by Dragon King
“That’s my responsibility,” Xie Yujia slightly bowed. She was half mad at Zhao Yanzi, but Zhao Hongyu’s smile made her realize that she should tutor Zhao Yanzi carefully.
“Alright, Auntie. Let me help you with making the breakfast,” Xie Yujia laughed happily and entered the kitchen with her.
Zhao Yanzi looked at Zhao Hongyu and Xie Yujia as they walked away. She stood in the living room and wrinkled her nose, thinking, “Who’s my mom’s daughter here?”
While Xie Yujia and Zhao Hongyu were busy preparing breakfast in the kitchen, Hao Ren suddenly sat up from Su Han’s couch.
He didn’t wake up naturally. Instead, he woke up because he was starving.
He had a bowl of instant noodles last night and a simple snack afterword. How could he handle a whole night without food? Especially after Su Han beat him up badly in the field.
Hao Ren realized it was seven o’clock in the morning, so he turned on the TV, and the morning news was playing.
“Last night around midnight, unidentified individuals invaded the East Ocean Stadium and damaged some equipment and the field. We are further investigating this case…” The news popped up on the TV.
Hao Ren looked at Su Han’s bedroom, thinking, “You have such a big heart. My parents would kill me if they found out that I was related to this vandalization…”
Su Han’s bedroom was still quiet, and it seemed like she wasn’t going to wake up anytime soon. Hao Ren turned off the TV and put on his shoes. Then, he opened the door to the apartment and rang the bell of the opposite apartment.
After a few rings, the door opened.
Lu Qing appeared in front of Hao Ren in his grey pajamas.
“Gongzi Hao…Oh… Commanding General…” Lu Qing bowed.
He looked down at Hao Ren’s slippers and ragged clothes. Then, he looked at Su Han’s opened door behind Hao Ren…
“What did they do? Hao Ren’s clothes are all ragged. There are even some scratches on Hao Ren’s chest and shoulders…” he thought.
“Um… it’s not like that.” Hao Ren raised his hand. “Do you… have anything… I could wear?”
“Please come in, General,” Lu Qing stepped two steps back.
Hao Ren was only the Fuma before without a title, so Lu Qing could still call him ‘Gongzi Hao’. Now that he was the Commanding General of West Peace who could command close 1,000,000 soldiers, Hao Ren’s official ranking was even higher than Lu Qing!
“Please call me anything but General.” Hao Ren entered Lu Qing’s room. “Just give me some simple clothes.”
“Ok!” Lu Qing went back into his bedroom and walked out quickly with five to six suits.
Hao Ren remembered that Lu Qing usually wore suits, so most of his clothes at home were suits.
“Is there anything… that’s not so formal…” Hao Ren shook his head, embarrassed.
“Gongzi Hao, please wait a moment,” Lu Qing went back into his bedroom.
A few seconds later, he brought a set of Hawaiian T-shirt and shorts out of the bedroom.
“Um…” Hao Ren didn’t know what to say.
“Linlin and Lili just got these for me as they wanted me to take them to the beach during the summer vacation. This is the only thing that is not a suit here…” Lu Qing shrugged.
“It’s time for morning practice now, Hao Ren,” Su Han appeared at Lu Qing’s door in her deep-blue leaf-patterned shirt and mini skirt pants.
She had a short bat in her hand.
397 You Can’t Handle This
“Inspector Su…” Lu Qing bowed to her when he saw Su Han.
Lu Qing was close with Elder Xingyue, and Su Han was her disciple as well as an inspector. Lu Qing needed to show his respect due to her status.
Su Han slightly nodded and turned to Hao Ren. “I’ll give you one minute to change.”
Hao Ren was the Commanding General of the East Ocean Dragon Palace, but that was not important to Su Han. Hao Ren was Su Han’s assistant in the Dragon God Shrine.
Hao Ren secretly pitied his hard life. He quickly went into Lu Qing’s room and changed into the Hawaiian clothes.
He looked like he was ready to go to the beach when he came back out of the bedroom. Hao Ren pitied himself, even more, when he thought of going to school in such an eye-catching outfit.
