Under One Person: The Seeker of the Dao in the Lü Family

Chapter 2 Aiming for the Pinnacle

"Look at what you're saying. If you haven't awakened, you haven't awakened. Besides, my grandfather, your fourth son didn't even have the talent for Qi cultivation back then."

Lu Qian rolled his eyes and retorted.

If the younger generation in Lüjia Village saw this, they would probably tremble with fear, afraid that Lü Ci would punish them all when he got angry.

After all, Lü Ci was the only ruler of the Lü family and the only "emperor" in the village.

To challenge the emperor? Does he even care about his life?

But Lü Qian was not afraid; he had long understood the survival rules of this village.

In this village, whoever is strong will receive extremely unbalanced favoritism.

For many years, Lü Qian has relied on his unique "Ruyi Jin" technique to defeat all the younger members of the Lü family of his generation, firmly securing his position as number one.

"You little punk, you've got guts! There aren't many who dare to talk to me like that."

Looking at the reckless Lü Qian in front of him, Lü Ci's eyes flashed with satisfaction.

"I am not yet strong! In our Lü family, whoever has the bigger fist has the bigger voice. Although I have not awakened the Bright Soul Technique, I am the number one junior in the Lü family. Since you value talent so much, I am naturally your best and dearest grandson."

"Otherwise, how could I have become the second person in the whole village, after Master Jixiao, to be carefully trained by you?"

Lu Qian pointed at himself with a thumbs-up without any hesitation.

"Be careful not to fall."

With her hands behind her back, Lü Ci's cool voice poured cold water on Lü Qian's enthusiasm, "And give me an explanation, why did you want to leave the village?"

He stared coldly at Lü Qian in front of him, his hands rubbing together behind his back. If the answer didn't satisfy him, Lü Ci wouldn't mind giving him a real beating and keeping him in bed for months.

The bloodline of the Lü family is precious, and he would never allow it to be lost in the slightest.

"Grandpa, I want to become the next master!"

Lu Qian cautiously took a few steps back, and just like before, looked directly into those cold eyes and said firmly.

"Huh? Hahaha! Climax? Kid, do you even know what climax means?"

Lu Ci opened his eyes wide in surprise, looking twelve-year-old Lu Qian up and down with disbelief, as if he had heard a child's joke.

In his view, it was no different from a joke.

A little kid who hasn't even reached adulthood yet has the audacity to say he wants to surpass the old master.

"Kid, are you trying to amuse your grandpa on purpose? Or have you gone stupid from practicing martial arts?"

"If you try to make fun of me, you'd better watch out, or I might just use my fist on you!"

As he spoke, Lü Ci clenched his fist and waved it in front of Lü Qian.

"Grandpa, I'm not joking."

Lu Qian pushed away the fist that was being offered to him and said seriously.

"I'm confident I have the talent, and even more so, the perseverance to cultivate it!"

"I, Lü Qian, began practicing Qi cultivation at the age of six. I could enter a meditative state in meditation and find the Qi sensation within half a day. After obtaining Qi, I practiced diligently every day, tempering my life force."

"I have done all of these practices to the best of my ability, including pouring oil onto the head, striking the ribs with an iron ruler, standing meditation, and sitting meditation."

"Even the younger generation in the village who practice the Minghun Technique and Ruyi Jin are no match for me. Give me forty years... no, twenty years, and I will be the next you in the village, the next local tyrant of Lüjia Village."

"Then let's stay in Lü Family Village and see what the next local tyrant of the Lü family can accomplish before I die!"

Lu Ci stretched out his hands and pressed them on Lu Qian's shoulders, his old, wrinkled palms pressing down on the small sapling beneath him.

His eyes flashed with surprise and relief, marveling at the immense vitality of the sapling under his palm, and relieved that the sapling would eventually grow into a towering tree that would shelter the entire Lü family.

With such a fine seedling, Lü Ci naturally couldn't let it leave his protection, even though this protection would limit the seedling's growth and cut off its path to the heavens.

He only wanted this tree to be as protective as he was, enough to shelter the Lü family village.

"But I'm not resigned to this. I want to see what it's like at the very top! And I hate this closed-off Lü Family Village!"

"I know that you sealed off Lü Family Village to protect the Lü family, Grandfather. Although I don't know the reason, I can only attribute it to insufficient strength. If you had the methods and cultivation of the Old Celestial Master, my Lü Family Village wouldn't be trapped in this cage!"

Lu Qian reached out and covered the taut palm on his shoulder. The muscles on his small arm were taut, and the blue veins were faintly visible under the red flesh. He struggled to remove it from his small shoulder.

This is a collision between saplings and old trees, a collision between two generations in Lüjia Village.

Lu Qian pursues a broader future of his own, rebelling against the path of serving the family that Lu Ci has arranged for him.

The aged hand remained motionless; the young sapling was no match for the centuries-old tree. Lü Ci's thick, gnarled roots, as strong as those of an old tree, firmly restrained Lü Qian beneath his hand.

After an unknown amount of time, the hand that had been pressing down on Lü Qian with what seemed like immense force suddenly withdrew and slapped Lü Qian hard across the face.

"Snapped!"

The crisp sound of a slap echoed throughout the training ground.

A crimson handprint appeared on Lü Qian's face, the bloody mark covering most of his face. The immense force threw Lü Qian to the ground.

"Kid, wake up!"

Lu Ci looked at Lu Qian lying on the ground and slowly withdrew his hand.

"You're right about one thing: I am the local tyrant of Lüjia Village, and no one here dares to disobey me."

"I must admit, you have a lot of talent, even more than I did back then. And you're also very hardworking; you swallow the hardships of cultivation without a single complaint."

"But a crooked tree, no matter how tall and strong, is unacceptable; similarly, a disobedient child, no matter how talented, is also unacceptable."

"Pooh!"

Lu Qian sat up from the ground, turned his head and spat out a mouthful of blood. He wiped the blood from his mouth and face.

"Hey, old man, finally you've stopped pretending! I'm not in the mood to play the filial grandparent role with you anymore."

He laughed silently at Lü Ci, but the pain from his facial injuries caused his manic laughter to contort into a grimace as he hissed through his teeth.

"Ouch—you old man, you're really ruthless."

"Yes, indeed, you don't lack children and grandchildren, but which of your children and grandchildren in the village can you rely on these days!"

"You're in your nineties now, your sons are all in their sixties or seventies, and although your grandchildren are younger, few of them are accomplished."

My father and his generation had very few people who had even mastered the Art of Soul Clarity, let alone the Art of Ruyi Jin. Now, although my generation is full of talent, and many know the Art of Soul Clarity, not many people practice the Art of Ruyi Jin.

"Moreover, their Soul-Brightening Technique is nothing compared to that of Grandpa Zhong and Grandma Ping; it's practically useless."

"Otherwise, you wouldn't have broken the ancestral rule that Ruyi Jin is passed down only to men a few years ago and made an exception to let Lü Huan, a girl, learn both skills."

At this point, Lü Qian put his hands behind his head, leaned back comfortably, and didn't even look at Lü Ci's increasingly cold expression.

Lu Qian turned his face, his eyes burning with an indomitable spirit.

Lu Qian was the first person to openly defy Lu Ci's wishes within Lu Family Village; he was incredibly arrogant and insane.

"Yes, you're right. But don't forget, the Lü family allows sons-in-law to marry into the family. At worst, I'll have Lü Huan find someone easy to manage to come to my Lü family village and continue the family line!"

Lu Ci looked at Lu Qian, who was standing on the ground like a lion with its fur standing on end, and said coldly through gritted teeth.