This Life's Family

Su Bo jogged all the way home, his heart pounding with nerves.

[Baxia Coiling Dragon Stance]—the unique stance art of Third High School. It was said to have been passed down by the ancient, ancient, ancient principal who had founded the school.

A stance art brought back from beyond Crimson Glow City.

Even the foundational fist stance derived from it—the Eight Mountain-Shaking Fists—could be considered an excellent superior Foundation Establishment method.

The [Baxia Coiling Dragon Stance] was surely even more precious than Su Bo had imagined.

Not to mention the [Blood-Nourishing Pill] in his pocket. Wu Bin had repeatedly warned him that this thing absolutely could not fall into the hands of martial apprentices or ordinary people.

He had already given Su Bo the pill!

If Su Bo failed to keep it safe, lost it, or had it snatched away, that would be his own problem.

The Martial Alliance might very well come knocking!

Of course, Su Bo suspected Wu Bin had only said that to scare a prospective martial artist like him.

He just had no proof...

Su Bo's home was not far from Third High School, just a few streets away in Chongning Residential Complex.

"I'm back~"

Taking three steps at a time, Su Bo bounded upstairs, pulled out his key, and opened the door. He could hardly wait to share the good news.

Su Bo's family in this life was fairly complete.

His father, Su Zhiqing, had possessed mediocre martial talent and had chosen to study liberal arts at university. After graduating, he returned to Crimson Glow City and became an editor-in-chief at a small newspaper.

Thanks to his considerable literary talent, he lived quite comfortably in Crimson Glow City.

Later, he met Su Bo's mother, Bai Xiaoling. They married and had Su Bo as their eldest son, followed by their second son Su Feng and youngest daughter Su Tong.

Su Feng was thirteen, while Su Tong was six.

"Big Brother~" The moment Su Bo stepped through the door, a chubby little figure pounced on him. "Did you bring Tongtong's candied hawthorn skewers back?"

The little girl threw herself into Su Bo's arms, blinking her watery eyes as she asked in a soft, childish voice.

Su Bo froze.

Oh no. He had been so caught up in breaking through that he had forgotten his promise from last night to bring her candied hawthorn skewers.

"Hehe~" A strange snicker sounded from beside them as Su Feng popped out. He looked Su Bo, who had returned empty-handed, up and down before snickering. "Little brat..."

"Your candied hawthorn skewers are gone. Big Brother didn't bring anything back at all!"

"No way~" The little girl panicked, lifting her head with a wronged expression. "Big Brother, my can—"

"Tongtong, there are little bear biscuits in Brother's room..." Su Bo immediately cut her off, pointing toward his room. "Go get them quickly, before your little brother gets to them first."

"Okay~"

"Aah~"

The little girl's delighted cry rang out alongside a shriek of agony.

Quick as lightning, Su Bo grabbed hold of Su Feng, who had been about to run, refusing to let him take even a single step. Then he released Su Tong and let her dash into the room for the little bear biscuits.

As he watched the little girl run toward the room, Su Feng struggled wildly and wailed, "Brother, Big Brother, let me go! My biscuits..."

"Little brat, you're not allowed to go!"

That was right. These were the biscuits the boy had been reluctant to eat himself, yet feared that the little glutton Su Tong would devour.

So he had secretly hidden them in Su Bo's room.

Su Bo sneered and tucked him under his arm. "Your biscuits? If they're your biscuits, why were they in my room?"

"If they're in my room, then they're my biscuits."

"No..." Su Feng watched helplessly as the little girl emerged from Su Bo's room with a bag of biscuits, munching away as she walked.

In an instant, his whole face turned ashen.

Gone. All gone...

Su Bo snorted, laughing inwardly. If I don't teach this brat a lesson, he'll never learn how formidable his big brother is!

Carrying Su Feng under his arm into the living room, he called, "Dad, Mom?"

"There's soup simmering at home. Have some before you go practice." Bai Xiaoling was watching a television program.

