About twenty people had gathered by the riverbank.
Qian Xiaohao stood in the center with his arms crossed, a short blade stabbed into the ground beside his feet.
Seeing Lu Yuan approach, he sneered, “You actually dared to show up.” Lu Yuan didn’t reply, his gaze sweeping over the crowd.
Old Chen was squatting by a rock, smoking, while a few children squeezed to the front.
Under a willow tree, a corner of a grey robe was visible.
Zhao Shi was here too.
“Let’s go over the rules one more time.” Qian Xiaohao pulled up his blade.
“No spirit skills, just physical combat.
As for your pathetic grass leaves, there’s no telling if they can even survive one strike from my blade.” A few low snickers broke out in the crowd.
Lu Yuan nodded.
“Let’s begin.” Before his words even faded, Qian Xiaohao moved.
With a hard kick off the ground, he rushed forward.
Level 4 spirit power coated the blade, causing the edge to glow a faint white as it tore through the air with a sharp whistle.
Lu Yuan took a half-step back to his right, slightly tilting his body.
The blade grazed past the fabric of his chest, missing by a mere half-inch.
Qian Xiaohao froze, unable to check his momentum, and stumbled forward.
A collective gasp of surprise rose from the onlookers.
Lu Yuan had already retreated three or four paces.
He raised his right hand, and his Blue Silver Grass emerged.
The faint glow around the edges of the leaves seemed a fraction more solid than yesterday.
With a slight thought, he guided them.
Thin, weak vines shot forward along the sandy ground like tiny grass snakes.
Qian Xiaohao stabilized his stance, his face flushing red.
“Why are you dodging?!” he roared, swinging his blade once more.
This time, he held back thirty percent of his strength to maintain control.
Lu Yuan still didn’t engage.
Shifting his steps, he always pivoted or slipped aside just as the blade was about to hit.
Shallow footprints left in the sandy earth formed a circle around a central point.
Qian Xiaohao slashed seven or eight times in rapid succession, but every single strike met empty air.
The onlookers grew quiet.
Old Chen tapped his pipe against a rock and narrowed his eyes.
Qian Xiaohao’s breathing grew heavy.
Though his Level 4 spirit power gave him superior physical strength, swinging with full force drained his stamina quickly.
What frustrated him more was that he hadn’t even touched his opponent.
“Can you do nothing but run?!” He gritted his teeth, shifting from a downward slash to a horizontal sweep, cutting off Lu Yuan’s escape to either side.
This time, Lu Yuan didn’t retreat.
He suddenly ducked, letting the blade sweep over his head.
At the same time, the vines that had been slithering along the ground suddenly sprang up from behind Qian Xiaohao’s heels.
Though pathetically thin, they caught him precisely at the side of his ankle.
The force was very light.
But Qian Xiaohao was in the middle of a full-force horizontal sweep, his center of gravity entirely on one leg.
Tripped up like this, his body instantly lost its balance.
With a startled cry, he flailed wildly to regain his footing.
Lu Yuan moved.
From his ducked position, he lunged forward, rolling along the ground past Qian Xiaohao’s buckling leg.
Pressing his index and middle fingers together, his spirit power surged and condensed at his fingertips— With a swift jab, his fingertips struck a specific spot on the inside of Qian Xiaohao’s right wrist.
A nerve cluster.
Like an electric shock running through his arm, Qian Xiaohao’s entire limb instantly went numb and weak.
The short blade clattered onto the gravel.
The entire area fell dead silent.
Lu Yuan rolled to the side and stood up, brushing the dirt off his hands.
The Blue Silver Grass vines silently withdrew into his palm.
Qian Xiaohao stood there dazed, his right hand still frozen in the grip position, his wrist so numb he couldn’t move it.
He looked down at the blade, then up at Lu Yuan, his face flushing between red and white.
“You…” His throat felt dry.
“You cheated!” Lu Yuan looked at him.
“Which rule said tripping wasn’t allowed?” Qian Xiaohao choked on his words.
The crowd began to buzz.
“Was that Blue Silver Grass just now?” “That puny little thing?
