I Have A Martial Dao World

Xingyi Gate's eldest disciple, Zhao Jin, called out two more times.

By now, some of the more knowledgeable people began to speculate:

"Master Zhao, stop shouting. The other party is definitely not close by. To kill a Blood-Exchange expert with one strike, it's clearly from using a cannon. We didn't hear anything; the attacker must be at least two miles away!"

Everyone found this reasoning sound and, after a few minutes had passed without further attack, they gradually stood up.

Zhao Jin spat in disgust and cursed, "That son of a bitch, I warned him long ago not to be too arrogant! Don't think that just because you've mastered Spirit Refinement that you're above the law. Well, now he's comfortable."

Someone asked, "Without the help of a Spirit Refining Expert... what do we do next?"

"What to do?" Zhao Jin gestured with his chin toward the corpse of Zuantian Jiao and said,

"Sell his body to the foreigners for dissection, and we'll divide the money. It won't be a wasted trip. As for the rest, let it be. Let the Innate Experts figure it out."

~~~~~~~~

By now, Lu Yao had arrived home with Liao Qe, chatting and laughing—the entire trip taking about 10 minutes.

Liao Ya was feeding three chick sparrowhawks, oblivious to what they had been out doing.

Each played with their own sparrowhawk, the evening glow casting a peaceful and content ambiance.

At that moment, there was movement at the door—it was Su Er Ya arriving.

The young girl waved to the three chick sparrowhawks in greeting, seemingly wanting to touch them but too scared to try.

The little creatures' downy neck feathers stood on end, showing their hostility. They were only affectionate toward Lu Yao and the two sisters; all others were considered strangers and unwelcome.

Er Ya was used to the spirit birds' aloofness and did not mind.

She respectfully curtsied to Lu Yao, greeted him with "Master Lu," and then picked up a broom to begin her work.

She cleaned the entire courtyard meticulously, even the areas dirtied and messed up by the three chick sparrowhawks, like a true servant.

Out of the blue, Liao Ya said, "Su Er Ya, come here."

Facing the head senior sister of the martial arts hall and the nominal lady of the house, Er Ya was somewhat nervous, inching closer with hesitance, duckbill cap held against her chest.

Though Liao Ya was gentle and dignified, her expression turned serious and she carried a bit of authority. She scrutinized the small, thin Er Ya and said,

"You have been coming here to work every day for the past month. If it is to repay a debt, you have done enough. You don't need to come from tomorrow."

Er Ya pursed her lips, stealing a glance at Lu Yao, and then murmured with her head bowed, "I am still young, but I will remember the kindness of every master in my heart... and I will repay it when I grow up!"

After saying this, she prepared to leave with her newspaper bag. But just as she reached the door, she heard the stern and beautiful woman continue:

"Meeting is a matter of fate; would you like to become a named disciple of the Liao Family Fist and learn martial arts with me?"

Er Ya turned around in astonishment, looking incredulously toward Lu Yao, who smiled and nodded at her.

The little girl immediately knelt and joyfully exclaimed, "Master above, your disciple is willing!"

Liao Ya, with a stern face, said, "You'll only be a named disciple. If you do anything that displeases me, I can expel you at any time. Remember that."

"Your disciple will keep the Master's teachings in mind!" Er Ya was very happy, showing a big grin with a few teeth missing—she was nine years old and losing her baby teeth.

"Next, I will teach you the most basic Running Horse Stance. First, you must stand in the stance for half a year."

Liao Ya quickly moved on to the next stage of the assessment. Standing in the stance was extremely monotonous and boring, having her do it continuously for half a year served both as a way to nourish the undernourished girl's body and to further temper her character.

She took out a Cultivating Origin Pill that Lu Yao had refined a few days earlier, divided one into five smaller pieces, and handed them to Su Er Ya, instructing her to take one each day.

The young girl accepted them solemnly and consumed one on the spot.

A warm current flowed through her abdomen and into her limbs and bones, and she knew that from today onwards, she would no longer be a lowly commoner.

In the Otherworld, ascending the social hierarchy was sometimes just that simple.

Thinking of her deceased sister, Er Ya fought back tears and readjusted her duck-tongue cap properly.

Lu Yao watched with interest as Master Liao trained the new disciple, with Liao Qe whispering on the side:

"Sister is really strict. I've been beaten up quite a bit when I was little. Let's see if this little girl can endure it~"

Lu Yao felt that Er Ya was clever and sensible, with a tough character. She should have no problems.

