Seeing that smug grin on his grandfather's face, it took Yang Qing all he had not to fling the bowl of braised beef he had on him toward his grandfather.
"Old man, you've finally lost it. Is this what you and the rest have been doing at the Medicine Valley? Thinking of ways to cripple someone's cultivation?
I've seen you do a lot of things over the years but I didn't think it'd reach this level. Nope, No Grandpa I'll have to outrightly refuse you. You can forget about using me in any plans you and the elders have cooked up.
How did you even rope in the Medicine Valley into your schemes?"
Yang Qing decided to draw a clear line at the get-go before things went downhill for him. He even started to worry about the Medicine Valley and how it could have potentially turned into his grandfather's backyard for crazy experiments.
"What do you mean by crippling!?" His grandfather, Yang Fen became livid in an instant as his eyes widened and his face turned beet red showing how angry he was at Yang Qing's accusations.
"Qing'er I know you and the rest bear some resentment against us for the things we did which I understand, but do you think we are careless enough to cripple someone's cultivation all for the sake of furthering our research in the body refinement realm?
Do you really think I'm that sort of person? If I was, I wouldn't have let your father off when he came back after breaking through to the foundation establishment realm. With the knowledge I have, it wouldn't have been difficult for me to cripple him, even if he was a couple of realms above me, but I didn't do it.
The fact that my own grandson would think this of me…"
Yang Fen's voice turned low as he shook his head in disappointment.
The elder's around him all started berating Yang Qing for how unfilial he was and how they had been doing all they did for the good of the clan.
"Was I wrong?" Yang Qing couldn't help but second-guess himself once he saw their reactions.
"I'm sorry Grandpa, Elders, I was careless and impetuous with my remarks. Please forgive me," said Yang Qing as he bowed deeply toward them.
While he did feel sorry for being rush with his words, there were aspects of it he would still hold on to. He had already firmly decided against participating in any experiments with his grandfather and the rest no matter how grand they made it seem to be. He had fallen for that trick one too many times.
Even after he had managed to break through to the Peerless jade body physique, they still continued on with their experiments and efforts to see if there was a realm past the Peerless jade body despite one never being recorded in the whole history of the Southern continent. Yang Qing rushed to break through to the qi refinement realm to put a stop to it and the final nail in the coffin was when he decided to leave for the Order.
As for why he agreed for them to join him after, their zealous nature aside, they were decent people. Even when he broke through to the qi refinement realm, they did all they could to support his cultivation in that realm and they did the same for his father when he broke through to the foundation establishment realm. Also, though Yang Qing may hate to admit it, they were extremely skilled in their fields which would be of benefit to the Order and he would have worried about them if he left them alone outside, especially with their careless personalities when it came to everything else aside from body refinement.
…
"Qing'er, this is why you're my favorite," Grandpa Fen said with a peal of cheerful laughter as he took the bowl of the braised beef with scallions off Yang Qing's hand.
"Mmh, this is really nice. That foolish son atleast did something right by marrying Ha'er," Yang Fen said as took greedy bites of the braised beef.
"You bastard do you intend to eat all that by yourself,"
"And he ate the last of our fasting pills too,"
"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH ANY, my grandson brought me this, go look for your own grandchildren and eat from them"
"How shameless can you be? Didn't you already eat the fish-flavored pork Fang'er brought me, I didn't even get a taste before you gobbled it all up,"
"He also ate the egg fried rice my daughter brought me, not a single grain was spared. Fen you bastard, I'm having my just rewards today,"
"Fen, what are you doing with that eleven fires lace flower? You're willing to use just so you can't share,"
"If you want to have my braised meat, you have to prepare yourself, Hehehe,"
"Two can play at that game, you bastard,"
…
Yang Qing watched five elderly men fight over braised meat as they poured all sorts of spiritual herbs famous for their aggravating properties into the braised beef.
None was willing to be outdone by the other, so despite the ruined flavors because of the added herbs and its accompanying side effects they still fought over the meal. The bowl even got ground to dust in the process. By the time they were done, some had talons for hands, others had blue sclera in their eyes, and others lost hair among other strange effects on their bodies. His grandfather had a bird's beak for a nose.
However, despite their absurd looks, the scene didn't play out how it would have if it were any other normal person. They seemed unperturbed by the changes in their bodies, like clearly it wasn't the first time they had experienced something like this. It didn't take them long before their eyes shone with excitement as they started studying each other's changes as they took notes and shared different hypotheses and findings about the changes in their bodies.
Cough! Cough!
Yang Qing had to clear his throat a few times to get their attention.
"Shouldn't we head back in? Mom's food will get cold and Gen said he's missed you so much, Grandpa."
Yang Qing decided to interrupt their discussion before it went any further because by then it would be difficult to tear them away from it and it would last hours and hours. He also had no qualms about selling out his brother to the butcher while he was at it.
"Gen'er said that? Hehehe you kids really are the best unlike your father," Yang Fen replied with a cheerful smile as he and the rest of the elders tabled their discussion.
"So what did you mean by body suppression?" Yang Qing decided to use the short walkover to find out more about their crazy suggestion. While he had no intentions of participating in it, it did not hurt to know more about what his father would be subjected to in the near future.
As a dutiful son, he felt it was his obligation to find out more so he could warn him later, after all, their father did look out for them in his own way when they were younger. Warning him of his impending doom was the least Yang Qing could do for him along with offering a silent prayer and burning incense sticks for him.