10 Chapter 10: Ling Yu's horizon widened!
"Daddy! Look what is that?" said a plump boy with a round hat. He seemed to be only around eight years old while pointing towards the sky from the distance with his small index finger.
"Huh? Oh! That is just a pair of birds! Now help daddy here carry these harvest over there!" replied a thirty years old man that appeared to be the boy's father.
…
Ling Yu and Duan Li had already travelled approximately half the total distance to reach the nearest Airtrain stops. They have been flying at a constant bottleneck speed of almost 100 kilometres per hour that Duan Li's face had turned green.
Ling Yu's face had also grown a little bit pale in colour while breathing heavily. It seems that she had almost reached her limits.
"Let's rest for a while over there..." she said after finding a good spot to rest.
They then slowly descended down from the air until they are hovering about one meter above ground. Ling Yu then chanted, "Feather flight release!" before Duan Li felt that his body weight had returned to normal and they landed with their feet on the ground.
- Tap!
"Finally landed…" said Duan Li while wiping off his sweat. At first during the few moments of flight, he was quite excited to feel how it was like to soar through the sky even though he was a little bit scared of heights. But as time passes on and their speed accelerated, his excitement dumbed down and his fear increased as he shuddered observing the breaking speed that they are flying with.
What if we were to collide with birds or hills? Wouldn't I become a bloody mess or turned into a meat paste?
Walking under the shades of a tree beside a long river, Duan Li sat down under it as Ling Yu went off to wash her face in the river.
With a wet face making her look more sexy, Ling Yu then sat down as she took a dry small towel to wipe off her face and said, "We will rest for around 10 minutes so that my spiritual Qi will recover for a bit. We can cover the rest of the distance until then."
Knowing that they will have time for some breather, Duan Li felt relieved as he stretched his back and arms.
"Say Duan Li, you do practice some martial arts right? Knowing your mother is THE Meng Yue, it is impossible for her to not impart on you anything..." asked Ling Yu curiously.
One had to know that Duan Li's mother, Meng Yue was someone renowned from 15 years ago. She was part of the top three subjugation squad for defending the empire during seasonal monster stampedes. During that time, monsters would come to attack the empire at the border in hordes and these subjugation squads hunted these monster packs down for sports and glory.
"If it was not because of that big incident in the past..." Ling Yu sighed inwardly.
"Well... I did learn a few stances from my mother... all three types of stances..." Duan Li replied.
"Oh? How many dozens have you managed to learn so far?" asked Ling Yu as her interest was piqued.
"Hmm... a total of 14 attack stances, 44 defensive stances and 31 supportive stances..." replied Duan Li as he cupped his chin.
Hearing this, Ling Yu's expression from her initial curiosity changed into that of shock and her mouth was slightly open.
She didn't want to believe it, but this was the son of THAT Meng Yue they were talking about. Her brutality back then in the past was known far and wide.
"T-that's a total of 89 stances h-huh... W-well that shouldn't be surprising as she IS your mother..." Ling Yu said while stuttering, trying to accept the fact that the son of Meng Yue shouldn't be measured by the normal standards.
"Then, how many total of combinations..?"
This time, her best estimate was roughly around a hundred at most. No matter how brutal Meng Yue was and talented the innate potentials of her son, it shouldn't be far from that figure.
"Emm... it should be around 416 combination!" answered Duan Li with a confident look and a nod, oblivious to the shocked expression of Ling Yu.
- Pu!
416 combination?! Are you actually some thirty years old man disguising yourself with some secret art to make you look younger?
Choking herself out from her own saliva, she took in a deep breath as she tried to stabilize her spiritual Qi from going berserk. She was currently absorbing massive amounts of spiritual Qi from the surrounding to recover her dantian, and one's state must be in a complete harmony to do so. Yet, this young man in front of her were being too vicious with his words!
A young man such as yourself should be more humble with their words! Even if what you speak off was the truth, try to be more considerate hey!
Stabilizing both her mind and spiritual Qi, she recomposed herself as she contemplated that 89 total stances with 416 combinations learned shouldn't be impossible. After all, they are both sickos.
"I-I see... Hmm... Well, that is indeed impressive! But for now, you should focus on levelling up your mastery to at least novice for a few of them. Just knowing a lot of stances and their combinations wouldn't actually make you stronger in a fight!" she said while nodding that this should be the case.
Quantity alone doesn't make one's own prowess to skyrocket as a martial artists. After all, people often said that 'quality over quantity' was the most important factor to become truly powerful!
"Tell me, which one is your most favourite move? I'll help and point out some of the flaws in your stance so that you can easily reach the adept level on it in a few weeks!" she continued, exuding the aura of a senior teacher would have with confidence.
Hearing this, Duan Li contemplated for a while. Should he tell the truth that he had reached adept mastery in all of them? Thinking up to here, he decided to do so. After all, she was a senior teacher and would know sooner or later once he performed them.
"Sister Ling Yu, I... have already reached adept mastery in all of them...." he said slowly.
- Kacha!
One of the seven emerald jade beads on her wrist that looked extremely ordinary like the usual accessories a girl would wear, had suddenly cracked before turning into ashes.
These were actually one of the protective talisman to guard one's mental state should a sudden trauma were to risk its owner from having their spiritual Qi going out of control due to an emotional breakdown.
"R-reached adept masteries in... a-all of them?" her eyes and mouth are now even wide open. Replacing that previously sexy and alluring face of her's into one similar to that of a puffer fish.
What the hell!
Have you been practicing stances in your mother's womb?
No! That's not right either! Have you been practicing stances in your father's testicles since he was young?
At that point, her entire world view had crumbled down. She was now forced to see into the new, and wider horizon.
Standing up, she clasped her hands behind her backs as she looked up towards the blue sky in a 45 degrees angle. She then closed her beautiful eyes as she tried to stabilize her tumultuous heart.
After a few moments in silence, she then said, "Show me!". If it were true that he had reached adept masteries in all of them. Then she will accept it with an open heart.
"En!" replied Duan Li as he stood up and began his performance with a defensive stance.
...
Around ten minutes later, Duan Li had so far demonstrated 21 stances with 57 combination, all showing the adept masteries in them before Ling Yu hold up her palm in a gesture for Duan Li to stop. A sign that he had proven himself true to his words.
"Hais... the younger generation will eventually overtook the old generation huh..? Now... I know what master meant back then..." she sighed while shaking her head helplessly.
"You must have trained very hard and diligent for the last several years! In all my time that I have been alive, you are the most talented person that I have witnessed! And I can vouch that you have already far surpassed your mother back then when she was your age!" said Ling Yu confidently, finally accepting that the world had surprised her thorough and thoroughly today.
"Let us continue on our journey then!"
She chanted the spell 'Feather flight' again as they both flew to the skies to continue on their journey.
Thankfully, she had not asked Duan Li how long does it took for him to master all of those to the adept level. If she knew that it only took him around ten hours to achieve such accomplishment…
Would she die on the spot?
...
In a parallel world, the Jixue Knights Academy had stopped all classes and activities, to both honour and mourn two days later due to the loss of a capable senior teacher from mysterious causes…
...
