Although the remaining sibling were not geniuses who’d attained the seventh level, with respect to their current age, they could easily be considered as the selection of a generation. Therefore, the reputation of the He family was the same as that of the sun in the sky.
He family’s rules were very strict. All the third generation children who’d not yet attained the sixth level were required to undergo early morning training. By the time He Yiming returned, loud shouts could be heard coming from the training ground of the family.
He Yiming raised his head, looked towards the sky once, and lightly sighed. Without caring about his completely drenched body in the slightest, he directly arrived on the training ground.
At this moment, five disciples of the third generation were performing the basic exercises on the training ground. These five were the disciples who’d not yet attained the sixth level. Three males and two females; even He Yitao was included.
At the ground’s entrance, a man with a tall build was standing with hands behind his back. Even though he was standing in such a posture, his stern expression gave off an immense pressure.
Hi Yiming immediately walked forward, arrived at his side, and said in a low voice:
“Third uncle.”
The big man was precisely He Yiming’s third uncle He Quanyi. He turned towards He Yiming. At first, his eyes had a trace of anger, however, after looking at He Yiming’s sorry figure, he couldn’t help but blankly ask:
“Why have you come so late, and why are you dripping wet?”
He Yiming’s face turned slightly red as he said in a muffled voice:
“Third uncle, yesterday night, I was performing night time’s horse stance half way above the mountain. As I was coming down, my clothes got dirty, and while cleaning them by the lake, I fell down in the water by mistake.”
The anger on He Quanyi’s face gradually dispersed away, and he said:
“He Yiming, I know you are very diligent, but you should not go out in the night.”
“Yes.” He Yiming said.
The former waved his hands and said: “Go change your clothes and catch up on your sleep first.”
He Yiming faintly bowed and returned back to his room at a lightning fast speed. Quickly and efficiently, he changed into a new training outfit, returned back to the training ground, and joined his siblings.
As He Quanyi saw the tenacious expression on He Yiming’s face, he softly shook his head and let out a sigh.
The training was finally over; going on for three hours since dawn’s fist light . He Quanyi stopped shouting and again gave a few instructions before finally leaving.
As soon as he was separated by a significant distance, all the small children immediately sat down on the ground at the same time. Even the two girls were no exceptions.
He Yiming’s vision swept through his siblings once. Consequently, just like before, he turned around and began to walk away.
“Yiming, when are you going to advance from the fifth layer?” A lazy voice sounded from somewhere among the youngsters.
He Yiming, without even turning, knew that the one who had asked this question was He Yi Zhang who was two years bigger than him.
In the family, his eldest uncle, He Quan Xin, had four sons: the eldest son He Yitian, the second son He Yihai, the fifth son He Yizhang, and the seventh son He Yiyu. His father, He Quanming, had two sons and one daughter: His brother He Yixuan was the third in the ranking, then came he himself - sixth in the ranking, followed his younger sister, He Yilong- eighth in the ranking. As for his third uncle, he’d one son and one daughter: his fourth older sister, He Yiling, and his little brother He Yitao.
They had the same clan, however, the interactions among the younger generation were both good and bad.
The four brothers from his eldest uncle’s family had always been together. Furthermore, He Yitian, the eldest grandson of the eldest son, was a peerless genius. Despite only being twenty years old, he’d already attained the seventh layer of the Internal energy.
The children of the second uncle and third uncle were a bit closer to each other. On the whole, the interactions between the members of the third generation were pretty much harmonious.
Currently, among the third generation, He Yitian, He Yihai, and He Yixuan had already attained the sixth level or higher and thus were not required to attend the daily morning training.
And the one who’d talked was He Yizhang, who was ranked fifth among the third generation.
He Yiming’s footsteps halted. He lightly groaned as he said: “I haven’t breakthrough yet. Fifth brother, don’t tell me you are going to breakthrough?”
He Yizhang grinned and said: “Only a year has passed since my last breakthrough, how can I breakthrough again so quickly? However, sixth brother, you have already spent four years at this stage. Back then your timing of advancing into the fifth layer was more or less about the same as that of the second brother and the third brother. Now, they’d already advanced long ago, and you are still stuck on the same step. You should put more effort.”
He Yiming’s brows faintly rose. His heart was wildly throbbing, however, he didn’t even turn before he coldly said:
“Many thanks for the fifth brother’s concern. I know.”
After finishing his words, he began to walk ahead in large strides.
He Yizhang sighed loudly and spoke in a taunting manner:
“Sixth brother, in my opinion, you should change your cultivation technique, perhaps you might just attain the sixth level in a single stretch.”
He Yiming’s didn’t slow down in the slightest as if he hadn’t heard He Yizhang’s words at all.
