Dragon King's Son-In-Law

by Dragon King

  He had demanded East Ocean to hand over Hao Ren in three days, or he would run wild in the East Ocean’s Dragon Palace with 16 senior elders. But now East Ocean turned the table and gave him an ultimatum of three days; if the West Ocean behaved well, East Ocean would release Zeng Yitao intact in three days.

  With his lifeline in the hands of East Ocean, Oldman Zeng had no choice but to give in.

  He had ordered the 16 elders to protect Zeng Yitao and didn’t understand how such a powerful team, which consisted of 6 Qian-level cultivators and 10 Kun-level cultivators, had been captured by East Ocean.

  Zhao Guang was also puzzled about the same question. He had been sitting in the East Ocean Dragon Palace discussing with the elders about how to handle the emergency when 16 elders and Zeng Yitao dropped into the sea around the Dragon Palace like dumplings. The patrolling soldiers easily captured them.

  He thought hard and concluded that it was the grandmaster of the Soul Formation Realm in East Ocean City who made an exception and sent the East Ocean a big present, solving the crisis for East Ocean.

  He would never imagine that it was, in fact, a gift from his son-in-law!

  Meanwhile, regardless of the contribution he had made, Hao Ren was massaging Grandma’s feet in her room.

  At her age, Grandma was easily sore in her legs and feet. Hao Ren massaged the acupoints and muscles on her legs while chatting with her.

  “Ren, kind-heartedness is your biggest virtue,” sitting in a wicker chair, Grandma looked at him genially and said in satisfaction.

  “Grandma, you work so hard, and it’s my duty to give you a massage.” He dumped the cool water and placed another basin of hot water to soak her feet in. Then he stood behind her and pounded on her back, massaging it.

  “I think Lu Linlin and Lu Lili are very nice girls,” with her eyes closed, Grandma said abruptly.

  “Of course they are. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have invited them to stay the night here,” Hao Ren said.

  “They live with their grandpa downtown, but he is busy and always not home. They have no other relatives in the city, and I regard them as my own granddaughters. You must pay more attention to them,” Grandma caressed the jade bead in her palm and said.

  “Got it.” Hao Ren could do nothing but nod.

  “And how is little Zi lately?” Grandma continued to ask.

  “She’s fine. She has lagged behind in her studies recently, and I’m tutoring her. Oh, I will go shopping with her tomorrow,” Hao Ren reported, gently massaging her shoulders.

  “Good. Zi is still a little girl, so you must be lenient on her. I have the company of Linlin and Lili, so you don’t have to worry about me.”

  “Ok…”

  “And how is Yujia lately?” Grandma asked again.

  Exhaling lightly, Hao Ren wondered if Grandma was doing a roll call.

  But he couldn’t voice his thoughts. Instead, he answered immediately, “She’s fine, too. She had meant to visit you this weekend, but she is quite busy, and I don’t know her exact schedule.”

  “Well, Yujia is a good girl, and you must do well with her,” Grandma said meaningfully.

  She continued after a pause, “Thinking about it, Yujia’s quite pitiable being left alone in East Ocean City while her parents are both out of the country.”

  Hao Ren nodded his agreement. With Xie Wanjun gone to the U.S. a couple of days before, she must be even lonelier living with her auntie and uncle who ran some small businesses.

  “You must invite Yujia to our home on the weekends. She can make here her own home.” Grandma looked back at Hao Ren. “Look at Linlin and Lili. They are easygoing and warmed up to me very quickly.”

  “Linlin and Lili regard me as their master. Of course, they warm up to you quickly,” Hao Ren thought to himself.

  However, he agreed to Grandma’s sentiments. Xie Yujia was indeed lonely; she had made up her mind to go to the U.S. to reunite with her parents but was stopped by Hao Ren.

  “Ok, ok. You’ve massaged me for more than half an hour now. My entire body feels relaxed. I’m ready for bed, and you go back to your room and rest,” removing Hao Ren’s hands from her shoulders, Grandma said genially.

  “Ok. Have a good night, Grandma.” Hao Ren bent to pick up the basin and backed out of the room.

