Yun Lei Awakens

Seven months had quietly passed by.

Yun Lei was about to lift the seventh and final pin before turning the barrel.

After the first was lifted, he immediately understood that his approach was erroneous. He couldn't just raise the seven pins prior to rotating the barrel. That was because there were seven pins, but he didn't have seven picks.

He had tried his hardest and could only split the key into two halves. One still needed to function as a pick, the other had to be used to apply tension to the barrel.

After a pin was lifted, the barrel would be rotated, disallowing it from falling down again. This meant that the pressure his already damaged soul had to endure was a lot higher than he had initially expected.

If he had seven picks, he could actively hold them up. With the barrel, he couldn't apply direct force and had to hold it up passively. Like a weight on his shoulders, it sapped him of his strength. The weight would only increase the closer he was to freedom.

After the third pin was raised, his soul was stretched too far. He could neither see nor feel anything. He knew this would worry Yun Meili and Su Ning since Granny Chu had told them that he might lose his consciousness at any moment, but he chose to not dwell on the matter for too long.

He would focus on recovery first and tell them to not worry with his own tongue.

Using the last bit of his strength, he pushed the final pin. He was so close, but he didn't have enough strength left to continue turning the barrel. The weight of the pins was long past being just a burden and had turned into a source of pain.

Compared to the poison, however, it was merely a pinprick.

While holding up the seventh pin, the pain, while still incomparable to the poison, had reached a point where it was affecting his ability to think.

In frustration, he let out a shout of anger but continued pushing. The closer he was to opening the lock, the harder it got.

He was losing grip over his strength and his soul energy was rapidly burning up. When he reached his limits, he once again felt that terrible pain he didn't even wish to experience in his nightmares, the pain of his soul being damaged.

But he didn't stop. He knew failure was only a moment away yet he couldn't bring himself to give up. As his strength faded, he heard a howl. A piercing and majestic howl, full of indignation, anger and hatred yet, equally filled with a calm, ruthless indifference. A howl that had escaped from his own lips.

Click!

The lock had been opened and he immediately felt all sorts of physical sensations. The gentle wind on his face, Su Ning's warmth against his body, even the chair he was seated on. He could feel everything, very distinctly.

His eyes, which had remained shut for nearly five months, finally saw light. Su Ning was the first thing to enter his vision. It was dark out and she was softly snoring with her head on his lap.

Yun Lei rose quietly from his seat and gently carried her to the bed, not letting her be roused from her sleep. Though he could not be entirely sure, he knew that she had not left his side during those seven months.

"Sleep well." He whispered softly before he kissed her forehead.

The completely shell-shocked maids watched him with wide eyes as he stretched his body and headed straight out of the door. They hurriedly ran after him. If the Princess found out that they had left the Young Master's side, there would be hell to pay.

Yun Lei stood in the quiet courtyard, watching the night sky, taking deep breaths.

"I never noticed how pretty the night sky is." His soft, almost angelic voice reached the maids' ears.

Underneath the pale moonlight, Yun Lei looked like a god in human form. The maids had been around him night and day. Even while he was constantly drooling with that dumb look on his face, he made their hearts race.

While they had gotten used to seeing him like that, to a certain degree, the impact of seeing him fully aware was massive. His physical form was already attractive enough but his bearing transformed it into a work of art.

"Young M-master Ren, you s-should resht." The maid at the front said while stuttering and slurring her words. One of the others was running off somewhere. To fetch Granny Chu, no doubt.

"Which one of you is Situ Yue?"

Yun Lei had heard that name spoken around him several times. He was also aware that she was the maid in charge of taking care of him.

"I-I am." The stuttering maid spoke once more.

While it was true that Yun Lei was shockingly handsome, he also had an intimidating air to him.

Perhaps it was because the maids were too used to seeing him just sit on his chair, not having much of a presence, that the sudden change made them feel even more uncomfortable. A bit fearful even.

Situ Yue didn't stutter normally. When his eyes had met hers, she couldn't help but shudder. When he had spoken her name, she froze in terror.

Did I offend him!? She was panicking in her heart and immediately dropped to her knees.

"T-this servant was t-too incompetent and deserves punishment! Mercy, Young Master!"

Her head was planted on the soil, and her entire body shook like a leaf in the wind.

The other maids learned from their leader's example and quickly kowtowed.

"Mercy, Young Master!" They didn't know what they had done wrong but they didn't want to offend him.

Am I that scary? Yun Lei let out a chuckle at the thought, scaring the maids even more. It isn't so bad to have people kneeling in front of you.

He didn't even realise that before his suicide attempt, he would never have thought such a thing.

"Never mind that. Show me the way to the library." He spoke directly to Situ Yue.

Although she was a bit reluctant to let him walk around after he had just woken up but she obeyed his direction and led the way. The rest of the maids remained on the ground until the Young Master and Situ Yue were out of the courtyard.