“Let’s go!” Su Han waved a short bat in her hand at the door.
Su Han looked pretty in anything since she had such a beautiful face and a nice figure. The mini skirt pants made her look even more charming, and she could be an enjoyable scenery even when she was holding a bat.
“I’ll have to leave now, Elder Lu…” Hao Ren said to Lu Qing, embarrassed.
“Yes… yes… take it easy, Gongzi Hao.” Lu Qing slightly bowed, embarrassed as well.
The Commanding General of the East Ocean Dragon Clan was called out by a woman with a bat…that it…
Ding!
The elevator reached their floor and opened, and Su Han and Hao Ren walked inside side by side.
Without showing her Qian-level strength, Su Han appeared to be a quiet and beautiful lady. They seemed like a lovely couple when she stood beside Hao Ren, who was well-built.
The door to the elevator slowly closed, and the screen showed the floor number as they descended. Lu Qing took his phone out at the door and dialed a number. “Hello, Dragon King…”
Hao Ren and Su Han came out of the apartment building; it was still a bit chilly in the morning.
Sunshine filled up the garden-style high-rise, and it looked stunning.
“What is our morning exercise?” Hao Ren stretched his arms and asked.
“How are your injuries?” Su Han glimpsed at Hao Ren.
Hao Ren realized that Su Han was caring about him. He smiled and said, “It’s almost healed. The ointment worked really well.”
“In that case, let’s double the strength of your morning exercise,” Su Han said lightly.
“Um…” Hao Ren’s heart sunk.
“Run after me!” Su Han struck his back with her bat and shouted.
Su Han didn’t put much strength into it, but the bat hit where the bones were on Hao Ren’s back. He felt like the strike broke the bones in his back.
“This bat is made of Five-Color Stone and is a dharma treasure too. One hit will make you suffer for an entire day,” continued Su Han.
“Damn it!” Hao Ren couldn’t help but curse.
“Run faster than me if you don’t want to get hit,” Su Han glanced at him even colder, and it cleared Hao Ren’s distracting thoughts completely.
Hao Ren ran immediately when Su Han raised the short bat again.
But soon, he realized that something was wrong. The Five Mountains Bracelets in his arms, legs, and neck were as heavy as five mountains. How could someone run when they were dragging five mountains on their arms, legs, and neck!
Boom!
Su Han’s short bat landed mercilessly on Hao Ren’s back again.
The pain was so acute as it traveled into Hao Ren’s brain immediately, making him almost scream out.
“So brutal… what a sadist…” Hao Ren thought as he stepped ahead crazily, disregarding the weight on his body.
Su Han caught up easily with the bat in her hand, and it landed heavily on Hao Ren’s bum!
Hao Ren’s butt experienced burning pain, and it was precisely the part that moved the most when he ran.
“You’ll get more hits if you keep running this slowly,” Su Han ran beside Hao Ren.
“Damn it! Try to run with the Five Mountains Bracelets yourself!” Hao Ren said.
“You don’t think I have?” Su Han looked at Hao Ren with her pretty eyes and said lightly as she ran ahead elegantly.
Hao Ren looked down at Su Han’s pale ankles and hesitated for a second as he thought, “Could the strength Su Han is showing now not her actual strength…?”
“Too slow!” Su Han’s bat hit on Hao Ren’s bum again.
“Ouch!” Hao Ren couldn’t help
but shout. He thrust his pelvis forward and sped up immediately.
The Five Mountains Bracelets blocked 60% of Hao Ren’s strength including his nature essence and physical power. They borrowed the power of the five mountains to restrain the user, and the bracelets themselves were a set of top-tier dharma treasure.
Cultivators who were restrained by Five Mountains Bracelet couldn’t move at all, but Hao Ren was allowed to use 40% of his strength. However, it was tough to run like an ordinary person.
“Shoo… Shoo…” A muscular man in a tank-top and shorts surpassed Hao Ren and turned back to look at him with disdain. Then, he raised his eyebrow and whistled at Su Han.
Having ignored him, Su Han said to Hao Ren softly, “Come on, three more rounds around the complex.”
