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"Who did this!?"
A roar like an enraged beast echoed throughout the entire building. The tone was imbued with qi that could even injure ordinary people.
"Father, please calm down..."
A middle-aged man grabbed his father's shoulder. He tried to calm him down. He was also extremely furious, though. His daughter's body had returned home in a wretched state. Bones throughout her body broken in multiple places. Gone was the image of the lofty Miss Han Clan.
"Zhendong! Don't you care about your daughter!?"
The old man turned to shout at his son. This man was the supreme being of the Han Clan.
Mountain Tiger, Grandmaster Han Junpo.
After emerging from cultivation training, he saw his granddaughter's body wrapped in bandages. For a Grandmaster with power in this eastern region, how could he not be angry?
It wasn't just his granddaughter being harmed.
It meant someone was challenging the Han Clan without fear.
"Have you investigated yet?"
After venting some anger, Han Junpo began to calm down. He asked his son when both came out of the patient's room.
"We know who did it."
Han Zhendong, Han Xiaoyi's father, answered. His expression looked both hesitant and surprised, though. Han Junpo grew suspicious.
"Then why haven't you gone to capture them!?"
The old man spoke. His techniques made him hot-tempered. His son Han Zhendong understood this point well.
"Or have they already fled?"
It wasn't strange for Han Junpo to think that way. For someone to provoke a tiger like the Han Clan in the east, there was no way the culprit would dare stay here.
Therefore the only way was to flee from the east. Or perhaps they'd already fled the country. That's why his son couldn't track them down.
"No... The person who harmed Xiaoyi's still in this city."
"Then what are you waiting for!?"
Han Zhendong told him everything before his father got more irritated.
"The person who did it is a Grandmaster..."
"...What did you say?"
Han Junpo deflated like a balloon. He made a tense expression and confirmed with his son.
"The one who did it's called Grandmaster Bai Fanxian. She was at the Tang Clan house the day Xiaoyi went there."
He frowned when he heard his son explain. He knew almost all the Grandmaster names in this country.
Not a single one named Bai Fanxian, though.
Han Junpo's nature was like a wild animal. When fighting he'd be fierce and wild. If he sensed danger, though, he wouldn't rashly jump in. He'd be wary of everything unfamiliar and unknown.
That's what allowed him to lead the Han Clan to prosper above the entire region like this.
"Could it be an undisclosed expert?"
Han Junpo murmured. Having aged to this point, he'd encountered a few unknown Grandmaster-level experts. Each person's skill was no less than famous Grandmasters.
Therefore how many Grandmasters were truly in the whole country—he didn't know.
For unknowns, though, Han Junpo trusted his instincts. Being cautious first would be better.
"Right now she's at a private residence by the sea. What should we do?"
"How old is Grandmaster Bai?"
Han Junpo asked the most important thing. He feared she might be an ancient being from somewhere.
"Judging by outward appearance... estimated at only about twenty years old..."
Whoosh!
Even Han Junpo choked on his saliva when he heard. A Grandmaster this young—this was the first time he'd heard of one.
"...Investigate first. Send people to spy and confirm that person's truly Grandmaster level."
Han Junpo recovered his wits and turned to give orders. His eyes narrowed. Plans began to form in his head.
"And call Longyi back too..."
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.
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Back at the seaside residence, one week had passed since the Black Hawk Unit brought gifts to apologize. Bai Fanxian spent most of her time reading books in the room. She began reading increasingly diverse genres to absorb general knowledge and common sense of the current era that she completely lacked.
"...Most countries in this era don't allow killing people."
Bai Fanxian murmured while closing the law book in her hands. This era also had this rule. Except it was far stricter than previous eras. Murderers were almost condemned by society and immediately rejected.
In previous eras only some cities had this rule. And no matter what, if the killer was a powerful being, no one dared make an issue of it.
"...Is this era like that or not?"
Bai Fanxian pondered alone. She wasn't someone who'd kill people indiscriminately just from being annoyed a bit.
If they hadn't "crossed the line" with her, at most she'd just beat them until they couldn't stand and let them go.
Like that Miss Han Clan.
If they truly "crossed her line," though, she wouldn't mind killing them without leaving evidence.
That way no one could blame her, right?
Bai Fanxian walked out of the room. The deck had become her regular spot—she'd come sit and catch the breeze and enjoy the sea atmosphere.
There she sensed the presence of an old man and two little children. The old man was standing on the beach performing a set of movements. Tang Yeye and Hui'er watched with sparkling eyes.
