Chapter 80: The Restorer

Chapter 80: The Cultivation System

"Xiao Su's cultivation is only slightly weaker than yours?"

Hearing Uncle Jing's words, Tong Dongjie, who had been sitting comfortably on the sofa, suddenly sprang to his feet.

"Hmm? It feels a little like true qi, but not quite. Strange."

Looking at Tong Dongjie in front of him, Su Xiaofan frowned.

He noticed that there seemed to be an indescribable aura emanating from Tong Dongjie, vaguely creating a slight pressure on him.

The pressure wasn't strong and posed no threat to Su Xiaofan. What puzzled him was the energy accompanying that aura. It didn't seem to be true qi, yet it possessed some of the characteristics of true qi.

"Well, has your Uncle Jing ever exaggerated?"

Jing Shizhen didn't even raise his head when he noticed the aura emanating from Tong Dongjie.

"This... How is that possible? Xiao Su is still so young!"

Tong Dongjie's face was filled with disbelief.

"Besides, I've never heard of Xiao Su before. Uncle Jing, are you sure?"

Tong Dongjie still found it hard to believe.

People like them had their own circles. Whether they belonged to major families or were inheritors of ancient traditions, even if they had never met one another, they would usually have heard of each other.

Although some inheritances had completely disappeared into the mountains and forests without ever revealing themselves to the outside world, Tong Dongjie knew most of the people who had entered society. There was absolutely no way someone of this level could have escaped his notice.

"Of course. Do you think I'm joking with you? Don't I know my own disciple?"

Seeing Tong Dongjie actually question him, Jing Shizhen rolled his eyes and said, "My disciple comes from Su Family Village. Even if he has extraordinary talent, there's nothing strange about it."

"Su Family Village? I see."

Upon hearing those three words, a look of understanding appeared on Tong Dongjie's face. However, he immediately continued, "Uncle Jing, people from Su Family Village generally don't come out into the outside world, do they? What's the story with Brother Su?"

Earlier, even after learning that Su Xiaofan was Uncle Jing's disciple, Tong Dongjie had still addressed him as "Xiao Su." But after learning about Su Xiaofan's cultivation and background, his form of address immediately changed to "Brother Su."

"People from Su Family Village have left before. You just don't know about them."

Jing Shizhen curled his lips. Then his expression suddenly became serious as he looked at Su Xiaofan.

"Xiao Su, what's your father's name?"

"My dad's name is Su Weixuan. Master, you know him?"

Su Xiaofan answered in confusion.

"Heh, so it really is that kid."

Jing Shizhen's gaze toward Su Xiaofan became somewhat strange.

"Didn't your father ever tell you anything? You haven't practiced the cultivation technique from Su Family Village either?"

"He never told me anything. He just told me to study hard and get into a good university."

Su Xiaofan shook his head.

His father had left home to work when he was seven years old. Sometimes, he wouldn't even come home once a year. They hadn't spent much time together, and father and son had rarely sat down and had a proper conversation.

"I've practiced martial arts before. They were just ordinary countryside techniques. How could they be considered a cultivation method?"

From elementary school all the way through high school, Su Xiaofan could definitely be considered one of the toughest students in school.

That was all thanks to the martial arts techniques he had practiced in the village since he was young.

Of course, Su Xiaofan had never been the one to start trouble. But whenever someone bullied him, he would beat them until they learned their lesson.

When Su Xiaofan was attending middle school in the town, he once got into a fight with a classmate.

After losing to him, that classmate went into town and brought two local street thugs to block Su Xiaofan at the school gate.

Su Xiaofan suffered a little that time and took a brick to the head.

But the other two suffered much worse.

One had his brow bone and nasal bridge broken by Su Xiaofan, leaving his face badly disfigured. The other's spleen was injured by Su Xiaofan, and he ended up staying in the hospital for half a month.

The incident later caused some trouble, and the injured men's families went to the school to demand an explanation.

However, Su Xiaofan had excellent grades and was naturally considered a good student in his teachers' eyes. In the end, the school stepped in and settled the matter.

