A Father Who Was Hard to Teach

That evening, Yan Hu returned with an eighty-year-old Ironback Bear slung over his shoulder, his face full of delight. He had killed the Soul Beast together with two other Soul Masters from the village, and his share of the materials was enough to cover the family's expenses for half a year.

"Wife! A-Zu! Look what Dad hunted today!" Laughing, he laid the bear's gallbladder, paws, and other parts out in the courtyard.

Yan Zu, however, noticed a claw wound on his father's arm, deep enough to show bone. Though it had been roughly bandaged, blood was still seeping through.

"Dad, you're hurt?" He ran over, his little face full of worry.

Yan Hu waved it off. "Just a scratch. It's nothing. That Ironback Bear struck back as it was dying and grazed me, that's all."

That was the nature of Soul Hunting: there was always a risk of injury or even death.

This was also the reality for most commoner Soul Masters. For safety's sake, they didn't dare go Soul Hunting often. Who knew whether they would run into a Ten-Year Soul Beast or a Hundred-Year Soul Beast in the forest?

So more often than not, they supplemented their household income with labor or farming. With the addition of Spirit Hall's allowance, they generally managed to get by.

But for some unknown reason, his family didn't receive Spirit Hall's allowance, so things were harder for them.

Yan Zu was still far too weak to be of much help to his family. He could only hope that future check-ins would give him something more useful for the present.

The days passed, and another month went by in the blink of an eye.

Early one morning, Yan Zu woke as usual and immediately said in his mind, Check in.

[Ding! Monthly check-in successful!]

[Reward obtained: Nine Yin Manual: Vajra Chapter]

[Reward description: A cultivation art improved specifically for Power Attack System Martial Souls. It can optimize the efficiency of Soul Power circulation and enhance physical strength and defense.]

A flash of delight crossed Yan Zu's eyes. This cultivation art had come at just the right time. He remembered how Yan Hu's arm had been slashed open to the bone while hunting the Ironback Bear last month. Though it had been bandaged in time, the scar still ached faintly to this day. If he could improve his father's physical strength, it would greatly reduce the chances of injury.

Yan Zu committed the contents of the Nine Yin Manual: Vajra Chapter to memory, already considering how to teach his father the art in a reasonable way, as he had taught his mother.

Unlike the thoughtful and cautious Su Qing, Yan Hu was forthright and bold. He might not readily accept every part of a mysterious "dream encounter." To make him believe it and cultivate the art, Yan Zu had to produce something more direct and tangible.

I have to let Dad see the results for himself, Yan Zu thought.

That afternoon, the sun shone brightly.

Yan Hu entered the courtyard carrying two plump wild hares, his burly figure like a small mountain on the move. He tossed his catch onto the ground and wiped the sweat from his forehead. Just as he was about to call for Su Qing to add them to dinner, he looked down and saw his son squatting on the ground, gesturing at a bluestone.

"A-Zu, what are you doing?" Yan Hu came over and leaned in curiously.

Yan Zu looked up, his little face solemn. "Dad, I'm practicing the fist technique Grandpa Whitebeard taught me. It's called the 'Vajra Indestructible Art.'"

"Vajra... indestructible?" Yan Hu scratched his head, wondering why the name sounded like something a street performer would use.

He looked down at his son-a tiny little fellow only three heads tall, whose arms and legs weren't as thick as his own arm. Squatting there, he looked like a round little dumpling. A pipsqueak like that, "vajra indestructible"?

Yan Hu tried hard to hold back his laughter, putting a serious expression on his stubbled face. "Oh? What can you do once you've mastered it?"

"You can get really tough and not be afraid of getting hit." Yan Zu stood up and assumed an opening stance. His two short little legs spread slightly, and he raised his clenched little fists before his chest, trying to make the fierce-eyed visage of an angry vajra. Unfortunately, his baby-fat cheeks were hardly intimidating, making him look like a kitten with its fur bristling.

This time Yan Hu really couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing.

"Dad!" Yan Zu protested anxiously. "Don't laugh. It's real!"

"All right, all right, it's real." Yan Hu hurriedly waved his hand, but he couldn't keep the grin off his face. He squatted down to meet his son's eyes and patted his head with a hand as big as a palm-leaf fan. "Good boy, A-Zu. Practicing is a good thing, but we have to keep our feet on the ground. Start with the horse stance..."

Before he had finished speaking, Yan Zu suddenly reached out with a short little arm and gave his shoulder a gentle push.

"Stomp, stomp, stomp-"

Yan Hu felt a deft force against him. Unable to keep his footing, he landed on his backside, kicking up dust all over it.

He was stunned.

Yan Zu was stunned too. He hurried over. "Dad! Are you all right? I didn't mean to!"

Sitting on the ground, Yan Hu stared blankly at his son, then at where he had landed, and then at his son's two short little arms.

"A-Zu, where... where did you get that strength?"

Yan Zu scratched his head and said, a little embarrassed, "It's... it's the fist technique Grandpa Whitebeard taught me. I saw your balance was off just now, so I..."

"So you casually pushed me over?" Yan Hu's eyes widened, his face full of disbelief. He was a level-twenty-six Battle Soul Master, yet his three-year-old son had knocked him down with a push?

Su Qing came out of the house after hearing the commotion. When she saw Yan Hu sitting on the ground, she froze for a moment, then laughed. "Oh my, dear, are you being our son's sparring partner?"

