Chapter 34 : Chapter 34
Chapter 34: The Mysterious Elder’s Observation Period
“Father.”
Wang Longcheng bowed slightly.
The person before him was none other than his father-in-law.
Bai Tiewei, meanwhile, sat there casually and asked the old man, “Dad, what do you think of this child?”
The old man did not reply.
Instead, with his hands clasped behind his back, he strolled over and looked at Wang Longcheng as he asked, “Longcheng, tell me your thoughts first.”
Wang Longcheng respectfully replied, “Dad, there are three things I value about this child.”
“First, he has shown me kindness, and his background is very clean.”
“Second, he has astonishing comprehension and is a genius when it comes to cultivation methods.”
“Third, with an F-rank talent, he still reached the top of the Abyss First Battle. He has both courage and brains.”
“The true worth of this child is far higher than people imagine.”
“It is only a matter of time before he grows strong.”
“Of course, it is also only a matter of time before the Heaven Society sets its sights on him...”
“That is precisely why I want to protect him.”
“If a genius like this falls into the hands of the Heaven Society, the consequences will be unthinkable.”
“And if Li Mu grows up, he will absolutely become a fierce general of the human camp!”
Bai Tiewei, seated to the side, nodded in deep agreement.
“That’s true. In recent years, the Heaven Society has only become more and more rampant.”
“And its persecution of talented people has become increasingly hard to guard against.”
“That makes it all the more necessary to pay close attention to them one by one!”
After the two of them finished speaking, they both looked at the old man.
If Li Mu had been here and heard the words Heaven Society, his hair would have stood on end.
The Heaven Society!
A global evil organization.
It gathered elites from every walk of life across the world.
Yet the Heaven Society persecuted talented martial artists, seized Abyss resources, and committed every evil imaginable.
No one knew what the Heaven Society’s true objective was.
But there was one thing that filled people with dread.
The Heaven Society was everywhere.
Not only had it infiltrated every country, but from top to bottom, from officials and farmers to artisans and merchants, there were traces of the Heaven Society in every class.
And yet the members of the Heaven Society were no different from ordinary people.
Their only hidden marker was a pair of golden eyes.
Of course, those only appeared when they revealed themselves as members of the Heaven Society.
At ordinary times, they looked completely normal!
And anyone who had seen those golden eyes faced only two choices: either join the Heaven Society and wallow in evil with them, or fight to the death without end.
The Heaven Society could be said to be, aside from the Abyss, humanity’s greatest threat.
By persecuting outstanding martial artists, what they were doing was nothing less than cutting down the finest seedlings of every other power.
Without a doubt, that was helping the Abyss diminish the strength of the human race!
After pondering for a while, the old man gave a faint nod and said quietly, “I... agree to enter him into the observation period.”
Wang Longcheng was overjoyed and gave him a solemn, deep bow!
“Thank you, Father-in-law!”
The old man chuckled.
“Longcheng, for you to make a request like this of me, it seems you really do like this child a great deal.”
“Alright, the serious business is over.”
“The two of you stop being an eyesore and hurry off.”
“I’m going to wait here for my precious granddaughter to come back.”
The old man waved them away. When he got to the end, he even glanced at the time.
Wang Longcheng and Bai Tiewei exchanged a look, both of them smiling and shaking their heads, before walking out of the villa and going off to their respective work.
…
The minister of the Jixiang Road Law Enforcement Branch, however, was not nearly so happy after leaving the hotel.
He got into the car with a bitter expression and, for a moment, even forgot to tell the driver where to go.
He simply sat there blankly in the back seat.
Cold sweat was still seeping out nonstop!
Only after a long while did he finally speak. “Back to the branch!”
The driver hurriedly started the car and headed toward the branch.
The minister then took out his phone and turned the sound back on, only to discover several missed calls.
They were all from Li Dayong and Old Madam Ma of the Li family.
Just as he was stewing in anger, Li Dayong called again.
He picked up, and Li Dayong’s anxious voice came from the other end.
“Oh, Minister Song, I’ve finally reached you!”
“I kept calling you just now, but I couldn’t get through.”
“There was a bit of an accident with Li Mu’s matter, and we couldn’t keep him at the Jixiang Road branch.”
“Do you think you can send people to his house and drag him in?”
“I know where he’s staying right now!”
The moment Li Dayong finished speaking, Minister Song exploded on the spot.
“Arrest your mother! Li Dayong, you almost got me killed!”
“Don’t ever come to me again with your family’s bullshit!!”
With that, Minister Song viciously ended the call.
He did not dare turn around and go after the Li family either.
Even though the Li family’s power was not all that impressive right now, they still belonged to the kind of people who were stupid but rich.
Money could buy them a great many conveniences.
But now he no longer dared take the Li family’s money.
Compared to his own life, there was no choice to make at all.
At the same time, Li Mu had already returned to the blacksmith shop.
When she heard from her son that he had not been mistreated, Yang Suying finally let out the breath she had been holding in her heart.
His little aunt, meanwhile, was extremely excited.
“Hmph, as if they’d dare do anything to the champion of the First Battle!”
“All those leaders and the media were watching!”
“Oh, my precious nephew is amazing. Tonight we’re having a grand feast!”
