Chương 5: Chapter 5: The guest arrived!

Later that night…

- Knock! Knock!

"Ah, you're here! Come on in!" said Meng Yue with a smile as she opened the door. A slender figure with long emerald hair and robes had arrived at their doorstep.

"Senior elder sister! This junior had missed you!" said the woman as she leaped forward to hug Meng Yue.

"Now now... calling me a senior elder sister makes me seem so old! Just call me sister!" replied Meng Yue with a slight giggle.

"Duan Li, come here and greet sister Ling Yu!" said Meng Yue as she turned around towards the kitchen.

Hearing his mother calling out to him, Duan Li emerged from the kitchen room as he wiped off his wet hand with a small kitchen towel.

"Hello... I am called Duan Li." he greeted with a small voice and a slight bow in a show of respect to the lady as a guest.

"Oh! He is quite the man!" said the woman called Ling Yu. Her eyes scanning Duan Li's figure from top to bottom as she nodded repeatedly. "Not bad! Not bad at all!"

"Ouch!!" She yelped slightly as her sides got pinched by Meng Yue.

"That's my son, what do you think you are doing?" glared Meng Yue with a pout.

"Ahahahaha! I'm joking! I thought he was… okay, I'm sorry~" she repented as she quickly bowed and apologized realising what that meaningful glare from Duan Li's mother meant.

"Sister Ling here is a friend of mine from the Jixue Knights Academy. She is a senior teacher there… we met quite a while ago during our younger days..." told his mother as they both exchanged glances and smile, seemingly to reminisce the good old time.

...

After the dinner that night, the reunited sisters continued to make small talks and catching up sessions. Some topics even consisted of hot males and the likes that they have encountered which made Duan Li to feel quite embarrassed as he listened to all those.

"Did you two forget that I even exists?" Duan Li sighed inwardly as he felt troubled listening to their steamy gossips.

"Oh yea!" Ling Yu said suddenly. "I came here to tell sister Yue that the registration for the enrolment of Duan Li to the academy has been completed yesterday! But as I was quite busy handling some other matters, I could only come here to tell about the matter tonight..."

"Speaking of which..." she continued hesitatingly as she turned towards Duan Li.

"It's the matter regarding this afternoon incident right?" interjected Meng Yue as if she already knew this topic would come out tonight.

Nodding her head slightly, she said, "En! That's right! That young man whose arm got crippled by your son is called Li Feng. He is a known troublemaker even amongst the teachers."

"However, because he is a student of the academy, he is entitled to get justice for the harm that was done. Thankfully, Duan Li had already become an official student of the academy as well. Thus, per rules that was stated, enmity between students could be resolved through personal duels."

"You meant to say that, the incident was considered as duels between students of the academy?" asked Meng Yue.

"Yes, that's right! Therefore, the academy has turned a blind eye to this incident. Injuries resulted from duels are fine as long as no one had died. Had Duan Li was but of a common person, the academy would be forced to take action somehow. Although, since Li Feng was the one who started it, I doubt it would be anything serious. The academy is quite reasonable anyway, so there is no need to worry." she answered carefully, so as to reassure them.

"That's great then! See? Didn't your mother here said that it would be fine? Heh! Heh!" said Meng Yue with a proud look.

"Okay… But mother, I never remembered anything regarding to the registering of my name to the academy or any of the sorts…" Duan Li spoke up to voice his complaints.

He was already at peace with his current lifestyle; eating, sleeping and reading books!

Becoming a student of the Jixue Knights Academy? You must be joking! Why would I even want to trouble myself on such complicated matters?

"Hush young man! Your mother here has already decided this for your own good! How would I bear to see you wasting your life just eating, sleeping and reading books all day like that?" interjected his mother.

"Besides, you can still do all those three even as a student of the academy! The higher you rank on the student's power ranking, the more privileges you could obtain! You could even buy better beds and food to your liking! Not to mention that with their vast library, you can read all you want without spending a penny!" continued his mother as she listed out all sorts of benefits being a student of the academy, like a merchant introducing her wares to the customers.

