Primordial Blood Throne: Book 1 Chapter 3 - Never Give-Up (2)
Slowly lifting the rock shackle, shifting it from the left hand to the right hand, turning his body, and then making a weird posture before taking a step forward, he retracted his right arm……
On the training courtyard, Su Chen was holding onto a rock shackle, step by step, performing The Eight Forms of Body Forging and Basic Absorption Technique.
The Eight Forms of Body Forging is the most commonly used Forge Body Technique by the human race. It can also be said to be the foundation of martial cultivation. Basic Absorption Technique is a method that allows you to absorb Origin Energy to enhance your body, only by combining the two, would it make the body become powerful, and in the same time, it also establishes the foundation for becoming an Origin Master.
As Su Chen was practicing, he heard footsteps coming from behind him.
"Father?" Su Chen stop moving the rock shackles on his hand and turned his head to ask.
Su Cheng An"s voice came, "Didn"t you say that the sound of my steps are quite similar to your third uncle? Are you able to differentiate them now? What made you so sure it was me?"
"Although father"s and third uncle"s steps are quite similar, but third uncle practices the Sunray Sword. It is currently noon, the time where the sun is at its brightest and also when third uncle begins training. He wouldn"t come here unless it is of some urgency, therefore I guessed it would be father instead."
Hearing his words caused Su Cheng An to sigh in his heart.
The ancestors have acc.u.mulated virtue and gave him such an intelligent son, yet, the heavens were jealous of the talented, allowing Su Chen to experience misfortune.
His world was darkness, yet he did not give-up. Su Cheng An was both happy and unsettled, his heart in conflict; and for that, he did not know what to say at first.
Su Chen spoke instead, "Father, why are you here?"
Su Cheng An stilled his heart and replied: "Follow me, I want to speak with you." He brought his son away from the training courtyard and went to a nearby pavilion to sit.
Su Cheng An did not get to business immediately but asked his son"s understanding of Forged Body that he has felt till now, and Su Chen replied to each question without holding back.
"Entering the Energy Guiding Realm within three years? Not bad, not bad." Su Cheng An nodded his head.
Energy Guiding Realm is the first of the Seven Realms of an Origin Master; only when a person has entered the Energy Guiding Realm will they become a true Origin Master. As for Forged Body, it is considered the realm of a martial artist and not part of the Seven Realms.
Despite Su Cheng An"s praises, there was no joy on his face.
Instead, as he looks at this sense, his gaze is filled with melancholy.
After a while he spoke, "Chen"er*, you have done well, to the point of surprising me. Fate has dealt a blow but you did not become depressed because of it, on the contrary, you continue to work hard. It is your father who is useless, not arranging more men to protect you and not being able to find a divine doctor that can cure you. I wasn"t even able to catch the culprit who did this to you."
Su Chen smiled. "Father, you do not have to say it like this. Over the past year, both father and mother have been doing whatever you can to take care of me; and although your child cannot see it, but his heart knows."
Hearing his words, Su Cheng An sighed again, "It is good that you understand. Last night, your second uncle came to look for me… it is regarding the year-end evaluation."
Su Chen"s hands froze as he was lifting a teacup.
"He wants me to withdraw from the evaluation?"
Origin Desolate Continent was a chaotic world. Demon beasts occupied 60% of the territory, while the remaining 40% is split among the tens of different intelligent races. The human race was just one of the many. To be able to hold a place in this world surrounded by enemies, one can only rely on powerful martial strength. Due to this, this was a world where respecting the strong and those who martial power was paramount, and therefore it had a direct influence over the position of the human race among the other races.
To encourage the ambitions of their descendants, many large families would establish a rule to evaluate them at the end of the year; by testing the descendants, they can determine who has the strongest cultivation.
As time goes by, these eventually turned into a tradition, and no matter if you were born in a traditional family or an up-and-coming family, if enough conditions are fulfilled, they will basically hold this type of evaluation. At most, the difference would be how the evaluation is done.
As the purpose of evaluations was to simply evaluate a descendant"s ability, similar to a school exam, many families prefered to avoid rough methods like combat. This was because it often would easily result in injuries that lead to discord within the family, and although internal compet.i.tion was a good thing, internal discord just led to misfortune.
