"People follow the sword; the sword follows the heart’s intent... Yes, it should conform to my will..."
"Why do I still fail to see the answer clearly when Master has already told me?"
Tang Fei picked himself up from the ground, and drawing his long sword from within the stone, began practicing once more.
As the whistling sound of the sword came from behind, a faint smile emerged at the corners of Xuanyuan Mingjing’s lips: "The boy is indeed teachable."
Little Fatty was smashing stones in the yard.
The noise from Little Fatty’s stone smashing used to be deafening, audible throughout the entire village.
As his strength grew and his technique improved, now when his hammer struck, the stone would break into the shape he desired, yet no sound would be heard.
This also avoided the risk of disturbing the peace.
Little Fatty used to need supervision when smashing stones, with the old man frequently hurling vicious words like "lazybones," "good-for-nothing," "got cramps in your hand?"
After arriving at New Star, he no longer needed anyone to supervise or urge him on. He had formed a habit: after completing his teacher’s training tasks at school, he would train for an additional hour at home.
Once in the morning and once in the evening, regardless of the weather, no breaks even on snowy days.
The reason he suddenly became so diligent wasn’t because he enjoyed working hard; rather, he felt the pressure from his elder brother.
He always felt that his elder brother had been preoccupied with something lately. Although he would never talk about it, he could feel it...
Because he knew his elder brother too well.
Thus, he had to be more diligent, try harder.
If he became stronger, it meant his elder brother became stronger.
If anyone wanted to harm his elder brother, they would have to step over his dead body first.
After completing an hour of training, Little Fatty wiped the sweat from his brow with a towel, then picked up his hammer and went back inside.
After a bath, he changed into clean pajamas, just about to lie on the sofa for some casual late-night snacks when suddenly, he heard a slight noise from upstairs.
"Big brother?" Little Fatty called out.
"Big brother, is that you? Have you come home?" Little Fatty’s voice rose slightly.
The last time his elder brother had unexpectedly returned from White Crane Academy, not only had he given Little Fatty a pleasant surprise but also brought him sugar-fried chestnuts.
Was he looking to repeat the act?
Still, no one answered.
"It must be a rat..." Little Fatty muttered to himself.
When he used to live at the foot of Hate Mountain, what he saw most were rats.
Those rats were larger than cats, robust, with shining red eyes, looking extremely fierce.
The house would often be infested with rats, the rodents tearing at each other, a bloody, horrifying sight.
Tang Fei watched with fascination, whereas Little Fatty found it so repulsive he would stay far away.
Little Fatty asked Tang Fei what was so interesting about rats fighting; Tang Fei said it was important to understand the habits of animals, especially their ways of fighting, so as not to get hurt by them while hunting.
Little Fatty thought his elder brother made a lot of sense, followed him to watch for a while, and then threw up...
Little Fatty opened the refrigerator where there was a roast chicken, five pounds of yak beef jerky, and half a braised lamb leg...
"What should I eat?" Little Fatty pondered.
Since he couldn’t decide, why not just eat everything?
He certainly had the ability.
From the sounds of tearing and swallowing coming from downstairs, it was clear that the fat one was eating.
A figure dressed in black, wearing a black mask, pushed open Tang Fei’s bedroom door and then quietly closed it behind them.
They didn’t turn on the light; instead, they used a lighting device on their wrist to scan the room’s layout.
They opened the wardrobe and rummaged through it, only finding clothes and shoes but not the item they were seeking.
Noticing an old leather case in the corner of the wardrobe, their pupil shone with excitement.
They lifted the leather case out and carefully opened the clasps.
The leather case was open.