Pu…Hao Ren almost started bleeding out of his nose.
“Useless; such poor endurance!” The muscular man looked at Hao Ren with more disdain and said. Then, he sped up and ran further with his muscular legs.
Hao Ren looked at that man and opened his eyes… “Try the Five Mountains Bracelets on and see if you can move half a step!”
“Too slow!” Su Han raised the short bat and swung it towards Hao Ren’s bum again.
Hao Ren almost jumped up in pain, but he could neither defeat Su Han nor escape. So, he circulated his nature essence according to the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll with all his power and transferred most of his nature essence into his heels.
Creak, creak, creak… A six years old boy surpassed Hao Ren on a colorful tricycle. Then, he looked back at Hao Ren with a smug look on his face.
“Since when did kids get so bratty…” Hao Ren was pissed, but his butt got hit again by Su Han’s bat.
“Too slow!” It was Su Han’s devil-like voice again.
Hao Ren was all sweaty after just a few minutes, yet he was since inside this neighborhood.
The power of the Five Mountains Bracelets was hundreds even thousands of times stronger than the Mount Tai Bracelets! If Hao Ren weren’t at Gen-level, he would have fallen to the ground as soon as he put the Five Mountains Bracelets on. He wouldn’t even be able to get up.
“How much further?” Hao Ren asked Su Han. He thought he only had to review for the written exams at night and had no idea that he had to go through such brutal training. Hao Ren realized that he completely fell into Su Han’s evil hand.
“You are done when you get to school,” Su Han answered.
“How far are we?” Hao Ren asked.
“Pretty close; just 12 more kilometers.” Su Han smiled slightly, and her eyes looked like two new moons.
398 Personal Coach
The eastern Mount Tai had the element of wood, the western Mount Hua captured the element of metal, the southern Mount Heng contained the element of fire, the northern Mount Hang absorbed the element of water, and in the center was Mount Song which pulled in the element of earth.
The Five Mountains Bracelets contained the power of the five sacred mountains, locking all five elements within them.
The Five Mountains Bracelets contained the power of the five fundamental elements. Unless the cultivator reached peak Qian-level which was on the verge out jumping out of the wheel of reincarnation, no one could escape the wrath of the bracelets.
Inspectors used them to capture dragon cultivators, and sometimes even human cultivators. No matter which clan the cultivators belonged to, they would not be able to escape their power.
Hao Ren practiced the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll, which incorporated all five elements. However, even he could not escape the magic of the Five Mountains Bracelets.
Su Han waved her hands in the air, skipping lightly while still running at a brisk pace. She was beside Hao Ren, ensuring he was keeping up.
Everyone around Hao Ren envied him, thinking how lucky he was to have such a beauty running beside him. For Hao Ren though, he dragged his body unwillingly, showing no signs of thankfulness.
The mortals were unable to understand the pressure Hao Ren was under. Hao Ren was under the spell of the five sacred mountains, and his every step took a toll on his body. His strength and nature essence decreased drastically with every movement.
The Five Mountains Bracelets were powerful enough to seal the nature essence and physical strength of cultivators who had the ability to transform into dragons. To capture these powerful cultivators, the one who had the bracelets on should not be able to have the ability to move freely.
Su Han ‘forced’ Hao Ren to wear the powerful bracelets, but he could still use 40% of his power. However, for Hao Ren who had only reached Gen-level, even running was an extremely tedious exercise.
“If we don’t get to the school by eight, the Five Mountains Bracelets will decrease your power to only 20%,” Su Han said while briskly running alongside Hao Ren.
Su Han’s leaf-patterned shirt fluttered against the wind; she looked taller under the blue sky and the shades of trees.
The blue and white mini skirt pants she wore emphasized her long and beautiful legs. Each of her steps was firm, and each of her breath followed the same rhythm.
“Ok…”
Hao Ren tried his hardest. Using all his nature essence to counter the power of the Five Mountains Bracelets that he wore, he continued to run.
“Faster,” Su Han yelled as she took out her short bat and poked Hao Ren in the back.
The pain of the poke went through Hao Ren’s body; it was unbearable.