Su Xiaofan had once asked the old village chief whether the horse stance and martial arts he had practiced since childhood were the legendary form of kung fu.

Who would have thought that the old village chief would laugh at him?

They were merely countryside techniques for self-defense. How could they be considered real kung fu?

Su Xiaofan had trusted the old village chief's words and had always believed that was the truth.

As for the incident when Wu Chuanbao had cornered him last time, it wasn't because Su Xiaofan was afraid of them.

Rather, when he had been selling the item, he had indeed misled them with his words, so he felt somewhat guilty. That was why he hadn't fought back.

Compared with the martial arts he had practiced in the past, Su Xiaofan felt that what Uncle Jing had taught him was genuine cultivation.

"It seems you really never practiced before. Why didn't your father teach you?"

Jing Shizhen shook his head in confusion.

"My dad knows a cultivation technique?"

Su Xiaofan looked at Uncle Jing in disbelief.

"That can't be right. If he knows how to cultivate, how could he not teach me? I'm his son!"

As he spoke, Su Xiaofan was already taking out his phone and calling his father.

"Turned off again."

Hearing the message from the phone, Su Xiaofan angrily hung up.

"Maybe he simply didn't want you to get involved with these things."

Jing Shizhen gave a bitter smile.

"I don't even know whether accepting you as my disciple was the right decision. Your father might come looking for trouble with me in the future."

"That won't happen. If he didn't teach me himself, does that mean he won't let anyone else teach me either?"

Su Xiaofan encouraged his master.

Even so, he still couldn't quite believe that his father was actually a cultivator. Unfortunately, he couldn't find him now, so there was no way to confirm it.

"So that whole thing about him being a captain was all a lie."

Su Xiaofan ground his teeth in frustration.

For more than ten years, he had never once doubted anything his father told him. But now, it seemed that perhaps not a single word of it had been true.

"Master, what exactly does my dad do? And where is he now?"

Su Xiaofan looked at Uncle Jing.

From what his master had said earlier, it was obvious that he definitely knew his father.

"I know a little about what your father does, but I can't say for certain whether my information is accurate, so I can't tell you."

Jing Shizhen waved his hand.

"When you meet him in the future, ask him yourself."

"As for where he is, I really don't know. I last saw him many years ago. It's been almost twenty years now."

"Great. I asked for nothing."

Since his master refused to tell him, there was nothing Su Xiaofan could do.

He turned toward Tong Dongjie and said, "President Tong, why don't you explain what's going on? What exactly is this all about?"

Su Xiaofan had discovered that his master, Tong Dongjie, and even his own father seemed to know a great many things, while he was the only one being kept completely in the dark.

"I'd better start from the beginning. Otherwise, it won't make sense."

Tong Dongjie sighed.

He realized that Su Xiaofan truly knew nothing. Despite possessing such powerful cultivation, he was essentially a blank sheet of paper.

"Our country has many legends from ancient times. You've heard of them, right?"

Tong Dongjie seemed to be choosing his words carefully.

"Not myths or fairy tales, but things that actually happened and were recorded in history."

"For example, Xiang Yu lifting the bronze cauldron, Li Yuanba of the Sui and Tang dynasties, and Li Cunxiao, one of the Thirteen Imperial Guards."

"These people's stories were actually real. Have you ever wondered why they were able to become unmatched under heaven?"

"Because they all practiced cultivation techniques?"

Su Xiaofan blurted out the answer.

Su Xiaofan knew all three people Tong Dongjie had mentioned.

The "Overlord" was naturally Xiang Yu, who was said to have been capable of lifting a thousand-jin cauldron with one hand. If that was really true, then Xiang Yu must have practiced some kind of cultivation technique.

As for Li Yuanba of the Sui and Tang dynasties, his pair of hammers alone supposedly weighed eight hundred jin.

They were basically gigantic dumbbells. Forget using them as weapons—an ordinary person probably couldn't even lift them.

Then there was Li Cunxiao, one of the Thirteen Imperial Guards, who was also a legendary fierce warrior in history.

