Chapter 55: Father and Son Meet

  The inner courtyard of the Jiang family is divided into three sections, east and west, with a large hall in the center, inscribed with the words "Chen Xiang Ge", which is where Jiang Yuan handles family affairs. The left and right wings are where the legitimate sons live, and some personal maids also reside there.

  Behind the Xiangxiang Pavilion lived Jiang Yuan and his wife. Originally, Jiang Huan's mother also lived there, but she was directly expelled from the inner courtyard for committing some mistakes.

  Seeing the small bridge and flowing water in the inner courtyard, Jiang Hao couldn't help but think of the broken-down house he lived in when he was a child. Although Jiang Hao wasn't someone who loved vanity, his competitive personality since childhood still made him care about what others thought of him.

  As the third son of the Jiang family, he was neglected and overlooked because he couldn't cultivate. If it weren't for Tianyi, he might still be playing in that broken courtyard now.

  As he walked and thought, he unknowingly arrived at Jiang Yuan's courtyard door.

  It was just the time when winter was going and spring was coming, although it had already passed the coldest time, but the cold wind was still whistling in the air. At the gate of the courtyard stood four seven-foot-tall men with bare upper bodies, each holding a long-handled giant axe, standing there, bringing a crushing pressure to Jiang Huan.

  "Haha, these are Father's four personal bodyguards, all of whom possess the strength of a Seven-Star Warrior." Jiang Tian said with a smile as he saw Jiang Huan stop in his tracks.

  Qī xīng zhàn shī, zài tàiyáng chéng zhōng yǐjīng néng gòu suàn de shàng shì dǐng jiān qiáng zhě, gū jì zhěng tàiyáng rúcǐ shí lì de zhàn zhě yě bù huì chāo guò yī shǒu zhī shù, ér jiāng hào yī cì kàn dào sì gè zěn me néng bù chī jīng, cóng tāmen shēn shàng chuán chū de shā qì fǎng ruò shí zhì, yǐn yuē dōu néng wén dào xuè xīng wèi.

  However, Jiang Hao's two years were not wasted. Although he felt some palpitations, they only lasted for a moment before returning to normal. With a calm face, he followed Jiang Tian and stepped forward.

  "Haha, Third Brother, it seems you're not as simple as I thought. Even when I first saw those four, their aura was so overwhelming that I couldn't speak, but you seem completely unaffected?"

  Jiang Tian saw Jiang Hao's calm face, but was inwardly shocked. These four big men were actually biological brothers, born with divine strength. They held giant axes forged from thousand-year-old cold iron, which were extremely heavy. They became their old father's personal bodyguards through their struggles in the bloody mountains and seas. According to legend, the four of them had once joined forces to kill a strong warrior at the level of a war general, although they all suffered severe injuries afterwards. This achievement was truly frightening, as ordinary war generals wouldn't stand a chance even with ten times the number of troops. At that level, victory wasn't just about numbers.

  "Ah, big brother, these few people have a strong smell of blood on them, I can hardly stand it." Jiang Hao said, pretending to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

  Jiang Tian took a deep look at his younger brother and strode forward, heading straight for the inner hall.

  "Heavenly son requests an audience with Father!" As he walked up to the inner hall, Jiang Tian bowed his head and said.

  "Come in, Tian Er!" A voice came, and Jiang Huan's whole body shook.

  Jiang Tian patted Jiang Hao's shoulder, indicating that everything was fine, and then pushed open the door and entered.

  Apart from a few numb and light silk, there is only a square table and a tea table left. Who would have thought that the number one master of Sun City lives in such simplicity?

  Behind the square table was a wide wooden chair, on which sat a person. Upon closer inspection, that person was only slightly over thirty years old, with a face as smooth as warm jade, wearing simple clothing yet exuding an aura of captivating dignity, with slender hands seemingly casually placed on the armrests of the wooden chair.

  "Tian'er pays respects to Father." Jiang Tian took a few steps forward, knelt down on both knees, and bowed his head in respect.

  "Hao'er pays respects to Father." Jiang Hao, seeing this, hastily stepped forward and imitated Jiang Tian's mannerisms in greeting, although he didn't particularly care for this old man, but still had to maintain the proper etiquette between father and son.

  "Alright, get up!" But Jiang Yuan didn't seem to make any movement, and all Jiang Huan felt was a gentle force slowly lifting him up.

  "Heavenly son, how have the battles been lately? I observe that your aura has entered the realm of a war general, but it's slightly empty and floating. It seems to be caused by eagerness to advance in rank. You still need to solidify it further." Jiang Yuan glanced at Jiang Tian.

  "Yes, father. Thank you for your guidance. In this battle against the Empire of Baizhan, we killed all of their elite troops, but we also lost several thousand soldiers and over ten thousand ordinary military personnel." Jiang Tian replied truthfully.

