Chapter 166 Accumulating Virtue and Doing Good Deeds for the Baby

"Kowtow to my mother again."

Lu Ye swung his shovel, striking Qing Zong squarely on the back of the head.

*Thud!*

That kowtow was certainly standard enough; it even knocked a crater into the ground.

Qing Zong suddenly began to doubt the meaning of life.

Damn it!

Could the Herculean pill I took have been a fake?

Yet the surging medicinal power was clearly genuine. The moment he struck, he could feel his strength leaping several tiers higher than before, so why on earth was he still no match for Lu Ye?

*Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!*

The iron shovel spun rapidly three or five times, hooking up from between Qing Zong's legs and launching him flying out of the arena.

The superiority was instantly clear!

After utterly crushing Qing Zong, Lu Ye's breathing remained calm and steady, clearly indicating that he had still held back some of his strength earlier.

*Plop.*

Qing Zong collapsed dejectedly onto the bluestone slab, his eyes filled with bewilderment. Where on earth had he lost?

Lu Ye gave a light leap, landing gracefully between Cheng Qimeng and Su Qianqian.

It took the crowd a long time to react. They had expected a grueling, neck-and-neck showdown after Qing Zong took the Herculean pill, but the outcome had been decided in a split second.

Immediately afterward, thunderous applause erupted!

"Young Master Lu is awesome!"

"It seems our martial arts world still belongs to the Lu family!"

"The Qing family's so-called tenth-tier expert was merely a flash in the pan."

Indeed, it was a mere flash in the pan.

As the medicinal properties of the Herculean pill continued to course through him, Qing Zong's body visibly swelled by a wide margin.

His entire body bloated like a fully inflated balloon, as if it were going to explode right where he stood in the next second.

"Ah!!!"

In excruciating pain, Qing Zong clutched his head and rolled around on the ground. Everyone nearby backed far away, terrified of getting any of his runoff on them.

Mustering his very last ounce of strength, he handed his long sword back to Qing Qin and begged, "Sister, I can't take much more of this. Please give me a quick release!"

He was losing the ability to suppress it.

Rather than exploding and dying, it was better to end it with a single stroke of the sword.

At least he could leave an intact corpse for himself and avoid dying too horribly.

With a painful expression, Qing Qin gripped the hilt of the sword and groaned, "Don't be foolish. You are my own brother; how could I possibly bring myself to do it?"

The martial arts families who had previously trimmed their sails and defected to the Qing family's camp now hastily distanced themselves from the Qing family.

Acting as though they had never stood on the same side, they turned around to fawn over Lu Yangxi and Lu Yuqing instead. The Qing family was now a classic example of a falling wall that everyone pushes.

*Bang!*

Just as everyone was shunning Qing Zong, something completely unexpected happened.

Lu Ye strode over, bent down, and delivered a gentle palm strike directly to Qing Zong's elixir field.

A visible layer of dust kicked up from the ground—it was the medicinal power of the Herculean pill being forcibly driven out of his body. Qing Zong's physique visibly shrunk a size.

"Is Young Master Lu trying to save him?"

"If you ask me, why bother saving him?"

"Relying on his breakthrough to the tenth tier, Qing Zong didn't take anyone else seriously."

"Both victory and defeat, life and death—he was the one who said those words."

Criticism buzzed endlessly around them. It seemed the onlookers had long been deeply dissatisfied with Qing Zong's actions.

In arena combat, life and death were matters of destiny.

Even if Lu Ye had stood by with folded arms, no one would have said a word.

Yet, he intervened anyway.

The Life-Saving and Health-Restoring Fist, seventy-seven-forty-nine styles.

*Bang, bang, bang...*

A moment ago, Qing Zong had looked like a taut ball; now, he resembled a deflated one.

His skin hung loosely in folds, and his aura had weakened drastically.

His foundation damaged, Qing Zong's tier had dropped to the eighth, and making any further progress in the future would be extremely difficult.

Regardless of all that, his life had been saved.

Qing Zong crawled up into a sitting position to find that Lu Ye had already withdrawn his stance, standing before him regulating his breath.

Dazed, Qing Zong asked, "Why did you save me?"

Lu Ye grinned and said, "I'm about to become a father, so I'm accumulating virtue and doing good deeds for my unborn baby. After all, saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda."

"This..."

The crowd was instantly floored!

Yet, Young Master Lu's peerless benevolence and magnanimous character instantly spread far and wide.

"Qing Zong, look at how Young Master Lu conducts himself!"

"Aren't you ashamed of that old face of yours?"

"Young Master Lu is so magnanimous and kind; no wonder he was able to reach the tenth tier at such a young age!"

If these words had been uttered earlier, no one would have dared to speak them.

However, since Qing Zong had now dropped to the eighth tier, he no longer possessed the capital to pose a threat to them.

Consequently, wave after wave of sarcastic mockery reached Qing Zong's ears.

His old face flushed red as he gazed at Lu Ye for a long time.

"Young Master Lu, I have lost."

"In terms of cultivation and martial arts, I, Qing Zong, am inferior to you."

