even more self-reproach.

"Ahem, I'm fine." Xuanye took down Mei's small hand and coughed twice in embarrassment.

"As long as you're okay, Brother Xuanye. Shall we head home together?"

"Yeah, alright."

As peripheral members of the clan, both of their homes were in the outskirts, not far from each other.

"Hyuga Mei, Hyuga Genya, you two stop right there!"

While passing through a small alley, an angry voice came from behind the two of them.

Hearing this, Xuanye and Mei turned around together.

Looking at the inexplicable guy in front of him, Xuanye frowned slightly: "Something the matter?"

The guy blocking them was Hyuga Takashi, also a member of the Hyuga branch family, a few years older than the two of them.

Hyuga Takashi's face was twisted as he pointed at them and said viciously: "It's all because of you two that we were scolded by the Clan Leader!"

"You defied the Clan Leader, so you must pay the price for it!"

Hyuga Takashi was a person with an extremely heavy sense of clan hierarchy.

In his view, the branch family was born for the main family and naturally should obey the main family's every command; this was the entire meaning of their existence.

Therefore, he often took pride in supporting the main family and gaining their recognition.

And just now, Xuanye and Mei had committed an act of insubordination, causing all of them to be reprimanded by Yuansheng for lacking respect for their superiors!

Being scolded like that by the respected Clan Leader was even more unbearable to him than being killed!

"The Clan Leader already said he would let bygones be bygones, yet you, a fellow branch member, are still biting onto us and won't let go..."

As a modern youth from the 21st century, Xuanye found it difficult to understand Hyuga Takashi's train of thought.

After a moment of silence, he spoke with great sincerity: "Are you... sick in the head?"

"You unrepentant bastard, how dare you spout such nonsense here!"

Hyuga Takashi was completely enraged; he tapped his toes on the ground and launched himself toward Xuanye like a cannonball.

"I'll teach you on behalf of your parents what respect for one's elders means!"

"..." Xuanye didn't speak again, his expression instantly turning cold.

He shielded Mei behind him, leaped up as well, raised his hand, and struck toward the incoming Hyuga Takashi with a palm.

"Brother Xuanye!"

Mei's small hands gripped the corners of her clothes, the worry on her face almost overflowing.

Hyuga Takashi already possessed the strength of a Chunin; Brother Xuanye definitely couldn't be his match!

"Fool, that's not how you use the Gentle Fist!"

Watching Genye charge straight at him without even activating his Byakugan, Hyuga Takashi couldn't help but scoff aloud.

Gentle Fist was a taijutsu style that injected one's own chakra into an enemy's body to destroy their meridians and internal organs.

It required the X-ray vision of the Byakugan to unleash its true power; otherwise, it was completely useless!

"Oh, is that so?" Genye remained unmoved, silently chanting in his heart.

"Gentle Fist—Double!!!"