Chapter 230: Pointers from His Grandfather and a Real Eye-opener
Translator: DragonRider
Ling Zhang, who had a sense of propriety, didn’t persist with his questioning but said, “Since Shan Congwen is in the emperor of the Wan Kingdom’s confidence and not a fool, this suggests that Yuwen Tong was not the reason why he tried to kill me. Even if he did that because of Yuwen Tong, venting his anger was not the purpose. There was some deeper reason, and I was just a springboard for it.”
Ji Yin remarked seriously, “This is the tricky part. Given that Shan Congwen has stayed in the Great Yue for such a long time, he must have some ulterior motive. It was undoubtedly to a certain end that he waded in, so he probably would stop at nothing to take your life.”
Ling Zhang saw what Ji Yin meant. Shan Congwen had attempted to kill him for a purpose, one he would resort to whatever means necessary to achieve.
Shan Congwen was the King Ming’en of the Wan Kingdom and represented the interests of the Wan Kingdom. What was motivating Shan Congwen to do this was, without doubt, beneficial to the Wan Kingdom and detrimental to the Great Yue.
If only he could ascertain what Shan Congwen’s intention was exactly.
The King Hui was in league with the Wan Kingdom… Wasn’t it no different from a hen cooperating with a weasel? Was he not afraid that the Great Yue would be put at a disadvantage again? After such a heavy price was paid to bring a turnabout of the situation between the Great Yue and the Wan Kingdom, he intended to hand this advantage to the enemy on a silver platter?!
Ling Zhang’s impression of the King Hui worsened even further.
Ji Yin kept nothing back while instructing Ling Zhang in internal energy. Though Ling Zhang was still recovering from arm injury, it was no hindrance to him mobilizing his internal energy. Ji Yin stood right beside him, carefully offering him useful tips. This was different from Ling Zhang cultivating alone. With Ji Yin instructing him, he was getting twice the result with half the effort. Ling Zhang had got a general idea of how far away he was from the third layer.
Ji Yin was the best mentor. He was not only experienced but also capable of identifying at a glance which part Ling Zhang was not doing right. No matter what question Ling Zhang asked, he could always give an answer that struck home.
As a result, during the next two days, with Ji Yin in the Ling Mansion, Ling Zhang made great progress in his cultivation of internal energy, though he couldn’t go outside.
Two days later, Yuwen Tong seemed to have found something during the inquiry, but he was still not back.
Ling Zhang guessed that he must be very busy – after all, it was a prince that he was working against. The King Hui couldn’t hold a candle to Yuwen Tong, but because he had a great number of followers who formed a very complicated network in the imperial court, bringing him down was not something that could be done in a day or two, though he was not really a formidable opponent.
Ling Zhang patiently waited, but on this day Ji Yin told him that he would teach him martial formations after he finished the cultivation of the second layer and reached the third layer.
Ling Zhang, who could comprehend the many formations his mother had taught him all by himself, was somewhat confused. Were there any formations he needed to reach the third layer of the mental cultivation method first to be ready to learn, by any chance?
Ji Yin didn’t answer him directly but took him to the drill ground.
It had come to the knowledge of almost everybody in the Ling Mansion, except for some servants, that Ji Yin was grandfather to their young master. They also knew that their young master’s grandfather was a kung fu expert with formidable martial arts prowess, who gained entry into the Ling Mansion unseen by all of them every day.
The first time he’d made his appearance, Yao Yi and the other bodyguards had been reduced to cold sweat.
Now seeing Ji Yin and Ling Zhang walking over, all of them stopped at the same time what they were doing, as if there was some kind of tacit agreement among them. “Young Master, Mr. Ji.”
There was a confused look in their eyes. Ling Zhang, who was also perplexed, looked at his grandfather.
Ji Yin didn’t utter a word, but all of a sudden he raised his hand and, without moving an inch, transferred a couple of boulders from a side of the drill ground to the middle of it, as if by telekinetic powers. The positions of those boulders didn’t seem to follow a particular pattern, but as they landed, both the space and the atmosphere on the drill ground changed. The drill ground, which had been quite spacious a moment ago, instantly made Ling Zhang feel that he had just entered a forest of boulders. Not only were people around him out of sight, even what he saw, heard and sensed was different now. At the same time, he went restless and subdued in spite of himself.
Also, he didn’t know when, but gusts of wind accompanied by sand had started howling outside the drill ground. Weirdly enough, the dusty wind was whirling around the drill ground like a gigantic tornado, engulfing the whole place.
Ling Zhang, who had been standing beside his grandfather all along, had a vague idea of what Ji Yin had done to conjure up this tornado, but there were still many details he couldn’t comprehend for the moment. More importantly, this formation had been finished in an instant and almost with the greatest ease. In his eyes, it would require concerted efforts of quite some men to finish a formation like this, but Ji Yin had made it happen all by himself.
Ling Zhang, watching the drill ground in shock, raised his hand to shield his eyes against the dusty wind, mind filled with incredulity.
“Grandfather, h–how’s this possible?”
Ji Yin smiled, “This is just one of the most common containment formations. After you reach the third layer, you’ll master more and more formations every one of which you could finish laying in a flash all by yourself, each more powerful than the last. When you reach the same level as mine, it’ll even be possible for you to lay a containment formation holding enough power to trap a city.”
Ling Zhang widened his mouth in astonishment. Some day he could do that as well?
