Martial arts mastery? But I'm just a spoiled brat!

Although my junior brother follows the conservative path and firmly believes that martial arts can save the country, he will also appreciate talent when he encounters a disciple with sufficient ability.

Especially since this person is the successor he found, which is essentially equivalent to a Xingyi disciple, his junior brother will definitely be curious.

So he didn't say much; just piquing his junior's curiosity was enough.

"Why did you bring this up with me, senior brother?"

Li Cunxiao was indeed intrigued by his senior brother, but he remained rational and was more curious about his senior brother's purpose in coming here.

Having taken on a successor, one should, in principle, protect them closely and allow them to make a name for themselves only after they have grown up. But to inform him of this in the middle of the night must have a purpose.

"I'm going to the battlefield soon. I have a feeling this might be my chance to break through to the Core Formation stage, but Jin Province is currently lacking in troops and experts to protect it, so I'm a little worried..."

He was actually here to ask for a favor. Although he didn't show it, he still had to have the attitude of asking for a favor. Now that he had piqued his junior brother's interest, continuing to hide it would make him seem petty.

"good!"

As soon as Steward Cao finished speaking, Li Cunxiao nodded in agreement almost without hesitation. Seeing Steward Cao's gaze, Li Cunxiao continued:

"Then I wish you a safe breakthrough and a successful return, Senior Brother!"

Clearly, in Li Cunxiao's mind, his senior brother's so-called successor was not as important as his senior brother's safety.

He agreed so that his senior brother could pursue his breakthrough without any worries.

"Hehe~ Alright, then I'll leave it to you, junior brother."

Upon hearing this, Steward Cao could no longer hide his smile; he naturally understood the concern in his junior brother's words.

With the matter settled, Steward Cao did not sit down for a chat, but walked straight out the door.

"As his successor, I shouldn't take up too much of my junior brother's time. Once he has perfected his internal energy cultivation, I won't need to protect him anymore."

Before leaving, Steward Cao said one more thing.

"So what level has he reached now?"

Li Cunxiao rose to see him off.

"Peak of Ming Jin!"

With only four words left behind, Steward Cao disappeared into the darkness.

Upon hearing this, Li Cunxiao's eyebrows twitched.

The senior brother came all this way with such solemnity to find his junior brother whom he hadn't seen for more than ten years to protect his disciple, but unexpectedly, he turned out to be just a disciple at the peak of Ming Jin.

This is called "so be it," but it can protect him from the peak of Ming Jin to the perfection of An Jin, which means it doesn't take up too much time.

"Back when I was cultivating, it seemed to take me about five months to go from the peak of Ming Jin to the perfection of An Jin."

Li Cunxiao recalled his cultivation experience when he was young.

The speed of cultivating Ming Jin (manifest strength) is related to one's physical constitution and whether a large amount of resources are consumed, while the cultivation of An Jin (hidden strength) is related to the technique and one's own understanding of it.

Excluding the influence of resources, the length of time may not prove everything, but it can represent the comprehension of a martial arts practitioner to some extent.

Li Cunxiao's comprehension was naturally not bad, but no matter what, he did not believe that anyone could complete the process from the peak of Ming Jin to the perfection of An Jin in a short period of time.

"It seems we really need to stay a while longer."

Looking in the direction his senior brother had left, Li Cunxiao was filled with curiosity.

……

Yan Fengqi said he would leave in a few days, but in fact, he left the Yan family home early the next morning and headed to the edge of Shanxi Province, since the troop assembly also takes time.

As for Steward Cao, he naturally led a group of martial artists and left with Yan Fengqi.

In addition, Wanxing, who had always been by his side, was also sent by him to bring back the tiger bone mentioned in the intelligence. So, only Yan Qing and Lan Yue remained in the courtyard.

However, Yan Qing was not idle...

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Inside the training room in the courtyard, Yan Qingzhen was engaged in a fierce battle with Lan Yue. The sounds of their intense collisions, mixed with their panting breaths, echoed throughout the training room.

Yan Qing was shirtless, wearing only a pair of coarse cloth shorts. He was no longer the lazy person he was when he was outside.

His eyes gleamed with a sharp light, and the muscles in his body tensed or twitched with each strike, with a faint heat rising around his body.

This is a manifestation of mobilizing all the body's energy and spirit.

Lan Yue, standing before him, had her hair soaked with sweat, and even her hands and feet were trembling slightly.

"Again! Bang!!"

Yan Qing shouted loudly, stomped his foot, and charged forward again. The sound of his left foot stomping on the ground still echoed in the training room. He then raised his palm and slammed it hard towards Lan Yue's face.

It's still that same move from Bajiquan, "Tiger Climbing the Mountain".

When Lan Yue saw Yan Qing make another move, she disregarded her trembling hands and used her hand to strike Yan Qing's elbow from below.

*Smack!*

Lan Yue's hand strike, though delayed, landed first, imbued with a subtle, yin-like force, striking Yan Qing's elbow. To an outsider, it appeared as if Yan Qing had deliberately offered his elbow to Lan Yue's hand strike.

For an ordinary martial artist with Ming Jin (manifest strength) strength, the force of their forward momentum would be completely dissipated if their elbow was struck by Lan Yue's (揽月) hand chop, which contained hidden strength.

Yan Qing's attack only slowed down, still aiming to strike Lan Yue's shoulder.

Fortunately, Lan Yue was very experienced and knew Yan Qing very well. When the hidden force of the hand chop struck Yan Qing's elbow, his body had already turned.

At the same time, he patted Yan Qing's shoulder with his other hand, using the force of the pat to help her get away.

"I'm not going to fight anymore, young master! You're too hard, I can't take it!"

Upon seeing Yan Qing turn around, Lan Yue's right hand, which had been striking downwards, changed from a palm to an elbow. Seeing that this Two Elements Elbow was about to strike her neck, Lan Yue quickly waved her hand and admitted defeat.

"Phew~"

Finally, Yan Qing's elbow stopped at Lan Yue's neck, and the force of the elbow made Lan Yue's hair flutter.

"Your body is still too weak. Your parrying sword technique is indeed impressive. Every time you strike my weak point after the opponent has already attacked, but your strength is too weak. Even when you use internal force, you can't completely interrupt my attack. This is the consequence of relying too much on your short sword."

Yan Qing pulled his elbow back and said something with a slight frown.

『External Three Harmonies: Hands and Feet in Harmony 432/500』

Before his eyes appeared another line of text: the all-out battle just now had increased his martial arts progress once again.

"Do you think everyone is like you? You're only at the Ming Jin stage, yet you can overpower me, a An Jin martial artist."

Lan Yue wanted to roll her eyes. Outside, she and Wan Xing could easily defeat even one-on-one Dark Force martial artists, or even one-on-many.

If the two of them joined forces, with her counter-attack sword technique and Wanxing's Mantis Hands, which were eye-catching, they could even withstand some of the attacks from a Transformation Realm expert. But now they were being suppressed by Yan Qing.

All of this was because Yan Qing's physical attributes were too formidable, and the Ming Jin he unleashed was beyond the reach of ordinary people.

"yes!"

However, Lan Yue could only swallow her complaints. Martial artists don't have many excuses; if you're not strong enough, you're not strong enough.

"Take a break, we'll continue later!"

Yan Qing closed his eyes to process what he had just gained, but he had no intention of stopping there.