Chapter 40: Fist Intent Pierces Through, Orange Light Flashes
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According to the ancestral rules of the Lu family, the men of the Lu household took only one wife and never accepted concubines.
But refusing to take concubines did not mean they were faithful.
Of Lu Jinghong's three brothers, the eldest, Lu Jingxing, was a man who left a trail of broken hearts wherever he went.
Aside from his eldest son, Lu Zheng, he was known to have three other children outside the household.
When those three children turned eight, they had all come to the Marquis's residence to be tested for their cultivation talent and comprehension.
The final results were the same as Lu Xiao's: meager talent and little potential.
Without talent or potential, and not being born to his wife, those children were all sent away instead of being allowed to live in the marquisate.
In truth, Lu Xiao would have preferred not to live in the marquisate either.
Roaming about outside would have been better than staying here.
Old Madam Lu's words made it obvious that she had already discovered the problem.
Chen Fangyu had certainly given Tian Zi some benefits and instructed him to do certain things.
The concubine-born children of the Lu family's eldest son were clearly not as lacking in talent as they had been judged to be back then.
Seeing the panic on Chen Fangyu's face, Old Madam Lu waved a hand and did not pursue the matter further.
“As for those dark deeds of the past, I do not wish to investigate them now. I merely want you to understand that although I am old, I am not so easily deceived.”
“This daughter-in-law understands. Thank you for your leniency, Old Madam.”
At once, Chen Fangyu rose and bowed.
If this matter reached her husband, and the Lu family's eldest son learned of it, she would certainly suffer for it.
After speaking with Chen Fangyu, Old Madam Lu turned her gaze toward Dong He.
“Seize all of Tian Zi's savings for his old age. He dared to manipulate the evaluations of the marquisate's younger generation, so this punishment is well deserved.”
Dong He acknowledged the order and immediately went to deliver the message.
After all that scheming, the aged instructor lost every bit of the money he had saved for his retirement.
Before forcing Lu Xiao to act, he could never have imagined that things would end this way.
“As for Lu Xiao, make the servants of the household understand this clearly. Continue assigning him the work meant for him. He is slightly better than I remembered, but his cultivation talent is still nothing special. Compared with Lu Zhi and Lu Qiao, he is far inferior. Given such a selfish nature, it might have been better that he never began cultivating.”
In fact, Old Madam Lu felt a little relieved.
If Lu Xiao had begun cultivating long ago, removing this spiritual bone from him now would likely have been far more troublesome.
The weather grew colder by the day. After supper, Lu Xiao and Er Niu tidied up early and retreated into their rooms.
Er Niu felt that this winter was not especially cold.
The room was small, but it kept out the chill remarkably well.
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The quilt looked rather thin, yet it was exceptionally warm beneath it.
Because of that, Er Niu assumed this year would be a mild winter.
Lu Xiao and Er Niu's rooms were separated by only a single door panel. They could hear each other turning over in bed.
Even after returning to their respective rooms, they could continue chatting.
Er Niu was especially curious after seeing Lu Xiao act that night, and pressed him with question after question.
After they had talked for quite a while, Er Niu began mentioning some news he had heard recently.
“Fourth Young Master, it seems Third Master won't be coming back this New Year either…”
The Third Master Er Niu referred to was Lu Xiao's father, Lu Jinghong.
“Mm.”
Lu Xiao gave a brief reply and said nothing more.
Hearing his response, Er Niu tactfully fell silent.
Even so, he could not help blaming Lu Jinghong in his heart.
The Fourth Young Master was facing so many difficulties, yet his father seemed completely detached from it all.
He might not even know that any of this was happening.
If he could return, he could at least offer the Fourth Young Master some help.
Seeing that Er Niu had stopped asking questions, Lu Xiao also settled his mind and considered his own affairs.
His actions that evening had not been motivated solely by a desire to teach Tian Zi a lesson.
To have survived safely until this day, Lu Xiao had developed a composure many times greater than that of his peers.
Agreeing to fight Tian Zi had been a carefully considered decision.
He had intended to use the opportunity to test the results of his cultivation.
Although he ultimately had not fought Tian Zi, crossing blows with Wei Zhuo had amounted to much the same thing.
After taking two Astral Fists from him, even Wei Zhuo had been frightened.
Lu Xiao was satisfied with the force behind those two punches.
To withstand his opponent's attacks with ease, one would need to be at least an entire major realm above him.
Tian Zi and the others probably still believed that Lu Xiao possessed only the strength of the Body-Opening Realm.
Furthermore, after the Astral Qi Heart Formula had been refined to the third stage, its effects were indeed extraordinary.
The Astral Fist, originally meant to strengthen the body, had acquired genuine battle power as well.
If he had unleashed his full strength, Wei Zhuo would have been seriously injured.
His cultivation seemed to have progressed fairly well, but Lu Xiao knew his own circumstances.
The Martial Sect Academy's examination would also take age into account.
He was already twenty.
If he had taken part in the Martial Sect Academy's trials at fifteen, the strength he had displayed that night might have been sufficient.
But on the path of cultivation, he still needed to keep striving.
In any case, that night's encounter had allowed him to test his strength.
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His cultivation during this period had not been in vain.
The exchange could hardly be called a real battle, but he had still gained considerable insight from it.
In the Martial Sect Academy's examination, opponents would not simply stand there and wait for him to attack.
What he needed to improve was not merely his strength, but also his experience and practical training.
Yet within the marquisate, he had no opponent with whom to spar.
Leaving Yonglin City and traveling outside was difficult as well.
Unable to think of a solution for the moment, Lu Xiao shook his head and refused to let himself become trapped by the problem.
His martial realm had originally been on the verge of breaking through the Mastering Stone Realm.
After acting that night, his heart felt considerably lighter, and he had gained some experience in actual combat.
His martial realm seemed to have advanced another step, entering the Mastering Stone Realm proper.
He examined it carefully. The realm was not yet stable, but there was no serious problem.
Having confirmed that his strength had improved once more, Lu Xiao immediately took out the classic Xue Shiwei had given him.
Ever since he had obtained it, he had been unable to see through it.
Whenever he concentrated on observing other objects, a line of tiny writing would appear, allowing him to refine and enhance them.
That was true even of objects harmful to him, such as the original Dragonblood Body-Bathing Formula.
When he had first obtained it, black writing had appeared.
Regardless of the color of the characters, he could ultimately see through them.
But this classic revealed no characters at all.
Now that his martial realm had improved somewhat, Lu Xiao took it out again to see whether anything had changed.
He focused his mind and observed it with a little more patience.
Although advancing in realm had increased his appetite, it had also left him with far greater physical strength and vitality than before.
Concentrated observation was actually quite taxing on both body and spirit.
After his breakthrough, he could naturally persist for much longer.
Time passed steadily. Beside him, Er Niu had already begun to snore. Few men who performed heavy labor did not snore in their sleep.
Lu Xiao paid no attention and continued studying the classic intently.
Suddenly, a hazy orange phantom emerged across its surface.
Lu Xiao could tell that what the classic was displaying ought to be orange writing.
But his current strength was still insufficient to see through it.
It was as though a layer of rough, cloudy paper had been pasted over the orange characters.
He could see their orange shadow, yet could not make out the writing itself.
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