Ji Yin said, “Your comprehension of the formations taught to you by your mother is at a decent level, but you still need more men to realize their full potential. The formations you’re capable of laying by yourself could only trap one or two men. As regards formations of larger scales, you need cooperation of multiple helpers to lay them in an acceptable amount of time, and the helpers have to have adequate acquaintance with the formations and the teamwork between you and them has to be good enough, too. Neither of them could be achieved in a short time. They require years’ practice. But if the level of your internal energy is high enough, you’ll be able to lay these formations unaided, and only when laying a formation of a very large scale – the kind Marshal Yuwen uses on the battlefield, for example – will you need many others to cooperate with you.”
Ling Zhang’s eyes were glinting with excitement. The existence of such formations had never crossed his mind before. This was a real eye-opener!
The dusty wind around the drill ground slowly died down. Ling Zhang had seen Ji Yin throw a couple of palm strikes generating lasting and powerful currents which stopped the dusty whirlwind. After Ji Yin removed those boulders as well as some other items that he had previously transferred here in a seemingly telekinetic way, the drill ground returned to normal, spacious and open, and those who had been stuck in the formation finally could see the situation outside the formation now, all of them sweating buckets from horror.
When trapped in the formation, all of them had been scared to death lest Ji Yin might bottle them up in the formation and abduct Ling Zhang…
As for why they’d been worried Ling Zhang might be abducted, they had no idea. They just had had an inkling that it might be the case.
They didn’t dare imagine what kind of punishment the Marshal would mete out to them after return had Ling Zhang been taken away from under their noses.
When the drill ground returned to normal and they saw Ji Yin and Ling Zhang standing where they’d been, they felt their hearts landed back into their chests from their mouths.
“Childe Ling, Mr. Ji, what was going on just now?” queried Xie Shi. “Was it a formation?”
Ling Zhang inclined his head. “My grandfather did that. Awesome, right?”
Xie Shi and the others exchanged glances in dismay and then all nodded at the same time.
Of course it’d been awesome. It’d nearly scared the life out of them!
Ling Zhang’s eyes glinted with excitement at the prospect of him wielding such great powers, as sparkling as stars in the night sky, making it difficult for people to tear their eyes away from them.
“Someday I’ll be just as awesome.”
All the others were sent into a brief trance of astonishment and then looked at Ji Yin.
Ji Yin said, “Zhang’er is right. I’ll be teaching him myself.”
The first reaction of Wang Dashan and his men was to congratulate Ling Zhang, every one of them delighted, while the joy of Yao Yi and other bodyguards was mingled with concern. This old man’s kung fu was so good – virtually better than that of their marshal. If some day Childe Ling became as adept at kung fu as him, wouldn’t their marshal be outshone? In that case… when Childe Ling was unhappy, would the Marshal still be able to overpower him?
Ling Zhang was unaware of what Yao Yi and the others had in mind. Right now he couldn’t wait to make a breakthrough and reach the third layer, but he hadn’t cultivated long enough, and he still needed to deepen his comprehension of the mental cultivation method and accumulate more experience as well, so there was really a long way to go before he could reach the third layer.
Of course Ling Zhang wouldn’t be deflated because of this. Now that he had a clear goal in mind, all he had to do was strive for it, ignoring all other matters. Though currently he was not quite there yet, he had no doubt that someday he’d meet the requirements and make a breakthrough as long as he worked hard enough at it.
Ling Zhang suddenly started cultivating internal energy even more diligently then before. A door to a new realm had been opened in front of him, and he was eagerly anticipating the day he would step over the threshold.
Yuwen Tong bustling outside was still unaware that when he’d been occupied with other business, his wife-to-be had found the gate to a new realm and couldn’t wait to explore it. When this came to his knowledge, his inquiry into that matter was coming to an end.
In a sense, he had that student named Wang Deguang to thank for it. If it weren’t for this clue which had led Yuwen Tong to Wang family, he wouldn’t have found out so soon what kind of deal the King Hui had struck with the Wan Kingdom.
What he needed to do next was evict Shan Congwen from the Great Yue, and tar and feather the King Hui who had dared to beard the lion in his den, having them know the consequences of attempting to harm his sweetheart over and over again.
After returning to the Ling Mansion, Yuwen Tong filled with longing to see Ling Zhang asked his bodyguards where he was. They all replied, “Childe Ling is in closed-door cultivation.”
Yuwen Tong, who had been given the same answer the last two times he’d returned, fell speechless.
Someone in the residential compound told him, “Ever since Childe Ling’s grandfather came, he’s been even more obsessed with his cultivation of internal energy.”
Yuwen Tong furrowed his brow. “Why’s that?”
Yao Yi informed him of what happened in the drill ground that day.
A surprised look appeared on Yuwen Tong’s face. He immediately realized what this was about, and it was also at this moment that he came to know that formations could be laid in this way, and the internal energy of the Millennium Pavilion seemed to conform to this approach and complementary to it in a natural way.
“No wonder he got excited and has been in closed-door cultivation for so many days,” muttered Yuwen Tong. Though aware of the reason now, he still had an urge to hold Ling Zhang in his arms and give him a good long kiss.
Yuwen Tong, who knew better than to disturb Ling Zhang when he was cultivating, went sulky, his face dark.
Fortunately for him, Ling Zhang, as if having sensed Yuwen Tong’s displeasure, finished this stint of closed-door cultivation a short while later. His eyes lit up at the sight of Yuwen Tong. “You’re back. Have you had dinner? Have you bathed? Do you want me to have them–”
Before he could finish speaking, Yuwen Tong took him in his arms with care, holding him tight, but not too tight so that Ling Zhang’s injured arm wouldn’t be affected. Then he comfortably sighed, “Those things can wait. Let me have a hug first.”
He only mentioned a hug, but actually after merely a few moments he lowered his head and gave Ling Zhang a kiss, a rather vigorous one.
