Chapter 36: Main Clan
Chapter 36: Main Clan
Translator: / KurazyTolanzuraytor Editor: Lucas
The coming of age ceremony, a once in a lifetime experience that is especially important.
According to the past rules, the Li Family's coming of age ceremony is held along with the Fang and Chen families', and this year was no exception.
This year, it was the Chen family's turn to host the ceremony.
"Tian, Ke Er, in a few days, you will be adults," Li Rou said to the couple beside her. Her beautiful face was filled with tender love.
"Ke Er, did you hear? We are going to be adults soon, so we can give birth to a grandson for mom to play with," the youth said to the young girl beside him.
Her face instantly blushed bright red as she embarrassedly lowered her head. She was speechless.
"Stinking brat, you really have a wild imagination!" Li Rou gave the youth a stare and then continued saying, "A granddaughter isn't bad either. She will be as beautiful as Ke Er in the future…."
When Duan Ling Tian saw his mother with a serious face, he stopped making fun of her, but once he heard the second half of what she said, he was thoroughly speechless.
Could it be that it was hereditary?
"Did you hear that? Ninth Elder is going to hold her grandchildren soon. If you don't lose weight after the coming of age ceremony, I'll break your legs! With your current figure, what girl would dare to marry you?"
Nearby, Fifth Elder Li Ting chided little fatty, who was beside him. The latter had an innocent expression as he looked at the instigator with resentment.
Duan Ling Tian turned his head away, ignoring him.
The coming of age ceremony was held by Fresh Breeze Town's three families once a year. The people who took part were all those youths and young girls who had recently turned sixteen… After today, Duan Ling Tian, Ke Er, and Li Xuan would be sixteen.
In the Chen family's estate, Chen family disciples were surrounding the spacious Martial Arts Practice Hall.
The Chen family's, the Li family's, and the Fang family's Patriarchs were all standing on the high stage. They were responsible for presiding over today's coming of age ceremony.
The coming of age ceremony was no more than a simple ceremony. The most important part of it was the "Friendly Battle" after the ceremony.
The so called Friendly Battle was a martial arts spar between the youths and young girls of Fresh Breeze Town's three families that attended the coming of age ceremony. At the end, the top ten, top three, and top one youths would be decided. They would receive prizes that were prepared respectively by the three families.
"Isn't that Duan Ling Tian?"
Just when over one hundred youths and young girls were gathered in the martial arts practice hall, some hawk-eyed Chen family disciples recognized one of the youths standing inside.
"Right, Duan Ling Tian happens to be participating in this year's coming of age ceremony."
"Looks like there isn't any suspense in this year's Friendly Battle; Duan Ling Tian will undoubtedly take first place!"
"That is certain. I'm afraid no one would even dare fight him."
……
The Chen family disciples started discussing.
"He's Duan Ling Tian?'
One of the Chen family disciples looked at the youth from afar and was stupefied.
Wasn't this youth the one that came to their Chen family weapon store to buy materials the other day? Wasn't he the one with a possibility of being backed by a weapon craftsman?
The coming of age ceremony officially started!
After the simple ceremony were the speeches from the three families' Patriarchs. They were no more than some words of encouragement…
"So boring."
Duan Ling Tian frowned. He nearly fell asleep from hearing the speeches, causing the young girl beside him to be unable to contain herself and laugh while covering her mouth.
The little fatty standing on the other side of Duan Ling Tian asked, in a low voice, "Boss, can I use inscriptions in the friendly battle after the coming of age ceremony?"
"Besides our Li Family members, using it on anyone else is up to you," Duan Ling Tian lazily said.
"Boss, if it's not the Li Family members, there's no reason for me to use inscriptions…"
The little fatty was so anxious that he seemed like he was about to cry.
He could easily win against the youths and young girls of the Chen and Fang families, but the problem was that a few of the Li family's elder's children were also participating in the coming of age ceremony.
Towards these few people, he was not confident!
"Who asked you to be lazy!?"
Giving the little fatty a stare, Duan Ling Tian felt fairly helpless.
Although he concocted the Seven Treasures Body Tempering Liquid for Li Xuan, Li Xuan had an untamed disposition. He was completely unable to calm himself down and cultivate, which was why he was still only at the fourth level of the Body Tempering stage.
The other elders' children that participated in the coming of age ceremony, although they only had the Six Treasures Body Tempering Liquid, they had all stepped into the fifth level of the Body Tempering stage now.
"Forget it. I have no chance of getting into the top three, but I should be able to get in the top ten."
The little fatty was quickly able to accept his fate.
Gaining a place in the top three to him was just a matter of gaining face; he did not care about the extra prizes in the least.
Finally, as the speeches of the three Patriarchs ended, the friendly battle finally officially began!
The youths and young girls of the three families that participated in the coming of age ceremony amounted to a total of 121 people. They were divided into two divisions with sixty groups per division. This was to carry out the first round of the elimination battles.
But this year's friendly battle had Duan Ling Tian, so it was bound to different…
After the three families' Patriarchs had a discussion, even though the Fang family's Patriarch wasn't extremely willing, he had to acknowledge Duan Ling Tian's strength. They decided to directly award Duan Ling Tian this year's friendly battle's first place position!
The youths and young girls present had no objections to this decision.
What a joke! Duan Ling Tian had only just recently killed a first level Core Formation martial artist, so if he really participated in the friendly battle and they encountered Duan Ling Tian as their opponent, they would unconditionally concede.
Fighting with an abnormal person like Duan Ling Tian was absolutely asking to be abused!
Duan Ling Tian had surpassed the people of the same age in Fresh Breeze Town a long time ago.
