"Yes." Li You Ran replied. He gently placed the Jade Sea Coral in front of Li Shang and then reached out with one hand to firmly press down on one side of the coral. He then closed his eyes before deeply exhaling a breath; a golden aura burst forth from his body, evidence that he was circulating his Xuan arts at full strength!
A ringing sound came from the Jade Sea Coral; what was once sparkling and translucent as jade was now radiating a faint and subtle light. An almost imperceptible blue Qi slowly rose up from its surface, and the entire body of the Jade Sea Coral transformed into a strange blue color.
The time has come.
A glint of desire flashed across Li Shang's eyes, but his state of mind quickly became calm. He slowly extended his dry and thin right hand and lightly placed it on the other side of the Jade Sea Coral. The moment his palm made contact with the coral, the fine strands of Qi aroused by Li You Ran avidly rushed up Li Shang's arm at a speed that can be seen by the naked eye and into his body.
As the blue Qi entered his body, a heartfelt happy expression flashed across Grand Preceptor Li Shang's formerly stoic face. He distinctly felt a soothing sensation in his meridians as more and more blue Qi rushed in; Li Shang's body responded by becoming more and more relaxed, almost as if his spirit was shaking in joy…
His dantian that had been severely injured all those years ago by one of Jun Zhan Tian's explosive punches and he had lost the ability to feel in that region ever since. But currently, he could feel a slight sense of pain before the mild and gentle blue Qi soothes it.
His dantian and meridians that have been damaged for so many years were finally recovering…
Both men had their eyes closed, but they could clearly sense a genuine joy excluding out. Both men did not realize that during their moment of intense excitement and happiness, the Jade Sea Coral had abruptly changed into a pure white color.
The blue Qi had originally enveloped the frenzied white Spiritual Qi such that the white Qi was unable to rush out. But in the wake of Li You Ran's prompting and Li Shang absorbing, the density of the blue Qi became more and more sparse as the white Qi became more and more concentrated. Under this condition, the strength of the guest gradually overwhelmed that of the host…
There is only one last step for the dantian to recover fully!
This decades-old infirmity that had bothered Grand Preceptor Li for half his life will recover very soon. How can he not be emotional? And not wild with joy? Even if Grand Preceptor Li was accustomed to strong winds and big waves, he still felt his heart stir at this moment…
Li Shang felt a sense of exultation in his heart as he uttered quaveringly. "You Ran, my dantian should recover at any moment."
Li You Ran ecstatically exclaimed. "Grandfather, from now on, the shackle that Jun Zhan Tian had placed on your body can be eliminated! Our Li Family will be able to move unhindered! Haha…"
Both grandfather and grandson simultaneously broke out into a sincere smile filled with hope and dreams for the future…
Suddenly!
In the midst of their joy, an unexpected change occurred—
During the most critical moment of recovery inside Grand Preceptor Li's dantian, the entirely incompatible Spiritual Qi Jun Mo Xie previously injected suddenly broke free of the blue Qi's constraints like an evil dragon that struggled free of its chains. Lightning burst out from the past spiritual qi with irresistible force and followed the direction of the blue Qi.
A wisp of exceptionally frantic and violent Qi streamed like a loose demon and entered Li Shang recently restored meridians, bashing sideways and colliding straight on, before squeezing like a hot knife through butter into his dantian that was on the verge of a complete recovery!
Caught off guard, Li Shang only managed to feel an explosive rumble in his dantian as his complexion instantly became deathly pale. The nearly recovered dantian suddenly collapsed and broke apart like shattered porcelain. The cracks were crisscrossed like tree roots and spread in all directions through his meridians…
Li Shang violently sprayed out a mouthful of blood; having already lost consciousness sometime earlier, his limp body fell backwards.
"Grandfather!" Li You Ran cried out, confused and distraught.
At the same time that Li Shang collapsed, the Jade Sea Coral exploded into pieces without any warning under the intense reaction between the two types of Spiritual Qi. Li You Ran had been extremely worried and had stretched himself over the Jade Sea Coral to examine his grandfather. The fragments directly exploded across his whole face; a single miserable scream, a single bloody head, and a single bloody face…
"What had happened? Why? Why did this happen?Who can tell me what is going on?!"
Ah, Li You Ran couldn't keep his usual poise as he howled up at the sky. At this moment, the typically peaceful and always steady Li You Ran had a face contorted with panic, helplessness, anxiety, hideousness, and blood — looking very much like a monster!
"Jade Sea Coral! The Jade Seal Coral was obviously working fine so why did it explode?! Master had promised! He had promised!" Li You Ran, completely disregarding the grievous injuries to his face, tearing his hair as if he had turned completely insane!
To be honest, even Jun Mo Xie himself did not know that such an accident would occur. He did not expect that the stream of Qi he had poured on a whim would achieve… such an excellent result! His original intention was only to sabotage the Jade Sea Coral and make it unusable since he could not stand Li Zhen's face and nothing more.
