Chapter 246: Coming back?!
Translator: Noodletown Translated Editor: Noodletown Translated
Everyone was alarmed by his shout. At that moment, the second wave of shaking began.
The Dragon Palace shook so violently that the temporary booths collapsed one by one.
The items on the walls of the booth next to Hao Ren and Zhao Yanzi fell to the ground.
Standing upright was difficult. Hao Ren pulled Zhao Yanzi into his arms to protect her from being pushed down by the frenzied crowd or being crushed by the falling items.
“Little White!” Hao Ren shouted.
Understanding Hao Ren’s intent, Little White immediately changed into its big version. Hao Ren pulled Zi up on Little White’s back and patted its rump. With flames appearing around its paws, Little White flew up into the sky.
Hovering in the air above the Dragon Palace, they didn’t have to worry about the shaking. Holding tightly onto Hao Ren’s waist, Zhao Yanzi was frightened since she had never seen such a scene before.
In the air, Hao Ren could clearly see that all the rooms in the Dragon Palace were shaking. Obviously, someone was attacking the defense array formation of the palace.
Teams of guards appeared in the square in the middle of the palace. A general wearing gold armor saw a Spirit Beast hovering in the air. He shouted, “Who’s in the air?”
In the East Ocean Dragon Palace, with the exceptions of the Dragon King and Queen, and several core elders, no one could fly in the Dragon Palace.
On Little White’s broad back, Zhao Yanzi stuck out her face.
The general wearing gold armor saw her and immediately cupped his hands, saying, “Sorry! I didn’t know it was you, Princess!”
Under Hao Ren’s steering, Little White lowered slowly, hovering in the air half a meter to the ground.
Zhao Yanzi looked at the general. “What’s happening?”
“The defense array formation is being attacked. We are investigating,” the general answered respectfully.
He couldn’t give her a definite answer without investigating. As the general of the guards, he knew everything that was happening outside the Dragon Palace.
The attack may have come from West Ocean, the cultivators from Fifth Heaven, the Demon Beasts, or some independent master who had a grudge with the East Ocean Dragon Palace.
It was no secret that the East Ocean Dragon Palace enjoyed great resources. Long, long ago, some super powerful masters even came to the East Ocean Dragon Palace to “borrow” stuff. In fact, they came to rob the palace.
Then, the shaking stopped.
Zhao Guang came out of the main palace with the core elders. “What happened?”
Hao Ren steered Little White to the ground and helped Zhao Yanzi get off.
“The defense array formation on the outer edge of the palace was under attack. I’m waiting for the information from the soldiers in the outer range. I’m sorry that Your Majesty was disturbed.” The general wearing gold armor bowed to the Dragon King with cupped hands.
“Do a thorough investigation and find out who dared to attack the East Ocean Dragon Palace!” Zhao Guang looked angry. “From now on, double the patrolling soldiers and kill any intruders who try to break into the palace!”
“Yes, Your Majesty!” The general wearing gold armor took the order in a resonant voice.
Zhao Guang then looked at Hao Ren and Zhao Yanzi. “You two go back to your rooms and don’t come out without permission. General Zhao, please lead a team of elite guards and station them at Zi’s palace.”
“Yes, Your Majesty!” General Zhao took the order.
Then under General Zhao’s escort, Hao Ren and Zhao Yanzi returned to their palace. Scolded by her father, Zhao Yanzi stuck her tongue out at Hao Ren.
Hao Ren smiled at her, but he was worried about the attack the Dragon Palace had just received. The Dragon Palace was the home base of East Ocean, so the attack against it was totally different than the battle somewhere else.
Back in the bedroom, Zhao Yanzi yawned and beckoned at Little White which had followed her into the room.
Little White leaped into her arms, and she carried it into her big bed. Lifting its ears, she said, “Turn big!”
Bang! Little White turned into a large lion.
Satisfied, she took the furry lion into her arms and s.h.i.+fted to a comfortable position. Then she slept.
“Well, I didn’t know that Little White could be used to warm the bed,” Hao Ren thought with resignation.
His bed was only half as big as Zhao Yanzi’s, but it was big enough for him to sleep in.
In this super s.p.a.cious ancient bedroom, incense was burning, reminding him of the ancient times.
Shortly, Zhao Yanzi and Little White were sound asleep. Their breathing was so in sync that Hao Ren highly suspected Zhao Yanzi was also a small demon beast.
He sat down on the bed cross-legged and cultivated the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll.
After circulating the scroll 187 times, Hao Ren opened his eyes and saw the faint morning light leaking into the room through the crack between the engraved wooden doors.
Although the Dragon Palace was concealed on the bottom of the ocean, it also had night and day. The only difference was the climate; it had no change of seasons, and every day was as warm as a day in spring.
Seeing Zhao Yanzi was still sound asleep with Little White in her arms, Hao Ren stretched and got off his bed.
He leaned over and watched her. She slept with pursed lips, and her delicate little nostrils moved slightly, blowing on Little White’s fur.
With her arms wound around Little White, it looked like a giant fluffy toy. Due to her small size, her whole body snuggled against Little White’s belly.
Leaning closer, he had the urge to pinch her nose, but he controlled himself. At this age, she had a vague understanding of the things between men and women. She was still fascinated with small cute trivial stuff.
