The next day during breakfast, my father makes a suggestion to me regarding my future.
“Shi er”, he says gently. “Since you are not going to the immortal sects anymore, why don’t you come and work with me. As you already know, I have recently been promoted to the position of governor and one of the duties of the governor is to rein in the corruption in the provinces that he is assigned.”
My mother hears what my father said and nods. “Shi er, that is a good idea! You have never left the house much and travelling will allow you to experience things you have never experienced before. You will also be in safe company.”
My father continues his talk and says “Yes. You will have to travel with my subordinates to many places. While I will not be with you as the governor will stay in the governor’s office to deal with reports and complaints, my subordinates will travel with you and it will be safe. You will only be able to join when you reach eleven years old however as my people have already set out and they will not return for four to five years.”
I start thinking about my future and what I want to do in this life. I have to remember that my life here will not be a smooth and easy life no matter what I decide as God had sent me here to suffer. This is a world where the strong prevail therefore I have to constantly aim for power. I have to get stronger! I must become the strongest in the world so I will not let anyone dear to me suffer!
“I want to learn how to fight!” I tell my father what I have decided.
My parents make a weird face, not understanding why I want to learn how to fight. It seems like they were of the understanding that I wanted to join the immortal sects because I was under the impression that cultivators are cool and powerful or something like that. Since even ordinary children often dream of becoming a hero, and children who are aware of the cultivators in this would dream to become them after hearing about the superhuman feats that the cultivators can do, it would not be out of the ordinary if I wanted to join the immortal sects.
“Why do you want to learn how to fight?” my mother asked.
I can’t tell them it’s because I believe that we will soon be under attack, or meet with events that would only cause suffering since they would think I am crazy and I too, have no idea what will happen. I only know that my life will not be a bed of roses. I think for a bit and make some up nonsense to please my parents.
“I want to protect my brother and sister!” I tell my parents confidently.
My parents make a wry smile and are obviously pleased by my answer.
“Your father can’t teach you how to fight as he has to go to work and do not have time so I will teach you how to fight.” My mother sticks out her chest proudly and answers me.
“You?” I make a disapproving face and look at my father.
“Your mother is the ideal choice. She is a better fighter…” my father looks down and says softly as if he does not want to say the last part.
“Humph. You doubted me earlier right! After breakfast, we will go to the courtyard and I will beat you up!” my mother says with a smirk on her face.
…
At the courtyard, I look at my mother and feel like I will be brutally smacked by my mother for some odd reason.
(System! Can you tell how strong my mother is?)
[Beep!] [Host, I already told you that I am not a battle scouter. But I am sure that your mother is one of the strongest people you have ever seen and she will be smacking your behind until you cry .](…I don’t cry system.)
“Okay Shi er, come and throw a punch at me!” my mother excitedly yells.
I do not know why she is so excited but why is she excited about fighting her son!
Anyway, I was the one who wanted to learn how to fight so I take a fighting pose and looks straight at my mother.
“Do not worry and use your full strength! I am stronger than you think and will not get hurt!” my mother shouts.
I imagine the entire fight process. I am going to blink to her side and use a drill punch. I will not use any qi in case the attack lands since I do not want to hurt my mother.
I crouch down and move the qi towards the soles of my feet. I vanish from where I was standing and…
An elbow hits the top of my head and I land face first on to the ground.
My brother and sister who are carried by the servants at the side watching start laughing. “kekeke…pffttt…pfft…” they laugh.
My mother starts teaching me how to fight and says, “The first lesson, do not make your moves obvious. I already know that you are going to use instant blink because you did not lessen the distance between us. A person will always be on guard when an opponent is too far from him to prevent attacks from hidden weapons as these attacks from hidden weapons are often deadly and poisoned. You should have lessened the distance between us first so that the opponent will have a harder read on your next move.”
She also noticed that I did not use any qi in my attacks and tells me some more important information. “Also you may use qi in your attacks as cultivators above the realm of Qi Flow will have a protective qi field which will lessen the effect of destructive martial techniques. Unless you are using a weapon and is able to chop off a cultivator’s head in one move, it will be difficult to kill him or blow him up with a punch. Also, there are many techniques that can allow a cultivator to live even if you pierce his heart or chop off his legs, so never let down your guard. Go back and think about how you should fight. Only assassins will stick with your current style and they will never engage in duels. Their first move will always be from the shadows and will guarantee a kill.” She says with a serious face.
It looks like I will have a lot to learn from my mother. I guess I really do not know how to fight since I am just rushing headfirst right now and punching them once they get into range. It was the same when I fought with Liu Bing too.
…
The next day, my father gives me ten spirit stones and says that he will pass me ten spirit stones every month. “There is no rush to the realm of Qi Flow. There are only benefits and no disadvantages if you slowly consolidate your foundation. A larger amount of qi will only help you in the long run.”
My mother also brought several manuals from the library for me to learn.
—
This was how I spent the next five years. I learnt how to fight from my mother every day for an hour or so after breakfast, then reflect on the lessons my mother taught me after beating me into the ground repeatedly.
My mother would find some martial technique for me to learn every now and then, and it seemed like I have some talent in the martial way. I could easily learn the initial form and reach the initial realm of mastery but it would take me a long time to make any progress for some odd reason. My mother said that it was because I do not seem to understand the heavenly laws of this world.
This might have been caused by my knowledge from Earth, as I am still applying science on to various things. I had successfully created a plumbing system in my house but I could not provide it to the entire family estate as my parents would not let me dig outside of the house land area. They also thought I was crazy when I started digging and sent some physicians to diagnose me. I also built a water tank to make it easier for the servants to get water.
