Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“…”
The entire courtyard was silent.
It was as if someone had pressed the mute button on everyone, and they all stared at the thin young woman in astonishment and disbelief.
Disregarding how astonished Jordan and Mrs. Hoffman—who had already suspected a thing or two a long time ago—were, even Paul was so shocked that he had all but forgotten the pain he was feeling.
She was the Quinn School of Martial Arts’ Big Sister?
How… how could that be?!
A mere girlie…
Master often said that Big Sister had been painstakingly training in martial arts for 25 years, but didn’t the girl in front of them at the moment look like she was barely past twenty?
Was she already training in martial arts while she was in her mother’s womb?
How would he know that back then, when Quinn was struggling to find his successor, yet the Irvin School of Martial Arts had been a step ahead of him and taken Justin—who had the highest aptitude in martial arts in New York—with them, he had vowed to find someone on par with Justin?
How would he know that back then, while Quinn was struggling to find his successor, he had vowed to find someone on par with Justin? At the time, Irvin School of Martial Arts had been a step ahead of Quinn and had taken Justin, who had the highest aptitude in martial arts in all of New York, with them.
However, even after searching for a very long time, he simply couldn’t find anyone suitable. This continued until Yvette Anderson called him and asked if he wanted to take a disciple. At that time, he had asked, “Who is it?”
He had wanted to take Yvette as his disciple when she was young, but unfortunately, she didn’t have any aspirations in martial arts, so she had rejected him.
Later on, when Yvette grew up, he didn’t want to take her as a disciple anymore.
Now that Yvette was the one bringing the topic up, he was very curious—who was it that Yvette had seen potential in and was sending to him?
The next moment, Yvette answered, “It’s my daughter.”
“…”
Her answer had made Quinn dumbfounded at that time. “I haven’t even met her before. How would I know whether she has a good aptitude or not?”
Yvette replied, “It’s better than mine.”
“… Okay, I’ll take her!” A panicked Quinn immediately shouted, lest someone snatched her away if he was even a second late.
“Okay. I’ll get her to contact you three years later.”
An anxious Quinn said, “Why do we have to wait three years for it? Martial arts training should start early, preferably right away. How old is your daughter? The best age for one to learn martial arts is between three to six years old. You’d better not delay the child’s learning!”
Yvette sounded very calm as she replied, “Oh, she’s negative six-months-old right now.”
Quinn, “?”
He was bewildered. “What do you mean?”
“Why are you so stupid, old man? It means there are still six months before she’ll be born!”
Quinn, “…”
At that time, Yvette had already disappeared from New York for two years.
Quinn panicked. He asked, “Are you lying to me? How would you know whether the aptitude of a baby, that hasn’t even been born yet, would be good or not?”
“Don’t worry. I will groom her from this point on. There won’t be any problem at all. Even if you don’t believe in yourself, don’t you believe in me?”
Thus was Quinn fooled by her.
From then on, he finally had a disciple of direct lineage. Quinn, who was already in his fifties then, became terribly excited. Justin, who had joined the Irvin School of Martial Arts, was just a one-year-old baby at that time.
No matter what, they would have to wait until he was two or three years old to learn martial arts. In order to be a step faster than the Irvin School of Martial Arts, he straight-up announced to everyone that he had already found the Quinn School of Martial Arts’ Big Sister, and was secretly training her! This was how it ended up giving everyone the illusion that Big Sister had been practicing martial arts for 25 years.
Three years later, when Nora was a little over two years old, someone contacted him and told him where she was.
He rushed to California right away.
He was overjoyed when he checked the child’s physique. She really was more suitable to practice martial arts than even Yvette herself! On top of that, she was much younger than Yvette, so she was overflowing with potential to be shaped into greatness!
Thus, Quinn bought the villa next to the Smiths’. The two houses were right next to each other. Moreover, Henry and Wendy Smith didn’t pay much attention to Nora, either.
He started to teach Nora martial arts. After two years of training, Nora, the crazy mutant, became enlightened in the ways of martial arts, and he also finished teaching her everything he knew. The resigned Quinn then returned to New York.
