Translator: Aristophaneso Editor: Caron_
Ye Tian and Ye Wei were exchanging words in the square, and a whole group of villagers was gathered around them watching the drama unfold.
After hearing Ye Wei’s words, the people understood what had happened. Ye Wei was intentionally messing with Ye Tian and a lot of the villagers were upset; they were all simple and honest folk who were fairly straightforward.
But a portion of them took dark pleasure in Ye Tian’s misfortune; all of these youths had once envied Ye Tian’s talent.
“Ye Wei, brat, do you want to be beaten?” Ye Tian couldn’t even say a word before Ye Meng cried out angrily, furious that his son was being bullied.
“Ye Meng, this is an issue between the younger generation. Are you interfering? And my son did nothing wrong—that’s exactly what the Captain said.” Ye Ba spoke up, Ye Wei’s father and the Vice-Captain of the hunter team. With his Level Eight Martial Warrior status, he didn’t care one bit for Ye Meng, a Level Seven.
“Ye Ba, you know that my son didn’t awaken his Martial Spirit!” Ye Meng snapped back.
“And who’s to blame for that? The Captain didn’t say that those who failed to awaken their Martial Spirit didn’t need to compete!” Ye Ba replied coldly.
“You…” Ye Meng stuttered, furious beyond compare.
“Enough!”
Ye Feng cried, his piercing eyes silencing the entire square. Before the Captain, a man who stood to succeed the Village Chief, even Ye Ba had to obey.
“Hmph!”
Ye Tian watched with cold eyes as everything played out, and he saw firsthand how important strength was. On Shen Zhou Continent, inhabited by Martial Warriors, only experts could speak and make decisions.
Ye Feng was this expert here, and as long as he opened his mouth, others had to stay silent.
“Ye Tian, speak—why did you not join the competition?” Ye Feng asked with a deep voice, turning to Ye Tian.
After the mess made by this father-son pair, Ye Ba and Ye Wei, if he didn’t punish Ye Tian, the consequences might be uncomfortable. However, he knew Ye Tian was innocent so he would only give him a small punishment.
But Ye Tian’s reply shocked everyone.
“The answer, Uncle Feng, is that I have advanced to the Martial Warrior realm and naturally do not have to join the competition,” Ye Tian calmly replied, his face neutral from beginning to end.
After he finished speaking, the entire square seemed to plunge into silence.
On the other side, the old villagers were just beginning to party.
“Come, drink, old brothers need to drink!”
“Village Chief, the little guys are making some trouble. Don’t you need to go deal with it?”
“Deal with it? Why? The youth will always have this energy; weren’t you the same when you were younger? Feng er will handle it.”
Ye Shi and the other village elders were drinking a little distance away, but they were all experts and could naturally hear the argument going on. When Ye Tian spoke, all of them turned in stunned disbelief.
“Martial Warrior?”
“How’s that possible?”
“Ye Tian must be mad!”
A furor broke out after the silence and everyone was shaking their heads in disbelief. All of them were sure that Ye Tian had broken under the weight of humiliation and lost his mind.
Ye Meng was also agitated and he grabbed Ye Tian’s arm, loudly saying: “Tian er, are you alright? What are you saying? Don’t scare me. Don’t worry—your old man is here, so no one will dare to touch you.”
“Ay, this child… I didn’t think he would break under this blow!” Ye Shi sighed, slowly turning away.
“Don’t be too sure; maybe he really has advanced to Martial Warrior,” an old man beside him murmured. If Ye Tian were here, he would’ve clearly recognized the old Elder from the Martial Instruction Pavilion.
“Old Three, what do you mean?” Ye Shi asked with furrowed brows.
“Keep watching. Today will be a good day,” the Martial Instruction Pavilion elder replied, a small smile dancing across his lips as he thought to himself: this child really hides himself well; he even hid it from his father. Ye Wei, that brat, has really kicked a steel plate this time. All that remains to be seen is how well his Thundering Palm’s cultivation has gone.
Ye Shi heard the elder’s words and his frown deepened, and he turned back to look at Ye Tian.
In the distance, Ye Tian didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as Ye Meng worried over him.
“Dad, even you don’t believe me? I really did advance to Martial Warrior.” Ye Tian smiled bitterly.
“Tian er, we’re leaving. Don’t worry—they won’t dare stop us!” Ye Meng couldn’t listen to Ye Tian’s nonsense anymore and grabbed him, turning to leave.
“Hey…” Ye Wei called out, but before he could say another word, he was shut down by Ye Feng’s piercing glare.
Ye Ba saw what was happening and didn’t say another word, only whispering to Ye Wei: “Son, that’s enough.”
On the other side, Ye Feng began speaking, addressing Ye Meng: “Take him away and we’ll just let this matter pass since it was I who did not consider his situation. If you need any help, come to me.”
Obviously, he also thought Ye Tian had been overcome by the blow and had gone crazy.
“Thank you, Captain!” Ye Meng said gratefully. The captain’s words had left no face for himself, and Ye Meng was very surprised and touched that Ye Feng had been so generous.
Meanwhile, the ignored Ye Tian was speechless. Was the truth about his advancement really so difficult to believe?
“Ay!”
Ye Tian sighed quietly, taking his hand from his father and walking over to a pile of boulders by the square.
“Tian er, what are you doing? Quickly come with me,” Ye Meng said hurriedly, but Ye Feng grabbed his arm as he tried to nervously grab his son.
“Captain?” Ye Meng asked, frowning at Ye Feng.
