Martial God Book 1 - What Is A Genius - Chapter 8 - Main Hall Dinner

Inside the He family estate, the beginning of the month and the middle of the month were the two days when the old family head, He Wude, would reveal himself to dine in the main hall. On these two days, the entire family in the estate would dine together.
Apart from He Quanming, who could not rush back from the city, all the other directly related members attended the dinner. This was also the only time He Quanxin left the family’s Book Pavilion.
By the time He Yiming arrived in the Main Hall, all the other members had already arrived.
There were only five host seats.
Sitting on the middle seat was the old man who single-handedly established the He family estate: He Wude. Besides his left was an empty seat, which was the seat reserved for He Quanming; He Yiming’s third uncle was sitting on the seat to its right, however, on the last seat was a handsome and elegant youngster. This youngster was precisely the eldest son’s eldest grandson, He Yitian; barely twenty years old and had already attained the seventh layer of the Internal Energy.
In the estate, He Yitian was the only member of the third generation who’d the permission to sit alongside the elder generations.
In the cultivation of the Internal Energy, higher one goes, higher is the difficulty. If one can attain the sixth layer of the Internal Energy cultivation before the age of twenty years, it was already an excellent achievement. Among the third generation, He Yiming’s second elder brother, He Yihai, and the third elder brother, He Yixuan, attained the sixth layer somewhere in between eighteen and nineteen years. None of the elders had any doubt regarding the fact that without another ten or twenty years of hard word, they shouldn’t be thinking about taking the next step.
On the other hand, the eldest member of the third generation, He Yitian, attained the sixth layer when he was merely fourteen years old. After another hard work of six years, he advanced to the seventh layer before the age of twenty. He was considered as the clan’s number one future pillar.
As for He Yiming, when he’d attained the fifth layer, everyone in the family had high hopes for him. The attention he received even surpassed He Yitian. However, this excessive attention instead stagnated his Internal Energy cultivation. The status of the current him was nowhere near He Yitian’s.
On the subsequent seats, except He Yiming, the entire third generation was present. Even his two elder brothers who were always behind closed doors in order to improve their cultivation, He Yihai and He Yixuan, had also punctually arrived.
Seated on the main seat, possessing wide temples, dense eyebrows, and a wisdom that could see through others concealed inside his two deep eyes, He Wude, lifted his head and said with a smile:
“Quan Xin, you are late today.”
He Quanxin immediately paid his respects and said with his whole face covered in smiles:
“Father, although your child has come late, he has brought you a good news.”
A trace of surprise flickered in He Wude’s eyes as he asked:
“What good news?”
“Father, today Yiming came to the Book pavilion.” He Quanxin paused and pulled He Yiming to his side, before continuing:
“Yiming is already qualified to cultivate martial skills.”
The Main Hall immediately turned silent. After a short while, He Quanyi suddenly stood up and asked in a pleasantly surprised voice:
“Yiming you have advanced to the sixth layer?”
He Yiming heavily nodded and said: “Yes.”
The third generation seated in the subsequent seats all had different expressions. Those who had good relations with He Yiming exchanged glances with joyous expressions in their eyes. If elders were not present, they would have certainly created a huge ruckus.
While He Yizhang, who’d relatively bad relations with He Yiming, had a little change in his expression and his eyes seemed a little lost.
He Yihai and He Yixuan, these two disciples of the third generation who’d already advanced to the sixth layer, exchanged a look with each other. Their expressions were extremely complex, having dim traces of envy and admiration with immense joy.
Subsequently, as they turned their heads and saw Yizhang’s expression, they couldn’t help but let out a soft sigh. In their minds, they truly couldn’t understand why their generation’s number fifth and number sixth had such a hostility. These two were truly an odd pair inside the family.
He Yitian also stood up from his seat. Being the eldest son’s eldest grandson, he truly had a special privilege among the third generation. Even at this moment, he could say a few lines.
“Sixth brother, you are truly amazing. In attaining the sixth layer, your speed should be quicker than mine by a year.”
He Yiming scratched his head and foolishly laughed, however, he absolutely didn’t open his mouth. His circumstances of this breakthrough were too absurd; he didn’t dare run off his mouth.
On He Wude’s serious face, eventually, an extremely pleased smiling expression surfaced as he said:
“Yiming you are indeed not bad. Someone deliver this information to the city; let Quanming return and rejoice as well.”
Someone naturally took care of the Old Estate Master’s order. Directly related members of the clan didn’t have to worry about such things.
He Wude stood up from his seat and walked past the dining table in a few strides. He arrived in front of He Yiming and casually extended his palm towards the latter.
A faint helpless smile flickered on the face of He Quanxin. Apparently, the old man would never be convinced before confirming the truth with his own hands.
He Yiming, without having any time to think, resisted his grandfather’s palm with his own palm. Consequently, the sixth layer Primordial Energy rose up like a tide. This time, he’d some experience, thus, after the strike was delivered, he immediately restrained his Internal Energy. However, the strength behind this strike was enough for He Wude to clearly determine He Yiming’s foundation.
Subsequently, the smiling expression on the old man’s face became increasingly dense. He heartily laughed and said:
“Good, very good. He family once again has a sixth layer Internal Energy expert under the age of fifteen.” His loud and clear laughter, without concealing the happiness in his heart at all, echoed in the hall. He continued:
“Quanxin, you will later accompany Yiming to the Book Pavillion, and allow him to select a martial skill. Tell him the details as well.”
