A Family

Back at Bamboo Garden, Yang Yi did not rush to cultivate martial skills.

He practiced the Body Tempering Technique three times in succession, using Golden Light to mend the damage, before finally taking out the Shadowless Formula.

The Body Tempering Technique was the foundation of his strength; he could not afford to slacken in this regard.

The reason he had not practiced a fourth time was naturally because he could no longer invoke the might of Golden Light. After cultivation, his body would be unwell, leaving him with no strength to do anything else. He planned to practice the final round before bed that night.

He calmed his mind and examined it closely, concentrating on comprehending it, occasionally circulating his qi and blood to test and experience it.

He roughly flipped through the Shadowless Formula, then looked over Mountain Suppression and Shatter Mountains and Rivers, and could not help showing a look of sudden understanding.

These martial skills, when all was said and done, were marvelous applications of circulating one's own qi and blood.

They could be said to be extensions and expansions of qi-and-blood circulation techniques in different directions and fields.

Take the Shadowless Formula, for example. One needed to circulate qi and blood into both legs, supplementing it with a particular method of flow, thereby increasing one's speed.

Simply channeling qi and blood into the legs could certainly make one faster, but it fell far short of the effects of executing a martial skill. These were precious experiences summarized by the predecessors.

Mountain Suppression and Shatter Mountains and Rivers were the same. The former spread qi and blood over the entire body, forming an invisible, formless layer of defense to withstand an enemy's killing moves. The latter gathered qi and blood at the peak of one's fist. With one punch, no matter what demons, ghosts, or monsters lay ahead, all would be smashed to pieces.

Yang Yi could not help feeling fortunate that he had not foolishly gone to fight Shen Qian that day. Otherwise, he would have lost terribly.

Back then, he had understood nothing at all, while Shen Qian had surely already mastered many martial skills. In this regard, he would have been utterly crushed.

Only after gaining a rough understanding of martial skills did Yang Yi begin cultivating the Shadowless Formula.

Following the essential instructions explained in the manual, he circulated his qi and blood, forging ahead through repeated failures...

Yang Yi finally understood why Qiao Wuwang had told him to return and carefully ponder it. Cultivation could injure a person too.

Once the flow of qi and blood went wrong, it would damage the flesh and blood within his body.

Fortunately, such injuries were far milder than the full-body pain of practicing the Body Tempering Technique. He only needed to slightly invoke the power of Golden Light to repair them, and it barely drained his mental energy.

By dusk, he could already barely activate the Shadowless Formula. As his figure darted about, his entire body raced through the courtyard like a gust of wild wind.

That night, he also roughly practiced Mountain Suppression and Shatter Mountains and Rivers. Only at midnight did he perform the final round of the Body Tempering Technique before falling into a deep sleep.

Over the following days, Yang Yi never left Bamboo Garden. Every day, apart from cultivating, he cultivated, wholly immersed and forgetting himself.

In the blink of an eye, more than half a month had passed.

That morning, after Yang Yi finished a set of the Body Tempering Technique and withdrew his power, he called toward the courtyard gate, "Come in."

A figure hurried in, carrying a food basket. It was time for breakfast.

While he was practicing, no one at Bamboo Garden would, or dared to, come disturb or spy on him. Usually, a servant would wait outside and only enter after he called for them.

Yang Yi picked up the towel beside him, wiped the sweat from his face, and sat down at the stone table. Looking up, he froze slightly. "Aunt?"

The one delivering breakfast today was not the familiar servant from before, but Aunt Yang.

Aunt Yang wore a fawning smile. "Xiao Yi, thanks for the effort."

She took the prepared dishes from the food basket one by one and set them on the table. After cultivation, Yang Yi's appetite had greatly increased. With the Qiao Household supplying him, this table was mostly laden with meat—enough to feed an adult for two days—yet this was merely his breakfast.

After setting down the food, Aunt Yang did not leave.

Yang Yi knew she had something to say, so he asked, "Aunt, is something the matter?"

