Three dishes and a soup were on the table, including fish and meat.
When Qin Fan opened the front door and walked in, a familiar scent, one he hadn't smelled in five hundred years, finally wafted into his nose. He took a deep, subconscious sniff. They say there's nothing like a mother's cooking, and it was true.
"So you've learned some new tricks, have you? You've been ordered to stay home for disciplinary tutoring. What's next, expulsion? Qin Fan, is this what you meant by living life differently?"
While Qin Fan was still intoxicated by the familiar aroma, his father, Qin Chu, suddenly reprimanded him, his stern voice filled with indignation.
Qin Fan was taken aback, a wry smile touching his lips. What was bound to happen has finally happened.
Before he could respond, his mother Wei Shuying, who had always doted on him, looked over with a stern face. "Xiaofan, you've really gone too far this time!"
Too far? They call it going too far for slapping that balding bastard just once? For provoking my deepest ire like that, he's lucky I didn't kill him! But he could never say that out loud; the guaranteed response would be a harsh beating with a stick.
Qin Fan sauntered over to the dining table and casually slung his arms over his parents' shoulders. His expression suddenly shifted as he said with utmost seriousness, "If he had called me a good-for-nothing, I would have accepted it! Because for all those years, I was the very template of a good-for-nothing! But he had no right to insult my upbringing! Saying I'm ill-bred is just a roundabout way of insulting you both, isn't it? I couldn't tolerate it. If I had to choose again, I'd still slap him, even if it meant getting expelled! Consider this the beginning of me living my life differently!"
Hearing words so out of character for their son, Qin Chu and Wei Shuying felt a strong sense of strangeness. But beneath that strangeness was a deep, aching sorrow. The reprimands they had prepared inadvertently dissolved before they could be spoken.
Qin Chu's grim expression faded, replaced by a touch of self-mockery. "Even so, you shouldn't have resorted to violence! Those people already look down on us enough. If you add being disciplined or expelled to the list, imagine how much more they'll ridicule us. Xiaofan, Dad doesn't expect you to be exceptionally successful. Your mom and I just want you to be okay!"
"Those people." He's referring to the Qin family, of course. But when it comes to them, wouldn't tolerating humiliation just give them more reason to look down on me and laugh?
He didn't voice this rebuttal. As a Reborn who had lived for hundreds of years, how could he not understand his father's true feelings? If he were still the Qin Fan from his previous life, the consequences of that single slap would have been devastating.
Looking at his father's somewhat weathered face, Qin Fan nodded gravely.
"Xiaofan, you've been wronged," Wei Shuying said with guilt, listening to the exchange between father and son. If she and her husband hadn't been cast out by the entire Qin family, would Qin Fan have had to suffer so much? Ultimately, it was because of them that he had shouldered burdens far beyond what he should have.
Sniffling, Wei Shuying continued, "But I still don't want you to handle things this way. To quote the old exchange between Hanshan and Shide: 'If the world slanders me, deceives me, insults me, laughs at me, slights me, despises me, detests me, and lies to me, how should I handle it?' 'Simply endure them, yield to them, let them be, avoid them, be patient with them, respect them, and ignore them. In a few years, just look at them and see.' Xiaofan, I have confidence in you. I will never believe that the son I bore could be a good-for-nothing!"
She believes I'm not a good-for-nothing? Qin Fan laughed bitterly in his heart. If I hadn't followed the Old Man of the Heavenly Dao to the Cangqiong Continent, if I hadn't been reborn, how could I have escaped the fate of disappointing her? In my past life, I really was a good-for-nothing!
"Mom, that's enough. Let's not talk about it," Qin Fan said, eager to change the subject as he quickly pulled out a dining chair and sat down. "I understand, I really do! Let's eat. I'm starving!"
Deceive me, yield to them?
Insult me, let them?
Laugh at me, avoid them?
Despise me, endure them?
If this were my past life, that is exactly what I would have done, because it was all I could do. But now, I am not just the forsaken son of the Qin family; I am the Shura Venerable who once plunged the Cangqiong Continent into utter chaos! Endure and avoid? What a joke!
Anyone who offends the might of Qin Fan shall be slaughtered if near and exterminated if far!
---
The family of three didn't dwell on the issue of Qin Fan's disciplinary tutoring. For Qin Chu and his wife, not being expelled after striking the Dean was a great stroke of luck under the circumstances. The punishment, however, was a surprise to Qin Fan. I thought for sure I'd be expelled. It seems I really did intimidate that balding bastard! Although he had intimidated the Dean, the original seven days of disciplinary tutoring had been extended to fifteen. But Qin Fan didn't care; in fact, he felt it wasn't long enough.
The family of three spent several joyful hours together, passing the time watching television. Later, lying in his darkened bedroom, Qin Fan's mind was filled with a deep longing for the Spiritual Energy in the lake.
「At dawn.」
The sky had not yet begun to pale when Qin Fan, who had only been asleep for a short while, suddenly opened his eyes. After a quick wash, he tiptoed carefully out of the house. He knew Earth was completely different from the Cangqiong Continent, but some principles were universal—the Spiritual Energy that gathered in the lake would be at its purest at this hour.
Filled with fervent excitement, Qin Fan unleashed his full speed. If anyone had seen this, their jaws would have dropped to the floor. Compared to his wind-like speed, Olympic gold medalists and world track champions were nothing but pathetic weaklings. Yet, this speed was still far from enough for him. Back in the Mahayana Realm of his Cultivation, he had mastered the Somersault Cloud. A single leap with it could span tens of thousands of miles.
It took Qin Fan only about ten minutes to cover the twenty or thirty kilometers to Qingling Lake. He glanced at the water, which shimmered even in the absence of light, then walked directly to the bank and sat down cross-legged under an old tree.
With his eyes closed, he began to concentrate. The True Qi gathered in his Dantian began to circulate along the now-unblocked meridians throughout his body. As he guided a wisp of True Qi out from his nostrils, the Spiritual Energy above Qingling Lake seemed to receive a summons. On the sparkling surface of the lake, streams of energy converged on Qin Fan, waiting to be absorbed.
「An hour later!」
The sky began to brighten. At that moment, Qin Fan opened his eyes, a contented smile spreading across his face. This one hour of absorption had expanded his meridians even further. Although he was still a long way from the Qi Refinement Realm, what he had just absorbed was only a tiny fraction of the energy in Qingling Lake. If he absorbed it all, he could definitely step into the Qi Refinement Realm. Only then could he truly be said to have begun Cultivation! Only then could he choose a Cultivation Technique, a Body Refinement method, and Martial Arts to practice.
"What a pity," Qin Fan whispered to himself. "If I had already reached the threshold of the Qi Refinement Realm, I could create the Cangqiong Refining Body Decision. With that, I could form a Spirit Gathering Array and absorb all this lake's Spiritual Energy in just a few hours! I wouldn't have to stop after one hour with my Dantian saturated, unable to digest any more. At this rate, it will take at least ten to fifteen days to absorb all the Spiritual Energy in this lake! Still, this is fine. This half-month of disciplinary tutoring is just enough time to reach the threshold of the Qi Refinement Realm!"
He gave the lake, now sparkling even more brilliantly, a reluctant look before standing up. He brushed the dew from his damp clothes and, under the gazes of the early-morning exercisers, began a slow jog home, feigning a morning run.