Chapter 22: The Shi Family

  Shangmeng, Tianyuncheng, Shijia, Panshidianzhong.

  Yang Hai, who was slightly on the plump side, sat upright with his eyes narrowed, flipping through page after page of account books, reporting to Shi Jian, the master of the Shi family, on the mining situation over the past few months.

  Shi Jian, in his seventies, was still spirited and had a full head of black hair. As the master of the Shi family, he wore only one coarse linen robe for practicing martial arts, sitting on a grayish-brown rock with a majestic aura, his expression calm and steady, with a sharp glint in his eyes as he listened intently to Yang Hai's words.

  When Yang Hai explained the situation, Shi Jian furrowed his brow and said, "Hai'er, recently the amount of ore extracted from the mine has decreased by 20% compared to the previous few months. What's going on?"

  "It's because of the Mo and Ling families." Yang Hai sighed, "Many skilled miners have been poached by these two families at high prices, leaving us short-handed. Recently, we've suffered a lot in our underground struggle with them, those miners are afraid that we can't beat the two families, plus they offered higher prices, so they switched sides."

  "Hmph!" Shi Jian coldly snorted, "These two families are obviously intentionally targeting us. Ever since the marriage between Mo Yan Yu and Ling Shao Feng was settled, the interactions between these two families have become increasingly close. Recently, in our covert struggle with the Mo family, the Ling family has also sent people to intervene. They must have secretly reached an agreement, otherwise the Mo family wouldn't be able to surpass us."

  "Master of the house, shall we counterattack?" Yang Hai asked.

  "Don't worry, I've got a plan." Shi Jian's expression remained calm and collected, but after a brief pause, he suddenly furrowed his brow and asked, "Has that little scoundrel Shi Yan not returned yet?"

  "No, I was just about to talk to you about this." Yang Hai sighed with a bitter smile. "That kid left almost a year ago, saying he'd go to the Dark Forest, and he still hasn't returned. I got news two days ago that Mo Chao Ge and Mo Yan Yu are both in the Dark Forest... do you think something might have happened to him? When he left, he didn't bring any powerful family guards with him, Qing Er left early, and I only have this one child, I'm worried..."

  Shi Jian furrowed his brow, silent for a moment, before sighing: "This kid, from the moment he was born, didn't have the Shi family's 'Stone Hardened Martial Soul', and since young, didn't like martial arts, instead spending all day studying strange and bizarre things, and liking to run wild, truly making one worried."

  "The master of the house, it's not because of my bloodline, if I had a 'Martial Soul', then the child born between Qing'er and me wouldn't be like this." Yang Hai said with shame.

  "It's all fate." Shi Jian shook his head and said, "Hai'er, I picked you up from the endless sea, although you are not my biological son, but I have always treated you as my own son. Otherwise, I wouldn't have promised Qing'er to you. You don't have a martial soul, nor have you cultivated martial arts, but the strategic planning of the Shi family and the management of those mines, which one is less because of you? Without you, Shi Jian would not have accumulated so much wealth. Although you are not good at martial arts, your contribution to the Shi family is no less than anyone else's!"

  "Now, a peak warrior is much more precious than any wealth. Yang Hai smiled self-deprecatingly, "If I had possessed the 'Martial Soul' back then, I would have probably devoted myself to cultivating martial arts too. If Yan Er inherited his mother's 'Petrification Martial Soul', he might have continued to cultivate it as well... but why is this 'Martial Soul' predetermined by heaven?"

  Shi Jian nodded and sighed, saying: "That's right, now a peak warrior is indeed much more precious than wealth, this is indeed the truth."

  "House owner, you think that kid will get into some kind of trouble?" Yang Hai still couldn't put his mind at ease about this matter.

  "It shouldn't be anything." Shi Jian thought for a moment and said, "That kid is precisely because he doesn't like martial arts, so the Mo family didn't notice him at all. Neither Mo Chao Ge nor that Mo Yan Yu should have seen that kid before. They don't know each other, so it's not possible to target him."

  "But I still feel something is off, logically speaking, he should have returned by now."

  "Uh, I'll get the people stationed at Youjing Town to keep an eye out. Youjing Town is right next to the Dark Forest, so as soon as that kid shows up, we'll get word. Don't worry."

  "Thank you, master."

  "What's with the thanks? That kid is your son, isn't he also my grandson?" Shi Jian glared and shouted: "I've told you countless times, don't call me 'master of the house', I'm your adoptive father and also your father-in-law, you can call me anything but just don't call me 'master of the house'."

  "Uncle, Hai'er remembers."

  "Uh-huh."

  ……

  Dark forest, quiet night.

  On a secluded lawn, Luo Hao stood upright like a mountain, and a five-fold gravity field was released with him as the center. The heavy pressure made it difficult for people to breathe.

  Shi Yan was drenched in sweat, jumping and leaping around Luo Hao, his body making swift and nimble movements, his face tense with bulging veins, a small snake-like tremor on his neck.

  In the grass thicket, a mute butterfly bit onto a blade of green grass, secretly gazing.

  "I wonder how long this kid can last today?" Diya Lan quietly came up, her plump buttocks squatting down, and asked in a low voice beside Mu Yu Die.

  "Have you finished your task for today?" Mu Yudie smiled lightly and didn't respond.

  "Zhao Xin has taken over. Just now it was really thrilling, a single-horned silver snake was coiled on the branch, I didn't notice, almost got bitten to death by the old lady, fortunately the old lady reacted in time, otherwise you wouldn't see me."