Yan Hu's weathered face reddened. He quickly scrambled up, dusted off his trousers, and cleared his throat twice. "Well... I lost my balance just now."

Beside him, Yan Zu added in a small voice, "Dad, when you were squatting just now, your weight really was a little too far back..."

"Ahem, ahem, ahem!" Yan Hu coughed even harder.

Su Qing rocked back and forth with laughter as she came over and ruffled her son's hair. "A-Zu is amazing. You can even push your dad over now."

Yan Hu refused to accept it. "That doesn't count! I wasn't ready! Come on, A-Zu, let's have a proper bout!"

"Stop fooling around. He's just a little boy." Su Qing gave him a reproachful look.

"Just a try, just a try!" Yan Hu had taken an interest. He squatted down and this time settled properly into a horse stance, holding both palms out in front of him. "A-Zu, use that Vajra Indestructible Art or whatever it's called and try hitting Dad with your palm."

Yan Zu looked at his mother. Su Qing shook her head helplessly and gestured for him to go ahead.

Yan Zu took a deep breath and assumed the opening stance again. His short little legs pushed off the ground, and his little fist landed softly on Yan Hu's chest.

"..."

Yan Hu didn't budge. It felt as though a piece of cotton candy had hit his chest.

He looked down at his son's expectant gaze and suddenly felt that his fall just now had been utterly humiliating.

"Well... A-Zu," Yan Hu said, choosing his words, "maybe you need to shout a slogan for your fist technique to show its power. Why don't you try one?"

"A slogan?" Yan Zu was taken aback. He did remember a few lines of the Vajra Chapter's cultivation formula, but those were for guiding the circulation of Soul Power. Where was he supposed to get a slogan?

"Of course. Don't Soul Masters always shout slogans when they fight?" Yan Hu spouted nonsense with a perfectly serious face. "Things like 'Mother's Entanglement' and 'Farts rumble like thunder, Earth-Shattering Luo Sanpao.' You have to shout them to make an impression!" (Tang San: You already have a way to die!)

Yan Zu: "..."

He suddenly felt that his father might be... a little more dim-witted than he had imagined.

"Then... should I shout?" Yan Zu asked tentatively.

"Shout!"

Yan Zu took a deep breath, his little face turning red with the effort as he raised his voice. "Vajra... indestructible!"

His voice was childish and lacked strength, and it even cracked on the last word.

This time Yan Hu burst out laughing, clutching his stomach and squatting on the ground, his whole body shaking. "Hahahaha! A-Zu, you... that slogan of yours was so imposing, hahahaha!"

Yan Zu stamped his foot in anger. "Dad!"

Beside them, Su Qing was laughing so hard that tears came out, and she had to hold on to the doorframe to keep from sliding down.

Once he had laughed enough, Yan Hu finally recovered. Wiping the tears from the corners of his eyes, he said, "All right, all right, Dad won't laugh anymore. A-Zu, that fist technique of yours is interesting. How about teaching me?"

Yan Zu blinked. "Dad, you want to learn?"

"I do!" Yan Hu thumped his chest. "Your dad's the best fighter in our village. Shouldn't I learn a new skill or two?"

Su Qing added mildly from the side, "The 'best' picked like a general from among dwarfs."

Yan Hu: "...Wife, save me a little face."

Yan Zu smiled with his lips pressed together, then said seriously, "Then sit down, Dad, and I'll teach you."

Yan Hu sat cross-legged as instructed, his burly frame hunched in the courtyard like a small mountain.

Yan Zu walked up to him, cleared his throat, and began teaching him the introductory cultivation formula of the Vajra Chapter.

"Grandpa Whitebeard said this art is called the 'Vajra Indestructible Art.' It follows the path of utmost hardness and utmost yang. Your breathing has to be short and forceful, and you also have to combine it with specific muscle tremors..."

Yan Hu listened attentively and nodded. "Got it. Breathe in-strain-roar!"

"..." Yan Zu's little face stiffened. "Dad, you're not supposed to roar..."

"Then what?"

"Breathe! Don't shout a slogan!"

"Oh, oh, oh. All right, all right, go on."

Yan Zu patiently finished explaining the cultivation formula, and Yan Hu began to try it as instructed.

The first time, he held his breath too long. His face turned bright red, and he nearly passed out.

The second time, his breathing rhythm went wrong and gave him a stitch. He clutched his stomach and groaned.

Yan Zu put a hand to his forehead, suddenly understanding a little of what it meant that "the master leads you through the door, but cultivation depends on the individual." The problem was, wasn't this "individual" a bit too hard to teach?

From that day on, Yan Hu practiced the Vajra Chapter every morning and late at night. In just half a month, he felt that his physical strength had risen by more than one level. The muscle soreness he used to suffer after using Soul Skills had now mostly disappeared. Even his Iron Axe Martial Soul had grown more solid.

Su Qing saw all of this, and her doubts deepened.

"Dear, don't you think A-Zu has had a few too many 'fortuitous encounters'?" she couldn't help asking her husband one night.

"Too many?" Yan Hu waved a hand dismissively. "That just shows our son is blessed with great fortune!"

"But..." Su Qing hesitated. "Even Spirit Hall doesn't have those breathing methods..."

"So what?" Yan Hu interrupted her. "Our son's blessed with good fortune. As his parents, all we need to do is support him."

Su Qing fell silent for a moment, then said softly, "You're right. As long as A-Zu is safe and sound, nothing else matters."