With that, he consciously walked up to Cheng Qimeng, bowed, and apologized, "Ms. Cheng, I apologize for the slanderous remarks I made about you earlier. I am sorry."

Following that, he raised his arm and shouted, "Qing family disciples, follow me down the mountain."

Having used every despicable tactic imaginable only to be crushed and obliterated by Lu Ye, he no longer had the face to remain on Xuanyuan Peak.

"Miss Qing Qin, please stay your steps."

Clutching his aching chest, Lu Yuqing hurried after her for a few steps.

Qing Qin turned around and glared at him with hatred. "What? Does the head of the Lu family still wish to kick a man while he's down?"

Lu Yuqing gave a bitter smile. "You've misunderstood."

"Over twenty years ago, I truly failed the Qing family regarding the broken engagement, and I am deeply sorry for that. But if I had to choose again, I would still do the same."

Qing Qin turned her head to look at Cheng Qimeng, who stood proudly at the summit of the mountain with a breathtaking demeanor. She let out a soft sigh and said, "I have already let go of what happened back then, and you don't need to keep it on your mind."

"Your son saved my younger brother's life; let past grudges be wiped clean."

This storm in the martial arts world came to an end as the Qing family slunk away from Xuanyuan Peak in disgrace.

However, the other families present still lingered, unwilling to leave.

There was still drama left to consume...

The good show between Young Master Lu and the Lu family had only just begun.

Lu Yangxi stood dumbfounded outside his own doorway, utterly at a loss. He simply lacked the face to ask Lu Ye to acknowledge his ancestry and return to the family clan.

Instead, Cheng Qimeng held Su Qianqian by one hand and Lu Ye by the other.

She walked slowly up to Lu Yangxi and said, "I'll leave the choice to you. Whether or not you acknowledge this grandfather is entirely up to them; I have no objections."

Su Qianqian, of course, deferred entirely to Lu Ye's wishes, keeping her eyes fixed on his expression.

Lu Ye was torn to pieces!

Good grief, being caught in the middle is so hard...

Lu Yuqing carefully crept back to Lu Yangxi's side, not daring to utter a peep!

Lu Yangxi sighed, looked at Lu Ye, and said, "Xiao Ye, you don't have to acknowledge me as your grandfather, but I hope you will step into the ancestral hall and pay your respects to the ancestors of the Lu family."

"After all, they are your forebears."

That presented no problem at all. Lu Ye nodded. "Please lead the way."

Leaning on his dragon-headed cane and supported by Lu Yuqing, Lu Yangxi turned and walked into the house, closely followed by Lu Ye and Su Qianqian.

Only Cheng Qimeng remained standing outside the Lu family's main gate without moving a step. She softly said, "Son, Qianqian, I'll wait for you outside."

Lu Yuqing's body trembled involuntarily. This meant that the romantic bond between him and Cheng Qimeng had truly reached its end.

Back then, it was Lu Yangxi who looked down upon her and refused to let her cross their threshold.

Yet today, she was someone the Lu family could no longer hope to match.

Lu Yuqing was even less qualified to make any further demands of her.

Her willingness to let Lu Ye decide for himself whether to acknowledge his ancestors was already the utmost manifestation of benevolence and righteousness.

Turning two corners down a long corridor and crossing a flying bridge connecting two precipitous cliffs, they arrived at the Lu family's ancestral hall.

Incense burned continuously in the ancestral hall year-round; the moment one stepped inside, a lingering sandalwood fragrance greeted the senses.

Dozens of spirit tablets were enshrined on the altar table, the largest one right in the center bearing the inscription of the Lu family's founding ancestor, "Xuanyuan." Stone steles stood all around the ancestral hall, their surfaces densely covered in small seal script clearly recording the history of the Lu family and the life stories of each successive family head...

At the header of every stone stele was engraved a prominent line of large characters: "Cultivate in seclusion during times of peace; descend the mountain to save lives in times of chaos."

Lu Yangxi explained, "This is our family precept, passed down unbroken from the time the Patriarch Xuanyuan founded the Lu family. Every generation of Lu family disciples has strictly adhered to this precept."

"In times of war, we descend the mountain to join the military and resist foreign invaders."

"In times of peace and prosperity, we return to the mountains to cultivate in seclusion, ignoring the bustle of the world."

Lu Ye nodded slightly.

He had already noticed the past heads of the Lu family recorded on the steles, the majority of whom had experienced going into battle to kill the enemy.

The most tragic generation of family head was Lu Zhiyuan during the late Qing Dynasty. He had led several thousand Lu family disciples of all ages on an expedition to the battlefield, where eighty percent of them died in battle, nearly wiping out the entire lineage of loyal patriots.

Without another word, Lu Ye knelt and performed the kowtow of three kneelings and nine kotows before the spirit tablets of the Lu family ancestors. After a brief moment of hesitation, Su Qianqian followed her husband's example...

Setting aside everything else, the sheer number of military achievements accumulated by the generations of Lu family ancestors alone commanded the respect of anyone.