"What part of me looks like the kind of old man that would believe any part of what you just said!?"
"For the sake of a peaceful working master-disciple relationship, I would rather not answer that question."
In a not so conspicuous run-down dilapidated house came two very different tones of voice. One tone seemed to belong to someone who was choking on their own anger, while the other tone adopted an 'excitement-shall-die,' attitude.
"You little…!" Uncle Tian Lu was under the impression that this little demon was on a mission to kill him with anger.
"Why don't we calm down and discuss this calmly?" Long Di offered.
"Calm down your mother! You're just trying to make me put down my guard again so you can anger me to death!" Uncle Tian Lu roared.
"I'm going to ask you not to mention my parents," Long Di said calmly.
Seeing the expression on Long Di's face, Uncle Tian Lu's anger dropped a few grades immediately.
He didn't know why, but even though Long Di's expression didn't change in the slightest, he was shocked to feel the latte's atmosphere radiating a feeling of danger.
This was one aspect that Long Di was dead serious about, even though it was hard to tell the difference.
Long Di suffered nearly every day in his previous life. So though it took a while, in the form of years, he finally warmed up to his current parents, both of them, and he relished the love they had for him. This made him extremely protective of anything regarding them.
When Uncle Tian Lu realised he touched upon a taboo subject of Long Di, he decided to discuss this… calmly.
"Sorry if I said something I shouldn't have," Uncle Tian Lu apologised before he moved back to the subject at hand. "However, surely you can't expect me to believe what you said so easily."
Uncle Tian Lu couldn't be blamed for this. There's no way he would expect a child as young as Long Di to be capable of creating a cultivation method.
Even the lowest-grade cultivation method required a broad and extensive knowledge of the body and the heavenly dao. In this, one would even have to integrate that into a method that could allow one to communicate with the heavens and cultivate.
Not to mention the element of weaponisation that needed to be applied to the spiritual qi was something that needed to be understood in its entirety if one wanted to be able to create a method of practice
How could he even entertain the possibility that Long Di was able to create his own cultivation method?
Hearing this, Long Di regained his former air of 'meh,' and proceeded to explain, "Well, my situation might be a little different, but what I am using to create this cultivation method is an unusual base."
As soon as he said this, Long Di pointed his fist forward, and then turned it over. Opening it revealed a black streak of lightning dancing wildly on his palm.
"Is that…!?"
Long Di nodded, "It's the lightning that tried to kill me."
"It's black!?" Uncle Tian Lu was shocked.
"That's racist. It can't be black?" Long Di questioned him.
Uncle Tian Lu didn't expect this. "Racist to who!?"
"I dunno… black lightning everywhere."
Uncle Tian Lu immediately stopped paying attention to Long Di. He redirected it to the lightning, and it induced a heart-palpitating feeling in him. Though it was only a mere spark, it released a terrifying pressure that he dare not fight against.
Not only that, he felt extreme killing intent in the lightning. This meant that what Long Di faced was truly a heavenly execution, not a heavenly tribulation.
There was a great difference between the two, but they were still the same Heavens.
So who could raise their hands against the Heavens? That was tantamount to fighting against the entire world!
Though it appeared that Uncle Tian Lu suppressed the power earlier when Long Di released a portion of the tribulation energy, this was far from the truth. All he did was drag Long Di from the elders' hall so that the discharge wouldn't hurt anyone in particular.
This was the reason why, even though Uncle Tian Lu wanted Long Di gone, he never took proactive action to force him to leave.
"What are you planning to do with such a thing!?" Uncle Tian Lu asked with great apprehension.
"Well, I'm planning to have this be the type of energy I can cultivate through virtue of the cultivation technique I am creating," Long Di explained.
Uncle Tian Lu couldn't believe what he was hearing. A child no more than 11 years old not only wanted to create his own cultivation technique but also wanted for it to be able to harness the very energy the heavens itself uses to hand down its judgement!
If someone else told him this, he would have found a way to kill that person with a block of tofu. However, some modicum of madness in the deepest parts of him told him that Long Di could very well pull it off.
"Gulp…"
If Uncle Tian Lu didn't believe the words of Shen Ling, an abyss ghost, he would have done everything in his power to get rid of Long Di. After all, he didn't think everyone here could bear the cause and effect of such an individual.
However, since he already decided to bet it all, he couldn't back away now.
"Alright, how long do you think it'll take you to create this cultivation method?" Uncle Tian Lu never thought he'd be asking a question like this in his lifetime, but ever since Long Di arrived, he seemed to be experiencing a lot of firsts recently.
