"Keep your hips up… don't drop the weights!"
"Yes, uncle!"
"That's it, keep it up, remain in this position for the next hour and if you spill the water, you know what will happen!"
"Yes, uncle!"
'...He looks really motivated… but aren't those methods a bit extreme?'
Zhang Dong was looking at a scene playing out before him. A handsome young man with white hair was shouting at a young child. This young child had weights strapped to both his hands and legs. While they didn't look that bulky, they were made of special heavy material that weighed ten times what iron would.
The boy was standing in a horse stance with his hands to the sides. On his head, he had a large jar of water that was filled up to the brim. If he moved slightly the water would pour out and he would fail in his training. It was a standard training method to build up a martial artist's core and balance but when performed by his own son that wasn't even six, it was hard to watch.
'Should I tell Zhang Liu to chill out with this sort of training? But he probably went through something similar when he was younger… Little Jun also has that special martial physique that makes him more robust than other kids…'
He wasn't sure if it was pure luck or if the body he was given by the system had something to do with it but both his kids were considered special. His son had a natural talent for martial arts and at this age, he could start actually learning some of the basics. His sister was ahead of him but it wouldn't be strange if at some point the younger brother caught up to her eventually.
After having a talk with Argus and getting some more magical books into his library he decided to return home for a moment. His plan of surprising his kids was interrupted by their training. At first, he went to check up on his daughter but she was also busy learning some lightning arts from Zang Xue. Both his disciples were here for the time being and took some time off to train his own children while he was busy.
This wasn't anything out of the ordinary as usually fathers didn't train their own children. What they did was mostly give them some old texts before leaving their offspring to train by themselves. Then when the time was right they would see what the children had learned and correct them if they so desired. The Life of a family head was somewhat very lonely.
They were supposed to remain the pillar that everyone could lean on when times became rough. In this world filled with actual demonic beings, monsters, and cultivators that would murder you for almost any little thing, it was paramount to remain the strongest. Thus at this time of war, no one would think it was strange that his children didn't see his father.
He was actually the oddball out of the bunch, other fathers would just lock themselves up in cultivation chambers while pondering the Dao. It wasn't strange for some children to not see their parents for months or even years before they came out of self-imposed training. This couldn't be helped as the strongest fighter needed to remain at peak condition, ready to swoop in whenever their family needed them.
'I guess, I should leave him to his training.'
Zhang Jun's expression was very motivated, not something he would expect to see on such a young child. When he tried to remember what he was doing at that time, it probably revolved around watching TV or playing video games with no worries in the world. However, he somewhat knew that this little guy was doing all of this to impress his old man.
This brought him immense pride while also shame. To everyone in the sect, he was a big hero that sacrificed his life for the people. He had worked tirelessly to achieve his power and status when going against evil sects like the Dark Palm Sect. The truth wasn't really out there as he knew that his strength was given to him by the system. He had entirely skipped through a lot of steps that would force him to work like his son was working now.
The body he had would just get more powerful by absorbing treasures and he could even further his cultivation by spending spirit points. His starting point was a cheat in itself as he didn't really need to focus on training all that much. He bought skills and techniques through the system and could even copy scriptures directly into his brain. Skipping so many steps others needed years to spend on was really what made him what he was today and when watching this child that was trying too hard, it made him feel somewhat inadequate.
No one really knew this part of him, not really even his wife that had met him when he was already quite strong. The only thing he could do was now act as something his family and sect could look up to. If he managed to not shatter this superman like persona that he built up, then his people would have something to aspire to. While his power was given to him by underhanded means he could still use it for others. Wang Long would remain a cautionary tale as to what not to do while he tried to strive for greatness and act as a beacon for his family and friends.
'Hm… well this will cut my visit short, Liena is still helping people in the north and I only had an hour or so…'
His visit was supposed to be a surprise but instead, he would cut it short. This didn't mean that he would go without doing anything. Instead of speaking with his kids, he decided to leave them a little souvenir instead. He had been working on the angelic puppets quite a bit which left him with some scrapped material. This was enough to make two dolls, one a bit cuter for his little girl and another one a bit more manly for his boy.
He wasn't set on the design but after interacting with his kids they did seem to prefer a difference in the toys they received. After leaving each doll that could actually perform simple orders and a letter behind he decided to head out. The issue in the east was not resolved yet so he could not spend more time here. Now that his army of puppets was loose he needed to reel in the Heavenly Crane Sect some more.
'They are going to have another meeting, I guess I'll pop up and push them in the right direction otherwise, nothing will ever get done here…'
With that in mind, he went to his system window and activated the teleportation feature. His body blurred and quickly vanished to appear at another location. It was a luxury inn that was usually not used by anyone by people in high places. He spent some time there waiting for those old farts trying to decide on things without killing each other. Now it was a spot he could teleport to and perhaps a mistake by what he was seeing.
"Oh mister, don't be so hasty."
"How could I not be hasty with such a tasty morsel in front of me… hehe… huh?"
"Well, this is embarrassing… Does your wife know about this, Sun Shi?"
A scene was playing out before him, the elder that visited his sect was trying to loosen up the clothes of a younger lady. He had no idea who the woman was but she had a lot of makeup on and looked like this world's version of a courtesan. Zhang Dong didn't want to assume but it wasn't anything strange to see things like this. His own grandfather was someone one of those elders that couldn't keep his pants closed for a day and it seemed that this old man was the same.
"... Honorable Golden Dragon… w-why are you here…"
The color drained out of Sun Shi's face as he saw Zhang Dong before him. The woman jumped back trying to cover herself up with a nearby bedsheet. This was quite the unlucky moment to appear in this place. He would need to make a note to never leave teleportation spots inside of rooms of inns.
"Ah don't mind me, I'm just passing by… I was looking for Faction Leader Shen but for some reason, I ended up here… I'll take my leave…"
"No, this isn't how it looks!"
Sun Shi stood up from the spot as he had previously found himself in bed. To Zhang Dong's dismay, the man forgot that he had lowered his pants. A pure white loincloth was tightly wrapped around the old man's nether regions. It was quite the tight fit as the old man had been caught in a moment of arousal.
"Oh boy…I need to go!"
Shouted Zhang Dong while turning his face towards one of the windows. He did not want to stay here any longer nor ask why Sun Shi had returned to the main sect. It seemed that it was worse than he anticipated if they were pulling out important nascent soul elders from the frontline. Someone needed to put an end to all of this bickering as this was the time to act. Thus he turned into an arc of light in the sky and headed over to where the meeting place of all the faction leaders was.
Perhaps he was not invited to the meeting but he felt that after liberating so many lands in the Heavenly Crane Sect's name, he was owed something. It didn't seem that they would come to a conclusion without him forcing the issue. Now that he had saved their people, returned lands to them, and even given them war prisoners, they owed him something in return.
"We must act while we have the momentum, Long Dong had given us this chance, we can reclaim our lands!"
"No we need to wait, now that the Emerald Phoenix Empire has finally taken losses they will surely switch to a defensive battle, our losses will be staggering!"
"You damn old fools!"
"No, you are the fool!"
'I see they are at it again…'
He wasn't sure if he should smile or frown after hearing his two favorite faction leaders bickering back and forth. It was the same as the last time and nothing was being done. However, just like the last time he had the intent of shifting their ideas. This he would start with a powerful landing and he was already preparing for it by making the clouds above to gather.