Chapter 524
Mirror Lake in Chu River.
Mirror Lake is not the largest lake in Chu River, nor is it the most famous.
However, it is far from the downtown area and has a beautiful and quiet environment, making it an ideal place for many anglers.
The water of Mirror Lake is clear and rippling, and the not-so-vast surface of the lake seems to be a mirror shining from the sky on the earth. The water and sky are beautiful.
And today the Mirror Lake seemed to be a bit of an anomaly, as many of the anglers who came to fish were banished before they could even set foot within its confines.
Some even presumed to argue with the burly black-suited men who had evicted them, only to see them pull their knives.
In the middle of nowhere, no one wanted to get into trouble, so even though some of them were reluctant, they left unhappily.
And it was at this moment on the edge of Mirror Lake. In a pavilion, a middle-aged man in his forties, who looked much younger than his real age, was holding a bamboo and wooden boom. He is quietly fishing.
His eyes were locked on the calm surface of the lake, seemingly oblivious to what was going on beside him, concentrating on the bait that was submerged in the water.
Suddenly, the man smiled and couldn't help but sigh, "Heh, this fish is too smart, it just won't bite!"
As he finished speaking, his face seemed to show some displeasure as he violently jerked the bamboo and wooden boom in his hand up from the water, and the rod, which would have only made a small splash, amazingly exploded in the water with a small wave of more than ten metres in circumference.
The whole mirror-like lake seemed to shake slightly at the sudden force.
After a loud sound like a bomb bursting, the water splashed back into the water, causing waves to form.
Underneath the waves, there were a dozen to twenty fish floating on the surface to the top of the water, dying from the explosion.
The middle-aged man threw the fishing rod in the water and again said indifferently, "Hmph, since you don't want to bite, then I'll just get you out of the water in another way."
After he finished speaking, the middle-aged man's gaze steepled and he said in a low voice not far behind him, "Come out. Sneaky."
As soon as the words left his mouth, a figure sprang out from behind him behind a willow tree as thick as his waist.
This man, still young and with a gloomy face, walked up to the middle-aged man and first bowed heavily, then went down on his knees with a poof.
"Mr. Shen, I'm sorry, I failed ......"
The person who spoke was no other than that Zhang Xiangyu.
At this moment, he no longer had the arrogance he had in the past, and faced the middle-aged man in front of him with a posture of obedience.
The middle-aged man did not look at him, but only looked at the lake that had not yet calmed down, and coldly snorted: "You are a waste, I have given you so many human resources and resources, given you half a year's time, but you can't even find the shadow of the "Shangdian", not only that, you also let me back and forth What's the point of living?"
The middle-aged man's gaze suddenly became sharp and fierce. He immediately scared Zhang Xiangyu so much that he did not even dare to breathe.
He hurriedly said, "Mr. Shen, I know I was wrong, I was too careless before, I didn't expect that Shen Haoting would come back to Chujiang personally. . but this Shen Haoting is too cunning, I ...... I failed, all at the mercy of you, Mr. Shen, to beat down."
The middle-aged man snorted coldly and continued, "Originally I wanted to kill your dog life, but after thinking about it, you've been with me for twenty years after all, there is no credit but also hard work, so I'll give you another chance, you give yourself a punishment!"
He said. The middle-aged man casually threw a small knife out, and the tip of the knife plunged straight into the wooden floor in front of Zhang Xiangyu.
Zhang Xiangyu couldn't help but tremble, but still gritted his teeth and grabbed the dagger.
He looked at his right hand with some hesitation. But still, with a heartbeat, he went straight down and ended up with his little thumb.
"Hiss ......" Zhang Xiangyu held back the pain, raised his head and looked at the middle-aged man, saying, "Please don't worry, Mr. Shen, I'll leave this finger here, and you can give me another week's time. If I still can't find out the whereabouts of Shangdian, then I'll take my own life on the edge of Mirror Lake to thank you!"
Only then did the middle-aged man slowly turn his head and look at Zhang Xiangyu, he nodded slightly and said with some sighs, "Xiao Qi, it's not that I'm not reasonable, but these are the rules. I don't want you to be like this either, but I can't help it, I hope you can understand me!"
Zhang Xiangyu knelt and came up to the middle-aged man's heel, bowing his head, "Mr. Shen I understand everything, you adopted us in the first place because you wanted us to be of use to you one day, I understand, if we can't create value, what's the use of living?"
The middle-aged man reached out and stroked Zhang Xiangyu's head, nodded lightly and let out a laugh, "It's good that you know, then I won't say anything more, since you have already made a promise to me, then the following, I will see how you perform."
Zhang Xiangyu smiled and heavily kowtowed a head on the ground. He said solemnly, "Please rest assured, Mr. Shen, I will not fail you!"
