Rebirth of the Useless Bastard Son - Chapter 9

Li Tianyan awaited Li Tianzhou’s response. The eldest son of the Li family, akin to his mother, was sanctimonious and fond of pretending to be virtuous. Li Tianyan believed he was misled by Li Tianzhou when he went to Hong Man about the marriage matter. He suspected that the whole affair might have been orchestrated by this mother and son.

Surprisingly, Li Tianzhou, with a serious expression, stated, “Although Li Hong is our cousin, he should willingly admit defeat in a competition.”

Li Hong’s face turned pale upon hearing Li Tianzhou’s words, realizing the consequences of his actions. Not only did he fail to gain any benefits, but he also lost face in front of the eldest young master.

Li Tianzhou shifted his attention away from Li Hong, focusing on Li Tianyan. “Since the third brother can practice martial arts, why didn’t you tell me before? I can arrange for you to train with this year’s apprentices. Tiancheng went to Tianfan Immortal Sect, and I’ve gathered many talented individuals this year. You’ll make faster progress by studying with them.”

“I’m used to being free and undisciplined. I can’t bear the hardship of training, so I won’t bother my brother,” Li Tianyan shrugged, adopting a cynical tone that angered the warriors who had just begun to admire him.

Li Tianzhou squinted his eyes, seemingly probing the truth or falsehood of Li Tianyan’s words. After a moment, he spoke seriously, “You’re already married and have a family, yet you act like this.”

“Speaking of marriage, I haven’t properly thanked my eldest brother yet. If it weren’t for his consolation, I wouldn’t have had the courage to decide to marry my wife. Now I have a well-behaved and lovely wife,” Li Tianyan’s words carried some sincerity, but it might be perceived differently by others.

“Now that it’s a fact, you can live a good life with your wife from now on and avoid anything that might lead to self-harm,” Li Tianzhou remarked, sensing the peculiar gazes around him. He then departed with his entourage.

Surprisingly, Li Tianyan’s temperament had become sharp after his illness, contrary to the expectation of complete devastation.

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Li Hong, seizing an opportunity, pulled out a short dagger from his boot and struck at Li Tianyan’s vital part. However, the person with his back to Li Hong seemed to have eyes on the back of his head. Instantly, Li Tianyan’s stick knocked Li Hong to the ground, the unsuspecting attacker falling ungracefully.

Li Tianyan, showing no mercy, used his spiritual energy to target several vital points on Li Hong’s body, ensuring that he would be incapacitated for some time.

“Does the martial arts master teach you to resort to sneak attacks when you can’t win?” Li Tianyan remarked sternly.

Li Hong, feeling the pain as if several tendons were broken, panicked and shouted, “Li Tianyan, what did you do to me?”

“If you still don’t admit defeat, we will continue,” Li Tianyan responded, threateningly fiddling with the stick in his hand.

Pale-faced from the pain, Li Hong, seeing Li Tianyan preparing to continue the fight, gritted his teeth and knelt down on one knee, surrendering, “I surrender, please… please, master.”

Satisfied, Li Tianyan took back the stick and then pointed it at the onlookers. “You, come down.”

Everyone directed their attention to where Li Tianyan’s stick was pointing and realized it was the person who had mocked Li Tianyan for marrying an “ugly shuanger.” A collective understanding dawned, realizing that Li Tianyan was planning to settle scores.

Huang He, though a bit scared, took a step forward when called out by Li Tianyan, saying, “Okay, I’m afraid you won’t make it.”

Despite being at the acquired second level, Huang He was stronger than Li Hong. Many anticipated an interesting fight, but it ended up being another one-sided beating.

Li Tianyan observed the strength of the first level of Qi Condensation was not significantly different from the second level of acquired martial arts. However, his experience surpassed this group of martial arts disciples. Bullying a few young boys didn’t pose any challenge for Li Tianyan.

