Chapter 59: Lu Ci's Determination

“This… what… is going on?”

Lu Jin stared blankly at the scene on the training ground, frozen for a moment. Mechanically, he turned his head and noticed that both his peers and elders remained mostly silent, their expressions complicated.

Suddenly, Lu Jin’s heart skipped a beat as a troubling thought flashed through his mind: Were Lü Ci and Brother Lü Ren killed?

He hurriedly ran toward the training ground.

Zhang Zhiwei noticed Lu Jin’s arrival and glanced at him. So soon, already composed? Oh, his eyes were still a bit red!

Then he heard a trembling, incredulous voice:

“Senior Brother Zhang… did you kill Lü Ci and Brother Lü Ren?”

Zhang Zhiwei was momentarily speechless.

What nonsense was this?

You can tell a person’s nature from when they are three or seven years old?

Lu Jin sprinted over quickly and stopped abruptly between the two “headless corpses.”

Before he could rejoice, the two “headless corpses” suddenly moved.

Lü Ci shifted his arms to the ground beside his shoulders, pushed up, and with a “pop,” a dirt-smudged punk pulled his head free.

“Ah, this…”

Lu Jin looked at Lü Ren as well. Lü Ren also used both hands to push the ground, trying to pull his head out. But perhaps due to overexertion from previous powerful moves, his energy was depleted, and his limbs were weak. After several attempts, he still couldn’t free himself.

So they were fine. Lu Jin was stunned, then quickly grabbed Lü Ren’s leg and yanked him out like pulling a radish.

“Lü Ci, Brother Lü Ren, what happened to you guys?” Lu Jin asked, utterly confused.

Lü Ren rubbed his face, glanced at Lu Jin, and whispered, “Same thing as before with you.”

Lu Jin: “Ah… got beaten during sparring?”

His face began to ache faintly again.

Lü Ci didn’t say a word. He slumped to the ground, not even looking at Lu Jin—his gaze fixed solely on Zhang Zhiwei.

From their low angle, looking up at Zhang Zhiwei, he stood before them like a towering mountain.

***

Lü Ci’s mind replayed the moment Zhang Zhiwei had grabbed his neck. At the time, he had only struggled and fought back, shouting loudly, without a chance to think about anything else.

But now, in the quiet, recalling the scene with empathy, he felt a chill run through his heart. How to describe it…?

Though it was just a grip on his neck, it was as if every inch of his skin, from head to toe, was held tightly in that hand, the pressure slowly tightening, suffocating him, as if he would be squeezed into a puddle of blood.

Just as he had expected before stepping onto the stage, Zhang Zhiwei was truly monstrous in strength. But this time, the beating was not a loss—it was a huge gain, an extraordinary gain, an immense profit!

Indeed, to become stronger, to become as fearsome as a monster, one must seek out monsters of such strength!

“Ha ha ha ha…”

Lü Ci burst into uncharacteristic, almost tearful laughter.

To onlookers, this scene seemed strange.

“What is he laughing at? Has he gone crazy from the beating?”

“That’s not laughter, it’s crying—he’s been beaten to tears again!”

“No, it’s both laughter and tears. Could he have epilepsy from the beating?”

“I think it’s possible. Put yourself in his shoes—so many people watching, losing after just one move in sparring, then being twisted like a little chicken, his family’s secret technique rendered useless—if it were me, I might be even crazier!”

A few younger spectators whispered among themselves.

But Lü Ci was certainly not having an epileptic fit. This was the joyful tears that come with enlightenment.

Zhang Zhiwei’s words had been like a sudden awakening, instantly making him understand the path he should take next.

These past few days, since sparring with Lu Jin, he had felt an indescribable sense of frustration, a vague dissatisfaction he couldn’t explain—until now.

It was dissatisfaction with his own methods. His cultivation was certainly not inferior to Lu Jin’s, but in battle, he always felt constrained, relying only on the particular traits of his “Ruyi Qi” to restrain and tug, never daring to confront head-on.

The only time he tried a head-on clash was to test Lu Jin’s “Reverse Triple” effect, only to get a black eye from a punch—and that was without Lu Jin going all out.

But that was all in the past. Now he had found a way, and he was determined to become stronger.

Lü Ci showed no signs of discouragement; instead, he grew more resolute with each setback.

He rose, knelt on one knee, and bowed deeply to Zhang Zhiwei:

“Thank you, Senior Brother Zhang, for your guidance. Lü Ci will never forget this kindness.”

He then helped the somewhat weakened Lü Ren to his feet, and together they slowly exited the training ground.

***

“Guidance? Senior Brother Zhang knocked their heads into the dirt all for ‘guidance’?” Lu Jin was stunned for a moment. He glanced at Zhang Zhiwei, shrank his neck, and quickly followed Lü Ci, supporting Lü Ren on either side as they walked toward the head of the Lü family.

Compared to Lü Ci’s openness, Lü Ren appeared somewhat dispirited.

Although Zhang Zhiwei’s “instruction” had been beneficial, this defeat had been too crushing.

Especially the final slap that sent him face-first into the ground—it made his heart tremble inexplicably. Every time he recalled it, he felt a chilling horror, as if his very soul was shivering.

One strike could break through my protective energy and sever my head from body? Next time I’ll refine my Ruyi Qi and guard myself strictly… Lü Ren vowed silently.

“Your thoughts?”

The head of the Lü family looked sternly at his two disheveled sons.

“Greatly benefited!”

“The clan’s master who passed down the technique is incompetent!”

The former was Lü Ren’s reply; the latter came from Lü Ci.

The family head glared at Lü Ci: “What do you understand? Our family’s Ruyi Qi has been passed down for a thousand years. What methods haven’t we tried? Do you think no one in the clan has ever tried to solidify the Ruyi Qi? Have you considered its difficulty? Have you considered the returns?”

“Easier said than done. Our energy is like a pool of water; dispersing it is not hard. With diligent practice, many can do it. But to condense that water into ice—indeed, the power would be much greater, but the flexibility of the ‘Ruyi’ characteristic would diminish considerably, and the cost would rise exponentially. It’s simply not worthwhile.”

“Our family’s Ruyi Qi is one of the finest techniques in the world. What you practice is the best, easiest, and most suitable path our ancestors have found. If you master it, there won’t be many others in the world who can challenge you!”

His sons were already prodigies, and following the steps taught by their ancestors, they were destined to be among the top experts. The family head did not want them to abandon the broad, smooth path for reckless experimentation. What if they ruined themselves?

Lü Ci, his neck still covered in bruises, retorted, “It’s true that it works well against those weaker than me, like Feng Ping. But one cannot always look down on others!”

“Father, I’ve been tossing and turning these past two nights. You know what? I suddenly feel that my Ruyi Qi is more of an auxiliary technique—a tool to assist when surrounding an opponent.”

At these words, the family head fell silent, while the other two clan heads turned away, quietly contemplating.

The idea of “assisting” was incorrect, but calling it auxiliary was not wrong. The reason there were four great families was that when facing thorny problems, they acted together, supporting each other.

In such operations, the Lü family often played the support role. After all, the Ruyi Qi was truly versatile—mimicking footsteps to trigger traps, using sound waves to probe the situation, and when the battle reached its peak, suddenly unleashing a force beneath the enemy’s feet…

“I don’t want it this way. I don’t want to be stepped on, held in others’ hands all my life. I don’t want to be weaker than everyone else forever!”

Lü Ci shouted softly to his father.