During the campaign against the Huang Chao rebellion, Li Cunxiao supposedly led only eighteen men in a charge against Huang Chao's army of eighty thousand.

Could someone accomplish that without extraordinary ability?

One person spitting would have been enough to drown them all!

"That's right. They all practiced cultivation techniques. You could also call it ancient martial arts."

Tong Dongjie nodded.

"Many historical figures actually possessed martial arts abilities. They practiced genuine techniques capable of making one the enemy of ten thousand, unlike the things people practice in modern society."

"Before the Ming Dynasty, cultivation techniques were still quite widespread."

Tong Dongjie continued, "But for some reason, after the late Ming Dynasty, it became increasingly difficult for ordinary people to practice."

"Later, once firearms became widespread, cultivators became extremely rare. Most inheritances were lost, while those that survived mostly withdrew from the world and concealed themselves..."

According to Tong Dongjie's explanation, there were two cultivation systems in ancient times.

One involved tempering the physical body and training one's strength. When cultivated to the extreme, it could produce fierce warriors capable of dominating the battlefield—commonly known as being an "enemy of ten thousand." This was the ancient martial arts system.

People such as Xiang Yu, Li Yuanba, and Li Cunxiao were outstanding practitioners of ancient martial arts and had left enormous reputations in history.

Meanwhile, figures such as Guiguzi of the Spring and Autumn period, Dongfang Shuo of the Han Dynasty, and Zhang Sanfeng of the Ming Dynasty practiced internal cultivation methods.

Those who practiced internal cultivation pursued longevity. They did not become deeply involved in worldly affairs, but they had still left traces in certain periods of history.

However, after the Ming Dynasty, both ancient martial arts practitioners and internal cultivators gradually disappeared from public view. The battlefield never again saw those legendary warriors capable of defeating thousands.

Of course, these inheritances had not been completely lost. They had continued all the way to the present day.

However, there were very few people capable of achieving anything through cultivation. At most, they could barely maintain their inheritances and pass them down to the next generation.

Tong Dongjie came from the Tong family of southern Fujian and could also be considered a member of a family that inherited ancient martial arts.

During the turbulent century before the founding of modern China, the country had been plagued by continuous warfare, and the Tong family had nearly lost its inheritance.

Fortunately, the Tong family's ancestors had made arrangements early on. They had established branches overseas, and after the founding of New China, these descendants entered the trading business.

This allowed the Tong family to gradually recover its strength.

"So, if President Tong had been born in ancient times, you would have been one of those legendary warriors capable of taking on ten thousand enemies."

Su Xiaofan readily agreed with Tong Dongjie's explanation.

Although he was praising Tong Dongjie aloud, inwardly he felt that with his current strength, he could probably imitate Xiang Yu and try lifting a giant cauldron himself.

"Don't call me President Tong anymore. Just call me Brother Dong."

Tong Dongjie smiled and shook his head.

"I'm still far from that level. My aptitude isn't very good. I only came out into the secular world to do business. Otherwise, where would I have the time to deal with these worldly matters?"

"Then are there many cultivators in our Su Family Village?"

Su Xiaofan asked curiously, familiar faces flashing through his mind.

"Ancient martial arts and internal cultivation were originally two different systems. I really don't know about that."

Tong Dongjie smiled bitterly and shook his head.

"Not many. These days, practicing internal cultivation techniques also requires talent."

Jing Shizhen interrupted, "As far as I know, over the past several decades, your father is the only remarkable cultivator to come out of Su Family Village."

"Why did I have to get a father who loves messing with his own son?"

After hearing Uncle Jing's words, Su Xiaofan became increasingly irritated, grinding his teeth in frustration.

He felt that his father must have secretly studied acting.

Every time the old man came home, he would put on an exhausted look, and Su Xiaofan had spent plenty of time giving him back massages and rubbing his shoulders.

(End of Chapter)

✨ Love this novel?

Visit my Patreon for fast access and advanced chapters! patreon.com/BbingTranslations Thank you for your support.❤️