14 Consolidating Gains 2

Changqing City.

Second Ducal Prince Li Changhai Breathed out a mouthful of turbid air, as he rose from the tub of water that he had been sitting in for the last half-an-hour. He had just finished absorbing the medicinal essence of the Dragon Beard Grass from the same, after it had been properly ground up and mixed with a variety of other medicines.

He had been preparing for this medicinal bath for close to five hours, starting from after his dinner, up till close to midnight. Then he had sat himself down, to clear the unnecessary thoughts from his head until close to dawn, before he jumped into the same.

This was one of the crucial steps of the martial arts that he was practicing, and he could not have been happier to get his hands on that unusual Dragon Beard Grass at the moment. It was five hundred years old, just as the man in the green robe had claimed. And its effects were evident from the sudden burst in his inner strength!

He had gone from the Basic Qi Condensation Realm to the Lower Initial Realm just like that! In a little over half-an-hour! How miraculous!

Li Sanlang held out his hand, and compressed it into a simple fist. There was a low cracking sound from his fingers as he did so, and with just a touch of his will, he sent a stream of energy into his knuckles, making the air around them dance and crackle with an almost electric fervor! To think that he was now capable of generating a visible and audible signature!

"Blue Lightning Fist? You have succeed in attaining Lower Initial Realm then? Good, good! I had hopes for you to break through next Summer, but I had not expected you to do this right now! Very good. Very good."

The voice that praised the Second Ducal Prince was somewhat hoarse, which could be expected from a man in his late middle years or older. Li Sanlang quickly snatched up a towel that he had behind him, and wrapped it around his waist, just in time to hide his most private parts as his visitor stepped in from the corridor outside, without so much as a by-your-leave.

Of course, he didn't need to. After all, the Old Marquis was the Patriarch of the Marquis' Mansion, and he could walk wherever he chose. Who was going to stop him? The whole City of Changqing was no more than his playground, wasn't it? And for a very good reason:

He was the most powerful martial artist in the whole of the City!

Which meant that everyone in the whole of Changqing City had to give way where he walked. And breathe lightly when he made an angry grunt. No one dared to point it out, if he chose to break any protocol, or ignore any custom there!

Like ignoring the common courtesy, to crash into his adult grandson's room while he was bathing!

"Grandfather! What ... What brings you here this morning?"

The white-haired, white-bearded old fellow snorted at his nephew, and waved a hand to dismiss the six red-faced young maids that he had following after him. Then, as soon as they were gone, he cackled almost gleefully at the younger man:

"What is this? So shy now? I remember when you used to run around in my garden, without your trousers on, back in the day! And do I have to remind you that there's nothing that you have that I haven't seen? Or that I do not have? Why are you even bothering to hide yourself now?

"Or were you just trying to save my maids from dying from embarrassment?"

"Grandfather!"

"Hmmm. Although given your age, and the fact that you aren't married, it is more likely that they would strip off their dresses and throw themselves at you with reckless abandon, you know? After all, you are already twenty-two and you still haven't sired an heir yet."

"Grandfather!!"

The old man laughed. "Alright, alright. I'll stop pestering you about siring an heir. And I trust that you will let your mother, and your grandmother, know that I have tried, in my own way, if they should bring up the topic. Still, I do have a few friends with grand-daughters of their own, and ..."

"Grandfather!!!"

The Old Marquis chuckled again, but he stopped harping on the subject, and simply sat himself down on one of the chairs that was close at hand. And on the other side of a light-colored wooden screen, adorned with a rather scandalous depiction of men and women.

Unfortunately, the Second Ducal Prince had his clothes draped over the same, and thus blocked the carvings from sight. Or at least, from his own sight.

The Old Marquis seemed to be studying it intently, from the other side.

"Since you have managed this sort of achievement in such a short time, I presume that you have found some medicine that suits your martial arts? Perhaps from the same place where you got your hands on that ... other medicine? The one that you had handed over to me?"

The Second Ducal Prince, who was still in the midst of pulling up his underpants, grinned at that old man's questions. It seemed the old man was more interested in the ginseng root than he had expected! To think that he had come over this early in the morning, to discuss this with him!

Actually, the Old Marquis had been showing restraint already. He was close to barging in on his grandson the night before! But he held himself back, when he realized that the latter was doing.

Li Sanlang did not know if his maternal grandfather had realized that he was in the midst of preparing a medicine bath, and decided not to disturb him. Nor was he aware of the twelve secret guards that the Old Marquis had set around the perimeter of his guest house, to make sure that the younger man was not disturbed.

Li Changhai was his young daughter's son, after all!

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