Therefore, most families would adopt a gentler approach, testing a person"s level, using various methods, to measure their current power. And that would determine the winner.
The Su Family was one of these families that adopted such a method.
Every year, when the year was ending, the third-generation heirs of Su Family will undergo a test to a.s.sess their strength.
During the past a.s.sessments, Su Chen had always been the winner.
When Su Chen lost his sight, many people believe that he would continue to abandon himself in despair.
However, the unexpected happened, and Su Chen raised himself after only a few months of depression, and improved at a rate faster than anyone else.
And so, he remained the most outstanding amongst the third-generation.
Which also means that he would win this year"s evaluation if nothing goes wrong.
This caused many people to feel uncomfortable.
To the third-generation heirs, losing to a blind person was a matter of losing face.
To the second older generation, there was a more practical reason involved - The winner of that year would be a.s.signed more resources by the family.
Allowing the strong to be stronger, has always been the methods of most family clans.
In this world, where your martial strength"s upper limit could be endlessly increased, a truly powerful person is normally more useful than a bunch of weaklings.
Su Cheng An"s face nod his head solemnly: "Chen"er, you are actually the most outstanding child in our Su Family. If there weren"t any accidents, you will be the future leader of the family, this fact, no matter your grandfather, your second uncle, your third uncle, fourth aunt, even the other elders in the branch side had agreed."
"However, an accident has befallen on me." Su Chen said: "I can no longer see, and even if I continue training, no matter how powerful I become, I might not be able to win an opponent who is at the Third Layer of Forged Body and have no more qualifications to lead the family."
The calm tone was unlike one that would come from a thirteen year old.
Su Cheng An sighed,"Correct."
"Therefore, second uncle feels that by giving me resources, it would be wasted?"
"……Yes"
Su Chen was too smart, to the point that his father did not have to explain his meaning completely. He understood the gist.
This made Su Cheng An feel both relieved and uneasey.
"Yet, my older and younger brothers** still cannot win me?" Su Chen continued, the corners of his mouth revealed a smile.
This was, of course, the crux of the problem.
Su Chen, being outstanding as he had been, might have made many people feel respectful and willing to compliment him and speak when it involved crucial personal interests, but that train of thought naturally would have differed now..
Su Chen was blind!
A blind man, truly has no need to use these resources.
Su Cheng An looked at his son: "When Ke Ji came to me last night, we had a long talk. He says that he is not doing this for his child but for the future of the Su Family. Our family"s foundation and roots are still thin, it needs an exceptional descendant to support it. He hopes the family can produce an heir that can enter Hidden Dragon Academy, and to do this, he needs to consolidate the resources within the family. He once thought you can achieve that but now that you have lost your sight.…"
Su Cheng An is unable to speak further, he could only stare at Su Chen.
If Su Ke Ji was only doing this for Su Qing, Su Cheng An would definitely not have agreed to his younger brother"s request.
However, Su Ki Ji firmly said it was for the Su Family and his reasoning, sensible; this caused Su Cheng An to be unable to reject.
Frankly, even Su Cheng An himself felt that Su Chen"s future was bleak, and he no longer had possibilities. If that was the case, Su Chen might as well stop now, he could still continue to become the young master of the Su Family, enjoy his life peacefully, wasn"t this good too.
Yet, Su Chen was unwilling.
He believed that he could recover, and just because the old beggar said that Su Chen"s eyes were being changed.
Initially, Su Cheng An also believed this when he found out.
However, two years have pa.s.sed, and Su Chen"s eyes showed no signs of recovering.
Su Cheng An could only see this as a delusion that Su Chen created when he was unconscious, or it was just crazy ramblings of the old beggar.
It has been over a year, and Su Chen did not give up, but Su Cheng An, himself, was slowly losing hope.
Therefore, he looked for Su Chen today, to persuade him.
Su Chen went silent.
After some time, he said, "Since father is here today, will you force me or persuade me?"
