Martial Arts: Starting with Creating a Genius Persona

Chapter 18 Late Stage of Body Tempering

City Lord's Mansion.

Qin Lie stood by the study window, holding a brocade box in his hand.

That brocade box was exquisite; it was made of sandalwood and inlaid with silver.

A red string was tied to it.

Qin Lie opened the box.

Inside was the head of Blood Butcher.

Qin Lie looked at the contents of the box with an unusually calm expression.

It seemed as if they had expected it all along.

Since Xue Tu humiliated Qin Lie in front of so many people on the day of the competition, then this person has no reason to exist.

He casually handed the brocade box to the servant behind him, speaking in a flat tone as if he were ordering a plate of snacks.

"Take it to feed the dog."

The servant bowed and accepted the gift, then turned and left the study.

Light footsteps echoed down the corridor.

Qin Zhao practically skipped in, a wide smile plastered on his face. He almost tripped over the threshold as he entered.

"Father."

She bowed, her voice still brimming with excitement.

Qin Lie turned around, looked at the blush that had not yet faded on his daughter's face, and remained silent for a moment.

"Back from the Lu family?"

Qin Zhao's smile froze for a moment.

"……yes."

Qin Lie sat down in the armchair, picked up the teacup, but did not drink.

He stared at Qin Zhao for a long time, so long that Qin Zhao began to lower his head uneasily.

"Zhao'er,"

Qin Lie finally spoke, his voice gentler than usual, yet carrying an undeniable weight.

"Please note that you are engaged."

Qin Zhao's smile vanished completely.

"I also have high hopes for Lu Yuan. He has the bloodline of a Qilin. In terms of methods, temperament, and talent, he is first-rate."

"But now he's offended the Blood Wolf Gang and the Zhao family; how many people in the shadows want him dead..."

"If you go to the Lu family today, tomorrow the entire city of Qingzhou will know that the City Lord's Mansion and the Lu family are on good terms. Have you thought about whether this is a good thing or a bad thing?"

Qin Zhao remained silent.

She lowered her head, her fingers gripping the hem of her skirt tightly.

"Besides, if that person finds out that you were close to other men before your marriage, do you think he might try to ruin Lu Yuan for the sake of his reputation?"

Qin Lie looked at his daughter's lowered head and his voice softened.

"Your mother passed away early. Before she left, she only told me one thing... to protect you."

He paused, tilting the teacup slightly in his hand, reflecting his angular face.

"Zhao'er... More than your happiness, I want you to live out your life peacefully."

Qin Zhao's eyes reddened.

She didn't look up, but subtly turned her face to the side, as if avoiding the glaring candlelight.

Qin Zhao wanted to argue about something more.

But after hearing Qin Lie's words, she couldn't muster any resentment.

Currently, Qin Lie has been injured for many years.

Their strength has never recovered.

Countless people outside covet the position of Lord of Qingzhou City.

Currently, she is the only one who married that important person.

Only then can her Qin family be saved.

"...I understand." Qin Zhao replied helplessly, but not readily.

She turned and walked out of the study.

They moved very quickly.

The lanterns in the corridor cast a long shadow of hers, which swayed on the bluestone floor.

As she reached the corner, she stopped and quickly wiped her eyes.

Then continue walking forward.

Qin Lie sat alone in his study, the teacup already cold.

"Fine. I'll let you see him one more time at the Mid-Autumn Festival lantern festival."

Qin Lie stood up and walked to the wall next to the bookshelf.

A portrait hangs on the wall, depicting a woman with gentle features, dressed in a blue robe, and smiling slightly.

He guarded that smile for ten years.

The paper has turned slightly yellow, but the features of the person in the painting are still clear, as if it were just yesterday.

He stared at it for a long time.

Then he sighed.

……

Blood Wolf Gang headquarters.

The scarred man who had escaped knelt on the cold ground.

With his forehead pressed against the stone bricks, he dared not look up.

He ran away and became the only one to return alive.

"Internal energy transforming into qi?"

