Shi · Can't Hold It In · Jian!

Half an hour later. Yizhuang. Beside the stone table in the courtyard. "Thunder arts aren't that easy to cultivate. Even what my dad... ahem, what Master passed on to you is only palm thunder!" Though this palm thunder was plenty formidable, mind you! Shi Shaojian, eating beside the stone table, looked on with scorn and disdain at Liu Xiu, who was asking Shi Jian how to cultivate the Shangqing Jade Pivot Palm-Thunder Secret Instruction. He meant nothing else by it. He himself had not mastered the Shangqing Jade Pivot Palm-Thunder Secret Instruction, and he refused to believe Liu Xiu could master palm thunder. Liu Xiu nodded. "Senior Brother is right to remind me!" "Hmph!" Shi Shaojian gave a cold snort, like a punch landing on cotton, and under Shi Jian's expressionless gaze lowered his head and went on eating. The courtyard fell briefly quiet. The quiet did not last long, though, before Liu Xiu took it on himself to find a topic and the place grew lively again. From quiet to a little noisy, the whole change took only three minutes. Speechless, Shi Jian watched a few words of praise from Liu Xiu put a look of self-satisfaction on Shi Shaojian's face. As if he had not seen Shi Jian's look at all, Shi Shaojian went on, self-satisfied and cheerful, speaking at his ease. "Hmph. A mere fierce ghost—how could it hurt your senior brother? At the time I only had to fling out one ghost-suppressing talisman, and that fierce ghost was fixed so it couldn't move..." "......" Why don't you mention that the fierce ghost was chasing you and beating you before that? And why don't you mention that you only fixed it in place because I had already beaten it down? Shi Jian was speechless. He could not be bothered to cut in and puncture this good-for-nothing son's boasting, and only ate with the corner of his mouth twitching. To be fair, he was close to being unable to keep sitting there! Nothing else. He couldn't hold it in much longer! "Senior Brother is mighty!" Liu Xiu stuck up a thumb, his face full of worship. Shi Shaojian looked down his nose at people more and more often, and smiled with arrogant pride. "Your senior brother is formidable, of course. And before we came back this time, Master and I went together to subdue a thousand-year fox demon. Your senior brother volunteered on his own to serve as bait..." "......" Are you sure it wasn't that the moment you heard "fox spirit," lust stirred in you?! Utterly unable to hold it in, Shi Jian set down his chopsticks, rose, and left the stone table. He had to leave. He was afraid he would not be able to resist slapping this unfilial son. And this new disciple of his was far too stupid! He dared believe a pack of lies like that?! Liu Xiu did not know what Shi Jian was thinking, and Shi Shaojian knew even less. He only went on at his ease about subduing demons and eliminating devils alongside Shi Jian. Of course, he exaggerated a little. "Junior Brother, you don't know—the way that fox demon looked was what you'd call... ahem. It was only that your senior brother's Dao heart was steadfast, and beauty could not tempt him. Even when she used a fox-charm art to entice my mind and spirit, the magic treasure on your senior brother was no pushover either..." As he spoke, Shi Shaojian took from his pocket a small wooden sword that looked like a child's toy. Showing off, he said to Liu Xiu, "See this? That Patriarch Zhang of yours personally set his hand to it. He flew to the Nine Heavens and gathered, from the ninefold vault of the sky, the qi of natural lightning—that is, the qi of heavenly thunder—then refined it together with the heartwood of thousand-year jujube wood. Don't be fooled by it being only a finger long. Its yang is pure to the utmost. If an ordinary ghost or monster touches it, they are wounded even if they don't die!" "Wow, that formidable..." Envy showed in Liu Xiu's eyes. He moved to reach out, then drew his hand back. That look of wanting to touch it and not daring left Shi Shaojian immensely pleased, and he handed the Heavenly Thunder Sword straight to Liu Xiu. "Here. If you want a look, then have a proper look. Why stand on courtesy with Senior Brother? And I'll tell you this too. Don't see that this wooden sword is only the size of a finger. A size-at-will spell is hidden inside it. Of course, with your spiritual power you definitely couldn't activate it..." "Of course. How long have I even been cultivating? How could I compare with you, Senior Brother..." Liu Xiu said respectfully. The talk went on. Shi Shaojian kept boasting to Liu Xiu of his deeds in slaying demons and eliminating devils. Another few minutes passed just like that! "Here. I said I'd give it to you, so I'm giving it to you!" Shi Shaojian waved a hand with great magnanimity and held out the Heavenly Thunder Sword to Liu Xiu. Liu Xiu waved him off and shook his head. "Ah, this... that doesn't seem quite right..." "I said it's yours, so it's yours. Take it!" Shi Shaojian forcibly stuffed the Heavenly Thunder Sword into Liu Xiu's hands. Just as he was thinking that, at worst, he could ask for it back later, he heard Liu Xiu stand and speak toward the space behind him. "Master..." "Take it!" "Thank you, Senior Brother. Thank you, Master!" Liu Xiu spoke with a smile and gleefully tucked the Heavenly Thunder Sword into his pocket. Shi Shaojian stared, blank. He turned his head to look at his own dad, Shi Jian. In an instant, the happiness he had felt was gone. The main reason was that this Heavenly Thunder Sword of his seemed as if it would be hard to get back! He also felt very strange. Why did he suddenly feel that this junior brother of his was swindling him out of his magic treasure? He thought about it, and decided that shouldn't be the case. After all, this junior brother of his said such pleasant things! "......" Shi Jian looked helplessly at this unfilial son, the sort who would ask why people with no rice did not eat minced meat. One had to understand that in the present Dharma-Ending Age, the sect masters of ordinary minor sects did not have a single magic treasure on them. And Shi Shaojian? The moment he