Knowing that he couldn't argue his way out of this, at least not with his mother, Duan Li finally relented as he replied slowly, "Okay mother, I understand..." and sighed.

"Good! Very good!" nodded his mother happily.

"Pardon me for asking, but Sister Yue, does your son here practiced any form of martial arts? He is already 21 years old this year. By standard, he should be at least a second year student at the academy..." asked Ling Yu slowly as she explained.

"M-martial arts?" Meng Yue stuttered as she sweat a bit. Her son was someone who had never even punched a practice dummy before, let alone practice some martial arts! How was she going to answer this?

However, an idea suddenly sprung up in her mind.

"Well, to tell you the truth… I have been teaching him a form of a secret art for the past 10 years! That insolent fellow called Li something was crippled by this technique!" said Meng Yue in a small whispering voice as she leaned forward to Ling Yu.

"S-secret art? Of what rank?" replied Ling Yu as she swallowed down her saliva, having her interest piqued.

One had to know that a secret art is something that is incredibly rare! This is because, just by its naming category, a secret art is a technique that is not recorded down in any manual books. It would be only passed down through practical teaching between a master and their most formidable student.

One could even say that it is a form of inheritance passed down secretly.

Secret arts are also ranked accordingly from 1 to 9, the higher the rank, the lethal and powerful it is. This is based on their fighting prowess, whether it be on the support attributes, defence or attack!

"T-this..." Meng Yue stopped for a while as she did not know how to answer to Ling Yu.

Seeing that her senior elder sister was having a hard look on her face, Ling Yu decided that she wouldn't pry any further but instead continued, "Its fine sister Yue, but... If it's only one secret art, then your son would definitely have a lot to catch up within the academy.."

In the Jixue Knights Academy, typically, a fresher would usually be of 16 years old. This is because, it is the most suitable time for the human body to start practicing martial arts and cultivate their spiritual Qi as the bones and muscles has already become strong enough to persist in strenuous training and environment.

For Duan Li, not only did he never practiced any form of martial arts and spiritual Qi training, he is now already 21 years old, way behind his peers. Even if he has a powerful secret art, if it does not serve the conditions well, he would definitely still remain at the rock bottom in the student's power ranking!

Take for example, Li Feng, the haughty young man that was crippled by Duan Li was still only 18 years old. If not for the mysterious ability to slow down time, with the snail's reaction time Duan Li had, he would definitely have lost an arm and leg without a doubt.

Realizing this, Meng Yue smiled slightly as she said mysteriously, "Well, the martial arts that I have passed down onto him is quite profound and he had already mastered them to the pinnacle level, and that's even higher than me! Therefore, learning a few foundation level martial arts to its pinnacle state shouldn't be a problem for him at all!"

Hearing this, coupled with the confident tone of her senior elder sister, Ling Yu could not help but to become curious again as she turned to look at Duan Li whom was sitting at the opposite direction of them in an awkward manner.

"If it doesn't trouble you, could you demonstrate your secret art against me?" she asked with a curious gaze as she looked at Duan Li.

It is indeed true that the higher the rank of a secret art is, the more profound it would be. Thus, relying on the same logic, a few foundation level of low ranked martial arts that does not need any deep comprehension could be learned within a shorter period of time than normal.

Duan Li's mother nodded to him as a sign that she allowed him to do so, but deep inside her heart, she hoped that everything would go well. His ability of slowing down time is still quite mysterious for her. After all, not knowing what the post-effect of using such a cheating ability is definitely a cause for concern.

...

The both of them stepped out from the house as they stood three meters away from each other, just like the afternoon spar Duan Li had with his mother.

"Hmm, let me light up the place first." Ling Yu said. Her right arm rose upwards as her palm faces the night sky, she then chanted a spell, "Sun flash illumination strike!"

A ball of bright light floated out gently from her palm as it rose up slowly and hanged five meters above them, illuminating their surrounding area brightly.

"En. That should do it! Don't worry, I've modified my channelling formula slightly so that it is completely harmless and only consisted of balls of bright lights made up of spiritual Qi!" she said to Duan Li.

"Well then... let's start!"

...