"Honestly, it shouldn't be too hard, but there's a major problem every time I try to have it abide by the cultivation route I made so I can use it for myself," Long Di explained.
The cultivation route that Long Di designed was one that was compatible with his opened major meridians, as it would be most efficient to have a cultivation method that can take advantage of every opened meridian that comprises the great path.
"What do you mean?" Uncle Tian Lu asked, obviously a little confused.
"Let me show you."
As soon as Long Di said this, the lightning disappeared from his palm and he closed his eyes.
Whoosh!
A powerful wind shook the rickety confines of the old house the two occupied.
Utilising his heavenly gaze, Uncle Tian Lu could see the situation during Long Di's cultivation. His eyes widened in shock as he stared at the boy's body.
The spirit qi was rushing towards his body and was being refined according to the method he created, which was ingenious, to say the least.
'Wait, how many open main meridians does he have!?' Uncle Tian Lu found out that the number of opened main meridians in Long Di's body seemed to be a bit… off.
"1, 2, 3… 7, 8, 9 Ah!"
Blood flowed from Uncle Tian Lu's eyes as he stared at Long Di in horror, facing what was most likely the backlash of the cause and effect of something he couldn't bear.
He didn't finish counting, or rather he couldn't, but he knew now that this boy in front of him was going to create storms in the cultivation world!
However, he soon put that out of his mind and focused solely on the cultivation method that Long Di was trying to put into practice.
Tremble…
The energy was circulating in his body normally in the beginning, but as soon as it came time for Long Di to inject it into his dantian, the energy suddenly became chaotic!
Boom!
"Ack!"
An explosion went off inside Long Di's body before he coughed up a mouthful of blood.
"Little demon!" Uncle Tian Lu rushed towards Long Di with a look of concern, wanting to help him calm his injuries.
Since he said that he accepted Long Di as his disciple, he wouldn't have anything happen to him.
However, Long Di waved his hand to let Uncle Tian Lu know he was fine.
Though it caused a lot of pain, he took out a handkerchief to wipe the bloodstains at the side of his mouth.
"Wait, where did you get the handker-"
"So that's the problem I'm having the moment," Long Di interrupted. "Do you have any ideas?"
Uncle Tian shook his head with a wry smile when he heard this. "To be honest, you're asking me questions above my grade at the moment."
He felt embarrassed saying this. What kind of impression would the disciple have if the first question the disciple had was unable to be answered?
However, Uncle Tian Lu was not to be blamed. After all, the creation of a new cultivation method was something that only the wise and great sages of time immemorial could accomplish.
Long Di was a child, and the closest thing to a sage he was affiliated with was most likely an internet search engine.
"I see," Long Di went into deep rumination, as this was an issue.
The Destiny Scale inside him was constantly refining the black lightning and using the energy to replenish its own spent energy. Long Di wanted to use the energy for himself to create the cultivation technique before it was all gone. The speed might be slow, but it was still being depleted.
"Alright, I guess, it can't be helped then," Long Di sighed in exasperation.
Uncle Tian Lu, hearing this phrase, became puzzled. "What are you going to do?"
Truth be told, he would rather Long Di just practice the method they had at the moment.
With such a monstrous foundation, there was no doubt that Long Di could easily handle any impact that a change regarding the cultivation technique could bring.
However, at the same time, Uncle Tian Lu knew that he wouldn't be able to change his mind, so he could only support him.
"I need to go out for that thing called experiential training. Maybe a stroke of inspiration will allow me to find a way to resolve this problem," he said after pondering a bit.
Though he was motivated by the things he read in novels before, he had to agree that it made sense. Besides, he had been cooped up for so long that his legs and long evolved from simply falling asleep to being dead. Okay, that was an exaggeration, but he had to give them some exercise.
"Oh, that sounds like a good idea," Uncle Tian Lu agreed. "There's just one problem."
Long Di's brows slightly furrowed, "… And what would that be?" He asked after nothing noteworthy came to mind.
"You can't move, you idiot!" Uncle Tian Lu roared in annoyance.
"Oh yeah," Long Di metaphorically slapped his leg, since physically doing so would bring him immense pain. After all, just wiping his mouth with the handkerchief earlier was near unbearable, and though it wouldn't madden him because of what he went through, he would like to avoid it if he could.
Uncle Tian Lu stared at Long Di with both surprise and supreme irritation.
Was common sense so rare nowadays? Should it now be called rare sense? The cultivation world was surely going to change if this is the kind of person that was qualified to be called a genius.
Many thoughts flashed through Uncle Tian Lu's head, but he knew that no matter what he thought now was inconsequential and that he had to grit his teeth and keep moving forward with the decisions made.