Confinement

The old man in black robes was so angry that he didn't say a word. He gave Li Mingru an icy cold glance, snorted coldly, and then looked at Lin Xiaolu, who was standing still. His eyes revealed a trace of displeasure. Then he swung his long sleeves and strode out of the cave, stepping on the wind and leaving.

After he left, Lin Xiaolu's frozen body was finally released. As soon as he regained his mobility, he immediately took out his brick and shouted, "Damn old geezer! I'm going to slaughter your Lingjian sect today!" Then he wanted to run out.

Li Miaoxin quickly grabbed him and anxiously advised, "Xiaolu, don't make trouble."

"Let me go! Let me go!" Lin Xiaolu shouted and screamed as Li Miaoxin held him in her arms, "That asshole boss even paralyzed me. It was clearly Chen Nianyun who wanted to duel with me. Cultivation? Screw you! Bunch of sore losers, damn it!"

Seeing his unruly disciple, Li Mingru could only sigh helplessly, "Miaoxin, you go back first."

"Huh?" Li Miaoxin was stunned for a moment, holding Lin Xiaolu somewhat at a loss.

"During this time, Xiaolu will be grounded here with master. Don't worry, take good care of Little Yuer," Li Mingru said.

Hearing this, Li Miaoxin obediently nodded, then held the snarling Lin Xiaolu and gently persuaded, "Xiaolu, stay here nicely with Master. Master won't harm you."

"I don't want to!" Lin Xiaolu was like an angry little wild boar, cursing and scolding, "I don't want to cultivate anymore. I want to take my sister back to the village!"

When Li Mingru heard this, he felt a headache. He spoke gently, "Xiaolu, don't be impatient. Master..."

Before he could finish speaking, Lin Xiaolu rolled his eyes at him, then spat out a mouthful of saliva with a "Pah!"

Seeing his disrespect towards the master, Li Miaoxin was also anxious. She slapped him and scolded fiercely, "You naughty child! How dare you offend the master? If you keep this up, your senior sister will spank you!"

Li Mingru laughed softly. He didn't care about the disrespect of a seven-year-old orphan child towards him. Instead, he spoke gently, "Xiaolu, you may think that master has wrongly accused you, but isn't it true that you extorted money and bullied your classmates?

Hearing this, Lin Xiaolu's struggle stopped. He clenched his little fists and didn't make a sound anymore.

Li Mingru continued, "Being grounded for three months isn't just punishment for injuring the Lingjian disciples.

It's punishment for your wrongdoings, bullying others and extorting money. Can you admit that?"

Lin Xiaolu didn't speak. He just stuck out his little head with an unruly expression.

"That's the end of this matter," Li Mingru said. "In three months, your senior sister will come get you."

Li Miaoxin also squatted down and rubbed his head with a smile, "Be good, Xiaolu, and listen to Master. Don't make Master angry."

Finally, the angry Lin Xiaolu was left in the cave, watching Li Miaoxin leave.

After Li Miaoxin left, there were only him and Li Mingru in the cave, staring at each other.

Li Mingru lifted his wine gourd, took a swig of wine, then casually smiled, "Still mad at Master?"

Sitting across from him, Lin Xiaolu pursed his lips and muttered, "You're my boss. When your little brother gets bullied, you should stand up for him. What kind of hero are you?"

Li Mingru laughed out loud when he heard this. Looking at the little guy, he said with a smile, "Xiaolu, Master knows you didn't sneak attack anyone. You'll naturally understand the reason when you grow up."

"Stop pretending to be profound. You clearly know I didn't sneak attack anyone, yet you didn't refute that black geezer," Lin Xiaolu said angrily, "You're really a coward."

"It's not about being a coward or not," Li Mingru patiently explained to him, "Firstly, Xiaolu, you did do something wrong and deserved to be punished.

Secondly, even if it was a fair duel, your moves were too vicious. That's not right and it would also affect the relationship between Plucking Stars sect and the other sects.

Thirdly, you can beat Lingjian's disciples now, but what about the future?"

Li Mingru said, "You're destined to be unable to cultivate. So as time goes on, you'll definitely be surpassed by others. This is a very cruel fact.

Even if Little Yuer can become a powerful cultivator in the future relying on her talent, in the short term, she still can't surpass experts like Fang Wuxiu who are in the Foundation Establishment stage, let alone become your backer.

So Master wants you to rein in your unruly temperament and become a kind person."

"But I just can't accept it!" Lin Xiaolu stood up and said fiercely, "Why should martial artists be inferior to cultivators!"

"Everyone is born of father and mother. Why can people with talent for cultivation easily obtain things that others can't obtain in a lifetime?

Why are some people naturally superior? No matter how hard I work on martial arts, I'll still be inferior to them."

Lin Xiaolu's little face was dissatisfied as he shouted loudly, "In the future when I'm accomplished in martial arts, I'm going to beat up every cultivator I see!

I just want to prove that hard work is more useful than talent!"

When Li Mingru heard this, he looked at the little guy in surprise for a while, and didn't speak for a moment. Seeing the child raging like thunder in front of him, he also felt regretful.

In fact, during this time, he had been paying attention to Lin Xiaolu's training and knew that he worked very hard every day after school to practice martial arts.

It could be said that he was able to defeat Chen Nianyun today because of his recent training. His speed, reflexes, and brick throwing accuracy were all quite good. If he could cultivate, with his stubborn temper, he really had great potential. But unfortunately, he was unable to cultivate.

Just like little Yuer who had also cultivated for a month. She only needed to casually meditate and contemplate, and she naturally advanced to the second layer of Qi Condensation realm. In other words, if he hadn't stopped Miaoxin from teaching Little Yuer mystic arts, Little Yuer could now easily defeat all the children at the school, including Lin Xiaolu!

This was reality. Wanting to surpass talent through hard work was too difficult, too difficult.

Moreover, the gap between martial arts and cultivation was already completely insurmountable through hard work alone. This...was simply impossible!

"Boss," Lin Xiaolu asked in a low voice, sounding dejected, "Is it really true that no ordinary person like me has ever used martial arts to defeat cultivators?"

Li Mingru didn't speak. The cave became extremely quiet for a while.

After a long time, Li Mingru sighed and slowly recounted, "Thirty years ago, when Master was traveling around the world, I once met a military captain from a small nation.

At that time, a monster was creating havoc in that small country, killing countless people. That captain was a martial arts expert. He recklessly stood up to fight the monster to the death. In the end, using his over twenty years of exquisite martial skills, he managed to slay the monster that was in the Foundation Establishment stage, at the cost of his own life.

That was also the strongest martial artist Master has ever seen!"