~~~~~~~~

In the following days, the courtyard, in addition to three fledgling sparrowhawks, was also home to a little girl practicing her stance every day.

Drenched in sweat after each practice, thankfully the medicinal supplements and ample nutrition led to her physical condition improving day by day, unlike her previous frail appearance.

The responsibility of guiding her fell onto Lu Yao's shoulders. Spirit Refining Oblivion was the best candidate for a "transmitting elder" in any sect.

Once in the state, the human body had no secrets from his eyes.

Lu Yao was now the busiest person in the martial arts hall, needing to cultivate himself, take care of the sparrowhawks and the little girl, and make sure the ladies were comfortable at night.

Both the sparrowhawk and the little girl were at a critical stage of building their foundations, and as a Spirit Refining Expert in the Oblivion state, Lu Yao was definitely the best support.

Just after pointing out the mistakes in Er Ya's stance practice for the day, a familiar paper crane flew over.

Indeed, upon catching it, he recognized it as Zhou He's usual method of communication.

[Fu Fangsheng has recovered and is looking forward to meeting you.]

Lu Yao played with the paper crane, a secret method of entrusting the Mind Force within an object, and could not help but marvel at the profoundness of Spirit Refinement of Divine Fetal Breathing.

~~~~~~~

Upon arriving at the back courtyard of White Cloud Observatory once again, Zhou He and Fu Fangsheng were already waiting in the pavilion.

Seeing Lu Yao arrive, the handsome young Fu Fangsheng immediately got up, cupped his fist solemnly, and said, "Brother Lu, for the great kindness you've shown, I cannot express enough gratitude. I, Fu Fang, will surely repay you generously!"

Lu Yao returned the gesture with a smile, "Haha, Brother Fu, you've already rewarded me generously, the Blood Core you gave me is going to be very useful!"

"Brother Lu has raised three Spiritual Sparrowhawks."

"Three!!" Hearing Zhou He's explanation, Fu Fangsheng exclaimed in surprise:

"Zhou He, you've always enjoyed tempting people into raising Spirit Birds. Didn't you tell Brother Lu how expensive those things are?! Raising three of them...!"

"Brother Lu isn't short of money, no need for you to worry about that."

"Right, he casually dealt with the Withering Bullet in me with 500 taels of silver without batting an eye; he's indeed a man of means."

Fu Fangsheng smiled as he pulled out a piece of paper from his chest and passed it with both hands, "I don't have anything good on me, this is all I could gather in a hurry."

Without even looking, Lu Yao declined, "Brother Fu, there's no need, I didn't save you because I wanted..."

Fu Fangsheng directly stuffed the paper into Lu Yao's hand, "Just take it, no need to dilly-dally."

Having said that, he went out of the pavilion and started demonstrating: "This is my secret technique, 'The Spirit Cat Stance'. It's thanks to it that I managed to escape amidst a siege and reach Yunzhou!"

He suddenly leaped 15 meters high but when he had nowhere to borrow force from in mid-air, he shifted three meters! "Once someone is in the air without anything to push off from, they can only just be hit. But the Spiritual Cat Stance, imitating a cat's spinal force, can borrow force from the void and shift in the air. Once it's used, it is truly unpredictable!"

A cat, no matter how it falls, always lands on its feet. This is due to its special spine-thrusting technique.

'The Spirit Cat Stance' allows one to shift while suspended in the air, a truly top-notch stance, and its value goes without saying; this gift is indeed very generous!