  Diya Lan's face was filled with lingering fear, and she cursed, "Lately, we've encountered more and more demonic beasts. We need to be more careful. In the past three days, we've already met five waves of demonic beasts. Especially at night, many demonic beasts are active. Next time you sneak a peek, it's best to bring me along, or who knows what kind of danger might happen."

  "You mainly want to say the last sentence, right?" Mu Yu Die smiled lightly.

  "Ah, you've seen through it." Diya Lan didn't hide it either, saying straightforwardly: "That kid is really formidable. These three days, every time he's been able to break through his limits, and each time his endurance has gotten stronger. Even I, who have reached the Three Heavens Realm, wouldn't dare to act rashly in Lord Luo's five-fold gravity field. This guy is simply a madman - unless he's on the verge of fainting, he won't stop. What a madman!"

  "What he's most afraid of isn't endurance." Mu Yu Die shook her head, a strange light flickering in her beautiful eyes.

  "Hmm, his recovery power is even more abnormal, I really can't believe it. He only has the cultivation of First Heaven, how can he have such a terrifying recovery ability." Di Ya Lan also looked puzzled.

  "This guy, he's got a lot of secrets...” Mu Yu Die pondered for a moment, whispering: “I've never seen anyone eat as much as him, these three days, he's almost eaten all our food, I'm starting to worry about our provisions, he's really a big eater.”

  "Haha." Diya Lan laughed, "This little rascal's words are really interesting. He can make people laugh with just one sentence, and he has many novel ideas that I've never heard of before. He says things like emperors should be elected by the common people to be reasonable, and merchants can control a country. He even writes sour poems. I just can't figure out how his 17-year-old brain is filled with so many strange and unusual things."

  "Hmm, it's this seventeen-year-old guy, when he looks at you and me, it's as if he can't wait to swallow us whole. I've never seen such a nakedly possessive gaze. This bastard is rotten to the core!" Mu Yu Die gritted her teeth and made a chopping motion, "I'll make him know my strength sooner or later!"

  "Wait until your martial soul recovers, haha, let him take a look? Anyway, it won't cost me a piece of flesh. Those like Zhao Xin and Hu Long, they only dare to sneak a peek at my butt when I'm not looking, I despise this kind of people even more. Compared to them, that kid has guts, I like him." Di Ya Lan said with a heroic smile.

  "Has your heart been stirred?" Mu Yu Die giggled, "Others are still young, don't seduce them!"

  "Have you ever seen that kid, with eyes like that?" Diya Lan asked in a low voice, "I suspect this guy's actual age is not as young as he looks, maybe he used some secret method to make himself look so youthful, it's intentional! Maybe this is also some kind of hidden special martial soul..."

  "It makes sense, it seems we need to pay more attention." Mu Yu Die nodded slowly after a moment of contemplation.

  ……

  "Peng!"

  Shi Yan stretched out his limbs, fell backwards and lay on the ground, exhausted and dizzy. He croaked in a hoarse voice: "How many rounds have we had?"

  "Fifteen rounds." Luo Hao's expression was complex, "These fifteen rounds, constantly making jumping, throwing, rolling and other movements, bearing several times more pressure than ordinary people. Kid, can you really... withstand it?"

  "Cough, can't take it anymore, I'll know tomorrow." Shi Yan felt that even speaking was very difficult.

  During these three days, during the daytime, as long as he had some free time, he would secretly practice "burst running".

  Under his ascetic practice, the acupoints on his chest and waist can also release negative energy according to his will, making his entire body appear much thinner.

  He has refined almost every part of his body, except for the most difficult-to-refine brain...

  At night, he entwined Luo Hao, letting Luo Hao unfold a five-fold gravity field. Under this tremendous pressure, he went crazy to hone himself.

  In just three days, he broke through from the eleventh circle limit to the fifteenth circle limit, and during his run, he proactively increased the difficulty by performing more physically demanding actions such as jumping, dodging, and striking.

  In this high-intensity training, he clearly felt that his whole body strength had increased too much. His hands and feet, tendons, bones, muscles, internal organs, and six hollows all became stronger. Every time he woke up from practice in the morning, under normal gravity, his whole body could easily jump several meters into the air with ease, feeling full of bursting force throughout his body. Even the sensitivity of his hands and feet had increased greatly.

  It is precisely because of this tangible benefit that can be seen every day, so he has been constantly increasing the difficulty, and with a mad and crazy self-destruction, he has been tempering his body in the most cruel and crazy way, making his physical skills improve greatly in all aspects, even the speed of refining and condensing his essence has accelerated a lot.

  "Wooo! Wooo!" A strange sound suddenly came from the outside.

  Luo Hao's face changed, and he exclaimed: "This is the voice of the fourth-level demon beast 'Fire Cloud Demon Python'! The Fire Cloud Demon Python is very difficult to provoke, but it usually doesn't move at night. Someone must have disturbed it!"

  "Old Luo!" Zhao Xin and Hu Long came hastily, their faces full of urgency.

  "What's going on?" Luo Hao shouted.

  "There is a group of warriors hunting the 'Fire Cloud Python', and that 'Fire Cloud Python' is heading in our direction. Those warriors are still chasing after it relentlessly, and the 'Fire Cloud Python' has been thoroughly enraged." Zhao Xin said urgently.

  "Damn it!" Luo Hao suddenly took down the broadsword on his shoulder and said, "Protect Xiao Die well!" After that, he rushed out suddenly.

  Shi Yan's whole body ached, but he suddenly sat up, quietly circulating his vital energy, his eyes shining brightly as he calmly stared in the direction that Luo Hao had rushed out.

  ……