Under One Person: Rebuilding the Glory of the Beast Master

Chapter 44 Teachings

Lu Jin took a deep breath, and the white light around his body suddenly surged.

"Mountain-Shaking Palm - Mountain-Shattering!"

Lu Jin struck out with his palm.

This palm strike lacked the flashy variations of the previous ones, but its power surpassed the combined force of all the previous attacks.

"boom--!"

A hole the size of a large bowl was blown open in the zombie's chest, splattering grayish-black bodily fluids and bits of flesh everywhere.

Its body flew out like a kite with a broken string, landing on the ridge of the field and creating a large crater.

It struggled to get up, but the large hole in its chest caused it to lose its support. It pawed at the ground a few times before finally stopping.

Lu Jin withdrew his hand and nodded in satisfaction.

"That's more like it!" he said. "How could anything be indestructible!"

However, he also understood that his junior brother had succeeded.

The person controlling the zombie has been dealt with, which is why this zombie has suddenly become so much weaker; otherwise, it would have taken some time to eliminate it.

He dusted off his hands, turned and walked towards Zeng Su's direction, calling out as he went, "Junior Brother, have you finished things over there?"

He had barely finished speaking when he saw Zeng Su.

Under the moonlight, the child in white clothes was walking down the hill, with Bai Jiahei following beside him, and Feipeng following behind with a pigeon-toed gait.

Zeng Su's face was expressionless, but his whole being exuded a feeling that kept strangers at a distance.

Lu Jin paused for a moment, then quickly went to meet him.

"Junior brother, where is that person?"

"He's dead," Zeng Su said.

Lu Jin opened his mouth as if to ask, "How did you die?", but when he saw Zeng Su's dark eyes, he swallowed the words back.

"Are you alright?" he asked, changing the subject.

"It's nothing." Zeng Su shook his head, a slight smile playing on his lips. "Senior brother, how about you over there?"

"It just stopped moving after a while," Lu Jin shrugged. "I smashed it to pieces."

The two looked at each other and smiled simultaneously.

At that moment, a white figure drifted down from the night sky.

Zuo Ruotong.

He was still dressed in white and barefoot.

His gaze swept over his two disciples, finally landing on Zeng Su's face. "Master." The two bowed simultaneously.

Zuo Ruotong nodded slightly, but did not speak immediately.

He walked to the bearded corpse on the hill and glanced down at it.

The wound on his neck was clean and sharp, clearly a fatal blow, without any unnecessary movement.

He looked away, then went to the zombie, squatted down, picked up a piece of bone, examined it, and threw it back on the ground.

Then he returned to his two disciples and stood with his hands behind his back.

"Lu Jin," he said.

Lu Jin straightened his back: "Disciple is here."

"You played very well," Zuo Ruotong said.

Before Lu Jin could even feel happy, Zuo Ruotong's next words came.

"But you played for too long."

Lu Jin was taken aback: "Master means—"

"This zombie is quite strong, but not as strong as you." Zuo Ruotong turned to look at Lu Jin. "How many moves did you use?"

Lu Jin opened his mouth, but he didn't even realize it himself.

"At least fifty moves," Zuo Ruotong answered for him, "and you only remembered to use the Mountain-Breaking Strike at the very end."

Lu Jin remained silent.

"What were you doing during those forty-odd moves?" Zuo Ruotong asked.

"Disciple—is testing its methods." Lu Jin's voice lowered.

"Testing?" Zuo Ruotong's tone remained calm, but that calmness was more unbearable than any harsh rebuke. "What do you want to test about a zombie that someone is controlling behind the scenes? Test its martial arts style? Test whether it can use a complete set of fist techniques?"

Beads of sweat appeared on Lu Jin's forehead.

"You were just playing around," Zuo Ruotong revealed the real answer. "It was your first time seeing a zombie, and you found it novel and interesting, so you wanted to fight it a little longer. That's why you held back and didn't use your full strength."

Lu Jin lowered his head, not daring to speak.

"Do you know where this is?" Zuo Ruotong asked.

"Bluestone Paving".

What's outside the bluestone pavement?

"Wangjia'ao".

How many people died in Wangjia'ao?

"—A peddler."

"Anything else?"

Lu Jin remained silent.

"And your junior brother is here," Zuo Ruotong said for him. "If Zeng Su gets injured because of your delay, what will you do?"