“Come on, Sis, let’s go shopping!”
Although his little aunt was nearing forty, her personality was very lively.
Her two children had inherited her temperament completely.
The moment they heard that there was going to be a grand feast, they immediately cheered, shouting long live Cousin, long live Mom.
His little aunt dragged Yang Suying away.
That left Chen Jiaqi and Chen Jiafeng gathered around Li Mu, excitedly chattering and shouting.
His little uncle-in-law said with a smile, “Hey, hey, you two, stop pestering your cousin all the time. You’re going to make his head hurt with all that noise!”
“Dad, I’m asking my cousin something important!”
After saying that, Chen Jiaqi turned to Li Mu and asked, “Cousin, my standard cultivation method also uses the spear, but after watching your fight, I want to switch to the staff!”
“How are you even better with a staff than with a spear!?”
Li Mu suddenly felt like teasing the two of them a little.
He dug into his ear.
And the Thornflower Staff appeared in his hand.
Neither of them had awakened a talent yet, and both were still at the early stage of Yellow Rank, First Grade, just the right time to lay their foundations.
Naturally, they were both practicing standard cultivation methods.
Li Mu walked over to the smithing shed and laid the Thornflower Staff horizontally across two iron tables.
“Come on. Lift it.”
The two little ones immediately rushed over, scrambling to grab Li Mu’s weapon and swing it around a bit.
This was the weapon of the champion of the First Battle. Just thinking about it felt imposing.
Unfortunately, the moment the two of them reached out and tried to lift it, it did not move at all!
“Huh!”
“Ah!”
“Why is it so heavy?”
“Sis, one on each side! Let’s lift it together!”
The two of them strained so hard their teeth were bared, but the three-hundred-pound staff could only roll back and forth a tiny bit. There was no way they could actually lift it.
At that point, even his little uncle-in-law grew curious.
“Oh? Nephew, what’s going on with this weapon? Let me try!”
His little uncle-in-law immediately rolled up his sleeves and stepped forward.
“Go, Dad!” The two kids immediately switched to cheering for their father.
His little uncle-in-law was, after all, a blacksmith.
Even though he only had Second-Grade cultivation, he was still full of brute strength.
He gripped the Thornflower Staff with both hands and exerted himself, veins bulging on his arms like little snakes.
And he managed to lift the Thornflower Staff.
But before Chen Jiaqi and Chen Jiafeng could finish cheering, his little uncle-in-law slammed the Thornflower Staff down on the ground with a thud.
The ground trembled faintly.
His little uncle-in-law stared at the Thornflower Staff in astonishment and said in wonder, “How can this weapon be this heavy? No wonder you smashed that giant python to death with a single strike!”
“Nephew, do you normally keep this thing inside your ear?”
Li Mu smiled and nodded, then stepped forward and took the Thornflower Staff back.
With a light flick, he spun out a flourish with the staff.
Earlier, the three of them had not felt much when they saw Li Mu using the staff.
But after personally experiencing the weight of the staff, watching Li Mu now swing it around so effortlessly, that feeling of shock was simply beyond description.
“Cousin, put on a martial performance!”
Chen Jiaqi had turned into a little fangirl off to the side, excitedly shouting for Li Mu to demonstrate his staff technique.
Li Mu did not want to ruin his younger cousins’ fun.
He immediately shouted boldly, “Alright!”
Then, with a clang, he kicked the Thornflower Staff up into the air, caught it in his hand, and performed a simplified version of the Five Shakes of Flowing Clouds.
He also added some of his own understanding into the moves.
The style was broad and forceful, whistling through the air.
Like an autumn wind sweeping fallen leaves, it stirred up dust all over the ground.
Chen Jiaqi and Chen Jiafeng shouted encouragement nonstop in admiration.
Even his little uncle-in-law was shouting excitedly.
He was genuinely happy for his nephew.
At first, he had thought that after his S-rank talent had been taken away, the child’s future had gone dark.
But now, it seemed there was no longer any need to worry about that at all!
As for Li Mu, while performing the martial routine, he opened the system and little by little began increasing the weight through the Divine Weapon Art.
Three hundred pounds was not even a fraction of the Golden-Hooped Rod’s weight.
No matter what, Li Mu had to set himself a small goal first.
He would first catch up to the Golden-Hooped Rod’s fractional weight—five hundred pounds.
So Li Mu kept increasing the weight added by the Divine Weapon Art while taking advantage of the martial routine to feel out the weight limit he could handle while wielding the Thornflower Staff.
After coming out of the First Battle, Li Mu’s victory points stood at 488.
When Li Mu poured 88 points into it, the weight added by the Divine Weapon Art rose to 328 pounds. Together with the weapon itself, that brought the total to 388 pounds.
The moment he increased it to that weight, he had only just used the Third Shake of Flowing Clouds
when he suddenly felt an aching waist, a sore back, and cramps in his legs!
His younger cousins were still cheering, only to see Li Mu suddenly stop.
One hand braced on the staff and the other clutching his lower back, he slowly shuffled toward his room step by step.
“Cousin! What’s wrong with you!?”
Li Mu did not even turn his head. Gasping in pain, he replied in a hoarse voice, “I threw my back out...”