Chapter 48 - The Test
At the gate of s.h.i.+ Family.
s.h.i.+ Jian, Han Feng and Yang Hai all saw s.h.i.+ Yan in front of the ground dragon at the same time.
Yang Hai took a quick glance at s.h.i.+ Yan and frowned, thinking to himself that the boy must have suffered a lot, as he had become much skinnier.
However, s.h.i.+ Jian and Han Feng’s eyes brightened soon after they saw s.h.i.+ Yan. They were totally surprised.
Yang Hai didn’t train martial arts, so he didn’t know that one getting skinnier didn’t necessarily imply weakness.
Sometimes there was much more explosiveness hidden in a skinny body, than in a robust one.
However, s.h.i.+ Jian and Han Feng were both experts, therefore they realized just from a glance that s.h.i.+ Yan had become much stronger, and was even stronger than those third generation descents who had trained hard for more than ten years.
They looked at each other and were amazed.
They couldn’t understand what had happened to s.h.i.+ Yan in the past half a year that could have changed his bone structure.
A few minutes later, the troop, including s.h.i.+ Yan and Han Zhong, arrived at the gate.
“Hi Big Grandpa, Uncle Han, Father.” s.h.i.+ Yan walked up to the gate with steady steps and greeted them.
Han Zhong came over as well, greeting s.h.i.+ Jian and Han Feng, and nodded at Yang Hai, then he stood silently beside s.h.i.+ Yan.
s.h.i.+ Jian and Han Feng’s bright eyes moved over s.h.i.+ Yan’s body.
After a long time, s.h.i.+ Jian’s eyes trembled. He took a deep breath, and said to s.h.i.+ Yan, “Follow me.” Then s.h.i.+ Jian turned and headed to the back yard light-footedly.
Everyone who knew s.h.i.+ Jian understood that he was in high spirits.
“Kid, put on a good show!” Han Zhong made a face at s.h.i.+ Yan, implying that he was going to see better days.
s.h.i.+ Yan gracefully acknowledged him and nodded softly. He turned to Yan Hai, “Father, are you especially waiting for me?”
Though Yang Hai had a rigid face, a light smile appeared around the corners of his mouth, “No one is waiting for you specifically. I just wanted to see what happened to your body and whether you really reached the Nascent Level or not.”
“Han Zhong, come over here. I have a question for you.” Han Feng threw a look at Han Zhong and left in the opposite direction to s.h.i.+ Yan.
Han Zhong hung his head, with a worried look on his face, and followed after his brother reluctantly.
“Well, go. Don’t keep your Big Grandpa waiting for too long.” Yang Hai mumbled as he pulled s.h.i.+ Yan’s jacket and asked in a low voice, “What the h.e.l.l happened to you?”
“Big Grandpa will also ask about it later. So, I guess I will explain then.” s.h.i.+ Yan smiled, not showing much respect for his father.
Yang Hai was a little surprised. He gazed at s.h.i.+ Yan and asked in confusion, “Kid you are different now. You never beat around the bush, and always answered my questions straightforwardly. But now... you do not seem to be afraid of me. Kid, seems like you’ve grown up and don’t take my concerns into account anymore.”
“You are my father, why would I be afraid of you?” s.h.i.+ Yan was astounded as he asked, “What is there to be afraid of?”
“This isn’t like you. You never talked to me like this.” Yang Hai frowned. After a careful examination, he shook his head and said to himself, “Little b.a.s.t.a.r.d! You became really audacious after becoming a warrior!”
“I’m gonna go. I can’t keep Big Grandpa waiting for too long.” s.h.i.+ Yan smiled.
Those s.h.i.+ Family warriors who had crowded the gate all got confused and started another boisterous discussion.
“Was the family head waiting for Young Master Yan? Is it true?”
“I don’t know. I’m confused too. The family head has never appeared with Young Master Yan before, nor was he interested in his matters. What happened now?”
“Who knows? Has Young Master Yan created trouble again? Not likely, because master Yang Hai was the one who always cleaned up his mess. Although Young Master Yan makes trouble in the Merchant Union now and then, it was not to the extent that the family head had to solve it.”
“Maybe Young Master Yan got into huge trouble this time. Who knows.”
“Stop your idle talk. You’d better be respectful to Young Master Yan from now on. He is not the book nerd you knew any more. Don’t blame me once you offend him and kick up a breeze.” Karl was making arrangements for the ground dragon and couldn’t help but yell when he saw that people were still gossiping.
“Karl, what’s up? You came back with Young Master Yan, do you know the details?” asked a warrior who was familiar with Karl.
“You will know it in no time.” Karl smiled proudly, “Young Master Yan will definitely surprise you guys!”
“What is it?”
“What on earth happened?”
Their curiosity was even stronger as they circled Karl and couldn’t stop asking.
“Not now. But I guess that you will know soon enough.” Without giving them an exact answer, Karl squeezed his way out of the crowd and left with the troop of warriors.