Ye Feng’s eyes gleamed, following Ye Tian as he walked towards the pile of boulders, whispering: “Wait, maybe Ye Tian hasn’t gone crazy.”
“En? Captain, you mean…?” Ye Meng paused before excitement crept onto his face.
“Captain, you don’t really believe that the brat advanced to Martial Warrior?” Ye Ba’s mocking voice floated over.
“Impossible. He failed to awaken his Martial Spirit, so how could he advance to Martial Warrior?!” Ye Wei sneered.
At this point, everyone was watching Ye Tian as he walked towards the boulders, including Ye Shi and the other elders.
The pile held ten boulders in total, corresponding to the ten Martial Warrior levels. The first stone weighed five hundred kilograms and was a weight that only a Level One Martial Warrior could lift, completely out of reach for Martial Apprentice realm practitioners.
The ten boulders were placed here for Ye Family Village Martial Warriors to test their level.
Ye Tian walked to the boulders, his intention clear as day. Everyone watched, some of them expectant while others smiled coldly, full of schadenfreude.
“Since you all don’t believe me, I’ll have to prove it to you. All of you have misjudged me!”
Ye Tian walked up to the first boulder.
All the gathered villagers watched with bated breath.
No matter how foolish Ye Meng was in the moment, he still clearly understood his son’s intentions, and his heart was filled with emotion as he wondered if Tian er had really advanced to Martial Warrior. After all, he had never heard of a Martial Warrior without a Martial Spirit.
“Ye Tian, I dare you to try to lift that. If you can really lift it then I’ll eat this stone.” Ye Wei mocked him coldly.
Today wasn’t simply the New Year Festival; it was also his big day, and later that day, he would be accompanied by the Martial Warriors to the Lin Family Village to greet Lin Jiaojiao. Ye Wei was high-spirited and filled with vigor and was eagerly awaiting Ye Tian’s foolish act.
“Really, I hope you don’t regret it!”
Ye Tian finally turned at these words, a strange smile on his face.
“Hmph, wait until you’ve actually lifted it before you speak, or do I need to give you a long hour to prepare?” Ye Wei sneered.
“No need.”
Ye Tian snorted and turned, hugging the boulder with his arms and grunting, lifting up with his arms. The boulder began to shake as Ye Tian’s True Qi billowed, and in one clean movement, it was lifted off the ground and up into the air above his head.
At that moment, the square was as silent as death.
Everyone looked over at Ye Tian, truly wonderful expressions plastered on their faces, a splendid moment beyond compare. After a silence that lasted an eternity, a series of cries filled the air.
“Hahaha…” Ye Meng laughed out brilliantly, his face filled with happiness. “Tian er, you did it! You’re a Martial Warrior!”
“It’s true!” Ye Feng called out in shock. Even though he had guessed Ye Tian’s intentions, he was still shocked by Ye Tian’s display.
In the distance, Village Chief Ye Shi was also utterly floored and he blinked to himself as he remembered the words he had just heard, turning to the Martial Instruction Pavilion’s elder and whispering: “Old man, did you already know?”
“Heehee, of course. The brat took the pavilion’s Thundering Palm from me, but even I don’t know how his cultivation has progressed.” The elder smiled until his eyes disappeared.
“Thundering Palm? He’s just a Level One Martial Warrior yet he wants to cultivate the Thundering Palm? Why did you give him this Martial Skill? You’re wasting his talent!” Ye Shi said, worried.
“Don’t worry—the brat isn’t short-sighted. We just need to watch him carefully and perhaps he’ll give us a happy surprise,” the Martial Instruction Pavilion elder replied as he smiled.
“You can’t believe that he succeeded in cultivating the Thundering Palm?” Ye Shi asked with astonishment.
“Perhaps!” The elder equivocated, smiling.
“How’s that possible? Even if he advanced to Martial Warrior, it’s only been a short while. It’d be impossible for him to have cultivated the Thundering Palm.” Ye Shi shook his head with certainty, utterly unwilling to admit the possibility.
“Yet you even thought he had no Martial Spirit.” The elder laughed in reply.
“This…” Ye Shi began, but he had no words to say.
Out by the boulders was the source of everyone’s shock, and the villagers were still staring at Ye Tian with disbelief.
“Hong Long!”
With a loud thud, Ye Tian returned the boulder to the ground, shaking the entire square.
His hands clear, Ye Tian turned and looked over the gathered crowd, satisfaction covering his face. All the onlookers could do was stare back in stunned amazement.
So this is how it feels to look down on others? Heehee, not bad! Ye Tian thought to himself, his gaze sweeping over his fellow villagers as his heart soared. At that moment, he felt as if he was about to break through to Martial Warrior Level Two.
“Impossible!”
A loud cry filled the air as Ye Wei shouted, glaring in disbelief: “Impossible. You don’t have a Martial Spirit, so how are you a Martial Warrior?”
“Actions trump fantasy!” Ye Tian sneered.
“Hmph, who knows whether you played some sort of trick? If you have the skills then fight me and we can show our true skills!” Ye Wei snorted in response.
Ye Tian’s eyes gleamed at these words, thinking, You really want to court death? Today, I’ll beat you until you can’t enter the bridal chamber, and then we’ll see if you still dare to act so arrogantly.
As these thoughts flashed through his mind, Ye Tian turned to look Ye Wei in the eye and replied simply: “Then let’s fight.”
Suddenly, the crowd exploded in conversation as everyone’s eyes filled with expectation.