"Was the Young Master always that scary?" One of the maids said while finally breathing a sigh of relief.

"Hehe, did you think he is some cute child? He's the husband of our Princess." The maid lowered her voice. "The Princess is scary enough already, how could her husband be any less scary?"

The rest nodded their heads in agreement, as if what she had spoken was obvious.

Yun Family's library was impressive, to say the least. There was a beautiful courtyard surrounding it and above the entrance gate was a massive wooden sign with the word "library" carved into it with what looked like sword strokes.

A feat that was even more impressive when one considered that the sign was made of ordinary mahogany. The control and precision required to perform such a thing far outweighed doing it on more durable wood, like ironwood or ebonwood.

It was said that the first patriarch of the Yun Family was obsessed with two things: books and swords. Both of his obsessions were displayed in that sign perfectly in an unconventional harmony.

"Outsiders aren't allowed in the Yun Family's library. Step back."

Just as Yun Lei was about to enter the courtyard, he was stopped. There was a wooden cane in his path.

By the entrance, sat an old man with lots of grey hairs. He wore small circular spectacles, had a cane in one hand and a book in another; the perfect image of a librarian.

Yun Lei stopped and observed the man briefly. After he regained control of his body, he had quickly discovered that his senses had become a lot sharper. He could see and hear further, he could remember the things he saw much more clearly. But most importantly, he could sense profound energy.

Such a thing should have been impossible since he was a cripple. Perhaps, increasing soul energy allows you to sense other forms of energy after a certain point? He had reached such a conclusion.

He always had keen intuition and it seemed to only have become sharper. He could immediately tell that the old man was in the Body Tempering realm simply because he gave off a similar feeling to Yun Meili. But he was definitely weaker than she was.

"The Records of the War for the North, is it?" Yun Lei's eyes pointed towards the book in the old man's hands. "A good book, though the first print contained a lot of inaccuracies. Sima Leisu corrected them in a second print. Perhaps you should read that one instead."

After speaking, Yun Lei simply walked around the old man's cane, not giving any regards to the latter who was trying to use his aura to suppress him from the very start.

"Then again, you can't even recognise the son-in-law of the Yun Family. I doubt you would be able to recognise an old book from a new one."

The chair the old man was sitting on clattered to the ground as he stood up.

Facing someone in the Body Tempering Realm, he should have been trembling, he should have been feeling absolute fear.

On the path of Profound Cultivation, the first realm was the Energy Sensing realm. Most mortals never even reached this point. If a thousand did, only a hundred would reach the peak of the Energy Sensing realm and only ten would break through into the Body Tempering Realm.

To a mortal, someone in the Body Tempering realm might as well be God. The old man's aura wasn't even aimed towards her but Situ Yue couldn't stop shaking.

It wasn't just a matter of will or strength. It was an instinctual fear, something that couldn't be suppressed. It was the fear a prey felt in front of a predator. It was the fear mortals felt in front of death.

Yet, the Young Master who was as much of a mortal as her was directly withstanding the pressure of the old man, motionless like a boulder, steady as a mountain. She saw his eyes flash red for a brief moment, so brief she thought she was seeing things.

Yun Lei and the old man kept looking at each other. The old man was using every bit of his aura to force Yun Lei to kneel but unlike his expectations, Yun Lei didn't even look affected. There was even a mocking smile on his face.

"I thought age made people wise. Truly, you have lived a worthless life." Yun Lei's words were ruthless, not a smidgen of fear or weariness in him.

The old man felt a strange shiver run down his spine. The more he looked into those eyes as black as the abyss, the more he felt a sense of unease.

All he had to do to kill that arrogant kid, was to spend the effort to send a punch in his direction. It was just that easy. It should have been that easy.

With a loud clatter, the cane in his hand fell to the ground, shocking even himself. Only then did he realise, his hands were shaking and his whole body was no exception.

"Ah, so it was Young Master Ren. This old servant was blind." The old man bent his back in almost ninety degrees. "This old dog doesn't see well during the night; I hope Young Master is lenient."

The old man had tried his best to control his tongue so he didn't stutter. A mortal had made him shiver like a scared kitten. If he stuttered on top of that, he would never be able to live it off.

"It's good you know your place, old dog." Yun Lei didn't say much more before turning towards the pavilion doors.

He had lived his entire life with his head bowed. He would no longer tolerate that. After all, his wife was the Princess of the Ether Cloud. If someone bullied him, he would just hide behind her and let her beat them up in his stead.

He thought the old man had backed down because of his position as the son-in-law of the Yun Family. Little did he know, his position was the last thing on the old man's mind.

After Yun Lei had entered the building, the man fell on his ass, rather unceremoniously. Situ Yue couldn't help but give him a sympathetic look.