After severely punishing Huang He, Li Tianyan dropped his stick and left the training ground without looking back. The few who were initially worried breathed a sigh of relief, grateful that the “evil plague” was gone. They were relieved they didn’t have to face a challenge, whether willingly or not.

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Chen Junshi arrived at the training ground, furious at the lack of seriousness in today’s training. The martial arts disciples, came to their senses, faced his stern reprimand.

“Master,” they greeted.

“Explain what happened,” demanded Chen Junshi as he approached Li Hong and Huang He, both visibly battered and bruised from their recent beating. The master realized that these two had engaged in a fight.

Duan Xiu, who watched the excitement without taking it too seriously, immediately jumped out and described to Chen Junshi exactly what had just happened.

“You’re saying it was Li Tianyan who beat them both like this?” Chen Junshi still didn’t believe it after hearing this.

“Yes, many of us saw it with our own eyes.” After Duan Xiu said this, others nodded in agreement.

“Master, what about the third young master… isn’t the young master too weak to practice martial arts?” Huang He asked Chen Junshi with a sad face. If Li Tianyan was like this and claimed to have never practiced martial arts, he would immediately swallow a stone and commit suicide.

Chen Junshi was also stopped by the question, then he yelled angrily, “Why are you asking so many questions? Why don’t you go practice better? If you continue to be lazy, you will continue to get beaten.” Then he pointed at Li Hong and Huang He, saying, “You two are training twice as much today.”

A group of half-grown teenagers were yelled at by Chen Junshi and immediately dispersed back to the training ground to start practicing. However, not long after, Li Hong suddenly fell to the ground and laid there, rolling in pain.

“What’s going on?” Chen Junshi saw that the fallen person was Li Hong and hurried over to check.

Although Li Hong was not as skilled as the other young masters of the Li family, he was still a member of the Li family. Naturally, Chen Junshi did not dare to be careless.

“It hurts, save me.” Li Hong was so tortured by the pain that he broke into a cold sweat and was almost speechless.

Chen Junshi pressed Li Hong’s body a few times and found that many tendons on Li Hong’s body were damaged, his face turning solemn. Initially, he thought even if Li Tianyan could defeat the two apprentices, he shouldn’t have been able to inflict much harm. Unexpectedly, Li Tianyan delivered such a heavy blow.

However, Li Hong’s sneak attack broke the competition rules first, so it was no wonder others seriously injured him.

“Master, Li Hong must have been beaten like this by Li Tianyan, right?” Huang He felt frightened seeing Li Hong seriously injured and quickly checked the places where he had been beaten.

“We won’t be sure until the pharmacist has seen it. You guys should send him back first,” Chen Junshi said to the warriors gathered around him out of curiosity.

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Li Tianyan, reading classics in the Training Pavilion at this time, had long forgotten about Li Hong. However, there were not many books about body refining in the Training Pavilion, and the contents were very superficial. After reading for a long time, Li Tianyan didn’t gain much.

He remembered that the original owner had read an article about the Yin family’s body refining technique. Mother Yin hoped Li Tianyan could improve his physique through it, but at that time, he only thought about joining Tianfan Immortal Sect and studied it sparsely. In addition, the technique started from harmonizing the five internal organs, with a gradual transformation from inside to outside. The initial effect was not obvious, and the content was difficult to understand. Li Tianyan gave up impatiently after reading the opening chapter, now unable to recall its name.

However, if this body refining technique indeed strengthened muscles and bones by regulating the five internal organs, it might solve the body’s congenital deficiencies. The five internal organs also represented the five elements, making Li Tianyan felt this formula was suitable for him.

Thinking of this, Li Tianyan left the Training Pavilion and walked to Haitang Courtyard where Mother Yin once lived. The original owner had refused, so Mother Yin took back the technique and kept it for herself.

In half a day, news of the training ground incident spread throughout most of Li Mansion. While leaving the Training Pavilion, Li Tianyan noticed people’s changed eyes but paid little attention to it.