56: Very warm

"What! Make Lin Yi kneel? And even kowtow three times? Chen Jiangping, don't go too far!"

As soon as Chen Jiangping finished speaking, Zhao Haihong, who had been silent on the side, suddenly became furious:

"We Martial Artists would rather break than bend. We have always only knelt to the heavens, the earth, our teachers, and our parents. For anyone else, even if we were to meet the Sect Master of Tianshan Sect, or even the masters of the Daoist or Buddhist Holy Lands, we would only need to bow."

"Now you want Lin Yi to kneel? This is ten thousand times more cruel than killing him! What are you trying to do!"

"Shut up!"

Chen Jiangping gave a cold snort, a trace of icy killing intent flashing in his sinister eyes:

"Old man, I call you Old Zhao on ordinary days, and you really think you're someone important?"

"Just a mere Third-Rank Martial Artist, relying on the prestige of the Heavenly Mountain Sect, you actually dare to clamor before me?"

"If you dare say one more word, don't blame me for being impolite!"

"Fine!"

Zhao Haihong was extremely angry:

"I, Zhao Haihong, have traversed the world all my life and have seen countless First-Rank Martial Artists, but no one has ever dared to speak to me like this. You mere junior, I want to see today just how you plan to be impolite to me!"

"Old man, you're looking for death! Do you really think I wouldn't dare to strike you?"

"Enough!"

Inside the tea room, just as the two were about to start a fight, a resonant voice suddenly rang out.

Inside the tea room, Lin Yi suddenly spoke. His eyes were bloodshot, staring fixedly at Chen Jiangping. His gaze held unwillingness, anger, despair, and a tiny, almost invisible sliver of hope.

Finally, he said to Chen Jiangping in a somewhat hoarse voice:

"Tower Master Chen, if I really kneel and kowtow to you, will you really take action?"

"Yes!"

Hearing Lin Yi's words, a look of deep excitement and madness flashed in Chen Jiangping's eyes:

"As long as you kneel and kowtow, I will immediately take action to save your parents. I will not go back on my word!"

"Fine!"

"Then, I will kneel!"

Lin Yi gritted his teeth and closed his eyes. Then, his body, which was as straight as a javelin, fell to his knees with a "thud," and he kowtowed for the first time:

"Thump!"

"I beg Tower Master Chen to show mercy and save my parents!"

"Thump!"

"I beg Tower Master Chen to show mercy and save my parents!"

"Thump!"

"I beg Tower Master Chen to show mercy and save my parents!"

...Lin Yi kowtowed forcefully, his fists clenched tightly, seemingly out of anger and unwillingness. He kowtowed until bright red blood flowed from his forehead.

"Hahaha!"

"Hahaha..."

Seeing this, Chen Jiangping laughed. His sinister face twisted in a mad laugh, and he laughed until tears came to his eyes:

"This is a Genius! This is the so-called Genius!"

"Aren't you all very powerful? Aren't you all very proud? In the end, aren't you all just as humble as a pathetic worm before me, only able to kowtow and beg for mercy?"

"Haha! Ridiculous! Truly ridiculous!"

Chen Jiangping laughed maniacally for nearly the time it takes for an incense stick to burn before finally wiping away the tears of laughter. Then, he said coldly to Lin Yi:

"Alright! Lin Yi, get up! I've seen you kneel. Now you can follow that old thing Zhao Haihong and get lost back to your Dongshan Martial Academy."

"Return to Dongshan Martial Academy?"

Lin Yi's heart sank heavily, but he still held onto a sliver of hope:

"Then when does Tower Master Chen plan to save my parents? After all, Qingfeng Stockade only gave me seven days. Once seven days pass, it will be useless even if the Tower Master takes action."

"Oh, save them?"

Hearing this, a playful look appeared on Chen Jiangping's face, and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly:

"When did I ever promise to save your parents? How come I don't remember?"

"What! You don't remember!"

Hearing these words, Lin Yi felt his head explode, as if a bolt of lightning had struck him directly from above.

For a moment, his mind went completely blank.

"Chen Jiangping, you are looking for death!"

On the other side, Zhao Haihong was completely enraged by the sight. He trembled with fury, his hair and beard standing on end.

In the next instant, he struck out with a roar!

"Boom!"

The powerful force of his fist broke through layers of air, and the terrifying strength kicked up a massive gale from the punch, making the entire tea room tremble.

