Thundering Palm’s Power

"Thundering Palm!"

Ye Ba and Ye Meng exclaimed with surprise. As experts of the Ye Family Village, they obviously recognized this powerful and difficult Martial Skill.

Ye Feng was also incredibly astonished. He had also cultivated the Thundering Palm before, and he knew just how difficult it was to progress with this skill. Even now, he had only mastered three Palm Shadows. He rarely cultivated the ability anymore.

How could he have imagined that Ye Tian could produce eight Palm Shadows! The youth had almost practiced the ability to perfection!

"Hong hong hong…"

The eight Palm Shadows filled Lin Wudi's field of view, the fake indistinguishable from the real. As he fumbled in terror, every single shadow landed on him and the powerful burst of strength flung him ten meters away.

"Pu chi!"

With a miserable cry, Lin Wudi spat out a mouthful of blood, his face pale beyond belief. Even though he wasn't unconscious, he was completely out of the fight and he could only glare at Ye Tian with resistance.

Lin Fei was astonished and dazed, his mouth wide open, incapable of uttering a single word.

Lin Xiong was also examining Ye Tian with stunned eyes, and he could already guess that Ye Tian had been able to cultivate this Martial Skill to near perfection. It was with this mastery that he had been able to defeat a higher-cultivation practitioner.

"You still want to fight?"

Ye Tian asked calmly.

His words filled the silent square, and every Lin Family Villager was staring at the young man with wide eyes and open jaws, none of them able to speak.

Every villager without exception had an expression of shock and amazement on their face.

"Keke!" Ye Feng's cough pulled the gazes of the villagers away, and he walked up to Lin Xiong before calmly saying, "Lin Village Chief, can we escort the bride now?"

Lin Xiong finally pulled himself together, looking from Ye Tian to Ye Feng, a complicated expression on his face. His composure as Village Chief finally returned to him. "Since you passed the test, this old man has no complaints. Come, go bring my eldest daughter here."

Now that the matter was resolved, Ye Tian had played his part and turned, returning to the bridal caravan.

Now, whether it was the Ye Family Villagers or the Lin Family Villagers, everyone looked at Ye Tian differently. His friends looked at him with eyes filled with admiration, surprise and esteem, while the strangers watched him with shock and envious disbelief.

But Ye Tian paid no mind to how people looked at him as he returned to Ye Wei's side.

"Thank you!" Ye Wei said, a bitter smile on his face as he looked at Ye Tian. "Martial Warrior Level Two? Hehe, I'm afraid that I won't ever be able to catch up to you."

Originally, he still had some self-confidence, but now that he had watched Ye Tian's fight with Lin Wudi with his own eyes, he understood that he would never catch up to Ye Tian with his talent.

Ye Tian didn't know how to comfort this once proud young man, and finally, he put his hands on Ye Wei's shoulders and said quietly: "People do not need to surpass others; they only need to surpass themselves."

With those words, Ye Tian moved away. Whether Ye Wei would understand was outside of his control.

"Surpass yourself…" Ye Wei whispered to himself as he watched Ye Tian walking away, his eyes glimmering with enlightenment.

Ye Tian didn't know it yet, but his words would one day develop a powerful Village Chief who would watch over the Ye Family Village, allowing him to leave without worry or regret.

It was just that when that day came, Ye Tian would already be a peak expert on this great continent.

...

The sun began to set and the Ye Family bridal caravan left, leaving shocked and complicated gazes behind them as they turned and marched back to the Ye Family Village.

It was supposed to be a joyful day, but the Lin Family Village and Lin Xiong couldn't find any happiness at all.

As the bridal caravan gradually disappeared into the distance, someone finally sighed.

"The Ye Family Village has a remarkable genius!" someone exclaimed, but his friend immediately nudged him, pointing at Lin Xiong.

They were all members of the Lin Family Village and they all knew that Lin Xiong had forced Ye Tian's family to break the betrothal, but now this cripple had regained his talent.

The person in the most pain might just be Lin Xiong.

If he hadn't broken off the engagement, Lin Xiong would be ecstatic with a peerless genius as his son-in-law.

But now, he had completely offended this peerless genius.

"To your homes!" Lin Xiong waved his hand. With his Martial Warrior Level Ten cultivation, he could naturally hear the whispers of his villagers, but he could only helplessly sigh to himself as he turned to leave.

One by one, the Lin Family Villagers left the square.

Inside a locked stone house, a girl dressed in white sat by the house's sole window, talking to a girl in a green dress who was imprisoned in her home.

"Little sister, did you hear? The Ye Family Village's bridal caravan is here." The girl in white was Lin Xue, and her face was filled with emotion.

"Oh!" A hopeless and quiet voice passed through the window.

The girl in the green dress had been locked in the house. Her face was pale and her eyes swollen from weeping. She was skinny and weak and looked as if a gust of wind could knock her over.

Lin Xue looked at her little sister, pain in her heart as she spoke: "Little sister, you need to eat. You know, I saw Ye Tian just now. He came along with the bridal caravan."

"Ye Tian!"

