Chapter 54: Old Lu, Don't Cry

On the arena, Zhang Zhiwei looked down at his hand, where Qi was pulsing across his palm.

The instant he had touched Lu Jin just now, he used the simplest and most direct method to forcefully intercept the trajectory of Qi that sustained Lu Jin's Inverting Heaven State, and probed his own Qi directly into Lu Jin's Upper Dantian, figuring out every intricate detail of how Lu Jin initiated the state.

"Aside from a few extremely subtle differences, most of it is pretty much what I expected. So, does that mean the feeling of erasing my own existence that I experienced when running my innate Fire-Metal Qi to storm the brow chakra was actually a normal reaction?"

While Zhang Zhiwei was pondering the flow of Qi in the Inverting Heaven State, an uproar had already broken out among the spectators.

"Hey, what just happened? Is it over already?"

"What went down just now? How did the Celestial Master's top disciple suddenly end up in the middle of the arena, and why did Young Master Lu suddenly collapse?"

"No way, no way, it's finished like this? I didn't see anything at all! Did the Celestial Master's disciple use some kind of Daoist magic?"

"Holy shit, Senior Zhang is a badass!"

Little fanboy Feng Ping, who was being kept in check by his master, leaped up with excitement. Although he hadn't caught the details, it didn't stop him from cheering.

Lu Ci stood dumbfounded, recalling his earlier bold words, and swallowed hard.

"Little brother, how about... we forget it? This bone is a bit too hard, it'll chip your teeth!"

Lu Ren also wore a look of utter shock. He fancied himself slightly stronger than Lu Jin, but only by a hair. To actually defeat Lu Jin, it would take him at least a hundred moves. Yet this Daoist priest took him down with a single slap... a single slap... Lu Ren inexplicably felt his face stinging and his teeth aching.

Lu Ci remained silent. He stared at Zhang Zhiwei, teeth clenched tight, fists balled up, his body trembling uncontrollably—half out of fear, half out of exhilaration.

A fierce battle raged in his mind: should he fight this Daoist priest, or not?

If he fought, he definitely... couldn't win.

But if he didn't, he had a hunch that he would never get another opportunity to face him head-on like this in his entire life.

In the elders' seating area, Old Master Lu also wore an incredulous expression. As a veteran practitioner of the older generation, he naturally caught the details, and it was precisely because he saw them clearly that he was so deeply shocked.

His own grandson was already a peerless talent, yet he had been instantly eliminated in a single exchange without the opponent even using Lightning Magic or Golden Light Incantation. This disciple of the Celestial Master was simply too formidable!

Old Master Lu subconsciously glanced at Zuo Ruotong and Zhang Jingqing sitting beside him.

Zuo Ruotong was staring intently at Zhang Zhiwei on the arena, his brows deeply knitted, his face grave and silent.

As for Celestial Master Zhang Jingqing, he was so furious that his hair and beard stood on end, and he bellowed,

"You brat!"

"Yes!"

Zhang Zhiwei, who was still deep in thought about the Inverting Heaven State, was interrupted. He turned his head, saw his master blazing with fury, instantly thought *oh no*, and quickly bowed.

If it were in private, Zhang Zhiwei might have joked around with his master a bit, but in this public setting, he had to maintain proper decorum.

While bowing, Zhang Zhiwei glanced over at Lu Jin.

He had held back his strength earlier; that slap wasn't heavy at all. It was just that his Qi probing into the Upper Dantian had caused Lu Jin's system to crash momentarily.

Logically speaking, once he withdrew his Qi, Lu Jin should have woken up.

Why was the kid still sprawled on the ground?!

What is this, extortion?

Just as this thought crossed his mind, Zhang Zhiwei noticed that the unconscious Lu Jin had his face buried in the dirt, his shoulders hitching rhythmically, accompanied by the faint sound of sniffling.

Zhang Zhiwei: "............"

No way!

He's actually crying!

Like a curious crow, Zhang Zhiwei tilted his head to get a better look!

On the other side, Zhang Jingqing looked furious. "Do you call this a friendly spar? Do you call this stopping at the limit?"