She merely glanced at Su Feng, tucked beneath Su Bo's arm, then turned back to continue watching TV.

She had no intention whatsoever of telling Su Bo to let him go.

As for her eldest son?

Ever since Su Bo had enrolled in Martial Arts No. 3 High School, he had stopped eating meals at home. He ate martial meals at school instead, and their family could not afford to provide those martial meals for him.

Editor-in-Chief Su's salary was decent, but after paying the mortgage, there was hardly any money left.

"Dad's in the study?" Su Bo asked.

"Mm, writing his article." Bai Xiaoling did not even turn her head from the television.

"Got something to tell you."

"I broke through to become a prospective martial artist!"

"Oh, you broke through... Crack, crack..." With a sharp snap, the remote control in Bai Xiaoling's hand instantly shattered into four pieces and scattered across the floor.

Bit by bit, Bai Xiaoling turned her head, a flush rising across her face.

Disbelief, joy, shock, and complicated emotions surfaced one after another on Bai Xiaoling's face.

"Old Su, this is incredible..."

"Our eldest has made something of himself~"

On the rooftop, Su Bo assumed the fist stance of the Eight Mountain-Shaking Fists. His blood and qi surged through his body, constantly extracting the vital essence replenished by his martial meals.

After telling Old Su about his breakthrough and sharing a couple of drinks with him, Su Bo had run up to the rooftop to train.

On the path of martial arts, if one did not advance, one fell behind!

Even after breaking through to become a prospective martial artist, Su Bo did not dare slack off in the slightest. He was only a prospective martial artist; above him still lay the three passes of the Fleshly Body Realm.

Beyond those three passes came the Martial Gang Realm, martial divine abilities... and even higher realms.

Su Bo did not want to spend his entire life trapped in a tiny Crimson Glow City. He wanted to go out into the world, and to do that, he needed formidable martial cultivation.

Only with sufficient strength could he make a name for himself in the martial academy entrance examination and gain admission to a martial academy for further study.

As his vital essence was continuously tempered, a trace of realization arose in Su Bo's heart.

The Eight Mountain-Shaking Fists stance was now having a negligible effect on tempering his blood and qi, almost none at all.

No matter how repeatedly he refined his vital essence, he could no longer condense even a thread of prospective martial artist blood and qi.

Almost instinctively, Su Bo changed his stance art. His body sank, his waist and back hunching forward, faintly resembling a dragon turtle coiled upon the vast ocean.

Baxia Coiling Dragon Stance—using form, spirit, and qi to transform into a dragon turtle coiled upon the ocean.

The instant Su Bo changed his stance art, that strand of prospective martial artist blood and qi within him seemed to let out earth-shaking dragon roars.

An invisible force descended, blessing his blood and qi as it continuously extracted and tempered his own vital essence.

Deep within his five viscera and six bowels, faint tremors arose, leaking thread after thread of vital essence.

Martial Art: Baxia Coiling Dragon Stance [Proficient 561/2000 (ten practices a day; minor mastery in five years)]

On the proficiency panel, the Eight Mountain-Shaking Fists stance vanished, replaced by the [Baxia Coiling Dragon Stance].

At the same time, the experience from the Eight Mountain-Shaking Fists at the perfected level was only enough to raise the Coiling Dragon Stance to Proficient.

Countless profound essentials of the Baxia Coiling Dragon Stance flooded into Su Bo's mind, allowing him to rapidly adjust his stance.

The vital essence accumulated within his body was frantically extracted and tempered into strands of blood and qi power.

Immersed in the mysteries of the Baxia Coiling Dragon Stance, Su Bo seemed to have entered a state of enlightenment, combining the wonders of the panel's proficiency with the essential meaning he had grasped from the stance art itself.

The two complemented one another, madly pushing the Coiling Dragon Stance toward deeper and more profound levels.

On the panel that Su Bo had no time to notice, the proficiency of the Baxia Coiling Dragon Stance rose frantically.

Thread after thread of blood and qi was also continuously tempered out.