As if the last flame of hope in her heart was stoked, the girl in the green dress immediately leaped up and ran to the window, hurriedly asking Lin Xue, "Second Sister, Ye Tian is here? Where is he? Can you ask him to come here? Please, I beg you. I just want to see him one more time, wuwu…"

The young girl cried emotionally.

Lin Xue grew anxious and hurriedly comforted her: "Little sister, don't cry. I have good news. Ye Tian not only came here but he also defeated Lin Wudi. You need to persevere. He said that he wouldn't disappoint you, and he really kept his promise."

She had originally wanted to give her little sister a nice surprise, but when she saw her weeping, Lin Xue couldn't help but tell her everything.

"Defeated Lin Wudi? Second Sister, don't try to comfort me. He has no Martial Spirit. No! Even with a Martial Spirit, he couldn't beat Lin Wudi." The green-dressed girl shook her head sadly. As a Lin Family Villager, she knew just how terrifying Lin Wudi's talent was—he was the genius whom the entire village had entrusted their hopes to.

Even if Ye Tian had a Martial Spirit, it would be impossible for him to advance to Martial Warrior Level Two in less than two months, and there was no way he could be a match for Lin Wudi.

"Little sister, it's true!" Lin Xue exclaimed. She also knew how unbelievable this was, and she herself could scarcely believe it, but the facts were the facts.

"Little sister, did you forget what I told you? Ye Wei didn't come himself so Daddy made that rule? If Ye Tian hadn't defeated Lin Wudi, would Daddy have let Big Sister marry into the Ye Family Village?" Lin Xue said quickly, trying to come up with a way to convince her little sister.

The green dressed girl paused and examined Lin Xue with some confusion. "Second Sister, are you really telling the truth?" As she looked at Lin Xue's serious face, Lin Tingting began to believe her.

"Really! How could I lie to you? Do you not trust your Second Sister? The entire village knows that Ye Tian is a genius, a truly peerless genius! You didn't see it, but Daddy looked super unhappy when he came back and he's clearly regretting breaking off the betrothal," Lin Xue hurriedly explained.

"So Ye Tian and I still have hope?" Lin Tingting whispered, her pale face blushing.

"Of course! Who wouldn't want a peerless genius as a son-in-law? Daddy isn't stupid. Just wait, he'll definitely let you out soon." Lin Xue hurriedly nodded, but she was secretly sighing to herself. She also knew that Lin Xiong valued face above all else, and it was because of this that he had forced Ye Tian to break the engagement, unable to accept a cripple as his son-in-law.

Even now, with Ye Tian regaining his talent, it was still impossible for Lin Xiong to swallow his pride and restore the betrothal. It was only if Ye Tian came himself to ask that they would have any chance.

But Ye Tian had been deeply humiliated by Lin Jiao and had been made a laughing stock by both villages—how could he forget that?

Lin Xue shook her head. She had known Ye Tian for a long time, and she knew that he was a very stubborn man, but she didn't dare tell her little sister what she suspected. Her priority was her sister's health, and what came after… that would be a problem for later.

That night, many people in the Lin Family Village were doomed to restless sleep.

…

But back in the Ye Family Village, people were joyfully celebrating.

With Ye Wei's wedding, the entire Ye Family Village had turned out to celebrate, but the true joy was because Ye Tian had advanced to Level Two Martial Warrior and defeated Lin Wudi.

Even though it was Ye Wei's big day, Ye Tian was still the true star, and he was dragged by the Village Chief and the Martial Instruction Pavilion Elder to their table during the feast.

"Ye Tian, I didn't think you would advance to Level Two Martial Warrior so quickly! I thought it would take you at least a month!" Ye Shi laughed uproariously, utterly thrilled that the Ye Family Village had such a talent.

"That's right, and you even cultivated Thundering Palm to such a degree! What other surprises do you have in store for us?" the Martial Instruction elder exclaimed with praise.

The other village elders all smiled at Ye Tian, filling him with embarrassment. He waved his hand and shook his head. "Village Chief, elders, I really have no more surprises. I used everything I had to defeat Lin Wudi."

Ye Tian spoke the truth. Lin Wudi wasn't a simple opponent, and Ye Tian had only just broken through to Martial Warrior Level Two; he really had used his full strength to defeat him.

"Still, very impressive. When we were your age, we weren't even Martial Warriors yet. Truly, the might of a Yellow Martial Spirit." Ye Shi sighed. He was clearly somewhat envious. After all, if he had a Yellow Martial Spirit, it was very likely that he would've already been a Martial Master expert.

The other villagers sighed as well.

Unfortunately, the wedding feast was soon over and the villagers began returning to their homes.

"Ye Tian, even if you're talented with Martial Skills, you can't become lax with your cultivating. Your cultivation will be the foundation for everything. If your opponent had been a Level Three Martial Warrior, no matter how powerful your Thundering Palm was, you wouldn't have been able to defeat him," the Martial Instruction elder reminded Ye Tian before he left.

 "En. Rest assured, Elder. I understand!" Ye Tian nodded seriously. He was already close to the great circle of perfection with the Thundering Palm, and he would focus now on his cultivation.

The Martial Instruction elder was right—cultivation was the foundation for everything.