Chapter Three: The Little People

  More than half a time had passed, and Li Chen was practicing his Tiger Roar Fist in the courtyard, punching out a dozen or so rounds with a fierce gust of wind, emitting a faint layer of heat from his body.

  "Hey, Li Shidi's fist technique is quite good! Do you want to try it out with me?"

  Chen Songtai returned from his outing and saw Li Chen moving his body with a gloomy face, his eyes lit up.

  "Brother Chen laughed and said, 'This little bit of martial arts skill I have, how can it be a match for Brother's?'?"

  Li Chen hastily stopped and scratched his head.

  "Haha, anyway, since we're idle and have nothing better to do, Master He is busy refining his elixir and won't blame you for being lazy. Come on, come on!"

  Chen Songtai smiled brightly and without a word, pulled Li Chen along with him as they walked further away, he too feared that the noise would affect He Kongming who was currently refining his dan.

  "Alright! Brother Chen can give in a bit!"

  Li Chen had no choice but to let him pull her along.

  Although he knew Chen Song looked down on him, Li Chen thought that if the other party could truly point out his mistakes, it would be a good thing.

  Both parties stood still, Chen Songtai nodded casually. With his cultivation at the fifth layer of Inner Breath Realm, Li Chen, who hadn't even condensed his inner breath, was indeed not worth paying attention to.

  "Hurray!"

  Li Chen's eyes narrowed slightly, a hint of sharpness flashing in his eyes, he took a deep breath and let out a loud shout, his body bursting forth with a fierce punch.

  This punch didn't use any internal energy, but after years of practicing the Tiger Roar Fist, it had a mysterious and powerful aura surrounding it. Even the dust on the ground was blown away by the wind generated from this punch, swirling upwards in agitation.

  "Great job!"

  Chen Songtai's eyes flashed with disdain, his right hand reached out, and with a bent elbow and curved arm, he was about to dodge the punch that Li Chen had thrown at him.

  "Huh?"

  What surprised him was that Li Chen's fist had an astonishingly powerful force, in no way inferior to a fourth-layer Wu Zhe of the Condensing Breath Realm going all out. Moreover, there was a faint tremor on his arm.

  He took three steps back, kicking up a large cloud of dust!

  Chen Songtai's face turned red and green, his eyes flashing with shame and anger. If not for the inner breath in his body, he would have stopped dead in his tracks, and might have even fallen to the ground in embarrassment.

  Her eyes narrowed slightly, a cold glint flashed by, and before the somewhat dazed Li Chen could speak, she lightly tapped her foot and slipped away.

  Snake walking steps!

  In the middle rank of human-level martial arts, when practiced to perfection, one can easily surpass others of the same level. Of course, this is assuming that the opponent does not possess higher-level martial techniques. Chen Songtai clearly has not reached this level and only appears to be at the initial stage of small success, far from achieving true mastery or perfection.

  Li Chen only felt a flash in front of his eyes, and Chen Songtai rushed forward, secretly calling out "not good", his body suddenly bending and twisting, turning his waist to dodge to one side.

  Just as he had turned over, he felt a sudden tightness in his waist. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Chen Songtai holding onto his belt with one hand and flinging it far away.

  Li Chen's body was as light as a feather, but he couldn't withstand the full force of the five-layered Wuzhe's throw. In an instant, he flew out.

  He silently cursed himself for revealing his true strength, just as he was about to speak some words to save the other's face. However, Chen Songtai showed no mercy, stomping his foot on the ground and launching himself into the air, kicking towards his abdomen with one foot.

  "What a ruthless and vicious tactic!"

  The lower abdomen is the foundation of a warrior, Chen Songtai attacking this place has already made a heavy move.

  Li Chen didn't dare to slack off, being in mid-air made it impossible for him to borrow strength, so he had no choice but to curl up his body and retract his arms to protect himself. His internal energy suddenly surged, forming a defensive force within his body.

  Boom!

  A dull thud rang out, and Li Chen's body flew like a kite with its string cut, shooting straight out for seven or eight meters before rolling to the ground in dozens of somersaults.

  "Ah, Brother Li is alright, isn't he? I was just momentarily carried away and lost control of my hands, don't be angry!"