Since then, they kept constant contact via the Internet. However, when Nora turned five, she started to gain weight, causing her to become out of breath after walking only a few steps. Fortunately, the Quinn School of Martial Arts’ techniques strengthened her body for her all this time.
It was just a pity that she was lazy, which made Quinn so angry that for a time, he kept using the Irvin School of Martial Arts’ Big Brother to provoke her every day.
“That old devious scumbag’s littlest disciple trains for sixteen hours a day and uses the remaining eight hours to eat and sleep, but look at you! My little disciple, can you be a little more diligent?! Although we’ve already mastered everything, you should still brush up on what you’ve learned more often. Otherwise, you’ll forget everything!”
“Do you think you’re already very impressive, Nora? Yes, you are indeed able to beat others in a fight, but you won’t be able to beat that old devious scumbag’s crazy mutant of a disciple! Can you be a little more diligent? You didn’t even train for two hours today… Never mind, how about half an hour instead? Take it that Master is pleading with you!”
“Nora, even geniuses won’t last if they continue to waste away like this. What’s so great about sleeping?”
“…”
The lazier Nora was, the bigger a headache Quinn had. Every time he saw people praising Justin, he couldn’t help but boast about how awesome his little disciple was.
This led to the entire Quinn School of Martial Arts developing a misconception of Big Sister in the end!
Big Sister was probably a very serious, hardworking, and stern person. Even if she started training in martial arts from the age of three, she should already be 28 years old this year!
Nora had a good complexion and was fair-skinned. Coupled with how she was sleep-deprived all year round, she was thin and slender like a teenage girl. Her appearance tended to give one the illusion that she wasn’t even 20 years old yet.
Therefore, how would Paul ever consider such a possibility?
He stared at Nora in shock and swallowed hard. Then, he looked at Quinn again. Everything became clear as day in this instant.
Quinn hadn’t gotten angry the last time because of Justin; rather, it was because of Big Sister!
Winston had stupidly tried to lay his hands on Big Sister!
The Quinn School of Martial Arts had never yielded to anyone. He was the one who had been too presumptuous.
Paul was so shocked that he couldn’t say anything. Even when he heard Nora say that he had been expelled from the sect, he still couldn’t say anything.
This was because he did deserve to be punished for angering Big Sister!
Moreover, given Big Sister’s status in the sect alone, he couldn’t say a word in his defense, either—because Quinn had already announced a long time ago that Big Sister’s status was equivalent to his own!
In fact, Quinn had even said that Big Sister’s martial arts prowess highly likely already surpassed his…
Paul swallowed hard. He struggled to his feet and said, “Fine, I’ll leave… The Quinlan Sect and the Quinn School of Martial Arts have nothing to do with each other from now on!”
He turned around after he spoke, but just as he was about to stride forward, the girl asked lightly, “Are you leaving just like that?”
Paul looked back at her. “What else do I do, if not leave?”
“Violation of the Quinn School of Martial Arts’ rules are treated the same as sect abandonment. So, you want to leave the sect? Sure. Return to the Quinn School of Martial Arts what you’ve learned here, then!”
Nora’s words made Paul’s pupils shrink fiercely.
He stared at the girl incredulously… She was clearly so young, yet her words were so merciless! Returning what he had learned to the Quinn School of Martial Arts… She wanted to make it such that he would never be able to use martial arts ever again!
His pupils shrank as he watched the girl take step after step toward him. “W-what do you think you’re doing?”
The corners of Nora’s lips hooked upward slightly.
—
Outside the sect.
Inside one of the cars, waiting to pick up the children, a bored Tanya was surfing the Internet on her cell phone.
Joel stared in front of him. After a long internal struggle, he was just about to get out of the car to go to Tanya when his phone suddenly rang. He glanced at it impatiently, only to calm down immediately upon seeing the caller. He picked up the call and said respectfully, “Hello, Uncle Ian.”
Ian kept quiet for a long while before he finally asked, “Where is Nora Smith?”