...
In the backyard of s.h.i.+ Family.
At the center of the huge training field, the diamond-shaped test jade was glinting in the suns.h.i.+ne as if it was a small sun.
s.h.i.+ Jian was standing beside the testing jade. As s.h.i.+ Yan and Yang Hai came over, he patted the jade and suddenly, a ball of light flew into the jade from his hand.
The dazzling testing jade dimmed at once and returned to its original color.
“Inject your Profound Qi into the testing jade.” s.h.i.+ Jian announced with firm eyes.
s.h.i.+ Yan confidently walked up to the testing jade, stretched out his hand, and pressed on the jade. He operated his Profound Qi and injected it into the testing jade.
Complex patterns showed up on the silver testing jade and a vague orange light shone from it. Gradually the light got brighter and the color deeper.
“Ok now.” s.h.i.+ Jian’s mouth trembled as he focused his eyes on s.h.i.+ Yan, “I heard that the Martial Spirit of s.h.i.+ Family also awakened in your body, did it?”
“Yes.”
“Show me.”
“OK.”
s.h.i.+ Yan stretched out the other hand and rolled up his sleeve.
As he operated the Martial Spirit according to his will, his arm gradually petrified and became dark brown.
“Dark brown!”
s.h.i.+ Jian and Yang Hai cried out at the same time with great amazement on their faces, while gazing at s.h.i.+ Yan’s brown arm in astonishment.
“Is it because of the light?” Yang Hai blinked his eyes and rubbed them, then looked directly into the sun, and mumbled, “Am I dazzled?”
Upon hearing that, s.h.i.+ Jian also got confused . He grabbed s.h.i.+ Yan’s arm and demanded, “Come up here! Go into the shadow of that rock so the color can be seen clearly .”
s.h.i.+ Yan didn’t attempt to refuse and peacefully walked after him to the back side of the rock.
“It is dark brown!”
s.h.i.+ Jian shouted loudly and his breathing got heavier. His bright eyes stared at s.h.i.+ Yan as he asked in a dignified tone, “Little b.a.s.t.a.r.d, what the h.e.l.l has happened to you? Why? Why is your Martial Spirit dark brown? Is it at the second stage of Petrification?”
“Absolutely. It is at the second stage. Though I’m a mere Nascent Level warrior, my Martial Spirit reached the second stage!”
“Give us a reasonable explanation! We s.h.i.+ Family, from the far ancestors to my generation, had never come across this situation! Our Martial Spirit never reaches the second stage before we reach Human Level. You are the first one! What happened? What on earth happened to you?!” s.h.i.+ Jian was almost mad.
“Well, the thing is...” s.h.i.+ Yan repeated what he had told Han Zhong for a second time.
After he finished his story, s.h.i.+ Jian kept his position and stared at him with a weird expression.
”Big Grandpa, what do you mean by that look? I explained it.“
“You mean three magical red fruits awoke your Martial Spirit? And made your Martial Spirit so odd? And gave you Profound Qi and helped to advance to the Third Sky of Nascent Level?” s.h.i.+ Jian’s face got more and more twisted as he yelled, “Just because of three fruits?”
“Yes, that’s it.”
“Where is this fruit? I will send people to see if we can plant more of it.”
“Don’t bother, there were only three. I searched for a very long time but never saw it again.”
“Little b.a.s.t.a.r.d! You are not fooling me, are you?” s.h.i.+ Jian showed obvious suspicion.
“Of course I’m fooling you.”
s.h.i.+ Yan thought to himself but looked serious as he rea.s.sured, “I really have no idea. Anyway, I ate the fruits, and that’s it. Nothing else. Even I don’t know the reason why my Martial Spirit is different from others’.”
He insisted without any reluctance.
s.h.i.+ Jian kept asking a few more times and tried to test him, but the only response he got was “I don’t know either.”
Finally s.h.i.+ Jian gave up. After another thought, he said, “Since your Martial Spirit turned dark brown, hmm, well, has the feature of the Martial Spirit changed? I mean, Did it merely change its color but still kept the intensity of the first stage?”
“If my sense is accurate, it is the second stage.”
“I will try.” s.h.i.+ Jian hurried to press his hand on s.h.i.+ Yan’s chest, “Kid, cover your body with petrification! Don’t worry, I will increase my power little by little so it won’t hurt you.”
“Ok.”
Gradually, a ball of dark light appeared in s.h.i.+ Jian’s palm and the energy in it grew stronger and stronger, striking on his chest.
Suddenly, s.h.i.+ Jian withdrew all the dark light like a sponge by the other hand.
s.h.i.+ Jian was so excited that he couldn’t help but nod and say joyfully, “Amazing! It really is the second stage! b.a.s.t.a.r.d, I don’t know how you managed this, but from this day on, you can’t be lazy! Whether you like it or not, I will push you to be a warrior!”