The sun shone brightly in the training grounds of the Lu Family’s backyard. It was a wide, open area paved with green bricks, with several old scholar trees planted at the four corners. Their canopies, like great parasols, cast a patch of deep shade.
Against the courtyard wall lay several stone locks, which Lu Yun had used for his training in his younger days. Now, they were covered in dust, untouched by anyone.
Dressed in a black Zhongshan suit, Lu Yun stood alone in the center of the open space. On the surrounding veranda, his two daughters-in-law, Shen Luoying and Li Zhiyu, watched him with his six grandchildren and several maids, chatting and laughing.
A smile played on Shen Luoying’s lips as she sat in a chair, dressed in a simple and elegant qipao. Li Zhiyu sat beside her, holding the youngest, Lu Qingxue, in her arms and looking down to playfully tease her.
Lu Yun flexed his wrists slightly, then began to demonstrate the Ten Directions Annihilation Fist.
At first, he didn’t use the fragmented Divine Thought Power from the purple core shadow within him, nor the Divine Will True Qi of his Glazed Radiant Body. He merely performed the most basic version of the fist technique.
On the veranda, the children watched and yawned. His eldest grandson, Lu Mingli, leaned over the railing with his chin resting on the back of his hands, his eyelids fighting to stay open.
Shen Luoying and Li Zhiyu exchanged bewildered glances. This wasn’t what they had imagined at all. They had expected an earth-shattering display—tremors, howling gales, a torrential downpour, something truly spectacular.
’In the end, all he did was throw a few simple punches? How is this any different from the tai chi practiced by the old men in the park?’
However, had a Grandmaster of Divine Intent been present, their Divine Sense would have surely perceived the anomaly in the surrounding world.
Each of Lu Yun’s punches stirred the vast and boundless Great Trend of Heaven and Earth. When his fist moved, the world followed suit; every move and every stance carried immense power.
A single, simple-looking punch, even without the fragmented Divine Thought Power from his core shadow, was enough to split mountains, shatter stone, and overturn rivers and seas.
Unfortunately, Shen Luoying and the others on the veranda could see none of it. All they saw was Lu Yun moving slowly back and forth in the courtyard, making one sluggish gesture after another.
"Grandpa is amazing!" At that moment, his eldest grandson, Lu Mingli, suddenly jumped up, his little hands clapping loudly.
In truth, he didn’t understand a thing, but that didn’t stop Lu Mingli from thinking his grandfather was incredible.
In his world, whatever his grandfather did was right, and whatever his grandfather did was amazing.
Hearing this, Lu Yun stopped his form and turned to look at the little one who was clapping so enthusiastically.
Lu Mingli stood on the veranda, his hands red from clapping. His face was wreathed in a smile, and his eyes shone like two little stars.
His younger brothers and sisters beside him followed his lead, beginning to applaud sporadically.
The corners of Lu Yun’s mouth curved up slightly. ’After all, who wouldn’t want to be showered with praise by their adorable grandchildren?’
The next moment, he let out a rare laugh. "Hahahaha, Ming Li, your grandpa is capable of much more than this."
Shen Luoying and Li Zhiyu exchanged a glance and began to laugh as well. ’This grandfather-and-grandson duo is really something else,’ they thought. ’One shouts "Grandpa is amazing!" without understanding a thing, and the other laughs so happily, knowing full well the boy is clueless.’
In the very next instant, Lu Yun’s expression grew serious. The slow-moving fist routine, which had resembled a tai chi performance just moments before, suddenly quickened ever so slightly.
But that tiny bit of acceleration was enough to completely change the atmosphere of the entire training ground.
The wind hadn’t changed, nor had the light. Instead, something unseen was surging in from all directions.
In the center of the training ground, his entire being seemed to merge with heaven and earth itself.
Under the daylight, wisps of luminescence, like the violet light of an arctic aurora, manifested out of thin air.
The light was incredibly faint, like the first ripple that spreads when a fingertip touches the surface of the water. Then, it spread out layer by layer, finally enveloping Lu Yun completely.
"Ah? Is that purple light?"
Shen Luoying and Li Zhiyu were both completely stunned, their eyes glued to the figure in the center of the grounds, now wreathed in purple light.
The nearby maids were even more dumbfounded. In all their years, they had never imagined they would witness such a sight with their own eyes.
At that very moment, the children shrieked with excitement, "Grandpa’s turning into light!"
The six dumbstruck little ones stared in unison at the figure enveloped in the violet glow.
As the fist demonstration reached its climax, Shen Luoying and the others even saw a mysterious, profound, and indescribably noble purple core shadow materialize in mid-air, as if their father-in-law were holding a miniature sun aloft on his head.
The Ten Directions Annihilation Fist—a technique that, when unleashed, could erase all boundaries and return heaven and earth to primordial chaos. Yet at this moment, that world-destroying power was compressed within the confines of the small training ground, transformed into the most magnificent light in the children’s eyes.
Before long, the pervasive violet light dissolved into specks of starlight that fell upon the green brick ground and vanished in a flash.
Ignoring the astonishment of Shen Luoying and the others, Lu Yun slowly walked over and flicked a finger toward his six grandchildren.
An invisible force lifted the six grandchildren into the air. They laughed and shouted, kicking their legs and waving their arms as they floated.
The maids tilted their heads back, staring dumbfounded as the little ones floated to and fro.
This was the power of the fragmented Divine Thought Golden Core, capable of influencing reality at will.
With Yun Port City’s recent, rapid development, coupled with Lu Yun’s fame spreading like wildfire throughout the Daxia New Country, many famous sayings began to circulate through the streets and alleys.
People recited them in teahouses and sang them in taverns; teachers taught them in schools, and children learned to repeat them. The most famous among them was the saying: "Rule with a benevolent heart and righteous policy; protect the people with compassion for all life. Unite the world’s will with virtue as your guide; win the hearts of all to bring a lasting peace."
Some people even spontaneously erected stone statues of Lu Yun in the centers of Yun Port City’s various bustling streets.

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