29. An Inexplicable Strength
.
"Seize him and beat him!" Zhang Cheng ordered, his voice sharp with disdain...
"Ei?!" Luoyin raised a brow, lifting a lazy hand. "Older brother, were you always this shameless? You need a group to fight someone at my level?"
"Hmph! I can beat you with one hand, but that will soil my hands! You must answer for yesterday!" Zhang Cheng raged.
"Was your conscience eaten by a dog?" Luoyin lifted a brow. "Calamity won't befall virtuous'. You were shameless enough to challenge a junior, so I can't be blamed for stopping you."
"Seize this idiot!!" Zhang Cheng thundered and one of the disciples sprang forward, his fist aimed at Luoyin's chest.
Luoyin smirked. "Hao. Permit me to discipline your dogs for you."
Before the approaching disciple could react, a foot struck his face, and his body twisted in mid-air before he crashed onto the ground, rolling as he clutched his nose in agony.
"Wh- What happened?!" Another disciple stammered, staring in disbelief.
"It's a trick! Don't fall for it - attack him together!" Another barked, and the group rushed forward, weapons drawn.
"It's all a trick! Let's go! He won't be reassured if we attack him at once!" Another said, and they all leapt at Luoyin.
"Hmph." With a single step, Luoyin's figure blurred, and he was suddenly right in their midst!
Before they could react, they found themselves in chaos - fists, elbows, knees, and feet striking from all directions, in a precise, brutal, and ruthless attack!
Zhang Cheng's eyes widened as his disciples fell one by one, each groaning in agony and rolling on the ground, as Luoyin effortlessly weaved through them, using purely physical combat.
'How is this possible?!' Zhang Cheng took an involuntary step back, cold sweat forming on his brow.
But after Luoyin sent the last one flying, he leapt away, returning to his place just outside the gate.
"You trash! What magic are you using?! You shouldn't even be able to touch them!" Cheng stared at the writhing disciples in disbelief.
They were a much lower level than him, but had had no problem handling Luoyin in the past!
Luoyin glared at them, his brows nearly meeting in the middle. "Still here? Hmm?"
The disciples swiftly picked themselves and ran or limped away before Zhang Cheng could say anything.
"Zhang Luoyin!!!!" He turned on Luoyin, who simply smirked.
"Older brother, I know the real reason you won't come near me." He held up a small urn. "Did you really hate 'letting go of your worries' that much? Come on, come closer... It's only two days in the outhouse!" He taunted.
"You bastard!"
Luoyin let out a gasp, his features the mirror of surprise. "Older brother, what are you saying?! How can the former concubine's son call someone else a bastard?! Do you want people to recall your original identity?!"
Zhang Cheng nearly spat blood with fury, and his sword appeared, already covered in an angry purple aura. "I'll kill you!" He said, and with a swing of his sword, he sent a powerful wave of qi at Luoyin.
But Luoyin did not flinch in the slightest as the reflection grew bigger in his irises, and he smirked when the wave hit an unseen barrier, mere inches from his face.
The qi strained against the barrier for a few seconds, but finally shattered and dissipated.
Luoyin yawned. "Since I know you and your mother exist, won't I fortify my own home?"
"Hao!" Zhang Cheng put the sword away. "Then I advise my dear little brother to watch his back from now on!"
He turned to leave. "Don't let me catch you in some secluded forest, or I'll cripple you for the rest of your life!"
With that, he left Luoyin alone.
Luoyin felt an instant sense of foreboding....
Just that morning, he had received a note from Sect Leader Xu, asking him to report as a 'Disciple' for a level three hunt mission in Yueyan's Western Forests, and now Zhang Cheng had specifically mentioned 'forest'.
"Hmmmm." Luoyin turned and went back inside...
.
.
The sun had set, but there were endless streaks of bright lights within Luoyin's room.
Luoyin sat in the lotus position, right at the middle of a wide wooden bed, and as he performed seal after seal, bright blue lights fanned out from him.