He said, word by word, "How many more 'testing' moves are you going to make here?"

Lu Jin stood there, his face drained of all color.

"I—I—I'm sorry—Master!"

"Jin'er, I'm not scolding you, I just don't want you to suffer from a deep and lasting sorrow because of a momentary mistake."

You are a very emotional person. Remember to think things through before you act, and don't act impulsively and end up with lifelong regrets.

"This disciple will remember," Lu Jin said, clasping his hands in a fist salute. His eyes were bloodshot, and tears were welling up in his eyes. Zeng Su stood to the side, knowing that he shouldn't speak at this moment.

Zuo Ruotong's gaze turned to him.

"Zeng Su".

"Disciple is here."

"You played very well too," Zuo Ruotong said, and this time there was no turning back.

"That member of the Quanxing sect begged for mercy from you?"

Zeng Su nodded: "He said, 'I'm still a child, I shouldn't kill people.'"

Zuo Ruotong looked at him: "And what about you?"

Under the moonlight, the master and disciple looked at each other.

"Everyone has the right to kill Quanxing," Zeng Su said.

This statement was made very casually, as if it were about something extremely ordinary.

"This man deserved to die," Zeng Su said. "So I killed him."

Zuo Ruotong nodded and did not ask any further questions.

He didn't ask Zeng Su if he was afraid of killing someone for the first time, didn't advise him not to feel guilty, and didn't say whether what he did was right or wrong.

Zeng Su had already thought about these issues himself.

An eight-year-old child, after committing murder, can still stand here and speak to him calmly. That says it all.

"You two," Zuo Ruotong looked at her two disciples, "I won't protect you every step of the way. Some things you'll have to do yourself, some paths you'll have to walk yourself. I've taught you everything I needed to, and I've reminded you of everything I needed to. The rest..."

He paused, then softened his tone: "It's up to you."

Lu Jin raised his head, his eyes a little red. "Master, this disciple truly knows his mistake."

Her voice was hoarse, and tears finally fell.

Zuo Ruotong looked at Lu Jin, reached out and wiped away his tears. There was no blame in her eyes, only a gentle expectation.

"It's good that you admit your mistake. Let's go back to the inn. We still have a long journey ahead tomorrow."

"Then here—" Lu Jin meant the bearded corpse and the zombie.

"Someone will take care of it." Zuo Ruotong turned around and walked towards the bluestone pavement.

Zeng Su and Lu Jin exchanged a glance and followed.

As they walked, Lu Jin leaned close to Zeng Su and whispered, "Junior Brother."

"Um?"

"Was that really your first time killing someone?"

"Um.

""

"Aren't you afraid?"

Zeng Su thought for a moment, then shook his head: "I'm not afraid."

Why?

Zeng Su was silent for a moment, then said, "Because I know that if I don't kill him, he will harm even more people. And the other party is Quanxing."

Lu Jin looked at his profile; his small face remained calm in the moonlight.

"Junior Brother," Lu Jin said.

"Um?

"You're better than me."

Zeng Su turned to look at him: "Senior brother, are you praising me or insulting me?"

Lu Jin scratched his head and smiled: "Praising you, of course I'm praising you."

"Senior brother!"

"Um?

"6

"I saw you crying just now, tears were streaming down your face," Zeng Su said with a smile.

"Oh dear!" Lu Jin's face flushed red instantly, and she quickly retorted, "No, no, you're mistaken, it's just sweat—"

Zuo Ruotong listened to her two disciples chatting and laughing behind her, and was very satisfied with the results of this trial.

The moonlight was bright, and the stars were sparse. A few barks of dogs drifted from afar, carried away by the night breeze.

That night, Zeng Su did many things.

This was the first time he had ever truly witnessed a zombie, the first time he had faced off against members of the Quanxing Sect, the first time he had Bai Jiahei and Fei Peng fight together, and the first time he had ever killed someone.

But he slept better than he expected.

Bai Jiahei lay beside his bed, while Feipeng landed on the bedside table, the two beasts guarding him closely.

He closed his eyes and quickly drifted off to sleep.

There was no blood, no knife, and no voice begging for mercy in my dream.

There was only a vast expanse of white snow and the smoke rising from the chimneys of Zengjiazhuang in the distance.