Elderly Martial Saint: Sixty Times the Cultivation Speed ​​at the Start

"Bang!"

On the second floor of Shun'an Inn, the sound of porcelain breaking came from the next room.

A porcelain bowl meant for drinking tea was broken into pieces on the floor, and tea stains splattered all over half of the wall.

Yi Zhanzhi sat on the edge of the bed, his right arm immobilized with a bamboo splint and tightly wrapped with bandages. Underneath the bandages were reconnected bone fragments and torn fascia.

His young face was gloomy, completely lacking the vigor that a seventeen-year-old should have had. All that remained was resentment and dissatisfaction with the world.

"Why is he the only one who turned out like this?"

Why did he become Zhang Songqing's rival?

"Why was he no match for Zhang Songqing, beaten into a pulp in just a few moves and publicly defeated? Wasn't he a genius?"

Why?!

At this moment, Yi Zhanzhi woke up and roared from the bottom of his heart: "Someone tell me why!!!"

After treatment by a doctor found by the martial arts school, he is finally able to walk again.

But now, with every step Yi Zhanzhi takes, a fine, persistent pain radiates from the tendons in his feet to his spine. The pain is not intense, but it is long and drawn out, so long that it drives one mad.

This pain caused him to walk with a limp.

He remembered the doctor's words perfectly: "This kind of deep injury to the bones and muscles has affected the meridians. My ordinary ointments can only prevent it from getting worse. To truly restore the foundation of martial arts, only a precious elixir-level restorative medicine will be needed..."

A precious-grade restorative elixir?

That's something only a Qi Refining Realm expert is qualified to touch; it's the resources for a Qi Refining Realm expert's cultivation. How could a small town or family like his possibly have access to it?

Yi Zhanzhi stared at the broken porcelain shards on the ground, feeling as if his chest was stuffed with a rag, making it hard to breathe. He was now a cripple.

Just half a month ago, he was the most dazzling genius disciple of Lei Yun Martial Arts School. Before the quarterly exam, everyone thought he would soar to great heights.

But that's indeed the case now.

The sound of the butler Liu Fu's footsteps came from outside the door. Hearing this sound, Yi Zhanzhi thought that it was that person who wanted to see him make a fool of himself again, and he let out a loud shout.

"Get out, all of you!"

After the footsteps on the stairs stopped and then disappeared, Yi Zhanzhi stopped cursing and just looked down at his right hand.

His fingers could still move with difficulty, but the soreness in his wrist told him that trying to wield a sword and attack with that hand was nothing but wishful thinking.

He clenched his back teeth so hard that blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.

……

In another room.

Liu Fu pushed open the door with light footsteps and saw his master, Yi Xun, sitting by the window in a daze, as if he wanted to hear something.

"master."

Liu Fu leaned closer, wanting to tell her something, and said in a low voice, "Today I heard some news on the street... would you like to hear it? It concerns the Master."

Yi Xun didn't speak, but simply waved his finger, signaling him to continue.

Seeing that his master had agreed, Liu Fu licked his lips and carefully said, "Last night, there was a riot in Yunlin County and a riot also broke out in the South City Prison, but I heard that the master... guarded the high-prison area alone and personally killed Feng Haiyuan, the chief deacon of the Nine Evil Sects."

Upon hearing this, Yi Xun suddenly clenched his hand holding the teacup.

Unaware of what was happening, Liu Fu continued, "And this morning, Chief Qi, the head of the Yunlin County Astronomical Bureau, personally sent someone to invite the magistrate over for a meeting. He stayed for almost half an hour, and everyone outside is saying..."

He swallowed hard and uttered the most crucial sentence: "It's widely rumored outside that the Master is at least at the sixth level of Qi and Blood, and that he is highly regarded by Director Qi."

The tea spilled, running down Yi Xun's hand and between his fingers, dripping onto the hem of his robe. He was completely unaware, as if someone had acupunctured him, his eyes fixed on one spot.

Qi and Blood are in six stages.

Director Qi personally summoned him.

He killed the Grand Deacon of the Nine Evil Sects.

These words, when put together, don't match the image of the taciturn, hunched-over elder brother in Yi Xun's mind at all, who had spent his whole life chopping firewood in Miki Village.

"How is that possible..."

Yi Xun opened his mouth, his voice dry and incredulous, like sandpaper scraping against a wooden board, and said:

"He was clearly not destined for martial arts... The bone-measuring master himself said it when he was young, he was not destined for martial arts... not destined for martial arts."

Liu Fu stood aside, not daring to speak, just hanging his head. He had accompanied Yi Xun for decades and knew that it was best for him to remain silent at this moment.

Yi Xun put down his teacup and finally noticed the tea was running, but he didn't care anymore.

Countless images are now surging into his mind, and he can't stop them.

When he was sixteen, a bone-measuring master at a martial arts school declared in front of the whole family that his eldest brother was "unworthy of martial arts in this life." That very night, his parents decided to give him all the family's only training resources. At that moment, his eldest brother stood at the door of the main room without saying a word.

For the next forty years, he didn't visit his elder brother many times. Sanmu Village was too far away, the road was too bumpy, and there wasn't much to talk about even if he went.

