Chapter 92: Chapter 85: Father and Son Reunion_2
Gazing at the silhouettes of the two youths riding away, Li Wushuang felt a surging rage consuming her, but suddenly, she thought of something.
The other was only fourteen years old, yet he had reached the Fifteen Li Realm.
This… it seemed to have broken Uncle Ji’s record!
Her pupils constricted slightly, and it was as if a bolt from the blue had shattered through her mind.
That invincible figure whom she had looked up to from a young age in her heart had… been surpassed by someone else?
Her shock was soon replaced by a fiery stinging pain on her buttocks, snapping her back to reality, she couldn’t help but cover it gently with her hand, only to see a faint trace of fresh blood seeping through her dress.
She bit her lower lip, feeling an inexplicable sense of grievance welling up inside her, and her eyes reddened once more.
…
…
“Hao, didn’t you go a little too harsh just now?”
Li Yuanzhao expressed his concern to Li Hao as they rode further away.
His eyes were small, but when they rode past, he had caught a glimpse of the faint redness.
“Just a minor flesh wound, it will heal in a couple of days with some medicine,” Li Hao replied indifferently, “If I was hard on her, it was for her own good. Didn’t you see her temperament at last night’s family banquet? Early fame isn’t necessarily a blessing, surrounded by flattery, even a pig would start to fly, utterly blind to its own faults.”
“Though she has learned skills from the Qianji Sect, she has been praised for too long. It’s better to correct such behavior while she’s still young; otherwise, if she continues to be like this, she will suffer greatly out in the world sooner or later!”
Li Yuanzhao was stunned; he hadn’t thought as far ahead as Li Hao had.
However, upon reflection, he felt that Li Hao was indeed right.
He couldn’t help but admire Li Hao even more.
“Hao, I’ve noticed that when you speak and act, you seem to always stand on the same side as my parents’ generation,” Li Yuanzhao said.
Li Hao glanced at him; his soul had belonged to a person of two lives, and his inner age really did match that of his Uncle Wu’s generation, hence his stern approach was somewhat in the manner of an elder educating the younger.
From the beginning to the end, he had never treated these three generations as his peers.
It wasn’t arrogance, but simply a matter of mindset.
…
…
While Li Hao and Li Yuanzhao were off to Tan Palace Academy for school, the Divine General Mansion was suddenly a hive of activity.
Li Wushuang had just quietly returned to the mansion, secretly changed into a new set of clothes, and then rummaged through her room to find the medicinal powder used to treat muscles and bones from when she was six or seven years old, applying it to herself and wrapping it with a soft cloth.
During the whole process, her indignation towards Li Hao intensified, but thinking of his cultivation level, she felt complicated emotions stirring inside her.
She also realized to some extent that she might have been wrong.
After she had changed the dressing and put on new clothes, she heard the commotion outside and was puzzled; she immediately thought of Li Hao—had his cultivation level been revealed to her mother and the others?
Yet she hadn’t had the chance to tell anyone about it.
When she stepped out of the side courtyard and asked a house servant, she learned that it wasn’t about Li Hao, but that the lord who had been guarding Northern Yan was returning.
…
The news of the lord’s return had electrified the whole of Qingzhou City!
In this land of Qingzhou, the Li Family was the undisputed king, with timeless merits known to everyone in the city, and statues of the family were found everywhere with four martial temples also constructed.
The ordinary citizens within the city might not feel as strongly, but in Qingzhou, the sentiment ran deep; everyone knew how difficult and how great the Li Family was.
The loss of six sons out of nine was not just a simple matter.
This time, after fourteen years of conquest in Northern Yan, slaying countless demons, just the merit list for demon-slaying alone filled three thick volumes!
When the triumphant troops reached thirty li outside Qingzhou City, people had already sent the news back into the city, back to the Li Family.
The news excited all the common folk in the city; many of them went to greet the party spontaneously.
Some vendors selling at the morning market also packed up their stalls, or left their business to capable family members, taking food and drink from home to go welcome the renowned demon-slaying commander.
Thirty li along the official road, people came in a steady stream, and as time went by, the crowd grew larger.
Some heard the wrong message and ran to the wrong city gate.
Outside the East Gate, there was a dense sea of heads, standing still on both sides of the road, craning their necks in anticipation.
Soon, with that striking battle flag billowing in the wind at the far end of the road lined with cypress trees,
countless waiting commoners burst into excited cheers, loudly calling out the name known throughout the land:
“Lord of Martial Valor, triumphant return!!”
“Long live the Divine General Mansion!!”
“Lord of Martial Valor, triumphant return!!”
“Long live the Divine General Mansion!!!”
The rising and falling shouts, wave-like, attested to the Li Family’s prestige, making passing martial artists and merchants from other towns stare in amazement.
After some inquiry, they learned the reason, realizing that during fourteen years of peace, in the lands of Northern Yan, many had fought bloody battles, slaying countless demons.
The returning procession was not long; it was the Fazi Camp’s trusted aide squadron that Lord Martial Valor had originally led into battle.
However, the formidable five hundred who had departed fourteen years ago,
now numbered less than a hundred.
Some had lost arms, others had heads wrapped in bandages; they were a band of wounded soldiers.
But the battle flag alone remained wildly and dominantly unfurling!
Some commoners, seeing those wounded soldiers, instantly teared up, coming forward to offer the eggs from their baskets and the cured meats in their hands to these returning warriors.
The Li Family was as loving to the people as to their own children, enjoying immense prestige in Qingzhou City, so these commoners were not afraid.
This scene left onlookers from outside the city stunned.
Although they too had seen victorious armies return, they would only dare to watch from afar, deterred by the solemn air that made them fearful to approach.
Yet the Li Family and the commoners were as close as fish and water, interacting in extreme harmony.
Meanwhile, Li Hao, who had just arrived at the Tan Palace not long ago, received the news. Shen Yunqing, gasping for breath, ran to find Li Hao:
“What are you doing here? Your father, Lord Martial Valor, has returned in triumph!”
Excitement was inevitably mixed in Shen Yunqing’s voice; in Qingzhou City, it was hard not to be influenced by the Li Family.
Li Hao was momentarily stunned.
His parents… had returned?
Fragmented memories instantly surfaced in his mind, but so much time had passed—fourteen years—that they had turned him from a child into a youth.
So much time that many things were almost forgotten.
After a brief pause, he quickly came to his senses and thanked Shen Yunqing. Then he took to the sky, flying out swiftly.
Watching Li Hao fly away with such speed, Shen Yunqing’s eyes widened slightly before he stroked his beard and sighed:
“The Li Family’s True Dragon of this generation is even more extraordinary than the last…”
Li Hao rushed out of the Tan Palace Academy and down the mountain.
Kicking open the stable, Li Hao leaped onto the Red Blood Horse he had ridden that morning and sped away with a flick of the whip.
On the streets within the city, the crisp sound of hooves rang out as the young man galloped swiftly, with passersby swiftly making way.
Once they saw the Red Blood Horse, some startled passersby revealed a look of relief.
Finally.
When Li Hao arrived at the official road outside the city at top speed on the Red Blood Horse, he saw the banners waving at the end of the road and a majestic figure seated on a dragon-lion slowly approaching at the front.
He quickly reined in his horse, the steed let out a long neigh, and its hooves lightly touched the ground as they landed.
A dragon and a horse, a father and a son.
In that moment, their gazes met.