The Way of the Grandmasters

On the same morning, just as Lu Qingming was waking up, a path leading away from Tian Ruo City stretched into the distance.

Naturally, this kind of place was deserted. On one side of the path, there was a stretch of trees. At this moment, a bored child leaned against a tree, murmuring to himself, "We haven't walked for long, and Master suddenly said he wanted to meditate. But why is it taking so long? So boring..."

Boredom often leads to wandering thoughts.

Wang Xiaoer couldn't help but think of Bai Xiaoyu.

That adorable face made Wang Xiaoer silently shed tears.

Bao, I miss you!

As he wiped the corner of his eye, he found a tear had indeed fallen.

Ah.

Was that love that ended before it even began?

Turns out, my love is so bittersweet.

Perhaps, it's only after losing love that a man truly grows up.

I recall the sunset on that day, the moment when Xiaoyu and I parted ways...

Thunk!

Just as Wang Xiaoer was lamenting the fickleness of life, he felt a sharp pain in his head.

"Master! When hitting someone, don't hit their face."

"That's why I always hit you on the head."

Having just finished his practice, Zhang San leaped down from a tree and saw his young disciple lost in thought, it was so obvious even a fool could tell what Wang Xiaoer was thinking, so he couldn't help but punch him.

Wang Xiaoer was about to ask his master to ease up on the beatings in the future when he looked up and was shocked.

Master, something seems different.

His eyes were particularly bright, and there seemed to be something invisible flowing slowly around him.

"Master..."

Before Wang Xiaoer could say more, he saw Zhang San grab hold of the trunk behind him and then lift it up!

Lifting a tree with one hand?

Wang Xiaoer's mouth hung open, and then he quickly realized the issue.

Is it a matter of one hand or two?

It turns out, someone could actually uproot a large tree effortlessly, and his master made it look so easy, as if he were holding a brush rather than a tree.

"M-Master, have you achieved it?"

Zhang San nodded silently. He had only wanted to test how much his inner strength had improved, but the actual difference between the Earth Rank and the Heaven Rank was even greater than he had imagined.

Previously, there had always been a feeling of being unable to reach the culmination.

But after the battle with Xu Guo, his heavy-handed guandao had struck him over a dozen times. Although he was seriously injured, it unexpectedly gave Zhang San a kind of enlightenment.

Lightness in martial arts can reflect the lightness of inner strength.

Martial arts can demonstrate the weight of inner strength.

As the source of all martial arts, only when inner strength is wielded at will can it be truly harmonious and versatile.

With a casual toss, Zhang San threw the entire tree far away, to the disbelief of Wang Xiaoer, then he suddenly coughed a few times.

"Cough... Well, I guess I've achieved it, but my injuries haven't healed. Xu Guo's guandao is too heavy, it couldn't break my qigong, but it could injure my internal organs."

Perhaps only when iron cloth armor is also trained to the Heaven Rank can it perfectly withstand Xu Guo's hundreds of catties of mysterious iron guandao.

Seeing his master become a grandmaster, Wang Xiaoer naturally felt overjoyed, but looking around the wilderness, he asked, "So, Master, what do we do now?"

Zhang San remained silent for a moment before saying, "Let's go."

"Master, what about Lu Gaosheng?"

"Now provoking him is akin to announcing our existence to the entire underworld. I'm not afraid of Hei Shanhu, but the Lord of Dark Building, Zhang San, I admit I'm not currently capable of dealing with him."

Standing shoulder to shoulder with the current top martial artist, Qiu Cangren, the head of Black Heaven Gate, Zhang San admitted to himself that he wasn't yet equipped to handle him.

In silence, Zhang San took Wang Xiaoer's hand and slowly walked away.

...

...

Still the same day.

At noon, Lu Qingming just received the news that he was being watched, along with the information from Liu Hu.

Zhang San held Wang Xiaoer's hand as they walked aimlessly on the road, with no particular destination in mind.