Zhang Jingqing felt as though all his teachings along the way had gone to waste. What kind of occasion was this? This was the birthday banquet of Old Master Lu! If he had sparred back and forth with Lu Jin for several rounds like Lu Jin did, and then granted him a dignified defeat, nobody could have found fault with it.

But look at him—he went up there and knocked the opponent down in a single move, and even used a slap to the face. Was he just slapping Lu Jin's face? No, he was slapping the face of the Lu family, and the face of the Celestial Master's Mansion as well!

Zhang Jingqing and Old Master Lu were friends of many years. Zhang Zhiwei's stunt had instantly put Zhang Jingqing in an extremely awkward position.

He rolled up his sleeves, making a gesture to go over and give Zhang Zhiwei a piece of his mind. It was just like when parents whose child caused trouble outside would put on a show of hitting them a few times in front of outsiders—not out of genuine malice, but purely to save face.

Before he could even walk over, however, he was intercepted by Zuo Ruotong.

"Celestial Master!"

There was no anger on Zuo Ruotong's face as he said calmly,

"Your disciple showed considerable restraint just now."

As one of the preeminent experts in the world, Zuo Ruotong's discernment and vision were hardly lacking. At a glance, he could tell that Lu Jin was not injured; he had merely been forcefully cut off from his Inverting Heaven State, leading to a temporary disruption of Qi and subsequent fainting.

Victory and defeat were common matters in martial arts. At his advanced age, Zuo Ruotong had fought countless victorious battles and suffered plenty of defeats as well. He had long since grown indifferent to such illusory fame and fortune.

In fact, as far as he was concerned, Lu Jin suffering a defeat was actually a good thing. After all, his original intention in organizing this match was to find a whetstone for Lu Jin... though this whetstone turned out to be a bit too hard for sharpening!

The only thing he couldn't let go of was the Inverting Heaven State.

Zuo Ruotong didn't care about winning or losing; what he cared about were the obscure details hidden beneath this seemingly crude and straightforward match.

His own world-famous protective technique had actually been shattered by a mere punk in a single exchange!

Even though it was only the first tier that was broken, that alone was astonishing enough!

Zuo Ruotong looked at Zhang Zhiwei, this junior who had previously been entirely beneath his notice, who was now suddenly shrouded in a veil of mystery.

This matter must be thoroughly questioned later!

"Celestial Master! Celestial Master! Don't be like this, why go this far?"

Old Master Lu also stood up, grabbed Zhang Jingqing's hand, and laughed,

"Your boy beat our Jin, so you scold your child—do you think my Lu family can't afford to lose, or that the Triple One Gate can't afford to lose?! A spar between juniors is a matter for the juniors, why should you and I meddle?"

With that, Old Master Lu turned back toward Lu Xuan and roared,

"What are you standing around for, you good-for-nothing father? Why aren't you going over to see how Jin is doing!"

"Oh, oh, right, Uncle!"

Lu Xuan hurried over to check on Lu Jin. But before he even got close, Lu Jin, who was lying facedown weeping in solitude, hurriedly raised one hand to wave it about, his voice booming:

"Great-grandfather, Father, don't come over! I'm fine, not a single problem at all, Senior Brother Zhang didn't hurt Jin!"

He wanted to cry a bit longer and bear it all in solitude while he desperately adjusted his mood. If he were hauled up right now, where would he put his dignity?

Hearing this, Old Master Lu completely set his mind at ease, grabbed Zhang Jingqing, and laughed heartily, "Oh, Celestial Master! If you ask me what I'm unhappy about today, I actually do have one complaint!"

"I am deeply ashamed!" Zhang Jingqing sighed.

Old Master Lu continued with a booming laugh: "You *should* be ashamed! You hid such a great treasure up on your mountain and didn't let me lay eyes on him until today, that's really not playing fair! My little Jin just learned his craft, and I couldn't wait to write and boast to you, hahaha!"

Zhang Jingqing nodded repeatedly, knowing in his heart that Old Master Lu was giving him a way out to ease the somewhat awkward atmosphere, especially since practitioners from all over the world were watching.

"Jin, boy, did you gain some perspective? Do you now know there are people beyond people? I've always told you to stop walking around with your nose in the air. By the way, why are you still lying on the ground? Hurry up, get over here and let your great-grandfather have a look!" Old Master Lu said.