Jun Mo Xie certainly didn't anticipate that the mixture of his Spiritual Energy and the pure energy of this word would trigger a formidable explosive reaction not inferior to a land mine! This explosion had utterly cut off Grand Preceptor Li's hope to restore his Xuan Qi. Even if a deity descended upon this world, he might not be able to restore Li Shang's dantian! Not only that, the damage to Li Shang's already feeble body was like adding oil to fire such that he's was almost at death's door!
This is like casually planting flowers but inadvertently growing a willow! This was really akin to using a single dollar to win a million dollars!
Not only that, Li You Ran's once handsome and confident face was now covered with seven or eight scars! But these seven or eight scars have completely disfigured his face! If Li You Ran did not instantly react by closing his eyes, perhaps he would have already become blind!
But even so, Li You Ran would have to wear a veil for the rest of his life…
This explosion really was… succeeding without the use of any effort.
Some people will be happy, and some people will be full of worry.
Compared to the joy and jubilation of the Jun Family, a cloud of anxiety and misery hung over the Li Family, and the Dugu Family was actually about to explode like a volcano!
Ever since Princess Ling Ming paid a visit, the Dugu Family was like a massive barrel of gunpowder that just detonated. Dugu Xiao Yi had been discreetly shuttled away under the arrangement of her grandmother.
Dugu Zong Heng pointed at Dugu Wu Di's face as he let loose a torrent of profanity for two entire hours, sporadically letting loose extremely angry kicks and punches. Great General Dugu Wu Di grimaced in pain but did not dare to fight back as he continued to agree obsequiously; the anger in his heart was not any less than his father's.
"You're a pig!? You are a useless son of a bitch! I let you look after your daughter! Is this how you look after your daughter? Huh? Damned good for nothing! You are nothing but a useless pig!"
Grandfather Dugu was infuriated.
"But compared to a pig, it will still be better to look at than Jun Mo Xie! Fuck! Do you know who that Jun Mo Xie is? How could your eyes be so blind?"
Dugu Wu Di's face was covered in spit, but he didn't dare to wipe if off. He stammered with some difficulty. "I also didn't know about this. If I had known earlier…"
This led to another round of raining curses.
"Pui! You didn't know? You didn't even know this much, and you call yourself a father!"
Grandfather Dugu almost went insane with anger.
"That Jun Mo Xie is the capital's infamous debauchee; respectable people a stay three houses away from him, and even villains stay clear of him! Which daughter of a respectable household would be willing to marry him? And you say that she happens to be our family's, Xiao Yi?! Is the inside of your head stuffed with tofu or is it filled with water? Or do you just want to get your ass kicked?! Bastard! Good for nothing! Idiot! How did I, your brilliant father, raised you into a spoiled and rotten pig?!"
Dugu Wu Di submissively endured the torrential rain of sputter and could not even open his eyes. "Father, please calm down. Xiao Yi's indiscretion had started just recently. We can assume that the relationship between the two hadn't made much progress. There is still time…"
His words thoroughly stirred the hornet's nest.
Dugu Zong Heng stood up in a fit of violent rage and let loose a flying kick that launched Dugu Wu Di's tall and sturdy body into the air. He stomped his feet and let out a rain of curses.
"YOU! I can't believe the words that are coming out of your mouth! What do you even mean that they haven't made much progress? Do you have wanted them to have made progress? Not too late? Does your daughter have to be pregnant for it to be too late? You don't think Jun Mo Xie that son of a bitch can't make it happen?!"
The more he talked, the angrier he became. Dugu Zong Heng grabbed his son and beat him up!
His mother normally would have intervened long ago, but she actually stood to the side and hadn't made any indication to step in. Instead, she fanned the flames and said. "You deserve this! How did this old woman give birth to such a dim-witted son??!"
Dugu Zong Heng finally vented some of his anger after beating the living daylight out of his son. He said with a dark expression on his face. "We must put an end to this. Use this time that Xiao Yi is accompanying the princess in the palace and handle this affair in a satisfactory manner! If I hear something like this happen again, I'll personally kick the ever living shit out of you! Why haven't you left yet? Do you want this old man to go personally?!"
A bloody-nosed, swollen-faced Great General Dugu Wu Di hastily scrambled up off the ground, turned tail, and ran.
Once Dugu Wu Di returned to his courtyard, it immediately devolved into panic and chaos. He first vented his frustrations by yelling at his wife and concubines before passing down an order: Dugu Ying, Dugu Xiong, Dugu Hao, Dugu Jie, Dugu Chong, Dugu Shang, and Dugu Qian are to return immediately from the army camps outside the city! There must be no delay! If they are even late half a step, then they will be punished by martial law, no,… family law!
Great General Dugu wanted to behead Jun Mo Xie! That abominable little brat dared to seduce my daughter and caused I, your father, to suffer my father's outburst and abuse! Are you bored of life? You think I, your father, won't dare to move against you because of your grandfather? I won't be satisfied until I skin you alive just for beating I suffered today, not mentioning teasing my baby Xiao Yi! Humph! Humph!
The seven men identified by Dugu Wu Di were all precisely the younger generation of the Dugu family. Dugu Zong Heng had chosen their names in such a manner that the seven men's given names would combine to mean Heroes and legends bravely rushing forward'! A truly imposing name.