It can actually trip someone?” Old Chen tucked his pipe back into his waist, stared at Lu Yuan for a few moments, shook his head, and walked away.
Under the willow tree, Zhao Shi remained still.
With arms crossed, he lightly tapped his fingers against his elbow, his gaze falling first on Lu Yuan’s right hand, then shifting to Qian Xiaohao’s numb wrist.
After watching for a while, the corner of his mouth twitched into a smirk.
Quite interesting.
Qian Xiaohao recovered somewhat and bent down to pick up his blade.
His wrist was still sore, and his hand shook slightly as he held the weapon.
He glared fiercely at Lu Yuan.
“That doesn’t count!” he spat, gritting his teeth.
“You didn’t even fight me head-on!
You just used cheap tricks!” Lu Yuan replied calmly, “You have Level 4 spirit power; I have Level 2.
You have a blade; I have grass.
If we fought head-on, I wouldn’t last three moves.” Qian Xiaohao froze.
“So,” Lu Yuan continued, “why should I fight according to your rules?” The words were so blunt that the onlookers fell silent once more.
Qian Xiaohao’s face turned beet red.
After struggling for words for a long moment, he suddenly pointed a finger at Lu Yuan.
“Just you wait!
Once we enter the Spirit Master Academy and get our spirit skills, let’s see how you play your cheap tricks then!” With that, he turned and stormed off, pushing through the crowd without looking back.
The onlookers dispersed in small groups, whispering to one another and repeatedly glancing back at Lu Yuan.
Lu Yuan stood in place, exhaling slowly only after everyone had gone.
His right palm felt slightly warm.
The control he had just exercised didn’t consume much spirit power, but it demanded extreme precision.
Especially that final trip—the timing and angle of the vine’s spring had to be absolutely flawless.
Blue Silver Grass was still too weak.
He shook his head and turned to leave.
“That was quite a practiced technique.” The voice came from the direction of the willow tree.
Zhao Shi strolled over, the hem of his grey robe brushing against the tips of the grass.
He stopped in front of Lu Yuan, sizing him up.
“Have you trained before?” Lu Yuan shook his head.
“I read about it in a book.” “A book again.” Zhao Shi smiled.
“What kind of book teaches people how to strike nerves?” “‘An Elementary Analysis of Human Meridian Pathways.’ I picked it up from the secondhand book stall at the grocery store for five copper spirit coins,” Lu Yuan said in a steady voice.
“It had diagrams of acupoints, explaining how striking certain spots would cause numbness.
I tried it, and it just happened to work.” Zhao Shi stared into his eyes.
Lu Yuan met his gaze calmly.
After a few moments, Zhao Shi looked away, casting his gaze toward the river.
“The Qian family boy holds a grudge.
You embarrassed him today.
Once he enters the academy, he’ll definitely make trouble for you.” “I know.” “Aren’t you afraid?” “Fear is useless,” Lu Yuan said.
“What will come, will come.” Zhao Shi raised an eyebrow, tilting his head to look at him.
“You’re only six, right?
You talk like an old man.” Lu Yuan didn’t respond.
The river breeze blew over, carrying a fishy scent.
In the distance, the sounds of crowing roosters and barking dogs drifted from the town.
Zhao Shi suddenly asked, “Did your father really break through his bottleneck on his own?” Lu Yuan felt a slight chill in his heart, but his expression remained unchanged.
“Yes.
He said it was luck.
He was holding back a surge of energy, and suddenly it broke through.” “Luck…” Zhao Shi repeated, chuckling.
“And your fighting skills, is that luck too?” “Learned from books.” “Books sure are useful,” Zhao Shi said meaningfully.
“Mind lending it to me to take a look sometime?” “Burned it,” Lu Yuan said.
“We were short on kindling when starting the fire a while ago.” Zhao Shi froze for a second, then burst into hearty laughter.
“Good, burning it is good.” Once he finished laughing, he wiped the corner of his eyes.
“Alright, head on back.
The town hasn’t been peaceful lately; don’t wander out too much.” He waved his hand and turned to walk toward the town.