The starlight furnace orbited in lazy circles around him, accompanied by a single formation, but with three varying flames, spaced out and filling the room with even more light.
In a corner of the room, Yinying woke up and shook himself, sending loose black fur drifting to the floor. His tiger form was now like a two-year old regular tiger, certainly bigger than a cub, but far from adult.
He stretched and looked around, almost forgetting where he was!
Luoyin hadn't lied about trying to surpass his previous homes, and his current bedchamber was such a sharp contrast to the original Luoyin's room in the Zhang Mansion, that anyone would think the two rooms had switched places!
This room was richly decorated with prime, polished wood, ornate designs, and frames with elegant paintings and calligraphy.
There were three tasteful flower vases, placed at strategic places, and the meal table had comfortable floor cushions and a skylight which made it resemble a magical den right within the room.
Yinying shook his head and turned to his master who was refining pills, and he sniffed as the furnace vibrated and began emitting puffs of smoke.
The furnace's lid lifted and a trail of bright red pills with yellow streaks, shot out of it and flew round the room.
The lights died down as Luoyin used two fingers to guide the pills into an urn, and Yinying accepted this as a sign to finally approach.
"Xiaobai, are you really going on this hunting mission?!" Yinying demanded, morphing back to his human form.
"Laoying, I can't exactly refuse." Luoyin said as he stood up and stretched. "They say a man must impress his father-in-law... Won't my refusal be an insult to Sect Leader Xu?
"And besides, I suspect Zhang Cheng will be going as well..."
"Isn't that more reason not to go?!"
But Luoyin simply smiled.
During the duel yesterday, he had grabbed Zhang Cheng's wrist to stop the last move on Weiyan, and now he waved a hand over his wrist, revealing the Spirit-binding seal which showed another arrow pointing inward.
Yinying's brows rose. "Of course! He's one of the grievances!"
Luoyin made the seal vanish. "I can't do much to Zhang Cheng within the Sect, so this hunt might be a good opportunity..." He turned to Yinying.
"Don't worry! I will climb a few stages before morning!"
"How can I not worry?!!" Yinying nearly exploded. "You don't even know what these stages mean!"
"Ehehe, I'll learn, I'll learn!" Luoyin hastily drank from a bowl of water, and then resumed his lotus position on the bed.
It was true that he didn't fully understand the Mortal cultivation levels, especially since the original body's memories were not forthcoming on the matter.
Zhang Luoyin had been a genius, but after his illness, his memories of cultivation were all hazy, almost as if he had subconsciously pushed the knowledge away...
But the current Luoyin had to somehow fulfil his grievances, which meant he could not simply avoid danger.
'No risk, no reward!' He thought, as he began cultivating.
'All I can do is grow even faster!'
.
.
It wasn't fully bright at dawn, when Luoyin bid farewell to Yinying.
"I insist on following you!!" Yinying protested, but Luoyin shook his head.
"You have duties here! I want you to watch the house, and personally find a Head Servant who will run the plac-."
"Those are not important!"
"Ah, but I wasn't finished... I also need someone to check on the Light Tiger in my absenc-!"
"Ahem! I'll see you when you return!" Yinying firmly turned away, and Luoyin laughed.
Amidst the falling leaves, he turned to leave.
"Promise me!" Yinying's voice stopped him. "Promise you'll summon me if things get too dangerous!"
"Laoying! You've become a 'nagging mother' recently!"
"That's because you're human! You could beat me in Sky Realm, but almost anyone could beat you here!"
Luoyin turned to him and noticed a pair of Tiger ears above his head... This happened when beasts, or even some immortals, became too emotional to maintain complete human form.
For Luoyin, it only revealed the depths of Yinying's worry, and he smiled softly.
"Fine, fine, I'll summon you even if I sneeze!" Luoyin replied with a wave and began walking away. "Don't shed fur around the house while I'm away!"
"I know! I'll only shed in your room!"
"You-!" Luoyin could only laugh...!
.