And just as Zhang Xiangyu said these words, he saw that the middle-aged man had already stepped away from the pavilion.
And from some unknown time, the man took out a square towel. He elegantly wiped the hand that had just touched Zhang Xiangyu, and then threw it away like rubbish.
The moment before, he had a sigh of pity for Zhang Xiangyu on his face, but the moment he turned his head, his gaze became cold and lonely once again. There was even a kind of heartfelt contempt for Zhang Xiangyu.
A few moments later, the middle-aged man got into a business car parked at the roadside, and one of the young men hurriedly asked, "Mr. Shen, do you still trust this Xiao Qi? Should we just dispose of him? He has made you in the family. He's become an unmitigated laughing stock!"
The middle-aged man sighed faintly and said helplessly, "I can't help it if I'm being laughed at, but I spent so much money to train such a dog, so I can't use him just this once, right? Since he still has use value, let him continue to do his job, and when the time comes that he is useless, Shen Haoting will dispose of her without me having to do anything!"
After he finished speaking, the middle-aged man gestured to close the car door, and the business car took off.
At this moment, at the edge of Mirror Lake, Zhang Xiangyu looked at his broken finger, his heart full of anger and gritted his teeth, really a bit resentful.
He looked viciously at the lake not far away and murmured conspiratorially, "Shen Haoting, let's play nice this time, I don't believe it, you won't hand over the stuff!"
Chapter 525
On the other hand, in the hotel where Shen Haoting was staying.
For some time now, Jiang Hao had been staying with Shen Haoting almost exclusively.
And ever since the last time he saw Shen Haoting's move in the restaurant, Jiang Hao had been shocked to the core.
He had always wanted to ask his father what it was.
Was it his unique supernatural ability, or was it some kind of magic training, or was it some kind of modern high-tech equipment?
In short, Jiang Hao was curious about this unfathomable phenomenon. He was simply too curious.
It was just that he had never been able to find the right opportunity to ask his father.
Moreover, Jiang Hao also seemed to find that his father seemed to be deliberately avoiding answering his questions.
Finally, Jiang Hao could not help himself any longer and knocked on the door of Shen Haoting's suite.
Once Shen Haoting opened the door, he was still excited to see that the visitor was Jiang Hao.
The father and son exchanged pleasantries for a while before Jiang Hao hesitantly cut to the chase.
"Dad ......," Jiang Hao asked hesitantly as he scratched the back of his hand." You ...... who the hell are you?"
Shen Haoting was stunned by the question, "Hmm? I'm your father, huh? Who else could I be?"
Jiang Hao knew he hadn't made himself clear and hurriedly explained again, "No, what I mean is that ...... that ability you used the other day. What exactly is that? Can you tell me about your other identity apart from my father, apart from the richest overseas Chinese? There's something about that ability!"
Shen Haoting was obviously a little surprised that Jiang Hao would ask about this question.
But in an instant he was relieved, for it seemed that he had also expected that Jiang Hao would ask this one day.
Indeed, what he had used that day was too counter-intuitive, too upsetting to people's common sense.
Shen Haoting pondered for a moment and exhaled heavily before he slowly spoke: "Son, it seems ...... that there are some things that I should tell you, in fact, I originally did not want you to know this, I originally only wanted you to be an ordinary person. Not involved in all this, but things have come to this point, it seems that those are just an ideal of mine."
Shen Haoting sighed and continued, "Are you curious about what Dad used that day, what exactly was it considered? Just like this!"
As he spoke. Shen Haoting pointed his hand at a glass ashtray on the coffee table, then a wave of air visible to the naked eye sprang out from the tip of his finger, and the wave of air hit the ashtray impartially, smashing it into smithereens in an instant.
This scene really shocked Jiang Hao again, he rubbed his eyes, obviously still somewhat do not believe what just happened in front of his eyes.
"How is this ...... possible? Dad you ......" Jiang Hao simply did not know what words to use to describe his excitement and shock at this moment.
How could a person break that thing into a pair of pieces without touching the object?
The teacher had never taught Jiang Hao such things in his junior high school physics class.
It was even more absent from those magazines and journals read in high school and university, and even more so from textbooks.
It was completely unexplainable, but it was happening right in front of his eyes!
Jiang Hao was baffled, completely baffled.
He looked at his father with complicated eyes. He felt both somewhat unbelievable and somewhat illusory and unreal.
In short, there was no way he could accept that it was all true, and if it was true, then how did it happen?
When Shen Haoting saw Jiang Hao's incomparably shocked expression, he smiled and shook his head, "Doesn't it feel very surprising? Amazing?"
Jiang Hao nodded mumblingly. What else could he say at this moment?