Only then did Aunt Yang speak. "Xiao Yi, Aunt wronged you in the past..."

Ever since that night at Yang Family Hollow, when Yang Yi had carried away the corpse and then led them a hundred li through the night to seek refuge at Qiao Family Fort, they had moved into such a courtyard. Not only did they no longer worry about food or clothing, they even had servants to wait on them. To farmers who had spent their whole lives huddled in a small mountain village, merely seeking enough food and warmth yet never attaining it, such a change was simply earth-shaking.

She knew where this change had come from and upon whom it depended.

Especially after asking the servants around for much information, she learned that Yang Yi had actually begun cultivating, and that his strength was quite formidable. He had entered Qiao Family Fort as an Attendant, rising in one leap to become someone above others.

They no longer needed to live in fear of Black Wind Stronghold, yet Aunt Yang had felt deeply unsettled these past days. After struggling for several days, she finally gathered her courage and came over.

"Aunt was too harsh with you before, scolding you at every turn. It was Aunt's fault..." Aunt Yang looked at Yang Yi as she spoke nervously, her expression full of unease.

Yang Yi listened quietly.

The more he acted like this, the more anxious Aunt Yang became. Even after she finished speaking, Yang Yi still showed no reaction.

Aunt Yang knew it was over. Her face fell as she said, "Aunt wronged you. You can hit me or curse me if you want. It's what Aunt deserves..."

"Aunt." Yang Yi finally spoke.

Aunt Yang looked over uneasily, as though awaiting judgment.

"My parents died when I was seven. You and Uncle raised me. I remember this debt of upbringing. Yang Yong is my elder brother, and Er Ya is my younger sister. We are family."

Yang Yi understood what Aunt Yang was thinking.

But he had never harbored any resentment.

Aunt Yang... was not actually a bad person.

Over all these years, although she had often scolded Yang Yi, she had never once raised a hand against him. On the contrary, Yang Yong and Er Ya had been beaten by her many times.

When it came to food, she certainly favored her own two children more, but she had never completely neglected Yang Yi. If Yang Yong and Er Ya each had a pancake, Yang Yi would definitely have half of one. But such favoritism was only human nature. Who could truly treat someone else's child as their own?

Besides, Yang Yi was sixteen this year.

By the customs of farming households, sixteen was fully old enough to establish one's own household and stand on one's own feet. In other words, Aunt Yang could have turned him out after the New Year and made him fend for himself.

Yet Aunt Yang had never mentioned it.

It was precisely because he understood these things that no matter how Aunt Yang scolded him over the years, Yang Yi had never talked back even once.

"Xiao Yi, you..." Aunt Yang's eyes suddenly reddened. Then she smiled as she wiped away her tears. "Yes, we're family. You're right."

"You can all live here without worry, Aunt. Don't overthink things."

"Aunt understands. Good child, such a good child..." Aunt Yang was so moved that she felt as though a heavy burden had been lifted. "Hurry and eat. It'll get cold soon. Leave everything here after you finish; I'll come back to clean up."

After taking only a few steps, she suddenly turned around again and looked at Yang Yi hesitantly. "Xiao Yi, your elder brother... can he practice martial arts with you?"

By the end, her voice had grown softer and softer. If Yang Yi's hearing had not become exceptional, he truly would not have heard her.

She probably knew she was asking for a foot after gaining an inch. After speaking, her face was full of embarrassment.

Just as Yang Yi was about to speak, a voice came from outside the gate. "Lord Attendant, Chief Steward Qiao requests an audience."

It was a servant reporting.

Yang Yi hurriedly rose to his feet. As he headed outside, he told Aunt Yang, "We'll talk about it later."

Qiao Yingquan must have come for something, and with the chief steward himself arriving, Yang Yi naturally had to go out and receive him.

A short while later, the two met outside Bamboo Garden.

Qiao Yingquan had come to deliver a message. "Attendant Yang, the young lady wishes to see you."