“Yes.” He Quanxin said with a smile.
As He Yiming watched his elders, he was extremely suspicious in his heart.
Attaining the sixth layer was not an extremely extraordinary event; in his memory, at the time of his second and third elder brothers’ breakthrough, although his grandfather was excited, it was nowhere close to being…. ecstatic, as he seemed at this moment.
Even his eldest uncle and the second uncle seemed extremely pleased. Such a display from them was clearly and starkly different from when his second and the third elder brothers had advanced.
He Yiming secretly looked at He Yitian, however, the latter instead winked twice while looking in his direction. He Yiming could perceive faint traces of envy in his eldest brother’s thoughts alongside the immense joy.
Suddenly, he felt a chill in his heart:
‘I can discern the thoughts of elders and the eldest brother through their expressions? What on earth is going on? When did I become so sharp?’
He Wude said: “Yiming, when did you breakthrough?”
He Yiming immediately restrained his wandering thoughts and said in a respectful tone:
“Grandfather, this grandson had his breakthrough today.”
He Quanyi asked in a strange voice:
“Yiming, yesterday you switched to Yixuan’s Ripple technique, so why have you instead advanced in the Primordial Energy today?”
He Yiming bitterly cried in his heart, however, he’d already determined in his heart that he could not tell anyone about the strange things going on inside his body.
His heart tensed up, and his vision dropped down when he saw his wrinkled clothes. He came up with an idea on the spot and said:
“Third uncle, today, after the morning exercise, I went into the mountains to continue tempering my body. However, I did not to expect to suddenly run into a fox bear.”
The faces of He Wude and the rest immediately showed a nervous expression:
“Where was that fox bear?”
Fox bears were considered as one of the troublesome kinds of ferocious beasts in the mountains. It possessed the strength of a bear and the cunningness of a fox at the same time. If this fox bear happened to be hiding outside the Manor, the ordinary people of the estate and the younger disciples were being subjected to an enormous danger.
He Yiming immediately said: “At the edge of the mountain forest, but I have already fended it off.”
“You fended it off?” He Quanyi asked with an odd expression.
Living down the mountains, they were extremely clear about the strength of a fox bear. Although He Yiming had recently been promoted to the sixth layer, he was, after all, an amateur who didn’t know a single martial skill, moreover, his age was just too small. He might not be an opponent for a fox bear.
He Wude lowered his voice and said: “Yiming, tell your today’s encounter with that fox bear from the start, include every single detail.”
“Yes.” Yiming immediately composed himself and recounted his fight with the fox bear.
Of course, he couldn’t mention that he’d already reached the sixth layer in the Ripple technique, instead, he said that he’d been using the Primordial Energy from the beginning. However, he didn’t hide his mysterious breakthrough in Primordial Energy, in fact, he himself really wanted to know why did his Primordial Energy involuntarily advanced.
After Yiming finished speaking, He Wude faintly nodded his head and said:
“Yiming, your luck is pretty good. That fox bear was very possibly injured before it came across you. It is extremely fortunate that this was the case, and you were able to deal with the fox bear at the beginning using your fifth layer Primordial Energy. “
He Wude’s face revealed a trace of gratified expression as he looked at his grandson and said:
“Yiming your bitter training has not been a waste in the slightest. The pressure of confronting a fox bear has fully brought out the achievements of you daily training, and it even allowed you to unwittingly cross over the barrier of the fifth layer without a hitch. Ah….this is truly a blessing from heavens.”
He Quanyi and He Quanxi nodded in succession. As they thought of that time’s danger, they involuntarily broke out in a cold sweat. If the fox bear hadn’t been injured or He Yiming hadn’t smoothly advanced at the critical junction, he might have tragically met his end.
If this situation had really played out, how would they have faced their second brother then?
He Quanyi suddenly snorted in anger and said:
“Yi Ming, the rules of the family are that the third generation cannot enter the mountain forest alone. Why did you go there?”
He Yiming blinked his eyes as he cursed in his heart.
He Wude and He Quanxin also responded and looked towards He Yiming with malicious gazes.
He Yiming mumbled: “Third uncle, it’s just that I was feeling bored, and I went for a walk, that’s all. Moreover, I only walked around the edge, I didn’t enter the forest at all.”
“For a walk? You know how many dangers one has to face being alone in the mountains? You even had the nerve to run into a ferocious beast like fox bear.” He Quanxin furiously said.
“Starting from today, you will properly remain inside the home. Without my permission, you are not allowed to take a single step outside.”
He Yiming cast his glance towards his Grandfather and the eldest uncle. Both of them averted their faces and completely ignored He Yiming. It was clear that they were also agitated by this matter.
In his heart, He Yiming was cursing the Fox Bear all over: ‘couldn’t properly stay in deep forest, why did it have to run all the way up to the end of the forest?’
However, in face of his third uncle’s angry gaze, he could only say:
“Yes, third uncle.”
In the next few days, the family master He Wude, himself, together with He Quanyi checked everywhere around the foot of the mountain several times, furthermore, they also examined that region where He Yiming had his first confrontation with the fox bear. Only after they had ensured that the Fox Bear had truly left did they remove the alert in the estate.