On the contrary, Shen Haoting, smiling again, walked up to Jiang Hao, patted him on the shoulder and said, "Son, in fact, outside the world you live in, there is another world, one that is treacherous and full of opportunities and risks, a world that is very hot-blooded and dark. Originally, dad wanted you to stay out of that world for the rest of your life, but I now feel that I was a bit naive."
Shen Haoting sighed, "Since you are the bloodline of the Shen family, how can you not be exposed to that world? It's impossible."
Jiang Hao listened with a dumbfounded expression, looked up at his somewhat anxious father and asked, "Dad, what you're talking about. What world is it exactly? What, there are other worlds beyond this one? What do you mean by that?"
Shen Haoting looked at Jiang Hao and nodded his head. But: "Yes, beneath this seemingly bland world, there is actually a world that belongs to martial artists, a world that is full of blood and violence, full of desires and traps!"
Jiang Hao listened feeling increasingly outrageous, scratching his head and asking, "Dad, where is the world you ...... are talking about?"
Shen Haoting grinned, "It's around you and me. Me, Little Ye, and many others in the Thunder group are actually martial artist status, except there is a big gap between us in terms of strength."
Shen Haoting got up, as if he was thinking about how to explain clearly to Jiang Hao.
It was a while before he said again, "Actually, the legacy of martial artists. Whether it's the feng shui physiognomy you've heard of, or the rumoured cultivation of immortality, to put it bluntly, it's all blackmail, or even an interpretation of the world of martial artists. In reality, the real world of martial artists is a closed one, where they do not even want to be disturbed by others. And in this world, there are many families that have been passed down for thousands of years, and our Shen clan is actually one of these many martial artist families!"
Shen Haoting continued to explain, "In fact, a martial artist in the true sense of the word requires a bloodline heritage, for reasons I don't know yet, but what is certain is that in this world, those who are able to become martial artists. Only a small percentage of people, and all of them will be those who have the bloodline of a martial clan, as for those in the Lei group, they actually have the physical quality already, they can't be considered true martial artists, because they might not be able to step through the threshold of the Realm of Transformation for the rest of their lives."
"Realm of Transformation?" Jiang Hao was at a loss for this term. Somewhat unsure of what it meant, "What does that mean?"
Shen Haoting nodded and explained again, "In the world of martial artists, there are actually three major realms in total. The most basic entry, the higher level of the Transformation Realm, and the peak general existence of the God Realm, and each major realm, in turn, is divided into four periods: early, middle, late, and peak. And each time a person reaches a period, the quality of their body will change drastically."
"An ordinary person, who wants to become a martial artist, can actually only reach the late stage of entry at the highest, and even the peak stage is not even close to the threshold, it's like a heavenly rift, a barrier that you can't cross no matter how hard you try, while those who have the martial artist inherited bloodline, as long as they have the talent, they can cultivate all the way up!"
Chapter 526
"Dad, so ...... what realm have you reached then? God realm?" Jiang Hao asked with some excitement, while pointing to the smashed ashtray on the table.
Shen Haoting smiled at his words, but only shook his head and laughed: "How can the God realm be touched so easily? Under the universal sky, how many martial artists are there who can leap into the God Realm?"
Shen Haoting sighed and said helplessly, "Dad and your grandfather started cultivating at the age of three, and have always refused to slacken off in the slightest. But even so, I have only reached the middle stage of the Realm of Transformation. I once imagined that one day, if I could reach the peak stage of the Realm of Transformation and have the pleasure of glimpsing the Realm of God, then I would already be satisfied!"
"Huh?" Jiang Hao couldn't help but be slightly disappointed when he heard that. Could it be that his own father's strength had reached this point, yet he was only at the middle stage of the Realm of Transformation? Then what would it be like if it was the late stage of the Realm of Transformation, or even the peak stage?
Jiang Hao couldn't help but ponder in his heart again, what about the so-called God Realm that his father had spoken of. What kind of existence would it be?
Jiang Hao did not have the slightest idea about this, and he even still felt that what his father had said was too far away from him.
Shen Haoting looked at Jiang Hao, and seemed to think that his words were a little too shocking for Jiang Hao, and finally smiled and continued again, "Well, these things are still too far away for you, since you are a descendant of the Shen family, you cannot be left alone, I will slowly tell you all about it later, and I will also let Xiao Ye teach you something little by little. "
Shen Haoting let out a long sigh, "You are the only heir of my Shen clan family now, there are still many things that you will need to face in the future ......"
Jiang Hao listened to his father's later words with seemingly no understanding and didn't bother to listen carefully, at this moment what was on his mind was still something about martial artists that his father had just said before.
Jiang Hao suddenly realised. In the past, those things that only existed in the novels and movies he had read seemed to be gradually becoming reality.
