Chapter 131: Chapter 101 Li Qianfeng Returns Home_2
“Yes.”
Ren Qianqian nodded, then immediately asked, “When can I start learning swordsmanship?”
Li Hao glanced at her and said, “I’ll teach you one sword technique first. Reflect on it slowly, understand it slowly. If you don’t understand, then ask.”
“Okay.”
Ren Qianqian’s face lit up with joy, and then, seeing that Li Hao had no sword by his side, she quickly offered her own sword: “You can use mine.”
“No need.”
Li Hao turned around and picked up the brush that was resting on the inkstone table next to him.
He then casually released a stream of Sword Qi.
The Sword Qi skimmed over the surface of the pond, and the water parted on its own, the slash as clean as a severed waterfall.
For a good few moments, the parted space only slowly healed, and where the Sword Qi had passed the end of the pond, it caused no disturbances, not harming even a single blade of grass or tree.
Li Yuanzhao and Ren Qianqian both stood there stunned, rooted to the spot.
They could muster Sword Qi as well, but to flick it forth as easily as Li Hao did was something they did not even dare to dream of.
Especially since this Sword Qi actually vanished without a trace, this effortless control left them dumbstruck!
“Brother Hao…”
Li Yuanzhao came back to his senses and hurriedly said, “Brother Hao, I want to learn too!”
“The sword manual from Listening Rain Tower, go flip through it yourself,” Li Hao glanced at him and said, “Come ask me when you don’t understand.”
“Okay!”
Upon hearing this, Li Yuanzhao’s face broke into a joyful smile, and after bidding farewell to Li Hao, he scampered off.
Yet Ren Qianqian was still staring at the edge of the pond, lost in a slight daze.
Time flew by.
In the following days, Li Hao continued to read in Listening Rain Tower, occasionally lost in thought in the courtyard.
As for Ren Qianqian, Li Hao was not in a rush to teach her the swordsmanship of Listening Rain Tower, instead, letting her practice with a sword in the courtyard by herself. He would occasionally give pointers, identifying flaws in her swordsmanship, helping her gradually perfect her technique, moving towards an ultimate level of mastery.
In the courtyard.
Li Hao stood with his hands behind his back, looking at a withered, yellow, bare tree.
Bian Ruxue walked over and on the other side of the tree, she saw a young girl practicing with a sword, which caused a brief flicker in her eyes.
She had heard these past few days that the girl was Li Hao’s sword attendant, the daughter of a Grandmaster.
However, even with the noble identity of a Grandmaster’s daughter, that was nothing rare in the Divine General Mansion.
Bian Ruxue could tell that the girl’s swordsmanship was quite exquisite, but it still paled in comparison to her own.
Thus, she didn’t pay much more attention. After all, there were thousands of swordsmen in the world, with no small number who were masters of their craft.
“Brother Hao, what are you looking at?”
Seeing Li Hao gazing at a withered tree, Bian Ruxue couldn’t help but ask.
The last vestige of autumn on the tree had already withered away.
Li Hao’s gaze sharpened as he said softly, “I am watching the wind.”
“The wind?”
Bian Ruxue looked around; there was wind in the world, but it could only be felt, so how could one “see” it?
“It’s a shame the wind is too light,” Li Hao said with a smile. “So light that it cannot lift the tangled fallen leaves, let alone shake this tree.”
Bian Ruxue paused for a moment, looking towards the barren tree.
Indeed, she could feel the breeze against her face, which in the leafy sprout of spring would have revealed the wind’s form as it swayed.
But the season was now deep autumn.
Suddenly, a thudding noise came from the ground.
Immediately after, a multitude of horse hooves sounded from far to near, galloping past the courtyard outside.
Bian Ruxue was surprised.
Riding horses within the mansion was not unusual, but who would ride in groups so recklessly and at such high speeds?
Her divine soul flew out of her body, and from midair, she saw a group of figures wearing kasayas passing by on the road outside the Mountain and River Courtyard, heading towards a distant direction.
That place was Shuihua Courtyard.
And the leader of the group was a middle-aged man draped in clean robes, with the solemn appearance of a Bodhisattva.
