Chapter 41: Uncle Li

　　Meng Bai fell to the ground with his left cheek swollen like a steamed bun and his mouth full of blood. Astonished, he froze in place while Meng Wu covered her mouth in fright and hurried forward to help him up.

　　“You…Who are you to slap me!” Meng Bai pointed at Yunxiao and screamed.

　　“Who am I to slap you? I’m your Master!” Yunxiao said coldly. “I told you to practice hard the first three styles of the Tyrant Body Tempering Technique. Have you done as I bid?”

　　“I…I need to earn money to support my family!” Meng Bai puffed out his chest and said. “I’m a man, and I can’t let my sister work alone to make money. I want to support my sister!”

　　Meng Wu felt a sting in her nose as she quickly grabbed Meng Bai and said, “Stop talking, brother! Apologize to Young Master Yun now!”

　　“Apologize? Why should I apologize? He slapped me for no reason, and as a Master, he doesn’t teach me anything good! He only teaches some useless stuff! What kind of master is he?” Meng Bai shouted in an agitated tone.

　　“You ungrateful little sh*t!” Yunxiao said coldly. “Kneel!”

　　He flicked his finger and sent out two streams of force, hitting Meng Bai on the knees. Blood spurted out as Meng Bai felt a sharp pain in his legs and fell to his knees uncontrollably.

　　“I refuse to obey! You are just one year older than me! In another year, you will be no match for me! You’re merely bullying me! Kill me if you can!” A grievance welled up in Meng Bai’s heart, making him roar uncontrollably.

　　A trace of killing intent flashed through Yunxiao’s eyes. “Do you think I dare not kill you? A useless disciple like you is a disgrace for me! It’s no big deal to kill you!”

　　The killing intent immediately spread from him, causing Meng Wu to be scared out of her wits. She knew Yunxiao’s temper very well, and he might actually kill her brother. “Young Master Yun, don’t!” She burst into tears.

　　She kept slapping Meng Bai on the head and said, “You piss me off! What did I raise you up for? Apologize to your Master now! Otherwise, I won’t recognize you as my brother!”

　　“Sis!” Meng Bai, looking aggrieved, but he still refused to give in.

　　“What’s all this noise about?”

　　From outside the door came a strong voice, and then a burly fellow strode into the house.

　　“Uncle Li…It’s Uncle Li!” Meng Bai was overjoyed and cried out hastily. “Uncle Li, save me!” He struggled to stand up, but Yunxiao’s forces had burst the blood vessels and veins on his legs, causing him to struggle several times and then kneel back down on the ground.

　　“Meng Bai? What’s going on here?” Uncle Li walked over. “Meng Wu, what happened?”

　　Meng Bai pointed to Yunxiao and said, “Uncle Li, this guy forced me to acknowledge him as my Master, and now he says he wants to kill me!”

　　“Oh?” Uncle Li looked up at Yunxiao with a flicker of surprise in his eyes, but he quickly sneered, “A three-stars warrior? Boy, you are quite gifted, but you are wrong to be so domineering.”

　　“Who are you? Why do you interfere with me teaching my disciple a lesson?” Yunxiao said coldly.

　　Uncle Li said angrily, “What an arrogant boy! Don’t you think you are too young to be someone’s Master? It seems I must teach you a lesson today!”

　　Meng Wu was very anxious. She hurried up to Uncle Li and grabbed his hand as she said, “That’s not the way it is, Uncle Li! Don’t listen to Meng Bai! He’s making things up!”

　　Meng Bai said loudly, “I’m not making up a story! This is the truth! If I ever want to acknowledge a Master, I’ll find an expert like Uncle Li!”

　　A flicker of pride flashed across Uncle Li’s face. “Good! Meng Bai, I’ll take you as my disciple today! When you break through and become a warrior, we will form a mercenary group, and then your income will be hundreds of times higher than you digging in the mine now!”

　　“A mercenary group?” Meng Bai’s eyes gleamed with excitement. “That’s great! Uncle Li, you’ll be the leader of the group and I will be your assistant! Also, I want to learn Tiger Knuckle Fist!”

　　“Haha! Good! In fact, I know not only Tiger Knuckle Fist, but also Clenched Fist and Iron Palm. I’ll teach them all to you!” Uncle Li seemed very happy, but when he turned to look at Yunxiao, his face slowly became gloomy. “But first, let me get rid of this unwelcomed Master of yours now!” he sneered.

　　“No, Uncle Li!” Meng Wu was terrified as she knew Yunxiao’s strength. Although Uncle Li was a five-stars warrior, there was no way he could withstand a strike from Yunxiao!

　　Uncle Li sneered, “Don’t worry, Meng Wu! I’ll just teach him a lesson and won’t really hurt him.” He could tell that Yunxiao had an extraordinary cultivation base at such a young age, and was worried that he might have some unusual background. So, he did not dare to use all his strength.

　　With a trace of disdain in his eyes, Yunxiao said coldly, “I’ll just stand here without moving, dodging, or fighting back, and not even use my Primordial Qi. If you can hurt even just one of my hair, I’ll kneel in front of you and lick your shoes today!”

　　Without moving, dodging, fighting back, and not even use Primordial Qi…

　　Uncle Li was struck dumb, but then he flew into a rage and bellowed, “Boy, you really don’t know the height of the sky! You won’t move, dodge, and not even use your Primordial Qi? Ha! Even if a Martial Sovereign of the Nine Heavens realm was here, I’ll beat him to the ground with my Clenched Fist and Iron Palm!”

　　Meng Wu, too, was stunned, and did not know how to react for a moment.