  In the next room, Lu Linlin and Lu Lili were frolicking with each other, and their crisp voices came through the door.

  “They are so carefree…” Hao Ren lamented in a low voice. Dumping the water, he returned to his room to wash up for the night.

  Tomorrow, he would go shopping with Zhao Yanzi, and it would be a torturous day for him…

  Deng! Deng…

  Suddenly, Lu Linlin and Lu Lili appeared before him in peach-colored pajamas.

  Seeing Hao Ren’s surprise, Lu Linlin walked toward him pulling Lu Lili behind her. “Gongzi, our pajamas are very pretty, aren’t they?”

  Hao Ren’s mind became blank.

  “In the late night, they walked into a guy’s room in pajamas and asked him if their pajamas are pretty! This is…” he thought.

  “We forgot something important.” Lu Linlin walked over and picked up his right hand. “It’s been a while since we last measured your five elements.”

  Lu Lili walked lightly to the other side and picked up his left hand. The peach-colored pajamas accentuated the pink on her face.

  Lu Linlin was radiant, and Lu Lili was shy. Even with their hair down, Hao Ren could immediately tell them apart.

  “Metal, 21; Wood, 18; Water 22; Fire, 19; Earth, 20.”

  After a moment, Lu Linlin reported the numbers.

  “Gongzi, the five elements in your body are almost balanced,” Lu Lili said in a low voice.

  Hao Ren nodded. Only he knew the hard effort he put in to gain the balance of the five elements. Of course, without the Lu sister’s tips, he would never have achieved it.

  With the five elements in his body moving toward equilibrium each day, he found it was easier and smoother for him to circulate the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll.

  Especially after he reached Zhen-level which was equivalent to the Core Formation Realm, he could control the sword energies at will and could even form sword array formations. The power of the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll was beginning to show.

  It was indeed hard to cultivate the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll. But with Lu Linlin and Lu Lili helping him with the balance of the five elements, his progress was quite good.

  “Linlin, Lili, if you are not ready for bed, please do me a favor.” Hao Ren withdrew his hands and looked at them.

  “What favor?” They blinked and looked at him with their big, innocent eyes.

  “Guard me while I try the Lightning Cultivation,” Hao Ren said.

  270 Lightning Cultivation!!

  After a moment of hesitation, they nodded obediently; they thought Hao Ren was asking them to warm his bed.

  Hao Ren put on his jacket and walked out of the room while Lu Linlin and Lu Lili followed him closely in their peach-colored pajamas.

  Grandma was already soundly asleep.

  The three of them walked out of the house and the residential area, going quite a distance along the beach.

  The Lu sisters wore only pajamas, but their cultivation strength protected them from the chill.

  They stopped in a place hundreds of meters away from the house. Looking at the distant shoreline in the darkness, Hao Ren exhaled deeply.

  The Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll was a sword technique and also a lightning cultivation technique.

  In the past, due to his weak cultivation strength, Hao Ren didn’t dare to summon lightning although he knew about the nature of the technique.

  Now that he was on Zhen-level or the Core Formation Realm, he had left the beginners’ stage and was somewhat successful at cultivation.

  With his current strength and being protected by Lu Linlin and Lu Lili, it wouldn’t be a very dangerous thing for him to summon
the bolts of lightning to temper his body.

  Swoosh! Swoosh… 80 sword energies shot out of his palm and formed a perfect circle around him.

  The 80 sword energies shot up from the sand into the high sky before coming down and entering Hao Ren’s body through the Baihui Acupoint in the top of his head. The whole process was swift and clean.

  Controlled by his mind, the sword energies were so sharp that they could cut through iron like butter. By turning the nature essence into sword energies, one could cut off an enemy’s head thousand of kilometers away.

  In the mortals’ eyes, Hao Ren was already a sword god.

  It was the realm in which the invisible sword was more powerful than the solid sword.

  “Linlin, Lili, you stand outside of the circle. If the lightning goes beyond it, you make your move,” Hao Ren turned to instruct the sisters.

  “Ok! Gongzi!” They answered in their fresh voices.