  Chen Songtai landed and hurriedly rushed forward, hypocritically helping Li Chen up.

  "Cough! No big deal, it's just me being inexperienced, what's strange about that, brother?"

  Enduring the intense pain in his arm, Li Chen lightly bit his tongue tip, and a blood stain seeped out from the corner of his mouth. His face was strained as he coughed several times, weakly shaking his head slightly.

  It's just that I have too little experience fighting enemies. Although I've accumulated a lot of experience from being beaten up by Third Miss for many years, Third Miss can't compare to the true martial artist who has spent many years practicing and has actual combat experience.

  "Hehe, as long as nothing's wrong!"

  Chen Songtai casually patted off the dust on his body and let go of Li Chen, with a hint of confusion in his eyes, he stepped into the courtyard.

  In his opinion, Li Chen shouldn't have any internal energy in his body. Even if his body was special, after being kicked by himself like that, he should be vomiting blood and unable to get up.

  But in her heart, she couldn't help but feel a little regretful. If she really injured him and he couldn't work, she was afraid that all the chores in the yard would fall on her own shoulders. Not to mention wasting time, she would definitely be scolded by Hei Kōmei as well.

  Boom! Boom!

  Suddenly, two loud noises pierced through, startling Chen Songtai and Li Chen to look towards the courtyard, and they hurriedly rushed over.

  Only in He Kuang's room for refining the elixir, the entire window was shattered, and thick smoke rolled out, mixed with a pungent smell.

  "Bastard!"

  A furious explosion of anger came, Hei Kōmei's ash-covered head and face kicked open the door, his gloomy face scanning Chen Songtai and Li Chen, his eyes narrowing as he coldly shouted: "I said earlier how big a commotion you made, you have such big guts, do you know how much heart and blood this furnace of elixir has cost me?"

  Plop!

  Chen Songtai knelt down on the ground, swallowed his saliva, and pointed at Li Chen: "He Shixiong, it has nothing to do with me! It was Li Shidi who insisted that I teach him boxing. At first, I refused, but he begged me so persistently that I couldn't bear it, so I agreed to teach him a few moves. I didn't mean to affect your alchemy practice, please forgive me, Shixiong!"

  Inner disciples have no power over outer disciples' life and death, but if an outer disciple commits a grave mistake, they can be punished first and reported later, Chen Songtai cannot afford to not be afraid.

  Boom!

  As soon as the words fell, a figure flashed and a muffled sound mixed with the crisp sound of bones cracking was heard, and then a figure flew up and rolled to the ground.

  Li Chen only felt the turmoil of qi and blood in his body, with golden stars flashing before his eyes, and severe pain in his chest. With his years of experience in being beaten, he knew that at least a few ribs were broken, not to mention the injury on his arm, which was no trivial matter.

  "There will be next time, and I will definitely not spare you!"

  He looked coldly at Lei Chen who had fallen to the ground and couldn't get up, then turned around and left with a flick of his sleeve.

  To him, Li Chen was nothing more than a slave who provided him with experimental medicine and failed elixirs, so it was only natural that he could beat and scold him at will.

  "Pffft!"

  Li Chen spat out a mouthful of blood foam and almost fainted, this time it was really vomiting blood, propping up his body to stand up, but fell down again.

  "Lei Shidi, are you okay? Look at me, I was just speaking hastily..."

  Chen Songtai walked up and pulled Li Chen up.

  "It's not...it doesn't matter, it's me who was wrong, I shouldn't have let Master Chen teach me boxing!"

  He took a deep breath, Li Chen covered his chest and stumbled into his own house, closed the door tightly, and a cold light flashed in his eyes as he sat down cross-legged to recover.

  Hei Kōmei was a ninth-level martial artist of the Inner Breath realm. This kick, even if it wasn't his full strength, still wasn't something he could withstand.

  Even with medication and internal energy assistance, it would take at least half a month for Li Chen's robust physique to recover from the fractures in his arm and ribs before he could resume work.

  "Fortunately, there's this useless thing blocking the way, otherwise we'd definitely be in big trouble this time!"

  Chen Songtai clapped his palms together, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, patted his chest with a lingering fear, and returned to his own room in a distracted state.