Chapter 1153: What Is This Door?

Today was a rare day off. With no private lessons or martial arts practice at the training hall, Gong Che and Shi Yi agreed to go shopping.

“You just called me out to hang out. What are we going to do?”

Shi Yi rolled his eyes. He felt Gong Che had been unusually excited lately; not only was he very active in class, but he couldn't sit still during holidays either, even calling him up early in the morning.

Ever since his mother returned from the Ice Dragon Clan, his father and mother had been inseparable, leaving him feeling a bit superfluous. Perhaps that's why his parents had used the excuse, "It's rare for a friend to ask you out; you should go," to send him out.

“We can think about it as we go. You don't have anything to do at home anyway, right?”

“How about this, I'll treat you to lunch today!” Gong Che said magnanimously.

“Did something good happen to you?” Shi Yi looked at Gong Che suspiciously.

Gong Che had been waiting for Shi Yi to ask that question, and now he finally did.

“I can finally live past sixteen.”

“What do you mean?”

“I'm just telling you this; don't tell anyone else.”

“Go on.”

Gong Che said solemnly, “Actually, I'm an adopted orphan. I was born with cold energy in my body and wouldn't live past sixteen. I only found this out when I overheard my parents talking one night while I was going to the bathroom.”

“They thought I didn't know, but I knew everything.”

Shi Yi paused, surprised Gong Che had such a tragic background. “So now what about you…”

“To live past sixteen, I had to get rid of the cold energy in my body. My parents tried everything, but nothing worked. Tiger Roar Fist had a tiny effect, but it couldn't change my fated death.”

“It wasn't until recently, when Teacher Lu started teaching us Tiger Roar Fist, that the cold energy in my body truly began to dissipate. And just five days ago, it completely vanished!”

“So you can live forever now?” Shi Yi finally understood why Gong Che had been so happy lately. Knowing this, he was also happy for Gong Che.

Shi Yi felt that Gong Che trusting him with his secret meant he should also share his own secret with Gong Che.

“Actually, half of my bloodline is from the Ice Dragon Clan…”

Shi Yi told him everything he knew. He rolled up his sleeve, revealing ice-crystal-like dragon scales on his arm.

“No wonder I couldn't beat you no matter how much I practiced. So you awakened your bloodline,” Gong Che realized. He had been the top student in the boxing class before, but after Teacher Lu arrived, Shi Yi surpassed him. Then, after Gong Che started learning from Teacher Lu, he surpassed Shi Yi, only for Shi Yi to inexplicably surpass him again later.

“But what did your mother mean by thanking Teacher Lu and sending a banner?”

Shi Yi shook his head. “I don't know; my mother didn't say why.”

“Boss, two roasted sweet potatoes, and he's paying,” Shi Yi said as they passed a roasted sweet potato stall.

Holding their roasted sweet potatoes, both boys' faces were beaming with uncontrollable smiles as Shi Yi continued their previous conversation.

“Enough about me, what about you? Have you ever thought about finding your birth parents?”

Gong Che took a bite of his roasted sweet potato and mumbled, “When I first found out I was adopted, I did think about looking for my birth parents. But then I realized it's better to cherish the present than to search for birth parents with no clues.”

“Perhaps when I do meet my birth parents, I'll ask them why they abandoned me in the snow.”

The two suddenly stopped. A young man, seven-tenths similar to Gong Che, appeared before them. The young man's sinister eyes held a strong murderous intent, and a chilling smile curled at the corner of his lips.

“Wu Ma, I didn't expect you to still be alive.”

Gong Che froze. Wu Ma? Who was that, him?

The young man stepped closer to Gong Che: “The most failed test subject, the waste who was abandoned by Father and Mother because he couldn't withstand the Profound Sky Cold, not only survived but also dispelled the cold energy from his body?”

“I thought I had killed Zi Shu, Chou Niu, Mao Tu, and the others, earning the qualification to cultivate the 'Profound Sky Scripture.' But I never expected you to still be alive!”

“The 'Profound Sky Scripture' is a supreme cultivation technique with strict conditions. Only those who can withstand the Profound Sky Cold entering their bodies in childhood are qualified to cultivate it, and only one person can cultivate it at a time if they meet the conditions.”

“Now that both you and I are qualified, as long as you're alive, I can't cultivate it!”

“Remember my name before you die. I am Yin Hu!”

Yin Hu made to pounce, but Shi Yi swiftly dashed forward and pinned Yin Hu, who had leaped into the air, to the ground. Yin Hu tried several times to get up but found Shi Yi's strength astonishing; he couldn't move at all!

Who was this person?!

“Your brother?” Shi Yi looked up and asked a bewildered Gong Che.

“I don't know him, but from all the gibberish he just spouted, he doesn't seem like a good person.”

Yin Hu looked up, staring fixedly at Gong Che, his eyes like a venomous snake's rather than a tiger's. “Wu Ma, if you're so capable, tell him to let go of me. Let's see who the strongest successor really is!”

Gong Che thought for a moment. “Shi Yi, let him go.”

“Okay.”

Yin Hu broke free and lunged violently at Gong Che, baring his fangs and claws like a ferocious tiger descending the mountain, ready to devour and spill blood!

Aowu—

A young tiger's roar burst forth, and with two punches, Yin Hu was left bruised and swollen, collapsed on the ground. Yin Hu's pupils trembled, his face filled with disbelief. How could the other person be more like a tiger than he was?