Blood Wolf sat on the tiger-skin chair, his fingers tapping out a dull rhythm on the armrest.

"With a flick of my finger, I crippled three of your early-stage Blood Coagulation stages."

Blood Wolf got off the chair and walked up to the scarred man.

"You haven't even seen him snap his fingers yet?"

"Yes... I saw it with my own eyes."

The assassin's voice was still trembling.

"waste!"

Blood Wolf roared and kicked the scarred man in the stomach.

The immense impact sent the scarred man flying.

"He's only in the mid-stage of Body Tempering, do you really think I'm a three-year-old?"

"Your subordinate... Your subordinate dares not."

The scarred man, enduring the pain in his abdomen, knelt on the ground and explained.

"We really didn't see any sign of any concealed weapon being launched at the time."

"Moreover, the iron wrist was instantly smashed with a large dent."

Blood Wolf remained silent.

He glanced at Zhao Tianxiong, who was sitting in the shadows.

Zhao Tianxiong's face was even darker than the room itself.

"Ha, now we've alerted the enemy."

Zhao Tianxiong spoke slowly.

"The election is right after the lantern festival, so sending assassins is no longer realistic."

"As for Qin Lie, Xue Tu's head was sent to the city lord's mansion this afternoon and fed to the dogs tonight."

He stood up and walked up to Blood Wolf.

"The assassination attempt ends here. But there's one thing you were right about... the lantern festival."

Blood Wolf raised his head.

Will Lu Yuan go to the lantern festival?

"That little girl from the Qin family went to see Lu Yuan today, and she specifically extended an invitation."

Zhao Tianxiong's voice was very low.

"His martial arts skills are an advantage, but everyone in Qingzhou City knows that he is weak in classical texts. His essay 'Questions and Answers on Classical Texts' is still being laughed at in the academy."

"Although the incident with 'Lunyu' made him famous, you know better than I do what the intellectual community thinks of him... a brute, an incompetent fool, and an insult to literature."

He paused.

"Send a few reliable scholars. There will be a poetry gathering at the lantern festival, and all the nobles of Qingzhou City will be there. Making him lose face on the spot will be more effective than killing him."

"A genius who lost face at the literary gathering, even if the Iron Bone Sect has high hopes for him, they still have to think twice."

Zhao Tianxiong took a sip of his tea and paused for a moment.

"The Iron Bone Sect accepts disciples, it's not a joke."

……

The Lu family courtyard.

Lu Yuan hasn't left the house in a long time.

It's not that I don't want to go out, it's that I can't.

During the side effects period, all cultivation was lost.

After the assassination attempt by the stream, Lu Yuan realized that every time he went out during this period, it felt like he was gambling with his life.

After all, he couldn't be sure whether Lao Huang, who was hiding his true cultivation level, would help him if he encountered danger.

Old Huang came to the Lu family after his original parents died.

Lu Yuan didn't know much about this person either.

So he obediently stayed in the courtyard for two whole days.

Every day, besides eating and sleeping, I just stare at the countdown on the panel.

Finally, on the third day at dusk, the gray text on the panel suddenly jumped up.

[Fighting Spirit Side Effect: Remaining Time: One breath.]

A moment later, the gray text disappeared completely.

The weakness that had been troubling him for so long had vanished without a trace.

His bottleneck in the mid-stage of body tempering had already crumbled after his life-or-death battle in the arena.

At this moment, with the Qi and blood restored, the bottleneck almost breaks down on its own.

He quickly took out the Bone Tempering Pill and swallowed it.

A warm current of energy surged from the dantian, flowed along the meridians through the limbs and bones, and finally merged into the right arm.

...The entry for "Qilin Arm" lit up slightly, absorbing all of this power.

Late stage of body tempering.

Everything happened so naturally.

Lu Yuan opened his eyes and moved his right shoulder.

The joints made a slight "clicking" sound.

That was the sound of blood and energy being re-infused into every inch of muscles and bones.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

"Young Master Yuan, it's time to depart. This old servant has come to fetch you."