"Of course, I am here to persuade you," Su Cheng An replied. "You are my son, and you have done nothing wrong; no matter what choice you make, father will support you."
"That"s good!" Su Chen nodded. "Please inform second uncle, if they wish to have something, they must use their effort to obtain it. For me to give up…that is impossible!"
——
Bang!
An antique bottle was smashed on the floor, shattering it to pieces.
"That thing has no sense of propriety!" Su Ke Ji scolded with a gloomy face: "Why am I doing this? Isn"t it for the family? Since Su Chen is blind, what is the point of training and becoming strong? Can he win Qing"er? Since some things are meant to be lost, why struggle to hold on to it; this is being selfish! Being greedy! Being unfilial to the family!"
Su Ke Ji shouted out in rage as the anger piled up within him.
Tong Ru Zheng stood at one side silently, patiently waiting for Su Ke Ji to expend his anger. He knew his master"s temper. If he did not allow him to expend his rage, he would not listen to anyone.
After a series of curses, Su Ke Ji finally stopped, "Teacher Tong, what is your view on this?"
Although he already had the answer prepared, Tong Ru Zheng displayed a pondering look before he slowly spoke, "Regarding this matter, the actual root of the problem lies with the evaluation method adopted by Su Family."
Su Ke Ji nodded his head, "Indeed. Using only an exam without any combat does not truly portray a person"s ability. Combat requires experience, alertness, reaction and various other elements. On the battlefield against the other races, be it demon beasts or the Violent race, they will not stand idle and have a friendly compet.i.tion of strength. It will be a fight for your life using real swords and blades!"
Teacher Tong slowly continued, "If that"s the case, why not try changing the evaluation method?"
"Ai, not possible, not possible." Su Ke Ji waved his hand: "That rule is set by my old man, reason for doing so is because he is worried that it will cause internal discord within the brothers if something happens during the fights. My old man"s concern is also reasonable, how many large reputable clans in the past have been destroyed due to internal discord."
"If we don"t use weapons and have proper measures, the chance of an accident is actually very small. Furthermore, compared to a gentle compet.i.tion, it is much more effective to use this method when selecting for outstanding descendants. However, the situation currently is special… Su Chen"s condition is still being observed by many people." Teacher Tong said with deep meaning.
Su Ke Ji got alarmed.
Teacher Tong was correct, the family agreed on a gentle compet.i.tion because this method was enough to solve the past situation.
However, there is a flaw in using gentle compet.i.tion; a person who is unsuited for battle continued to train and become first amongst the third-generations, proving that the system had a problem.
If the system is bad, then change it!
As he thought about it, Su Ke Ji said, "Indeed, I can suggest a system reform when I meet father. However, it is not an easy matter."
When he said the latter half of his sentence, Su Ke Ji got a bit discouraged.
No matter if it"s a country, a clan, or a family, reform was an absolutely important matter.
When rules are set, they are not meant to be easily changed. If a dynasty constantly changed its rules, it would not only cause its people to be unable to get accustomed, but will also lack dignity.
In addition, whenever a system goes through reform, it is natural that it will cause damage to the people who benefited from how it once was; these individuals will naturally be against the change.
This time, it is also the same.
Su Cheng An is the eldest son of the Su Family; his position within the family was firm. With him around, changing the system would not be easy.
What"s more, his third brother, Su Fei Hu, has always adored Su Chen; and his own son and daughter were also still young, therefore, changing the evaluation method had no impact on him. Therefore, if Su Ke Ji propose a reform, Su Fei Hu will also not agree.
Although he might be able to convince his uncles, who are also elders within the family, but the odds were still racked against him.
Teacher Tong already antic.i.p.ate this reaction and said, "Therefore, we will use a different approach. This old man has an idea that will change the mind of Su Cheng An. However, the effects will be rather slow and will take at least a year to take effect."
"What method? If it is good, there is no issue letting that brat be pleased for another year."
"Let Su Cheng An have another son."
*(Cuppa: The "er when placed behind names is an intimate manner of calling someone)
**(Cuppa: These refers to cousins of same surname, common in China when the clans are big with different branches, especially if they grow up together.)