One was a prominent merchant in town, and the other was a penniless old woodcutter. What could they possibly say? It was an awkward situation.

Six months ago, when I led a group to seize the house, my older brother stood in the dilapidated courtyard looking at me with a frighteningly calm expression. He didn't beg for mercy or cry; he just coldly said, "I'm not selling."

Then I learned that my older brother had become a patrolman, and then came the quarterly exam.

So what? His grandson is a genius. Can he possibly surpass his elder brother who has wasted decades of his life?

The final rankings are out: thirteenth place.

Although it didn't make the top ten, I wasn't sitting on the viewing platform at the time. My mind was in turmoil. I couldn't quite describe the feeling, but the phrase "mixed feelings" couldn't even begin to describe it.

But back then, I could comfort myself: Zhan Zhi is only seventeen and has a bright future. No matter how powerful my older brother is, he's only sixty years old. What trouble can he cause?

What now?

Zhan Zhi is finished.

The eldest brother became a favorite of the Sky Patrol Division.

When fate turns on you, it can be more ruthless than anything else.

Yi Xun lowered his head, tears welling up in his cloudy eyes, but they didn't fall.

He wasn't feeling sorry for his older brother, nor was he entirely filled with regret; rather, he felt a vague sense of panic—he suddenly realized that everything he had done to his older brother back then had now become a noose hanging over his neck.

If his now successful older brother wanted to take revenge, his entire family wouldn't even have the right to fight back.

No one will help them; in fact, many will kick them when they're down. That's the cruel reality of this world. It seems that Inspector Yi now understands the helplessness Yi Yang felt when he was young.

Silence lingered in the room for a long time, and neither of them spoke.

As the sky outside the window gradually darkened and the chatter on the street subsided, the conversations continued.

After thinking for a long time, Izuru suddenly sat up straight.

Sun Zizhanzhi's injury.

There is also a life-saving elixir.

When these two words collided in my mind, they sparked a path I had never imagined.

With the Zhang family gone, the Wang family is in dire straits, and the Li family is cowering like turtles.

Of the three major gangs, the Red Tiger Gang was wiped out, and the remaining two gangs were too busy to care about anything else. In the entire Yunlin County, who else could get their hands on a precious pill-level elixir?

Yi Xun's gaze fell on the direction of the Sky Patrol Division outside the window.

Big brother.

He also oversees Qianyang Tower—the largest elixir industry of the Xuntian Division.

A key official from the Sky Patrol Division who was personally summoned by Director Qi.

Besides him, the Istana couldn't think of a second candidate.

But as soon as the idea popped into his head, even Yi Xun himself felt it was absurd.

Should I ask my older brother for help?

The eldest brother whose family property he seized, who he ignored for forty years, and who was even forced to come to his door by him with his men just six months ago?

The scene of the steward publicly announcing "five taels of loose silver" at the apprenticeship banquet is still vivid in my mind, and now I'm the one asking for help.

Yi Xun clutched the fabric on his knees, his facial muscles twitching repeatedly, as if he himself found the idea absurd.

But he walked back and forth in the room more than a dozen times, making the floorboards creak.

But every time she closed her eyes, all she could see was Yi Zhanzhi sitting on the edge of the bed—those eyes that were once as sharp as an eagle's, now so empty they were heartbreaking.

Seventeen years old.

She was only seventeen years old.

Yi Xun finally stopped and stood by the window, pressing his forehead against the cold window frame, and squeezed out a few words: "Liu Fu".

"exist."

"Prepare the gifts," he said in a deep, helpless voice. "I'll go see my elder brother first thing tomorrow morning."

Liu Fu's eyes widened for a moment, then he lowered his head, answered "Yes," and quickly left.

……

The next room.

Yi Zhanzhi was standing by the door at some point.

The door was narrow, but the conversation between the two people inside, as well as Grandpa's last request, clearly reached my ears.

I'm going to beg that old man for help tomorrow.

Thinking of this, Yi Zhanzhi clenched his teeth so tightly they made a grinding sound.

From childhood to adulthood, when has he ever bowed his head?

At Lei Yun Martial Arts School, his fellow disciples vied to talk to him; in Yunwen Town, everyone called him "Young Master Yi"; during the siege of the Nine Evil Cults, he single-handedly killed a steward, and the whole place cheered.

In his mind, that so-called old man was nothing more than a poor, stingy old man.

During the quarterly exam, when he deliberately looked at Yi Yang, he was thinking—look at me, and then look at yourself. The future of the Yi family will only belong to me.

But now?

Yi Zhanzhi looked down at his right hand, and the ordinary process of spreading his fingers, closing them, and spreading them again became difficult.

The doctor said he should never hold a sword again in his life.

Unless there is a precious elixir.

Yi Zhanzhi closed his eyes, and the image of Yi Yang's calm and collected old face appeared in his mind.

But now...

He clenched his fist so tightly that his nails dug into his flesh, and a sharp pain shot through his palm.

He did not push open the door to stop his grandfather.

More than his shattered pride, he feared never being able to hold a sword again in his life.

"Let's just consider this a chance to atone for that old man's sins," Yi Zhanzhi thought to himself.