Chapter 22: The Sky-Splitting Flying Ape

  Li Zhuang said something that left Old Ma confused, and he quickly asked: "Li Zhuang, what do you mean by this?" Li Zhuang smiled, picked up the teacup on the table, skimmed off the tea leaves with the lid, took a light sip, raised his head, saw Old Ma staring at him, put down the cup, and said: "Brother Ma, you have a good granddaughter."

  The old horse head was even more inexplicable, what did this have to do with Ling'er? He anxiously said: "Li boss, don't sell mysteries anymore, what's going on, how is it related to my granddaughter?" "Hehe, this is a happy event! This time I came to your Ma family village with our family's second young master. Today at the market, our young master met your granddaughter and fell in love at first sight! Our young master is an extraordinary person, elegant and refined..."

  Before Li Zhuang could finish speaking, Old Ma's face sank. He said, "Li Zhuang, if it were just this matter, you can go back now." Li Zhuang, who was boasting about his son without stopping, was choked by these words and almost died from choking on his own saliva. He hastily said, "What are you talking about? Although your granddaughter is born with a beautiful face, my son is also dignified and handsome. Moreover, if this matter succeeds, your Ma family will rise to prominence. You're not unaware of the size of the business of Fang's Tianfeng Number, are you? With the support of the Fang family, within three years, your Ma family will be rich beyond your wildest dreams."

  Before Old Master Ma could say anything, Manager Li had already spoken a long and eloquent speech, which also made Old Master Ma come to his senses. The Fang family is powerful, it's not good to offend them too much. So he no longer scowled, forced a smile and said: "Manager Li, you don't know, my granddaughter has been engaged for a long time, she's already promised to another family. I appreciate the young master's kindness, but this won't work."

  "Hmm." Li Zhuang got up from his seat and walked to Old Horse's side, saying: "Engaged? I know, isn't it that poor orphan boy who has no father or mother? Living in a poor teacher's house, I say, Old Horse, can you bear to let your granddaughter as beautiful as a flower marry this poor devil and spend her whole life in misery?"

  When he heard the impertinence, Old Horse Face could no longer hold back his smile, his face suddenly turned black, and he said in a low voice: "Li Zhanggu, my family's affairs don't need you to manage, Mr. Zhang is not some poor teacher, this matter is still that way, no need to mention it again."

  Seeing Old Horse's expression, which was as stubborn as ever, Li Zhuang couldn't help but get angry and said: "Fine! Old Horse, let me tell you, this is a case of 'respectful wine not being drunk, and the penalty for not drinking it'. You'll have your time to cry, do you know who our lady is? She's the younger sister of the lord of Xiao Yue Castle. Can you afford to offend the Fang family? I'm putting my words here today: this granddaughter of yours will get married, whether she wants to or not!" After finishing speaking, he turned around and left with a flick of his sleeve.

  Old Horse's head was already furious, his whole body trembling, his mouth chattering, unable to say a word. Li Zhuang didn't pay attention to him, turned around and walked out the door, just as he reached the gate of the courtyard, he heard the sound of shattering tea cups from inside the house. Old Horse's head rushed out of the house, pointing at Li Zhuang and scolding: "Li, I'm telling you, don't try to bully Fang's family, I won't believe it even if you can do something to me! This matter is impossible!"

  Li Zhuanggui's eyes sparkled a few times, and he looked at the old man in front of him with his hair standing on end. He chuckled and said, "Alright, Old Ma, let's see how things go."

  He left without looking back, leaving only Old Horse Head staring fiercely at his retreating figure. At this point, Mrs. Ma rushed out of the house: "Dad, Dad, what's wrong with you? Calm down and don't get angry." Old Horse Head shook off his daughter-in-law who wanted to come over and support him, turned his head to glance at the private school next door, sighed, and said, "Come on, let's go inside and talk." Then he turned around and walked back into the house.

  At this time, Ma Ling'er also ran out of the inner room, saw Grandpa's appearance, was frightened, and hurriedly brought a cup of tea to Old Master Ma's hand. Old Master Ma looked at his granddaughter's delicate face in the lamplight again and sighed once more.

  Li the shopkeeper was also furious, having gone to propose in person only to be scolded by that old man. He returned to his lodgings, where Fang Zhengfan had been waiting impatiently, pacing back and forth in the room. Seeing Li return, he rushed over to him, asking repeatedly: "How was it? How was it? Was it successful?" Li looked at Fang's anxious expression and replied in a low voice: "What can be done? That old man is stubborn to death, insisting that his granddaughter is already engaged and refusing to agree no matter what."

  "Isn't that just the poor kid? Why would he disagree? Didn't you tell him who I am?" Upon hearing this, Fang Zhengyuan became anxious. If he couldn't get his hands on this little flower-like girl, he wouldn't be able to sleep at night. "Come to think of it, I've inquired about the owner of this inn before," said Li Zhuangui with a scowl. "That kid was just a beggar who came to Majiacun a few years ago and was taken in by that poor scholar who teaches school. If not for him, he would have starved to death long ago. I don't know what Old Master Ma saw in him."

  Nowadays, Majiacun has many outsiders, and the owner of this inn is one of them. They all moved here within a year or so and know nothing about what happened in Majiacun before. They also look down on the local villagers, who are very poor, so Gan Ping's knowledge is limited too. Li Zhuo asked around with these people to see if they could gather any useful information.