“That's it?”

Gong Che was astonished. This person had been shouting for so long, yet he couldn't even take a punch. However, Gong Che didn't lower his guard. He remembered Teacher Lu saying in class that some opponents might seem easy to defeat, knocked down in one move, but in reality, terrifying power might be hidden within them, and they'd get back up to continue fighting.

Gong Che and Shi Yi watched Yin Hu, who was lying on the ground, warily, but there was no response.

Just as the two thought it was over, a man and a woman approached. They exuded an extraordinary aura, clearly cultivators. Seeing the man and woman, Yin Hu used his last ounce of strength to scramble up from the ground, hugging the woman's leg and pleading desperately, “Father, Mother, please give me another chance! I'll definitely defeat him!”

The woman glanced at Yin Hu with disgust, kicked him away, then immediately turned to Gong Che with a tearful, pitiable expression.

“My child, Mother has finally found you!”

“Stay back!” Gong Che shouted. Connecting Yin Hu's rambling and the woman's reaction, he roughly guessed the identities of the man and woman. They were his birth parents, and they had given birth to him simply to select the strongest child to cultivate the incomprehensible 'Profound Sky Scripture'!

“Child, what's wrong? We are your birth parents,” the woman called out.

“Why did you abandon me back then?!”

“Child, the reason you became so strong is precisely because Father and Mother abandoned you, allowing you to gain opportunities and achieve what you have today, defeating your useless brother.”

“Perhaps Father and Mother's actions back then were ill-considered, but we are still your birth parents, after all. As the saying goes, blood is thicker than water. Can't we sit down and talk things through?” The woman's voice had a captivating quality that made people instinctively believe her.

“Come, child, come to Mother,” the woman said, opening her arms.

Without a second thought, Gong Che grabbed Shi Yi and turned to run.

“Run!”

“Trying to run?” The man flicked his sleeve, transforming it into an invisible hand that reached out to grab Gong Che and Shi Yi. To his surprise, a dragon's roar emanated from Shi Yi's body, blocking the invisible hand.

“Chase them!”

The man and woman said through gritted teeth. Although they were Nascent Soul stage cultivators, this was Mu Xue City, and any overly flashy moves would attract the city's enforcers. They could only weave through the crowd with exquisite footwork, chasing Gong Che and Shi Yi.

“Where are we going? Should we go to my house? My family might have a solution?” Shi Yi asked.

“No, your house is too far; there's no time. Let's go to the martial arts hall!”

The two narrowly escaped danger several times, almost getting caught. Fortunately, relying on their familiarity with the terrain, they broke free and rushed towards the martial arts hall, racing against time.

“We're here!”

The two frantically ran into the martial arts hall, slamming the door shut.

“Naive, do you think you're safe just because you ran into a martial arts hall?!”

Seeing Gong Che and Shi Yi run into the martial arts hall, the man and woman smiled instead. This was sect territory, so they could boldly attack under the pretext of challenging the hall, without fear of the enforcers. They had investigated Tiger Roar Martial Arts Hall before coming; its strongest practitioner was only at the early Golden Core stage.

“Heavenly Demonic Hand!”

“Fallen Heavenly Flame!”

The man and woman unleashed their respective unique techniques, striking the martial arts hall's door. Their eyes widened as if they had seen a ghost. It felt not like they were hitting a door, but an imposing mountain!

Pfft—

Their attacks bounced back entirely, shaking them severely and making them vomit blood incessantly.

What kind of door was this?! Didn't they say the Tiger Roar Sect Master was only at the early Golden Core stage? Even selling all the Golden Core cultivators in the hall wouldn't be enough to buy this door!

The martial arts hall's door slowly opened, and three people emerged. Gong Che and Shi Yi hid behind Huo Huashen, pointing at the man and woman lying on the ground.

“Uncle Huo, they're the ones who tried to abduct us!”

Huo Huashen's brows furrowed. “How dare you! Trying to lay a hand on someone from our martial arts hall? You must be tired of living!”

The man and woman's bodies trembled uncontrollably. This pressure… a God Transformation stage cultivator?! How was this possible? Wasn't he just the martial arts hall's gatekeeper?

Encountering a God Transformation stage cultivator, the man and woman dared not hold back any longer. They bit their tongues to activate a secret technique, transforming into blood mist and fleeing.

Huo Huashen snorted coldly, commanding twenty Nascent Soul stage cultivators with his divine sense.

“I've left a mark on them. Go and bring them back.”

“Yes, sir!”

Huo Huashen then put on a smiling face and reassured the frightened Gong Che and Shi Yi: “It's alright, it's alright. The bad guys have been scared away by me.”

Afterward, Huo Huashen escorted both of them home. Upon returning, he pulled out a small stool and sat by the martial arts hall's entrance. Before long, the twenty Nascent Soul cultivators returned with two lingering souls, and one of them reported to Huo Huashen.

“Boss, after we caught them, we soul-searched them. These two seem to be from the Ruthless Sect.”

“The Ruthless Sect?”

Huo Huashen hissed. When they had previously destroyed the Nine Ghost Alliance, he had told Young Sect Master Lu that the Nine Ghost Alliance was a subordinate force of the Ruthless Sect. How could there actually be a Ruthless Sect force in this extreme northern region?