Chapter 48 - The Test
At the gate of Shi Family.
Shi Jian, Han Feng and Yang Hai all saw Shi Yan in front of the ground dragon at the same time.
Yang Hai took a quick glance at Shi Yan and frowned, thinking to himself that the boy must have suffered a lot, as he had become much skinnier.
However, Shi Jian and Han Feng’s eyes brightened soon after they saw Shi Yan. They were totally surprised.
Yang Hai didn’t train martial arts, so he didn’t know that one getting skinnier didn’t necessarily imply weakness.
Sometimes there was much more explosiveness hidden in a skinny body, than in a robust one.
However, Shi Jian and Han Feng were both experts, therefore they realized just from a glance that Shi Yan had become much stronger, and was even stronger than those third generation descents who had trained hard for more than ten years.
They looked at each other and were amazed.
They couldn’t understand what had happened to Shi Yan in the past half a year that could have changed his bone structure.
A few minutes later, the troop, including Shi Yan and Han Zhong, arrived at the gate.
“Hi Big Grandpa, Uncle Han, Father.” Shi Yan walked up to the gate with steady steps and greeted them.
Han Zhong came over as well, greeting Shi Jian and Han Feng, and nodded at Yang Hai, then he stood silently beside Shi Yan.
Shi Jian and Han Feng’s bright eyes moved over Shi Yan’s body.
After a long time, Shi Jian’s eyes trembled. He took a deep breath, and said to Shi Yan, “Follow me.” Then Shi Jian turned and headed to the back yard light-footedly.
Everyone who knew Shi Jian understood that he was in high spirits.
“Kid, put on a good show!” Han Zhong made a face at Shi Yan, implying that he was going to see better days.
Shi Yan gracefully acknowledged him and nodded softly. He turned to Yan Hai, “Father, are you especially waiting for me?”
Though Yang Hai had a rigid face, a light smile appeared around the corners of his mouth, “No one is waiting for you specifically. I just wanted to see what happened to your body and whether you really reached the Nascent Level or not.”
“Han Zhong, come over here. I have a question for you.” Han Feng threw a look at Han Zhong and left in the opposite direction to Shi Yan.
Han Zhong hung his head, with a worried look on his face, and followed after his brother reluctantly.
“Well, go. Don’t keep your Big Grandpa waiting for too long.” Yang Hai mumbled as he pulled Shi Yan’s jacket and asked in a low voice, “What the hell happened to you?”
“Big Grandpa will also ask about it later. So, I guess I will explain then.” Shi Yan smiled, not showing much respect for his father.
Yang Hai was a little surprised. He gazed at Shi Yan and asked in confusion, “Kid you are different now. You never beat around the bush, and always answered my questions straightforwardly. But now... you do not seem to be afraid of me. Kid, seems like you’ve grown up and don’t take my concerns into account anymore.”
“You are my father, why would I be afraid of you?” Shi Yan was astounded as he asked, “What is there to be afraid of?”
“This isn’t like you. You never talked to me like this.” Yang Hai frowned. After a careful examination, he shook his head and said to himself, “Little bastard! You became really audacious after becoming a warrior!”
“I’m gonna go. I can’t keep Big Grandpa waiting for too long.” Shi Yan smiled.
Those Shi Family warriors who had crowded the gate all got confused and started another boisterous discussion.
“Was the family head waiting for Young Master Yan? Is it true?”
“I don’t know. I’m confused too. The family head has never appeared with Young Master Yan before, nor was he interested in his matters. What happened now?”
“Who knows? Has Young Master Yan created trouble again? Not likely, because master Yang Hai was the one who always cleaned up his mess. Although Young Master Yan makes trouble in the Merchant Union now and then, it was not to the extent that the family head had to solve it.”
“Maybe Young Master Yan got into huge trouble this time. Who knows.”
“Stop your idle talk. You’d better be respectful to Young Master Yan from now on. He is not the book nerd you knew any more. Don’t blame me once you offend him and kick up a breeze.” Karl was making arrangements for the ground dragon and couldn’t help but yell when he saw that people were still gossiping.
“Karl, what’s up? You came back with Young Master Yan, do you know the details?” asked a warrior who was familiar with Karl.
“You will know it in no time.” Karl smiled proudly, “Young Master Yan will definitely surprise you guys!”
“What is it?”
“What on earth happened?”
Their curiosity was even stronger as they circled Karl and couldn’t stop asking.