  Fang Zheng sat on the stool with a thud, muttering to himself: "What can be done? What can be done? Li Zhanggui, you must think of a way! If you help me this time, I'll ask my mother to put in a good word for you when I get back. You're sure to be promoted to the head of the main shop and won't have to run around doing business anymore." He really had no other options; if he were in Xiao Yue City, Fang Ershao would have already brought people to take that beautiful young woman back to the manor. But here in Ma Jia Village, where he was a stranger, he could only seek Li Zhanggui's help.

  Listening to his promise, Li Zhuang also moved his heart. If he could go to the general shop, it would be a hundred times better than running the countryside shopkeeper. He narrowed his eyes and calculated for a while, then said: "Good, if Second Master can let me become the shopkeeper of the general shop, I will risk my life to help you this time."

  It was late at night, and Majiacun village was already pitch black, with everyone asleep. Only the guest house still had lights on, where Li Zhuangui and Fang Zhengyuan were plotting their sinister plan under the lamp. At this time, Gan Ping still did not know that a conspiracy surrounding him had been unfolding.

  For three years, Gan Ping has been practicing meditation every night, never stopping. This Taiyi Pure Yang True Classic is indeed a traditional martial art of the Nine States Continent. Although Gan Ping hasn't even broken through the first layer, he can clearly feel the surge of true yuan spiritual energy in his meridians, and the dantian is surrounded by a warm aura.

  After such a long period of refinement, the primordial spirit fragments of Huo Long and Xuan Mingzi had been refined by him to about 70-80%, his divine soul's power had also increased several times, and all memories of Xuan Mingzi's life had been absorbed by Gan Ping. He also understood the situation in the Tianfu Continent's cultivation world.

  These cultivators are divided into eight levels based on their different states: Qi Refining, Mind Condensing, Foundation Building, Liquid Transformation, Golden Elixir, Yuan Infant, Yuan Spirit, and Tribulation Crossing. However, Gan Ping is unclear about his current state because he practices the Taiyi Pure Yang True Classic, which doesn't belong to this continent.

  If it's about cultivating the air boundary, he had already reached this level when fighting against Tie Jia Kui Niu. If it's about condensing consciousness, after practicing Ming Hun Hua Si technique, his spiritual awareness has become exceptionally strong. With the addition of the two great masters' Yuanshen fragments, his soul power has surged violently. According to Xuan Mingzi's memory, he estimates that his current spiritual awareness is no weaker than a Jindan cultivator. However, if it's about building the foundation, Gan Ping couldn't understand how he had never taken any foundation-establishing pills or spiritual medicine, yet his cultivation progressed smoothly without any obstructions, as if his foundation was already established. Now, with the aura of Qi swirling around his Dantian, it is a sign that he is on the verge of transforming liquid. As long as the true yuan energy within him solidifies a bit more, he can be considered a cultivator at the liquefaction level.

  It's just a pity that the third fire fusion didn't make much progress, still stuck at the gold melting level, only reaching the high stage of gold melting. It's still far from cutting jade, and it seems like an eternity before taking the next step. However, this life-bound dragon pattern triple fire did produce a thread, although it was just a single thread, it shouldn't be underestimated. This single thread of dragon pattern triple fire is extremely powerful, and Gan Ping can already imagine how terrifying this flame will become in the future.

  For him, the three years were still a bit short. Others wanted to ask for a cultivation method, but Gan Ping had several methods in his possession. Each one had a small achievement that could be looked down upon at the time, but he didn't have enough time to cultivate. Just the Taiyi Pure Yang True Classic alone took up more than half of his time. As for the Tianmo Huaxue Shengdao method, he only cultivated a thread of knife aura within his body and warmed it up. Gan Ping was not a mountain hermit who could close himself off and emerge after decades with a flick of his finger. He could only cultivate at night, so his progress slowed down. Even the magical treasure left behind by Xuanmingzi, he didn't have time to refine, but he could use the two initial bronze armor plate treasures with ease.

  He took out a top-grade fire-attribute spirit stone from his ring, and began to cultivate for the night with it in hand. The Fire Kid jumped into his arms, and as he breathed in and out the spiritual energy around him, a red glow also appeared on his body. With the help of the Fire Kid, the speed at which spiritual energy gathered around Gānpíng increased by more than double. If not for the Fire Kid's assistance every day, Gānpíng's cultivation speed would have to be reduced by a large margin in this place where spiritual energy was scarce.

  Gan Ping had been puzzled by this strange little monkey for a long time. Originally, Gan Ping thought it was just an ordinary Mihou monkey, but over the past two years, the small patch of cyan and white hair on its forehead had become increasingly bright, which made Gan Ping extremely suspicious. After searching through many books in his ring, he finally found the root cause.

  The pale blue hair and white claw tips are the symbols of the Lian Tian Fei Hou, a ferocious beast from the same era as the Great Power Ape. It is extremely fierce, even the Dragon Clan fears it. The Lian Tian Fei Hou moves like the wind, swift and agile, its sharp claws can tear through anything, even the hard scales of the Dragon Clan cannot withstand them. If you provoke it, you will surely be torn apart, with your brain splattered everywhere. No wonder Huo Er was able to control that black leopard in the mountains, just by scratching the top of its head with his small paws, and the leopard would obediently listen to him.

  Having figured out Huo'er's identity, Gan Ping didn't pay much attention to it. Whether it was a divine beast or a fierce beast, Huo'er was just Huo'er. Since they all had the bloodline of Dali Shenyuan, adding a Lietian Feihu wouldn't make a difference.

  After a night of cultivation, Gan Ping got up early as usual and walked out the door, only to find that the village was already bustling with noise. Listening carefully, he found that it was the merchant caravan from Xiao Yue City preparing to leave.