9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYs5GGuSbVWMartial Arts Boy
Chapter Three: Another World
The courtyard was somewhat disordered.
Traces of the battle still remained on the bluestone floor. Several blade marks slashed diagonally across the ground. Broken branches lay off to one side, rolling gently with the morning wind.
Liu Hainan stood in the courtyard and raised his head toward the rooftops.
The dark figure from earlier was already gone.
And yet, that sense of pressure still lingered in the air like cold mist.
After a moment of silence, he finally spoke.
“If the ninja have found this place, they will not come only once.”
Lin Hao stood nearby, his fists not fully relaxed.
His breathing was heavy.
In that instant earlier, he had clearly felt that it was not that he did not want to move.
He truly could not move.
That feeling was extremely unpleasant.
Liu Hainan looked at him, his tone softening.
“Child, do not worry.”
He paused.
“Qingxuan Sect still has me.”
The courtyard fell briefly silent.
Wind passed beneath the eaves, lifting a few fallen leaves.
At that moment, Liu Yeqing spoke.
Her voice was not loud, but it was steady.
“What about me?”
Everyone’s gaze fell on her.
Liu Yeqing looked at Liu Hainan.
“I can fight with you too.”
The courtyard went quiet for an instant.
Liu Hainan did not answer immediately.
He simply looked at his daughter.
After a second, he said calmly,
“This time, it is not sparring.”
Liu Yeqing did not look away.
“I know.”
Those three words were spoken very lightly.
But they were firmer than anything else said just now.
Gu Chengyuan leaned nearby with his arms folded. He looked at Liu Hainan, then at Lin Hao and Liu Yeqing, and suddenly smiled.
“Then it’s simple.”
Lin Hao turned to look at him.
“What part of this is simple?”
Gu Chengyuan said,
“Let her go down the mountain with us.”
Lin Hao froze.
“Huh? Go where?”
Gu Chengyuan slipped his hands back into his pockets.
“No idea.”
He looked toward the foot of the mountain.
“But staying here only means waiting for the next wave to come knocking.”
Lin Hao frowned.
“What are you talking about—”
“Enough.”
Liu Hainan spoke.
His voice was not loud, but it pressed down on the entire courtyard.
Lin Hao closed his mouth.
Liu Hainan looked at the three of them, his gaze deep.
“Chengyuan is right.”
Lin Hao was stunned.
Liu Yeqing also raised her eyes slightly.
Liu Hainan slowly said,
“Right now, you know how to fight.”
He paused.
“But you do not yet know how to live.”
The courtyard became silent again.
Those words seemed to fall onto the ground. They were not heavy, yet for a moment, no one knew how to respond.
Lin Hao frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Liu Hainan looked beyond the mountain gate.
In the distance, the mountain road wound downward. The mist had not yet dispersed, and faint sounds from the city below could be heard.
“This world is not only about fighting.”
His tone was calm.
“Your fists can defeat the enemy in front of you, but what you must face will not only be enemies.”
Lin Hao said nothing.
Liu Yeqing lowered her head, as if thinking about something.
Gu Chengyuan became quieter as well and did not interrupt again.
Liu Hainan withdrew his gaze.
“Go and see it.”
He looked at the three of them.
“See how the people below the mountain live. See how this world moves.”
After a pause, he added,
“I will have Aji meet you.”
With only a few simple words, it felt as if a door had been opened.
Gu Chengyuan smiled.
“Now this is getting interesting.”
Liu Yeqing raised her head and no longer objected.
Lin Hao looked at the two of them, then toward the mountain gate. After a moment of silence, he finally sighed.
“…Do whatever you want.”
On the mountain road in the early morning, the mist had not yet cleared.
The three of them walked down the mountain. None of them looked back.
Wind blew down from above, carrying a slight chill. The leaves rustled along the roadside, and the stone steps were still damp with dew. With every step, moisture seemed to rise through the soles of their shoes.
Lin Hao walked behind the others and could not help asking,
“So where are we actually going?”
Gu Chengyuan walked at the front, both hands in his pockets.
“We’ll know once we get there.”
“You don’t know either, do you?”
“If you know too much, life loses a lot of its fun.”
Lin Hao frowned.
“That sounds really punchable.”
Gu Chengyuan glanced back at him.
“Thanks for the compliment.”
Lin Hao: “…”
Liu Yeqing walked between them and said nothing.
She only turned her head and looked back toward the mountain.
Just once.
So briefly that it seemed like she was merely confirming that Qingxuan Sect was still there.
Then she turned back and continued walking down.
In the city, human voices and traffic noise intertwined.
Sunlight fell between the tall buildings, bright enough to make people squint. Motorcycles cut through the intersection. Buses stopped and pulled away. The automatic doors of convenience stores opened and closed. Students, office workers, vendors, and passersby moved past the three of them.
No one looked at them.
No one knew what had just happened on the mountain.
Lin Hao stood among the crowd, his whole body coming to a stop.