  Jiang Hao was shocked, his own brother had already become a war general, his brother was only six years older than himself, and today he had just turned fifteen, a fifteen-year-old war general, this was also too frightening.

  "Hao'er!" A deafening voice woke Jiang Hao up.

  "Father." Jiang Hao hastily bowed and said.

  "Ah!" Jiang Yuan responded with a sound, and the next moment, that figure appeared in front of Jiang Hao like a ghost, raising his hand to grab Jiang Hao.

  Whoosh!

  Jiang Hao immediately activated his Wind Chasing Steps, a reaction that was almost instinctual, barely dodging Jiang Yuan's outstretched hand.

  "Huh?"

  Jiang Yuan let out a soft hum, but the corners of his mouth still curled up in an arc. The figure disappeared again, and when it reappeared, Jiang Huan was shocked to find that his body seemed to be locked in place, even the battle energy inside him had subsided.

  Cheers!

  Jiang Hao saw Jiang Yuan's large hand about to grab him, and with a loud shout, the invisible soul power suddenly surged out from his brow, transforming into an invisible light shield that blocked his face. All of this happened in the blink of an eye.

  Bang!

  Jiang Yan seemed to have not seen it at all, his right hand appeared slow but moved as swiftly as a flash of lightning, and in the blink of an eye, he pierced through the light shield and pressed it onto Jiang Huan's head. The soul force shield that Jiang Huan had condensed with all his might was unable to withstand even half of Jiang Yan's power.

  "Father!" Jiang Tian saw Jiang Yuan make his move and hastily called out, fearing that Jiang Huan would get hurt.

  Jiang Hao only felt a gentle and soft aura slowly entering his body, without any malice. The aura simply wandered around his body for a cycle before slowly dissipating.

  "Heh heh, don't worry, son. I just want to take a look at this young man's situation." Jiang Tian waved his hand to stop Jiang Tian from advancing forward.

  "Hao'er, tell me, when you were born, I found that you couldn't cultivate, but now your meridians are stronger than ordinary people by a huge margin. What's going on?" Jiang Yuan put his hands behind his back and stared tightly at Jiang Hao.

  "Father, I once went to the woods outside the North Gate to play and accidentally fell into a tree hole. Inside the tree hole was a skull that had been sitting there for a long time. On its hand, I found a dan medicine, which I took and then fainted. When I woke up, I found that my body had bled a lot, and afterwards, I discovered that I could suddenly cultivate battle energy." Jiang Huan said this very seriously, but these were all words he had prepared ahead of time.

  "What does Dan medicine look like?" Jiang Yuan's eyes narrowed slightly.

  "Crimson with two small golden dragons on top." Jiang Hao had long known from the mouth of Tianyi that there was a kind of elixir that could completely improve a person's meridians.

  "Blood Spirit Dragon Bone Dan, a low-grade Refining Dan. Haoyue, you're really lucky to have found this kind of dan. I also know about it, but even if I had found it back then, I wouldn't have dared to give it to you to take. And yet, you actually managed to pick one up." Jiang Yuangu's calm face finally showed a hint of surprise. Refining Dan was something that required a Refining Master to concoct, and even the Empire of Feiya didn't openly have such a high-ranking alchemist.

  As a low-grade elixir, the Blood Spirit Dragon Bone Dan can thoroughly change a person's meridians, even if you're an ordinary person, but that pain isn't something an average person can endure.

  "Dad, I just fainted at that time and didn't have much feeling." Jiang Hao continued to fabricate.

  "Well, it seems that fate has brought us together. I can sense the flavor of dragon blood within you, and the Blood Spirit Dragon Bone Pill requires dragon blood as a guide."

  "But you've cultivated to the rank of Zhan Shi in such a short time, that's not bad at all. At least you're better than your older brother." Jiang Yuan nodded and continued.

  "Third Brother, you've broken through to Martial Master?" Jiang Tian patted Jiang Huan's shoulder, saying with delight.

  "It was just luck." Jiang Hao's face turned red and he scratched his head.

  "Alright, Haoye, if I'm not mistaken, you're almost ten years old now. In a month's time, the clan will be holding a competition for those younger than you." Jiang Yuan sat back down and said calmly.

  "Yes, Father!" Jiang Hao's heart was delighted, it seemed that his old man still remembered how old he was!

  "You go down first, Haoye, your mother is in the east wing, you go take a look!"

  "Yes, Father." Jiang Tian and Jiang Hao each bowed and then slowly backed out.

  Watching Jiang Tian and Jiang Hua leave, a smile finally rose on Jiang Yuan's face. "Hey, who dares to say my son is useless? A 15-year-old war general, a war strategist under the age of 10... Heh heh, my son shouldn't be an ordinary person." It was clear that Jiang Tian and Jiang Hua's arrival had greatly improved Jiang Yuan's mood.

  "Tribe comparison, hum! This time I'll see what those old fogies have to say."