Chapter 29 - I’m Going to Kill You! (1/2)
They decided to forget the idea of going out, instead, they stayed at 'Lin Fu' to talk. Lin Jian brought Yao Ying to a gazebo at their outer courtyard garden. The courtyard of the military family was simple and peaceful with greenery.
The servants brought out hot tea and osmanthus cake while the two men were still talking. Yao Ying changed the subject, ”Stop talking about jealousy. I want to talk about our sparring match.” He didn't beat around the bush and went straight to the point. Somehow, he already felt comfortable with Lin Jian. Lin Jian had charisma and had a personality that could easily make people follow him.
”What do you want to know?” Lin Jian sat down and started helping himself to the snacks.
”How can you know my level just based on that fast spar? I reckon we only fought for less than five minutes?” Yao Ying sat across from him, feeling irritated with his own lack of knowledge, but he didn't let Lin Jian know how he was feeling as he looked calm on the surface.
Lin Jian thought for a moment. ”Hmm… to put it bluntly, my father and I have a really sėnsɨtɨvė intuition regarding inner strength. It runs in the family. When your inner strength came out, I could feel the level of power. However, it seems unpolished. To have that strong inner strength, it needs to be cultivated for a long time – unless you are a genius.”
Yao Ying asked, ”Do you think it's unpolished because of my memory loss?”
Lin Jian nodded. ”In my opinion, yes. After your memory loss, have you ever felt the warm sensation when you were practicing?”
”I don't think so. Just now was the first time since you are my first sparring partner
after losing my memory. That's why it surprised me when I felt the sensation.”
”It's because of your basic instinct. It appeared because you were in a fight, so your body did it on reflex. It seems you practiced and fought diligently before, otherwise there's no way your body would memorize how to attack and fight on a whim like that.”
”So why did you need to stop the fight?” Yao Ying asked curiously. ”You didn't use any inner strength before, right?”
”Yes, I didn't. I thought you didn't know about inner strength, so I just wanted to gauge your ordinary martial arts skills. I stopped the fight because I could feel your inner strength was unstable. It's dangerous to use it blindly in a fight.”
Yao Ying nodded in understanding. Where did he learn instinctively to use inner strength from? The more he found something new about himself, the more confused he was. The weirdest thing was his newfound talents didn't jog his lost memories at all!
”Can you teach me how to manage my inner strength?” Yao Ying asked for Lin Jian's help.
”I can teach you the basic, but for further learning, you have to find yourself a master.” Then Lin Jian thought of an idea. ”How about I introduce you to my master?”
”You'd do that?” Yao Ying was surprised by Lin Jian's generosity.
”I would. He's a bit eccentric, so I don't know whether he will receive you as disciple or not. It depends on yourself and your luck.”
”Er… what kind of eccentric?” Yao Ying thought about how he always met weird people lately. And now… an eccentric master? He felt his life becoming more and more interesting.
Lin Jian grinned at Yao Ying's expression. He could tell the word 'eccentric' made the latter a bit wary.
”You'll find out when you meet him. Ah~ I'll have to go find him and arrange to meet you first. Why so scared? Look at me! I'm his disciple. How bad could it be?”
Yao Ying's lips slightly twitched. 'My new friend ah~ That's why it became scarier because he chose you as a disciple.' However, he didn't say it out loud. He could only gulp and nodded. With a lieutenant general as a disciple, he must be very powerful. So, what else could go wrong?
”I'll thank you in advance.”