“Not now. But I guess that you will know soon enough.” Without giving them an exact answer, Karl squeezed his way out of the crowd and left with the troop of warriors.
...
In the backyard of Shi Family.
At the center of the huge training field, the diamond-shaped test jade was glinting in the sunshine as if it was a small sun.
Shi Jian was standing beside the testing jade. As Shi Yan and Yang Hai came over, he patted the jade and suddenly, a ball of light flew into the jade from his hand.
The dazzling testing jade dimmed at once and returned to its original color.
“Inject your Profound Qi into the testing jade.” Shi Jian announced with firm eyes.
Shi Yan confidently walked up to the testing jade, stretched out his hand, and pressed on the jade. He operated his Profound Qi and injected it into the testing jade.
Complex patterns showed up on the silver testing jade and a vague orange light shone from it. Gradually the light got brighter and the color deeper.
“Ok now.” Shi Jian’s mouth trembled as he focused his eyes on Shi Yan, “I heard that the Martial Spirit of Shi Family also awakened in your body, did it?”
“Yes.”
“Show me.”
“OK.”
Shi Yan stretched out the other hand and rolled up his sleeve.
As he operated the Martial Spirit according to his will, his arm gradually petrified and became dark brown.
“Dark brown!”
Shi Jian and Yang Hai cried out at the same time with great amazement on their faces, while gazing at Shi Yan’s brown arm in astonishment.
“Is it because of the light?” Yang Hai blinked his eyes and rubbed them, then looked directly into the sun, and mumbled, “Am I dazzled?”
Upon hearing that, Shi Jian also got confused . He grabbed Shi Yan’s arm and demanded, “Come up here! Go into the shadow of that rock so the color can be seen clearly .”
Shi Yan didn’t attempt to refuse and peacefully walked after him to the back side of the rock.
“It is dark brown!”
Shi Jian shouted loudly and his breathing got heavier. His bright eyes stared at Shi Yan as he asked in a dignified tone, “Little bastard, what the hell has happened to you? Why? Why is your Martial Spirit dark brown? Is it at the second stage of Petrification?”
“Absolutely. It is at the second stage. Though I’m a mere Nascent Level warrior, my Martial Spirit reached the second stage!”
“Give us a reasonable explanation! We Shi Family, from the far ancestors to my generation, had never come across this situation! Our Martial Spirit never reaches the second stage before we reach Human Level. You are the first one! What happened? What on earth happened to you?!” Shi Jian was almost mad.
“Well, the thing is...” Shi Yan repeated what he had told Han Zhong for a second time.
After he finished his story, Shi Jian kept his position and stared at him with a weird expression.
”Big Grandpa, what do you mean by that look? I explained it.“
“You mean three magical red fruits awoke your Martial Spirit? And made your Martial Spirit so odd? And gave you Profound Qi and helped to advance to the Third Sky of Nascent Level?” Shi Jian’s face got more and more twisted as he yelled, “Just because of three fruits?”
“Yes, that’s it.”
“Where is this fruit? I will send people to see if we can plant more of it.”
“Don’t bother, there were only three. I searched for a very long time but never saw it again.”
“Little bastard! You are not fooling me, are you?” Shi Jian showed obvious suspicion.
“Of course I’m fooling you.”
Shi Yan thought to himself but looked serious as he reassured, “I really have no idea. Anyway, I ate the fruits, and that’s it. Nothing else. Even I don’t know the reason why my Martial Spirit is different from others’.”
He insisted without any reluctance.
Shi Jian kept asking a few more times and tried to test him, but the only response he got was “I don’t know either.”
Finally Shi Jian gave up. After another thought, he said, “Since your Martial Spirit turned dark brown, hmm, well, has the feature of the Martial Spirit changed? I mean, Did it merely change its color but still kept the intensity of the first stage?”
“If my sense is accurate, it is the second stage.”
“I will try.” Shi Jian hurried to press his hand on Shi Yan’s chest, “Kid, cover your body with petrification! Don’t worry, I will increase my power little by little so it won’t hurt you.”
“Ok.”
Gradually, a ball of dark light appeared in Shi Jian’s palm and the energy in it grew stronger and stronger, striking on his chest.
Suddenly, Shi Jian withdrew all the dark light like a sponge by the other hand.
Shi Jian was so excited that he couldn’t help but nod and say joyfully, “Amazing! It really is the second stage! Bastard, I don’t know how you managed this, but from this day on, you can’t be lazy! Whether you like it or not, I will push you to be a warrior!”