Walking out of the bedroom quietly, he breathed in the fresh air of the small garden.
He knew nothing about the strange flowers and herbs in the garden. Suddenly, a mini-sized Little White shot out from the room. It looked around frantically for a while before jumping into a cl.u.s.ter of flowers.
Pu… An intense smell rose from the flowers, neither pungent nor fragrant.
Seconds later, Little White finished its business and trotted out from the flowers to the stone board. It squatted to rub its rump against the board.
“You are shameless!” Seeing Little White doing its business in the garden, Hao Ren was embarra.s.sed for it.
Pretending to be dumb, Little White jumped into Hao Ren’s arms with a fawning expression.
“d.a.m.n! You just did your business, and you jumped into my arms!” Hao Ren tossed it back to the ground.
Undaunted, it ran around Hao Ren’s ankles looking cheerful.
“You are shameless…” Hao Ren sighed and walked out of the palace.
On the square outside of the palace, General Zhao was training a team of soldiers.
Seeing Hao Ren, he immediately cupped his hands. “Good morning, Fuma!”
“Good morning, General Zhao.” Hao Ren walked over and saw that the soldiers were practicing. He asked, “What are you practicing?”
“Fuma, it’s a set of military boxing techniques. It has no name; if you must have it, you can call it Fundamental Boxing Techniques,” General Zhao answered.
Hao Ren nodded, finding the movements sharp and tough.
He thought for a few seconds and said, “General Zhao, can I learn it?”
General Zhao was surprised. “With your high status, I think this set of techniques is a bit crude…”
“No, I think they are very effective. With the current tense situation, I must do my share,” Hao Ren said.
General Zhao looked at him again in surprise. After a moment of hesitation, he said, “Ok! I’ll show you the movements!”
He made a horse stance in front of the line of soldiers.
Horse stance punch!
Hao Ren took off his jacket and copied his movement. He had been a long-distance runner when he was in the middle school, and horse stance was a part of the basic training. That was why he had great strength in his legs. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to catch Zhao Yanzi falling from the sky.
Gradually, the soldiers paused their practice and watched the general and the Fuma.
As the leader of the palace guards, General Zhao was not rusty with his fundamental techniques. Each kick and punch were on point.
Hao Ren copied each movement in earnest.
Little White squatted on a nearby stone step and looked at Hao Ren with its black eyes, seemingly baffled.
After he finished the whole set of movements, Hao Ren was soaked in sweat.
However, General Zhao in his heavy armor was breathing as evenly as before.
Cultivation could improve his physical strength, but it couldn’t bring him fort.i.tude!
Zhao Kuo was the kind of person that cultivated both essence and martial arts. Without using his cultivation strength, he could still be able to kill a fierce tiger with one punch.
Su Han paid more attention to the elevation of realms. Hao Ren wondered if she practiced sword techniques in her home or jogged each morning.
“I need to follow your movements three times before I can memorize them. General Zhao, please show me again,” wiping sweat from his forehead, Hao Ren said.
General Zhao was even more surprised. He had thought the Fuma was just curious, but it seemed like he was serious.
The soldiers practiced boxing each day, so they wouldn’t get tired if they practiced it three times in one morning. He wondered if the Fuma could withstand the hards.h.i.+p.
“General Zhao, please!” Seeing General Zhao didn’t move, Hao Ren urged him.
“Ok!” General Zhao moved into position and showed him the techniques a second time.
It took at least one hour to finish the whole set of the basic fist techniques. And it would take three hours to practice it three times.
Hao Ren walked out of the palace in the dawn and saw the soldier were already there drilling. He knew they were hard-working.
At the end of the third time, Hao Ren felt he was exhausted since he had used his physical strength instead of his cultivation strength.
The soldiers stood there and whispered to each other. If the Fuma had practiced once, it could be called a show, but three times meant that he intended to fight enemies with them, just like Zhao Kuo who always charged at the enemies before the soldiers despite his royal status as the Dragon King’s brother.
“Thank you, General Zhao. I’ll practice it as often as I can.” Hao Ren cupped his hands at General Zhao.
At a loss for words, General Zhao cupped his hands at Hao Ren.
He had secretly thought the Fuma was weak, but he changed his mind when Hao Ren practiced the techniques three times. With the enemies outside, even the Fuma couldn’t stay behind.
Hao Ren took Little White back to the palace. When he was crossing the small garden, he noticed some golden fruits dangling among the plants.
But he didn’t pay much attention to them, thinking they were part of the unique features of the herbs, which withered in the morning and revealed the fruits inside.
In the bedroom, Zhao Yanzi was still sound asleep. The girl was indeed a master of sleeping.
The soldiers had finished their drills and began patrolling the palace. Last night, they had been stationed near the palace in which Hao Ren and Zhao Yanzi stayed to protect them.
A moment later, Lu Qing came with Zhao Guang’s order to pick up Zhao Yanzi for school. Zhao Yanzi yawned but didn’t dare disobey her father’s order.
When they returned to the seaside, Hao Ren saw a car was parked on the roadside about ten meters away.
Ding…
The moment Hao Ren’s cell phone received signals again, it rang.
It was from a phone number from another province.
“h.e.l.lo?” Hao Ren answered it.
“Ren, this is Grandma! I’m coming home from Zhejiang today!” Hao Ren’s grandma’s voice came through from the phone.