Jiang Hao didn't know how long he stayed in his father's room, and after he finally left, he walked aimlessly back and forth in the hotel.
By chance, Jiang Hao ran into Ye Yunjie, who seemed to have swept away her previous dishevelled state and was now glowing again, returning to the Ye Yunjie he knew in the past.
Ye Yunjie greeted Jiang Hao and was about to leave, but Jiang Hao called her back.
"Sister Ye, wait a minute ......" Jiang Hao said, "Can I ask you something?"
Ye Yunjie couldn't help but be stunned and hurriedly said, "Go ahead and ask, I'll tell you everything!"
"Can you tell me about the matter of martial artists?" Jiang Hao asked.
Ye Yunjie was stunned again, and then with a quick thought, she knew that Shen Haoting must have already told Jiang Hao everything, but it seemed that Jiang Hao still had doubts in his mind, so he had come to ask himself.
Ye Yunjie thought about it, nodded and then took Jiang Hao to a nearby café. The two talked for a full afternoon, and Ye Yunjie told Jiang Hao almost everything she knew about that martial world.
As Shen Haoting had said, the world of martial artists had been around for ages.
Martial artists were divided into three main realms, and only when they broke through to the late stage of entry could they also be called true martial artists, signifying the ability to perceive the presence of true qi.
And being able to use true qi indicated the sign of a true martial artist.
Ye Yunjie explained, "Those in the Lei group, at best, their own physical qualities have reached the limits of humanity, but they can only reach that point after all. However, those who possess the martial bloodline and are able to use their true qi are able to break through the limits of the human body through the operation of their true qi."
Ye Yunjie pointed at herself, "Just like me, I actually possess the martial artist bloodline as well, and I am at the peak stage of entry at this time. I'm already able to use true qi proficiently, so my speed and strength will be able to break through the limits of what this body of mine can achieve, do you understand?"
Jiang Hao nodded his head. Ye Yunjie followed up by saying, "And the outward release of true qi like your father used, that is already a sign of a Transformation Realm martial artist, in the past I used to have that I would be able to catch up with your father in a short period of time, but now it seems that I was overthinking it, huh ......"
Ye Yunjie followed up with a few more brief remarks about the secrets of martial artists.
In a nutshell, in the world of martial artists. Rank determined strength, perhaps between two people, there was only a very slight difference in rank, but in terms of strength, there was a world of difference in distance.
It is absolutely impossible for a mid-entry martial artist to win against a late-entry martial artist, as there is almost double the difference in strength between the two of them.
And several late entry masters. That's because, at the peak of entry, one is already considered to have stepped into the ranks of a true martial artist, and once one is able to use true qi, one is able to break through the limits of one's body, so even if the opponent is a top expert, as long as he is still an ordinary person, even if he has reached the limit of his physique, he is no match at all.
"And once a martial artist enters the Realm of Transformation, there is no more possibility for ordinary people to win. As for the God Realm, to be honest, that is only a realm that a few heavenly and heroic people can glimpse." Ye Yunjie sighed, "According to Mr. Shen, back then, your grandfather, it seems, had already broken through the God Realm. That was also the only martial artist I have ever known in my life to break through the God realm, and once one enters the God realm, one develops all kinds of Dao divine abilities on their own ......"
It seemed that after the God realm, Ye Yunjie also knew very little. Any more than that, she had only heard some things from hearsay.
However, when Ye Yunjie said this, Jiang Hao seemed to know a bit more about this martial world.
Immediately. Jiang Hao then asked, "Sister Ye, then is the thing that my father, the Shen family, inherited also related to this martial world?"
Ye Yunjie nodded, "Indeed, and I've also heard Mr. Shen talk about it once. As long as one can get the help of that thing, perhaps even mortals can peer into the God Realm, so it can be seen that that thing is indeed very powerful, which is exactly why so many people, racking their brains, want to obtain it."
Jiang Hao nodded and was thinking of continuing to ask some other things when his mobile phone rang, the call was clearly from Qiao San.
It turned out that the second phase of the renovation of the Haisheng Yipin Villa was almost finished, and Qiao San was going to ask Jiang Hao to go and inspect it.
Jiang Hao looked at the time and agreed without giving it much thought.
Ye Yunjie prepared a car for Jiang Hao and sent him directly to Haisheng Yipin.
By the time Jiang Hao reached there, Qiao Dong had already been waiting there for a long time.
As soon as he saw Jiang Hao, Qiao Dong hurriedly greeted him with a limp and said with a smile on his face, "Young Jiang, you're here. My father had some urgent matters that he couldn't leave at the moment, so he asked me to come here first, and when he's done, he'll come over right away."