The remaining five siblings looked at each other. He Yitao suddenly hopped onto his feet and chased after He Yiming.
The two sisters, He Yiling and He Yilong, glared at He Yizhong once and left hand in hand. The only one left behind He Yiyu, who was ranked seventh, miserably said: “Fifth brother, why did you tease sixth brother again? If dad or eldest brother get a gist of it, you will definitely be scolded again, and even I might be included.”
He Yizhang glared at his younger brother and said: “Your guts are getting less and less… snort…What did I say to him anyway? As long as I attain the sixth layer before him, no one would be able to say anything to me.”
He Yiyu, using a voice even he himself couldn’t hear, muttered under his breath:
“Aren’t you just jealous that sixth brother attained the fifth layer before you?”
Fortunately, He Yizhang didn’t hear his own brother’s mutterings, otherwise, he would have definitely gone insane with anger on the spot.
“Little brother, you should also try hard to breakthrough before him. This way, our family’s blood will be far ahead in the lead.” He Yizhang sternly said.
He Yiyu rolled his eyes and said in an incredulous voice:
“Fifth brother, you already made your breakthrough a year ago, and I my breakthrough was barely a month ago. Don’t tell me you still want me to advance first?”
He Yizheng loudly snorted and said: “Correct. I want to you to double your efforts. Besides the eldest brother, second brother….” He hesitated a bit before continuing: “furthermore the third brother, no one else had succeeded in attaining the sixth layer.”
He Yiyu’s opened his eyes wide and said: “But both second brother and third brother are five-six years older than me. Moreover, it’s only been a single year since they have advanced to the sixth layer.”
He Yi Zhen’s face turned red as he said: “Good. Little seventh, it seems like you have learned to talk back. Are you itching for a beating?”
He Yiyu immediately followed up: “Fifth brother, I haven’t. My training is lacking.”
“Good, then start to bitterly train from this very moment. I will keep you company. Hurry up! Don’t be discouraged!”
He Yiyu: “…….”
In his heart, he was saying: ‘Is this truly my real brother?’
………………………………………………………………………………
He Yiming left the drilling grounds in quick steps. He had a belly full of anger but nothing to vent. Because he knew if he were to fight because of this small teasing, he would certainly incur punishment from his father.
Suddenly, sounds of gasping came from behind his body. He felt warmth in his heart, and he stopped his footsteps.
Sure enough, he immediately heard He Yitao’s voice: “ Sixth brother, don’t listen to fifth brother’s words. He’s just jealous because you have attained the fifth layer earlier than him.”
He Yiming smiled and patted the former’s shoulders. He said:
“I know. You should quickly return back to study. Otherwise, third uncle will again say that you are naughty. He will chase you all over and make you eat a fried Bamboo Shoot meat slice.”1
He Yitao’s entire being quivered. With an appalled face, he looked all around him with hands on his buttocks.
Fortunately, he didn’t saw his father’s figure. He let out a sigh and hesitatingly said: “Sixth brother, actually, fifth brother’s words have some meaning. Shouldn’t you try changing your cultivation technique?”
He Yiming’s expression tensed, however, he smiled and said:
“I have my own thoughts. Thank you.”
He Yitao agreed. He turned around and quickly left. Apparently Bamboo Shoot Meat Slice was really too big of a threat for him.
He Yiming looked at He Yitao’s leaving figure and took a deep breath, while his smile had thoroughly disappeared long ago. As he slowly turned around, he saw a figure out of the corner of his eye. His heart suddenly tightened, and he immediately yet gracefully retreated several steps.
He Yiming, who’d assumed a fighting stance, forced a bitter smile and said as he straightened his body: “Third uncle, why you play such a joke on your small nephew?”
He Quanxi’s stern face had a faint smile as he said: “Yiming, your reaction is pretty good.”
“Many thanks for third uncle’s praise.”
“He Yiming, I have consulted with your father and eldest uncle. If you want to switch to a new cultivation technique, you can directly go to your eldest uncle’s place and select any book from the clan’s Book Pavilion.”
Yiming’s heart slightly shivered, he said: “Many thanks, third uncle.”
He Quanxi nodded once. Subsequently, while leaving in the direction in which Yitao had recently left, he said: “I will go and check on Yitao. If he doesn’t learn the characters properly, he will certainly have an extra meal for him.”
While looking at his third uncle’s retreating figure, Yiming raised his head towards the sky and eventually let out a helpless sigh. He hadn’t expected that his father and uncles would have a special discussion on his problems. It seemed like preserving his own opinion was no longer possible.
Bamboo shoot meat slice is a Chinese dish. Check out this link for pictures.