  The night breeze blew on the sisters in their peach-colored pajamas, which was a beautiful sight on the beach that only Hao Ren could enjoy.

  After the preparations, Hao Ren took a deep breath and condensed a hundun lightning in the center of his right palm.

  Crackle! Crackle!

  This hundun lightning was swallowing the five elemental essences from the surrounding.

  Swoosh! The grey sword energy shot up like a rocket into the high sky.

  Standing beside him, Lu Linlin and Lu Lili stared at Hao Ren in the center of the circle.

  The cultivation process of the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll was slow but steady while the cultivators used it to absorb the five elemental essences from nature. If the cultivators wanted to speed up the process of realm elevation, they must use the method of lightning cultivation, which tempers the body the increases the cultivation strength with bolts of heavenly lightning.

  Taking thick five elemental essences from the lightning power was certainly highly efficient, but it was also risky.

  That was why the cultivators must choose an open space and a clear night to cultivate this way.

  The power of lightning was extremely harmful to ordinary cultivators. If there were other cultivators around, the bolts of heavenly lightning summoned from the sky could hurt them by accident.

  It would be like sending a Heavenly Tribulation onto the ordinary cultivators. For those cultivators with weak cultivation strength, it would be a fatal blow.

  The grey sword energy shot into the clouds. Instantly, a bright white beam of lightning followed the hundun sword energy and came down with it.

  Lu Linlin and Lu Lili concealed the fluctuations of their nature essence to avoid disturbing Hao Ren’s cultivation.

  The white heavenly lightning struck toward Hao Ren!

  Prepared, Hao Ren raised his hands and condensed a thicker cloud of grey sword energy, blocking the heavenly lightning with lightning power!

  Boom!

  The heavenly lightning hit the center of his palm. Hao Ren, whose body was now as hard as iron, was struck half a meter into the sand.

  The fine sands were scattered outward like shattered debris from a shotgun.

  Absorb! Hao Ren gritted his teeth and absorbed the power of the heavenly lightning through his pores.

  After watching Zhao Kuo in the Heavenly Tribulation, he was convinced that he could absorb the power of lightning into his body. While Zhao Kuo had used his powerful nature essence to counter the power of the heavenly lightning, Hao Ren absorbed it by using the balanced five elemental powers of the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll.

  If one heavenly lightning were triggered, the other bolts of lightning resting in the clouds would pour out from the hole and follow the route of his nature essence one after another.

  In Zhao Kuo’s Heavenly Tribulation, the bolts of lightning got stronger one after another until all the bolts of lightning stored in the tribulation clouds ran out.

  The bolts of heavenly lightning Hao Ren activated were not as powerful as those in Zhao Kuo’s Heavenly Tribulation, but they were more than what an ordinary cultivator could bear.

  Boom!

  The second heavenly lightning followed the trace of smoke of the last lightning, crashing toward Hao Ren with flashes like a burning fuse.

  Hao Ren put more nature essence into the circulation of the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll.

  Bang!

  A big hole that was half a meter deep appeared in the place where Hao Ren stood. Fine sand grains flew outward once again.

  If he had stood on a granite rock that was several meters thick, the rock would have cracked under the force of the lightning.

  Before he could take a breath, the third heavenly lightning struck down.

  The accumulative effect attracted lightning clouds from a distance, and the power of the bolts of lightning got stronger and stronger.

  It showed the danger of the hundun lightning cultivation.

  Crackle… The lightning flashed. Hao Ren’s sword energies couldn’t block the third heavenly lightning which tore his clothes into pieces.

  However, when the third lightning entered his body, Hao Ren had a clear feeling that the nature essence in his body was fully activated while his dragon core had signs of waking up.

  His entire body was full of strength.

  If he released a hundun sword energy now, he could create a huge wave on the surface of the sea.

  He felt extremely good. His body was like a half-empty battery that got fully charged.

  The fourth heavenly lightning crashed down!

  Boom!

  Hao Ren’s hair stood up, and his body felt somewhat numb. The aggressive lightning power ran wild in his body, and the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll was not fast enough to absorb them immediately.