　　Just then, Uncle Li had already rushed forward and threw out a Clenched Fist. Initially, he only intended to use seventy percent of his strength, but had used up to ninety percent now. The more he looked at the boy, the more he disliked him; so, he planned to give him a hard lesson.

　　However, at the moment he threw out his fist, his heart suddenly shook. He saw Yunxiao’s pupils began to change strangely, twisting into two blood-red crescent moons.

　　Yunxiao cried out softly, “Universal Soul Suppressor, Forbidden Expansion!”

　　Uncle Li’s soul trembled violently; his mind was lost in an instant, and he coughed out a mouthful of heart’s blood!

　　“Uncle Li!” Meng Wu and Meng Bai were terrified. In their eyes, Yunxiao did not move, dodge, or use Primordial Qi, and yet Uncle Li coughed out a mouthful of blood for no apparent reason, seeming to have suffered a serious injury.

　　“Hmph! Get down on your knees!” Yunxiao cried out.

　　Uncle Li seemed to have lost his soul and his eyes were vacant. At Yunxiao’s voice, his knees fell directly to the ground.

　　Meng Bai was thoroughly dumbfounded. His mind was blank and he had no idea what was going on. “Uncle Li, stand up! Stand up!” he suddenly shouted. “Hit him with your Clenched Fist! And your Iron Palm! Slap him and make him vomit blood!”

　　“Come and lick my shoes!” Yunxiao ordered again.

　　Uncle Li did not resist at all. He crawled to Yunxiao’s feet obediently, then lowered his head and stuck out his tongue to lick his sole.

　　“Oh no!” Meng Wu covered her mouth anxiously and screamed.

　　“Hmph!” Just as Uncle Li stuck out his tongue to lick Yunxiao’s sole, he kicked him in the chest and sent him flying away. “You are not worthy of even licking my shoes!”

　　Meng Bai was completely stunned!

　　Uncle Li, who was extremely tough in his mind, was kicked away by Yunxiao like a puppy…

　　Yunxiao stared coldly at the absent-minded Meng Bai and said coldly, “I thought you said you wanted to die? Now it’s your turn.”

　　A sense of death immediately enveloped Meng Bai, making him shiver with fear. “No, don’t come here!”

　　Meng Wu hurried up to Yunxiao and stopped him while crying, “Young Master Yun, please forgive him! My brother is young and ignorant. If you want to blame, blame me for not teaching him well as his sister!”

　　Yunxiao sighed and said, “I thought he is gifted. Forget it! I don’t need this disciple!” When he had finished, he turned and was about to leave.

　　Meng Bai froze for a moment, then he suddenly saw the light. “Wait, don’t go!” he shouted. As his legs were injured, he still could not stand up, so he quickly crawled over and hugged Yunxiao’s leg. “I don’t want you to go! I want to learn martial arts from you! Master, please teach me! I was wrong!”

　　“Hmph! I don’t have a good-for-nothing disciple like you.”

　　“I’m really sorry! Master, please forgive me for once!” When he had finished, he hurried kowtowed several times.

　　Meng Wu also said hastily, “Young Master Yun, please forgive him. I promise that I will never let him go mining again. I will definitely make him practice at home.”

　　“Sis, I can no longer let you earn money to support us alone,” Meng Bai said. “I’ll still go mining, but as for what Master has taught me, I will certainly practice with all my heart. Please forgive me, Master!”

　　Yunxiao said coldly, “I will give you another chance. If you can open all seven chakras and become a warrior of the Origin realm in five days, I will still recognize you as my disciple. Otherwise, scram as far as you can!”

　　“Five days?” Meng Wu was dumbfounded. “Young Master Yun, my brother has only opened five chakras. How can he open seven chakras in five days?”

　　Meng Bai was also startled, but then he put on a determined expression as he gritted his teeth and said, “Fine! I’ll do it in five days! Since the Master has given me five days, he must think that I can!”

　　Yunxiao snorted coldly and left without looking back. “I’ll come back to check your result in five days.” His voice came from a distance.

　　Initially, he was angry that Meng Bai dared to disobey his orders. No disciple of his had ever dared to disobey him. But then, he felt that this kid’s heart was good and worth cultivating, so he decided to give him another chance.

　　He found a random hotel near the suburbs and stayed in it. In the room, he took out the Black Girl and activated ten times the force of gravity before beginning meditation.

　　The Primordial Qi he absorbed from Meng Bai’s body last time had been digested almost completely, leaving only a mass of toxin wrapped in his dantian. Coupled with his recovery after refining in the Alchemist Association, his Primordial Qi had now reached the peak of the three-stars level. Yunxiao did not dare to be careless, so he cautiously controlled the Primordial Qi in his body and began to circulate it over and over again.

　　Five days passed in an instant, but an unusual event took place during this period, except that it had nothing to do with ordinary people.

　　Xu Han, the president of the Alchemist Association, and Zhang Qingfan, the chief alchemist of the imperial palace, suddenly announced that they would be cultivating in seclusion for an indefinite period of time. For the first time in decades, two third-tier alchemists were cultivating in seclusion for a long time.

　　During normal times, there must be a master presiding over the work outside. Hence, all the affairs of the Alchemist Association were handed over to Liang Wenyu, a second-tier alchemist. As for Zhang Qingfan’s affairs, they were handed over to Shi Zhen, another second-tier alchemist.

　　The news immediately set the outside world abuzz, and the higher-ups of the state were all analyzing the significance contained in it. They even sent out men to find out more details about it, but found nothing. Before the two masters began cultivating in seclusion, they said nothing and did not let others ask any questions.

　　Compared to the news of the two masters entering seclusion, the news that Jia Rong, who was known as the most promising first-tier alchemist, also entering seclusion was insignificant, and hence, did not attract any attention.