Wang Xiaoer was unusually quiet today, not speaking a word for half the day. But it wasn't because he suddenly felt low-spirited after leaving Bai Xiaoyu; rather, it was because...

Wang Xiaoer felt that something was off about his master.

Although it didn't show on the surface, Wang Xiaoer keenly sensed that his master was not happy right now.

And it was a deep kind of unhappiness.

But it was strange.

Master had already cultivated to the Heaven Rank, even if he had injuries, he had far surpassed his former self, becoming a grandmaster.

A Heaven Rank grandmaster, there were barely ten in the entire martial world, not to mention his master was only thirty years old. A grandmaster at thirty, throughout history, only that peerless expert who once dominated the underworld, Yu Xiansi, achieved that.

How remarkable.

But still, his master was unhappy.

Even in the morning, at the moment of completing his inner power cultivation, his master didn't smile once.

Unhappy from start to finish.

Wang Xiaoer thought to himself: Should I tell a joke to cheer up my master? Or should I just pick a fight to let him vent his anger on me?

The former had a very low success rate.

The latter was too painful.

This little brat, barely ten years old this year, was momentarily at a loss. But after some thought, Wang Xiaoer resolutely thought:

Damn it! For the sake of making my master happy, I'll tough it out and take the beating!!

This is true filial piety!

Besides, if my master isn't happy, wouldn't the chances of me discussing our future plans to find Xiaoyu decrease?

"Master, um..."

"If it's not important, then don't say it."

Summoning his courage, Wang Xiaoer spoke, but Zhang San interrupted with a single sentence.

And then there was silence.

A wisp of smoke rose from a tea house or tavern not far from the small road, seeming to be a place for travelers to rest.

It was just the right time between spring and winter, the weather still cold, and snow was still possible.

The master and disciple continued walking on the mountain path.

While Wang Xiaoer was still racking his brain on how to make his master happy, Zhang San unexpectedly spoke first:

"I was wrong."

Huh?

How could Master be wrong?

Wang Xiaoer was stunned, then looked at his master puzzledly.

The tavern was already in sight, but Zhang San suddenly stopped in his tracks and said to himself, "I admit, I had a moment of kindness, so I was wrong. People like me shouldn't have such thoughts."

Wang Xiaoer asked in confusion, "Master, why do you say that? Clearly, it was my fault that you were targeted by that Lu Gaosheng..."

"No, it's not, we had the chance to leave beforehand."

Zhang San shook his head and explained, "In fact, I had sensed that Lu Gaosheng had feelings for Bai Fang. If, from the beginning, I had taken control of Bai Fang, used her and Bai Xiaoyu as bargaining chips, I might have easily escaped, avoiding the series of events that followed."

But why didn't he do so?

Because Zhang San had perceived that Bai Fang was already seriously ill, on the brink of death, and could pass away at any moment. Taking her hostage in such a condition, leaving the city together, with her frail health, no one could predict the consequences.

A moment of compassion!

A faint moment of compassion.

This led Zhang San to choose the Heavenly Rank Inner Skill instead of hostage-taking.

Was this an act of kindness?

Yet, what were the ultimate consequences of this benevolence?

It resulted in the loss of tens of thousands of provisions in Hanwu County, leaving countless people without relief food.

Because if he had left earlier, without his assistance, Lu Gaosheng wouldn't have defeated Xu Guo, unable to seize the provisions!

Everything, once again, was because of him.

It was reminiscent of the incident with Han Wang years ago.

Despite all the assassins being blocked, it was he who broke through numerous obstacles and reached the elderly man.

But now, all of this began with his moment of compassion.

Why does kindness bring about misfortune?

Why must goodwill lead to adverse consequences?

Zhang San found this world strangely perplexing.

How peculiar is it?

It's as if he thought he had already become accustomed to all the oddities of this world, believing that once accustomed, it would no longer be strange.

Yet, along this journey, even greater 'oddities' awaited him.

What is this?

A pleasant surprise, perhaps?