Li Jing's eyes fluttered opened. His icy blue eyes lazily fell upon his surrounding that looked extremely familiar.
"This looks like my room. No! This is my room. Wasn't I ...in the forest? Yeah. I even killed a Tiger. ...It seems like I was rescued."
At first, he brows furrowed in confusion but he quickly deduced his current situation. However, their was an issue. If they found him in the forest then, they must have found the tiger corpse beside him too.
Analysing his predicament, instead of panicking, he started thinking of a reasonable excuse that could bluff his parents and others, quickly descending into a contemplative silence.
While he was lost in thought. The door to his room slide open.
"Shhhk!"
A maid walked in with a tub of water and a towel. However, as soon as she laid her tired eyes upon the bed, she gasped in shock, dropping the tub.
Thud!
Splash!
"Young master has woken up! Young master has woken up!..."
She ran across the hallway while shouting. Her beckon alerted the other maids and servants, who in turn ran towards Li Jing's room and seeing him awake, they, too, started screaming, "Young master has woken up!".
Li Jing found this kind of reaction normal.
Soon, the news of his awakening spread throughout the estate and beyond. Li Shang and Su Xiaoyue quickly rushed over to see their son.
"Son!"
"My child!"
They both cried out when they saw him. Their voice being a mixture of joy and worry. His mother hugged him and started crying while constantly kissing him.
Looking at her crying yet smiling face, Li Jing couldn't help but say, "Mother, you don't look beautiful while crying."
Su Xiaoyue abruptly stopped crying and looked at her son's innocent look. Her expression a bit strange.
"Pfft.", Li Shang, on the other hand, tried his best to stop himself from laughing. She glared at him.
Sensing the danger, he quickly shifted the topic to his son, asking with a frown, "Xiao Jing, how did you end up in the forest?"
"Here it is.", Li Jing had already prepared an excuse. He pretended to be in deep thought and said with fear and uncertainty, "I-I don't quite remember father. I was in my courtyard one moment and the next thing I know, I was in the forest. I even encountered a big Tiger...."
Speaking to this point the boy paused as his eyes gleamed with respect: "However, it was fortunate that father had sent a Martial Artist to protect me, otherwise... This child is very grateful."
"Haha.", faced with his son's respectful words and gaze, Li Shang laughed awkwardly while thinking in his heart, "What is this brat talking about? I didn't- Wait. Did father assign someone to protect him after his birth? He didn't tell me about it. ...Maybe that's a good thing."
After speculating the situation, he said with a smile, "Hmm. Now, you take a rest while mother cooks your favorite food, okay?"
"Hotpot?", Li Jing eyes lit up as he turned to his mother and asked.
"Hmm.", she nodded.
"With Wonton Soup?"
"Y-Yes. Now sleep.", she spoke while gritting her teeth. First he made fun of her and now he was being demanding. This brat was clearly taking advantage of his injuries. However, thinking about how her son had suffered these past few days, she decided to let him off the hook.
"You have been having a lot of fun right? I will teach you a lesson tonight.", she had now decided to vent herself on her husband.
Li Shang suddenly had a bad premonition when he met his wife's gaze.
"Shit!", he thought.
After that, Su Xiaoyue left and he proceeded to tell his son what had happened while he was unconscious.
Li Jing was extremely surprised to know that he was unconscious for four days. The many physicians who had examined him had all raised both their hands and weren't sure when he will wake up. Fortunately, his life wasn't in danger since he hadn't suffered any major injuries.
...
In another part of the Li Family Estate. Within a dimly lightened room.
Five figures could be seen seated on a table. They were all old men and based on the intensity of their aura, they were in Meridian Opening Realm and at the very peak. Especially the one sitting on the main seat, his aura was even more powerful.
Li Wei Yi looked at the other four and asked coldly, "Who did it?"
"No! I didn't."
"Me too."
"I don't have time to send my men after a crippled brat."
"It's not worth it."
Words of denial were emitted from the four old men, they were all core members of the family and Li Wei Yi's faction.
The Half-step Grandmaster scrutinized their expressions and found nothing wrong but still spoke coldly, "Check with your subordinates and see if anyone acted on their own accords. We don't have to kill that brat but merely break and control him. Instruct your grandchildren to bully him and thoroughly break him. Haha! ....The time for revenge will come soon."
He paused after speaking to this point as his expression turned sinister: "The Yan family had also decided to help and I am currently negotiating with them. If everything goes well, the, in two to three years the Li Family will have a new Patriarch."
"Hahahaha..."
"Hahahaha..."
"Hahahaha..."
All of them laughed in unison. They have been preparing for this rebellion for years and now, they won't have to worry about being labelled as traitor for killing their own family, for it had become a royal order with the backing of the Yan Royal Family.
...
A month had passed since Li Jing woke up and has been practicing the Serpent Fist Art secretly. It was either in the early morning or at late night.
He didn't dare to use the Six Steps to Cloud again, for he feared to end up killing himself. However, now he was sure that this Battle Art didn't belong to this world.
It was too ridicules to be of this low-level world. Even the first step took him 200m above the ground, he couldn't imagine what would happen if he executed the Second Step.
"Ho! Ho! Ho!...", Currently he was standing bare chested under the moonlight and throwing punches at a rapid speed. The skinny body of his had started gaining muscles and becoming more defined.
After a month of practice his proficiency of the Serpent Fist Art had increased by leap and bounds. But this wasn't the most joyous news, it was his cultivation.
After waking up that day, he had discovered that he was already at the very peak of the 'Muscle and Skin Cleansing' phase of the Body Tempering Realm and could start refining his Blood.
But he wanted to have a good control of his strength before he broke through to the Blood Strengthening Realm. Thus, he waited for a month and practiced Fist Art.
And today was the day for him to begin refining his blood.
Sitting crossed leg, Li Jing controlled the Reincarnation Qi and directly send it into his blood. Soon, a burning sensation spread all over his body. He hissed in pain and gritted his teeth.
If anyone were to see what this boy was doing right here, they would curse out loud, "THIS BRAT HAS A DEATH WISH!"
The reason for this was simple, a person needed a Martial Technique of the Blood Strengthening Realm and a high level control over their Inner qi.
However, control wasn't a problem to him since the Golden Page allowed him to manipulate the Bluish black qi in whatever manner he wanted.
As for Martial Technique, he simply didn't want one if all he had to do was use his qi to refine blood like any other part of his body.
As time passed, drops of black liquid poured out of his body, slowly.
...
A month ago, news of assassination attempt on First Young Master of the Li Family, the son of Duke Li had spread throughout the capital and beyond. This incident was huge and had shocked many people.
They all wondered who had the gall to do so. Some speculated that it was the enemy kingdom, some said it was the Zhou Family while some even thought that it was the Royal family.
However, no one had the guts to speak out loud.
But today, another piece of shocking news spread like wildfire throughout the Kingdom and beyond.
The Great Commander of North, Li Wei Feng, had decided to retire due to old age and would be returning to the Capital very soon.
This news alerted countless forces both in open and in dark. The presence of a Grandmaster could be detrimental to them.
Li Wei Yi, after hearing this piece of news destroyed his entire courtyard in anger.
However, one thing was clear. The Capital of the Maple Sky would be in chaos very soon.
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