said he would give it away, he gave it away! "Hm? This kid couldn't be tricking this foolish son of mine, could he?" Brows slightly furrowed, Shi Jian looked at the gleeful Liu Xiu. The little person in his heart shook its head to say that it probably was not so. After all, this new disciple of his knew gratitude and remembered his roots. First he had repaired his ancestors' graves to fulfill his filial duty, and later he had made up the formal gift of apprenticeship to show him respect. He had even gotten electricity connected at the Yizhuang. So loyal and so filial a good child—how could he possibly go and trick that foolish son of his! Shi Jian muttered inwardly that they were only two children, turned, and walked into the ritual room to cultivate. Out of sight, out of mind. As for the magic treasure having gone to Liu Xiu, he felt that once given, it was given. At worst... he could find Martial Uncle Zhang later and have him refine a new magic treasure for his son, and that would be that. Shi Jian went off to cultivate. Shi Shaojian had meant to go on about his glorious deeds, but Liu Xiu no longer had the time. "Senior Brother, we'll talk later. I'm going to wash the dishes..." "Oh. All right..." Shi Shaojian let out an "oh." Strange. Liu Xiu's manner and expression had not changed at all, yet he felt his junior brother had grown a bit cold, nowhere near as enthusiastic as before. He thought about it and decided this must be his imagination! After all, his junior brother said such pleasant things! Shi Shaojian yawned and went back to his bedroom to sleep. Liu Xiu went to the kitchen and started washing the dishes. When he finished, he came to his bedroom in the west wing, thought over those words from the narration cheat, and began cultivating the so-called Shangqing Jade Pivot Palm-Thunder Secret Instruction. One hour later. The ritual room. "Master, I did it!" "???" "Master, I've mastered palm thunder!" "??? ×2" To say nothing of Shi Jian, seated on the meditation cushion with astonishment all over his face, Shi Shaojian, in the bedroom of the east wing, set down the picture-story book in his hands, sprang off the bed in a kip-up, reached the doorway, and shoved the door open with a bang. "Impossible. Absolutely impossible!" His reason for saying it was impossible was simple. He himself had not mastered palm thunder. How could Liu Xiu have mastered it? And in his view, the reason his dad had been able to cultivate the Lightning-Rushing Thunder Fist was that his dad was an innate thunder-spirit body. Liu Xiu's talent for cultivating the Dao was mediocre, not even a match for his own. How could he have succeeded at cultivating palm thunder this fast? Ordinary as the name "palm thunder" sounded, the full name of this palm thunder was the Shangqing Jade Pivot Palm-Thunder Secret Instruction. It was a palm thunder born from the Shangqing Maoshan Jade Pivot Thunder Art, and its power far exceeded those dime-a-dozen palm thunders of the cultivation world. Of course, greater power also made it harder to cultivate. Thunder arts were difficult to begin with. Otherwise, the cultivation world would not all hold that, among every method under heaven, thunder arts were the most formidable. Besides talent, cultivating thunder arts also required comprehension. One first had to refine oneself and build a foundation, awaken to the truth that the human body is a small heaven and earth, and after that master the transformations of yin and yang. The most important part of cultivating thunder arts was to rely on comprehension to awaken, after the transformations of yin and yang, to the inner thunder of the five viscera gathering the five thunders. Fine. Even if Liu Xiu's talent was outstanding enough to skip, in one breath, the realm in which the human body was a small heaven and earth, sensing inner thunder and stirring the five thunders of the five viscera was the slow work of a water mill. He had ground at it from childhood all the way to adulthood and still had not ground through. How long had Liu Xiu even spent—half a shichen, one hour? And he had already ground through! Impossible. He didn't believe it. Not believing meant not believing. He did not believe it!! Shi Jian looked at Shi Shaojian, who had come running to the doorway. His expression settled from astonishment back into composure as he looked toward Liu Xiu, standing in the doorway of the ritual room. Liu Xiu wasted no words either. He simply stretched out his right hand, aiming at the stone table in the courtyard... at a weed beside it. His five fingers drew slightly together upon his palm, and in an instant thunder qi gathered hard in the center of his palm. Boom— A dingy black bolt, like sludge, shot from his palm. That weed was instantly blasted into fine powder. Silence. Silence. Silence! Facts spoke louder than words. To say nothing of Shi Shaojian, eyes wide as if he had seen a ghost, a trace of shock also showed on Shi Jian's composed face. He quickly seized Liu Xiu's wrist. Right after that, his expression went from shock to having seen a ghost. Dazed and at a loss, he looked at Liu Xiu, who had not sensed inner thunder through to gathering the five thunders, yet had outer thunder upon him. "You... how did you cultivate it?" "Neutral on the left, live on the right—Lord of Thunder, aid me!" "??? ×2" "Er... it just means touching a live wire!" Liu Xiu pointed at the neutral and live wires on the ritual room wall, the ones he had left in reserve and had not yet had time to fit with a socket. Shi Jian only half understood. Shi Shaojian's eyes lit up. "Touching electric wires can cultivate thunder arts!" "It can, but..." Before Liu Xiu could finish, Shi Shaojian charged at those neutral and live wires like a vicious dog pouncing on food and grabbed. "Aaaaaaah..." Left hand on the neutral wire, right hand on the live wire, Shi Shaojian screamed with his hair exploding outward. Liu Xiu rapidly finished the second half of the sentence. "...but you have to use a transformer!" "Bianya Qi? What kind of spell is that?" "......" Did that even matter? I feel like Senior Brother might be a little charred...