Back of the Falls

Lin Xiaolu laughed wildly for a good while before tossing down the boulder and bouncing over to Li Mingru’s side: “Boss, quick, feed me some tiger blood!”

Li Mingru smiled. With his palm stretched out before Lin Xiaolu, a blood sphere slowly condensed in the center of his palm, three inches wide.

Staring at the spinning blood sphere in front of him, Lin Xiaolu leaned in and sniffed. He didn’t detect any bloodiness, only a faint, delicate fragrance.

“Boss, where’d you get this tiger blood?” he asked curiously.

Li Mingru smiled. “Your teacher has a Ring of Na that can hold some items.”

Having said that, he flicked the blood sphere toward Lin Xiaolu. “Drink up quickly. This refined beast blood has no unpleasant odor.”

Hearing this, Lin Xiaolu didn’t hesitate any longer. Pursing his lips, he craned his neck forward. His lips met the blood sphere and with a soft suck, it flowed entirely into his mouth and down his throat.

He was shocked that he’d swallowed it just like that without even tasting anything.

Just as he was about to smack his lips to savor the flavor, a swelling heat suddenly rose inside him!

“Yeowch! Ow ow ow ow ow!”

The swelling heat came extremely quickly, flooding his entire body in an instant, making him yelp in pain again. Li Mingru and Ye Qingluan also noticed Lin Xiaolu’s change.

Right now, the boy’s originally snow-white skin was visibly reddening before their eyes, even emitting wisps of blue smoke! His clear eyes had turned completely bloodshot!

“Ahhhhhhh!” Lin Xiaolu shrieked as he rolled around on the ground, pounding the earth with his fists. With each punch, cracks spiderwebbed through the thick snow and into the rocky mountain beneath!

“Roarrrrr!” He was howling now! The eight-year-old’s body curled up as he emitted snarls like a small beast.

Seeing this, Li Mingru said, “Go to the cliffside waterfall. Train until you are utterly exhausted! Quickly!”

Lin Xiaolu couldn’t even respond. He just turned and raced toward the cliffside waterfall north of Pluck Star Peak.

He was in so much pain, feeling as if his belly might burst open at any moment. All the way, he ran and shrieked, his bare shoulders flashing as he sprinted to the crashing waterfall and dove right in beneath the spray.

“Hsss~” The cool waterfall water met his fiery skin, immediately billowing up clouds of steam wherever it touched.

“Ahhhhhhh! It hurts so bad!”

Under the waterfall’s barrage, Lin Xiaolu began doing pushups at a shockingly fast speed, his small body rising and falling so quickly he seemed to leave afterimages.

The water plunged onto his young back again and again but could not bend him.

His body continued smoking. No matter how the waterfall washed over him, it was useless. Instead, it made his whole body seem wrapped in steam—the waterfall plunged into whiteness, nothing visible underneath.

“Roarrrrr!”

The pain drove Lin Xiaolu to the edge. Unable to endure, he let out another roar, then hugged the enormous boulder next to him. Lifting it high over his head, he began squat training under the waterfall, bearing its immense weight.

By now, Li Mingru and Ye Qingluan had also unhurriedly come to the cliffside falls. Seeing the white plumes below and hearing the continuous roars within, their expressions held traces of concern.

“Won’t this damage the little guy?” Ye Qingluan said to Li Mingru. “You supplemented him with too much at once. I’m afraid he can’t handle it.”

Li Mingru stood expressionless, holding his jug of wine. “Martial training itself goes against the flow. To match cultivators, one must have great will and endure immense hardship. As the Analects says, ‘Go above and get the understanding; with that understanding, you can then implement below.’ By implementing below, you gain nothing.”

Ye Qingluan gave him a sideways glance. “Junior Brother, you really are eccentric—a cultivator acting just like a secular martial teacher now.”

“Senior Sister, in my travels I also witnessed some formidable martial artists and exchanged insights with them, so I have some knowledge,” Li Mingru said.

Ye Qingluan nodded, listening to the waterfall’s continuous young roars. Curious, she asked, “So how will you train Little Deer in the future?”

Taking a mouthful of wine, Li Mingru chuckled lightly. “That’s confidential.”

Ye Qingluan: (◦`~ ́◦)

That day, Lin Xiaolu did not return to the cottage. He trained madly under the waterfall all night—squatting with thousand-jin boulders, doing pushups, even punching the ground in pain.

Not until the next afternoon, when his energy reached an utmost peak after over ten hours of training, did he finally return to normal.

Li Mingru and Ye Qingluan accompanied him the entire time, watching his relentless exercising. With their own eyes, they saw his final enraged punch straight up at the waterfall overhead.

This punch sent the entire falls reverse-cascading into the heavens, water waves flying into the clouds! Leaving even Ye Qingluan shocked.

Only then did the drenched little boy emerge from the waterfall, bare-shouldered with jutting toddler belly. Raising his bright, clear eyes, he gazed confusedly at Li Mingru and Ye Qingluan, then slowly grinned.

“Boss, Sect Leader Sis, am I powerful?”

...

That afternoon, at the cottage on Pluck Star Peak.

Xiao Yuer, Dongfang Dan, Tang Hanqing, Liu Shuai and other children sat in rows on little stools, faces full of reverence as they listened to Lin Xiaolu’s story.

They all listened extremely intently, faces etched with awe!

“After that bout of natural fortune from the boss, he was deeply shocked by my talents and efforts,” said Lin Xiaolu. “He said though I can’t cultivate, I’m still a once-in-a-century genius for martial arts, with peerless potential to turn rot into magic. I’ll definitely become a big shot in the future. Even the Sect Leader was affected by my air, sighing that she couldn’t compare. She wanted to join my Serve People with Virtue Gang, but since she's the boss's senior sister, I didn't agree to avoid embarrassing him. As you know, I, Lin Xiaolu, am extremely loyal and gave the boss face by rejecting the Sect Leader.”

“Big Bro, wasn’t the Sect Leader really sad to be rejected by you?” Xiao Yuer asked, cradling her head.

Hearing this, Lin Xiaolu heaved a mournful sigh.

“Of course she was heartbroken. At the time she was crying floods, even saying that with no hope of joining my gang, she had no reason to live on even as an Infant Stage expert or Sect Leader of Emei. Big Bro and the boss spent a long time talking her down.”

Dongfang Dan’s shocked fat face quivered. “Whoa—I didn’t expect Big Bro Lu to be so powerful already. Clap clap clap!”

The children broke into applause.

“Boss,” said Tang Hanqing, swinging his snot bubble. “Since you can’t cultivate anymore and can only train in martial arts, how will Teacher Li instruct you?”

“He hasn’t said yet,” Lin Xiaolu declared. “The boss said someone as talented as me is just too freakishly powerful. His original training methods don’t match up, so he’s going to find a new approach and tell me tomorrow.”