  The dragon core was activated. With a cracking sound, a new opening appeared in it.

  The acupoint absorbed all the lightning energy that entering his body.

  Like a cow storing the grass in its stomach for rumination, the new opening in the dragon core put all the energy in it.

  Seeing that the fifth heavenly lightning was about to crash down, Hao Ren gritted his teeth and was prepared to take one more.

  He gestured at Lu Linlin and Lu Lili and told them that he would jump out of the circle to escape the sixth heavenly lightning and end today’s lightning cultivation.

  Crackle… The fifth heavenly lightning was brewing in the high sky!

  At this moment, the furious Oldman Zeng suddenly flew out of the sea.

  “East Ocean Dragon Clan, wait and see!” He spat out the words forcefully before shooting into the sky while enveloped by a beam of light.

  Crackle… Dozens of bolts of heavenly lightning in the clouds suddenly found their target. Like wolves pouncing on prey, they instantly surrounded the astonished Oldman Zeng.

  Meanwhile, on the beach, Hao Ren waited for a long while for the powerful fifth heavenly lightning, but it never came.

  More than ten kilometers away from him, Oldman Zeng plunged into the sea once again after being struck and turned black by the bolts of lightning accumulated from the surrounding areas.

  271 The First Date

  Baffled, Hao Ren stood on the beach, looking up into the sky which had become quiet. “Strange. Is it possible that the lightning cultivation is no longer effective?”

  Standing on either side of him, Lu Linlin and Lu Lili looked at each other and didn’t understand the situation as well.

  “Forget it. It’s quite a feat to have unlocked one opening.” Hao Ren withdrew his sword energies before looking at the Lu sisters. “It’s done. Let’s go home!”

  “Ok, Gongzi!” They answered cheerfully, stepping up to hold his arm before walking with him toward the house by the seaside.

  In pajamas, their bodies felt warm. Above the quiet beach, the clouds had scattered, revealing the bright moon and sparse stars in the sky.

  Humming a song, Lu Linlin and Lu Lili skipped along, each holding one of Hao Ren’s arms
.

  Hao Ren’s clothes were torn, but he was pleased since tonight’s cultivation proved the effectiveness of the lightning cultivation.

  In the sea far from them, Oldman Zeng stumbled out of the water. His face was burned black by the lightning, and he had even lost half of his dragon horn. Looking at his torn robe, he exhaled a black breath and let out a furious roar!

  He had cultivated hard for hundreds of years, but the efforts were all lost in one night.

  The sudden Heaven Tribulation had cost him a small part of his realm, making him drop to low-tier Qian Level from mid-tier Qian Level!

  “Who launched the sneak attack on me?” Oldman Zeng roared tragically while his burned hair and mustache began to fall from his head and face.

  Oblivious to the fact that his lightning cultivation on the beach had cut a small part of realm off Oldman Zeng, Hao Ren took the cheerful Lu Linlin and Lu Lili back to the house.

  Grandma was still soundly asleep in her room when Hao Ren tiptoed back to the second floor with the sisters.

  “Gongzi…” at his door, Lu Linlin looked at Hao Ren and said.

  “What?” Hao Ren looked at her.

  “Forget it. It’s nothing.” Lu Linlin lowered her head, bringing the tip of the two forefingers together.

  “Ok. Good night.” Hao Ren smiled at her.

  He turned and entered his room. When he was closing the door, he heard Lu Lili ask Lu Linlin outside the door, “Sister, did you want to sleep in Gongzi’s room?”

  “What are you talking about? I just wanted to chat with him.”

  “Auch! It hurts, Sis!”

  Then, their voices disappeared.

  Resigned, Hao Ren smiled and changed into his pajamas to sleep. Even when he was not cultivating, the dragon core was quietly absorbing the essence from nature.

  The power he got from the bolts of lightning tonight was equivalent to what he got from one week’s cultivation. Of course, this method was only available to cultivators like Hao Ren who were cultivating the five elements simultaneously and had masters like Lu Linlin and Lu Lili guarding him. Otherwise, even Zhen-level cultivators would have their meridians destroyed by such powerful lightning.