Chapter 04: The Annual Clan Assembly Seeing Huang Wei and the several boys behind him walking their way, Huang Min swiftly hid behind Huang Xiaolong. Huang Xiaolong stood there, his expression indifferent towards Huang Wei and the others who were approaching. Huang Wei walked over and stood in front of Huang Xiaolong, looked at him with condescending eyes, then said: "Huang Xiaolong, do you think you can protect your sister for an entire lifetime?” Hearing this, Huang Xiaolong revealed a sinister, evil smile. His eyes were dotted red with bloodlust as he retorted lightly: "So what, do you want to fight?" His heart was already fuming while leaving the Eastern Courtyard. The eldest son of Elder Zhou Guang, Zhou Xuedong, was standing behind Huang Wei and was unhappy with Huang Xiaolong’s attitude. “Damn it, who do you think you...!” Before his sentence finished, a pitiful cry rang out which was due to Huang Xiaolong kicking Zhou Guang’s belly so hard that he flew back, curling his body like a cooked shrimp. Since Huang Xiaolong’s heart was burning with rage, the power he exerted in his kick was naturally not light. Zhou Xuedong flew back, dropped to the ground and rolled six to seven meters before coming to a stop. His hands clutched his belly and his mouth was wide open but no sound came out – it was as if all of his internal organs were burning in a sea of fire. After gasping a few breaths, Zhou Xuedong cried. And damn, it was an earth-shattering, ugly-looking kind of cry. Huang Xiaolong glanced at the dust-covered Zhou Xuedong, his face wet with tears cascading down like a waterfall. Huang Xiaolong curled his lips thinking; “A little brat is a little brat, tears streaming down like piss... just touch it a little and it will start leaking.” “You!” Huang Wei and his gang reacted in that moment. All of them stared at Huang Xiaolong with shock and panic in their eyes. Huang Wei didn’t expect Huang Xiaolong to be so ruthless, even more so compared to two years ago. "What about me?" Huang Xiaolong looked directly at Huang Wei and the boys behind him, a brilliant smile surfaced: "You also want me to give you a kick?" Hearing this, Huang Wei and the rest retreated a few steps by reflex, looking warily at Huang Xiaolong’s right leg. Huang Xiaolong laughed while watching this scene, his laughter causing Huang Wei’s face to turn beet-red with anger and shame. Fire raged in Huang Wei’s heart and he shouted at Huang Xiaolong in order to cover his embarrassment, "Huang Xiaolong, you dare assault an elder’s son without good reason, just wait for your punishment!” “Assault without reason?" Huang Xiaolong’s cold gaze swept across Huang Wei’s body as sharply as a knife. Huang Wei did not dare to look directly at Huang Xiaolong’s eyes and instead declared weakly with false bravado: "You... just you wait until the end of the year’s annual assembly. I will let you look good[1]!" Then, Huang Wei left with the boys trailing behind him in quick, panicky steps, not forgetting to bring along Zhou Xuedong who was still clutching his belly. "Big Brother, you hit Zhou Xuedong. If Huang Wei complains about it to Eldest Uncle, at that time will he...?” Huang Min asked with a worried expression, thinking how their Eldest Uncle Huang Ming whipped people during punishment, Huang Min couldn’t help but feel afraid. "It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it." Huang Xiaolong said without any concern as he looked at the awkward retreating backs of Huang Wei’s group. He was confident that his kick would not leave any detectable bruises or injuries. Even if Huang Ming or Zhou Guang checked Zhou Xuedong’s body, they would not find any evidence. Even if his Uncle Huang Ming wants to punish him, he would still need to have some evidence-- just like two years ago when he beat up Huang Wei and the several Elders’ children miserably, Huang Xiaolong received no punishment. “The end of the year’s Clan Assembly...” Huang Xiaolong muttered to himself after Huang Wei and his group disappeared from view, his eyes glinting with a sharp light. At the end of every year, the Huang Clan Manor holds a clan assembly where young people from the Huang Clan Manor of similar ages were allowed to spar with one another as a learning experience. It seems Huang Wei was planning to oppose him during the Clan Assembly at the end of the year. By doing so, Huang Wei would not only display his strength and talent in front of everyone, but also settle his grudge with Huang Xiaolong in public. There was still five months until the Clan Assembly, and with Huang Wei’s talent, five months was enough time to reach late-First Order. Moreover, Huang Wei has Grandfather Huang Qide’s support and advice in cultivation. Huang Xiaolong could not help but to laugh, albeit a little sinisterly-- in that case, five months later he would beat up Huang Ming’s son right in front of his face until even he couldn’t recognize Huang Wei. "During the Annual Clan Assembly, Grandfather would probably come to watch." In Huang Xiaolong’s opinion, since Huang Wei was his valued grandson and under his personal tutelage, he would certainly make an appearance. A short while later, Huang Xiaolong sent his sister along before heading to the back mountain. At the back of the mountain, Huang Xiaolong practiced the Body Metamorphose Scripture before returning to his small courtyard. The Body Metamorphose Scripture was Huaxia’s [2] secret martial art from his previous life. Even if Huang Xiaolong did not cultivate battle qi, he would continue to train in the Body Metamorphose Scripture. It was rumored that once trained to the highest level, there was a mysterious force hidden in the Body Metamorphose Scripture. During last night’s battle qi practice, Huang Xiaolong noticed the internal force inside his body circulated along his meridians at the same time as the battle qi, complementing each other. Huang Xiaolong reaching mid-First Order warrior was due to his training in the Body Metamorphose Scripture for four years. Otherwise, even if Huang Xiaolong had a superb talent martial spirit, it was impossible to reach mid-First Order warrior in just one night. Back in his small courtyard, Huang Xiaolong started running the Xuan Qin cultivation technique and continued his battle qi practice. Three days passed quickly. Apart from eating and answering nature’s call over the past three days, every minute was spent practicing, trading between practicing battle qi in his yard and running to the back mountain to train the Body Metamorphose Scripture. On the fourth day. The silvery moonlight shined in the dead silence of the night. Like the past three nights, Huang Xiaolong sat on his bed and practiced according to the Xuan Qin cultivation technique. The double-headed serpent martial spirit emerged behind him, devouring heaven and earth’s spiritual energy at horrifying speed and channeled it into Huang Xiaolong’s body, converting it into battle qi. Compared to three days prior, the thickness of Huang Xiaolong’s battle qi inside his body had increased by ten-fold. Running the cultivation technique, battle qi rapidly surged along his meridians. After three days of non-stop practice, Huang Xiaolong reached the peak of late-First Order; he had a hunch that he would have a successful breakthrough to the Second Order tonight. About one hour later, as battle qi surged within Huang Xiaolong’s meridians, its speed grew faster and more volatile, like stormy waves, inducing pain as it crashed against his meridians, but to Huang Xiaolong this level of pain was nothing. As battle qi crashed violently throughout his meridians, Huang Xiaolong had a feeling his breakthrough was close but there was a barrier hindering him. He was unable to forcefully cross over the threshold, akin to a giant wave crashing against a solid wall. Huang Xiaolong was not discouraged. He knew it was important to remain calm and continued to run the Xuan Qin cultivation technique, circulating battle qi along his meridians. Suddenly, a sound permeated his body that only he could hear: the second barrier finally broke! 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮 The first layer meridian broke like a popped cork, battle qi instantly and enthusiastically gushed into the second layer’s meridians. Huang Xiaolong was delighted. He finally broke through to Second Order Warrior after a few days of hard work. Note: [1] will let you look good - read as I will let you suffer (tremendously) / You’ll pay the consequences [2] Huaxia - usually used to describe the C country.