Lu Yuan stood where he was, watching Zhao Shi’s figure disappear at the end of the dirt road before heading back himself.
The faint warmth in his right palm had not entirely faded.
He opened his hand, and with a thought, the Blue Silver Grass emerged.
The tiny glow around the edges of the leaves seemed to be a fraction brighter than this morning.
During the fight, at the exact instant the vine grew rapidly and sprang up, a “node” at the core of the Blue Silver Grass had grown slightly warm, and the flow of spirit power had accelerated by a tiny fraction.
It was extremely faint.
But it existed.
He withdrew his martial soul and quickened his pace.
Reaching home, he found the courtyard gate slightly ajar.
Lin Xiu was drawing water from the well, and she let out a sigh of relief upon seeing him.
“I heard you went to the riverbank to fight someone?” “A spar,” Lu Yuan corrected.
“No actual blows were traded.” “That’s still dangerous.” Lin Xiu lifted the water bucket.
“That child from the Qian family has higher spirit power than you.
If you got hurt…” “I didn’t get hurt.” Lu Yuan walked to the corner of the backyard, crouching down to check the soil beneath the tiles.
The Soul-Gathering Grass seeds had not sprouted yet.
But he could feel that the faint convergence of spirit power deep within the soil was slightly stronger than yesterday.
It was like a hibernating insect slowly waking up.
He extended his finger, gently pressing it against the soil.
Spirit power seeped from his fingertip, mimicking a specific, slow-pulsing frequency—the knowledge base had mentioned that this was a type of leyline spirit power fluctuation that Soul-Gathering Grass would occasionally absorb in the wild.
It was a very crude simulation.
His spirit power was too weak; the amplitude of the fluctuation was not even thirty percent of the theoretical value.
Yet the moment he pressed down, the convergence of spirit power deep in the soil paused.
Then, in an extremely subtle, echoing manner, it trembled slightly.
Lu Yuan held his breath.
There was a response.
Though so faint it was almost negligible, there was indeed a response.
He withdrew his hand, staring at the damp soil for a long time.
Footsteps sounded behind him.
Lu Qinghe returned carrying a hoe, his trouser legs covered in mud.
“Yuan’er, your mother said you got into a fight with the Qian family boy?” Lu Yuan stood up.
“Yes.
I won.” Lu Qinghe set down his hoe, carefully sizing up his son.
“You didn’t get hurt?” “No.” Lu Qinghe fell silent for a moment, then patted his shoulder.
“It’s good that you won.” He paused.
“But the Qian family…
they’ll likely hold a grudge.” “It was bound to happen sooner or later,” Lu Yuan said.
“Father, how is your cultivation going?” “Not bad.” A smile appeared on Lu Qinghe’s face.
“That ‘vortex’ technique is getting smoother and smoother.
My spirit power circulates much faster now, though I get hungry quickly.” This was a good thing.
An increase in spirit power consumption indicated that his cultivation efficiency was improving.
Lu Yuan nodded.
“Eat more, then.” Lin Xiu walked over.
“Shopkeeper Liu came by again today to ask about the Energy Soup.
He said he wants to increase the quantity, and the price is negotiable.” Lu Yuan frowned.
“How did you reply?” “I told him the herbs are hard to find and we can’t make much,” Lin Xiu whispered.
“But he didn’t seem to believe me.
His eyes looked strange.” Lu Yuan remained silent.
Shopkeeper Liu was a businessman and a shrewd one at that.
Although the effects of the Energy Soup were mild, its reputation had already spread among the low-level laborers.
He had surely smelled profit in it.
Coupled with what happened by the riverbank today…
Troubles truly never came singly.
He looked up at the sky.
The sun was high, its light piercingly bright.
The soil beneath the tiles lay quietly, with the Soul-Gathering Grass seeds sleeping deep within.
Soon.
Just a little more time.
He turned to walk into the house.
As he passed the stove, he caught sight of several green-veined stones piled in the corner.
In the dim light, the pale green veins on the stones seemed to faintly ripple.
The simplified Spirit-Nourishing Array was still short of three core stones.
He needed to go back to the riverbank to look for them.