With in-laws like these, what did Li Zhen have to fear?
If the world descended into chaos, he could just pack up and leave.
Just as Li Zhen was mulling this over, a servant hurried in, bowed, and reported, "Sir, there is someone outside asking to see you. He says his name is Lu Yun."
"What!"
Upon hearing this, Li Zhen shot to his feet. His eyes went wide, and the calm composure on his face vanished without a trace.
’Lu Yun? Isn’t that my in-law’s name?’
"Quickly! Jing Hua, Zhiyun, come with me to greet him!"
With that, he took off, rushing toward the main gate in great strides.
Li Jinghua and Li Zhiyun exchanged a glance before quickly following him.
’Lu Yun? Isn’t that the father of their brother-in-law, Lu Jingjun, and the father-in-law of their elder sister, Li Zhiyu?’
The fragrant aroma of tea filled the grand hall. Li Zhen and Lu Yun sat together on a large leather sofa in the center of the room.
Li Zhen looked at his in-law, a man seven or eight years his senior, and grew more shocked the longer he stared.
He had met Lu Yun once, five years ago. Back then, though Lu Yun was full of vigor, his hair was graying, and his face was deeply lined with wrinkles. He had looked every bit a man in his late fifties.
But now, not only were there strands of black returning to Lu Yun’s hair, but the wrinkles on his face had also nearly vanished.
He looked even younger than he had five years prior, like a man of forty-eight or forty-nine.
Li Zhen quickly set down his teacup, his face wreathed in an enthusiastic smile. "Ah, my dear in-law!"
"Why didn’t you let me know you were coming? I would have gone to the docks to greet you personally!"
Then, unable to contain his curiosity, he asked tentatively, "Say, my dear in-law... when I saw you five years ago, you looked a bit older than me."
"How is it that you look even younger than me now?"
As he spoke, Li Zhen sized Lu Yun up, his eyes filled with disbelief. ’Good heavens,’ he thought, ’can people really grow younger?’
Lu Yun smiled faintly and said humbly, "Not at all. It is merely a small advancement in my Realm."
Li Zhen didn’t dare ask more, instead quickly flattering him, "My dear in-law, you are truly worthy of your title as the former dynasty’s Martial Champion Scholar! Your reputation is well-deserved, truly well-deserved!"
He then changed the subject with a smile. "By the way, my daughter, Zhiyu—she hasn’t been causing you any trouble, has she?"
Lu Yun waved his hand. "Nonsense, my dear in-law. Zhiyu is a good, sensible child. I’ve always treated her as my own daughter."
"HAHAHAHA!" Li Zhen grinned from ear to ear, nodding repeatedly.
After a few more pleasantries, he suddenly remembered something and slapped his thigh. "Oh, right, my dear in-law! Jing Jun went to the President’s Mansion today. They’re swamped over there preparing for the cabinet meeting in three days, so he might be back a little late."
"Should I send someone to inform him?"
Lu Yun waved his hand. "No need. As it happens, there’s a small matter I’d like to trouble you with, my dear in-law."
Li Zhen paused. "Oh? What is it? Please, my dear in-law, just say the word!"
Lu Yun picked up his teacup, took a sip, and said slowly, "I’m looking to acquire a batch of potent tonics, like the Centennial Ginseng King. As for the money, I..."
Before he could finish, Li Zhen was already on his feet. "My dear in-law! So that’s what this is about!"
"You’ve really come to the right person! To be honest, I’ve been stockpiling a good number of Centennial Ginseng Kings and other potent tonics, intending to use them slowly for myself."
"How many do you need? They’re all yours!"
Li Zhen was overjoyed. ’Money? To him, it was just a number.’
’The chance to help his in-law, a Grandmaster of Huajin, was worth more than any amount of money!’
Lu Yun didn’t stand on ceremony either. He said directly, "I’ll take as many as you have."
In the evening, inside the guest room, Lu Yun sat cross-legged on the bed. He had spent the entire afternoon consuming the potent tonics.
His in-law, Li Zhen, had indeed hoarded a lot of good things: forty-five Centennial Ginseng Kings, along with other aged Lingzhi, Polygonum multiflorum, and snow lotuses, all piled high on a table.
Then, Lu Yun focused his mind inward, and a deep blue screen of light slowly unfurled in the depths of his consciousness.
[Extreme Blue Martial Arts Modifier]
Name: Lu Yun
Gender: Male
Realm: Grandmaster of Huajin (Peak)
Cultivation Technique: Mountain-Breaking Inch Force Fist 3rd Floor (Mastery) Modifiable, Hard Qi Gong 3rd Floor (Entry)
Modified Value: 549
Finally, a fire began to burn in Lu Yun’s eyes. He stared at the word "Modifiable" for a long, long time.
From the terror of death brought by that bizarre foreigner, to the night of frenzied slaughter at Gui Ku You, to the arduous journey to Yanjing... it had all been for this moment.
He took a deep breath.
’Modify.’
The 549 points of modified value vanished instantly. On the deep blue screen of light, the words "Mountain-Breaking Inch Force Fist" slowly faded away.
In their place, five new words appeared: Ten Thousand Valleys Struggle Fist!
The moment this fist art appeared, it felt as though a great axe had split a fissure deep within Lu Yun’s mind.
An endless torrent of information surged in with the force of a thunderbolt!
It was not words, not a mantra, not anything that could be described with language.
It was fist intent—the true meaning of Martial Arts, a storm of countless fist shadows practicing, intertwining, merging, and sublimating wildly within his consciousness!
Every shadow of a fist felt as if he had thrown it himself. Every exertion of force was like an instinct he had honed through a thousand repetitions.
At the same time, an earth-shattering transformation occurred deep within Lu Yun’s body.
The Huajin that coiled in his Dantian and flowed through his meridians was no longer just simple force. It began to merge with something deeper, more profound.
That was the will of a Martial Arts Technique. In that instant, Qi and Martial Dao Will merged completely.
Thus forming a new, indescribable power that transcended the mundane.
In the depths of his consciousness, a scene of unimaginable grandeur exploded into view!
Ten Thousand Valleys Struggle Fist! When the fist was thrown, there was no shadow of a fist, no sign of Qi—only a thousand mountains vying for prominence, ten thousand valleys surging forth!
A Divine Mountain, so majestic it could crush the heavens and the earth, materialized from the void!
Its peaks were like cast iron, stacked tens of thousands of feet high. Clouds swirled around it, ethereal as an immortal realm, its form possessing the solemn gravity of ages.
That mountain was no illusion, no projection. It was fist intent—a power forged from the entirety of Lu Yun’s Martial Dao Will, strong enough to interfere with reality itself.
One fist, one mountain. A thousand fists, a thousand peaks. Ten thousand fists thrown at once would raise a hundred million Divine Mountains, all joining the contending flow!
It appeared as tranquil as a mountain, yet it concealed the thunder of ten thousand ravines. Motion was hidden within stillness, and power was contained within weight. A single punch carried the might to topple mountains and overturn the seas!
Lu Yun slowly opened his eyes, feeling the new, boundless power within him, as vast as an ocean.
[Extreme Blue Martial Arts Modifier]
Name: Lu Yun
Gender: Male
Realm: Grandmaster of Divine Intent (Initial Stage)
Cultivation Technique: Ten Thousand Valleys Struggle Fist 1st Floor, Hard Qi Gong 3rd Floor (Entry)
Modified Value: 0
Grandmaster of Divine Intent. He had finally stepped into the Realm above Huajin. Moreover, there were no so-called stages like Entry or Mastery—it was simply the 1st Floor!

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