Chapter Two

Five years pass at the Li estate, and several servants are searching for Li Feng, who has gone missing since earlier in the day.

“Young master!” Shouts a servant.

“Young master, where are you?” Shouts another servant.

The two servants are moving from room to room in the Li estate while looking for Li Feng. The child, though only five years old, completely evades the servants searching for him. This is due, in part, to the previous life’s knowledge within Li Feng. He is not just the youngest child of the strongest cultivation family in Shijiang, but also the reincarnated hero magician of a defeated kingdom from days gone by.

In the courtyard of the estate, the martial arts elder stands with his eyes closed, five students of his kowtowing in front of him. As the clock strikes fourteen hours, he opens his eyes and scans the students that have gathered.

“I see the young master Li Feng is not here,” He says, noticing one face missing from his usual crowd. “Ten Thunder Palms to the one who finds him. Everyone else, a hundred.”

With the punishment set, the five students stand and rush to find Li Feng. All of them are brothers, all born from the same mother, the very same one that Li Feng killed while being born. If that wasn’t enough to make them hate him, the five brothers hate their youngest brother because he’s the epitome of laziness.

Meanwhile, Li Feng evades the servants by escaping through an open window on the third floor of their estate. The outside walls of the estate are made from stone, which helps Li Feng with descending since he can directly manipulate the blocks as he glides down the wall. A few seconds after clearing the wall and beginning a slow walk towards the shade of a peach tree.

“Feng!” Shouts one of his brothers, who spots him around the corner of the estate’s wing.

‘Damn,’ Li Feng curses and faces his third brother. “Hello, Brother Ming,” Li Feng says and gives a short bow. “What can I help you with today?”

“You know damn well,” Li Ming says and makes several quick steps toward Li Feng, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt. “You disrespect Elder Tan by not showing up to his lessons.”

“Ah, you think I would skip out on Elder Tan’s lessons?” Li Feng widens his eyes, fully aware of what he did. “I’d never!”

“You bastard, Elder Tan is going to give us all Thunder Palms because you didn’t show. At least I’ll only get ten, because I found you,” Li Ming says and pushes Li Feng to the ground. “Get up and walk to the courtyard.”

“I sure am glad you found me, I’d have missed Elder Tan’s lesson if you didn’t!” Li Feng proclaims, talking as if he doesn’t dread the martial arts lessons.

“How do you live, showing so little respect to your brothers and elders?” Li Ming asks, but doesn’t receive an answer. “Honestly, you should have been the one to pass, instead of mother. Then, we might have the chance for a useful brother.”

“Ah, you found him!” The second brother, Li Chen, looks out the window of a first floor room and says. After jumping out of the window, Li Chen stands next to Li Ming and Li Feng. “Let’s return to Elder Tan.”

“I found him first,” Li Ming says, pushing Li Feng away from Li Chen. “Don’t even think about trying to claim it was you.”

“What makes you think I’d do something so dishonorable?” Li Chen asks his brother. “It’s Chen you’re talking to, not Feng.”

“Oh, I know,” Li Ming says and punches Li Feng in the jaw before smiling. “Let’s get going.”

The two return to the courtyard with Li Feng in the lead. The reason that Li Feng dislikes the martial arts lessons is simple; he doesn’t have any cultivation. This is not unusual, because Li Feng has yet to undergo the Boiling Cauldron of Nine Transformations ritual, and there’s nothing he can do to change it. Once the Boiling Cauldron of Nine Transformations ritual is complete, Li Feng should have access to his dantian and be able to cultivate.

Once they return to the courtyard, Elder Tan, who has been standing with his eyes closed the entire time his students searched for Li Feng, opens his eyes. “Good, you found him Li Chen.”

“No, Elder Tan, I was the one who found Li Feng,” Li Ming interjects. “Brother Chen merely tagged along while I escorted Feng here.”

“No, Elder Tan, Brother Ming simply stole Feng from my hands as I brought him to you. I didn’t stop him, since I knew you’d see through his ploy in an instant,” Li Chen says, smirking at Li Ming.

Like lightning, Elder Tan appears next to Li Chen with his palm open, and Li Chen flies fifty feet back. “Fool! You think I’d be deceived by children? This was just a test to see if you think I’m a dimwitted old man! You will receive two hundred Tiger Claws before your Thunder Palms!”

“Elder Tan, I apologize for trying to deceive you!” Li Chen shouts, but his apology isn’t heard by Elder Tan, who moves light lightning again to appear in front of Li Chen. “Ah!”

Elder Tan’s arms move like whips, striking and pulling back across Li Chen’s chest. Since Elder Tan is a master, he can lower the power on his Tiger Claws until it fails to break the skin but still causes immense pain. After forty strikes, Elder Tan has covered Li Chen’s upper body with two hundred pulsing red lines, each an explosion of pain.

“Now here come the Thunder Palms!” Elder Tan yells and hits Li Chen with the palm of his hand. Li Chen blocks the attack with his forearm, but is still blown back. Compared to the whip-like speed of Tiger Claws, Thunder Palms are slow enough to laugh at. Still, Li Chen barely has a chance to block the incoming attacks.

After two hundred Thunder Palms, the red lines caused by Elder Tan’s Tiger Claws have all opened up, pouring blood over Li Chen’s red tunic. “Get another tunic and return. You have five minutes,” Elder Tan says to Li Chen, then turns to face the rest of his students.

During the commotion of Elder Tan punishing Li Chen, the remaining three brothers gathered at the courtyard. Li Ming still holds onto Li Feng, and the others look at with fear at their bleeding brother. Halfway across the courtyard, Li Chen falls to the ground, but he waves away a servant that comes to help, and he picks himself up and walks the rest of the way inside the estate.

“I’m next,” The eldest brother says, stepping forward to receive his two hundred Thunder Palms. Li Shen knows going as soon as possible will allow his injuries the most time to heal, so it’s better to get the punishment over with than wait till the end. Otherwise, he’ll have to practice techniques while feeling the full pain of Elder Tan’s unavoidable Thunder Palms.

Meanwhile, as he watches his brother one after the other take two hundred palm strikes to the body, all of them trying to defend himself to the best of their ability, Li Feng cannot help but think, ‘What a stupid bunch these cultivators are,’ and he waits for his eventual turn at receiving Thunder Palms from the master.