Aside from practicing swordsmanship in Jian Lu, Bian Ruxue, under the tutelage of other senior brothers, had learned about the renowned forces of the world, knowledge that would be useful when she eventually joined society.
Understanding human relations and recognizing people and paths were even more important than swords and sabers in Jianghu.
And these people in front of her were from Mount Wuliang.
The leader was dressed in the attire of a Bodhisattva from Mount Wuliang.
Bodhisattvas are powerful beings of the Four Stands Realm!
Only second to the Infinite Buddha Lord who has been revered for a thousand years!
Bian Ruxue’s expression changed slightly, and she soon noticed at the Bodhisattva’s side, a young figure riding shoulder to shoulder with him.
The figure passed by hurriedly, but at that moment, he suddenly turned his head and looked towards Bian Ruxue’s divine soul, their eyes meeting.
Bian Ruxue immediately knew that he was the son of her second aunt, the very True Dragon competitor for Li Hao this time!
Li Qianfeng!
The horses were running fast, and the gaze was but a fleeting exchange, the youth had already turned back and rode away.
Bian Ruxue’s divine soul returned to her body, her face showing solemnity as she said to Li Hao,
“Brother Hao, you must be careful of that person, just now I felt that he is very extraordinary!”
That brief eye contact had given her a chilling sense of all her hairs standing on end; she felt that if the other party made a move, he could kill her in an instant!
This inevitably caused her to worry about Li Hao.
“Hmm.”
A smile appeared on Li Hao’s face.
The breeze blew past his feet, lifting only a fallen leaf which tumbled onto the top of his shoe.
As time counted down, with the return of Li Qianfeng to the mansion, the days at the Divine General Mansion became increasingly lively.
Every day, people came to visit, with most heading towards Shuihua Courtyard.
These visitors were mostly relatives of the Liu Family, naturally coming to support their nephew.
On the third day before the deadline, Li Tian Gang, accompanied by Li Xuanli, the ladies of each courtyard, went deep into Divine General Mansion to Wangyou Mountain, and led down the old lady who had been chanting and praying for twenty years.
The old lady was none other than Li Tian Gang’s mother.
Chen Hefang.
She was also Li Hao’s paternal grandmother.
At the same time, the old lady was also a member of one of the five great Divine General Mansions, the Chen family.
Having married off to the Li Family, she bore nine sons whose names shook the world for the generation’s True Dragon of the Li Family.
It seemed, however, that the old lady had long since had little contact with the Chen family.
The feuds and entanglements among the millennia-old Divine General Mansions were complex, not to mention the grudges within the mansion itself, and were not easily conveyed in a few words.
As Chen Hefang was brought out, everyone in the Divine General Mansion gathered in Green Lotus Courtyard, which had been cleaned and long unoccupied.
In the grand main hall, Li Tian Gang and other members of the second generation gathered to pay their respects, while Li Fenghua, the uncle guarding the Frontier Pass, also hurried back. This selection of the True Dragon was a moment to be witnessed, unless one had absolutely no way to be excused.
There, Li Hao and Li Qianfeng encountered each other once again.
For Li Qianfeng, this was his first time seeing Li Hao.
As for when they were children, when Li Hao was brought to the courtyard by his mother, Li Qianfeng hardly paid any attention, and even if he did see him, it had long since been tossed to the back of his mind and not taken to heart.
This was the son of his seventh uncle?
He stood with his hands behind his back, tilting his head as he sized up Li Hao, squinting his eyes.
As for Li Wushuang, who stood behind Li Hao, and the rest of the third generation of the Li family, he glanced over them as well, but found none who caught his eye.
Li Wushuang, whom he had originally regarded as a rival, now under his scrutinizing gaze found to be only of the Divine Travel Realm, not having stepped even fifteen li into it.
Even if it were a contest of power within the same realm, he was not afraid.
Only this young man, whose fame was growing throughout Qingzhou and gradually spreading to other provinces, gave him a sense of depth that was immeasurable.
He could not see through Li Hao’s Cultivation Realm at all.