Chapter 200 – Yu Zijian (2/2)

“W- what were you doing, sir?”

“I was waging a snowfight!” Li Qingshan lifted up Xiao An by the collar, “I wanted to show this girl what’s what!”

With her head of long, curly seaweed-like hair, she just remained silent in an obedient manner. She basically seemed like she was slightly afraid. However, Li Qingshan knew she was afraid of unfamiliar people the most. As soon as a stranger appeared before her, she would become sheepish.

Yu Shukuang shivered. The Tiger Butcher sure was ruthless! He had actually thrown such a large snowball at such a cute child. If the snowball hit her, it would be murder! However, he was too afraid to persuade him otherwise as well. He began to hesitate over what he originally planned to do.

Li Qingshan asked again, “What brings you here?”

Yu Shukuang made up his mind and fished out an invitation from his sleeve. He invited Li Qingshan to a banquet at the Proud Sword manor at noon tomorrow, to celebrate Yu Zijian in reaching the innate realm and becoming a Qi Practitioner.

Li Qingshan asked, “Your daughter’s back?”

Yu Shukuang said, “Not yet. She’ll probably come back tonight.”

“Then congratulations!” Li Qingshan asked Xiao An, “Do you want to go?”

Xiao An looked at Li Qingshan hesitantly, as if she was trying to guess what he was thinking.

Li Qingshan said, “Then let’s go!” It had been quite some time since he had taken her out for a stroll. He said to Yu Shukuang, “Alright, I’ll go, but I don’t want to expose my identity, so please prepare a special, individual time for me.”

Yu Shukuang was overjoyed. He agreed to it fervently.

At noon on the next day, the light snow had just cleared up, but there was not a speck of snow on the square in front of the Proud Sword manor. All of it had been swept away by the disciples of the manor. There were lanterns and decorations everywhere as everyone brimmed with joy.

To the people of the jianghu, even if the four joyous occasions of life were combined, they probably still would not be as happy as breaking through to the innate realm. That represented a whole new world unfurling around them, which possessed unimaginable possibilities.

Authority and wealth might have only been like the fleeting clouds, but a longer life was what all people desired. A high level Qi Practitioner could even live for two centuries.

Now that Yu Zijian had become a Qi Practitioner, the status of the entire Proud Sword manor would rise as a result. Regular disciples would benefit from this too. And, while Yu Zijian was Yu Shukuang’s treasured daughter, she completely lacked the arrogance and pride of a young miss. Not only did she treat regular disciples kindly, she liked to uphold justice and help the weak too. The citizens of Salt Mountain city constantly praised her.

When someone like that received the blessings of fate, others would always feel happy for her from the bottom of their hearts.

However, there were also many young disciples who secretly lamented inside. This had severed any possibilities for them to become the son-in-law of the Proud Sword manor. Perhaps the marriage of a rich young miss to a penniless man would happen a few times in life, but a Qi Practitioner would never marry an ordinary person.

“Sect master Liu, you’ve come! Please come in, please come in!” Yu Shukuang personally stood at the entrance to welcome the esteemed guests. When he saw his fellow martial arts practitioner, he felt so proud of himself that he almost wanted to laugh his head off.

Yu Zijian sat in the central seat in the hall rather unnaturally, receiving everyone’s congratulations. When she saw the various bigshots and uncles of the jianghu congratulate and greet her, she felt fantastic inside. As it turned out, becoming a Qi Practitioner was actually so great.

The banquet began, but Yu Shukuang apologised to everyone and took Yu Zijian to the back of the hall.

“Father, where are we going?”

Yu Shukuang said, “I’m taking you to see an esteemed guest. When you see him, be polite.”

Yu Zijian was rather puzzled. Earlier, Yu Shukuang would not even permit her to be polite when she wanted to, telling her to maintain her bearing as an innate master. So just who was it that made her father so serious?

Within a dim room that had all of its shutters shut, Yu Zijian saw an abnormally tall and burly figure. He wore a great big hat on his head. Beside him was a bamboo basket and laid out before him was a rich feast.

Yu Zijian was unable to sense any aura that belonged to a Qi Practitioner or martial arts practitioner from him, but it did not weaken his bearing at all. It made her sterner.

Yu Shukuang introduced, “This is… Niu Er, or great hero Niu to you!”

“Pfft!” Yu Zijian’s stern expression immediately collapsed.

“Damn brat, don’t laugh!” Yu Shukuang rebuked loudly, afraid she would anger Li Qingshan.

Yu Zijian had already begun apologising before he could finish, “Great hero Niu, I’m not laughing at you, so please don’t take any offense!” She felt very bad for laughing at someone’s name, but she really could not help herself when she saw what the climax lead up to.

Li Qingshan’s impression of Yu Zijian was limited to the girl in violet who followed Hua Chenglu around as well. Now that he heard her talk, he took a liking to her. He studied her.

Her hair was unadorned, just tied into two thick buns with a few draping down to her cheeks. It only made her face seem even brighter and prettier. She wore the same faint purple robes, with a deeper purple band around her waist, highlighting her slender waist as a young woman.

It made her seem natural and gentle, and she spoke quickly and gently. Although she was not enough for him to fall in love at first sight, she was still a cute girl who could make his heart stirr. She could bring ease to his mind.

As the saying went, I hear the jade hair needle fall to the ground through the curtain. You would either be stupid or extremely wise if not a single bad thought crosses your mind. Fortunately, I’m neither.1”