However. That pain also unleashed his potential to run faster. Now. Hao Ren realized that Su Han was not just poking him for fun. Instead, every poke went through an acupoint, helping him grow stronger.
Just like the unbearable pain that one must endure to go from Kan-level to Li-level, then from Li-level to Zhen-level, and finally reaching Gen-level; the pain he endured was immense.
However, he understood that to reach a higher level, he must endure a greater amount of pain.
If one cannot persevere, one could not become a strong cultivator. This was the Heavenly Dao that everyone must follow.
In the beginning, Su Han had low expectations for Hao Ren. However, his outperformance made her believe in him. Now, the thought of taking him to the Dragon God Shrine and make him into an official inspector had even budded in her mind.
The dragon core in Hao Ren’s body was spinning rapidly under the bracelets’ pressure. The bracelets had suppressed the power of the dragon core, which stimulated the nature essence within his body.
Hao Ren had cultivated all five-elemental essences simultaneously. For others who had only cultivated one or two elements, they would not be able to endure the elemental pressure of the Five Mountains Bracelets on the elemental essences they hadn’t cultivated.
However, Hao Ren had all five-elemental essences, so he was under the pressure of all the element, yet the pressure stimulated his body and his dragon core.
The wonder of the Five Mountains Bracelets was that it had a fine balance of all five elements. There was a delicate balance of the five elements in Hao Ren’s body as well.
Bup! Another opening appeared on the dragon core, and Hao Ren’s nature essence slowly flowed out of the opening.
However, the leaking nature essence was quickly sealed by the Five Mountains Bracelets.
Hao Ren took half a step with his left foot and another half step with his right foot. Following the fundamental boxing technique he learned, he stepped into a white tiger position, and he focused the nature essence in his palm, flowing it directly to his head.
The spiritual core that had originally been sleeping in the Qihai Acupoint was quickly awakened.
The power that Zhao Haoran had accumulated in his one thousand years of training was all within it.
This was the energy of top-tier Qian-level!
The Five Mountains Bracelets which were in Hao Ren’s arms, legs, and neck let out a dim, warm light.
White, green, blue, red, and yellow!
Just when Su Han was about to use her
short bat on Hao Ren again, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing with her eyes.
The lights released by the Five Mountains Bracelets signaled that it was about to be set free.
“It can’t be!? Did Hao Ren reach top-tier Qian-level already?” Su Han thought.
However, the signals displayed by the dharma treasure told no lies.
Suddenly, the lights darkened.
Hao Ren was exhausted and almost fell to his feet.
Su Han’s eyes opened wide, but they slowly returned to normal.
If Hao Ren were able to break free from the Five Mountains Bracelets, Su Han would be deeply impressed and shocked by his ability.
There was only one way for the Five Mountains Bracelets to be broken; one had to reach top-tier Qian-level.
“Hurry up!” Su Han took out her short bat and hit Hao Ren on his thigh.
“Ah… ah…” Hao Ren yelled in pain as he continued to run.
Although Hao Ren felt like he was having a small breakthrough, it only appeared in a flash unexpectedly. He wasn’t able to increase his understanding of the Heavenly Dao; he only got one more opening on his dragon core.
No matter how much pain Hao Ren displayed on his face, Su Han kept a cold expression on hers.
She knew deep in her heart that Hao Ren didn’t like this suffering, but the perseverance that Hao Ren had was no weaker than hers. Otherwise, he would have given up a long time ago, and she wouldn’t have stopped him from giving up either.
“Pa! Pa!”
The sound of Hao Ren’s steps became louder. Due to his continuous battle with the Five Mountains Bracelets, he slowly became accustomed to them, learning the rhythm.
A delicate array formation connected the Five Mountains Bracelet, and this array formation would have a split-second pause every second.
If Hao Ren could take advantage of that split-second pause by controlling and using his nature essence preciously, he still got a chance.
The opportunities Su Han had to poke Hao Ren with her short bat decreased as Hao Ren slowly caught up to her by himself.
“That’s Su Han, right? The guy next to her is Hao Ren, the person that Lu Linlin and Lu Lili like?”