Huang Zihuan used his free time from managing the house in the afternoon to train his body. Previously when he received injuries, both his cultivation power declined and he couldn't use his body smoothly, so he'd been away from training for a long while.
Huang Zihuan's body had completely recovered now, though. The old man felt as if he'd become ten years younger. A body that moved as desired combined with smoothly flowing qi—it made him very happy.
The two little girls watched Uncle Huang's movements and began copying. Tang Yeye thought it was fun. As for Hui'er, she was more serious. She'd had the dream of wanting to become stronger from the start. So when opportunity was before her, Hui'er tried to learn and memorize everything as much as possible.
As for Huang Zihuan himself, there was no way he'd be stingy with these two children. Seeing both wanted to learn, he didn't hesitate to start teaching correct postures.
Huang Zihuan's movement set was an external power technique called "Tang Clan Eight Movement Fist Song."
It was a technique passed down from Tang Clan ancestors. By the era of Tang Tianjie, he didn't hesitate to teach it to his closest confidant, Uncle Huang, as well.
The Tang Clan Eight Movement Fist Song emphasized movements connected to the ground as foundation. Transferring weight and borrowing power from the ground were the core principles of this fist song.
Therefore the body's foundation must be strong. The hip and thigh areas would be trained most during the beginning stage.
After a while, though, Uncle Huang felt surprised. The two little children's practice of the movement forms went more smoothly than expected. Both children followed simple movements of the Tang Clan fist song comfortably. No signs of fatigue or thigh pain showed at all.
Both their bodies had become most suitable for training. Uncle Huang figured it must be the result of the "Body Cleansing Elixir" that Grandmaster Bai gave these two children to use while bathing.
He watched its results with awe and admiration. It could change ordinary children to become strong and able to easily train martial arts. Just one week yet got results like this.
Uncle Huang didn't want to think about what these two would be like after one year passed.
Bai Fanxian's beautiful figure appeared beside them. She watched the two little children's body training without saying anything. Just staring at the two little children throwing punches.
Uncle Huang was first to notice. He came to pay respects to Bai Fanxian as a butler should. He worried slightly whether his lady would scold him for teaching the two children without consulting her first.
"I don't mind..."
As if Bai Fanxian knew what Uncle Huang was thinking, she waved her hand to put the old man at ease and walked toward the two little children.
"Do you want to cultivate?"
Tang Yeye nodded again and again. As for Hui'er, she nodded. After seeing her lady could easily subdue scary people, that became Hui'er's goal.
She wanted to be strong like her lady.
Seeing the two little children's serious attitudes, Bai Fanxian showed a faint smile.
"Then I'll teach you..."
Bai Fanxian waved her hand. Hui'er's small body floated up from the ground and automatically sat cross-legged in midair. At first Hui'er was startled and cried out. When the familiar pure energy current flowed into the little girl, though, she closed her eyes, knowing that the strange power flowing in her body was her lady's power.
Tang Yeye too. She was lifted by Bai Fanxian's power to float beside her big sister. Bai Fanxian's qi penetrated into her body. Yeye sensed the power she'd felt when receiving treatment that time.
Both floated in midair facing each other. Bai Fanxian's power current flowed through each qi meridian point in their bodies. She tried to guide the little children to become familiar with their own meridians and qi circulation. Seeing it would take a while, Bai Fanxian looked away to let the little children gradually familiarize themselves.
Uncle Huang watched Grandmaster Bai's cultivation initiation method with surprise. Normally, succeeding at Qi Gathering stage was somewhat complicated.
It required one's own effort. Like riding a bicycle or swimming. Once grasping the point, you could do it. After that, even without continued practice, as long as not too long, you could return to familiarity.
As for those who couldn't do it, they just couldn't. Otherwise there wouldn't be people in this world saying they can't swim.
For cultivator families, they'd have their descendants familiarize themselves with qi from childhood. Both elixirs and wondrous items—even the dullest could become Qi Gathering stage. After that depended on each person's talent.
Like Tang Xiuhuan, despite being the Tang Clan's only son, his cultivation power stagnated at 10th-stage Qi Gathering.
Bai Fanxian's teaching was different, though. She used her qi to guide. Once able to sense her qi circulating through the meridian points, soon the two little children's qi would form on its own.
Like holding their hands to write continuously.
For someone to do this, though, without mastering meridian points and qi control to the utmost, there was no way to do it.
And doing two people simultaneously was even more impossible.