The floorboards of the tea room were ripped up inch by inch under this fearsome gale, as if plowed by a massive tornado, revealing the soil beneath.

This was a Martial Dao Third-Rank Martial Artist, an expert who had comprehended the Limit Breaking Realm. Each was powerful, like a human-shaped natural disaster.

In his past life, that would have been a superman among supermen, someone even a well-equipped modern army probably couldn't handle.

In this world, such a person was an expert capable of making a name for themselves across an entire prefecture.

But this level of strength was still too weak before Chen Jiangping, who was at the Second Rank Peak or even close to the First Rank!

"Old man! You actually dare to attack me? You truly don't know the meaning of death! Get lost along with this little beast!"

"Boom!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a fierce light flashed in Chen Jiangping's eyes, and he flicked his sleeve.

In an instant, a surge of vigorous Blood Qi Power, many times stronger than Zhao Haihong's, erupted from his body, forming a powerful dragon-shaped airwave in front of him.

The qi dragon bared its fangs and brandished its claws, its power terrifying. It plowed a fearsome trench five feet wide and several zhang long into the ground, crushing Zhao Haihong's fist force almost instantly.

Then, the remaining force slammed directly into Zhao Haihong, and then into Lin Yi behind him, sending both flying. They crashed through the wooden walls of the tea room and fell miserably onto the street outside the Wanxiang Tower.

"Cough, cough!"

On the street, Zhao Haihong coughed up blood, his pale cheeks turning even whiter. His eyes, filled with anger and unwillingness, first glared fiercely at Chen Jiangping, who was now sitting calmly inside the tea room, before he hurriedly rushed to Lin Yi's side.

"Lin Yi, are you alright? Did that strike just now hurt you?"

Zhao Haihong spoke, his face full of concern.

But Lin Yi's expression was wooden. No matter how much Zhao Haihong shook him, he didn't say a word.

At this moment, his mind was filled with memories of being with his father and mother.

From his birth, when his mother patiently taught him how to babble while his father made funny faces to make him happy.

To when he was four, and his father taught Disciples martial arts on the Martial Arts Field while he sat on the stone stools the Disciples used for training, blinking his large eyes and watching curiously.

And when he was six and started practicing martial arts for the first time. Back then, because he hadn't awakened a talent, he was very clumsy and could never learn.

Then his father would teach him patiently, over and over again, while his mother sat nearby knitting a Tiger-head Hat for him, watching with a smile.

And when he was eight... nine... twelve... even half a year ago, when he was struggling to scrape together 68 taels of silver to evolve his first talent.

At that time, it was also his father, lying on a tattered bed, dragging his injured body, who grinned and handed him eighty taels of silver.

But now, such a good father and mother, the best father and mother in the world... were gone!

All gone!

"Ugh... ugh..."

On the street, Lin Yi lay on the cold ground, his mouth open, but not a single sound came out. Only endless tears flowed from his eyes like a spring. No matter how Zhao Haihong comforted or called out to him, he heard nothing; only his tears kept streaming down.

Finally, he didn't know how long he cried, until his tears ran dry. He finally slowly pushed himself up with his injured body and walked down the street, his eyes vacant and his mind in a daze.

"Child..."

Seeing Lin Yi looking like a walking corpse, Zhao Haihong's eyes flashed with deep heartache. He shot a look of intense resentment at Chen Jiangping before following behind Lin Yi.

On the street, Lin Yi didn't know what to do. He was in a daze, his mind constantly flashing back to every little detail of his time with his father and mother.

Finally, after walking for an unknown amount of time, he stopped.

"This is... the small courtyard of Dongshan Martial Academy? The courtyard where I usually practice!"

Looking at the familiar surroundings, at his usual long saber on the weapon rack in the courtyard, Lin Yi's vacant eyes slowly regained a hint of light.

Then, he stepped forward, slowly walked to the weapon rack, took down that snow-white long saber, and began to practice his saber skills according to the memory of the first time his father taught him.

A slash, a cleave, an upward stroke, a chop... every move was incredibly simple, the kind of practice only a child just beginning to learn saber techniques would do.

But at this moment, Lin Yi practiced with extreme seriousness.

Because this was the first saber technique his father had taught him, and back then, his mother had watched with a beaming smile.

That feeling was, truly, very warm.