He heard car horns.
He heard store clerks calling out, “Welcome.”
He heard students arguing noisily by the roadside.
He heard phone ringtones, footsteps, motorcycle engines—all of it squeezed together.
He frowned.
“…It’s so loud.”
Gu Chengyuan smiled faintly.
“This is normal.”
Lin Hao looked at him.
“What part of this is normal?”
Gu Chengyuan looked toward the crowd.
“Everyone is busy with their own lives. No one knows you were almost cut down by ninja a while ago.”
He paused, then added,
“Isn’t that normal?”
For a moment, Lin Hao could not respond.
Liu Yeqing stood beside him and looked at him.
She knew he was not used to this.
Lin Hao had grown up in Qingxuan Sect. Fists, steps, breath, body movement—all of those things were natural to him. But here, there were no wooden dummies, no courtyard, and no one who would stop to watch just because his punches were well trained.
This was below the mountain.
This was another world.
Inside a small eatery, oil smoke rose into the air.
The sound of a spatula striking a wok was crisp and lively. The scent of braised sauce mixed with the smell of hot soup and drifted out from the shop. A small fan by the entrance spun with a steady hum, blowing steam apart, only for it to gather again.
Aji stood in front of the stove, tossing the food in the wok as he raised his head.
“You’re here.”
Lin Hao froze.
“How did you know we would come?”
Aji tossed the food in the wok twice and laughed.
“The sect leader told me to meet you, so I came down early and waited.”
Gu Chengyuan narrowed his eyes and looked at him.
“Aren’t you the guy who was watching the show up on the mountain earlier?”
Aji turned off the fire, wiped his hands, and turned around.
“I’m from Qingxuan Sect.”
He grinned.
“But right now, I’m running a business.”
Lin Hao looked at the wok behind him, then at the signboard.
“You look more like the boss.”
Aji nodded.
“That’s right.”
He pushed three steaming bowls onto the table.
“So eat first.”
Gu Chengyuan looked at the food in the bowl.
“And after we eat?”
Aji pulled out a chair and sat down.
“We worry about life later.”
Lin Hao: “…”
Liu Yeqing lowered her head and looked at the hot food in front of her without saying anything.
The wind from the mountain still seemed to cling to their bodies, but the steam rising before them was very warm.
So warm that it felt a little unreal.
The three of them sat down and began eating.
Customers came and went inside the shop. Some placed orders. Some urged the food to come faster. Some sat in the corner scrolling on their phones. Halfway through the meal, Lin Hao still could not get used to the noise.
Gu Chengyuan, however, adjusted very quickly. He ate as if he had always belonged there.
Liu Yeqing ate quietly, occasionally lifting her eyes to look outside the window.
After a while, Aji seemed to suddenly remember something and casually said,
“Oh, right. The school arrangements are done.”
The chopsticks in Lin Hao’s hand stopped.
“…What?”
Aji glanced at him.
“School.”
Lin Hao frowned.
“Whose?”
Aji pointed at him, then at Liu Yeqing and Gu Chengyuan.
“Yours.”
For a brief moment, the shop seemed to go quiet.
Lin Hao slowly put down his chopsticks.
“Wait.”
He looked at Aji.
“What did you just say?”
Aji answered naturally,
“Didn’t you say you needed to learn how to live?”
He pushed the cup of water on the table toward them.
“Then you need to understand how this world works.”
Lin Hao still had not fully processed it.
Aji added,
“At whatever age you are, you should do what people that age do.”
Finally, he smiled.
“You three will start by becoming students.”
Those words fell, and all three of them became silent.
Gu Chengyuan was the first to smile.
“Interesting.”
Liu Yeqing did not speak, but something shifted slightly in her eyes.
Lin Hao lowered his head and looked at his hands.
Those hands had been throwing punches not long ago.
Blocking blades.
Clenching so tightly they ached.
But now, someone was telling him that he was going to school next.
That he would sit in a classroom.
Attend lessons.
And live alongside a group of people who knew nothing about the Night Fang Unit, nothing about ninja, and nothing about the martial world.
For a moment, he did not know what to say.
At the school gate, people came and went.
Students walked in and out with backpacks. Some ate breakfast while walking. Some shouted to their friends at the entrance. Some lowered their heads and scrolled through their phones. From the guardhouse beside the gate came the sound of a radio. Sunlight shone on the school emblem, a little too bright.
The three of them stood at the entrance.
Lin Hao looked inside, his gaze unfamiliar.
There were no wooden dummies here.
No training ground.
No cold morning wind like the one in Qingxuan Sect.
Only a completely unfamiliar world.
Gu Chengyuan stepped forward.
“Let’s go.”
Liu Yeqing followed.
As she passed Lin Hao, she said softly,
“Try it.”
Lin Hao stopped for a second.
Then he took a step forward and walked through the school gate.
Beyond that gate was another world.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvN1FbvxhmP
and then Add to home screen.