Joy of Life Vol 1 Chapter 20

The potent inner energy within Fan Xian’s body had already reacted, forming a dense layer on his back. The only problem was that the wooden stick came too quickly, shooting in at full strength before the inner energy could react.

The reason the word “shoot” was used was because the wooden stick’s owner thrust it in a flawless straight line (word used was 笔直, which meant as straight as a pen… yea… ~MCM) with all of the power focused on the head of the pole.

Fan Xian let out a stifled cry of pain. Although his teenage body had a layer of inner energy as a protective barrier, it still hurt to the bone. His entire body arced forward.

One minute he was kneeling in a fetal position on the floor in pain, the next, he leaned forward and pushed off the stone underneath his legs with his hands. Launching himself forward in a roll with the potential energy from his crouch, he viciously kicked backwards!

Whoever saw such a beautiful young teenager kick with such ferocity and menace would definitely be terrified. However, the response was another simple “Thud!”

……

……

Fan Xian half-knelt on the floor, the hand on his ankle relentlessly ma.s.saging it. He sucked in the cool air, his brows furrowing in pain.

He knew that begging for mercy was pointless; this was already confirmed from his experience from the past few years. He could only stare at the blind one three meters away, formulating a plot in his mind. As agreed, as long as he could hit the latter, even on the corners of his clothes, he would have won. That would earn him a month of rest.

Even after having been abused for the past few years though, Fan Xian still could not hit his body. Part of the reason was due to the erratic movements of Five-Bamboo, which were silent and relatively quick. The most terrifying part of it was the abruptness of his movements; there were no slight movements of the shoulder or any signal of the eye or other subtle motions for him to antic.i.p.ate the attacks.

The other reason was because of the ordinary wooden stick in Five-Bamboo’s hand. Every time Fan Xian wracked his brain and used all sorts of tactics to creep closer towards Five-Bamboo, the stick would appear out of nowhere like a demonic claw extending from the underworld, savagely striking his wrists, ankles and even his fingers.

They did not break. There was only pain; an immeasurable amount of pain.

The most puzzling thing for Fan Xian was, no matter how quiet he tried to be amidst the thundering sounds of waves cras.h.i.+ng against rocks, the black cloth wearing Five-Bamboo was still able to accurately discern his location. The wooden stick in his hands never missed its mark.

“Oh ow ow ow……” Again, the stick jabbed his wrist. Fan Xian was in so much pain that he sang in a protracted falsetto. He hid as far away from the merciless blind one as he could.

……

……

An unknown specimen of yellow flower was swaying at the fringe of the cliff.

Fan Xian sprawled at the edge of the cliff, exhausted. At the moment, the ocean at the foot of the cliff has already quieted down, the radiant sunlight reflecting off the surface with a golden hue. The rocks that were always being scrubbed by the waves were finally getting some peace. As it was slowly basking dry in the sun, a few crustaceans climbed upon it, speckling the rocks like black dots.

Caressing the painful places on his body, he casually checked the situation within his body and found that a portion of the violent inner energy had been absorbed into the Snow Mountain pressure point in his lower back. Another portion of it had dissipated as a result of blocking the continuous strikes from the wooden stick. As a result, the inner energy within his body was in a very tranquil state…… just like the quiet ocean right now.

He knew that to rest in the situation now would not be beneficial to his training. Enduring the aches on his entire body, he got up with great difficulty and crossed his legs. He began to use the techniques in the Potent Scroll (The two scrolls, remember? ~MCM), all the while glancing silently at Five-Bamboo who was standing at the edge of the cliff.

The black cloth that veiled Five-Bamboo’s eyes were fluttering in the sea breeze.

“He’s got swag. And it ain’t false swag.” Fan Xian silently judged the blind one in his mind. “Uncle, be careful not to fall over,” he said softly.

Five-Bamboo was such a skilled person, it was obvious that he would not fall over a cliff and die a wronged death. Fan Xian was only talking nonsense.

“Do not be distracted.”

Five-Bamboo spat those words out coldly, ignoring him completely.

Fan Xian sighed quietly and began to concentrate, entering into a trance. After an unknown time, he woke up from the ocean breeze and found that the sun was already in the other side of the sky. Yet, Five-Bamboo was still maintaining his stable stance not far from him. Under the ocean breeze, he looked like an immortal flag pole that cannot be cut down.

He stood up and discovered that his body’s condition had already recovered fully. The inner energy filling his body was also substantially weaker. Although the muscles and the ankles and wrist were still slightly sore, it was nothing a little rub with the medicine he had prepared back in the manor could not cure.

The salty sea breeze engulfed him as he walked towards and stood beside Five-Bamboo on the cliff’s edge. It was evident that he was much shorter than Five-Bamboo. Picking up a piece of stone, he hurled it into the sea with all his might. At the moment, his body was packed with inner energy, making his strength significantly greater than the average person. The stone flew a long distance, finally dropping upon the ocean surface, causing a tiny splash indiscernible with the naked eye.

He was really satisfied with his strength. In his opinion, even most martial arts experts did not have as much arm strength as him. Gazing at the panoramic ocean, looking up at the freely gliding birds, he felt a tug on his soul; his spirit cannot help but be lifted. Raising both his arms, he faced the sea and yelled at it.

The yell was done to express his frustration, his longing for his original world, his love for this world and also over his lack of courage to leave Danzhou.

“Capital City! I’d visit you someday!”

Five-Bamboo appeared to not have heard him shouting. He continued to silently stand there.

……

……

“What are you going to do there?”

Fan Xian was startled. He realized after a while that the man of little words, Uncle Five-Bamboo, finally opened his mouth to ask him. He smiled involuntarily and replied, “It’s to see what this world is like, of course.”

“The world outside is very dangerous,” Five-Bamboo said flatly without turning his head.

Fan Xian shrugged his slender shoulders comically. “With Uncle Five-Bamboo around to protect me, what do I need to be afraid of?”

“After coming out with the Mistress, it seems I forgot a few matters.”  Five-Bamboo’s usually steady speech was suddenly stammered. “That’s why there are a lot of people on this world who want to hurt me. Naturally, they would also want to hurt you.”

“Uncle’s kidding,” Fan Xian smiled sweetly, thinking that even in such an unfamiliar world, he already had such an elite fighter as a bodyguard. How could he let him also be a clothes rack? (Not quite sure what this is all about ~MCM)

“If I am with you in the Capital, I would only bring you trouble.”

Fan Xian raised his head and looked at the blind Five-Bamboo’s eternally emotionless face and said slightly embarra.s.sed, “I’d protect you.”

After hearing those words, Five-Bamboo finally turned his head around and “stared” at Fan Xian’s eyes. “Those words…… Mistress also said them,” he said.

Fan Xian smiled lightly. It seemed that his shamelessness was similar to his Old Mother.