"Boss, it must be so enjoyable for you. You don't even have to fight in the arena and can directly go to the top at get first place!"
The little fatty, with his number 32 tag in hand, looked at Duan Ling Tian with an expression of jealousy and admiration.
Ignoring the little fatty, Duan Ling Tian looked towards the young girl beside him and asked, "Ke Er, what number are you?"
"Number 7."
The young girl lightly smiled.
After a short while, the friendly battle began.
Seeing the youths and young girls throwing kicks and punches towards each other, Duan Ling Tian started to feel drowsy again.
Only when it was Ke Er's turn did he slightly regain some spirit.
The moment Ke Er went into the arena, she stood there gracefully.
Due to her elegant and refined figure with a face like an angel, she quickly drew the attention of everyone…
"So beautiful!"
"If I could marry a wife like her, I would be willing to have my life shortened by ten years.
"Stop daydreaming. Don't you know your own limitations? That is Duan Ling Tian's woman."
……
The surrounding Chen family youths' eyes were shining, greedily staring at the young girl in the arena.
"Eight level of the Body Tempering stage!"
On the high stage, including the Li family's Patriarch, Li Nan Feng, all three family Patriarchs were dumbstruck as they saw through the young girl's cultivation with a glance.
Ke Er's opponent was a slightly timid youth whose cultivation was at the third level of the Body Tempering stage. The youth's attacks were straight and normal, and after being knocked back with a casual palm strike from Ke Er, he conceded.
From start to finish, Ke Er never used a martial skill…
Of course, the main reason was that Ke Er didn't know any martial skills.
It wasn't because Duan Ling Tian was stingy; he gave her such a top ranked cultivation method like Frost God's Sword Technique after all. He just didn't care about other ordinary martial skills, and he didn't want Ke Er to split her focus.
At this moment, one of the Chen family's elders fixedly stared at the young girl who was walking down the arena and exclaimed, "Eight level of the Body Tempering stage!"
Hearing what he said, the surrounding Chen family disciples were instantly petrified!
This young girl who had only recently turned sixteen was an eighth level Body Tempering martial artist?
The entire martial arts practice hall quickly found out about the young girl's cultivation level, and everyone who heard about it became petrified, only regaining their senses after a long time.
Everyone was looking towards the beautiful young girl who was embarrassedly chatting with Duan Ling Tian.
"She is an eighth level Body Tempering martial artist? You're kidding, right…"
"It was Third Elder who said so. Do you think he would be joking?"
"F**k! Not only is this Duan Ling Tian himself a freak, even the people beside him are freaks!"
……
The friendly battle progressed like a raging fire. When dusk arrived later that day, the final result was out.
First, Duan Ling Tian.
Second, Ke Er.
Third, Li Sheng.
Fourth, Li Ke.
Fifth, Li Qiu.
Sixth, Li Xuan.
……
Out of the top ten, the first six were all Li family members!
The Li family's Patriarch, Li Nan Feng, had a face full of smiles. It was not one bit unexpected to him.
The Chen family's Patriarch, Chen Li, had an astonished expression. Never had he thought that there would be such a result.
The Fang family's Patriarch, Fang Yi, had a gloomy expression. In the top ten, the Fang family only took one spot.
Next was the award ceremony.
For first place, Duan Ling Tian received three hundred silver coins and two Body Tempering Pills.
For second and third place, Ke Er and Li Sheng received two hundred silver coins and one Body Tempering Pill each.
The other seven people only received a hundred silver coins.
"Stingy, too stingy!"
Duan Ling Tian received the first prize which many people were jealous of, but he had an unsatisfied expression as he casually put the money in his pocket.
"Young Master!"
Meanwhile, Ke Er cutely gave her prize to Duan Ling Tian.
For a moment, the surrounding fiery gazes looked like they we going to burn Duan Ling Tian…
At a corner of the martial arts practice hall, Chen Mei Er, who was like the bright moon surrounded by stars, looked at the nearby couple while lightly biting her lips.
When she looked at the young girl, her clear eyes flashed with a trace of jealousy and envy.
As night fell, the coming of age ceremony came to an end.
Both the Fang and Chen families' Patriarchs called for an emergency meeting that night. The purpose of the meeting was naturally to discuss the performance of the Li family's youths and young girls today.
Out of the top ten spots of the friendly battle, six were taken by one family.
In the history of Fresh Breeze Town, this was something that had never happened before!
When something unusual happened, there was surely something strange going on!
For a period of time after this, the two families started to investigate the ins and outs of the Li Family in secret.
But in the end, all their efforts were for naught. They did not succeed in finding out anything.
Li family estate, inside the audience hall.
Patriarch Li Nan Feng looked at the youth and young girl in front of him as he said, "Ling Tian, Ke Er, the reason I called you here today is because I have a matter to discuss with you two."
"Patriarch, go ahead."
Duan Ling Tian's eyebrows raised.
Li Nan Feng slowly said, "With the current accomplishments of you two, there are things which I can tell you now… Actually, our Fresh Breeze Town's Li family is only the branch family of Aurora City's Li Clan.
Duan Ling Tian was slightly shocked.
He had heard about Aurora City and he knew that there was a Li family there.
He also knew that it was one of the big clans in Aurora City. Compared to Fresh Breeze Town's Li family, they were undoubtedly a colossus.
But he never would have thought that Fresh Breeze Town's Li family and Aurora City's Li family had a relationship, nor that they were their branch family.
Li Nan Feng continued, "The main clan has a rule for branch family disciples: any disciples who are alchemists, weapons craftsmen, inscription masters, or are able to step into the seventh level of the Body Tempering stage before the age of eighteen are eligible to enter the main clan and make a place for themselves in the main clan."
